Sideways – 2004

Paul Giamatti is a sad sack. Maybe not in real life, but he plays one extremely well, Sideways is no exception. Directed by, the always masterful, Alexander Payne, Sideways is the story of two men on a week-long wine tasting in California before one’s upcoming nuptials. Obviously, there are tons of things that happen between […]

Watership Down – 1978

Bunnies. Bunnies trying to kill each other. Watership Down is a great book and the movie version lives up to the same hype as the book. There are, of course, small deviations and slight condensations, but overall it is the same. The film version is animated, which was pretty much the only way to do […]

Mustang – 2015

Sometimes you can feel that something is going to go wrong in a movie. Mustang is the story of five teenage (mostly) girls who are trapped in their house after their oppressive grandmother and uncle decide they have disgraced the family. Eventually the girls are set up in arranged marriages since wives is the only […]

The Fisher King – 1991

Mental illness is challenging to portray on film. It is often seen as insensitive to have someone who isn’t mentally ill portray a severe mental illness, but the severely mentally ill usually aren’t in a position to appear on screen in that capacity. This means that it falls to truly talented actors to take up […]

Hunt for the Wilderpeople – 2016

Two more different people probably don’t exist in the world of film. A boy called Ricky and his foster ‘uncle’ are the subject of a national manhunt over a misunderstanding. Taika Waititi is an indie darling and here is where he finally put himself in the spotlight. He straddles the line perfectly between comedy and […]

Casablanca – 1942

There is no debating that Casablanca is one of the greatest films of all time. There is a reason it is considered one of the most well-received films. The simplicity of the scenery, the timeless message of love and sacrifice, the casual connective tissue between the characters. The film expresses sentiment in a way that […]