Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – 2000

It’s hard to know if Crouching Tiger is a tribute to the martial arts or an attempt to top them all. Either way, it succeeds. Ang Lee crafts a masterpiece here and it amplified an obscure genre of Asian cinema into the best film of the year. Fight scenes are like dances and they require […]

Boyhood – 2014

Richard Linklater is the master of the long game. Whether it is his critically acclaimed ‘Before Trilogy’ or this film he knows that good films take time. Boyhood was filmed over 12 years and follows the growth of a young boy called Mason (Ellar Coltrane). The film doesn’t show anything special, it shows nothing less […]

12 Angry Men – 1957

The most powerful legal drama ever made, of that there is little argument. This film takes the murder trial of a teenage boy and turns it into a battle between twelve men over the young man’s life. The film features standout performances from Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb as opposing forces on the jury, […]

Good Will Hunting – 1997

There are some films that define generations of fans, there are some that define the careers of the cast or crew, and there are some that aim to accomplish nothing, but still do all the same. Good Will Hunting disguises the inner turmoil of a twenty-year-old as a mathematically gifted janitor with abandonment issues. The […]

Wall-e – 2008

Love is universal. It exists in every facet of nature, and in the hearts of every creature, but it also exists in machines. It may not exist to the extent that Wall-e portrays, but there’s a sense of purpose that lives at the core of every machine. For Wall-e it is the desire to help […]

The Descendants – 2011

In my ongoing love affair with Alexander Payne, I have just watched The Descendants. George Clooney gives one of his finest performances as Matt King, a husband and father whose wife is dying. He lends humor to a role that shouldn’t be funny and makes sympathy into something that seems hard to come by. The […]