See cinema differently
Director: Rebecca Miller Stars: Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore I've been thinking of drawing up bingo cards for the genre staples of the New York indie relationship dramedy. A box full of boxes each one containing a different recognisable trope. The studio apartment. The academic novelist. The charming park bench scene. Piles of books. The …
Director: Paul Fieg Stars: Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones Everyone calm the shit down. And by everyone, I mean the vocal minority who have been treating this franchise reboot like some kind of personal affront on their own childhood, as if a movie and their actual childhood could possibly be the same thing. Reboots …
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Stars: Jenjira Pongpas Widner, Banlop Lomnoi, Jarinpattra Rueangram "Are you stressed out?" a doctor asks a patient in a makeshift consultation room early on in the new film from Apichatpong Weerasethakul. To this Western viewer the very idea of this question appearing in the director's work is comical, for the Thai master …
Here then are the final twenty in this alphabetical look at some of the finest films to have appeared between 2000 and, well, right now. You'd have thought 100 would be enough, but frankly what's struck me most are what I've found myself omitting. Narrowing it to the selections made was tough, and this is …
Continue reading "100 Great Films Of The 21st Century – Part 5"
We're into part 4 of 5 now, and I'll let you in on a little secret; a lot of my favourites overall are in this section. As I said at the very beginning, the whole point here was to celebrate how diverse modern movie making can be, so there are choices here from the very …
Continue reading "100 Great Films Of The 21st Century – Part 4"
The mid-section of this alphabetical list highlighting some of the exemplary work produced since the year 2000. If you're stuck for something to watch and you're scrolling through [insert name of streaming service here] and see any one of these titles, it's a safe bet you'll have found something worth a look. That's probably about …
Continue reading "100 Great Films Of The 21st Century – Part 3"
The collation of this list was inspired by the 4th anniversary of thelosthighwayhotel. What started out as just a place to dump some writing I'd been posting on social media quickly became a serious, beloved vocation for me. Because at it's best film is a window into the minds of those around us. That can manifest in …
Continue reading "100 Great Films Of The 21st Century – Part 2"
"They don't make 'em like they used to," people often decry, citing the lack of ideas in modern movie making. And that's a fair criticism of some circles (see the ouroboros of the Hollywood machine, where big bucks outclass big ideas too often). But there's plenty in modern cinema worth celebrating. Here then, are 100 …
Continue reading "100 Great Films Of The 21st Century – Part 1"
Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic Stars: Roxane Duran, Max Brebant, Julie-Marie Parmentier While bobbing around on the festival circuit last year, Lucile Hadzihalilovic' Evolution earned praising comparisons to both Under The Skin and Upstream Color, placing it fairly high on my must-see list for whenever it eventually made its way to UK shores. I can see where such remarks were coming …
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn Stars: Jena Malone, Elle Fanning, Abbey Lee It's becoming increasingly clear that Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 crossover hit Drive is something of an outlier in his body of work; an unexpectedly accessible stepchild that's drawn welcome attention, but who doesn't exactly represent the general personality of the rest of the clan. Certainly …
Director: Gianfranco Rosi The island of Lampedusa sits between Sicily and the Libyan capital Tripoli, occupies approximately 20 square kilometres and, for generations, has been a place of little import on a global scale; primarily known for its modest fishing industry. In recent years, however, its seas have become increasingly busy with shabby vessels transporting …
Director: Matteo Garrone Stars: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones Plot holes in films are irksome things, evidence of imperfection. Depending on your attachment to the surrounding material, they can often be forgiven, however. A weakness, sure, but usually not a fatal one, so long as the scale isn't tipped by their presence too harshly. I …
Director: Alex Ross Perry Stars: Katharine Waterston, Elisabeth Moss, Patrick Fugit With its lakeside setting in upstate New York and its depiction of post traumatic psychological fallout, Alex Ross Perry's Queen Of Earth feels like a kindred spirit to Sean Durkin's similarly themed and structured 2011 feature Martha Marcy May Marlene, only more queasily strung-out. Where Durkin …
The Lost Highway Hotel 