Director: Sofia Coppola Stars: Rashida Jones, Marlon Wayans, Bill Murray During the rounds for The Beguiled, the whiteness of Sofia Coppola's cinema became part of The Discourse. Though persons of colour have played minor or supporting roles here and there in her work, it was fair criticism - especially considering that film's setting - and … Continue reading Review: On The Rocks
Director: Kitty Green Stars: Julia Garner, Matthew Macfayden, Makenzie Leigh Part of my lockdown pattern so far has involved rewatching AMC's prestige TV show Mad Men. Set in the '60s, the series revels in the regressive attitudes to women prevalent at the time in Manhattan office spaces, asking us to be shocked at the behaviour … Continue reading Review: The Assistant
Director: Eliza Hittman Stars: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin Eliza Hittman's second feature Beach Rats was one of my favourite films of the last decade, though I never wrote about it here on The Lost Highway Hotel. Nevertheless, her sympathetic focus on American youth and her keen observational eye meant that whatever came next would … Continue reading Review: Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Director: Steven Soderbergh Stars: André Holland, Zazie Beetz, Kyle MacLachlan It's worth noting when approaching High Flying Bird that Steven Soderbergh's name was hovering around Moneyball before it got passed to Bennett Miller. Some ten years later, the indie perennial has finally made his own iteration, filmed on an iPhone and distributed via Netflix. The streaming giant … Continue reading Review: High Flying Bird
Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie Stars: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Buddy Duress The millstone of starring in a widely derided young adult franchise has spurred Twilight star Robert Pattinson into a series of increasingly impressive independent roles which have rehabilitated his credentials to the point that his involvement is now a draw rather than a concern. … Continue reading Review: Good Time
Director: Noah Baumbach Stars: Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman Noah Baumbach's oeuvre is white middle class New Yorker comedy with an ear for the screwball and occasional - almost happenstance - wisdom. Of late it has benefited greatly from his proximity to Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha is this writer's go-to feel good-movie on a … Continue reading Review: The Meyerowitz Stories
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 … Continue reading Review: Maggie’s Plan
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 … Continue reading Review: Ghostbusters (2016)
It's been a week since Valentine's Day. My local HMV has a special display of LPs under the heading "Best Break Up Albums" and How To Be Single has just hit cinemas. Evidently a lot of marketing execs don't fancy our chances. They do know how to lure an audience in, however. If you've seen the … Continue reading Review: How To Be Single
Year: 1981 Director: Abel Ferrara Stars: Zoë Lund (Thana), Albert Sinkys (Albert), Darlene Stuto (Laurie), Helen McGara (Carol), Nike Zachmanoglou (Pamela), Editta Sherman (Mrs. Nasone) Genre: Thriller, Exploitation Quantifying why I love Ms. 45 is going to be trickier than most of these essays as it can be a hard film to love, or rather, can seem … Continue reading Why I Love… #83: Ms. 45
By sheer coincidence yesterday I watched Dogtooth for the first time; Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos' bizarre and striking fictional story of siblings living in enforced seclusion from the world by their overly protective and misguided parents. One wonders what the Angulo family would make of the film. For here, in Crystal Moselle's equally unusual documentary we … Continue reading Review: The Wolfpack
I sit here writing this at the still relatively young age of 31. 32 is fast approaching. I don't consider myself old, yet still I'm starting to begrudge the fact that 'youth culture' doesn't really include me nowadays, and more and more I'm the one actively withdrawing my participation. Be it my own culpability or … Continue reading Review: While We’re Young
Donna (Jenny Slate) is a stand-up comedienne who takes her life up on stage with her, warts and all. In fact, if she had warts - and especially if they were genital warts - you'd probably hear about them. Her material is frank, funny and fresh-feeling. She is the warm centre of this appealing movie; … Continue reading Review: Obvious Child
Year: 1973 Director: Sidney Lumet Stars: Al Pacino (Frank Serpico), John Randolph (Chief Sidney Green), Cornelia Sharpe (Leslie Lane), Tony Roberts (Bob Blair), Jack Kehoe (Tom Keough) Genre: Crime Drama / Biopic There are many reasons for Sidney Lumet's Serpico to appear in this series. So many, in fact, that it's difficult to know where to … Continue reading Why I Love… #54: Serpico
I didn't think I would be recommending Frances Ha, but I am. From the outset this sounded as though it had the potential to be one of the flimsiest if not plain irritating films of the year. A large part of this has to do with my own scepticism regarding director Noah Baumbach. Whilst depressed-Ben … Continue reading Review: Frances Ha
