The 40 Year Old Virgin shepherded in a whole new generation of R rated comedies in the mid 2000s, but I think what really helps the film stand out from the pack is just how its able to balance a lot of that required raunch with genuine heart.
This film’s big success made a star of Steve Carrell, and provides a great vehicle for him, the perfect opportunity to display his natural comedic skills while still serving as a likeable and…
This fantastic sports drama stars Anthony Perkins as famous baseball player Jimmy Piersall, as he struggles with mental health issues whilst becoming more successful. I thought this was an excellent and intelligent film, both moving and ahead of its time in its portrayal of mental illness. Perkins is amazing at capturing Piersall’s vulnerability and ambition, while Karl Malden is stunning as his domineering father, who pressures his son to succeed where he himself failed. Malden makes what might have been…
An ensemble cast including Naseeruddin Shah, Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia, Pankaj Kapur, and Arjun Kapoor star in this satirical road film, in which a middle-aged postman sets off on a journey with an assorted mix of friends and neighbours to reunite with a long lost love from years before.
It’s very quirky, taking inspiration from the US indie scene in crafting this story following a group of disparate characters thrown together for a road trip. The film mixes a wryly…
Where Bend It Like Beckham shines is in looking at how different generations of Indian culture interact in the UK: the film plays that out here, exploring the push-and-pull between those traditional elders trying to carry on their older conservative ways and the younger generation pushing for their own personality, wrapping this up in a really affirming and crowd-pleasing package.
Parminder Nagra’s spirited central performance brings that to life as a young woman caught between these two different sides, all…
Struggling singer-songwriter Greta (Keira Knightley) is discovered by washed up music executive Dan (Mark Ruffalo) in John Carney’s musical comedy-drama.
I was surprised by Begin Again, which ended up a different and more unusual movie to the one I was expecting. It’s a studio film, but there’s a real indie quality to the intimate style Carney develops here that lends this a very unique feel, playing around with timeline and form to help bring a more lyrical quality into the…
Martin McDonagh returns in his fourth directorial outing with a project that pivots away from the crime-tinged stories of before to something much more low-key in feel, taking the focus to the characters and so letting their relationship dynamics move the story along by themselves.
Being second generation Irish (with parents that immigrated to the UK before he was born) this is the first time McDonagh has a film entirely place in his ancestral country, capturing the spirit of these…
