Bond of Today: How Has The Franchise Endured for Sixty Years?

For over sixty years, James Bond has been killing, seducing, drinking, and quipping on cinema screens to the delight of generations of viewers who have enjoyed watching him do so. […] It is the intention of this essay to analyse how the Bond franchise has adapted in a post 9/11 world whilst retaining its core identity.

Soot, Steel & Spirits: Tradition and Modernity in Spirited Away (2001) and Princess Mononoke (1997)

Studio Ghibli has contributed towards making some of the greatest animated films of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, two of which are Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001). Through examining the attitudes towards tradition and modernity found in both these films, it can be argued that they serve as critiques on how Western practice, such as mass industrialisation and consumerism, have led to the neglect of the country’s cultural roots in modern day Japan.

One Battle After Another: Loved By Critics, But Loses Commercially

At a time where the viewership of non-commercial cinema seems to be falling, Paul Thomas Anderson reminds us of how social, political and historical context can completely reshape a film’s meaning and perspective. In an era when politics seems to be going back, Anderson makes a daring attempt to give us One Battle After Another, […]

Anemone (2025) Review- An Absent Father Haunted by His Past ★★★★⯨

The news that Daniel Day-Lewis had come out of retirement to co-write and star in a film directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, immediately caught my attention. Before seeing the film, I attended Daniel’s Screen Talk at the London Film Festival, hosted by Mark Kermode. At one point, Daniel asked if he could tell a […]

LFF 2025: Springsteen: Deliver me from nowhere Review ★★★

Jeremy Allen White shines in the latest addition to the ever-growing catalogue of musical biopics. With strong acting and a naturally excellent score, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere acts as more than just a recount of one of rock’s biggest stars A last-minute booking during London Film Festival 2025, Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from […]

The Running Man (2025) Spoiler-Free Review ★★★

The Running Man is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name and is a remake of the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is set in a not-so-distant future, where The Running Man TV show dominates the network as the most-watched show. It is a brutal contest where participants must evade professional […]

Twenty-one years later, how does Edgar Wright remain one of the most influential auteur directors in modern cinema?

In the film industry today, when we have a look at the filmmakers who are also auteurs in the industry, names such as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee and Wes Anderson ring people’s attention. Now what is the difference between a normal director and an auteur director, you may ask? A director of a […]

Evoking Childhood Memories and Imagination through Franchise Fatigue

Last summer, we were flooded by so many releases, from the live-action How to Train Your Dragon to the newest release in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World: Rebirth. Some people would criticize that these movies are merely a scheme from the studio to mine gold, digging cash even more for their benefits from a […]

I Love L.A. (2025) Review- What’s not to love?

“We need another Sex and the City!” “We need more complex female characters!” the people shriek into the void. Yet whenever Hollywood decides to indulge our demands, we spit it right back out. “No, this is not the same!” After taking a backseat to drama for a significant period, 2025 has been a strong year […]

David and Sam Cutler-Kreutz on their new short film Trapped and previous Oscar nominated short A Lien

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Oscar-nominated directors Sam and David Cutler-Kruetz to discuss their latest short film, Trapped (2025). Our conversation was nothing short of delightful. The film tells the story of a school janitor who, due to childcare struggles, is forced to bring his young son to work. As the night […]