Film

The lost art of the intermission, and why the film industry needs to bring it back 

Last month, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist was one of the most-discussed films at the Oscars, with its award-winning cinematography, score, and direction rightfully generating great critical acclaim. Equally, though,...

Something is rotten in the state of San Andreas: Grand Theft Hamlet in Hertford

‘Hamlet: “O’, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw…” ’ Don’t quite remember...

German Expressionist film: A beginner’s guide

With Robert Eggers’ remake of the classic vampire horror Nosferatu taking the world by...

Cherubs Grow On Trees: Atmospheric student filmmaking

Making short films is hard. You have anything between two and 20 minutes to...

Éric Rohmer: A French Director’s Refreshing Simplicity

"His films are not as stunning, nor impressive, as might be those of his Nouvelle Vague contemporaries, but peacefully pleasant."

Netflix’s Disappointing Monsters

"As the latest season of Stranger Things demonstrates... not all practical effects are made equal."

Glass Onion Review: Those ‘Knives’ Need Sharpening

Beatrice Ricketts considers whether the latest mystery film from Netflix lives up to Agatha Christie's novels.

Surrealist Film Review: Fellini’s 8½

"It is where Fellini blurs the lines between fantasy and reality that he has produced an authentic filter of a man’s consciousness."

Films to romanticise Oxford

Films, and art in general, hold a unique ability to capture beauty, allowing us to see the grandest settings or the most every day places with awe and wonder.

A Clockwork Orange: “Kubrick’s masterclass of surrealism, disillusion and delinquency”

A Clockwork Orange remains an absolute classic to this day... It represents the best of Stanley Kubrick’s vision and surrealism, and marks itself as completely unique. These types of movies represented a mental workout for the viewer, a way to leave the cinema bamboozled and desperately craving for a rewatch.

Before Midnight: ‘Linklater manages to paint a picture of love that feels real, without sacrificing any sense of beauty or magic’. 

'Before Midnight, then, beautifully and honestly draws Linklater’s Before trilogy to a fitting conclusion. As a meditation on love and relationships it reminds us that it’s not always plain sailing, but that this doesn’t erase or dampen our past experiences.' Josh McGrane evaluates the final instalment of Richard Linklater's beloved 'Before' trilogy.

No guts, no glory : the Bones and All premiere

"Bones and All...will undeniably spark conversation, introspection and philosophical debate"

Breakwater : Oxford’s first student feature-film in forty years

"Recently, our primary filming location burnt down"

Don’t Worry Darling – Review

'You get the impression that is was intended to be a feminist statement - but a statement of what ?'

The Economics of Pride

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” The...

Ten years of the Dark Knight trilogy

It’s been 10 years since the trilogy that shaped my entire life came out.

Booksmart and the art of growing up

They find themselves together – still best friends, still ambitious and imperfect and stressed.

Love Without Words: The Quiet Storytelling of Heartstopper

Rare for the teen drama genre, the show, much like its sketched source material, is taciturn like an actual shy teenager.

Oxford Student Film Review: The Pacifist

The Pacifist was put together by a team of recently graduated University College students. Matthew Hardy (2018, English) wrote the screenplay and collaborated on direction with Jack Rennie (2017, PPL).

Local Hero: a modest masterpiece

What is the first thing that springs to mind when I ask you about the connection between a red phone box in the Scottish highlands, a crackpot oil multimillionaire from Houston, and a jaded and cynical negotiator who ends up trapped between the two colliding worlds?

The Godfather and the Thrill of Cinema

A film that rests so prominently in the public’s psyche can be difficult to watch subjectively. The Godfather is nonetheless a masterpiece in its own right.

The Hegelian Dialectic of James Gunn’s Peacemaker

What links the superhero show Peacemaker with the work of 19th-century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel?

The Meaning Of Motherhood: Spencer and Parallel Mothers

Life, death, and birth are all present in Pablo Larraín’s Spencer and Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers. Both films address, in different ways, what the meaning of motherhood is.

The fairest of them all? Hollywood’s problem with visually represented villainy

We know that we ought to validate and cherish visible difference. Why is cinema struggling so much to catch on?