Category: Review
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Cardiff Animation Festival 2026 – Part II
It’s time to dive back into the fun of Cardiff Animation Festival and talk about the next bunch of films from Shorts 1 and Shorts 8. I had the opportunity to meet and speak to many of the filmmakers and enjoyed learning about their creative processes and what influenced their…
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Cardiff Animation Festival 2026 – Part I
It’s been a while since I have attended a film festival and the lovely folks at Cardiff Animation Festival let me stretch the old critic legs and enjoy a weekend full of brilliant and quirky films made by students and professionals alike. As ever, CAF was excellent from beginning to…
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Phantom Thread (2017)
Paul Thomas Anderson turns his attention to a period drama involving high fashion in 1950’s London. The hype for this film was electric with much of the buzz revolving around Phantom Thread being the swansong for method acting master, Daniel Day-Lewis. Anderson’s previous efforts centre on dreamy Californian landscapes, but…
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Inherent Vice (2014)
If ever there was a director bold enough to take on an adaptation of postmodern behemoth Thomas Pynchon, it’s Paul Thomas Anderson. Inherent Vice is based on the 2009 novel of the same name set in 1970s California. Anderson sets himself a difficult challenge as the first (and still only!)…
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There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Big Kahuna. The game changer. The film that made Anderson a solidified mainstream beast of cinema. There Will Be Blood takes its inspiration from the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair and follows Daniel Plainview (played magnificently by Daniel Day-Lewis) and his climb to the top during the Southern California…
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Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Punch-Drunk Love is Paul Thomas Anderson’s take on a romantic comedy, but still maintains his signature absurdity and intricacy. Following a more streamlined narrative and a smaller cast of characters, Punch-Drunk Love is a 90 minute whirlwind. Whoever says that Adam Sandler has never turned in a great performance has…
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Magnolia (1999)
Commonly remembered as Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic, Magnolia is 3 hour saga follows the seemingly isolated lives of various characters and their eventual biblical crossover. Building on the legacy of Boogie Nights by incorporating more stars and more stories than its predecessor. Set in LA, we follow the day of…
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Boogie Nights (1997)
Boogie Nights marked Paul Thomas Anderson’s cinematic breakthrough with his pitch perfect observation on the porn industry in 1970s Los Angeles. We follow Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a high-school dropout who has a chance encounter with porn producer, Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) who propels him into the spotlight of adult…
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Hard Eight (1996)
Hard Eight marked Paul Thomas Anderson’s feature debut, providing a strong start to a lengthy career that has seen masterpiece after masterpiece over the last three decades. Despite being made on a small budget, Hard Eight boasts an incredible cast including John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson.…
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Die My Love (2025)
Die My Love is the latest offering from the incredible Lynne Ramsay. Coming almost a decade after her previous film, You Were Never Really Here, Die My Love follows doomed lovers, Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) as they navigate parenthood in their new home. The film blurs the…