The late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was beloved for many reasons – her stellar legal acumen that helped bring about greater constitutional protections for gender equality (as immortalized in the film On the Basis of Sex), her often scathing (yet exquisitely worded) dissents that laid the groundwork for future courts should they […]
Film
Pop Culture Maniacs Podcast Episode #12: Historical Films and TV Shows
Kieran Freemantle and Jean Henegan discuss the art of historical adaptations and drama for the screen.
The World to Come Review
Up until it reached its (frankly, inevitable) ending, I absolutely loved The World to Come. It’s an utterly gorgeous film, shot with a keen eye by Mona Fastvold, and containing some remarkably still and nuanced performances. But then the ending comes and well, let’s just say that, as a queer woman, I could have told […]
Songbird Review
Songbird was a film that was written and filmed during the Pandemic and subsequent lockdown. It was a cynical attempt to capitalise on the crisis we are living in. In 2024 the COVID-19 virus has mutated into COVID-23, a more deadly variant. America has experienced a four-year lockdown, millions of deaths, and anyone who is found […]
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Review
It’s a far trickier thing than one might assume to adapt a stage play to film. After all, a play is written to be performed in the intimate medium of the theatre, with an audience sitting mere feet from the performers and the actors feeding off the energy through the immediate feedback provided by their […]
Sound of Metal Review
Sound of Metal, a film from Darius Marder (co-written with Abraham Marder) is a film that knows what story it wants to tell and then sets out to tell it. Now, that might seem like an odd description of a film, but think about it for a moment. How often do you find yourself watching […]
10 Potential Harry Potter Spin-Off Ideas
Recently there has been reported that Warner Brothers and HBO Max are in the early stages of developing a TV series based on the Harry Potter franchise. Harry Potter is one of Warner Brothers’ most lucrative franchises – there have been seven novels, spin-off books, video games, studio tours, and theme park attractions. And of course, there’s the […]
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Rejection of Progressivism
Insanity. A perfect descriptor of Tobe Hooper’s timeless classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films of all time, the movie shocked and terrified audiences upon its initial release in 1974. The film’s success is even more impressive when considering it had an estimated budget of only $300,000 (about […]
One Night in Miami Review
On the night of February 25, 1964, Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke, and football super star Jim Brown had dinner together in a hotel in Miami. What they discussed together that night has been lost to time. But, within the span of a year, Cooke and Malcolm X […]
Make Up Review
Make Up was released as a part of the BBC’s New Films From New Voices Season. Make Up was Claire Oakley’s directional debut and it was made as a part of the iFeatures scheme. Ruth (Molly Windsor) is a young woman who goes to a holiday park in Cornwall where her boyfriend, Tom (Joseph Quinn), is working. She […]










