Mr Smith Goes To Washington (1939)Director: Frank CapraScreenwriter: Sidney BuchmanStarring: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Thomas Mitchell, Edward Arnold, Claude Rains, Harry Carey In dark or uncertain times, finding a guiding light can feel impossible — and yet hope persists. Sometimes we turn away from it, comforted by our melancholy. Other times, hope arrives unexpectedly: a … Read more

Sexual violence appears repeatedly across horror cinema, from Rosemary’s drugged impregnation in Rosemary’s Baby to the killer stalking sorority girls in Black Christmas. The slasher subgenre in particular is built around sexualised violence: a male villain stalks a group of young people, often women, and only one—often called the “final girl”—survives. She endures the worst … Read more

Jaws (1975) opens with a body: a clear, brutal sign that something in the water has attacked. The people of Amity Island, however, are slow to accept the implication. Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) stands out as the lone reasonable public official, uneasy on the beach and increasingly alarmed. Into this tense, sun-soaked community arrive … Read more

The Wild Robot (2024)Director: Chris SandersScreenplay: Chris SandersStarring: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Matt Berry, Catherine O’Hara, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot feels like a confident step into a new era for the studio. Directed and scripted by Chris Sanders and adapted from Peter Brown’s 2016 … Read more

From chainsaws and Deadites to boomsticks and cheesy one-liners, the Evil Dead franchise stands as one of horror’s most inventive and enduring series. Blending slapstick influences with gruesome, outlandish imagery, director Sam Raimi created the original cult classic when he was only twenty. With praise from Stephen King, Raimi and Bruce Campbell’s first feature film, … Read more

Whiplash — Ten Years On: A Dark Ode to Ambition It has been ten years since Damien Chazelle’s explosive jazz drama first hit screens, leaving many viewers exhilarated and unsettled in equal measure. Whiplash follows Miles Teller as Andrew Neiman, an aspiring jazz drummer at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory. When Neiman is selected for the … Read more

Known for hits like The Hangover and Joker, Brooklyn-born writer-director Todd Phillips began his career as a documentary filmmaker. In the late 1990s he rose through the independent circuit with documentaries about notable and tragic musicians. His transition to mainstream film came after director Ivan Reitman discovered him at Sundance and helped secure studio backing … Read more

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)Director: Todd PhillipsScreenwriters: Scott Silver, Todd PhillipsStarring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Harry Lawtey, Bill Smitrovich, Catherine Keener When Todd Phillips’ Joker arrived in 2019 it became one of the defining films of that year, provoking conversations about society, mental health and the nature of cinematic myth-making. The original film’s … Read more

The idyllic image of northwest Los Angeles as the cinematic La-La Land—America’s emblem of glamour, celebrity and filmmaking—remains a powerful myth. For decades it has been portrayed as the ultimate mecca for those chasing the American Dream. Yet the cynical edge of the 21st century has prompted a serious reassessment: how much of that old … Read more

Thank you for taking part in The Film Magazine’s Joker and Batman movie quiz. We appreciate your interest in comic-book cinema and hope you enjoyed testing your knowledge of the Clown Prince of Crime and the Dark Knight. Follow @thefilmagazine across social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter) for more quizzes, features and … Read more