Out There in the Dark

Christopher Nolan’s imprimatur is such that every new release is met with an enthusiasm usually reserved for professional sports. As an auteur, Nolan is akin to a "gifted" kid: highly intelligent, hyper-focused, a bit nerdy, and occasionally insufferable. But whatever your opinion of him, his platform is massive—which is precisely what makes his latest project so intriguing.

Based faithfully on Homer’s The Odyssey...

This week, hosts Azed Majeed and Tom Alexander step into the frame to track the erratic, brilliant orbit of Hollywood’s ultimate populist chameleon. From his raw, Roger Corman–style B-movie roots to massive cultural landmarks like The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, Demme proved that intense formal experimentation does not have to result in cold, intellectual detachment.

While legendary as an "actor's director" w...

Not since the cultural phenomenon of Barbenheimer has the cinema seen a box office boom quite like this. But this time, the revolution isn't coming from legacy directors or massive studio IP—it's coming straight from YouTube.

In this episode of Out There in the Dark, we are breaking down the staggering, paradigm-shifting success of Kane Parsons’ The Backrooms and Curry Barker’s Obsession. Both of these micro-budge...

If cinema is the closest thing we have to time travel, then watching "old" movies is our most direct portal into the psyche of the past. These films do more than just capture a moment; they contextualize the global industry’s shifts, the trends of the era, and the evolving politics and psychologies of the public.

So many movies, so little time—but we’re on the case.

In this installment of our ongoing series, "Crim...

Once again it is confirmed that a large hotel is a world unto itself and that this world is like the rest of the large world. The guests here roam about in their light-hearted, careless summer existence without suspecting anything of the strange mysteries circulating among them."

— Siegfried Kracauer, The Hotel Lobby

On this special episode of Out There in the Dark, Azed and Tom check in to Hotel Confidential.

This ...

The Acadamy Awards is known for being a self-congratulating, elitist, popularity contest soaked in cringe inducing segments and usually that is an accurate description. The 2026 show thankfully seemed to focus a little bit more on the actual quality of the films nominated. Yes, there were the usual awkward, phony-baloney things going on, but with a spate of excellent features, docs and technical achievements the Oscar's are actuall...

The spate of films being considered for this year’s Oscars is among the best we’ve seen in a long time. With titles like The Secret Agent, Train Dreams, and One Battle After Another, it seems the Academy is finally catching up to the audience's desire for challenging, experimental, and—dare we say it—non-English fare.

Perhaps this year, amidst the global anxiety, fear, and unpredictability, we are finally re...

Arguably most famous for spawning the self-evolving Halloween franchise, John Carpenter is a true cinema maverick. Crossing genre boundaries usually adhered to strictly by competent craftspeople, Carpenter may represent a bygone figure in cinema; a true auteur. Carpenter's films bear an umistakable signature style. Carpenter was as at ease with sci-fi,  The Thing and Escape From New York,  as he was in mind benders like I...

Few works of art have ascended to the level of universal archetype, even fewer by 19 year old women in 1818, but Mary Shelly's Frankenstein has achieved this place of distinction in the world of letters. The story of the writing of the novel (Lord Byron and the Shelly's stuck indoors during a stormy few days, deciding to write ghost stories as a way of passing time) is as mythic as the book. With the  invention of cinema our l...

On this episode of Out There in the dark, we take a deep dive into PT Anderson‘s latest epic, weird, and thrilling One Battle After Another. At a time when our world is being rocked by corrupt and dark forces, Anderson explores with subtlety and humour, the issues that plague us on the daily. We also go through Anderson’s oeuvre from his first film, Hard 8 (1996) to OBAA. And we say a fond farewell to cinema’s gre...

Toronto hosts one of the world's most prestigious film festivals and this year Tom and Azed managed to move off their respective couches and see a few films.  The festival has always been a defining characteristic of Toronto's love affair with movies, which draws huge audiences to see some of the world's least seen artwork. Of course, over the years, TIFF has embraced a more mainstream, commercial approach which has largely ob...

Ari Aster’s latest film, EDDINGTON, has polarized critical intelligentsia. While a few have hailed it as a “masterpiece” many others have decried it as at best an ambitious flop. As with Aster’s last “flop” Beau is Afraid, critics and audiences alike seem confused and disappointed by Aster’s non-horror films.  Without the surface excitement of supernaturally tinged serial killings or s...

EXCLUSIVE! WE HAVE THE LIST!

That's right, the list of the best movies of the past 25 years.  Putting aside our usual snobby pooh-poohing of so called "best of..." lists, Azed and Tom have created lists to end all lists. Stop saying list!

Taking off from the (failing?) New York Times' Best of the Century , which chose PARASITE as their top film, and Rolling Stones 100 Best List , which chose the slightly more reasonable T...

As the world slides inexorably towards xenophobia, authoritarianism, and flat out racism, the cinema of Jim Jarmush offers a crucial counterpoint to the dehumanizing of the other as a means of social control.  Jarmush, a staple of the New York punk and post-punk art scene broke onto the scene with Stranger Than Paradise (1982) which introduced the cool, art house, minimalism that has become the hallmark of Jarmush's oeuvre.&nb...

Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal is probably the most brilliantly strange "reality" show to date.  An uncanny mixture of documentary, memoir, comedy show, and adventure movie, The Rehearsal pushes the usual conventions of TV, deconstructing the elements that go into producing and directing an almost impossible series of thrilling, funny and bizzare segments. Fielder, a bona fide eccentric and oddball, is clearly interested in re...

Roger Corman (April 5, 1926 -May 9, 2024)—an iconic figure whose influence on Hollywood is nothing short of legendary—traversed the cinematic landscape from the late 1950's to the 1990's. Celebrated as the "Pope of Pop Cinema," the "Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood," and the "King of Cult," Corman was a pioneering force in independent filmmaking, forever reshaping the industry with his innovative spirit.

Through...

The recent and tragic news of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, has left movie fans around the world reeling. While the unsettling details surrounding their passing may capture attention, this isn’t TMZ. Instead, we choose to honor the life and extraordinary talent of one of the greatest actors of our time. Gene Hackman was renowned for his unparalleled ability to convey authenticity—something that is notoriousl...

One of the least explored subgenres in cinema is the short-lived, radical category known as "punk film." This genre emerged in response to the rise of punk music in the late 1970s, which served as a counterpoint to the hedonistic glam of disco and dance music—a genre I also enjoy. However, punk's emergence was more than just a musical trend; it was a political reaction against the shift toward right-wing and neoliberal polici...