ZooScope

Tag: Feature Length

  • Seven Pounds. Dir. Gabriele Muccino. Sony Pictures. 2003

    Seven Pounds is a 2003 drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino which explores the relationship between humans and non-human animals, specifically focusing on the bond between human and dog. The film highlights how through feelings of trust and dependency, combined with overcoming societal stereotypes, both humans and dogs can utilize the time they spend together…

  • The Shallows. Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra. Columbia Pictures. 2016.

    The Shallows uses the tale of Nancy (Blake Lively), a surfer alone and vulnerable in the picturesque coasts of Mexico only to be aggressively hunted by a great white shark with a taste for skinny blonde models (shock). SinceΒ Jaws, sharks have become a symbol of fear – an immediate indication of danger within the cinematic…

  • Ted 2. Dir Seth MacFarlane. Universal Pictures. 2015.

    Ted 2 is the second instalment of the Ted series in which John (Mark Wahlberg), as a child wishes for his teddy bear, Ted (Seth MacFarlane), to come to life. What follows is thirty-something years of memories, shenanigans and improper behaviour. The first film follows the pair as John finally learns to ‘grow up’. We find…

  • The Lighthouse. Dir. Robert Eggers. A24. 2019.

    “𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕 π’šβ€™π’π’†π’‚π’—π’† 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’ˆπ’–π’π’π’” 𝒃𝒆. 𝑰𝒏 β€™π’†π’Žπ’” 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒇 π’”π’‚π’Šπ’π’π’“π’” π’˜π’‰π’‚π’• π’Žπ’†π’• π’•π’‰π’†π’Šπ’“ π’Žπ’‚π’Œπ’†π’“.” The Lighthouse is a film about madness and evil. The film uses the arrival and death of a seagull, at the hands of Thomas, to explore the threshold between sanity and madness, and our capacity for evil. Thomas’ sanity is questioned…

  • The Watchmen. Dir. Zach Snyder. Warner Bros. 2009.

    What can dogs tell us about criminality? With regards to Zach Snyder’s Watchmen, the answer is β€˜quite a lot.’ Dogs are used within the film to align the binaries of legality and criminality with humanity and animality. There is a particular focus on the possibilities of transgression, as both the anti-hero and the villain commit…

  • Annie. Dir. John Huston. Columbia Pictures. 1982.

    John Huston’s musical comedy-drama Annie follows the life of an orphan and her trusty adopted dog Sandy. The film repeatedly draws parallels between orphaned children with caged animals, inciting audiences to acknowledge the ways in which the children are treated alike abandoned animals. Huston’s shot of the bustling environment surrounding the unconcerned caged chickens works…

  • A Street Cat Named Bob. Dir. Roger Spottiswoode. Sony Pictures Releasing. 2016.

    [1]A Street Cat Named Bob is a 2016 biographical drama directed by Roger Spottiswoode. The film is based on an memoir of the same name, which narrates the true story of James Bowen, a British man who struggled with homelessness and heroin addiction, who attributes his recovery to a stray cat he named Bob. According…

  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Columbia Pictures. 2019

    Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film is wistfully reminiscent of a bygone era, a self-reflexive artefact devoted to the zeitgeist of the closing chapter of Hollywood’s golden era. For two hours and forty minutes, the director lays bare his musings on cinema which read less like a narrative and more like a very thorough character study…

  • Ernest and Celestine. Dir. Benjamin Renner. StudioCanal. 2012

    Ernest and Celestine[2] (2012) is a French animated film that presents the unorthodox relationship between a bear and a mouse. Introduced as a struggling musician, Ernest is starving and on the hunt for food; Celestine is on the hunt for teeth when they form an unlikely pairing to help one another. Due to societal constraints and animal…

  • A Dog’s Journey. Dir. Gail Mancuso. Universal Pictures. 2019.

    They say that dogs are man’s best friend, but what if that best friend who with you from birth stayed longer than a lifetime? Two years after A Dog’s Purpose (2017), we follow again the paw prints of Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad), whose purpose in life is not yet over. In this sequel, Ethan…