"David Cronenberg's nasty, nasty piece of work was fomented a good two decades ago; depressingly, the auteur's trademark shock tactics have matured, like a fine wine, into a rather domesticated serving of middle-class hedonism."

“The ultra-violent flick, beloved of Tarantino and global box offices alike, played a pivotal role in destabilising the Confucian-esque image of the Asian man which predominated markets until, arguably, the rise of Henry Golding and Simu Liu. Like the best of Western culture, it hinges on one thing and one thing only: Catholicism.”

“The movie lives and dies in the perspective of a beleaguered Asian mom. Evelyn is utterly powerless, in a way which neatly encapsulates, and answers, the whole minefield of issues around representation: she’s not powerless because she’s a 60 year old Asian woman. She just happens to be the only powerless version of that 60 year old Asian woman. With no ability to even engage with the multiverse, let alone inflict violence on it, Evelyn must patch up her shattered worldview and identity through other means.”

"Takes on Top Gun's 'legacy sequel' have largely revolved around its core engines of nostalgia and nationalism, incarnated in Tom Cruise: one of the 'last true movie stars', doggedly refusing to shuffle out of the cockpit. Critics moan that the villains buttressing such 'Murricana triumphalism have failed to change with the times- but from another perspective, its roaring box office success speaks to a new, internationalist era of 'muscular masculinity".

“How do I love thee, Megan Fox? Let me count the ways. Car-sponging, barely legal pinup; dutiful housewife to a staggeringly mediocre, craggy husband; and lately, bisexual, Facetuned Taurus Insta baddie. In sum: poster child of the timeless, shapeshifting powers of woman in a timelessly gross world. 'I'm not killing people,' goes her character's most celebrated line in Diablo Kody's sleeper cult hit. 'I'm killing boys'. Hell yeah you are.”

“They were the best years of our lives. They called them the swinging sixties. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were rulers of pop music, Carnaby Street ruled the fashion world... and me and my brother ruled London. We were fucking untouchable.”

"School of Rock promised a Coleridgian Xanadu to its Gen Z audience: a mid-aughts utopia of gender equality, body positivity, and the shimmering oasis of a viable career in the creative sector. These prospects may have dimmed in intervening decades, but the sincerity and conviction of Jack Black's missive shine through. 'I'm not a Satanic sex god anymore,' says his character's brother, music teacher Ned Schneebly. 'I'm a working stiff, and that's cool.' The unbridled 'stick it to the man' energy of School of Rock reminds us that ‘wannabe corporate sellouts’ are, in fact, not cool, and that now more than ever is time to 'stick it to the man'; a time when the housing bubble reminds us that ‘the legend of the rent is way hardcore.’