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Lights

Watched on Monday May 19, 2025.

Very kind story about a bundle of misfits escaping the misfortunes of self-doubt. The big celebratory spectacle numbers are dazzling enough but I find myself appreciating those moments when the only players about are Dorothy and co., and the city itself. Seeing them skip and dance midst the vast puzzling architecture, it’s both intimidating and enchanting, and that’s very true to life. Also, Diana Ross is just all around fantastic.

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

Verhoeven deftly movies between unsexy artifice, somewhat sexy provocations, and very sexy flashes of whimsy. It’s an elaborate American spectrum and he just swims right through it.

This entry confronts us with one of the deadliest threats of all – boredom. The familial trauma “bloodline” nonsense invokes too much of the past when this has always been a series about the present. More importantly, there’s hardly any culture here. Perhaps they didn’t want to “date” it, even though the anxieties and aggressions of the 2000 film may as well be timeless (after a certain point at least). The opening sky-needle sequence demonstrates some hubris but it’s too isolated, borderline Canadian. I guess it’s only natural a series like this would produce a real dud eventually but perhaps fate will give us some new material in the coming years (hopefully not).

The death of all things starts off with corporate culture – very true! The bridge is a fantastic manifestation of transition and hubris and the sequence activates many of those squirmy feelings you get crossing one. The rest never matches the realness of the last one and the end is very weak but there are at least some treats in the middle.

Watched on Saturday May 17, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 17, 2025.

The detritus of a coming war

Willingly or not (even better if its the latter) this is wonderfully topical. The commercial whimsy of the death montage in 3 blends with the vehicular anxieties of 2’s intro makes for the absurd parable we see here. The end result is a literal death spiral, and those fetishistic temptations to break the social conventions of “safety”, at least from a distance and with this thin rickety fence for protection. The other locations for this are great: the suburbs, the stylists, the car wash, the mall theater – you’ve condensed the entirety of America into 80 minutes! And the cast! Everyone here is so cocksure of the existence built up for them. So many absurd things come out of their mouths, it’s all very realistic. Long gone are the agitations of the start of this series. Now we’re just seeing how far the hubris can go.

The theme park opening is really not as physical as it perhaps could be but lets not underrate the hubris behind these structures, these tracks and fluids that bring us closer to death so that we may appreciate life and in our infinite confidence we trust these machines with out life. Lots of potential there!

The opening scene on the highway – a blood-clot in the arteries of America. Tremendous! And perhaps even more frightening than the first, if only because these vehicular visions of terror are more commonplace to us than those of flight. So many moving parts, so many hunks of metal and plastic and glass, so many ways for the dominoes to fall. The absolute terror machine we’ve built up for ourselves, and to think that there’s truly no way out of it! Will this stop me from using my phone while driving? Yes officer of course.

Lynchian (American (complimentary))

Watched on Tuesday May 13, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 11, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 11, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 10, 2025.

There’s a very important softness about Brando that never fades. The spirit of this may not fully embrace the working class but his face certainly does.

Watched on Saturday May 10, 2025.

The dragon is cool

And this is a pre-9/11 film? The opening segment with the plane might as well be one of the defining montage of our current age and all the anxieties that come with it. Everything is ever connected and so all it takes is a single glimpse at something wrong for us to manifest a whole intricate downfall for ourselves. We are everywhere and thus so is death (and love of course, but one easily forgets this while dodging debris). I didn’t see what you saw, but I felt it. We all share the apprehensions but it can be so difficult to talk about because why would you ever want to invoke the one eventuality we try to push away the most? And what can one do about this? Is simply going through the tribulations of life enough? Or must we turn to the architecture of conspiracy to design not just a reason but a plan to see us through? Is it worth the effort knowing we’re but the puppets of fate? Do we even have a choice?
Otherwise yeah this is pretty silly but hey given what would come after I suppose it’s excusable.

Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 3, 2025.

Comfortable Ben Affleck adventures. Always a pleasure to see autism trump the inhumanities of crime and state alike. You’d think it’d get a bit fetishistic but our star’s moral-divergence keeps things nice and friendly. I would welcome a third.

Watched on Friday May 2, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 3, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 2, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 3, 2025.

Honorary American

Incident gives way to adventure. A simple innocence has been formed in the aftermath of the bomb, somehow. Shame it couldn’t possibly last what with all that sin in the air. But the good people will do what they can, even in the face of the majestic catastrophe that is Mothra flapping about.

The world is shrouded in confusion! There is an app for everything, an exploit for every app, an ideology behind every exploit, a body for every ideology. No wonder it’s so hard to look in the mirror these days – you can hardly tell who or what is looking back at you. Only natural we’re so desperate to hold on to the few things that can give just as much as we can – only natural these feelings would overtake our history (or what seems to be a lack of such). Yes it’s all a little awkward at times but as I often like to say, so is real life. We’ve all felt this even if we’re a little shy to it it.

I don't know which is more beautiful.

Only the first minute of this really puts something on the table.

Working class pleasures.

Watched on Saturday April 26, 2025.

Watched on Saturday April 26, 2025.

Sort of frightening to even think about! The digital worldbuilding is one thing but it’s the montage that really makes this immortal. We travel through the end of one history but what’s being accomplished here is like the start of a new one. Christensen’s exhaustion and capitulation is beyond compare. So many artificial bodies on screen and yet this is one of the premier expressions of humanity this century thus far.

Watched on Wednesday April 23, 2025.

Maybe a little doe-eyed (maybe not so much back then) but it gets its feelings across.

We’ve put enough of ourselves into the digital world to remake mankind a dozen times over. But how will we react when these coalescences find their way back through the wires and screens and ask us about the weather, especially after having faced isolation upon isolation? Personally if you gave me a little Miku I could watch bob about and feed croutons to then I’d be mostly fine.

Often adorable. Situations such as these are always a treat. Digital demoralizations by way of phone vibrations and inane memeage are plenty these days (especially from Those in Power) and so it’s a good stepping stone for the absurdity that is to follow.

Presents its wild appeals to music so confidently that you almost don’t mind that this ultimately isn’t as much of a musical as it probably should be. Confidence is good mind you, that’s mostly what makes this a spectacle-venture worth visiting at the least. It's even a smart enough to be a little sexy! But one wonders how this could've gone without some of those empty Tarantino-isms. Still, fine day at the IMAX with this little genre flick.

Watched on Saturday April 19, 2025.

Godzilla is a frightening creature! Important to never forget that.

The acceptance of death is the same as the desire for life.

Delightful and good for the spirit.

Watched on Wednesday April 16, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday April 16, 2025.

The progression from industrial-town tensions to all out ptero-terror is great – there’s always a bigger fish, as they say.

1. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
2. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
3. Star Wars
4. Return of the Jedi
5. The Empire Strikes Back
6. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

Upsetting "reality" - whatever that means.

1. They Live
2. Assault on Precinct 13
3. Prince of Darkness
4. In the Mouth of Madness
5. The Thing
6. Escape from L.A.
7. Halloween
8. The Fog
9. Christine
10. Starman

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
2. Babe: Pig in the City
3. Three Thousand Years of Longing
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. Mad Max 2
6. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
7. Mad Max
8. Lorenzo's Oil
9. The Witches of Eastwick
10. Happy Feet

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Resident Evil: Retribution
2. In the Lost Lands
3. Resident Evil: Afterlife
4. Pompeii
5. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
6. Resident Evil
7. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
8. Monster Hunter
9. The Three Musketeers
10. Shopping

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Tenet
2. Interstellar
3. Oppenheimer
4. Inception
5. The Dark Knight Rises
6. The Prestige
7. Insomnia
8. Memento
9. Dunkirk
10. Batman Begins

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Inland Empire
2. Twin Peaks: The Return
3. Mulholland Drive
4. Blue Velvet
5. The Straight Story
6. Lost Highway
7. The Elephant Man
8. Eraserhead
9. Dune
10. Wild at Heart

• Halloween III: Season of the Witch
• Halloween
• Halloween II
• Halloween
• Halloween II
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
• Halloween: Resurrection
• Halloween Kills
• Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
• Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Heat
2. The Last of the Mohicans
3. The Insider
4. Manhunter
5. Blackhat
6. Ferrari
7. Thief
8. Collateral
9. Miami Vice
10. Public Enemies

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

So sophisticated!

1. Bad Boys II
2. Ambulance
3. Pain & Gain
4. Armageddon
5. Transformers
6. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
7. The Rock
8. 6 Underground
9. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
10. Transformers: The Last Knight

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Despiser
2. Invader
3. Malice: Origin
4. Malice: Emergence
5. Malice: Metamorphosis
6. Ghost Planet
7. Pungo: A Witch's Tale
8. Beyond the Rising Moon

1. The Village
2. Knock at the Cabin
3. Old
4. Split
5. Trap
6. Lady in the Water
7. Glass
8. Unbreakable
9. Signs
10. The Happening

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Gone Girl
• Alien³
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Panic Room
• The Game
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Se7en
• Mank
• The Killer
• Fight Club

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Paths of Glory
4. Barry Lyndon
5. Full Metal Jacket
6. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
7. A Clockwork Orange
8. The Killing
9. The Shining
10. Spartacus

1. Sucker Punch
2. Zack Snyder's Justice League
3. Watchmen
4. Man of Steel
5. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
6. Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire
7. Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver
8. Army of the Dead
9. 300
10. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Killing of a Sacred Deer
• The Lobster
• Dogtooth
• The Favourite
• Poor Things
• Kinds of Kindness

1. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
2. Death Proof
3. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
4. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
5. Jackie Brown
6. Inglourious Basterds
7. The Hateful Eight
8. Pulp Fiction
9. Django Unchained
10. Reservoir Dogs

1. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
2. Rushmore
3. Asteroid City
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel
6. The French Dispatch
7. The Darjeeling Limited
8. The Royal Tenenbaums
9. Moonrise Kingdom
10. Bottle Rocket

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Enemy
2. Arrival
3. Incendies
4. Prisoners
5. Sicario
6. Polytechnique
7. Blade Runner 2049
8. August 32nd on Earth
9. Dune
10. Dune: Part Two

• Dark City
• The Crow
• Knowing
• Gods of Egypt
• Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds
• Garage Days
• I, Robot

1. Speed Racer
2. The Matrix
3. Cloud Atlas
4. The Matrix Revolutions
5. The Matrix Reloaded
6. The Matrix Resurrections
7. Jupiter Ascending
8. Bound

• Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
• THX 1138
• Star Wars
• American Graffiti
• Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
• Return of the Jedi
• The Empire Strikes Back

• Paranormal Activity 3
• Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
• Paranormal Activity
• Paranormal Activity 2
• Paranormal Activity 4
• Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night
• Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
• Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

1. Saw VI
2. Saw
3. Saw III
4. Saw X
5. Saw II
6. Saw IV
7. Spiral: From the Book of Saw
8. Saw V
9. Saw 3D
10. Jigsaw

• Mission: Impossible II
• Mission: Impossible
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
• Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
• Mission: Impossible – Fallout
• Mission: Impossible III

1. Batman Returns
2. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
3. Batman Forever
4. Batman
5. Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero
6. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1
7. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2
8. Batman & Robin
9. The Batman
10. The Lego Batman Movie

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Spider-Man
• Spider-Man 2
• Spider-Man 3
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• Spider-Man: Far From Home
• Spider-Man: No Way Home
• Spider-Man: Homecoming

The American Dream

1. Rocky
2. Rocky Balboa
3. Rocky IV
4. Creed
5. Rocky III
6. Rocky V
7. Rocky II

Good year!

1. Avatar: The Way of Water
2. Ambulance
3. Crimes of the Future
4. Dead for a Dollar
5. The Fabelmans
6. Dark Glasses
7. Three Thousand Years of Longing
8. The Novelist's Film
9. Nope
10. Magic Spot

...plus 35 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The way of water has no beginning and no end,
The sea is around you and in you,
The sea is your home, before your birth and after your death.
Our hearts beat in the womb of the world,
Our breath burns in the shadows of the deep,
The sea gives and the sea takes.
Water connects all things, life to death, darkness to light.

1. The Terminator
2. Avatar: The Way of Water
3. The Abyss
4. Avatar
5. Titanic
6. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
7. Aliens
8. True Lies

1. Resident Evil: Retribution
2. Resident Evil: Extinction
3. Resident Evil: Afterlife
4. Resident Evil
5. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
6. Resident Evil: Apocalypse