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Can't beat the setting but lacks the many different compelling characters and multiple centers of gravity on different sides from each other that helped lift the first one. The heist also doesn't deliver quite as strongly. But it still slaps.

Just a hair under my favorite for Miyazaki, with a bit less of his unmatched world building, society imagining, and machine making from his other films. But the righteous fury of Mononoke will always stand out and in a good way.

Ugh what a bummer to miss this perfectly sweet but wonderfully unpolished and lived-in intergenerational tale from last year

Shinkansen really do be like that though

Felt weird to see the live action without seeing this first, but now I've set myself up to really hate watching what by all s - and based on the past remakes - is just a retread.

Uh oh, is Hou not for me? Very cool in fits and starts and almost always gorgeous to look at, but it moves as paint dries.

I don't normally rate shorts - particularly ones with dialogue in a language I can't speak but without subtitles - but this earns an exception two key reasons (not in any particular order):

- This short film is astoundingly beautiful with a moving and fully realized story that is completely clear and coherent without any dialogue and also, as could be expected with Miyazaki, does more jaw-dropping and captivating world-building which leaves you wanting to see so much more in its short runtime than most films could dream.

- I am extremely fortunate that I was able to travel to Japan, able to make it to the Ghibli Museum (an incredible and highly recommended experience for any who can), and see this in the enchanting Saturn Theater. Just an absolute highlight of the trip.

Kinda drab and dull in parts but has some occasionally compelling moments and at times I found the animation pretty dang good so IDK, as far as movies made to avoid rights reverting, it certainly could be worse

Definitely lacking compared to the prior two Paul King films, but this is just such a high-floor enterprise

This movie deserved better - better performance, better reputation, better everything. It's no Fallout - what is? - and the AI stuff, particularly the 2003 music visualizer level visual representation of "The Entity" is laughable, but everything else is chef's kiss. The Rome chase, the climb up the one-by-one slow crawl fall of the train, this shit is so imaginative fun. Never stop.

Not quite the "traveling to Tokyo" entree I hoped for but Gaspar is always so singularly weird and it always at least kinda works for me

Now this is an excellent movie to watch 8 minutes at a time before falling asleep.

Pretty fucking funny

Just preparing for my Japan trip. This is exactly what Tokyo will be like, right?

I mean it's certainly a step in the right direction but I feel like we're looking at a bare semblance of competence and heralding it because it's not the slop that's been preceding it. I mean, it's basically a two act film that spends so much time setting itself up while trying to distract from that endeavor by staging a prolonged 1v1v1v1vBob fight.

That said, obviously Florence rules and aces this assignment and tbh i thought Harbour did too. Sebastian seems a little straight jacketed by his role compared to the others. And points for the climactic showdown being different and about something real, even if the drawback is that it is another stakesless / completely reversible.

Best I can say is Zegler comes away unscathed and Dennison's still got it. That thong song bit should've been the movie, really

I'm making a concerted effort to make it a habit to not begrudge anyone a paycheck movie.

Now, a paycheck + paid vacation to Capri movie? Absolute respect to all involved.

Just my personal latest encountered exemplar of deploying specificity to unlock universality. The inverse never works. But I'll grant that few can write a family like Hirokazu Kore-eda.

I think it's missin gjust a bit of the potency of the first, and that might be because this tracks pretty closely for me as the Aliens to 28 Days Later's Alien.

But it certainly has its share of fucked up, gnarly, morality play, and just straight sick sequences.

Ready for the third!

Nonstop flamethrowing, what a ride. I had zero exposure to William Petersen until I caught a rep screening of Manhunter last year, and goddamn did he knock out some bangers in the 80s.

Also, by the time they were done with that chase from the <spoiler>, all I could think was "yep, LA traffic do still be like that".

Ahead of an first trip to Japan / Tokyo, felt in the mood to revisit this. I really hadn't engaged with it since I was toward the end of my childhood Godzilla phase. I watched this when I was old enough to be curious about the OG, but not really old enough to fully get the underlying emotional heft.

Packs a punch. And, I honestly didn't know / that my favorite bit of iconic Godzilla score actually did originate here. So fucking cool.

Essentially an impossible alchemy of goofiness, irreverence, sincerity, and weirdness. You should not be able to at times give Monty Python vibes and others so compellingly honor the importance of care and attention and craft. Lovingly made and lovely

In some ways less gnarly than I expected, but then of course we've got a new "fun" twist on the "humans will always be the real danger" notion in these post-apocalyptic etc. hellscapes. Stellar cast

Fell into that category of "are we sure I saw that?". On revisit, my impression hasn't really changed of this being an unremarkably solid albeit with its one unique hook. But knowing there's a sequel now and a bit about what it focuses on, that context both detracted a bit - no real tension / stakes to Bernthal - until it became a fun game of "oh how will this go down though?" there at the end.

Not a real movie, right?

Good for Viola keeping the action juice flowing but Sabrina Impacciatore was wasted here

It just fails so hard at selling Pe and Anakin, or at least why she would have any feelings for him let alone sufficient to ignore the countless blaring red flags.

Doesn't matter how many times I've seen it, the poor dialogue and historically bad chemistry still surprise each time.

But I'll never forget being a 12 year old kid in a theatre and everyone losing their goddamn minds when Yoda enters the fray.

My emotional journey with this film largely mirrored Robin Wright's character's - essentially an ever-increasing desire to get the fuck out of there.

I get so mad any time the false dichotomies of a "film" vs a "movie" or one for the audiences vs for the critics are used as a rhetorical cudgel.

Sinners is the latest, clearest, and strongest exemplar of something simple: we can have both! We can have it all! Vanishingly few filmmakers can match Ryan Coogler's insane gifts as a filmmaker, writer, director of actors, artist, etc.; yet not all of these films have to be multidisciplinary masterpieces like Sinners to still try and succeed at being both fun and good.

Two special mentions:

- That music montage oner has gotta be a -100,000 betting favorite to be sequence of the year. Wow.

- Miles Caton!

Think this will work for the crowd that wants an elegy on the march of time just as it will for the crowd that digs baseball or sports hangout movies. And I don't really fit neatly in either group and it sure worked for me.

To me this is The Room of sports films; certainly of front office sports films.

Comparing the deep intelligence of a Moneyball to the off-the-walls, batshit insanity of this film is laughable.

But it's a little fun to point and laugh at the hijinks and the pancake eating motherfucker.

Given the structure - a mission going sideways and group of soldiers ending up pinned down - and, more importantly, the cast, it's tempting to compare this to Black Hawk Down.

In my opinion, it's also an accurate and justifiable comparison. I think as far as "cinema" goes, it ends up a bit unflattering. But, these are films made on quite different budgets and it at least appears their objectives could not be more opposed. I think the unvarnished lens this film opts to use, and the immersion that comes with the close-ups and tick-tock / real-time nature of the story really combine to humanize but far from valorize.

Hopefully those who see this can go beyond the accomplished filmmaking and engage with its more thoughtful and provocative core.

To me this was more of a Tim Key vehicle than a fictional band / music story - not necessarily a bad thing! Key brought the heat, but this certainly needed more Carey Mulligan - as all things do, really.

Throwback, competent, and actually shot on locations (or at least damn convincing to that effect) and I'm here for it. Some pretty major logic gaps and story flaws plus missed opportunities for darker and better twists. Too tidy by half at the end. And why on earth did Rachel Brosnahan take this role?

I really need someone to develop a bat signal for these "no no not only does this kick ass but it's also straight-up *good*" action/heist/bro movies that sneak past me often because of the marketing or whatever else.

Such a time capsule in so many ways, but also kind of beautiful and never more than a moment away from some absurd / hilarious GTA shit happening

Is there a Soderbergh film that doesn't get better the more you watch it?

This felt stuck in between genres rather than mashing them up - never funny enough nor dark enough no bloody enough nor scary (not sure they were trying for this one?) enough nor satirical enough nor social commentary enough nor earnestenough.

On the bright side, despite the tough competition - albeit seemingly acting in different films - Will Poulter absolutely runs with this one.

:(

Where all my Snow White - Dopey shippers at???

Unfortunately, you can see the seams in of studio notes / cutting room changes where you don't know why a scene is in, or you want more of something and don't get it, something is unresolved, whole characters start to build towards something compelling then vanish from the story.

But while its scattershot focus and too-weird-to-not-be-weirder vibe weigh it down, Bong, RPatt, Naomie, Ruffalo etc. are all a little too devilish and having too much fun and there is some genuinely compelling stuff - the question of personhood and the individual and the soul as it relates to expendables and then multiples specifically - plus a really cute creature kept this in the zone of "a good time at the movies" for me.

Remains such a good intersection of casting and persona/personality. And now, with real life events and the sequel? Expecting fireworks

Hackman is a one-of-one. RIP

Immediately in the pantheon of all-time "Holy shit look who it is!" casts

Impossibly alluring while also terrifying in its depiction of the "life of a spy" in of the backstabbing and fuckery. Every outfit, every setting, every look dripping with appeal and sex appeal and danger. Might as well use when Marisa Abela's character says "That is so fucking hot" to Fassbender's as the pull quote.

Soderbergh back with a certified banger.

At one point - you can probably guess - I said to my wife, "it would be so funny if they just killed Moana here." Enjoying the absurdity of that notion was about the only time I experienced joy during this film.

Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley should be required to appear in one feature-length film together every year

A delightful throwback in only the best ways. Bummed not to have seen it in theatres with a jubilant crowd.

This shit just ain't working anymore

Quite possibly the only movie that dares to ask: can a movie be *too* good?

Loosely defined as some combination of feature-length films I saw in the calendar year that also had their initial U.S. commercial release and/or a festival appearance this year.

In order of preference:

1. Sinners
2. Black Bag
3. Sorry, Baby
4. Friendship
5. Eephus
6. One of Them Days
7. Warfare
8. Mickey 17
9. Grand Theft Hamlet
10. Presence

...plus 19 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Loosely defined as some combination of feature-length movies I saw in the calendar year that also had their initial U.S. distribution, streaming release, or festival appearance this year.
In order of preference:

1. Challengers
2. Sing Sing
3. The Substance
4. Dune: Part Two
5. No Other Land
6. A Different Man
7. The Brutalist
8. The Beast
9. Anora
10. Hit Man

...plus 96 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Loosely defined as some combination of feature-length movies I saw in the calendar year that also had their initial U.S. distribution, streaming release, or festival appearance this year.
In order of preference:

1. Killers of the Flower Moon
2. Asteroid City
3. Past Lives
4. May December
5. The Zone of Interest
6. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
7. The Taste of Things
8. Barbie
9. Godzilla Minus One
10. The Teachers' Lounge

...plus 143 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Loosely defined as some combination of feature-length movies I saw in the calendar year that also had their initial U.S. distribution, streaming release, or festival appearance this year.
In order of preference:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. TÁR
3. Aftersun
4. EO
5. Decision to Leave
6. Fresh
7. The Banshees of Inisherin
8. RRR
9. Armageddon Time
10. Broker

...plus 171 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Loosely defined as some combination of feature-length movies I saw in the calendar year that also had their initial U.S. distribution, streaming release, or festival appearance this year (but also including a few key clearly 2021 movies I needed the first week-ish of 2022 to catch up with due to logistics issues and travelling; sue me).
In order of preference:

1. Drive My Car
2. Licorice Pizza
3. The Power of the Dog
4. Titane
5. Dune
6. The Lost Daughter
7. The Green Knight
8. Pig
9. The Worst Person in the World
10. Zola

...plus 246 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Loosely defined as some combination of feature-length movies I saw in the calendar year that also had their initial U.S. distribution, streaming release, or festival appearance this year.

In order of preference:

1. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
3. Nomadland
4. Minari
5. Promising Young Woman
6. Mank
7. Boys State
8. First Cow
9. Mangrove
10. The Nest

...plus 154 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Eventually, there will be just 10, and they will be in order. Eventually.

Edit: See, 10!

1. Moonlight
2. The Master
3. The Social Network
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. The Handmaiden
6. Certified Copy
7. The Favourite
8. Roma
9. The Wind Rises
10. Holy Motors

Loosely defined as some combination of feature-length movies I saw in the calendar year that also had their initial U.S. distribution, streaming release, or festival appearance this year.
In order of preference:

1. Parasite
2. 1917
3. Uncut Gems
4. Marriage Story
5. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
6. The Lighthouse
7. The Farewell
8. Knives Out
9. Avengers: Endgame
10. High Life

...plus 172 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Favourite
2. Roma
3. Eighth Grade
4. Widows
5. First Reformed
6. Black Panther
7. Madeline's Madeline
8. If Beale Street Could Talk
9. Burning
10. Mission: Impossible – Fallout

...plus 192 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.