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Ideological filth, the intention being to convince that you “sex work is work”. No it is not.
It is not productive and most people in it are victims of trafficking. If the film nominally wins points for anything, it is to show you how nobody would be a prostitute if it wasn’t for the economic factor. Nothing much else to say except prostitution should be banned and that Johns are effectively rapists. 

Sadly, most people viewing this will think that these people need a “union”. And by the way, fuck Criterion Collection.

Watched on Saturday March 8, 2025.

MEGA FUN  and a spectacle on the big screen. 

Shout out to the idiots who decided this didn’t deserve IMAX or Dolby treatment. At least around my way.

A mother irably defends her family from the some of the most parasitic elements of society. You commend her and the film’s nobility, but in of suspense the story falls rather flat as you think of 1,000+ ways the conflict could have easily been resolved. Not bad, but not particularly great either.

All lives matter is anti war and anti imperialist 🙂

The Chinese film industry has long been dedicated to the promotion and rediscovery of their tradition & culture.  All of the Chinese blockbusters released this year were made with this purpose. I personally am fascinated by it and perhaps it is an inspiration for what can once more be done here at home. 

This is not my favorite of the ones released this year, but still good nonetheless. I’m excited for what else is coming from the ‘Middle Land’ 😉

Ouch

Watched on Friday February 28, 2025.

A soft indictment of the film industry. Cinema inspires us to dream, but when over done it turns to escapism, which is no healthy medium to cope with the disparities of real life. All the reason why neorealism is one of the most important genres and a modern film like Yannick needs more recognition.

Really need to run through Luchino Visconti’s entire filmography.

It's bleak, yet empowering. You can never underestimate the determination to be free.

Dedicated to the disenfranchised couple, calling upon our basic need to be in the company of others and be normal. And in noir fashion the film shuts these hopes and aspirations down by the end (in a chapel to make it sting even more).

Robert Altman's 'Thieves Like Us' is a remake of this film. Now I think I will have to rewatch it and see how it sits with me now.

I can't give this movie 5 stars though, knowing Peckinpah does right by the disenfranchised couple in his film 'The Getaway' by allowing them the sweet, romantic escape to Mexico that they deserve ❤️

I watch the show ’Legitimate Targets’ by Jackson Hinkle and in one of the episodes he interviews Setareh Sadeqi, who is a female professor from Iran and teaches at the University of Tehran. One of the topics discussed was women’s rights in Iran. Despite the fact that women have been contributing to the Iranian economy in the most professional of positions for the longest period of time, Sadeqi’s point was that women in Iran are more than ready to put aside their grassroots initiatives in order to protect their country from foreign aggression. Individuals rights are secondary to the sovereignty of the nation. 

That is the primary theme of this film, which is the biggest film adaptation to come from China about the folk heroine Hua Mulan. More commonly known here are the two Disney film adaptations about the same figure. 

What surprised me most about this film is how quickly the conflicts concerning gender are swept aside once Mulan’s nation is being attacked. Afterwards it is all about individual sacrifice and dealing with the hardships of war. To quote Mulan from the film 

 -Behind us is our homeland. If we have to bleed out our last drop of blood, if we have to become bleached bones in this desert, we must defend it to the death. 

By this point she had already inspired her entire battalion. All of the soldiers are her brothers. The fact that she is a woman has long been a dead issue. 

I don’t much of the Disney animated film to really do a side-by-side comparison, but a quick scan of the Letterboxd logs reveals how the animated film is viewed today which ideology has taken ownership of it. 

The question is if today’s champions of Cartesian identity politics (most commonly represented by LGBT and feminist activists) would be ready to display the degree of selflessness and patriotic pride shown by Mulan and the women in Iran? 

This is a great film and it is ed to Youtube with English subtitles. Check it out.

Only Brando can navigate between the need for blood-boiling revenge and an unexpected romance that brings a new sense of purpose with such emotional honesty and conviction. Great film 🙂

After watching the EXCELLENT film Uptight not too long ago, Jules Dassin was a director I knew I had to revisit. Thieves Highway is a noir with elements of neorealism that examines the inner workings of a fruit market, more specifically the truckers who deliver the produce to be sold.

Abundant critique can be found here about Western capitalism, highlights being its portrayal of a working class that has become highly self-antagonistic, greedy and cynical, which spills over into the strained relationship between migrants and citizens. By this period class consciousness and solidarity were already martyrs.

I want to believe this inspired Wages of Fear and there are sequences that made me think of it. It's a great watch with moments of empathy for the protagonist reaching levels of the Italian neorealist films already out there at this time. The 'femme fatale' here also has better intentions and is 100x more sympathetic than most others from the noirs of this period. Definitely recommended.

Watched on Thursday February 20, 2025.

Wish I discovered this earlier. Beautiful set pieces and musical numbers alongside a heartwarming tale about everybody’s potential for repentance. This is nourishment for the soul 😌

Watched on Tuesday February 18, 2025.

-We believe in honor and loyalty 
-More like a peace treaty between thieves 

I couldnt help but think of the Sopranos while watching this and when I peep Armond White’s review afterwards I felt so validated 🥹

A post World War noir that, with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, is about that era. Doesn’t hold the same degree of reckoning or social awareness that a film like Odd Man Out does, but the attempt is there. A very interesting contrast here is the amount of perspectives you find, ranging from the gullibility of a suburban housewife willing to tell a complete stranger where to find her husband, to the pitch black worldview of the underworld characters encountered later on by the protagonist. The bleak ending fortunately resists the many temptations for an overtly nihilistic cop-out. 

Overall I’m going to say I “liked” this, it’s biggest flaw to me being its very predictable storyline. Not bad.

- Immortals, demons, those are just excuses to treat differently 

Another Chinese blockbuster that upholds moral convictions over dogmatic conceptions of good vs. evil. Family is a huge theme here, with Ne Zha’s relationship to his mother being a highlight to me. This sequel brings together the story told from the first with more emotional peaks and more intense action sequences. 

It is intended to be watched on the big screen. The animation is just top notch. Films like these make the box office great again (check the numbers). Do check it out 💪

Based in the same Fengshen Universe as Ne Zha, Jiang Zya (or Legend of Deification as it is called here on LB) is a film with astounding animation and is highly versed in the Chinese folklore.

I do not claim to know this folklore outside of what I’ve seen in the movies, so the film was ittedly a bit complicated to follow.

What sold me regardless was its mature exploration of corruption in the heavens (a recurring theme given how obscured good vs. evil is in the Ne Zha film) despite claiming victory over the Ninetail Fox Demon. Despite prosperity in heaven, all is not well in the mortal world given the amount of lost souls after the war and the soldiers who could not be reunited with their families. Perhaps a different approach to spiritual themes between Asia and Western culture, as this prosperity (as well as the insistence to sacrifice an innocent child for the greater good for humanity) is cause for great moral concern for the protagonist. 

I will have to rewatch these films in order to process more of the folklore that is told here. The themes here are also surprisingly mature for a children’s film, which is something you hardly ever see when watching a Pixar film 🤔. Great stuff all around. Gonna watch Ne Zha 2 tomorrow 😙

In hindsight, this is not a happy teen romance (way too grounded and open about the anxieties faced by us as adolescents), yet it is too warm to be nihilistic about the experience of young love.

One of my favorite romance flicks… happy Valentine’s Day 🫶

Chinese folklore (based on the novel ‘Investiture of the Gods’) with insightful commentary on fate vs. destiny… I had fun with this, it’s heart being in the right place.

A lot of hype around the sequel breaking box office records…. Looking forward to watching it this weekend 😉

Watched on Wednesday February 12, 2025.

It’s a great film honestly, with golden commentary on race. Good to see historical examples of resistance against Cartesian-based identity politics.

Still is one of my favorite satires. Some people really dropped the ball with Altman.

Watched on Friday February 7, 2025.

My first time seeing this picture 
It is comionate to the very core that not only explores the obvious theme of loss of childhood in a profound way, but still manages to capture the universal human experience under the grim setting of war. The friendship Jamie strikes with the Japanese trainee pilot at the internment camp is a huge example. The reunification with Jamie’s parents was very emotional to me I too had almost forgotten what they looked like.

An interesting critique I read concerned the underrepresentation of the Chinese in the film.
How that could have coincided with the film’s main story is open to interpretation. Nevertheless, there are countless Chinese films that expose Imperial Japan’s treachery. Another is the spy thriller Cliff Walkers (2021) by Zhang Yimou. The focus of Empire of the Sun lies elsewhere IMO. 

If ET was about the magic and the innocence of childhood experience, Empire of the Sun is almost like a thematic flip side by showing what happens when it is taken away. A handful of sequences here are visually next level stuff (the  stadium with the prisoners’ belongings comes to mind). Also there are a lot of cinematic Easter eggs to be found for those who do their movie homework (anybody catch the billboard of a certain film epic 👀). Empire of the Sun is a compelling and undervalued part of Spielberg’s filmography.

Been waiting to watch this one and by the judge of LB stats, Broken Trail looks to be one of Walter Hill’s more overlooked works. While technically a Tv Show, it could also be looked at as his film epic 👀 

It’s a great Western with a style that is reminiscent of Lonesome Dove. What especially won me over is its examination of laissez-faire capitalism on the Frontier, especially in relation to human trafficking. When the two protagonists take up a once-in-a lifetime business venture that involves selling horses, they unexpectedly encounter one moral detour after the other and have to fend for the lives of Chinese prostitutes who are being hunted. To quote Prentice Ritter: Sometimes you just gotta take what life throws at ya. 

In spirit this is a great follow up to Lonesome Dove where Robert Duvall once plays a more than empathetic character, with epic and beautiful shots of the Frontier. That about wraps up my journey with Walter Hill, who has made some of the best Westerns I’ve seen, several of which I’ll be sure to revisit.

"We've always drowned your shouting with our voice, haven't we Father? We never really listened to you. We repeated the words without thinking what they meant"

Carol Reed masterfully blends spiritual anguish and confusion with elements of neorealism in a portrait of postwar Northern Ireland (Belfast). I am not very versed with the IRA, but neither does one have to be in order to empathize the city's pain, from the individual to the communal. One of my favorite themes focuses on rebellion. While the youth glorifies the myth surrounding the outlaw Johnny McQueen to cope with their disenfranchisement (a clear consequence of trauma and desensitization), McQueen himself is struggling to cope with the effects of societal seclusion and for taking a human life in a heist gone awry. Figures like Father Tom are working class heroes and showcase Carol Reed's understanding for what makes a GREAT noir.

Noirs have historically served as a post World War artistic battleground between the light and the shadows. Today's cinema is the result of one-too many filmmakers surrendering to despair, allowing the moral confusion displayed in this film to dominate societal discourse. With 'Odd Man Out' Carol Reed effectively warns of the consequences when this spiritual battle goes astray. We desperately need more Father Tom's in our lives.

A very peculiar noir that is more theatrical than cinematic. Very dark and openly cynical, though not entirely devoid of a moral reckoning. I can't say I really "liked" this (it's one of those noirs where there's too much talking for one thing), but it was different.

Was vibing with it at first due to its clear love for American car culture, veered a bit too hard into the dystopia and nihilism, which it didn't seem to bounce back from.. Punk cinema was never really my thing.

BIG THINGS BELONG ON BIG SCREENS

This was amazing… even better than the first with more epic battles with giants. Long live the village of Xiqi. 

BTW The actress Nashi was an angel in this I really look forward to seeing more of her 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

A potential union between America and China (symbolized by the relationship in the film) spoiled by bigotry and corrupt politics. 

For the same reason Chinese are not discouraged at the end of the film to study and pursue work opportunities in America, Americans can watch for an example of nationalist pride and a humble history lesson, making it a much better than its self-loathing alternative ‘The Burning’ that is currently being one-sidedly pushed by liberal media.

China has been putting out blockbuster epics for a hot minute now that beg to be seen on the big screen, while not sacrificing on humanistic themes (damn near a lost skill, ya know)

Humanity's fate is put to the test when the great Shang dynasty fully succumbs to corruption and it is the refusal of a few key individuals to watch man fully lose himself in pursuit of uncontrolled power that sparks the battle that will define this trilogy. A single spark can start a prairie fire and I had the distinct feel while watching this there is even bigger things to come (the post-credits scenes kinda confirm it 😉 )

I am not familiar with old Chinese folklore so I appreciate how accessible this was to watch, regardless. My only problem was I had to watch this on my laptop 😭 , but I'm watching part 2 tomorrow on IMAX so it's all good 😘

Watched on Thursday January 30, 2025.

Why is this hated on lol, this is a bonkers parody (reminded me of MASH kinda) with tons of references to classic films. The dance sequence too is something to ire 👀 

Best to watch the director’s cut 💪

"It's a great joke played on us by the Lord, or fate or nature or whatever you want to you prefer. The gold has gone back to where we found it"- Howard (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)

'Tres' is an urban spin on the classic film 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre', with Walter Hill adding his flair by presenting what he calls 'a stripped down moral universe'. Out of the three forces presented (the homeless man, the gangs and the firefighters), to whom did that gold rightfully belong to with this in mind? In other words, who was responsible for the building's maintenance and who was responsible for its destruction? I am reminded by the scene in Sierra Madre where Howard insisted on patching up the cave after extracting the gold.

To be watched as a double feature with Sierra Madre to get the most out of it IMO.

Watched on Wednesday January 29, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday January 29, 2025.

Spielberg showed a lot of love to disenfranchised couples/ families in his theatrical film debut, similar in a way to Peckinpah's 'The Getaway'. The concept of government taking away children is something many people are all too familiar with. That is not too say everybody is fit to be a parent, but the amount of antagonism the state is prepared to show before showing any effort to put troubled citizens back on the right path has always been mind baffling. Great rewatch.

Honestly it is more bitter than it is emotional. Noirs are mean to be bleak, but there are ones out there with the exact opposite intentions (based off recent viewings some examples would be Ride The Pink Horse, Odds Against Tomorrow, Mildred Pierce).

 This however is just pitch black. Not an enjoyable watch tbh.

Not feeling this one. Ossessione (1943) is a much better adaptation from the novel with more fleshed out characters, romance/infidelity and it was much more grounded (it was one of the early examples of Italian neorealism). Here the characters are primarily concerned with double crossing and scorn. And there is definitely a bureaucratic view of justice present. I found it difficult to empathize with anybody here.

Spent the whole time thinking about Ossessione honestly 💔

The film makes no qualms about putting the exploitative nature of the service industry on display (the protagonist winning the championship award while wearing an arm brace sums it up nicely), while at the same time pointing to solutions, ie a system that emphasizes collaboration between delivery workers over cut-throat competition for rewards.

Collaboration ------> A more efficiently run system with less accidents, orders being met on time and more time for family

Cut Throat Competition ------> A highly imbalanced system where a reserve few delivery workers make the real dough while the others compete for scraps and order quotas suffer immensely.

That is just one aspect of the issue at hand, but director Zheng Xu is grounded enough to realize that the apps and the quotas of the service industry are for the time being here to stay. After all, who would want to do the work done by the protagonist's grandfather, which was even more physically demanding?

The question is how do we deal maintain our humanity In the digital age and this film should be commended for both posing the question and for planting the idea in the viewer's mind for solutions.

Too many of the 2024 Oscars nominees are up to their nose in decadence and I'm not even gonna bother commenting on them.

I loved this and Catelya is totally bae, but my only qualms were the following:

—-> Somebody of her depth should not have to threaten the family of the FBI agent. That was a smug, cynical choice on behalf of the screenwriters. A better choice would to have the agent empathize and (covertly) help her kill the drug lord. That would also better convey the message “Justice >>>> bureaucracy” 

—> Too much spoken English in the scenes in Colombia: USA = English, Colombia = Spanish 

Otherwise a perfect film. Loved this a lot.

A rather esoteric tale, yet following suit in the long tradition of highlighting the actions of a few good individuals amongst a sea of robber barons. 

Long live American folklore

Above anything else I feel it is an intriguing study of the psychological consequences of revenge on its victims. Both the doctor and ‘patient’ remain for the most part unchanged by the end, exposing the one-sided sense of “justice” of the acts they commit to one another. 

In this regard, more light is shed on the theme of gender reassignment that to this day still dominates a lot of societal discourse. While Walter Hill may be looking to comment on how we approach the topic, it is also clearly a throwback to comic book lore, also given away by the stylization of the film. 

I am not a comic book expert, but it’s a fact that many of those stories deal with characters who undergo forced scientific experimentation, with the psychological aftermath being a huge focus. Walter Hill effectively continues that tradition by adapting it to today’s world.

Guns don’t kill people

BULLETS DO 

In his most recent buddy-cop drama, Walter Hill pits opposing views of justice together. One is closely aligned with a deconstruction of formalism (represented by Stallone’s character), the other aligned with bourgeois understanding of law and order (represented by the detective). Put to the test, the approach favored by the latter is not only exposed as bureaucratic and insufficient, but also easily susceptible to corruption and is in alignment with the most reactionary forces of our society (ie the kind that will mercilessly throw the poorest out on the street).

In the film, Stallone’s disenfranchisement with the law is in hindsight quite metaphorical, showcasing once more the consequences when matters of of SURVIVAL are left in the hands of out-of-touch gun control advocates.

Easily Walter Hill’s best buddy cop film.

Watched on Tuesday January 21, 2025.

I really liked the moral set-up, which makes this underrated boxing film stand apart from so many escapist alternatives out there. The ending was much more meaningful in this regard. 

Epic fight as well.

As a tale on morality and certain consequences associated with fame and fortune it gets its point across. Overall fairly straightforward with some moments in dialogue. The fight scenes were good too.

A list of films that I not only consider great, but would also want to share once I have kids 😌
Will constantly be revised as I rewatch, discover new films and study more film history.
But basically these are films I still think about after seeing them. 
I have no idea how this will look several years from now 🥲

• Short Cuts
• Deep Cover
• Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
• The Mack
• Kansas City
• Lonesome Dove
• Wild Bill
• Spring Breakers
• the Girls
• La Cocina

...plus 77 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I watched everything from the master, what else is there to say 🤷‍♀️

1. The Long Riders
2. Geronimo: An American Legend
3. Wild Bill
4. Broken Trail
5. The Driver
6. Southern Comfort
7. Bullet to the Head
8. Extreme Prejudice
9. Dead for a Dollar
10. Tres

...plus 13 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• To Sleep with Anger
• Hi, Mom!
• Chameleon Street
• Hôtel du Nord
• The Player
• 3 Women
• Thirteen
• Band of Angels

Ran through his filmography… here is how I rank his films by personal preference

1. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
2. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
3. The Getaway
4. Cross of Iron
5. The Wild Bunch
6. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
7. Ride the High Country
8. Convoy
9. Straw Dogs
10. Major Dundee

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

I definitely enjoyed ‘Thieves Like Us’ and all the movies ranked above. Some of his best movies are some his most overlooked IMO. 
———————
Open to recommendations regarding other movies from his filmography I should check out.

1. Short Cuts
2. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
3. Kansas City
4. That Cold Day in the Park
5. M*A*S*H
6. A Wedding
7. Dr. T & the Women
8. HealtH
9. Brewster McCloud
10. The Long Goodbye

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of the films Rapper Tupac Shakur starred in as an actor ranked by personal preference (best to worst) 
A list of my favorite movies starring DMX coming soon!

1. Gridlock'd
2. Gang Related
3. Poetic Justice
4. Juice
5. Above the Rim
6. Bullet

One of my favorite directors 😙

1. Once Upon a Time in America
2. Duck, You Sucker
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
5. For a Few Dollars More
6. A Fistful of Dollars

Taken from the list created by the Academia de cine located in Madrid, Spain located here:
www.academiadecine.com/2019/03/28/las-100-peliculas-del-cine-espanol-que-todo-estudiante-deberia-conocer/

These movies serve as a first hand testimony as to how the cinema of Spain developed over the decades. 
FYI: this list is solely dedicated to the cinema of Spain 🇪🇸, not Latin America.

• The Cursed Village
• Land Without Bread
• La verbena de la Paloma
• La torre de los siete jorobados
• La vida en un hilo
• Life in Shadows
• Surcos
• Black Sky
• Welcome Mr. Marshall!
• The Miracle of Marcelino

...plus 91 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I watched the entire Coen Brothers filmography. I definitely enjoyed Intolerable Cruelty and the movies ranked above. Here is how I rank their movies from favorite to least favorite.

1. No Country for Old Men
2. Blood Simple
3. Burn After Reading
4. Hail, Caesar!
5. Fargo
6. Raising Arizona
7. A Serious Man
8. True Grit
9. Miller's Crossing
10. The Big Lebowski

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.