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Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 23, 2025.

20 years after leaving a fan base divided and disappointed, Star Wars finally has a prequel trilogy worthy of it’s name.

Revenge of the Sith
Andor
Rogue One

The story of the Emperor’s rise to ultimate power. How and why The Chosen One turned against the Jedi. And now, a carefully explained backstory on how the Death Star was created, by who, and why the Rebels were able to destroy it.

These three parts weave together, from beginning to end, the story we actually wanted from a prequel trilogy. It just took us a lot longer than we thought to get it.

Watched on Thursday May 22, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

The opening sequence is ridiculous, funny, tense, and most importantly… wildly entertaining.

Shoutout to the brand new white xbox 360 controller, thing of beauty, would’ve cost at least half this film’s budget for that absolute gem.

Watched on Thursday May 8, 2025.

If you’re ever feeling jaded in your relationship to movies, turn on any of McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossibles. 

The greatest cinematic franchise we have today.

Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 2, 2025.

This and Return of the King are in a deadlocked tie for the most important movie of my childhood.

Anakin is my favourite character across any piece of media I’ve ever consumed. I will never entertain any Hayden slander. Annie does the heavy lifting for all us dudes who cannot properly show emotion.

Watched on Thursday April 24, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday April 23, 2025.

Watched on Saturday April 19, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday April 15, 2025.

Watched on Sunday April 13, 2025.

Constantly grips you with real fear and anxiety. Incredible sound design. Not for the squeamish, tons of blood.

Using a handful of Hollywood up-and-comers gives you immediate attachment to the characters. A great choice by the directors, in a shorter film that jumps right into its setting, skipping the need of cutaways or soldier’s backstories. You are literally just there with them to witness everything in real time. 

Is it military propaganda? No. Warfare is exactly what American Sniper thinks it is.

The needle drop of the year in the opening scene.

Watched on Thursday April 10, 2025.

The first hour can actually draw you in, but then the plot literally falls off a cliff and into a… gorge 

It was cool to see Beth playing chess and Andrew on the drums again though, a cute lil Easter egg

Watched on Tuesday April 1, 2025.

Watched on Sunday March 30, 2025.

Watched on Monday March 24, 2025.

Watched on Sunday March 16, 2025.

Watched on Saturday March 8, 2025.

Watched on Monday March 3, 2025.

Watched on Friday February 28, 2025.

Watched on Sunday February 23, 2025.

Watched on Friday February 21, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 17, 2025.

Every single still from this movie could and should be framed and hung in an art exhibit.

I am the biggest How To Train Your Dragon fan in the Western Hemisphere and still it that this is Dreamworks’ finest.  One of the best animated movies ever made.

Watched on Friday February 14, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 10, 2025.

Watched on Saturday February 8, 2025.

Director’s cut, of course

“That was disappointing” the man sitting next to me mumbled, unprovoked, immediately as the credits began to roll on opening night. In that moment I must it his opinion was shared, not only by me, or what seemed like the majority of people in the audience, but by moviegoers everywhere who shared their confused and unsatisfied thoughts online.

But for some reason, Civil War stayed with me… and eight months after feeling like I was left in the corner, being cucked by one of America’s darling indie studios, I watched it again… and now my feelings of confusion have been replaced with a cheeky, shit eating grin, but in the most respectable way. A24’s goal as distributor is to make a profit from a movie they buy. Simple, right? Not always… sometimes you need to be creative in how you get asses in seats. Alex Garland is a sci-fi dystopian genre writer and filmmaker with a cult following, and some incredible films like Ex Machina and Annihilation, but none of his movies have ever grossed over $50 million at the box office.

So let’s say you’re A24 and someone hands you a fine-tuned script realizing a fear that looms in the back of every American citizens head… a civil war, Red versus Blue, fueled by a president who refuses to give up power, and retaliated by an uprising military group. A film depicting these events, on home soil, has a chance to explode in the domestic box office! One problem… the script isn’t too concerned with the military battles itself, rather it takes us on a road trip observing a team of journalists trying to capture the events as they unfold. This leaves A24 with huge decision to make; market the movie as it is, an homage to photojournalism… or, say fuck it and sell this thing as a great American civil war where historical monuments are being blown to shreds, all while an obvious stand-in for President Trump sweats and cowers in the White House.

And that is exactly what they did. A24 marketed a movie that does not exist. Starting with the first trailer, the audience is baited by an American president addressing a nation under duress, while military violence spreads through D.C. and surrounding areas. We see the now iconic scene of Jesse Plemons asking “which kind of American” our protagonists are. A24 has set the table. The moviegoing public is ready to see a full-scale imagining of a modern-day civil war.

The movie releases. As I mentioned, the audience’s reaction is mostly confusion and disappointment. Seeing this, A24 releases a series of AI generated marketing posters teasing a postapocalyptic America. Famous landmarks destroyed, war raging through the streets of the largest metropolitan cities. Completely doubling down on their initial strategy of audience baiting without a second of hesitation. The result? Civil War grosses $127 Million in the worldwide box office, surprisingly making almost half its profits internationally.  Even though the second weekend moviegoers knew that the film might not meet their expectations, it’s marketed in such a way that it’s now become irresistible.

Watched on Sunday February 2, 2025.

A fun one to laugh along with, but not much more. 

I’m not well studied in housing reclamation following the Second World War… but that was the most interesting plot point for me. Give me more stories on housing reclamation!

A cool concept that knows it’s Swiss cheese’d full of plot holes… but then takes itself seriously for no reason.

Explorers accidentally encountering Earth merely days before the most significant event in the planet’s discovered history. This is the bones of a potentially genre defining movie, if handled with care. 

(Actually kind of surprised it hasn’t been experimented with before this)

Would have been significantly improved by cutting out all dialogue and backstory. Maybe the worst writing of any big budget movie this decade.

“Monumental” - me

A t-shirt with “Monumental” written on the front, and naming every living person on the back. I’d buy one.

But for real, this is a film that requires days of consideration following a first viewing to even begin dissecting. It won’t be for everyone, but it’s an honest and remarkable attempt to prolong the golden age of American cinema.

Incredibly professional in every technical aspect. Air tight script. Great casting and performances by the two feuding egos of men. Topped off with a perfect score, its horns relentlessly echoing in the minds of cinephiles every time they see an upside down statue.

Watched on Wednesday January 22, 2025.

Watched on Monday January 20, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 19, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday January 15, 2025.

Went into this knowing virtually nothing about Robbie Williams or Take That -

This is very well made, excellent visual effects, professional choreography. Surprisingly, a really fun movie to watch. 

I’m always here to filmmakers taking big swings, and this surely is! And for the better!

The thing that really held me back is that the third act felt especially self-indulgent.

Watched on Sunday January 12, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 12, 2025.

Watched on Saturday January 11, 2025.

Watched on Thursday January 9, 2025.

Tomatoes stay ON my BLT

1. Sinners
2. Black Bag
3. Friendship
4. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
5. Bring Them Down
6. Warfare
7. Mickey 17
8. Final Destination Bloodlines
9. Thunderbolts*
10. Companion

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

1. Killers of the Flower Moon
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
3. Oppenheimer
4. Challengers
5. Sinners
6. TÁR
7. Babylon
8. Nope
9. Licorice Pizza
10. The Wild Robot

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

1. Challengers
2. The Wild Robot
3. Dune: Part Two
4. Nickel Boys
5. The Brutalist
6. Red Rooms
7. Anora
8. Civil War
9. Conclave
10. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

...plus 71 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A ranked list of the films I’ve watched at the festival.

1. Bring Them Down
2. Friendship
3. Conclave
4. Queer
5. Eden
6. 40 Acres
7. K-Pops!
8. Relay
9. Meat
10. Emilia Pérez

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

Just guys being dudes

• Everybody Wants Some!!
• Snack Shack
• The Perfect Storm
• Top Gun
• Heat
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• White Squall
• mid90s
• The Lighthouse
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Whiplash
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
4. Boyhood
5. Selma
6. The Theory of Everything
7. American Sniper
8. The Imitation Game

1. Killers of the Flower Moon
2. Oppenheimer
3. Past Lives
4. The Zone of Interest
5. Anatomy of a Fall
6. Poor Things
7. The Holdovers
8. American Fiction
9. Barbie
10. Maestro

Have not seen:
Alien 3
Mank
Panic Room
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

1. Zodiac
2. The Social Network
3. Gone Girl
4. Se7en
5. Fight Club
6. The Game
7. The Killer

1. Boogie Nights
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Phantom Thread
4. Licorice Pizza
5. Magnolia
6. The Master
7. Punch-Drunk Love
8. Hard Eight

Have not seen:
The Castle of Cagliostro
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Castle in the Sky
Kiki's Delivery Service
Porco Rosso
Ponyo
The Wind Rises

1. Spirited Away
2. Princess Mononoke
3. My Neighbor Totoro
4. The Boy and the Heron
5. Howl's Moving Castle

Have not seen:
Insomniac
Memento

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

Have not seen:
Incendies

1. Arrival
2. Dune: Part Two
3. Dune
4. Prisoners
5. Sicario
6. Blade Runner 2049
7. Enemy