The pursuit for success. The loss of humanity. The cost of greed. A masterclass of western-inspired film-making, both equal parts restrained and monstrous in its depiction of a man digging his hole far too deep to get out of. What starts as the somewhat humble but visceral beginnings of a prospector slowly evolves into the darkest of contemporary Americana “rise-and-fall” tales. At the end of the day, there will only be blood.

It’s hard to put into words how incredible this is. One of the greats from the last decade easily, and one of the best character studies I’ll truly ever see. Bleak, devastating but utterly authentic in the way it depicts addiction, the loneliness and complete self-destruction it brings, and how easy all it of it blinds you to feeling real emotion and the love surrounding you that cannot be faked. Just as stunned as my first time watching. Officially one of my favourite ever leading performances from Fassbender in here now.

Still really excited for the sequel, but I hope it doesn’t follow suit cause’ this one was just a bit too overdone with the “meta-ness” and didn’t actually bring anything exciting to the table. Great kills though, and it always feels like an event seeing a fresh array of characters coming together with the legends in a franchise. Jenna Ortega hype is REAL, basically stole every scene she was in.

An absolute masterclass of neo-noir. Immaculate vibes can only go so far, so luckily this brings compelling writing in spades. Nicholson gives a truly magnetic performance, and the film has one of the most shocking endings I’ve seen in a long time. “Shocking” might actually be too mellow of a term to describe it, just… wow.

Stunning cinematography as you’d expect from “the master”, and the relationship between Phoenix’s and Hoffman’s characters is far and away the most compelling and intriguing aspect of the entire picture. I’m so bloody confident that this is a far deeper and layered film than what I can conceive right now, but I felt somewhat cold towards this?
 
Really similar to my Decision To Leave watch a few days ago - there’s obviously a lot that’s going on beneath the surface, but I unfortunately found close to nothing to latch onto from a purely emotional standpoint.

First Park Chan-wook film :)

Yeah, I am a little disappointed that I didn't seem to love this as much as other people, but this was still a solid film, don't get me wrong. Technically brilliant - sounds great, cleanly edited, and Ji-yong Kim handles the camera with such a wonderful blend of wit and expertise. Just sad that story-wise, I didn't find it as compelling nor emotionally-moving as I thought it would've been towards that back half. Hopefully it all clicks for me on rewatch.

Those long takes are to die for. Loved how this wasn’t in any rush to get anywhere, at least for the first half. Getting the viewer fully immersed into the drab, noir-like city of Tokyo was one of, if not, Cure’s central goal right off the bat, and it completely delivered in that department.

HUGE Parasite vibes here - starts and concludes at two completely different ends of the emotional spectrum, and switches tones quite seamlessly. The cast, specifically Campbell, are all magnificent, and I can’t emphasise enough how truly unpredictable this was. One of the few horror movies that I can recall in recent memory that uses this unpredictability surrounding the whole narrative to build fear, and oh my gawd, did that work on me.

REALLY high 3.5 stars… that ending is kinda mid. A barbarically thrilling time nonetheless!

Watching this almost 30 years later after its release is probably the reason why I didn't find this as nearly as revolutionary or subversive as I thought it would be, but my god, did I have a great time! Good, good stuff.