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Final Destination with a plot. The plot is about grief, generational trauma, revenge, estranged siblings, but it doesn't quite come to a cohesive whole when paired with the gory deaths and badly written dark comedy. The themes aren't satisfyingly explored and it's complicating the broth when the focus could have been to elevate what does work, which is the tension for the unexpected kills. Maybe a different nonlinear structure could have also added tension when it's cross-cutting the past and the present. Bless him, Theo James is doing his best with the dual role of playing twins but there isn't a lot to chew on when he's just shouting "no no no" at people about to die. There are some all-timer kills, and the death scene compilations will be viewed for years to come. Oz Perkins' direction can't be faulted, but the comedy and horror often mismatch and the aesthetic here isn't as striking as Longlegs.

I watched this with family and to be honest, it's effective as a time-er and Netflix action slop. This is on the level of Extraction, where the action choreography is the main selling point and an A-list actor is just the facilitator. Similarly, it's mindless, there is no emotional investment into the characters, the plot is forgettable and I stopped trying to track who is doing what as most of them seem self-interested. It is still refreshing to see the police just being another one of the gangs much like Rebel Ridge, endlessly corrupt and vile.

It starts off awfully, with a distractingly heavy CG vehicle chase, and the CG backgrounds unfortunately are very noticeable throughout the film. It very much seems like it was made during the COVID-19 pandemic, where they had to paint a New York or Chicago-like grimy city, but then that could also be seen as more like a comic book. Tom Hardy is in his mumble era as a deadbeat dad and corrupt cop, and I couldn't care less what happened to him or whether he would become marginally better as a dad. Officer Cheung as the straight cop is forgettable but her action choreography towards the end is loads of creative fun. The film really picks up 40min in when the club fight happens, and that's when we see Gareth Evans finally showing up as a director. Mind you, the Dutch angles and shaky cam make it less readable than the Raid films, probably because the actors aren't just stunt actors so a lot of editing has to be done around their choreography. Still, it's a long and satisfying bloody sequence. Then it ends, and then is the wait until the final action setpiece, which is two-staged and full of John Woo influence. Since John Woo won't make a new film comparable to his best hits, watching this isn't so bad and since it's Netflix, you can just skip to the good bits.

It's a big disappointment for the big Gareth Evans fan in me, particularly how long the wait was for a new action film by him after Gangs of London season 1, and how much CGI is plastered here. I was embarrassed enough that I didn't want to tell my family this was from the director of the Raid films. I really hope an epic action film is still within his wheelhouse after this.

The Old Guard just came out on Netflix. It's a pretty decent action film, much better in of characterisation (except for a cartoony big pharma villain), pacing, and world-building than say the recent Extraction which felt like a white saviour and slightly racist action film that had a cool one-shot action sequence as its main positive. The plot is pretty standard here. However, the diversity is done well. Other than Men In Black International, I can't come up with many Hollywood action films with a black woman as a co-lead, and Kiki Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk) is fun to watch as the newly immortal fish out of water.

Marwan Kenzari (he played Jafar in Aladdin) was great here, and hope to see more of him in big films.

Pretty cool to have an interfaith gay (muslim and christian) couple be fully characterised and subverting tropes. First time in a big Hollywood action film to be done this well?

This was a formative film in getting me to seek out non-mainstream films or anything that wasn't a blockbuster at the time. I must have come across this back when I lived in the USA from 2001 to 2003, and it blew my mind at the time as a 14yo emo boy (but didn't bother with an aesthetic, just internally) who hadn't come across much science fiction, angsty teens, psychological thrillers, high school dramas, or surrealism. This and The Matrix were what made me a cinephile, someone who would not watch a film just to the time but to use critical thinking and appreciate the filmmaking. I watched this several times over, trying to figure out what it all meant, and came to realise films didn't need to have tidy or happy endings. I would go on IMDB forums and commiserate about our interpretations. The needle drops, the screenplay, the acting, the camerawork, the themes, the unique fiction, was so memorable and still stands out. It's crazy the director was able to get Patrick Swayze for his debut. Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was so relatable and oddball. There are so many memorable lines and scenes. It's a shame Richard Kelly as a director experienced the typical sophomore slump and didn't recover in making a film of this quality ever again.

"On TV, it looks so real."

Chilling critique about the cold-blooded nature of news culture sourced by an equally cold-blooded individual as Jake Gyllenhaal channels his darkness from Donnie Darko in this LA neo noir. Easily his best performance. His dilated steely eyes do most of the work while physically reminding of The Machinist. Jake's character reminded me of The King of Comedy with that strive for success in a seemingly noble field but morals be damned. While I was wary of the narrative spin by TV news in real life with more a focus on fear and hysteria than the unedited truth, now I'll definitely second-guess how that exactly comes about. Nail-biting chase scenes and biting satirical end.

Got to agree with critics, one of the best movies of the year.

My favourite dysfunctional family film ever.

For all the stop-motion, diorama, and storybook aesthetic Wes Anderson goes for in previous films, a Roald Dahl adaptation was a perfect fit for his style and it results here in one of his funniest and most fun films ever. With the deadpan style and quick cuts, the screwball comedy hits hard but there are plenty moments of emotional depth, tragedy, and pathos. The ensemble cast is fantastic even in just their voice acting, and the sticky character models twitching away in stop-motion feels like a school project come to life. Can't wait to see this again with the family.

This review may contain spoilers.

"For a few hours, we were free."

Came back from a 70mm showing of Sinners at BFI IMAX (still absolutely packed even for a matinee), and this was my second time. Absolute stunner of a film. The aspect ratio changes, the booming sound, the music, the cinematography, the practical effects (yay for buckets of blood and squibs), the themes, the sentimentality, the mythos and folklore, the culture, the screenplay, the editing, and dialogue make this incredible. This is an absolute GOATed vampire film for the ages, but it transcends genres to be more about the black American and immigrant experience. Phenomenal performances across the board. Each character is worth rooting for, with full lives, and depth. There are horror genre comforts and enjoyable tropes that are couches within real historical uncomfortableness about white supremacy, exploitation, model minority myths, black capitalism, losing culture, and seeking freedom. Ryan Coogler and the team deliver one of the best films of the year already. Go see it on the biggest screen if you can. Also hope this builds a trend of other filmmakers having strong ownership deals of their art and to not be diluted.

"Let's drift."

Darkly comic, dreamlike, and bittersweet western. Lush cinematography by Robbie Ryan, which is helped by the stunning landscapes that aren't just monochrome deserts but forests, purple, and yellow fields. It was shot in Scotland and New Zealand (which makes me excited for my trip to Scotland in September). Fantastic cast from Kodi Smit-Mhee and Michael Fassbender to the always great Ben Mendelsohn.

It was cool to see Caren Pistorius be a badass.

It's kind of weird that the awesome finale shootout has a really funny, almost slapstick joke in it about rubbing salt in the wound. Very impressive for a debut feature. Shoutout to Kirsty Cameron's costume work, particularly Ben Mendelsohn's coat, one of the GOAT for westerns!

One of the most videogame-y action films. It just keeps getting more ridiculous and fun, with a great kaiju climax. Neveldine/Taylor make for such an energetic action directing combo and I can't wait for their next features. We want Crank 3!

It's the modern Speed. Loads of fun if you're fine with adolescent fantasies. Gratuitous sex, violence, videogame references, jam-packed into what are essentially just chase movies cause of the central conceit that Chev Chelios has to keep moving or he dies. Jason Statham is great when he can employ comedy into his action chops. This has a kinecticism in the filmmaking that had me going all the way to the end.

Val Kilmer in a red tracksuit and pants with slicked back blonde hair is a bold choice of colour contrasting against the mostly grey and blue room with yellow bed covers, and a painting on the wall of The Fruit Harvest by Paul Gauguin. He is alone and old, and it's an existential piece which connect with the lyrics that are barely decipherable but clearly melancholic. Yet, Val's character is vibing and making the most of his presence. It's almost Kubrickian in that the decor reminds of the final scene in 2001, and the camera moves as if an otherworldly observer is checking in on this human, maybe at the twilight of his life. Oneohtrix Point Never makes some of the most beautiful and mind-boggling electronic music and Rick Alverson was a great choice to direct this lonely and validating piece of existentialism.

Loved it. Surprisingly, not many movies that examine what it is to be a detached millenial hipster from the inside out. Tim Heidecker delivers a great performance. Rick Alverson has this fantastic skill in bringing out dramatic and affecting performances out of comedian actors. Can't wait for his next feature.

A masterpiece of filth. The kid in a bathtub of spaghetti is obviously one of the most iconic images but so is the cat killing, and in such abject poverty it's a known thing. My friend had some childhood buddies who did that. What can easily be seen as extreme shock value exploitation of the poor turns out to be a warts-and-all observation of a world far from my middle class normalcy, but one that is empathetic to a degree and reminds me of my time in my parents' homeland in poorer areas. I didn't like much of Korine's other output but this was unforgettable in a good way and hasn't left my mind since.

Mindblowing in its execution compared to how mundane a documentary retrospective on an actress' life is as just a premise. I'm not too familiar with which actresses the film is alluding to, but the incredible editing and transitions kept me hooked all the way through, to create a time-spanning emotional epic. Phenomenal film, and another example of how Satoshi Kon creates the best anime films of all time.

"No mystery remains unsolved forever. And no answer is ever without mystery."

My favourite anime of all time. Really got me into psychological thrillers and surrealism in a big way. The message of materialism and the way it spirals by the end hit me like a ton of bricks. Full of memorable flawed characters and social commentary without being misanthropic. The suicide gang episode is incredible. Susumu Hirasawa's song for the intro makes it one of the best anime intro openings of all time. This is a masterpiece.

Paprika is a far better movie about dream logic and emotional baggage than Inception. Not just that, but this was Satoshi Kon's final film and his team went all out on creating a sci-fi dreamwork epic that will continue to influence future filmmakers in its imagination and ingenuity.

Perfect Blue is just a movie everyone should watch, a good examination in how creepy pop culture gets where you have stalkers on celebrities, not being able to discern between reality and fiction, and as good if not better than Black Swan. I first was made aware of this when I saw a trailer of it attached to a DVD of maybe Ninja Scroll or some other extreme anime film, and so I had to seek it out. At that point I had never seen what an animated psychological thriller could be, but Satoshi Kon is easily the master of whatever genre and theme he tackles. Evergreen relevancy as celebrity worship culture and parasocial relationships continue to get worse.

This is The Notebook 2 if it was an absolute downer. There are some light moments like the ukulele dance outside the shop but this is definitely one of the apex anti-relationship films.

One of my favourite romcoms. One of the better holiday romcoms (this one is set on New Year's Eve). Definitely aping Woody Allen films. It's a fun stylistic exercise to be in black-and-white and pays homage to the greats. Scoot McNairy delivers a fantastic performance, someone I'll have to follow now. The write rant and delete email exercise left a profound impact on me as a viable and cathartic way to process things through writing. It has a unique sad energy amongst romcoms, so any fan of the genre should give it a watch.

I'll love you more and more...you'll love me less and less...that's how life goes.

While Whiplash was trying to get me emotionally involved and left me cold, Mommy gave me all the warm fuzzies. Which I wasn't expecting from someone whose previous movies I hadn't seen and will now do so. It was weirdly set in the near future with a fictional Canada where moms can send their children to mental hospitals if they have behaviour problems. The boy in the movie here has ADHD, is a delinquent who's been in jail and is now released into the mother's care who is trying desperately for another incident to not happen. I wasn't expecting so much pop song nostalgia, even if it was Canadian. It was the most emotionally potent movie I saw as part of my run at the LFF, and that was largely helped by the weird 1:1 square ratio that basically was a zoom into the characters rather than the environment. Compared to the other movies I saw with long wide shots, this was like the characters and cinematography were in the same breath. You were focused on these mom and son characters and another tutor/teacher/neighbour s in to form a triangle which changes the cinematography somewhat. I shouldn't spoil it but there were a couple of very Wizard of Oz moments that had a few gasping in the audience (apparently had quite the reaction at Cannes too).

The characters were quite complex and natural, which made some of their decisions all the more heart-wrenching. At first, I wanted to make oedipal jokes over the quite intimate relationship the son has with his mom (there are no fathers in the movie), but that intimacy was understandable given how little time they get to spend with each other. Yeah, the movie deserved the hype. Xavier Dolan in the Q&A was quite fun and self-deprecating. The dude's talk about going from 19 to 25 in actual years compared to filmmaking intelligence as if from 19 to 42 made me laugh. Dude is mad talented.

I haven't seen much of Alfonso Cuaron's films, so didn't know what to expect other than be interested in the premise of a dystopian fascist Britain. The cinematography is mind-blowing, particularly with the long takes. The cast is fantastic. It's an intense and memorable journey of hope in the worst of circumstances. I was a bawling mess coming out of this. One of the best and most humanist science fiction films I've ever seen.

Easily one of the best films about videogames and comic books. As expected, aesthetically this is some of Edgar Wright and Bill Pope's finest work. It's consistently one of the funniest films and Wright is a master of visual comedy. The score and soundtrack are phenomenal, particularly Metric's Black Sheep. It's perfect to test the surround systems to.

It's kind of crazy how much magic realism there is and no one bats an eyelid at the insanity. You just kinda have to go with the idea "if life was a video game" where people suddenly have super moves, they can burst into coins, and that there's very little fall damage.

Scott Pilgrim is a very flawed and at times unlikeable character, he's very superficial and obsessed with fantasy, not least in his romantic choices with either a young schoolgirl or a manic pixie dream girl, but the film eviscerates his character and brings him down to reality. All the women can be fan favourites, even Aubrey Plaza's bleeped expletive rants. They're well written and while the film is not the most feminist because they still orbit around Scott, they have their own wishes and agency.

Masterful transitions, editing, fight scenes, humor, and music. Hilarious that a comedy-action movie with hipsters has better fight choreography than most action movies. Edgar Wright is great at the smaller, British stuff with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, but it must have been disheartening for his first non-UK film where he branched out with American/Canadian talent to fail commercially. It's still a cult classic and will likely be fondly ed for many years.

LA neo-noir at its finest and most haunting. Mindblowing to look at as we go through this midnight odyssey. The way it captures the night-time atmosphere, the frame-rate (with the Thomson Viper), the darkness. LA was alive in a way that kind of was the logical extension from the last half of Heat. The way it all felt so real, it made Vincent out to be a real hitman rather than a glamorised Hollywood hitman, like this could actually happen in the streets. That coyote that goes by, with its eyes shining was magical and added to Vincent's enigmatic character. One of Michael Mann's best films.

I saw this recently after hearing the film being lambasted for so long and finding Blackhat to be underwhelming. My favourite thing aside from the hostage speech scene were the quiet moments for the characters that are the best parts of Mann movies. There was still that attention to detail and research and authenticity (getting involved with actual gangs which got the cast shit scared) that Mann absolutely nails in his crime films. The shootouts are still great like Collateral and Heat. The technical jargon was great, which didn't care to dump exposition in simple English to the viewer. I love when films treat the audience as being intelligent and can figure it out as they go along.

Just brilliant. I could write a few paragraphs about it but it would just be effusive praise about everything. The premise of filming a poverty tale in budget motels near Disney World from the perspective of the kids is just a brilliant juxtaposition, and speaks to a wider juxtaposition of capitalist, segregated societies where the poorest slums sit next to the richest enclaves. As usual, Sean Baker has a keen empathic eye towards the marginalised in society, but it never comes across as poverty porn or romantification. The characters here are flawed but sympathetic. Brooklynn Prince is fantastic. Willem Dafoe at his best. Amazing ending.

This review may contain spoilers.

Now this is an epic. Funny how this and the new Transformers share the same runtime length (166min). Inspiring and insightful. Glad I went into this blind. It's kind of the ultimate coming-of-age movie. Left a big smile on me. It's about nothing and everything (life paths, roles, confusion, milestones vs spontaneity, and loads more). Not worth much, but never looked at my watch. Great payoffs and ending. Very cute nod at the end of the last frame (Mason looks at the camera and us to share the confusion of where life might go and the moments that'll come).

Go into this without knowing anything, trust me. The temporal surprises are a delight. The time skips are fantastic, and having the same actors is more beneficial in noticing little physical details (styles, hair colours) along with being consistently invested compared to a movie like Place Beyond the Pines where you have to recalibrate after each chronological transition.

Wasn't expecting all those millennial pop culture references, like DBZ and other early 2000s mainstays.

I deeply connected to it because our family has lived in different countries/cities and I've been through many schools/friends, often not being able to say goodbye. I haven't had the "parade of drunken assholes" but we've been through some changes and have come out the better. Yeah, so it deserves all the hype.

It's an epic coming of age film but also it's about the simple things, and while it's not revolutionary in the topics it covers, it nails what it's going for with life being confusing and not tying everything into a rainbow with a generic sentimental finish.

This blew my mind when I first watched it. Philosophical, talky, dreamlike, documentary-like, and a stunning rotoscoped look.

Imaginative and stunning Philip K Dick adaptation with a great cast and a mindblowing visual style. One of my favourite sci-fi films.

As a dad now with two daughters, this hit me in the gut in that I hope my relationship with them and my daughters never gers to be like it is in the film. Elizabeth Olsen, Natasha Lyonne, and Carrie Coon do a great job as estranged and dysfunctional siblings who have different gripes with each other, but man Carrie's character is hateable on an unsympathetic level. They're all kind of broken in their own ways, as gets revealed throughout the film. Natasha's stoner character is the most sympathetic and real, whereas the other sisters have their own neuroses. The very New Yorker Woody Allen verbose monologues make for fun even if slightly indulgent scenes. The pacing is done well and there is a great fakeout towards the end that gives it a bittersweet quality.

"Not gonna let me go?"
Watched this Canadian lesbian Jehovah's Witness movie with my wife, got reminded of Life Is Strange. Very cute and sensual, even if the line delivery or dialogue isn't that good, the non-verbal acting chemistry is on point. Those kisses are ionate! The CFCF x Jean-Michel Blais track "Hypocrite" is used fantastically throughout, reminding me of the music in Celine Sciamma films. It's another tragic lesbian tale but does highlight the tragedy of forced heteronormativity in religion, along with the loss of family when you're not part of the cult. It's more focused on the romance than the structural injustices, but the former is what will draw people to it anyway. The filmmaking is nothing to write home about, but it's decent enough and the ending shots are framed nicely.

"The game is rigged."
Incredible piece of experential filmmaking, and especially impressive for a directorial debut. The firstperson/point-of-view storytelling does wonders for not only the subjectivity of the two boys, taking you on a journey of discovery, nostalgia, wonder, existentialism, imprisonment, sadness, racism, darkness, and freedom. What surprised me is that the book isn't even written in firstperson, so this is quite the inspired choice, and the film is quite non-linear anyway, dreamlike, definitely evoking the philosophical and bucolic vibes of a Malick film (particularly the child perspective scenes in Tree Of Life), so it's taking full advantage of the medium rather than being a straight adaptation. It recalls the Impressionistic nostalgia of films like Aftersun and Moonlight. The only time it changes perspectives is to be over-the-shoulder is done in a very clever plot twist. There are some shots that don't seem realistic or fit what one would see with their eyes, but for the most part this PoV style allows for so much intimacy and vulnerability, where even looking down at the ground or on a table gives relatibility and meaning. It's no surprise the film is stunning in its cinematography (DoP Jomo Fray and All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt is on my watchlist), with RaMell Ross having a photography background, and some shots are like Instagram-perfect, but it's not so distracting or self-indulgent. There are some unforgettable shots and even throwaway ones like a time-lapse train sequence is gorgeous. The editing for this kind of film needs to be top-notch, and it is thanks to Nicholas Monsour (Key and Peele, Us, Nope) with also some great match cuts. Alex Somers and Scott Alario's score is disconcerting, beautiful, and foreboding. The surrealism of the alligator in Turner's scenes speaks to a Southern Gothic hallucination and contributes to the foreboding atmosphere.

The film pulls no punches in the level of white supremacism and persecution here. Elwood is a pretty straight kid, obedient to a fault and ends up unfairly in a reform school for boys with the same uniform of cowboy-like blue jeans and white t-shirts and severe punishment if they fall out of line. It's pretty much a prison film, but it doesn't follow the tropes of one outside of escape plans and survivalism. Elwood's relationship with his mum is so endearing and heartbreaking, played fantastically by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. Brandon Wilson as Turner and Ethan Harisse as Elwood give really good performances, and Hamish Linklater as Spencer is terrifying because of seeming to have southern charm and discipline. It's a devastating American history that is weaved throughout the narrative, and hints that reform schools are all across the country, abusing young boys, much like how it is for native americans at residential boarding schools gives it a horrific, foreboding atmosphere. This has to be seen in a cinema not just because it's an amazing film that is grand in scope and aesthetic, but also the moment when the film goes from the depressing darkness of the school to the bright sunlight of freedom when they escape on bicycles is blinding and cathartic. The ending is gut-wrenching and left me in tears. I don't know how RaMell Ross will follow this up because it's an amazing narrative debut. Easily one of the best films of 2024.

"You're lost in his shadow!"
No surprise a Robert Eggers film is gorgeous to look at, from the costume design, to the mise en scene, cinematography, lighting, production design, and unconventional blocking (no shot-reverse shot here). He's considered one of the best at the craft of horror filmmaking. The first hour with Thomas going to Count Orlok in Transylvania is pure aesthetic pleasure. The shadows, silhuoettes, and chairuscuro are so delicious to drink in. It works so well with the themes of Orlok being more than just a vampiric being but also a plague-like force (as shown by the huge hand shadowing over the city) that moves in the shadows and is all-consuming dread. However, the first and last shot exemplify the importance of Lily-Rose Depp's Ellen throughout, and how it's not just about a gothic romance with the forbidden but also how Nosferatu externalises the sexual expression in a time where women are considered property and tools. Lily deserves a visceral performance that can be compared to the likes of the iconic performance of Isabelle Adjani in Possession. The rest of the film after Thomas comes back is able to weave interesting character dynamics amongst all the cast. The film speaks to toxic masculinity in various characters, and misogyny in various forms. Some people might not like the accent and moustache of Orlok, but I love how much of a character he is, expressing his own desires and motives, and Bill Skarsgård completely sinks in, where I didn't know it was him and delivers one of the best antagonist performances in horror of recent years. My wife got scared many times or covered her eyes with her hands, so there are some really good jump scares and spooky visuals. The themes and plot are not particularly complex but they're done with such a style and reverence. Would love to see it again, with subtitles and to grab all the attention to detail.

Searing and accessible critique of Israel's settler colonialism and genocide of Palestine, which examines the psychology of how the dehumanisation and fascism comes to be. It doesn't pull any punches, but also helps empathise why a lot of American Jews get indoctrinated into the cult of zionism from school age to adulthood, and why the conflation of Judaism and zionism is the point for zionists (despite it logically should be antisemitic) to be used as a weapon (from Abe Foxman of ADL's own words) against other Jews who are not in lock-step, despite orthodox Jews and other sects being hugely against the fascist ideology of zionism. I wished there was another half-hour as the ending feels abrupt with the group. Overall, it's an essential watch about how zionism came to be, how it has such a chokehold on Jewish society, and how with younger people like Simone Zimmerman and and older intellectuals and disciplined folks like Noam Chomsky or Holocaust survivors come together to dismantle the indoctrination.

The first hour of this is a wonderfully bleak drama about Thomas Mackenzie's Eileen dealing with sexual repression, escapism, and an alcoholic father at home played excellently by Shea Whigham, a retired cop. William Oldroyd does a wonderful job setting this sad and snowy atmosphere that recalls Manchester By The Sea, which is where I wished I stayed until it switched genres in the last half-hour into a psychological thriller. Anne Hathaway as Rebecca, the new female blonde psychologist at the prison Eileen works at, has got a mysterious stardom that Eileen gravitates to, and this developing relationship with homoerotic overtones works really well. While it technically makes sense why the twist happens in of character motivations, it feels too late and not developed enough. Thomasin gives a great performance and it's worth seeing for her, and Oldroyd excels at getting great performances, but the pacing and atmosphere gets worse because of the plot. After all the time from the excellent debut of Lady Macbeth which put Florence Pugh on the map, it is unfortunately not as grand or satisfying a sophomoric feature.

One of the best monster films of all time.

I wish there were more black female action films cause this was firing on all cylinders from the cast, writing, characters, moments, plot, direction, and energy.

Unsurprisingly this had a difficult journey to get made even in the 90s when black culture and excellence was ubiquitous, due to sexism from New Line Cinema who rejected it three times, worrying black men wouldn't such a film. Turns out it became New Line's highest grossing film of the year.

It is one of the most fun 90s films. Easily rewatchable.

Might be too hipster for some but it's hilarious and more honest to life by the end than other romcoms.

It seemed like a typical post-breakup life crisis movie (w/ 500 Days of Summer-like flashbacks) but with a Iranian bisexual framework to it. There are unique moments that framework brings, the dialogue can be funny, and there was something more interesting because of Shireen's relationship with sex, parents, and work.

It was more honest to life than most movies. Things get left unresolved, there is unexpected awkwardness, but things change and you're still making the most of it. You're moving on. You're still here, surviving.

At first, I found the ending unsatisfying, but then I realised that was kind of the point. Will closely follow Desiree Akhavan's future projects.

Another excellent documentary by Adam Curtis, this time about how everything led up to this "post-truth" world since the Nixon era, even the Tarkovsky films being an influence into the Vladislav Surkov's Russian theatre antics played on the political level for fake news during the 2016 USA elections to keep people so confused that they stop trusting in anything. That is the whole strategy, to trip you up. Obviously another excellent soundtrack.

Incredible feature-length documentary about the connections and cycles of how USA, UK, Russia, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, and ISIS are all tied together since the 70s. Poignant moments from 1000s of hours of BBC footage in Afghanistan over decades set to beautiful ambient music and a great narration. It does a great deal to explain how USA, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and the Arab world got to the mess that it is now.

The below is basically a summary of the events from the film, but I'm putting it here to convey how well Adam Curtis is at connecting seemingly disparate threads of history.

Complex film for a complex subject. As the film is non-linear with many time skips conveying contrast, it's good for repeat watches to understand all the threads and setups being paid off. I've been watching this since yesterday to make sense of it all.

It explains many complex relationships. This is my understanding as someone who is just a layman about all the history. I'm merely posting the rest of this for posterity in case I need to return to this for my own comprehension of current matters:

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Roosevelt getting oil and giving to Saudi Arabia but as long as they didn't change Saudi Arabia's Wahabbism and protected it (teachings kind of like the Amish in trying to back to the roots and being distanced from the modern world but a more violent spreading kind than being proto-hipsters). King Faisal in 1964 trying to use oil money to spread Wahabbist Islam to as far as Pakistan to fight communism. Which slowly builds for 20 years with the Saudi money until 1:36:00 (another way of how this epic film ties back into itself).

Oil price rises inadvertently forcing financial systems in Britain and USA to break free from political control by recycling Saudi oilmoney billions that Saudis didn't know what to do with and gave it back to Western banks to become "petrodollars" (which ties nicely to the financial crisis of 2007-8).

Afghan students going to USA in 60ss and bringing back the popular left and marxist ideas to their homeland to form the revolution in 1978.

Both USA and Soviet Union falling over themselves to modernise Afghanistan. The Russians bringing changes like women not being repressed, schools, television, farmers owning their own land which led to rural rivalries and revolutionaries killing each other. Americans like Reagan dedicating to Afghanistan with Space Shuttle Columbia and using Saudi Arabia to bring freedom to them. Saudi Arabia sending the young Osama Bin Laden to there and spreading Wahabbism.

Texas socialite Joanne Herring even comparing similarities in religion and considering the Afghans as bros from the same God which shows evangelical Christians having power isn't a new thing. While now, it'd be unbelievable for radical Christians to find a mutual ally in radical Muslims so they turn to radical Jews like Zionists for pro-Israel causes.

1980s bringing in right wing governments under Reagan and Thatcher in efforts to fix the socioeconomic failures by raising interest and therefore destroying manufacturing jobs to lead to becoming a service industry while encouraging citizens with the same paying jobs to borrow money from the banks ("even if the wages were static people felt wealthier and had the money to buy things and keep the economy working"). Those Reagan and Thatcher governments also diverting money to arms and then with Bush to protect Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein cause they were bad at defending themselves.

Bin Laden being a proper Wahabbi sticking to his beliefs being turned down by the Defense Minister on the option to bring back his Afghani mujahideen to KSA to defend and didn't want any American forces on his homeland. KSA turned its back on its son. So, Osama Bin Laden decides that even if America was an ally in Afghanistan, it became an enemy by stepping on KSA.

Russians leave Afghanistan so its now civil war among the mujahideen. They now start using opium fields in Helmand to send to the West, the same fields helped by American dams and canals built 40 years ago.

Here, came the Taliban. All that Russian freedom previously like pop culture, education, lion stone pillars, women not being repressed is gone as all modernisation is taken away. Al Qaeda would emerge under Bin Laden. This wouldn't be like Taliban who were backwards in his view by not fighting the USA or spreading the violent jihadism that Bin Laden brought to then accomplish 9/11.

America wasn't so good, either. Jack Idema under his own jurisdiction went to Afghanistan as a hero but actually terrorised innocent Afghanis. He was arrested. But the real American military were doing the exact same when converting an old Soviet hangar into a torture center at Bagram Air Base. The military went further and tortured 2 to death.

(1:49:00) USA and UK in their naivety to simplify matters to good vs evil thought they could continue the dream of Afghan democracy that was started by the Soviet Union. Once USA lost interest in Taliban and diverted resources towards Iraq, the British were left to fend off in Afghanistan. (1:56:14) They didn't realise that it wasn't about Taliban anymore. It was about internal group conflicts. The Afghan police were corrupt and became more violent militia with ties to various warlords that all connected back to President Karzai. The British thought anyone fighting them were Taliban so they dropped bombs in innocent spaces which made the locals in attacks against them even more. The British poured more money into Afghan economy hoping a free market would emerge that would bring democracy but the people in charge of the money took those 10 millions a day and spent them on luxury properties in Dubai.

(2:10:00) And now we come to the present in the last 6 minutes. The British left Afghanistan in 2014 without a trace. But they weren't the only fighters who left Afghanistan. Abu Musab Al Zarqawi went in 2003 to form the Al Qaeda in Iraq. Even the Afghani Al Qaeda would pale in comparison to Al Qaeda Iraq under Al Zarqawi. The former Al Qaeda actually told the new Iraq division to not kill civilians. Al Zarqawi was bombed by the Americans. That didn't stop the idea, though. The Wahabbism was brought into focus again.

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That's how in 2013, ISIS/L (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) came about. From 1920s KSA Wahabbism, Taliban, Al Qaeda, to ISIS. When USA bombs ISIS, they're helping the evil President Assad to remain in power just like with President Karzai in Afghanistan. We don't understand all the complex civil struggles, so it becomes incredibly dangerous by simplifying matters into good vs evil as we repeat history by not looking back.

A hilarious period drama marks the return of Whit Stillman, and again the dialogue is electric between the characters. Kate Beckinsale is once again fantastic, and it's a shame she's underused outside of Stillman's films. In a film about mainly women, Tom Bennett as a dumb man gets to be a scene stealer.

Whit Stillman's comedy dramas are often multi-layered and well-observed, with The Last Days Of Disco being a peak example. It captures the end of the 90s era so well. In these films, it's the screenplay that sings with vibrant dialogue full of deep examinations and humorous observations, like a scene about how Lady and the Tramp is discussed with gender politics. Kate Beckinsale does her finest work here, and it's Whit's films where she really gets to shine. One of the best 90s films ever.

Rewatched this recently, first time with my wife and family. Still stand with my original opinion when I first saw this around the time if release, it's one of the most emotionally affecting and horrifying (the featureless faces are scary) romance sci-fi films ever. Michel Gondry was the perfect fit as a director to put Charlie Kaufman's discombobulating, non-linear screenplay onto the screen and the surrealism leaves so many unforgettable images and scenes. The chase to restore memories with the couple versus the erasing team makes for probably one of the most memorable action sequences. The simple premise of there being a service to help you forget someone after a breakup, bereavement, or some other traumatic event is that kind of napkin idea that is done so excellently in execution here, that it's become a cultural touchstone as a film to think about with that idea.

Jim Carrey is probably in his best performance ever, at his saddest ever but also retaining his slapstick comedic ways dialed down to a subtle level, such as him running for a train, kicking the bedsheets off, or acting like a kid when he goes back to old memories of him under a table in a scene that uses forced perspective and warped sets to amazing effect. Kate Winslet shines in this off-beat eccentric role as the manic pixie dream girl who realises she doesn't want to just be that 2D stereotype and that she's just a fucked up girl who wants peace of mind and her impulsive behaviours end up with her jumping between people to obsess over. It's another film along with 500 Days Of Summer that deconstructs that very old trope of an energetic bubbly woman saving a man from the doldrums of life but not really being a deep character, and here Clementine is even more fully developed. The B-plot between Tom Wilkinson's character and Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Dunst's is not really well developed, almost comes out of nowhere with a huge reveal about the affair, which is one of the main criticisms I'd levy on the film.

It's certainly not the first surrealist romance film about apinful memories but it's one of the most visually inventive and propulsive. It's certainly THE film now when I think of snowy and sad New York. I first watched this when I was single and now rewatching after being married, it's even more emotionally resonant with the message of enjoying the fleeting moments before they go away and to not avoid pain.

"I have no choice...but to be the first."

While the film touches on issues of racism, intense institutional segregation in every aspect of life (toilets, buses, schools), sexism, and feminism, the film is entertainingly paced and visually poppy to never feel like just a history lesson. When push comes to shove like with the imminent space launch, there isn't any time for sexism or racism. My favourite aspect of the film is how science-y it is with dropping jargon left and right like about analytical geometry, Atlas orbits, conic periapsis, the intro of the IBM 7090DPS, Eulers Method, and changing elliptical to parabolic orbit for the pod's re-entry (go/no go). The white chalk is a repeating visual motif, and there's a good set-up and pay-off with it. Janelle Monae's character is the most fun, where she's openly confident about becoming the first black female NASA engineer and is more the comedic relief. The trio of Janelle Monae, Taraji P Henson, and Octavia Spencer have fantastic chemistry. Kevin Costner also deserves mention playing as the white leader of the whole NASA mission who just has no time for sexism and racism, at one point just busting up the coloured toilet's sign. Mahershala Ali is charming here, playing the love interest of Katherine Goble. Found it very sweet in the credits where Obama gives the 97 year old Katherine the medal of freedom.

Highly recommended if you like science films with a historical bent (October Sky, A Beautiful Mind, The Imitation Game).

Very enjoyable and full of fanservice to Batman fans, especially one montage where all the most iconic shots of Batman movies are done in Lego form. I'm still in awe of how gorgeous this film can look, and I'm not surprised the director (Chris McKay) is inspired by Michael Mann films. Like The Lego Movie, it's very self-aware, and the Joker/Batman relationship is cute, but because it's about constant jokes, there isn't as much emotional investment in the fates of these characters. It's a comedy through and through, but the best part of the previous Lego movie was the heartfelt message and themes, while here there isn't that connection so it's just enjoyable fun.

Wow, already a contender for best action film of 2017. The world-building into a world of contract assassins, marks acting as curses, and the Continental safe space is as enjoyable as it is ridiculous, which the film is fully aware of as exemplified by the awesome Buster Keaton intro. At one point which had me laughing, Common and Keanu Reeves' characters are walking past pillars and shooting at each other with suppressed pistols in amongst the general public. There's a whole network of homeless assassins, like c'mon! Chad Stahelski really steps up the framing and composition thanks to DP Dan Laustsen and Keanu Reeves being in all the stunts so no need to cut around him for action sequences resulting in beautifully shot neon destruction. My favourite sequence has to be the Rome catacombs, just the whole tactical nature of it, like with the shotgun just wasting fools and then switching to sidearms or melee when up-close. This is on the level of The Raid films and then the ending is just berserk, with a nod to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. I don't know what a third film could look like but I'm there.

"Goodness is only some kind of reflection upon evil. That's all it is."
Zulawski is a master of portraying madness on screen. Possession (1981) is his most widely known film and it's a apocalyptic romance horror classic that has endured for decades with all kinds of interpretations and appreciations every few years because of how unique it is. I still need to think more about the ending. Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani deliver searing performances that capture the insanity of a relationship's dissolution as if it really was the end of the world. Isabelle particularly gives an iconic performance, and it's not just the messy tunnel breakdown that ends in different coloured fluids everywhere. He has a way of subjective filmmaking that takes you along for the ride as you're in the front row of a character's hysteria and mania, especially in the cinematography. Clearly the film has had a big influence on many films after it, most notably with LVT's Antichrist, and will continue to do so. I just hope to see this again on the big screen.

Zulawski's final film Cosmos (2016) is appropriately bonkers, but you wouldn't guess it from the setting and tone of being a comedy among the French middle class in a bed and breakfast. There is no straight audience stand-in character, everyone is bug-eyed and manic in their own little world which gives the movie an eccentric vibe where you're never sure what's going on. The protagonist goes on philosophical rants while being infatuated with two girls (a pretty girl and a maid with a cleft lip) and his gay friend is there to calm him down but also play along. While they're also trying to figure out the mystery of hanging animals around the place. The mom character will say something at the dinner but then just freeze like a puppet after their performance. It's finely composed and interestingly shot in a seaside town, but thematically it doesn't congeal to a whole so feels a bit meandering. Definitely self-indulgent and nonsensical, but I love that when it leads to an unpredictable film. An enjoyable watch if you want to see characters lose it.

Welp, that was a terrible sci-fi film (good thing I saw it for free on an airplane). Stupid characters doing stupid things, letting some artificial human hybrid get away with it all. Anya Tayler-Joy should hopefully pick better films after The Witch. The only good thing is Kate Mara wrecking shop as a risk management specialist who also doubles as a martial arts badass. I still wanted to punch Rose Leslie in the face for being this stupid hippie girl who wants to just play with Morgan and is totally cool even after Morgan starts beating up and killing other people.

Possibly the best British comedy film of all time, and up there with Airplane! as one of the funniest thanks to phenomenal editing, screenplay, comedic performances, sound, mile-a-minute gags, foreshadowing, call-and-response jokes, practical effects (in the vein of Sam Raimi), and cinematography too. It might be only Edgar Wright's second directed film, he had plenty of experience in the comedy and geek genre with Spaced, Mash and Peas, Asylum, and Bill Bailey's show. There's an emotional center that pins the the stakes, which a lot of horror comedies lack. There's so much creativity with each scene, and it's no surprise to find out how much Edgar agonises over his screenplays, and I can't imagine how much he had to kill his darlings but what is here is all killer no filler. Nearly every scene has a quotable line or visual gag. The musically edited action scene to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now is like foreshadowing to Baby Driver. This is probably my fifth time rewatching it (I just now picked up on Pete foreshadowing Ed and the shed), this time with my in-laws as we are chilling out for Christmas holidays and it seems like weirdly the perfect kind of film when you're holed up and surviving at the Winchester.

• Presence
• Black Bag
• The Colors Within
• Bird
• One of Them Days
• Mickey 17
• On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
• Hallow Road
• Ash
• The Actor

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Films I've still yet to see.

• Hundreds of Beavers
• Late Night with the Devil
• Love Lies Bleeding
• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
• Sing Sing
• Kinds of Kindness
• Longlegs
• About Dry Grasses
• Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
• Femme

...plus 39 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Worst Person in the World
2. Quo Vadis, Aida?
3. Titane
4. Drive My Car
5. The Green Knight
6. Red Rocket
7. Petite Maman
8. Wild Indian
9. The Matrix Resurrections
10. Apples

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

1. Aftersun
2. Hit the Road
3. Farha
4. Decision to Leave
5. We're All Going to the World's Fair
6. After Yang
7. Nope
8. Bones and All
9. The Banshees of Inisherin
10. Everything Everywhere All at Once

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

1. Playground
2. Hit the Road
3. Red Rocket
4. The Harder They Fall
5. Benedetta
6. ear for eye
7. Wild Indian
8. Memoria
9. Petrov's Flu