4v291o

gotta say: this movie was really strange & non-logical & i found it oddly endearing. what better way to start off graduation by watching a film about the joys of leaving pittsburgh?

Watched on Monday May 19, 2025.

doubles as a documentary about life at g*gosian

1. paik was way more indie sleaze than i had expected 
2. post-production team killed it
3. marina abramovic is an international treasure 
4. john cage we love u 
5. best post-credits scene ever made

i really wanted to love this but other than 2-3 spot-on impressions (dylan o’brien) it was kinda meh :(

kept me awake during pre-auction hell

Watched on Wednesday May 7, 2025.

sound mixing of the century. wish i had seen this before meeting matthew because now i actually have questions…

คิดถึงโจ๊กสามย่าน :( คิดถึงคุณย่าคุณยาย :(( ดูหนังวันครบรอบแต่งงานของพ่อแม่…

heartwarming final act + ending

i love love loveeee this premise so much but the execution was just corny, monotonous, and liberal

Watched on Wednesday April 30, 2025.

mulholland drive for asian smokers / yi yi if it was horny / i saw the tv glow if it was substantive.. pure perfection & the movie of my dreams

reminds me of the opening line in didion’s white album (lol) where she writes “we tell ourselves stories in order to live.” 

poly-/heteroglossia all around. i too love the beatles, mise en abymes, and russian-baiting

uhhhhh

really solid hollywood blockbuster! i’d put it on the same playing field as the substance it’s a smart surface exploration that works very well for the genre(s). don’t love plot-driven narratives but that central scene in club juke will def stick

kubrick really was that girl I can’t even hate

this movie is absolutely ridiculous & i had a fantastic time. love how they’ve decided to focus on such un-interesting ppl during a catastrophic invasion. strong post-april palate cleanser… godzilla senpai <3

first line of ts eliot’s the waste land

kinda like if apichatpong weerasethakul & 2001 space odyssey had a soviet child who’s a little too into deleuze

Watched on Sunday April 20, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday April 16, 2025.

willem dafoe white boy of the month

unironically my comfort movie

I wanted to love this a lot but i didn’t fw the audio-visual discrepancy very much (doesn’t feel intentional enough for me). but also gotta be honest and it i was multitasking. overall the film is very mono no aware in a way that i love. great dialogue & each frame was compositionally perfect

ask me about my lyric essay after april 11 . can’t get over how hard this hong kong’d

Watched on Sunday March 23, 2025.

gru kinda giving cady heron in that pink lacoste polo . HATE how quickly i clocked the f4ntastic four reference

Watched on Saturday March 22, 2025.

some of my favorite dialogue in recent memory. general vision doesn’t fully work for me but jesse eisenberg is a phenomenal writer

Watched on Friday March 21, 2025.

- insane cast. fun premise for the cultural zeitgeist
- really wish they hadn’t used (multiple) instances of sexual assault as punchlines 
- the budget & runtime are absolutely blasphemous 
- never let a white snl bro pick a movie ever

Watched on Tuesday March 18, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday March 18, 2025.

hausu!!!!!!!

delightful! i was really fuckin hungry!

Watched on Wednesday March 5, 2025.

direction rotten steve martin dirtyyyy

paris is burning meets oedipus rex meets j-punk no wave meets non-asshole andy warhol… a masterfully crafted queer fever dream.

jaw-dropping. the only acceptable white man asian project

honestly? not my favorite & it sometimes feels like the film is too convinced by its (false) dramatic potential. all a little too subtle for me but i do love the cafeteria + turtle scenes. great ending but came a little out of nowhere (even w/ all the discussion of gender in the earlier acts)

unexpectedly stunning cinematography
unexpectedly hollow narrative

i will always appreciate a strong life imitates art moment though

convinced that korean ppl are incapable of making a single bad film……….

might be one of the most beautifully lit/colored films from this period ive ever seen?? but also the lack of sound + the frequent use of wide shots freaks me out & i just didn’t enjoy this very much

i do find the notion of state-sponsored feminism veryyyy fascinating though

Watched on Friday February 14, 2025.

zero aldous huxley & willy shakespeare quoted :(

(thank u liberty!!)

This review may contain spoilers.

yes of course i understand Ozu’s Vase don’t you and your father also have a tatami mat cigarette right before your bedtimes?

it was a lot of fun! just not groundbreaking & tries too hard to be revolutionary & depends too much on dp/pd & also it’s way too long

Watched on Thursday February 6, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday February 5, 2025.

true visual poetry & so beautifully shot. chilling ending. 

only giving it a lower rating considering park chan-wook’s other stuff. pacing & overall storyline weren’t really for me & i honestly wish i cared about the characters more

is it even a park chan-wook film if two characters aren’t having a devastatingly life-altering nighttime conversation in the snow?

perfect. slow burn ion—grounded in acts of service—taking shape in spite of its fast-paced consumerist context . just an all-around brilliant brushstroke of modern-day romance in a (transitional) urban landscape. really smart use of factory-made products + convenience store culture + food items in general. 

not as ambitious as happy together & not as luscious as in the mood for love, but def the most socially conscious & symbolically rich

hearing about wkw’s directorial style always makes me nervous (production-wise, money-wise) but he somehow pulls it off every goddamn time

Watched on Wednesday January 29, 2025.

[22:34] camera pan in Paris, Texas; two stories overstuffed; anti-sci-fi

• The Florida Project
• I Saw the TV Glow
• Nope
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Paris, Texas
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
• Woman in the Dunes
• The Man Who Fell to Earth
• Once Upon a Time in the West
• Nomadland

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• David Lynch: The Art Life
• Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present
• Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
• The Beatles: Get Back
• Matthew Barney: No Restraint
• Painters Painting
• British Museum Presents: Hokusai
• Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back
• Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
• Stop Making Sense

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Serendipity

  recs: serafina

• Secretary

  recs: serafina, logan 

• Chalet Girl

  recs: serafina 

• Farewell My Concubine

  recs: julia

• LOL

  recs: liberty? sidney?

• Double Indemnity

  recs: serafina

• Wild Child

  recs: cindy?

• Y Tu Mamá También

  recs: liza, sidney

• Blade

  recs: ds, sidney

• Love of Siam

  recs: arin

...plus 31 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Deadpool
• Captain America: Civil War
• Deadpool & Wolverine
• Madame Web
• Captain America: Brave New World
• Thunderbolts*

i'm just kinda procrastinating rn idk

1. Lady Vengeance
2. Chungking Express
3. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
4. Decision to Leave
5. Funeral Parade of Roses
6. Mulholland Drive
7. Tampopo
8. Nosferatu
9. Oldboy
10. Woman in the Dunes

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

• Paris Is Burning
• Chungking Express
• Palm Springs
• Synecdoche, New York
• The Florida Project
• Paris, Texas
• Tokyo Story
• Mulholland Drive
• The Wolf of Wall Street
• The Grand Budapest Hotel

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Watch a film from the CC40 Boxset
2. Watch a film from the year you were born
3. Directed by Robert Altman
4. Watch a film that would be your first choice in the Criterion Closet
5. Great Soundtracks
6. John Turturro’s Adventures in Moviegoing
7. 1920s
8. Watch a film that will be added to the physical collection in 2025
9. 1930s
10. Andrew Garfield’s Closet Picks
11. 1940s
12. Celine Song’s Top 10
13. 1950s
14. Watch a film from the Criterion Channel’s all time favorites lists
15. 1960s
16. Watch a film that is currently out of print from the physical collection
17. 1970s
18. William Friedkin’s Closet Picks
19. 1980s
20. Spine #451-499
21. 1990s
22. Documentary
23. 2000s
24. Janus Contemporaries
25. 2010s
26. Bill Hader’s Second Closet Picks
27. 2020s
28. Noir and Neonoir
29. All Time Top Criterion Closet Picks
30. Criterion Releases Never Picked in the Closet
31. North American film
32. Ayo Edebiri’s Closet Picks
33. Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing
34. South American film
35. Random Number Generator (Google random number generator, set values from 1 to whatever number Criterion has listed last here. This number will change as more releases are announced so please keep up to date by using the link I have provided as I will not be updating each time Criterion makes announcements. Watch whatever movie corresponds to the spine number you are given.)
36. AAPI Filmmakers
37. Watch a film shorter than 80 minutes
38. European film
39. Cult Movies
40. Isabella Rossellini’s Adventures in Moviegoing
41. Winona Ryder’s Closet Picks
42. African film
43. John Carpenter’s Top 10
44. Horror
45. Asian film
46. Dark Comedies
47. Rachel Kushner’s Adventures in Moviegoing
48. Australian film
49. Female Filmmakers
50. Ben Wheatley’s Closet Picks
51. A film by a director whose work you have not seen before
52. Watch any Criterion film from your watchlist

1. Barry Lyndon
2. Punch-Drunk Love
3. Short Cuts
4. Lady Vengeance
5. Risky Business
6. Seven Samurai
7. The Circus
8. Chungking Express
9. Japanese Girls at the Harbor
10. Tampopo

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Astro Boy
2. Go! Anpanman: The Shining Star's Tear
3. Anpanman to Hajimeyou! Rhythm De Dekirukana
4. Doraemon: Nobita and the Legend of the Sun King
5. Doraemon: Nobita and the Green Giant Legend
6. Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur
7. Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street
8. The Blue Elephant
9. The Blue Elephant 2
10. Sailor Moon R: The Movie - The Promise of the Rose

...plus 57 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Decision to Leave
• The Swimming Pool
• Ponyo
• Woman in the Dunes
• Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary
• Japanese Girls at the Harbor
• Swimming to Cambodia
• Lilo & Stitch
• Afire
• Moonrise Kingdom

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Brutalist
2. Challengers
3. Anora
4. Nosferatu
5. Wicked
6. Deadpool & Wolverine
7. The Substance
8. I Saw the TV Glow
9. Babygirl
10. Inside Out 2

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

currently on a life-long quest to watch every adam sandler movie ever made.

1. Uncut Gems
2. Punch-Drunk Love
3. 50 First Dates
4. The Wedding Singer
5. Billy Madison
6. Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh
7. Happy Gilmore
8. Big Daddy
9. Click
10. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

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

1. Random Number Generator (Google random number generator, set values from 1 to whatever number Criterion has listed last here. This number will change as more releases are announced so please keep up to date by using the link I have provided as I will not be updating each time Criterion makes announcements. Watch whatever movie corresponds to the spine number you are given.)
2. Made in Belgium
3. Made in Taiwan
4. Made in Canada
5. Made in Portugal
6. Animals in the Collection
7. Films To Fall Asleep To
8. Black Music Films
9. Black Lives Collection
10. Heartbreak Heaven: Films to Watch When You’re Questioning Love (and Heartbreak Heaven: Films to Watch When You’re Questioning Love, Part II for more options)
11. Criterion Double Features - Film #1
12. Criterion Double Features - Film #2
13. Danny Peary’s “Guide for the Film Fanatic”
14. Sundance Hits
15. Early Women Filmmakers
16. Independent American Cinema
17. Dysfunctional Families
18. Food on Film
19. Faith on Film
20. Tearjerkers
21. British Realism
22. Wilco’s Closet Picks
23. Gaspar Noé’s Closet Picks
24. Alicia Malone’s Closet Picks
25. Laurie Anderson’s Closet Picks
26. Bong Joon-ho’s Top 10
27. Sonic Youth’s Top 10
28. Jane Campion’s Top 10
29. Allison Anders’s Top 10
30. Directed by Carl Dreyer
31. Directed by Melvin Van Peebles
32. Directed by Marlon Riggs
33. Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
34. Starring Tatsuya Nakadai
35. Genre: Fantasy
36. Genre: Action/Adventure
37. Genre: Crime
38. Spine #201-350
39. Spine #800-950
40. Watch a film with a rating 3.0 or lower
41. 1920s
42. 1930s
43. 1940s
44. 1950s
45. 1960s
46. 1970s
47. 1980s
48. 1990s
49. 2000s
50. 2010s
51. 2020s
52. Any Criterion film on your watchlist

letterboxd.sitesdebloques.org/benvsthemovies/list/the-criterion-challenge-2023/

1. The Innocents
2. Rosetta
3. A Brighter Summer Day
4. Naked Lunch
5. In Vanda's Room
6. House
7. Taste of Cherry
8. Solange - When I Get Home
9. Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
10. Desert Hearts

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Spine #351-450
2. Spine #601-700
3. Watch a film with a rating of 4.3 or higher
4. First film in your watchlist
5. Most recently added film in your watchlist
6. Longest runtime in your watchlist
7. Most popular film in your watchlist
8. Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project
9. Criterion Staff Picks
10. New York Film Festival Favorites
11. Watch a film in the Saturday Matinee series "Observations on Film Art"
12. First Films - watch a directorial debut
13. Virtually Reality
14. Random Number Generator (Google random number generator, set values from 1 to whatever number Criterion has listed last here. This number will change as more releases are announced so please keep up to date by using the link I have provided as I will not be updating each time Criterion makes announcements. Watch whatever movie corresponds to the spine number you are given.)
15. Technicolor
16. Women Auteurs
17. Criterion Sight and Sound
18. Dreaming of a Holiday Movie Marathon
19. Watch a Netflix Original released by Criterion
20. 100 Years of Olympic Films
21. LGBTQ+
22. Directed by Luis Buñuel
23. Directed by Mai Zetterling
24. Starring Liv Ullmann
25. Italian Neorealism
26. Hong Kong Cinema
27. Made in Brazil
28. Ari Aster’s Closet Picks
29. Yo La Tengo’s Closet Picks
30. Charlie Day’s Closet Picks
31. Michael Shannon’s Closet Picks
32. Aubrey Plaza’s Top 10
33. Anthony Bourdain’s Top 10
34. Alan Arkin’s Top 10
35. Tunde Adebimpe’s Top 10
36. Genre: Made for TV
37. Genre: Family
38. Genre: Animation
39. Genre: History
40. Guillermo del Toro’s Twitter Film recommendations
41. 1920s
42. 1930s
43. 1940s
44. 1950s
45. 1960s
46. 1970s
47. 1980s
48. 1990s
49. 2000s
50. 2010s
51. 2020s
52. Watch any Criterion film from your watchlist

letterboxd.sitesdebloques.org/benvsthemovies/list/the-criterion-challenge-2024/

1. Seven Samurai
2. The Thin Blue Line
3. Heat
4. The Lighthouse
5. Vertigo
6. The Godfather Part II
7. Pulp Fiction
8. Taxi Driver
9. Tampopo
10. Yi Yi

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• American Psycho
• Joker
• Fight Club
• Pulp Fiction
• Star Wars
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Transformers
• Inception
• Avatar
• The Kissing Booth

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.