4v291o

Watched on Tuesday May 27, 2025.

Anno’s best shot movie without a doubt. Lots of French New Wave (was already a big influence) and even Iwai himself rubbing off on the director here, which leads to some great sequences, but feels more like a hodgepodge of verbose ideas beyond much of the narrative. I was pretty enamored with the first 30 minutes, and the middle hit a lull while the final 20 mins won me back

Not sure if the first half feels entirely justified, but the darker suppositions of reality in the second half was extremely effective. Showcases some of the best, and worst qualities of Hideaki Anno.

Look at this dude

Some youngsters with a dream

Watched on Monday May 26, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 26, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 26, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 25, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 25, 2025.

The music drags this movie down to the earth’s core, and it gets more confusing and tiresome as it went on. I can appreciate going for a semi realistic tone, but felt sloppy in execution. The main characters were hard to route for, but I guess it’s cool they were just normal guys.

I guess decent enough presentation  for “prestige” horror, but has a dumbed down script and poor direction for the two leads.

Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

Not sure about the ending, and the “comedic” bits out of the start (and one scene involving a group) contrasted harshly with the rest of the movie, but I have to agree with this review as the middle is the strongest part! The movie is able to keep up a strong sense of intrigue; regardless of all the possession tropes thrown the viewer’s way. The acting is quite incredible (Jun Kunimura especially), and I love the arsenal of horror bits, and varying levels of darkness that permeates the entire film. I will say though, this could have benefited immensely if it was a tv mini-series. More time with the entities and humans (especially the cops) would add to the undercooked mystery element that is not introduced until the very end of the movie.

Watched on Friday May 23, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 22, 2025.

holy fucking shit

Watched on Wednesday May 21, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 21, 2025.

Doesn’t quite get under my skin like some other films from this era, but the score is great, and the subtle fantasy elements add a nice touch

This definitely was not what I was expecting, and after bracing myself with other ‘teen crime’ movies in mind, this came as a surprise, and felt different from the rest. Can’t say I really side with the overwhelmingly positive or negative diasporas of this movie, but I did enjoy it. I’ll first get the negative out of the way. This movie struggles a bit with keeping attention to which main character to focus on within the ‘ensemble’. It makes it clear from the start Marc is the obvious ‘corrupted’ one going down the glitzy path of celebrity burglaries as he becomes more callous with his decision making despite being the most high strung of the group. But later on, him and Rebecca’s little soon to be romance arc is quickly abandoned like a Coen Brothers macguffin and instead replaced by Watson’s Nicki and many of her antics.

Pivoting to her throughout the film felt like a smart move on Coppola’s part, and not in a schmaltzy male ‘eye candy’ way, but kind of poking at the viewer saying “this is what you want to see right?”. You want to see this teenager crave the kind of attention her idols evade, and in her mind immortalize the controversy (circa early 10s type). It feels even more intentional by the end by dovetailing off of her and not Marc. I wouldn’t say this is unfair to the others, as Watson really nails the ‘act’ her character puts on. I enjoy it a lot, but the execution of transitioning between her and Marc, among others felt kind of sloppy to me.

Solid, solid flick that takes advantage of the era it was made in. Random, but with a thousand less edits and a slower pace, Coppola’s style reminds me of Taiwanese filmmakers. Just a thought, as I think the movie could’ve benefited from a tempo like that rather than what was in the final edit.

Watched on Monday May 19, 2025.

Takes it sweet ass time to actually get going, and once things start happening the movie got some great laughs out of me, just poor pacing in the earlier sections, and could’ve been edited down substantially

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 17, 2025.

Repetitive music aside this is a pretty good thriller

Watched on Saturday May 17, 2025.

Albert Brooks makes the assertion that William Hurt is the devil, and he’s probably right

Much like Cecil B. Demented this should be a required watch for movie lovers

…….

Watched on Thursday May 15, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 15, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 15, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 14, 2025.

what

Watched on Wednesday May 14, 2025.

Definitely could have cut out 20 minutes of this tbh, it is wayy too long

Notes: Chow Yun Fat eats a lot of chocolate, there is a split diopter shot with a gun being the emphasis and not a person, Andy Lau runs through a glass door, Battleship Potemkin/Untouchables reference?

Did old Hollywood never conceive of a movie similar to this? It feels so coded from that era, and yet has themes and ideas in it that feel fresh to this day. It ittedly takes a bit to get going, but when it does it is a crisp script that held my attention for the rest of the runtime! 

Highly recommend

Watched on Saturday May 10, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 9, 2025.

Good concept, but the animation in this looks really inconsistent/bad

Watched on Friday May 9, 2025.

The play scenes are a fucking eyesore to look at…which is most of the movie, but overall good! 👍

Upon rewatch this is pretty impressive. Probably the last movie by Anderson set in modern day (for the foreseeable future at least), and shot almost entirely on location. Post Fantastic Mr. Fox Anderson would likely tell the same story albeit with miniatures, stop motion, cutouts, and other bells and whistles, but here he’s using his limitations of what seems like an arduously planned shoot to his advantage by making everything real. For that this movie marks the end of his semi-auteur era, and maybe getting some of that rawness back could benefit his newer movies more. That being said this holds up way better years later, and I really loved Brody’s performance in this!

Watched on Thursday May 8, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 8, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 5, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.

Thought this was going to be very Oscar-baity at first, but it’s not. This is a subtly simple yet complex movie, that is marred by a poor ending, and exists in a very floaty headspace for me personally. I’m unsure what to make of it, much like The Power of the Dog, however, I enjoyed this wayyy more

Great performances!!!

Watched on Saturday May 3, 2025.

• The Night of the Hunter
• Roman Holiday
• The Children's Hour
• They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
• Three Days of the Condor
• Out of Africa
• The Firm
• Belly
• Burning
• Honey Boy

...plus 109 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Queen of Black Magic
• Us and Them
• The Adventures of Prince Achmed
• Dil Se..
• Ponniyin Selvan: Part I
• Ponniyin Selvan: Part II
• Sound of Metal
• Night and Fog
• Hiroshima Mon Amour
• Wild Grass

...plus 76 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Antichrist
• Melancholia
• The House That Jack Built
• Slums of Beverly Hills
• Read My Lips
• The Sisters Brothers
• The Darjeeling Limited
• Asteroid City
• Pather Panchali
• The Hero

...plus 87 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Alien Nine
• Lucky Star
• Den-noh Coil
• Casshern Sins
• Michiko & Hatchin
• Short Peace
• Your Lie in April
• Yuri!!! on Ice
• Occultic;Nine
• Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop

Based off of Zodiac Sign director birthdays

• Boy
• The Man Who Left His Will on Film
• Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
• Taboo
• 40 Days and 40 Nights
• Let the Right One In
• Manila in the Claws of Light
• Insiang
• Good Time
• Uncut Gems

...plus 97 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Based on Zodiac Sign Directors, writers, character designers etc

• Megazone 23
• Megazone 23 II
• Angel Cop
• Blue Submarine No. 6
• Wolf's Rain
• Gankutsuou
• NANA
• Kaiba
• The Tatami Galaxy
• Ping Pong the Animation

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

Based off of Zodiac sign director birthdays

• Room at the Top
• The Innocents
• Thelma
• The Worst Person in the World
• Céline and Julie Go Boating
• Miami Blues
• La Belle Noiseuse
• Grosse Pointe Blank
• Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
• Sucker Punch

...plus 117 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Based on Zodiac Sign Directors, writers, character designers etc

• FLCL
• Top wo Nerae 2! Diebuster
• Girl's High
• GJ Club
• Engaged to the Unidentified
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
• Plastic Memories
• Concrete Revolutio
• Run with the Wind

Based off of Zodiac sign director birthdays

• Stagecoach
• The Long Gray Line
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
• Finding Vivian Maier
• Honeymoon
• Call Me Chihiro
• The ion of Joan of Arc
• Ordet
• Daisies
• Great Freedom

...plus 101 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Based on Zodiac Sign Directors, writers, character designers etc

• Record of Lodoss War
• Ouran High School Host Club
• Steins;Gate
• Love Lab
• Girlish Number
• UzaMaid!
• BOCCHI THE ROCK!
• Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-

Based off of Zodiac sign director birthdays

• Drunken Master
• Wing Chun
• Tokyo Fist
• Bullet Ballet
• Vibrator
• Palo Alto
• Mainstream
• Hearts and Minds
• Safe
• Velvet Goldmine

...plus 107 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.