4v291o

“I can’t believe I asked to call you Dad. Of course you said no.”
“I let you call me Stevesie. It sounds better.”

—

I struggled, at points, with The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Yet ultimately, I finished the movie sobbing and smiling. It was a beautiful movie.

Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.

“I was on top! Who the fuck is on top for their first time?” 

—

I didn’t transition until later in life, and I always wonder what my teenage years would have been like if I was living my authentic self. I feel like I get a glimpse of that life every time I watch Lady Bird. The joy and magic this movie gives me is irreplaceable.

This review may contain spoilers.

The moment he punched a beaver’s head into dust destroyed me all over again.

“What do you do with that void? You shut it down. You shut it down deep.”

—

I’m all for the MCU switching to group trauma bonding as a way to defeat antagonists, and Florence Pugh cannot do wrong. She’s so incredible at portraying pain and self-loathing, and honestly I would watch another couple Yelena movies.

That said, this could have been a lot better. There’s a couple standout moments and lines, but not enough to justify the price of a ticket. Ghost felt rather underdeveloped like a whole plotline was cut from the movie, and this was not a particularly interesting story for Bucky.

This is a good movie, but honestly carried rather hard by Florence Pugh and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Lewis Pullman was good as Sentry, but my brain can’t stop craving the universe where Steven Yuen didn’t have to drop out after reschedules.

"You keep dancing with the devil... one day he's gonna follow you home."

--

Sinners is undeniable proof that Ryan Coogler is one of the most interesting directors to be working inside the studio system. It takes some time for the slow burn to start paying off, but the third act is an exciting, chaotic mess that reminded me of a more digestible Tarantino flick.

Ludwig Göransson's score is incredible--an easy contender for score of the year. And that last scene before sundown? Incredible. Had actual chills. When are we just giving Michael B. Jordan an action franchise?

“I’m the exception.”
“You’re my exception.”

—

This movie makes dating seem so miserable. None of the happy relationships seem really worth all the annoying frustrations they have to navigate to get there. I thought the performances were nice, but I don’t buy anyone still using MySpace in 2009.

I’m glad Yara is ride-or-die for her girl because I can’t think of a single thing that girl does besides get in the way or read me depressing stories about the inevitability of death.

It Follows is really good, though a tad unfocused. Perhaps it accidentally stumbles into a movie that explores assault and the trauma it creates, but it works really well. The camerawork and Disasterpiece’s score do create an unsettling environment that makes you second guess every background extra, although the movie as a whole lacks the inescapable dread it needed to really seal the deal.

Massive props to the opening shot though. The movie kinda peaks in that scene, but that’s not really a complaint.

This review may contain spoilers.

"So, how's the lady garden?"

—

More like Mid-sommar.

I will say that Opus has something worth saying about the complicity journalists enter into as they cover certain figureheads. There is an undoubtable link to the fame some "celebrities" get based on how the media chooses to cover them, and I wish the movie had explored this idea further than in the last five minutes.

This movie's run time is filled with John Malkovich being a silly little guy, and that alone is a lot of fun. But speaking substantially, I found it started to take away from the film. No one else is allowed to be as much of a character as he is, and the cast is largely underwritten as a result. Moretti's intensely complicated plan works perfectly because Ariel isn't given enough of a character for her to work as a spanner in the works. She simply exists, largely without detail, and feels like a waste of Ayo Edebiri's talents.

I think there is merit to this movie, and it exists as another entry to the "eccentric character/community lures a group of characters to the middle of nowhere before killing them off" sub-genre of thrillers, but the script is just not here for this one.

"Stop the wedding! The gum has evil goo in it!"

—

David Zaslav and Warner Brothers can suck eggs for letting Looney Tunes get into such a state. A cancelled movie. A second movie given borderline zero ment. And on top of that, removing the original series from Max. I would have to assume Bugs Bunny wronged Mr. Zaslav personally to get this kind of ill-conceived vendetta. But sadly, I expected this. I'm a Muppets fan, and I know this pain all too well.

As it is, The Day the Earth Blew Up is a very fine movie. I laughed a couple times. Some of the sight gags were worth a chuckle. Oh, and the Farmer Jim stuff was quite good. But, the movie isn't particularly witty or memorable. It's perfectly cromulent.

And even this movie didn't blow my socks off, I would bet it did for somebody, and that's a far better fate than being erased from history for a tax write-off.

I get it. It took a bit, but I did eventually start to vibe with this shit.

That said, I missed my chance in life to have a real Tumblr-era obsession with this movie, and thus I have to acknowledge this movie was awful.

This review may contain spoilers.

"We save you. You kill Luco."

—

Mickey 17 is really good. It's not Bong Joon-ho's best movie, or even Top 3, but that's an insane bar. I don't think $200 million dollar studio budgets is where Bong Joon-ho thrives, but I really enjoyed seeing the type of vision he tried to bring to life with that kind of budget. Everyone gives a great performance: Pattinson, Ackie, Ruffalo, Collette--like this cast goes so hard.

I still wish we had maybe explored Mickey's grief over his mother a little more because it feels like that through-line fades into the background for too much of the film. But man there are so many highlights. The fight in the trash chutes room, Nasha giving Yifa a headscissors takedown, the entire scene with the black marble slab that has Jung Jae-il's excellent score going off like it's a Kingdom Hearts battle theme. Honestly so much to love about this movie, even if it never hits the highs of some of Bong Joon-ho's best.

“Look in my eyes.”

—

Cho was obviously a violent thug, but he got a crazy vertical on those dropkicks. Randy Orton himself couldn’t have done it better.

Memories of Murder works really well as a detective mystery. There’s a ton being done to give the movie a distinct feel beyond it being set in 1980s rural Korea. The movie has a vacant gray tone throughout most of its shots, really driving home how dark and ugly this story is. Taro Iwashiro’s score delivers some absolutely great tracks to drive up the tension.

But what sets Memories of Murder apart for me was how violent it was. The film explores just how gross this killer is, but doesn’t hesitate to also show how violent the cops are in their pursuit of justice. Even the end, with Song Kang-ho’s face looking straight into the camera, felt like an invitation to the audience to scrutinize what they just saw.

Films like this are great. Not a wasted second, and leaves you with a lot to think about. One of Bong Joon-ho’s best.

"Grow the hell up, Ned."

—

Oh man, this movie is really going to elevate my cine2nerdle game.

I love the siblings love in this movie, and the moment the whole family comes together for Willie Nelson. But, if Ned were my brother I might have choked him at some point.

This review may contain spoilers.

"Hey, Mickey. What's it feel like to die?"

—

Mickey 17 is quite ambitious as a critique of capitalism, a parody of our modern day leaders, and a terrifying look into the exploitation of labor. It's also a silly little movie where Robert Pattinson gives himself a handjob. Bong Joon-ho has done it again!

This is a fun movie that maybe loses itself in all of the ideas it is trying to tackle at once. I loved the ing cast so much that I wish they could have had a couple more scenes to really let their characters shine. As is, I had a really good time--especially when the baby stole the knife.

"Next time is next time. Now is now."

—

Meditative, and a strong reminder of the simplicity that can found in the world when you protect your peace. There's enough in this movie to see a full picture of Hirayama, but the focus of Perfect Days is on the joy he experiences during these small moments of humanity he shares. It's a nice reminder to enjoy the serenity of routine.

“I like your pants.”

—

Sometimes I Think About Dying balances its bleak subject manner as a black comedy, and I enjoyed the experience. I do wish there was maybe one or two extra elements to make this experience more dynamic and memorable, so I may need to rely on Daisy Ridley’s performances to this movie in a few years.

I love every outfit Fran wears in this movie, and I don’t know what it says about me that I yearn for the wardrobe of a depressed office worker.

Watched on Sunday March 2, 2025.

"I see we're still dressing in the dark, Eugene."
"Once again, don't call me Eugene."

—

I lost it every time Fisher Stevens skateboarded into a scene. If this movie didn't suck, it would rule.

Solid thriller that show just how much range Robin Williams has, but ultimately relied on him to carry much of the runtime.

“Go back to Jersey, Sonny. This is the city of the angels, and you haven’t got any wings.”

—

My mom was obsessed with this movie when I was a kid, and she would take my older siblings to see it multiple times then give them off school. I was too young to see the movie, so I’m going to give myself the day off from school tomorrow. This is the kind of justice that Bud and Exley were after.

"Isn't it kind of like snow?"

—

As beautiful and precise as the Saab 900 Turbo itself. If I'm being completely honest I think there's entire level of discussion about timing and grief that I didn't completely pick up on, but this did make me want to go on a long drive on the coast.

This is the first time a movie has been so anxiety inducing that I just started crying. I totally get why Sadako wants to crawl through TV screens and strangle people now.

“It is the gods who weep.”

—

At this point I have seen a couple of Kurosawa's samurai flicks and Rashomon, so seeing an epic war movie blended with a Shakespearean tragedy was definitely a new side to Kurosawa for me. As well as the color! Oh my, what brilliant colors in this film.

Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetore Ichimonji puts on one of the more harrowing performances I've seen in recent memory, and a lot of props have to go to the makeup and hairstyling team that keep him looking so perfectly corpse-like as he wanders his way from one tragedy to the next. And several shots from this movie will just have a spot in my brain for the rest of my life.

I definitely felt the runtime in this one, but that said I have been thinking about this movie a lot since I watched it. It might be better than I realize.

“Those things are disgusting.”
“They’re not disgusting, they’re gay culture.”

—

I was a little weary at the start this would just be a bunch of juvenile dick jokes, and it’s not not that, but the wit in the humor really won me over. I would watch an entire movie of just Sewer Boys gags.

“When a mistake has been made… I’ve always found it best to be simply up-front about it.”
“English, I didn’t cut the boss’s pants too short. I shot his son in the face.”

—

A nice tense, little thriller that comes in under two hours, delightfully led by Mark Rylance. The actual plot could have used a little tightening, but the script is solid and it’s brought to life by some very good performances. A real hidden gem of a flick.

“That’s the amazing and surprising thing about this world. We just keep coming across these people who wanna help us.”

—

Art is incredible. It thrives in the most unlikely of places. Cavemen painted on walls so that we could eventually perform Hamlet in GTA Online.

Seeing the Internet band together around something ambitious always warms my heart. It’s easy to be discouraged by the griefers and trolls, but the beauty is in the community that is built around this production. Folks who know nothing of Shakespeare can find themselves as an integral part of this group.

The joy is in seeing this powerful art take place in a world where sometimes your vehicle just blows up or you mistime a jump and fall off a skyscraper. Rather sweet, and a great example of how interconnected and united humanity can be even if we don’t realize it. We are not as alone as we think we are.

There were some bits that made me laugh (the closet gag really got me for some reason), but holy shit is Mike Myers insufferable in this.

The soundtrack for this movie had better be “There She Goes” just nine times in a row.

“Do you think you were born with a monopoly on the truth?”

—

My favorite genre of film is “folks in a room talking for 90 minutes”. This sets the bar for that genre.

"My name is Drasa. Today is my birthday. I'm going to do whatever the hell I want."

—

Look, the gorge started getting less interesting the more I found out what was in it, but I will never say this movie didn't have ideas. They have a scene where the characters flirt via sniping, and that's gotta count for something.

Nah, I don’t care if it’s herring and pumpkin pie, you don’t respect granny like that! It would be on sight, little kid!

Nobody be mean to them! Can you imagine how embarrassing it must be to have released a movie into theaters and realize you forgot to include an ending? Try putting yourself in their shoes!

This review may contain spoilers.

“Sometimes he said I laughed too much.”

—

How many times did they buy this dude a plane ticket?

If I was Anna I probably would have strangled Holly sometime during Act II. Like, dude, your fucking blabbermouth got the porter killed! Get it together!

Woof. I was a bit concerned after seeing how often this movie went back for reshoots, and it ultimately amounted to a blandly coherent movie devoid of any character, charm, or memorable moments. It's wild how stale this movie feels. The plot is a tedious slog through a baffling combination of predictable beats performed by obscure early MCU characters. There was no more story left to tell after about an hour in, so we have to kill time in action set pieces designed to make the US military look good.

What a disappointing waste of time. We could have had like twenty Brutalists for the amount it cost to make this movie.

"Sometimes being in love is lonelier than being alone, you know?"

—

I feel like I should like this movie. Romantic dark comedy with a surprisingly deep cast, super weird--just right up my alley. But I found this movie exhausting to get through. The central conceit just did not hook me. What does it mean to live in a world where love is a quantifiably provable thing? Like, no one really questions the machine's decisions, so what does life in the future look like when you can factually prove you are in love?

Fingernails never explores that premise beyond a "will they/won't they" between Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed. I suppose it's amusing that in a world where we can know for sure how others feel , Anna still doesn't know for sure, but if that's the depth of the premise then why bother with the weird, silly love institute gimmick? The aggressively heteronormative couples seemed intentional at first, but late in the movie we see a gay couple go through the institute with no issue. Is that saying something? I honestly couldn't tell you, but also I just didn't really care either.

This review may contain spoilers.

"Can't you just think about how he felt for five minutes? He--He felt trapped a-and alone."
"How do you know that?"
"I think about him all of the time. Dad, you get to be him for a couple of hours."

—

Art is therapy. Great plays, movies, and music allow us to process something we lack the vocabulary to vocalize partially because our own world is so damn noisy. It makes it too hard to think.

Processing grief through your art is something I'm all too familiar with. I've eagerly taken on an acting challenge because it allowed me to get into the head space of my late brother, and it allows him to live on, just as Brian lives on in Dan's performance.

I was exhausted by the end of Ghostlight, but in a good way. I love art because of movies like this.

I’m not sure this premise would work with lesser actors, but Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh are some of the best working today. They add a necessary charm to cut through the very heavy drama of everything.

I’m not quite sure the non-sequential storytelling added a ton to the movie, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Also it turns out Weetabix is a real product? Mental.

Dragged my older brother to see this with me in theaters. Absolutely gaslit myself into thinking this was kind of a cool movie until a couple years later I watched it with a friend and realized how absolutely embarrassing this was.

That said, Fire by Scooter has been on my playlist ever since this movie.

This review may contain spoilers.

“Excuse me? Did you jailbreak your sexbot?“

—

Go into movies blind.

I saw the original trailer and was intrigued, and avoided the second when I heard it spoiled too much. That helped me enjoy this movie a lot more, but I honestly wished I hadn’t seen the first trailer either, as the moment where Sophie Thatcher is looking at her burning arm is such an amazing visual that I wish I had been surprised with it.

Surprisingly funny; felt a lot like The Menu. Sophie Thatcher is on an absolute tear.

“What about Johnny?”
“You’re mad at him. Take it out on me. Take your revenge out on me! Leave nothing left for him to marry, leave nothing but the skin over my bones!”

—

What an amazing script. Every character in here gets their own beautiful little story about love and life. I never found the moon the be romantic, but the way characters look at and spoke of the moon made me get it.

Cher after that makeover had me speechless. She was already beautiful with that Bea Arthur updo, but during the opera scene? Absolutely gagged. This is a great movie that I feel like I could watch absolutely whenever.

"Oh no. Are they cursing their mamas in Spain?"

—

This movie rules. Probably one of the more interesting romantic movies from that era, and I liked the exploration of their relationship over the years. The shit was fluffy kitten cute when they were young, but adulthood comes a lot of new challenges. Sometimes we have to discover our parents aren't the heroes we thought they were, and sometimes we have to discover how little we respected them all along.

Alfre Woodard is so amazing during that scene in the kitchen--probably my favorite from the whole movie. Which says a lot because I think this movie has a lot of very good scenes. You could run that "Where's the D" joke back today and it would still hit just as hard.

When I saw this in theaters I think it was the first time I really realized how bad movies could be. We brought the German foreign exchange student from our school and I felt the need to apologize to her. “You have to believe me, our movies are usually less dogshit!”

Watched on Tuesday March 14, 2006.

This review may contain spoilers.

“Look at you! You’re disgusting! You’re horrible! And you ruined my life! And you’ve stolen all of my socks!”
“You were never gonna do anything with those fucking socks.”
“Yes, I was! I needed those socks!”

—

Until the last ten minutes this movie was a decent-ish romantic comedy with some light fantastical elements, but the ending really added a wild layer to this movie that I kept hoping it would find. Melissa Barrera is absolutely on fire in those final moments. What an ending!

Watched on Saturday February 10, 2018.

Saw this one for the first time on a big screen for my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday. Pretty sure I went straight home and made a White Russian.

“Are you still scared of your Mom?”
“No. Now I just can’t stand her.”

—

Incredibly sweet and tender. What it is like to see your daughter come of age when you feel like you didn’t get to? So much has changed in the world after just a generation.

A very good film and it’s some excellent performances.

My sister went with me to see this and brought her boyfriend (now husband). This was probably the second time I had met the guy.

Well, the last like fifteen minutes emotionally devastated me so much that I had to lie and pretend that I really wanted to watch the credits because I needed time to compose myself from crying so much. I was so mortified of embarrassing myself in front of my sister’s new boyfriend 🫣

I was losing focus with the movie and had a jump scare when the Catholic mass jingle bells went off.

I appreciate the experience this is intended to provide, but with my ADHD I didn’t really get lost in the long, dream-like shots so much as I got distracted.

"What the hell do you think that I do?"
"You sell... little fucking cars, that's what you do!"
"I wear a hundred and fifty dollar slacks! I wear silk shirts! I wear eight hundred dollar suits! I wear a gold watch! I wear a perfectly flawless three karat ring! I change cars like other guys change their fucking shoes! I'm a thief!”

—

James Caan's Frank has a hypnotic coolness to him. Throughout much of the film he runs into zero challenges in his heists, but I was never bothered by it because it's such a joy to watch Frank work. He's a man who has made peace with his own death, and that confidence makes him equal parts terrifying and aspirational. He's not kidding when he says he's not the kind of person you mess with.

I love how well everything flows together. No matter how doomed this story seems, the score keeps you hooked and excited. Because Frank is really good. Maybe so good, he can even get out of this one.

1. Sinners
2. Mickey 17
3. Companion
4. Thunderbolts*
5. Opus
6. The Gorge
7. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
8. Captain America: Brave New World

• 1917
• Ant-Man
• Asteroid City
• Barbie
• Bloodsport
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Clerks III
• Clue
• Coraline
• Creed

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

Movies about the best familial relationship you can have: siblings.

• The Skeleton Twins

  Explores how siblings can often times be the closest relationship we have, and the wild ups and downs that can come with.

• His Three Daughters

  Explores sisterhood around the time of a parent entering the final stage of their life. There’s fighting and drama, but a very profound love as well.

• My Neighbor Totoro

  Explores growing up with a younger sibling. How even as a child the eldest siblings are expected to grow up watching your for their younger brothers and sisters, but portrays it as a beautiful thing.

• Dìdi (弟弟)

  Explores how difficult it can be when the eldest sibling leaves the nest. There’s conflict between the two throughout the start of movie, but the realization that these all-too familiar days are coming to an end. Not the majority focus of the movie, but still a profound one.

• Our Idiot Brother

  Explores how siblings can frustrate & ruin us, and yet we still love them.

My personal rankings of the movies I’ve seen that had their main theatrical release in 2023.

1. Asteroid City
2. Godzilla Minus One
3. Poor Things
4. Barbie
5. The Boy and the Heron
6. Bottoms
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
8. American Fiction
9. Killers of the Flower Moon
10. Past Lives

...plus 63 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My personal ranking of the movies that had their first theatrical release in the year of 2024. This was a great year for movies.

1. I Saw the TV Glow
2. Hundreds of Beavers
3. Anora
4. Thelma
5. Sing Sing
6. The Brutalist
7. Love Lies Bleeding
8. A Real Pain
9. Kneecap
10. Lisa Frankenstein

...plus 88 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My personal ranking of the movies that had their main theatrical release in 2021.

1. The Mitchells vs. the Machines
2. No Time to Die
3. The Humans
4. Pig
5. tick, tick... BOOM!
6. The Tragedy of Macbeth
7. CODA
8. The French Dispatch
9. Drive My Car
10. Bo Burnham: Inside

...plus 38 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My personal ranking of the movies I’ve seen that had their first theatrical run in 2022. ittedly this was a bit of a rough year for me, so it’s a bit sparse.

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Nope
3. The Worst Person in the World
4. The Menu
5. Prey
6. Wendell & Wild
7. Women Talking
8. The Whale
9. Thor: Love and Thunder
10. The Fabelmans

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

I’ve neglected the best movies out there for too long. A challenge that gets me to stretch out and watch classics should be a great time, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of these.

Categories:

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
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. On the Waterfront
2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
3. 3 Women
4. Double Indemnity
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
6. Seven Samurai
7. The Kid
8. Thief
9. Hôtel du Nord
10. Tampopo

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