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Watched on Thursday May 1, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday April 30, 2025.

Watched on Monday April 28, 2025.

Watched on Monday April 28, 2025.

Watched on Monday April 28, 2025.

Watched on Monday April 28, 2025.

Watched on Sunday April 27, 2025.

Watched on Saturday April 19, 2025.

I previously posted this review on Allmusic for the live album of Jimi's performance depicted in this movie. It basically summarizes my thoughts on the movie:

In June of 1967, Jimi Hendrix had just put out his landmark debut album, Are You Experienced in the UK off the heels of a few singes he had put out there, Hey Joe, followed by Purple Haze and The Wind Cries Mary. He was a sensation in the UK, but not in his native U.S. That would soon change on June 18th, 1967. On that day, The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed to a bewitched and bewildered crowd of hippies and music fans at the International Monterey Pop Festival. Their performance, captured here in it's full, unedited glory, alongside the release of Are You Experienced, in both it's original UK form and it's later, slightly different (and in my opinion, much superior) U.S. version, would unleash a sonic revolution and permanently transform rock music. At Monterey, Jimi introduced himself and his wild sound to the young Americans who had been missing out at that point and they didn't know what hit them, but they sure loved it. With this performance, Hendrix showed himself at perhaps his most energetic and intense, somehow managing to amp up the energy, intensity and volume of Are You Experienced up to eleven. If you're skeptical of Hendrix, please check out his readings of Howlin' Wolf's Killing Floor, B.B. King's Rock Me Baby, as well as his originals, Can You See Me, Foxy Lady and Purple Haze all of which are fast, heavy, and intense as fuck. And lets not forget his bonkers performance of Wild Thing, stretched out into a wild, 8-minute acid rock jam whose performance of which was infamously depicted in the Monterey Pop documentary, during which he humps his guitar, humps the Marshall stacks on stage with his guitar, sets his guitar on fire, before eventually smashing it and throwing the pieces to the audience as a souvenir. This is pure rock n'roll, pure sonic fire. The only thing about this is, why wasn't this set released during his lifetime? Especially considering how it literally made him a star.

The link to my original review: www.allmusic.com/profile/rss/reviews/629e94f90e1b01e82d7aedf6#albumReviews

Watched on Sunday April 6, 2025.

Watched on Friday April 4, 2025.

Watched on Sunday March 30, 2025.

Watched on Saturday March 29, 2025.

Watched on Friday March 28, 2025.

Watched on Thursday March 27, 2025.

Watched on Monday March 17, 2025.

Watched on Saturday March 15, 2025.

Watched on Monday March 10, 2025.

This review may contain spoilers.

The politics of memory, war and who deserves empathy are often complicated and thorny. All too often, wars between two or more countries fall into two camps. Those unjustified wars that happen to preserve oppressive relationships, specifically colonial and imperialist relationships. Usually these have a clear cut good side (the colonized fighting for their freedom or to preserve their autonomy) and bad side (the colonizer trying to preserve or expand their power) And the other wars are those also unjustified and much more pointless wars between imperial powers for dominance. But no matter what, it's always civilians, especially children, who pay the price and that's what Grave of the Fireflies is about. It's about the needless misery of children dying from two empires fighting for dominance. Victims of both a fascist death cult ideology and American empire.

Us Americans often think of ourselves as the good guys in the Pacific Theater of WWII. We fought against an insanely brutal and depraved fascistic empire that colonized vast swathes of the Asia-Pacific region and committed some of the most heinous atrocities and war crimes ever perpetuated on the world. And we defeated them.

But the truth is not as black and white as it was in Europe nor did it start out as fighting to stop evil Japan. The United States was much more brutal towards the Japanese than we were towards the Germans because we saw them in an incredibly racist fashion and were propagandized to see them as sub human monsters. This lack of humanity we showed them, we showed Nazis more humanity by comparison, led us to do things like mutilate Japanese War dead, firebomb civilians and nuke two cities out of existence in a pair of war crimes on par with literally anything done by the Japanese and Germans in the entire war.

So in seeing Grave of the Fireflies and seeing the devastation U.S. bombs wrought on civilians, on children, among the other war crimes we committed, it makes not really want to celebrate the Pacific War like so many Americans due. Despite the obvious depravity of the Japanese and that the American defeat of the Japanese Empire was an objective good for the whole region. But that's only part of the story.

The other part of the story in Grave of the Fireflies is how much fascist, ultra-nationalist and militarist ideology dehumanizes the very societies it engulfs. Grave of the Fireflies is just as much a condemnation of the dehumanization wrought by Japanese militarism as it is of American militarism, if not perhaps more so.

We are shown how a nation brainwashed into a jingoist frenzy and delusion fails to have any sense of empathy. When Seita and Setsuko loose their mother in a firebombing, so begins a gradual disillusionment with Japanese militarism by a grieving and potentially traumatized Seita.

Despite him and Setsuko becoming war orphans, they are met with nothing but sheer contempt from everyone around them. Contempt seemingly that they are survivors, but most of all, contempt that they are not seen as contributing to the larger war effort. These are kids for fucks sake! Grieving, potentially traumatized kids who don't have much at all. But for those brainwashed to the empire at all costs, these poor kids are nothing but ungrateful parasites.

I know that a lot of viewers, especially outside of Japan have issue with Seita's perhaps misguided decision to leave his aunt and live on his own in a mine shaft near a pond. His decision is often regarded as callous. So prideful it leads to Setsuko's eventual death. But I for one, don't blame him.

For one, I want reiterate, Seita is a kid! He couldn't yet understand how his decision would have dire consequences at his age. Second, I also don't blame him for leaving when his aunt shows him nothing but contempt and disdain. I wouldn't blame a kid like that for wanting nothing to do with people like her, for wanting to withdraw from a society that clearly doesn't give a fuck about you or what you've gone through. He's literally beaten up later for the "crime" of stealing crops. Like yeah, Japanese society at the time had no empathy for the victims of it's own imperialist hubris and Grave of the Fireflies shows the tragic consequences of this hubris.

Watched on Tuesday March 4, 2025.

Watched on Saturday March 1, 2025.

Watched on Thursday February 27, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday February 25, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday February 25, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 24, 2025.

Watched on Sunday February 23, 2025.

Watched on Friday February 21, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday February 18, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 17, 2025.

Watched on Sunday February 16, 2025.

Watched on Thursday February 13, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday February 11, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday February 11, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday February 11, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 10, 2025.

Watched on Sunday February 9, 2025.

Watched on Friday February 7, 2025.

Watched on Thursday February 6, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday February 4, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 3, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 3, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 3, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 3, 2025.

Watched on Monday February 3, 2025.

Watched on Friday January 31, 2025.

Watched on Friday January 31, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday January 28, 2025.

Watched on Monday January 27, 2025.

Watched on Sunday January 26, 2025.

Watched on Saturday January 25, 2025.

Every film fan has their list of what they wish the Criterion Collection would release, this is mine.

Since starting this list, several movies that were on it have gotten Blu-ray releases, mostly through Criterion:

Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror (1975) and Satyajit Ray's Devi (1960), both movies I waited years to see get Criterion releases finally got them in 2021!

After Life (1998), The Learning Tree (1969), Chan is Missing (1982), Chess of the Wind (1976), Eve's Bayou (1997), Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985), Freaks (1932), Nothing But a Man (1964), Emitaï (1971), Xala (1975), Ceddo (1977), Black God, White Devil (1964), Farewell My Concubine (1993), Paper Moon (1973), Killer of Sheep (1978), Midnight (1939), A Confucian Confusion (1994) and Mahjong (1996) have also gotten Criterion releases or are getting them.

Five other movies previously on this: Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1992), Millennium Mambo (2001), Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love) (1998), Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1972), Shoplifters (2018) and On the Silver Globe (1988) either have gotten Blu-ray releases or will be getting them outside of Criterion. I.R.T. got a release through the Paramount Presents line. Millennium Mambo got a release through Kino-Lorber. Fucking Åmål got a release through Arrow in a box set of Lukas Moodysson films. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii got a release through Legacy Recordings. Shoplifters got a release through Magnolia Pictures. On the Silver Globe is getting a release through Mondo Vision.

• Greed
• The Crowd
• The Wedding March
• The Wind
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• Baby Face
• Twentieth Century
• Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo
• Top Hat
• The Crime of Monsieur Lange

...plus 125 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Movies Criterion has released before that have not seen a Blu-ray release (in the U.S. at least) that they should upgrade.

Five of the movies previously on this list, Written on the Wind (1956), The Red Balloon (1956), Floating Weeds (1959), Pandora's Box (1929) and The Burmese Harp (1956) have gotten or are getting Blu-ray upgrades.

I've picked up a UK Blu-ray of Missing (1982), so I've taken it off the list.

• À Nous la Liberté
• Trouble in Paradise
• The Only Son
• Thieves' Highway
• Early Summer
• Twenty-Four Eyes
• When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
• Le Trou
• The Bad Sleep Well
• Il Posto

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Spirited Away
2. Stalker
3. Casablanca
4. The Seventh Seal
5. Ugetsu
6. Bicycle Thieves
7. Mirror
8. Millennium Actress
9. A Matter of Life and Death
10. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

...plus 473 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Woman in the Dunes
2. Lawrence of Arabia
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
4. Dog Star Man
5. The Battle of Algiers
6. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
7. The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
8. An Autumn Afternoon
9. Harakiri
10. Yojimbo

...plus 52 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Casablanca
2. Bicycle Thieves
3. A Matter of Life and Death
4. Double Indemnity
5. It's a Wonderful Life
6. Citizen Kane
7. The Red Shoes
8. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
9. The Grapes of Wrath
10. Rome, Open City

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Seventh Seal
2. Ugetsu
3. Ikiru
4. Vertigo
5. Paths of Glory
6. Sansho the Bailiff
7. Singin' in the Rain
8. Rear Window
9. Wild Strawberries
10. Pather Panchali

...plus 75 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Stalker
2. Mirror
3. The Godfather
4. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
5. The Godfather Part II
6. Apocalypse Now
7. Dersu Uzala
8. Solaris
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
10. Dog Day Afternoon

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

Film is obviously a visual medium, but not each film uses the cinematic medium the same, some films make more extensive usage of the visual nature of film than others and the result is often times magnificent. This is a list of some of the most visually beautiful films ever be they live action or animated, black and white or color. Leave in the comments any other films that you think are particularly stunning visually, though I will only add them if I see them.

1. Baraka
2. The Red Shoes
3. The Seventh Seal
4. Dog Star Man
5. Spirited Away
6. Koyaanisqatsi
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Wild Strawberries
9. My Neighbor Totoro
10. The Night of the Hunter

...plus 322 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Strike
• Battleship Potemkin
• Metropolis
• Comradeship
• À Nous la Liberté
• Trouble in Paradise
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• Wild Boys of the Road
• Duck Soup
• Redes

...plus 141 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Clown and His Dogs
• A Good Beer
• The Jungle
• The Golem
• The Melting Pot
• The Immigrant
• Civilization's Child
• Romeo and Juliet
• The Victim
• The Honor System

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

1. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
2. Koyaanisqatsi
3. Blade Runner
4. My Neighbor Totoro
5. Castle in the Sky
6. Do the Right Thing
7. Son of the White Mare
8. Come and See
9. Kiki's Delivery Service
10. Grave of the Fireflies

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. City Lights
2. The Wizard of Oz
3. Modern Times
4. Only Angels Have Wings
5. The Rules of the Game
6. It Happened One Night
7. Grand Illusion
8. Bride of Frankenstein
9. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
10. M

...plus 37 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
2. The ion of Joan of Arc
3. Metropolis
4. The Crowd
5. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
6. The Gold Rush
7. Battleship Potemkin
8. Greed
9. The Docks of New York
10. The Thief of Bagdad

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Three Colours: Red
2. Close-Up
3. Baraka
4. Chungking Express
5. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
6. GoodFellas
7. Toy Story
8. A Brighter Summer Day
9. Malcolm X
10. The Shawshank Redemption

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
2. Your Name.
3. My Life as a Zucchini
4. Shoplifters
5. Night Is Short, Walk On Girl
6. Song of the Sea
7. Wolf Children
8. The Breadwinner
9. 12 Years a Slave
10. Parasite

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.