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Lately every other Wes Anderson project has hit for me. I don’t know if this is a matter of maybe loving one and coming into the next with high expectations or just a coincidence of his filmography, but Asteroid City knocked the wind out of me whereas this was merely bemusing. 

It’s so overstuffed with plot details (spies and cons and sons, oh my!) that it moves at a frantic, breakneck pace and yet it never feels like it shifts into a higher gear.

That being said, I loved virtually every performances in this, in particular Michael Cera and Mia Threapleton. I wish they were the leads and Korda was a more enigmatic figure like Royal Tennenbaum. Even if Bill Murray was only temporarily canceled, at least it forced Wes to bring Tom Hanks into his repertory. It’s a shame Richard Ayoade insists on ing Graham Linehan or else I’d be raving about his Che Guevera cosplay. Wes Anderson also guilty of criminal underuse of Riz Ahmed.

This rocks. Compelling characters + vivid action + a tight runtime = one kickass movie

However this reinforces my belief that the predators are fucking losers who get 90% of their kills by sucker punching you when they’re invisible with their autoaim guns. Judging by how many cyrotubes of predator killers they have in that spaceship, its clear their record in fair 1v1 fights is 0-1000.

The idea that the Predator is at all comparable to the xenomorphs in Alien, a perfect killing machine that never really loses, is laughable. If Tratchenberg is really gearing towards an AvP redux, I hope he re that and has some fun with it. Give me You’re Next but with Predators getting owned.

This perfectly captures the liminal space of middle school, in which the powerlessness of childhood curdles into the cruelty of adulthood. It probably shouldn’t be legal to hire children to do or say the things they say and do in this movie, but holy shit is it cathartic to pick at that scab I’ve been trying to ignore since the 7th grade.

Magnolia for sickos: a picaresque odyssey of people getting exactly what they want and finding happiness still keeps them at arms length. Solondz juxtaposes hilarious caricatures of normalcy with a bone chilling portrait of depravity in a tightrope act only a man would attempt. That it works at all is a testament to the pitch perfect cast he assembled. As horrific as this is, I would love to spend more time with these monsters.

It seems the things I've wanted in
My life I've never had
So it's no surprise that living
Only leaves me sad

Happiness, where are you?
I've searched so long for you
Happiness, what are you?
I haven't got a clue
Happiness, why do you have to stay
So far away
From me?

When I'm in despair and life has
Turned into a mess
I know that I don't dare to end my
Search for happiness

Happiness, where are you?

+⭐️⭐️ for a chillingly tangible opening act that captures the eery normalcy of living through the end of the world
+⭐️ for a superb performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor, an actor I’m always happy to see and yet his filmography is mostly films I will never watch
+⭐️ for crafting a lovely spotlight for Mark Hamill. I would be so mad if Rise of Skywalker was his last appearance on screen
-⭐️ for remaining stubbornly literal. There is one moment before Tom Hiddleston starts dancing where we see a flash of his grandmother dancing (someone we haven’t seen yet) which gave me a pang of emotion thinking about how our lives are shaped by these small moments in time, but that’s quite literally the only moment that ever plays out of sequence, with everything else happening more-or-less linearly. This backwards structure is interesting, but combined with a narrator slavishly reciting the prose from the original story and a series of extraordinarily long monologues, it doesn’t succeed in producing an emotional response.

The thing about Dr. Strangelove is that it’s not the world’s greatest work of political satire because of how it ruthlessly depicts mankind’s irresistible urge to destroy the urge rather than it we maybe went too far, but also because it’s really goofy and silly. It ends with a cowboy riding a nuke like a bucking bronco for Christ’s sake!

There are about 4 jokes in here, total. They’re funny jokes, to be clear. Just not nearly enough to justify its own importance.

One of the best kinds of Q&A’s you can see is “old veteran recounts every story from their life” and oh boy did Gabriel Byrne deliver with a free wheeling dialogue about the movie and everything else.

A particular highlight was the anecdote about the use of hats in the film: to the Coens, a hat was just a hat. I mean, everyone wore them back then, especially in the idealized world of 30’s gangster films this is aping.

For Byrne, it became a vehicle for expression. When Tim is opening his heart, he lifts his hat up. When Tim looks into his heart and finds it’s gone, he lowers his hat to cover his face. That the film ends on this image is not a coincidence.

Probably the best film about the male gaze ever made, which despite its depressing subject matter feels alive and joyful.

It’s not just that “you can’t make a movie like this anymore,” it’s that no one knows HOW to make a movie like this anymore. This may as well been produced by lost technology hidden deep in the submerged halls of Atlantis for how alien and impossible it feels in our current landscape.

This is stuck in a bit of an uncanny valley between a typically devastating Loach drama and a “how to organize a union” video but even a mid tier Loach will hit you harder than just about anything else.

“Maybe all men got one big soul where everybody's a part of. All faces are the same man, one big self. Everyone looking for salvation by himself. Each like a coal drawn from the fire.”

According to the Q&A with the editors, Terry soured on Adrian Brody’s performance while they were shooting and became enraptured by Caviezel instead. From what little of Brody’s performance that remains in the movie, it’s painfully obvious Terry made the right choice.

Brody looks like he’s trembling in every frame, which would get old if we spent any more time with him than we do now. Caviezel on the other hand is damn near messianic. No wonder Mel cast him as Jesus.

Howard Hawks said a great movie is three great scenes and no bad ones. The Final Reckoning has three great scenes and about 50 bad ones. So what kind of film is that?

This is nowhere near the same level of disaster as Jurassic World Dominion but they share a similar problem in that there’s too many fucking people in the squad. Unlike Dominion, we actually care about some of them, but after years basking in Tom Cruise’s glow, they’ve all been sanded down into two stock character types: “Guy who tells Ethan he doesn’t stand a chance” or “Guy who tells Ethan he’s our ONLY chance.”

And they keep adding more people as it goes along! You can’t sneak into a secret doomsday bunker when there’s 6 dudes and some guy’s wife tagging along too. By the end of the movie, the crew is so big the film basically gives up on coming up with reasons to split people up and has one of them literally say “I’ve got nothing to do in the next set piece so I’ll just stay back here and die.”

If I sound down, it’s because, as great as the submarine and biplane sequences are, I just can’t see myself going back to the theaters to sit through the rest of that again.

Yorgos Lanthimos is remaking this and as a Yorgos skeptic I have to say this might just be the perfect source material for him. It’s weird, gross, funny, and hates humanity with a ion. Adding Stavros into this is going to get me to the theater.

This is the best of the franchise for 2 simple reasons:

1) The kills are even more mean spirited than Final Destination 2 and Final Destination 5 (my other favorites) because the movie is at least pretending to care about these characters. Yes, they are paper thin but that doesn’t really matter so long as they’re filled with blood.

2) After decades of being a bit part of this franchise (or even worse, excised completely) Tony Todd finally gets to cook, unleashing every ounce of gravitas for his last appearance on screen. If nothing else, I’m glad this film exists to shame the Academy for not including him in last year’s In Memorium.

This makes Confess, Fletch look like Citizen Kane.

Perfectly captures the feeling of spending a hot day with your family where you’ll casually say the most hurtful things to each other and then go for a walk.

I would also go insane if Paul Rudd looked at me, even if he was actually low key a loser

Picking up the 4K blurays of the prequels really emphasized how beautiful this film is. The Phantom Menace has some great practical elements but the CGI suffers when bumped up to 4K resolution, and Attack of the Clones doesn’t even have the practical sets to help get by. This is the only one that can hold up to modern standards, which I think is why it’s the prequel with the most long lasting appeal.

One of the things I really love about Andor is how, even if Tony isn’t all that reverent to any of the movies (but especially the prequels), the series is still very much playing off of the building blocks Lucas created. Like, the neo-noir tinged investigation here is pretty half hearted thanks to the commitment to shooting everything on a green screen, and in Andor we really get to see that dream get realized.

Still one of the most spectacularly designed films of all time, from Pe’s regal outfits to the churn of Sebulba’s podracing engine.

It’s a total L for us Star Wars fans that Star Trek got Paul Giamatti before we did. Tony, you should have cashed in that Peabody blank check to get him back into that orangutan suit from Planet of the Apes as a senator on Andor.

Simultaneously Miyazaki’s most optimistic and pessimistic film: Yes, our greed has destroyed the earth, covering it in a dense layer of poison that threatens to wipe out what little remains of humanity (if they don’t blow themselves up first with all their petty squabbling) but it’s also home to its own kind of beauty. And within it lies our future, if we are not afraid to let go of the world we once knew.

Sinners bites off far more than it can chew but it never lets go, ripping ferociously at its many targets with gleeful abandon, and I’ll always choose that over the mealy mouthed corporate slop that is usually clogging up our beautiful IMAX screens.

The hand flex is the “Did you know Viggo broke his toe in that shot” moment for girls, a minor moment that has been blown up to epic proportion by years of internet culture.

I don’t care that this movie is full of horrible English acting, the plot is mostly nonsensical, and Biollante has barely 15 minutes of screen time: every minute she’s on screen is completely entrancing.

I’d love to see Biollante and Hedorah team up against Godzilla: Hedorah the smog monster rises out of our trash while Biollante is born from our attempts to reseed the planet. Both represent nature’s burning vengeance. Neither has made an appearance since their debut and a return is long overdue.

There were a lot of kids at this screening but if I saw this as a child it would have scared the fuck out of me. When Mushkin threatens Seymour while Audrey II lurks behind him, it’s genuinely terrifying.

-1/2⭐️ because Vidiots didn’t play the directors cut with the kaiju ending

Grief is rotting your teeth.

Hearing in the Q&A between Cronenberg and Richard Kelly (!!!) that this originated as an 8 episode Netflix series clarified a lot of what I found frustrating. 

Stitching two episodes of a TV show together produces something that is intentionally opaque and bewildering, even as someone well versed in his filmography. It feels less like a novel and more like a short story that could have been fleshed out more. I genuinely didn’t even recognize the climax of the story was happening until after the movie abruptly ended.

That being said I wouldn’t be shocked if I did a complete 180 on this on a rewatch now that I’ve got an understanding of the story’s general trajectory (or lack thereof)

The thing about memories is that you can’t really trust them: our brains have a way of mutating them, even and especially the traumatic ones. 

I had hoped Alex Garland would interrogate this fungible power of memories. Instead he seems intent on trying to recreate it as if it’s reality, which ends up feeling more like a bunch of kids LARPing as being troops.

At least it’s a very good cast of kids. I was particularly struck by Michael Gandolfini who channels his dads quiet intensity with a doofus energy that makes it clear he’s in over his head. Also very glad to see Charles Melton again. I’m still mad he didn’t even get nominated for May December.

I loved all the moments where they shoot cinema verite inside the train station but it lost a little luster once they hit the road and she stops being evil.

I would sell my soul to return to an era when Danny DeVito was our biggest leading man (pun intended)

David Cronenberg’s Princess Mononoke: a disturbing eco-body horror parable about a pig who wants to be a man and a man who hates being a human. They scratch and claw their way through life, searching in futility to escape the prison of their existence.

Unfortunately the animation is nowhere near as good as this sounds BUT it does create some intentionally horrid imagery that will seep under your skin. This would have been so much better if we got to spend just a little more time with the pig pre-transition.

More of a political treatise about the evils Henry Kissinger inflicted on Argentina than a film, but it’s as good as excuse as anything to revisit this heater from Anthony Bourdain:

“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević.”

Fun Fact: Kissinger’s son David runs Conan O’Brien’s production company

Watched on Saturday April 12, 2025.

An important reminder to teach your kids to always say no to avant-garde theater.

Watched on Saturday April 12, 2025.

It’s cruel that we indoctrinate our children into believing this is the only world available to them. A world destroyed by their forefathers in the name of greed, war, and hate. It’s not fair that we leave it up to them to fix everything we’ve broken. Éiru shows us a better world is possible and the children can lead us there, if we only give them the opportunity.

Watched on Saturday April 12, 2025.

Watched on Saturday April 12, 2025.

Watched on Saturday April 12, 2025.

Every time something fell in the fryer, people howled with laugher

Watched on Saturday April 12, 2025.

Watched on Saturday April 12, 2025.

“When I retire”??? Bro, get real. None of us are retiring, buddy.

Watched on Friday April 11, 2025.

Watched on Friday April 11, 2025.

Watched on Friday April 11, 2025.

Watched on Friday April 11, 2025.

I would also throw a party if the earth was blown up

Watched on Friday April 11, 2025.

Very triggering as someone who’s had a tooth removed. I hope the lil guys painting in there had a good time at least.

“It’s not called Mission: Difficult, Mr. Hunt, it’s Mission: Impossible.”

1. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
2. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
3. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
4. Mission: Impossible II
5. Mission: Impossible
6. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
7. Mission: Impossible III
8. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

The only objectively correct ranking of The Final Destination films

1. Final Destination Bloodlines
2. Final Destination 5
3. Final Destination 2
4. Final Destination
5. Final Destination 3
6. The Final Destination

1. Spirited Away
2. Kiki's Delivery Service
3. Princess Mononoke
4. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
5. Porco Rosso
6. My Neighbor Totoro
7. Ponyo
8. The Boy and the Heron
9. Castle in the Sky
10. Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro

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

I dunno man this one’s hard

1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2. Jurassic Park
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Jaws
5. Schindler's List
6. The Fabelmans
7. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
8. Duel
9. Lincoln
10. Munich

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Fly
2. Videodrome
3. Crimes of the Future
4. A History of Violence
5. eXistenZ
6. Scanners
7. Dead Ringers
8. Eastern Promises
9. Crash
10. The Brood

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

The only objectively correct ranking of Michael Mann’s filmography (according to me at least)

1. Heat
2. Collateral
3. Miami Vice
4. The Insider
5. Thief
6. Ali
7. Blackhat
8. Manhunter
9. The Last of the Mohicans
10. Ferrari

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

The only objectively correct ranking of John Carpenter's filmography (at least the ones I've seen)

1. They Live
2. The Thing
3. Christine
4. Starman
5. Big Trouble in Little China
6. In the Mouth of Madness
7. Prince of Darkness
8. Halloween
9. Assault on Precinct 13
10. Escape from New York

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

1. Evil Dead II
2. Spider-Man 2
3. Spider-Man
4. Darkman
5. The Evil Dead
6. Drag Me to Hell
7. Army of Darkness
8. The Quick and the Dead
9. Spider-Man 3
10. The Gift

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

1. Ocean's Eleven
2. Erin Brockovich
3. The Limey
4. Contagion
5. Out of Sight
6. Ocean's Twelve
7. Logan Lucky
8. sex, lies, and videotape
9. Kimi
10. Side Effects

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

The only objectively correct ranking of all Bong Joon-ho’s filmography (according to me anyways)

1. Parasite
2. Snowpiercer
3. Memories of Murder
4. Okja
5. The Host
6. Mickey 17
7. Mother
8. Barking Dogs Never Bite

All the movies I own

• 13 Tzameti
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 976-EVIL
• The Act of Killing
• After Hours
• Akira
• Alien
• Aliens
• Alita: Battle Angel
• Almost Famous

...plus 335 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The only objectively correct list of the films released in 2024 (that I’ve seen at least)

1. Dune: Part Two
2. I Saw the TV Glow
3. Anora
4. Nosferatu
5. The Substance
6. Challengers
7. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
8. Civil War
9. Hit Man
10. The Wild Robot

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

We’re halfway through the 2020’s, and thus a few steps closer to our inevitable annihilation. So let’s look back at the last half-decade of film. These may not be your favorites, but they mean the most to me. 

Grouped by year of release.

• The Empty Man

  A horror film that makes your brain itch as it plumbs the depths of the indifferent cosmos.

• The Card Counter

   As much as our political class tries to pretend it never happened, the weight of the War on Terror has only gotten heavier in the 20’s. How much longer can we afford to keep our heads above water?

• Pig

  “They don’t even know you, because you haven’t shown them.” 

  Art only matters if it matters to you. A lesson I’ve tried hard to hold onto.

• The Matrix Resurrections

  This meta IP reboot sequel is both a damning indictment of how creatively bankrupt we’ve become that we must exhume our beloved characters to force them to repeat their own stories, and also a loving tribute to how those stories can inspire us to fight for what we love.

• Mad God

  A recurring theme throughout these films are great, legendary artists running hog wild with whatever money they can get their hands on. Tippet is one of our greats, and in Mad God he finally got to lead the army after a lifetime in the trenches.

• The Fabelmans

  Not only is this one of the best films of the decade, but it also recontextualizes decades of Hollywood history.

• Crimes of the Future

  or: “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Microplastics”

• Nope

  Yup

• Babylon

  Cinema is dead. Long live cinema.

• Kimi

  The definitive COVID movie: an agoraphobic paranoid thriller about how even when we’re isolating, big tech is still listening.

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Mulholland Drive
2. Twin Peaks: The Return
3. The Elephant Man
4. Lost Highway
5. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
6. Blue Velvet
7. The Straight Story
8. Eraserhead
9. Wild at Heart
10. Inland Empire

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

24 movies that were new to me in 24. Presented in no particular order.

• Erin Brockovich
• Bicycle Thieves
• Baraka
• Going in Style
• Paranoia Agent
• The Insider
• Duel
• Frankenhooker
• North by Northwest
• The Searchers

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

1. Okja
2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
3. The Florida Project
4. Dunkirk
5. You Were Never Really Here
6. The Death of Stalin
7. One Cut of the Dead
8. Logan Lucky
9. Good Time

An ever growing list of movies that they won’t even allow you to pay to watch so I’ll have to rent them from Vidiots (if they even have it)

• Anguish
• Assassin 33 A.D.
• Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That!
• Begotten
• Bob Roberts
• The Boss of It All
• Bright Future
• Comrades
• Dogma
• The God of Cookery

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranking all the movies I watched this Ghoulstober (October 2024) from “I would be dead before the movie even starts” (#1) to “I’m alive and thriving in the end credits montage” (#31)

1. Azrael

   Even though I’m a godless heathen who sins constantly I still believe I will be raptured if/when the time comes

2. A Quiet Place: Day One

   You can hear me from the other side of a loud party so my ass is getting got immediately

3. Trick 'r Treat

   Suburbia is full of ghouls, monsters, and demons. At least one of these killers would get me.

4. Dracula's Dog

   Zoltan is a good lil pup and I would not be able to resist giving him a head pat, even if he’s got those bloody Dracula fangs sticking out of his head.

5. The Wailing

   I would believe anything a bunch of ghosts told me.

6. Chime

   Sometimes I hear someone's phone ring and it makes my brain hurt. If you don't put your phone on silent, 🔪

7. Murder Party

   This is just what artists are like, and I have been invited to some parties where I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to kill me

8. The Wolf Man

   I’m already 80% body hair. Being a wolf man would basically be an upgrade.

9. Bad Taste

   We’re all being slowly poisoned by fast food companies pumping microplastics into our bodies. Is it really that hard to imagine an intergalactic franchise setting up shop on our planet?

10. The Blob

    The Blob attacks a movie theater and kills just about everyone in there, so I'm fucked

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Returns
3. The Batman
4. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
5. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
6. Batman
7. Batman Begins
8. The Dark Knight Rises
9. Batman Forever
10. Batman & Robin

Every time I watch a horror movie, I can't help but wonder "Would I have survived being in this movie?"

This list ranks all the movies I watched this Ghoulstober from “I would be dead in the opening frames” (#1) to "I definitely would have survived this no problem" (#34)

1. Evil Dead Rise

   There is definitely at least one person in my apartment building who is stupid enough to read the words of Necronomicon, and that’s all it takes to die in this universe. 

2. The Crazies

   If you are relying on the US military to save your life, you’re already dead.

3. Unfriended

   Unfortunately the past month has forced me to recognize that despite what horrors I see online, I will not log off.

4. The Empty Man

   I really really really want to sit cross legged in front of that evil skeleton but will settle for one of those posters that are incomprehensibly black.

5. Lake Mungo

   I am constantly filled with an impending sense of dread, like your future has been preordained. Luckily it hasn’t come true yet……..

6. Appendage

   My anxiety has already fucked up my body in all different kind of ways. Making a weird little guy would actually be an improvement. 

7. Altered States

   I could be convinced to take DMT in a sensory deprivation tank. 

8. Skinamarink

   As a kid, I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with the TV on and certain there was some kind of monster hovering in the darkness. The only difference was the TV was playing one of those late-nite Girls Gone Wild ads.

9. The Little Shop of Horrors

   I’d look inside the giant plants mouth.

10. Chopping Mall

    I hate those glorified Roomba mall security things and I’m sure they hate me too.

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Don't judge me

• 976-EVIL
• The Act of Killing
• Atomic Blonde
• Bad Taste
• Bright Star
• C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud
• Class of 1999
• An Education
• Family Plot
• The Firm

...plus 34 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Movies that, for one reason or another, I only own digitally

• Anomalisa
• The Breadwinner
• Chicken Run
• Don't Think Twice
• The Empty Man
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
• The Fabelmans
• The Fisher King
• t Security Area
• Law of Tehran

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

1. Alien
2. Alien: Covenant
3. Aliens
4. Prometheus
5. Alien: Romulus
6. Alien³
7. Alien Resurrection
8. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
9. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

1. Shin Godzilla
2. Godzilla
3. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
4. Godzilla
5. Godzilla vs. Kong
6. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
7. Invasion of Astro-Monster
8. Godzilla Minus One
9. Mothra vs. Godzilla
10. Godzilla vs. Megalon

...plus 16 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

M. Night loves to make appearances in his own movies and I love to see him in his own movies.

1. Lady in the Water

   Let the man cook!

2. Glass

   “Let your dad go on a walk, Jesus” might just be the funniest line in an M. Night picture

3. Old

   The most metatextually interesting cameo: M. Night hiding behind a camera, watching the chaos unfold, knowing exactly the fate ahead of them. He may as well have a bucket of popcorn up there with him.

4. The Happening

   M. Night cucks Mark Whalberg

5. Knock at the Cabin

   Made me hungry for fried chicken

6. Trap

   He’s so proud of Saleka

7. Unbreakable

   Troubled youth M. Night Shyamalan needs to learn that drugs are bad

8. The Village

   M. Might as an enemy in a stealth game where you have to stay out of his cone of vision to avoid being detected

9. The Sixth Sense

   Pure exposition dump. Nice to see him, but he has more fun with it other places

10. Split

    He’s a computer guy. Nothing much to write home about.

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

1. The Sixth Sense
2. Knock at the Cabin
3. Old
4. Glass
5. Unbreakable
6. The Village
7. Trap
8. The Happening
9. The Visit
10. Signs

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

1. Millennium Actress
2. Perfect Blue
3. Tokyo Godfathers
4. Paranoia Agent
5. Paprika

Snoochie boochie

1. Dogma
2. Clerks
3. Chasing Amy
4. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
5. Clerks II
6. Mallrats
7. Clerks III
8. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

1. Citizen Kane
2. Mulholland Drive
3. Barry Lyndon
4. Godzilla
5. Do the Right Thing
6. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
7. Matewan
8. The Wages of Fear
9. Raging Bull
10. The Lady Eve

...plus 36 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Not movies where people have sex in cars, but where cars fuck

• Titane
• The Counselor
• Southland Tales
• Herbie Fully Loaded
• Crash

The only objectively correct ranking of all the Planet of the Apes films, past present and future.

1. Planet of the Apes
2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3. War for the Planet of the Apes
4. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
5. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
6. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
8. Beneath the Planet of the Apes
9. Battle for the Planet of the Apes
10. Planet of the Apes

The top films of 2010s, perhaps more than the 2000s or 1990s, focus on people lost in the world, either isolated by their class status, personal identity, or through the enormous social systems that divide us.

As our society becomes increasingly bifurcated, with each of us individually siloed off into our own personal bubbles, reckoning with our place in history is now a central theme in all of our lives. Many of these stories depict people coming to with the futility of life. We all lead such tiny lives when compared to the ever expanding universe we reside in. Its defining feature is darkness, and it is just about the only thing we know for certain is that it will inevitably swallow us whole, snuffing out all our petty accomplishments as if they never existed (which is to assume they actually did exist in the first place.)

Some of us find contentment in never finding the answers to life's eternal questions. Others are driven to madness searching for it. They kick, scratch, and bite for every little scrap of land they can get their hands on, only succeeding in bringing more of the darkness they're so afraid of.

But the lucky few open their hearts to the world around them. Like the light from a film projector, they act as a beacon to bring people together. Every film made over the last decade has, in some way or another, has succeeded in this goal, even if the film itself was a failure.

These 50 films are therefore remarkable for their ability to either pierce through the darkness with their joy and charm, or to mirror it so that we might understand it more fully and see the texture and depth that it attempts to hide from us. They are posted in a rough order but only really for the Top 5 films. Instead, they're bundled by themes, genres, and my own personal history with them. I'll surely adjust these rankings as time goes on, and I plan to write something for each of them eventually, so check back later for more ramblings. Thanks.

• First Reformed
• Parasite
• Under the Skin
• The Master
• The Handmaiden
• Shin Godzilla
• Four Lions
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Margaret
• The Witch

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

At least the ones I’ve seen.

1. Oppenheimer
2. The Holdovers
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
4. Asteroid City
5. How to Blow Up a Pipeline
6. The Boy and the Heron
7. BlackBerry
8. Anatomy of a Fall
9. May December
10. The Zone of Interest

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

Juked my Letterboxd stats by logging all these shorts and here are my favorites. Not sure when/how everyone will be able to see them but there’s plenty of great filmmakers in here, even among the shorts I didn’t particularly like.

1. Viaje de Negocios
2. Pisko the Crab Child Is in Love
3. The Looming
4. Shé (Snake)
5. Bug Diner
6. Matta and Matto
7. Dream Creep
8. 27
9. Pathological
10. The Rainbow Bridge

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

1. Zodiac
2. Gone Girl
3. Panic Room
4. The Social Network
5. Fight Club
6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
7. Se7en
8. Mank
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10. The Killer

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

In no particular order, my favorite films I watched for the first time in 2023 (not including new releases)

• The Invisible Man
• The Lady Eve
• Tokyo Story
• Seven Samurai
• Psycho
• The Housemaid
• The Crazies
• The Traveler
• Alligator
• After Hours

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Handmaiden
2. t Security Area
3. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
4. Thirst
5. Lady Vengeance
6. Oldboy
7. Decision to Leave
8. Stoker

Trying to work through my backlog of movies I’ve bought but haven’t watched by only watching films with physical media or in theaters. me if you like.

• 2046
• The Act of Killing
• Annihilation
• Apocalypse Now
• Atomic Blonde
• Bad Taste
• Blackhat
• The Devils
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Fallen Angels

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Minari
2. The Empty Man
3. Devs
4. Da 5 Bloods
5. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
6. Emma.
7. Possessor
8. World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime
9. Shiva Baby
10. Let Them All Talk

1. Saw VI
2. Saw
3. Saw X
4. Saw III
5. Saw II
6. Saw IV
7. Saw V
8. Spiral: From the Book of Saw
9. Saw 3D
10. Jigsaw

For one reason or, I own this multiple times so here they all are

• The Birds

  4k Steelbook and 4k Hitchock collection

• Coraline

  Bluray (in a Laika combo pack) and 4k

• The Empire Strikes Back

  DVD (bought at Babbages used almost 20 years ago) & despecialized bluray

• Jupiter Ascending

  Bluray (in combo pack with Cloud Atlas) and 4k

• The Limey

  DVD (bought in thrift store) and 4k

• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

  Bluray (only extended edition), and 4k (extended and theatrical)

• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

  Bluray (only extended edition), and 4k (extended and theatrical)

• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

  Bluray (only extended edition), and 4k (extended and theatrical)

• Ocean's Eleven

  DVD in a Friend Clooney 4 pack and bluray in an Ocean’s 4 film collection

• Return of the Jedi

  DVD (bought at Babbages used almost 20 years ago) & despecialized bluray

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Movies I can watch when Nicole isn't home

• 24 Frames
• 48 Hrs.
• About Elly
• Airheads
• Alexander
• Amadeus
• Asako I & II
• The Assistant
• Avengement
• Bad Times at the El Royale

...plus 113 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Fast & Furious 6
• Furious 7
• Fast Five
• Fast X
• F9
• The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
• 2 Fast 2 Furious
• Fast & Furious
• The Fast and the Furious
• The Fate of the Furious

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

1. Sunshine
2. Trainspotting
3. Steve Jobs
4. Shallow Grave
5. Slumdog Millionaire
6. 127 Hours
7. T2 Trainspotting
8. The Beach

• The Matrix
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
• Fargo
• The Big Lebowski
• Boogie Nights
• Close-Up
• Jurassic Park
• Cure
• Chungking Express
• Lost Highway

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Mulholland Drive
• Speed Racer
• No Country for Old Men
• Millennium Actress
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence
• Michael Clayton
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Children of Men
• Inglourious Basterds

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Still have not seen Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk, and many many more.

1. First Reformed

   The most important movie of the decade. When mankind is eventually destroyed by climate change, this film will be our swansong. A damning condemnation of our needless destruction of mother earth and a beautiful tribute to the little wonders we were able to create along the way.

2. Roma

   If Letterboxd allowed for a tie, this would be #1 as well. It's a finely crafted film on all fronts, with epic set pieces that never distract from the finely tuned performances. And it all comes together for a political message that's just subtle enough many, including myself, will never see coming.

3. The Favourite

   My favo(u)rite english-language Yorgos film because it includes three amazing female leads who each bring something unique to the table. But I'll be damned if Olivia Coleman and Nicholas Hoult didn't steal the show with performances that never failed to excite me.

4. Eighth Grade

   How accurate is this movie, really? I don't have kids so I'll never really know, but it *feels* right, which is about as much as you can ask for a film. And even if it wasn't, Burnham's writing and directing are so perfectly in sync with the rest of the movie. By far the best directorial debut of the year (sorry Sorry to Bother You).

5. Annihilation

   Is this better than Ex Machina? Not sure about that yet, but it does have the best DMT trip ever transcribed onto film with some other truly haunting scenes that earn Annihilation's place in the pantheon of great science fiction films.

6. The Death of Stalin

   Between this, Vice, and the Favourite (and other real world events I'm not going to bother going into), 2018 can firmly be named the year "the Emperor Had No Clothes And Everyone Laughed At Him."

7. Shoplifters

   A beautiful and empathetic film that never strays from its microstorytelling and yet hits a profound emotional feeling that few filmmakers even aspire to. Am I concerned for his english-language debut? Yes, but I'm also ecstatic to see what Kore-eda and Ethan Hawke are up to.

8. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

   Even if people don't want to it it, the script has the same "origin story" mythos that usually make me role my eyes. And I found it's female characters to be disappointingly flat. But in the end, this is a groundbreaking work of animation that might just open up the industry to make more movies that don't look like Pixar-lite.

   Now let's unionize Sony Imageworks.

9. You Were Never Really Here

   Maybe the "lightest" film on my list. Now hold on for a second and let me explain: Like the novella by Jonathan Ames, YWNRH is a tense story that that moves at a brutal pace in a very short period of time. It does more with 1 hour and 35 minutes than most films do in twice the time, and it hits all the harder because of it.

10. Hereditary

    A well crafted haunted house. Maybe a little twee and slow moving, but I've also been peaking up at every dark corner of my house every night since I saw it.

1. Babylon
2. The Fabelmans
3. In Front of Your Face
4. Crimes of the Future
5. No Bears
6. Triangle of Sadness
7. Everything Everywhere All at Once
8. Nope
9. The Banshees of Inisherin
10. RRR

You know the drill. These are movies that came out in the year 2019 that I A) saw, and B) liked.

1. Parasite
2. One Cut of the Dead
3. The Farewell
4. Under the Silver Lake
5. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
6. The Lighthouse
7. The Report
8. Monos
9. Midsommar
10. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

1. John Wick: Chapter 4
2. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
3. John Wick
4. John Wick: Chapter 2