4v291o

Okay, I was too harsh with Miyazaki’s first feature. I thought I was being generous with my rating but now on second viewing, I enjoyed it so much more. However, saw the English Dubbed version this time and the voice acting is not that great.

Gugu go-goes Gaga

Between The Naked Gun 2 1/2 and Look Who’s Talking Too, comedies were pretty tough on George H. W. Bush…

In all seriousness, the movie needed more scenes with Gilbert Gottfried as the baby gym instructor…

I’m so ready for the reboot/legacy-sequel/whatever-it’s-called!

“I've been swimming in raw sewage. I love it!”
—Lt. Frank Drebin & RFK Jr

Alicia Keys and Nate Parker’s performances do not hold up on rewatch. In fact, most of the actors aren’t really giving their best. Gina does most of the heavy lifting through sheer force of will in the script and direction.

Nick: “Listen to me, Hillary. I'm not the first guy who fell in love with a woman that he met at a restaurant who turned out to be the daughter of a kidnapped scientist, only to lose her to her childhood lover who she last saw on a deserted island, who then turned out fifteen years later to be the leader of the French underground.”
Hillary: “I know. It all sounds like some bad movie.”
*Both slowly turn towards the camera*

The Naked Gun was not a movie on rotation with my friends or family growing up and I wish it had. Hilarious! (Side Note: George Kennedy looks so much like Bill Camp, it made me so confused.)

The chemistry between Snipes and Lathan is strong, but it’s about 20 minutes too long. It gets a bit redundant at times, but Prince is always great at portraying dynamic relationships.

Omar Epps. I’m sure he was happy with the paychecks he got from House, but dude lost a lot of momentum being away from films for about a decade. I wonder what kind of a career he would have if not for that show. Also, Sanaa Lathan deserved to become a bigger actress of her generation. Probably would have been if she were ten years older or ten years younger… Anyway, Love & Basketball… the hype is real. Very good movie. Gina Prince-Bythewood has always had the right stuff.

“I’ll stay alive as long as I—“

1. I don’t think MRIs work like that…
2. This depicts all of the many reasons I will never get piercings or tattoos.
3. Why have a cabin surrounded by hundreds of things that can easily kill you? That doesn’t functionally seem like a place to ward off death for decades.
4. These people are literally shown 50 family trees of dead people killed in horrific accidents and they go, “Yeah, but where’s your proof?”
5. At least they gave Tony Todd a backstory, finally!

I felt about as exhausted watching Oh, Canada as Richard Gere’s Leo Fife did while in it. I thought the performances were really good, as was the photography, but the script was repetitive with little meat on the bone. I have finally concluded my Schrader retrospective.

Sigourney Weaver is still iconic. Good lord!

Wait, hold on… so the baby doesn’t actually talk? That’s slightly disappointing

A man with a dark past, suffering from depression, seeking redemption? Must be another Paul Schrader film. This time it’s Oscar Isaac’s turn.

Their mouths move but they forgot to make them emote.
They made it much longer than the original but they forgot less is more.
They kept all the music but they forgot no one can redo Elton John or Hans Zimmer (even Hans Zimmer).
Flawed in almost every way imaginable.

Is Andor one of the most exquisitely plotted and developed shows in Disney’s history? Yes. Does it fix the issues I have with Rogue One? Some of them. Rogue One is visually stunning and unique in the franchise… But even with the retrospective and additive changes made in the show, the massive ensemble of characters who take forever to get together and get shoe-horned into a 130 minute runtime is still flawed. I am all the more certain Jyn should not have been the “lead” now. In many ways, Rogue One should be a film I love like I do for Andor; instead I cannot feel more than appreciation.

It’s been almost 8 years since I last watched First Reformed and my assessment of it hasn’t changed. It was the first film I saw of Schrader’s as a director. Watching where his career has gone from here is the reason I started my journey through his films to begin with. I was nervous it would not hold up but his script is a master class in character study and Hawke (being the greatest actor of his generation) takes the material and runs away with it.

Nic Cage as James Cagney as Troy is perfect

A much clearer version of Dying of the Light. It resolves some of the problems from the producers-version of the movie, and I see a version where if Schrader actually had the backing of the studio he might have delivered at least a four star film here. Also an improvement is how Cage’s performance works better in this version than in the original.

Generic, knotty, and obvious may be the best way to describe it. Sad to see a Nic Cage spy movie be so… normal.

Eric Idle is funnier than Chevy Chase

Not really for me. I preferred Christmas Vacation.

Bret Easton Ellis has always tried to be a transgressive writer. I think he thinks he’s telling stories that reveal the truth of my generation. How it feels when watching a movie like this is more along the lines of an older man trying to observe and reflect what he sees. At the time of The Canyons, Ellis was in his late 40s and Schrader in his 60s. That’s the problem with the film. Not Lindsay Lohan’s casting; she was pretty good actually. Not James Deen’s casting; he wasn’t great and did not behave naturally. Not the “phenomenon” as Schrader calls it. It’s a story of a younger generation being told by an older generation. There is a disconnect from reality here. A perfect example of what I’m talking about is the soundtrack. I don’t think for a second anyone in this movie would listen to the kind of music in the soundtrack, but I believe Schrader does. It’s not an affront to cinema, but the film isn’t transgressive. It’s just a couple older people who think this is how millennials in California behave and talk, and it’s not.

Can’t say I liked it, but can’t say it was bad. Goldblum was terrific, at least.

In my retrospective of Paul Schrader’s directorial career, I tend to find three common problems:

1. Bad needle drops
2. Compromises from a strong script
3. Miscasting of key roles

The Walker suffers from all three. Woody Harrelson in particular ruins the film. He can be so good, but it was a big mistake by everyone to cast him.

What a damn waste. I tuned out about half an hour in. At first I didn’t think it was worse than the baffling prequel, The Beginning, but maybe just uninteresting. Then Ellen Burstyn shows up and the script really goes off the rails from there into the bizarre and cringe. Mike Flanagan, please fix this series.

Outside of Stellan, it took everything that was good about Schrader’s version and made it into a mindless, generic film that has little to say outside a couple cheap scares. It also doubles down on those hideous hyenas. At least there is no Cheche or equivalent character.

I was enjoying the first half of the film. It felt like they were telling a solid backstory for Father Merrin and Stellan Skarsgård was doing an excellent job. It didn’t feel stitched together until the last half when it just blundered towards a very crappy ending. The Cheche character was a huge mistake. I should have known that that wasn’t going to go anywhere good.

That final bravura shot of Willa Fitzgerald has ed the Canon alongside the likes of Michael Clayton and Call Me By Your Name.

I wanted to rate this a little lower during the first half, but by the end I cannot deny the incredible work done by everyone. George C Scott and Brad Dourif are legends for a reason. William Peter Blatty delivers a film that’s more than just the scares, something John Boorman failed to do previously. I’m now curious to search the “Director’s Cut” before I move onto watching the two cuts of the Prequel, Dominion and The Beginning.

The sequel is not as terrible as I was led to believe. Richard Burton is doing a lot of great work around some really poor actors. I can at least respect Boorman is trying to do something different. However, in its effort to do something new and visually expansive, he fails to make anything compelling or scary.

Been a very long time since I saw this masterpiece. Friedkin, baby. He knew what he was doing. It’s a movie every possession film is trying to chase. Can’t wait to see what Mike Flanagan does with his film. He’s a much better match for the material than David Gordon Green.

Taking the suaveness and sleaziness of Greg Kinnear and amping it up to a thousand. What a terrific role for him. I also enjoyed when a shift happens with the cinematography and score around the hour and twenty minute mark that I think elevates the film from being run-of-the-mill. Like Shame, it gets into the psychology and the consequences of sex addiction, something society as a whole still refuses to engage in, I believe. I respect Schrader tremendously for trying to have a conversation about it in his art.

This is what happens when a Marvel film is made with intention, written with a clear vision, directed by someone who cares, with visuals effects that were completed, and designed clearly and effectively. Loved Bob and The Void, loved Yelena and the team, loved Jake Schreier‘s direction, and pleased that the ending is so much more emotional and impactful than another CGI mashup.

Schrader is trying to make a film in conversation with some of his other projects; I sense elements of Comfort of Strangers and American Gigolo, and others. The production and acting, unfortunately, did not match the sexy vibes or the cool heights of his other films. It looks cheap, feels stilted, and soapy in execution. It wants to be romantic and instead it ends up being slightly pathetic. Cuckold Ray Liotta is the best thing about it by a country mile.

Pretty damn good movie. As I keep watching Schrader’s films, I’m constantly amazed how good of a writer he is. James Coburn was exceptional too. Took a role that could have been really cliche and made it I to something more. My biggest hangup is Nick Nolte, an actor who I am still surprised was so famous. The film will probably grow on me on a rewatch, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get over my Nolte bias.

This is basically just an adult, live-action, feature-length Looney Tunes film. Sounds like a fun time, but the jokes are hit or miss though.

Aaaaaand done!!! Finally finished my Black Mirror marathon. Into Infinity is not as good as the first Callister episode, but still a lot of fun because of this awesome cast.

Going with my heart on this one. This is a perfect example of an actor elevating B-level material to an A-level episode. Paul Giamatti is on point and delivers another exceptional performance, proving again to the world he’s one of the greats.

Watched on Wednesday April 30, 2025.

I don’t know, I just thought they were trying to do San Junipero. Regardless, I thought Rae and Corrin were electric. (The conversation between Awkwafina and Harriet Walter at the beginning had me wondering if Jennifer Salke wishes she could have pitched that technology when working with Barbara Broccoli at Amazon for the new Bond movie. “Content.”)

I came out of the theater wanting two things:

1. I want John Bernthal to be my brother

2. And I want this team of creatives to keep making ant movies.

Rosy McEwen looks like a young Nicole Kidman.

First, Tracee Ellis Ross is one of the most realistic villains of the series.
Second, no one would take that much pleasure from having sex with Chris O’Dowd… Sorry…
And third when Rashida Jones does the ads, it reminded me of Laura Linney in The Truman Show. I had to go and watch some of the clips on YouTube, especially that Cocoa Scene. Wow. What a performance. Linney was so good. We really have become that world. I need to rewatch The Truman Show. Such a great movie.

If they cut the first fifteen minutes and kept with the 70s photography aesthetic, I think this could have been one of the better Black Mirror episodes, or rather a great start to a more Red Mirror anthology series. As it is, the main duo is what keeps it afloat through its overlong runtime.

It’s so mid, it’s frustrating. I’d like to get Gareth Evans out of streaming/TV as soon as possible. So grossly fine. I almost want to dock it more because of the talent behind it.

Even worse on rewatch…

Watched on Saturday April 26, 2025.

That’ll do, pig and duck. That’ll do.
-Farmer Jim probably

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

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

• The Woman King
• Love & Basketball
• Beyond the Lights
• The Secret Life of Bees
• Disappearing Acts
• The Old Guard

• 102 Dalmatians
• 28 Days
• American Psycho
• The Beach
• Before Night Falls
• Best in Show
• Billy Elliot
• The Boondock Saints
• Cast Away
• The Cell

...plus 59 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

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

1. Sinners
2. Warfare
3. Black Bag
4. Thunderbolts*
5. The Wedding Banquet
6. Cunk on Life
7. Presence
8. Companion
9. Mickey 17
10. Final Destination Bloodlines

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

• Abigail
• Alien: Romulus
• Anora
• Anyone But You
• The Apprentice
• Argylle
• Bad Boys: Ride or Die
• The Beast
• The Beekeeper
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

...plus 123 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. First Reformed
2. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
3. Blue Collar
4. Hardcore
5. Patty Hearst
6. The Card Counter
7. Auto Focus
8. The Comfort of Strangers
9. Light Sleeper
10. Master Gardener

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 12 Years a Slave
• 20 Feet from Stardom
• 2 Guns
• 42
• About Time
• After Earth
• Ain't Them Bodies Saints
• All Is Lost
• American Hustle
• Antiviral

...plus 128 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 1917
• Ad Astra
• Alita: Battle Angel
• Apollo 11
• The Art of Self-Defense
• Avengers: Endgame
• Away
• Booksmart
• Brightburn
• Captain Marvel

...plus 62 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 10 Cloverfield Lane
• 13th
• 20th Century Women
• The ant
• Alice Through the Looking Glass
• American Pastoral
• Arrival
• Assassin's Creed
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
• The BFG

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

• Alien: Covenant
• All the Money in the World
• American Made
• Atomic Blonde
• Baby Driver
• The Bad Batch
• Battle of the Sexes
• Beach Rats
• Beatriz at Dinner
• Beauty and the Beast

...plus 94 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 22 Jump Street
• 300: Rise of an Empire
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• American Sniper
• Automata
• The Babadook
• Bad Words
• Belle
• Beyond the Lights
• Big Eyes

...plus 130 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Superman
2. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
3. Man of Steel
4. Superman Returns
5. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
6. Superman II
7. Supergirl
8. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
9. Superman III

• 21
• 27 Dresses
• 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
• Adam Resurrected
• Appaloosa
• Australia
• Babylon A.D.
• Body of Lies
• Bolt
• Bottle Shock

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

• 28 Weeks Later
• 2 Days in Paris
• 300
• 30 Days of Night
• 3:10 to Yuma
• 5 Centimeters per Second
• Across the Universe
• Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
• Amazing Grace
• American Gangster

...plus 100 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Exorcist
• The Exorcist III
• Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist
• Exorcist II: The Heretic
• Exorcist: The Beginning
• The Exorcist: Believer

• Air
• All of Us Strangers
• American Fiction
• Anatomy of a Fall
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
• Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
• Asteroid City
• Barbie
• Beau Is Afraid

...plus 94 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 13 Going on 30
• 50 First Dates
• Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London
• The Alamo
• Alexander
• Along Came Polly
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• Around the World in 80 Days
• The Aviator
• AVP: Alien vs. Predator

...plus 85 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 2046
• Assault on Precinct 13
• Bad News Bears
• The Ballad of Jack and Rose
• Batman Begins
• Be Cool
• Bewitched
• Brokeback Mountain
• Broken Flowers
• The Brothers Grimm

...plus 85 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 25th Hour
• About a Boy
• About Schmidt
• Analyze That
• Antwone Fisher
• Apollo 13
• Austin Powers in Goldmember
• Auto Focus
• Big Fat Liar
• Blade II

...plus 82 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. Avengers: Endgame
3. Iron Man
4. Black Panther
5. Thor: Ragnarok
6. Avengers: Infinity War
7. Thunderbolts*
8. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
9. Spider-Man: No Way Home
10. Captain America: Civil War

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

1. Black Mirror: San Junipero
2. Black Mirror: USS Callister
3. Black Mirror: The Entire History of You
4. Black Mirror: Hang the DJ
5. Black Mirror: Eulogy
6. Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful
7. Black Mirror: White Christmas
8. Black Mirror: Be Right Back
9. Black Mirror: Nosedive
10. Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea

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

• 17 Again
• (500) Days of Summer
• 9
• Angels & Demons
• Antichrist
• Avatar
• Away We Go
• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans
• Blind Date
• The Blind Side

...plus 94 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Accepted
• Akeelah and the Bee
• All the King's Men
• American Dreamz
• Apocalypto
• Babel
• The Black Dahlia
• Blood Diamond
• Bobby
• Brick

...plus 96 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Silence of the Lambs
2. Philadelphia
3. Rachel Getting Married
4. Stop Making Sense
5. Something Wild
6. Married to the Mob
7. Swimming to Cambodia
8. Who Am I This Time?
9. Crazy Mama
10. Melvin and Howard

...plus 12 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Sinners
2. Black Panther
3. Creed
4. Fruitvale Station
5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

1. Annihilation
2. Ex Machina
3. Warfare
4. Devs
5. Civil War
6. Men

NOTE: I am excluding Mamoru Hosoda’s One Piece and Digimon movies from this list. I know Studio Chizu’s first film was Wolf Children, but since the logo is Makoto in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I feel like this ranked list is a valid retrospective of my thoughts on Hosoda without the need to watch his first two features in major franchises. Also, the Ghiblioteque podcast only did these films for their Hosodathon series.

1. The Boy and the Beast
2. Wolf Children
3. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
4. Belle
5. Summer Wars
6. Mirai

• Aftersun
• After Yang
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• All That Breathes
• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
• Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
• Armageddon Time
• Avatar: The Way of Water
• Babylon
• The Banshees of Inisherin

...plus 78 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• All Is True
• American Animals
• Annihilation
• Ant-Man and the Wasp
• Apostle
• Aquaman
• Assassination Nation
• At Eternity's Gate
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Bad Times at the El Royale

...plus 106 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 127 Hours
• Alice in Wonderland
• The American
• Animal Kingdom
• Another Year
• The A-Team
• Barney's Version
• Biutiful
• Black Swan
• Blue Valentine

...plus 94 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 45 Years
• '71
• 99 Homes
• The Age of Adaline
• Aloha
• American Ultra
• Amy
• Anomalisa
• Ant-Man
• Avengers: Age of Ultron

...plus 116 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 21 Grams
• 28 Days Later
• 2 Fast 2 Furious
• Agent Cody Banks
• Alex & Emma
• American Splendor
• Anger Management
• Atlantis: Milo's Return
• Bad Boys II
• Basic

...plus 71 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Edward Scissorhands
2. Ed Wood
3. Beetlejuice
4. Batman Returns
5. Batman
6. Big Fish
7. Sleepy Hollow
8. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
9. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
10. Frankenweenie

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

• Annette
• Army of the Dead
• Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
• Beckett
• Being the Ricardos
• Belfast
• Benedetta
• Bergman Island
• Black Widow
• Candyman

...plus 64 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Alex Wheatle
• Another Round
• The Assistant
• Bad Boys for Life
• Bad Education
• Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
• Color Out of Space
• Da 5 Bloods
• The Devil All the Time
• Dick Johnson Is Dead

...plus 56 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 21 Jump Street
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• Anna Karenina
• Argo
• The Avengers
• The Awakening
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Being Flynn
• Bernie

...plus 95 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 50/50
• The Adjustment Bureau
• The Adventures of Tintin
• Albert Nobbs
• Anonymous
• Another Earth
• Arthur Christmas
• The Artist
• Attack the Block
• Battle: Los Angeles

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

• A.I. Artificial Intelligence
• Ali
• Along Came a Spider
• America's Sweethearts
• Amores Perros
• Amélie
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire
• A Beautiful Mind
• Black Hawk Down
• Carman: The Champion

...plus 61 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

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

1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2. At Eternity's Gate
3. Basquiat
4. Miral
5. Before Night Falls

1. Your Name.
2. Weathering with You
3. Suzume
4. Children Who Chase Lost Voices
5. 5 Centimeters per Second
6. The Place Promised in Our Early Days

1. WandaVision
2. Agatha All Along
3. Loki
4. Hawkeye
5. Moon Knight
6. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
7. Ms. Marvel
8. Echo
9. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
10. Secret Invasion

1. WALL·E
2. Finding Nemo
3. The Incredibles
4. Inside Out
5. Toy Story 3
6. Ratatouille
7. Toy Story 2
8. Toy Story
9. Coco
10. Soul

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

1. Awakenings
2. A League of Their Own
3. Big
4. Riding in Cars with Boys
5. The Preacher's Wife
6. Renaissance Man
7. Jumpin' Jack Flash

1. Big Night
2. The Impostors
3. Joe Gould's Secret
4. Blind Date
5. Final Portrait

1. Knives Out
2. Glass Onion
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
4. Looper
5. Brick
6. The Brothers Bloom

1. Star Trek
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3. Super 8
4. Mission: Impossible III
5. Star Trek Into Darkness
6. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

1. Children of Men
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
3. Roma
4. Gravity
5. Y Tu Mamá También
6. A Little Princess
7. Great Expectations
8. Sólo con tu pareja

1. Sleepless in Seattle
2. You've Got Mail
3. This Is My Life
4. Julie & Julia
5. Mixed Nuts
6. Bewitched
7. Michael
8. Lucky Numbers