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Watched on Monday June 9, 2025.
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Watched on Sunday June 8, 2025.
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Watched on Sunday June 8, 2025.
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Watched on Saturday June 7, 2025.
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Watched on Wednesday June 4, 2025.
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Watched on Monday June 2, 2025.
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Watched on Sunday June 1, 2025.
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Beautiful documentary about a man finding purpose in life through his connection to a wild flock of parrots.
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Watched on Tuesday May 6, 2025.
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Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.
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I was 13 years old when I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time and I'll be honest, it hit me like a ton of bricks. The monolith scared me. The spaceship ballet hypnotized me. I was practically crawling out of my skin during the Jupiter and the Infinite Beyond sequence. I never trusted computers again and for a week (the rest of my life?) I was deeply concerned about humanity's future.
I've seen it several times since and every time I watch it I'm on the edge of my seat, full of cosmic anxiety and wonder. Hard to imagine this being done any better today. What Kubrick did here is timeless.
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Jane Fonda and her outfits make this watchable, but barely.
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Watched on Saturday May 3, 2025.
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Watched on Thursday May 1, 2025.
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On indecisiveness and the fickle nature of desire. Really lovely, with a tender and sensitive feel for human relationships and young romance. The ending is bittersweet and very moving.
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Watched on Saturday April 26, 2025.
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Arguably the greatest film ever made about Library Science.
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Watched on Friday April 18, 2025.
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Watched on Friday April 18, 2025.
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Watched on Friday April 18, 2025.
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The Hays Code is all over this one, unfortunately.
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Watched on Sunday April 13, 2025.
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The main character is selfish, callous, insufferable, and dare I say, a horrible Dan. In fact, one of the least convincing parts of this movie is the idea that Deiyi and Xialou’s performances are so good it sustains their careers for multiple decades. Hard not to agree with the C’s critique of Peking Opera if this is what we’re working with.
Starts strong, but the history is rushed, the politics are too simple, and Deiyi is impossible to empathize with, so I left with mixed feelings.
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Watched on Sunday April 6, 2025.
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Rewatched at The Art Theatre in Long Beach, CA.
The sound design is incredible and overwhelming, with a near-constant mix of atmospheric droning, low bass frequencies, the hum of a radiator, crackling electricity, swirling wind, and the cries and panting of “the baby.” There’s also the sucking sound of puppies breastfeeding, the plop of spermatazoon creatures hitting the floor, the splash of Henry’s shoes when he steps in the mud, the frightening pop song “In Heaven”, and it goes on and on. Eraserhead is a movie to be seen AND heard.
Nightmarish and unforgettable industrial imagery in almost every frame. Jack Nance wanders through a bleak wasteland and dreams up horrors while trying to father an inhuman baby.
Of note: What exactly “the baby” was made out of seems to be a mystery that Lynch took to his grave.
One of Lynch’s best; made after 5 years of heart, love, and dedication. RIP.
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Watched on Wednesday April 2, 2025.
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Watched on Monday March 31, 2025.
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On how poverty strips us of our basic dignity and forces us to let go of the things we love and cherish in order to survive. Really beautiful movie; equal in impact to De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief.
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A rocky marriage between two people that want little to do with each other ebs and flows in beautiful Naples, Italy.
Some good moments but the ending is so jarring you can’t help but wonder if it was some kind of studio hack job. Almost ruins the movie. Totally unearned and I don’t get it.
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Some iconic and powerful scenes, though the narrative is messy and the characters feel loosely interrelated; some relationships could have been explained more because as it stands certain dynamics aren’t entirely convincing. The priest is the most developed and carries the story through to its tragic end.
I will say it’s hard to understand this movie’s association with neorealism when this is clearly melodrama, though I suppose it is more gritty and visceral than Code Era Hollywood.
Undoubtedly remarkable that this was filmed in January 1945. Not a favorite, but I appreciate its historical significance and Rosselini’s defiant stand against fascism.
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I have a fondness for “telluric” movies where the landscape functions not only as a dramatic backdrop but as a driving force in the narrative. In Stromboli, it’s geographic isolation running parallel with human alienation; volcanic eruption running parallel with rage and anguish.
The sequence where Ingrid Bergman’s character climbs the active volcano and in the throes of despair surveys the town below — a town she never wants to return to again — is spectacular and PURE CINEMA.
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Rewatched for the first time in over a decade. The 2k restoration released by Grasshopper is stunning and worth your money.
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Rooney’s sly and elegant prose is missing, but this is a terrific and moving adaptation nonetheless. Mescal and Edgar-Jones were both perfectly cast, with Mescal in particular giving an impressive and vulnerable performance.
Some very odd soundtrack choices and a couple of miscast secondary characters knocks this down a little.
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Watched on Monday March 17, 2025.
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Watched on Sunday March 16, 2025.
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Watched on Wednesday March 12, 2025.
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Watched on Tuesday March 11, 2025.
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Watched on Monday March 10, 2025.
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Watched on Monday March 10, 2025.
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Watched on Saturday March 8, 2025.
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An ode to the magic of movies and the necessity of refusing to succumb to its charms, no matter how depressing the world may be.
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Sillicon Valley love; love as an elegantly designed commodity. Samantha’s otherness and status as a “product” is appealing as it gives Twombley immediate gratification and unilateral control over the relationship; he owns her, he turns her on and off when he wants, he puts her in his pocket. It’s like an arranged marriage between you and an Apple Product that fucks.
But then she starts to have her own life separate from him in the digital world, everything starts to come apart at the seams as control is lost, and while he begins to question Samantha’s human qualities (Why do you breathe?), it’s ultimately Samantha’s human-ness that he loves.
Many great moments, though I found the ending to be very unconvincing and disappointing.
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Watched on Thursday March 6, 2025.
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On living in a hopelessly cruel world with no good options…and then there’s music, which can be liberating.
This is a very beautiful and moving movie. The music, the coastal landscape, the power behind Ada’s eyes, her bond with her daughter, the horrible struggle between Ada and the men who want to own her, and a complex ending that pulls you in different directions. Deserves all the praise it received and more.
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Watched on Monday March 3, 2025.
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Watched on Sunday March 2, 2025.
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Watched on Friday February 21, 2025.
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Watched on Saturday March 1, 2025.
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Watched on Saturday February 22, 2025.
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Watched on Friday February 21, 2025.
]]>Movies set in California
- Documenteur
- Water and Power
- The Living End
- Someone's Watching Me!
- Totally F***ed Up
- Malibu High
- The Student Nurses
- Nope
- Southland Tales
- Smiley Face
...plus 112 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
]]>Movies set in Florida
- The Florida Project
- Sun Don't Shine
- River of Grass
- Spring Breakers
- The Beach Bum
- Bully
- Moonlight
- Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
- Magic Mike
- Escape from Tomorrow
...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
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