A poor man's Uncut Gems (complimentary). Also a time capsule of New York City in the 2000s, which has surprisingly changed a lot in the last 20 years.

This is co-directed by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou. Tsou just debuted her second directorial effort Left-Handed Girl in Cannes today, which she co-wrote with Baker and instantly shot to the top of my anticipation list.

I watched Take Out with my sister, who hated it. She said it was too stressful,…

Post Theater Notes #20

I jumped into this one after skipping a few of the recent MCU movies, like the newest Captain America, The Marvels, Quantumania, and Black Widow. There was a lot of exposition in the beginning, probably to fill in viewers like me. I noticed that this film is a lot more like The Boys than I last ed from the MCU. OXE (first time I heard of it) seems to be modeled after Vought, the Thunderbolts are…

Post Theater Notes #18

A friend wanted to check this out, so I watched it with him. It was a packed theater. I'm pro-Palestine, and this film is obviously made by very pro-Israel people, but I was receptive to the message. Theoretically, you could even think Israel is committing a genocide (which I don't) and still the message of this doc (although I don't think there will be many in that camp).

The film is about the shock that…

Deep Dive: Is ‘No Other Land’ Propaganda?
Plus: A Meditation on Evil

Winner of the Best Documentary prize at the Academy Awards. Highest rated film on Letterboxd from 2024. These accolades mean something, but do they mean that No Other Land tells the truth? In this 3,000+ word in-depth review, I will do my best to answer this question, while also exploring some larger philosophical topics.

This film tells the story of the Israeli army’s destruction of a number of…