Category: 3 Stars
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The Lost City of Z
“That jungle is hell, but one kind of likes it.” The Lost City of Z (James Gray, 2016) An interesting take from Gray that didn’t completely work for me. It’s a bizarrely-paced film –one that lingers overlong in the duller segments and cuts short the more fascinating ones. I bet there’s a killer director’s cut…
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The Menu
“The most offensive assault on the human palate ever contrived.” The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022) Glass Onion meets Triangle of Sadness. Fun and entertaining enough but more interested in exploiting the statement it’s making rather than exploring it. Seared ham passing as haute cuisine. One of those movies that could’ve been a masterpiece if it…
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Sixteen Candles
“We have seventy dollars and a pair of girl’s underpants; we’re safe as kittens.” Sixteen Candles (John Hughes, 1984) Despite its super problematic components, this is very obviously a teen comedy classic. Definitely more in the Weird Science mold than really anything else in Hughes’s screenwriting catalog. The story bafflingly focuses far more on tertiary…
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Pretty in Pink
“It’s so insane that someone you’ve never met, never talked to, can be your enemy.” Pretty in Pink (Howard Deutch, 1986) Not the definitive Hughes ’80s classic but a favorite for many. It’s hard to judge these movies because even their faults, the things that don’t age well, seem to derive from a place of…
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Possessor
“It makes her do things…predator things.” Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg, 2020) A great idea for a near-futuristic, corpo-crime story. Cronenberg shares his father’s penchant for world-building and technological speculation. I first saw Andrea Riseborough in Mandy but have now seen her in several films, and I’m convinced that she is the next Tilda Swinton. Christopher Abbott…
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Bodies Bodies Bodies
“They’re not as nihilistic as they look on the internet.” Bodies Bodies Bodies (Halina Reijn, 2022) This is not a horror movie despite being marketed as a kind of new-wave slasher flick. It’s basically a Gen-Z, TikTok-culture version of Knives Out…which is a pretty great idea for the current climate. Despite being a silly movie…
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Werewolf by Night
“Those who do not survive will be honored appropriately.” Werewolf by Night (Michael Giacchino, 2022) One of the best ideas conjured up by the MCU…perhaps ever? Starts off strong with an old Universal-era classic monster tone and excellent pacing. Not what I was expecting but in a great way. While the first half of the…
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Raging Bull
“Jesus Christ could come off the cross sometime, he don’t give a fuck.” Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) My worst cinema sin so far is that I don’t really care for Scorsese’s work before, say, 1986. And yes, that includes Taxi Driver. This film is competently made and includes some truly beautiful cinematography. I like…
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She Said
“He built the silence and people complied.” She Said (Maria Schrader, 2022) Didactic movies about intrepid journalists at prestigious news organizations that expose the horrors of society often make for obvious Oscar fodder. Spotlight and The Post are recent examples of this trend. This film doesn’t seem to be garnering the same amount of attention…
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Stutz
“True confidence is living in uncertainty.” Stutz (Jonah Hill, 2022) I think it’s a good thing that Hill made this movie. It’s constructive in its promotion of mental health, and the making of it seemed to genuinely help the participants. On a technical level, I think there are stylistic choices that seem confused, but something…
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The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928) Three stars for existing. A tip of the cap, as always, to the Criterion Collection. Falconetti gives an impressive and admirable performance. I suppose Dreyer and Maté can be forgiven for the dreadful cinematography due to the state of the medium at the time. The…
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The Viewing
“I have seen things that will make you shit your mind, Kemosabe.” The Viewing (Panos Cosmatos, 2022) A shorter and more dialogue heavy outing for Cosmatos, who still manages to stay true to his aesthetic. I’m starting to notice a trend in how he ends things which I won’t spoil here, but it makes me…
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Beyond the Black Rainbow
“The trappings of the mortal world are but a distraction.” Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2010) Not as good as Mandy but still innovative and unabashedly ambitious. Cosmatos knows how to use the mechanics and chemistry of photography to help tell his stories. He moves from an impeccably composed shot to a scene with…
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White Noise
“Family is the cradle of the world’s misinformation.” White Noise (Noah Baumbach, 2022) I’m honestly surprised that Netflix didn’t just force Baumbach to make this a limited series, seeing as how they spend eighty million dollars on it. It’s not offensively bad; it’s just suboptimal as a feature-length picture. I wanted and needed more time…
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The Endless
“Dying just takes a second, but a shitty life is long.” The Endless (Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, 2017) This is the kind of movie I like in the paranormal genre. Fewer poltergeists and more aberrations in the natural order. At a certain point in the movie, in quite a flamboyant fashion, I came to…
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The Card Counter
“We are going to have a dramatic reenactment.” The Card Counter (Paul Schrader, 2021) So much squandered potential. This movie was designed for me to love it, but it just flat out falls short in all the important ways. Oscar Isaac is great as always, though. Some of the other casting decisions leave a lot…
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Only God Forgives
“Time to meet the devil.” Only God Forgives (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2013) An absolutely bizarre follow-up to the spectacular Drive. A meandering, nightmarish, macabre journey through one of the many seedy underbellies of Bangkok. At times, I couldn’t tell if the protagonist is navigating the world of the film or his own dream palace. Also,…
olde zoetrope 