Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  A Real Pain 2024

  ★★★★ Watched 31 Dec 2024

  I skipped this in theaters, assuming it would be mildly enjoyable, an offbeat comedy with some deeper thematic material thrown in to give it some dramatic weight, but I now regret having written it off, because this turned out to be the biggest surprise of the year for me. The writing, direction, and performances are perfectly calibrated. Understated yet emotional, funny without being too cute or quirky, serious but not somber, and most importantly, it all feels totally grounded. These…

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  The Brutalist 2024

  ★★★½ Watched 28 Dec 2024

  Corbet's follow up to Vox Lux, one of the most polarizing (and best, imo) films of the past decade, is a rebuke of the American Dream (as one can immediately gather from the poster image), an epic which spans decades in its 3+ hour runtime. It's perfectly paced—to my mind, at least; I overheard a few people describe it as "tedious" during the intermission, but I was shocked when both halves ended far sooner than I expected—features some of the…

Recent reviews

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  Matt and Mara 2024

  ★★★ Watched 24 Feb 2025

  Not quite as subtle as Radwanski's previous feature Anne at 13,000 Ft., and not nearly as psychologically complex or interesting. The problem's really in the title, as there's nowhere near enough Matt in here to warrant his name being there, but more importantly, there needs to be a lot more Mara in the film itself. It's strongest when it's focused on her character grappling with her conflicted thoughts and feelings, and Campbell's astonishing performance in/as Anne deserves a worthy follow up showcasing her talent. Take these criticisms with a grain of salt though, because this is a solid (if slight) character-focused drama.

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  The Monkey 2025

  ★★ Watched 22 Feb 2025

  Such a shame that Perkins's evolution as a filmmaker sees him ditching his strengths—atmospheric, psychological horror—in favor of comedy, because his sense of humor is not remotely my cup of tea. Hot on the heels of allowing Cage to fully steamroll his previous effort Longlegs, Perkins releases another film which, while thankfully more cohesive in its blend of comedy and horror, is no less frustrating. Every half-hearted attempt at pathos or emotional depth is undercut by an even more lazy "joke," and the violence is equally uncreative, essentially it's just Final Destination but without the inventiveness which makes that already-sub-par franchise marginally interesting.

Popular reviews

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  Us 2019

  ★★½ Watched 21 Mar 2019 9

  Starts off strong, effectively building tension through striking cinematography and sharp editing/pacing, but once the table has been properly set, it's a gradual nosedive to the perplexing finale. The acting is undeniably committed and the child actors are pitch-perfect, but the exaggerated, go-for-broke lead performances teeter into overkill and would have been more effective if reined in a bit. Also, the frequent attempts at humor, though sometimes successful, completely undercut the unnerving tone. It felt like Peele wasn't confident in…

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  The Player 1992

  ★★★ Rewatched 16 Feb 2019 3

  Not incisive enough to really work as satire, not funny enough to work as a dark comedy, not suspenseful enough to work as a thriller. The best thing it has going for it is the slow unraveling paranoia of the main character, and even in that, it’s fairly inconsistent. There are some really entertaining scenes, the acting is fantastic, and the writing is engaging, but it’s less than the sum of its parts, unfortunately.