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Silly. Occasionally very funny. Probably better than you are expecting but not that much better.

zzz

A good ol’ time

Best film of the 2020s.

Poignant. Terrifying. Hilarious. Cathartic. Beautiful.

Perfect in every sense. And plenty of old people hitting each other, which is a nice bonus.

I don’t want to spoil the experience for you, so the last thing I’ll say is that I worked in a nursing home as a teenager, and this is the best depiction of one I’ve ever seen on film.

Just go watch the fuckin movie. Now.

The opening 30 minutes was the best movie I’ve seen all year.

Aside from that it was fine. Very unfocused and spread too thin.

Ah man. Have mercy in the replies please. You look lovely today. Have you done something with your hair?

Really wanted to love this one, but it was a real slog. I’m all for abject misery, but not for its own sake. A plot like this either needs to be delivered via filmmaking style so good it makes the misery palatable or accompanied by an interesting and impactful exploration of its core themes. I don’t think this film needed 2 hours and 18 minutes to deliver the message that the disappearing of political prisoners denies their families closure and subjects them to a lifetime of limbo and pain or that dictatorships are bad. These characters are at the whims of the film’s forces, and seem to have little to no control of anything.

“But that’s the point.”

I know. And without a special sauce, it doesn’t make for an interesting narrative.

The climax of the film was both excellent and immediately undercut by a scene of the protagonist painstakingly explaining the theme to the audience.

Great performances. A few very strong emotional moments. A meandering, dull, and overly indulgent plot, a lot of which should have been left on the cutting room floor. The film’s title is what I said to myself when the third skip forward in time began, only with a question mark on the end. Ha ha.

TLDR: See my name.

A total blast and a real crowd-pleaser. Fun from start to finish with lovable characters, jokes that land, and kills that deliver. Very cute without being hackneyed or lame.

Something like 60 percent romcom, 40 percent horror, and that ratio really worked for me. It was also shot well, with a bubbly, sugary visual style that makes every scene a joy to look at. If there’s such a thing as being in the “Valentine’s Day Spirit” this movie will get you there.

The most interesting parts of the film are when it slows down to allow you to soak in the atmosphere. There is a phenomenal amount of care and attention to detail in the animation of the environment and the most inconsequential extras. At its best, it feels like a living, breathing thing, and it works wonderfully.

It’s also a huge mess. It’s about 20 minutes too long. Faye has almost nothing to do throughout the whole film. Jet has absolutely nothing to do. I also didn’t find the villain that compelling.

Suffers from Anime Show Movie Syndrome (ASMS) in that nothing ultimately consequential can happen to the main characters and they can’t do anything too interesting, so it all feels somewhat pointless and lacks weight. Still, the highs are high enough that I’d definitely recommend giving it a watch.

Fucking impossible movie to find. Not on any streaming service, not available to rent or purchase digitally on Amazon or Apple TV. The blu ray was 40 dollars after shipping. In the end I had to watch it in potato quality on some shady website called EffedUpMovies.com.

Sort of dull, occasionally funny, not enjoyable, but certainly impactful. Feels more like reading a depressing French novella than watching a movie. 

Like licking an unwashed armpit.

I wish I enjoyed it more, and almost feel like I should have. Plot-wise, there was a lot to like, and I felt like I was seeing a story told that hadn’t been told in this exact form before.

Aside from a few laughs, it wasn’t very funny, which is not a plus for a film that spends so much time on jokes. I thought it was a little ugly to look at too. Too much light, and every shot was flat. Wasn’t that engaging of a film character-wise aside from what was happening with the main character and a certain other character that I won’t mention for fear of spoilers.

Somehow felt long-winded at 97 minutes. Fun in spurts, but not for long enough stretches.

A fascinating watch, and worth revisiting. Gets wilder and wilder as it goes on.

Wonderful.

For a movie about music, The Colors Within is very careful about when it uses it. It much prefers long stretches of quiet dotted with (remarkably done) foley- a hand scraping on a handrail, the creaking of piano pedals, the gentle tapping of shoes on concrete. Characters speak softly as well- so much of the film is, of course, set in either churches or a bookstore. This means the moments when the music does take center stage are impactful and meaningful, and the payoff comes in the form of an extended concert sequence that shits all over the Live Aid scene in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Colors does a lot of heavy lifting with little to no conflict. A gentle hand drapes its themes of self-discovery, guilt, and friendship over the viewer like a thin, soft sheet. Also well done is the film’s portrayal of the kind of faith one only truly knows as a child; something pure and undeniable.

Oh, and the animation is lovely. Please don’t miss it.

Probably the slowest burn you’re going to get out of Tarantino.

There are some very compelling characters here. Every single actor brings their A-game, but Samuel L’s hair steals the show.

I could see this being the favorite Tarantino movie of some due to its distinctiveness compared to the rest of his catalog. For me, it gets a little too mired in the details to rise to the level of his best work. The feeling and fun sometimes fall prey to the granular, almost procedural approach, but when they rise to the surface, the film really shines.

Even a lesser QT film has a lot to offer, and this is no exception.

Trim, fun, and the right amount of goofy. Nothing particularly noteworthy, but it’s a captivating throwback action-thriller that’s pretty quaint- even refreshing- by modern standards.

The dialogue could have been a bit better and less groan-worthy. I’m not asking for Shakespeare, but some funnier one-liners could have elevated this quite a bit.

A pizza and beer sort of movie.

Really excellent. Incredibly immersive and heartbreaking. RaMell Ross has a unique eye and I look forward to seeing what he’ll do next. Nuts that this was his first feature-length narrative film. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is outstanding as well.

A broken elevator free-falling into Hell.

Yuck.

Plotlines that don’t go anywhere. An obnoxious, clashing score. I was actually somewhat engaged by the family drama in the beginning but nothing is resolved in a satisfying way and some things aren’t resolved at all.

I was pretty hyped for this one based on the interesting premise and moody trailer. Very disappointed as this was a real shitshow.

This review may contain spoilers.

First time watching this both as an adult and not after an edible. A lot of this movie is pretty outstanding.

Noe isnt interested in showing off his cool gimmick for its own sake, he utilizes it to masterfully pace his story and maintain a steady, hypnotic rhythm that seizes the viewer’s attention. Establishing shots are not cut to, but weaved into the out of body cinematography in a fashion that keeps you locked into the dark, dreamy vibe leaking out of the movie’s every pore. Conversations are made efficient by the endlessly drifting camera, which pulls us into a room just long enough to serve a scene’s purpose by giving us the gist of a conversation, and then gently out again. The editing is just wonderful, razor-sharp even.

The high watermark of the film is the section from after Oscar’s death up to the end of his flashback. Oscar is such a well-realized character. He’s believably pitiful and sympathetic. There’s something anti-cinematic, almost mundane about his listless decline. His sister, Linda, is just as compelling, and Paz de la Huerta gives an exceptional performance. In its best moments, Void is a heartbreaking tragedy of human relationships and loss.

Things do get worse towards the end. At a certain point the aforementioned pacing and editing are abandoned for a visually impressive but overly-indulgent sequence of glow-stick sex (I’m not sure how else to describe it) that just goes on and on. After the initial shock wore off, it became a little irritating, the hypnotic rhythm abandoned and replaced by boredom.

Despite this complaint, I have a deep affection for this movie. It’s utterly human. An exploration of the fear of death, but in a more tangible sense than an existential one. How will the people you love cope with your death, and what rubble will your bad decisions leave behind? What will be your legacy when you are no longer around to pick up the pieces and try again?

Sorry, I mean- druuuuuugs lmaoooo.

An engaging, surprisingly tense plot, gorgeous aesthetics, and, as usual, a brilliant performance by Ralph Fiennes. I would have enjoyed a bit more time with the ing cast. I got a good feel for Stanley Tucci’s character but the rest felt a bit trimmed down and their roles in the film were somewhat rushed, not shocking given the fact that this is a novel adaptation.

Still very enjoyable, and recommendable for anyone interested in the papal conclave process or films about people having whispered conversations in dimly lit rooms.

Kudos to AMC for the fucked up projection job they did in my theater. Everything looked a little soft and fuzzy and there was a red dot on the upper right quadrant of the screen for the whole of the film. Also the projection wasn’t pulled back enough, leaving negative space at the top and bottom of the screen.

This review may contain spoilers.

An unconventional, unpredictable story told through some pretty phenomenal execution. There is plenty of emotional, memorable, and hilarious imagery (sometimes all at once, such as Ki-jung smoking damp cigarettes while perched on an overflowing toilet) combined with a terrific ensemble cast. A powerful ending as well.

It’s hard to put my finger on exactly why it didn’t resonate with me as strongly as I was hoping it would and as it clearly has for others. I suppose part of it is that the tonal shift didn’t quite work for me, but that doesn’t entirely cover it. Maybe I was hoping for something a bit less blunt thematically, and was let down by the Park family’s being little more than marks. I’m all for watching snooty dummies get conned, and sometimes even stabbed, but a little more nuance either to their characters or to the exploration of their role in the class dynamic at the film’s thematic center beyond the fact that they think Ki-taek smells bad would have elevated my experience a good deal and allowed me to enjoy it beyond just that.

But I don’t want to be too harsh, because I did enjoy the film, and would both recommend it and watch it again. It just had quite a reputation to live up to, and for me, it didn’t quite meet that bar.

This review may contain spoilers.

Like Earthbound except instead of making you your favorite meal your mom watches you cum and then screams at you

These feelings:

Watching a lion’s jaw close slowly from the inside

Your burning spaceship getting smaller and smaller through the window of your escape pod as you drift into the abyss

Coming up on mushrooms in the back of a police car

The sort of dreadful atmosphere I want to condense into a viscous liquid and bathe in. The whole film is just picking, picking at an oozing scab until it’s finally ripped off in spectacular fashion.

Toni Collette is an alien. She’s so fucking good.

This may seem like a nitpick but I was really bothered by the last line of the film. I don’t think we needed the plot of the film plainly explained to us like that. The pieces were all clearly there, I feel like most could probably put together what happened.

But still, probably an instant horror classic for me. I’ve looked at life from both sides now.

It’s alright.

All the wolf man-centric stuff- the transformation, hallucinations, etc.- was pretty good. I think a movie focused on that would have been more interesting. It was clearly where the filmmaker’s ion lied.

It was a bit too long with a very bloated, boring opening and a wet napkin lead actress that seemed like she didn’t want to be on set.

Maybe check it out if you’re interested, but I don’t think you need to rush out and see it. Wait for it to show up on streaming.

This review may contain spoilers.

The kind of movie that makes you feel not very good. I won’t ever hold a baby again.

Fabulous acting all around.

Can’t help but feeling I was robbed of a more impactful ending by slow mo and an instrumental track.

The Chernobyl disaster of narrative structure. An incoherent, nonsensical, bizarre mess. Still oddly watchable due to Brody’s exceptional performance and the great cinematography, not to mention the “oh fuck now what” nature of the chaotic and meandering plot, especially as the film nears its end.

I’m not sure how this script was greenlit. I’m not sure how the film is being lauded. I’m not sure how 3 and a half hours of screentime resolved no character arcs. I drove an hour to watch this.

You can’t just do whatever you want from scene to scene. I’m sorry. Some higher authority should have stepped in, maybe God. Your movie needs to have a point. Scenes need to build upon each other. Character motivations have to make sense.

Fuck you.

Sweaty and nauseous. I’d say anyone interested in film as an art form should check it out for the interesting gimmick alone if it weren’t for a certain scene at the halfway point that will understandably be a nonstarter for many.

I liked a lot of what this film was doing, although I’ll never revisit it. I love the way the camera floats around, the whole thing feels like some dreadful out of body experience. Special mention goes to the gay club scene, which felt like a walk into hell. Droning, evil synthesizers heightened the effect.

The opening and closing titles were an assault on the senses in the best way possible. A weird thing to call out I guess, but I did like it.

I feel like I’ll be thinking about it a lot over the coming days. The plane hasn’t quite landed in of my thoughts on this one.

Lots of great man ass footage

One of the greatest opening sequences of all time.

I understand why the film drags in its third act but I still think it was avoidable. Not only does it lose a bit of momentum, it is less visually interesting until the final scene.

But the highs are so, so high. The setting is almost unbearably horrible, yet not so different from our own world, and is painted in vivid, nauseating color.

Great movie and great ment for the After Burner arcade cabinet

A massive letdown. I was all in on the premise but the film’s success hinged on the believability of this fake talk show. From the word go, it felt like I was watching a 2020’s parody of 70s late night, not a genuine media artifact. It still could have worked as a fun thrill ride if the scares had been interesting or novel, but they just weren’t, save maybe for the worms scene. It’s not a very long movie and I was still just begging it to end through the second half.

Somehow the most abstract and most concrete Eggers film at the same time. Harrowing, hilarious, repulsive, even oddly sweet at points. The Shining by way of Moby Dick by way of gay domestic violence.

Even better on the second viewing. Robert Eggers’ shot composition is yummy yummy in my tummy. The man just knows how to make looking at dark and terrible things an act of pure ecstasy.

Okay. Let's eat this big, fat ribeye one piece at a time.

Oppenheimer's greatest strength is its visual presentation. The grandness of the New Mexico desert, the power of the bomb's detonation, Florence Pugh's tits... almost every scene is visually striking, and beautifully shot. The scenes in color draw from a palette just wide enough to make everything pop, and the black and white scenes have a real crispness to them. 

In typical Nolan fashion, the film's score is relentless, driving us from scene to scene at a pretty fast clip. Also in Nolan fashion, it never shuts the fuck up long enough to allow a scene to breathe. Fortunately, I did find the audibleness of the dialogue in relation to the score had improved compared to previous Nolan excursions. From the skimming I've done of the reviews on this site, I see that not everyone agrees with me on this point, but for what its worth, I watched the film at home with over-ear headphones, not in an IMAX theater whose seats rumbled with every blarp of the not-Hans-Zimmer-but-might-as-well-have-been score.

The way Nolan writes dialogue could be classified as an act of terrorism. He doesn't write characters, he writes wind-up toys meant to either explicitly tell us about the plot or explicitly tell us about Oppenheimer. "Oh shucks Robert, you are so smart" says one wind up toy. "You're just trying to make yourself a martyr" says another. The wind-up toy played by Emily Blunt is a slightly unique model in that her excretions are usually accompanied by swearing or by throwing something. The lack of tact, subtlety, realism, or even the most basic artistry in the way characters speak to one another is appalling, and by the film's bloated and borderline unnecessary third act, was like a power drill working its way into my skull.

The stunt casting. Not normally something I'd complain about, but the complete lack of interesting characters aside from the lead made it stand out. The use of Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, and Jack Quaid, among others, to play roles with 4 or 5 speaking lines was distracting at best and irritating at worst. Josh Peck was cast as a man who doesn't press a button.

This movie annoyed me a lot, but it wasn't all bad. I enjoyed the segments focused on the bomb's design. I think a muscular 110 minutes focused primarily on that would have made for a more engaging experience. Instead we spent a great deal of time being asked to give a shit about Robert Downey Jr's poorly established character for reasons I cannot even begin to understand.

Overall, it was alright. I don't agree with the critique that the film's moral conflict was overly-simplistic, or rather, that this over-simplicity was a shortcoming. It didn't need to be terribly complicated, what was important was showing the effect it was having on our main character. And that was all there, it was just buried under a big pile of scenes that didn't matter, characters I didn't care about, and some truly god-awful screenwriting.

I'm not a Nolan hater, per se. But I am Nolan hate-curious. Some of his films I've loved, and he has clear strengths. But I'm not sure I can take another one of his scripts, at least not one like this.

But I've never won an Oscar for Best Picture, so what the fuck do I know.

Searing emptiness

Wretched

De Niro does a Gomer Pyle impression amid a mess of clashing tones and obnoxious orchestral blaring. It is good for a few unintentional laughs, if that’s your thing.

The film’s unhinged climax, complete with Looney Tunes sound effects, was enough to keep me from outright hating it. Not worth the ride to get there, but the great camerawork and general batshittery did deliver on whatever tension the film had managed to build up to that point.

It’s worth noting that Wesley Strick’s last screenplay before this was Arachnophobia, another film that feels like an adaptation of some non-existent lesser King novel.

Special mention to the scene where De Niro goes undercover as a sexy high school teacher by slicking his hair back and wearing a Lacoste sweater.

Like magic.

An exquisite tour de force that manages to touch every corner of the human condition while never losing momentum or catharsis. I was smiling like an idiot in the theater at several points. I felt like a kid again.

I pray to God above a director’s cut emerges, as things felt a bit truncated in the film’s closing act. But I can’t fault the filmmakers too much for that; I’m cognizant of the fact they were adapting a 1200+ page novel. That they were able to make the story feel as complete as they did is a testament to their ability and vision. Besides, the fact that I could have done with another hour tacked onto the end of a three hour movie is an endorsement in itself.

A true treasure that is both free of cynicism and naïveté. A painting that seems to have been drawn by an artist long dead; carries sensibilities old enough to be foreign to us, yet whose themes are as recognizable as the lines on one’s own palms.

Pronounced “Sesevenen”

Alice’s Sexual Frustrations in Wonderland

What you saw in your head playing Cops and Robbers on the playground as a kid.

The way the plot of this movie is structured makes me diamond hard. Textbook tension ramping.

Feels like a movie I’ll watch many more times before I die. The kind of movie you always stop to watch to completion when it’s on TV.

Al Pacino was created in a lab to read one-liners. 

The confidence of each flourish is staggering. When it’s being smart, it’s brilliant. When it’s being stupid, it’s brilliant.

Elite watch-with-dad-core.

Some interesting themes of sexism and masculinity are locked behind a pretty grueling viewing experience due to the story and execution just not being there. Would have been a really nice 15 minute short film.

Stupefying and enraging.

The best performance of Leonardo DiCaprio’s career thus far. Lily Gladstone is austere perfection. Talking about how good DeNiro is at this point in his career is probably pointless.

Do yourself a favor and avoid reading anything about the film before watching it, as the way it unfolds its plot is truly special.

I hate to complain about a movie with so much brilliance on offer, and that I will be thinking about for weeks, but it is way too long. A half hour could have been cut- maybe more. Not arbitrarily, mind you; I just felt like some scenes, effective though they might have been, were thematically redundant with scenes that preceded them, or took the focus off of the three central characters for too long.

But deal with it. Watch it anyway. Even with that flaw, you’re cheating yourself if you don’t. Even with that flaw, the movie is never boring, and like the best of Marty’s films, is more than worth the time investment.

Loud and obnoxious, with grating, film school script-level dialogue, and so late 90s in its presentation that it feels dated. But I wouldn’t call it a bad movie, just an annoying one. Nicolas Cage radiates adrenaline and is on the same wavelength as the film. I want to tell this movie to tone it down and chill the fuck out for like two seconds but when it does get quiet it doesn’t really work as well.

It did manage to make me feel as tired as Cage’s character looks. I don’t mean that in a snarky way- at least not entirely. But my nerves are shot and I’d like a Valium.

I guess I liked it? I didn’t hate it. I probably wouldn’t watch it again. But it was insane and raw in a way that I found occasionally appealing. I’ve got a headache.

Really good. The first half is a bit more emotionally affecting and grounded in reality. But that’s likely the point.

When you watch it in reverse DeNiro tells you to flush your meds down the toilet.

Robert DeNiro shines as a self-destructive moron 7 years before Raging Bull.  Harvey Keitel is magnetic as a frustrated young man caught between his love for his friend and his better judgement.

Mean Streets is an atmospheric coming-of-age drama that sweats New York grime, but lacks the razor-sharp precision and pacing that characterize Scorsese’s masterpieces.

Garish, disgusting, and difficult to look at. Not subtle in the slightest. Culminates in a hateful display of bloody excess.

Grand.

A procession of pretty paintings. Kubrick locked each actor in place with a hammer and nail, and to great effect.

Stuffy, but in a really good way.

Overall pretty enjoyable. Well paced and edited too. Nicole Kidman was excellent, no surprise there. The first scene between the two leads in the hotel room was tense, bizarre, and really fun to watch.

I do think the male lead character lacked dimension and the ease with which the plot was wrapped up at the end after so much buildup betrayed a lack of stakes. So ultimately, a flawed screenplay held back a pretty good movie from being a great one.

• The Rule of Jenny Pen
• The Colors Within
• Heart Eyes
• Mickey 17
• The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
• Flight Risk
• I'm Still Here
• Wolf Man
• Companion
• Presence

• Civil War
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Smile 2
• Nickel Boys
• The Substance
• Nosferatu
• All We Imagine as Light
• Monkey Man
• In a Violent Nature
• A Real Pain

...plus 17 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.