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Luke and Leia knew they were siblings and still kissed at Andor. What the hell.

Other than that great movie.

Honestly liked this one better than A New Hope. The set design was very impressive and it was really cool to see the various planets. I believe they did a great job with immersion.

Also Yoda is a tweaker.

I watched this when I was 5 I think, but forgot almost everything besides the poisoned wine scene.

This review may contain spoilers.

The whole point of religion is to "control"? NO WAY (Kidding of course). I mean. I like the messaging the film was going for, but it felt fairly surface level to me. I think if I were religious, maybe this movie would've impacted me a lot more than it did, but I'm not so it didn't.

This review may contain spoilers.

This movie was an emotional rollercoaster ride in the best ways it could be. The film is incredibly effective putting sad, heartfelt moments through trauma and loss right up next to horror through gore and mutilation.

Humongous shout-out to everyone, but most certainly the make-up department. THEY ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT. There were so many moments that felt too real. Ollie eating the knife was something I did NOT see coming, but once it did, it was the most fucked up thing I think I've seen in quite a while.

Me personally, I don't get scared from horror media that often, but this film was able to pull it off multiple times.

I also really loved how the production design and cinematography paired together with all the circular symbolism. The shape in nature, to me, felt to showcase how trauma can be cyclic and often repeats itself through multiple generations (Andy's dad ed down to Andy ed down to Piper).

I cannot wait to see what the Phillippou brothers make next!

My dad found this and hit play. Interesting for sure. I don't know, could've gone somewhere, but didn't.

Nick Cage don't play a good Bathazar.

Even worse than the first one.

Good god.

This movie is buns, bro.

The story is beyond basic and uninspired. This movie feels like the way worse version of Nobody (2021). Go watch that movie.

The action scenes become so repetitive one after another after another. Sure there's some cool choreography, but have it develop the plot and go somewhere. Don't just fight for the sake of fighting.

Any attempt at comedic moments the movie tries to deliver with one-liners or cutaways from action just falls flat. Sometimes it felt like they had a minimum amount of comedic moments they needed to have in there to justify calling this movie a "comedy".

They only redeeming quality is the awesome and brutal boba tea straw kill. That was fucking cool! I never see boba tea in movies.
(Was that technically a spoiler? Yes, but you don't need to watch the movie. Just go to the 47:05 mark and watch the kill. Then stop watching)

Why is the Severance guy a dick?

Pharrell Williams makes a great call by making this documentary about his life Lego-fied. It was so cool to see how his music pieces were symbolized as these glowing lego brick chunks he was putting together. I also really enjoyed the creativity of how certain Lego pieces were used to tell the story. There was a scene were Williams is serenading an audience with one of his songs and they use a jungle leaf lego piece combined with other smalls pieces to show the positive vibes/energy in the room. There's also quite a few close ups or moments where an object (the guitar, piano, other instruments at the end of the film) or a person (Spock from StarTrek) is made up of way more Lego pieces to show that detail and then scaled down to show us as the audience thay actual proportion in relation to the Lego world.

Overall it really felt like Pharrell poured his heart and soul into this project and it was genuinely captivating to me from start to finish. He did a great job making me feel like I was a part of his life.

Lesbian Nazis. Need I say more?

Brilliant use of the spotlight to accentuate the actors' performance. Set design was really immersive and I especially loved the use of reversing voices to show make the scene more chaotic and insane.

This felt like a bad trip. I'm scared.

Groundhog's day on a train. Pretty sick. Got to meet the director Duncan Jones himself!! His daughter kept walking into frame it was great!

This review may contain spoilers.

Main Plot (Tape 56): 1/5
1st Subplot (Amateur Night): 3/5
2nd Subplot (Second Honeymoon): 4/5
3rd Subplot (Tuesday the 17th): 2/5
4th Subplot (The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger): 4/5
5th Subplot (10/31/98): 1.5/5

It's hard to rate a movie that of itself is like 6 movies in one so I decided to individually rate them and average out my rating overall (2.58/5).

It really is a very unique concept to have all these stories told by a different crew and cast of people each time with different visions, editing styles, camera work, etc. I'm interested to continue watching this series to see more of these ideas. I also feel like the series allows a great platform for these crazy ideas that might not be as viewed as just a short film by itself.

Tape 56 was rated so low just cuz it felt like it was only to establish a premise for the other stories and didn't really have much of one on its own. Yeah a bunch of guys break into an old dudes house and get murdered, but so what?

As far as the stories go, I felt like Tuesday the 17th and 10/31/98 were kinda just a bit too cheesy for me with an almost too bare bones story. Obviously it's a short film and maybe could've been better given more runtime, but I feel like the stories just felt too cheap and lacked depth. Amateur Night was fine. Makeup and design for Lily was quite creative. The Second Honeymoon was simple, yes, but did a great job subverting my expectations. The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger was probably my favorite of them. I loved how gruesome it was with Emily cutting open her arm or James digging into her back for an alien baby. Maybe I just really like films that take it in a very weird and fucked up direction. What does that say about me?

This review may contain spoilers.

John becomes a cowboy in the city and destroys the capitalist society we live in.

In all seriousness though, I thought the movie was alright. Clearly a jab at the richest of rich people in our country and I can respect that. Now more than ever, we live in a time with so many distractions. I really wonder what this movie would've incorporated had it been made in the 2010s or even now with social media and how much that takes over our lives.

I do wish it went deeper than surface level though. And holy cow did that fight between John and Frank about putting on a pair of sunglasses not only take painfully long to end, but didn't even really need to happen.

Horse.

This review may contain spoilers.

The choreography was really creative. I loved Nate punching the glass shards to make his punches more powerful. There were a lot of gimmicks like that in the movie that made use of his unique condition in a fun and smart way. There were a handful of jokes playing off of it, but it didn't feel overdone.

Multiple twists that I found refreshing. One such being that I genuinely didn't see it coming that Sherry was Simon's brother. The switch-up being in the middle of the story felt weird at first, but upon reflection. It elevated my worry that Nate was going through all this fighting just to find out that Sherry didn't even really love him and I love how tense that made the story.

The makeup was of course one of my favorite parts visually. The hand-burn was abhorrent in the best way possible. Sound design paired with the gory effects made it sickening in the best way possible. Even if Nate couldn't, you could feel the snapping of his forearm bone just for him to stab Simon through the skull with. Bloody, fantastic, brilliant.

This review may contain spoilers.

First of all, I'd like to say it is wildly refreshing to see Jesse Eisenberg playing a more serious role rather than the typical nerd I've known him to play in movies like Zombieland and The Social Network. Imogen Poots also plays a stellar performance especially later in the film. Gemma's shock is beautiful to watch as she goes into a sort of comatose state after Tom dies and the Older Boy just starts bagging him up and discarding him.

This movie also embodies the subliminal feeling with it's very erie and simplistic production design. From the emptied streets ridden with copies of the same house, to lawns with empty chairs, you get the feeling of paranoia that there SHOULD be people here. This area should be busy. But it isn't. The whole "town" feels like something ripped straight from a dollhouse or a videogame with it's perfectly smooth walls and perfectly shaped clouds that are simply "cloud shaped". The dialogue also greatly assists in building upon this atmosphere. Tom and Gemma mention how much they took wind for granted, food such as the strawberries have no flavor to them (you're just meant to eat them), the air in the town lacks an uncanny smell when they find that their car reminds them of back home. As if the smell of the town is not from their world. A world that is natural. The smells here are simply synthetic.

The story seems to be a showcase as to what it's like to have an unplanned pregnancy and feel alienated. This is a more literal take with their "son" coming from a basket left by no one who learns and mimics them. The film also tells a story of societal pressure and inevitably. Everyone needs a cookie cutter home that they must raise their child in. #9 is already set up for a boy's room when Martin is showing them the house after all. Essentially showing that once you have a child, your life seems to come to a repition and end. An ending that is predestined and meant to repeat over and over.

Cool one take.

This review may contain spoilers.

I really thought that the film was going to go supernatural with there actually being a werewolf that transforms, but I loved that twist at the end. John's portrayal of alcoholism and his emotions through his depression and anger issues felt impressively realistic and gave his character a great level of internal struggle. (Also got to meet the man in person. Really awesome guy!)

Jack Black yearns for the mines and gets transported to Minecraft. Knowing the behind the scenes on the production design makes it kinda cool I guess. This movie is basically just an ad and the storyline is soooo basic. But hey... CHICKEN JOCKEY!

I loved the storytelling and the childish charm that I felt watching it. The themes of embracing how you are and celebrating life through death resonates with me so well. I've always been one to worry what others think all throughout my life. Even to this day I still can at times be self conscious, but I'm proud to say that that feeling of worry has reduced itself over the years as I meet new people and realize that our differences are what truly make us unique. The film also does a great job at making death this amazing thing that allows us to cherish our lives that much more. I truly wish more of America culture revolved around death being a positive thing rather than a negative thing.

This review may contain spoilers.

Felt like a GTA Online Heist. God damn that was beautiful.

"STOP BREAKING THE LAW, ASSHOLE!"

Great puppetry.

This review may contain spoilers.

Meh. Loved Anton (Javier Bardem)'s calculated performance, but I feel like the story ended up unsatisfying as hell. Llewellyn dies off screen, Anton gets away with everything he did. Llewellyn was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

This review may contain spoilers.

"A fake world is a lot less painful than the real one" I love this quote because it shows Grey's character transformation from hating technology to embracing it which ultimately leads to his demise. There's beauty and humanness that comes with the pain in the real world. Avoiding it doesn't solve anything.

This review may contain spoilers.

The shots were soooo creative. Many of the wide shots of the house and outside the center combined with the fact that Adrian is in the invisibility suit adds unique level of tension for the film.

I was tired of watching after round 4.

This review may contain spoilers.

This movie is a classic. Are some of the VFX a bit dated? Yes. But it still builds up great suspense especially when everyone is couped up at the house and the power goes out. The ending is not only iconic, but perfectly climaxes that tension with everyone having to carefully walk through what feels like hundreds of birds.

This review may contain spoilers.

Basically, never trust a boy band.

This review may contain spoilers.

I loved how impactful Vincent's death was by having his death be the first with blood in it. I also loved Jules' arc and the symbolism they used with the Bible verse of this idea of trying to achieve becoming a better person. The intention of leaving what was ever in the briefcase a mystery was great as well because it didn't NEED to be revealed. It simply just helped as a price of the story that motivated Jules.

This review may contain spoilers.

This film does an amazing job of showing the raw emotion that the family feels with Fred's death. Many of the scenes seem to relish in the moment and go by very slowly. After finding out that Uncle Fred raped multiple family and essentially got away with it and was still mourned was painful to watch as Shula and Bupe's trauma is ignored. This tension was beautifully executed especially when the Aunts walked into the food closet and emotionally broke down Shula and Nsansa. This all ties into the amazing ending using the symbolism of the Guinea Fowl to represent Shula and the others finally speaking out against Fred's atrocious past.

This review may contain spoilers.

Loved the color scheme with a heavy use of the primary colors especially yellow to convey Hollywood and the nostalgic feeling it had at the time. Loved the ending fight scene with the Manson member getting her face smashed in.

Watched on Wednesday February 19, 2025.

This movie managed to combine the genres of horror, action, and romance into an amazing an beautiful blend. The sound design was also super amazing and really helped me understand the characters' mental states. Especially Jackie.

I didn't realize this and Free Guy were two different movies.

Watched on Thursday February 13, 2025.

I first watched this experimental film at the MET museum in New York and was intrigued at the start. The uncanny valley of the human-like mask being worn by a monkey makes its movements feel child-like and familiar. The moody blues and occasional intercom sounds create a great sense of isolation and loneliness which further begs the question: What happened here? Where is everyone?

An undebatably impressive vocal performance by Bessie Smith. This short film also is an amazing snapshot of history in that it showcases an almost entirely black cast as well as helped popularize the genre of jazz which itself has its roots in black culture.

A good commentary on our capitalistic society and how we are often times overworked and manipulated by the system. I loved that the title only really began to make sense right up at the end.

Watched on Thursday January 30, 2025.

Final Destination but with kids.

Not only a nostalgic film that I as a kid, but also was really blown away by the mix of costume design and vfx which still hold up to today.

It's very satisfying to see Max's character arc as he tries to make all the creatures get along and be happy whilst also facing his own struggle at home with his family to then finally going back home to be with his family again.

It was cool to see the history of production design. I also really liked some of the examples they gave for amazingly designed sets. As mentioned in the film, set designs like the Godfather and Gone with the Wind eventually became the staple visual style for the mob and the Civil War respectively. I think this point is so important due to the fact that the production design was so good, that it was able to popularize what these ideas were like for future films and pieces of media in general.

Meh. Jim Carrey's performance was good though!

Amazing choreography and fight scenes, but the fact that Alluri and Komaram don't kiss make the rating so low. I was rooting for the bromance and it just never happened.

• Vivarium
• The Truman Show
• Memento

Ranked in no particular order.

• Curious George
• Despicable Me
• The Polar Express
• Frankenweenie
• ParaNorman
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• It Chapter Two
• Futurama: Bender's Big Score
• Gulliver's Travels
• Where the Wild Things Are

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.