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"Myself, I feel very safe"

Wes Anderson is probably one of the most consistent directors out there. If you've enjoyed the vibe of his previous movies then you'll enjoy this.

I'll always love the neat symmetry and pastel colors of Wes' cinematography. The eccentric to endearing idiosyncrasies of his characters, and the nostalgia of his production design.

I definitely see a lot of influence from silent film, most obviously in the numerous b/w cutaways to the "afterlife", but also in the monochromatic tints of the opening sequence, the general blocking of most scenes, and even the exaggerated makeup of some characters.

I found the film to be quite funny, although his dry sense of humor often coupled with a dead pan delivery resonates well with me.

Definitely an improvement over his last full feature, "Asteroid City". (Although I do enjoy that one for what it is)

It's less "meta", and easier to follow, although I did still find myself a little lost at times. Not nearly to the same degree and never in a way that completely took me out of the experience.

In fact the little confusion I did have at certain moments only compeled me to want to watch it again.

The film is well structured with a fairly tight pace, not overstaying as welcome with a runtime under 2 hours.

Watched in theaters (Cinemark)

I will fully it that this is a 14 year old boy's wet dream, but it leans into it so unapologetically and is self-aware enough that it's difficult for me not to enjoy it.

Sure it's a bit of a guilty pleasure and I probably wouldn't recommend it to many of my female friends but toxic masculinity exaggerated and parodied in such a well executed and well animated way is simply fun.

Watched streaming on Netflix

The animation was almost unnecessarily hyper realistic but still interesting to look at.

Lots of world building condensed down into such a short package, it definitely benefits if the viewer already has a decent knowledge of various other science fiction concepts.

The performances were kind of a mixed bag but I thought the twist was really interesting!

More so because I'm a sucker for existentialism, but still I thought the reveal was well done.

Watched streaming on Netflix

I love just how unique this feels.

The animation is at times quite realistic while also being more akin to something like PlayStation 3 graphics at certain other points.

But you can definitely tell the varied fidelity of the animation and visuals is an intentional stylistic choice.

The theming of this entire short feels like an incredibly layered remix of mythical and historic tropes.

We have characters who seem to be racially Amerindian, suited up in Spanish conquistador armor, in what seems to be an environment similar to the Pacific Northwest?

It's certainly unlike anything I've ever seen, and keeps you thinking about the intention behind some of these stylistic choices.

The sound design, movement choreography, and editing is incredibly sharp and fast paced. There's a lot of blink you'll miss it style baked into each cut.

I was thoroughly engaged the entire time, and found the entire experience to be quite thought-provoking.

Watched streaming on Netflix

Not as good as "Night of the Mini Dead" from season 3 but still pretty fun.

Watched on the High Seas.

This is kind of fun and the animation is cool.

I just wish it was deeper and/or funnier considering this is LDR and we've waited like 3 years for the 4th season.

As it is, it's basically just a stylized Red Hot Chili Peppers music video.

Watched on the High Seas.

One of my favorite soundtracks of this decade. The way that Edgar Wright puts together a soundtrack that not only sounds good and fits the time period but also lyrically describes what's happening as it's happening is nothing but masterful.

The movie has a great sense of style and the cinematography/editing give us a smorgasbord of visual treats. That is for everything that wasn't CGI.

The CGI in this movie is distractingly bad through most of the film, especially in the latter half. I think part of the problem is everything that isn't CGI looks so fantastic that it makes the lack of quality stand out so much more.

Thomasin McKenzie & Diana Rigg give top notch performances. Anya Taylor-Joy is Iconic and Matt Smith plays a great villain.

I want to see Edgar Wright make more horror movies!

Watched on the 2024 Universal Studios 4K Blu-ray.

I understand what this movie was going for, it just didn't quite work for me.

The subversive deconstruction of the Western archetype is an interesting idea, especially given Clint Eastwood's career.

The writing does a decent job in conveying this idea, I just don't think the execution always does it justice.

Gene Hackman & Richard Harris give pretty great performances but I found Clint Eastwood to be mostly stoic and uninteresting.

The cinematography was pretty great with some breathtaking wide shots, but the action felt fairly clunky. I get that's kind of the point, they're not trying to romanticize the violence, but the realism of that kind of flies out the window when you have a character soloing an entire town of armed cowboys.

Watched on the 2017 Warner Bros. 4k Blu-ray.

Simple if slightly nonsensical wiritng. The action feels very B movie and the climax was kind of clumsy. But everything else was executed so well that I was entertained throughout, you can tell they were constrained by budget but that didn't stop them from telling the story they wanted to tell.

Watched on a rip of my 2013 Magnolia Pictures blu-ray 10,000 ft in the air.

This is one of those "it gets good I promise" kind of movies. If you do decide to watch this I implore you to at least get past the first 30 minutes and wait through the credits.

It's been a long time since I've watched something that's captured the joy and serendipity of filmmaking in such an engaging way.

It's impressive how the film manages to be incredibly literal in regards to it's title but somehow still surprise us in it's presentation.

Everyone here was firing on all cylinders and you can tell they had a lot of fun making it. I especially enjoyed Harumi Shuhama's preformace, she was an absolute Joy the entire time.

Watched on the 2020 RLJ Entertainment Blu-ray.

This was interesting, definitely something different.

Absolutely heartbreaking, especially the last two episodes.

I appreciate the more nuanced take in a story like this, it really makes you think about the world and culture our kids are growing up into.

The whole single take per episode aesthetic was impressive, at times it gave the series a distinct sense of realism and at other times it made it feel like something more akin to theater. It did however leave some of the "Action" sequences feeling less convincing.

The performances were impressive with the standouts being Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, and Owen Cooper.

Episode 3 was probably my favorite.

Watched on the High Seas.

One of the few times where Tom seems to win in the end.

Jerry spends the whole time bailing his simple duck friend out of trouble.

Not terribly funny, but moderately entertaining.

Watched on the 2025 Warner Archive Blu-ray.

This one was cute, Tom and Jerry but Musketeers, and a mouse mentor/mentee relationship.

Fight scenes were entertaining.

Seeing this restored in all it's cinemascope glory was a treat.

Wasn't terribly funny only got the slightest of chuckles out of me but I still had fun.

Watched on the 2025 Warner Archive Blu-ray.

Interesting and creative animation with an orchestrated score which also provides the foley.

Seeing this restored in all it's cinemascope glory was a treat to say the least.

It was beautiful to look at but unfortunately I just didn't find it terribly funny.

Watched on the 2025 Warner archive Blu-ray.

A tweenage romance/drama is usually something that's very much not my thing.

But the angst mixed with a sprinkling of a love triangle is well-balanced out with coming to age themes of how to reconcile our shortcomings with the ambitions of youth.

That combined with the incredibly charming presentation had me engaged throughout most of the runtime.

It's charm far outweighed it's corniness, that is right up until the very end where I felt the scale began to tip a little too far towards melodrama.

Overall it's very much a feel-good experience and I would recommend it to most.

Watched on the 2021 Gkids (Shout Factory) Blu-ray

Methodical, contemplative, and thought-provoking.

Visual poetry.

The film presents an optical cornucopia filled to the brim with existential vignettes. Slowly it trickles out an abstract narrative that is sure to turn off some, but provides so much for those willing to embrace it.

At great risk of being labeled pretentious it reveals its story to us as if we were some sort of fourth dimensional observer, floating in and out of these people's lives, bouncing back and forth between them and creation itself.

It's certainly not perfect, there were parts I didn't fully connect with and or completely understand. Some of the CGI early on was a little dated as well. But these were very minor in the grand scheme of things and do little to detract from the full experience.

This is the kind of movie you'll either vibe with or you won't, and you'll know which one it is within the first 15 minutes.

Watched on the 2018 Criterion Blu-ray.

A PSA on why you shouldn't fuck your co-workers.

The movie starts off kind of rough with some heavy-handed exposition, a lot of telling instead of showing.

The character depth was fairly shallow and the writing was not nearly as eloquent as the movie kept implying.

Things did improve once we were past the exposition and it transitioned into a more generic spy thriller.

Michael Fassbender was a stick in the mud, devoid of any charisma.

Cate Blanchett is and will always be an icon, she was great.

The cinematography while decent at times, employed a stylistic choice that I found distracting throughout. Every light source had way too much bloom to the point where I kept feeling like I needed to clean my glasses.

The plot was mildly interesting although I wish it was a little tighter as I was left with question marks by the end. Perhaps a 2nd viewing would help, but it's simply just not interesting enough to warrant it.

Still you could do a lot worse, and I didn't regret seeing it.

Watched in theaters (Cinemark)

This isn't a Masterpiece but it is a good time!

One thing I really appreciate about Bong Joon-ho is that he's not afraid to be a little out there or silly. He's willing to try new things and be different, which is a breath of fresh air when all the big budget movies start feeling the same after a while.

The standout here for me was Robert Pattinson's performance, he shows off some impressive range and is just a pleasure to watch throughout.

The story is decent, I thought some of the political commentary was a little on the nose and the pacing wasn't as consistent as I would have liked it to be, but like I said it was different and it kept me interested throughout.

Watched in IMAX (MJR)

Had a really good sense of realism and atmosphere considering it was stop-motion animation.

The main conflict wasn't particularly deep and basically resolves itself by the end.

This plays like the world's most artistic men's health article.

Watched in theaters (Detroit Film Theatre)

"Not quite my tempo"

This was simple, sweet, and served as an interesting look into Japanese elementary education.

I found the differences in structure and expectations compared to the Western education I was brought up on particularly fascinating.

Watched streaming on YouTube.

This short reminds you of a childhood innocence and sense of giddiness in how we first discover intimacy. Something that's easily forgotten in adulthood.

I love how it visually represented these feelings and did so in a way that was interesting but relatable.

Soundtrack was kind of a bop too.

Watched in theaters (Detroit Film Theatre)

Visually stunning and emotionally raw.

This short manages to communicate a lot with no dialogue, which is always impressive.

Not sure if I fully vibe with someone who, at least to some degree, seems to be a domestic ab possibly going through some sort of redemption. But the short does explore the effect mental illness/trauma can have on us or our loved ones and it does so in a visually interesting way.

Watched in theaters (Detroit Film Theatre)

Creatively endearing and incredibly sweet.

Always a fan of stop-motion animation and this short does a great job of capturing different aspects of childhood whimsy throughout it's multiple vignettes.

Watched in theaters (Detroit Film Theatre)

The style was engaging for the first hour or so but it just goes on for way too long and overstays it's welcome

The subject matter was interesting and was edited together extremely well but it was dense and after an hour of watching archival footage set to jazz music and reading title cards over and over it gets tedious.

Watched on the High Seas.

So much suffering and for what? The unforgivable crime of existence?

It's so difficult not to feel hopeless watching something like this, especially considering just how heavily the cards are stacked against these people.

Yet we see an incredible resilience and determination displayed in this community as they endure for their right to live on their land.

The filmmaking itself is nothing fancy and is shot in a very gorilla fashion which is understandable considering the resources available and conditions in which it was made.

It does begin to feel repetitive as we enter this cycle of altercation with either Israeli soldiers or settlers and then reconciling with community as they try to heal, fight back, or make thier voices heard, that is up until the next altercation and so on. But that is the harsh reality that these people are forced to live through, on repeat over and over, and it's important to we're only witnessing a small part of that.

Which brings me back to this sense of hopelessness considering this was shot in the West Bank before the events of October 7th 2023. The documentary ends on this ominous note given that us as audience know that all the pain and suffering that we've seen up until the end of the movie was likely about to get considerably worse.

I'm glad that this got an Academy Award nomination for best documentary or else it wouldn't have been on my radar. Still it was extremely difficult to find considering no American distributor will touch this, which is a tragedy in itself, as the people who need to watch it the most, likely never will.

Watched on the High Seas

"Ukraine is like porcelain, easy to break, but impossible to destroy."

Reflections on life in war from the perspective of two artists and those they love actively living through it.

It's an absolute tragedy that these people are forced into the circumstances they are, but I can't help but marvel at the beauty they manage to express in their art despite those circumstances.

I adore the vignettes of the animated porcelain figures, serving as a backdrop to the stories being shared. Their beauty contrasting starkly with the horrors of war described.

There's a scene where one of these artists, Anya, paints a drone used to drop bombs on Russian tanks, as if it were one of her porcelain figurines. It's beautiful, tragic, and Incredibly badass. It speaks to the spirit of the Ukrainian people.

The tone of this documentary isn't always consistent but it kept me engaged throughout and is regardless impressive considering this was produced in an active war zone.

Watched on the High Seas

I adore the ambition of this movie. It truly feels like an American epic; with a three and a half hour run time, breathtaking cinematography, and themes deconstructing the American dream and of pain in the pursuit of one's art.

This was shot on the previously defunct format of 35mm VistaVision, which gives the image a sense of largeness befitting an epic and presents shots that stick with you long after it's over.

All of this filmed in 33 days for under 10 million dollars. Absolutely insane considering I've seen movies that cost 10 times more that look 100 times worse.

The long runtime can be a tough pill to swallow but not only does The Brutalist offer a 15 minute intermission (Something that should be standard for all long movies) it does so in a way that is in service to the story and highlights its themes. Seriously this is quite possibly the best transition into an intermission ever put to film.

The acting was pretty solid across the board with the standouts being Adrian Brody and Guy Pearce both of which deservingly received Oscar nominations in thier respective categories. The only performance that didn't quite land for me was Joe Alwyn who I thought came across as a little exaggerated.

Unfortunately what really holds the movie back in my opinion is it's pacing and certain aspects of the writing.

We see it's pacing fluctuate from slow and contemplative to some major plot events/character revelations happening suddenly with little time to process them. When a movie is this long nothing should feel glossed over, but there are multiple plot and character details that make me feel just that.

There's also just a lot of really odd character moments, especially in the latter half of the film, that left me sitting there with question marks over my head. A couple examples being the world's saddest hand job and a blink and you'll miss it rape scene that seemingly comes out of nowhere and the implications of which never feel fully explored.

The general weirdness of the latter half of the film combined with its run time and lack of satisfying resolution will make this fairly inaccessible for a lot of people, but I don't think mass appeal was ever the goal of this movie, and I respect it for telling its story on its own .

The Brutalist really does have a lot going for it, but the aforementioned pacing & character issues make it difficult for me to engage with the larger narrative as a whole. Still I believe it's worth a watch for those who are interested in seeing something different and ambitious however flawed it may be.

I'm certainly curious to see what Brady Corbet can do with more time and more money.

Watched in IMAX (MJR)

Nickel Boys is shot in a 4x3 aspect ratio with a really interesting POV / 3rd person perspective throughout. At first it seems like it could be just an artsy gimmick, but it quickly and effectivly immersed me into it's world. It's refreshing to see something different not just for the sake of being different but as a tool to engage it's audience with the story it's presenting.

Not only is it interesting and different it's just plain beautiful, every shot is haunting, intimate, and often surreal. The cinematography compliments the story so well, and the entire movie feels like we're living through the memories of its characters.

The presentation is truly exceptional, i'm surprised this was only nominated for a couple Oscars. In my mind it at least deserves nominations for best director, sound, and cinematography.

Watched on the High Seas

No CGI animals were harmed in the making of this film.

This film's strengths lie within its production & costume design.

The action was decent although I do think the foley was overdone.

What really hurts this movie is its writing and characters. It's constantly referencing the original, motivations aren't communicated well, and the plot is overall contrived & melodramatic.

The performances aren't really anything to write home about ethier; Paul Mescal was generic, Denzel Washington was silly, and Connie Nielsen was just bad. I did like what Pedro Pascal was bringing to the table but the film doesn't really give him much to go off of.

The accents are inconsistent, the emperors were cartoonish, and there were too many historical inaccuracies to count.

It's unfortunate because I know Ridley Scott can do much better, I really don't know what happened here.

I was not entertained.

Watched on the High Seas.

This documentary is a lot more calm, quiet, and contemplative then I would have expected given it's subject matter.

Still the tone only serves to emphasize the pain these people have carried for generations. Pain that was often repressed or forced to be hidden by those that inflicted it or those are chose to be indifferent.

Their stories are heartbreaking but the film presents them in a haunting almost beautiful manner, accentuated by the cinematography which matches the tone of the film and is on a whole other level compared to most documentaries.

Watched on the High Seas

An interesting character study on American Double Bassist Orin O'Brien.

I was amazed to learn that she's pushing 90, not only does she look 30 years younger but she has an incredibly sharp wit and intellect. Accentuated by her talent and experience but grounded by a strong sense of humility.

The presentation of the doc itself was decent, although it did feel a bit meandering at times.

Regardless by the end I was left with only one conclusion: Orin O'Brien is an icon

Watched streaming on Netflix

The strong point of this film is its cinematography, it looks beautiful and it's shot well.

Most of the acting was pretty decent however the main child lead, Sajda Pathan, her performance was not on par with the others, which is a shame because she makes up most of the screen time.

I understand that she is essentially playing herself and that does give the film an interesting layer of meta realism, but it doesn't change the fact that her performance was distracting.

As for the story, it's soberingly relevant to the shortcomings of our modern economies, the ambiguous ending only serves the highlight the human cost and the impossible decisions forced upon people far too young to be making them.

Watched streaming on Netflix.

I tired to go into this film as blind as possible but it's difficult not to be aware that this film has a lot of controversy regarding its main character and it's portrayal of the trans experience in general.

I'll leave those criticisms in the hands of those who can better speak to it and try to focus more on the filmmaking itself.

That being said I do think the idea that this film manages the piss off both sides of the political spectrum amusing, considering that this was nominated for 13 Oscars, although realistically I doubt anyone even remotely right of center will be watching this in the first place.

In short this movie misses the mark in so many ways, but does so in such an ambitious and confident manner that I can understand why people with poor social awareness would deem it worthy of praise.

The plot is full of questionable decisions and odd character moments, dissolving into a melodramatic mess by the end.

There's a romance that feels incredibly unearned, character redemptions thay are conveniently accepted without question, and children who diagetically talk-sing lyrics obviously written by adults.

The only consistently good thing about this movie is its visual presentation, it often finds creative an interesting ways to present a scene, and overall I think the cinematography was pretty great. It's a shame that it's not in service of better writing.

The dance choreography was equal parts impressive as it was silly, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

However, the way the musical numbers were woven into the plot really hurt the pacing for me, characters would kind of float in and out of musical whimsy in inconsistent ways and it was off putting on multiple occasions.

The music itself ranges from "meh" to alright, with only one song standing out for me. I thought "Mi Camino" was pretty decent, sang by Selena Gomez during one of the more visually impressive scenes of the movie.

Overall of the 13 Academy Award nominations this movie received I think it really only deserves two, one for best cinematography, and the other for best song "Mi Camino".

Watched on the High Seas.

I was surprised at how much I didn't engage with this. Based on the ratings I expected to like it a lot more.

I mean it wasn't horrible by any means, it was shot competently and Kieran Culkin gave a decent performance.

I just didn't think the story was anything special, the driving force of the movie is this dynamic between Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg, and while the latter is good at performing this socially awkward persona, I feel he really struggles with the more dramatically serious tones. Which is a shame because I know he can do better.

Watched on the 2025 Searchlight Pictures Blu-ray

The animation displayed beautiful environments and striking fluid dynamics, but for some reason the character models looked significantly lower resolution in comparison to everything else.

I'm not sure if this is a stylistic choice or due to budget limitations, but regardless it wasn't terribly distracting and I quickly got used to it.

I love how patient this movie is, it gives us time to immerse ourselves in the world it presents and doesn't bog itself down trying to explain every aspect of it. It gives us plenty of details to soak in and leaves us with just enough questions to keep us curious and engaged.

A consequence of this, however, is I'm not sure if the movie will be able to stay engaging for those with shorter attention spans, like the children most people would imagine this appealing to.

The movie uses water very effectively to build tension, especially in the beginning as we watch these environments slowly and then dramatically flood.

I also like how the movie is able to build it's characters with zero dialogue, anyone anywhere can watch this and engage with it.

The story itself is fairly basic and it does get kind of repetitive, especially near the middle. If it wasn't for all the environmental details and character dynamics this really would just be a bunch of animals chilling in a boat for most of the runtime.

Things do get more interesting near the end though, and it leaves cetains events open for interpretation which I enjoy.

Watched on the High Seas.

Usually not a fan of Bill Morrison's style when it comes to his documentaries, despite the fact I often find the subject matter interesting.

But here I feel the lack of interviews and voice over actually benefits what the film is going for and is appropriate given the subject.

It makes the presentation feel less susceptible to bias and encourages us to form our own conclusions based on the sequence of events.

That being said it's impossible to remove bias completely. Even if presented as factually as possible it will exist in the edit and in the commentary.

Still I never felt the film was disingenuous in its presentation.

Watched streaming on YouTube

Probably the best looking animation of the 2025 Oscar lineup

It was gorgeous throughout and I enjoyed everything it had to offer visually.

I didn't think the story was anything terribly special but it was by no means bad. There were a couple moments I found myself confused due to some continuity issues, but overall it was completely serviceable for what it was.

I was surprised at just how brutal this movie can be, there's a lot of deah. Not in a traumatic sense but more so this is just how nature is kind of way.

Overall I'd recommend this movie to just about anyone who likes animation.

Watched on the 2024 Universal 4k Blu-ray

I liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. I was a little afraid this would be an Oscar bait bunch of dudes just sit in a room and talk for 2 hours kind of movie.

And in some ways it was but it managed to keep me engaged throughout, mostly due to the captivating cinematography and thoughtful writing.

The movie gives us a speculative peak into an incredibly old, consequential, and largely hidden process of selecting a new pope. A pope that will lead a world religion practiced by nearly a billion and a half people across the globe.

It mostly boils down to something akin to a political drama but it also explores themes of humanity and it's relationship with the concept of divinity as a whole.

We have all of these Cardinals, religious leaders of their own parts of world, who have spent their entire lives elevating themselves towards a divine purpose and yet they seem to suffer from the same weaknesses and bias that plague the rest of us.

We get to see them reconcile their faults amongst each other, meanwhile all the drama is stitched together with these vignettes of gorgeous cinematography and a beautiful score.

The acting is fantastic throughout, the standout being Ralph Fiennes, playing a cardinal who has the important task of overseeing the election process, we see him struggle with his own doubts and crisis of faith while navigating the rumors and misgivings surrounding all the other Cardinals. His performance is one of anxiety and conflict, but also an intense determination to perform his duty.

Ultimately the movie lands on this idea that our weaknesses, doubts, and uncertainty, aspects so ingrained within humanity but removed from divinity, are what makes their faith so important in the first place. This acceptance that faith acts as a bridge between humanity and divinity, and all of the uncertainty our characters have felt leading up to this act as a foundation of that bridge.

It's a satisfying conclusion after nearly 2 hours of anxious turmoil, and I'm not even terribly religious. I can imagine someone who is religious engaging with these ideas even more.

Watched on the 2025 Universal 4K Blu-ray.

This movie has great atmosphere and production design, it really captures the analog futurism of the Alien franchise well.

Unfortunately the film suffers from poor writing especially when it comes to its characters. It's exceedingly frustrating when the plot is driven forward by conflict mostly derived from the incompetence of its characters.

More so it's difficult to feel any tension or care much about what's happening when the characters feel so shallow and under baked. The only one I kind of liked was David Jonsson's Andy, and that's mostly because I'm a sucker for regretful pragmatism.

This film was nominated an Academy Award for best visual effects, this was more of a mixed bag in my opinion.

The practical effects looked great for the most part, but there was some distractingly weird CGI with one of the synthetics.

Overall if you're a fan of the Alien franchise and mediocre writing/characters aren't a huge deal-breaker give it a shot but I probably won't be seeing this again.

Watched on the High Seas.

My first thought while watching this movie was that a lot of these characters feel like real people, and it wasn't until the end when I realized this was because a lot of these people were playing themselves.

I think that's pretty cool, and while not everyone gave Oscar worthy performances they were mostly pretty solid with the stand out being Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin. I would have liked to see him get a Best ing Actor nod from the Oscars. Colman Domingo was another stand out and has a best actor nomination to boot although he wasn't playing himself.

This was shot on super 16mm, combined with a slow, calming, and almost relaxed cinematography gives the film a really interesting look. It's hard to make a maximum security prison beautiful, but this movie somehow achieves just that.

The pacing wasn't perfect, certain events and character changes seem to come about and resolve quite quickly which clashes with the otherwise fairly slow pace of the film.

Some of the dramatic points of the film were engaging but others didn't quite hit for me. I don't really want to use the word "overdramatic" here because I don't think the drama itself is the issue it's more so the execution that wasn't always convincing for me.

Watched on the High Seas.

This is the first Wallace and Gromit flick I've seen and it makes me want to see the others.

I'm a sucker for well done stop-motion animation, it's impressive and it looks great.

This movie has a lot of charm in it's visual presentation, it's also pretty funny if you're a fan of British humor.

The story is pretty basic but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the movie for what it is.

Watched on the High Seas.

An important story told incredibly poorly.

This was the first and hopefully the last Tyler Perry movie I'll ever watch.

This movie has themes of feminism and racial equality in a context of historical significance but all this is done an extreme disservice when the filmmaking is this incompetent.

The acting is laughably bad, cartoonishly bad at points, the standouts being Sam Waterson's FDR and whatever the heck Hank from Breaking Bad was doing.

The dialogue was poorly written, the accents were inconsistent/exaggerated, and the character interactions were melodramatic at best.

The production & costume design while not 100% bad throughout the entire film did feel decidedly fake throughout most of it. It just felt too clean, everyone always had perfect makeup, even the stuff that was supposed to be damaged or dirty wasn't convincing.

The CGI was also distractingly bad.

I'm not exaggerating when I say this, that might have been the fakest White House exterior ever put to film. It looked like it was made out of cardboard and spray painted white.

The audio mixing had issues which combined with some of the poor line delivery often had me thinking to myself "This was the best take you got?".

A couple small details I thought were funny:

There's a scene where they're nailing stakes into the ground with comedically small hammers.

If you want to talk to the first lady of the United States just stand outside the White House in the rain for like 3 days and she'll eventually come out with the only member of staff who seems to work there.

The only reason I watched this movie was because it was nominated for a single Oscar for best song, which they only played at the very end and was decent.

The most interesting thing about this movie is the historical significance it completely fumbles. You're better off reading the Wikipedia article.

Watched on the High Seas.

I love Elton John, I love his music and I love how honest he is about his struggles in life.

He's an icon.

That being said this is a pretty standard cut and dry music documentary.

If you enjoy Elton John and his music then you'll enjoy this movie.

Watched on the High Seas.

If you like Bob Dylan and his music then you'll like this movie.

If you're like me and was never a huge fan of his, but also never particularly disliked his music ethier, then this will be a fairly lukewarm experience.

Everything about this movie is competent.

The performances, the cinematography, production design, etc etc

Like it's all decent, better than average even, but there's just nothing new or particularly exceptional here.

I was surprised at just how musical it was... I mean I know it's a biopic about a musician, I expected there to be a lot of music, but still the vast majority of the movie is just Timothy singing Bob Dylan songs.

So if that's something you think you would enjoy great! Otherwise I'd say skip it.

Watched in theaters (MJR)

I do enjoy an existential crisis, and it's nice that this can get a few laughs out of me too.

Ellen Parren's performance was pretty good, although I'm not completely sure if I understood everything the movie was going for.

Watched streaming on YouTube

A short about an important and quite relevant topic at the forefront of the current political discourse.

Therefore it probably has a pretty good chance of winning best short at the Oscars.

That being said even though I agree with pretty much everything the short is trying to communicate, I feel that it comes across as heavy-handed and lacking in nuance.

I would imagine very few people who don't already agree with this film's message will be watching it.

Watched streaming on Vimeo

There wasn't a single moment of this film that didn't feel absolutely real.

The naturalistic acting, the production design, the cinematography, and all the little details transport you to 1970s Brazil.

Even the child performances are completely convincing, proving that if a director is willing to take the time and put in the effort, child performances can be more than able, they can be at the same level as the adults.

Such attention to detail at every level here, the fact that this didn't get a Oscar nomination for best sound, production design, or makeup & hairstyling shows just how overlooked the great but subtle is.

It's also a shame best casting isn't a category until next year, becasue this would be an obvious contender. If I didn't know any better, I would say they used a time machine to pluck thier actors from various periods throughout thier lives.

This movie is simply devastating, this is based off of a true story with real pain, it allows us to feel that pain and it does it in an incredibly immersive and effective way.

It does this because it takes it's time, makes us feel like we're a member of this family, so thier pain becomes our pain and that for me is what art is, empathy.

A consequence of this is that it is fairly slow, so I would say if you're not a fan of a slow pace or being sad in general than this isn't for you. Otherwise absolutely give this a watch if and when you can.

Watched in theaters (MJR)

This was pretty decent, a short that explores themes of witnessing injustice and the guilt/stress/fear associated with deciding to speak out or not.

I understood what it was going for, it just didn't speak to me all that much. Probably more due to it being so short, we don't have any time to develop any of the characters past first impressions

I will say the cinematography, production design, and acting was all pretty good, it all felt very grounded and real.

Watched by steaming on Arte

The fact that the trailer spoils an early twist of the movie is a tragedy, but I get it, you gotta sell tickets.

It opens as a seemingly typical rom-com, but is quickly subverted in a paradoxically poignant but entertaining way.

I hope there are some dudes who watch this and see their perfect fantasy girl, gorgeous and agreeable, just to have the rug pulled and a mirror held up to them as they see how she's treated.

I'm not going to pretend that I could ever truly understand a woman's perspective but the unfair expectations and emotional manipulation are conveyed quite feverishly and I can imagine at least some men's realization of their own (perhaps less extreme & more subtle) actions being parroted back at them.

There are also broader and less gendered themes of the commodification of human empathy & attention. Which feels as relevant as ever given AI's prominent position within public consciousness.

The movie also explores the relationship between love and pain. How many of us at some point in our lives loved someone only to find out we were being naive? How many of us foolishly held on to those feelings even when we knew they were actively hurting us?

These are some serious and dark themes yet somehow the movie manages to explore these ideas while at the same time being quite funny and not taking itself too seriously. That's a balancing act that is incredibly difficult to pull off, and while not flawless (and dependent on your sense of humor) I think it does a pretty good job.

I loved the music throughout and the cinematography was great, with a handful of standout shots.

Some smaller details I enjoyed:

The stylized font of the opening & closing credits

The T2 homage near the end

I also like the fact that the lead actress didn't have perfect teeth, it ironically gave her a bit of realism you don't see in many Hollywood actors.

The acting itself was kind of mixed, I wasn't really blown away by anyone's performance but it wasn't horrible and it not taking itself too seriously helped.

There were also a lot of smaller details that didn’t make sense in of continuity or convenience. Individually, they weren’t a big deal, but they started to add up by the end.

Overall I really enjoyed it and I would recommend it to anyone who wouldn't be put off by the film's darker themes.

Watched in IMAX (MJR)

Wacky, clever, and a bit surreal.

This one is quite funny and you can tell they had a lot of fun making it!

Probably one of the earliest examples I've ever seen of Drag in Cinema and it's done in such a light-hearted and fun way

The fact that this is an incomplete print and the only surviving film out of the 40 plus made from this comedy duo is an absolute tragedy and serves as a solemn reminder of just how much of early Cinema is completely lost.

Watched on the 2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Movies I watched in 2024

• Talk to Me
• The Secret World of Arrietty
• Clue
• The Triplets of Belleville
• The Holdovers
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
• The Extraordinary Voyage
• A Trip to the Moon
• The Astronomer's Dream
• The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is a list of movies and series I personally want to see released in 4k on UHD, that are currently only available in HD or worse.

• Over the Garden Wall

  As of 12/01/2022

  There is a 1080p Blu-ray of this series but it's OOP and was only available in the UK and Australia.

• Amélie

  As of 12/01/2022

• Good Bye, Lenin!

  As of 12/01/2022

  This movie technically has a 1080p Blu-ray release but it's very difficult to find with English subtitles.

  I think the only Blu-ray version with English subtitles is the Korean release

  The vast majority of copies of this movie are on DVD.

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

  As of 12/01/2022

• The Day After

  As of 12/01/2022

• Blindspotting

  As of 12/01/2022

• Holes

  As of 12/01/2022

• A Goofy Movie

  As of 12/01/2022

• Sunshine

  As of 12/01/2022

• Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

  As of 12/01/2022

...plus 123 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

All movies I own on an Ultra HD 4k disc.

• Hell or High Water

  Lionsgate Steelbook

• It's a Wonderful Life

  Paramount Steelbook

• Gattaca

  Sony Steelbook

• The Cabin in the Woods

  Lionsgate Steelbook

• Knives Out

  Lionsgate Steelbook

• Turning Red

  Disney Steelbook

• Apocalypse Now

  Lionsgate Steelbook

• Vertigo

  Universal Steelbook

• Léon: The Professional

  Sony Steelbook

• The Green Mile

  Warner Bros. Steelbook

...plus 100 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

All movies I own on an HD Blueray disc.

• Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

  Oscilloscope

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

  Criterion

• The Illusionist

  MVD Visual

• Good Bye, Lenin!

  INFO

• An Honest Liar

  Flim Flam Films

• The Prince of Egypt

  Universal Studios

• The Day After

  Kino Lorber

• Finding Vivian Maier

  Soda Pictures

• Threads

  Simply Media

• The Death of Stalin

  Entertainment One

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.