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I watched this for my fucking English class oh god please don't tell me I have to write an essay about this 🥀🥀🥀 This was so goddamn boring and cookie cutter and shallow and like... Weirdly racist?? 😭😭😭 Whatever I can't be bothered writing about this, Ruth's friend from Six Feet Under making a cameo was pretty cool but that's pretty much where the positives end for me.

I started this last night with my mum because she said she wants to watch it with me and we planned to only see the first 40 mins and continue it later but it's so intense the whole way through so there was no good time to pause 😭 If there's anything that this movie does right it's that holy shit this was so stressful to watch. A great way to write tense or intense scenarios in storytelling is to write your characters into corners and make it seem like there's no way for them to escape and this stays true to that principle so well, the premise of this film really refuses to let you breathe for a moment's notice and as much as that did become a little desensitising as it goes along and that initial intensity wore off on me as I realised that they would probably all survive at the end (not to mention a few moments that were just a bit too obviously contrived and unrealistic), it still works really well for the most part. Aside from that there's still a few other pretty cool attributes to this movie, seeing how the interpersonal dynamics of the people on the bus get challenged and tested is compelling to watch and the slow unveiling of the villain's identity is pretty compelling (although he does have some dialogue oat like why did bro say that all poor people are crazy 😭). This film also understands what it is and I love that it doesn't really have any pretence or shame to it, it understands that its core appeal is its spectacle and action so it does the bare minimum when it comes to handling the characters in any sort of introspective or meaningful way which I think the film was better off for. With that being said though I wish the characters here were just a little better written and fleshed out, a movie like Die Hard doesn't have the most complex characters ever made but the writing and characterisation is good enough that the emotional beats still hit which not all of them did here unfortunately because this cast is pretty bland. Oh and the ending was definitely a little too action movie trope-y for my tastes but it is what it is. So yeah nothing crazy or perfect but this was really fun!

Oh and the actor for Connor Roy from Succession was in this that's pretty cool!!

Mabel when trying to decide what she should watch:

Any number of critically acclaimed and artistically brilliant films on my watchlist including but not limited to Fight Club, Goodfellas, Barry Lyndon, Dune II, Seven Samurai, Interstellar, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Social Network, No Country For Old Men, Requiem For a Dream, La Haine, Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather Part II, Citizen Kane, City of God, The Shawshank Redemption and Schindler’s List 🚫

A silly ass movie about a bunch of lesbians that negs the shit out of every film I just named ✅

Fucking awesome movie I loved this. The make or break with this film for most people will be that it’s veryyyy campy, overall its whole vibe is just really silly and unserious and things generally feel exaggerated for comedic effect a lot of the time and most of the criticism around the film surrounding its dialogue, performances, etc, stem from how much you resonate with that creative choice. For me personally I liked the silliness of this movie a lot, it’s clearly not taking itself too seriously and thus the audience should approach it in the same fashion and once you do there’s tons to appreciate here.

First of all this movie is just incredibly funny to me, like some of the most I’ve laughed at a film ever and this movie also generally just has such an incredible personality to it. The direction, variety of shot types, heavily stylised camerawork and more all add to its very colourful direction and this movie genuinely has a lot of amazing gags, impeccable comedic timing, a great balancing of tone, great understanding of how to utilise awkwardness for comedic effect, editing to emphasise punchlines, etc. Everything about it oozes fun and enjoyability and makes it so lovable, and this is only enhanced by the fact that the acting in this movie is incredible for what it’s trying to be in my opinion. All of the actors here have a ton of chemistry, you can just tell that they’re friends and are enjoying what they’re doing which is not only very infectious to watch, but is also helpful because of how so much of the film feels based in improvisation. As the post credit bloopers where a lot of the lines are altered from in the film itself prove, a lot of this stuff was thought up on the spot but because this cast are so good at what they do and bounce off of one another so well it never feels like they don’t know what they’re doing or that this approach that relies so heavily on the talent of the actors was a bad decision.

Aside from the talent of the actors the actual characters are great too. This is 100% one of those movies where it just feels like I’m the target audience for it, this movie is gay as fuck and I’m like really really gay and so of course I love all these gorgeous little cuties and am in love with all of them wow this cast is hot. I love Josie and stan Ayo Edebiri, Isabel and PJ are pretty compelling as well, Mr. G was genuinely solid comedic relief to me and ohmygod I love Hazel she is LITERALLY me although I’ll get to her later. Also the underdog nature of the majority of the cast and non-antagonists also make them very easy to sympathise with/root for, Josie and PJ are social outcasts and generally the cast are mainly just women who are all marginalised in some way or another so it’s incredibly easy to get attached to all of them, enjoy watching them grow for the better, rise up socially, etc. The way they’re treated unfairly right from the start of the film just makes them very easy to get invested in and relate with and makes for a very compelling story and story structure. And once again I am a lesbian so this made me feel things too.

Also this might sound absolutely ridiculous but I love that the men in this movie are practically all shallow caricatures. I know a lot of people act as if a character can only be good or well written if they have really nuanced characterisation but in this instance I feel like for the male characters, particularly the players of the football team, that would have been antithetical to its purpose and overall appeal, and therefore the reason why the men are good, well written characters is BECAUSE they’re shallow and aren’t complex. Not only does it add to some of the themes of the film that I’ll discuss in a second and is excusable because as I said before, this movie is very campy, but also it’s sorta extremely refreshing to see?? Like how often is it that a film has a majority women cast, even a majority QUEER women cast which is even less common, with all of those women being properly fleshed out, complex, multi dimensional human beings that get effort put into them with some sort of interesting writing while the men don’t take up most of the cast and are the ones that are neglected from a writing perspective? When you think about it, that's sort of groundbreaking for a movie at this level as it completely subverts all the shitty, misogynistic tropes that have defined Hollywood for so long, and I love that it was such a fun and authentic movie that did this.

I guess that brings me to my absolute favourite part about this movie, which is that beneath its premise, humour, etc, there is a lot of genuine heart behind it and the whole vision of the movie is tied together by some loose yet very emotionally resonant themes that serve as its backbone. It’s very rare to see a film that tackles specifically what this tackles, essentially dealing with how women often feel unsafe and/or powerless because of their trauma, mistreatment and general societal injustice caused by men. Like even this scene was still quite funny at times but stuff like the scene where all the girls of the club are talking about their experiences with SA and just general abuse was a level of maturity and depth that I was not expecting from this film and it’s unfortunately a very universally relatable message for most women. There’s just something really comforting about the way in which this movie shows a group of women finding a semblance of community as they try to grow and heal from that pain and I think that message is very powerful.

I also find it very personally relatable particularly due to the very sapphic lens in which the film tackles this. There was a time where (*shivers out of shame and regret*) I was attracted to everyone and I think one of the big things that changed my sexuality was the exact type of exploitative and harmful experiences that this film focuses on in a very subtle and understated way, and so that representation combined with the themes/messaging of this movie was amazing to me. We also literally see how those kind of experiences can affect preferences and orientation through the arcs of a character like Isabel who now that I think about it is quite relatable for me, she starts off obviously interested in guys to some capacity but the more and more she just continues to get treated like absolute shit the more she gravitates to exploring other routes. Overall this is just a very beautiful and moving film underneath all the campiness and silly humour which is what I love most about it.

Obviously it’s not perfect though and I do have a handful of nitpicks. I do think that some of the emotional beats could have been handled just a tad better, for example it really feels like the film rushes through certain phases of its plot a lot of the time without ever letting them sink in every now and then, it honestly definitely could have benefited from being a tad longer although I did love just how much of a blast this film was and how short it felt. I was also initially a little unsure of how to feel about the 3rd act simply because of how crazy it is but once again once you embrace the campiness of it and see the beauty underneath it it’s still great, although I still do prefer the more small-scale character work in this film in comparison to the moments of big spectacle. I also found the score and music choices to generally be pretty bland and basic, BUTTTT that is completely made up for by the fact that the party 4 u needle drop is one of the best usages of music in a piece of media in all of history. My heart when Isabel and Josie kissed as it was playing bro omg me and who fr 💗💗💗

However my biggest issue is that I really wish that Hazel had gotten more of an arc and development of her own outside of just being a plot device. I really think that she had a lot of potential to be a really beautiful and meaningful addition to this show’s cast and messaging, particularly from the fact that she’s obviously incredibly neurodivergent and what that could add to the perspective of the film, not to mention that she is LITERALLY me so I just really would have liked for her to get more screen time of her own. Unfortunately though it mainly feels like her neurodivergence is kind of just used as an occasional joke every now and then, and for the most part she sort of just fills the role of a plot device to generate conflict rather than having any truly developed arc or growth of her own which made me really sad because she could have ended up being my favourite character. This is generally one thing that happens in movies a lot and especially more than shows (although it does happen in shows and generally this is something I hate in storytelling as a whole), when it feels like a character simply exists for the sake of taking the plot in a certain direction in a very arbitrary way without having any interest in actually exploring how the plot affects the characters in a meaningful way, and it’s a shame to see it happen to such a goat. Oh well still love this movie though.

So yeah this was really cool!!!

This review may contain spoilers.

I feel like it would be a disservice to this movie if I immediately wrote an in depth/personal review about it just after a first watch, it'd be like if I tried writing a review for Hello, Elliot immediately once I saw it for the first time or something. I have thoughts already but I'm gonna sit with this and see it again before I even think of approaching it. All I'll say now is that as much as I'm gonna have to give it more time, it's almost certainly my favourite film ever. I cried pretty frequently while watching, sobbed until I had a headache during the final scene and for several minutes afterwards and have been randomly bursting into tears in the hours since. I hate (love) this movie.

This review may contain spoilers.

I dropped a short review for this yesterday that may have come across as kind of odd or reactionary at a first glance considering just how acclaimed this movie is, so I wanted to quickly return to this and explain why I hate this movie so deeply even though I wanna forget it forever. I really just wanted a nice little cozy movie with a protagonist who I would have a giant crush on and I got one of my least favourite pieces of media ever 😭 This genuinely ruined my day and upsetted me on a personal level. Oh and just to clarify before I get into the rest of the review, the fact that the movie subverted my expectations and delivered something very different to what I thought it would be isn’t my issue with it, around halfway in I was expecting that I would praise the film for taking such a bold and mature left turn (although it didn’t turn out being very mature by the end) despite some of the issues I had with it but it just got worse and worse. Anyways let’s get into this.

First of all, Anora really just isn’t a good character to me. The review of this film from samara really articulates this very well so I won’t go too in depth, but it is truly disappointing to me that a movie with a woman protagonist, whose struggle and experience is the core focus of the movie, has that protagonist be the most poorly articulated and developed character of them all in my opinion in a cast that is otherwise very male-oriented. We do not get nearly enough time or focus dedicated to establishing her internal conflicts, personal interests, life and motives outside of her relationship with Ivan, qualms with the lifestyle she’s living and more, and because of that not only do pretty much all the ideas trying to be conveyed with her character feel lost on me, but so much of her choices and overall characterisation just feels arbitrary for the story to go where it wants to go. Like for example, there’s literally a scene where Ani laughs at Ivan’s lack of experience when it comes to sex and it’s made pretty clear that she gets no personal pleasure out of it, and yet despite that almost in an instant she falls head over heels for him and the entire 2nd and 3rd act of the film revolve around her truly loving him and wanting their relationship to work even as he proves himself to be the self-serving immature asshole he was from the very beginning. The transition to her having a more simple worker-client dynamic with Ivan to a relationship she truly believed in wasn’t convincing at all, even if you believe that she was more in love with the lifestyle Ivan represented than Ivan himself.

I’ve also heard people say that they believe a part of why Anora’s internal struggles and psyche aren’t fleshed out to a proper extent is because even when she’s not working she’s still constantly trying to be the persona of Ani rather than her true self, but as the scenes of her at home after coming back from the club suggest, she does have some kind of disillusionment with the lifestyle that she lives and acts differently within her personal life. Her whole characterisation is just a total mess which is a huge part of why the stuff they do to her character as the film progresses feels so emotionally manipulative to me, I have no problem with showing instead of telling and leaving things to subtext but there’s a difference between that and writing characters in a way where you feel as though you have no true understanding of them or what’s trying to be conveyed with them, thus making their arcs not feel earned at all. Anyways I spent a lot of time on this point and it’s hardly one of my biggest issues with the film, although it does make some of my later critiques even stronger, so I’ll move on.

Tonally this movie is just an absolutely contradictory, confused mess, which is once again representative of the wider issue of me having no idea what this movie was ultimately going for or trying to depict. For example, was I meant to be invested in Ani and Ivan’s romance in the first 3rd of the film ignoring the underlying toxic, manipulative layer behind it? Was I meant to be shocked as things derailed for them and surprised at where the (incredibly predictable) plot was going? What am I supposed to feel and think when I see the two of them interact? Back to the tone though, I was incredibly shocked to see that so many people consider this film to be a Comedy, and a genuinely funny one at that, when so much of it revolves around Anora just being constantly abused and manipulated the entire way through. For me personally, even though I could definitely tell that there were comedic elements to its presentation, none of these really landed for me due to the severity of what Anora was suffering and the inherent seriousness of its content matter. Like I’m sorry but you won’t catch me laughing as a woman screams “rape” at the top of her lungs to try and be rescued as 3 men abuse her and hold her hostage against her will, that whole sequence made me wanna fucking cry. The film wants Ani to go through absolute hell whilst also having the nerve to imply that there’s some kind of humour behind what she experiences, it wants to be funny but also deliver some serious themes and a gut-wrenching ending, and it doesn’t balance the two in a fitting way at all to me and I just wish that it had committed to one or the other because the comedy takes away from the seriousness and the seriousness takes away from the comedy. Because of all of that, not only does the comedy not land at all for me but it genuinely makes me question how well meaning Sean Baker’s intentions were coming into this, but I’ll get to that later.

Wow the narrative of this movie is absolute horseshit. As much as I initially respected the turn this film took as it went in such a serious direction (although as I said, the comedy really lessens this approach and genuinely kind of upsets me), the more extreme and absurd it got the less of a good decision it felt to me. Who the fuck thought that it was a good idea to introduce a crazy rich russian mafia plot into a movie about sex workers. I appreciate it branching out and approaching its premise in a unique way but the more ridiculous the narrative of the film became the less it felt like it had anything tangible, meaningful or of substance to say about anything. It just turns the message and ideas of this film into even more of a comical mess than they already were. I’ve heard people say that the direction of its plot has to do with class divide and how that adds another layer to the exploitative dynamic between Ani and Vanya, but once again these elements are not conveyed well, and when I hear the variety of opinions I’ve heard about what this movie is truly about it feels less like the writers deliberately making its themes ambiguous or subjective and more them just not conveying their ideas well at all.

The structure of this movie is horrendous too. As much as the initial shock of seeing Anora get held hostage is pretty compelling, the more that the newfound direction of the film becomes normal as a viewer the more of a slog it becomes to get through. Think of your average plot diagram real quick, it usually starts off by establishing conflicts and building up momentum and tension, an eventual climax and then falling tension to reach a resolution. Although not every story needs to perfectly adhere to this generic structure, I do think it’s fitting to mention here to convey why this movie is so painful to get through. The moment Ani gets held hostage essentially serves as the climax due to its shock and intensity, and then the next HOUR AND 20 MINUTES is just falling tension, with the film overstaying its welcome so much that that tension gradually becomes so nonexistent to the point where it genuinely breaks the scale and goes into the negatives with how little stake or intrigue feels present in the narrative anymore. You could genuinely cut 20 minutes from this and I feel like you wouldn’t lose much. It doesn’t help that the plot is insanely predictable too, you can pretty much tell right away that things aren’t going to go well for Ani and Ivan and you can tell as soon as they find Ivan that he’s going to end up divorcing her, so the screen time that it takes to reach those conclusions feels like it offers nothing but plot development for the sake of plot development and more of the film suggesting that Anora being subjected to a horrific cycle of torment and abuse is somehow inherently comedic in any way whatsoever.

Having said all of this though, here is where I get into my REAL issues with the movie. Even having hated on this movie so much already, I was anticipating that I would merely give it a 2.5 and then move on with my life, but around the final few scenes and ESPECIALLY the last one is where I started to vehemently hate it. To explain why I detest it so much, first I want to set up why by providing an example of a similar thing from another piece of art. Last year one of the biggest rappers in the world, J. Cole, dropped a song with some transphobic lyrics in it to much controversy. Upon seeing the reception to these lines, I heard many fans of his try to interpret them in a charitable way that praised them for actually being positive towards trans people, and immediately this rubbed me the wrong way for a few reasons. Aside from the fact that they’re clearly fucking not and even if they were it doesn’t matter because half of his fanbase used it to spread bigoted ideologies, the biggest reason why it frustrated me was because all the people defending this line were cisgender straight men, who can’t imagine what it must be like living as a trans person and experiencing those struggles themselves. Yes, you’re allowed to be a cis guy and not believe that these lines are transphobic, but please understand that if a trans person says they are and takes offence with them, their opinion inherently matters more than yours because they are the actual subject of this content matter, making their response to these lines the true deciders of whether or not they were well meaning and aren’t harmful to the people they were written about.

Anora is quite similar in the sense that I can only imagine enjoying it, liking it and not taking fault with its portrayal of Ani’s abuse if you have no personal connection to what it must be like suffering from and relating to that kind of stuff. It’s only a comedic movie if you can’t relate to what Anora suffers in any way and can therefore see it from an “outsider lens”, but as someone who (although I can’t specifically relate to much of what Ani deals with here obviously) has suffered from similar kinds of manipulation and exploitation, I genuinely felt hurt and offended that this movie would try to approach this kind of story with a comedic approach whatsoever. It’s so insanely hurtful to me that the screenwriter for this film, a straight white man, would put its protagonist who he can’t relate to at all into such harrowing and abusive situations only to twist it into some kind of a Black Comedy, and then betray that comedic approach to end it in the most dark way possible just to hurt the viewer one last time. The final scene is only a satisfying, fitting resolution if you’ve never went through anything remotely close to what Ani has went through and can just watch it and think “damn that’s fucked up”, but if you actually have personally endured something remotely similar in any capacity I can imagine it would affect you in the same way it did for me.

This brings me to the final scene, which is probably my least favourite scene ever. I feel like I get what this was going for, to show how professions and dynamics like the ones Anora experiences in the film can distort people’s perception of consent, love and self worth in a harmful way. Ani latched onto the first person who treated her with any sort of kindness even if they had previously hurt her, and because she didn’t know how to react to such a baseline level of kindness even if that person was terrible, she feels the need to reward them in some way based on her past profession even if she has no real joy or ion in doing it. With that being said though, this was not done well in my opinion. As I said earlier, Ani barely feels like a character to me due to how messy and poorly articulated her characterisation is, and the film overall so often makes her suffering the butt of the joke. With these things in mind, subjecting the movie’s audience to such a horrific, heartbreaking scene where Ani basically manages to get herself raped as a result of her own stockholm syndrome and perception of consent when she barely even feels like a real person and up to this point the film hasn’t handled her trauma with the respect and consideration it deserves, just feels so utterly exploitative and emotionally manipulative to me.

Just to clarify, I’m not saying that all portrayals of the toll that trauma and sexual violence can have on people don’t have their place because certain viewers will be hurt or upset by them, some of my favourite films and shows do approach this subject matter and do it very well, but I do feel like this kind of content needs to be treated with a certain degree of carefulness, which up until this point the movie hasn’t, and the effect that this scene had on me as someone who could relate to Anora on some level was definitely harmful on a personal level. This scene wasn’t upsetting because the story earned this plot beat and addressed such a heavy topic while still doing so in a delicate way, it upset me because as a viewer I felt the same sense of exploitation and violation that Anora must have felt as I had such a vulnerable part of my past and who I am get brought up in such a tasteless and borderline manipulative fashion. If you write a movie in which your lead character goes through such horrific stuff and responds to it in a heartbreaking way when you can’t even personally relate to them and understand that experience, twist it into a comedy and not give that kind of content matter the care it deserves, then proceed to make certain of your audience feel as though their past trauma was resurfaced because of that, subsequently destroying their mood for several hours, you haven’t succeeded at whatever your intent was and need to seriously reconsider how you approached this kind of story. This movie triggered me and it hurt me and I hate it for that.

Btw this is a really random note to add onto what is one of my heaviest reviews of anything ever, but why did that one white guy randomly say the N word 💀 That shit was so out of pocket and served literally no purpose it caught me so off guard 😭😭 It wasn’t even directed to a black person bro they just said that shit for no reason 😭😭😭

I also wanna clarify that my beautiful perfect gorgeous queen Mikey Madison did nothing wrong I love her so much and her performance was great

Edit: Okay it turns out that Sean Baker follows a bunch of pro-Israel s on social media seriously fuck this guy lol, he is not a good person and this movie does a horrible and harmful job of dealing with what it portrays, I can’t believe so few people see the fact that the movie implying humour as a SW is assaulted is funny and if you do find it funny that kind of disgusts me honestly. It really speaks volumes that the one review I’ve seen of this movie from an actual past sex worker in NY thinks it sucks and doesn’t believe Anora is a good character, I’m confident that almost everyone who likes this simply cannot relate to it in any way and can only appreciate it due to that outsiders lens that I discussed before. I’m not trying to invalidate anyone who liked this but I seriously think you should reconsider some things if you did. And also the more I think about it the less I like Anora’s character like why don’t we get to know why she dislikes speaking russian, why doesn’t she like using her real name, these things are left way too open ended and as I said she doesn’t feel like a character because of that. Ronnie from The Shield if he was a sex worker basically.

Fuck this movie

This review may contain spoilers.

I really am so glad about the movies I was raised on because every time that I come back to one I don't get that feeling of something I had nostalgia for not holding up, I only appreciate it on a deeper level.

This is just such an iconic, memorable and enjoyable film man. I'm not the kind of person who will rate things dishonestly just because I grew up on them or because they have some kind of classic status and even with both of those things being true for me I still feel like this is fully deserving of this rating. The amount of classic scenes, enthralling sequences and unforgettable pieces of dialogue here are practically second to none. It's one of those films like Into The Spiderverse where it just feels like there isn't a single moment where it's not firing on all cylinders, even in the moments that aren't quite as much of a high intensity thrill ride like in the second act as Han and Leia and Luke both develop separately it's still CONSTANTLY entertaining due to how much wit, charm and personality is engrained into this thing.

One of my favourite things about the original trilogy that I feel like most of the other stuff from the franchises misses is just how genre-bending it feels in some regards. Like yes on a surface level it's a Sci-fi based off of its premise and settings but there are Western elements, the good vs evil themes feel like something out of a Fantasy movie, and it all just coalesces into something so grand and universally appealing in the best way possible.

Another thing that I love about it is how self contained it feels. I haven't watched the 1st or 3rd films in the trilogy in years and yet this still stands on its own not only because of how good it is but also because of how well developed the themes and character arcs are on their own. Even if you don't care about Star Wars this one movie is absolutely worth checking out.

And it goes without saying but the fucking SCOREEEE man. John Williams is such a legend. I ed The Imperial March because ofc I did but the piece that accompanies most of Han and Leia's moments is so fucking beautiful too and I love how it comes back in different ways to accentuate different moments, when it starts playing as Han gets frozen ❤️‍🩹 I do wanna give The Imperial March its credit too though because it's so fucking good, it's so imposing and distinct to the point where it almost feels like it adds to the characterisation and overall vibe of Vader and the empire as a whole to an extent in an incredible way.

Speaking of characterisation it's absolutely top tier in this movie. The interactions here say so much while saying so little, even R2D2 and Chewbacca who don't even actually say anything feel like they have so much personality to them and have sm entertaining banter with the rest of the cast it's insane 😭😭

Han is such a good character, easily my fav of the main cast excluding Vader. I was pleasantly surprised by how well done his romance with Leia was, it could have been so boring but their chemistry and the way their personalities clash with one another is so utterly infectious. Han saying "I know" in response to Leia saying "I love you" is so perfect, Harrison Ford understood his character so well and played him to perfection.

Vader is a top tier antagonist, I don't need to elaborate.

Yoda genuinely has one of my favourite character introductions of all time, I love how they introduce such a huge character in such an understated way and totally downplay his significance and considering his iconography now it's so amusing and still works even when you know he's an important character.

Luke really impressed me here too. I just him being a pretty generic straight white 80's male protagonist but he's honestly great and I love that he isn't some one dimensional knight in shining armour. He's impatient, temperamental, impulsive, etc and it really makes his development feel earned. He's also just such a perfect vessel for the underlying light vs dark themes of the entire Star Wars universe with his internal conflict here, great character overall.

Luke and Vader's duel is absolute CINEMA. Huge showdowns between the most important or powerful characters of a story should also have some kind of huge thematic weight and this scene does that so well. Even the choreography and performances here say sm rather than just being action for the sake of action, the way it's obvious through his mannerisms that Vader is holding back while Luke is being rash and less calculated is perfect, and with how Luke's time with Yoda establishes the risks of giving into his darker urges every time he gets the upper hand it feels less like a victory because of that darker connotation to it.

Then there's THE twist. The single most iconic twist in all of fiction, and it completely deserves that status. It just puts all of Luke's internal conflicts into such a brilliant new context once you know how Vader was once the same and how he'd now turned into such a ruthless monster, and even when you know it'll happen it's still just SO DAMN IMPACTFUL. And the foreshadowing in Luke's dream where he duels with Vader and sees his own face under the mask is so good, honestly one of my fav dream sequences ever and it's so awesome seeing such a beloved and popular movie try something a little more abstract like that.

I don't quite think this movie is perfect with all of this being said though. I do feel like Leia's escape from Lando's planet does feel ever so slightly weightless when it's cutting away from Luke and Vader's duel which is obviously better and more significant, as much as it's still really enjoyable and intense. Luke's escape from his confrontation with Vader is also a bit underwhelming to me, not only because I think the scene could've revelled in its shock for a little longer and had even more excellent dialogue but because after the heights Luke was risking falling from felt so daunting before, seeing him fall down hundreds of metres, suffer no consequences and miracously fall down that little hole is a little weak and definitely has some plot convenience imo. Leia's character, as much as she gels with Han really well, also doesn't get much development here but I do her being better in A New Hope and Return of The Jedi though so it's not a big deal, the reveal of her being Luke's sister is great though and her coming back to save Luke is also a nice little character moment. All very minor critiques at the end of the day.

Love this movie sfm and completely worth it to rewatch on my bday 💖💖💖

Watched on Sunday February 16, 2025.

What the fuck did I just watch I'm so baffled I don't know what's real anymore I felt like I was going insane for the last 30 minutes Lynch you sorcerer.

I didn't understand any of it but it's so unbelievably impressive that someone could conceive of this, let alone execute it in such a powerful and surreal way.

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Watched on Monday September 11, 2023.

Watched on Wednesday September 6, 2023.

I love Psychological Horror so much. The way the research team crumbles apart at this brilliant, gradual pace is just the most hopeless thing ever to me. It makes the first 25 or so minutes when everything is just OK all that more valuable.

Above the tension and fear encapsulated in this film's premise and how palpable it feels in execution, the real highlight here are the practical effects. They're literally the best practical effects of any film ever. The titular "thing" (a title which works so well, by the way) is one of the most grotesque, hideous things my eyes have ever witnessed and it is absolutely magnificent.

Remove one or two cheesy sound effects and this is basically perfect. How are you even meant to process a film like this.

Watched on Sunday September 3, 2023.

This review may contain spoilers.

Taxi Driver sure is a classic. The thing that jumps at you immediately is its presentation, perfectly encapsulating the stingy night-time atmosphere of night-time New York. The neon signs, the rain infested streets, often night scenes can be the most difficult to light, but even though they take up 40-50% of the film, Scorsese's brilliantly distinct style never disappoints.

Another thing I really love about Taxi Driver is its Jazz-driven score, which is wonderfully complimentary to everything I've already praised about it. It's highly minimal, usually consisting of the same 3 or so instruments, and as consistently adamant it is at retaining this one singular sound, it manages to provide enhancement to many differing situations emotionally. I will say that there was one track that was usually playing as Travis was driving (it felt like I heard it about 5 times) that became redundant and generally made some moments feel a bit monotonous, but it's still a good piece and a pretty slight nitpick.

Speaking of Travis, I found him to be one of the most intricate characters I've ever come across, worthy of all the analysis that's been bestowed upon him. What's remarkable about the movie is how it portrays this insomnia-ridden, mentally unwell man experiencing a deep societal disconnect and alienation with such relatability. He's excellently acted by Robert De Niro, who significantly attributes to a core part of his character in the way that he loses the rhythm and feel for the meaningless conversations he must partake in.

The only real misstep that this movie makes in my opinion, is its ending. For a movie with a screenplay that so excellently displays men trying to exert dominance towards the women and fellow men around them, wouldn't it make sense and be more realistic that after killing something like 4 men to save a girl from a horrible situation, Travis wasn't hailed as some kind of hero but instead faced with backlash from other men? Whenever Robert De Niro reads out one of his diary entries or the letter to his parents he sounds great, but when the lady who's meant to be Iris' mother says her letter towards Travis, it sounds so incredibly obvious that she's reading from a script which she hasn't familiarised herself with. Considering how talented a director Scorsese is known to be, I just can't see how something like that would him by when it's so easy to retake it. It also just seems to me that it shoves Travis' character development out of the window, in the 3rd act he begins to embrace his idiosyncrasies more, but in the last scene he has the same haircut that he used to wear, working the exact same job, seeming to be the exact same person.

Aside from an ending that feels a lot more under-written than the majority of the film, Taxi Driver still stands as a very stylish and intelligent classic worthy of its reputation. I'm looking forward to watching GoodFellas in the future

This review may contain spoilers.

God I love Ghibli.

As a child I went through virtually the entirety of Hayao Miyazaki's filmography, but naturally given the violence of Princess Mononoke, I had to be a bit patient until I could finally get to it. I've been old enough to see it for years, and I'm hating myself for not checking this out sooner. Princess Mononoke is one of the most beautiful and ambitious movies ever made, having the gorgeous animation (featuring some beautiful landscape shots amongst its highlights) and character design that is still awe-inspiring today, as well as their one of their most potent and well executed messages ever.

A really interesting part of the themes of this movie to me is how each side of this movie's conflict is treated with humility and ambiguity. They both have their flaws but both are far from being inherently bad. Another thing is how both nature and the humans are also always fighting within each other too, as far apart as this world is to our own, in many ways it feels representative of us.

The ending is superb too. As much as it may seem happy, it's far from being so. After a climactic scene where those previously opposed must betray their own beliefs and with their foes, Lady Eboshi decides to start again, this time more aware and caring towards her environmentally situated neighbours, and Princess Mononoke and Moro's clan sees humans in a new light. What's quite deliberately left out of this I believe (just as we never see Emperor Mikado directly), is the fact that this is all futile, since Emperor Mikado, the person who truly has the power and ability to decide the fate of the forest, still hasn't changed his stance and will eventually wipe them out. Once again, this movie is so darkly similar to our own world, making its themes all the more powerful.

The brilliance of the movie's atmosphere is only magnified by the phenomenal score and once again, its unbeatable animation. While you could pause the film on any of its 144,000 cells and most likely end up with a beautiful frame, where it truly shines is within its best sequences, such as the opening chase, or the horseback fight with Ashitaka after he leaves his home. The sense of extreme momentum within the arrows in that fight is insane.

Just like any of his best work, being consumed by Hayao Miyazaki's creative mind and the world it creates for a little over two hours feels like a bewildering, magical piece of escapism from the monotony of our own.

9/10

Watched on Thursday August 31, 2023.

At first, La Pianiste can seem unrewarding, it's definitely how I felt for much of the first hour. It was the kind of movie that, in this early stage in my newfound interest in film, I can appreciate as being well made, but also just very challenging with little to make up for that. By the end, I was swept away by how engaging and incredibly unique it is.

The thing I now really appreciate about the first 50 or so minutes of this movie, is how devoted it is at building up its characters. Nothing is expository whatsoever. You really need to piece together who each character is by the subtle hints hidden through its screenplay, which is something that can be really hard to succeed at.

The performances in The Piano Teacher are simply astounding, Isabelle Huppert best of all. Everyone's acting is so perfectly expressed and also very hard to understand in of what they are thinking and feeling. It masters both the beauty of an extremely subtle performance, and the power of a dramatic one.

The directing and slow editing is very delicately masterful and deliberate, often within discussions it may focus on a single person for long stretches of time, usually being the person who isn't talking, quite intentionally leaving the viewer in the dark. Aside from whenever Erika or one of her students is playing, there is no actual score behind anything, a creative decision which the film certainly benefits from. Not every movie needs music to aid its tone or impact, and this is certainly a movie where it would've been both distracting and detracting from pivotal parts of its runtime.

The Piano Teacher is not an easy movie to understand, the thing that I get out of Hanake's style so far is that the real film begins once the credits start rolling, and I don't think I'll put all the pieces together until I've seen it again, whenever that may be. One thing's for sure though, La Pianiste is a fantastic portrayal of masochism and sexual repression bringing an extremely important message, even I don't know what it all is yet. For a movie with content matter so strongly built around the more dominant and unhealthy aspects of sex, this movie is surprisingly tame in what it actually shows you, visually speaking. There's literally no way whatsoever that you can call this movie exploitative or salacious, it's just too tactfully executed.

Good ass movie, definitely worth watching if you want to expand your taste and try something unique, just don't see it with anybody other than yourself lol

8/10

Watched on Tuesday August 29, 2023.

I think Barbie was destined to be a divisive movie. I think everyone involved in the creation of this film was aware of it and embraced it, more than anything. It's a movie that expresses itself in a very unabashed way, and in my opinion, it deserves to do so.

One thing I seem to be hearing a lot is "Why such a political message and approach to a film aimed at children?". I have a problem with this for two reasons:

1. Just because a movie has a PG-13 rating doesn't mean it was made for kids. Obviously they'll be a large part of the audience the movie attracts and they were taken into as well, but are people going to ignore that the first teaser and the first scene are literally a parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey? A KUBRICK movie(speaking of Kubrick movies, they reference THE SHINING in Barbie!!! They referenced my favourite movie!!!!), a film that movie geeks across the globe salivate over. In the trailer they claim that whether you love Barbie or not, the movie is for you (a claim that is excellently explained by the content of the movie). There were clearly many people that Greta Gerwig and the rest of her crew were thinking about when creating Barbie.

2. Here's the important one. When you're tackling a film based on a brand that is so intrinsically, subconsciously connected to femininity. That's virtually the biggest representation of women in all of media, the real question is, unless you're seeking to make some bland generic corporate dreck, why WOULDN'T you?? If you're filtered by a movie saying something politically confrontational or being substantial by providing any form of commentary, please grow up. Cinema is more than just entertainment, it's an art medium where people can express themselves and their beliefs.

This is why Greta Gerwig was the greatest conceivable option when it came to directing Barbie. None of her movies are corporate dreck, and they're all outspokenly feminist. That's why it's unsurprising that this movie gets its message across quite well.

It's definitely not the simplistic and blatant "women good men bad" that some people will make it out to be, it's quite nuanced. Part of what I appreciate about it is how it succeeds at delivering much of its commentary in a very hard to misunderstand way, so it's more accessible to younger audiences, which often has something of a humour to it.

To justify the point I made earlier about Barbie's depiction of men and women being presented in a careful and complex way, contrary to what some say, I think it's worth mentioning Ken's motive behind his actions. When he goes to the real world, dissimilar to what he is used to, males rule every important position he comes across, unlike anything back in Barbieland. Tired of feeling inferior, he tries to take control of Barbieland and turn it into his own, once he fails he regrets it but him and Barbie come to the conclusion that maybe life didn't have to be so repetitive and unfair for either of them. If anything, what I get out of this is the idea that neither gender should have or deserves more control than the other. If you think this movie is "Anti-men" you were definitely personally offended and need to grow up.

As for the movie behind all of this, how is it? Barbie is an absurd, emotionally aware film that I struggle to find much fault with. Among the many things I love about it is Ryan Gosling's performance. He's funny and charismatic and all the things I wanted out of him from this film.

The production and costume design was obviously something that they really had to pull off well, and I'm happy to say that they did the brand justice. Similar to something like The Lego Movie, you can tell there was legitimate ion behind the product the film was representing, which I really love. Apparently the backgrounds in the montage where they travel through various terrains to reach the real world were all painted by hand, going for a sort of "Authentic Artificiality" which payed off in its short time on screen. It really lands well and aids the aesthetic of the movie

I've heard complaints about the humour, but it honestly felt very aware of itself and captured awkwardness in a great way which I was fully expecting. Though I can't all the jokes throughout the movie, I don't have superhuman memories, I do thinking that they were all great. I'm guessing all the masculine guys on IMDb were enraged by the jab the movie takes at The Godfather and pretentious men that over-explain it but I personally found it HILARIOUS.

An absolute standout moment is the "I'm Just Ken" fight/dance, an endlessly entertaining and awe-inspiring scene that is so fantastically theatrical that I wouldn't change a thing. The dance scene at the beginning of the movie is also very well choreographed, with a great implementation of Dua Lipa's 'Dance The Night' (she has been on a ROLL lately!).

In fact, I really liked how every song from its soundtrack was incorporated throughout it, and I'm a fan of many of them too, which helps of course. As a HUGE Charli XCX fan (I mean, just look at my name!), there was no way I wouldn't love 'Speed Drive' and having been a Billie fan for at least two years, I'd say 'What Was I Made For?' claims its rightful place as Billie's best vocal performance to date. It strongly contributed to a touching ending

Yeah, Barbie's a little convoluted, but frankly, I still see it as a great success. I love Nolan as much as the next guy, but I can honestly imagine myself ending up enjoying this more than Oppenheimer. For now though, I'll just scroll through the 1/10 reviews this movie has (I wrote this while I had an IMDb ) and chuckle at people getting offended at a movie this fun and harmless

8/10.

Watched on Tuesday August 29, 2023.

You have no idea how awesome of a viewing experience this is unless you're a New Zealander.

Watched on Tuesday August 29, 2023.

Watched on Tuesday August 29, 2023.

Watched on Tuesday August 29, 2023.

Watched on Tuesday August 29, 2023.

I just spent 30 mins working on this and when I clicked save literally everything was gone 😭😭😭 Anyways I don't a lot of these movies very well so sorry if these writeups are trash.

Also Aftersun will be very high up on this list and maybe hopefully potentially presumably possibly feasibly plausibly conceivably be top 1 once I watch it this Sunday!!

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once

   Rewatch is desperately needed but it would feel wrong if anything else had this spot, the exact kind of movie that would speak to me.

2. The Shining

   Haven't seen it in about 2 years but I being absolutely obsessed with this movie for months, I literally couldn't stop thinking about it and it's probably the most I've ever appreciated a film as well as the best experience I've had with one, easily on par with EEAAO I just connect with it a little less. Jack Nicholson will probably forever be my fav acting performance in cinema or top 3 at the very least and the direction, score, atmosphere, genuinely harrowing approach to horror and suspense and more are pretty much unmatched.

3. The Lighthouse

   I don't know or give a fuck what this movie is about at all but like 🔥🔥🔥 Similar to The Shining this was an absolutely life-changing and unforgettable experience, watching Psychological Horror/Thriller movies at 1 AM is literally the best thing ever god I miss it.

4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

   This was my favourite movie as a kid and I still love it just as much as I used to, if not more. One of those ones that I connect with and appreciate on a more and more profound level the older that I get. I used to constantly beg to see this once every few weeks, have seen it at LEAST 20 times and know every line of dialogue word for word. There is so much personality, attention to detail and heart poured into every single minute of this, there isn't a single moment where I'm not laughing, have goosebumps, am just in awe of what I'm witnessing or feel like I want to cry. Incredible.

5. Perfect Blue

   It pains me that this is no longer in my top 4. No other movie has made me question what's real and what isn't anymore to an equal or greater extent other than maybe Mulholland Drive, and no other film has upset me this much either, not to mention that I just know it'll only hit me harder once I see it again. It's my pfp for a reason.

6. Mulholland Drive

   I initially had 6 paragraphs of notes that I was gonna turn into a review but realised that what I had written was trash but oh well. What can I say anymore, it's Mulholland Drive. It's beautiful and unique makes you question what's real and what isn't all combined into one, and I love how not only does it emulate what it feels like to dream through its uncanny direction and narrative structure, but it's also a dissection of our figurative dreams. Our aspirations, our desire to be rid of the insecurities and struggles of our life, etc. Oh and also this movie is so hot too it made me feel so gay so it's amazing for that too.

7. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

   I still ever so slightly prefer the first one because of how incredible its self contained narrative and character arc is, but this is still pretty much on par to me and the people who complain that this movie felt unsatisfying or unresolved perplex me. This was a mind-blowing expansion of everything that the original was about, and in many regards I would consider it even more impressive and inclined to my tastes. Not to mention that the subtext about queerness and finding a sense of community through Miles' character and the (incredibly fucking obvious) trans subtext through Gwen's character that people somehow deny UGH I loved her arc in this movie sm it's really personal to me ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹💖💖💖

8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

   I feel like I overrated this just a bit on a first watch probably (tbf a lot of my 5 stars are extremely close in quality) but yeah it's so beautiful and poignant.

9. Parasite

   Sooooo good I need to see this again and everything I loved about it but yeah all I'll say now is that it's brilliant and completely worth its praise.

10. Spirited Away

    Haven't seen in forever so this is a little bit of a placeholder spot but I LOVE GHIBLI AND MIYAZAKI!!!

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.