Well, I’m closing in on the 8 year mark of being a member on this site, so I guess it’s about time to make my obligatory contribution to Paint Drying.

As many of you may have noticed, I’ve been fairly inactive here over the last 6+ months. Between VIFF and New Years, I built up a backlog of 20+ films I’d watched and hadn’t logged. Then, over the course of a week and a bit, I made up that backlog…

VIFF 2024 #15
The Playhouse
9:15pm

Sean Baker, you beautiful bastard.

It's not often I come across a film I have such high hopes for — especially a film coming off winning the Palme — and having it so thoroughly meet expectations. Parasite is probably the only other one I can think of in recent memory that lived up to that kind of massive hype.

This film is everything I wanted it to be and more. I was enjoying the…

I really did not vibe with this whatsoever.

I want to be favourable since this is an indie debut and pretty ambitious for what it’s worth, but there is hardly anything within this 100 minutes I wouldn’t have done differently myself, and that is one of the worst signifiers to me when watching a film.

It does start off VERY strong with a brilliant hook of a 911 call with some crazy shit going on over a black screen while…

I haven't read the novel, but I assume this is what a perfect adaptation looks like.

All Quiet on the Western Front is ’s stylistic antithesis to 1917. 1917 was a beautiful film, and while All Quiet on the Western Front is certainly a well shot film, it is anything but beautiful. This is a haunting, devastating film.

All Quiet on the Western Front is a very raw film. They don't hold your hand, and they don't pull any punches.…