Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Amadeus 1984

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 01 Mar 2025

  I first saw this movie at around age 5-6 and was immediately captivated by it. Everything about this movie — the colorful costumes, set pieces, music, the eccentricities of the characters — captured my attention even at a young age. The new 4K restoration of the theatrical cut just arrived and I finally got a chance to take it in. The transfer was amazing and a marked improvement over the DVD copy that I’ve owned ever since it was first…

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  The Wild Robot 2024

  ★★★½ Watched 20 Feb 2025

  Having read The Wild Robot series with my daughter when she was younger, I was excited to see how the film adaptation would capture the quiet charm and thoughtful storytelling that made the books so special. Peter Brown’s novel balanced sophisticated vocabulary with an accessible and deeply emotional story that explored themes of survival, belonging, and family in a way that was both profound but easy for a child to understand. 

  The movie retains some of the heartwarming and captivating…

Popular reviews

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  Imaginary 2024

  ★ Watched 04 Jul 2024

  I had a roommate in college who didn’t drink but would mix up these awful concoctions and give them to the rest of us to drink. Basically a mixture of everything we had in the apartment. He must be making movies now, because this was Beetlejuice, Ted, Coraline, Child’s Play, etc. mixed in a blender and turned into a smoothie of mediocre horror at best.

  On top of all that, the stupid Chauncey song is a rip-off of John Williams’ score from Home Alone. I hope Chauncey runs into Cocaine Bear in a dark alley and gets all of his fluff and stuff ripped out.

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  Eighth Grade 2018

  ★★★★ Watched 02 Nov 2018

  This film gave me hope and broke my heart. I taught 7th and 8th graders for many years and still work in a middle school (even though I don't have my own class of students anymore). I haven't checked out any "making of" or "behind the scenes" info related to this movie, but Burnham clearly knows middle school kids or has some he consulted quite a bit for this movie.

  As I watched, I found myself sometimes simultaneously smiling and…