_Grungus_

_Grungus_

Favorite films

  • There Will Be Blood
  • Past Lives
  • Jurassic Park
  • The Player

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  • Nickel Boys

    ★★★★★

  • The Brutalist

    ★★★½

  • Nosferatu

    ★★★½

  • Thelma

    ★★★★★

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  • Nickel Boys

    Nickel Boys

    ★★★★★

    It is sad more people aren’t talking about this film. Absolutely masterful and heartbreaking. The director takes huge cinemagraphic swings and none of them miss. A little saccharine/over-acted sometimes but I think most of it plays. 

    Only criticism I can think of is that the time given to elucidating the horror of the situation overshadows the central relationship. I know these guys care about each other, but they almost feel like the idea of trauma friends more than the real thing. I could have used a little more color. 

    That said, I fully thought every character was a historical figure. 

    Home run for Griff

  • The Brutalist

    The Brutalist

    ★★★½

    As long-winded and self-important as its director.

    Well made. Well shot. Well acted. Incredibly scored. But, poorly told. I sat there for 3.5 hours and felt almost no emotion. Or cared about anyone’s plight.  You only find out in the last 30 seconds why this guy cares so much about making a concrete church for a rich guy. Lose the intermission and trim any of the bloated monologues and this could be normal length.

    Other people have done “monomaniacal dude…

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  • Civil War

    Civil War

    ★★

    It’s not bad because the dialogue is goofy (it is). It’s not bad because it doesn’t “take a stance” (do you really want more liberal moralizing about le orange man?). And it’s not bad because of its uneven mix of action and characters having a forced emotional check in (which sucks). 

    It’s bad because it tries to make photography badass.

    Not war photography. Not journalists. Photography. This movie is Garden State for photographers. Yeah, I’m a freak. I have a…

  • Nosferatu

    Nosferatu

    ★★★½

    The film is clearly very well made. But I just can’t give too much of a crap about a remake of a remake of knock-off Dracula. Maybe if I hadn’t already watched 2 other Dracula adaptations (Salem’s Lot and Bram Stoker Dracula) this year I could give a good crap. But I found that when I left the theater I just couldn’t give too much of a crap.  

    There has got to be some other way to be knowing…

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