Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  I'm Still Here 2024

  ★★★★★ Watched 19 Feb 2025

  The cinematic hero of 2024 is not Paul Atreides, Furiosa or Laszlo Toth. It is Eunice Paiva. I left the theater in tears, shattered by Fernanda Torres's astonishing performance as Paiva, a woman who carries herself with grace and dignity for the sake of her family, even while her own heart breaks amidst countless humiliations and indignities. In family pictures, even in the worst of times, she commands her children to smile, not to hide their pain, but out of…

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  Janet Planet 2023

  ★★★½ Watched 17 Feb 2025

  At a key moment in this movie, a mother tells her young daughter that she’s always been able to get men to fall in love with her and that that skill has ruined her life.  If you’re intrigued by that kind of messy but astute self-awareness (as the daughter, presumably, is the result of one of those loves), you’re going to like this film (divided, cheekily, by three of the mother’s affairs, not all with men) as languorous as its pacing can feel at times.

Popular reviews

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  Conclave 2024

  ★★★★ Watched 21 Oct 2024

  With its A-list cast in the grandest of settings, Conclave seems like it’s going to be prestige drama with a capital-P.  But as soon as the pulpy score (imagine if Challengers and May December had a baby) blares, you know you’re in for some thrilling (if ridiculous) fun.  I laughed; I gasped.  Who knew the Catholic Church could be this fun?

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  The Brutalist 2024

  ★★★★½ Watched 04 Jan 2025

  I was not looking forward to this movie. I scoffed at the 3.5 hour runtime; I found the trailer ponderous and pretentious. But about thirty minutes into this miracle of a film, my skepticism lifted. Few films feel like real events. When a movie does swing big, more often than not the results are tedious (The Tree of Life) or ludicrous (Megalopolis). I'm all for big ideas, but if they're being presented in narrative film, I still need characters to…