Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  A Real Pain 2024

  ★★★★ Watched 13 Mar 2025

  Some might say a Chopin soundtrack is too on the nose but those people don’t know 💩

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  Grave of the Fireflies 1988

  ★★★★½ Watched 10 Mar 2025

  A harrowing meditation on how pride kills children and nations. Also just learned this was released as a double feature with My Neighbour Totoro - not to intentionally give audiences emotional whiplash, but a strategy to fund both Miyazaki’s and Takahata’s films.

Popular reviews

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  Better Man 2024

  ★★★★ Watched 31 Jan 2025

  I grew up listening to Robbie Williams’ songs not particularly out of love; they were just always on the top 40 in 90s UK. And since he wasn’t one of my faves, I didn’t follow the gossip at the time - just knew he was the naughty one from Take That - so I had no idea that crisps and daddy issues would get so much screen time in this film. Even after reading glowing reviews from people whose opinions I respected I was sceptical but they were right: this weird music biopic shouldn’t work but it’s turned out to be the only one that has.

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  Barbie 2023

  ★★★★½ Watched 20 Jul 2023

  Barbie’s just like us - she has existential crises too, only she remains super-hot while having one. What a rehabilitation of the Barbie brand - Greta Gerwig, the crew and cast deserve all the money from Mattel and Sony. 

  Loved watching this on opening day in a cinema full of people - locals, expats, young, old - all dressed in pink, lapping up the authentically artificial design and laughing at the all the jokes and countless cinematic references. 

  Allan 4eva 😎

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