Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Smile 2 2024

  ★★★★½ Watched 19 Mar 2025

  I wasn’t such a big fan of the first Smile, finding it a bit too derivative of other movies (from Ring to It Follows by way of Final Destination), so this was a massive surprise. They found the perfect setting and central character for a demon that feeds off inner darkness and self-loathing. I can’t take most horror movies that run over 2 hours, but this justified its run time. The ending is fantastic - thematically and visually superior to last year’s The Substance in just about every way. Just a beautifully crafted and genuinely discomforting horror film that improves on the original.

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  Battlefield Earth 2000

  ★ Watched 18 Mar 2025

  Netflix should remake this.

Popular reviews

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  Terminator Genisys 2015

  ★★ Rewatched 19 Jul 2024

  Made at a time when there seemed to be consensus that the best way to continue a franchise was to mess with the original as much as possible - preferably with shonky de-aging effects, character flips and endless twisting of rehashed dialogue. My favourite bit was when Schwarzenegger is clearly about to jump out of a helicopter, says “I’ll be back” and Emilia Clark looks confused and says “What?” WHAT??? 

  I don’t normally buy into the idea that these crap…

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  Face/Off 1997

  ★★★★ Rewatched 14 Mar 2025

  The action is insane and easily John Woo’s best work in Hollywood. What stood out on this viewing is just how much Nic Cage carries the crazy premise. He’s genuinely affecting, completely selling the traumatic shifts of identification and sympathy the cop Archer undergoes. Travolta is fun enough, but he’s either totally unsympathetic or hammily evil in his role. Cage just brings a whole other level of complexity to a part that could have been equally cartoonish. Think it’s overlooked as one of his best performances amid all the mayhem.