Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Moneyball 2011

  ★★★★ Watched 16 Mar 2025

  Compared to the other notably talky Aaron Sorkin adapted nonfiction vehicle of this era (The Social Network), this has aged exceptionally well. Moneyball has become a heuristic for “doing things the right way,” which is actually crazy when you think about it, since Beane destroys all of his relationships and he doesn’t even get any joy out of winning. Pitt’s charisma and Hill’s awkwardness distract you from the fact that the first two actors are basically pathetic excuses for human…

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  mother! 2017

  ★★★★ Watched 09 Mar 2025

  It's Aronofsky, so it's outrageous and at times stupid, but it's also so singular and ambitious that I'd rather be watching it than 99% of other movies. His decision to film so much of it in claustrophobic closeup is effective and makes a lot of the first 2/3 feel like a horror movie; the final 1/3 is fairly clearly an allegory that flirts with being an action movie.
  I don't think the allegory is totally muddy: there are a few…

Popular reviews

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  The Queen's Gambit 2020

  ★ Watched 21 Nov 2020 2

  I'll keep it short: if you're on the fence about watching this, DON'T. There is a magical Negro and a caricature of a repressed 50's housewife, both of whom exhibit no recognizable human behavior. I stopped watching it near the end of episode two (I paused it and told my partner, nah, I've seen enough, and she agreed) and I'm told there's an autism reveal later than explains why the main characters has so many problems? Linking "logical" thinking with…

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  An American Werewolf in London 1981

  ★★★★ Watched 27 Nov 2020

  I kind of wish Griffin Dunne and David Naughton had reversed their roles though I'm not sure Naughton could have pulled off the thing Dunne had to do. What I'm saying is I want more Dunne, all the time. Otherwise, no complaints: if you're feeling a little sleepy after eating Thanksgiving leftovers and can't quite do a movie with any narrative friction in it, this is your movie. Entertaining from start to finish. Soundtrack is stupid fun, special effects are just plain great.