Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  The Sacrifice 1986

  ★½ Watched 18 Jan 2025

  Neat beginning and beautiful, desolate shots throughout. Egregiously boring and characters felt like they were written by an AI philosophy chatbot. Made me wish I was watching an Edward Yang movie instead: at least with that guy the slowness pays off.

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  GoodFellas 1990

  ★★★★ Watched 07 Jan 2025

  Really great! However, I can't help but feel like the movie lost a bit of steam toward the end and that the ending—though well-orchestrated—was somewhat anticlimactic. Sure, the documentary-style narration throughout tied everything together (couldn't have turned out another way), but I guess I just expected more? I liked the Steadicam shots, the story from Karen's perspective, the cheery home camcorder footage, the Italian food scenes: all the parts that made Goodfellas's world more lifelike and charming amidst the violence. High 8, low 9.

Popular reviews

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  Mahjong 1996

  ★★★★ Watched 17 Apr 2024

  Very rough first 20 minutes, especially with the English actors, but 9/10 latter half. Yang likes tossing you into movies blind and fumbling about for a while, but taking it easy once the names and locations settle in. It's satisfying eventually having the plot and what's going on click in your head. Didn't think that I would like the characters as much in this one, but they clicked in too once the movie leaned into its comedy. Love the jarring 180 tone shifts that somehow work, followed by the slow no-dialogue shots of Taipei's busy streets. Excited to watch Yi Yi :)

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  Do the Right Thing 1989

  ★★★★½ Watched 19 Apr 2024

  I see what my brother meant about Spike Lee's movies being "a good corny"

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