Recent reviews

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  The Brutalist 2024

  ★½ Watched 02 Feb 2025

  I can appreciate Brady Corbet's ambition making a 3hr film in 2024 along with his appreciation for the Apollonian SIGHT of the architect. But, ultimately this was a waste of (half) a day…

  - most of the film not really about the above grandeur
  - instead it's dripping with (self-?)resentment, maybe even ressentiment 
  - to clumsily mash together such resentment with these short sequences of Apollonian splendour is an offensive distortion (eg Quarry sequence)
  - the first third quietly hopeful…

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  Lost Highway 1997

  ★★½ Watched 19 Jan 2025

  - pushed beyond the limits of his style here I think
  - honestly a bit boring in many parts
  - not that it has to be absolutely coherent, but it felt like he had a bunch of ideas and just decided to string them together
  - nowhere near as unified as MD (which is also not a traditionally logical story)
  - music doesn’t always fit 
  - still some tasteful visuals ofc but I reckon he was too caught up in…

Popular reviews

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  Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1964

  ★★★½ Watched 28 Feb 2024

  - light, witty, entertaining 
  - characters distinctly original, each performed brilliantly
  - beautifully styled War Room shots and close ups, showcasing Kubrick’s eye (even though its main focus is satire)

  A better Death of Stalin (or more accurately Death of Stalin is a worse Dr Strangelove)

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  Challengers 2024

  ★★★½ Watched 11 May 2024

  - enjoyed music
  - purely about competition really, no moral lesson (based)
  - a film about good looking athletic people competing (in all possible games available)  
  - more original / unique / different than majority of what gets put out these days

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