Favorite films

Recent reviews

• 

  Knock on Any Door 1949

  ★★★ Watched 20 Mar 2025

  If I had a dollar for how many women get slapped or beat, then forcefully kissed, then look glad about it afterwards, I'd have... well some money. I kinda lost count. Now, sure, Bogart is on the poster, he's the main credit, but this isn't his movie. He's barely in it, and I don't think his scenes add much. John Derek is 100% the star here. His performance is compelling enough, and his character is far more interesting. Clearly the…

• 

  The Brutalist 2024

  ★★★★½ Watched 28 Feb 2025

  *shoots up heroine, listens to jazz, breaks nose again* Was this the longest Oscar nomination this year? It sure felt like it. Maybe Wicked was longer but that went by so much faster. Length and some pacing aside, this was also pretty great. This is the last Oscar nominee I'll be able to watch before the awards, I only missed 1 big one (I'm Still Here), and this was a good one to end on. Not sure where to begin.…

Popular reviews

• 

  Roustabout 1964

  ★★★★ Watched 31 Aug 2023

  I went into this kind of expecting a dud. I like most of the music, and Elvis being a "bad boy" in leather on a motorcycle obviously echoes the Brando's Wild One, but the idea of a carnival film wasn't terribly exciting for me. But once I actually watched, I liked. I liked a lot. Something I don't mention a lot in these reviews are how a lot of Elvis musicals have real bad ADR for the music segments, but…

• 

  Poor Things 2023

  ★★★ Watched 27 Feb 2024

  "What a very pretty retard." Sometimes I feel that movies (and other works of art) are weird for the sake of being weird. Edgy for the sake of being edgy. I feel that this is one of those movies. It definitely has that feeling of "let's do something weird just to be weird. To shock the audience". A lot of the choices don't feel like they serve any purpose. Example: the weird fisheye lens that only pops in maybe once…

Following