Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Marathon Man 1976

  ★★★½ Watched 25 Mar 2025 1

  A thoroughly entertaining thriller. It isn't perfect, but it is scattered with excellent scenes that mean I would recommend it to anyone.

  Yes, the plot may sound hokey but it is delivered so effectively that I found myself able to easily overlook the outlandish elements.

  Hoffman is great, Olivier is even better. Yet another example of 70s cinema brilliance.

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  Born on the Fourth of July 1989

  ★★★ Watched 25 Mar 2025

  I think Oliver Stone is a man who makes good movies. Not exceptional, just good.

  I believe he is often a victim of trying to do too much. Whether it be JFK, Platoon, Natural Born Killers or Born on the Fourth of July, I think his films would be improved by being less extensive in their remit and instead focusing on the basics of its core story. His ambition is admirable, but it just does not pay off here.

  As…

Popular reviews

• 

  Lenny 1974

  ★★★½ Watched 23 Mar 2025

  The prevailing reason to watch this movie is Dustin Hoffman who, expectedly, gives a tremendous turn as Lenny Bruce. His ability to convey the complexities and struggle of a pioneers life, a man living long before his time, is fantastic to watch.

  Overall, a biopic that should be considered fundamental viewing for any producer, director, or screen writer giving the genre a go (the world would be a better place if the current onslaught of biopics followed this template).

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  The Libertines: There Are No Innocent Bystanders 2011

  ★★★★ Rewatched 17 Nov 2023

  I knew a simple soldier boy
  Who grinned at life in empty joy,
  Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
  And whistled early with the lark.

  In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
  With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
  He put a bullet through his brain.
  No one spoke of him again.

  You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
  Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
  Sneak home and pray you'll never know
  The hell where youth and laughter go.

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