Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  The Substance 2024

  ★★★½ Watched 21 Feb 2025

  There was a lot to like -- the direction, cinematography, and editing were all stunning. The writing was a bit of a mixed bag. Obviously, the central concept is phenomenal, and is the main reason why this movie is getting a lot of buzz. I thought the script was good at conveying a lot of information through quick, visual scenes that didn't rely on dialogue. But when dialogue was needed, it was often pretty rough. And for me, even though…

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  Conclave 2024

  ★★★★½ Watched 02 Nov 2024

  Holy shit. I never imagined a bunch of old guys electing a new pope would be so tense, interesting, and dramatic. Top tier writing, directing, and performances.

Popular reviews

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  The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim 2024

  ★★★ Watched 29 Dec 2024

  Ah, I really wanted to love this movie. And while the action is great, the world is great, and a lot of the "production design" is beautiful (not sure what the animation term is -- I'm referring to the sets and backgrounds), the writing and the character animation don't feel like they're quite as good as they should have been.

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  Megalopolis 2024

  ★★ Watched 03 Oct 2024

  {Light 2/5} Woof. Uh... Look, there's some good stuff here. There is cool cinematography and visual effects. There's cool music. There's a cool general concept for a story. And there are a lot of actors who are really trying. Some of them (Driver) on a herculean level.

  But the writing is horrible. It's bad. And I tried to go in with a zen mind -- early on, when Driver does a full rendition of Hamlet's most famous monologue, I was…

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