Favorite films

Pinned reviews

• 

  Magnolia 1999

  ★★★★½ Watched 08 Jan 2025 2

  “This happens. This is something that happens.”

  With Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson — through sheer confidence as a filmmaker and surely at least a bump here and there — bridges a gap between intimate, unabashed vulnerability and sprawling, rapid-fire-gut-punching bravado.

  And I don’t mean that it’s impressive that I was able to be so emotionally attached to all of the characters despite the constantly shifting stories. It is impressive, obviously, but Magnolia’s direct inspiration, and one of my all time favorites,…

• 

  My Darling Clementine 1946

  ★★★★½ Watched 23 Nov 2024 2

  “Mac, you ever been in love?”

  “No, I've been a bartender all my life.”

  If Stagecoach was enough for me to understand John Ford’s influence, My Darling Clementine is more than enough for me to understand why people worship him. Influence aside, he clearly had a gift. 

  My Darling Clementine is easily the best looking film I’ve seen from its decade. I watched this on my laptop on the plane and had to stop myself from exclaiming “Oh my God!” at…

Recent reviews

• 

  Mickey 17 2025

  ★★★ Watched 06 Mar 2025

  Mickey 17 is bizarre for many reasons, but perhaps most bizarre of all is that the only piece of source music in the entire movie is “Twilight” by Elliot Smith. It’s a banger don’t get me wrong… it’s fucking Elliot Smith… but why use such a delicately soul-shattering song in an awkward love scene that doesn’t really matter to the overall plot in any significant way? A bizarre choice, but shockingly one that fits into my next point because it reminds…

• 

  Something Wild 1986

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 05 Mar 2025 2

  I didn’t realize how wildly, wildly in love with this movie I was until this past week when I couldn’t stop thinking about it and just had to watch it again.

  The colors, textures, sounds, and performances are the kinds of things I will fall for every time. Something Wild is one of those perfect 80s movies that sits just far enough off the beaten path to feel bold, oddball, and still fresh today, but also not too culty to…

Popular reviews

• 

  Better Off Dead... 1985

  ★★★★ Watched 06 Oct 2022

  I can’t write a review right now because my little brother got his arm caught in the microwave, and my grandmother dropped acid, and she hijacked a school bus full of penguins, so it’s kind of a family crisis.

• 

  Dune: Part Two 2024

  ★★★★★ Watched 25 Feb 2024 1

  Do you ever catch yourself reacting to a movie and feel like it was forced or disingenuous; like yelling during a horror movie just because the scene is supposed to be shocking, or letting the tears form at a heartbreaking scene in a drama because maybe you really want to cry, and you were hoping the movie would make you? 

  While experiencing Dune: Part Two in IMAX 70mm, I was tingling with excitement, I had chills, my jaw was dropping, my…