Favorite films

Recent reviews

• 

  Aliens 1986

  ★★★★½ Watched 21 Mar 2025

  For a long while, I held a grudge against this film. A grudge for replacing all the perfect horror of the original with action. I don’t know why I held this belief for so long, maybe I conflated this idea with my distaste for everything James Cameron has done in the last 30 years. Having rewatched Aliens for the first time in a long, long time, I can finally let that grudge go and admit that this is a stellar…

• 

  The Awakening of the Beast 1970

  ★★★★½ Watched 13 Mar 2025

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Popular reviews

• 

  Szamanka 1996

  ★★★★★ Watched 16 Mar 2019

  It's a tough thing to say but having seen more than half of Zulawski's work now, this might be his most vicious piece. Consistently, his work is always vicious, but here this is an outright condemnation of Polish society of this time. Everyone and everything is ugly, despicable, and savage. Hell, damn near every cut in this thing feels vulgar.

  As usual, I'm exhausted and elated after viewing a Zulawski picture. This one goes for broke (what else would you…

• 

  Caliber 9 1972

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 08 Jun 2021 5

  In 1971, The French Connection changed the direction of crime cinema forever. It's a fierce crime story set in a cold city populated by hard faces. The characters are flawed and make messy mistakes, creating a nihilistic tale of American justice. A year later, Fernando di Leo released Milano Calibro 9, a film that cuts the head off William Friedkin’s baby and brings a ruthlessness to cinema rarely seen before or since.

  Italian exploitation filmmakers had a way of making…