Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  Summer School 1978

  ★ Watched 18 Sep 2021 15

  WOW. There is a lot to unpack here.

  Summer School a.k.a. Mag Wheels is a vansploitation movie, and if you don't know what that is, I recommend reading Jason Coffman's excellent Freedom, Fun and Fine Transportation: A Brief Guide to Vansploitation Cinema. Basically, these movies are generally about young, unambitious men having fun adventures in their custom vans. The adventures are typically van-competition-related, romantic/sexual, or both. The tone is always fun-loving, antiauthoritarian, and horny.

  This particular vansploitation film opens on…

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  The Birds 1963

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 31 Oct 2020 6

  Why The Birds is Hitchcock's Most Evil Film

  To fully understand the pure evilness of The Birds, we have to go back and put it in the context of the time period and of Hitchcock's career. Hitchcock is famously known as the Master of Suspense, and the films that he's most associated with today all have a slightly sinister character — Psycho is straight-up terrifying, of course, but Vertigo, Rebecca and even Rear Window all have a dark and unsettling…

Recent reviews

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  Fantômas: The False Magistrate 1914

  Watched 15 Mar 2025

  Fantômas is behind bars again, but this time in Belgium, where the death penalty is not exercised. Our own Inspector Juve, in a moment of uncharacteristic bloodthirst, proposes breaking the criminal out of stir in the hopes that he will return to France, where he can be captured and executed. Juve, of course, will stay in the prison in Fantômas’s place so as not to arouse suspicion. (Those who have been paying attention will note that this the second time…

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  Heretic 2024

  ★★★★ Watched 14 Mar 2025

  One of those movies that had me so wrapped up in it that I didn’t want to move a muscle, even though I was in an uncomfortable position (literally). Great performances, particularly by the two women; the way they gradually ramp up their characters’ anxiety levels is masterful. I also appreciated that the movie engaged my brain as well as my nervous system. 

  I do have two minor comments, though. First, Hugh Grant‘s character proves to be so prescient, predicting…

Popular reviews

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  Event Horizon 1997

  ½ Rewatched 25 Jun 2018

  Was hoping for cool, Alien-style science fiction, got trashy haunted house movie in space (complete with spooky lightning because they're in Neptune's atmosphere). It's dorky and clichéd, and at heart it has the sensibilities of a 1980s straight-to-VHS body horror movie. So, basically, it's Hellraiser 2047: Shadow of Uranus.

  That may all sound pretty harsh, but I have a particular grudge against this movie because back in 1997 I stupidly suggested going to see it on a double date at…

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  The Endless Summer 1966

  ★★★★ Watched 21 Feb 2018

  The atomic bomb of relaxation, and the last glimpse of peace before Vietnam.