Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Beautiful Men 2023

  ★★★½ Watched 05 Mar 2025

  Felt like the most artistic and nuanced of the Oscar nominated animated shorts - the premise provides an interesting setup for exploring aspects of masculinity, and I enjoyed how almost the whole film was just spent waiting, killing time. I do feel like this did the least with its animation - it's the one that could've most easily been transposed into a live action film without losing anything, which makes me question the purpose of its animated nature. Maybe it's…

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  Wander to Wonder 2023

  ★★★½ Watched 05 Mar 2025

  I thought I was going to like this the least of the Oscar nominated animated shorts due to its animation style, but it really snuck up on me! The animation style was in fact quite creepy, but it was executed flawlessly - definitely the best animation on a technical level. I really appreciated how full Gantz made the world of the film feel, expanding in every direction past the edges of the screen. The characters all felt interesting and well-rounded,…

Popular reviews

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  In Jackson Heights 2015

  ★★★½ Watched 18 Mar 2023 1

  My first Wiseman, and man is it a treasure. I have my problems with it, but it really does feel like a pure example of a certain kind of documentary filmmaking. By showing us just a tiny section of a tiny section of the world, Wiseman shows us the vastness and complexity of it, an incomprehensible number of people and lives and stories. I particularly like his focus here on interiors - comparatively little of the documentary takes place outdoors,…

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  National Gallery 2014

  ★★★½ Watched 02 Mar 2025

  Runs out of steam about halfway through. An esteemed institution like this is natural to draw the interest of an investigator like Wiseman, but unfortunately it feels naturally limited in ways many of his other subjects are not. First and foremost, there are simply fewer varieties of activity and human interaction in an art museum. Wiseman does stretch to show us the things we might not think of - art classes, board meetings, restoration, performance - but he returns to…

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