Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  The Shawshank Redemption 1994

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 27 Mar 2025

  Brilliant editing to follow Brooke's scene with playing opera to the entire prison.

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  Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 27 Mar 2025

  Watched again with Film Studies. For some reason this time around Marion Ravenwood annoyed me a bit, but there's zero chance I'm downgrading this. It's still a masterclass in action adventure filmmaking.

  Had an interesting conversation with 5 girls in the class afterwards and none of them liked it much, with one or two actively disliking it. The one that actively disliked it "didn't get it" and said it was too unrealistic, and then proceeded to tell me her favorite actor is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Known for the realism of his filmography.

  Kids these days.

Popular reviews

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  Hummingbirds 2023

  ★★ Watched 02 Mar 2023

  Sort of an extended selfie. My problem here is that this isn't about anything and felt like liberal film fest bait. It's got undocumented minorities, female main characters, a transgender woman, abortion, poverty, minor law breaking, protest, and more. And I don't have a problem with any one of those things! But the doc isn't about any of them, they're just sprinkled in with no exploration. I'm fine with a slice of life doc, but this plays as amateurish and unfocused.

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  Aftersun 2022

  ★★★★ Watched 19 Mar 2025

  This one took a bit to settle in and develop, but once it did it devastated me. It's one of those movies that quietly and expertly creates some sort of essence or emotional truth that cannot be denied. It nails the tone and its editing is everything.