It's the most magical place in the world.
Honestly felt like I was having a seizure while watching this movie, in a good way. I came home after seeing this thing in 70mm and started ranting to my roommate about how much I loved it, how it was one of the most exhilarating theatrical experience I've had all year. I mean, God, what a year for epic three hour movies, right? Between this and Avatar and RRR, it really feels…
Do you believe in fairies?
I do, I do, I do!
If you believe, clap your hands!
The first time in a long time that I found myself crying in a movie theater. E.T. is such a viscerally emotional experience and, for me, an intensely liturgical one. The film is certainly the most ringing endorsement I've ever seen of the effectiveness of cinematic formalism as a filmmaking philosophy. Nothing in E.T. is by accident. It's clear from the outset that…
Weirdly, it works, you know? The balls to just drop you into a totally new conflict with zero setup at all (who exactly are Londo Bell? where are Kamille and Judau? why is Neo-Zeon suddenly a thing? why have we reset back to Amuro vs. Char after they started working together in Zeta Gundam?) and expects us to just catch up with it, without really answering any of the audience's questions. But despite it all, it actually works relatively well…
I must say, as far as episode compilations presented as movies go, this was a pretty good one. As a huge Gundam fan, but who was largely unplugged from G-Kwacks because I didn't want to know too much about it, the first part of this movie (what I assume is the first ep) was just an absolute blast to watch. I was staring, mouth wide open, and I actually GASPED at one moment -- Hideaki Anno, you son of a…
Persuasion fits the mold that Netflix clearly wants it to: a Bridgerton-ification of a Jane Austen classic with shades of Coppola's Marie Antoinette, turning what might otherwise be a straightforward historical drama into a talking-at-the-audience romantic comedy with modern touches (characters use phrases like "self-care" and put "emojis" in handwritten letters). It copies without truly understanding what made those two post-modern works function; there are times during this movie that I felt like Netflix made this movie because they felt…
Along with The Northman, Eggers seems to specialize in films that convince me that I would truly not have thrived in any time period except our current one.
This is a film that delights in its grotesqueness. Eggers' fascination with rat imagery is keen to remind us that the state of Orlok's immortality is an affront to nature. Rats are vectors of disease and almost impossible to stamp out once you have an infestation; they are as anything can be…
