Favorite films

Recent reviews

• 

  Wall Street 1987

  ★★★★ Watched 19 Jul 2016

  Oversimplified and heavy-handed, “Wall Street” is an allegory worthy of The Pilgrim’s Progress, only adapted for 1980s America. Like all allegories, the film is full of symbols, yet in the case of “Wall Street,” the allegory itself has become a symbol as a whole. Today, even those who’ve never seen the whole film, recognize it as representative of the corporate greed, immoral materialism, and overall superficiality which is supposed to have dominated the Reagan years. This is a testament to…

• 

  Shrek 2 2004

  ★★½ Watched 09 Jul 2016

  An adequate sequel to the first film. If you liked the original, you'll find this one pleasantly familiar. Same characters, same humor, same celebrity voices, same references to fairy tales, same feel-good morality.

  For myself, the best parts were the appearances of music by Tom Waits and Nick Cave in the soundtracks. Outside of that, it was an mildly entertaining film that could just as easily be ignored as watched. It did it's job, no more, no less.

Popular reviews

• 

  Barren Lives 1963

  ★★★ Watched 15 Oct 2012

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

• 

  Fantastic Planet 1973

  ★ Watched 10 Mar 2013

  This is what happens when you let hippies make movies. It’s hard to imagine a movie more dated. From the unbearable 70s porn soundtrack, to the “Star Trek” cartoon sound effects, to pretty-but-archaic animation, to the peace-and-love morality of its conclusion, it’s now only watchable as retro kitsch. Any ground it might have broken in 1973 has been thoroughly excavated by later films, rendering the innovations of “Fantastic Planet” obsolete.

Following