Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  Cinema Paradiso 1988

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 02 Sep 2021 3

  Few films have grown with me.

  On the surface it is a symbol for my time running a multiplex projection booth, conjuring memories of dark corridors lined with spinning silver saucers, feeding rivers of celluloid past luminous gates of xenon, to meet their timely intermittence. The soundscape collaboratively culminating into one harmonious hum, serving as a familiar lifeblood to us caretakers roaming the darkness.  I miss those shifts when the lamphouses flickered feverishly, dancing beams of light through dusty portals,…

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  She's Having a Baby 1988

  ★★★½ Rewatched 13 Sep 2020 11

  Just as he prepared me for high school hanging out with 'The Breakfast Club' the summer before freshman year, only one movie came to mind on the eve of my first child's welcoming party into the world. It seemed a fitting tradition to continue with caretaker John Hughes, guiding me through his view of early adulthood with unexpected comforts and insecurities of freshman parenthood.

  Jake Briggs (Kevin Bacon) jumps into a marriage without knowing what exactly he wants, warned by…

Recent reviews

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  Wolf Man 2025

  ★★ Watched 08 Jan 2025

  Its very possible Leigh Whannell had admirable intentions tackling one of the A-list monsters from Universal's classic rogue's gallery. There's a strong father-daughter bond, suspenseful stalking scenes, decent creature makeup. Then there's a list of missing pieces like mythology, lighting and logic. I am in favor of reinvention, but dismissing any mythology altogether is disappointing. The title promises the quintessential Wolf Man, instead we get a 'fear of becoming my father' story. One storytelling gimmick in particular is repeated ad nauseum. Once the experience concludes, this lends itself to more of a cheap rollercoaster than memorable monster movie.

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  Mission: Impossible III 2006

  ★★★½ Rewatched 20 Jul 2023

  Impossible Rewatch Mission Three: A Trilogy Capper?

  One very specific memory springs to mind when this film is mentioned. I'm at projector 5, threading up the first show on opening day, nearly late to start. I had just finished screening the movie maybe seven hours prior, elated by the massive course correction Cruise, JJ and team had pulled off. Peering down through the porthole at the same 284 seat auditorium I screened in, there are only twenty-ish people scattered throughout.…

Popular reviews

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  Household Saints 1993

  ★★★★ Watched 28 Aug 2020

  Sausage and peppers, a decidedly northeast coast dish that my darling companion yearns for on a daily basis, also the starting point for a whimsical story spun by aging grandparents, and a culture built on handing down the stories that made them. Personally, I decline the sausage and peppers, they give me “agita”.

  This is a place where it can be too damn hot to move. Men scoff at the prospect of leaving their card tables. Where your local butcher…

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  Night on Earth 1991

  ★★★★ Watched 31 Aug 2020 18

  Continuing my catch-up on ‘The Musch’ after he left me by a forked path in Down By Law. Now I’m coaxed “back to the good old world”, steered by the gravelly croons of Tom Waits, with a little more polka this time. Like his previous efforts, unconcerned with winding plots and epic battles, we find an eclectic array of strangers brought together by an ordinary winter evening. These stories are connected by one time, one venue, and Jarmusch’s humanist pursuits.…