Recent reviews

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  Dog Day Afternoon 1975

  ★★★ Watched 15 Mar 2025

  Didn’t really get much from this one to be honest. Not really entertaining, dramatic or insightful. The transgender sideline - while part of the true story - doesn’t feel earnestly tied to anything else; it isn’t used as a motivation for anyone’s actions; it feels like a non sequitur in a slow jog to nowhere special.

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  Anora 2024

  ★★★★½ Watched 15 Mar 2025

  “And uh, how do you know Russian?”
  “My grandmother never learned English. So... Anyways enough about me, you two are from Russia?!”

  Ms. Zakharov: “You are not part of this family. And your Russian is embarrassing.”
  Ivan: “Is this from the new collection?”
  Ms. Zakharov: “Yes it’s the new collection.”

  This movie reminds me the power of simple observation, of the richness of our selfishness as humans, of the banality of our evils.
  Such good storytelling through raw behavior, and just the right blend of drama and natural behavior. A gorgeous and grabbing story and yes I’m in love with Ani...

Popular reviews

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  Stalker 1979

  ★½ Watched 30 Jul 2023

  Old Russian men exchanging incoherent armchair philosophical monologues.
  Sci-fi premise is basically unused and semi coincidental.
  I like the idea of very long shots but they added nothing at all here.

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  Real Women Have Curves 2002

  ★★½ Watched 07 Oct 2024

  A serious brownie point for being about a Mexicana in East LA but that’s about it. In fact the failings of the rest of the thing feel even sharper given the context. It lurches from non sequitor to non sequitor, we barely get a sense of place, the good and the bad are hilariously hyperbolized, and most importantly there’s almost a deliberate underinvestment in her WHY - what really drives her? There are SOME bits of this but they clutter…

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