Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Chaos: The Manson Murders 2025

  ★ Watched 11 Mar 2025

  Errol Morris pretty much invented what is now the Netflix in-house doc style but the formula has become mimetically inverted. It's over-stylized and focused on all the wrong information. Like nearly all true crime this is pointless and pornographic and really misses the point of O'Neil's book.

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  The Song of Styrene 1957

  ★★★★ Watched 23 Feb 2025

  The music made it a little cute for my taste but truly stunning visuals. How did we ever let technicolor die?

Popular reviews

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  The Hunt 2020

  ★★★½ Watched 29 May 2020

  Some very messy plotting and some squandered opportunities but honestly really fun and funny. Betty killed it (no pun intended). Very of a piece with “Ready or Not” from last year.

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  First Reformed 2017

  ★★★★½ Watched 05 Aug 2018

  Really the culmination of everything Shrader’s been interested in his whole career. It’s like Diary of a Country Priest meets Taxi Driver. Hawke is amazing, every deliberately paced scene is loaded, and I loved the ecstatic revelry of the finale. Also really loved the synthesis of the modern digital aesthetic with the classical/trancendental-inspired compositions.

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