Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  From Up on Poppy Hill 2011

  ★★★★ Watched 19 Mar 2025

  From its very first frames, you can tell that the elder Miyazaki has a certain je ne sais quoi that the younger does not, at least at the time of this film’s production. There’s still a lot of masterful direction here, but I wouldn’t want to live in the shadows of my father’s legacy as one the greatest animators ever, and certainly not at his own studio. But Goro is a braver man than I, as he started out running…

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  Revenge of the Radioactive Reporter 1989

  ★★★ Watched 18 Mar 2025

  Screened as part of TVs Of Terror at Saturn Birmingham. 

  This is all over the place in terms of tone and pacing, but enough of this Goosebumps-for-adults film works that it’s pretty impossible not to have a good time. Plus, with a reactive live audience, it’s hard not to fall under its spell. Wild acting choices, inconsistent special FX, and copious amounts of puns abound in this short and sweet horror flick from the early 90s. I am now one of 57 people to have seen this movie and I’m proud to be amongst that crowd. Long live independent cinema!

Popular reviews

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  Porco Rosso 1992

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 16 Mar 2025

  Maybe not Miyazaki’s best but there’s not a damn thing you can say against this perfect film. Stunning animation with aerial combat sequences that are as thrilling as anything Top Gun has done with a beating heart beneath it all. Perfectly paced and easily one of the most rewatchable films Studio Ghibli has ever put out. If you’re having a tough time pitching this movie to someone you know will love it, just throw it on and watch them be sucked in by its immaculate world building in the first five minutes. There’s simply nothing else like it.

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  Godzilla Minus One 2023

  ★★★★½ Watched 02 Dec 2023

  The critics are right: this isn’t just another great Godzilla film, it’s one of the best films of the year. While the first half plays like a cross between the original Godzilla film from 1954 and Spielberg’s Jaws from 1975, by the final act, I was uncontrollably sobbing. 

  Catch this one on the big screen if at all possible. Brilliant acting, incredible action, and a great story make for one of the last great films of 2023. Now, onto other business: let this man make a Star War! I think he’s earned it!