Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  Mildred Pierce 1945

  ★★★★½ Watched 18 Nov 2023

  🎵She works hard for the money🎵
  (Certainly too hard to be treated so badly by that cunt of a daughter #TheWrongKidDied)

  Superb direction by Michael Curtiz, nearly matching that of Casablanca; noir-inflected cinematography that brings out the psychological elements of James M. Cain's story; a tragic melodrama about the sacrifices mothers (or parents in general) make for ungrateful children. Simply remarkable.

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  Code of Silence 1985

  ★★★½ Watched 18 Feb 2025

  A solid Chuck Norris actioner with some relevant social commentary. The last fifteen minutes were glorious. That being said, for pure entertainment value, I prefer the loose remake, Above the Law.

Recent reviews

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  The Monster 1925

  ★★★ Watched 16 Mar 2025

  Released 100 years ago today

  An ok early example of the "old dark house" subgenre. A bit tonally confused in the earlier reels and reinforced by an uncredited score that shifts around to match. Was also a bit disappointed that this didn't have as much Lon Chaney as I would have liked, but that was somewhat redeemed in the craziness of the last 20 minutes.

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  Kentucky Kernels 1934

  ★★★½ Watched 16 Mar 2025

  In case of emergency, get Spanky

  Racial stereotypes aside, this turned out to be quite funny, especially for the first Wheeler/Woolsey film released after the Production Code began being enforced. Even Spanky McFarland was kind of tolerable. There was one musical number, which was ok. And the farcical finale had some nice callbacks to earlier gags.

Popular reviews

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  A Time to Kill 1996

  ★★★★ Watched 22 Sep 2022 1

  "Yes, they deserved to die, and I hope they burn in hell!"

  Case closed.

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  In the Mood for Love 2000

  ★★★★★ Watched 14 Mar 2025 4

  Elegant, restrained, and stunningly beautiful. It's one of those films where you don't need every little thing spelled out for you because, on a deeper level, you just get it. And then it blossomed into something even greater once its intentions were revealed in the last ten or so minutes. Something to meditate on, indeed. This is how you do cinema *about* something without beating the audience over the head or treating them like idiots.