Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  The Football Factory 2004

  ★ Watched 11 Mar 2025

  There's a part of me that wants to give Nick Love's The Football Factory the benefit of the doubt at times. The low-budget British film prioritises the social realism identity much along the lines of Karel Reisz' Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. It's gritty, brutal, unphased about what it wants to communicate. And it suggests this approach through a grimy, hazy, early 2000s terrestrial television look and feel. There's an odd sense of nostalgia to the look of this thing,…

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  Instruments of a Beating Heart 2024

  ★★★½ Watched 08 Mar 2025

  So sweet and filled with joy! A feel-good sensation! Instruments of a Beating Heart follows Ayame, a young soon-to-be 2nd grader in Tokyo, as she auditions for and practices playing the cymbal for an upcoming ceremony at school. Simply put, it’s hard for the charm and innocence not to leave you with a wide grin and some watery eyes. We witness this simple and quick performance become the most important thing in Ayame’s life. It breaks her down, she feels…

Popular reviews

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  Jingle All the Way 1996

  ★★★ Rewatched 16 Dec 2014 1

  Merry Christmas Everyone! - Film #16 - Jingle All The Way

  Here's the thing with Jingle All The Way, it's cheesy, sometimes stupid but always fun. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a dad who forgets about his son's most wanted Christmas present, a Turbo-Man doll. So on Christmas eve he sets out to get one only to find that Turbo-Man is the years most popular toy and it's sold out everywhere. Arnold is funny in everything, just catchphrases can let out a…

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  Chained 2012

  ★★★½ Watched 13 Apr 2016

  Here's the thing with Chained, it's a dark, very disturbing and sickly depressing film from Jennifer Lynch (David Lynch's daughter). I wasn't planning on watching this and when it started I was planning on switching it off. I had heard mixed reviews, lots of people loving it, many hating it and I didn't know what to expect. Well, I was surprised. Not only did I find it very thrilling but I thought it was very well made. I hadn't heard…