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shansquare

Favorite films

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • Blue Valentine

Recent activity

All
  • Conclave

    ★★★★

  • Heretic

    ★★★½

  • The Virgin Suicides

    ★★★★½

  • Beyond Utopia

    ★★★★

Recent reviews

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  • Conclave

    Conclave

    ★★★★

    Best soap opera I've watched in years.

    Probably has one plot twist too many, but I can't deny that it makes what might otherwise be a dry topic a very entertaining and surprisingly humorous chamber piece.

    You really feel the claustrophobia and rising tension through the framing of the shots and the edits. That said, I found the music a bit overbearingly OTT in signposting emotional cues, almost to the extent of a storytelling crutch. One particular scene that also appears in the trailer was so ludicrously bombastic I nearly laughed out loud at its unintentional funniness.

  • Heretic

    Heretic

    ★★★½

    A fun watch for my first movie of 2025. It took a different turn from where I thought it was going and though the final act kinda went off the rails and fumbled the ending, it at least had a lovely final shot. Thematically, it reminded me of 10 Cloverfield Lane and I Saw The Glow, challenging the protagonists’ belief of what is reality and how far they’re willing to go to disprove and escape their reality.

    The movie’s strongest…

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  • Poor Things

    Poor Things

    ★★★★★

    Watched on my birthday, happy birthday to me! Solid top 3 of the year for me. What an epic. I stepped out of the cinema feeling high on life. If there is any justice, Emma Stone must win her second Oscar for this magnum opus performance that is at once spontaneously unhinged yet I'm sure from an acting technique perspective is precisely calibrated and absolutely intentional.

    Everyone just looks like they're having so much FUN, it's INFECTIOUS. What a joyful…

  • Godzilla Minus One

    Godzilla Minus One

    ★★★★½

    Did a double feature for Japanese Film Festival and watched this after Seven Samurai and it was a mighty epic double feature!

    Watched in stunning IMAX and can I just say - I feel sorry for everyone who watched this on Netflix and not on the big screen because IT IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT MOVIE. (Also, I hope anyone who watched it in the cinema stayed till the very end of the end credits. Chills.)

    I'm not a Godzilla fan…

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