Favorite films

Pinned reviews

• 

  Possessor 2020

  Watched 16 Oct 2020

  "Walter Benjamin wrote that “Things are only mannequins and even the great world-historical events are only costumes beneath which they exchange glances of assent with nothingness, with the base and the banal. He was describing his experience of hashish which he took in 1928 as part of Ernst Joël’s and Fritz Fränkel’s psychopathological experiments. Brandon Cronenberg’s POSSESSOR offers a glimpse into the same psychedelic world that Benjamin saw under the influence: a world where human bodies are mannequins and the banality of physical existence is a visceral horror."

  Full review at TAKE ONE: takeonecinema.net/2020/possessor/

• 

  Parasite 2019

  Rewatched 21 Jul 2020

  "The black and white colour palette adds a starkness which highlights the difference between the dark and dingy greys of the Kim family’s apartment and the light brightness of the wealthy Park family’s house. The Parks are rendered in shining white, forming a further contrast with the dark shadows of their basement. This black and white imagery emphasises what Elle called the “stark and haunting” depiction of wealth disparity at the heart of the film. Still, it ironically loses some of the moral greyness that makes PARASITE so compelling."

  Part of a feature on black and white re-releases for TAKE ONE: takeonecinema.net/2020/grey-matters-black-and-white-re-releases/

Recent reviews

• 

  Mickey 17 2025

  Watched 15 Mar 2025

  Bong Joon Ho walks up to a whiteboard with the word OKJA on it and adds a $ at the end.

• 

  The Blood on Satan's Claw 1971

  Rewatched 10 Mar 2025

  You can tell when the young woman in this is infected by primordial evil because she becomes interested in sex, starts wearing make up, and makes false rape accusations.

Popular reviews

• 

  Civil War 2024

  Watched 14 Apr 2024 2

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

• 

  Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning 2023

  Watched 15 Jul 2023 2

  "Venice is a ghost town in this movie. Presumably due to Covid restrictions during filming, the city is heartbreakingly empty. Piazza San Marco and Campo della Salute bustle with tourists, even at night, and yet here they have only one or two people milling about as a backdrop for the main characters. It’s emblematic of the film which sees a dozen beautiful people fight amongst themselves in beautiful locations that feel devoid of civilians or actual threat.

  Though the practical…