Favorite films

Recent reviews

• 

  The Empty Man 2020

  ★★★ Added

  I would like to have had a stronger reaction to this. The Fincher-lite thriller elements were good but it seems like they didn't really know what to do with the weirder cosmic ideas they were kicking around, which is a shame because there's a bit of potential shining through (most notably during the camp sequence). There are a handful of pretty unsettling moments where it takes center stage and those are my favorite parts. The ending feels like an appropriately…

• 

  MadS 2024

  ★★★½ Added

  Right up front I want to mention this is a single take, which isn't bad but not something I was necessarily in the mood for. I might have picked something else if I had known. It also takes quite a while to really get going but overall I still thought it was pretty good! The sound design in particular does a lot of heavy lifting to make it immersive, even moreso than the camerawork.

Popular reviews

• 

  The Substance 2024

  ½ Added

  Atrocious dogshit. The plot is nonsense, the body horror is weak, and the "commentary" is as loud and shallow as possible. This movie has one thing to say and it's "something something beauty standards something something misogyny." Despite the ironic fact that it is completely devoid of substance, it insists on bombarding you with the most hamfisted images possible in case you somehow didn't get the message. This might be fine if the horror elements were good to shift the…

• 

  Matt McCusker: The Speed of Light 2023

  ★★ Added

  There are a lot of good premises here, none of which are pushed far enough. A critical part of this style comedy is starting with a reasonable setup and taking the logical extension to the point of ridiculousness, but these jokes largely stop short of the point where they would typically go from amusing to funny. He just moves on too fast without milking the jokes hard enough (the opposite of someone like Mulaney, who insists on beating every single…

Following