Sandeep Rao

Following Follow Follows you

I see some 100 movies each year. Some new, some old. Some foreign, some familiar. All worthwhile.

screenstove.com

Favorite films

All

Mickey 17 2025

★★★ Added

Bong Joon-Ho wields a deft touch in his Korean work but his English work loses this sensibility. Instead, Mickey 17, like Snowpiercer and Okja, can be characterized by extreme caricatures and overdone metaphors. But Pattinson still excels in the titular role. A show that unveils the beauty of human vulnerability and the imprisonment of virtual immortality.
Challengers 2024

★★★★ Added

If Challegers is a box office flop, then its poor marketing is to blame. I dismissed the trailer as a crass cash grab headlined by "Zendaya in a threesome." But this is decidedly not that. Trent Reznor's invigorating score as well as Luca Guadagnino's prodding into the male psyche make for some electric tennis.

Strays 2023

★★★ Added

This is a dumb fucking movie, but after tallying up the number of times I laughed, I may have to reconcile that I too am a dumb fuck. Those who decry that this can be reduced to talking dogs and dick jokes aren't wrong, but I enjoyed it for what it was: the big screen manifestation of Freud's id.
The Intern 2015

★★★ Added

The emotional warmth and bright cinematography are invitingly reminiscent of a Korean drama, and the film functions as a time capsule for the 2010s hipster-tech boom. Nice as it is, the film flounders about with no arc (or at least a compelling one); this is not a rehash of The Devil Wears Prada, but I kind of wish it was.