Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  Seaspiracy 2021

  ★ Watched 24 Mar 2021 6

  Emotionally manipulative and bereft of any sort of intellectual nuance, Seaspiracy is also too often unfocused and does not offer any substantive but reasonable solution beyond rote, blanket statements. Doesn't help that the director is one of the most annoying subjects of a documentary I've ever seen - his presence is incredibly unhelpful to the message the film is aiming for. He just comes off as a bit of a self-important dunce, and fairly amateurish to boot. But my two…

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  Joint Security Area 2000

  ★★★★ Watched 12 Mar 2018

  A tremendously affecting film about the nature of brotherhood, from a distinctly Korean perspective set in the DMZ. It's very interesting to see a film from earlier in Park Chan-Wook's career, having first been introduced to him with Oldboy and then the rest of his Vengeance trilogy. The brutality, violence and grim subject matter are not present - instead we focus on a different aspect of humanity and how geopolitics affect basic human interaction. It's a great film starring two soon-to-be giants of Korean cinema, and well worth a watch.

Recent reviews

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  Taxi Driver 1976

  ★★★★ Watched 22 Feb 2025

  I need to watch this again very soon, I was totally transfixed by Bernard Herrmann's score that a number of other elements of the film didn't register as strongly. Taxi Driver is totally a product of the outlaw 70s that defined what we now know as the New Hollywood, much of the film is so transgressive you can't believe anyone would be able to make this today. You'd like to think society would always march onward, but we've definitely regressed…

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  Deathtrap 1982

  ★★★★ Watched 19 Feb 2025

  A great movie that must have made for an absolutely electrifying play. You can clearly see how well it would work on stage, though having the entire house to film in enhanced the physical elements of the story on screen. The three leads are all superb, with Dyan Cannon's scream being the clear highlight of the whole affair. Caine is no slouch either, but this is really a starring vehicle for the charisma, charm and physicality of Christopher Reeve. What…

Popular reviews

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  High Noon 1952

  ★★★★ Watched 29 Oct 2017 5

  I got to check a classic Western off my list with High Noon, so a big thank you to Amazon Prime for having a decent amount of interesting films to watch at any given time, even if their interface is trash.

  I'm woefully uneducated when it comes to classic cinema and the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, and as a result this was my first Gary Cooper film. I met his retired marshal Will Kane with no prior knowledge of what…

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  The Shape of Water 2017

  ★★★★ Watched 31 Dec 2017

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