Favorite films

Recent reviews

• 

  The Informant! 2009

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 13 Mar 2025

  It gets funnier the more you watch it because you get to appreciate the ins and outs of Mark Whitaker's manufactured narrative sooner. His lies and his bad acting become more transparent. Damon spins this into comedy gold. And I love how much Scott Z. Burns' script goes along with his bullshit. The movie believes him, so you get to be continually surprised as the truth of his idiot fiction and criminal enterprise unfurls. Top tier Burns, top tier Soderberg, top tier Damon.

• 

  Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 10 Mar 2025

  I'm probably not the only one who had a parent say "close your eyes" right when Indy tells Marion to do the same. I'm also probably not the only one who's unconvinced that seeing faces melt is worse than fucking hearing it! I don't remember what my imagination did with those horrible screams, but I remember not knowing why, and that was scary.

  Much like Star Wars, I have no recollection of life without Raiders of the Lost Ark. And…

Popular reviews

• 

  The Train 1964

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 09 Jul 2018 3

  The phrase "you could never make this movie today" does not even begin to encapsulate the enormity of The Train. You could never make this movie in 1964.

  Burt Lancaster walks across the train yard from the switch tower to his houseboat. The movie does not demand a flawlessly orchestrated background of shifting artillery vessels, marching soldiers, construction crews, smoke, and sparks. Anyone in their right mind would say, "Hey, can we not? Let's just have him entering the houseboat."…

• 

  Tender Mercies 1983

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 12 Nov 2017 5

  Tender Mercies feels like an 8 hour movie reduced to its most poetic moments. There are worlds and events and lives surrounding it, but we're living on the fringe of it all. That's not to say there aren't pivotal dramatic events, but there's something about the expanse of sky, whistling wind, and passing cars that gives everything an ethereal feel. It's practically dreamlike. It reminds me of No Country for Old Men in many ways. Not just the land of…