J McL.

J McL. Pro

Favorite films

  • The Big Lebowski
  • The Return of the Living Dead
  • It's a Wonderful Life
  • Princess Mononoke

Recent activity

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  • Dune: Part Two

    ★★★★★

  • Ghostbusters: Afterlife

    ★★★

  • Ricky Stanicky

    ★★½

  • American Fiction

    ★★½

Recent reviews

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  • The Misfits

    The Misfits

    ★★★½

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

    Gets so close to being a stone-cold classic. It's got a lot of the pieces. Some moments get there: the aftermath of Gay's kids leaving and the drunken drive home, the horse wrangling, but there's a little too much fluff in between. And I don't particularly like the ending. Here's this film that sets all the perameters up perfectly to deal with gender roles and the shifting ideals of manhood but it doesn't quite stick the landing. It took me…

  • The Exiles

    The Exiles

    ★★★½

    What a time capsule. Definitely some Cassavettes here with a bit less finesse. Despite the film's slight characterizations, I found myself totally taken by it. The b/w cinematography is some of the most deceptively simplistic and beautiful I've ever seen. The character the shines above the rest is Yvonne, despite given the least to do and the shortest screentime, her loneliness and aimless wandering sets the perfect tone for this film. I also appreciate the truthfulness that MacKenzie depictions, warts and all. Also considering the entirety of this film takes place meer blocks from my neck of the woods, I feel a cosmic closeness to it.

Popular reviews

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  • Death Rider in the House of Vampires

    Death Rider in the House of Vampires

    ★★½

    Had the pleasure of going to the premiere with a Q&A from ol' Glenny himself.

    I don't think it comes to any surprise that I went into this with piss poor expectations. And I'll say right off the bat that it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It falls in that grey middle ground where the potential is there and some pieces are in place, but they just weren't pulled off.
    - The acting was meh
    - The cinematography…

  • Ruby in Paradise

    Ruby in Paradise

    ★★★★★

    I really did not know what I was getting into with this film. I can't really even remember why it was on my watchlist, but I'm so glad it was.
    This film really snuck up on me. I was instantly sucked in in the first minutes and I never wanted it to end. These kinds of films are my weakness: thoughtful, introspective, slice of life, melancholic films that really dig into the psychology and emotions of a character. I've never…