• In the Mood for Love

    In the Mood for Love

    ★★★★★

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

    Man, at this point I'd be down for basically anything Wong Kar-Wai would wanna throw my way.

    This is really just a mesmerizing poem of a movie. Does that make sense? Everything here is just so tightly woven and precise; every camera angle, every shot, every musical cue, and every single line of dialogue has an incredible purpose to it.

    One filmmaking trick I absolutely loved in this was the fact that Kar-Wai specifically chose to only show the backs…

  • The Killer

    The Killer

    ★★★★

    I think I'd go around killing people too if I listened to The Smiths that much...

    The opening Paris scene is great. Like really great. With these kinds of movies, you're never really shown all of the slower, more boring aspects of waiting around for a hit. Since it's a movie, you're usually just thrown right into the middle of the action. But here you're shown Michael Fassbender's character waiting around, taking naps, exercising, and listening to music for what…

  • Le Samouraï

    Le Samouraï

    ★★★★★

    New "literally me" character discovered.

    This was just simply captivating from the very first scene to the last. I woke up in the middle of the night and ended up watching this at 1 a.m. to hopefully fall back asleep, but found that I just couldn't turn this off.

    It's sleek, sexy, and just downright cool. For what it lacks in dialogue during many of the scenes, it more than makes up for with its pacing and camera work, both…

  • Anatomy of a Fall

    Anatomy of a Fall

    ★★★★★

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

    It's just really riveting, y'know?

    From the literal start of this, there isn't a single moment or second where you aren't just completely engrossed in this. From each plot point to each key detail we learn about these characters, everything here is so tightly written that it essentially leaves little room for error. It also feels as though there isn't a single second wasted here; that everything you see and every line spoken has weight to it, and means something…

  • End of Watch

    End of Watch

    ★★★½

    Historically, I've never been a fan of David Ayer's. In fact, in high school I used to always say he was my least favorite filmmaker, which is pretty harsh. But I'm definitely happy to say that this wasn't awful.

    The chemistry and improvisation between Gyllenhaal and Peña here is really what drives the film forward. They're just great to watch together, and it's their personalities that make you care about their characters.

    Everything else though has some good and some…

  • Killers of the Flower Moon

    Killers of the Flower Moon

    ★★★★★

    Welp. He did it again, folks.

    Back in my late middle school and early high school years when I first became dedicated to learning about the art of film, the name "Martin Scorsese" popped up basically everywhere I looked. Back then I really had no clue who this guy was. But one night, while I was on a vacation with one of my friends from school, I decided to check out my first Scorsese film. (Note: I had seen "Hugo"…

  • Lost in Translation

    Lost in Translation

    ★★★★★

    If I ever had to give a movie bonus points for "just being vibes..."

    I watched this after I returned to LA after a week-long visit back home, and I feel like that was the perfect time to check this one out. I'd always heard this was really good, as it's been recommended to me probably about a hundred times. But without having seen it, I always just assumed it would be a standard by the books romance about two…

  • Saw X

    Saw X

    ★★★

    Went and saw this in a theater with my sister during a visit back home. And I've gotta say, I ended up not completely regretting it.

    Having only seen the first two "Saw" films, I felt like I was going into this a little unprepared. It was soon after the film actually started that all my worries were put to rest, and I realized that none of my previous "Saw" knowledge even fucking mattered.

    I won't lie to you guys,…

  • Phantom Thread

    Phantom Thread

    ★★★★½

    Ah, yes. We LOVE the "toxic couple" movie genre.

    Man, Paul Thomas Anderson just doesn't miss. Neither does Daniel Day-Lewis, for that matter. The screenplay here DEFINITELY doesn't miss, though. Constantly dropping little hints regarding character flaws and motivations, while also spending the literal first couple of scenes or so perfectly setting up what we're to expect throughout the rest of the film, I personally found the screenplay for this film to be consistently impressive.

    Not only does it accomplish…

  • The Creator

    The Creator

    ★★★½

    I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I didn't feel like the vibes were super strong with this at the beginning. In fact, I felt like the first third or so of this was actually pretty underwhelming overall. It all feels, for the most part, somewhat rushed and underdeveloped. The first scene alone feels like it was kind of just made to get out of the way for context's sake.

    But I will admit, this definitely hits harder the longer…

  • Rabbits

    Rabbits

    ★★★½

    Some of David Lynch's more... "THIS" kinda stuff is definitely an acquired taste. I don't need to explain that something like this isn't exactly up everyone's alley. A few might find it too unnerving or creepy, some might think it's boring and fall asleep, but there are a lot of people I could see becoming very frustrated with how "plotless" this feels.

    And I can't necessarily say I blame them. Where most audiences are used to something with a traditional…

  • Jarhead

    Jarhead

    ★★★★

    My friend recommended this to me, describing it as a "low key kinda worse 'Full Metal Jacket.'"

    But I dunno. I feel like his holds up just fine on its own. But that's mostly due to a super involved, crazy intense role from Jake Gyllenhaal. (And a pretty well-written script.) Both of these things really push forward this intense, more insane feel the movie gives off in portraying the life of a Marine.

    It's actually very immersive, which is probably…