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Pinned reviews

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  Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 1983

  ★★★★ Watched by Colin McEvoy 01 Sep 2021

  Let's be honest... who can blame Ryuichi Sakamoto for his obsession with David Bowie in this film? You all realize that everything has been going wrong since Bowie died, right? We lost Bowie in January 2016, and what's happened since then? Brexit. Trump. Wildfires. COVID-19. The new Space Jam. Bowie's death marked the beginning of the end. He was the glue holding it all together.

  Lists: Top 800 Films | Top East Asian Films | Top Films of the 1980s | 1983 Films | British Films | Japanese Films | New York Asian Film Festival Shoutouts

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  Playing with Sharks 2021

  ★★★½ Watched by Colin McEvoy 29 Jan 2021

  Sundance Film Festival 2021, Film #2

  As a kid I was obsessed with sharks, and I used to read about Valerie & Ron Taylor and obsess over their photographs. I was particularly awed by the images of Valerie allowing herself to be bitten in the arm by a blue shark to test an underwater chainmail suit (an experiment which is featured prominently in this film). So there was little chance I wasn't going to enjoy a documentary about Valerie Taylor, and…

Recent reviews

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  Senna 2010

  ★★★ Watched by Colin McEvoy 28 Jun 2022

  A well-made documentary, and I appreciated that it was constructed entirely from archival footage, rather than the usual talking head interviews, and that the filmmakers didn't try to infuse themselves into it in the way that's so common among documentaries. But still, maybe it's because I don't have much interest in Formula One racing, or maybe it's because I didn't really have any kind of personal connection or fandom toward Ayrton Senna heading into this, but either way I wasn't as riveted by this as some reviewers seem to have been.

  Lists: 2010 Films | British Films | French Films

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  Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 1985

  ★★ Watched by Colin McEvoy 20 Jun 2022

  A pretty weak and forgettable entry in the 1980s sword and sorcery canon...

  Lists: 1985 Films

Popular reviews

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  Maple Leaf Viewing 1899

  ★★★½ Watched by Colin McEvoy 15 Feb 2018

  Can I just say how amazing it is that we live in a time when I can google to find examples of the first Japanese films with a narrative, and then just hop on YouTube and immediately WATCH a 119-year-old film? Amazing.

  Lists: Films of the 1890s to 1910s | Japanese Films

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  The White Ribbon 2009

  ★★ Watched by Colin McEvoy 13 Mar 2018

  This is another one of those movies where I can't help but wonder if the tremendous amount of positive reviews it received stem from a bunch of critics not wanting to admit that they don't like the big pretentious arthouse film. Slow-paced, boring, emotionally hollow, with the same tired "all human beings are actually evil at their core" themes of so many wannabe intellectual films. Scene after scene of adults being cruel to kids, kids being cruel to animals or…