Favorite films

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Recent reviews

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  The Found Footage Phenomenon 2021

  ★★ Watched by Matt Donato 16 May 2022

  "Early marketing for The Found Footage Phenomenon displayed a tagline that should have caused pause: “The Rise and Fall of a Modern Sensation.” Truth is, there’s never been a decline for those of us paying attention to how movies like The Monster Project, Hell House LLC, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, Therapy and plenty others have continued to push the boundaries of said undying “phenomenon.”

  The documentary charts already widely-covered highs, treating movies it hand-selects as the most prominent players in a…

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  Torn Hearts 2022

  ★★★½ Watched by Matt Donato 15 May 2022

  "Brea Grant’s Torn Hearts is a boot-scootin’ Nashville horror flick that puts a “gee-tar” twang on psychological entrapment thrills. Rachel Koller Croft’s screenplay hits the highs and lows of fame-bred tension in the country music industry, a welcome redecoration of typical imprisonment horrors.

  It’s rarely airtight (as shotgun blasts and betrayals can be equally scattershot), and yet there’s an in-step enjoyment given how cutthroat the altercations become. Grant’s focus on female-driven storytelling levels commentary against an unjust industry as it punishes characters who embrace wicked ways—violence is prettier in pink but no less fierce."

  Full Review: www.pastemagazine.com/movies/torn-hearts-review/

Popular reviews

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  Licorice Pizza 2021

  ★★ Watched by Matt Donato 20 Nov 2021 1

  It's simple. I found the film vulnerable and intimate, but also strung together with cotton candy threads that disintegrated as each scene passed. Yes, it's PTA getting back to his roots and emulating Linklater — in my opinion, not very well.

  I was never swept up in the magic, to say. Only found tedious swindles and racial stereotypes on a 90s MAD TV caricature level that, um, don't need to be recreated? As a PTA fan otherwise, major bummer.

  No hate to those who dug it! This is a "me" thing, it seems.

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  Mad God 2021

  ★★ Watched by Matt Donato 26 Sep 2021 2

  Can one even claim to understand cinema until they've seen a minotaur get a handjob in stop-motion? Defies star ratings. So much on-screen poop. "Mad" indeed.