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Funny Games 2007
If this were content to stick to the home-invasion level it'd be an admirable little suspense flick. Instead, Haneke decides breaking the fourth wall = Important Thematic Content and makes me want to punch him. Still, his smug, vapid nods at the postmodern can't derail Watts and Roth in all their sweat-soaked, traumatized glory.
Additional points for baby Mason Verger already doing what he does best.
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John Wick 2014
Third act is still a bit of a whiff--the choice to cold-open with most of the emotional catharsis rather than, y'know, leaving it as the emotional catharsis, is crippling. And while the visuals carry hints of the neon-drenched ballet of carnage that is Chapter 2, for the most part they're a drab, mundane affair. Still, can't argue with those action sequences, and if you can't be a masterpiece then being a prelude to one is a good consolation prize.
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Raging Bull 1980
Impeccable filmmaking centered on a singularly uninteresting protagonist. There's nothing unique or arresting about LaMotta's downfall--he's a bully and an abuser without a spark of anything more, and while De Niro plays him to the hilt the movie is handicapped by this void.
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The Last Picture Show 1971
Founders around the halfway point and never really recovers--I tend to give older movies a pass on being "problematic," but the extremely fast-and-loose way it treats consent doesn't sit right with me, and its treatment of Jacy slides from funny and sympathetic to downright ugly. Still, plenty to like here, and it's no surprise that it launched several careers.