2022 Ranked

“But Joe! you said you weren’t going to write a full review!” 

I did say that, because at the time, I was revolted by the idea of giving this movie one more moment of my time. But I changed my mind, for 1 specific reason: 

As I begin to hear more praise for this film, and as it starts to get awards nominations, I can already feel the self-doubt creeping in. I know that in a few months,…

A24 Distribution Ranked

2022 Ranked

My mind is blown, and my heart is shattered.

I expected this to be a bizarre trip of a film, I didn’t expect to be full-on sobbing through the entire final act.

The premise is like Christopher Nolan on drugs - difficult to wrap your head around, but extremely rewarding. There were a couple world-building details I still didn’t quite understand by the end, but I got most of it, and more importantly, it was…

A24 Distribution Ranked 2022 Ranked

2nd viewing

A couple months ago, I was describing Aftersun to a friend, and in the mere process of describing it, I started to get choked up. Started to feel myself holding back tears. It was at that moment that I realized: “shit, I think this movie impacted me more than I thought it did.” 

In my first entry, I acknowledged that the film had already started to grow on me in retrospect. Particularly as…

Getting my Letterbox Account Revoked

First viewing.

Watched on my laptop on a plane. Even with nothing else to do, and no internet to distract me, I still had some trouble staying onboard for the nearly 4-hour runtime. I did finish it, but I was in and out, attention wise and investment wise. 

Certainly very epic though, looks gorgeous, and it does make for an intriguing character study. It’s interesting partly because, on a surface level, you could very easily…

2022 Ranked

This is such toothless, self-indulgent nonsense.

The central “astronaut fantasy” concept is pretty fun, but the execution feels pretty superficial. And more importantly, it’s all but completely drowned out by an interminable flood of charmless, artless nostalgia-bait.

This movie is quite literally a LIST. A LIST of how things were different “back then,” of childhood memories, of family traditions, of historical context points. On several occasions, Linklater even descends to simply listing off iconic movies and TV shows…

I was there - literally!

2022 Ranked

I know it’s gauche, but how can I write this post without bragging that I was at this reunion concert? I even managed to spot myself in the crowd at 48:29!

It was one of the wildest nights at the theatre I’ve ever experienced.

A shit-show beforehand; the audience being left out in the cold, the show starting a full hour late, and the seating situation getting completely fucked up by management. The…