Favorite films

Recent activity

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Recent reviews

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  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2009

  ★★★★ Rewatched by Matt Goldberg 04 Dec 2021

  Even though it has some really dark scenes, it’s also probably the funniest Harry Potter movie. Radcliffe’s little “pincer” mime gets me every time.

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  The Worst Person in the World 2021

  ★★★★ Watched by Matt Goldberg 04 Dec 2021 2

  This one really knocked me for a loop. It’s such a thoughtful look at how the love we share transforms us, exposes us, and makes us indelible yet transient. The performances, especially from Reinsve and Lie, are phenomenal. I also love how the film sets out societal expectations—love, marriage, kids—and then works to thoroughly upend those expectations into something harder to pin down yet no less rich and rewarding. I gotta make it a point to watch Trier’s other movies in the new year.

Popular reviews

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  Midsommar 2019

  ★½ Watched by Matt Goldberg 24 Jun 2019 11

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

  Between this and Hereditary, I’m confident saying I’m not an Ari Aster fan. On a technical level, his skill is undeniable, but it lacks artistry. Everything he does is painfully self-aware and there’s no empathy for his characters. The deaths of family members are exploited and crassly used for shock value with minimal reckoning. He’s made two movies that are ostensibly about unimaginable grief, and yet they both get bogged down in mythological bullshit. By the end, you’re no longer focused on the protagonist because of some threatening cultish other. Spare me.

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  A Castle for Christmas 2021

  ½ Watched by Matt Goldberg 26 Nov 2021 4

  I reject that just because it’s a Hallmark holiday romance it must be bad. But this is the laziest garbage. It’s mostly telling instead of showing, Shields and Elwes have zero chemistry, and every directing decision seems to be utterly half-assed. 

  There are also bizarre decisions like this one couple showing up at the inn and you think they’ll have some nefarious purpose and they are never seen again. Or when the credits start to roll with what appears to…