Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Master Gardener 2022

  ★★★★ Watched 02 Dec 2023

  Schrader’s most hopeful film, and perhaps his most romantic. Finds interesting ways to present gardening as a metaphor for rebirth and also the cyclical tendencies of human nature. Loved the understated calm of Edgerton and the ferocious cattiness of Weaver; perfect foils.

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  Priscilla 2023

  ★★★★★ Watched 28 Nov 2023

  A smart, nightmarish portrait of abuse and how trapped one feels when presented with it. Elordi and Spaeny are tremendous, Le Sourd’s juxtaposition of lighting between dreamy softness and aggressive color speaks volumes, and Flack’s editing presents time as a horrifying pit of monotony. Coppola’s best film in over a decade. Honestly…maybe her best film, period.

Popular reviews

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  Promising Young Woman 2020

  ★ Watched 15 Jan 2021

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

  Left me feeling sick and angry, and not in the ways intended I’m sure. Seemed to completely bypass how rape affects its victims, instead deciding to create a revenge thriller around how an event shaped the friend (Carey Mulligan) of a victim. This leads to what is essentially a thinly sketched caricature that’s less defined by who her friend was/what her friend represented, and more about getting catharsis at one’s own expense.....

  .....EXCEPT, that catharsis never comes when the movie…

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  Anatomy of a Fall 2023

  ★★★★★ Watched 31 Oct 2023 1

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

  Engaging, venomous, and surprising. People might knock the ending but I think it’s what I liked the most. The way it subverts the idea that a verdict like that means smooth sailing. The fallout can be worse than the buildup; and I don’t think most court room dramas with this kind of ending understand that. Sandra Hüller is of course tremendous, as is Milo Machado Graner’s subtle, affecting work.

  Could not get over how much the prosecutor looked like French Mikey Day.

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