Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Up 2009

  ★★★★ Rewatched 10 Dec 2023

  Wildly imaginative, thrilling, compelling, original, and visually and emotionally beautiful — Pixar operating at the top of their game. I think it’s the most Ghibli thing they’ve ever made. Hit a little close to home for my wife and I right now, and we were a total emotional mess throughout.

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  An American in Paris 1951

  ★★★ Watched 05 Dec 2023

  Gene Kelly is obviously the main attraction here, but for me, the most compelling scene is a dream sequence where Oscar Levant plays the piano in a symphony made up entirely of other Oscar Levants, conducted by another Oscar Levant, in front of a cheering crowd of Oscar Levants. A real John Malkovich moment.

  Mere minutes later, Levant does a great bit of physical comedy that had me in stitches.

  For me, Oscar was the real star of this film, which was often visually arresting, but otherwise eclipsed by everything it so clearly influenced.

Popular reviews

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  Barbie 2023

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 03 Aug 2023 2

  My wife and I took my parents, and it’s better on a second viewing. I found the first viewing so visually overwhelming that I needed a second to fully appreciate the sets, the choreography, the blocking, and the colour scheme. Absolutely brilliant work. The dance numbers are incredible. “I’m Just Ken” will probably end up being my movie sequence of the year. 

  I was a little stumped the first time around by the Mattel men, but I’m developing a theory:…

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  Mission: Impossible – Fallout 2018

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 26 Sep 2021

  I saw this in IMAX with my wife when it came out, and I had one thought after: “I need to take my Dad to see this movie.” We always see the latest spy movies together, and every Star Wars film. We’ve done it since I was a kid. But he works odd hours these days and we were a couple hours apart by car, so the timing never worked out. 

  Because of that distance and his hours, this just…