It's always interesting to go back five years to see how the movies held up and what fell through the cracks. It's odd to think that this was the last time the Coen Brothers made a movie together, and that they have had three solo projects since then. The film landscape in 2018 was decent, a lot of great movies that were fairly overlooked when it came to awards and a lot of humor infused into serious subjects.
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Trolls Band Together 2023
I don't know why the kids love these movies. They even complain that the first one is too scary. I'm amazed they aren't freaked out by the bad guys in this. Their character design is so damn creepy.
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Dream Scenario 2023
I don't think this minigenre is especially weird, it's perhaps weirder that this is a style that has been kicking around for more than 20 years. While this is unsettling, and even horrific at times, it is also perhaps the most openly funny of these kinds of surreal and uncomfortable films about average dudes disappointing everyone. This is great, and it's fun to think of how open Nicolas Cage is to making weird movies and just fucking around with shit…
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Napoleon 2023
You know what? I think the reviews lowered expectations enough that I kinda liked this. I am a through and through Ridley Scott apologist, especially with much of his elderly years (House of Gucci was a complete miss for me, but that's about it). Accents don't bother me, I feel like Joaquin Phoenix captured the spirit of an insecure Napoleon. I think I would have liked more battles, more explanation of what set him apart on the battlefield and to have given any information on his rise to general and what his life was like before.
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Citizen Kane 1941
I hadn't intended on this being the next on my watchlist, I thought my 1941 movie was going to be Suspicion, only to realize that that is one of very few Hitchcock movies that I don't have a physical disc of. I'm quite relieved for the mix up, Suspicion is not my favorite and Citizen Kane is one of my most watched films. I think this film is really well mode, incredible sets, incredibly shot and a punk rock sensibility…
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Fearless Hyena 2 1983
Beautifully shot, good action, but the score is garbage. I love that the fight choreography only gets better from movie to better.
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The Little Mermaid 1989
It's really striking how young Ariel looks, it's not just that she's little, she looks 14 years old. And Prince Eric is a moron. At least the songs are pretty good.
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Foreign Correspondent 1940
I first saw this in a college propaganda class. I knew a few Hitchcock movies but I had never heard of this. It's a pretty standard Hitchcock movie for much of the runtime, a man on the run and a nebulous international mystery. As things seem wrapped up, the main character is on a flight back to the US when his plane crashes into the ocean and the survivors are attacked in the ocean before being saved. This sequence is…
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Fearless Hyena 1979
Such a fantastic final battle. The amazing thing is that this feels like Jackie Chan uses every trick in his back pocket for a funny fight scene, and then he went on to star for 30+ years. It's really hard to believe the mixture of great choreography, physicality and humor of Jackie Chan.
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Dune: Part Two 2024
An easy 5/5 for me. There's so much that I love about this. I only have a history of the Frank Herbert book through the audiobook, but I do have a healthy disc collection of the two Sci-Fi channel mini-series, Jodorowsky's Dune, David Lynch's Dune and Dune (Part One). I hardly feel like this makes me an expert, just capable of following the names of characters and places. I first saw the Sci-Fi channel mini-series with my parents, thinking it…
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Kung Fu Panda 4 2024
Forget Barbenheimer, 2024 is for Kung Dune Pand2 4. Loads of fun, both kids loved it and didn't get too scared (6 and 4 years old). It's great that four movies in they have really filled out a great cast of voice actors. Ronny Chieng and Bryan Cranston really stand out as fun voice over character actors. The cover song for the credits by Tenacious D is masterful. An absolute treat.