Favorite films

Recent reviews

• 

  Gladiator 2000

  ★★★ Rewatched 18 Mar 2023

  Still a mixed bag of goofy logic and tonal smear, but Crowe gives the material his all and I always enjoy watching Oliver Reed in his final role (not to mention great turns from Richard Harris and Derek Jacobi...and David Hemmings' eyebrows).

  Occasionally shines for a brief moment where certain elements align, but is often let down by overwrought dialogue scenes, strangely distracting camerawork and blown-out lighting. I feel like Ridley could've saved one of his famed revisionist cuts for this one!

• 

  Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984

  ★★★★ Rewatched 07 Mar 2023

  Still not perfect, but some of the most relentless action I've ever seen in a blockbuster. Needs a lot of trimming here and there, but arguably the most genuinely fun Indiana Jones film.

Popular reviews

• 

  Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter 2014

  ★★★★★ Watched 11 Jun 2015 2

  Kumiko is my hero. She is strong, learned and determined. She has a dream, and does everything in her power to make it happen.

  This film is simultaneously bleak and comforting, and makes me feel both heartbroken and sympathetic at every step. Few films access the reality of loneliness like this, displaying such unforgiving determination and a real adoration for its protagonist. She is a character that doesn't think like you or I do, and is trying to escape the…

• 

  The Duke of Burgundy 2014

  ★★★★ Watched 23 Apr 2015

  You can take your Blue is the Warmest Colour miserablist and exploitative portrait of love, and stuff it. Fifty Shades of Grey can get fucked too. Here is a film that successfully dismantles the pains, pleasures and fantasies of a relationship better than any glorified Mills & Boon adaptation. Intimacy and devotion have rarely been explored this honestly, and with such surprising wit, charm, or humanity.

  A visually alluring film, formally reminiscent of the equally hypnotic Picnic at Hanging Rock, but…