Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  A Clockwork Orange 1971

  ★★½ Rewatched 02 Apr 2023

  Everything I don't love about Kubrick in one visually stunning but draggy movie.

  Malcolm McDowell is incredible. The iconography is fantastic. The "statement,"though, is sophomoric at best.

  I realize this is satire — I read the novel in a college course on satire — but because none of the characters feel like real people, acting with real motivations, any commentary on behaviorism or the freedom of choice or the inherently sinful nature of Man means basically nothing. With or without free will, Alex…

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  Pearl 2022

  ★★★★ Watched 11 Oct 2022

  I thought X was a decent, stylish slasher movie, but I have to say that neither Mia Goth's performance (either of them) nor the character of Pearl were the parts I really liked. So I lollygagged on getting to Pearl, figuring I'd wait for streaming.

  Turns out I'm glad I ventured out to a local theater, because — as everyone said — Pearl is a horror movie but otherwise almost completely unlike X. Really, the only context that X explicitly adds to…

Recent reviews

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  Fallen Angels 1995

  ★★½ Rewatched 22 Sep 2023

  Has anyone in Hong Kong died from too much Wong Kar-wai visual style? I'd hate to be the first.

  Hard to believe something this beautiful can be such a slog to sit through.

  Knocked down a half star because I can not stand Ho Chi-mo. That said I laughed a lot when the whole family comes for ice cream, so this contains multitudes.

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  Tokyo Pop 1988

  ★★★ Watched 17 Sep 2023

  Very, very, very sweet. If you like sweet, dig in.

  The best part of Tokyo Pop is the specificity in the setting, drinking in Tokyo in the late '80s.

  Carrie Hamilton is pretty charming, but in a way that makes me wish that Kuzui had revisited the script once she was cast (and costumed). There's a lot of cognitive dissonance involved when Wendy, who has a strong Cyndi Lauper pop vibe, ends up rebelling because her successful music isn't really…

Popular reviews

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  Her 2013

  ★★★★½ Watched 01 Jan 2014

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

  Scattered thoughts:

  Among so many other riches, this features my favorite Scarlett Johansson performance since GHOST WORLD. In that one she was perfectly affectless; in this one she's almost all affect.

  This is an intimate portrayal of a momentous event: What happens when we create artificial intelligence?

  This would make a fantastic double feature with A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. "Artificial" love as hardware vs. as software.

  Contrast: artificial life forms in a futuristic Los Angeles here vs. in BLADE RUNNER. (I…

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  Sisters 1972

  ★★★ Watched 20 May 2018

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

  After 25+ years of cinephilia, I'm ready to call it: I don't really get Brian De Palma. He's clearly talented — an incredible crafter of moments, if nothing else — but he reminds me of talented people who never really put forth their full effort so they can always excuse flawed work. De Palma could direct a masterpiece if he really wanted to.

  Sisters is a case in point but also makes clear why people have recognized De Palma's potential for decades.…