Letterboxd — Your life in film

If this were allowed to be Evil Dead But Marvel for the entirety of its runtime, it’d be S tier Marvel; but instead we’re forced to see shit like John Krasinski delivering exposition as if he’s in a Yorgos Lanthimos picture.

A great film that simultaneously can be read as a statement on how the old film masters are being left behind, with their aesthetics and ideas being appropriated and hacked to pieces (while the new class seek their own meaning); AND a statement on how we're all just full of microplastics.

Is it always good, technically speaking? No.

Does Austin Butler prove that he will be the first Zoey 101 alum to be nominated for an Oscar? Absolutely, and I will be running his campaign.

Am I convinced that Baz Luhrmann somehow invented a new form of energy wherein he used 4000 bricks of coke to power every piece of equipment on set? You could say that.

Confident that if you went back in time and showed this movie to a Victorian child it would genuinely kill them instantly

This film would be nearly perfect if it didn't lean a little too hard into the vibe of those tweets where someone asks "What man feels like he was written by a woman" in lieu of more complex (and well laid out) characterization for Leo Grande. Not to mention, the third act moment where it nearly undoes all of its own nuanced discussions of sex work for the sake of a cliched moment of conflict.

Daryl McCormack, however, is a star in the making and Emma Thompson continues to prove why Kenneth Branagh should never know a moment of peace!

Love to sit down and spend 2 hours watching a totally normal film with real actors definitely giving good and normal performances on real sets, that definitely don’t look like they were rendered for Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation 1; all further elevated by totally normal writing about how badly these three specific witches all want to boink some loser ass magician played by a very normal James Franco

Criterion Challenge 2022: 13/52 - Science Fiction

It literally cannot be overstated how influential this is on every single level. Often when you watch the original after so many homages, it can inadvertently lead to it feeling less impactful or special. But that's not the case here. It's deliciously paranoid, incredibly engaging, perfectly twist-y and beautifully shot. It manages its moments of high tension just as well as its moments of stillness.

RIP Rainer Werner Fassbinder, you would've loved the song Mirror by Kendrick Lamar

I consider it a massive societal failure that after this was released, we didn’t work to ban all other modernized Romeo and Juliet takes. If your adaptation doesn’t have Hawaiian shirts, hot John Leguizamo, and Prince covers, what’s the point?!

Going to assume the majority of the negative reviews for this are from people who hate joy and/or loan officers

Brimming with gorgeous dancing, an extended "Time After Time" needledrop, and the fact that Baz has always just been like this

Sandman does good grounded work here, and while it doesn't tread new territory it's still very watchable! My only real complaint re: this otherwise inoffensive film is that the under-usage of Queen Latifah feels CRIMINAL.

If Horny Jail were an actual carceral institution, Pedro Almodovar would simultaneously be its most notorious prisoner and its warden!