4o3v2h

Friendship won’t shift the needle for anyone on Tim Robinson, but it’s descent into a blend of cringe humor, true horror at the sight of the heart of toxic masculinity, and despair thinking about the male loneliness epidemic, made for a watch that affected me in a multitude of ways. There a number of gags that feel familiar to “I Think You Should Leave”, but reach such extremes of uncomfortability that I couldn’t help but wince or shy my eyes from the embarrassment radiating off of Tim Robinson. A number like to minimize his performances to just being loud observations, but his physicality is just second to none compared to his contemporaries. Won’t win anyone over, but that’s okay!

Viewing the clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking about how getting a good pump was the same as “cumming in a woman” was somehow more shocking finally seeing Pumping Iron in full context. Amazing to have the hindsight of looking at the last nearly 50 years of his life and seeing who Arnold transformed into because of being catapulted into fame with this documentary. Aside from this, I was fascinated witnessing these bodybuilders peacock and while I could peek behind the veil of insecurity that disguised itself as a shield of raging alpha male masculinity, I wanted to gaze a bit longer at times.

I don’t know man… sure, I can see people enchanted by the Technicolor, or the costuming, or just how gorgeous the overall film is, and not every film is promoting or pushing it’s characters as a moral com we should all aspire too, but fuck man, Gone With The Wind is pretty fucking racist. And sorry, racism aside, I think the romance here just never clicked for me. What a way to spend my day.

The Mission Impossible franchise has always meant a lot to me, from spotting the DVDs on my dad’s work corner where he kept his small physical media collection as a teenager, and then eventually borrowing those films and quickly finding myself fixated on the world of the IMF and Ethan Hunt, to eventually seeing Ghost Protocol multiple times on my own in theaters when I was in high school, to Rogue Nation being released on the weekend of my spouse and I’s anniversary one year into dating, and while so messy and not perfect by any means, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning feels like the love letter to a franchise I never knew I needed. Weaving together a rich tapestry across four decades of films that defined such a large chunk of my life and in likely its final installment, kept me on the edge of my seat as we are cloaked in a world of shadows where the Entity has trapped our heroes in a world where only their devotion to each other can save them. There is an intimacy all across this film, whether seeing Ethan try to save his friends, or some of the wildly impressive stunt work that made me wonder if we would see Tom Cruise perish on screen, and it’s this beautiful intimacy that made me sob as those final credits began to roll. Miraculous filmmaking all-around and I hope they do end the franchise here.

Walking into this film without a single idea of what it was about was one of the greatest cinematic experiences I could have ever taken pleasure in. Domestic horror at its finest, touching on the disgusting nature of men so willing to discard women and real connection for a simple instance of shallow change. There is no attempt at a lie here too, heartbreak is so clear and transparent and I think in many ways, Agnès Varda saw through so many men in families who seem similar to the man in this film. And god, what a gorgeous nightmare!

This review may contain spoilers.

Such an outlier in the franchise in how it moves just a bit slower, its use of silence, and while I think the other films are really funny at times, the entire sequence in the tiny yellow car is incredible. I refuse to believe Ilsa is dead.

To find that sweet spot between deeply uncomfortable and also wildly hilarious is special, and Dog Movie’s attempts to divert a lot of our expectations of the queer cinema or trans cinema help us recognize that all of our stories aren’t coming-of-age tales, they aren’t even always centered around our identity, sometimes we are just deeply messy and flawed individuals who want our friend to get of our couch and do something, and it made it easy to love this!

One Popular Film From Every Country In The World #112
Cyprus

I did it everyone, I found the single worst film I have ever seen. Not a single redeemable quality here. Nic Cage is half asleep here, there is so much shaky cam here, yet none of it hides how slow all the choreography here is or how sloppy it is as well. I can’t tell you a single thing that happened here!

I signed 500 FUCKING pages of paperwork to buy in a home in a process that took 2+ hours so mindless and exhausting and none of it beats the migraine I have been sitting on since 9am to see this fucking movie. Like holy shit, man. Nearly collapsed the entire Cyprian film industry and I get why! 

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

A fun addition to the mockumentary format by way of a director providing long-awaited commentary to a new blu-ray release of a film from the 70s that seems to live in infamy because of the death of one of its stars after production. Even attempting to ignore the director being quite too young for the timeline of this story, the voice acting isn’t quite strong enough to grip me, especially as there is little tact in telling this story of clear abuse on set. I often see people attempt to off their own naturalistic dialogue by inserting the “umms” and all the other pauses that come when naturally speaking, but there is a limit to what works here. Seeing the reviews for the sequel being notably higher makes me want to give it a shot though!

Solves nearly every issue I have with the Final Destination franchise pretty effectively with filmmakers whose clear love for the franchise allowed it to be something much greater than it was before, which was just fine to me. Constantly building up the tension with creative kills that felt less like were setting up mindless fodder to be placed on a conveyer belt and instead, thoughtfully built up tension by having the most fleshed out characters in the franchise carefully getting picked off in ways that shocked me nearly every single time. Confused some people don’t like this one!

Loneliness feels suffocating as it drowns you, and The White Reindeer’s attempt to look into the life of a woman who wants the affection of her husband, but he finds himself too deeply preoccupied by hunting creates and an immediate haunting atmosphere that lingers in an impressive way that feels ahead of her time. While many could easily read the description of this film and understand the direction it goes in, that never stops the film from being both wildly effective and also feels stunted by its potential, whether due to the infancy of the genre, my wonders about the state of the Finnish film industry in the 50s, or its relatively short length.

Wild to me how much of my opinion stays the same with this one. Bland cast, incredible kills, peaks early with its giant set piece setting everything off, which may be the best in the franchise! Ali Larter and Tony Todd are my two highlights of the cast here, and it makes me think about how some attachment to cast would be nice in this franchise, even if its drastically lowered the stakes.

For those wondering, Hayley has started watching these alongside me, and while I think this is an okay franchise, Hayley is now hate watching them! They are not having a good time!

Far funnier than I gave credit for the first time I watched the film. And I just can’t get over how insane the first kill was in the movie, Hayley was screaming! Maybe farther up my franchise ranking than I would give credit initially.

Incredible ensemble all-around and just a really lovely story that felt so warm after an honestly shitty day! Maybe one of my favorite ensembles period too, it’s kinda remarkable to have someone like Madonna exist in the cast as just another one of the ladies on this team.

Seeing the poster for The Dirties years ago, I made the broad assumption that it was some horror film based around school shootings. Stumbling across it on Twitter the other evening, I learned it was a found footage film and much closer to a dark comedy, then I saw it was directed by Matt Johnson and I thought, “Of  Nirvanna the Band the Show? Of BlackBerry?”, and I quickly learned, my initial read on the film was pretty accurate and also, there is much more here. Caught up first in its mockumentary format and just reveling in the goofiness of two friends making a movie in high school, but then evolves in a film that rests with self-righteousness and critiques ideologies and becomes all the more disturbing because of it, posing the question of can we ever really comprehend the violence those around us are capable of. Really outstanding, I’ll be thinking about this one some more.

Best in the franchise by absolute miles. All of Ethan’s enemies are cloaked in shadow, we immediately see our heroes fail because they are outplayed and outsmarted, the world feels so immediately claustrophobic, and on top of this, the film plays deceiving its audience to some really amazing results. Hayley and I have been joking watching these films, how many times can the IMF actually get disbanded or disavowed and it can be taken seriously? And this is where it all feels the most serious. Equal parts fighting against world-ending calamity and personal tragedy for Ethan and that balance is where the franchise hits its sweet point, it’s why Dead Reckoning lands so high for me in my franchise ranking as well.

Jake Schreier has been on my mind after seeing Thunderbolts* and I quickly realized his directorial debut has been on my watchlist for years! Thoughtful in its exploration of aging and the loneliness that comes with it, really loved the dynamic between our lead and the robot, but so many other relationships and developments felt so underdeveloped throughout, it was a disappointment. Soft sci-fi setting was fun though.

A mid-90s erotic thriller released just past its era, Unfaithful only ever came on my radar picking out some of Ethel Cain’s favorite films that I haven’t seen before as I try to make a list of favorites I’d recommend, which you can expect later this evening, but this was a fairly solid time. There is an inescapable distance between Diane Lane and Richard Gere that is felt near immediately, and it makes for the affair that takes place to sizzle all the more. The second half is where it plays it a bit too conventionally, especially with an end that I don’t think brings the viewer the escapism they hope.

This would go the fuck off at 2PM on a Saturday on TNT, I’ll tell you that much!

Such a razor thin semblance of a plot and characters, but enough is here to get me invested and we are really riding on Josh Hartnett’s charm here, which will honestly be enough for most. Action is shockingly competent, but poor direction and camera work really deflates more than a few moments.

Maybe I am finding myself protective of the man in a way that may be shocking to some, but Miyazaki’s rough exterior and cold demeanor that shaped many films that the world has loved feels laced in a lot of wisdom. There are moments we should absolutely be critical of the man and he welcomes it here reflecting back on his relationships with protégés who are gone or that he “swallowed” whole in his pursuit of his artistic vision, but there is also so much sage wisdom. And so much regret as well. This documentary does have a naturalistic feel that I love, and I sadly can’t say I have seen the other documentaries that I need to from the man, but I wish it would gaze just a little longer, peer around the corner for just a few moments, and sit still so that we could gather more of this wisdom. 

As some know, tomorrow I am releasing a Studio Ghibli video on my Youtube. I am keeping the full topic a surprise, but I think most will be happy!

With the potential news of Together being plagiarized, I was more interested than even seeing A Folded Ocean, and while brief,
its foray into body horror created a horror image of this becoming so engrossed by each other person. Truly effective body horror!

Can’t get over how amazing the ending is to this one and Rebecca Ferguson is one of the best additions in this McQuarrie films!

Despite people getting very upset with me for having not mentioned Ultra Zionists in my video about The Settlers, the film is not nearly as deep as the recent documentary and simultaneously, does not frame Israel’s occupation and ongoing genocide against Palestinians in as nearly a neutral state as people have shared online and I don’t think Theroux portrays these people as extremists within Zionism, he clearly frames Zionism in a negative way and appears neutral to goad his subjects into unmasking themselves and is still sadly restrained due to the BBC producing this documentary.

One Popular Film From Every Country In The World #111
Azerbaijan

15 minutes of promise in the beginning. It’s a shake, uneven, and not all that great 15 minutes, but then dissolves into a zombie movie mostly taking place in a deep ditch. I’d argue I may have not had the ideal viewing experience, Tubi only had the film with the English dub of the film, maybe I missed some form of gripping or engaging dialogue or some rich social commentary that was buried underneath the Americanization of this film, but I can gather pretty quickly because of it’s limited scope, that is not the case. 

It’s sad, I don’t like ragging on movies in this case, it’s cool they tried, but I also want to be honest!

I’ll tell ya, coming back and watching this movie, I  always think about the first time I saw it in theaters and was going in thinking it would just be another entertaining Tom Cruise flick after the first three, but man! They really did something special here than continued to build past this point. Started here for my rewatch because my spouse doesn’t love the first three, you all have fun with that knowledge!

Didn’t need to watch this to understand that one, this film was never going to be pro-war propaganda, and two, this was going to be a visceral and upsetting experience. Warfare’s singular glance into an extended moment shocked me in moments, but I don’t think was impressed with this in its extended presentation. There is however still clear value in making a film like this though, it’s wildly reductive to assume its not.

Wild to be coming back to this, still relatively in my infancy of understanding Hitchcock and his dozens of films, but Rebecca landed much harder for me on rewatch. The queering of the film, whether looking at Rebecca as bisexual, or looking at the new and nameless second Mrs. de Winter as a woman being forced to conform to the standards of heteronormativity with his whirlwind marriage, provides rich psychosexual subject matter that made the film even more grand for me.

Great reminder that solely voting and relying on legislation accomplishes nothing, sometimes you need a group of assassins to do your bidding for you.

Yeah, this was a good movie. It didn’t overly rely on green screens, there was competent action choreography, a directoral vision seems present, and there is strong chemistry among the cast, with Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, and Wyatt Russell being highlights. And because so many people have said it, no offense to Lewis Pullman, but Steven Yeun could have indeed played Bob.

At some level, the bar seems so low for these movies. And that’s not denying this is good or the fact that I own nearly MCU movie and enjoy most of them, but we look at a film that looks like a real movie and say “Marvel is back” and completely ignore the homogenized look of the American blockbuster being a product of corporate voices, especially Disney’s, dictating how films are made and look instead of director, writers, actors, or anyone else in front of or behind the camera. I see so many people watching quite frankly, some of the most fucking mediocre movies of my life from between the 70s and 2000s and because they are not filtered at an entirely artistic level like a good number of films made within the major Hollywood studio system, they are all immediately perfect to so many. Some of this is rose-tinted glasses or nostalgia, and I’m a victim of it too, I have given Small Soldiers a 5/5 and I’m not sure I can assess it at a purely objective level anymore, but it all scares me. And I feel like a hypocrite saying this, look at how many 5s I rate movies! I toss them out like candy! But man, it’s funny how when one of these movies is good to me, I find myself reflecting on the state of the American film industry more than ever. 

I’m never saying we have to love, like, dislike, or hate movies all the same, the difference of opinion and critique is what makes the artform interesting, I just hope people think about these things.

Queer R-rated Goosebumps for Gen Z! Clown in a Cornfield immediately has the feel of the horror films I wish my parents would let me rent from our local video store, or that I would eventually see with older cousins or uncles when visiting family. Embraces this discourse between old vs. new and traditional vs. modern in a largely smart way, especially in how this takes the conventions we expect from the slasher and plays with them in a really exciting way. Feels bizarre to say this, but if there was a parent on the fence about taking their children to an R-rated horror movie or wanted to show them one for the first time, this is the perfect one. And that’s not belittling the slasher elements in this film or the scares, because there are many, I think it’s just really representative of the fact that they don’t really make them like they used too, which is fitting to say considering what this film is!

Beyond impressive in the body horror genre. So personal that every bit of harm we see happen to Elvira’s body cuts deep, especially as we see patriarchal standards projected onto the Cinderella story and suddenly find ourselves granted so much more empathy for all of the women here. Found myself having to look away at largr chunks of this, and that says something as someone who LOVES body horror! And there was also just such an incredible use of score, especially during those gentle, synth-heavy, techno pop filled dream-like sequences, where the modernization of the music only made everything we see more alarming. God, what a movie!

Holly Hunter and Sigourney Weaver as our dynamic duo in this procedural psychological thriller add tremendous tension to the mystery at the heart of Copycat, and it may be one of the only American films in genre I can think of released at the time with two female leads. Truly gripping for most of its runtime, but always seeming to spin endlessly rather than build, which could also be because the film shows its hand way too quickly. Not necessarily a critique, I just found it fascinating the film starts to drift into the territory of “what if we made this monster?” and feels ahead of its time in its critique of true crime, but sadly, that only makes up a few moments of what is otherwise a great time.

Ma is really funny because the majority of the film focuses on this family returning back to their hometown, but then our titular character is just hanging out and honestly, not knocking the rest of the cast, especially Juliette Lewis, but Octavia Spencer is really just chewing up the scenery. Equal parts hilarious and horrifying, making for some expert camp if only the rest of the cast and script could play along. Really considering our final few reveals, we should have been following Spencer’s character the whole time for a much better film!

First Fellini and 5000th film logged on this app. Miraculous filmmaking in every way, using surrealism to attempt to delve into all the external voices trying to make sense of the internal thoughts of an artist. So many subtleties in the ways that it conveyed this conflict, and existing in so many layers of meta narrative that even if I couldn’t grasp everything in front of me, I just felt so much magic. Movies are magic, making movies is magic, diving inside the mind of an artist is magic. God, I love movies.

Really exquisite piece of queer cinema that shockingly isn’t a period piece! In such a short time, we are able to see the bond between these two women magnify into something so serene. To explore forbidden love in this way makes it all the more satisfying to see it all reach its culmination.

One Popular Film From Every Country In The World #110
Peru

Quite the unsuspecting queer film in a lot of ways, Retablo contends with the idea of how conservative aspects of the world can be, in this case, Peru and Peruvian culture, and how the we challenge the preconceived notions that we have about homophobia when we learn someone around we know is queer. Silence is used expertly here and a lot of gathered in a glance and while notable for how it explores queerness in older relatives, it is also a film about sitting in the lack of comfort in anxiety. It's a film that will resonate with many because of the clear message and a film that is needed because of the part of the world it explores in a really honest way.

As an unfiltered look at toxic masculinity of American men that feels like at times far more self-aware than I think people give credit, but maybe that is me ignoring what I know about Michael Bay. Really unhinged and when thinking of some of the best performances of The Rock, this has to be behind Southland Tales.

The reclamation of The Fourth Kind has been so odd to see an outsider as someone who clearly ed being in middle school, ignoring it after seeing the Rotten Tomatoes score, and then all my friends who went hated it. As a horror mockumentary, I found the form of this not all that notable, it is poorly edited, many of the moments that have gone viral on social media from the film are pretty minimal parts of the film bogged down being surrounded by scenes with mediocre performances, and I think most disappointingly, the film can’t commit to the form that it initially presents, which made for a heavy atmosphere near immediately that becomes quickly deflated.

Kathryn Bigelow and Willem Dafoe’s combined debut feels like a dream on many levels, especially when peering into this small town being taken over by this biker gang, but The Loveless mostly excites as a near-mute mood piece that shockingly does not explosive until its final few moments.

Weaving nostaligia for the past alongside family turmoil and class struggle makes How Green Was My Valley an overwhelming yet powerful pictures, especially because considering the direction of John Ford and this wildly enough, being my first film from the man. A true master that I feel like I am beginning to dip my toes into the pond of his mastery. A lot of this discussion around this film seems to be bogged down in what it won Best Picture against, and those conversations are fair and natural, or conversation around where conflict lies in the film or the fact that characters in this film simply exist, but when it comes to the question of what is worthy to win Best Picture, How Green Was My Valley is beyond worthy.

Self-insertion of creatives has been a recent fascination of mine and while Atom Egoyan is a director I don’t have the most mastery and understanding of because of only having seen a mixture of his greatest hits and some recent disappointments, Seven Veils is a return to form that shook me. While there is restraint in his non-linear form that I expect, there is an intimacy that feels inescapable due to Amanda Seyfried delivering career-best work. She is force that stands out in a way that I really can’t shake, even if the picture never feels quite as sure of itself with its conclusion.

Horror mockumentary gem, with easily some of the most impressive acting that I have seen in the subgenre, an eerie approach to a mystery through the alarming and unsettling photographs, and really astounding social commentary that speaks to well to the demonization of undocumented people. Go into this one knowing nothing, there is a lot of shock here!

This may have been the most adorable and cute queer film I have seen in sometime and is funny throughout! Love the dynamic between one our leads being a woman beginning to accepting her queerness and her friend who also a goof. Really moving at times and feels like a queer film so many people need, impressed how much was done with the low budget!

While not nearly my favorite Showa-era Kaiju film and is bogged down too deeply in its human drama for my liking, Mothra is a really enjoyable and also solemn watch, providing strong commentary on the evils of colonialism and destroying our environment that all comes to life in a film I get why so many find memorable. Excited to see the Heisei-era Mothra films sometime soon!

With the release of The Smashing Machine, I thought I’d watch The Smashing Machine documentary in order to understand more who Mark Kerr was and holy moly, this is a free fall into oblivion. Struck immediately his gentle and soft voice, while also witnessing the man bash people into a pulp for the sake of entertainment, there is such a clear understanding of the self-destructive nature of this sport and the man’s struggles with substance abuse being a part of this to manage the severe pain. Unflinching during its most upsetting of moments and never trying to pull the camera away, there is a raw nature to this documentary that really makes it stand above many others.

So peaceful, tranquil, and serene, despite death sadly being key to sitting with The Red Turtle, a film with no dialogue that has us become voyeurs to the entire circle of life, to gaze upon man’s relationship to nature, and examine what it means to triumph over the adversity that comes your way. Lovely in nearly every way, I get why people got mad I skipped this in my Studio Ghibli coverage, even though it is a co-production and in that case, Dragon Ball: Path To Power is a Studio Ghibli film.

I feel it’s not too early to share this, something Studio Ghibli related is coming to my Youtube soon. It’s adding some nuance to a slightly dated topic that I still want to talk about, so subscribe and wait to check it out!

Surprised to see how few people I naming the direct connection made in Drop with the airdrops and domestic violence, that is handled unevenly with the strongest aspects of this connection brought to life by Meghann Fahy and an ending that goes beyond being cathartic, it’s also extremely exciting and comes together in a nice way after I found most of the film to be middling. An aspect that became too distracting for me, although fairly key to the film, is the use of technology, whether it is the presentation of the large text for messages being sent or because of a decent bit of the action taking place through security cams. Decent flick at the end of the day.

On-Gaku: Our Sound understands our deep connection to music and the creative process and recognizes while it can be messy, there may be no security in our approach, and the music may be very bad, but there is healing and an escape through the process is kinda magic. Our main characters are such a colorful cast, especially our lead, and the lower budget animation was clear but never stopped anyone in this project from displaying love and care during segments where suddenly the animation becomes more lifely and expressive in these big scenes.

Daniella Weiss may be the closest I have ever been to witnessing the anti-Christ on camera. There is no redemption for Israel or its settlers and while there is an argument about how deep Louis Theroux was willing to get, or truthfully able to get under the eye of the BBC, who has been known to be part of contingent of Western media censoring the atrocities in Palestine right now, the most brutal condemnation of this documentary is the willingness for settlers to spell out their genocidal tendencies so openly on camera. Theroux’s experience in the field allows him to easily make his subjects be at easy and pushes them to needed corners for these uncomfortable and upsetting truths.

As always, free Palestine and fuck Israel.

The lingering of a romance that almost was amongst a world continuously developing under capitalism, growing in every way and yet, feeling claustrophobic at every move, causing you to sink deeper in your exhaustion while escaping poverty. And yet, how much is lost in this pursuit for survival? How much complacency must you endure? To explore that through one of the most melodramatic and beautiful love stories I have seen in all of cinema is incredible anti-capitalist cinema and even better, just makes to a romance that I find myself drawn to at every turn. Leon Lai captures such an earnest optimism during his most challenging moments and Maggie Cheung hypnotizes you the second you glance into her eyes and understand how much you would sacrifice to puruse her.

An instant all-time favorite, easily in my top 20 or 10 of all time now.

An overwhelming sensory experience that I think touched well on, at least in my interpretation, of what it means to be warped by a cult leader or religious figure, that also featured some of the most disturbing visuals and sounds I have heard. Going to watch “Girls” now to feel better.

I feel like there are far too movies I want to own that I can never , so I am going to add them here!

• Vox Lux
• Memoir of a Snail
• Bride of Frankenstein
• All About Eve
• Sunset Boulevard
• Killer of Sheep
• Baby Boy
• Evil Does Not Exist
• The Beast
• Kajillionaire

...plus 119 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Yes, I’m continuing the tradition of COVID-19 based titles for my yearly lists, sue me!

1. Sorry, Baby
2. The Shrouds
3. Sinners
4. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
5. Mickey 17
6. Twinless
7. The Perfect Neighbor
8. The Ballad of Wallis Island
9. Black Bag
10. A Nice Indian Boy

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. 8½
2. How Green Was My Valley
3. A League of Their Own
4. Pain & Gain
5. Seven Veils
6. The Ugly Stepsister
7. The Dirties
8. Final Destination Bloodlines
9. Savageland
10. Thunderbolts*

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 10 Cloverfield Lane
• 1917
• 20,000 Species of Bees
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 2046
• 21 Jump Street
• 22 Jump Street
• 27 Dresses
• 28 Days Later
• 28 Weeks Later

...plus 2126 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Wow, this list is really fucking weird, also treat Godfather Part I and II as one film.

Edit: I am convinced everything after 20 isn’t really in an order

1. Moonlight
2. Perfect Blue
3. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
4. Alien
5. Synecdoche, New York
6. In the Mood for Love
7. Paris, Texas
8. Past Lives
9. The Batman
10. The Godfather

...plus 236 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Another year, another COVID-19 based title for my yearly ranking list. I realize I could build a lot moe anticipation if I just kept this private until the end of the year but 🤷🏻

1. I Saw the TV Glow
2. Queer
3. I'm Still Here
4. Longlegs
5. La Chimera
6. Perfect Days
7. The Substance
8. The Brutalist
9. Nickel Boys
10. Challengers

...plus 214 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Every week for my TikTok  (moviegoodormoviebad) I am gonna spin a wheel and watch the most popular film for that country on Letterboxd. If you are interested follow along! Most of the reviews will pop up on here far in advance, as I publish reviews when I am filming, not releasing.

• Killer Mermaid

  Montenegro

• Sherpa

  Nepal

• The Orator

  Samoa

• Divines

  Qatar

• The Heiresses

  Paraguay

• The Battle of Algiers

  Algeria

• The Lighthouse

  Armenia

• City of God

  Brazil

• The Lobster

  The Netherlands

• Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)

  Nigeria

...plus 102 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I cover a new best picture winner every Friday and thought it would be fun to rank these!

1. Moonlight
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather Part II
4. Everything Everywhere All at Once
5. Parasite
6. All About Eve
7. The Silence of the Lambs
8. The Apartment
9. On the Waterfront
10. Midnight Cowboy

...plus 74 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Comrades, Almost a Love Story
2. The Shrouds
3. Sinners
4. Not a Pretty Picture
5. Out of the Blue
6. Chilly Scenes of Winter
7. The Hidden
8. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
9. Louis Theroux: The Settlers
10. Crossing Delancey

...plus 46 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The quadruple feature is the first four films, but the rest of these are determined by similar tone, similar themes or how they approach a genre, some sameness in director, writer, or actor (s), or other various aspects.

• Perfect Blue
• Persona
• Black Swan
• Last Night in Soho
• Memories of Murder
• Zodiac
• Nobody
• John Wick
• 10 Cloverfield Lane
• Save the Green Planet!

...plus 262 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is all listed by Spine Number, still growing of course!

• Seven Samurai
• The 400 Blows
• Beauty and the Beast
• Hard Boiled
• Walkabout
• The Seventh Seal
• This Is Spinal Tap
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Dead Ringers
• RoboCop

...plus 430 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Gun Hill Road
• Zero Patience
• Great Freedom
• A Woman Like Eve
• Minyan
• Kiss Me Kosher!
• Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
• Days
• North by Current
• Summer of 85

...plus 12 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Everybody is doing it, figure I would share my ranking before Final Reckoning!

• Mission: Impossible – Fallout
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
• Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
• Mission: Impossible
• Mission: Impossible III
• Mission: Impossible II

1. Close-Up
2. Bride of Frankenstein
3. Shinjuku Boys
4. The Best Years of Our Lives
5. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
6. Mickey 17
7. The Crazy Family
8. Black Bag
9. Crimson Tide
10. Southland Tales

...plus 34 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. All About Eve
2. Sunset Boulevard
3. Killer of Sheep
4. I'm Still Here
5. Sorry, Baby
6. The Silences of the Palace
7. Mind Game
8. Exhibiting Forgiveness
9. Dead Presidents
10. Picnic

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. True Stories
2. The Brutalist
3. Nickel Boys
4. Twinless
5. The Perfect Neighbor
6. Tux and Fanny
7. Nosferatu
8. Vox Lux
9. From Here to Eternity
10. Wanda

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Here are my selections for Virtual Sundance 2025! Excited to see how this shakes up!

• By Design
• OBEX
• The Perfect Neighbor
• Twinless
• Bunnylovr
• Sally
• Atropia
• Love, Brooklyn
• Sukkwan Island
• Ricky

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Covering these on my TikTok and adding them as I go along! I have see the majority of these films and am excited to rewatch my favorites and find some gems!

1. Shin Godzilla
2. Godzilla Minus One
3. Godzilla
4. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
5. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
6. Godzilla vs. Biollante
7. Mothra vs. Godzilla
8. Godzilla: Final Wars
9. The Return of Godzilla
10. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

...plus 28 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. On the Waterfront
2. Queer
3. Michael Clayton
4. Nosferatu
5. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
6. Exhuma
7. Daughters
8. Crossing
9. The Bridge on the River Kwai
10. Night of the Demon

...plus 52 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I attempting the Criterion Challenge for 2025 based off this original list.

Here are the criteria for each selection:

1. Watch a film from the CC40 Boxset
2. Watch a film from the year you were born
3. Directed by Robert Altman
4. Watch a film that would be your first choice in the Criterion Closet
5. Great Soundtracks
6. John Turturro’s Adventures in Moviegoing
7. 1920s
8. Watch a film that will be added to the physical collection in 2025
9. 1930s
10. Andrew Garfield’s Closet Picks
11. 1940s
12. Celine Song’s Top 10
13. 1950s
14. Watch a film from the Criterion Channel’s all time favorites lists
15. 1960s
16. Watch a film that is currently out of print from the physical collection
17. 1970s
18. William Friedkin’s Closet Picks
19. 1980s
20. Spine #451-499
21. 1990s
22. Documentary
23. 2000s
24. Janus Contemporaries
25. 2010s
26. Bill Hader’s Second Closet Picks
27. 2020s
28. Noir and Neonoir
29. All Time Top Criterion Closet Picks
30. Criterion Releases Never Picked in the Closet
31. North American film
32. Ayo Edebiri’s Closet Picks
33. Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing
34. South American film
35. Random Number Generator (Google random number generator, set values from 1 to whatever number Criterion has listed last here. This number will change as more releases are announced so please keep up to date by using the link I have provided as I will not be updating each time Criterion makes announcements. Watch whatever movie corresponds to the spine number you are given.)
36. AAPI Filmmakers
37. Watch a film shorter than 80 minutes
38. European film
39. Cult Movies
40. Isabella Rossellini’s Adventures in Moviegoing
41. Winona Ryder’s Closet Picks
42. African film
43. John Carpenter’s Top 10
44. Horror
45. Asian film
46. Dark Comedies
47. Rachel Kushner’s Adventures in Moviegoing
48. Australian film
49. Female Filmmakers
50. Ben Wheatley’s Closet Picks
51. A film by a director whose work you have not seen before
52. Watch any Criterion film from your watchlist

• Tokyo Story
• La Ceremonie
• Short Cuts
• Drugstore Cowboy
• Choose Me
• Christ Stopped at Eboli
• The Phantom Carriage
• The Wages of Fear
• The 39 Steps
• Kes

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Apartment
2. Memoir of a Snail
3. Look Back
4. Happiness
5. Buddies
6. Doubt
7. Conclave
8. The Exorcist III
9. Flow
10. Ben-Hur

...plus 47 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I asked friends, mutuals, followers, and random people online to give me new horror movies to watch for this October! I have seen so many and I want broaden my horizons more, and have been really excited to be suggested a mix of films I have always wanted to see and some I have never heard of! These will be covered throughout October and I wrote in the notes the TikTok names of everyone who suggested movies, with the exception of who suggested The Ginger Snaps Trilogy as I can’t find that message.

• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! File 01: Operation Capture the Slit-Mouthed Woman

  optimus692

• Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

  petrmisan

• Tetsuo: The Bullet Man

  petrmisan

• Long Weekend

  phoebunno

• The Stuff

  w1llow.weeper

• Séance

  jloayza.wf

• Digital Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro: The Real-World Guide to Set Up and Workflow

  etiptok

• The Howling

  thecoloroftelevision

• Planet of the Vampires

  tom.recs

• Death Powder

  emmaoftheimpact_

...plus 33 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Well, it’s that time of year again! It’s Spookytober, or the nebulous period between September and November, where I focus even more on watching horror, and for the sake of this list, anything Halloween-themed, anything horror, and anything that puts me in the mood this time of year. 

Horror is my absolute favorite genre, and sometimes that love is missed on TikTok, and thankfully, has been recognized in many ways over the past few months. Not all of these will get a video, but many may!

• Noroi: The Curse
• Ring 2
• Ring 0
• Alucarda
• The Final Girls
• I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
• The Wolf Man
• The Cremators
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• Sadako 3D

...plus 107 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Fall
2. Anora
3. Deep Red
4. Tenebre
5. Rap World
6. No Other Land
7. All Shall Be Well
8. Red Rooms
9. All We Imagine as Light
10. Frailty

...plus 62 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Surprise everyone, I am doing press for the first time ever for the Hawai’i International Film Festival! I’m excited to have this opportunity and hope you all are excited to check out the many films I am covering! I am not in-person, so a number of titles with a lot of Oscars buzz right now are not available to me as screeners, but there are still many exciting titles I am checking out! This will be edited over time as I determine the order of watches.

• Tinā
• No Other Land
• We Were Dangerous
• Marimari
• Shaka: A Story of Aloha
• Ashima
• The Mountain
• Sister Midnight
• Gifts from the Kitchen
• Chinatown Cha-cha

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The New/Next Film Festival during its first ever festival last year might have had the single best lineup for a festival I have attended. And from October 3rd through October 6th in Baltimore, MD, I will be attending again! It was an easy choice to get an all-access and excited to see these movies! And there is also a secret screening not listed!

• Messy
• The Human Surge 3
• Doppelgängers³
• Eephus
• Bronze Dog
• Rap World
• Booked A Room
• Fantasy A Gets a Mattress
• Days of Happiness
• Softshell

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. I Am Cuba
2. Some Like It Hot
3. The Haunting
4. The Substance
5. His Three Daughters
6. Mary and Max
7. National Anthem
8. Sherlock Jr.
9. My Old Ass
10. A Different Man

...plus 55 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

After a year hiatus, I am coming back to Hooptober. Two years ago, I ended it by spending one day watching 5 movies! Starting much earlier this year to avoid that!

There must be 31 horror films
6 countries
8 decades
ALL of the films from a horror franchise with at least 4 entries (if there is a hard reboot, you can choose whichever has 4+ that you prefer)
1 film by Wes Craven
1 film caused by/worsened by weather
1 film starring a Black woman
1 Donald Sutherland film
3 films from New World Pictures.
2 Indian films.
4 Italian films
2 Horror comedies
2 films made primarily or entirely in Texas
1 film that exists in at least 2 available cuts (you just have to watch one. Bonus if you watch them all.)
1 Robert Wiene film
1 Michele Soavi film
1 film from 2011
1 film from 1984

And 1 Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)

***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK: WATCH Cyclone and Crawlspace. Like last year, there is a third film: We Are Zombies.

• Alucarda

  A Mexican film

• We Might Hurt Each Other

  A Lithuanian film

• Deathgasm

  A Kiwi film

• Terrified

  An Argentinian film

• Horror Shark

  A Chinese film

• Ichi the Killer

  A Japanese film

• Dracula

  1930s

• The Wolf Man

  1940s

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers

  1950s

• The Haunting

  1960s

...plus 38 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

World cinema is broad and not everything can be here, but these are my picks!

• The 400 Blows
• Bicycle Thieves
• In the Mood for Love
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Seven Samurai
• The Housemaid
• Pather Panchali
• Where Is the Friend's House?
• Stalker
• Once Were Warriors

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. La Chimera
2. Ghostlight
3. Farewell My Concubine
4. Sing Sing
5. Midnight Cowboy
6. The Heartbreak Kid
7. Janet Planet
8. The Sound of Music
9. Manchester by the Sea
10. That Most Important Thing: Love

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My second favorite franchise of all time, the first Alien is my all-time favorite horror film and I find enjoyment in most of these films despite my ranking. Except Requiem.

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien³
4. Prometheus
5. Alien: Covenant
6. Alien: Romulus
7. Alien Resurrection
8. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
9. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

Every Thursday, I am covering a different A24 film! This ranking list will grow gradually, but will be done in a few years!

1. Moonlight
2. 20th Century Women
3. The Florida Project
4. Lady Bird
5. The Lobster
6. Good Time
7. Swiss Army Man
8. Ex Machina
9. The Witch
10. Room

...plus 54 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Unbreakable
2. The Village
3. Signs
4. The Sixth Sense
5. Trap
6. Old
7. Glass
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. The Happening
10. Split

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Watching Wes Craven’s filmography, I feel like his peaks defined his career. He created multiple franchises that have names that resonate throughout horror, Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, and their impact will last forever. He was always fucked with in most of his creative process most of his career, whether it was Deadly Friend becoming a slasher partway through production or Harvey Weinstein fucking with most of his later films. And then there are just times he missed with full control. Regardless, he was a very creative filmmaker and his highlights will always be important to me.

1. Scream
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street
3. New Nightmare
4. Scream 4
5. Scream 2
6. The People Under the Stairs
7. The Hills Have Eyes
8. Scream 3
9. Deadly Friend
10. Shocker

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Longlegs
2. Ritual
3. Solaris
4. Man with a Movie Camera
5. Dog Day Afternoon
6. This Closeness
7. Giants and Toys
8. A Page of Madness
9. Muriel's Wedding
10. Between the Lines

...plus 47 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As people are aware by now, I love queer cinema, and every Pride (end of May to mid-July), I aspire to consume queer movies at a higher frequency than I normally do. This year, my planned watches are largely new to cross off a lot of films I have planned to watch for literal years. The list will be edited as the order changes and as I add on more films!

• Tropical Malady
• Am I OK?
• MnM
• Girl Blunt
• Gauze
• Wonders
• Grace
• Hold On To Me
• Sis
• The First Omen

...plus 97 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Fire
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
3. Volver
4. Dressed in Blue
5. Rope
6. Thelma
7. In a Violent Nature
8. The Devil's Bath
9. Fancy Dance
10. Rize

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Carol
2. May December
3. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
4. Safe
5. Far from Heaven
6. Poison
7. Velvet Goldmine
8. Dark Waters
9. I'm Not There
10. Wonderstruck

Gregg Araki is easily one of the best queer directors who has just never been given any credit. He has such a unique approach to film and how he writes dialogue, directs his cast, evokes a unique, chaotic style, and critiques heterosexism and makes queerness the norm. He is easily in my top 10, I truly love this man.

1. Mysterious Skin
2. Nowhere
3. The Doom Generation
4. Smiley Face
5. Totally F***ed Up
6. Kaboom
7. The Living End
8. Splendor
9. Three Bewildered People in the Night
10. The Long Weekend (O' Despair)

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I really love Nolan’s films, so this is very difficult. They all have impeccable direction, just some of the actors are naturally weaker than others or the writing is weaker. Still love them all.

• Oppenheimer
• The Prestige
• The Dark Knight
• Tenet
• Memento
• Batman Begins
• Inception
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Interstellar
• Dunkirk

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. I Saw the TV Glow
2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
3. Tropical Malady
4. Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds
5. Secret Mall Apartment
6. Evil Does Not Exist
7. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
8. Butt Boy
9. Chime
10. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The Reboot Trilogy of these are among some of the my favorities and after seeing the original and the Tim Burton film in high school, I figured it was time to visit the other films and rank them!

1. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
2. War for the Planet of the Apes
3. Planet of the Apes
4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
6. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
7. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
8. Beneath the Planet of the Apes
9. Battle for the Planet of the Apes
10. Planet of the Apes

Hey ya’ll, I’m attending the Maryland Film Festival from May 2nd to May 5th, 2024 and here is the slate films I picked out! And below are some of the special events planned that I have selected!

Opening Night Screening: Luther: Never Too Much
John Waters Presents: Butt Boy
Silent Film w/ Live Orchestra: Body and Soul
And a series of Trans Shorts selected by Lilly Wachowski (!!!!!!) and Mickey R. Mahoney

• Luther: Never Too Much
• The Hypnosis
• Smoking Tigers
• A Photographic Memory
• Butt Boy
• Welcome Space Brothers
• When Morning Comes
• You're Invited to Tuscan's 5th Birthday Party!
• Booger
• Here with You

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Challengers
2. Police Story
3. of Endearment
4. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
5. The People's Joker
6. S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
7. The First Omen
8. North by Northwest
9. Monkey Man
10. Chocolat

...plus 44 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Here a list of films that carry the vibes of the Resident Evil movies in many different ways! And yes, the inclusions of Resident Evil 7 and 8 expand this list quite a bit.

• Barbarian
• Abigail
• 28 Days Later
• Night of the Living Dead
• Sweet Home
• The Evil Dead
• Dawn of the Dead
• The Return of the Living Dead
• The Fly
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This feels like an absurd list to make, but considering people may want to tackle watching these boxsets and feel daunted, this may help them decide which box set to check out first! This will be updated as I continue watching!

1. Taipei Story
2. Chess of the Wind
3. Oh, Sun
4. Revenge
5. The Housemaid
6. Insiang
7. Pixote
8. Mysterious Object at Noon
9. Lucía
10. Touki Bouki

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Perfect Days
2. Birth
3. Hundreds of Beavers
4. Little Forest
5. The Devils
6. Love Lies Bleeding
7. Problemista
8. Chess of the Wind
9. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
10. Robot Dreams

...plus 33 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This month, I am attempting to consciously watch more films from female directors and I want to document them here!

• The Blue Caftan
• Age of Panic
• American Splendor
• Little Forest
• Love Lies Bleeding
• Sometimes I Think About Dying
• Mean Girls
• Capernaum
• Drunktown's Finest
• Cocoon

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Generative AI has no place in film, no matter the use, no matter the size of a project. If the use is small, then fix it! And if you have suggestions for the list, please drop them down below!

• Huesera: The Bone Woman
• Incantation
• One Cut of the Dead
• We're All Going to the World's Fair
• The Outwaters
• Resurrection
• Hatching
• History of the Occult
• Censor
• You Won't Be Alone

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Dune: Part Two
2. The Hours
3. This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection
4. Oh, Sun
5. The Last Detail
6. Saint Omer
7. Drylongso
8. How to Have Sex
9. Eve's Bayou
10. Hit Man

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.