Ganrly ass kills, really great pacing, good acting, good characters, good shots… I felt like I was watching an actual movie! Marginally better than the last of us season 2

This is lowkey the best one

One of the worst things I’ve ever watched. Marginally worse than the last of us season 2.

This one’s not as tight as the first one and despite being shorter it somehow drags and is nowhere near as engaging and also has worse acting and a worse story.

Okay now that that’s out of the way let’s keep talking about the Last of Us S2!

I really like Isabela Merced. She is a phenomenal actress and I hope she gets getting work and she really embodies the character of Dina. I don’t like where they’re going with her in the latest episodes but it’s not enough to completely ruin her like they have been with Ellie. 

Speaking of Ellie, I also really like Bella Ramsey. They are a phenomenal actor and they’re doing their best with the material they’re given. Unfortunately, the writers of this show do not understand the characters, their motives, or what drives them. This is truest for Ellie, but I discussed that in this review.

Pedro Pascal is also phenomenal and I’m really excited for this flashback episode on Sunday. Obviously he’s an incredible actor, and he really embodies Joel. I hope we get to really see the tenderness and care that Joel shows toward Ellie this Sunday. Show Joel and Game Joel so far have been the closest to each other, and I really love it.

Now - I am all for adaptations. I am no stranger to adaptations that completely alter their source material, especially when the end result ends up being better than the source material (How To Train Your Dragon, for instance). BUT. Season 2 of the show is aiming to tell the same story of the game and is failing. The game works because of how it’s told, and the show has butchered it, changing character’s entire personalities and motivations to fit some bizarro narrative that doesn’t fit into the story the game told. It’s breaking my heart.

Anyway I might write more on TLoUS2 when I watch THE Final Destination or I might not, we’ll see. I also wanna do a YouTube video comparing the two. We’ll see

Completely unrelated to the movie which I think is fine and a good starting point for a franchise but the last of us s2 is literally so dogshit compared to the game it’s almost unbelievable.

Like my mom’s loving the show, absolutely loving it, and I’m so so so happy that somebody gets to experience the story like this, but it isn’t the story they should be experiencing.

They’re absolutely butchering the character of Ellie to the point where she’s unrecognizable from the game’s character. I like Bella Ramsey a lot, they’re great, but… they aren’t Ellie. Ellie is vengeful, full of hate, and acts impulsively on it, lashing out against people in her pursuit of revenge. One of those people is Dina. In the game, Dina’s pregnancy is seen as a hindrance to Ellie, and she berates Dina for it. In the show, Ellie celebrates instead. Ellie doesn’t feel like she has any driving force behind her, propelling her forward on her brutal quest to kill Abby. Instead, Show Dina propels Show Ellie to seek revenge, egging her on instead of warning her against it. Game Dina goes so far as to give Game Ellie an ultimatum - Ellie can choose between revenge and Dina. She makes her choice, and Dina leaves. Right now, it feels like there is nothing stopping Show Dina from leaving. It feels like they’re going to get their happy ending and Ellie won’t stand to lose anything from seeking her revenge.

Choosing to tell the story with Abby’s motivations already at the forefront of audience’s minds is also a baffling decision. It works so well in the game because we know nothing about Abby. She’s just a woman who brutally murders the man we played as for the entire first game. The player’s blind hatred for Abby mirrors that of Ellie’s, and the two seek the same. It isn’t until we’ve played as Ellie, tearing through waves of enemies to get to our singular goal of Abby, that we switch sides and play as the woman we - and Ellie - hate so much. Then we come to understand Abby’s side of the story: she killed Joel because he killed her father. After hours upon hours of hating her for one reason, we are forced to find a reason to be sympathetic. It’s this length that it takes to get to this point that feels so rewarding, and the show spoils it within the first two minutes. It is a baffling choice; the audience doesn’t feel the same emotion as they would by playing the game, and I feel robbed for them.

Another issue is the death of Joel and the overall design of this second season. In the game, Joel dies in an absolutely brutal way, getting his skull bashed in with the head of a golf club in an absolutely disgusting, foggy, and dark basement. He dies in the dark. In the show, the room is strangely bright. There’s no atmosphere; it reads visually like a normal cheery day at noon. Bella Ramsey gives an amazing performance, as does Pedro Pascal, but there’s something so bright about it. It’s strange, as is the rest of the design. The sets around the characters are great, but the clothes the characters wear, as well as their gear, is mostly so sanitized and clean it doesn’t feel like they’re in an apocalypse at all. The game is filthy, vile, and rancid. In the show, they’re never dirty, greasy or grimy. It’s so weird.

It feels like Naughty Dog is afraid of their own story.

I don’t know, this is just my two cents, and I have a lot more problems (and also things I like) but it’s late as hell and it’s taken too long to write this already so I’m headed out. See yall tomorrow for Final Destination 2, 4 and 5

Hype moments and aura are not enough to save this dogshit movie. If I was a studio executive I would not have greenlit the third movie. Thankfully, I am not a studio executive. But goddamn this is so rough.

Pretty rough opening twenty minutes followed by a near-flawless hour twenty. So sharply edited and shot it’s almost unbelievable. Happy Mother’s Day!

“How can that be profitable for Frito-Lay?”

Guy who’s only seen Bad Boys II: “getting a lot of Bad Boys II vibes from this one”

Why the fuck is this so damn hard to follow I’m so serious

Mission: Impossible - Ranked

Pretty disturbing in all respect

Been waiting for this for fucking years now and haven’t been this hyped for a marvel movie since legit endgame. Don’t know why I was so excited for this of all things but I was. And to my great pleasure… I really really really really really really really fucking loved it. I think I’m too much of a pussy to give it five stars but goddamn I have a new favorite MCU movie. Made me tear up multiple times and actually felt like a real movie with real themes and real characters and real dialogue and a real director and not just a Kevin-Feige-shadow-directed excuse for a “movie” like the past few Multiverse saga outings have been (GotG3 excluded, of COURSE). See this asap. #WILL be watching again

Oh and it was Lily’s first MCU movie she saw on opening day! :)

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

Extremely messy first act, boring second act, decent third act. Idk I just can’t really get over how all over the place this movie is. They fucked up my taskmaster four times!!

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

What kills me is that this movie could have like broken ground. Make it based off of the game, but shoot different versions of it, like Clue, and send them to theaters. Make it feel like you’re choosing a different path each time you watch the movie. But nope! Let’s do a time loop movie! Felt way too long and made me want to kill myself. Lazy, uninspired, boring, predictable. Has good gore though

And that’s that. Lily and I have officially finished the Infinity Saga!! This is a pretty solid end to the saga, serving more as an epilogue than anything, but it manages to balance a lot of tones pretty well. It may not be a perfect spider man movie (his reliance on stark tech peaks in this movie, I like the more grounded and self reliant Spider-Man of course) but it’s still a solid movie. Nerds make this seem a lot worse than it is, especially with that banger of a third act

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

Pretty much dogshit across the board. Very few redeeming qualities, be it the baffling choice to CGI everything, the godawful dialogue, the horrendous acting, the nonsensical story, the list goes on. But that’s the charm ain’t it?

Pretty much a perfect send off to the first generation of MCU heroes but obviously given my four stars I don’t think it’s a perfect movie but goddammit those last thirty minutes make me cry so hard

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

Oh so it isn’t as good as I okay

This shit is so unbelievably good except for that rowing scene what the fuck was that

Holy peak this was so fucking good. So thematically rich it’s a little overwhelming at points but it balances everything so carefully that the viewer is never too burdened by what the movie’s asking you. Never misses a beat and never missteps. I think if I saw this in IMAX I’d never stop talking about it. Absolutely incredible film.

TLDR:  It’s kind of like if From Dusk Till Dawn was a good movie.

Really well made documentary about one of the best games ever made, but it definitely feels a little bit at times like Naughty Dog stroking themselves off with some of the ways they talk about themselves. They also didn’t talk about the music of the game at all? Didn’t make any sense. Other than that this is really well done and I really need to replay the game methinks

Does nothing and goes pretty much nowhere. This only made a billion because of the endgame hype

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

This movie is SO long holy shit. Paced awfully, acted terribly, looks abysmal, shit story, worse characters… it’s a melting pot of just awful shit. Unfortunately the first person action scene is like half a good idea

Not aggressively bad but feels like it’s not even trying to be good. Such a nothing movie it’s kind of pathetic

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

Probably the best Star Wars movie and certainly the best looking. A stark reminder that big, blockbuster movies can actually look really good!! The fact that this came out only a few months before the far inferior looking Infinity War (environmentally, at least) is insane. Up there visually with Avatar: The Way of Water, which might actually be the best looking movie ever. Luke’s aura is unmatched

Tried justifying a 4.5 rating again but there’s quite literally nothing I would change about it and it makes me want to cry so fuck it five stars

Babies can like movies too <3

Remarkable that this exists and even crazier that Endgame follows it. Usually Lily talks a lot during these movies but after Loki died she locked tf in and I think that this movie’s ability to do that is a testament to its many strengths

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

Again fun but doesn’t add much

One of the best reviews I’ve ever read. What a beautiful movie, cannot be understated how influential and perfectly crafted this is

I will forever stand by the fact that the third act of this movie did not need to be a big CGI battle slop fest and should have been a simple fight between T’Challa and Erik but the movie is still really good so whatever

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

They’re normal ass Miami cops and they sneak an army into Cuba Michael Bay I love you I love you I love you

Cried a couple times. Overrated as fuck though. Would be better if it were live action and had a post credits scene connecting it to the other studio Ghibli movies

Fun but not the movie everyone hypes it up to be

Michael and Lily Watch the MCU!

Not just the best Denis movie, not just the best movie of the 2000s, not just the best sci-fi movie, but probably the best movie ever made. Such a feat of filmmaking that it’s almost unbelievable it’s real. If Dune Messiah is half as good as this is, it’ll still be damn near perfect.

“Lead them to paradise.”

I keep bouncing between 4.5 and 5 for this movie but I think I finallyyyyyy settled on 4.5 for this movie

I think if this happened to me I’d kill myself

Listen I’ve watched this movie four times now, if you wanna see a review go read those, but I have some incredible news. I bought a 65 inch LG B4 OLED for Lily and I along with an LGS70TY soundbar and a Sony 4k player and wow. This was the first movie I watched with the 4K player (A Quiet Place was the first movie I watched on the TV), and with the soundbar and everything it looked and sounded just incredible. I’ve been missing out on such a rich viewing experience for my movies I almost can’t believe it. I’m so happy that I get to watch all my stuff like this now, if you can get an OLED please god get one. Best invention in the history of humanity I think

This is absolutely awful, true retro slop in the vein of Superman 4 or catwoman, but the memories montage is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and I did almost cry

I’m gonna say it having a baby during this bullshit is crazy

Kind of like this year’s Furiosa in the sense that no one will watch it but it’s one of the best things that will come out of 2025

It’s just… so peak…

Idk this one’s just not as engaging or strong for me as the other two are. But hey it’s got two Severance actors in it so

Michael and Lily watch the MCU!

1. Princess Mononoke
2. Grave of the Fireflies
3. The Boy and the Heron
4. Spirited Away
5. Howl's Moving Castle

1. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
2. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
3. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
4. Mission: Impossible
5. Mission: Impossible III
6. Mission: Impossible II

1. Sinners
2. Mickey 17
3. Thunderbolts*
4. Together
5. Final Destination Bloodlines
6. Companion
7. Captain America: Brave New World
8. Until Dawn
9. A Minecraft Movie

• Final Destination Bloodlines
• Final Destination 5
• Final Destination 3
• Final Destination
• Final Destination 2
• The Final Destination

Only correct answers

1. Dune: Part Two
2. Everything Everywhere All at Once
3. Uncut Gems
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. How to Train Your Dragon
6. Akira
7. Come and See
8. Seven Samurai
9. First Reformed
10. Parasite

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

Mine and Lily’s Criterion Collection, sorted by spine numbers, which are in the notes.

• Seven Samurai

  2

• The Silence of the Lambs

  13

• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

  175

• Night and Fog

  197

• Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

  432

• House

  539

• Blow Out

  562

• Godzilla

  594

• Repo Man

  654

• City Lights

  680

...plus 32 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I had a list for this made a while back, but now that I’m showing the MCU to Lily, I figured I may as well make a new one and update it as we watch the movies!

1. Thunderbolts*
2. Avengers: Infinity War
3. Avengers: Endgame
4. Guardians of the Galaxy
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6. The Avengers
7. Iron Man 3
8. Black Panther
9. Iron Man
10. Captain America: Civil War

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

My take on Star Wars :3

• The Empire Strikes Back
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

Hell yeah!!!!!

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Perfect Blue
3. Whiplash
4. Hereditary
5. House
6. Aftersun
7. Shrek 2
8. Past Lives
9. Get Out
10. Pride & Prejudice

...plus 152 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

To be on the list, movies/limited series must have had a theatrical or streaming release in 2024. Festival premieres do not count.

1. Dune: Part Two
2. The Substance
3. Challengers
4. Anora
5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
6. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
7. Transformers One
8. Longlegs
9. Alien: Romulus
10. Love Lies Bleeding

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

• Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

  Incel

• Touch Me

  Incel

• V/H/S: Viral

  Incel

• Serpico

  Chud

• Beau Is Afraid

  Chud

• First Reformed

  Incel

• Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion

  Chud/incel overlap

• Alien Resurrection

  Babies

• Superbad

  Chud

• The Sadness

  Incel

...plus 101 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My favorite subgenre of horror… ranked!

1. Creep 2
2. Cloverfield
3. [REC]
4. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
5. The Visit
6. The Blair Witch Project
7. Creep
8. Lake Mungo
9. V/H/S/2
10. Spree

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

To be on the list list, movies/limited series must have had a theatrical or streaming release in 2023. Festival premieres do not count.

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
2. Oppenheimer
3. John Wick: Chapter 4
4. Past Lives
5. The Holdovers
6. The Zone of Interest
7. Bottoms
8. Godzilla Minus One
9. Talk to Me
10. Killers of the Flower Moon

...plus 132 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Alien Romulus inspired me to rewatch the Alien franchise for the first time in seven years…

• Alien
• Aliens
• Alien: Romulus
• Alien: Covenant
• Prometheus
• Alien³
• Alien Resurrection

All of the A24 movies, ranked. Updated as I (gradually) chip away at them.

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Uncut Gems
3. First Reformed
4. Hereditary
5. Moonlight
6. Aftersun
7. Midsommar
8. The Lighthouse
9. The Zone of Interest
10. Past Lives

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

1. V/H/S/2
2. V/H/S
3. V/H/S: Viral

The king (he has two good movies) of modern day horror

1. Hereditary
2. Midsommar
3. Beau Is Afraid
4. Munchausen
5. C'est la Vie
6. Herman’s Cure-All Tonic
7. Beau
8. Basically
9. The Strange Thing About the Johnsons
10. The Turtle's Head

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

1. Evil Dead II
2. The Evil Dead
3. Army of Darkness
4. Evil Dead Rise
5. Evil Dead

Objective fact

1. A Christmas Story
2. A Charlie Brown Christmas
3. Die Hard
4. Klaus
5. Black Christmas
6. It's a Wonderful Life
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
8. Elf
9. Home Alone
10. Miracle on 34th Street

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

• Saw X
• Saw

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Asteroid City
3. The French Dispatch
4. Isle of Dogs

What have I gotten myself into

1. Furious 7
2. Fast Five
3. The Fast and the Furious
4. Fast & Furious 6
5. Fast X
6. 2 Fast 2 Furious
7. The Fate of the Furious
8. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
9. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
10. Fast & Furious

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

Includes movies that got a wide release in 2022 (ex. The Black Phone)

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Aftersun
3. The Northman
4. RRR
5. Ice Merchants
6. TÁR
7. Nope
8. The Banshees of Inisherin
9. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
10. Women Talking

...plus 105 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I LOVE SCREAM!!! (Not 3)

1. Scream
2. Scream VI
3. Scream
4. Scream 2
5. Scream 4

   Tied with 2

6. Scream 3

All of the movies in the Rocky franchise, ranked

1. Rocky
2. Creed III
3. Creed
4. Rocky II
5. Creed II
6. Rocky Balboa
7. Rocky IV
8. Rocky III
9. Rocky V