4o3v2h

I can finally rest peacefully now that I know where "I'm your huckleberry" originates from.

Val Kilmer is the big standout here. Such an incredible, zany, and magnetic performance delivered by a masterful presence. The production design was also top-tier and the final scene in the snow was stunning.

I live about 2 hours from Tombstone, Arizona and I can't say this moved the needle enough for me to take the tourist trek.

I need to watch more Westerns, recommend me your favorite below!

Tony Todd's send-off has to immediately climb into all-timer territory considering how beautiful and poignant the final scene we see of him in this franchise, and subsequently life and career, monologuing on the beauty of life and complexity of death. What a legend.

Beyond that, this may be recency bias but this is the best of the franchise! One of the rare modern horror films that tackles generational trauma without wanting to pull your hair out. Characters you grow to love and care about blended with gnarly kills. The most plotty of the franchise, which due to careful writing and genuinely fantastic performances all around this no-name ensemble cast turns out to be a delight that I already cannot wait to see again.

2025 Ranked

Final Destination Ranked

Probably the closest a movie has ever felt to a video game (for me). From the character interactions and dialogue to the way we navigate from scene to scene, it felt like I was thrust into a maximalist, multiple-perspective narrative with a controller in hand as I switch between Gray Alys and Boyce as we climb deeper into the Lost Lands.

Love the way this looks. It has a grit and flair to it that is tangible. While I cannot say it is the most coherent film, as I found myself turned around a few times by its lore, I was so deeply immersed in this that I couldn't help but just want more by the time the credits rolled.
  
2025 Ranked

Everyone is saying Fight or Flight is Bullet Train on a plane and I am very disappointed to report that there could not be a more accurate description.

100% a movie, like Bullet Train, that will either strike you as a silly, fun time or an aggressively annoying chore depending on your mood going into it. The low-budget, direct-to-streaming feel is apparent in every scene, although that is a bit of its charm. A predictable, cartoonish action movie with a plot as old as films themselves. Hartnett has enough juice to keep it compelling enough for it to be watchable, as well as some of the pure, unfiltered ridiculousness of it all.

Oppenheimer, Trap, and Black Mirror have the Hartnettasissance rolling full steam ahead, and now we get him blonde. We really are spoiled, even if this is the worst project of his recent work.

2025 Ranked

I saw a tweet saying The Monkey is far superior to any of the Final Destination films and, as a massive fan of that franchise, the bait worked, even against my better judgment seeing my mutuals' ratings. I just want that random twitter to be banned from ever getting to see Final Destination: Bloodlines, you have lost your privileges.

Completely lackluster in of character work and creativity, but worst of all just plain annoying. There were two microscopic nuggets presented that had the potential to move me, one about death and the other about Perkins' relationship to his parents, but both ended up being complete nothing-burgers. Shock value over storytelling. A couple scenes were fun, but this quickly turned into a chore to finish.

2025 Ranked

I will forever cherish Nightcrawler for being such a foundational film in my journey to falling deeper in love with movies (and for introducing me to Riz Ahmed). The rush I felt after seeing this for the very first time and wanting to immediately bring everyone I know to go see it just so I could watch their reactions and chat about it with them afterward is a high that I have been chasing ever since.

Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic in this, don't let the over-saturated clip-farming of the mirror-screaming scene fool you. Hard to imagine if this prime Jake G era didn't produce any Oscar nominations that none will probably ever come.

Florence Pugh is such a special actress. Whether its drama, horror, or superhero movies, she is always able to be a chameleon and adapt, giving it her all and stealing the thunder every time.

Thunderbolts* is a welcome sense of new, crisp energy for a beyond-stagnated MCU. I am most impressed with how this film was able to make characters who are usually afterthoughts or 3rd tier players in their previous appearances in shows or movies and make them feel human and make me care about them. It is also impressive that this maintains a feeling of being a grounded, character-driven project while simultaneously bringing multiple major ramifications for the future of the MCU ahead.

The best and worst thing about Thunderbolts* is that it feels so singular from what the MCU has been providing audiences these past few years. As much of a breath of fresh air as this feels, it felt so different that I find it hard to believe the projects in their pipeline will match it. We will just have to wait and see.

Made me happy, made me sad, but most of all it made me cautiously optimistic.

2025 Ranked

No Paul King and no Sally Hawkins meant Paddington in Peru was already starting at a major disadvantage, but when I saw Hayley Atwell and Olivia Colman I locked tf back in.

Undeniably my least favorite of the trilogy, but there is still abundant charm, a nicely bow-tied conclusion, and the exact type of emotional punch you want to hit as any Paddington film surely enough delivers.

Bears are cute.

2025 Ranked

I hate myself for saying this but the movie would have been better with a symbiote as a side-kick.

My first Gareth Evans film, still have embarrassingly not seen either of The Raid films. The sauce is undeniable in his action filmmaking ability and there is a clear, distinct flair to Havoc that has me wanting to latch on and experience more, but this narrative itself is paper-thin and overflowing with tropes.

I swear nightclub shootout/brawl settings calls to action filmmakers like the Green Goblin mask. Nothing about this seedy underbelly of crime and corruption felt original, rather it egregiously felt like a world and story that is many, many times overused at this point.

I love Tom Hardy and this is another fun performance from him. Timothy Olyphant is over-acting his ass off (complimentary), but the rest of the crew is quite uneven. Narratively a bit of a slog but visually and audibly infectious.

2025 Ranked

The sun is setting, times are changing. The town you grew up in just ain't what it used to be. Everyone is always in such a hurry; the church bell tower is calling you home. You've got work bright and early in the morning, but tonight, for one last night, we have a baseball game to play.

2025 Ranked

While I do think Tropic Thunder's incendiary comedy and cancellable material is rooted in satire and a commentary on Hollywood's complicated history and present, I still really don't see any way this could reasonably get made today and ESPECIALLY can't see a world where Robert Downey Jr. in blackface as Kirk Lazarus not only gets Oscar-nominated for Best ing Actor, but is the one and only Oscar nomination the film receives. But in retrospect, he really did go all out for this performance.

Side-note: Jack Black used to be special, man.

Every single time I rewatch this it makes me want to book a spontaneous trip and chase life, and sometimes we could all use a bit of that energy. Iceland and Greenland have never looked more beautiful.

Sneakily one of the greatest film soundtracks ever curated. Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men will always be incredible and matches the tone of the film perfectly, and the Major Tom needle drop reaching a crescendo just as Walter grabs onto the helicopter never fails to fire me up.

It is neat to rewatch this after now watching Severance to see just how many ideas were really starting to formulate within Ben Stiller back when he directed this. A man going to work a thankless job who constantly lives an "other life" inside of his own head that is a completely different and separate person, and the desire to unite the two separate personalities to become one.

Probably Quentin Tarantino's favorite opening scene in cinematic history.

A mostly fine film that overstays its runtime and never bubbles over as extraordinarily as I expected, but the performances are so damn great (and Kubrick is obviously so beyond capable) that I was still hanging on every scene, every word.

James Mason is fantastic as this pathetic loser of a pedophile, regaling his life story as if he is some sorry victim. Much of where Kubrick's genius in this adaptation comes into play is in the contradiction between the words of the voice-over monologue and how Professor Humbert is framed. A sorry manchild addicted to owning any and every bit of Lolita. While James Mason serves up an A+, Peter Sellers was really one of our greatest. No matter how capable a cast he stood alongside, anytime he entered a scene he completely steals every ounce of energy, making it feel as if he is a professional amongst amateurs. What a force.

Stanley Kubrick Ranked

Works exceptionally well as a showcase for Michael Douglas but compared to other works of Oliver Stone I have seen, this left me with the least to chew on. Surprisingly cut and dry. Now I still enjoyed the film, my expectations may have just been a bit too high. I have an affinity for film, TV, or literature diving into the filthy swamp of Wall Street and big business, so that was already a winning proposition here.

The film gripped me throughout in its rags to riches to rags nature, a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, newly minted big dog seeing what it's like to get in far over your head. The film ends just too cleanly for me. In reality, crooks pull off deals like this every week and even if they are caught, they hardly get a slap on the wrist in most cases. Wall Street is a battle of evil people and you have to root for who is less evil, even if they also deserve far worse than what they get? That's the nature of Wall Street itself, I guess.

Casting Charlie and Martin Sheen as in-film father-and-son was an interesting creative decision that could have worked so well for adding to the emotion of the climax of the film, but surprisingly the emotional elements between the two felt forced and stiff. Maybe not the most surprising given their actual lives.

Ultimately, I found this quite hollow but I still enjoyed it as just a raw piece of entertainment and for Michael Douglas.

So many scenes will be seared in my brain for a long, long time (the toilet, the baby, the ceiling, the bed sheets, just to name a few). The screams of that scene will be ringing in my ears for a while as well.

Ewan McGregor is ferociously committed. I am seriously impressed with how much is packed into these 90 minutes. When you think your addiction only impacts yourself, you could not be more wrong. A devastating, kinetic film with the rhythm of a heat-seeking missile.

Visually this is a feast, as well. These images will be just as memorable for the way they are shot as they will be for their intense subject matter. I still stand firm as a big fan of everything Danny Boyle has done (I have not seen Yesterday and I know that will probably ruin that statement).

This has gone unwatched for far too long and I am very glad it is now off my watchlist.

For I have seen God face to face in this IMAX theater tonight, and his name is Ryan Coogler.

Just an electric theater going experience full of soul and overflowing with sauce. Music and culture transcend generations, and this film will be no different. A rare and beautiful instance where every single person on screen and behind the scenes being perfect in their roles, destined to be a part of Sinners. 

Romantic, rich in culture and history, tragic. I do think the film is ham-handed in its exposition and really explicitly over-explains its themes, but I just simply don’t care because i was levitating in that theater and think this is truly masterful art that I want injected into my veins, bitten into my neck. 

2025 Ranked

I have been seeing way too many hilarious classic SpongeBob clips on my Twitted feed so I figured I would throw this on while I finished the work day.

Can’t not recommend this enough. SpongeBob was never meant to have graphics like this. And like 7 too many musical numbers. What happened to the game I love.

2025 Ranked

I don’t think I have ever leaned further forward in my seat and locked in harder than I did for the final hour Sinners. 

A beautifully bold blend of music and the mystical in an outrageously entertaining, thematically dense thrill ride. A love letter to blues with musical performance piercing the veil through life and death, generations past, present, and beyond.

From the production design and the costume design to the cinematography and the score, Sinners is a whole-hearted, immersive experience that sucks you into this world and doesn’t let you go until the credits roll (well, beyond the credits actually). Michael B. Jordan is enthralling in his dual-performance but really the entire cast is perfectly curated, with Jack O’Connell maybe being my favorite of the bunch.

Ryan Coogler’s ion for filmmaking oozes out from every single frame and Ludwig Göransson continues to plead his case as the most exciting contemporary film composer. An electric collection of originality fusing together to make a film worthy of going to the movies and witnessing on the largest screen and loudest speakers possible.

This is such a bold film full of risks that beyond the thrills has so many layers to it that a second watch is certainly required for me to digest everything Coogler is bringing to the table here and stew on longer. Ryan Coogler’s first original feature film and surely not the last. Let’s let this man cook as ferociously and expeditiously as he pleases on his original ideas and get blank checks from here on out.

2025 Ranked

Hot take: Stanley Kubrick knew how to make great motion pictures. 

Stanley Kubrick Ranked

Nothing new to the humanoid-robo genre. Questioning sentience and the definition of humanity. The desire for control and ownership. The desperation for companionship with an equal incessant need to be in complete command. Autonomous without autonomy. Ending was cool and fun, at least. Big fan of this Sophie Thatcher. 

2025 Ranked

I will always open my eyes and ears to a reflective work told by someone nearing the end of their life. An introspective and explicit demystification of legend and legacy. A 4th Quarter confessional mulling over life, arrogance, and ego. The total disregard for people, places, and experiences that enter and exit your story. 

An equally earnest yet cynical contemplation on life. Stories and memories that become textual fact. Deceit and impurity. The race to clear a conscience. 

One of the more beautifully curated soundtracks in recent memory. A perfect performance from Richard Gere balanced by a sturdy counterpart performance in Jacob Elordi. Uma Thurman is really the only one who had me saying “you go girl, give us nothing!” but other than that I found myself completely immersed in Oh, Canada. 

Based on most my mutuals ratings I guess this is a heavily disliked movie. Oh well. At first glance I can see this feeling like a minor work from Schrader, but I think this is anything but.

A stylish, overflowing science-fiction exploration of predestination, destiny, and free will brought to life through Spielberg's brilliance and Tom Cruise's undeniable presence to helm a project as packed and powerful as this. Tangibly feels so early 2000s in such a complimentary way. A film so ambitious that it could have easily fallen completely to bits, but Spielberg is able to take a fascinating premise and actually deliver the substance and meat to fruitfully bring it to life on screen.

Bombastic side-eye to all of you rating this highly. An intriguing premise with a first act that properly gets you on the edge of your seat before it devolves into corny tropes, cliché, and nonsense. That’s called being Blumhoused. 

The Green Bay Packers farm lottery movie is officially the better Brandon Sklenar picture of big ‘25. 

2025 Ranked

2SS Callister - In2 Infinity

Kept thinking about Severance the whole time.

Paul Giamatti deserves the world. Relationships are messy, memory is messy, what a heartbreaking episode. 

Cry counter from Riley is up to 3 out of 5 episodes this season now.

Will Poulter is inescapable. 

I’d die for the throng.

Black Mirror is a dystopian science-fiction cautionary tale at its core, but damn do they know how to knock romantic stories out of the park.

A full boar exploration of generative AI in art. 

3 episodes into the new season, 2 of them have made my fiancée cry (multiple times).

Alexa, play Clair de Lune

Big episode for fans of organs (the instrument not the body parts). 

Meh episode overall.

I don’t the last time Black Mirror was so character-driven in its narrative. Multiple macabre dystopian realities are at play in this debut episode of Season 7, but at its core this is an emotional character study of the survival of a loving relationship.

A critique of the healthcare system, the gig economy, and arrogant tech companies (the irony of this being on Netflix isn’t lost on me). Kind of an all-timer episode to kick off the season. Expertly acted and beautifully written. Heartbreaking and terrifying. So much packed in without ever feeling overwhelming. 

Beginning the new season with a lot of optimism for the rest yet to come!

Early contender for dad movie of the year, with a cast full of 'hey look, it's that guy!'s

Rami Malek has never really moved the needle for me, and I can't really say The Amateur has moved the needle at all, but I had fun with this overly-long revenge-for-wife spy thriller. A niche genre that has become beyond tired, but there is enough here to inject life into this iteration.

Far better in its parts than as a whole. There are multiple scenes that are pretty awesome, and the lengths he goes to execute his targets are almost Final Destination>-esque. I am a sucker for some good high-tech, super-spy, coder-dude action. This just overstayed its welcome quite a bit.

2025 Ranked

Wrap it up, folks. The Oscar for Best Sound is already being engraved.

A claustrophobic and harrowing 90 minutes that puts you right in the middle of what seemed to be a very typical day and very typical mission. Beginning with a group of bright-eyed young men dancing and thrusting along to Eric Prydz Call on Me, the reality of the moment quickly evaporates any semblance of tranquility and the soldiers, the civilians, and the viewer never return back to that peace the remainder of the film.

I believe the state of discourse in film criticism around military and political films is beyond dire at the moment. Hardly anyone has the fortitude or resolve to provide any semblance of meaningful criticism. I severely question the intelligence of anybody writing this film off as another propaganda film (especially if they haven’t even seen it.) Not a moment in this film glorifies war for anyone voluntarily or involuntarily involved. This film is anti-war through and through, providing not only a horrifying recollection of an excruciating, bloody day turned nightmare, but by furthermore showing the senseless impact and destruction causes to the cities in Iraq and the families who inhabit them. There is literally a moment where the family of the home repeatedly scream “WHY!” and the family, soldiers, and viewer alike are left with the same question and no answers. A senseless war that Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland put us square in the middle of, leaving us to question the meaning of it all. I really disliked Civil War and was hyper-critical of its lack of commentary on really anything going on in the film, but that approach worked for me in Warfare far more, and the perspective of veteran Ray Mendoza at the helm is a perspective that is very much worth engaging with. The only way anyone can say Warfare is not anti-war or just another military propaganda film is if they truly believe that no film depicting the military can truly ever be anti-war or anti-military (which I think in and of itself is a discussion that would be worth exploring further). 

Warfare is a suffocating film. You feel as though you are sitting in that room, part of the mission, struggling for breathe and begging for immediate evacuation. The sound design is amongst the best and most brilliant I have ever experienced. Mendoza and Garland’s direction of this amplified chaos with no reprieve creates an experience that you will not soon forget. Imagery that will sear in your mind, sound that will ring in your ears. Really impressive stuff.

I went into this on high-alert after Civil War worried it would be more of the same. It is not, and I was wrong about anything and everything I expected this movie to be. 

2025 Ranked

If you could go back in time to save hundreds of lives, what lengths would you go to? Tony Scott's post-Katrina science-fiction reflective is one I put off for far too long.

Defining this film in one world is as simple as "cool". The time travel and wormhole subset of science-fiction can so easily fall into tropes or resort to being all too generic and familiar, but Déjà Vu was such a breath of fresh air.

Setting the film up as a critique on the state of over-surveillance to suddenly flipping the narrative on its head as the fantastical emerges unfolds so brilliantly in this screenplay. Furthermore, Tony Scott just makes beautiful films. Tangible, stunning, brimming with color.

Denzel Washington is a force as always and commands such an imposing screen presence here that it really is unfair for Paula Patton as the target/love interest and Jim Caviezel as the villain because they both fail to carry their weight when sharing the frame.

It is crazy to look back 20 years ago at the state of the film industry compared to now, as this film features Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer yet barely cracked Top 50 at the box office on the year, meanwhile this feels like the type of film we are starved from now in the 2020s.

A race-against-the-clock commentary on modern capitalism. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, digging yourself out of a hole just to find yourself in an even bigger one. The endless toll that suffocating debt, a crippled job market, and existing paycheck-to-paycheck with no end in sight takes on a person's mental and emotional health, relationships. Thematically dense but told comedically with many necessary uplifting moments and optimism.

A movie I come away with thinking is just perfectly fine. Elevated by a few moments but never reached the heights I was wishing for.

2025 Ranked

Lost a couple years of my life when Jack Black said "first we mine, then we craft, let's Minecraft!"

I went into this expecting one of the worst movies ever made. While it missed the mark on that front, I have no doubt in my mind this is making a zillion dollars. The kids in the theater were big fans and had a great time, and I can easily see this being a quotable, rewatchable screen adaptation of their favorite game that surely is going to foster a few spin-offs or sequels.

There was an opportunity to make something good out of this. They set the table for a storyline with Henry through commentary on video games and how they offer a realm for escapism and poses the opportunity to foster community, but they didn't dig any deeper than just the surface.
 
I should've known with Jack Black as the lead that there would be ample singing from him throughout this movie... a shame, really. It felt obvious they were trying to recreate the thunder from "Peaches" but failed miserably. I think there are quite a few one-liners that will stick, though. It's a shame Jack Black and Jason Momoa are such vacuums for any and all energy within a room.

I can sit here and say the rhetorical: for the amount of money this cost to make, the slop should have been at least more palatable even if it is designed for children. Kids deserve good slop, too!

Was not expecting a Jennifer Coolidge reference to 2001's Legally Blonde from A Minecraft Movie but I certainly snapped at the screen like Leo when she mentioned a dog in the middle of her unhappy marriage from 20 years ago.

2025 Ranked

They had no business going this hard. After the abomination that was the fourth film, the Final Destination franchise had NO BUSINESS turning in a fifth installment that is this superb. From the evil, meticulous kills, to the deepest dive the franchise has gone yet to cheat the pattern of deaths, to the very ending scene, Final Destination 5 is a masterclass of tension and subverting expectations. I haven't felt the way I felt in the last few minutes of this movie since I saw Babylon for the first time in theaters. Some of these kills will stick with me for a long, long time.

Bring on Bloodlines!

Deeply uninterested in everything about this movie, unfortunately. Not even trying to be a hater, just wasn't for me. Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd are... fine. Would have happily taken more Will Poulter. The majority of the interesting moments occurring at night with such muddy lighting made for a visual slog.

Was not aided by a mom bringing two children in strollers to this movie and having them cry the entire time. Traumatizing stuff for a kid to see, I empathize with them!

2025 Ranked

Without exaggeration, one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. This makes The Electric State look like pure cinema. I always forget that anytime you watch a populist movie from the late 2000s that you are always at risk of seeing some of the absolute ugliest things you have ever seen in your life just so they could upsell you 3-D glasses to watch stuff pop out at your face.

Truly horrible CGI and visual effects, by a million miles the ugliest of the franchise, by just as many miles the worst acted of the franchise, and creatively the most bankrupt as well. Yikes.

Easily the most nostalgic of the franchise as I owned this on DVD as a kid and went through the phase of initially being terrified of it to then having it become a classic fun watch with friends throughout high school. I am almost POSITIVE the DVD had a choose-your-own-death option. I explicitly the McKinley guy being able to either be smashed or cut in half. Maybe I am making that up, but regardless this movie will forever be engrained in my childhood brain.

Something my childhood self never appreciated, though, is how much sauce this one has. Split diopter shots, sinister transitions. Some genuine craft on top of creative kills and one of the more talented casts assembled for these movies. Hard to not have a fun time with these movies if you are in the right mind for them.

Was not expecting to see Cory Monteith, rest in peace.

One of the most memorable opening scenes in cinematic history. Every single person who has seen this movie thinks twice when trailing a semi on a highway. I haven’t seen this since I was a kid, but even I will never forget that. That’s called impact and staying power.

Iconic opening scene, batshit third act, and a ridiculously silly final moment. If it didn’t get so lost for the middle chunk of the movie this one could’ve been so special.

My experience watching this:

1. Oh, so the title Final Destination is a riff on the final destination of the plane from the beginning of this movie that started the franchise. Makes so much sense now.

2. Holy shit, Seann William Scott is in this?
(bonus experience when looking up his name to make sure I got it right: holy shit, there are two N's in Seann?)

3. Wait the movie ended with like half of them surviving?

4. Oh, nevermind

Such a ridiculous (complimentary) movie.

P.S. Everyone is so Twilight-coded in this

So often the kitchen-genre falls into the trope of just being nothing but chaotic screaming in each other's faces (I still love The Bear) that results in a product that feels reminiscent of a Hollywood-polished version of Hell's Kitchen. Boiling Point is far from that. While possessing its fair share of yelling, the amount of depth given to every single character in this restaurant, staff or patron, in just 90 minutes is nothing short of masterful.

We endure a suffocating immersion into the life and mind of Andy Jones (Stephen Graham) in a tension-laced tea kettle as his life and career collapse. Very reminiscent of Locke in its treatment of Stephen Graham like Tom Hardy, but unlike Locke, every character here gets its full service.

And it would be wrong to review Boiling Point without applauding its production. Filmed in just a couple days in just 4 takes, this oner of a film straps you in from the second the restaurant doors open to the moment Jones is finally able to feel peace, even if that doesn't come in the way you'd expect.

A younger brother’s search for acceptance. Mortal enemies on the outside, but a deep down yearn for acknowledgment and appreciation from his elder. Navigating friendships, budding romances, and the never-ending awkwardness that is adolescence. Enjoyed this far more than I expected.

Crazy thar Rodrick’s band flopped so hard that he was sent off to Los Alamos.

Imitated by many, but all fail to capture the tension, chills, and lightning-in-a-bottle performances that harmonize to create this masterpiece. A procedural thriller that has inspired all that have come after it. Much has rightfully been said about Hopkins' insane performance, but Jodie Foster is the real ace for me here. Overflowing with detail. The camerawork and score hold hands as the stress becomes unbearable. Special film.

This review may contain spoilers.

Just a reminder that you do not need to go out and see Magazine Dreams nor Jonathan Majors as every new bit of information that releases makes him further indefensible. I saw this at Sundance when it premiered and it is just Taxi Driver rehashed once again. The music video Stan by Eminem in a bodybuilder font.

Majors plays an obsessed bodybuilder who idolizes a legend and writes him letters with no response. He closes off society and normalcy to do nothing but train as a bodybuilder. The movie builds towards him finally confronting his idol who never wrote back. I think you can all pretty much imagine the entire film now and how it goes just from those few lines.

Majors is solid in this, but there really is no reason for you to go out and see this.

2025 Ranked

Completely overwhelmed by this. A sobering plunge into the sewers that are the breeding grounds for disturbed and dangerous ideologies fueled by social media and the manosphere. When tragedy strikes adolescents, so often people clamor for their parent’s heads as the responsible party. Adolescence is an immersion into the parasitic relationship between youth and false prophets preying on their feeble minds. How the internet is jet fuel for bullying. How one’s decay and devolution into completely losing touch with reality and society can be so much more subtle, gradual, and universal than you would ever care to believe. Quiet, in the shadows, but ever-breeding. One of the most important works of our time. A must watch for all new parents and teachers. The act, the case, these people are presented without judgment, told exactly as it exists, leaving us to analyze for ourselves the level of blame, discover how we would feel in the parents’ shoes. You could always have done more. How do you carry on? Can you carry on? Should you carry on? I’m so glad something like this exists and that it was executed with such class and proper gravity.

Stephen Graham is exceptional, but goodness I can’t believe this is Owen Cooper’s first acting gig. A generational child performance. His ability to elucidate such polar personalities and steer a scene is beyond impressive, and something I would have only expected out of a classically trained veteran actor. 

4 oner episodes with devastating performances. A home run by everyone involved, right down to the very end.

The tides are turning. Rock & Roll is in danger, society is shifting. The genre we adore is under attack. A band loses themselves, a traveler can't find herself, and a young journalist-in-the-making gets a crash course on life, love, and identity. A pinnacle for coming-of-age filmmaking materialized through a cast of outrageous firepower. Incredible vibes paired with ample substance. Touching and endearing, funny and enthralling. A true they-don't-make-them-like-they-used-to film, which really is the crux of what Almost Famous is all about. Philip Seymour Hoffman is eternally special.

Your bag too black, your presence too strong, releasing two good movies in theaters within two months, they'll KILL you Steven Soderbergh!

2025 Ranked

Surprisingly a first watch for me, and unfortunately a disappointing one at that. Matt Damon is as great as expected as this superhuman science experiment of a badass while also delivering every line exceptionally, treating this as an Oscar-worthy drama when it plays as a campy action movie. Unfortunately, Frankie Potente as Marie delivers one of the worst acting performances I have seen in a long, long time, and this is coming from someone who watched The Electric State a few hours ago. A forced, vacuous, jarring performance that renders any emotional beat or consequential moment null and void. 

Still had fun with the camp, even though I did not expect it from this at all. The man throwing himself off the balcony to avoid interrogation is awesome. I normally love Chris Cooper, but even him in this was sour. It just felt like Matt Damon was delivering his fastball in his prime within a very fun espionage action film meanwhile everyone else around him signed up for a campy parody.

Can’t say I’m intrigued in continuing the series, but I could be swayed. The action and the Liman of it all still moved me, and I’ll never be disappointed in Damon.

The Electric State cost $320 million to make, which means The Russo Brothers could have given every American $1 million each instead of making this movie. 

2025 Ranked

What has often been described as a slow-burn could not be any different from my reality with Barry Lyndon. A 3-hour motion painting that whizzes by. A kinetic tale of class ascension through scheme, sleaze, and sex echoed in magnitude by a calamitous decline through greed and mania. As exciting to follow his upswing as it is satisfying to see it catch up to him. Some real characters enter and exit Barry’s life that have such a quirkiness to them that it leaves you grinning from ear-to-ear. Not to mention that this is arguably the best any film has ever looked. Any words I even attempt to put to paper to describe the multitude of landscapes, frames, and colors would do no justice. A true work of genius. The rise and fall of one Redmond Barry Lyndon. 

Kubrick filmography binge is in full force.

Stanley Kubrick Ranked

1. Sinners
2. Mickey 17
3. The Ballad of Wallis Island
4. Final Destination Bloodlines
5. Eephus
6. Warfare
7. Thunderbolts*
8. Presence
9. In the Lost Lands
10. Black Bag

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Final Destination Bloodlines
2. Final Destination 3
3. Final Destination 5
4. Final Destination 2
5. Final Destination
6. The Final Destination

1. Spider-Man 2
2. Spider-Man
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
4. Spider-Man 3
5. The Amazing Spider-Man
6. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
7. Spider-Man: No Way Home
8. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
9. Spider-Man: Far From Home
10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

1. Barry Lyndon
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
3. The Killing
4. Lolita

1. Black Mirror: San Junipero
2. Black Mirror: White Christmas
3. Black Mirror: USS Callister
4. Black Mirror: The Entire History of You
5. Black Mirror: Be Right Back
6. Black Mirror: Nosedive
7. Black Mirror: Playtest
8. Black Mirror: Shut Up and Dance
9. Black Mirror: Common People
10. Black Mirror: White Bear

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

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

These Odds are Determined by Kalshi Betting Markets

Current Best Picture Odds:
Anora - 66%
Conclave - 21%
The Brutalist - 13%

Current Best Actor Odds:
Adrien Brody - 69%
Timothee Chalamet - 30%

Current Best Actress Odds:
Demi Moore - 65%
Mikey Madison - 29%

Bet on the Oscars and see all current odds and more with Kalshi

1. Nickel Boys
2. Sing Sing
3. Dune: Part Two
4. A Different Man
5. I'm Still Here
6. The Brutalist
7. Memoir of a Snail
8. A Real Pain
9. Better Man
10. The Apprentice

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

Ranking all the 2024 releases I watch. Criteria for eligibility on this list is based on what year it is eligible for awards.

1. Challengers
2. Nickel Boys
3. Trap
4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
5. Sing Sing
6. Dune: Part Two
7. A Different Man
8. The Count of Monte Cristo
9. Juror #2
10. Queer

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

Won the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics Choice, DGA, & PGA

• American Beauty
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Slumdog Millionaire
• The Artist
• Argo
• Nomadland
• Oppenheimer

Ranking all the 2023 releases I watched. Criteria for eligibility on this list is based on what year it is eligible for awards.

1. Oppenheimer
2. The Holdovers
3. Perfect Days
4. The Zone of Interest
5. The Iron Claw
6. Asteroid City
7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
8. May December
9. Godzilla Minus One
10. STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie

...plus 228 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

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

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

Ranking all the 2022 releases I see from best to worst.

1. Babylon
2. Aftersun
3. Everything Everywhere All at Once
4. Bones and All
5. On the Count of Three
6. The Batman
7. Decision to Leave
8. The Banshees of Inisherin
9. RRR
10. The Fabelmans

...plus 159 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
4. The Hateful Eight
5. Reservoir Dogs
6. Pulp Fiction
7. Django Unchained
8. Jackie Brown
9. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
10. Death Proof

L Niño

1. Challengers
2. Queer
3. Call Me by Your Name
4. Bones and All
5. A Bigger Splash
6. Suspiria
7. I Am Love
8. The Protagonists
9. Melissa P.

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Heat
• Swiss Army Man
• Manchester by the Sea
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
• Beautiful Boy
• Her
• A Ghost Story
• The Conjuring

...plus 82 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Oppenheimer
2. Tenet
3. The Prestige
4. Inception
5. Interstellar
6. Dunkirk
7. Memento
8. Batman Begins
9. The Dark Knight
10. The Dark Knight Rises

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

• Good Will Hunting
• American History X
• Magnolia
• Requiem for a Dream
• Mulholland Drive
• Signs
• Oldboy
• The Village
• Brokeback Mountain
• The Prestige

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

1. Alien
2. Blade Runner
3. Thelma & Louise
4. Gladiator
5. The Duellists
6. The Martian
7. Black Hawk Down
8. Napoleon
9. House of Gucci
10. Robin Hood

My favorite film from each year of the 21st century, including the year 2000 because I’m not a nerd.

• Requiem for a Dream
• Mulholland Drive
• Signs
• Oldboy
• The Village
• Brokeback Mountain
• The Prestige
• There Will Be Blood
• Mamma Mia!
• Coraline

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranking all the A24 films I have seen.

1. Aftersun
2. First Cow
3. Moonlight
4. Hereditary
5. The Zone of Interest
6. The Iron Claw
7. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
8. Problemista
9. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
10. Uncut Gems

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

All Pixar films ranked.

1. Coco
2. Ratatouille
3. The Incredibles
4. Inside Out
5. Toy Story 3
6. Toy Story 2
7. Toy Story
8. Luca
9. Up
10. Finding Nemo

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Richard Linklater Ranked

1. Boyhood
2. Before Sunrise
3. Before Midnight
4. Slacker
5. Before Sunset
6. Everybody Wants Some!!
7. Dazed and Confused
8. School of Rock
9. Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
10. Hit Man

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Prisoners
2. Dune
3. Dune: Part Two
4. Sicario
5. Enemy
6. Arrival
7. Incendies
8. Blade Runner 2049
9. August 32nd on Earth
10. Polytechnique

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

1. Planet of the Apes
2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
4. War for the Planet of the Apes
5. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
6. Rise of 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

May the 4th be with you.

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
3. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
4. Star Wars
5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
6. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
7. Return of the Jedi
8. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
9. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
10. Solo: A Star Wars Story

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

Ranking me.

1. La La Land
2. Drive
3. Song to Song
4. Lars and the Real Girl
5. Blue Valentine
6. Blade Runner 2049
7. Crazy, Stupid, Love.
8. The Nice Guys
9. The Place Beyond the Pines
10. First Man

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranking all the winners of Best Picture at the Oscars.

1. The Godfather
2. Titanic
3. No Country for Old Men
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
5. Oppenheimer
6. Parasite
7. The Departed
8. Amadeus
9. Schindler's List
10. The Silence of the Lambs

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