Everything I Watched in 2024
106 Movies, 7 Limited Series & 25 Seasons of Television
BABYLON (2022)
The first half of this movie is so good; there’s no other way to put it. There are several lengthy scenes that feel like brilliant short films, going through a full story arc, raising the tension with every passing minute, building the drama up to a climactic crescendo that has you smiling at the screen, admiring the magic of cinema.
I think this film is going to be one I find myself revisiting often, and enjoying more with every viewing. It’s such an easy three hours. It’s a joy to experience, even in its lulls in the second half, as the movie business that has giveth to these characters begins to taketh away.
Previously Reviewed on January 8, 2023
LA LA LAND (2016)
I think it’s time for me to seriously consider calling this my favorite movie of all time. It checks all of the boxes for me — the aspiring artists, the setting, the romance, the comedy, the musical elements, the bittersweet ending, and other boxes I’d probably need a therapist to help point out for me. I just love it so much, everything about it.
Previously Reviewed on August 28, 2022
SALTBURN (2023)
Oliver mentions at the end of the film that people who don’t come from upper-class society have to work for everything they get, shining a spotlight on the class dynamics at play in this story. However, this “work” that he puts in downright undercuts that message. This isn’t somebody down on his luck. This isn’t a sympathetic lower-class citizen trying to do what he can to make ends meet. This is a full-blown psychopath doing psychotic things left, right, and center — getting more unhinged by the minute.
All of the above made for an incredibly entertaining two hours or so, however — not to mention the cinematography was so gorgeous I felt the need to pause the film to just admire the shots on screen for a moment or two longer. So, if nothing else, this film certainly kept me watching with rapt attention the whole way through.
MEAN GIRLS (2024)
If this was marketed as a musical, I would have seen it sooner. I went in expecting a mildly entertaining couple hours with a bunch of attractive people on screen being silly. I got all that, plus some good songs. I call that a successful trip to the cinema.
ALL OR NOTHING: MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (2018)
I watched all 480-ish minutes of this on my first day off since Jim Harbaugh agreed to become the new head coach of my Los Angeles Chargers.
Who’s got it better than us? Nobody!
ZONE OF INTEREST (2023)
One second you’re watching a beautiful family have dinner together or watching a couple laugh together in their beds, then the workaholic patriarch has to step away to ensure all is right with the concentration camps he’s overseeing.
One second you’re listening to birds chirping and kids playing in the garden, then you hear victims of the holocaust screaming from eerily close by, followed by gunshots that bring that screaming to an end.
One second you’re watching a father share a serene moment at a glorious flowing river with his children, then the ashes and bones of incinerated bodies flood the water he’s wading in, forcing him and his family out in a panic.
I can do this all day — I’m not kidding. This film rhythmically lulls you into a sense of comfort with its protagonist family and then bashes you over the head with a reminder of what it is you’re actually watching.
TED LASSO: Season 3 (2023)
By no means am I saying that this final season saw the show fall off a cliff in quality, but when you finish the last episode and let the whole season sit with you for a little while as you collect your thoughts on it, you realize just how big of a misfire it was.
The thing about shows like this, though, is that by the time you reach season three, you’re in for the ride with these characters, even if that ride is rather mediocre. There’s no world where somebody watches the first two phenomenal seasons of this show and then stops watching halfway through this middling final season — those people don’t exist. I can complain about how this season didn’t even sniff the heights of the first two, but all complaints aside, I love these characters and enjoyed spending a little more time with them before their run came to a somewhat premature end.
AMY (2015)
These filmmakers put together a gorgeous timeline tracing the tragic life of one of our generation’s otherworldly talents. Through home videos and interviews, we’re taken down the grim path that saw Amy spiral uncontrollably toward her seemingly inevitable demise.
SCORE: A FILM MUSIC DOCUMENTARY (2016)
As a film score lover, I thoroughly enjoyed this 90-minute documentary whose only goal was to get a bunch of composers together to gush about each other and to gush about this perpetually under-appreciated part of the filmmaking process. This was simply an unadulterated love letter to the art form.
SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984)
This movie really had me in the first third, when we were almost entirely with Samantha. I didn’t notice just how much it was losing me until we reached the climax and I realized I really didn’t care about any of it anymore.
Apropos of nothing, it was during this screening that I learned Netflix has commercials placed throughout a movie’s runtime now. I sat through six commercial breaks while watching this. What a sick world we live in.
Actually, come to think about it, the above statement isn’t apropos of nothing: I can’t imagine getting interrupted by six commercials within ninety minutes is beneficial for the retention of engagement for your film. I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie because it had commercials in its runtime — I’m just saying the commercials certainly didn’t help.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)
I’ve long been fascinated by Ally Sheedy’s character, Allison. The character is interesting and there’s great depth in the performance. She’s strange, certainly, but she’s also an empath, quietly weighed down by the emotions of those around her. There’s pain in her eyes, tears sometimes developing for no good reason whatsoever. The actress brought so much more to the role than the script she was given to work with.
SHOWRUNNERS: THE ART OF RUNNING A TV SHOW (2014)
“It seems to not matter how often you can conquer a writing problem; the next time there’s a writing problem, that becomes the one that will kill you.” Pain.
I don’t remember how many times I watched this before I went to film school. This was one of a few documentaries I chose as my comfort watches as I was learning about what the film and television industry actually looked like.
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN (2017)
It’s not often that I watch a movie nearly 100-minutes long and feel it could’ve used another hour or so added to it. The songs in this are powerful, good enough to keep the movie afloat as that extra time is used to flesh out the characters and their relationships. You can’t flesh out all of them in that time, but this movie desperately needs at least a few of them to be given some depth. The already-great songs would have hit even harder if that time had been taken.
LES MISERABLES (2012)
I don’t care if the vocal performances aren’t of the caliber of Broadway. I don’t care if the filmmaking suffers because the songs need to be filmed live (and the whole film is song after song, opening to close). The story being told here is beautiful, and I will gladly suspend my disbelief so that I can enjoy it being told.
Previously Reviewed on May 17, 2020
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS (2023)
I’ve written and deleted three separate reviews of this film. They were all critical of the storytelling, but they all came to the same conclusion: Sometimes, all a movie needs to be is an entertaining way to kill ninety minutes.
ALMOST FAMOUS (2000)
Some movies really benefit from having a director’s cut — this is certainly one of them. The “Bootleg Cut” adds about forty minutes to the runtime, and honestly, it just felt right. You don’t hit play on this film to follow a rip-roaring plot. You hit play on this film to hang out with William, Penny, and the band. That extra time with them is quality time.
Previously Reviewed on April 15, 2023
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (2007)
If this macabre musical adaptation was helmed by a dozen directors, you’d get a dozen different interpretations, all of which would’ve been inferior to the one we got by this specific director, who got this astounding cast to join him to tell this story for the silver screen. It’s a bloody good fit.
AMERICAN FICTION (2023)
A delightful film with a satirical premise so rock solid that a lot of this story probably felt like it was writing itself. In the hands of a lesser writer, that premise could have felt like a high concept gimmick with no meat to flesh it out. That isn’t what we got here, thankfully. This is a film with a rock solid satirical premise and some heart and soul.
DUNE (2021)
This whole movie feels like a fever dream. The visuals, the sounds, the way the story unfolds — it’s like a dream, like the lucid visions Paul is having all throughout.
It really does feel like the introduction to a fuller story, which is fine when the movie is this mesmerizing to watch. Soon, it’s going to become one of those films you schedule a whole day to watch because it’ll have to be scheduled alongside its sequel for the optimal viewing experience.
Previously Reviewed on October 24, 2021
DUNE: PART TWO (2024)
I would like to just dedicate this review to my feelings toward Dune’s place in the cinematic landscape of the 2020s. This is a blockbuster sequel by one of our greatest living directors. It’s absolutely enormous in scope, but not filled to the brim with battles and fight sequences. It doesn’t reek of studio interference. It takes its time – they didn’t sacrifice the exquisite pacing of the first film to the box office gods; they let the nature of the story decide how snappily the film moved. It dabbles in complex themes and character development. This isn’t a novel thought, I admit, but it bears mentioning here: This franchise feels like the offspring of television titan, Game of Thrones, and cinematic titan, Star Wars. It’s smart, big-budget Sci-Fi/Fantasy that’s being devoured by the masses at record numbers. The first movie gave me hope. The sequel has me praying they stick the landing on this trilogy. I will get on my knees and chant to the heavens like a zealot if I have to – don’t tempt me.
There’s so much to talk about regarding the themes explored in this film, but one that I’d like to briefly touch on here is the idea that if a belief system is ingrained within a people, everything they see and hear and feel will be seen, heard, and felt as proof in favor of that belief system – even if the things they’re seeing, hearing, feeling would be experienced as proof to the contrary by the unindoctrinated. In theory (and in practice, I suppose), this sort of cognitive dissonance keeps the believers hopeful, even when the world around them is falling apart. It will keep them motivated. It will keep them united. It will keep them strong. But as Paul himself bellows in the film, this is not real hope; this is dangerous, blind faith. That said, by the end, Paul needs his people motivated, and he needs them united, and he needs them strong, so this belief system that he was pushing up against for so long will now be the key to the engine of his ambitions. This is just beautiful, tragic storytelling.
THE HOLDOVERS (2023)
This isn’t a movie with characters. These were living, breathing human beings who will forever remember and look back at these three weeks for as long as they may live. The events of this movie are a memory for them now.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (2023)
One benefit of this movie being so long is that it really gets you wondering how long these murders can continue to go on the way that they were. It gets you wondering how in the world this story could be based on true events.
You really feel submerged in Mollie’s dread and helplessness by the two-hour mark. Only then do we see some kind of action being taken. You’re still not hopeful at that point — the first two hours made sure of that.
TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR (2023)
Listen, all I’m saying is that the wrong movie won Best Picture last weekend. I’ll leave it at that.
Previously Reviewed on December 31, 2023
LOVE LIES BLEEDING (2024)
I think there’s a scientific equation I can concoct that represents the dip in how engaging a film is based on how many dead bodies pile up during its runtime. A part of the equation has to include how deep in the runtime the first corpse is presented — I bet the deeper into a movie we get before seeing the first dead body, the steeper the drop-off with each successive corpse.
This is probably redundant at this point, but I’ll say I really enjoyed the first half of this. I was lukewarm on the rest. By the end, I was just glad it wasn’t a longer movie.
ED WOOD (1994)
Edward D. Wood Jr. was named the Worst Director of All Time, but he did it his way and didn’t waver, and he loved every facet of the filmmaking process, taking pride in being the second producer-writer-director in Hollywood.
This was an unadulteratedly joyous film about the unadulterated joy of being a filmmaker.
ENTOURAGE: Complete Series (2011)
This show has always been like crack for me. About once a year, on an evening that sees me struggling to find something to watch, I press play on the first episode of this. What starts as a way to kill time before bed always ends up being the beginning of a weeks-long binge where I watch the entire series from Episode 1 to Episode 96 in record time.
It’s the easiest watch in the world for me. By the time I get to the one genuinely unpleasant season — *cough* seven *cough* — I’m already in too deep to stop there. Especially after all these rewatches, I know that I just need to get through that season, then I can enjoy the show getting back to form for its final eight episodes of the series.
The crazy thing about my attraction toward this show: I just finished the whole series, but I could honestly press play on the first episode tomorrow and happily start it all over.
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (2024)
This is one of those concepts that make you mad, as a writer, for never having thought of this, in some way or another. Lucky for me, as an audience member at the cinema, the filmmakers absolutely lived up to that really cool concept.
The characters have strong motivations and play exceptionally well off each other to mine for conflict. They’re complicated, conflicted, easy to empathize with. The horror is deeply rooted in the setting and the people that are in the room. This story really feels like one that could only unfold in this studio, where the cameras are rolling on these specific people, during sweeps week in October of 1977.
IMMACULATE (2024)
This movie dares to ask: What if the Virgin Mary was a serial killer of religious figures? Sounds like blasphemy, right? But if this was not the will of God, then why did God not stop it?
BABYLON (2023)
My second viewing of this in a very young 2024. It’s swiftly climbing up the list of my favorite films, alongside another Robbie/Pitt led period piece that revolves around Hollywood and runs at about three hours in length.
MONKEY MAN (2024)
40% of this movie is shot in Close Up.
30% of this movie is shot in Medium Close Up.
10% of this movie is shot in Extreme Close Up.
I kept trying to analyze the reasons behind the decision to film the movie like this. Through to the end, I was searching for an explanation rooted in the story being told here. But alas, I was unable to come to a sound conclusion. Add in a healthy dose of shaky-cam and it’s no wonder why I was finding it difficult even deciphering what was being presented on the screen half the time.
DUNE: PART TWO (2024)
I bought a ticket in the back corner of a crowded IMAX screening so that I could experience this film in its full format before the theatrical run crawled to a close. The person who bought the wheelchair companion seat located dead center in the theater was nowhere to be found when the film started. Having already seen this movie, I felt comfortable closely watching that seat with one eye while watching the beginning of the film with the other eye. I respectfully waited fifteen minutes before joyfully snatching that seat and experiencing this masterpiece in the most optimal of viewing conditions. Praise be.
THE DYNASTY: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (2024)
Everybody hated the Patriots in the Tom Brady era — everyone outside of New England, that is. But I’m a die-hard fan of a team that always found itself at the bottom of this team’s boot in the time period being documented here, so Tom Brady’s Patriots were especially frustrating for me. Now that this era is well in the past and my team is officially way better than the New England Patriots, I can enjoy watching a documentary like this and actually appreciate everything it took (the hard work, the struggle, the pain and suffering) for this team to become the most dominant franchise that I will ever see in my lifetime (I hope).
Unless it’s the Chargers who become the most dominant franchise I’ll see in my lifetime — in which case, I’m really looking for Season Two of this exceptional sports documentary.
CIVIL WAR (2024)
I can see people getting upset at the fact that this film wasn’t actually about a Civil War taking place in the United States, given the title of the movie and A24’s marketing efforts. I do, however, quite like the perspective the filmmakers chose to take: It put us on the ground, amid all the chaos and bloodshed, but it didn’t make us follow the soldiers on the field — which would have been the boring choice here. We feel the tension standing in the middle of a war zone alongside our unarmed protagonists. The explosions and gunfire are deafening, and what’s left in their wake is sickening. We feel it all, experiencing it through the eyes of civilians that aren’t trained in combat, through the eyes of people who want to be there, who want to see what they’re seeing, are eager to see what they’re seeing, no matter the costs. They don’t hide. They don’t run away. They want it to happen, so they can capture it. They want to experience it, even if it fucks them up.
DAISY JONES & THE SIX (2023)
I highly recommend people watch this limited series before reading the book if possible. I remember enjoying this quite a bit last year, and I think general audiences would really enjoy this too. It’s a well produced version of the story being told in the novel that shares the same name. That’s the best way I can think of to describe the relationship between this series and the novel that I just finished reading. Watch the show, enjoy it. Then read the book — and because you’ve already watched the show, you’ll enjoy the book even more. The reverse order will not elicit an equivalent response.
This series is an extremely loose adaptation of the novel. The characters share the same names and share similar circumstances, but they are not the same characters — and the relationships between characters are sometimes unrecognizable. The plot of the show shares a few beats with the book, but for the most part, it’s a brand new story, with even the most important beats in the novel being changed to fit this alternate version.
I don’t want to complain about the show because I enjoyed it when I saw it before reading the book, and it was perfectly pleasant on rewatch. I simply want to mention all of the above and leave it at that — because these were the thoughts that were overwhelming me while watching these ten episodes.
Previously Reviewed on April 6, 2023
THE FIRST OMEN (2024)
I love when a major studio film makes me like I’m watching a crafty a low-budget film. Not only because of what I’m seeing done on the screen (and how), but also the steady, patient nature by which the story is being told.
It was distracting how much I was getting tripped out by the similarities between this film and another horror picture that came out just two weeks earlier: Immaculate. It’s astounding, the odds that these two films would come out a fortnight apart. For what it’s worth, I like this one more.
CODA (2021)
Holy shit, that audition scene would have hit so fucking hard if a better movie preceded it. It had so much to say that it didn’t say anything at all. Kudos to Emilia Jones though. She’s the reason this was watchable for me.
ED SHEERAN: THE SUM OF IT ALL (2023)
To me, this film is about the relationship between Cherry and Ed, and my only complaint is that the filmmakers didn’t seem to realize that. And if they did realize that, they didn’t spend enough time diving into it, structuring the story to revolve around it. The structure of this four-part documentary skipped around a few central themes, often lingering on Ed’s grief revolving around the death of one of his best friend in the world. It seems as though the filmmakers thought this was what the film should be about: Pop megastar, Ed Sheeran, traversing his massive career while dealing with tragedies and other hardships. This is promising, but if it were framed more firmly around his relationship with Cherry, it would have been stronger.
I don’t know why I’m rewriting a documentary about Ed Sheeran. Rant over. In the end, I quite enjoyed this docuseries. It felt like less like a documentary released by Disney and more like a behind-the-scenes YouTube video, in all the best ways. There is an incredibly loose style of filmmaking here that makes this a delight to watch.
Ed and Cherry often cut each other off to have a sub-conversation about the main conversation they’re having for the documentary. They’re sometimes distracted mid-interview by something or someone in the setting, and that’s all left in the final product. Sometimes they’re speechless, sitting together in awkward silence. Sometimes, they bicker. Sometimes, they’re clearly biting their tongues due to the fact that there are cameras rolling in their faces. The interviews seem to have been filmed on the fly, as if captured by a person with the couple most of the day, every day. This may have been the case, given the fact that Ed specifically names his videographer as a member of the core team he’s had around him for his whole career, for his whole adult life.
MONEYBALL (2011)
Is this one of the most underrated movies ever? At the very least, if I spent a few hours and made a list, would this be top five most underrated movies released in my lifetime?
They gathered a group of some of Hollywood’s most talented people and, against all odds, somehow made this movie downright electric.
Previously Reviewed in 2022 & 2020
ABIGAIL (2024)
The first act started the movie slowly, considering the marketing already spoiled the premise of the story. The second act was an absolute blast, riding the line of entertaining, gory silliness, keeping the audience guessing on how the story might unfold next. The third act of this film is where the story slips off of that line it was riding — it gets very messy, very fast (that is not a gore reference, for the record).
This cast elevates the film through the fun parts and keeps its heart beating through the mediocre sections — Alisha Weir was exceptionally great in her vampire form.
CHALLENGERS (2024)
I’m a sucker for a good setup/payoff, and this movie has a great one. It was excellently executed. They dragged out the payoff long enough for the entire audience to pick up on what was about to happen. The tension in the delayed catharsis made my heart pound in my chest.
The direction was sexy. The editing was sexy. The music was sexy. The actors were sexy. The performances were sexy. This movie was carried by the sexiness of all of the above. In the end, I just found myself wishing there was a bit more depth (either emotionally or thematically) in the story being told.
ALIEN (1979)
If there’s only one thing that I have in common with somebody living in 1979, it’s that we both got to first experience Ridley Scott’s classic science-fiction horror picture in a cinema, on the big screen.
BONES AND ALL (2022)
Let me tell you, this is the exact combination of fucked-up and beautiful that turns me on in my own writing. I absolutely adored this film.
The first forty or so minutes of this movie slipped its claws so far into me that nothing short of a cannibal storming into my room with an eight-foot long braid of hairs from his victims swaying over his shoulder could have pulled me out of this story.
THE FALL GUY (2024)
I was so prepared to write a quirky on-brand review saying that this film started off so hot and then fell off a cliff after the Taylor Swift song. I loved everything leading up to All Too Well so much that I thought, surely, the film will fall off a cliff once the inciting incident arrived and our stuntman protagonist set off on his journey.
I’ve left the cinema pleasantly surprised for two reasons: Firstly, my quirky on-brand review proved to be false but I was still able to use it because I thought of a quirky way to frame the original review so it still works. The second reason is that my premature review proved to be false; this movie is a lot of fun — Gosling and Blunt were delightful.
STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)
Hear me out: Delete every single frame that contains Jar Jar Binks from the edit and take the L on the gaps that leaves behind. Has anybody on the internet already done this?
I don’t think I’ve rewatched this movie as an adult. The number one element that stood out to me (other than the above abomination of a character) was just how likable Anakin is in this movie — they did a good job introducing the character we’d watch evolve in this trilogy.
I also found it interesting (not in a pleasant way) how little we knew about Darth Maul before the fates of our protagonists were placed in his palms during this story’s climactic sequence.
FALLOUT: Season 1 (2024)
As a show adapted from a popular video, you’d think this would be heavy in the plot department. There’s about three episodes worth of plot in this season. What makes this more than a show adapted from a video game, what makes this a story well told, is the fact that it is wholeheartedly character-driven.
The layers that each of the characters have been given is really quite impressive. They’re emotionally grounded in reality, not larger than life in this Sci-Fi setting; they’re human beings — even the one that looks like a monster. The depth of the character development is shown in the decisions they have to make, in the ways that their decisions are informed by the places they come from, the things that they’ve been through. The morality of this post-apocalyptic world is complicated, but their humanity is burning so bright with every move they make, no matter how horrendous.
I SAW THE TV GLOW (2024)
I fear I watched this at the exact right (wrong) time in my life. A movie has never done what this movie just did to me; I damn near had a panic attack in that theater.
The first 70% of this had me questioning why people loved it so much. It had me ready to say this just wasn’t for me. Then it all clicked in the final 30% and absolutely ruined me. I was filled with so much existential dread that I dare say this was probably the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2024)
At this stage in the game, I’m just really glad this wasn’t a money grab, looking to milk audiences with another trilogy, leveraging the popularity of the previous trilogy. This actually feels like the opposite of a money grab blockbuster in a lot of ways. The movie is almost two and a half hours long, but it’s not lazily action-packed by any stretch of the imagination — most of that runtime is slow and steady. That played a big part in making this an admirable introduction to this new story, many generations after Caesar.
THE FALL GUY (2024)
On second watch, I loved the quiet moments more and the loud moments less, which tracks with my general taste in stories. I do think, however, they did a good job balancing a lot of elements here. The romance feels great. The comedy is genuinely funny — Gosling continues to prove he’s money in that aspect. The action is required to showcase the stunt-performers, but doesn’t take up so much of the runtime that I would pitch this as an action movie to a friend. The climax felt like a bit much for me, but I could argue that’s the point, given what I just said regarding the stunts. Overall, this is an excellent big-budget popcorn flick, made to be experienced at the cinema.
TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN (2024)
I read the book when it came out in 2017, so needless to say, it’s been a hot minute since I was exposed to this story. There’s no doubt that fact worked in this adaptation’s favor. I was never comparing the book to the movie. I was just familiar enough with its contents to enhance the experience. I’ve always loved John Green’s stories, so it had a leg up by default.
That said, I thought this was endearing in all the ways you’d hope it would be. It was also excruciating in all the ways a story like this should be — it’s so hard to watch Aza suffer. When the movie is giving you butterflies or when it’s making you squirm, it’s Isabela Merced steering the ship — she was nothing short of extraordinary in this.
X-MEN ‘97: Season 1 (2024)
Modern animated shows aimed at adults have spoiled me with their deep character development and artistry in animation. Because of that, every time I go into a new animated series now, I place the bar at an unachievable height. My lack of enthusiasm for this is unfair, because the show is what the show is, and therefore shouldn’t be judged as something that it’s not. I guess, at the end of the day, what the show is was not for me. Like I said, I’ve been spoiled rotten by animated series as of late.
MILLER’S GIRL (2024)
I don’t think this story is at all what it thinks it is. It attempts to ride a fine line, but it’s either too much or not enough — I can’t quite tell. Most of the time, it feels like too much. But then we get a hint of something truly interesting, and that makes me feel like it didn’t reach far enough into the crazy.
HAZBIN HOTEL: Season 1 (2024)
Take adult animation (which has quickly become one of my favorite forms of storytelling), mix in a healthy dose of musicals (which has long been one of my favorite forms of storytelling), toss in a heap of flawed characters who are cursed by their circumstances, add in some comedy and some genuine heart, shake it all up and you get the first season of this exceptional new show.
FURIOSA (2024)
Shoutout to Alyla Browne for carrying the whole beginning of this film, as it is devoid of the actress on all of the promotional material. The chapters with Furiosa as a child hinted at what would be this film’s biggest, most pleasant surprise for me: a focus on character development.
This takes way more time and space on character and worldbuilding than I expected to see, it being a follow-up to Fury Road. The 2015 film feels richer and fuller now that this prequel exists. In terms of what you’d expect to see based on its predecessor, this movie absolutely delivers in a big way when the motors are revving and dust is kicking up.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)
I was preparing to rewatch this film after seeing Furiosa when I saw that George Miller declared Black & Chrome is the best version of this movie. I can now attest to that being an exceptional viewing experience. The close-ups of faces and the night scenes were especially suited for black and white — just so beautiful to look at.
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 (2024)
I have a theory that this is Hollywood’s first attempt to deliver a movie written and directed by artificial intelligence. They hired a familiar actress and rebooted a previously successful IP in order to get people into the theater to test the market. Worse, they’re making it a trilogy to get a decent sample size for their experiment.
All jokes aside, there was only one interesting choice made in this entire movie. The rest really and truly could have been generated by GPT-4.
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (2018)
My familiarity with this film combined with the ever-improving viewing experiences on airplanes these days made this the ideal way to kill most of the time on a short flight from New York to Miami.
Previously Reviewed on July 4, 2023
WONDER WOMAN (2017)
The relationship between this movie’s setting and stakes does a lot of the heavy lifting toward making this one of the better films to come out of DC to date. It’s thematically strong, with interesting side characters who have their own motivations and act of their own accord. I’m consistently pleased with the amount of time this film takes to set up those side characters, the setting, and Diana before finally letting Wonder Woman go to work — decisions like that shows a commitment to good storytelling and that should be applauded.
Previously Reviewed on March 17, 2021
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (2007)
I’ve been fighting the urge to reread all the books for a couple weeks now (I don’t have the time), so I figured I’d scratch that itch by picking up where I left off with the movies this past December. I imagine this series of films will be cycled through, more or less in order, until I’m dead.
Previously Reviewed on July 9, 2020
CHALLENGERS (2024)
On first watch, I recognized that the characters were uniquely flawed, and that made them quite engaging. On rewatch, I realized that their flaws make them all uniquely pathetic, and that makes watching them torture each other even more pleasurable. In a movie so closely following a sport, all parties are losers, in some form or fashion.
Previously Reviewed on April 27, 2024
LOVE & MERCY (2014)
The film opens on Paul Dano’s Brian saying, “Sometimes it scares me to think where it’s coming from, you know? Like there’s someone else inside there, not me. Well, what if I lose it and never get it back? What would I do then?”
This serves as every creative’s worst fear, said by one of the great creatives in music from the 60’s. Those words also serve as an exquisitely-worded grim piece of foreshadowing for where this story and its protagonist would go over the next two hours.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017)
I haven’t seen this movie since I watched it in theaters (seven years ago apparently), and I don’t remember what my thoughts on it were back then, but this really didn’t hit for me this time around. To be fair, the MCU fatigue had certainly kicked in between viewings. Maybe that’s why the only elements I actually moderately enjoyed here were the “Peter Parker being in a 1980’s teen movie” parts.
HIT MAN (2024)
It’s fresh, it’s smart, it’s sexy, it keeps you guessing (and therefore, it keeps you engaged). It’s funny when it wants to be. It’s suspenseful when it needs to be. I’m glad this movie is getting the attention it deserves as a straight-to-streamer release.
INSIDE OUT (2015)
I don’t mean to sound hyperbolic, but I think this is an example of the art form operating at peak capacity. Why do we watch movies? Why do we consume art? Why do we tell stories? I think this film answers all those questions.
Previously Reviewed on April 13, 2020
INSIDE OUT 2 (2024)
I think this movie’s biggest strength is also its greatest weakness. Anxiety was in this movie as she is in real life: Completely all-consuming. I’ll start by saying that they probably couldn’t have executed that character any better than they did — truly excellent work by everyone involved with bringing her to life. That said, the other characters (and the overall story) suffered by the fact that she was the end-all-be-all for this movie’s existence.
I’m really conflicted about this, because I do think it’s a good movie. It tells the story of the hockey trip where Riley was introduced to and overwhelmed by anxiety. This film tells that singular story of those three days, then rolls the credits. A part of me just wants more from the sequel to that 2015 masterpiece. Another part of me feels like there was so much left on the table to explore in terms of how complicated and complex emotions get for kid’s entering puberty — all lines of exploration were cut down by the potent force that is Anxiety.
If this was called Inside Out: Anxiety and ended up being the second in what would be five or six Inside Out movies, then I would like it so much more. But as Inside Out 2, the sequel nine years in the making, it left a lot to be desired.
HITCHCOCK (2012)
This feels a lot like one of those star-studded Netflix Original movies that don’t appear in theaters and don’t go for the awards. It’s tonally strange, narratively uneven, but it’s also an easy watch dipping into a subject near and dear to those smitten by the cinematic arts.
LIAR LIAR (1997)
A person must be genuinely detestable to the bone when you can’t tell if they’re a worse human being when they can lie or when they have to tell the truth.
Anyway, not the point. Jim Carrey is remarkable in this 90s classic — his talents on full display here, from beginning to end, through to the credits where we get the bloopers. He’s truly one of a kind, and we’re lucky to have him.
SEINFELD: Complete Series (1998)
This is the show that’s on repeat on my television as I’m getting ready to fall asleep every night. It’s been played on a loop, from pilot to finale, for something like eight years now — and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.
Yes, it’s a comfort show. But it’s also really freakin’ good. Every episode is brilliantly structured. The comedy is genuinely funny. The characters are endlessly entertaining. It’s the perfect sitcom. It was the best in the 90s (the final episode attracting 76.3 million viewers, compared arbitrarily to that of Friends: 52.5), and it’s still the best sitcom to this day.
THE BIKERIDERS (2024)
I was watching this, seeing how cool Austin Butler and Tom Hardy looked, picturing myself being that cool — then Mike Faist kept showing up on screen with his camera, and I’m reminded of the fact that I’m him, not them.
KINDS OF KINDNESS (2024)
You absolutely love to see when a visionary filmmaker earns the right to do absolutely anything ( ! ) he wants following back-to-back critical and commercial successes.
MAXXXINE (2024)
The first two entries in this Maxine Minx trilogy were genuinely special films — Pearl was my favorite movie of 2022. Unfortunately, Ti West lost the plot in the making of this third and final film. Unless this one ages sensationally well somehow, I’m going to henceforth pretend X and Pearl are two parts of a complete duology.
REAR WINDOW (1954)
In my dream life — in a genuine fantasy — I see myself sitting with a beautiful woman (who would become my wife shortly after playfully uttering the words, “Okay, chief. What’s my next assignment?”) as we people-watch for hours on end, day after day.
I want to be L.B. Jefferies when I grow up.
PSYCHO (1960)
A lot is said about how this movie kills off its protagonist a little less than halfway through. That is one of the bigger, more extreme shifts in the film, but it’s only one of many shifts. “Shifts” doesn’t even sound like a strong enough term to describe how this narrative unfolds. “Transforms” feels better — this narrative transforms several times throughout, always keeping the audience on the edge of their seat as the source of the suspense continuously changes, ranging from the benign to the murderous.
LONGLEGS (2024)
You read this movie’s premise (in pursuit of a serial killer, an FBI agent uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to end his terrifying killing spree) and you watch the way the first half of this movie delivered on that premise, then you’d be certain you were sat for a cinematic banger.
Then, the film seems to forget what it was actually good at and devolves into something that thinks it’s getting scarier, but is actually only getting sillier, losing the characters and the story as it slides.
TWISTERS (2024)
Whether I like it or not, when I’m watching a monster movie in the year of our Lord 2024, I find myself wanting to understand the monster’s motivations — or at the very least, I want to get a tiny glimpse into its mind. If there’s a sentient being killing off the people I’m growing attached to on screen, I want to know why.
There lies the beauty of a monster movie where the Big Bad is Mother Nature. I don’t find myself searching for any rhyme or reason for why the characters are being hurt by this monster. Plus, there’s an added element of interest when our characters are actively chasing the monster, as opposed to the monster chasing them. They’re doing so eagerly, and we as the audience aren’t rolling our eyes at the screen, wondering why the people we’re being forced to follow are such idiots. These characters are far from idiots. They fight for the greater good, using tools they’ve ingeniously developed specifically for their enemy: the titular monsters — the twisters.
NORMAL PEOPLE (2020)
I’m a known sucker for a romance where two people who love each other don’t go on to live happily ever after. “We were meant to be, just not made to last” might be my favorite genre of storytelling.
What’s so beautiful about this story is that the main contributing factor toward the couple not working out is the fact that each of the characters’ fatal flaws make the desired outcome utterly impossible. These are two people who love each other deeply, but the way their minds are wired make a happy ending unachievable. A square peg and a circle hole. Their personalities, traumas, everything that makes them who they are, it all acts like a forcefield keeping them apart — or at least, keeping them from living happily ever after. It’s just phenomenal character writing — and I bet the book is even deeper and more layered; I need to get around to reading it.
P.S. The careers of both of these exquisite actors have taken off since this series first aired, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Previously Reviewed on May 4, 2020
PADDINGTON (2014)
Love a children’s movie that can make your heart feel like it’s getting a warm hug while also being a feast for the eyes. It’s delivering a powerful message while also having a lot of fun, being silly while it’s doing it.
PADDINGTON 2 (2017)
It’s a crime that there’s only two Paddington movies — the world is worse off because of it. If there were five of these, I would have spent the day watching every one of them, back to back. To follow such a beautiful soul, such a pure heart, for hours on end would be an absolute joy. There’s feel-good movies, then there’s these.
JOHN WICK (2014)
The film kicks off with his wife dying young, succumbing to a disease — that’s probably enough to get you to root for a protagonist. But then he’s robbed in a home invasion, and the puppy he was gifted by his late wife was murdered in cold blood right before his eyes — that’s certainly enough to empathize with a main character’s motivations.
So with that empathy established, they take his development to the next level: They make him interesting. I think the best thing this movie did was establish the titular character’s place in this world. Criminals fear him, repeatedly referring to him as the Boogeyman. Police see dead bodies in his living room, grin, then leave him be. John Wick is legendary, almost mythical.
This film does all of the above in the first thirty minutes.
DEADPOOL (2016)
Given how successful the opening weekend was for Ryan Reynolds’ fourth outing as Deadpool, it’s really something to revisit this film and remember how hard Reynolds fought to bring this character back to the silver screen, and to bring him back the way he deserved to be presented. They’ve done so much for each other. It’s kind of beautiful.
DEADPOOL 2 (2018)
The first movie was such a breath of fresh air, and that novelty goes a long way in making us think fondly of it. That said, I think this sequel is better in almost every way. It’s more visually appealing — David Leitch is good at this action movie thing. I’d say it’s equally funny. The script is deeper. The characters are much more interesting — Deadpool included, not exclusively (I wonder what Disney will do with Wade’s found family in the third movie).
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE (2024)
As much as I want to ask what are we doing here, it’s tough to be critical when it’s so clear that the folks tasked with making this movie had the time of their lives, and audiences seem to be making it clear that they’ve received what they were hoping for. For those reasons, I’m just really happy for everyone involved.
BATMAN CAPED CRUSADER: Season 1 (2024)
A spiritual successor to the legendary original animated series. We follow Batman as he takes out a new rogue, pretty much on an episode by episode basis, with the help of the good folks over at the Gotham City Police Department. The more popular villains got multiple episodes of development, but I was happy to see that we got a good variety overall in terms of the notoriety of the villains being showcased here.
It’s tonally similar to the original series, if a touch darker. The pace of the episodes notably struck a good balance between staying true to what people are used to getting from the original series, but also making it snappier for the modern age. The animation looks great, and the performances are solid — after finding out Hamish Linklater was voicing Batman, I suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about it (make of that what you will).
THE BATMAN (2022)
This is an effective serial killer movie — the villain is menacing, unpredictable, captivating. It’s an effective mystery — one step forward, two steps back the whole way through. It’s an effective political thriller — corruption within a crumbling Gotham proves the apple is rotten to the core. Most of all, it’s a quintessential Batman movie — this is the closest we’ve gotten to seeing the character from the Arkham games on the silver screen.
Previously Reviewed on March 12, 2022
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON: Season 2 (2024)
The first half of the season (literally, the episodes through the Battle at Rook’s Rest) were spectacular — genuinely as good as Game of Thrones was for most of its run. As a family drama, it was delicious. As a political thriller, it was riveting. The show was firing on all cylinders.
But the tides seemed to turn after that battle at the midpoint of the season. The characters became stagnant, in terms of their physical place in the world but mostly in their development. In turn, the relationships between the characters stopped evolving, becoming stale, or in some cases, ceased altogether. The spark that made the characters interesting in the first half seemed to have died out once the dragons were unleashed.
I can’t help but feel as though they had an enthralling five episode story which they stretched out to fill eight. It’s funny, because this season was shorter than the first season, so clearly they knew what they were working with — but I guess having a season of television last less than eight episodes these days isn’t worth the outrage it would cause among general audiences.
Although this show remained a set appointment every Sunday night, I can’t help but feel disappointed with how this season fizzled out. The first half of it was making me giddy with joy over how good the writing was, how the characters were being developed, and how the relationships were progressing. I hold out hope that the series will continue to do what it’s best at in the future — the story of this season just seemed to be poorly structured.
ALIEN ROMULUS (2024)
I swear, the Costume and HMU departments were flagrantly taunting us over the fact that Cailee Spaeny didn’t get cast as Ellie for HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us. I think Fede might have been in on the trolling too, because he directed a moment between Cailee and Isabela Merced (who plays Dina in the series) where they’re on the ground holding each other, their faces touching.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie. I love the atmosphere and the setting we faded in on. I like how the motivations were set up for our protagonist(s). Once they’re in the ship, the tension and the horror kicks in and remains effective throughout. It was really well paced with evolving threats.
Weirdly, I feel like the fact that this was another installment in the Alien franchise held it back from being really great. Don’t ask me to explain what I mean by this — it’s just a vibe that I caught, and I’m running with it.
LITTLE FISH (2020)
What if Alzheimer’s plagued the population of the world like COVID-19? This quiet, patient film explores what that would look like through the intimate lens of a couple holding on to their love for each other as tight as they can, at the same time steadily losing grip of it and using it to stay afloat.
STRANGE DARLING (2023)
Splitting the story up into chapters usually slows the pace of the film down for me (it periodically reminds me that I’m watching a movie), but this one split the film into chapters so that it could tell the story out of order. This story wouldn’t have worked as well had it been told chronologically — in fact, it might not have worked at all. So kudos to whoever decided to employ the measures taken to ensure this movie hit as hard as it could.
Give me a reason to nerd out about story structure and I will take it and run… The film was well made. It was pleasant to look at — shot on 35mm film, according to the full-screen card we got before the title and credits. The performances were great (especially Willa Fitzgerald). The twists and turns were well placed and well executed. It’s sexy, it’s violent. It’s a good time.
PRISCILLA (2023)
Elvis groomed her from the age of 14, kept her around, kept her interested, had a child by her, all while treating her like a hobby he picked up as a young man and only occasionally showed interest in. She was made to feel like an accessory, a neglected piece of jewelry, an afterthought.
Therein lies the problem: The narrative is so tight on our titular protagonist’s point of view that we as the audience also feel like an afterthought. We’re just sitting around, waiting for Elvis to come home, just like Priscilla is. In the end, this lack of weighty substance made it all feel very anti-climactic, hollow even.
MEAN GIRLS (2004)
This movie is one of pop culture’s darlings, and for good reason. Everybody has seen it, and everybody seems to agree on it — cinephiles and casuals alike.
We’ve seen half of this movie’s runtime in the form of memes and internet trends for almost as long as there have been memes and internet trends. It pierced the millennial zeitgeist in ways so few films have.
YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER (2022)
There’s quite a bit to like here. The filmmakers have a story to tell, and they were earnest in its telling. It seemed to me that almost every part of the telling, however, felt under-cooked. This includes the characters (central and otherwise). This includes the relationships (central and otherwise). Thematically, it leaves a lot to be desired. The dialogue isn’t quite there. The conflict and the tension and the stakes aren’t quite there. The film means well, but it falls flat in far too many categories to be effective.
BEETLEJUICE (1988)
It’s remarkable how fresh this film feels having come out in the late-80s. The script is clever. The score is extraordinary. The performances are delightful, legendary even. The vibrant colors, extravagant production design and practical effects are ingredients for a timeless aesthetic. It’s all so very good.
Six foot! Seven foot! Eight foot bunch!
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (2024)
The seasons are changing and a Tim Burton movie is Tim Burton-ing — the vibes were cozy (for Burton fans) and weird and everything else you’d hope they’d be upon buying your ticket. If you’re hoping for a good movie upon making that purchase, however, I fear you’re asking for too much.
MEAN GIRLS (2024)
The sheer existence of this film seems to be the prevailing criticism of this film. I’m confused by this, because I love musicals, and the original movie wasn’t a musical, and the original musical closed during the pandemic. This key point of difference also means it’s not a remake so similar to the original as to make this movie’s existence pointless. Oh, and Reneé Rapp is the Queen Bee of the Plastics. Many movies with fewer reasons to exist have come out this year.
Previously Reviewed on January 21, 2024
SPEAK NO EVIL (2024)
I guess there’s nothing more dangerous to polite society than a charismatic psychopath. This is a horror movie directed at adults — not for graphic content, but for the fact that it’s us adults that would find ourselves in such a predicament. It’s us adults that would make flimsy small talk with fellow travelers, agree to have lunch with them, develop a wispy friendship with them, all for the sake of being polite — after all, we live in a society.
James McAvoy is extraordinary in this. He’s a master at striking this exact chord. His charisma is overflowing, but behind those eyes at all times is something that ties your stomach in knots.
The first hour of this legitimately had me living on the edge of my seat. Just before the suspense overstayed its welcome, just before the film started to become tiresome, it kicked into the third act, when all hell broke loose. From that point, you can just sit back and watch it all burn.
WHIPLASH (2014)
I vividly remember seeing this movie in theaters when it came out in 2014, so you can imagine how bad it felt to pull up to the cinema to see it on the big screen again for its ten-year anniversary.
A decade has passed since Damien Chazelle announced his arrival to all of Hollywood with this incontrovertible masterpiece. This is just a spectacularly crafted motion picture. The scenes are tight, saying so much with so little. The performances are iconic by now. The themes are well-explored. I’m not saying anything you don’t already know — this film is as good now as it was ten years ago. And I imagine it will be as good in ten years as it is now. I look forward to the bout of depression I’ll be fighting after screening this movie on the big screen for its twentieth anniversary.
TICK, TICK…BOOM! (2021)
I had a hunch this would be true, but I had to do some digging to confirm it: I started logging every movie I watch at the start of 2018, and with this viewing, this film (which released in late-2021) became my second-most rewatched film on record. Obviously 2018 to 2024 isn’t an exhaustive record, but if nothing else, this statistic shows how much this movie means to me.
Previously Reviewed in 2023, 2022 & 2021
LITTLE WOMEN (2019)
This movie contains one of the most heinous acts of terror ever captured on film (the burning of the sole copy of an author’s work in progress), and contains the death of a sweet young girl stricken with an illness she couldn’t shake.
Still, this movie manages to be immensely delightful, carried by characters impressively well-realized considering how many of them this relatively modest runtime is juggling. The performances are magnetic and so full of life — each one is as good as the next, no matter how many lines they had in the script.
It’s a testament to the director, her cast and her crew, that a film was delivered that is just as proficient in warming your heart as it is in breaking it.
Previously Reviewed on January 8, 2020
A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST (2014)
Listen, it’s dumb. It wears its dumbness on its sleeve. So, how can I sit here and criticize the movie for that? What I can criticize the movie for is being as long as it is. There’s absolutely no reason why it’s nearly two hours in runtime. The jokes are funny more often than they’re not, but the story is nothing to write home about. This would have worked exponentially better if a half hour was cut from it.
Shoutout to the sound design team, by the way. I feel like half the laughs this movie got from me wouldn’t have occurred without their work.
THE WILD ROBOT (2024)
It’s common for people to describe great animated children’s movies as “fun for adults too” or something like that. This particular animated children’s movie doesn’t feel like a children’s movie at all — this feels like an animated adults’ movie that can be described as “fun for children too.” This one feels like it was made for the parents in the audience more than the kids they brought with them. New parents are sure to have a ball (bawl?) with this one.
THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR (2020)
Dead doesn’t mean gone.
That tagline is perfect in that it fits the genre, this initially being a story about a haunted house, as stated by the title of the show.
It’s perfect because it explores the idea that the people we love remain with us after they’ve passed, in the memories we still share with them, in the fleeting moments of day-to-day life where we can feel them, sense them.
It also touches on how even though we’re all sentenced to die, many sooner than others, we still have to remember to live in the days that we’ve been gifted with. We’re all dying, but we’re not gone, not yet.
The tagline can be threatening, sure. But it can also be a promise, words of consolation.
Previously Reviewed on October 10, 2020
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018)
“I’ve seen a lot of ghosts… A ghost can be a lot of things: a memory, a daydream, a secret — grief, anger, guilt. Most times, they’re just what we want to see… Most times, a ghost is a wish.”
This moment from the first episode colors every scene of every episode of the series. We watch as memories and secrets take shape within the characters. We see the grief and the anger as it manifests. We witness horrific imagery, and sometimes we wonder if it’s what the characters want to see, deep down, if it’s a wish come to life. But why would they want to see their loved ones like that? Because it’s better than never seeing them again.
It’s remarkable how seeing the characters as children interwoven with scenes of them as adults somehow forces our brains to fill in the gaps on its own, making us feel like we’ve watched a full life drawn from scratch before our eyes. This sketch is never more potent than with the twins, Nell and Luke: Watching them together as children makes seeing them apart as adults so painful. For that reason, episodes four and five make for two of the most heart-wrenching hours of television I’ve ever experienced — the latter being in contention for my favorite single episode of a show ever.
Previously Reviewed on October 30, 2020
SATURDAY NIGHT (2024)
I’ve been on my fair share of sets in my life, and genuinely, there’s nothing quite like it — dozens of creative people gather in a small area to work toward a common goal. It’s mayhem, it’s chaos, it’s beautiful. This film takes that mayhem, that chaos, that beauty, and cranks it all to eleven. The kinetic energy is intoxicating (or anxiety-inducing). I don’t remember the last time I’ve mentioned a film’s blocking in a review, but it really deserves to be mentioned here — there are so many elements in every frame, so much movement (background, foreground, camera). Jason Reitman has concocted quite the cinematic experience with this one.
SMILE (2022)
I found very interesting the struggle between the terrifying visions and the professional who is extremely familiar with the ways the traumatized mind can play tricks on a person — which is a lot more than I thought I could ask for going into this popcorn horror flick. While this became less interesting as it became more about a supernatural entity stalking our protagonist, the movie never lost me.
SMILE 2 (2024)
Two movies in, this franchise has proven that the focus of their horror is rooted in character. The movies have had the same antagonist (the same rules, the same resolutions), which highlights the relationship between the demonic presence and the different protagonists. It’s the various pieces that make up the identity of our main character as a specific, unique human being that makes this second go-around feel just as fresh as the first.
WE LIVE IN TIME (2024)
Sometimes this feels like it’s lacking meat. Sometimes it feels like it’s lacking focus. I think if this story was told in order, those flaws would have been exposed to a fatal extent. But alas, it was structured in a way to inject the story with more life than it perhaps actually had. That said, all sins are forgotten in real time when Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are sharing a scene — the weight of this entire film rests on their backs, and they held it up with magnetism and charm.
THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE (2016)
I would really love to see how the movie that was promised in the first half ends. I was fully bought-in on the procedural stuff. We meet these two coroners and watch as they try to deduce the cause-of-death for a young woman that was killed in ways that were getting more tragic with every new discovery the father-son team made.
Right at the 45-minute mark, this movie suddenly veers off the rails, turning into something that betrayed all of the above and became utterly uninteresting.
SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (2019)
This film rides an intriguing line in terms of content. It’s very obviously rated PG-13. Sometimes, it feels like it’s directed at middle grade audiences. Then, it seems to be testing the limits of its rating. Often, its dialogue feels childish. Then, it’s making you clench your teeth during a legitimately creepy (dare I say, scary) scene.
This feels like a great bridge for younger audiences to go from children’s horror to adult horror — I bet I would have loved this had I seen it at the right age. Even as an adult, I liked this quite a bit.
CORPSE BRIDE (2005)
We have a new seasonal favorite on our hands. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to watch this gothic romance animated musical fairy tale — it checks so many of my boxes. Either way, I’m glad I finally got around to it. I look forward to getting around to it every year or two, as the nights grow longer and the leaves on trees burst with color as they die — not unlike the art style deployed in this film.
LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024)
About an hour in, a zombie is playing a beautiful song on the family piano while Lisa is singing and dancing along to it with all her heart and soul — Kathryn Newton having fun with Diablo Cody‘s script is where this movie is at its best. The rest simply didn’t do much for me. The violence and raunch were hindered by the PG-13 rating. The film hints at a desire to mine for depth here and there, but it never actually makes the effort.
YOUR MONSTER (2024)
I honed in on the allegory instantly and, therefore, had the pleasure of watching the entire film through that lens. I didn’t see it as a Beauty and the Beast story at any point. Instead, I got to watch Melissa Barrera’s lively Laura learn to love the parts of her she’d long hidden away to meet society’s expectations, the parts that could protect her and build her up against a cruel world.
ANORA (2024)
It’s rare that an ensemble cast filled with people you’ve never heard of is this good. Going in, I thought this was going to be a movie revolving entirely around Ani and Ivan, but for better or worse, this ended up being an ensemble piece with at least five characters given their time to shine, and the actors absolutely knocked it out of the park, every single one of them.
Allow me to explain what I mean by “for better or worse”: The first third of this film is the classic come-up that’s always so much fun to watch — it’s the stuff you see in the trailers. The rest of the movie, for all intents and purposes, is a wild goose chase for Ivan. The film becomes less about Ani at that point and more about the shenanigans the ensemble goes through to find this hedonistic son of a Russian oligarch. We still check in on Ani here and there, so we don’t ever lose her in the narrative, but the focus of the story does dramatically shift after the Armenians crash the party, figuratively speaking.
As I mentioned at the top, all of the actors involved in the wild goose chase were spectacular. This movie was already way funnier than I expected before they showed up, but once they were all sharing the screen, the comedy shot to a new level. I genuinely didn’t expect this to be one of the funniest movies I’ve seen all year. Credit to the performers, as well as Sean Baker for structuring and orchestrating it all so effectively.
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989)
The fact that this script exists is astonishing, in and of itself — it could have been electric for the stage, or just as a casual read, frankly. The fact that they got these performers to bring it to life, on celluloid, preserved for eternity for people like me to watch every year or two without ever detecting any dip in the pure joy that it brings me? That’s nothing short of a miracle.
Previously Reviewed in 2022 & 2020
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)
I don’t mean to brag, but I just achieved 100% completion on 2018’s Spider-Man game, and I’ve been craving more content revolving around this friendly neighborhood superhero. I had semi-recently rewatched Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, as well as Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming, so this film was the one I sought out.
Say what you want about the film that Sony produced — I have no interest in defending it. That said, when Andrew Garfield puts on that lifelike red and blue suit, shooting webs and quips in equal measure, I can’t help but feel like this is as good as we’ve gotten in the realm of on-screen Spider-Men. The voice-lines, the web-swinging, the mannerisms — it all just feels so right.
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019)
Peter is really starting to feel the weight of what it means to be Spider-Man. He bows out of a substantial mission led by Nick Fury because he wanted to hang out with his friends and be a normal teenaged boy for a change. He naively handed the multi-billion dollar tech given to him by Tony Stark to a complete stranger who ended up being the villain of this story who needed that tech to complete his vanity project. It’s easy to think about how cool it would be to be Spider-Man, but the burden must be truly incomprehensible. Take all that and add the fact that Peter is flying blind, without his mentor, facing a world that expects him to take up the mantle as the leader of the Avengers. This movie does a good job showing how close Peter is to crumbling under that meteoric weight.
CONCLAVE (2024)
I don’t know what I expected going into this film about film about the selection process of a new pope, but I know I did not expect the best political thriller I’ve seen at the cinema in some time. This feels like prime House of Cards if it took place in the Sistine Chapel and all the players were Cardinals of the church.
HERETIC (2024)
I kept waiting for the premise for this film to run out of gas, but it kind of never did. Every time I thought it would begin to sag, it zagged instead, going in a direction I didn’t expect, yet still building into something that would make sense as a whole by the end.
ARCANE: Season 1 (2021)
If you know me on any personal level, then I’ve probably already recommended this show to you. Arcane became my entire personality after I watched these nine episodes in December of 2021. To this day, Jinx is on the wallpaper for my phone and my computers. To this day, I think about this story and its characters, completely unprovoked.
Consuming media is never better than when you know you’re in the hands of master storytellers, when you know that everything that you see and hear is there for a reason, that it all adds up to be something greater than the sum of the parts on display at any moment. Sure, you can sit back, turn your brain half-off, and passively consume this exhilarating tale about feuding factions and broken families. But this show was meticulously crafted to be watched actively, paying attention to every line of dialogue, every shift in the characters’ expressions, the people and places in the background, the mise-en-scène in every room, the lyrics of the song playing in the soundtrack — everything has its purpose, everything has a part to play. There’s not a wasted scene, not a wasted moment.
Above all else, these nine episodes are a masterclass on writing character development. This show is a landmark achievement in constructing adult fantasy stories through animation.
Previously Reviewed on December 14, 2021
ARCANE: Season 2, Act 1 (2024)
I just finished watching the first three episodes of Season 2 and my instant gut reaction is that two somewhat contradictory emotions are at the forefront of my mind at the moment. First and foremost, I’m filled with genuine awe over how things are evolving, and as a massive fan of the lore of League of Legends, I’m veritably giddy over one specific character introduction (see Episode 3 — no explanation is needed). There is so much to be excited about. New relationships are forming, others are morphing. The stakes have never been higher for Piltover and Zaun, and the characters are forced to figure out their place in all of it. There are so many cogs in motion, and it’s been quite the spectacle so far, only a third of the way in.
The second emotion of the two I mentioned is the stronger emotion, because its a negative emotion — but I’m able to talk myself down from feeling it as strongly as I normally would because I trust the people in charge of delivering this show to us. The emotion is dread.
So far, this season is feeling like it may be falling into the trap that countless sequels before it have fallen into — I fear it may be spreading itself too thin, getting too big and too loud to allow the characters to breathe and to give the audience enough in those characters to hold on to and empathize with. The scene that cemented that dread in me was the one we’ve been waiting for: The fight between the sisters, in which Vi gave Caitlyn permission to deliver the kill-shot, and Jinx accepted her death at the hands of her sister. What could have been an emotional roller coaster for the viewer ended up feeling emotionally muted, because that scene was being intercut with the cosmic conflict that’s taking place surrounding Hextech. That nebulous story element is impossible to wrap one’s head around (to quote Heimerdinger in that very scene: It’s “inconceivable”), therefore, it’s impossible for it to stir up any strong emotions. To intercut that with the conflict between the sisters feels like an extraordinary mistake. The glitching that was caused in the weapons was not enough to justify the decision to throw a wet blanket over what was essentially the climax of Act 1, the climax of a story arc that tracks back one full season.
Since I’m writing these reviews as the episodes come out, I might as well spend some time expressing my hopes for the rest of the season, as far as all of the above is concerned. While the introduction of that mysterious character in Episode 3 excited me so, I hope she does not play an enormous role in the events to come. That character and everything she stands for is far too big a story element to be squeezed into this season — it would take too much attention away from everything that was set up with Season 1. I hope that character is more or less just introduced here and will be the main antagonist in the series to follow Arcane — I genuinely could not wish for a better place for the show to go after this story wraps up. I can absolutely see it playing out this way given what we now know about the Medarda family. Their conflict is the perfect bridge between story arcs.
And as far as my dread for how things are unfolding goes: I trust the writers; I trust the showrunner; I trust the people that crafted Season 1 to do right by all of us who became obsessed with Arcane after it released.
ARCANE: Season 2, Act 2 (2024)
The first season of this show made me feel a lot of feelings. Yes, it brought tears to my eyes once or twice — but it never broke me down into a cry. Well, I cried twice in the three episodes that made up Act 2 of Season 2. When I say “cried”, I mean there were tears falling from my face, splashing down onto my desk. And the best part? They were not all sad tears slipping from my eyes.
After Act 1, I expressed my fears over the possibility that the show might have been spreading itself too thin, sacrificing the characters while doing so. I also expressed my confidence in the writers to right the ship. Again, these are my snap opinions, mere moments after the credits rolled on Episode 6, but I think there are two episodes in this three-episode act that would go up there with the best episodes this series has delivered to date.
The character moments were aplenty here. After zooming out to show the big picture of what was going on in Piltover and Zaun in Act 1, we zoomed back in and let the characters move amongst each other again, breathe amongst each other. While it does seem as though a character or two are on shaky ground in terms of development at this stage, the primary characters really got their time to shine here. Not only do existing relationships continue to develop and grow, but a brand new relationship sits at the forefront of where a lot of the emotion in these episodes lie. In fact, it’s this new relationship that appears to be the catalyst for a lot of the beautiful character development on display with this season.
To address the rest of my reactions from the first act: I am still concerned over how cosmic and detached from the show’s divine humanity the Hextech elements have become — the figurehead at the center of this subplot is portrayed as a stoic, robotic, borderline emotionless character at this point. Everything is starting to collide and bleed into each other, so I still have some fears over that element taking time and space away from the heart and soul of this series. That said, once again, I trust the writers to stick the landing.
As far as the subplot about that exciting new character goes, I think they’ve basically confirmed that my wishes will be granted. We got very little screen time in this act exploring the character and what she stands for. This all but guarantees two things in my eyes: We will not be wrapping her story up in this season, which means the next story the brilliant minds behind Arcane will be exploring is that of this mysterious character from Noxus and all of the downright riveting elements that come with the world she comes from and the stories she’s connected to.
ARCANE: Season 2, Act 3 (2024)
It took three days to get my head on straight and my fingers prepared to write this review. I think it’s because I had a very conflicted reaction to viewing these three episodes. Or maybe it’s because writing a review of Act 3 means I have to come to terms with the fact that this show is over. Either way, I needed that time to see the trees for the forest (if you will), to see the parts that made up the whole, and to listen to the soundtrack for Season 2 over and over and over again — somehow, someway, they made this one three times better than its predecessor.
I guess I’ll start by trying my best to articulate why my response to these final episodes wasn’t the one I hoped I’d have — trying to create sentences made up of words to describe how I felt watching the third act has proven to be quite the herculean task for me the past few days. I suppose the best place to start is in the beginning: In my review of Act 1, I expressed concerns over how the fight scene between Jinx and Vi was handled. At the time, I thought it was a grave mistake that undercut the emotional weight of that scene. Much to my chagrin, the way that scene was handled was not a mistake; it was foreshadowing for how they would prioritize the rest of this story; it was a declaration of intention. The climax of this story will combine the larger, wider, more nebulous features of this tale with the quieter, more emotional features. The writing was on the wall.
Another such declaration of intent came with Episode 7, titled Pretend Like It’s the First Time. We spend half the episode with Jayce as he scratched and clawed to survive the dystopic timeline he’d suddenly found himself in — a world devoid of life as we know it, a future where the current events of the show might be headed. It was a warning, a bleak notice to the audience of the stakes back home. This brief storyline is essential for how things would play out in the end. But if you ask anybody — and I mean ANYBODY — to describe the events of this episode, their eyes will light up, and they’ll describe the story of what life could have been like for Powder if the events of her childhood had played out differently. The team behind Arcane decided to spend an entire episode in an alternate universe, with only three episodes left to tie up the countless threads flailing chaotically over our heads. They decided to intercut that episode with an important story arc that would immediately slip to the back of the viewer’s mind. They made the utterly consequential decision here to prioritize character moments over the grander plot of the story they’re telling. Ekko could have gotten done what he got done in less time (there’s no lack of hurried — I won’t say “rushed” — plot elements in Season 2), but the writers decided to keep us away from the main story for 33% of the time they had left to wrap things up, in favor of enrichening the audience’s relationship with these characters and further developing Ekko, lifting him into the upper echelon.
All of the above shows the inner workings of the writers. We see the problems they faced and how they decided to tackle them. We see how they prioritized, what they chose to lift up and what they chose to let slip. They constructed for themselves an impossible task — I do not envy them. I do, however, tip my cap and acknowledge that they did the best with what they had to work with.
As the conflicts grew in scale, the stakes rose, and the parties involved multiplied, the storytelling lost focus. The whole felt muddled, which left a sour taste in my mouth as Jinx bid us adieu and the credits started to roll. But the parts of that whole are as good as they’ve ever been. The emotions that those parts triggered in me, those character moments sprinkled throughout the chaos, fed my heart and soul just what I needed.
As I take some space and look back at this season, it won’t be the action set-pieces that I think of; it won’t be to wrap my head around what happened with Hextech, or the arcane, or any of the celestial elements; it won’t be to analyze the politics of how things got to where they ended up; it won’t be to figure out how events played out in alternate universes, or the repercussions of time travel. When I look back at this season, what will pop into my mind are the moments between Jinx and Isha, the moments between Vander and his daughters, the electric moments between lovers, the quiet moments between sisters. This season delivered the moments I needed. In those moments, I felt heartbreak, I felt bliss, I felt terror, I felt joy, I felt frustration, I felt peace.
This season delivered to me everything I could have asked for, even if the delivery system itself didn’t satisfy my impossible wishes for how the season would unfold and how those emotions would consequently be delivered. It is only with a bit of space and a concentrated eye that I can now focus my attention on the relationships and the people and see that all of the creative decisions made for these characters were made out of love for these characters. No matter how big and loud everything else got, the characters were at the heart of it all.
WICKED (2024)
Usually, when you see an adaptation of an established work, people would say something like, “wait until you read the book” or “wait until you see the show on Broadway.” Whether you enjoy the adaptation or not, the implication is that the established work (in whatever form it takes) is the superior version of the work. As the credits rolled on this remarkably faithful adaptation, I had a thought: Dare I say the experience of watching this (admittedly first half of the story) was just as good as the experience of seeing this show on Broadway? In fact, could this experience be *pauses in preparation for the tomatoes surely already in flight en route to my face* better?
At over two and a half hours, you never feel the time going by. The songs are perfectly paced and flawlessly executed, never leaving you anxious for the next song to come or unsatisfied with how they were performed. The scenes without songs are snappy and dramatically effective. Ariana Grande was born to play Glinda — she fully embodied that character, her quirks and her complexities. Cynthia Erivo is one of the best singers of our generation, bringing her iconic character to life with so much soul, so much emotion — often remaining stoic in her physical performance and letting her eyes do all the work. Jon Chu directed the hell out of this massive film, with countless moving pieces, and musical numbers huge and intimate. I’d be remiss to not specifically point out how spectacular that final act ended up being. A lot of where I landed with those initial thoughts toward my feelings on this adaptation as the credits were rolling came about from how well Defying Gravity was executed. Using the word “well” feels like I’m underselling it — the execution of that song was utterly magical.
So, yes, more than 21 years after the show premiered at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, the masses now have access to an equally exquisite telling of this beloved tale (or the first half of it, for now — the far superior half, everyone knows it). Just like you would in a Broadway theater, apply a little suspension of disbelief, and allow yourself to be swept away by this story about the origins of Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
MOANA 2 (2024)
This sequel to 2016’s Moana “has far surpassed our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that Moana has become,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman said in a statement following the film earning the biggest five-day opening of all time this past holiday weekend.
I can’t help but feel like that statement says everything you need to know about the approach the studio took toward making this movie. They knew Moana would sell tickets and put butts in seats. They didn’t need to put any effort into telling an interesting story this time around or developing the characters any further.
In response to the (justified) criticism surrounding the generally mediocre songs in this film, the songwriter said, “Give it a month, all the kids will be singing it, and you’ll be tired of it.” Again, they’re shooting for the bare minimum here, with no desire to use the music (in this musical) to fortify the flimsy story, or to give us a glimpse into the souls of the characters, or to heighten the emotions in the otherwise stillborn scenes.
Moana is one of my favorite modern Disney pictures. So, it goes without saying that I’m disappointed and disheartened to see the character and the world be so flagrantly used as a lazy cash grab — and worse, succeeding MIGHTLY as such.
WEST SIDE STORY (2021)
By chance, I gave this a rewatch exactly three years after it graced cinemas nationwide. Three years have come and gone, so it’s safe to say by now that this film is genuinely underrated. This is a masterpiece, but it isn’t mentioned among the masses nearly as much as it should be — even when Spielberg‘s filmography is a topic of conversation.
Previously Reviewed on December 27, 2021
NOSFERATU (2024)
The idea of the Feel-Bad Movie of the Year coming out on Christmas Day just feels so, so right. Brothers and sisters, I mean it: This movie is grim. For more than two hours, it wades in the waters of diseases we don’t stand a fighting chance against — grave ailments of the body, of the mind, and of the spirit.
I think Robert Eggers’ tendency to make his films ice cold helps make this story filled with such pain and suffering enjoyable. We can observe the characters in excruciating emotional and physical turmoil, and appreciate the performances and the filmmaking without ever being overwhelmed ourselves. Eggers constructs an elegant, engrossing film with material that could easily be melodramatic and/or absurd in the wrong hands.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (2024)
At nearly two and a half hours long, I don’t feel like I know Bob Dylan any more after this biopic than I did before I watched it — that is to say I still don’t know very much about him at all. Frankly, I don’t even know what this biopic was trying to say about him. He’s not portrayed as a particularly interesting character amid his rise to stardom, so watching him isn’t all that captivating. Sure, experiencing the songs being performed is fun, but is that because of the filmmaking or is it just because the songs are good? On that note, I didn’t really feel any connection between the character I was watching and the songs he was performing, as you’d think you’d feel in a biopic following the career of a musician.
Needless to say, this movie didn’t do much for me. I’d forget all about it if not for the awards buzz that Timothée Chalamet will (for some reason) likely get for this performance.
