A modern classic. If it weren’t for There Will Be Blood , which I think is the best film of the century, this would be PTA’s career best. As it stands, it is merely one of the best films of the past ten years, and a film that would be a career best for almost any other director. Its 70mm presentation is gorgeous. Johnny Greenwood’s score is remarkable. Every cast member is fantastic. It’s layered,…
An R‑rated Hallmark movie functioning as obvious propaganda for Pickleball Co. Not as funny as I hoped it would be. Apple continues their sad streak of forgettable movies. Did make me want to play the game, so I suppose it works on a functional level. Update from later: Honestly, slightly killed my joy of movies and made me want to stop watching them for a time. This was bad. Reply on Letterboxd…
Haven’t seen this since its release and the jokes hold up so well. Hilarious movie, surprisingly well made. There’s a oner that is just a 10/10 sequence. Wish we got more comedies like this. Reply on Letterboxd or reply via email
First act is still a mess, filled with the necessary shamblings to remind us all what happened over a decade ago and to set up the rest of this franchise. But once it gets out of its own way, this is nothing less than 5‑star entertainment. Unbelievable spectacle, believable and emotionally rich family drama. Reply on Letterboxd or reply via email
Thematically rich, with nuanced characters (and a nuanced villain), a hopeful outlook on humanity, and an inspired performance from Rosemary Harris. Every superhero movie wants to be this, but none of them are willing to make the sacrifices required to achieve it. It has an utterly compelling and human core. The first real superhero sequence happens 25 minutes in, and only serves to explain why…
Watched it with a first timer. (Tenth time watching this, and despite the fact we have hundreds of discs in the home theatre, people who haven’t seen this gravitate towards it. Ford V Ferrari is also popular with the same crowd.) At this point, I am ready to declare this a masterpiece. A massively entertaining romp, with layer upon layer upon layer of social commentary, family drama, cinematic…
Over time, I’ve come to believe that Avatar is the Star Wars of a new generation. James Cameron could be the GOAT. There is nobody else alive who knows how to make a movie like this. He’s also got an unbelievable eye. His compositions are interesting, he holds the camera steady and follows the action clearly, and he properly lights his (virtual) sets. His movies are polished to the nth degree.…
Some of the best voice acting that’s ever been done. Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers are both pitch perfect. Reply on Letterboxd or reply via email
Denis is so good at what he does. He has a Nolan-like ability to make a complex plot palatable. Unlike Nolan, his idea of intelligence doesn’t seem like the smarmy British boy school kind, but the sort that wants to invite you in and share something interesting. And while he’s great at grounding things in reality, Denis also understands the dream like nature of films and goes for it. His creature…
Paul Bettany steals every scene he’s in. Trips over itself on occasion, but it’s frequently so much fun that it doesn’t matter much. Maybe it’s the bias of my youth. This was constantly on at my house when it came out; if I recall correctly, it was one of the first DVDs I owned. I remember learning later that this was not critically adored, and lambasted for threatening to lower the standards of…
Watched with a first timer. Every time I see Heat , my estimation of it grows. An immaculate film. Stylish, but not without substance. Everybody gives a great performance. Camera moves and sequences that are still mimicked decades later. Incredible action sequences. Some of the best sound design ever committed to celluloid (and maybe the hottest mix I’ve ever heard, at least on my Blu-ray Disc). I…
The sort of swashbuckling film that made you fall in love with movies to begin with. Reply on Letterboxd or reply via email
Wildly ambitious. Not sure how I felt about the opening 30 minutes, which felt sloppily edited to me, but the last 30 minutes were so sublime that they made up for those shortcomings. Roy Scheider is amazing in this. Possibly his best performance. I think this would have become a favourite of mine if I could have found a way to relate to anybody, but there isn’t a single likeable character across…
I was shocked to find out how divided people are on this when I finished watching. This is a great time! Schlocky B horror perfect for Friday night entertainment. At turns horrifying, funny, gross, gory, tense, and yes, extremely silly. Nobody would compare this to Citizen Kane , but that’s entirely not the point. Late edit to add : it’s so nice to see Sam Raimi have fun behind the camera again.…
This review may contain spoilers. It’s a little ham-fisted by its closure, but there is a lot to generally love about The Odyssey . Nolan’s CGI usage is often so subtle that it feels like a practical effect, and when you combine those effects with real-world locations and old-fashioned camera trickery, there’s a lot of magic on screen. As always, Nolan’s filmmaking is extremely confident. There is…
It’s amazing that this never captured the public imagination. Doug Liman, despite his tendency for shaking the camera incessantly, delivers spectacle on a level reminiscent of James Cameron. The cast is fun. There’s a real beating heart at the core of this thing. I don’t think the third act totally works. It’s too dark and underexposed, making the action hard to see, which makes the payoff…
Chris Coyier wrote a lovely post about why people watch TV instead of movies , in which he observed: Paraphrasing from what I remember, it’s that TV’s incentives are to make the most of it , not to make the best art possible, which is more aligned with movies. I’d think the budget and talent also favor movies (on average and per-minute). So why the imbalance in the other direction for me, and…
I vaguely recall watching my dad watch this when I was a kid. He had this massive grin on his face the whole time. I didn’t get it. I thought it was obnoxious and boring. Cue to me, 35 years old — probably close to the same age my dad was when I saw him watching it, actually. Right around the beginning of “Good Morning,” I realize I’ve had been grinning the same stupid grin for over an hour, and…
Watched with a first-timer. It is impossible to dislike this movie. It’s practically flawless. A miracle. The scene about the Indianapolis is one of my favourite scenes in movie history. A rare bonus for me is that one person in our audience noticed how great the 4K restoration is. This never happens. Usually I’m the only weirdo talking about how tremendously well cared for a film has been. I felt…
I feel bad saying this, because I’m sure he tries just as hard as the rest of us, and I’m probably not always perfect at my job either, but Paul Feig is tasteless and it really hurts his movies. (See also, A Simple Favour and its sequel, Ghostbusters , and, uh, etc.) Like, the bones of something interesting are here, but Paul Feig lost them somewhere in an AI-suggested Spotify playlist. He needs…