if needed, graduate students can, will, and perhaps should kill
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We Own the Night 2007
I love that under Gray's direction, Joaquin really feels like a movie star rather than a sideshow oddity. obv other directors have pulled on this quality too, but Gray feels the most consistent. I wish their paths would cross again. I love how Gray's work has grown from crime (local) to crime (global, intergalactic, philosophical) back to crime (local) once again; of course, he's less concerned about the things a person can get charged with and more of how and…
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Love Lies Bleeding 2024
logical endpoint of being spoonfed “and that’s valid” for the past dozen years. I laughed every time there was a new rug
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Dune: Part Two 2024
very okay, big step down from the first. I don't think it necessarily requires the same level of awe and scale, but I found relatively little awe and scale here at all. dramatically so staid, despite all of the climactic action. I appreciated Bardem, Butler, and Ferguson making (interesting, unexpected) choices within what felt like a very narrow scope of vision. surprisingly moved to see Walken looking so regal. that first hour felt really interminable. frustrating experience, mostly.
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The House of Mirth 2000
not to go Full Proper Nouns but: something very... let's say... "Nino Sarratore" about Eric Stoltz's Lawrence Selden
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The Taste of Things 2023
enjoyed, but in a very not-serious way. this is sort of indistinguishable from a Best Exotic Marigold Hotel-type movie to me, for better and worse. my review for Bright Wall/Dark Room
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Ratcatcher 1999
I was already cracking my knuckles to call this “Malickian” and then she swung in with the Gassenhauer cue 😭😭 Rachel Portman really knocks it outta the park