Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  Summer School 1978

  ★ Watched 18 Sep 2021 12

  WOW. There is a lot to unpack here.

  Summer School a.k.a. Mag Wheels is a vansploitation movie, and if you don't know what that is, I recommend reading Jason Coffman's excellent Freedom, Fun and Fine Transportation: A Brief Guide to Vansploitation Cinema. Basically, these movies are generally about young, unambitious men having fun adventures in their custom vans. The adventures are typically van-competition-related, romantic/sexual, or both. The tone is always fun-loving, antiauthoritarian, and horny.

  This particular vansploitation film opens on…

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  The Birds 1963

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 31 Oct 2020 4

  Why The Birds is Hitchcock's Most Evil Film

  To fully understand the pure evilness of The Birds, we have to go back and put it in the context of the time period and of Hitchcock's career. Hitchcock is famously known as the Master of Suspense, and the films that he's most associated with today all have a slightly sinister character — Psycho is straight-up terrifying, of course, but Vertigo, Rebecca and even Rear Window all have a dark and unsettling…

Recent reviews

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  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 2023

  ★★★★½ Watched 03 Jun 2023

  Stuff I liked:

  • Chukwudi Iwuji villaining in every direction 

  • The constantly hilarious Elizabeth Debicki

  • Over-the-top single-shot hallway fight scene

  • Nathan Fillon’s every facial expression 

  • LSD visuals

  • The fact that Zoe Saldana manages to do Gomora but also not Gomora and you 100% get it

  • The fact that the movie has a busload of characters it has to service and it also has to be action-packed and funny and it has to be a…

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  Thor: Love and Thunder 2022

  ★★★½ Rewatched 02 Jun 2023

  I decided to rewatch this to see if my initial positive reaction was off the mark, since everyone else seems to think it's lame. And … nope, just as enjoyable the second time.

  It's sort of interesting how this series tracks the progression of a man's life; he starts out a tough, moody loner and ends up a dumb, dorky dad who rocks out to cheesy old music. Thanks, Hollywood. I mean, I'm not saying you're wrong, but you don't have to tell the whole world like that.

Popular reviews

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  Event Horizon 1997

  ½ Rewatched 25 Jun 2018

  Was hoping for cool, Alien-style science fiction, got trashy haunted house movie in space (complete with spooky lightning because they're in Neptune's atmosphere). It's dorky and clichéd, and at heart it has the sensibilities of a 1980s straight-to-VHS body horror movie. So, basically, it's Hellraiser 2047: Shadow of Uranus.

  That may all sound pretty harsh, but I have a particular grudge against this movie because back in 1997 I stupidly suggested going to see it on a double date at…

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  Dune 2021

  ★★★★½ Watched 22 Oct 2021 2

  I doubt I can be even remotely objective about this movie, since I'm such a big fan of the book; truth be told, I even have a lot of affection for the David Lynch version, flaws and all. Still, though, there's so much to like — the incredible visual design, Chalamet and Ferguson, the kick-ass ornithopters, the music, and the faithfulness to the spirit of the source material all jump to mind, plus so many other little things. What's hard…