Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  Hero 2002

  ★★★½ Watched 06 Aug 2013 17

  Definitions:

  whooh onomatopoeia ; sound made by swinging swords, arms, legs, and all forms of sticks or poles ( with, or without metal appendages )in martial arts movies. Sometimes associated with arrows. Usually repeated at least 3 times. whooh whooh whooh

  whowh onomatopoeia; sound made by magically flying protagonists and or antagonists, often found in the Wuxia sub-genre of martial arts films, as they hurl toward their enemy, often somersaulting during the approach. Often repeated at least twice, corresponding to…

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  The Four Times 2010

  ★★★★½ Watched 03 Mar 2013 23

  After watching Le Quattro Volte it was early evening. I walked outside and pulled some small splits from our wood stack in preparation to build the evening fire. I brought them into the kitchen, laid them near the stove, and gathered some dry kindling like I always do.

  I opened the stove door, and delicately shoveled the top layer of fine ash and dust and carefully deposited it into the ash pail beside the stove like I always do. The…

Recent reviews

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  First Cow 2019

  ★★★★★ Watched 12 Aug 2023

  Lise and I started or tried to watch this more times than I can remember. Either tech difficulties, or some distraction kept us from it until now.

  I think Kelly Reichardt is my favourite indy director. All of her stories have such a feeling of authenticity. First Cow reminded me most of the first of hers I saw, Wendy and Lucy.

  Interesting watching this right after a long overdue rewatch of A Simple Plan, as it's at it's heart a similar morality tale.

  And now I'm craving biscuits!

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  A Simple Plan 1998

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 10 Aug 2023

  It's great that this stood up for me after all these years.

  The ultimate morality tale about greed and comeuppance.

  Alas, a fairy tale.

Popular reviews

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  Man of Steel 2013

  Watched 25 Jul 2014 150

  $225,000,000

  Two Hundred And Twenty Five Million Dollars.

  The budget for this turd was Two Hundred And Twenty Five MILLION dollars.

  What else would this sum buy you? I checked; a random search for 2014 / 2013 favourites lists here on LB. I looked at 30 or so, and picked out what I saw as peoples favourites.

  Under the Skin $16M
  Boyhood $2.4M
  Only Lovers Left Alive $7M
  Grand Budapest Hotel $31M
  Her $23M
  12 Years a Slave $20M
  Dallas…

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  Eyes Wide Shut 1999

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 06 Dec 2013 80

  I vividly remember seeing Eyes Wide Shut for the first time. It was opening day back in 1999. I went in with a mixture of anticipation and sadness. Anticipation because Kubrick had pronounced this to be the best film he’s ever made. Sadness because I knew it was the last time I would see a Kubrick for the first time.

  After the show was finished, my friend and I walked to a café. We barely spoke about it. I was…