Letterboxd — Your life in film

"Know why she was killed? I'll tell you."

Gripping French detective drama infused with modern social commentary.

The horrific murder of 21-year-old Clara prompts an intense police investigation in Grenoble, France, led by new lead detective Yohan (Bastien Bouillon). Shockingly, there are several men who could have been capable of committing the murder, yet the evidence doesn't quite match up to any of them. As the case looks like running cold, Yohan and the other cops, especially the older Marceau…

"You are a killer. An orphan we plucked from the street and honed into a knife. And it is the killing that gives you purpose. Without purpose, a man is nothing."

Birthday watch part 2!! The long-awaited John Wick 4 is here and it kicks fucking ass!

We open on John, last seen falling from the roof of the NY Continental before being carted underground, back to full health and practicing his punches on a training dummy in the bowels…

Criterion Challenge 2023 - Starring Tatsuya Nakadai

"Hell is ever at hand, which you cannot say of heaven."

An excellent birthday watch if I do say so myself.

This spectacular epic from Akira Kurosawa is based on Shakespeare's King Lear and the legends of Mōri Motonari. The scale of the filmmaking is matched by the budget - at $11 million it was the most expensive Japanese movie to date and it shows in huge battle scenes with scores of extras.…

"There's a dead woman in your basement."
"What?"
"Yes, dead. Dead. All dead. He's killing them one by one by one, like cows."

At last got to check out Damien Leone's infamous low budget exploitation splatter flick!

Two girls leave a party (that seemingly took place in the middle of nowhere) and come across a creepy clown at a late night pizza joint. One is shockingly unbothered while the other is very wary. Turns out he's a killer clown named…

"Do you expect him to make it out?"
"$14 million bounty on his head. And every interested party in the city wants a piece of it. I'd say the odds are about even."

Unlike the first two, I did review this properly on first viewing so I'll keep it brief. I think this was the best of the series on release. There are just so. many. ridiculously good fight scenes. The opening with the horses. The dogs in Casablanca. The…

"One step, one punch, one round at a time."

Michael B. Jordan makes his directorial debut with the ninth film in the Rocky series, the first not to feature Sylvester Stallone as the Italian Stallion.

After a flashback to 2002 where we meet young Adonis, we cut to him beating Ricky Conlon (Tony Bellew) in a 2020 rematch to become the unified heavyweight champion of the world. He retires from boxing and a few years later is focusing on family…

Beloved British detective series Luther gets the big screen treatment from Netflix, and it's a bruising return to say the least.

A spate of kidnappings across the UK and Europe prompts a police investigation, but one man who can't be on the job is DCI John Luther (Idris Elba), who gets banged up for all his previous episodes of vigilante justice with frankly laughable swiftness. Have no fear though, because he busts out almost as quick, meaning he now has…

"I'm sorry. No one gets out and comes back without repercussions. I do this with a heavy heart, John."

In the second John Wick movie, the action is stepped up and the world is expanded but our icy protagonist remains the same.

Not only are we introduced to a bunch of new characters, we also head to Rome as John is forced to fulfil a blood oath. The international element is a lot of fun and would be expanded on…

"John is a man of focus, commitment, sheer will. Something you know nothing about. I once saw him kill three men in a bar with a pencil. With a fucking pencil."

Rewatching the series ahead of JW4 and I didn't review this one when I first saw it a few years ago. What a much-needed injection of adrenaline into the Hollywood action genre, which had become increasingly stale in the late 2000s/early 2010s.

Keanu Reeves stars as the titular ex-hitman,…

One of the most charming British comedies I've seen in years!

David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah star as Dom and Yas, two strangers who meet at an art gallery in South London. Over the course of a day they get to know each other, share the woes of their love lives, and put a smile on each other's faces. It's super endearing, really funny, and captivating despite its simple premise. I knew and liked Jonsson from HBO's Industry but Oparah…

"How are you not scared?"
"I guess I'm just more used to the feeling."

Man I'd honestly assumed this was just never getting a cinematic release here. It came out in America in September! Anyway, finally got to see it and it was quite different from what I was expecting.

A prequel to X, Ti West's exploitation horror set in the late 70s, Pearl takes us all the way back to 1918 to meet the titular character as a young…

"Sometimes people say that my head is too big for my body. And then I say, compared to what?"

Marcel!!! He's so cute!!

Power couple Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate created Marcel the Shell some 12 years ago after Slate spontaneously produced the voice in a hotel room. Fast forward a decade or so and they were bringing the little guy to the big screen with this feature length comedy-drama shot as a mockumentary. Camp plays a version of…