Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  I Was Born, But... 1932

  ★★★★ Added

  Very charming tale of childhood antics with just the right amount of heart as related to the perspective of one's father, realized by Ozu's visual sense, and it is always interesting to see his silent efforts given the nature of the purposefully often more confined visuals of his sound work. Ozu though was obviously the master of all, as his nearly purely visual storytelling sings here, particularly the way he so lovingly blocks his young actors and composes every shot of their interactions with such loving and expressive detail.

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  Red Dust 1932

  ★★½ Added

  Harlow steals the show, and almost makes the film worth watching. The rest of it I found quite dull in the depiction of a love square, because two sides are completely dull, another is mostly dull and only the last side is worth looking at. I actually wasn't overly impressed by Gable here, as he seems stuck in the evolution process between charming Gable and early thug Gable. And to top it off, Victor Fleming's direction honestly is very flat here.

Popular reviews

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  Napoleon 2023

  ★★★½ Added

  I liked Napoleon, however I don't think it achieves greatness. The battle scenes are marvellous spectacle, and the general aesthetic is most eye-catching, both things one typically doesn't worry about with Ridley Scott. It's the story that can be the problem, and from this cut at the very least, it rushes through the political career of Napoleon to get to the key moments of military career, leaving little overall context and weakening one's investment. Countering that though is the relationship between…

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  Downstairs 1932

  ★★★½ Added 1

  John Gilbert shines as a dastardly chauffeur, who decides to disrupt the home of a baron which is run by the stiff head butler played by Paul Lukas. What ensues is actually rather fascinating at times as it doesn't fully condemn the exploiter of the rich, nor does it make him the hero, against the butler who very strictly admires and protects his position "downstairs", however the film neither sanctifies nor makes him the villain either. It rather examines the…

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