Mike has written 150 reviews for films during 2019.
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The Bling Ring 2013
Me: Emma Watson is a mediocre actor
Emma Watson: I’m a firm believer in Karma and I think this situation was attracted into my life as a huge learning lesson for me, to grow and expand as a spiritual human being. I want to lead a huge charity organization. I want to lead a country one day for all I know.
Me: Academy Award -
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The Invitation 2015
Overlong, nightmarish, creepy family members, full of stress and tension.
Family gatherings amirite? -
Stoker 2013
Removing half a star on rewatch but this is still very much my shit. To quote the movie: I’m just going to have to love you a little less now.
I can definitely tell now that Park did not write this and there’s a certain clumsiness here that’s not present in his Korean works, but boy did he elevate this to something truly special. Every frame, every transition is unique and legendary. And the cast! Nicole Kidman losing her shit at the end! Goth life matters! Poetic cinema! -
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Judy 2019
It’s a cliche, beat-by-beat simplification of a legend that goes through a list of tropes that only manages to somewhat shine from a magnificent central performance.
Copy pasting this review on every single musician biopic from now because they’re all literally just like that and I may or may not be starting to get a little sick of them. -
Knives Out 2019
Rewatching this in a packed theatre while ROS is flopping, it’s what Rian Johnson deserves
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First Reformed 2017
This was so NOT the movie I was expecting it to be and I mean that in the best way possible.
Only reason this wasn’t a 5 star is because of how weird and abrupt the ending was. -
The Lighthouse 2019
A manic, nightmarish fever dream about lonely, depraved men pushed to their very limit. Love that the movie can be taken literally or figuratively with the unreliable narrators we’re observing: crazy men hallucinating or actual supernatural ethereal lighthouse pulling the strings??
Pattison and Dafoe put forth their career best work, with Blaschke‘s surreal cinematography (amplified by the near constant lighthouse horn blowing in the background) transcending this tale into something truly spectacular.
Don’t know if I’d prefer this or The Witch yet, but this suffocating masterpiece is definitely one of the year’s best. -
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 2019
Return of the Jedi has always been one of my least favourite Star Wars movie (not counting the prequels because I am sane) and this movie shares many of its faults:
- completely undoing the best movie in their respective trilogy, the themes, characters, arcs and lesson learned from The Last Jedi, whoops too challenging for audience we’ll remove ALL of it
- palpatine. He’s not a fun or exciting villain, literally exist only as a caricature
- a massive…