Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  The Exorcist 1973

  ★★★★½ Watched 10 Sep 2023

  A prologue set in an archaeological dig in Iraq. A demon being awaken. A losing battle about to begin. “I think the point is to make us despair.”

  The Exorcist was not what I was expecting at all. This isn’t a horror movie about an exorcism – the ritual itself lasts for only 15 minutes and Friedkin leaves it for the very last moment. The Exorcist is instead a murder mystery, but also a realistic medical drama, and last but not least a mother-daughter movie. Less scary than it is shocking (that scene with the crucifix).

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  Don Juan 2022

  ★★ Watched 12 Sep 2023

  There are some interesting ideas here, like the question whether the main character is really seducing women or just acting in real life the Don Juan role he is currently playing in a stage production.

  Overall though, Don Juan is a musical with pretty bad musical moments. Poor lyrics, bad singing, and odd bursts into song that felt out of sync with the rest of the film. Coupled with some laughable dance scenes towards the end of the movie, we are left with a collection of creative decisions, most of them unsuccessful.

  Virginie Efira unimpeachable.

Popular reviews

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  The Banshees of Inisherin 2022

  ★★ Watched 06 Feb 2023 2

  Martin McDonagh is too in love with his own writing to be able to make a good movie. An overwritten script comprised of an endless stream of anecdotes, plays on words, and bland repetitions. One can easily imagine McDonagh thinking “This one is going to leave them in stitches”. He sets the plot during the Irish Civil War, but any political tension is relegated to background noise. There’s a running attempt at a metaphor, but to equate a bloody civil…

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  The Fabelmans 2022

  ★★★½ Watched 11 Dec 2022

  Men will literally make a 150-minute film about their parents’ divorce instead of going to therapy.

  Not what I was expecting Spielberg to make after WSS. He drops the razzle dazzle in favour of a much more restrained approach - fitting, given the different genres. This doesn’t mean there is any shortage of striking moments: the shopping carts; Sammy shooting a western; Mitzi’s dance; the Blow-Up homage; the change from clean to grainy during a key family scene; the Ditch…

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