Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2018

  Watched 03 Jun 2023

  Some of the twists work amazingly, and its satisfying in a way animated movies rarely are. Fights are dope, and legitimately tense, too. Don't like the soundtrack, or how often its used, but even that isn't as bad as it could be. Cutesy call backs in the climactic action scene really didn't work for me though, especially when the resolution's two callbacks are so good! Would have made those hit harder if we weren't already in "remember that?" mode. Movie…

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  Breathless 1960

  Rewatched 02 Jun 2023

  web.archive.org/web/20100527063221/http://www.nypress.com:80/article-21253-godards-breathtaking-debut-is-back-again.html

  I have little to say about Breathless that Armond did not already in his masterful review, which really helped me connect with and understand this beautiful film. It's up there for reviews that have aided my engagement with a film the most.

  Seeing deep focus shots of Parisian streets is an enormous delight on its own, but I think Breathless is in need of a reclamation of its emotional context. It is a common response, among young people, that…

Popular reviews

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  Raging Bull 1980

  Rewatched 23 May 2023

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  The movie that sparked my faith, 7 years ago. The notion of such a radical salvation being offered to LaMotta rocked my world at 13, thank God, though it certainly took me a while after to find my place. Seeing it for the first time since then, having since become a Christian who has far higher hopes for Christian cinema than Hollywood ever provides, and having wrestled much with Martin Scorsese's films and their theological stances, it's easy for me…

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  Licorice Pizza 2021

  Rewatched 25 Jul 2022 4

  Massive, serious movie. Obviously gorgeous, it’s frightening how beautiful and stirring this movie is on a scene by scene basis. Alice in Wonderland/American Graffiti remake about the constant danger kids face in the adult world. Transient capitalist trends and the commodification of sex and race seem to be major themes, the former is a big one in Paul’s whole career. Novelesque in scope but all too cinematic in practice.