rewatched Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011): 4.5/5

Extended, three-hour cut, of which the first 150-minutes constitutes a messy masterpiece. Simultaneously personal and sweeping. It's almost oxymoronic, the way it can identify as an "intimate epic." Last half hour comes a bit unspooled -- even in the context of the film's slovenly disposition -- and is far too dense and sprawling for such a short amount of time. However, whereas my normal critique would be to "cut this" or "cut that," Margaret is so effortlessly compelling that I'd be happy had it run an additional hour or two.

Materialists (Celine Song, 2025): 2.5/5

My note to Celine if I were her producer/studio exec: "1. Pick a fucking tone. 2. Make it hornier."

The Surfer (Lorcan Finnegan, 2024): 2.5/5

Are Australian people really that mean?? Because between this movie and The Royal Hotel, I’m kind of concerned.

I don’t know what frustrated me more: watching everyone be mean to Nicolas Cage or the fact that he could have just left at any time but didn’t.

Dangerous Animals (Sean Byrne, 2025): 2.5/5

terrible year of film for the Australian surfer community

rewatched In the Mood For Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000): 4.5/5

A film about love, or a film about time? Perhaps a film about the way that love can seem to render time stagnant for those tangled within its extensive web—jammed into a forbidden, emotional stymie, paralyzed at the crossroads of passion and integrity—only for them to blink and realize how much time has actually passed, how many opportunities have been missed, and are reduced to looking backwards over their shoulder, lingering indefinitely on What Could Have Been and What Will Never Be, every subsequent minute elapsing faster than those before it now that the apex is behind them.

In the Mood For Love isn't particularly sentimental in the traditional sense—in fact, it's actually quite clinical in its approach, and almost mannequinesque in its characterization—but its emissions of Virtue trumping Affection (and therein Settling trumping True Happiness) sting like vinegar in a fresh wound, able to conjure up a particular envy for something we may never even have known.

I don't think I need to expound upon this formally at all: what else is left to say? So many brilliant things about the way Wong Kar-wai shoots this—from the way that the main duo's adulterous spouses are never given a face, to the cramped frame-within-a-frame shots that always enclose a singular Su or Chow, putting their emotional isolation on explicit display, to the overarching theme of Red that inhibits almost every shot—but my favorite is the way that Su and Chow's "reenactments" of their respective spouses are interpolated without warning and eschew any discernible caveat. Is it therapeutic? Is it a vicarious smokescreen for their own feelings of each other? (And does it feel less unscrupulous if so?) Or maybe it's just an attempt to make light of each other's situational duress and avoid facing the scathing truth head-on?

I'll admit that I think this commits a minor violation by extending itself past an ending that would've otherwise been perfect i.e., when Chow's leaving after a visit to his old apartment years later, he hesitantly stops and smiles outside the door of where Su "used to" live—obviously unaware that she's actually back there now—then walks away, never realizing how close he was to brushing against serendipity. Cut to black right there and it's cinematic perfection. Everything after feels a bit adjuncty and the acting out of the "whisper into a hole and cover with mud" ritual was slightly too forthright for a movie so cleverly underpinned everywhere else.

But nevertheless, this film is pretty damn great. (Also: "Yumeji's Theme" for most internally erupting score of the new millennium?)

Bring Her Back (Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou, 2025): 2.5/5

Awww, little tiny blind Asian girl

The Ladykillers (Ethan Cohen, Joel Cohen, 2004): 2/5

I've now seen all the Coen Brothers films. And that's the only real upside of seeing Ladykillers.

Being Maria (Jessica Palud, 2024): 3/5

This uneven film is a welcome opportunity to give voice to the experience of Maria Schneider and her role in Last Tango in Paris. The film is strongest in its portrayal of the film's production and the betrayal and humiliation dealt her by Brando and Bertolucci. The fallout of the film's reception and its impact on Maria's life and career is not as focused though. Still, there's no denying that Anamaria Vartolomei is a revelation as Maria. She's got a very bright future ahead of her.

Trainwreck: Poop Cruise (James Ross, 2025): 2/5

Unessential and disgusting.

The people in that bridesmaid party are complete anathema to me. Really crap people.

I’d make a joke about heading to the poop deck but I’m beyond caring at this point.

Sovereign (Christian Swegal, 2025): 3/5

If you've ever watched bodycam or courtroom footage of a sovereign citizen, you can probably skip this movie.