More 2020 titles 

Host (Rob Savage, 2020): 4.5/5 

Six friends hire a medium to hold a seance via Zoom during lockdown. Most good horror movies make me feel, at best, disgust, pity, and a profound naughty thrill of errant deeds. This fucker—like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity and The Conjuring—was just scary. I thought the Zoom conceit was going to annoy me, but it instead made the movie feel very real. And hell yeah to the 57-minute running time. 

The King of Staten Island (Judd Apatow, 2020): 2.5/5

Amiable but baggy. The movie waits until the hour and a half mark to get the sullen and dopey main character to realize that being a fireman (like his dead father) might be a path for him. It should have happened at the half-hour mark, of course. I recently heard comedian Jason Mantzoukas say that Apatow is trying to make James L. Brooks dramadies now, which is about right.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman, 2020): 3/5

I understand everything in this movie and have no questions. Thank you... 

Actually, the first article I read after watching this revealed one simple thing that is never mentioned in the movie but that rendered the whole thing relatively cogent. Why does Kaufman fail to mention it in the text? Just cooler to be opaque? 

A short Paul Schrader retrospective. 

Blue Collar (Paul Schrader, 1978): 3.5/5

A Detroit story of corrupt unions, theft and selling out with as much dignity as possible. Contains songs by Howling Wolf and Captain Beefheart. In other words: relevant. 

American Gigolo, rw (Paul Schrader, 1980): 4/5

Why did I like this movie so much when I saw it in the theater with my parents at the age of 13? Gere is very cool—extremely handsome and supremely confident and he has a lot of sex. And it’s a cool milieu—beachfront properties and hotel living. It also happens to be radically homoerotic, with lovingly prolonged shots of Gere’s magnificent wang. 

The Comfort of Strangers (Paul Schrader, 1990): 3/5

Screenplay by Pinter. Great Walken performance. Creepy Venice milieu. 

Light Sleeper (Paul Schrader, 1992): 3/5

Yet another tale of a marginalized figure working himself up to an act of redemptive violence (see Taxi Driver and First Reformed), but that’s Schrader’s brand, right? Dafoe trying to act normal. 

Auto Focus (Paul Schrader, 2002): 4/5

Men gotta have fun, right? Extremely caustic and ugly and modern. Uses and undermines sitcom look and feel. Perfect use of Greg Kinnear's uncanny, plastic charm. Best ever movie about sex addiction?? 

I noticed that of Spielberg’s 32 feature films, I had seen all but three, so I decided to watch them. Spoiler alert: while they are not without merit, I had avoided them for a reason.

Amistad (Steven Spielberg, 1997): 2.5/5

Although I was prepared to dislike it (obviously I had been avoiding it for all these year), I actually appreciated the first two thirds of Amistad. Spielberg has a powerful arsenal of suspense tools, and when he depicts the violence of the insurrection and especially the horrors of the slave ship, it’s powerful stuff. Of course, it’s easy to see that he is not the right person to be telling this story, and he brings a lot of baggage that sinks the movie before it’s done. Lots of speeches by old white people!!! It was not successful in its day, but I understand it’s a staple in high school classes now.

Munich (Steven Spielberg, 2005): 1.5/5

Well-made (naturally) but kind of terrible. Bana is so bland that the center cannot hold. And It never feels epic (despite its 2:45 running time), just episodic. It also has one of the worst sex scenes in film history—when Bana is imagining an explosive terrorist act while he comes. Gad!! Surprisingly, the movie does very little hand-wringing about heinous terrorist acts that are in the cause of Israel. Jewish music over the end credits justify the means? 

War Horse (Steven Spielberg, 2005): 2/5

Au Hasard Balthazar for Dummies. There’s actually a pretty good, unsentimental, 45-minute WWI movie in the middle of this. Unfortunately, it’s bookended by lots of bullshit, How Green Was My Valley treacle.

When Docs Attack 

Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, 1942): 1/5 

20 interminable minutes of smug stiff-upper-lip very white self-congratulatory propaganda, except instead of geometrically aligned Olympiads we have sewing machines and municipal orchestras. Pathetic. 

A Diary for Timothy (Humphrey Jennings, 1945): 2/5

Interesting to see the end of the war told more or less as it’s happening, but that’s buried under more crap sentimental self-congratulation.

Reassemblage: From the Firelight to the Screen (Trinh T. Minh-ha, 1983): 2/5

A hand-wringing ethnic documentary that purposely denies the clichés of the genre yet doesn’t offer much that’s interesting or helpful as a replacement. Philosophic connection of the Sensory Ethnography Lab, but this is no Sweetgrass. 

David Crosby: Remember My Name (A.J. Eaton, 2019): 2.5/5 

I wanted more music and less personal drama, but I guess that’s Crosby in general.

Love on the Spectrum (Cian O'Clery, 2020): 4/5

A compelling and compassionate five-part documentary series that definitely made me feel like I understood autism much better—they are all so different! I found the subjects very easy to relate to and empathize with, and it made me think that I and everyone I know and love are all on the autism spectrum. But then again that’s what is meant by spectrum, right? 

My Octopus Teacher (Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, 2020): 3.5/5 

Thankfully, it veers away from some opening creepiness and becomes a pleasant and beautiful hang-out movie where we just witness what it’s like to be an octopus for a year. Does she get her arm ripped off and consumed by a shark? Yes. Yes she does.

Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1971): 3.5/5

Punishment Park is not a film to sit and watch in 2020 to unwind.

rewatched Fail Safe (Sidney Lumet, 1964): 4/5 

Final minutes are haunting. Still prefer DR. STRANGELOVE though.

Color Out of Space (Richard Stanley, 2019): 3/5
As horror phantasmagorias with Nic Cage go, I vastly prefer this Lovecraft freakout to MANDY. (I mean, Cage milks alpacas here.) The film also compares to Annihilation in detailing a supernatural event that impacts the characters and the world on a molecular level. 

The Other Lamb (Malgorzata Szumoska, 2019): 1/5
pointless cult drama with an empty, Instagram aesthetic

Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Love, 2016): 3.5/5
Two cinematic delights: philosophy and Isabelle Huppert. Sure, not terribly "exciting", but there are no false notes here. Extra half star for the scene where Huppert watches Juliette Binoche in CERTIFIED COPY at the movies, and if this isn't Magic then I don't know what is.

Emma. (Autumn de Wilde, 2020): 2.5/5
Fine enough. This one's not one of my favorite of Austen's books anyway, and beyond some formal innovation or fresh take on the material, I'm not really sure what the point of re-adapting this stuff over and over is. This is just standard period stuff, not even really distinguishable from something you'd catch on PBS.

Vita & Virginia (Chanya Button, 2018): 2/5
vita sackville-west be like: i’m not gonna beg for pussy, imma ask 11 times and THATS IT

Another thing: Elizabeth Debicki, and I can’t emphasize this enough, is 6’3

Loveless (Andrey Zvyaginstev, 2017): 3.5/5 

Fantastic direction. Loved the subtle jabs at Russian workplace despotism and the use of state radio to ground the story in recent history.


rewatched I Heart Huckabees (David O. Russel, 2004): 3/5 

"Why do we only ask ourselves the big questions when something bad happens?"

Haven't seen this since I was 15 and could only recall the leaked footage of David O. Russell and Lily Tomlin's meltdowns on set.

She said fuckabee’s!

The Alchemist Cookbook (Joel Potrykus, 2016): 0.5/5
There is no point to this.

The movie dabbles with magic, but shows none of it, which sounds like a smart, minimalist movie. But, The Alchemist Cookbook is dreadful, because it is neither cinematic or engaging.

I swear, everybody's in such a hurry to make a movie they forget to write a story first.

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Nicolas Gessner, 1976): 3/5
Another ridiculously assured performance from a baby Jodie Foster as a 13 year old girl attempting to hide the fact that she is living alone by pretending to all the locals that her deceased father is permanently indisposed. Only in the 70's would you be presented with a film which presents us with murder, underage sex and nudity and pedophilia, even if none of it is entirely overt.

Also, the way every single thing about Mario’s character was completely unnecessary to the story but they just made him an amateur magician with a limp from too many polio vaccines for no reason THAT is storytelling.


LA 92 (TJ Martin & Daniel Lindsay, 2017): 4/5 

Or, "Nothing and I mean really literally nothing has changed" The Movie.

A lot of the same talking points from the police leadership: a few bad apples, if you take away our support we'll stop protecting you, etc. Laughable responses from George HW and Bill Clinton.

rewatched The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984): 4.5/5
Cameron's CITIZEN KANE. 

Cheesier and chintzier than I remembered, but still kills as an exercise in sheer relentlessness.

The Birdcage (Mike Nichols, 1996): 2.5/5
Not entirely unfunny, once or twice even poignant, but mostly toothless. Extra half star for Gene Hackman in drag.

Dark Waters (Todd Haynes, 2019): 2.5/5

Well-worn scrappy lawyer legal trope fest by an auteur.

Sex and the City (Michael Patrick King, 2008): 2.5/5
Indeed grotesquely out of touch with reality but who wouldn't give to be a rich white woman jetting between LA and NY whose biggest problem is that her boyfriend bought her a $60,000 diamond ring?

Also I had fun drinking and yelling about how ugly 75% of their outfits were.

Underwater (William Eubank, 2020): 2/5
You’ve seen this movie before, but the key difference is that now it’s much harder to tell what’s going on.

The Hunt (Craig Zobel, 2020): 2.5/5 

AKA Battle Roy’all

Centrist dad satire + cheap thrills. Extra half star for the line “Don’t you first amendment me!”

The Act ( Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, 2019): 3.5/5

A grotty, nasty, poisonous tale whose punch comes from the fact that some version of this really happened. It's the sad and horrendous true story of one of the worst cases of medical child abuse, worst scamming of stuff, worst plan for killing your mom, worst everything.

Chloe Sevigny and Juliette Lewis together, oh I love it. Joey King is disturbingly good in the Gypsy role and Arquette continues to dominate these true life female wacko roles.

Hamilton (Thomas Kail, 2020): 2.5/5
I did the cultural equivalent of renewing my driver's license. Whatever. 

Mulan (Niki Caro, 2020): 2.5/5

We’re truly living in very weird times when the new Charlie Kaufman existential drama has more musical numbers than Disney’s Mulan. #dishonor 

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman, 2020): 2.5/5
Nobody does cerebral existentialism like Kaufman, and it's foolish to even try to summarize the complexities of his work after just one viewing. The writer/director himself once said that his movies are supposed to be felt rather than understood. Will rewatch before the year’s over.

She Dies Tomorrow (Amy Seimetz, 2020): 2.5/5 

SPOILER ALERT

no she doesnt

Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg, 2020): 3.5/5

The gnarliest film for the rest of this decade???

Agree with Justin that it's William Gibson meets Cronenberg Sr. 

Simultaneously a visual treat with its lighting, dreamlike atmosphere and monochromatic scenes; and a visual nightmare with its gratuitous, unfathomable brutality. Honestly, not sure if all of the violence is justified. It carries no narrative weight—I guess on a technical level (practical effects), it’s impressive. The shock-factor detracted from the film’s strength: its intriguing but glossed over sci-fi elements. There will be people who enjoy those fruits of ambiguity; personally, it sometimes rang empty. I felt whenever Possessor was on the brink of brilliance, it resorted to bludgeoning bloodshed.

rewatched Sleepers (Barry Levinson, 1996): 5/5

It's not perfect, but it's been a long-time fave of mine. First saw this as a kid. AS A KID. Where were my parents???

rewatched Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967): No Rating

The greatest endurance test structuralist avant-garde cinema has to offer. Last seen circa 2008.

Little Fires Everywhere (Liz Tigelaar, 2020): 3/5

NOBODY plays a privileged tone deaf white woman better than reese witherspoon, and that’s a genuine compliment. she just GETS it, you know?

Wildlife (Paul Dano, 2018): 2/5
How many men invite the Other Woman over to his house WITH HER SON (14)?

2020: Not that bad, from a new movie standpoint! 

Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee, 2020): 3.5/5

Tonally, all over the map and full of unmotivated direct address and googly-eyed politicizing but that’s his style if not invention. Like, when he plays Ride of the Valkyries when they are first starting on their mission, is the reference parodic or straight? I’m pretty sure Lee doesn’t know. Still it’s my favorite movie of his since 2002’s 25^th Hour.

 

Bacurau (Keiber Mendonça Filho, 2020): 2/5

Not even the best retelling of The Most Dangerous Game released in 2020. That would be Craig Zobel’s The Hunt. Didn’t work for me as a slice of Brazilian life or as a thriller or as (extremely blunt) politicking.

 

Palm Springs (Max Barbako, 2020): 4/5

Inconsequential but entertaining. I love Adam Sandberg, and Cristin Milioti was (as they say) a revelation.

 

Arkansas (Clark Duke, 2020): 2.5/5

Overwritten, broad and familiar (if you’ve seen Ozark or any Tarantino movie), but as in Dragged Across Concrete, Vince Vaughn was strong (red trucker hat and all). Liam Hemsworth (Chris’ brother) is a complete stiff.

 

Saint Francis (Alex Thompson, 2020): 3/5

Full of emotion.

 

Young Ahmed (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2020): 4/5

Like in many Dardenne movies, we are locked in with unpleasant characters facing ultimate moral questions. The final minute is thrilling.

 

She Dies Tomorrow (Amy Seimetz, 2020): 4/5

All the existential terror of death, none of the actual on-screen monsters, killers or other threats. Nice, simple use of colored lights to communicate psychological states.

 

Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg, 2020): 4/5

Not surprisingly, this reminded me of early Cronenberg (Brandon is David’s son) and William Gibson. Brace yourself, it’s a bit of a tough, nasty watch.

 

Boys State (Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, 2020): 4/5

Much of what’s bad and good about the current state of politics shows up in miniaturized form here. The intensity and monomania of gun rights and anti-abortion beliefs in these very young people is scary, but, you know … Texas. The movie demonstrates all too well that making fun of people and arguing personality instead of policy always wins. And that movies that are built around a competition almost always work. “Is the word penis acceptable for our discourse?”

 

Two docs that are the perfect length. Both real antidotes to the idea that you have to bloat your documentary up to 85 minutes. Don’t do it!

Speed Cubers (Sue Kim, 2020): 4/5

40 minutes of stifled sobs from me. Two great guys, and you really want them to succeed, to fit in, to feel normal and be loved.

John was Trying to Contact Aliens (Matthew Killip, 2020): 5/5

16 minutes, and it has three acts. Only watch it if you like music and weirdos. If it's too short, watch it twice—that's what I did.

 

 

European Cinema, 1953-1977:

Running the gamut from downbeat to despairing

 

Sawdust and Tinsel (Ingmar Bergman, 1953): 3/5

Love and misery at the traveling circus. Some powerful sequences, naturally.

 

Il Bidone (Federico Fellini, 1955): 2.5/5

A group of swindlers con money out of the very, very poor. But who is really being swindled? Just kidding. It’s the poor people.

 

Any Number Can Win (Henri Verneuil, 1963): 3.5/5

Rififi meets The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Alain Delon looks cool as hell, expertly playing a bit of dim bulb.

 

The Executioner (Luis Garcia Berlanga, 1963): 3.5/5

This one is bleak but at least it was pretty funny too. A man is very, very slowly—and with great protest and denial—pushed into having to execute a man for the state.

 

Memories from Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1968): 2/5

An aimless man wanders around Havana after the revolution. Spoiler: it ends with the rope tightening.

(NOTE: I realize that Cuba is not Europe, but I wrote the review already, and it certainly fits in with this group of films).

 

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri, 1970): 3.5/5

Kafka in reverse. A guy who is guilty of a crime descends into madness because he’s stuck in a system that just won’t find him guilty. Spoiler: it ends with the rope just refusing to tighten.

 

The Virgin and the Whore (Jean Eustache, 1973): 2.5/5

An aimless young man wanders around post-68 Paris. These extremely blabby characters have some amusing ideas, but at three hours and forty minutes, to say that they wear out their welcome is a stunning understatement. I must be a boob, though, because Richard Brody found it “emotionally shattering.” Did you know that the woman “the Mother” was modeled after in real life killed herself after the movie’s first screening. Talk about bad reviews!!

 

Mr. Klein (Joseph Losey, 1976): 3.5/5

An aimless man wanders around Vichy Paris. There’s another Mr. Klein (an elusive doppelganger, but Jewish) or is there? Alain Delon looks like hell. Spoiler: it ends with the rope tightening, in absolutely stunning fashion.

 

A Special Day (Ettore Scola, 1977): 4.5/5

Two outsiders share a fleeting connection on the day Hitler visits Rome in 1938. An emotional look at how the personal and political can’t be separated. Spoiler: it ends with the rope tightening.

Seoul Train (Jim Butterworth, Aaron Lebarsky, 2004): 4/5 

Doc about the fate of North Korean defectors/refugees seeking asylum in China. Devastating. US and China hate each other because they're exactly like one another. Under 1 hour. Originally aired on PBS, I think.

Dark Crimes (Alexandros Avranas, 2016): 1/5

So many awful things about this film that I don't know where to start. (I mean, it's Jim Carey in a serious movie attempting to pull off a Polish accent ffs.) Check out David Grann's New Yorker article the film is based on instead; It's much, much better than the film, and a far better use of your time.

Golden Exits (Alex Ross Perry, 2017): 3/5

Rohmer in Brooklyn. Muted AF. I dig. 

 
The Anniversary Party (Jennifer Jason Leigh & Alan Cumming, 2001): 1.5/5

Pretty sure Alan Cummings just got a bunch of his friends together, hung out with them, and filmed it. It's a very white and insufferable crowd (featuring Parker Posey, Phoebe Cates, Kevin Kline, Denis O'hare, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc). Extra half-star for when they do ecstasy and hang out by the pool; it feels like La Notte for the digital age, shot on a mini dv.

The Old Guard (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2020): 1/5

So fucking boring. Immortals wringing their hands over their endless lives? That's a movie idea older than these characters are. Good guy mercenaries in a crisis of conscience running afoul of an airquotes-suddenly immoral establishment? This is the 700th such story. The only thing that could rescue this is some diabolically tight action, and I'm sorry but it's just not here. The set pieces are few and far between, the choreography is shredded in the edit, the hits are obscured by cuts, there's precious little momentum, and the violence is timid. Nothing's worse than an action film that's afraid you'll get off on its grue. And that's setting aside the dead-empty narrative; I'd be hard pressed to tell you what was even at stake here.

The Mandela Effect (David Guy Levy, 2019): 1/5 

More like MEH-ndela Effect, amirite??

Palm Springs (Max Barbakow, 2020): 3/5 

A nice high concept rom-com that gets the job done with its share of good moments in under 90 minutes. Sometimes that's all you need.

Advantageous (Jennifer Phang, 2015): 3/5 

Sci-fi shot on a shoestring budget. Admirably ambitious and very well acted (really wish I got to see Jacqueline Kim more than once a decade), but it's expanded from a short and the padding is evident.


The Dying Gaul (Craig Lucas, 2005): 3/5 

This is a psychological thriller about a screenwriter (Peter Sarsgaard) who is courted by a big shot producer (Campbell Scott), stipulating in their deal that the lead characters in the story be changed from homosexual to heterosexual. What follows is a slow but compelling noir power struggle between the writer, the producer and his wife (Patricia Clarkson). Both the cast and writing keep the slow moments interesting, making this bizarre love triangle worth a watch for people who love the genre.


Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008): 0.5/5

edward: haha hey it's me your boy uhhhhhhhh icy penis
bella:


What We Do in the Shadows (Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, 2014): 3.5/5

Consistently amusing without ever quite crossing the line into gut-bustingly funny. Adored Waititi's bashful smile and puppy-dog enthusiasm as Viago, though.


The Room (Tommy Wiseau, 2003): 0.5/5

First complete viewing. A DRINKING GAME.

Sip your drink whenever:
- there's an establishing shot
- Denny is creepy
- someone says "oh hi" or "I love..."
- a plot point is introduced that will never be mentioned again
- characters say something that seems self-aware of the film's flaws
- Mike acts weird
- the phrase "leave your stupid comments in your pocket" is said

Chug your drink during:
- the sex scenes
- the Chris R scene

Shoot scotchka (scotch, vodka, no mixer) when the characters drink the same.


Watchmen Season 1 (Damon Lindelof, 2019): 3.5/5 

Porn? Never heard of her.

Watching a black man beat the living shit out of KKK members? That’s the good shit right there.

Minus a half star for no actual Robert Redford cameo.

Bombshell (Jay Roach, 2019): 2/5

Look how heroic all these rich, racist, homophobic, sexist women are. Rupert Murdoch in particular comes off as a quasi-hero for believing women and firing Ailes and that is just truly despicable to me.

Idk maybe don’t make the first Me Too movie about a woman who repeatedly refuses to call herself a feminist?

A River Runs Through It (Robert Redford, 1992): 2.5/5 

i’m sure something happened in this movie other than brad pitt looking hot but i literally couldn’t tell you a thing

The Poughkeepsie Tapes (John Erick Dowdle, 2007): 1/5

there's one moment in this stupid horror flick where the people being interviewed get mad about 9/11 happening, not because they're sad about 9/11, but because they were angry that the news wouldn't cover their own stories because THE NEWS WAS TOO BUSY COVERING 9/11


rewatched La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960): 2.5/5

perhaps misogyny was the film classic all along.


Family Romance, LLC (Werner Herzog, 2019): 2/5 

There is a decent argument that all of Werner Herzog's forays into fiction filmmaking this decade have been mistakes, and that is never clearer than it is here. Herzog saw the idea of people acting as family members for hire, then hired those people to act as themselves, recreating supposedly real scenarios they have encountered on the job; layering artifice onto artifice in the search for something authentic. All he finds though are stilted performances and poor scripting.

All of the 'scenes' plod stiflingly and are shot in a pretty unappealing way. Where the film works is in the non-sequitur moments that discard the narrative entirely to give us instead snippets of everyday artificiality, novel little uses of the fake family members. A woman hires them to pretend to be paparazzi, so that she looks famous. Another hires people to appear at her door with an oversized check to tell her she has won the lottery; paying a lot of money to pretend for a second she is financially secure. 

Herzog should've done this as a documentary.



This One's for the Ladies (Gene Graham, 2018): 3/5

Yes, it’s about the low budget DIY Black male (and 1 lesbian) stripper scene in Newark, NJ. But it’s really a compelling and moving portrait of everyday Black folks, particularly Black women, in all their complexity, vulnerability, and casual heroism in confronting all the ills that have ravaged their communities in America for the last 30 years. The film’s insights into race, gender, sexual orientation, faith, and community make up for the film’s formal shortcomings. The women here are deliciously multifaceted in a way modern screenwriting doesn’t allow for. I wish we had fictional films about regular Black folks that were half as engrossing as this. This doc loves and respects its subjects and the work that they do, which is too rare.

Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas, 2019): 2/5

CARLOS without Carlos. Inherently bland material.

Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov, 2019): 3/5 

More experiential than thesis-driven in its take on trauma, Balegov's impulses are split between a familiar Slow Cinema-adjacent arthouse austerity, with glacial/challenging direction and anti-psychological acting frozen into stasis occasionally broken by obscurely motivated Gestures visited upon the audience from the extremity of human experience. If this was made in and about America, this movie would be totally focused on maternal grief. But since Beanpole is about post-war Leningrad, child death is the least depressing thing here. Slow fry descent into depression.

Broken people can't fix each other.

Skins (Eduardo Casanova, 2017): 2.5/5

Blends the celebratory vulgarity of John Waters with the stylish visuals and deliberate color palette of a Pedro Almodover film.

The lives of a reluctant pedophile, an eyeless prostitute, a wannabe amputee, a pregnant dwarf actress, a burn victim, a rectum-faced girl, and other people deformed both inside and out intersect in this Spanish black comedy. Safe to say you have never seen anything quite like this before; often unpleasant, gross, and weird but the intricate plotting, aggressive stylization, and oscillation of cruelty and compassion make this just slightly more than a freakshow. You have been warned.

Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee, 2020): 3/5 

Lee is going forward with his hybridization of documentary and fiction, stylistically picking up where he left off with Black Klansman. I’m still processing some of his choices but you have to deeply revere a filmmaker in his 60s doing challenging work. Delroy Lindo is shaping up as the secret weapon of Spike’s acting troupe.

rewatched There Will Be Blood (PTA, 2007): 5/5

A film that spreads its epic mastery across the screen as effortlessly as most of us smear butter over warm toast.


Baskin (Can Evrenol, 2015): 2.5/5 

this is like the twilight zone and clive barker had a child while on acid.

Shirley (Josephine Decker, 2020): 3/5 

unhinged elisabeth moss should be a new film genre at this point

Shelley (Ali Abbasi, 2016): 3/5

If I was going to work/live with someone and when we arrived at their house they told me they didn't have electricity I'd be like "LOL bye bitch."

Wounds (Babak Anvari, 2019): 1/5

Bartender Armie Hammer has a breakdown after messing with a haunted phone in this Hulu/Netflix pick-up, this time a discarded Annapurna release. Movie makes absolutely no sense. 1-star only for the naked lady playing pool whose nakedness is never acknowledged.

Big Time Adolescence (Jason Orley, 2019): 2/5 

I think Pete Davidson just plays himself in everything he’s in and probably will continue to do so for eternity. 

Also, why does the synopsis say "16 year old virgin" as like the first descriptor? He's SIXTEEN. Let him be a virgin in peace.

The Childhood of a Leader (Brady Corbet, 2015): 3.5/5 

Strange, startling, and very dark. Seemingly a portrayal of the trivialities in a detached family household, but is a very compelling tale of a monster to be, full of nuanced performances with a chilling ending that can be considered too on the nose for some but I very much liked it. Helped by a movie stealing score, harsh electronic synths play this out like a horror film, in fact it should be jarring but somehow it works.

rewatched The Matrix (Wachowskis, 1999): 4/5 

This is probably the most thrillingly realized dramatization of the simulation hypothesis that we're ever likely to get.

The Adventures of Milo and Otis (Masanori Hata, 1986): No rating

Watched this as a toddler and remembered just loving the cute pug and cat's friendship and how adorable it all was. As an adult however, here are some of the fucked up things you realized happen to REAL animals in the movie:
-a pug fights a bear
-a cat falls off a cliff
-a cat goes down a waterfall
-a cat fights a snake
-a cat and dog give live birth (YES YOU WATCH IT REALLY HAPPEN)
-a pug fights a raccoon
-a pug gets a ride from a turtle

Safe to say some animals were harmed during the making of this film. It makes for a really stressful watch and I can't say that I enjoyed it this time or would want to recommend to parents and their children.

America's Sweetheart

Before she became "America's Sweetheart," Mary Pickford was playing characters like "Harum-Scarum" and driving the peckerwoods wild until they start shooting each other.  Featuring crisp on-location photography by Billy Bitzer, these one-reelers are 1080p restorations with modern scores--fantastic stuff.

The Mountaineer's Honor (D.W. Griffith, 1909): 5/5
https://youtu.be/7pNb0Qis8dM

A Feud in the Kentucky Hills (D.W. Griffith, 1912): 4/5
https://youtu.be/96MtLV_XHYI

Four years later, at age 24, Little Mary would be making $10,000 a week at Famous Players-Lasky.  By the end of the decade, she would be producing her own films and making more than $1million/yr.

The Beginning of the End

Fred Ott’s Sneeze (W.K.L. Dickson, 1894): 5/5
In this shocking horror tale from the Edison Co., the monster Ott, deceptively holding a handkerchief to suggest he will abide by public health policy, turns against his creator and sprays him with a load of viral pathogens.  First-time helmer Dickson, in a taut, fast-paced narrative, both invents the cinema and envisions the uncontrollable, alien force within us that must ultimately destroy it. The ceremony of innocence is drowned; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. (Now playing everywhere.)