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Reviews
Beau Is Afraid (2023)
A Mountain of Missed Potential
Beau Is Afraid starts off extremely promising. A good energetic atmosphere, great direction and obviously a fantastic performance from Phoenix. Unfortunately half way through the movie it completely derails itself with absolute nonsense. It feels like Aster saw the films: "mother!" and "Synecdoche, New York" and decided to combine those two films together but with zero understanding of how and why those two movies work in the first place.
The sad thing is i love weird crazy stuff like this. I applaud its ambition and I'm glad something this out there was able to get made, but it really wasn't my thing.
4/10.
Rick and Morty: Mortyplicity (2021)
Quite possibly the worst episode in the entire series
The entire episode is the same joke played over and over until its so stale that its not even remotely enjoyable. Im actually wowed at how bad it is. This is filler episode. Nothing more.
Mother! (2017)
the most effective horror film i have ever seen.
I remember when i first heard that darren aronofsky was coming out with this new project called "mother!" and thinking 'huh, this could be interesting'. I got in my car and drove to a theater, knowing next to nothing about the the film or its plot.
Cut to three hours later: im back in my car, driving home and repeatedly and out loud im saying two things: "holy shit" and "wow".
That feeling hasn't left me when it comes to this thing. To put it in the simplest way i can; this is the only horror film that has made me feel truly helpless. Ive never seen a film that actually instilled a genuine sense of horror and dread before. Im not easy to shock either. I've easily stomached films like "saló" and "antichrist".
Mother! Is the only film that has truly shaken me to my core and continues to horrify and challenge me on each rewatch. And if a film is able to do that, to me that is art of a high form. 10/10.
BoJack Horseman: The View from Halfway Down (2020)
Quite possibly the greatest and most profound episode of television ever produced. Animated or otherwise.
Despite this episode ending on a very ambiguous note, I didnt watch the final episode right away. I was so awestruck and blown away by the sheer weight of this episode, so absolutely blown away that i watched the same episode again.
an absolute 10/10 without question and easily the best episode in the entire series.
Tenet (2020)
Genuinely not that good
I went into this with little to no expectations and I was still disappointed.
Let me start this off by saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed 9 out of the 11 films Nolan has made. Dunkirk being the first one I didn't like.
Which brings us to Tenet. Its a needlessly convoluted mess.
The main characters (except Dubicki) are bland, the main villain and his motives are completely unbelievable and stupid.
The first half of the movie is just bombarding the audience with mumbled exposition, but good luck hearing it because this film has the worst sound mixing I've ever experienced. I've heard this complaint with other Nolan films and I never noticed it. In Tenet it is blaring.
Im not even kidding. Half of the dialog is completely unintelligible.
Even the special effects aren't even that impressive. Whoopty-frickin-doo its shot in reverse.
I genuinely can't tell you a specific scene that stood out to me.
An American Pickle (2020)
Quirky, Fun and Enjoyable. But the story feels a bit rushed.
Lets start this off by saying Seth Rogens dual performance is great and I really hope he does more roles like this. I love the character of Hershel but I feel like his relationship and eventual rivalry with his great grandson Ben is a bit rushed and a little hard to believe. But i can't be too hard on it. Its about a guy being brined in pickle juice for 100 years for Schlopsk sake.
6.5/10
Gisaengchung (2019)
A Flawless Masterwork
When I heard about Parasite, I heard about the overwhelming praise first. Normally when a movie gets a 99% on RT i end up liking them but I never rave about them (Boyhood and Get Out are prime examples). So i went into Parasite with caution. But i was wrong. It really is THAT good. Not "good" its Excellent. Brilliant. Genius. I could go on and on. From the masterful direction to the cinematography and production design, the acting, the script; its all perfect. I don't want to give away anything because if you go in completely blind, you'll walk away with the best film of the year worming through your brain.
Les enfants du paradis (1945)
A Perfect and Enchanting Masterwork
It seriously is one of the greatest films I've ever seen and is easily the best French film ever. Not only that but it is a film so great that it should be regarded higher than "Citizen Kane" or "The Godfather"
But it breaks my heart that it isn't as well known as it should be. Even from a technical standpoint alone It is amazing that it exists. I mean, it was SHOT IN FRANCE DURING WWII. It has some of the most sympathetic characters ive ever seen (mainly Baptiste). Beautiful imagery and themes.
If you haven't seen it or even heard of it I URGE YOU TO WATCH IT. It is truly a masterpiece.