movie

Rated Sherlock Holmes Faces Death 9/10

Rated The Scarlet Claw 9/10

Rated The House of Fear 9/10

Rated A Moment in the Reeds 6/10

Rated Tongues Untied 10/10

Rated The Cabin in the Woods 5/10

For a horror movie I have to say it's pretty astounding. I can certainly see how it ended up becoming a cult classic given its commitment to self-awareness throughout its runtime. I almost want to call it the perfect marriage between pure horror and absolute camp (a la Scary Movie and even the Scooby Doo remakes). I enjoyed it that much.There's a good deal of tension in the first half and there were quite a few times where on first viewing I literally freaked my shit out. On the sound front the music is scored, cued, and mixed particularly well and the latter half is a ridiculously entertaining romp through the crass and utterly ridiculous (one word: unicorn).With all of these jostling ideas and tones it's impressive that you actually feel for some of these characters especially given to the shortness of the film--it comes over at just over 90 minutes--so credit obviously lays with the writers. The actors themselves are equally talented, though it's really the writing that compels them to be something new, something more, to what have become conventional horror archetypes.All in all my first viewing was great and its an enjoyable ride on repeat.

Rated A Quiet Place Part II 5/10

It's enjoyable but mostly forgettable. We do learn some new things about the creatures and I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing of the world-building especially where other people are concerned, but this needed to do more and with quicker pacing. It's great that it has something to say about young people and maturation but it doesn't do nearly enough to carry on the character development that was EXACTINGLY earned in the first film. A movie where Emily Blunt goes on to find her daughter and leaves the strange man to take care of her son and baby would've been a lot more interesting to me, but I also understand how that presents the potential for discontinuity. It is passable and holds things together, which is more than most sequels can so, so I really hope Part III builds on and expands the stakes. Give us more direct conflicts with and between humans, PLEASE.

Rated Underground Fragrance 6/10

Rated Britain's Greatest Codebreaker 8/10

Rewatched this as a result of having recently seen THE IMITATION GAME and deeming it severely lacking in its approach--historical and thematic--to Alan Turing's work. On technical levels this film could use some improvement in its cinematography and editing, but given that it bills itself as a made-for-tv docudrama it comes across as both insightful and competent.What I appreciated most about the film was its construction and the way it dramatized the interactions between two people--Turing (Ed Stoppard) and his therapist, Franz Greenbaum (Henry Goodman). We get a bit of backstory of both, of course, but the interaction between the two allow us to get a better sense of the inner-workings of Turing's mind before, during, and after his service at Bletchley Park.This back-and-forth is complemented by the more traditional style of sit-down interviews, which include relatives and descendants of Turing and Greenbaum. More importantly to me, though, was the way in which the film perfectly contextualizes his general thinking about the computability of life with his discoveries of and contributions to computer science, artificial intelligence, and biological mathematics.What I appreciated most about this was the way in which it positions the sciences (and universities, really) as places of interdisciplinary study. Wozniak for the most part stresses the integral nature of his contributions to computer science and machine learning, but it is left to the professors to explicate how his genius would influence later thinkers and both postulate (and shape) the theories, philosophies, and extent(s) of artificial intelligence.The film isn't solely about his mind, however, it's also about his heart. And here the film also gets it right. We learn about the loss in his youth of his childhood friend Christopher and, perhaps masterfully, the philosophical question of immortality through AI is raised while at the same time Turing's conception of a means of discerning true intelligence--his eponymous test--comes into form.At nearly the same time his love for Queen and country is tested when, following a burglary at his residence, law enforcement are called, but are more interested in his sexual proclivities than in meting out justice to the thieves. What's interesting about the recollection of this event is how it's used to color Turing. We learn from various sources about how open he was about his sexuality, even with these officers, and also that he was aware that he bore some social privileges as an academician.Charged with gross indecency and offered the choice between jail and chemical castration, the film shows us how Turing's disillusionment and anger with the world and British society began. What he didn't count on was that his mind might become just as addled and confused as his heart. The idea that the country he helped save from Nazi Germany's atrocities could visit the same upon its own citizens would eventually drove him to his death. The film captures this reality with little to no effort and it doesn't shy away from it. It can't.CODEBREAKER is a film that is as much about genius as it is about the social contexts and relationships that inform and constrain it. What this film does right is depict a man wronged by society simply because he could be wronged. It is a tale about villainy and state violence, but it's also a story about a boy who wanted to give something back to the world and vindicate the worth of an adolescent friendship. It's a glimpse into a time characterized by secrets and surveillance. Deeply human despite its flaws, it passes the test.

Rated Two Cars, One Night 6/10

Rated The Reluctant Fundamentalist 6/10

A moving film about allegiances at the social, national, and personal levels, The Reluctant Fundamentalist has high aims but fails to fully render its many messages. Because of this, a beautiful film about the origins of culture clash and the role patriotism and fear play in producing these inevitabilities, comes across heavy-handed. This is a bit of a disappointment as the casting is spot-on--Riz Ahmed, Kiefer Sutherland, and Om Puri give some incredibly magnetic performances--and there is no dearth of technical skill.Typically I'm a fan of overambitious films, but this manages to somehow telegraph a variety of positions while never quite putting its foot down. It is perhaps too comfortable with ambiguity, certainly more comfortable than its audience is. At the film's opening this makes for compelling and interesting material, but the fact that few concrete answers or explanations are offered on the ontologies of its characters' motivations ensures that the congealed product is unrewarding. It comes as no surprise, then, that many of the supporting cast exist solely to add context and are themselves underdeveloped.All said, the film IS vibrant. When not dominated by the rich sounds and visuals of Pakistan, ethereal vocalizations and sheer and embroidered textiles, the film is arguably at its most uninteresting. One of the things I loved, in particular, was how the soundtrack was used to inspire feeling or to accompany the feelings being created and shown on screen. The sound profile of the film is itself incredibly diverse and enjoyable; the soundtrack contains oral chants, hip hop beats, and melodious instrumentations, all of which are creatively and effectively woven into the narrative.Through this film we come to realize that militancy is rarely a mask of our making or choosing, that sometimes it is chosen for us. This is the kind of film that brings cerebrality and moral philosophy to characters we often hear about but never see. While a smaller scale might have provided for more powerful meditations on the social constraints of identity, this remains a film to be seen because it manages to be both race and class-conscious, all while subverting the popular characterizations of peoples and groups in the middle east. It doesn't do it well, but it does it. And that is saying something.

Rated I Don't Want to Go Back Alone 7/10

Added Is God Is to Movie Watchlist

Rated Supergirl 7/10

My dog loved it so much I just ordered him a Krypto toy. I thought it was a good introduction and vet to know Supergirl movie. Learning about her struggle and what she’s been through. The heel had absolutely no depth and I never really cared about and the plot was simple. But I did enjoy Kara and thought it did a good job building her character even if everything around it in the movie was more on the stake side.

Rated Lesbian Space Princess 3/10

As a lesbian this movie is very lesbian.In all seriousness, this movie is genuinely really bigoted. You can tell the creators are misandrists and TERFs.On top of that, the animation looked like it was drawn by toddlers. It didn't even feel like a movie at times, just a bad YouTube video. The songs were painfully bad, and some parts were really hard to get through.It kind of felt like the movie was mocking queer people. Especially when even the queer characters repeatedly referred to a non-binary person with the wrong pronouns, or when they killed off the only drag character. The writers were obviously completely out of touch with reality.

Rated Turn of the Tide: The Surreal Story of Rabo de Peixe 7/10

Rated Fatal Attraction 5/10

Hard not to Monday morning quarterback this one but I feel like its pretty easy not to cheat on your beautiful wife just because she's been out of your line of sight for a calendar hour.Anyway. Good case to be made here that Douglas is the real bad guy, careless man who thinks he can get whatever he wants and get away with it, etc., and I’d love to be on Glenn Close’s side but christ this movie hates women.CW <u>self harm</u>, animal death,

Rated Patriot Games 6/10

This review may contain spoilers.presented as it was meant to be seen, in standard def from the libraryI was sure I’d seen this before but maybe not? marking as a rewatch anyway. Funny how much time they spend on how this is a rogue element of the IRA, how the real villains are all English traitors. Theres something there when Ford goes to the war room and they see the horrors of war — mechanised slaughter, really — mediated through screens, IR footage of the African desert. You can do all the guerrilla stuff you want but if you piss off the US military they'll wipe you out from space so cleanly they can't even identify you from your teeth, apparently. But don't worry, the IRA, we know you'd only attack valid military targets. Easy film paper there.

Rated Project Hail Mary 10/10

Rated Stick It 9/10

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Rated Almost Famous 8/10

Rated Cha Cha Real Smooth 8/10

Added Putting on the Dish to Movie Watchlist

Added Mickey 17 to Movie Watchlist

Rated Obsession 9/10