Favorite films

  • Only Angels Have Wings
  • Manhattan
  • Double Indemnity
  • Exotica

Recent activity

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  • God Told Me To

    ★★½

  • Joshua

    ★★★★½

  • Hands over the City

    ★★★

  • Alien³

    ★★★

Recent reviews

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  • God Told Me To

    God Told Me To

    ★★½

    49/100

    Are you there God? It's me, Michael. I keep trying to enjoy these beloved cult movies that all of my friends adore, but they just don't seem that great to me. The beloved cult movies, I mean. My friends are okay. Except for the ones who can't stop tweeting about basketball.

    (Rest of the review, along with everything else I write, available via ultra-cheap subscription. Seriously, it’s as little as $1 a month and for now that pays my rent.)

  • Joshua

    Joshua

    ★★★★½

    82/100

    Fourth viewing (last seen during its original theatrical release), no change. Still floored by Ratliff's uniquely unsettling rhythm here, e.g. cutting away on Joshua holding up the dead dog's collar and saying "We should keep this," which doesn't really signify much of anything but is nonetheless somehow unutterably creepy. And the film's manipulation of our empathy, shifting between parents and child is truly radical for this subgenre. I wound up reviewing it for multiple outlets, have appended the longest…

Popular reviews

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  • Moonlight

    Moonlight

    ★★½

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

    49/100

    Okay, here we go: Why I think the year's most universally acclaimed film is sorta kinda not really very good. Took a second look to be sure, both because I'm always open to the possibility that I'm wrong and because I served on a festival jury with Jenkins a couple of years ago and liked him enormously, so take no pleasure in being a contrarian here. Had exactly the same reaction, alas. In descending order of importance:

    • I'm generally…

  • Sicario

    Sicario

    ★★★★½

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

    83/100

    Second viewing, no change. Having now professionally reviewed this film four times (for The Dissolve from Cannes, and then for the A.V. Club, the Nashville Scene, and the Las Vegas Weekly), I thought I had nothing left to say, especially since I made a point of addressing the most common criticisms. But since a bunch of folks are praising Adam Nayman's takedown for Reverse Shot, let me quickly address a few of his points.

    “I have to know,” Kate…