This one really got me. I'm just incredibly struck by how much understanding there is here that would be pointlessly flattened if it was ever put into words.
-
-
Alphaville 1965
Absolute nonsense and intensely vapid. In a just world, Orwell would have beaten Godard's ass for making this.
-
-
Now You See Me 2 2016
Out of all the "lmao sure whatever" movies I've seen in my life, this was probably the most!
-
Now You See Me 2013
INCREDIBLE. Dumbest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. Why hasn’t everyone seen this.
-
Everything Everywhere All at Once 2022
Really loved this! Some real good science fiction comedy with a lot of great visual gimmicks—I went in figuring that the generational divide element was going to be some trite thing about seeing things from the other person's perspective, and I guess it TECHNICALLY was in the end, but only by taking a round trip through a beginner's course in Absurdism first, which made things feel a lot more emotionally real. The mother-daughter story here still does ultimately feel kind…
-
-
Life of Brian 1979
Look, fine. Whatever. This is an extremely technically competent comedy by a bunch of people who work really well together and are very good at making it very funny when they drag out a joke. Most of it lands really well! It also makes me want to fistfight every single member for political reasons.
-
Hail, Caesar! 2016
It's fine, I guess? I think the biggest problem here is just that it's setting itself up for comparison to Burn After Reading too readily, but the ways in which it's cartoonish don't feel like they have the same ugly reality underneath them—they're just cartoonish for the sake of having fun. And like, I can definitely respect the Coen brothers simply wanting to have fun with a bunch of 1950s pastiche! It's definitely fun! Just kinda feels a little hollow in comparison, although like, even the Coen brothers at their worst are still really good.
-
-
-
Mikey and Nicky 1976
Liked the parts of this that were about Mikey and Nicky—kinda falls apart the instant it's not about them. The first half is real strong, as is the part where you realize that Mikey really does just vanish as a person when he's not in the presence of Nicky. But none of the greater drama worked for me, and it's hard to care about Nicky outside of that context. Wanted to like this more than I did, especially since whenever John Cassavetes and Peter Falk are bouncing off each other it's great!