My 8000th Review - nominated by Donkey Kong Kill Screen
Back when I started my Letterboxd, almost 11 (eleven) years ago, it was done so during the crumbling embers of a long-term relationship.
I remember thinking to myself, "This will take my mind off things until I meet someone else."
8000 reviews later! Maybe I actually should take my 15yo's advice and have a go at Tinder, this is getting ridiculous now, isn't it? I wouldn't put my film taste…
The most pleasing aspect of the surprisingly decent critical response that Plane has received is watching #FilmTwitter go all quiet about it.
Weeks of piss-take tweets about its admittedly amusing and blunt title and 1980s-esque premise have mostly disappeared as this turned out to be an absolutely great time. But that's what action cinema has had to put up with for decades, it's just amplified now by social media filmbros who have only just finished wanking over Licorice Pizza. Which…
I have to shamefully admit that I'm fascinated by this whole Neil Marshall / Charlotte Kirk situation.
I think their intent is to try and be the new Paul WS Anderson / Milla Jovovich. The problem is that while Anderson is fucking crap, there can be no doubt that he always manages to put across Jovovich as being a convincing action star, while she puts clear hard work into being one.
Marshall is crap, too, with The Descent and Dog…
Steve's Priority Watchlist Project
How should history view The Magnificent Ambersons?
We've known for decades now what happened to it and what we could be missing out on. But is that really as important as what we are left with? Because the common consensus is that Orson Welles' film is still an unquestionable classic and some would debate whether it deserves to be called a masterpiece.
It's a truly great film despite the joins and the jumps and the lurches…
High Heat is one of those puzzling occasions where you don't know if something was enjoyable because the people involved actually knew what they were doing or if it was sheer blind luck that it turned out alright.
The opening 20 minutes or so are a boring write-off and then Diamond Dallas Page appears as the main bad guy. I was ready to turn it off and have a self high-five (a WCW reference for the kids there) for making…
I really like Tom Papa whilst also under the full understanding that he's never going to produce the greatest work the stand-up medium has ever witnessed.
But he's extremely personable and easy to listen to, with relatable material and a great delivery. What a Day! isn't quite the best of his shows but it's as solid and amusing as ever from him, and I always look forward to his specials.
As I get older, I gravitate more towards more wholesome stand-up like this, even more so because you know there won't be any casual transphobia in it. Good stuff.
Steve's Priority Watchlist Project
I actually don't remember putting this film in this project at all and I don't think anybody else noiminated it. That said, I did start it over a year ago so there is that.
I never saw The Sandlot when I was younger, it just came along too late to catch my notice back then. I also don't think it got much attention over here due to being about baseball either. There's not a baseball film…
Steve's Priority Watchlist Project
I know that Ocean Waves isn't seen as being a Studio Ghibli classic by any means, but it actually outlines very clearly the most under-appreciated aspect of their films, for me.
They're almost always very relaxing and pleasant. There's really not a great deal to Ocean Waves, originally a made-for-TV film that doesn't really stretch itself in terms of its story, characters and animation. But it's certainly very typical of the calm narrative style that has…
No, just not my thing at all.
I absolutely recognise that I'm in a very small minority when it comes to this special and to this new brand of sad stand-up comedy. I can understand the appeal and why people would gravitate towards it.
But that Stewart Lee clip I linked to remains so accurate in satirising the brand of show that Jerrod Carmichael is performing here. Especially the part where Lee talks about not resolving issues long enough to…
I'm (finally) coming to the end of this project and what I will mostly take away from it, and all the other films I watched from 2022, is that it was an outstanding year for female filmmakers.
I'm annoyed at myself because that's from a sample size that's far smaller than I wanted it to be and in 2023 I'm going to make a much better effort to watch many more films from non-cis male filmmakers.…
It seems as though Netflix are making a real effort with trying to create an anime catalogue of some standing, but none of their releases really seem to have made much impact so far.
Drifting Home rather highlights why that might have been. It's a pleasant enough fantasy adventure with a neat idea behind it, but it's neither striking enough in its style or story to stand out from the crowd. Too much time is spent…
Taking a legitimately mould-breaking true life story and turning it into a low hanging fruit comedy is something that cinema is so good at doing and doesn't get nearly enough undeserved credit for.
Bank of Dave is really just an excuse for another 'OOH DON'T NORTHERNERS TALK FUNNY EH' effort. It thinks it's Local Hero but it's actually just another forgettable Netflix film made by people who don't actually know the area, the culture or the accents at all.
Starts…