his letterboxd has given me a million more films to add to the list.
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people are idiots and shouldn’t be listened to, imo
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February:
41 new ones and a rewatch of Goodfellas (which I still don’t particularly care for)
Best: All That Breathes, Alcarras, The Fabelmans, Babylon
Worst: The Howling III: The Marsupials, Eo
Best from previous years: Harriet Craig (1950)
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My last 2 weeks, none technically count as being watched in March, but anyway…
Highlights
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Women Talking - 2023 - Drama - 8/10
Powerful, poignant and impactful tale about the appropriate response to abuse in a small community. Incredible performances from Claire Foy, Rooney Mara and Jessie Buckley let alone the entire supporting cast. It never shifts from its focus despite it never being explicit on the events. Beautifully shot and clever film making but always feels like a stage play.
JustWatch | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes -
The Whale - 2023 - Drama - 8/10
Contemplative story about loss and its impact to others. Fantastic use of a limited set with every shot feeling fresh and never becoming dull. Great cast, with interesting rounded characters from a clever but dense script built from a unique perspective that still treads similar themes to Aronofsky’s other features. I’m not sure the ending fully worked, but it does enough to get away with it.
JustWatch | IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes
Perfectly Fine
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The Stranger - 2022 - Thriller
True story of the undercover investigation to obtain a confession out of a suspect. Well cast, nicely paced, looks good and tension filled. -
Kajillionaire - 2020 - Comedy
A quirky adrift young adult tale. It never feels comfortable in its oddness, like it tries too hard, yet it still remains a fun charming story. -
The Inspection - 2023 - Drama
An adrift young adult joins the military story. It had some very odd choices but overall the story works and it has a nice message by the end. I was also surprised that the film was written and directed by it’s protagonist. It won me over. -
Ingrid Goes West - 2017 - Comedy Drama
CW: Suicide. An excessive compulsive starts a new life without addressing their past behaviors. Solid performance with an interesting character perspective. I enjoyed it right to the end and then felt the film let itself down with its ending. Shame. -
Devotion - 2022 - War
An unbelievable war story about some incredible people, yet completely true. It’s well made but felt dated despite some technical merit and didn’t leave enough of a lasting impression. -
The Cabin in the Woods - 2023 - Thriller
It’s fine, M Night does less wrong than normal but its a tired tale and this version offers little new in its approach, I’d recommend A Killing of a Sacred Deer instead.
Not For Me
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Aftershock - 2023 - Doc
Medical malfeasance for pregnant women. A very important subject but I felt it got lost within history lessons, personal studies and vox pops. I learnt too little by the end. -
The Forgiven - 2022 - Thriller
The story of an accidental murder in a foreign land. Great cast, ok script and some unexpected drama. It’s not bad, clearly better made than Cabin in the woods but I expected more from it. -
Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion - 2022 - Horror
It starts great and gets progressively worse with too similar an ending to the first film but presented worse. Just rewatch the original. -
The Swimmers - 2022 - Biopic
True story of illegal immigrants and their determination despite circumstance. An inspiring story which tackles an important subject but poorly acted and tonally off. -
Incantation - 2022 - Horror
Headache inducing shaky camera that completely overstays its welcome. Lacks any depth beyond basic jump scares. I preferred Host. -
Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend - 2023 - biopic
Made for TV film with poor acting, dull shots and a script that feels like it’s written from the Wikipedia page with no depth to the events. Cars looked and sounded nice. -
Stutz - 2022 - Self Help
A love letter from Jonah Hill to his psychologist via a technically impressive infomercial. It doesn’t provide enough by itself to allow you to implement any of the techniques. -
The African Desperate - 2022 - Comedy
A humourless drug fueled trip through an art college that tries too much, ruining the parts that do work. Respect to the ambition & distinct style but it’s very flawed.
Watched in Feb: approx 8,000 films
Bests:
Red Rocket
A Man Called Ove
Working Girl
The Fabelmans
The Swimmers
The Whale
I Wish
Eden
Asako I & II
Women Talking
Tár
Arab Blues
Now, Voyager
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Fire of Love
Gregory’s Girl
Oslo, August 31st
Appropriate Behaviour
Broker
Sunshine
Alcarràs
Worsts:
Babylon
The Beach
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What’s yr username on there? I want to follow you and be annoyed, please
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I’m not sure but this is the link to my profile
Joyland is the best film I’ve seen in 2023 by quite a long way. Pretty well faultless.
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I thought having her die was a bit of a misstep. I know the pressures they built up on her and how much her life was about to change/get worse, but it still felt a bit jarring to go from her having that realisation to … dead
When we got the flashback to how they first met I had a momentary hope that she’d faked her death to escape somehow, noir style! Even though that wouldn’t have made sense and probably would have spoiled the film in other ways. I just loved that scene and the energy between them, and they were such a good on screen pairing
Still thought it was great though, found the way it was shot especially arresting
Puss on boots was pleasingly pretty decent. I’m a fan of how spiderverse and the lego movie have encouraged studios to make cgi animation look a bit more interesting.
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I thought the death was an excellent piece of misdirection. So often stories featuring gay/trans characters have them die as a means of resolving the love triangle. This was completely different from that, and indeed the gradual demeaning and destruction of the wife by the whole selfish family (including the ostensible hero Haidur) is hiding in plain sight throughout.
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We went to see ‘Suzume’ the new film from Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, Weathering With You etc) tonight. It’s excellent, and if you liked his other films, you’ll love this one. He was there for a Q&A afterwards, too
It’s tied to certain specific moments in Japanese collective history which makes the emotional beats hit harder than in his previous films. Many of the audience tonight were Japanese, and you could audibly hear the effect it had on them.
It’s the first film of his that also gets the balance of that just right with the absurdist and whimsical humour as well, I think. Well worth seeing when it comes out in April.
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watched Dead End from 1937 and found it ‘boring’
The Square (2017, dir. Ruben Östlund) had too little point and took too long to make it.
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Films watched in February: 35
Best: Come And See, In The Mood For Love, The Draughtsman’s Contract, Tomboy, The Gleaners And I, Ratcatcher, All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, The Garden.
Worst: The Whale, Robert
A really good month of film watching for me. Lots of good stuff
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My thoughts are with you
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