Watching
My last 10 watched from Letterboxd.
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Breakdown: 1975
Piqued my interest because I was born in ‘75. Spends seemingly more time talking about the events of the 70s that led to the movies than the movies themselves. Throws in movies from 74 and 76 to have more to work with. It was mildly interesting but I would have rather learned more about the movies than the historical context and political climate around them.
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The Mastermind
Oh, I get it. “Mastermind” is ironic.
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Stand by Me
Revisiting some Rob Reiner movies and realized I hadn’t seen this since River Phoenix died. It made this watch all the more tragic. A great coming of age movie with such great casting for the four boys. Hard to imagine anyone else playing those roles. And evil Keifer!
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Boogie Nights
It’d been a long time since I last saw this so I was thrilled when the 4k Blu-Ray arrived today. This movie still fucking slaps. An incredible ensemble all working at the top of their game. (Wahlberg might have peaked here.) This was the first PT Anderson movie I saw and I must have watched it a dozen times. Simply a masterpiece. The long takes, the match cuts, the soundtrack! Hits a lot different now that I have kids and am closer to Burt Reynolds’s age than anyone.
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Wake Up Dead Man
Another fun mystery with a deep cast. Josh O’Connor and Glenn Close really shine. I’ve seen all the Knives Out films exactly one time and, while I enjoyed them, would be hard-pressed to tell you a single detail about them. Part of that is Blanc is not a particularly interesting character. Aside from being good at solving mysteries he doesn’t seem to have any other apparent skills or interests and instead seems to just serve as a way to provide exposition to the mystery. This one has several memorable scenes and felt like the most personal of the three. Time will tell if this one remains memorable.
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Getting LOST
A little up its own ass about the importance of Lost, which was a show I loved. It truly was a groundbreaking show and at the same time kind of the end of an era of appointment viewing and communal TV watching experiences. To its credit, the doc doesn’t shy away from the notorious finale or reports that the writer’s room was highly toxic, and the showrunners own up to it. Great seeing a lot of the cast and hearing from fans and early podcasters about how the show changed their lives. Definitely got a little nostalgic and it gave me the itch to revisit the show.
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Irreversible
That the guy in Sentimental Value gave a DVD of this to his nine-year-old grandson is killing me now. This is maybe one of the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen. Appreciated the series of long takes and incredibly vulnerable performance by Monica Bellucci. If you go to a place called The Rectum, you shouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens there.
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Sentimental Value
I was hyped for this after Worst Person in the World but this one didn’t really resonate with me. Renate Reinsve is great once again. Weird to see Elle Fanning with legs after Predator Badlands. It felt like the movie within the movie might have been more interesting. Adding The Piano Teacher and Irreversible to my watchlist.
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Sirāt
The Mad Max of rave movies. This movie lost me at a certain point but I stuck with it anyway and it only got more stressful from there. Fucking hell.
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It Was Just an Accident
Thought this was fine but the Blair Witch-ass ending elevated it. Looking forward to the American remake with an ICE agent in a few years.