Charlie Kaufman seems unrelentingly obsessed with tearing apart and exposing the male psyche. It’s something I love about his films but it also can be depressing how much I relate to them.
Continue reading “My Favorite Films From Every Year (2020-1895)”
This is pretty much everything I wanted from a Godzilla vs Kong film. It has a fuckton of badass fight scenes to counterbalance the usual human story bullshit. Also, it has some fantastic callbacks to earlier films for fans of the series, without feeling like they’re unnecessarily shoehorned in or forced in any way. I’m a huge Adam Wingard fan and especially after seeing his Blair Witch treatment, I wasn’t worried in the slightest about him taking on another horror monster icon like Godzilla.
These films tend to be starkly limited by current filmmaking technology, considering the scale a necessary use of CGI. With that being said though, this one keeps up with the times and is the best looking version to-date.
I’m fully on-board with any and every Godzilla film so fucking bring em’ on baby, daddy’s ready.
8/10
This being a good movie or not is really one of the greatest discussions within the horror film community. I really think the overall enjoyability of it is solid but the quality is where some debate can be had. Personally, I fucking love it and Roth’s horror fandom is woven in beautifully with ridiculous side characters, overall campiness and off-beat cinematography.
Also, speaking of ridiculous side characters, the party cop is one of my favorite people of all time. He actually makes the entire movie for me.
So yeah, if you enjoy a nice, raunchy, campy popcorn flick, there’s nothing to fear going into this one.
7/10
I know exactly what Bacurau was going for and just having received that message, I’d say for the most part, it’s a successful film. It definitely got me thinking about how I, living in America, view Brazil.
The film uses extreme tonal and stylistic shifts to display this and from a watching standpoint, it can be a bit much initially. With that being said, reflecting on the film over the past few days has really made me appreciate it a lot more and there’s actually almost a dark comedy aspect to it all.
This is one of the more offbeat movies I’ve seen in quite some time but it’s certainly worth checking out.
7/10
I can’t praise this film enough to building its own richness throughout its runtime.
At first, it really does seem like a typical, sci-fi, monster movie but as these characters are fleshed out, it becomes so much more. Thomas Jane was wonderful and as much as I hate her character (in a good way), Marcia Gay Harden fucking killed it.
The main praise I have for this film is the pure vein of horror that it thrives in. Frank Darabont did a fantastic job at creating this evil universe that actually feels dangerous. There’s really not a moment where I felt like any amount of plot armor could protect these characters, especially towards the end.
Also, the ending; just, wow.
8/10
I’m not sure why I force myself to compare Hammer films to Universal but it’s no secret that I much prefer Universal horror movies. However, Terence Fisher is far and beyond my favorite director from this studio and I really enjoyed this film.
It’s colorful, straightforward and truthfully has more of a Re-Animator vibe than a Frankenstein one. I’m not saying it’s a body-horror epic, but you know, aesthetically speaking.
It’s Peter Cushing and Terence Fisher, what’s not to like?
7/10
This film is a such an excellent murder mystery in the same vein of Hitchcock. It’s super atmospheric and the effects work is actually fantastic (for the most part).
I even loved that they used a different actor just for “the killer’s eye” because those sequences were my favorite. Not only were they psychedelic and creepy but using a different actor for them really help preserve the mystery.
I’m not even sure what else to say. I think the affliction specific aspect of the plot added a whole other dimension to the film.
8/10
This is actually Bava’s first giallo and, well, possibly the first giallo film ever. Anyone deep into that sub-genre knows how abstract and creative those films have gotten through the late 60’s and early 70’s. The Girl Who Knew Too Much doesn’t have any of those later films psychedelic, disjointed feel. It’s a pure mystery-thriller.
This should be included in any basic guide to giallo films and the straightforward story coupled with super clean cinematography make it also one of the easiest to approach.
7/10
There’s so much to unpack in this film. Much like a Lynch project, there’s not a whole lot of concrete answers to the plethora of mental dilemmas you’ll experience while watching it.
Despite some films attempting to do something similar but end up feeling convoluted, Possession feels personal. It feels both personal to Zulawski as well as myself.
Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill put on two of the strongest performances to date. Their physical display of emotional torture is sickening and despite some psychosexual, body-horror visuals towards the latter half, it’s those performances that drive the horror aspect.
It’s one of the strangest films and film watching experience you’ll experience to date.
9/10
Wallace Worsley isn’t my favorite director but despite this film pre-dating one of his projects that I didn’t care for, I actually really enjoyed it.
The movie is atmospheric, bleak at times and amplified by Chaney’s always-powerful screen presence. The blue tones that appear in the film, more towards the end, really give off a melancholy and foreboding feeling.
It’s a story about taking back your pride but at its core, it’s a revenge movie. I think it’s a staple of its era and one that shouldn’t be glossed over.
7.5/10
This is probably the strongest directorial debut I’ve seen in years. Rose Glass had a clear vision for how she wanted this film to both look and feel.
There’s no denying that this won’t be for everyone, it’s a very methodical slow-burn. I can see the religious aspect being controversial but by the end of the film it seemed more like a character study than an established opinion on the subject.
Also wow, Morfydd Clark, what a dynamic actress. She seemingly filmed Crawl and Saint Maud in the same year, which is a little insane to me.
I guess the last thing to mention is the ending, which is fucking insane and the goddamn icing on the cake.
9/10
