Josh Matthews

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters 2007 ★★★★ Rewatched Oct 10, 2020 When this documentary came out in 2007, my reaction was that this world of competitive video-gaming was absurd. The vain desires of the losers in this movie signified cheap nothingness, a serious downgrade from real competition…

The Trial of the Chicago 7 2020 ★★½ Watched Oct 14, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: As you'd expect, this one is preachy, melodramatic, idealistic to certain extremes. A Sorkin screenplay is a political fantasy world. It's a courtroom drama, with some flashbacks and contextual scenes, about the seven men…

Corpus Christi 2019 ★★★½ Watched Oct 17, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Hard to say whether one should be disappointed in a movie with much potential, or grateful for what it is. For starters, this is a fake-preacher movie, or a fake priest movie really. Protagonist gets out of "juvie,"…

Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978 ★★½ Watched Oct 19, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: I hate going against the common consensus sometimes, as is the case here, but this sequel to the 1956 original has too many defects to rate as more than average. Consider that first half, which…

The 400 Blows 1959 ★★★★★ Rewatched Oct 21, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Trying to poke holes in this classic, after studying it, I've come to appreciate it even more than on casual viewing. Besides Truffaut as a critic and his autobiographical material here, "The 400 Blows" is a story…

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 ★★★★★ Rewatched Oct 25, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Watched at age 22, now watched again at 40, and it makes more sense now. I had remembered this as a simple fable about the dangers of money. Greed changes a man for the…

Things to Come 1936 ★★★★ Watched Oct 26, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: HG Wells oversaw this mammoth production that must be seen just for its visuals and editing. Why have I never heard of this movie, which shows up on NONE of the greatest science-fiction movies ever lists,…

L’Argent 1983 ★★★★½ Watched Oct 29, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Despite the high rating I give Bresson's "L'Argent," the ONLY way to watch this is with your brain fully engaged, ready to recognize patterns, ask why each shot is the way it is, and make all kinds of…

Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds 2020 ★★★★ Watched Oct 30, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Visually one of Herzog's best movies, combined with great music, "Fireball" is at the least a pleasurable aesthetic experience. As well, it is epic in scope, in the traditional sense of that word. Herzog,…