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Josh Matthews

Movie Reviews

A Man Escaped

A Man Escaped 1956 ★★★★½ Rewatched Nov 06, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Easily categorized as a prison-break movie, "A Man Escaped" by the great French director Robert Bresson might be better classified as "Intensely Exciting Movie that Doesn't Seem as If it Should Be." It's also one of the…
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December 24, 2020
Movie Reviews

Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy 2020 ★★★½ Watched Nov 09, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: This movie's effects and affects depend on how much you believe in "the American Dream," whatever that amorphous concept means. The opening voiceover from a TV narrator, a preacher I think, discusses that it seems like a…
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December 24, 2020
Uncategorized

On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront 1954 ★★★★★ Rewatched Nov 12, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Strong anti-mob, maybe pro-Catholic movie about a dock worker, or longshoreman, who works for the American mob in NYC. The mob controls the longshoremen's union.  The waterfront's a spot of high corruption, therefore, yet a passionate…
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December 24, 2020
Movie Reviews

Thirst (Ingmar Bergman)

Thirst 1949 ★★½ Bergman's "Thirst" could've been a masterwork, yet it's a heap of a mess. Give him credit for trying to create an all-time art object worth the attention of the coming centuries. He's trying to tackle that persistent problem in human affairs: romantic relationships.…
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December 23, 2020
Movie Reviews

Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 2020 ★★ Watched Dec 22, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Blockbuster-attending audiences in 2020 have been waiting long for good eye candy. With its movie poster filled with candy colors, you'd think "Wonder Woman 1984," the sequel to the hit "Wonder Woman," would deliver. It does, but…
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December 23, 2020
AnimatedMovie Reviews

Wolfwalkers

Wolfwalkers 2020 ★★½ Watched Nov 13, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: To preface this review's coming negativity, this movie's animation stuns, delights, inspires, and awes at times. It could be, arguably, one of the best animated movies ever, just in terms of its visuals -- including compositions, colors, framing,…
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December 22, 2020
Movie Reviews

On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront 1954 ★★★★★ Rewatched Nov 12, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Strong anti-mob, maybe pro-Catholic movie about a dock worker, or longshoreman, who works for the American mob in NYC. The mob controls the longshoremen's union.  The waterfront's a spot of high corruption, therefore, yet a passionate…
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December 22, 2020
Movie ReviewsWar

The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter 1978 ½ Rewatched Dec 21, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: This review may contain spoilers. I object to this film as a fraud, conjuring up the wrong emotions. It asks us to sentimentalize the Vietnam experience via small-town characters traumatized by it.  "The Deer Hunter" is an…
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December 22, 2020
Movie Reviews

It’s a Wonderful Life

It’s a Wonderful Life 1946 ★★★★ Watched Nov 17, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: Probably there has no movie that argues for small-town American bourgeoisie lifestyle more than "It's a Wonderful Life." Too bad it is paired with hokey theology. The entire movie, a riff on "A Christmas Carol," depends…
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December 22, 2020
Movie Reviews

Burning

Burning 2018 ★★★ Watched Nov 19, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: One problem with watching a movie about disaffected young people who think they are just like the characters in "The Great Gatsby" is that, if you're a middle-age bourgeois guy like me, you see them as sort of…
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December 22, 2020