Movie Reviews

Home Alone 1990 ★★½ Rewatched Jan 01, 2021 Haven't seen this one since the theater in 1990, when I was 10. The movie has potential. The scenario of a 9-year-old, or however old Kevin is, being left alone in a rich home, is probably a fantasy of just about every kid,…

The Act of Killing 2012 ★★★★ Watched Dec 31, 2020 "The Act of Killing," while entirely unpleasant as we sit with gross murderers who gloat over their wanton killings of the past, yet has something refreshing for us Westerners. The killers, political and of the State, are seemingly honest and…

L.A. Confidential 1997 ★★½ Rewatched Jan 01, 2021 What an odd endorsement of cops. For me, LA Confidential falls among the 1990s set of paranoia-conspiracy films; it's just set in the 1950s, 40 years distant from part of what it is criticizing. That, partly, is the LA police, who six years…

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters 1985 ★★★★★ Watched Jan 02, 2021 I'm surprised to have never seen "Mishima" on any Best of the '80s list. It's superior, in my view, to "Raging Bull" because of its vaster complexities.  Both movies, of course, were written or co-written by Paul Schrader,…

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 1983 ★★★★ Watched Oct 03, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: A WW2 prison camp movie, "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" broadcasts particular frequencies that I think many viewers won't be able to tune into. Those who do will probably like this, or love it a lot. Let's…

Charulata 1964 ★★★½ Watched Oct 05, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: This affair-of-the-heart movie, by master Satyajit Ray, is a cut above similar movies. Ray's compositions feature the usual complexity, but by the early 1960s he was mixing in subtle camera movements everywhere, those worthy of Bergman. The story possesses…

Belle de Jour 1967 ★★★★★ Watched Oct 06, 2020 joshmatthews’s review published on Letterboxd: At the moment, my favorite Bunuel movie. It's clever and complex. "Belle de Jour" is simply about a bourgeois French woman, defined by her "class" and "virtue," who willingly decides to try prostitution during the day. She…

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,"…