Swiss Army Man (2016)

It’s sad when a really creative, different approach to modern  storytelling falls a little flat, since so many movies today are so cookie-cutter and I’d love to see more weird ones, but parts of this one definitely worked and it was truly creative so a mild round of applause is due. 

Ghost Ship (2002)

Hilariously so-bad-it’s-good slasher horror flick with immaculate late 90s vibes that in 90 minutes somehow manages to create a very poorly explained lore around haunted traveling ships and a demon with soul quotas. 

Hijack (Apple TV, 2023)

This kind of mid-brow entertainment always disappoints me because I want it to either be 15% smarter, or a whole lot sillier - like if you’re gonna be serious, you gotta nail down every detail. 

Smile (1975)

It’s possible to watch this funny, complex mid seventies dramadey as a “dazed and confused” style teen farce OR as a “Shampoo” style adult drama about teens, but to get the most out of it, and it really is quite good, you have to watch it as both at once. 

Conclave (2024)

As a person of faceblind it’s hard for me to follow a movie with 2-3 identically haired/aged/raced/gendered people, but i hung in there and enjoyed this deep look at pope stuff - it’s true what everyone says, it seems like it would be boring, but if you watch it at 1.75x speed it really pulls you in. 

La Belle Verte (1996)

Even though I guess in hindsight the whole "outsider coming to show us how our society is silly and helping people disconnect and appreciate creation" thing is a well-used trope, this 90s french film does it so so damn well, it's just gorgeous, and beautiful, and every moment of it was perfect and funny and nice, and I loved it.

Greyhound (2020)

I thought Greyhound was good but not great; I liked that it was taut and near real-time, but the narrative flow was a little janky and underwhelming, and by golly if this wasn’t the most serious movie, sheesh. 

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

A gut-punch of a story; I love Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield and they play great together. 

the life engineered by j.f. dubeau

I couldn’t get through this recent sci-fi - the world building was just too slipshod, the writing too “first novel”.

Alien: Romulus (2024)

Romulus is competently executed but brings nothing new to the Alien series and lacks magic, maybe because the effects are so much more digital. 

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

over-rated Kubrick, absurdly horny but very 16-year-old-boy about it, long and tedious, if you want a study of sex and relationships and secret parties try Shortbus (2006).

The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies

This nonfiction treatise on systems, communication and accountability is bold in its breadth, smoothly written and researched, laid out in a confusing and silly way, occasionally under-edited, but also fascinating, fun, and particularly impressive at the end. 

Shooter (2007)

It strikes me that as a culture we love movies about corrupt politicians committing atrocities and finally getting stopped by lone ex-special forces moral heroes, but we don’t seem to have a lot of heroes in real life. 

Bluebeard 1972

Really not a good movie, not sure why it was on my list, terrible line delivery, would’ve been funnier if every wife was played by the same actor, anyway utterly skippable. 

Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

I think if you don’t take it too seriously this very over the top and very unique drama (themes include body building, drug abuse, family difficulties, lgbt romance, weapons smuggling) could be a lot of fun, almost great - but it’s also quite violent and sometimes disturbing. 

The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater

Not sure what possessed me to read this short, famous political manifesto from 1960 but it was neat to get back to primary sources and gauge this guy’s opinions for myself; naturally I think he was mostly misguided and crazy, but he brings up a lot of interesting thoughts, particularly about self-reliance - a concept mostly ignored by conservatives today.