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Pride 2025 Film #14
First-time watch

Maybe one of my favorite queer films of all time now, Hide and Seek’s experimental presentation, blending real documentary footage of lesbians discussing their childhoods and repressed moments of sexuality with fictional footage of a similar experience that feels all too real. There is so much done to socialize children into heteronormativity, from all those childhood talks at the playground, to truth or dare taking place at a slumber party, and it was powerful as an adult to sit through a film like this with hindsight, projecting my own experiences, seeing the parallels to my own life. Did you know before I ever came out as pansexual, I got incredibly high in high school and told me friends and I was told not to talk about it? Distance has formed around those memories, they don’t hurt nearly as much as they used to, but how often do I really sit in what happened? 

Profound is not strong enough of a word to describe this film.

Man, my 6 year-old cousin I just met reminded me this existed. This is just “rattling keys at the audience” the movie, just going through the greatest hits of some of the Mario games and spin-off games and then it just kinda ends. I’ll probably see the next one.

Pride 2025 Film #13
First-time watch

Derek Jarman’s adaptation of Edward II comes across in every way bold that I imagined, modernizing a classic to provide much contemporary commentary through a uniquely stylized film in every way. Weird to think my only other Jarman has been Blue, hopefully changing this soon!

Maybe a questionable pick for my first Frank Capra film, but You Can’t Take It With You is a really sweet time, reflecting on the beauty of connection and togetherness being far more important than anything else that can arise in being human. Wanted to love it, but ehh, there are other Capra films I need to see that people will be upset about if I don’t love.

Celine Song, you could never do me wrong.

Materialists is the horror movie I have always wanted about the modern dating world, capturing every ounce of existential fear trapped inside of an hourglass strapped to our chest as we present our most pristine and presentable versions of ourselves, accidentally making the process of finding a life partner potentially vapid and empty. Song uses this and weaponizes it towards the audience, often making a film that is distanced and cold at times, but is hiding warmth if you sit with it long enough. All three of our trio here are at peak form and maybe at a career best, Pedro Pascal is warm, dashing, suave, and confident like never before, Chris Evans is charismatic, patient, and allows himself to linger in the most shocking of moments, helping us understand immediately his draw towards Dakota Johnson, whose calculated and flat exterior perfectly hides a desire she won’t acknowledge. All are so perfectly cast here, and there is a ing cast, notably Zoë Winters and Marin Ireland, who also help beautiful connect this story. The contrast of Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans as love interests to Dakota Johnson also felt key to holding onto the warmth here, which is infrequent and I imagine will make many not love the film, but I’m glad to say I did!

Pride 2025 Film #12
First-time watch

Feel some anticipation about others finding this score too low, but while Summerland’s central queerness is refreshing and this is ultimately a moving and emotion story, I found the melodrama a bit overdone at points for how predictable this all way and how flat most of the performances come across here for me. I’m also not going to define what makes a good or bad queer story, I recognize the film is a favorite of many, but there is one particular cop out near the end that I’m surprised I don’t hear more. It’s nice I guess!

Pride 2025 Film #11
First-time watch

Mala Mala’s scope may be more scattered and yet specific than many would presume hearing this is a documentary about the trans community in Puerto Rico, focusing on essentially the larger queer community, including drag queens, and spending time with large number of transwomen who are sex workers. A number of reviews seemed turned off by this, but it felt abundantly clear that this focus is reflective of challenging the perceptions around the the trans community in Puerto Rico and helping us understand that this community is not a monolith. There is a focus issue, with some individuals receiving vastly more screentime than others, sometimes making the film feel lopsided at times.

Pride 2025 Film #10
First-time watch

Michelle Hendley is so phenomenal in this film, I really wish she had a full career acting after this! Boy Meets Girl is a film I think I should be having more discenment with my rating, as there are elements that are pretty unforgivable, such as giving a violent transphobe an arc of forgiveness, a layer of cis-gaze clouding the whole film leading to some cringeworthy dialogue, and a disappointing ending, there are moments of real authenticity that shine bright. A lot of my high around this film is how I felt it subverted expectations about the romantic love interest, but if only it maintained them.

Disarming myself and rejecting my preconceived notions and expectations of Crimes of the Future, it’s easy to understand my initial reaction to this film being so rooted in alienation, but Cronenberg’s deeply clinical examinations into the perverse nature of the world being fascinated by his body horror translates to an entirely different type of horror. When watching The Shrouds, I believed Cronenberg was shedding his ego, but there is also great evidence of this here. 

Keeping it vague still, but talking about this one in my Heat video for those who’ve picked up on the topic.

Learned of this oddity a few days ago with news of Meet the Parents 4, and it’s deeply sad to know Universal has done so much to bury a film they bought the rights for in order to have made the much more famous Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro starring Meet the Parents. There is a similar framework and gags here, but as where in the version of the film people are more familiar with the humor comes from the ribbing of Stiller’s character and how comically mean De Niro is, there is intentional framing of everything through a lens of cringe, awkward, and dark humor. Lots of these gags don’t have room to breathe, we simply shift from scenario to scenario, before the film plunges into darkness and while I didn’t enjoy this more than the other version of the film, there is a discomfort here that is delightful. 

Saw this one on Internet Archive for anyone interested!

Pride 2025 Film #9
First-time watch

Querelle has made me speechless in a way that I don’t think a film has made me in nearly a decade. I’m devoid of any real tangible thoughts. To explore queerness in a way so expressive, so surreal, so hostile as we dive into the cavern of lust, this film captures queerness better than any I have ever seen before. Jesus Christ. Yeah, I’m done, this was amazing.

One Popular Film From Every Country In The World #114 
Zimbabwe

Viewing the 2018 Zimbabwean election as an outsider never takes away from the real weight of what it means to really have a vote and choice, but simultaneously find yourself questioning what can really change. It’s a solid political doc that never feels quite as nuanced as it can be, but it is still strong.

As Hitchcock once said describing this film and the 1934 film it is based on, he made that original film as an amateur and he made this one as a professional, because there are leaps and bounds difference in quality between the two! James Stewart and Doris Day are a really lovely pair here in a film that’s way more of a romp than I would expect. Never found myself completely connecting with it and also was deflated by its ending.

Horrendous! Fascinated by the idea of a director making one of the most effective and haunting thrillers of all time, featuring a man driven by obsessive and reckless self-abandon, and presenting it in a empty and void package meant to cater to Americans who can’t read. Big oof from me on this one.

Pride 2025 Film #8
First-time watch

Balancing being hilarious, charming, and thoughtful in how the film approaches real dialogue about gender norms and expectations in marriages, homophobia, and coming out at a later age, Badhaai Do lets us in on a lavender marriage and the many challenges of being able to come out to family in a funny way! Really lovely and times while it may feel a bit corny or on the nose with its messaging of living your fullest life, I’m also not going to lie and act like the film didn’t make me emotion at 10am.

Pride 2025 Film #7
First-time watch

Art can always provide a space to heal, and Hearts Beat Loud’s story of a father and daughter musical duo coming together at a time when the father’s record store is going under and the daughter is planning to move far away at college comes across to me as one final attempt to find closeness through acknowledging the past. One of the warmest films I have ever experienced, despite processing multiple forms of loss being key to the film. Glad to have a new comfort movie after seeing this!

Predator: Killer of Killers exists in the most microscopic of space where I recognize two of its scenarios feel like wish-fulfillment, especially when looking at a number of fans excited after the release of Prey who began imagining all the other scenarios where Yautjas came to Earth to fight humanity, and while I typically critique listening to fans, it is also really cool to see a Yautja fight a viking and a samurai and a ninja. The second segment in this anthology film features a near dialogue-less battle that is fueled by tension and emotion that reaches the nearest high point I could imagine for the franchise and only made me wish that we could have sat in the moment for a full-length feature film. The viking segment is equally thrilling, but our segment with Torres, the American fighter pilot, felt like a real sore spot, with the least exciting scenario, characters, and overall execution.

Keeping this vague as well, but loved the ending and excited to be living in this time where the Predator franchise is so active!

Witnessing some of our greatest directors at their earliest points of their careers is a gift, especially when we can witness someone like Cronenberg, Godfather of Body Horror, a man whose more modern works have been received in such a polarizing way, started off making films like his first Crimes of the Future. His visual language feels so well developed here, even if nothing else comes together!

Pride 2025 Film #6
First-time watch

A queer film that has never popped on my radar before this year, Girls Will Be Girls is such an upsetting and offensive dark comedy and its parody of Hollywood films is kinda incredible. Miracle this was made! Lots of amazing performances across the board, but Eric Stonestreet’s appearance was really special.

Condensing the script for Heat into L.A. Lockdown after it had been formulating in his mind sometime before drafting a 180-page first draft of the film in 1979 is one of the most head-scratching creative decisions I could have imagined Michael Mann ever making, but knowing he eventually made the film 16 years later maybe makes this part of a greater story. So many of the major story beats and elements are there, but often just stripped down due to the 19-day shoot. While the film itself isn’t all that great, it’s pretty remarkable to see the opening of the film stay the same and the cafe scene play out very similarly, yet in a more iconic fashion because of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro and their greatness overshadowing an already flawless picture.

Pride 2025 Film #5
First-time watch

Shockingly tender despite the tragedy it is wrapped in, Great Freedom is about being resilient in the most oppressive of places, latching onto the connections you have in the world, and how those spaces warp us in ways that linger. Franz Rogowski should be one of the biggest actors out there, the gentleness he is able rest in the most quiet of moments here is just extraordinary. The final moments of this film really sat with a way that broke me, an unbelievably tragic end to a beautiful film.

Michael Cera is an all-time Wes Anderson character in The Phoenician Scheme, which may be the Anderson film I have known the least entering in nearly a decade. That created a sense of wonder for me, and overall, while the film was playful and humorous in the way I expected, there was also a dark edge and existentialism that shocked me. Sadly though, while a largely enjoyable experience, Anderson felt trapped in his sandbox rather than defying it like he had in his previous feature, Asteroid City, and I also felt like he lacked the patience in moments to let the scene linger. It’ll be a mixed experience for most that we’ll talk about for that reason alone.

Pride 2025 Film #4
First-time watch

Conflicted where I sit with A Woman Like Eve. Unquestionable in its importance, a film made in the 70s regardless of scope or size speaking to the experience of a queer woman leaving her husband for another woman feels bold. While the film has a TV movie look with its soft look and flat colors, it helps amplify the dream-like quality of being able to partake in this fantasy, and that makes it all the more shame that our love interest here is so underdeveloped and this film is more concerned with the fallout and domestic drama of a woman leaving her husband. There is also a rug pull that left this with all the more of a bitter taste in my mouth, but I’m still glad this exists in queer film.

Even early in his career, Hitchcock had such an eye for framing a moment and sucking all of the oxygen out of a room and leaving you in a shock, but it’s a shame so much else The Man Who Knew Too Much feels so conventional, is sadly straightforward, and is told with so much less tact than the greatness we expect from Hitchcock. 

Just hinting at this now, this also part of my Heat video for Youtube. Have fun guessing what it is on!

Pride 2025 Film #3
First-time watch

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a shockingly surreal, mysterious, and ultimately, romantic look into the human condition and all the moments life can bring us, which specifically in the framework of this three-part anthology, shows us how these moments are so fleeting, whether they bring us joy or pain or small change or big change. Each segment provides a snapshot that is ultimately so rich that I can find myself gazing into an entire lifetime, even if these moments were simple conversations with one or two people. Fantasies help us gaze upon our individual truths and even if they fail us, maybe we should still take those chances.

The choice of this film as a Pride Month watch for me is reflective of the third short, which was my favorite. It was quiet and subtle, yet spoke volumes to the humanism of the film and its director.

One Popular Film From Every Country in the World #113
Columbia

Monos sits in a unique pocket, framing an unknown conflict in such specific parameters, making me think of “Lord of the Flies”, but all the while feeling so universal, in a devastating vivid, yet alien film. To be capable of such atrocity, yet being so young and having such little autonomy makes a dual sadness and terror that leaves such little faith for humanity and allows the viewer to take on as much distance as they feel comfortable before the scope becomes overwhelmingly claustrophobic. Inescapable in feeling, I’m going to have a hard time seperating myself from the achy hollowness I’m currently feeling.

Pride 2025 Film #2
First-time watch

Billie and Emma rests in the interconnected web of Filipino culture and the Catholic Church in a way that it would feel wildly inauthentic without and also is burdened by the weight of approaching so much within that community, with the film I think having difficulty to find balance between the pregnancy storyline and the film’s queerness, but the film is still cute and charming regardless. It ends on a bit of a whimper, but I can’t deny there is a very specific group of young people who would need the film.

Pride 2025 Film #1
First-time watch

Went into this expecting a trainwreck to start Pride, but this was ridiculously funny. So offensive, crude, and crass, but funny. Maybe one of the best fart jokes to actually land? There is an undeniable queerness to the film through each bit of the film and that enjoyment I have here may be ironic, but still found this funny!

Miyazaki has always had a playfulness to his films, regardless of how heavy they may be, but with Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro, there is a young running rampant across this work that gives it a unique energy compared to his later work for Studio Ghibli. The cast of characters is fun and dynamic, with clearly Lupin being a favorite, and the spy adventure elements really do provide a lot of fun here. There is also an eye for detail present so early in Miyazaki’s career, whether he is capturing the fluttering of cash in the air, the wreckage of a car crash, the expressions on our heroes faces, or the beautiful countryside that tells you so much about the artist he would become.

Fairly standard in a lot of ways, nothing is all too shocking learning of the hubris that led to the Titan explosion, but to learn the extent of the warning signs are frightening. It was also a lot more devastating to sit with a number of interviewees who personally knew others on board.

I just witnessed the deconstruction of man on the silver screen. Gunshots were ringing through my ears, shrapnel flying past my head, surrounded by this concrete and steel industrial jungle as I witnessed two packs of wolves circle each other, extremely proficient and meticulous in their craft. Michael Mann made it absolutely clear that every act of violence in this film carried weight and was riddled with emotion, as we attempted to understand that in front of us were two men trapped in a conflict between providing what they felt owed to their family and friends and driven by an instinct far more animalistic as they became apex predators before my eyes. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro acting against each other was an event for the ages, seats would have been filled and Heat would be ed for all of eternity despite its quality, yet we have maybe the most humanistic heist movie of all time. 

This is absolutely in my top 20 of all time now.

PS had a planned Youtube video for a while about Heat and you can hear me ramble about it in about two weeks!

The lo-fi hip-hop girl popping up in this is always hilarious to me. Just feels like a warm hug as we bask in this moment of young love. Wild they made a live-action sequel!

Anyways, this is the last film I watched in my apartment before moving into a home I just purchased with my spouse. To help fund our morgage, check out the Youtube video I did on the Studio Ghibli AI trend and how the environmental impact of generative AI makes the trend feel all the more antithetical to the films!

Gorgeously shot on 16mm, This House is a really painful look at the confusion and inability to accept grief, especially as the director investigates the loss of her cousin by suicide and learns details that question if that was really the case. Examining her life by actors recreating her and her mother makes for an uncomfortably beautiful and tragic exploration of what it means for someone to be gone. Grappling with the concept of maybe not hope of them coming back, but finding acceptance in an unimaginable circumstance. Had difficulty grasping it many times throughout, but the pain was inescapable.

When The Wind Blows struck me as a lot more devastating and unsettling than I expected because I know so many Jims and Hildas than I think we’d like to it. People who have developed such a fundamental belief that their government can not do any wrong and this inability to exist in a world without blind faith in our governing bodies leads to moments of inescapable darkness that our two leads here can not even fathom. Left a pit in my stomach that I don’t imagine I can pull myself out from anytime soon.

Jafar Panahi’s This is Not A Film is a powerful reminder about art existing to challenge the corrupt systems around us and alse helps us sit with an artist’s interpretation of an artform. To change the shape of the form of your documentary to have your government question if it is even in fact a film feels powerful when reflecting on the state of art, which doesn’t even mention how this was shot on an iPhone and the now disputed details of how this arrived at Cannes.

Fitting film to watch in celebration of Panahi’s Palme d’Or win!

What horrendous shit. Jesus Christ, I had forgotten that the first three Fear Street films were produced by 20th Century Fox for theatrical release, and although those are just okay-to-good movies, they reached towards a teen audience that needs approachable horror and were competent films with a compelling narrative. And now, all that has disappeared here with stereotypical characters, boring kills, a predictable set of twists, and characters who are so underwritten. Boring time!

Delightfully dark, Entertaining Mr. Sloane should be viewed entirely in the context of when it was made and deserves to have more of a stake when thinking about the history of queer cinema. Wildly off-the-wall and although it may appear disted or imperfect in its attempts at comedy, the entire descent into queer madness in the film is so bold that I can’t help but smile at witnessing these prim and proper older British folk be so sex obsessed in a film that is so dark and matter of a fact in its subject matter. 

Thank you again to Severin Films for sending me a review copy of the film, and if you are interested in checking it out, it is available May 27th!

We Are Guardians immediately throws its audience into the stark realism of the dangers of the loss of the Amazon Rainforest and not only how its loss is reflective of the capitalistic nature of the world, but how Brazilian politics are exacerbating a global problem. Also does a great job at helping us redirect our energy towards the big guys who worsen these issues at a systemic issue.

Immediately understand why so many have kept it so vague describing the film! The Life of Chuck is to me, a cerebral examination of loss is wildly surreal and maybe felt like a natural fit for Mike Flanagan because of how horrifying life can be at times. The world can be so uncertain at times, but having each other can help you find a way forward.

Friendship won’t shift the needle for anyone on Tim Robinson, but it’s descent into a blend of cringe humor, true horror at the sight of the heart of toxic masculinity, and despair thinking about the male loneliness epidemic, made for a watch that affected me in a multitude of ways. There a number of gags that feel familiar to “I Think You Should Leave”, but reach such extremes of uncomfortability that I couldn’t help but wince or shy my eyes from the embarrassment radiating off of Tim Robinson. A number like to minimize his performances to just being loud observations, but his physicality is just second to none compared to his contemporaries. Won’t win anyone over, but that’s okay!

Viewing the clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking about how getting a good pump was the same as “cumming in a woman” was somehow more shocking finally seeing Pumping Iron in full context. Amazing to have the hindsight of looking at the last nearly 50 years of his life and seeing who Arnold transformed into because of being catapulted into fame with this documentary. Aside from this, I was fascinated witnessing these bodybuilders peacock and while I could peek behind the veil of insecurity that disguised itself as a shield of raging alpha male masculinity, I wanted to gaze a bit longer at times.

I don’t know man… sure, I can see people enchanted by the Technicolor, or the costuming, or just how gorgeous the overall film is, and not every film is promoting or pushing it’s characters as a moral com we should all aspire too, but fuck man, Gone With The Wind is pretty fucking racist. And sorry, racism aside, I think the romance here just never clicked for me. What a way to spend my day.

The Mission Impossible franchise has always meant a lot to me, from spotting the DVDs on my dad’s work corner where he kept his small physical media collection as a teenager, and then eventually borrowing those films and quickly finding myself fixated on the world of the IMF and Ethan Hunt, to eventually seeing Ghost Protocol multiple times on my own in theaters when I was in high school, to Rogue Nation being released on the weekend of my spouse and I’s anniversary one year into dating, and while so messy and not perfect by any means, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning feels like the love letter to a franchise I never knew I needed. Weaving together a rich tapestry across four decades of films that defined such a large chunk of my life and in likely its final installment, kept me on the edge of my seat as we are cloaked in a world of shadows where the Entity has trapped our heroes in a world where only their devotion to each other can save them. There is an intimacy all across this film, whether seeing Ethan try to save his friends, or some of the wildly impressive stunt work that made me wonder if we would see Tom Cruise perish on screen, and it’s this beautiful intimacy that made me sob as those final credits began to roll. Miraculous filmmaking all-around and I hope they do end the franchise here.

Walking into this film without a single idea of what it was about was one of the greatest cinematic experiences I could have ever taken pleasure in. Domestic horror at its finest, touching on the disgusting nature of men so willing to discard women and real connection for a simple instance of shallow change. There is no attempt at a lie here too, heartbreak is so clear and transparent and I think in many ways, Agnès Varda saw through so many men in families who seem similar to the man in this film. And god, what a gorgeous nightmare!

This review may contain spoilers.

Such an outlier in the franchise in how it moves just a bit slower, its use of silence, and while I think the other films are really funny at times, the entire sequence in the tiny yellow car is incredible. I refuse to believe Ilsa is dead.

To find that sweet spot between deeply uncomfortable and also wildly hilarious is special, and Dog Movie’s attempts to divert a lot of our expectations of the queer cinema or trans cinema help us recognize that all of our stories aren’t coming-of-age tales, they aren’t even always centered around our identity, sometimes we are just deeply messy and flawed individuals who want our friend to get of our couch and do something, and it made it easy to love this!

One Popular Film From Every Country In The World #112
Cyprus

I did it everyone, I found the single worst film I have ever seen. Not a single redeemable quality here. Nic Cage is half asleep here, there is so much shaky cam here, yet none of it hides how slow all the choreography here is or how sloppy it is as well. I can’t tell you a single thing that happened here!

I signed 500 FUCKING pages of paperwork to buy in a home in a process that took 2+ hours so mindless and exhausting and none of it beats the migraine I have been sitting on since 9am to see this fucking movie. Like holy shit, man. Nearly collapsed the entire Cyprian film industry and I get why! 

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

A fun addition to the mockumentary format by way of a director providing long-awaited commentary to a new blu-ray release of a film from the 70s that seems to live in infamy because of the death of one of its stars after production. Even attempting to ignore the director being quite too young for the timeline of this story, the voice acting isn’t quite strong enough to grip me, especially as there is little tact in telling this story of clear abuse on set. I often see people attempt to off their own naturalistic dialogue by inserting the “umms” and all the other pauses that come when naturally speaking, but there is a limit to what works here. Seeing the reviews for the sequel being notably higher makes me want to give it a shot though!

Solves nearly every issue I have with the Final Destination franchise pretty effectively with filmmakers whose clear love for the franchise allowed it to be something much greater than it was before, which was just fine to me. Constantly building up the tension with creative kills that felt less like were setting up mindless fodder to be placed on a conveyer belt and instead, thoughtfully built up tension by having the most fleshed out characters in the franchise carefully getting picked off in ways that shocked me nearly every single time. Confused some people don’t like this one!

Loneliness feels suffocating as it drowns you, and The White Reindeer’s attempt to look into the life of a woman who wants the affection of her husband, but he finds himself too deeply preoccupied by hunting creates and an immediate haunting atmosphere that lingers in an impressive way that feels ahead of her time. While many could easily read the description of this film and understand the direction it goes in, that never stops the film from being both wildly effective and also feels stunted by its potential, whether due to the infancy of the genre, my wonders about the state of the Finnish film industry in the 50s, or its relatively short length.

Yes, I’m continuing the tradition of COVID-19 based titles for my yearly lists, sue me!

1. Sorry, Baby
2. The Shrouds
3. Sinners
4. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
5. Friendship
6. Mickey 17
7. Twinless
8. The Perfect Neighbor
9. The Ballad of Wallis Island
10. Black Bag

...plus 47 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Hide and Seek
2. Querelle
3. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
4. Monos
5. Hearts Beat Loud
6. Materialists
7. Great Freedom
8. Predator: Killer of Killers
9. Badhaai Do
10. Edward II

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This year I am attempting to watch a manageable amount of queer films, so here are my first time watches planned, and of course, additional watches will get added, with a few being covered on my Youtube channel this month!

• Another Gay Movie
• Billie & Emma
• Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
• A Woman Like Eve
• Great Freedom
• Girls Will Be Girls
• Hearts Beat Loud
• Badhaai Do
• Querelle
• Boy Meets Girl

...plus 31 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is such a mediocre franchise for how iconic the killer is Jason grows and becomes a much better villain as time goes on, but most of that is because of exposure. He’s a very shallow and uninteresting character and most of these films are painfully full. Of his solo films, I only consider 3 good. These were fun, but this was disappointing.

1. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
2. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
3. Jason X
4. Freddy vs. Jason
5. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
6. Friday the 13th
7. Friday the 13th
8. Friday the 13th Part III
9. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
10. Friday the 13th Part 2

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I saw Letterboxd was asking people to make lists of underrated and underseen queer/LGBTQ+ films with less than 50,000 logs, so I thought I would give it a shot! I could do many more than this, but wanted to limit it to some of my recent favorites!

• Lingua Franca
• Monica
• The People's Joker
• Crossing
• National Anthem
• Rafiki
• Moonlit Winter
• We the Animals
• Straight Up
• Shinjuku Boys

Every week for my TikTok  (moviegoodormoviebad) I am gonna spin a wheel and watch the most popular film for that country on Letterboxd. If you are interested follow along! Most of the reviews will pop up on here far in advance, as I publish reviews when I am filming, not releasing.

• Killer Mermaid

  Montenegro

• Sherpa

  Nepal

• The Orator

  Samoa

• Divines

  Qatar

• The Heiresses

  Paraguay

• The Battle of Algiers

  Algeria

• The Lighthouse

  Armenia

• City of God

  Brazil

• The Lobster

  The Netherlands

• Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)

  Nigeria

...plus 104 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Heat
2. Le Bonheur
3. When the Wind Blows
4. 8½
5. Friendship
6. How Green Was My Valley
7. Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
8. A League of Their Own
9. Pain & Gain
10. This Is Not a Film

...plus 33 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I cover a new best picture winner every Friday and thought it would be fun to rank these!

1. Moonlight
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather Part II
4. Everything Everywhere All at Once
5. Parasite
6. All About Eve
7. The Silence of the Lambs
8. The Apartment
9. On the Waterfront
10. Midnight Cowboy

...plus 75 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I feel like there are far too movies I want to own that I can never , so I am going to add them here!

• Vox Lux
• Memoir of a Snail
• Bride of Frankenstein
• All About Eve
• Sunset Boulevard
• Killer of Sheep
• Baby Boy
• Evil Does Not Exist
• The Beast
• Kajillionaire

...plus 119 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 10 Cloverfield Lane
• 1917
• 20,000 Species of Bees
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 2046
• 21 Jump Street
• 22 Jump Street
• 27 Dresses
• 28 Days Later
• 28 Weeks Later

...plus 2126 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Wow, this list is really fucking weird, also treat Godfather Part I and II as one film.

Edit: I am convinced everything after 20 isn’t really in an order

1. Moonlight
2. Perfect Blue
3. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
4. Alien
5. Synecdoche, New York
6. In the Mood for Love
7. Paris, Texas
8. Past Lives
9. The Batman
10. The Godfather

...plus 236 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Another year, another COVID-19 based title for my yearly ranking list. I realize I could build a lot moe anticipation if I just kept this private until the end of the year but 🤷🏻

1. I Saw the TV Glow
2. Queer
3. I'm Still Here
4. Longlegs
5. La Chimera
6. Perfect Days
7. The Substance
8. The Brutalist
9. Nickel Boys
10. Challengers

...plus 214 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Comrades, Almost a Love Story
2. The Shrouds
3. Sinners
4. Not a Pretty Picture
5. Out of the Blue
6. Chilly Scenes of Winter
7. The Hidden
8. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
9. Louis Theroux: The Settlers
10. Crossing Delancey

...plus 46 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The quadruple feature is the first four films, but the rest of these are determined by similar tone, similar themes or how they approach a genre, some sameness in director, writer, or actor (s), or other various aspects.

• Perfect Blue
• Persona
• Black Swan
• Last Night in Soho
• Memories of Murder
• Zodiac
• Nobody
• John Wick
• 10 Cloverfield Lane
• Save the Green Planet!

...plus 262 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is all listed by Spine Number, still growing of course!

• Seven Samurai
• The 400 Blows
• Beauty and the Beast
• Hard Boiled
• Walkabout
• The Seventh Seal
• This Is Spinal Tap
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Dead Ringers
• RoboCop

...plus 430 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Gun Hill Road
• Zero Patience
• Great Freedom
• A Woman Like Eve
• Minyan
• Kiss Me Kosher!
• Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
• Days
• North by Current
• Summer of 85

...plus 12 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Close-Up
2. Bride of Frankenstein
3. Shinjuku Boys
4. The Best Years of Our Lives
5. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
6. Mickey 17
7. The Crazy Family
8. Black Bag
9. Crimson Tide
10. Southland Tales

...plus 34 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. All About Eve
2. Sunset Boulevard
3. Killer of Sheep
4. I'm Still Here
5. Sorry, Baby
6. The Silences of the Palace
7. Mind Game
8. Exhibiting Forgiveness
9. Dead Presidents
10. Picnic

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. True Stories
2. The Brutalist
3. Nickel Boys
4. Twinless
5. The Perfect Neighbor
6. Tux and Fanny
7. Nosferatu
8. Vox Lux
9. From Here to Eternity
10. Wanda

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Here are my selections for Virtual Sundance 2025! Excited to see how this shakes up!

• By Design
• OBEX
• The Perfect Neighbor
• Twinless
• Bunnylovr
• Sally
• Atropia
• Love, Brooklyn
• Sukkwan Island
• Ricky

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Covering these on my TikTok and adding them as I go along! I have see the majority of these films and am excited to rewatch my favorites and find some gems!

1. Shin Godzilla
2. Godzilla Minus One
3. Godzilla
4. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
5. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
6. Godzilla vs. Biollante
7. Mothra vs. Godzilla
8. Godzilla: Final Wars
9. The Return of Godzilla
10. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

...plus 28 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. On the Waterfront
2. Queer
3. Michael Clayton
4. Nosferatu
5. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
6. Exhuma
7. Daughters
8. Crossing
9. The Bridge on the River Kwai
10. Night of the Demon

...plus 52 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I attempting the Criterion Challenge for 2025 based off this original list.

Here are the criteria for each selection:

1. Watch a film from the CC40 Boxset
2. Watch a film from the year you were born
3. Directed by Robert Altman
4. Watch a film that would be your first choice in the Criterion Closet
5. Great Soundtracks
6. John Turturro’s Adventures in Moviegoing
7. 1920s
8. Watch a film that will be added to the physical collection in 2025
9. 1930s
10. Andrew Garfield’s Closet Picks
11. 1940s
12. Celine Song’s Top 10
13. 1950s
14. Watch a film from the Criterion Channel’s all time favorites lists
15. 1960s
16. Watch a film that is currently out of print from the physical collection
17. 1970s
18. William Friedkin’s Closet Picks
19. 1980s
20. Spine #451-499
21. 1990s
22. Documentary
23. 2000s
24. Janus Contemporaries
25. 2010s
26. Bill Hader’s Second Closet Picks
27. 2020s
28. Noir and Neonoir
29. All Time Top Criterion Closet Picks
30. Criterion Releases Never Picked in the Closet
31. North American film
32. Ayo Edebiri’s Closet Picks
33. Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing
34. South American film
35. Random Number Generator (Google random number generator, set values from 1 to whatever number Criterion has listed last here. This number will change as more releases are announced so please keep up to date by using the link I have provided as I will not be updating each time Criterion makes announcements. Watch whatever movie corresponds to the spine number you are given.)
36. AAPI Filmmakers
37. Watch a film shorter than 80 minutes
38. European film
39. Cult Movies
40. Isabella Rossellini’s Adventures in Moviegoing
41. Winona Ryder’s Closet Picks
42. African film
43. John Carpenter’s Top 10
44. Horror
45. Asian film
46. Dark Comedies
47. Rachel Kushner’s Adventures in Moviegoing
48. Australian film
49. Female Filmmakers
50. Ben Wheatley’s Closet Picks
51. A film by a director whose work you have not seen before
52. Watch any Criterion film from your watchlist

• Tokyo Story
• La Ceremonie
• Short Cuts
• Drugstore Cowboy
• Choose Me
• Christ Stopped at Eboli
• The Phantom Carriage
• The Wages of Fear
• The 39 Steps
• Kes

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Apartment
2. Memoir of a Snail
3. Look Back
4. Happiness
5. Buddies
6. Doubt
7. Conclave
8. The Exorcist III
9. Flow
10. Ben-Hur

...plus 47 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I asked friends, mutuals, followers, and random people online to give me new horror movies to watch for this October! I have seen so many and I want broaden my horizons more, and have been really excited to be suggested a mix of films I have always wanted to see and some I have never heard of! These will be covered throughout October and I wrote in the notes the TikTok names of everyone who suggested movies, with the exception of who suggested The Ginger Snaps Trilogy as I can’t find that message.

• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! File 01: Operation Capture the Slit-Mouthed Woman

  optimus692

• Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

  petrmisan

• Tetsuo: The Bullet Man

  petrmisan

• Long Weekend

  phoebunno

• The Stuff

  w1llow.weeper

• Séance

  jloayza.wf

• Digital Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro: The Real-World Guide to Set Up and Workflow

  etiptok

• The Howling

  thecoloroftelevision

• Planet of the Vampires

  tom.recs

• Death Powder

  emmaoftheimpact_

...plus 33 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Well, it’s that time of year again! It’s Spookytober, or the nebulous period between September and November, where I focus even more on watching horror, and for the sake of this list, anything Halloween-themed, anything horror, and anything that puts me in the mood this time of year. 

Horror is my absolute favorite genre, and sometimes that love is missed on TikTok, and thankfully, has been recognized in many ways over the past few months. Not all of these will get a video, but many may!

• Noroi: The Curse
• Ring 2
• Ring 0
• Alucarda
• The Final Girls
• I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
• The Wolf Man
• The Cremators
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• Sadako 3D

...plus 107 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Fall
2. Anora
3. Deep Red
4. Tenebre
5. Rap World
6. No Other Land
7. All Shall Be Well
8. Red Rooms
9. All We Imagine as Light
10. Frailty

...plus 62 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Surprise everyone, I am doing press for the first time ever for the Hawai’i International Film Festival! I’m excited to have this opportunity and hope you all are excited to check out the many films I am covering! I am not in-person, so a number of titles with a lot of Oscars buzz right now are not available to me as screeners, but there are still many exciting titles I am checking out! This will be edited over time as I determine the order of watches.

• Tinā
• No Other Land
• We Were Dangerous
• Marimari
• Shaka: A Story of Aloha
• Ashima
• The Mountain
• Sister Midnight
• Gifts from the Kitchen
• Chinatown Cha-cha

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The New/Next Film Festival during its first ever festival last year might have had the single best lineup for a festival I have attended. And from October 3rd through October 6th in Baltimore, MD, I will be attending again! It was an easy choice to get an all-access and excited to see these movies! And there is also a secret screening not listed!

• Messy
• The Human Surge 3
• Doppelgängers³
• Eephus
• Bronze Dog
• Rap World
• Booked A Room
• Fantasy A Gets a Mattress
• Days of Happiness
• Softshell

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. I Am Cuba
2. Some Like It Hot
3. The Haunting
4. The Substance
5. His Three Daughters
6. Mary and Max
7. National Anthem
8. Sherlock Jr.
9. My Old Ass
10. A Different Man

...plus 55 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

After a year hiatus, I am coming back to Hooptober. Two years ago, I ended it by spending one day watching 5 movies! Starting much earlier this year to avoid that!

There must be 31 horror films
6 countries
8 decades
ALL of the films from a horror franchise with at least 4 entries (if there is a hard reboot, you can choose whichever has 4+ that you prefer)
1 film by Wes Craven
1 film caused by/worsened by weather
1 film starring a Black woman
1 Donald Sutherland film
3 films from New World Pictures.
2 Indian films.
4 Italian films
2 Horror comedies
2 films made primarily or entirely in Texas
1 film that exists in at least 2 available cuts (you just have to watch one. Bonus if you watch them all.)
1 Robert Wiene film
1 Michele Soavi film
1 film from 2011
1 film from 1984

And 1 Tobe Hooper Film (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)

***FOR THOSE THAT LIKE TO DO EXTRA WORK: WATCH Cyclone and Crawlspace. Like last year, there is a third film: We Are Zombies.

• Alucarda

  A Mexican film

• We Might Hurt Each Other

  A Lithuanian film

• Deathgasm

  A Kiwi film

• Terrified

  An Argentinian film

• Horror Shark

  A Chinese film

• Ichi the Killer

  A Japanese film

• Dracula

  1930s

• The Wolf Man

  1940s

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers

  1950s

• The Haunting

  1960s

...plus 38 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

World cinema is broad and not everything can be here, but these are my picks!

• The 400 Blows
• Bicycle Thieves
• In the Mood for Love
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Seven Samurai
• The Housemaid
• Pather Panchali
• Where Is the Friend's House?
• Stalker
• Once Were Warriors

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. La Chimera
2. Ghostlight
3. Farewell My Concubine
4. Sing Sing
5. Midnight Cowboy
6. The Heartbreak Kid
7. Janet Planet
8. The Sound of Music
9. Manchester by the Sea
10. That Most Important Thing: Love

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My second favorite franchise of all time, the first Alien is my all-time favorite horror film and I find enjoyment in most of these films despite my ranking. Except Requiem.

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien³
4. Prometheus
5. Alien: Covenant
6. Alien: Romulus
7. Alien Resurrection
8. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
9. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

Every Thursday, I am covering a different A24 film! This ranking list will grow gradually, but will be done in a few years!

1. Moonlight
2. 20th Century Women
3. The Florida Project
4. Lady Bird
5. The Lobster
6. Good Time
7. Swiss Army Man
8. Ex Machina
9. The Witch
10. Room

...plus 54 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Unbreakable
2. The Village
3. Signs
4. The Sixth Sense
5. Trap
6. Old
7. Glass
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. The Happening
10. Split

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Watching Wes Craven’s filmography, I feel like his peaks defined his career. He created multiple franchises that have names that resonate throughout horror, Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, and their impact will last forever. He was always fucked with in most of his creative process most of his career, whether it was Deadly Friend becoming a slasher partway through production or Harvey Weinstein fucking with most of his later films. And then there are just times he missed with full control. Regardless, he was a very creative filmmaker and his highlights will always be important to me.

1. Scream
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street
3. New Nightmare
4. Scream 4
5. Scream 2
6. The People Under the Stairs
7. The Hills Have Eyes
8. Scream 3
9. Deadly Friend
10. Shocker

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Longlegs
2. Ritual
3. Solaris
4. Man with a Movie Camera
5. Dog Day Afternoon
6. This Closeness
7. Giants and Toys
8. A Page of Madness
9. Muriel's Wedding
10. Between the Lines

...plus 47 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As people are aware by now, I love queer cinema, and every Pride (end of May to mid-July), I aspire to consume queer movies at a higher frequency than I normally do. This year, my planned watches are largely new to cross off a lot of films I have planned to watch for literal years. The list will be edited as the order changes and as I add on more films!

• Tropical Malady
• Am I OK?
• MnM
• Girl Blunt
• Gauze
• Wonders
• Grace
• Hold On To Me
• Sis
• The First Omen

...plus 97 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Fire
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
3. Volver
4. Dressed in Blue
5. Rope
6. Thelma
7. In a Violent Nature
8. The Devil's Bath
9. Fancy Dance
10. Rize

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Carol
2. May December
3. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
4. Safe
5. Far from Heaven
6. Poison
7. Velvet Goldmine
8. Dark Waters
9. I'm Not There
10. Wonderstruck

Gregg Araki is easily one of the best queer directors who has just never been given any credit. He has such a unique approach to film and how he writes dialogue, directs his cast, evokes a unique, chaotic style, and critiques heterosexism and makes queerness the norm. He is easily in my top 10, I truly love this man.

1. Mysterious Skin
2. Nowhere
3. The Doom Generation
4. Smiley Face
5. Totally F***ed Up
6. Kaboom
7. The Living End
8. Splendor
9. Three Bewildered People in the Night
10. The Long Weekend (O' Despair)

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I really love Nolan’s films, so this is very difficult. They all have impeccable direction, just some of the actors are naturally weaker than others or the writing is weaker. Still love them all.

• Oppenheimer
• The Prestige
• The Dark Knight
• Tenet
• Memento
• Batman Begins
• Inception
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Interstellar
• Dunkirk

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. I Saw the TV Glow
2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
3. Tropical Malady
4. Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds
5. Secret Mall Apartment
6. Evil Does Not Exist
7. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
8. Butt Boy
9. Chime
10. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The Reboot Trilogy of these are among some of the my favorities and after seeing the original and the Tim Burton film in high school, I figured it was time to visit the other films and rank them!

1. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
2. War for the Planet of the Apes
3. Planet of the Apes
4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
6. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
7. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
8. Beneath the Planet of the Apes
9. Battle for the Planet of the Apes
10. Planet of the Apes

Hey ya’ll, I’m attending the Maryland Film Festival from May 2nd to May 5th, 2024 and here is the slate films I picked out! And below are some of the special events planned that I have selected!

Opening Night Screening: Luther: Never Too Much
John Waters Presents: Butt Boy
Silent Film w/ Live Orchestra: Body and Soul
And a series of Trans Shorts selected by Lilly Wachowski (!!!!!!) and Mickey R. Mahoney

• Luther: Never Too Much
• The Hypnosis
• Smoking Tigers
• A Photographic Memory
• Butt Boy
• Welcome Space Brothers
• When Morning Comes
• You're Invited to Tuscan's 5th Birthday Party!
• Booger
• Here with You

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Challengers
2. Police Story
3. of Endearment
4. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
5. The People's Joker
6. S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
7. The First Omen
8. North by Northwest
9. Monkey Man
10. Chocolat

...plus 44 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Here a list of films that carry the vibes of the Resident Evil movies in many different ways! And yes, the inclusions of Resident Evil 7 and 8 expand this list quite a bit.

• Barbarian
• Abigail
• 28 Days Later
• Night of the Living Dead
• Sweet Home
• The Evil Dead
• Dawn of the Dead
• The Return of the Living Dead
• The Fly
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This feels like an absurd list to make, but considering people may want to tackle watching these boxsets and feel daunted, this may help them decide which box set to check out first! This will be updated as I continue watching!

1. Taipei Story
2. Chess of the Wind
3. Oh, Sun
4. Revenge
5. The Housemaid
6. Insiang
7. Pixote
8. Mysterious Object at Noon
9. Lucía
10. Touki Bouki

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Perfect Days
2. Birth
3. Hundreds of Beavers
4. Little Forest
5. The Devils
6. Love Lies Bleeding
7. Problemista
8. Chess of the Wind
9. Godzilla vs. Hedorah
10. Robot Dreams

...plus 33 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.