Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project - 6.5/10 A charming genre gem that knows exactly what it is and doesn't try to be anything more than that. It grows on you. Sporadically very funny (the scene where they are trying to figure out how to leave the cabin in particular). Butterfly Kisses - 7.5/10 Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder voice: I'm the filmmaker filming the filmmaker trying to sell footage caught by another filmmaker! Frankenstein (2025) - 5.5/10 It's not bad. As a fan of Del Toro's work, it's kind of what I'd expect. There are some great visuals and it's obviously a love letter to the source material (Frankenstein's Monster as an enduring concept, not the novel itself). But it is...very overwritten. Lots of on-the-nose dialogue that gets distracting. I love longer films and have no problems with slowburns, but felt this was pretty easily at least 20 minutes too long. Not Del Toro's best unfortunately, but I was skeptical of Elordi and he absolutely hits it out of the park here. Would rewatch an abridged version. Miracle Mile - 7.5/10 Insane vibes here - it's basically After Hours meets Threads with a borderline-vaporwave aesthetic (the colors, the cityscapes). Sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing, but always endearing. Hallucinatory stuff.
The Beast of Hollow Mountain - 6/10 Until the End of the World - 9/10 Spies (1928) - 7/10 The Invisible Man Returns - 7/10 The Odyssey - 10/10
i've had Until the End of the World in my Criterion Channel queue for years now. i definitely need to get to it, but given that it's 5 hours long, i really need to find the time to do so.
I am sure The Odyssey is one of them, so which is the other one? Since the director's cut is split into two acts, I had no issue splitting the film between two viewings. There is no harm in that.
À Flor do Mar (1986) I think a couple of the story elements here don't quite sync up in a way that would have made it truly great, and I wasn't entirely sure on the male lead, but otherwise this was wonderful. So many lingering takes, building off images that become dramatic in a way that only cinema can achieve. A lovely strange stillness. Gorgeous selection of blue colours.