Hello!
As I venture into the world of unemployment summer (forget about Brat Summer), I decided to branch out and try something new! Gasp. That’s right, I decided to make TikTok movie reviews. Sounds terrifying but I’m starting to mildly enjoy it.
Here’s one of my thoughts on Joseph Kosinski’s F1:
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I’ll try to post more of the TikToks here on the newsletter! But for now, you’re just stuck with my writing. Here is the stuff I watched in June.
The Phoenician Scheme, dir. Wes Anderson (2025)
A
Wes. Doesn’t. Miss. He could probably direct a better action or horror movie than nearly every director in those respective genres. I’m not kidding about this. Some close ups were genuinely disorienting and uncomfortable, and action sequences had a beautiful establishment of space and rhythm. Here’s another excerpt from my review in CITY Magazine in Rochester:
“When it comes to director Wes Anderson, the word “quirky” gets thrown around a lot. Anderson’s eccentric, distinct visual and narrative style has aroused many a frivolous and bad faith debate about a director’s style versus a director’s substance, perhaps because the characters in Anderson’s films have a level of peculiarity and ennui that leads some to think his films are thematically empty.
“The Phoenician Scheme,” the latest Anderson film, continues the director’s streak in showing that these debates are not only pointless but miss the mark entirely. The plot follows ruthless industrialist “Zsa-Zsa” Korda (Benicio del Toro) embarking on his biggest enterprise yet while facing assassination attempts, rival tycoons and governments and a reconciliation with his only daughter, nun-in-training Liesl (Mia :).
Anderson’s movie may feel less than his artistic triumph/defense of his work, “Asteroid City.” But “The Phoenician Scheme” succeeds in examining the interconnected world of money and power, painting another profound portrait of a strained family.”
28 Years Later, dir. Danny Boyle (2025)
A-
I know there were multiple sequels planned, but I was in no way prepared for how much of Dune (2021) this was. And that’s a very high compliment, of course. Danny Boyle totally fucks with the iPhone form (to be expected lol) and elevates a script from Alex Garland that did show it warts from time to time. Like 28 Days Later, just some of the best digital photography you will ever see.
I was aware of the compassion in this movie and it was genuinely tear jerking. It definitely lines up with 28 Days, but the film also had some connective tissue to Trainspotting. I think I might need to see it again because the world of the film feels so vast and studied, there are so many details that I can’t wait to uncover.
On another note, Ralph Fiennes and his characterization were un fucking real. Total MVP of this movie. I really did it enjoy it and I cannot fucking wait for what lies ahead in this world.
F1, dir. Joseph Kosinski (2025)
B
I’ll say this, the cars did go zoom zoom. Here’s a little excerpt from my review in City Magazine: “But those looking for a deeper dive into the sport that has taken many Americans by storm since the inception of the Netflix reality series, Drive to Survive, may not be totally satisfied. Indeed, some of the movie’s toughest critics so far have been passionate racing fans.
Still, the newest film from Joseph Kosinski — the director behind the mega-successful Top Gun: Maverick — is undoubtedly a thrilling ride, even with a script that follows the most standard of sports movie beats.”
Materialists, dir. Celine Song (2025)
B-
A genuinely confounding movie, and I don’t think I mean that in the best way. Celine Song genuinely finds humor in the first 45 mins but it becomes so deathly serious and sincere that I can’t even fathom what she actually thinks about love and materialism. Some really questionable choices that feel so far from the groundswell of emotional intelligence in Past Lives. I’m really lost.
Bring Her Back, dir. Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou (2025)
C
Pretty disappointed by this one. Some pretty obvious and ugly imagery on top of some bland (and possibly racist?) representations of grief. Maybe Talk to Me isn’t as good as I remember. I’m annoyed this movie led to a stupid discourse about how “the best filmmakers working today are now on YouTube.”
Ballerina, dir. Len Wiseman (2025) (Or, “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.” What a stupid fucking marketing title.)
B-
Really disappointed by how cookie cutter and run-of-the-mill this one was. Gabriel Byrne wasted. The action was obviously good (It’s John Wick, after all). Not much else to say, honestly pretty forgettable at times.
Echo Valley, dir. Michael Pearce (2025)
C
Here’s an excerpt from Film Obsessive (be prepared for more excerpts) of my review!:
“A child coming home to their parent, seeming like they’re in trouble, is a common experience for many. Maybe a teenage daughter crashed the car and has to tell her mom. Maybe she had a bad time at a party and a man came onto her. Or maybe, she’s screwed up a drug deal and now has a criminals looking to kill her. Whatever it may be, the parents can be there as a safety blanket and help you no matter what because, quite simply, they will be there to help you and protect you.
That’s the drama that lies at the heart of the new Apple TV+ thriller Echo Valley, starring Sydney Sweeney and Julianne Moore. The young Claire (Sweeney), who consistently asks her mother Kate (Moore) for more money, comes home late one night with blood on her that’s someone else’s. Claire may have been involved with a murder.
The film examines this mother-daughter relationship in the simplest of terms, poking at how far a parent’s unconditional love can go. Written by Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby and directed by Michael Pearce (Beast, Encounter), Echo Valley never lets the relationship between Kate and Claire grow into something distinct. The familiar teenage-adult scenarios are turned into thriller fodder, but the relationship itself is painted with too broad a brush.”
Also here’s a TikTok I did recapping all of my thoughts on these movies!
The Ritual, dir. David Midell (2025)
C-
I wrote about this in Film Obsessive and I got a *gasp* screener for it! I felt so official: Here’s a little excerpt from my review:
“In 1928, 46-year old woman Emma Schmidt received an exorcism from Father Theophilus Riesinger. The well-documented ceremony has been of morbid fascination for nearly a century and happened a half-century before William Friedkin’s revolutionary horror film, The Exorcist. The Ritual, the second feature film from director David Midell (The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain), attempts to put itself in the lineage of Friedkin’s horrific triumph. But sadly, Midell’s efforts come up short as the film features plenty of the cliches and contrivances of the exorcism subgenre. The film, distributed by XYZ Films, has less interest in the paranormal and its relation to the world than a Buzzfeed Unsolved video.
Co-leads Al Pacino and Dan Stevens are both talented but it’s clear neither of them can save the script or are particularly engaged. The dynamic between Pacino’s Riesinger and Stevens’s Father Joseph Steiger is immediately apparent the second the two start talking to each other. Riesinger is a devout believer in spirits and demons who has experience in exorcisms. Meanwhile, Steiger, who lost his brother shortly before the exorcism begins, has some form of a crisis of faith.
Anyone who has seen The Exorcist, or anyone who has seen an exorcism for that matter, can understand the dynamic. It made 1973 such a strong script and a deeper examination of faith. But The Ritual has none of this thematic weight and only tries to be a knock off as much as possible. To the film’s credit, it wastes no time in getting to the exorcism, especially since the real-life case lasted for months. It just continues to show how little there is to it.”
Trenque Lauquen, dir. Laura Citarella (2022)
B+
A Chilean film that I found to feel an awful lot like Twin Peaks: The Return, Trenque Lauquen confounded me and kept me mostly engaged for its gargantuan four-hour runtime. The narrative starts to melt in on itself and never really gives any firm answers about anything. Not the easiest watch for the casual viewer, but still quite good!
Dancer in the Dark, dir. Lars von Trier (2000)
A
Wow. This might be my favorite movie musical of all time. Björk (yes, the Icelandic singer Björk) gives this remarkable and painful performance about a blind woman being accused of a crime and losing her eyesight, thus leading to visions of musical numbers in her mind. There’s a cruel magic to Dancer in the Dark and it left me floored.
Caught by the Tides, dir. Jia Zhangke (2024)
A
Excerpts galore! Here’s another from Film Obsessive: “Jia Zhangke’s main fascination has always been China and its growth into a global superpower in the 21st century. More specifically, his films detail how, on the surface level, China seems on top of the world, even as many of its billion citizens struggle and face harsh lives. Zhangke’s latest film, Caught by the Tides, feels like the director realizes that this cold reality has not changed in any meaningful way.
This is evident as much in the fact that Zhangke uses old footage from his 2006 film, Still Life, in Caught by the Tides. The recycling doesn’t come off as self-aggrandizing. In fact, quite the opposite. Zhangke finds joy in playing with various cameras — digital cameras, cameras inside drones — and footage that he has compiled over the years.
This fascination with differing technologies lines up with how the lead characters of the film go about their lives. Zhangke’s characters, a man (Li Zhubin) and a woman (Zhao Tao) who are in a relationship that falls apart, are stuck in a constant state of unease. They both have to take on multiple jobs to make ends meet and they eventually separate before reuniting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their lives never get too high or too low. Rather, they are caught in between the tides, struggling to stay afloat. I think there’s no better way to describe the filmography of Jia Zhangke.”
Manhattan, dir. Woody Allen (1979)
A
Probably even more uncomfortable than Annie Hall, but nearly just as excellent. Meryl Streep stuns in a great supporting role and you can really tell how much of a difference Gordon Willis’ cinematography makes for Allen’s whole filmmaking career.
Clueless, dir. Amy Heckerling (1995)
A
A genuinely perfect movie. There’s this level of comedic magic that Amy Heckerling taps into that’s like god tier cinema. As if!
Armageddon Time, dir. James Gray (2022)
B+
I wrote about this movie before here. And I do think it’s a bit better on a rewatch. But I’m not all the way there with James Gray’s deeply personal and devastating film. So many quiet moments hit me like a ton of bricks and really speak to the utter failure of American liberalism. But I still can’t get behind how Gray characterizes Johnny within the context of the film’s silent acceptance of racism and systematic divisions. It feels genuine, but I can’t help but feel the white guilt radiating throughout and subsequently holding the film back from being as sharp a critique of the systems it can be.
Ocean’s Thirteen, dir. Steven Soderbergh (2007)
B+
Definitely the weakest of the Soderbergh Ocean’s films. But still a delightful time and I did enjoy Al Pacino as the rival casino owner.
Superman II, dir. Richard Lester (1980)
B+
So goofy! I loved it. I wanted more of General Zod (Terence Stamp) and his goons walking around Midwestern towns.
Superman III, dir. Richard Lester (1983)
D+
So goofy! I fucking hated it.
Caddyshack, dir. Harold Ramis (1980)
A
There's a scene in this wonderful movie (which I finally saw on the big screen!) where Judge Smails breaks down a bathroom door and stares into the bathroom with a murderous rage toward Danny. I swear to god it feels like the comedy equivalent of The Shining. But those movies came out in the same year! So this reference makes no sense unless the cast and crew, when they weren't doing coke, got word of the Here's Johnny scene. Yes, I'm still thinking about this. Try and see what I mean in this clip:
Loser, dir. Amy Heckerling (2000)
C+
Definitely an incel core movie. Why was Greg Kinnear such a piece of shit in this??
I Could Never Be Your Woman, dir. Amy Heckerling (2007)
B
I can actually feel some genuine experimentation here from Heckerling. Nowhere near the heights of Clueless or Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but still fun!
28 Days Later, dir. Danny Boyle (2002)
A
Man, what could’ve been with digital photography. So much experimentation, so much innovation. Danny Boyle truly pushes the form forward with this one. Possibly the best zombie movie ever. I mean, look at these shots!
If you think these shots suck, first of all that’s the whole point, and second of all, shut up. So much experimentation, so much innovation. Director Danny Boyle truly pushes the form forward with this one in possibly the best zombie movie ever made. But what makes 28 Days Later, and 28 Years Later, so impactful is the ability to shift between hardcore and heartwarming at a moment’s notice. Some of the best moments in the 2002 original include the supermarket store where our four survivors get to feel some joyful sense of normalcy. It’s a total credit to Boyle and writer Alex Garland1.
Michael, dir. Nora Ephron (1996)
C+
Nora Ephron really tried to prove that she totally wasn’t just a romcom director. Well, this dramedy, starring John Travolta as Michael the Archangel, makes me think she could’ve just kept chipping away at romcoms. A real head scratcher!
You’ve Got Mail, dir. Nora Ephron (1998)
A-
For being an evil movie where the big corporate bookstore puts the small mom-and-pop bookstore out of business, I can’t help but find the romance between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan so unbelievably charming. That’s the magic of Nora Ephron, I suppose. Though Ryan, Hanks and Ephron made a better romcom in Sleepless in Seattle and Ephron wrote possibly the greatest romcom ever in When Harry Met Sally…, You’ve Got Mail still remains one of the better genre works of the decade. No wonder Hanks became America’s Dad.
Eastern Promises, dir. David Cronenberg (2007)
A
I’m finally dipping my toes into David Cronenberg’s crime dramas, and I’m very impressed! Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen are both excellent and Cronenberg finds a way to create an atmosphere of sexual vulnerability and ever-present scuminess. Now I need to watch A History of Violence.
Knocked Up, dir. Judd Apatow (2007)
B
I definitely felt obligated to watch this because I had never seen an Apatow-directed movie. I was pretty eh on it! Some of the jokes hit (such as Paul Rudd’s secret fantasy baseball league), but most of them felt bleh. I took a class on 2000s popular culture and many of the characters' references led me to roll my eyes. I don’t know, maybe it’s not for me. Probably the apex mountain of Seth Rogen’s laugh, though.
Cry Macho, dir. Clint Eastwood (2021)
C+
I’m starting to become pretty confident that I can’t fully hate any Clint Eastwood movie. Though he directed 40 movies. Some of you don't like Clint Eastwood chasing around a chicken and it shows!
The Childhood of a Leader, dir. Brady Corbet (2015)
B
Oh, Brady. If you watch this movie, you can see the confident progression from an actor who never directed a film to one who can pull off something like The Brutalist. The Childhood of a Leader also serves as Corbet finding his collaborators like cinematographer Lol Crawley and co-writer Mona Fastvold (though this wasn’t necessarily the hardest thing to do, considering the two have been happily together since 2012).
But some of the same issues that gave critics of The Brutalist ammo appear in this film, based on a novella from French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre. In the film that got Adrien Brody his second Best Actor Oscar, plenty of architects slammed the movie for getting brutalism wrong. In The Childhood of a Leader, I don’t know if Corbet fully has the ideas of Sartre down to a T. Maybe I just took a Philosophy in Film class and think I know enough of Sartre’s ideas on bad faith and being in itself. But Corbet doesn’t seem to get it. Maybe that’s not what he was going for, but I feel like something was lost.
That’ll be all for today!
Cheers!
I know Alex Garland has been off directing his own polarizing movies like Civil War and Warfare (movies I both kinda like btw!). But when he’s just the writer on projects, man does he cook. 28 Days Later feels a lot like The Social Network (Director David Fincher, writer Aaron Sorkin) where the writer and director can check each other’s worst impulses. The beauty of collaboration!
Speaking of which (this is basically a footnote to the footnote). Aaron Sorkin is apparently writing AND directing a sequel to The Social Network. Aaron, buddy. I love you and I love your work. But why oh why are you doing this alone!!??!?! No Fincher!?!? No other director to check your shitty neoliberal impulses? What’s next, is he gonna write a movie around how Democrats should’ve used Facebook to pick a Republican? Bonkers.