Solaris (1972)

Damn. This one came from Letterboxd Roulette, courtesy of @jaillud. It was a great suggestion, and they pointed out that I had both Interstellar and 2001: A Space Odyssey in my top ten of all time, so this should complete the trifecta of science fiction greats. In short, it does.
I have owned the Criterion Collection bluray of this movie for about six months. It has been staring at me from the shelf that whole time, daring me to take it on. See, I have this problem where I hear things about certain movies and those things paralyze me from watching. I am afraid I'll miss something, or I won't be emotionally able to handle it. This has scared me because it seems like a really important movie. I want to watch those, but I have to watch them right.
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I have owned the Criterion Collection bluray of this movie for about six months. It has been staring at me from the shelf that whole time, daring me to take it on. See, I have this problem where I hear things about certain movies and those things paralyze me from watching. I am afraid I'll miss something, or I won't be emotionally able to handle it. This has scared me because it seems like a really important movie. I want to watch those, but I have to watch them right.
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February 02, 2025
Tags: Andrei Tarkovsky | Natalya Bondarchuk | science fiction | all-time | Donatas Banionis
Tags: Andrei Tarkovsky | Natalya Bondarchuk | science fiction | all-time | Donatas Banionis
The Abyss (1989)

Another great recommendation from the Letterboxd Roulette, this time from @andywarmstrong. I had seen this a few years ago without giving it a bunch of thought. I was pretty excited to watch this with some intention, especially after liking it the first time.
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January 25, 2025
Tags: drowning | slap | Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio | James Cameron | Michael Biehn | Ed Harris
Tags: drowning | slap | Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio | James Cameron | Michael Biehn | Ed Harris
La Haine (1995)

La Haine pointed out to me that this shit doesn’t seem to change. It’s been this way for generations. The cycle is repeating in American cities all over, in geopolitical conflict, and anywhere you can think. This particular injustice—the lack of accountability for people in power—is universal. All of us have felt it. Fortunately, we haven’t all had it end like Vinz.
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Breaker Morant (1980)

Another in my Criterion Challenge, this one covering the Australian movie category.
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This moved really slowly and brought out some old feelings about Edward Woodward, for some reason. The talks of movies the adults around me were having about when I was a kid are starting to come into focus. My dad thought Woodward was awesome and loved the television show The Equalizer that he starred in during the 1980s.
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January 12, 2025
Tags: John Waters | Edward Woodward | Bruce Beresford | Criterion Challenge | slap | Jack Thompson
Tags: John Waters | Edward Woodward | Bruce Beresford | Criterion Challenge | slap | Jack Thompson
Major League (1989)

Major League spent a lot of time being mentioned as my favorite baseball movie of all time. As I’ve changed over the years, I began to worry that this was a bad thing to say. This watch was an attempt to figure my future with the movie out. I went into this thinking it would be the end. I’d watch it, confirm that it doesn’t hold up, and I could be done with it forever. That’s not quite how it went. What I realized during this viewing is that, while it has some of the very same problems that riddle 1980s comedies, it makes baseball seem like a really fun time.
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The Criterion Challenge 2025

The Piano Teacher (2001)

My most reductive thought is this is Whiplash and Isabelle Huppert’s Erika is Miles Teller grown up. Her mother’s awfulness has turned her into someone who has no idea what counts as normal in society and she seems to feel a great deal of loneliness as a result. But there’s more.
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In the Mood for Love (2000)

This was a beautiful movie. There is a lot of hype surrounding this and the director, Wong Kar-Wai. This was my first Wong Kar-Wai movie, and it was a tremendous start. The look is stunning; the lighting makes so much work; the 75% speed shots looked great, along with the strobed, or low frame rate shots; the way the editing was cut differently in different moods. All of it comes together to make what I think is a masterpiece.
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Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

It seems like every friend of mine has told me this is a must-see over the years. I had never seen it, but I was on a collision course with this for a long time. I have been really coming to love John Carpenter movies and this one seems to be the most well-known, or at least at the top. So I was going to run into this no matter what. The Letterboxd Roulette suggestion from jcarp was perfect and forced my avoidance-plagued hand.
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November 30, 2024
Tags: kurt russell | john carpenter | supernatural | dennis dun | camp | kim cattrall
Tags: kurt russell | john carpenter | supernatural | dennis dun | camp | kim cattrall
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

This was great. It’s not fast, but that’s fine. It has a lot of moral speechifying, which is fine. It has some classic characters, led by Alec Guinness and William Holden. Both are magnificent—Guinness as the efficient, ethical, and hard working British Army Colonel whose unit is captured and used to build the bridge, and Holden as the American who escapes the work camp only to reluctantly return with a squad of British commandos to blow the bridge up.
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