Favorite films

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Pinned reviews

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  Moebius 2013

  ★★★★ Watched by Michael's Cinema Paradiso 01 Aug 2018 1

  Afterthoughts: Some films just leave you feeling numb; slumped in your chair in a paralysed state of wide-eyed disconcertment. It’s safe to say, Kim Ki-duk’s Moebius is one of them!

  In many respects, Moebius is comparable to Takashi Miike’s straight-to-video shockfest, Visitor Q (2001). Both films follow a deeply dysfunctional family down a dark path of degenerative behaviours and events, and neither of the provocateurs behind them offer their audiences a single breath of fresh air, nor a shred of…

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  The Wrong Man 1956

  ★★★★½ Rewatched by Michael's Cinema Paradiso 30 Apr 2018 3

  Afterthoughts: The Wrong Man is an understated and underseen entry in Alfred Hitchcock's vast filmography, but it's always been amongst my favourites.

  Obsessed with the wrongly accused, as shown with countless films exploring the same theme, Hitchcock takes a very different approach here - mostly apparent in the protagonist's character traits which don't seem to resemble any of his other falsely-accused victims.

  Unlike The 39 Steps’ Hannay or North by Northwest’s Roger Thornhill, Manny Balestrero (played beautifully as ever by…

Recent reviews

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  Eternals 2021

  ★★★ Watched by Michael's Cinema Paradiso 17 Jan 2022

  Afterthoughts: I’m gonna put this right out there that this is the best shot and directed Marvel film. Chloe Zhao’s visuals are excellent and you can really see an auteur’s stamp on how the scenes were put together.

  Story and character-wise, it is interesting to see a Greek mythology-esque creation story brought into the mix. I mean, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is practically a religion now, so it was only a matter of time before Disney and Marvel Studios went…

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  Smiles of a Summer Night 1955

  ★★★½ Watched by Michael's Cinema Paradiso 06 Jan 2022

  Afterthoughts: An amusing farce, filled with absolutely stunning people and typically European cheekiness you’d never find in Hollywood at the time. And then came the absolute explosion that was The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, and the rest is history.

Popular reviews

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  Love, Death & Robots: The Witness 2019

  ★½ Watched by Michael's Cinema Paradiso 27 Mar 2019 11

  Definitely gamerporn. Cool aesthetic. But too gamerporn-emphatic. Perverts.

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  Good Time 2017

  ★★★★★ Watched by Michael's Cinema Paradiso 01 Feb 2018 22

  “And the Academy Award for Best Original Score goes to Daniel Lopatin, Good Time.

  Unfortunately, Daniel Lopatin cannot be here tonight on account of NOT BEING NOMINATED. Boo, you whore!”

  Afterthoughts: A rough and ready, fully loaded attack on the senses - the kind comparable to the likes of Suspiria (and I felt that before the brilliant audio-visual reference to that film).

  The whole thing is genuinely and riotously a good time (oh yes he did).

  These Safdie brothers are limitlessly talented!

  Kind of at a loss for words over how good this is, and how late to the party I am on seeing it.