Films

Here are some reviews...excluding unmemorable watches...

Note: I tend to be critical, but that's because it's easier to write long criticisms than high praise.

  • Hamnet (2025) Chloé Zhao // Watched: Mar 2026
    To preface this review, I have only read the first 5 pages of Hamlet, and while I have read some of Shakespeare's other works, there is a lot of context that I think would have been useful to know going into the film. For this same reason, my review is limited to how I personally felt about the movie, and not anything related to Shakespeare. Overall, I think the second half of the movie is much stronger than the first. The first half builds the relationship between two of the main characters, with stilted directing reminding us that we are voyeurs to their romance. There isn't much direction (which I don't really have any issue with) but I found this part a bit grating because of how extremely bizarre the romance plot is. Additionally, wrt the characters, Agnes is basically a Shakespearean manic-pixie-dream girl: she's witchy, hysterical, whimsical and "different". I can't tell if the first half of the film is supposed to be commentary on the theatrical nature of romance media but regardless it was difficult to watch. The second half of the film contrasts this with emotional depth, focusing on the death of one of their children (I later learned that Hamnet was the actual son of real-life Shakespeare who died at age 11, and the play Hamlet, which apparently was also called Hamnet, is thought to be about this grief). We learn in the first half of the film that the male lead is actually Shakespeare himself, and we see, largely from the perspective of Agnes, how their family endures the grief of their child, leading William to write "Hamnet". The performance of the second half of the film is emotionally potent and well executed. My only criticism is that Agnes, who is developed far more in the second part, still is written to be excessively hysterical.
  • The Plague (2025) Charlie Polinger // Watched: Feb 2026
    Related to my comments on The Lighthouse, I think that it is much easier to execute a film well when the scope is more narrow (including setting). The Plague I think falls under this. The film takes place at an all-boys water polo camp and strategically portrays the anxiety of adolescence through the grotesqueness of a "contagious" "plague" (skin rash). The movie has great dialogue, soundtrack, directing, and (imo) successfully examines social anxiety, self-worth, body dysmorphia, self-mutilation in the context of youth.
  • Frankenstein (2025) Guillermo del Toro // Watched: Jan 2026
    I regret spending any time watching this. Guillermo del Toro's camp style and excessive violence make the film unwatchable. More crucially, the adaptation reworks pieces of the plot to its detriment. The creature is less developed as a character (more infantile) and less morally ambiguous (large pieces of the third act are cut). Victor's character is conversely developed more (his nature is contextualized by an abusive upbringing). In the book, the creature and Victor's rejection towards him are frequently interpreted as allegory for 18th century exclusionary European aesthetics and those they other (often interpreted through contexts of race, colonialism, etc.). From this perspective, I find that Guillermo del Toro, by framing both Victor and the Creature more sympathetically and ultimately having them reconcile, pacifies the original narrative, which, in my opinion, misunderstands the original Frankenstein and the legitimate conflict it underlines.
  • Marty Supreme (2025) Josh Safdie // Watched: Jan 2026
    I'm generally not a fan of the Safdie brothers' style, but I also think this had a worse execution compared to their other works. The movie produces tension in a way that is, in terms of form, repetitive to the point where many of the scenes in the middle of the film aren't productive or necessary. I think that Rachel is unnecessarily unlikeable, which weakens the backdrop gender commentary they are posing. The ending of the movie (imo) is not particularly consistent: why are Marty's relationships with his family redeemed despite zero reconciliation? Insofar as the movie explicitly criticizes the ego and power fantasy of Marty, why does his character win in the final match? Related to this, the whole movie glamorizes Marty's behaviour in a way that, while exciting the audience and good for marketing, seems evidently counterintuitive to the goals of the film.
  • The Lighthouse (2019) Robert Eggers // Watched: Dec 2025
    Overall a great movie. Moody like Eggers' other films, except this time he wrote the screenplay! The scope/setting is narrow, which I think contributed to the tight execution. Interesting story about confession, repression, and sexual identity in a post-Puritan New England with a healthy dose of mysticism and unreliable narration. Great performances from both Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson.
  • Wicked 2 (2025) Jon M. Chu // Watched: Nov 2025
    Whimsy, fun music, cool sets and costumes, but overall disappointing. Pt 1 seemed like it was setting up a story about identity, otherness, and radicalization, which ultimately did not come through in Pt 2. Instead the plot fragmented and contorted in order to match the original story of The Wizard of Oz. That being said, I appreciated the feminist commentary and strong female characters!