Great, another shit-ass year.

6.23

Norio Tsuruta, 2012

The initial premise is good and it certainly doesn't waste any time getting going and its actually fairly tense at points but boy does it ever jump the shark in the last half hour and drops every cliche in the book on you.

6.21

Craig R. Baxley, 1988

Inconsistent but the highs are stupid high.

5.22

Lee Chang-Dong, 2018

Music is good, lead actor is good. Pretty meh otherwise.

5.21

Masaaki Yuasa, 2017

It has 3 distinct arcs and at the end of each one it felt like the movie was ending so the start of each of these chapters always feel like it drags a bit but they always ended up taking the film somewhere I loved more and the actual ending is super, super cute. It might be Yuasa's most restrained film visually, which is to say, much less restrained than anyone else and at first I was a bit disappointed by it but I get why it needed to be that way and it didn't effect my enjoyment at all by the end.

5.21

Takashi Yamazaki, 2002

Outside of one or two dumb af moments I laughed at this is a complete snore from start to finish.

5.20

Peter Jackson, 2018

Impressive.

5.16

David Robert Mitchell, 2018

Basically just a parody of Hitchcock-esque mysteries, which does have thematic purpose in being that but also just isn't interesting in that regard. The mystery aspects are extraordinarily surface level and nothing really has any weight or atmosphere to it. I came around a bit more towards the end as the themes solidify and a good handful of fun bits occur.

5.16

Conan le Cilaire, 1981

They sure did buy some fascinating footage with the whaling & dolphin fishing footage being especially nuts and the opening and closing credits were actually pretty cool. Some of it felt a bit pointless, even for what this is and the instantaneous scene transitions were a bit frustrating.

5.12

Robert Altman, 1971

Very nicely paced and the setting is pretty nice but like all Altman films I've seen there's just something missing.

5.12

Toshio Matsumoto, 1969

All the new-wave fun you could ask for. The editing is a blast to watch and the looping narrative serves the film really well.

5.12

Fernando Arrabal, 1973

Really out-there surreal cut-aways added to an already wacky, but simple enough, main plot. Some of the imagery is a bit over-the-top and sometimes a bit too on-the-nose but its fine given the tone of the film which seems much more interested in just being fun than really hitting you with the social commentary some of the images portray. It's a supremely good time.

5.11

Daniel Peddle, 2014

Cancel this whole genre plz.

5.11

Josephine Decker, 2014

Has just about every indie-riffic cliche from this era ie) DSLR with soft focus close-ups and that exact soundtrack you're thinking of. Only ever accidentally has some cool shots that are clearly the result of completely missing the mark of what they were trying to rip off. Really wants to be The Tree of Life but hasn't the money or ability to do so , that is until (spoilers) it becomes a rape thriller for the last 7 or so minutes. The biggest pile of shit Mubi has ever served me up.

5.7

Ed Emschwiller, 1979

Neat little experiment with computer animation and video effects

5.7

Ed Emschwiller, 1965

It's just nice.

5.7

Ed Emshwiller, 1962

Some real crazy film technique going on here. Don't even know how to describe it.

5.2

Matthew Kennedy & Adam Brooks, 2014

Like all Astron-6 films, its just way too on the nose for me though I think it gets considerably stronger in the back half.

4.26

Sheldon Lettich, 1991

It's just so slow and uninteresting all the time, all the fight scenes are trash and Van Damme has negative charisma. A few good moments, mostly towards the end, don't make it worth watching.

4.18

Peter Strickland, 2012

An admirable little film with some really cool ideas and is genuinely pretty tense which is a bit of a feat considering there's almost no proper narrative to pull you in or garner concern for the main character.

4.13

Ko Nakahira, 1972

Outside of a couple nice gore shots, it really lacks the stylistic flair of other films of this nature and the story is so bloated and convoluted and drags terribly as a result.

4.12

Toshio Matsumoto, 1979

Very early computer animation that looks like what you'd expect and really isn't terribly interesting visually.

4.12

Toshio Matsumoto, 1982

Really, really cool use of early shot-on-tape editing tech.

4.12

Toshio Matsumoto, 1975

Absolutely gorgeous and impressive though maybe a runs a hair too long.

3.31

Ian Hugo, 1953

Loved the aesthetic and layering of images. Really good feel.

3.31

Mary Ellen Bute, 1952

It's definitely fun and rad technically but it's a bit corny.

3.31

James Broughton, 1951

Pretty whatever but the last chapter is good stuff.

3.29

Harmony Korine, 2019

Shit's hilarious.

3.27

Kenji Misumi, 1972

It's really goofy (only sometimes in a good way) and really hit or miss in terms of cinematography. The soundtrack is mostly killer though and definitely the highlight of the film.

3.26

Jordan Peele, 2019

The acting is good, there's a handful of nice shots and music but boy this just falls more and more apart as it goes. It just goes so many places and drags on for so long it just stops being entertaining pretty quickly.

3.25

Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2015

It's nearly 5 and a half hours but its very well paced and it always had my attention. Lots of great, well written characters and just simple but effective camerawork and editing. A really wonderful film.

3.22

Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970

God I miss movies like this where it takes 40-minutes to introduce the plot and only one or two things happen over the course of a two-hour runtime. This is so well paced, there's some really breathtaking shots, the score is iconic, lots of really great stuff. Not ever gonna be one of my favourites but its just too well made to deny.

3.21

REGINA DEMINA, 2018

It's the cool, abstract short film kind of bullshit I go for and has a neat musical piece in the middle.

3.18

Russ Meyer, 1970

It's fun, cool and stylish throughout and the soundtrack bumps. Runs a little long but the end is ridiculous.

3.18

Mark Robson, 1967

It's definitely got some real lovely shots and moments but its also a pretty bland cautionary tale and is definitely overlong.

3.16

Luca Guadagnino, 2018

The original Suspiria is a total dumpster fire that is also profoundly memorable and iconic. This is the complete opposite, a perfectly fine film (minus some jank edits) that I will have completely forgotten about within a week or two.

3.15

Fred Schepisi, 1992

It's very what you'd expect and the first half isn't special at all but eventually I got into the character development, as straightforward as it is, and the end was genuinely pretty heartwarming.

3.15

Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd, 2014

Very nice texture and mood.

3.1

Stephen Merchant, 2019

Big bland. At least the pacing is ok.

2.25

Hirokazu Kore-Eda, 2018

It's really, really nice on all fronts. Tons of beautiful shots, the music manages to fit really well while also being kind of out there and it has a great atmosphere. There is about 10 minutes or so towards the end that loses me though where the atmosphere changes pretty hard and a lot of stuff happens really quickly.

2.24

Craig R. Baxley, 1991

This movie is actually kind of a blast.

2.22

Steve Cohen, 1995

It's got some super fun moments, especially in the first half but drags a bit once the plot really gets going.

2.21

Richard Ciupka, 1983

What a snore.

2.17

William Lustig, 1988

Not sure why this has such a cult following. It's not good enough or bad enough at any point to really be memorable. It's all just competent.

2.12

Tarik Aktas, 2018

I don't fucking know man.

2.12

Umi Ishihara, 2017

It's got some unfortunate 90's film school vibes but the real low-down DIY approach is pretty good and they do capture some good, uniquely shot-on-digital feel.

2.8

Tatsuya Ishihara, 2018

It's definitely not good. Like at all. Still kinda love it though.

2.7

Fabrizio Ferraro, 2018

Yeah, nothing really happens but its shot so well and its not really a premise that requires much to happen anyway. Just a very peaceful, relaxing film with just bit of dread hanging in the air.

2.3

Leandro Listorti, 2018

It's scenes from old, unfinished films stitched together. Not the most original idea but it's 100% my aesthetic and the source material is quite compelling.

2.2

Erick Zonca, 2018

This is the blandest thriller I've seen maybe ever and there's nothing even vaguely resembling tension. You did me dirty Mubi.

2.2

Adam McKay, 2018

I do like McKay's cheeky, semi-lo-fi style a good bit but he didn't pull it off with The Big Short and he hasn't pulled it off here either. I have some hope for the guy going forward but he ain't there yet.