The Goods: Film Reviews
Unnecessarily mean-spirited with shoe-horned emotional development that just doesn’t work. But some of these gags are gut-busters. And they’re all in the 2-minute trailer, so just watch that instead.
Epochally great, super influential, iconic zombie flick that I somehow missed before the age of 32. I could do without the “radiation from Venus” goofball stuff, but otherwise this is low-budget perfection with some strong social commentary at its core.
Lots of hilarious screaming, practical effects, and horror-comic chaos. I honestly might be underselling it with this rating. The birth of “brains.”
What an inventive, ludicrous joy of a movie. Emotionally evocative at the right moments, too. Brimming with postwar satire and angst as the fuel for the insanity. A great, apocalyptic climax and ending. This one really stirred me.
A total zero of haunted doll movie.
Reviewed as a guest on Buzzed on Movies!
About as wholesome and idealistic as the story of a lobbyist sleeping with the president could be. I always love listening to a Sorkin-written screenplay.
A pleasant studio-era romcom set at Christmas with some interesting class stuff going on. The romantic tension is pretty light, but the farce and comedy stuff is breezy fun. And they all end up caroling together in the end. Hooray!
The sequence from the the old housekeeper ringing the doorbell to the Kims escaping in the rain is one of the single greatest, most physically precise, set pieces I have ever seen.
I want to be in every scene in this movie. A rare movie I’ve seen 4+ times… and liked more every time. I’m increasingly convinced it’s the hangout masterpiece of the 21st century.
For whatever reason I am a total sucker for teen dramedies where supposedly platonic best friends have romantic sparks. I’m determined to watch every one of them.
This John Hughes-penned (but not -directed) example of the form is a pretty solid one, but one that stumbles over itself in the ending with some plot points and bits of dialogue that don’t make sense. Also Eric Stoltz is a total piece of plain white toast this entire movie. Flat and bland.
Nov 2020 update:
Rewatched to record for a podcast. There is exactly one great character/performance (Watts), then a bunch of clunkers. Enjoyable and very much up my alley, but still marred by some weird, head-scratching plot and character points in the third act.