verbify Reviews

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

This is probably not a complicated movie

[8/10 · 6 September 2020]

I'm pretty sure that this is a movie about a janitor freezing to death. I loved it.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Lot of strands to keep in my head, man

[10/10 · 6 January 2018]

This is one of the best movies, on so many levels. I didn't pick up on how mean this movie is, the first few times I watched it. Jeff Bridges as The Dude is kind of infinitely charismatic, so it's hard to see through to all the really fucked up stuff. He constantly repeats things that other people have said to him, he has a pretty aggressive sense of entitlement, he is a dick to women, and he only seems vaguely sane in contrast to Walter. His solution to all problems is bowling. He doesn't seem to do much of anything besides be a real chill ass dude. Which is hilarious and fun to watch. It is a great movie. I just love the fact that I can find a new layer, three viewings in, and then that makes me want to watch it again, to see if it's right. Fuckin good movie.

Paprika (2006)

Pretty, Inventive, Lacking in Characters

[5/10 · 6 December 2017]

I'm trying to figure out why Miyazaki is the only anime director I really like. I'm starting to think it has to do with his ability to create very convincing characters in very brief scenes, something this movie generally fails at. There are two-line talking frogs in Spirited Away that have more character than some of the main ones here. There are no characters in this movie. Everybody is a thumbnail. And it doesn't add up where every character is an element in a single character, like the fragmentary characters in actual dreams. Everybody feels hollow.

That said, the visuals are gorgeous and uniformly memorable, the scene transitions are very fun to watch, and it's all scored very nicely. I enjoyed it. It just wasn't interesting.

A Christmas Prince (2017)

Schmaltz!

[6/10 · 6 December 2017]

This movie is like a pretty Christmas package that you unwrap only to find another layer of packaging and so forth to the center with no actual present ever, but in a good way, because if you actually get to the content of a Christmas present you would find out if anybody actually knows and cares enough to give you a meaningful gift and you never wanted that, you just wanted the cozy feeling of seeing a tree with gifts under it and then the lovely idea that we're all about to be nice to each other for once. This movie is that feeling. You should watch it. I did.