Wot I Watched

Man, I was really on board with this movie for much of the runtime. There was some stupidity to it, but I could look past it because Josh Hartnett is really fun in the movie, and it reminds me a bit of me playing a first run in a Hitman level. However, then it commits the cardinal sin, it leaves the Stadium. From there the movie, just gets bad incredibly quickly. The killer becomes almost super human and the decision of the characters don't make a lot of sense. The flaws of the movie get too bright to ignore, watch it if you want for Hartnett's performance, but be prepared for frustration.

I don't think I ended up finishing the show, I found it to be a bit one note and just rather boring. A shame too, because there's some real talent here, but it just feels like a bit of a slog.

Fantastic movie, I ended up listening to the live album on repeat after this show, I can see why it's considered the gold standard of live show movies.

I can definitely see the inspiration from The West Wing in this show and while I wouldn't consider this as good as that show, I still consider it to be fun. That all being said, I do think the reveal at the end of the second season around the reasoning of the events in the first season are frankly, batshit fucking mental and the fact any characters are willing to entertain as a legitimate option in the name of "realpolitik" really soured my opinion of the show. I'm curious to see where they go with the third season because it feels like it's just going to get more and more ludicrious.

I'm torn a lot on this show, I think overall I enjoy it, but it is incredibly dumb, and your mileage will vary on what you get out of it. If you're willing to turn off your brain for a little then you will find some enjoyment in this show I'm sure.

Don't remember much of the film, but I generally had fun and found the ensemble cast to be a lot of fun.

Another movie I don't remember a lot about since I saw it at the start of the year, but again I enjoyed it. Also, another movie with the name Connall! Even if, again, spelt incorrectly.

Dev Patel appearing in a few of my favorite things this year, I have enjoyed watching him ever since his days on Skins. For a first time writer/director it's an excellent showing, even if the movie becomes a bit repetitive towards the end.

Genuinely perhaps the most surprising film of the year for me, I went in with incredibly low expectations after seeing the trailer and yet, I actually think it's a legitimately fun thriller. Jason Bateman is honestly great as the menacing villain. It's certainly not the most amazing movie of the year, and also there's some really dumb scenes but it's a bit of fun and worth a watch in my opinion.

It's a fine movie, a bit clichéd, but movies like this usually are. It was able to surprise me a little with not retreading on the same tropes as other movies of this ilk. However, if you have seen a movie like Red Tails or Men of Honor then you know what sort of movie you're getting into with this one.

Goddamn, what a movie! Atmosphere, Cinematography, Writing, Music this might be the one movie on this list that is truly firing on all cylinders to perfection. With a cast to die for, it's an amazing movie. I enjoyed the first movie immensely but it's cliffhanger ending left it feeling a little... unfinished. Unsurprisingly of course! The ending of this movie just feels rather cathartic in comparison. Excellent movie.

Nicholas Cage is great for the criminally short amount of screen time that he has. It's shot in an interesting way, but I don't think it has much substance here. Certainly not enough for me to forgive how it kind of just feels boring.

Compared to Longlegs this is a rougher movie overall I would say, it's low budget does shine through, but I walked away from this movie with far better feelings overall than Longlegs. I'm a fan of David Dastmalchian anytime he pops up in a movie and I think he certainly carries this to a degree. There's a joyous oddity to this movie that I really dig, my biggest critique I think is the behind the scenes side of the movie I think is quite weak compared to the faux talkshow side of it. Still, I think it's worth a watch!

I think this is a fun movie. Pitt and Clooney are always a charismatic duo, I get why people may not enjoy this, but I had a fun and sometimes that's enough. Perhaps that's an indictment of the movie but I'll leave that up to you.

Bad. Terrible movie. Decent cast, but this is a blunder from a director I usually love.

I watched the first season of this show a when it first came out, but ultimately I bounced off the second season for some reason, I think because I was exiting my phase of media watching where I was watching a ton of anime. I have had a craving for anime recently, so I have been watching a few things, including the second season and the first part of the final season for Beastars. This time I was able to get hooked back into it again, it's certainly a weirdly charming anime, that does a good balance between lighthearted comedy and darkly drama, it can occasionally veer into after school special territory but overall I think it's a good looking and entertaining anime. Let's see if it can stick the landing with the second part of the final season.

Studio Ghibli movie with (unsurprisingly) a stacked cast. While not as beautifully animated as their other movies, it's still quite a fun romp around with Tim Curry playing a fatso King Cat. What else do you need really from a movie?

Man, I wish I liked this more than I did. It's definitely perhaps one of my least favorite of Miyazaki movies. It certainly has a vibe to it and is of course beautiful and iconic, but I didn't enjoy it as much as his other movies. Still even watching the least favorite Miyazaki movie is still a pretty good one.

Excellent, fantastic, quality from beginning to end. I know some people are a little down on third act since it feels a little rushed, and I don't necessarily say they're wrong but even in it's rushed form it is still head and shoulders above all other animations right now. The quality of the acting, animation, fight scenes and even the music are all remarkable. I will echo it does sometimes feel like music videos stuck together, especially with the final season but considering the origins of the animation studio it isn't terribly surprising. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it even if you know nothing about League of Legends.

I understand why this is perhaps Stanley Kubrick's most divisive movie, but I do have to say I really like it. It has a bit of a weird descent into darkness as the character explores the notion of sexuality in all these little vignettes and as with most Kubrick movies it has a fantastic look to it. I would certainly watch it again as it seems like something that would be worth repeat viewings.

Oh my god, this is an utterly adorable show. It's a show with no antagonists, that's bright and cozy with stop-motion animation that just looks stunning. I never realised I would love a show like this about Pokémon, but by god I really do! At four episodes running about twenty minutes each, it's just enough time to get a nice slice of life anime out of it but not too long that it overstays it's welcome. Would quite enjoy a second season if they ever do it.

It was fine. Was a bit of a chore to get through towards the end though, felt a little repitious in nature.

Jon Hamm needs to be in more straight laced comedies like this. Everytime I see him crop up for a cameo in comedies he is always perfect. I'm slightly surprised that the movie seems rather divisive with the audience, I don't think it's a must-see by any means, but it's definitely something I would recommend to put on to just vibe to and chill out a little. I have never seen the original Fletch series so can't say how they would compare, but I would certainly love to see more Fletch movies with Jon Hamm.

I honestly have no idea how I came across this show, but by god it is one of the greatest spy shows I have ever seen. At least from the serious perspective. A French show about a DGSE agent who has returned from Syria, it is both a rather mundane office show while a taut engaging espionage thriller. I noticed they are making an American version and from what I have seen they are doing what most American Espionage shows seem to do and taking it in a more bombastic direction which feels stupid. I detest the Jack Ryan TV series on Amazon because it's just profoundly stupid and not in a good way. I could write a whole diatribe on that show and how Americans engage with the espionage genre. The Bureau is grounded and the actors in it are (mostly) fantastic. I hear rumblings they may make another season, but to be honest I don't think that's necessary at this point. If you like espionage as a genre I definitely recommend.

Christ, what a depressing story and yet the actual history is somehow even sadder. Definitely probably one of my top three of the year, wonderfully acted, beautifully shot and everyone gives killer performances. Holt McCallany is an actor I have come to notice since Mindhunter and always enjoy him everytime he pops up. He's great as the patriarch and Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White deliver killer performances as well.

I'm not going to go to deep on this. Again, a nice chill movie with decent performances from all involved. Not much to say about this movie, it doesn't have deep complexity from what it presents itself as.

This sucked. It had all the pieces to be a great movie, but the story just feels weirdly rushed, nothing is given time to breath and not to mention all the characters are invincible supermen with the action having absolutely no stakes to them. The actors in this are great, and they bring their own charm to the entire escapade but, it just isn't enough to save this movie.

It's perhaps one of, if not the greatest television show ever. For the love of god, just watch it.

I watched all this while I had Glandular Fever. I enjoyed it. Make of that what you will I guess.

I think I liked this show. I don't know, as I write this review I'm actually a bit torn if I'm honest. The ending... was a bit dumb. However, the journey there was fun if a little improbable. This is one of those shows that's ultimately a bit frustrating because it chooses to hide things from the audience that based on how they tell the story should suggest that we know all along. The problem is of course, if they did tell us it gives the entire game away. I don't think I could watch this again knowing where it ends. I was originally going to give this a thumbs up rating, but I don't think I can on reflection. If you are interested in this sort of show, I would recommend giving it a go and to just go with the flow.

God, I love this show. It can certainly get a bit stupid sometimes but I really am all in on it, even at how absurd it is that Edward Baldwin continues to be in these positions of kickass jobs to go to space, but it's also quite funny as well. My one complaint is Lev Gorn is criminally underused in that show. I hear there is a spinoff in the works on the Russian side of things, so I'm hoping he gets a bit more love in that show.

Now this is a sort of weird I can get behind. A love letter to old noir detective movies and actually does a superb job of it too, I absolutely adored this, and it goes places. It's one of my favorite shows of the year, but one I can see being quite divisive depending on how willing you are to go along with what it's selling.

I recently watched the TV Series and Movie of Pride and Prejudice and heard this movie was another good adaptation of a Jane Austen novel that was worth giving a go, which, yeah, it is! Stacked cast and everyone is bringing their A-Game, the writing is sharp and witty at points and is a lovely looking movie. Very twee, I'm a sucker for these sorts of movies so your mileage may vary.

Going into this I was actually rather nervous, since people around me seemed to be a bit divided on it. Certainly has a long runtime and so watching it one sitting can be a bit difficult, but overall I walked away with very positive feelings towards the film. Is it Scorsese's best movie? No. I would say I think it's certainly in the top half of his movies than the bottom half and is one of those movies that feels like it does a good job of recreating the time it's trying to represent.

God I love this show. Gary Oldham may be giving one of his best performances in this show and the supporting cast is no slouch either. This certainly came out of nowhere, but I am a sucker for good espionage stories, and I definitely think this is great. I'm slightly torn on the recent season, overall I enjoyed it, but I am curious to see where this will go.

Man I have been waiting for this show for years, and unfortunately it was a huge disappointment. I think it's hard to recapture the magic that was Band Of Brothers as The Pacific showed, but I am curious if this show will make me have a reevaluation of it that's more positive in the future much like the Pacific. My gut says no. It all feels a bit rushed, repetitive and not very interesting.

It's nice to get a decent scale WW2 movie again that isn't just utter crap. Certainly feels like a Saturday movie to watch rather than it being particularly groundbreaking. It does one thing and does it well, with a solid cast as well.

I believe this was another recommendation of Quentin Tarantino's if I remember correctly so decided to give it a shot. Overall I enjoyed it and the final fight in the bar is excellent, but I'm not sure if the overall movie is a solid package. William Devane is excellent in it to be fair, and is probably worth a watch but not sure I'll be seeing this again anytime soon.

Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins 10/10. Actually it was a fine movie, these two bouncing off of each other was surprisingly fun though but not much deeper than that really.

Sergio Leone's last movie and a fantastic one at that, a slow burning rather contemplative movie. I was expecting it to be a bit bang, bang but instead found a powerful performance by Robert De Niro spending a lot of time quietly walking down streets and remembering a time gone by. Some stuff in the movie hasn't aged perfectly, but overall I do think it's an amazing movie.

Excellent, highly recommend. I have my own history with the topic of the show and this is honestly maybe the best piece of media I have ever seen handle it and even represents the odd behaviours you internalise and how much of a mind-fuck it can all be. I often feel that movies/shows that try to touch upon the subject can often feel a bit voyeuristic or more like trauma porn than a particularly insightful piece of work, Baby Reindeer is not that. It feels like an authentic and truthful story, not surprising given the creators own history.

Well that was surprising. Video game adaptations have been doing alright recently and I certainly expected this to be a train wreck. This is definitely a case where an excellent cast really helps to elevate the show, but over all I think they did a pretty good job at translating the dark comedy aspect of the games into television format. To me, it feels much closer to the original Fallout 1 & 2 than it does to its aesthetic inspiration of Fallout 3 & 4, which I think ultimately makes it a more compelling adaptation. It does make me curious if this is something they may try to follow with the next Fallout game. Or maybe this just continues to show that Fallout can be an entertaining IP again when it's not wholly in the hands of Bethesda.

Beautiful looking film, but otherwise not a very good one. It feels like the proto Yellowstone in some ways. The cast is also, I don't know. They feel kind of wasted considering the heavy hitters that are here, I didn't hate it necessarily but I would struggle to recommend it on any merit.

Now this is the sort of weird I can fully get behind!

I'm noticing a theme with many of the movies from AppleTV that I'm writing a review for, they're all fine but never really raise to be amazing. I enjoy my time watching them, but I don't often think more about them afterwards. It probably does not surprise you with my prologue, this is indeed another one of those. It takes some... interesting direction with its history, but I'm willing to give it a bit of benefit of the doubt. It's also fun to see Russell Crowe pop up, so there's that.

Shot during covid, the Director of the movie needed a backdrop for the dreariness of the Soviet Union. The answer? To shoot in my old hometown and where the Director is from... Aberdeen! I do think he's right to be fair. Overall I enjoyed this movie the ending is a bit cliché, but otherwise it's a fine movie. A bit like Greyhound, a good, chill, easy movie to follow along with but nothing intellectually extravagant.

I honestly didn't think they could top Into The Spider-Verse, any yet. They did.

Bad. Just bad. I thoroughly enjoyed Mission Impossible: Fallout, but the bad guy is just not particularly entertaining, Kittridge feels wasted and even the big stunts in this movie feel a little tired and bland. Maybe Part 2 will do better, but I hate the big bad being such a boring A.I. Not even so bad it's good, it's just bad.

I like it. I know some don't, but I do.

It's nice to have a main character called Connall, even if spelt incorrectly. This is frankly an excellent show, it's surprising how much they were able to tell with the amount of episodes they have. It also introduced me to Paul Mescal and I have to say I look forward to seeing him in more stuff.

Sometimes it's just fun to watch a British movies about armed robbery, ya know?

I don't really remember a lot about this movie story wise, but god-damn it's a good-looking movie. I should probably give it another watch because when I think about it, I think of it fondly, I just wish I could pull more details out.

Quite possibly my favourite Miyazaki movie. Everything about this is just banging. Enough said really.

Well this was certainly a movie that came out of nowhere and captivated me. I feel like I'm one of those odd people that really enjoy what's ultimately a rather mundane story about life. I get movies are supposed to be about escapism and all that, but I feel when tackling these mundane topics, it allows us to feel a bit more connected since I think media often has an unrealistic portrayal of life in general, especially love. I like movies that treat relationships as more complicated and doesn't reduce a new beau to be an asshole so the main character can rekindle an old flame. Life's messy. I think about this movie a lot.

This was a rewatch for me, it's a classic. Fantastic music and atmosphere other people have made much better reviews of this anime than I could.

Well, what an utterly bizarre movie but by good do I love it. If you have seen Withnail and I, you can imagine how this film is going to shake out. Or maybe you won't? Richard E. Grant is definitely electric in this movie and is perhaps worth a watch for his acting alone. Expect some scenery chewing.

I remember next to nothing about this movie, but I do recall finding it entertaining at the time. Heard that the Kung Fu craze was kicked off by this movie and is a favorite of Tarantino so was worth a watch in my books just from a historical perspective.

I had heard much about Snowpiercer but never really got a chance to see it when it was going through its first round of critical praise. After Parasite I decided I really needed to give this movie a shot, so once I saw it come to Netflix, I watched it. I can see why people liked it, they certainly make moving down a train very engaging. I feel like I'm saying this a lot when I'm writing these reviews but damn, a lot of good acting in this movie. Would recommend!

This a weird movie and again I think it slips into the bad weird and not good weird. I love audacious movies that get a bit all over the place, but it feels random for the sake of being random rather than for any grander purpose. I think I was a bit more charitable when I first watched it but on reflection, I think it's just a bad movie interspersed with some fun moments. I do quite enjoy Robert Downey Jr's character in the movie but otherwise I don't know, there's a lot of good ham acting but it just doesn't come together.

John Carpenter's second feature length film he directed, I'm a big fan of Carpenters style of directing and also his music so it's cool to see one of his early works where you can see how this same director would go on to direct The Thing, and They Live. It's certainly a little rough around the edges due to its low budget, but the use of a single location for the majority of the film is used pretty effectively and the cast while not being the best actors in the world, definitely has that 70's charm about it. Would recommend.

This is one of those movies I kept catching excerpts from or seeing a quarter to half of it, but never the whole thing. I decided to finally sit down and watch the entire thing from start to finish and overall, yeah. It was excellent, certainly career highlights for Willem Dafoe and Christian Bale, that constantly has a bit of an unsettling surreal quality throughout the entire proceedings. Even the supporting characters of the vapid businessmen were all pretty solid, I actually didn't recognise it was Jared Leto originally who gets killed in the iconic apartment scene. Would recommend.

Oh boy, this movie is very weird, very French and has a lot of sex. Overall I enjoyed it, but I definitely don't think I could recommend this unless you're really into movies.

Willem Dafoe, I love you. Kathryn Bigelow, I love you, but this movie is just bad. On the surface it sounds like an amazing pairing, Willem Dafoe as a member of a biker gang in small town USA. But sadly it's just not good.

I really struggled to decide which was my favorite out of these Wes Anderson movies, and I was tempted to put this at the top but I think overall The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar is the better one just because while it is a bit melancholic it still has a degree of whimsy to it and so feels like the better overall package, where this is just bleak. It's fantastic, don't get me wrong, but fuck me it's bleak. I'm a big fan of Rupert Friend since Homeland. He essentially has to carry this movie by himself, and he does it wonderfully. Highly recommend!

My least favourite of the Roald Dahl short films by Wes Anderson, I can't really say why. Overall I still enjoyed watching it for that Wes Anderson style but it didn't stick with me as much as the three other shorts.

Of the four Roald Dahl shorts, this is maybe my 3rd favorite. I love Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dev Patel in the short and it feels like a bit of a slow boil, but as always with Wes Anderson it's an utterly beautifully short. Love it.

I love this short film, I really do. I really enjoy Wes Anderson's style, and I think his style combined with Roald Dahl stories is such a winning combination. All four of the short films knock it out of the park, but ultimately I find myself returning to this one the most just because how well-rounded it is. Everyone and everything is firing on all cylinders. Love it!

Certainly an interesting debut for Noah Baumbach and enjoyed watching it but is certainly a film I don't really remember that much about. Was a movie that was on Mubi so figured it would be worth a go. For better or worse I really can't think of much to say about the film.

I remember a few years ago trying to watch Adaptation and just kind of bouncing off of it, so with it's return to Netflix I decided to give it another go. Thank god I did, I absolutely loved it! Everyone killed it in the movie, I often found that meta movies can often get a bit muddled and a bit up its oneself. I find it quite impressive that it was ultimately able to stick the landing. Loved Nicholas Cage in this and honestly Brian Cox was a bit of a scene stealer in the movie. I do have to wonder how on earth this actually got made, but thank god it did! Would recommend.

A flawed if a semi realistic movie about the porn industry. Probably won't make you feel good, but it's worth a watch. Considering everyone in the movie are pornstars the acting is actually pretty solid in my opinion.

A bit rough around the edges and again story content that can be difficult to get through, but overall I think it's a pretty solid movie with quite an abrupt ending. Joseph Gordon Levitt is probably the best thing in this movie, but it's definitely one I still think about for good and bad reasons.

Well... this was a surprise. This might be one of my, if not the favourite performance of Robert De Niro, he is just so utterly amazing it. Almost the comedic end of his Travis Bickle character from Taxi Driver. I often see people saw this movie as prescient, but to me, it seems more likely a movie made about the anxiety of that day and age, that we just ultimately never heeded.

I found out about this movie because I stumbled across a clip of John C Reily singing at an award show as they waited for the director to arrive from the airport. Certainly a weird way to discover the movie, but since I had a Mubi subscription I decided to give it a shot and I'm glad I did. Certainly a tough movie to watch at points, it does feel quite authentic and the cast all do a stunning job considering their age.

One of Kathryn Bigelow's early movies and certainly one I couldn't determine the rating of. I flip-flopped a lot on where I landed on this. It's a bit of an odd movie, but Jamie Lee Curtis, the late great Ron Silver and media improving actor Clancy Brown all doing a pretty admirable job. However, the story just feels a bit too messy for my liking. It looks great! I will give it that and overall I did enjoy my time watching it, but I think I would struggle to recommend it to people unless they're already fans of Bigelow's work.

I have a soft spot for love stories, what can I say. Low budget but very honest and sharp dialogue throughout it's entire runtime. I know the director has gone on to do the recent movie All Of Us Strangers, which seems to be this movie but remade with a higher budget and a bit of mystical magic in it. Definitely recommend giving it a watch if you want the time. This movie made Marz by John Grant my number one Spotify song of 2024.