MOVIE LOG

Rating System:

☆☆☆☆☆ = A movie that is foundational to my tastes and artistic sensibilities.

☆☆☆☆ = An excellent movie that I love and you should watch.

☆☆☆ = A good movie that I recommend.

☆☆ = A movie that has some merit, but also has some fatal flaws.

☆ = Skip this.

Title	Director	Year	Rating / Notes
There Will Be Blood	Paul Thomas Anderson	2007	☆☆☆☆ - It sort of feels like this is the last of a kind of epic, bookending an era of cinema. We may never again see performances like in this movie, a soundtrack like this, practical effects like this, a story like this, all in a movie like this.
Top Gun	Tony Scott	1986	☆☆ - See: Speed Racer. This movie doesn't have a funny monkey like Speed Racer, though. What's keeping this military propaganda from having 1 star is that this is an 80s romp into the depraved mind of a man 1.5x more insane than the real Tom Cruise. Another similarity to Speed Racer is that it's sort of impossible not to have at least a little bit of fun watching this movie. The leads are charismatic, it's got an 80s soundtrack, and 80s horniness.
Speed Racer	The Wachowski Sisters	2008	☆☆ - I think I may have a very specific mental impairment that makes me unable to fully enjoy this movie. Ever since I was a kid, my least favorite kind of scene in any movie was whenever two or more vehicles were in an extended action sequence that lasted over 8 minutes. There's something about how these kinds of scenes are usually shot and paced where my brain fogs up, I lose focus, and when the movie has my attention again I have no idea who is where or what's happening. Unfortunately, large parts of this movie is, naturally, racing scenes. They're also the most sensory overload racing scenes ever put to film. I can appreciate what the Wachowskis were going for. Nowadays they kill you if you make a movie that looks like this. Sadly, my brain is just the wrong kind of brain for Speed Racer.
Donnie Darko (Director's Cut)	Richard Kelly	2004	☆☆☆☆☆ - Americana Denpa. Seriously though, this movie has visual novel pacing, in the best way possible.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie	Matt Johnson	2025	☆☆☆☆ - One of the funniest movies to come out in decades. If you've never seen the show that NTBTSTM is based on, you owe it to yourself to watch it. That being said, it's still an incredibly fun movie without any context. Not only is it hilarious, but it is also a genuine feat of real directorial talent to incorporate Borat-style guerilla filmmaking, practical effects, and decades-old footage in the way this movie does.
Love & Pop (ラブ&ポップ)	Hideaki Anno	1998	☆☆☆ - A very strange, almost dreamlike coming of age movie. They do whatever the fuck with the camera in this movie, which overall is an interesting viewing experience, but is sometimes distracting. Anno has always shined as a cinematographer, so it's an interesting experiment to watch him go wild with a live-action movie.
The End of Evangelion	Hideaki Anno	1997	☆☆☆☆☆ - Nobody needs to be told that EoE is a masterpiece. As an animated film, it has very few peers in terms of cultural, personal, artistic impact and structural experimentaiton. It is rare for a movie as popular as this to hold a mirror up to its audience in the way it does. Probably my favorite animated film, period.
Fantastic Mr. Fox	Wes Anderson	2009	☆☆☆☆☆ - Probably the earliest movie in my life to have an impact on me. Even as a little dumb baby, I could recongize that this flick was unlike anything I had seen before, and really there still is nothing quite like it. I see the term "all-ages" be used to talk about animated movies in different ways, but this one of those animated movies that you can only fully appreciate as an adult while still being appealing to younger audiences. Cornerstone of the anthrofiction canon.

Title

Director

Year

Rating / Notes

There Will Be Blood

Paul Thomas Anderson

2007

☆☆☆☆ - It sort of feels like this is the last of a kind of epic, bookending an era of cinema. We may never again see performances like in this movie, a soundtrack like this, practical effects like this, a story like this, all in a movie like this.

Top Gun

Tony Scott

1986

☆☆ - See: Speed Racer. This movie doesn't have a funny monkey like Speed Racer, though. What's keeping this military propaganda from having 1 star is that this is an 80s romp into the depraved mind of a man 1.5x more insane than the real Tom Cruise. Another similarity to Speed Racer is that it's sort of impossible not to have at least a little bit of fun watching this movie. The leads are charismatic, it's got an 80s soundtrack, and 80s horniness.

Speed Racer

The Wachowski Sisters

2008

☆☆ - I think I may have a very specific mental impairment that makes me unable to fully enjoy this movie. Ever since I was a kid, my least favorite kind of scene in any movie was whenever two or more vehicles were in an extended action sequence that lasted over 8 minutes. There's something about how these kinds of scenes are usually shot and paced where my brain fogs up, I lose focus, and when the movie has my attention again I have no idea who is where or what's happening. Unfortunately, large parts of this movie is, naturally, racing scenes. They're also the most sensory overload racing scenes ever put to film. I can appreciate what the Wachowskis were going for. Nowadays they kill you if you make a movie that looks like this. Sadly, my brain is just the wrong kind of brain for Speed Racer.

Donnie Darko (Director's Cut)

Richard Kelly

2004

☆☆☆☆☆ - Americana Denpa. Seriously though, this movie has visual novel pacing, in the best way possible.

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

Matt Johnson

2025

☆☆☆☆ - One of the funniest movies to come out in decades. If you've never seen the show that NTBTSTM is based on, you owe it to yourself to watch it. That being said, it's still an incredibly fun movie without any context. Not only is it hilarious, but it is also a genuine feat of real directorial talent to incorporate Borat-style guerilla filmmaking, practical effects, and decades-old footage in the way this movie does.

Love & Pop
(ラブ&ポップ)

Hideaki Anno

1998

☆☆☆ - A very strange, almost dreamlike coming of age movie. They do whatever the fuck with the camera in this movie, which overall is an interesting viewing experience, but is sometimes distracting. Anno has always shined as a cinematographer, so it's an interesting experiment to watch him go wild with a live-action movie.

The End of Evangelion

Hideaki Anno

1997

☆☆☆☆☆ - Nobody needs to be told that EoE is a masterpiece. As an animated film, it has very few peers in terms of cultural, personal, artistic impact and structural experimentaiton. It is rare for a movie as popular as this to hold a mirror up to its audience in the way it does. Probably my favorite animated film, period.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson

2009

☆☆☆☆☆ - Probably the earliest movie in my life to have an impact on me. Even as a little dumb baby, I could recongize that this flick was unlike anything I had seen before, and really there still is nothing quite like it. I see the term "all-ages" be used to talk about animated movies in different ways, but this one of those animated movies that you can only fully appreciate as an adult while still being appealing to younger audiences. Cornerstone of the anthrofiction canon.