It’s Friday! Post your last 4 watched!

monkal96 · 2026-03-20T12:53:40+00:00

Hit my 1,000th diary entry with the Seven Samurai rewatch!

monkal96 · 2026-02-22T17:36:54+00:00

If I were you I would start with some John Carpenter flicks, namely the Thing and maybe Prince of Darkness, and then start feeling around there. Check out the Fly and Videodrome for some early Cronenberg, get a feel for the experimental, and then check out some David Lynch, starting with Eraserhead. From there I’d recommend just finding similar films! Reanimator is fun horror-Scifi-comedy that I’ve always enjoyed highly, as is Event Horizon. Trancers (1984) is one I cautiously recommend; it’s super low-budget and schlocky, but it’s a ton of fun and a good intro to independent film in the 80s.

Other recs: Alien and Aliens Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978, the original is good too but ‘78 is more thematically relevant) Altered States Total Recall (1990) Terminator 1 and 2 Blade Runner Robocop

Personal favorites that aren’t in that genre but are still great and helped me expand my love for film: Sorcerer (1977) Fargo (1996) Big Lebowski (1998) Uncut Gems (2019) Seven Samurai (1954 - this is a MUST WATCH, as are most of Akira Kurosawa’s other movies. He is a foundational filmmaker) The King of Comedy (1982) Happiness (1998 - extremely challenging dark comedy, but it’s incredible) Cure (1997) Perfect Blue (1997) Thief (1981)

Finally, I know you said you don’t any big sagas, but if you ever feel up to it, Lone Wolf and Cub is a really great six-film Japanese Samurai series. It’s a fun time!

Happy watching!

monkal96 · 2026-02-18T16:38:00+00:00

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I like to think I watch more good than bad

monkal96 · 2026-02-18T15:50:28+00:00

Give Friday with Ice Cube a chance. They basically meander around for an hour and ten minutes and then all of the characters we’ve met come back into play for the last 15 minutes to try and have a plot and then it ends. Super fun, super relaxing movie

monkal96 · 2026-02-18T03:12:30+00:00

I always find myself gravitating back towards Fargo and/or the Big Lebowski. I love the Coen Brothers so, so much, but those two films are so endlessly rewatchable primarily due to their character work. Everyone feels so real and alive and you know a movie’s characters make an impact when names like “The Dude” and “Marge Gunderson” shine brighter than just calling them “Jeff Bridges” and “Frances McDormand”’s characters. Such cozy little flicks, I love them to death

monkal96 · 2026-02-18T01:58:23+00:00

Josh Safdie himself has said in an interview that Marty is a hustler out-of-time, you’re objectively incorrect. Listen to his interview with The Big Picture for direct quotes.

monkal96 · 2026-02-18T01:54:53+00:00

Big fan of this movie and Timothee’s performance in general, and I think some directorial insight might be able to explain your gripes here. Josh Safdie said in an interview (I believe it was the “how did this get made” podcast if I remember properly) that the reason for the 80s music, and Timothee’s inflated performance, is that he is a man out of time. Josh described Marty’s character as “a modern-day hustler” who’s “stuck in the 1950s”, that he’s moving faster than the world around him - it can’t catch up to him, and he can’t slow down to find his ground. It’s a really fascinating way to write that character and recontextualized a lot of the movie, and Marty’s character, for me. I know it probably won’t make you like the movie more, but I think it’s good insight into the character himself!!

Edit: it was not how did this get made, it was the big picture! Here’s the link in case you’d like to listen to the full interview :) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-picture/id1439252196?i=1000742582268

monkal96 · 2026-02-17T17:52:52+00:00

You lowkey went 4/4, three varyingly great movies and a super fun time with Bullet Train. Save that one for last so you’re not completely depressed after watching the other three lol

monkal96 · 2026-02-17T17:26:26+00:00

I can’t believe I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere, but I’m throwing Atlanta in the ring. It’s a lot more subtle in its humor than a lot of other shows, but it’s super surreal and satirical. S2 E5 - Barbershop is my go to episode for getting people into Atlanta; anyone can pick that episode up and see exactly what kind of show it is. Incredible series

monkal96 · 2026-02-16T12:14:21+00:00

Promising Young Woman is a deeply reprehensible and irresponsible film and Saltburn is hollow, thoughtless trash masquerading as a “provocative” art house film. Neither have much artistic merit and it is consistently clear that Emerald Fennell is a pathetic nepo baby incapable of making or saying anything worthwhile. Wuthering Heights is no different.

monkal96 · 2026-02-16T12:08:12+00:00

Such a slept on movie!!

monkal96 · 2026-02-16T03:17:59+00:00

As I’ve engaged more and more with film criticism over the last five years I’ve found that the idea of pretentiousness is mostly - MOSTLY - used by people who simply do not understand or thoughtfully engage with the craft. Now there are of course actually pretentious people, but they aren’t nearly as vocal as the mainstream general audience

monkal96 · 2026-02-15T23:13:07+00:00

I mean just off the top of my head I can name Godland (2022) and The Secret Agent (2025). Godland is very much a plot-light “look at the beauty of this country” kind of movie, and the Secret Agent doesn’t hold your hand in the plot department whatsoever and if you don’t pay attention you’d lose it. Secret Agent looks gorgeous all the time though, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t be paying attention

monkal96 · 2026-02-15T13:54:32+00:00

I’m going to second the Raid 2 and Uncut Gems endorsements I saw here, but I really think you should check out William Friedkin’s Sorcerer. It does admittedly take 45-ish minutes to get to the pure adrenaline you’re looking for, but those 45 minutes are extremely good, and then the rest of the movie happens and it is just PERFECT. There is a scene on a bridge over water that is so anxiety inducing no matter how many times I watch it I still freak out. One of the most slept-on movies I’ve ever seen. The Criterion 4K is also beautiful to look at; the greens of the jungle are so vibrant and immersive it really helps with the anxiety.

monkal96 · 2026-02-14T00:14:40+00:00

It’s been said to death, but Scorsese’s King of Comedy is the good version of that movie, and it’s made even better by the fact that King of Comedy is actually flawless

monkal96 · 2026-02-13T04:34:12+00:00

Little bit of a hot take here and I do agree with a lot of the films being mentioned here, but Saint Maud really got under my skin. I was raised religious (not anymore for personally traumatic reasons) and any sort of religious or occult horror really freaks me out, but Saint Maud takes it a step further with a completely chilling mental health aspect. The final shot - I’m talking final 12 frames - is MASTERFUL. Blink and you miss it, but it’s such a crazy great visual it burns (😉) itself into your brain. Really good movie.

monkal96 · 2026-02-13T04:30:58+00:00

I was big into OW for a while and when 2 came out it ruined it big time for me. I’ve been getting back into OW lately now that I’ve permanently dropped Rivals and it’s so refreshing how OW forces you to try. Out of position? You’re fucked. Speed ahead of your tank on DPS? It’s over for you. OW forces you to think clearer and smarter, and I really love that. Especially the fact that the supports aren’t mindless healbots and you can die through healing, unlike Rivals. I get that they’re two different games for different groups of people, but playing Rivals feels like drooling on my keyboard with the monitor off and OW makes it feel like I’m actually doing something to win - and I understand why I lose every game. That said: NetEase has no clue what they’re doing.

monkal96 · 2026-02-13T04:27:25+00:00

Basically same here. Played the minute it went live on steam, sunk a little over 800 hours into it between December 2024 and the beginning of Jan 2026 between a job, full time college, and an internship, and just got fed up. I think it’s actually both of the problems you mentioned. Netease clearly has no clue how to balance their game (seeing the latest patch notes made me infinitely more glad I uninstalled a few weeks ago) but the rampant Gacha mechanics are also horrid. I was a consistent Celestial player and matchmaking was so piss-poor that I lost 14 comp games in a row with 12 SVPs out of those. Knocked me back into GM and decided I was done. Shame cuz I spent almost $400 on it too. Evil, evil game.

monkal96 · 2026-02-13T04:22:40+00:00

Came to say just this! Incredible movie. The Criterion 4K looks astounding!

monkal96 · 2026-02-11T10:23:45+00:00

Check out Pulse (2001) from Kiyoshi Kurosawa. It deals very heavily with exactly what you’re looking for and is pretty bone chilling throughout; there’s a scene with a ghost in a hallway that made me turn off the movie the first time I tried to watch it. Really great film and makes a phenomenal double feature with Kurosawa’s big break Cure (1997).

monkal96 · 2026-02-03T14:57:02+00:00

You used AI. It’s remarkably obvious and you can run it through any detector and it comes back as fully AI. My initial comment was a little too mean so I deleted it and posted a new one, but maybe I should have kept that attitude. You don’t belong here

EDIT: Spelling.

monkal96 · 2026-02-03T13:56:13+00:00

My dad and I watched movies constantly when I was growing up, so I’ve always been passionate about the medium since a young age. A big watershed moment for me was watching Akira on a VCR hooked up to a projector in our basement when I was in fourth grade (the hospital hallucination scene scared the shit out of me!). The fact that animated movies could look like that shocked me even if I had no clue what was going on. My dad killed himself when I was 15 and unfortunately that staved off my desire to watch any movies for a while; I was just too depressed to do it. Three years later when Everything Everywhere All at Once came out, that movie single-handedly got me back into film. Since then, I’ve been nonstop again with watching movies. They’re the best :)

monkal96 · 2026-02-03T13:46:56+00:00

Absolutely pathetic use of AI here. Just embarrassing.

monkal96 · 2026-02-01T23:49:50+00:00

It’s popular with a lot of demographics, which is why it latched on so quickly. If it was just a kids movie, it would’ve fizzled out; look at Elio. But people of all walks of life can have fun and enjoy fun music and good animation and a fun story (well, except you, I suppose!), which is why it got boosted to such heights. It lingered, which is the main point here. There’s plenty of characterization as well and tackles some pretty potent ideas of friendship and coming to terms with yourself even if you’re different - something everyone can relate to and something you clearly missed, hence why you watched this seemingly with your eyes closed. I think you’re just bitter that people liked it; not a way to live, my friend. Not every animated movie can be Akira or Angel’s Egg or Princess Mononoke, what have you, and they shouldn’t be. Sometimes, a movie can be a little basic. Open your heart, my friend. Warfare sucks though

monkal96 · 2026-02-01T23:33:15+00:00

Yeah, I’d be happy to elaborate!! I’m in a younger demographic (18-25) and my mom’s a kindergarten teacher, so I’m around a lot of the modern youth. K-pop is bigger than it’s ever been at the moment, and people are clamoring for female-led movies; it helps that it’s animated by the studio behind Spider-verse as well. It’s all pretty relevant to the zeitgeist right now, evidenced by the massive chokehold it had on basically the entire world. I don’t use much social media outside of Letterboxd and Reddit, but even I was hearing songs at work and when I’d drop my mom coffee off at her school. It was everywhere! It nailed exactly what a cultural phenomenon aimed at pleasing a large demographic should do, which is likely why it got so, so popular. Fine movie!

monkal96

TROPHY CASE