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Seeking out the

5000 greatest films

in a century of cinema

Recent Posts

Feature

The 2021 OSCAR NOMINATIONS

A spectacularly week-to-uneven year

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Review

Attica (2021)

Stanley Nelson, Traci Curry

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Review

Cyrano (2021)

Joe Wright

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Review

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada

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Review

Being the Ricardos (2021)

Aaron Sorkin

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Review

Red Rocket (2021)

Sean Baker

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Review

Four Good Days (2021)

Rodrigo García

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Review

The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)

Michael Rianda, Jeff Rowe

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Review

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

Michael Showalter

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Review

Free Guy (2021)

Shawn Levy

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Review

Encanto (2021)

Jared Bush, Byron Howard

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

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Review

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Destin Cretton

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Review

Luca (2021)

Enrico Casarosa

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Review

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2020)

Pawo Choyning Dorji

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Review

Ascension (2021)

Jessica Kingdon

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Review

Flee (2021)

Jonas Poher Rasmussen

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Review

King Richard (2021)

Reinaldo Marcus Green

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Review

The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Joachim Trier

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Review

Belfast (2021)

Kenneth Branagh

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Review

Plus One (2019)

Jeff Chan, Andrew Rhymer

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Review

Starlet (2013)

Sean Baker

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Review

Drive My Car (2021)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

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Review

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

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Review

Predestination (2015)

Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig

I'm Watching This Week

THE INVITE
Olivia Wilde (2026)

MOTHER MARY
David Lowery (2026)

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
David Frankel (2026)

KAILI BLUES
Bi Gan (2016)

COCKTAIL
Roger Donaldson (1988)

HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A.
Barbara Kopple (1977)

About Me

I’m a passionate cinema buff, occasional film producer, 35mm collector, theater proprietor, programmer, and movie podcaster. I was born in 1971, studied film in New York during the early 1990s, started programing and podcasting in the 2020s, and have lived and worked on the outskirts of the industry all my adult life. I've ranked and cataloged every film I've ever seen and have been writing reviews and essays about them since 2010.

This project is about seeing as many films as possible in a lifetime while still maintaining an actual life. I post my sometimes brief and sometimes detailed thoughts here for my own reference and in the hope that others will seek out the films I consider worthwhile and important. The more familiar you are with my opinions, the more you’ll know how they align with yours.

How I Rate Films

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An All-timer. One of the 5000 greatest films. Usually only awarded after repeat viewings.



One of the year's best. An excellent film. Possibly one of the 5000 greatest and certainly worthy of repeated viewing.



A very good film. Most films I see fall in the two- or three-star ranking. I give an extra half-star to three-star films that could end up on the list of the 5000 greatest.



A good film that fully succeeds at what it sets out to accomplish. Well worth seeing, but less effective than a three-and-a-half stars films and often less consequential than a two-and-a-half star film.



A noteworthy or enjoyable film that I can’t fully recommend. Still, two-and-a-half star films are often some of the most memorable films of a year.



A disappointment, an interesting failure, or just a bad movie. But still worth seeing if you’ve got the time.



A bad, rant-worthy film. Should be avoided regardless of hype or talent involved.



One of the worst films.