日本黒社会 LEY LINES (Nihon Kuroshakai Rei Rainzu, lit. Japan Underworld: Ley Lines) [Ley Lines] (1999)

Takashi Miike’s Black Society Trilogy was probably one of the weirder choices for my “series project” in the end. I think it’s the only set I’ve been watching that’s linked thematically rather than as a narrative of some kind. This isn’t a bad thing of course, but it’s a little nudge against the comfortable familiarity […]

The Lords of Salem (2012)

I’d say I must be the only person who watched all four of Rob Zombie’s first movies in theatres¹, enjoyed all of them, then took nine years to watch this one. I know he’s a contentious director (in particular for Halloween fans), but there it is. I’m only one movie “behind” at this point: 3 […]

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)

I picked this one up some time last year after the endless recommendations—general ones, not personal ones—and eventually a friend said it would make a good (if weird) companion to Sorry to Bother You. I could not fathom how this made sense, though all I had to go on was a title and a cover […]

Little Monsters (1989)

I feel like this was one of those movies I was vaguely aware of growing up, but had no particular opportunity to watch. Until, that is, I caught most of it on television at some point. I was still young enough that a decent bit of it kind of freaked me out. I thought the […]

Нелюбовь (Nelyubov, lit. “dislike” or “anti-love”) [Loveless] (2017)

As I did yesterday, I randomly drew a film off on of my shelves, with no idea what I’d find in my hand after reaching without looking. I saw that it was a Sony Pictures Classics release, the cover, and the title, and thought, “Well, this should be depressing.” I didn’t even know what language […]

Les yeux sans visage [Eyes Without a Face] (1960)

I can’t for the life of me recall for certain whether an old friend recommended this one to me or Carnival of Souls or both (I’m pretty sure Carnival was in there, just less sure whether this was as well). Once upon a time, after all, Criterion went fairly light on horror flicks, so I […]

The Lighthouse (2019)

Back in 2019, I went to a Halloween party, something I’d not done in some time by then, other than a few odd work ones. I ran into a group of film people there, including the one who recommended I join Letterboxd. While there, they recommended The Lighthouse. I had yet to watch The VVitch […]

Laura [Extended Version] (1944)

Though the time since I started collecting DVDs (later Blu-rays) has brought me to a much greater awareness of film noir than I ever had before, I’m still catching up to even titles long since listed as the top of the heap. I think Laura kept slipping past me because noir and gangster movies seemed […]

修羅雪姫 (Shurayuki-hime) [Lady Snowblood] (1973)

Oddly, I didn’t really know of the Tarantino association when I picked this up (nor really when I watched it). In my little social circles, it’s no secret that I really, really did not enjoy Kill Bill, Vol. 1, so that didn’t really inform my perspective on this one as much as–well, seemingly it did […]

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Without fail, when I watch a film in the 3+ hour range, that’s the first thing on my mind before I bother, and the thing I’m thinking of even afterward. Once in a while, I’d like to get past that and not have the line I have where it stops being “here is a movie” […]