2024 locked. Fantastic year for the mooovies, with a few defining works that I’m sure I’ll be revisiting years down the line.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa undisputable MVP.

I was really moved by THE LAST SHOWGIRL. Gia Coppola frames Vegas as a transitory space, a place of connection and displacement where working class women are shaping the glitzy façade of entertainment. Pamela Anderson is absolutely radiant here, but so is Dave Bautista in an incredibly gentle outing

horrified to learn that the iconic grungy Dark Castle logo has been touched by the minimalist curse

met Josh Hartnett (cool dude, we briefly spoke about 30 Days of Night) and asked him to sign my steelbook of OLD… but the sharpie dried out as he was signing lol

CADDO LAKE rocks. Shame that WB dumped it on MAX without fanfare, as I’m sure the twists would have played like gangbusters in theaters.

I was *shocked* to find out just how commonplace the use of generative AI chatbots is among Gen Z students. These AI writing tools have already done irreparable damage to contemporary academia — there’s no going back now.

Revisited THE KILLER (1989) tonight and man, they don’t make ‘em like this anymore, huh? All the talk about masculinity these days, but Chow’s performance here still strikes me as some of the most vulnerable acting ever captured on film. The eyes can tell everything you need to know.

it really doesn’t get any better than this. Petzold = god

Kiyoshi the master of people wandering around in huge, vacant warehouse spaces but Jia the patron saint of positioning figures in front of evocative architecture/landscapes (Still Life/Platform)

for my fellow Found Footage horror enthusiasts: MARUI VIDEO (2023) is a criminally underseen creepfest with a distinct K-horror touch. hints of Koji Shiraishi and true crime, all wrapped up in this neat cursed media package.

Really didn’t expect THE LAST DANCE (破·地獄) to be such a beautifully robust treatise on the process of mourning, “breaking hell’s gate” for the living, and the uncertain future that Hongkongers will face together. Deeply compassionate film full of complex, inherently human questions.

The Last Dance (破·地獄) selling out ALL Central London screenings this weekend is *fantastic*, but it’s also further proof that East Asian cinema needs to be more accessible beyond the usual locations. The ideal scenario would be for people to discover these films organically at their local multiplex.

Bawled my eyes out at LOVE IN THE BIG CITY: a film that captures the joys and pitfalls of carefree youth with such remarkable sensitivity and tenderness, yet doesn’t shy away from some of the darker aspects of Korean culture. Made me want to rewatch a few of the earlier Hong films, for some reason.

Hello hello! I can’t in good conscience post on the other place anymore, so this seemed like the best alternative to discuss films, life, and everything in-between.