All the Movies I Watched This Week

Pretty much what the title says. Just going to give my quick thoughts on all the movies I watched this week, Criterion or otherwise, in order from this past Monday through today. Let me know what you think of these movies!

Irreversible (Gaspar Noé, 2002): Unbearably brutal, but undeniably powerful. Not something I'll ever watch again, but it was certainly memorable, and affecting. I'd put it alongside something like Martyrs in that respect - unpleasant, but gruelingly effective.

Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950): An absolute masterpiece from top to bottom, featuring a brilliantly psychotic performance from Gloria Swanson. I'm not sure what else to say here; I mean, it's a perfect movie. I kind of hate that I didn't watch it sooner.

Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley, 1992): I was a little underwhelmed. It's not bad or anything, but Foley assembled one of the best casts ever for this film, then sort of underachieves. It's a tight 90 minutes, so not boring, but I just feel like more could have been done with this material.

Lethal Weapon (Richard Donner, 1987): I saw about half of this back in middle school when a teacher put it on, deciding that it was not appropriate midway through and turning it off. I'm super glad I got around to watching it, because it's an instant classic (and another incognito Christmas movie!). Mel Gibson and Danny Glover have chemistry for days here, and it's a solid narrative for them to work through here as well. Donner's direction is also pretty darn efficient.

Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong, 2007): Only my second Lee Chang-dong film after Burning - one of my all-time time favorite films - it has pretty much cemented him as an all timer for me. This is a brutal, wrenching masterpiece of a movie. I dare any parent to watch this without feeling sick to their stomach. The way it explores human nature, grief, religion, madness, etc. is also very thoughtful and interesting.

Beverly Hills Cop (Martin Brest, 1984): This is a likable movie that's honestly pretty flawed. Eddie Murphy is pitch perfect here, and he more or less just carries this whole movie, which aside from him has a very basic story, and - in my opinion - fairly poor editing and direction. I like the ending shootout setpiece, and Murphy's chemistry with Judge Reinhold and John Ashton, but other than that, this would be pretty middling were it not for Murphy's charisma.

The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999): It has a very specific, unique vibe. Another absolutely incredible cast, and Coppola already displayed remarkably assured direction for this being her feature debut. For me, the big issue here is that the characters are extremely surface level across the board - that may or may not be deliberate, but it doesn't leave much for the viewer to grab onto. Still, an enjoyable and memorable film.

The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, 2007): In all honesty, out of all the Wes movies I've seen, this is probably my least favorite. Other than the always great visuals, it just feels really shallow and lightweight. That's not bad in and of itself, but here I just found myself not really caring about much. There are some good moments of humor - the perfume smash got me to audibly chuckle - but this mostly missed the mark for me, Wes being one of my favorite filmmakers.

Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002): I saw this back when it first came out, but had a very foggy memory of it going in. And extremely mixed bag for me. To address the elephant in the room, I hated the way this looked. Very proto-Abrams, it's extremely washed out and unpleasant. There's just a lot of ups and downs here. The performances are all great, but the characters are thin and uninteresting. The visual ideas and sci-fi concepts are interesting, but they're hurt by dated CGI and the aforementioned washed-out cinematography. The overall narrative is satisfying, but it suffers from poor pacing and bloat. Overall, I did like it, but it's just very mixed.

Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940): Now this, I absolutely adored. First of all, the cinematography is absolutely GORGEOUS here. Right from the start, with the camera winding through the tightly wooded path, you know you're in for a visual treat. I loved the way this story was paced - there are a few specific phases, all of which build on what came before, and keep you guessing as to what's coming next. I feel like this is often forgotten compared to his most famous work (Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, etc.), but I'd put this up there as one of his best.

Election (Alexander Payne, 1999): I knew this movie is highly regarded, but I have to admit I was surprised by how much I liked it. I've seen a couple Payne movies before - The Holdovers (loved it) and The Descendants (really liked it) - so I should have known this would be good, but for some reason I was just a little muted on it. But man, this movie cracks. It's so energetic, so confident, so goddamn funny...Payne was in total control of his craft even back then. This material, in the hands of a lesser director, could have been just an absolute nothing sandwich. But he makes it into something I could watch any time at all. Brilliant. I need to watch the rest of his movies.

Ne Zha (Jiao Zi, 2019): Eh...it's okay. Honestly, it's an odd one. First, the animation is incredibly inconsistent. Individual landscape shots can be gorgeous, but then there are times where it appears the animators just didn't bother to finish textures. The story is very lightweight, even for animated family fare. The humor favors fart/booger/spit/etc. type jokes. However - by the end, it kind of won me over. I don't know, despite its significant flaws, it just...had a charm to it. Really, it's not very good, but it's kind of likable.

Ne Zha 2 (Jiao Zi, 2025): Holy GOD. What a 180. This is a genuine animated masterpiece. Literally every single aspect of the first movie is improved exponentially, to the degree that it's difficult to believe it's the same director. Ne Zha 2 is one of the best animated features I've seen in years, and honestly puts to shame the stuff that studios like Pixar or Illumation have been producing of late. The images onscreen are simply jaw dropping. But it's not just eye candy either - the story is far more complex and engaging this time around as well, doling out emotional gut punches at the right moments. Hell, even the scatalogical humor element simply has better comic timing here. This is one of 2025's best films.

The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987): What a way to end the week! Another nearly perfect movie. This is just nostalgia through and through. Is there a more likable and charming film than The Princess Bride? Every joke lands, you're carried by the magic and whimsy, the characters are lovable...I'm honestly hard pressed to even think of a flaw, other than that I wish it was longer than an hour and a half. Even Cary Elwes, who I often find to be wooden and cheesy, is pitch-fucking-PERFECT here.The storybook framing device, even...I mean, come on. Do you even like movies if you don't like The Princess Bride?