93. Urban Cowboy (Bridges, 1980). A 1970s character piece that escaped into the 1980s. There's Rocky DNA in this but at its heart, there's simply heart. Cried twice. Nothing less than impeccable. Trust me. And watch it. Phenomenal. And the music slaps.
93. Blood in, Blood out (Hackford, 1993). It's easy to dismiss the early parts of this movie. It's intentional. The characters are simulacrum attempting to be real. The movie teaches them to be real. An absolute masterpiece waiting to be reducing rediscovered. Vat9 locos for life!
92. Rebel Ridge (Saulnier, 2024). Expertly made and paced despite what seemed like an excessive runtime. The cast are excellent across the board but this is obviously a star marking turn for Aaron Pierre. Not as heavy on the action as I thought going in but when deployed, it's exceptional. Brilliant
91. Trap (Shyamalan, 2024). Snake Eyes was the perfect prelude to this. Similar very large locked room thrillers. I was kind of expecting a late game twist on its initial setup. Glad there's wasn't one. Very solid- I have no idea why the reviews have veered so negatively.
90. Snake Eyes (De Palma, 1998). Great cast. Cage plays virtually the same character he would inhabit later on Bad Lieutenant. What makes this is the insane stylistic choices by De Palma. An overhead shot over hotel rooms is a standout. The ending is a little too tidy but solid overall.
89. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Herzog, 2009). Absolute banger. Full-on coke psychosis of a performance from Cage. Reminded me a lot of Charlie Varrick in the perfect execution of it's third act. Do fish dream?
88. Pig (Sarnoski, 2021). Always avoided because I thought it was John Wick with a pig. It's not. Incredible character piece with a sublime, restrained Cage performance as a former chef hunting for his stolen truffle pig. A phenomenal meditation on grief. One of the best films I've seen this year.
Longlegs (Perkins, 2024). Incredibly effective and creepy serial killer/ FBI story. Starts like a procedural then veers away from that structure. There's something about it that really gets under your skin. Loved it.
Alien: Romulus (Alvarez, 2024). There's no getting round it, it's just really good. It's issues stem from the fact that it's so reliant on earlier films to provide context. It also forgets that when you're making a slasher movie, the hangout aspect needs to be the there. An enjoyable time though.
Utu (Murphy, 1983). Every Murphy film I've seen from his New Zealand career has been incredible. This is no different. Episodic at points but its central thesis still resonates. Brilliant!
