2024 Movies with One-Sentence Reviews

This is the third consecutive year I’ve done these brief reviews. Last year I watched and reviewed 41 movies, the year before it was 29 movies, this year is the longest so far with 48 movies. Note that this includes only new movies which I hadn’t seen before.

The Bikeriders – Sons of Anarchy the movie except it’s better and set in the 1960s 8.5/10

Gladiator II – Easily exceeded my expectations; not as good as the original but I enjoyed it 7.5/10

Predator II – I had low expectations but it was still disappointing; always stick with the original 5.5/10

The Last Dragon – 1980’s NYC kung fu blaxploitation par excellence 8.5/10

Am I Racist? – Not as funny as What is a Woman? and mostly boring observations on how the left is racist 6/10

Alien Romulus – The best movie in the Alien franchise in a long, long time; one of my favorite films of the year which I saw on Halloween 8.5/10

Planet of the Vampires – 1960’s sci-fi horror with special effects that are so bad it’s basically a comedy 6.5/10

VFW – Fun and gratuitous violence in a neon-drenched veteran’s dive bar reminiscent of 1980’s movies like Robocop 7.5/10

Black Friday (1940) – Innovative and interesting old school gangster movie featuring a brain-swap theme reminiscent of Face-Off 8/10

Law Abiding Citizen – One of the best movies with one of the worst endings; had it ended after 90 minutes this would be the GOAT 9/10

Harsh Times – Gritty Los Angeles police movie reminiscent of Training Day; bold and outstanding 9/10

Blink Twice – Offensively awful woke garbage, I was just angry after watching this 2/10

Mean Streets – Scorsese’s debut; gritty and rough, and another movie where the city of New York plays the titular role 8.5/10

Attack the Gas Station – Korean action comedy about robbing a gas station; bizarre insight into South Korean independent cinema 7/10

Bad Lieutenant – Neo-noir NYC burner starring Harvey Keitel that is completely raw; similar to Scorsese’s Mean Streets 8.5/10

Thelma – Action comedy starring a grandma with novelty that wears off quickly 6/10

The Killer – Moody, dark and unusual hitman movie starring Michael Fassbender which isn’t really killer 7/10

Jacob’s Ladder – A Vietnam war movie which stands apart from the others; psychedelic, terrifying, and one of my favorite movies of the year 9.5/10

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F – A worthy successor to a franchise which was one of my favorites as a child 8.5/10

I Saw the TV Glow – Disgustingly bad homage to Goosebumps 3/10

Hit Man – Modern action comedy about an autistic hitman which makes The Killer look outstanding 6/10

Dunkirk – A loud and shocking WW2 spectacle filled with remarkable detail 9/10

Godzilla: Minus One – Captivating in its black and white remastered version 9/10

South Park: The End of Obesity – Nothing deserves parody more than the culture of Ozempic and South Park doesn’t disappoint 8/10

Civil War (2024) – A few memorable moments don’t save this laughable film which insisted on playing it safe 6.5/10

Totally Killer – An 80’s themed slasher film which isn’t so bad 7.5/10

The Party Girl (1958) – There’s something special about movies from this era, including this murder mystery about a Chicago defense attorney who works for the mob 8/10

Road House (2024) – Conor MacGregor playing a coked-up psychopath wasn’t much of a stretch for him but was still fun 7.5/10

Animal House (1978) – A movie I had waited too long too see; a goofy glimpse into another era 7.5/10

December 31, 2024|

On Privacy & Public Persona

It’s hard to believe but this personal website has been online for over 20 years. Over that time I’ve changed, society has changed, and the world has changed.

One striking change relating to this website is how I view sharing information with the internet. Prior to creating this site, I had a blog on a platform called Xanga (which has been defunct for more than a decade now). I remember how novel and exciting the idea of sharing information with the world was. My friends would write about what they were experiencing, I’d write about what was on my mind, and it was like a shared ledger of experiences connected through a novel technology. It no longer feels like that anymore.

A History of Disconnection

Fourteen years ago on this site I made a post commemorating the closure of my Myspace account: RIP Myspace. At the time I described it as ridding myself of an annoyance, and that was around the time that Facebook became the de-facto internet platform for social connections with friends. Eight years later I authored another post about restricting the harmful influence of Facebook in 2018: Locking Down Facebook. Since then, like Myspace, I have quit Facebook (and Instagram) entirely and feel much better for it. This post is the latest in a long-running series on receding from social media on the internet.

It’s no longer about an annoyance though. Now it’s about preserving what little privacy I can in order to put my attention and efforts where they are best used. Although it was in the past, creating a public persona is no longer on my agenda.

Sharing & Authenticity

An influential factor in deciding that I would quit using Facebook and Instagram was the 2020 documentary The Social Dilemma, which I highly recommend. The documentary describes how shallow online interactions have come to replace deeper, genuine social interactions and this was an observation which I profoundly identified with. I’m no longer seeking likes and petty interactions with a broad range of people from my past, and it seems that many others feel the same way that I do (when I closed my Facebook account I described the process to people I wanted to maintain contact with and many echoed my feelings and said they had considered doing the same).

For several years now I have not had much enthusiasm in updating this site because I am reluctant to share too much information with the world. Search engines, bots, and various crawlers are watching. I prefer to preserve privacy and cultivate private relationships more than broadcast a wide net. In that interest, the posts on this site have become increasingly rare.

The Future of This Site

I have no plans to take this site offline. However, I doubt I will ever return to the prolific posting which I did during many of the last 20 years that I’ve been publishing content here. The internet is a different place, and I am a different man now. This publication of this explanation is as much for myself as it is for others; to crystallize my thinking on the matter and commit my thoughts to written word.

Thanks for reading, and maybe I’ll see you in future posts here. Until then, here’s a nice photo of a sunset over a lake which I took.

June 10, 2024|
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