Judo Koala
Cinema Addict
Member Since: 08 Aug 2009
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Featured Reviews
Check out Judo Koala's...
Good Time (2017) - Rated 29 Aug 2017
"The Safdies' ability to morph NYC into a threatening, lurching, decrepit pit of despair, its denizens the fringes of society--dealers, hustlers, thugs, addicts, the impoverished & the misguided & the disabled & the broken--calls to mind the fierce, raw grit of '80s Abel Ferrara, rarely seen in filmmaking today. Training their eye on the underbelly of the city, the Safdies continue to utilize claustrophobic vérité techniques and absorbing soundscapes in what is visceral filmmaking at its height"
The Painted Bird (2019) - Rated 12 Sep 2019
"(TIFF '19 REVIEW) A truly, deeply unpleasant three-hour carousel of Holocaust horror. As unpalatable as it may be, it is unequivocally, undeniably, a brilliant piece of filmmaking, the spirit of Tarkovsky alive within each frame as the imagery of a desolate, ravaged, scorched earth beguiles as much as it repulses. Transgressing beyond the confines of mere "shock cinema," Marhoul seems to want to numb the viewer into consciousness. Rarely has such dehumanization looked so beautiful."
Irreversible (2002) - Rated 10 May 2010
"Probably the 'angriest' film I've ever seen. A white-knuckle fist to your mouth in film form. Groundbreaking manipulation of sound (that high frequency drone...) and image collide in a landmark example of cinematic nihilism at its most terrifying, most violent, most staggering."
Before the Flood (2016) - Rated 29 Sep 2016
"Fisher continues to show his adeptness at having an appeal to viewer emotion rooted in objective reality by showing climate change's effects as both personal and global crisis. To be frank, there probably isn't much here that environmentalists don't already know; at the risk of undermining the film's efforts, I might refer to this as a more star-studded 'An Inconvenient Truth.' Regardless, DiCaprio's charming dedication is guided by Fisher's experience in crafting a timely ecodocumentary."
The Night Porter (1974) - Rated 27 Jun 2017
"I had no idea Stockholm Syndrome and sadomasochism could be so utterly uninspiring and trite. Its thematic overtones of historical-personal trauma and sexual repression are examined about as deeply as the width of my pinky nail, instead turning what is, in conceit, deliciously sensationalistic European arthouse into something entirely dull, entirely insipid, entirely unmemorable."
Mother! (2017) - Rated 31 Jan 2018
"An allegorical tale so blackly hilarious, so completely bonkers, and so very memorable as to elicit an emotion--any kind, every kind--from you, regardless of how you feel towards it on a personal level. Disgust, anger, confusion, amusement, awe, whatever: Aronofsky creates an environment whose palpable claustrophobia is matched in Mood-Setting by ingenious sound design, an environment as hostile to its characters as to you, the Viewer. Aronofsky off the rails is creative freedom at its finest."
Moonlight (2016) - Rated 16 Jan 2017
"Its formal innovation regrettably becomes progressively less interesting as the film paces along, which is ultimately the film's most crucial element upon which its story is conveyed--and removing the elements of ethereality thus sadly removes the impact of its narrative delivery. But I digress; it is a very well-made character study."
Spring Breakers (2013) - Rated 30 May 2015
"Primed to be the most misunderstood film of the decade, Korine's hallucinogenic trip is a work of metafictional satire that purports to celebrate the very ideals of Millenial culture it's taking down, one beer-soaked shot after another. Its rainbow colour palette works to set up the second half's genuinely disturbing turn into violence and crime, the shiny veneer of contemporary hedonistic pleasures stripped bare to reveal its dark reality. Just might be the most important allegory in years."
Dog Eat Dog (2016) - Rated 29 Jun 2017
"Doesn't know whether it wants to be the gritty pulp of Abel Ferrera or the metacinematic weirdness of Werner Herzog or the smutty camp of '70s John Waters. Whatever, it's a fucking mess all the same."
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - Rated 26 Nov 2016
"Narratively begins to taper off around the third act, but Amirpour's eclectic fusion of various generic tropes and visual styles calls to mind the self-aware genre clashing of someone like Tarantino. Wholly unique unto itself, AGWHAAN is a testament to cinema's ability to mould, reconfigure, and recontextualize that which we thought we knew so well into an entirely new product."