Film & TV
Recommendations
Explore
Resources

Mentaculus

mentaculus
Celluloid Junkie
# Film Ratings: 3438
# Game Ratings: 105
Member Since: 30 Jun 2007
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Bio: After a fairly Lynchian childhood in an American suburb, I moved to Japan at 13, saw foreign film, and it destroyed my fragile little mind. Now forever damaged, I live in LA, have degrees in Cinema and Religion, a Masters in Information Science, and watch too many films in between writing projects. Life goals: direct a film, and see a UFO.

Featured Reviews

82 77%
The End of Summer
The End of Summer (1961) - Rated 15 Feb 2022
A masterclass of subtle oppositions: an affable widower more at home with his mistress than his children; a family obsessed with marital bonds who couldn’t be more divided; a celebration of life ending with a death. On the latter, I did not feel a darker edge - maybe a bit of lyrical cynicism, but one in keeping with the themes. As the farmers say, a death is replaced with renewed life; a funeral inspires two women to live authentically, one to marry and one to not. There is life, there.
50 24%
The Baby
The Baby (1973) - Rated 20 Feb 2017
Possibly one of the more vile, reprehensible, grotesque features I've ever seen - my head was cocked at a slight angle and my eye was twitching, always mildly unsure that what I was watching is actually what they were depicting. In short, I kinda liked it. Or at least the part of me I hate liked it.
99 98%
The Gospel According to St. Matthew
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) - Rated 30 Mar 2018
The Biblical Jesus Christ was punk rock. And nothing is more punk rock than one of humanity's most spiritual entities stripped raw of artifice and embellishment, two millennia of dogma, shouting with authenticity. Wholesale sequences consist of letting the Red Letters do the talking. Pasolini's punk aim was to use film form to find the (divine) Son of God through the (revolutionary) Son of Man - how well this works is still open to individual interpretation. Alone this is masterpiece worthy.
81 75%
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) - Rated 14 Jul 2020
One of Trek's strongest efforts. The characters are now well established, and often in Trek, they take mysteries in stride and stay at least one step ahead. VI wisely goes boldly into a real unknown: a central mystery and conspiratorial air just outside the characters' understanding. It's a fitting and gripping coda for this crew: "...the native hue of Resolution Is sicklied o'er, with the pale cast of Thought, And Enterprises of great pith and moment, With this regard their Currents turn awry."
94 94%
Late Spring
Late Spring (1949) - Rated 08 May 2020
It's fitting the film begins with a tea ceremony. This is equally delicate: People leave frame yet linger; speak in the absence of language. It balances social harmonies against the textures of the ingredients and the temperatures of the climate of its time. I've attended a Japanese tea ceremony myself and, to quote another author, "If a mere cup of tea can bring us closer to God, we should watch out for all the dozens of opportunities that each ordinary day offers us." That is Ozu.
39 14%
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) - Rated 23 Jun 2019
Pained noises. "I know it's hard, son. The franchise, it's suffering. It's been hurting for a while now. It's old, worn out, done tired - it feels like Jennifer Lawrence looks. You know what must be done." I stop the film executive, tear in my eye. "I know. But... it grew up with me. Ever since I was a kid. We grew old together. I need... I need to be the one to do it." I take the rifle from his hands. In the next room, a pause. Fire, then silence. The whimpering has stopped.
66 44%
Jungle Cruise
Jungle Cruise (2021) - Rated 16 Nov 2021
Thankfully, Disney knows they’re making a whole film off a ride based on bad puns. At least they weren’t in de-Nile. Yes, it borrows from Pirates, but I think that could Sparrow bit. It hardly matters water’s going on, it moves rapidly enough. Oh no!, here come some Germans, did nazi that coming! It must have been added Indy later script. Thankfully, The Rock’s charisma stays the same after several hits with a Blunt instrument. Must be muscle memory. The Back Side of Water!
40 15%
The Wizard of Gore
The Wizard of Gore (1970) - Rated 04 Dec 2020
The same plot as The Last Temptation of Christ, but way less controversial.
59 33%
Jupiter Ascending
Jupiter Ascending (2015) - Rated 20 Nov 2019
I have a soft spot for this pointy-eared batshit space opera Thumbelina featuring galactic fallen angels, Freudian reincarnation and Eddie Redmayne shouting evil deeds like a boomer chain smoker whispering sweet nothings through a floor fan. It's so focused on world-building it doesn't realize everything looks and sounds like garbage. It's also a near-perfect fairy tale masquerading inside a young adult dime novella and that's it's own kind of impressive.
84 80%
The Player
The Player (1992) - Rated 02 Feb 2020
I once interned in a major studio development office and it's pretty much this film: celebrity cameos and rampant blackmail and execs asking me to check their suits for bloodstains. Don't ask questions you may get answers. This made me remember that time I got out of a parking ticket by claiming to be a Scientologist. You may think I'm making that up but it's Hollywood, baby. All the world's a stage and we're... not making another Shakespeare - costume pictures aren't in right now.