Anora (2024) ****
Sean Baker sure loves making movies about sex workers. Thankfully he's able to give them dignity and humanity and find humor at the same time. This starts out as a Pretty Woman fairy tale and you just sit there waiting for something bad to happen. When it finally does, it's not the expected evil Russian thugs, but something a lot more realistic and amusing, and it brings us back from the fairy tale in a satisfying way. Unfortunately, a good half hour of the film is just people yelling expletives at each other, particularly in the middle, a lot of which could have easily been trimmed to get this under two hours.
All That Breathes (2022) **
In the midst of extreme poverty and pollution, a group of men run a bird rescue shelter out of their garage in New Delhi. It's a look at how nature adapts to urban environments that's interesting for about a half an hour, but it never expands its scope, there's little explanation of what's going on, and there are several long takes where nothing much happens, so it just becomes tedious and dull. There's literally a shot of a snail slowly sliding all the way across the screen. I like the message, but maybe it should have been a short film?
The Departed (2006) ****
Not much to say except I watched it again and enjoyed it. There's not a lot of depth to this one. It's primarily plot driven and Matt Damon kind of steals the show. And so many flip phones!
Immortal Beloved (1994) ***
Using a Citizen Kane-styled narrative to recount Beethoven's life by investigating who his mysterious "immortal beloved" might be after he dies, this sumptuous production keeps Beethoven at arm's length with a jumbled up flashback narrative heaped with exposition. I don't usually question the authenticity of historical films, but I was skeptical and not swallowing this one, if only because Beethoven looks about 80 when he's on his deathbed when in reality he died at 56. Worse still, Beethoven is such an unpleasant person that I never cared to know who his immortal beloved might be. His music sure makes for a great movie soundtrack, though.
The Green Ray (1986) ****
Delphine has an upcoming holiday but she has nobody to go with her and this makes her sad. Her quest for happiness involves going to the beach and chatting with beautiful people about relationships. I haven't treated myself to an Eric Rohmer movie in a while, and like every other Rohmer film I've seen, it's chill and cozy like, well... a summer holiday. The way it ends at sunset means it could almost be a prequel to Before Sunrise.
Horse Feathers (1933) ***
A typical but unremarkable Marx Brothers movie. It has a dopey story and no particularly memorable bits outside of the football game ending (the comedic potential of which was mined better by Lloyd and Keaton). Still, it had more than enough bad puns, sight gags, and comedic lunacy to keep me entertained, and Zeppo's song is mercifully short.
Fantomas (1913) ***
I guess I shouldn't have watched 1916's Judex first because Feuillade had developed his serials significantly in just a few years, making Fantomas seem relatively basic. He would follow this with four more Fantomas serials and the similar Les Vampires before making Judex. It's basically the television series of its time. Like Judex, it's the story of a master criminal who keeps evading the dogged pursuit of the law, but it doesn't have the moral complexity or compelling characters of the later work. The copy on Youtube is amazingly pristine. This is what all silent films should look like. 
The Green Ray