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When I planned out my 40-film challenge, I decided I would rewatch *Porco Rosso* to see if I rated it too low the first time I saw it. I actually did like it more this time, and considered bumping my score from 6/10 to 7/10, but the weird stuff involving Fio still holds this movie back for me. Why did she have to be 17? If Miyazaki had just made her a few years older, her interactions with the other characters (especially Porco) wouldn't be nearly as uncomfortable. I love the setting, the seaplanes, and the animation, though. I also like that Porco is sort of the last of his kind in this movie: a pilot from a bygone era who's neither a pirate nor a fascist, and just wants to keep flying his plane in a world that's leaving him behind. He seems to feel that all the good men died during WWI and sees himself as a pig because of his guilt from surviving while his comrades didn't. Gina and Fio, however, still see the value in a guy like him. That could have worked really well if the movie didn't also make him a bit of a creep. Next up: *Ocean Waves*

I watched this a long time ago, was very impressed by the animation, but found the story hard to follow and didn't really understand what the movie was about. Now, after getting older, finishing college, and learning more about the world and Japan's history/culture, I see on rewatch that Akira is about a lot of things: power, trauma, politics, and more. I would sound really pretentious and annoying if I tried to explain what I like about *Akira*, and I probably wouldn't be able to articulate it very well anyway, so I won't. I'll just let this movie's reputation speak for itself and say that I'd recommend checking it out at least once. Even if you find the story hard to follow, you'll still get to experience an extremely memorable visual spectacle, and a great soundtrack too. I'm really considering reading the manga so I can see the ideas touched on in this movie explored in more depth. Next up: *Porco Rosso*

Fuck. I really thought I liked these movies despite a few flaws, but I genuinely feel like shit after rewatching this. It's been nearly 5 years and the novelty has worn off. *Spider-Man: No Way Home* is more of a product than a movie. I don't even care enough to write a real review. I hate myself because I know I'm still gonna go see *Brand New Day* when it comes out. Please let it be better than this "remember this?" ass movie

Wow, I'm actually pretty shocked at how little I like this. I watched *Spider-Man: Far From Home* in theaters when I was in high school and had a great time with it, but now I can't believe I liked it so much back then. Of the three MCU Spider-Man movies, this one feels the most like filler. Rewatching it in 2026 made me realize how disposable and amateurish this movie feels. The most interesting thing that happens is in the mid-credits scene, with Peter's identity being revealed to the world. Otherwise, it mostly feels like a follow-up to *Avengers: Endgame* rather than a true Spider-Man sequel. I think it was only meant to be seen once in theaters, because it loses a lot of its appeal on repeat viewings at home. I don't really like to nitpick, but when the whole movie is littered with things to nitpick, they really start to add up. First of all, the writing is pretty atrocious. The plot and the way it unfolds is nonsensical. I hate pretty much everything about EDITH. Spider-Man calling in a drone strike on one of his classmates is ridiculous, and the action scene on the bus makes no sense. I hate the scene where an adult woman forces Peter (who I believe is 16 in this movie) to undress in front of her and it's played for comedy, and when MJ tries to peek at Peter while he's undressing later on. Some of the illusion scenes are pretty cool, but the way they're explained doesn't really add up if you think about it too much. The relationship between Peter and MJ is fine, but very surface-level. There are also lots of shitty jokes and bad lines of dialogue. There are problems with the movie visually, as well. It features plenty of beautiful locations, but the cinematography is extremely boring. The scene where Mysterio fights the water elemental is a muddy, uninteresting, CGI slopfest that made my eyes glaze over. I actually really like the look of the black and red suit Peter makes, but the Iron Spider suit looks like shit and the Night Monkey suit sucks, too. Rewatching these movies has me really hoping to see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker as a more mature, independent, adult version of Spider-Man in *Brand New Day*. I'm also excited to see an MCU Spider-Man movie with a different director.