Simon Smith

honestly such a downer. just reminds you how shitty life is outside of a movie theater. would’ve been better titled: One Battle After Another  2025 Ranked (100th!)

Coming from someone who went to a small christian private school where (in the time i was there) 2 professors were found to have been SAing students, I went into this movie siding with Maggie just from the trailer, hell even from just the concept. But holy shit. Every character in this movie, including Maggie, is kinda fucking insufferable to listen to. It’s a captivating movie no doubt, but this feels strictly made for people who love the sound of their own voice. (and just to be clear, as annoying as her character was at times, i still easily chose to side with maggie by the end, obviously lol) 2025 Ranked

green screen final boss

If you told me at the beginning of this year that my first 5 star rating of 2025 would be Black Phone 2, I would’ve definitely laughed in your face, but here we are.I really could write a whole essay on what this movie means to me, so I’ll try to keep it brief. To get a little personal, I had something terrible happen to me about this time last year that felt uncomfortably similar to Finney’s experience in the basement. In the months since that tragedy, I have tried my absolute hardest to move on and forget all about it, but it fucked up my brain so badly that my heart starts racing the millisecond I hear or see the slightest disturbance. The thought of it just will never leave my brain. Finney’s way of grappling with his experience is resorting to a persona of “I survived that, I can survive anything. Come at me.” When this happens early in the film, it kinda clicked for me how I see myself mirrored in Finney. I won’t say much else as not to spoil the movie, but as the plot progressed and Finney continued to develop, I could not help but see myself clear as day in this character. It broke my heart to see this character go through what I often feel so alone in having experienced. Lastly, I didn’t feel nearly as strong of a connection to her character as I did Finney, but Gwen is also so deeply interesting as a character. Madeleine McGraw’s performance moved me to tears multiple times.I don’t expect most people to slap a 5 star rating on this, but it spoke to me and actually moved my soul in a way I could never have foreseen. Oh and that ending?? SOBBED. 2025 Ranked