The ramblings of a wannabe cineaste. Join me as I dissect the art of storytelling in films, comics, TV shows, and video games.
O'GRADY FILM

Review: The Big Heat
[ The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] A revolver lies on a cluttered desk. Beside it: a police badge...
Review: Medea (1969)
[ The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] There is a centaur in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Medea . Not a literal...
My Top 5 Movie Memories of 2024
Ran out of time to prepare a proper New Years Eve post (having way too much fun visiting with my family), but I wanted to commemorate the...
Review: Nosferatu (2024)
[ The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] Stylistically, Robert Eggers’ remake of Nosferatu resembles one...
Review: Queer
[ The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] There is a scene relatively early in Queer’s sprawling narrative that...
Review: The Crimson Kimono
[ The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] At first glance, The Crimson Kimono appears to be a rather...
Review: The Assassin
[ The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] While The Assassin is often classified as a wuxia film, it is...
Review: A Diary of Chuji’s Travels
Although he is widely regarded as a pioneer of the jidaigeki genre, Daisuke Ito’s directorial efforts remain elusive in the West. Fans...
Review: The Return
[ The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] As might reasonably be expected of an epic poem based on oral...
Review: Kenki
[ The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] The imagery in Kenji Misumi’s Kenki is reminiscent of haiku :...
Review: The Sniper
[ The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] Edward Dmytryk’s The Sniper caught me unawares—like a bullet...
Informal Pitch: An Intimate, A24-Style Character Drama Starring an Unlikely Odd Couple
Paul Schrader plays an aging alcoholic slowly drinking himself to death as penance for his former racism, so feeble that he can barely...
The Exorcist III: The Horror of Belief
[ The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] The Exorcist III is, first and foremost, about faith . I don’t...
Review: River (2023)
[ The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] In many ways, River is less artistically ambitious than Beyond...
Review: Juror #2
[ The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] There’s a recurring image in Juror #2 that is as impactful as it is...
Review: Hundreds of Beavers
[ The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] Hundreds of Beavers isn’t just the best comedy released to the general...
Junji Ito and the Horror of Compulsion
[ The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] At first glance, the premise of Junji Ito’s “Smashed” is almost...
Review: Creature from the Black Lagoon
Creature from the Black Lagoon belongs to the horror genre; that much is obvious. Not from the perspective of the human “protagonists,”...
Review: Creepy
[ The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ] With the possible exception of The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then...





















