Matt Vaughan

The black maple leaves look like they came off of a bumper sticker on a pick-up truck, I wish they’d stick to red and white.

I would put more money on continuing to harvest infinite energy from the sun over assuming that forcing everyone to use The Machine The Lies To You is the steady basis of an entire economy

A ★½ review of The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) An amateurish, often embarrassing movie that has brief moments that point to far better slasher movies. It feels like the first cut of this was 75 minutes long and the director started sweating, then ...

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976). Don’t bother with this, just look at the poster and imagine it’s that cool. (It’s not.)
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★★½ review of A House of Dynamite (2025) I was always going to like this given the cast, director, and the dark-yet-realistic subject, but a few changes to the structure of this probably would have made it sing. I liked it, but I totally und...

A House of Dynamite. It’s funny that we seek out this kind of tension as a source of entertainment.
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A ★★★ review of The Wolverine (2013) Every time I watch this, I start off loving it. He’s in Canada! He’s in nature! Now he’s in Japan, cool! But the wheels come off for me when Mariko gets taken, and it’s just okay. The Silver Samurai s...

The Wolverine (rewatch). In movies, people say “just trust me” a lot, and it takes me out. No one would accept that in real life!
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A ★★★½ review of True Grit (2010) This set a new bar for girldads: will my daughter ably avenge my death, including bartering goods and hiring bounty hunters? I’ve got my work cut out for me.

True Grit (rewatch). Did every little town have an undertaker back in the day?
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

The world is so filled with beauty and wonder and I feel very strongly both that it should be a kinder place to live in and that it is within our power to make it as such

A ★★ review of Elevation (2024) One of the first-draftiest movies I’ve seen in ages. There are some decent bones in here, even if it is fully re-heating A Quiet Place’s nachos. I like a mountain town, I like post-apocalyptic setting...

Elevation. I feel like I could have written this (derogatory).
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★★★ review of One Battle After Another (2025) Works well when it’s satire, works well when it’s a pumping action movie, works well when Sean Penn is walking like a lunatic.

One Battle After Another. The Bedford Forrest medal, I see what you did there, PTA.
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A ★★★★★ review of No Country for Old Men (2007) On this viewing, I was struck by the ways Moss and Chigurh mirror each other, and I think my understanding of darkness and evil in this is better fleshed out. Pretty incredible flick.

No Country For Old Men (rewatch). Kelly Macdonald deserved an Oscar for accent work.
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A ★★★½ review of Miller's Crossing (1990) It’s fairly slow for me in parts, but other moments totally sing. Might just not be for me.

Miller’s Crossing. I always enjoy a vague setting, like Coen-y Mob city here.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★★★ review of Disturbia (2007) One of my favourite home movie watching experiences was showing a bunch of friends ‘Rear Window’, which still works so well. This is not as good (duh) BUT it has a heaping helping of my youth distille...

Disturbia. I didn’t see this when it came out, but it feels like high school, and that’s good enough.
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A ★★★★ review of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) I’m looking forward to doing a double feature with this and The Odyssey. Maybe I’ll make gyros and something Depression-appropriate… catfish? Rabbit? Squirrel?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (rewatch). The song is still good.
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A ★★★★ review of The Big Lebowski (1998) I was just telling a friend that movies about hippies don’t work for me, and he immediately countered with this. Fair enough! This is the exception.

The Big Lebowski (rewatch). There’s no way to prove LA in the 90s wasn’t exactly like this, so I’m gonna believe this is true to life.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★★★ review of The Big Lebowski (1998) I was just telling a friend that movies about hippies don’t work for me, and he immediately countered with this. Fair enough! This is the exception.

The Big Lebowski (rewatch). There’s no way to prove LA in the 90s wasn’t exactly like this, so I’m gonna believe this is true to life.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★★★★ review of Black Bag (2025) I’m such an easy mark for spy movie, but even then, the world this builds is so good that I immediately want a whole series of movies set in stylish MI6. It also helps that the cast is so good from to...

Black Bag. Soderbergh’s cooking here.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

An incredibly telling metric. You tell me AI is the future and I'll tell you it's the Mark Sanchez of software.

A ★★★½ review of The Naked Gun (2025) I really went into this expect wall-to-wall laughs, and it was more very-frequent than all-encompassing. I probably need to do a rewatch to catch all the bits on the edges. Great cameo at the end. (I ...

The Naked Gun (2025). Funny!
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★★★ review of Fargo (1996) If there’s an award for Most Pathetic In A Movie, William H. Macy must be crowned for this.

Fargo (rewatch). I was so baffled by the Mike Yanagita scene on my first viewing, but now it’s one of my favourite scenes.
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Redford riding a bike in cool seventies men's clothing in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR

Redford looking like a 70s Italian Cop Thriller lead in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR with NYC in the background

Redford in a herringbone jacket and tousled, shaggy hair in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR

Redford achieved Drip God status in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR

my favorite robert redford story is that mike nichols considered him for dustin hoffman's part in THE GRADUATE. during their conversation nichols asked redford something like, "have you ever struck out with a girl?" and redford's response was basically, "i don't understand the question"

A ★★★★ review of Raising Arizona (1987) Plenty of fun, with some good early annoying John Goodman. The guy who plays Nathan Arizona in this is only like, 37, which is completely insane because he looks 50.

Raising Arizona. One of the best openings to a movie.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★★★ review of Star Trek Beyond (2016) Good fun for a movie that feels totally forgotten now. My favourite of the three, but not by a huge margin, because all of them have something to enjoy in them.

Star Trek Beyond (rewatch). I think this is my favourite of these films.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★½ review of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) Largely fine, if a bit mild. Not overly creative or gory. Anne Heche’s character does the ‘Homer Simpson offering Bart some brownies and then showing him his chainsaw ‘ bit, but played completely stra...

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). The sequel titles are inspired, but after watching this, I don’t think I’ll be likely to check them out.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

A ★★★★ review of World War Z (2013) The story behind the production is about as interesting to me as the movie is, with a completely re-shot third act that I think works really well.

World War Z (rewatch). Nova Scotia featured!
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A ★★★★ review of Blood Simple (1984) A great “No, don’t do that!” movie. Not sure if it’s surprising or not that this is such a good first movie from these guys.

Blood Simple. Give me more movies at this scale.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)

Every body of freshwater is the lowest I’ve ever seen it here. It’s such an obvious move to take precautions.

Public safety becoming political is something else.

I saw some behind-the-scenes clips on YouTube about how this worked and I now understand why they showed almost nothing of the finished product. Woof.

A ★★★★ review of Superman (2025) I like James Gunn movies, but I don’t *love* them, and that’s fine. His tone sometimes grates for me, but that might be too strong a word. That said, this feels like the right movie at the right time....

Superman (2025). Weirdly, this could have used a bit more Superman.
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A ★★★★ review of Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) The whole John Harrison thing is dumb, but the action doesn’t stop and I always have fun. They pretty much ignore the ‘magic blood’ thing in the next movie, which I’m fine with. I don’t need everythin...

Star Trek Into Darkness (rewatch). There’s a lot of fun sci-fi in this, but a signet ring really shines here.
(Review: letterboxd.com/mpvaughan/fi...)