Played, unfortunately, a little less well on rewatch - too disted, simple scenes are constructed (in the edit and compositions) haphazardly and disorienting ways; which I'll write up to covid impacting shooting conditions and the shuffle of folks behind the scenes. Still, the big sequences are fun - the Rome chase and the train sequence (which lasts, like, an hour and is really thoughtfully put-together and slowly escalates along the way in a very satisfying manner).

Making our way through all the films in the franchise, this one cemented itself as my definite fav; impeccable action filmmaking, spy shenanigans (plenty of double-crosses, mask-usage, etc.), fast-paced plotting, truly insane stunts, the Paris sequence (the Paris sequence). A thing of wonder.

sorry, I thought this was bad and annoying - feels like a student film in the worst way (pretentious, masturbatory, poorly shot and poorly audio-recorded, etc.). my eyes are still recovering from rolling so far back into my head at every mention of Rohmer. particularly aggrieved at a moment here towards the end where the protagonist-writer-director, in excruciating detail, recaps literally all the film's plot points (which weren't that interesting to begin with) in a seemingly never-ending 'and then x happened and then y happened and then z happened' and I just wanted to leave the room so bad

Tim, after bringing out a CG rendering of a teenage version of his recently deceased year-old son: “I thought that was good - - that was healthy”

(And because there are so many good quotes here, another favorite: “Just because you’re James Dean doesn’t mean I’m not gonna beat your ass”)