Official last movie you saw thread

The Hurt Locker - 7/10

Amsterdam (2022)

American-Canadian period mystery comedy thriller film. I really wanted to like this but despite its incredible ensemble cast (Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Taylor Swift, Anya Taylor-Joy, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Timothy Olyphant, Robert De Niro, Ed Begley Jr., Chris Rock and more) it kinda falls flat. I don't know what, but something is missing. The story is interesting and should be way more entertaining than it turns out to be. The movie could (and should) be so good but something doesn't click. Still, if you're a fan of any of these actors I'd say it's worth the watch. Maybe it just needs a rewatch at some point.

Women Talking

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. Sarah Polley has directed and written interesting movies on unlikely movie topics but this felt more like a play than a movie on paper. And yet it is a movie in every way you can think of. The whole conversation format on trying to reconcile faith with violent and brutal acts reminded me of God on Trial but this feels way less like a filmed play than God on Trial was.
The cast is of course excellent (Claire Foy and Frances McDormand are especially remarkable) but the script is so good, it probably is acting-proof and would have worked with just anyone.
I'm sure it's one of those Oscar nominees for best feature that make people go "never heard of this" when they read the list but it definitely should be a real contender, even though we already know which movie is going to win because nostalgia sells.
Polley being snubbed in the director category is not a surprise either considering the other nominees.

Dinosaurier - Gegen uns seht ihr alt aus! (2009)

German crime comedy film. Watched this yesterday. It's a very funny story about an old woman losing her house to the bank and being forced to live in a retirement home where she meets one guy who wants to help her trick the bank so she can get her house back. Lots of old (and some not so old) talent with Ezard Haußmann, Eva-Maria Hagen, Ralf Wolter, Walter Giller, Nadja Tiller, Heinz Meier, Ingrid van Bergen, Daniel Brühl, Tom Gerhardt, Benno Fürmann and more, so if you're german these are big names. Very entertaining movie, I can definitely recommend it.

The Good Nurse (2022)

American drama film. It's based on a non-fiction book about about Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a night nurse, who suspects that her co-worker Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) is a serial killer. This is based on real events but I'll still slap a spoiler tag on the following, because he's been sentenced to 17 consecutive life sentences after confessing to 40 murders, although he actually might've killed hundreds of people. So it's safe to say he did it. Very good performances, interesting story, I hadn't heard of Cullen before. Overall I can recommend this.

Valley of the Dead

Surprisingly good.

Barbarian (2022)

American horror thriller film. It keeps you guessing what happens next and it has you on the edge of your seat. But it does start a little slow, so don't be discouraged and keep on watching. It'll be worth it. Can recommend!

Elvis (2022)

Australian-American biographical drama film. Rewatched this at the cinema yesterday and showed it to my mum because she's a big Elvis fan. And yeah, it's definitely better on the big screen. Can recommend.

A Man Called Ove (2015)

Swedish comedy-drama film. It's about a grumpy old guy who turns out to be much more kind than he thought he was. It's a beautiful and very touching movie. If you're looking for something like that, definitely check this one out. Great movie. Highly recommended!

A Man Called Otto (2022)

American comedy-drama film. Of course, Tom Hanks is a great actor but he just doesn't play the role of grumpy old man very believable. I feel like they just took the original and disneyified it. Can Americans not watch movies without them being explained to them to the littlest detail? I mean when they're kissing in the restaurant in the original movie it's a tender moment between two people. In this one the whole restaurant is clapping. That's straight out of a Disney movie. A lot of the characters are also just annoying for no apparent reason. And why is the cat CGI? It's really good CG most of the time but still, why not just go with an actual cat? And this might be a little nitpicky but when our main character tells his new neighbour that she has "come here from a country very far away", which is pretty much taken word for word from the original, it makes laughably little sense. In the original they're in Sweden and she's from Iran which means "far away" is correct. In this one they're in the US and she's from Mexico, so "far away" doesn't make any sense. Overall it's a fine movie if you haven't seen the great original. But if you've seen that then this one is just disappointing. It feels like a carbon copy of the original but at the same time all those things that were copied exactly from that one were just worse. The last 20 minutes of this stood out compared to the rest of the movie, yet they were still not as good as their counterpart from A Man Called Ove (2015). I just can't recommend this one. Don't waste your time, go watch the original.

Women Talking (2022)

American drama film. The little old arthouse cinema I go to always shows movies in their original language on wednesdays so a few weeks ago when I saw that they were showing Women Talking (2022) this week I pounced on the opportunity to see this one on the big screen and bought a ticket, printed it out like I always do. I missed one little detail which I will come back to later in this review. So yesterday I got there, was surprised that there were so many people, but it's International Women's Day and the movie is about women, so I thought nothing more of it. Usually they're showing a short film before the main attraction but they didn't this time but this time there was someone holding a short speech about International Women's Day and again, I thought nothing more of it. They probably just skipped the short film this one time. So the movie starts, and a minute or so in the characters start talking german. Now I'm confused. This movie is supposed to be in english. I walk out of the theater, ask the cashier about it and he says that this week the original language movie was on tuesday. The day before yesterday. It even said so on my ticket, that I printed out weeks earlier. But I didn't notice because I was so used to watching movies there on wednesdays. So because that was the only original language screening for this movie in my area I'm watching it at home today. Would've loved to see it at the cinema but I fucked up. Well, shit happens.

Now, about the movie itself: At its core it's exactly what the title says. It's about women talking. "In 2010, the women and girls of an unnamed, isolated Mennonite colony discover that the men have been using cow tranquilizer to subdue and rape them. They hold a plebiscite to decide whether to stay and do nothing, stay and fight, or leave." This might not sound very entertaining but the amazing cast (Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw, Sheila McCarthy and more) who are delivering great performances make this a really good movie. So overall I can recommend this movie.

And with this I've completed my Oscars death race for this year. So, if I would be a voting member of the Academy this is what I'd vote for:

Best Visual Effects: Avatar: The Way of Water
Best Film Editing: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Costume Design: Elvis
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Whale
Best Cinematography: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Production Design: Babylon
Best Sound: Top Gun: Maverick
Best Original Song: Naatu Naatu – RRR
Best Original Score: Babylon
Best Animated Short Film: Ice Merchants
Best Live Action Short Film: An Irish Goodbye
Best Documentary Short Film: The Martha Mitchell Effect
Best Documentary Feature: Navalny
Best International Feature Film: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Animated Feature Film: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Best Adapted Screenplay: Top Gun: Maverick
Best Original Screenplay: The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Supporting Actress: Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Actor: Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Best Director: Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans
Best Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once

If you've watched any of them I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these choices and on the movies themselves.

Introduced my other half to Drive (2011) and she immediately took to it for the same reasons I did almost a decade ago: Amazing and auteur cinematography, complex and subtle and understated but brilliant acting, and wonderfully choreographed ultraviolence. The killer soundtrack doesn't hurt either.

Black Adam
Black Panther 2

Both really meh like 5/10.

Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)

American comedy-drama film. Very unusual but also organic. We often hear our main character's thoughts, a few times we're going into a first person perspective and now we're the main character and the other characters talk directly to us. The editing is also a bit unconventional and there are dream sequences and day dream sequences and everything. Like I said, it's quite unusual. For all those reasons it feels kinda bizarre yet intimate and I understand why it might not have had the greatest mass appeal. But still, that doesn't mean it's bad. Can recommend.

Decision to Leave (2022)

South Korean romantic mystery film. It's a really good movie with great performances by a, to me, unknown cast and with all the buzz it got I'm surprised that it didn't get past the shortlist stage at the Oscars. I think it definitely would've deserved a nomination at least. Overall a movie that I can highly recommend.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

American absurdist comedy-drama film. Rewatched this yesterday and showed it to my dad. He didn't like it, I still did.

Dagon (2001)

Spanish horror film. While some of the effects are a bit janky (it is a low budget horror film from the early 2000s after all) overall they definitely work. If you're a fan of Lovecraft's work you'll definitely enjoy this one. Can recommend!

FINALLY got to see Violent Night.

I now have a new favorite Christmas movie. It was great. Loved it all.

8/10 WOULD watch again every Christmas.

Pearl (2022)

American slasher film. Sucks that the "German immigrant parents" can barely speak german. German actors exist, just cast them ffs. Characters who are supposed to be german but are played by people who can't speak german really take you out of the movie. Despite a very good performance by Mia Goth, I'd say only watch this if you liked X (2022) a lot. It's very different but of course you follow the same main character. Overall a good movie but nothing groundbreaking.

They Came Together (2014)

American satirical romantic comedy film. Two couples (Joel and Molly (Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler) and Kyle and Karen (Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper)) are talking about their relationships over dinner. Joel and Molly reiterate that the story of how they met really was like one of those romantic comedy movies. And then we get to watch the cheesiest, most stereotypical rom-com. It's hilarious and very self aware. Overall this is a great satire, better than it has any right to be. It's also a tight 80 minutes long which is kinda rare these days. Highly recommended!

Meek's Cutoff (2010)

American Western film. It's about a group of settlers travelling across the Oregon Trail in 1845. They start to suspect that their guide doesn't know the route. Supplies start to run low as tensions heighten. That's about it. It's still engaging but definitely pretty slow.

Deadstream (2022)

American supernatural horror comedy film. In a format similar to the one in Spree (2020) we're seeing the story unfold through a livestream of a guy in a haunted house. It's very much of this day and age (it even mentions Pewdiepie a few times) so it will probably start to look very dated at some point. The first half of this movie is pretty much just classic haunted house stuff but then it becomes supernatural. Definitely entertaining and at under 90 minutes not too long. Overall this was a fun one. Can recommend!

We Have a Ghost (2023)

American supernatural horror comedy film. I was in the mood for something silly today and this definitely seemed fit the description. But surprisingly it's more than that. It's funny, heartwarming, very entertaining, has a good cast (David Harbour, Anthony Mackie, Tig Notaro and more) and even at over two hours it doesn't feel that long. Sure, it's not a masterpiece but if you're bored and you got two hours why not watch this? Can recommend.

The Bad Batch (2016)

American dystopian thriller film. Great cast (Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Suki Waterhouse, Diego Luna, Giovanni Ribisi and more) in a story about about a young woman who has been exiled to a desert where she is attacked by a group of cannibals, barely escaping alive to a bizarre settlement run by a charismatic leader. Unusual, but surprisingly good movie. Can recommend.

Navalny (2022)

American documentary film. Rewatched this yesterday and it's still a great documentary. The Oscar win is so deserved!