Official last movie you saw thread

Missing (2023)

American screenlife thriller film. It's a standalone sequel to Searching (2018) and due to the nature of how it's presented (that's where the screenlife genre is coming in) very similar. Been a while since I watched Searching but I remember being very entertained by it. And it's the same with this one. Just a very good thriller in a creative new-ish format that's really entertaining. Good cast too (Storm Reid, Nia Long and more). I can definitely recommend this one.

The Punisher (1989)

American action film. Well, Ray Stevenson just passed away the other day and a lot of people have said he was a great Punisher in Punisher: War Zone (2008) which made me realize that the only interpretation I've seen of the character was the one in the Netflix show. So today I'm watching all three Punisher movies, starting with this one, then the 2004 one and ending with Ray Stevenson's one. It's gonna be interesting to see how they compare to each other and to the show.
So yeah, this one's definitely a product of its time. You can really see it's from the 80s. Down to the casting choices. Dolph Lundgren is the Punisher. It's a very cliché-ridden movie. Lots of cheesy one-liners. But overall I guess this wasn't bad. It was the first adaptation after all. Still, nothing I can really recommend.

The Punisher (2004)

American vigilante action film. This one came out only a few years before the MCU officially started with Iron Man (2008) so it feels much more of a Marvel movie than the 1989 one, if you know what I mean. Although it's of course still a Punisher movie, so a lot more brutal than your average early MCU movie. But it also had some funny parts (not laugh out loud funny, just some stuff to break the tension a bit at some points), as to where the previous one was all action, all the time. A big plus was that, compared to the 1989 movie (where most kills were done with a gun or the occasional Punisher-themed knife), here they got a lot more creative. That last big kill was nothing I've seen done before for example. And, as opposed to the 1989 one, which was pretty much just a one man show there were actually some other recognizable actors in this. Thomas Jane plays Frank Castle (he's not really The Punisher yet in this movie; in fact the very last sentence of the movie was "Frank Castle is dead. Call me... The Punisher") which is kinda cheesy but it was the early 2000s, so I'll let it slip this one time. New movies wouldn't get away with this trope nowadays but back then it was still okay. The supporting cast includes John Travolta, Rebecca Romijn, Kevin Nash, Roy Scheider and more. Overall I can actually recommend this.

Punisher: War Zone (2008)

American-Canadian-German action thriller film. It's definitely more over-the-top than the previous movies. You get to see stuff you just didn't get in the others. Like the first kill where he just cuts someone's head off with a single swoop. Or, a few minutes later, where he notices he can't breath through his nose very well anymore so he puts a pencil deeeep up there and cracks it back into place. Later on, he also uses a rocket launcher to kill a guy who's just doing parkour. I almost feel like this movie doesn't take itself too seriously. But then again, it's also the most graphically violent one. And it felt the most comicbook-like overall. It even had villain with his own origin story. Billy "The Beaut" Russoti, a vain and image-obsessed Mafia killer who Punisher throws into a glass crushing machine but survives and who's subsequently severly disfigured and calls himself Jigsaw. That's a classic trope. Also a good cast. Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Doug Hutchison, Wayne Knight and more. So yeah, Ray Stevenson was a great Punisher and I would've loved to see more of him in the role. I definitely think this is the best Punisher movie and it's not even close. Highly recommended!

RIP Ray Stevenson

Algol: Tragedy of Power/Algol. Tragödie der Macht (1920)

German science fiction film. Robert Herne is a simple coal miner, until one day he's visited by Algol, an extraterrestrial, presumably from the planet orbiting the Algol star. He gives him a machine which can provide an unlimited source of power. He sets up a factory providing energy, but it creates massive economic upheaval throughout the world. 20 years later Herne is the de-facto leader of the world but now people want to overthrow him. Amazing set design from one of the people who earlier worked on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). Overall a very good movie, even though the message ("power corrupts") might be a bit simple, but you have to keep in mind that this movie is over 100 years old. But I can definitely recommend this one.

Along Came a Spider (2001)

American neo-noir psychological thriller film. It's a good thriller starring Morgan Freeman but overall nothing great or anything. So yeah, not bad, not great. Just something in the middle. There are other thrillers from around that time that are a lot better. I can't really recommend this one, sadly.

Fences (2016)

American period drama film. It's about a former baseball star who faces racial discrimination and personal failures as he tries to raise his family in 1950s Pittsburgh. Amazing performances by everyone involved (Denzel Washington, Viola Davis (who actually won an Oscar for her performance in this), Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Mykelti Williamson, Russell Hornsby and Saniyya Sidney). This isn't really a movie for you if you're only watching action movies but if you want to see some great performances this is the movie for you. Can recommend!

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

American action drama film. It's about two young men who challenge a middle-aged driver to a cross-country race for their cars, while picking up a hitchhiking girl and encountering various people and places along the way. A quintessential road movie. And that ending is so memorable, that's probably gonna be the one thing about this movie I'll remember forever. Overall definitely very good. Can recommend!

Blood & Gold (2023)

German action drama film. Watched this yesterday. It has a simple plot about a German deserter and a courageous who fight against gold-hungry Nazis in the final days of World War II. It's an entertaining 100 minute movie but nothing outstanding. It would've benefitted from being a bit longer and more fleshed out. So overall while I can still recommend this, don't expect a masterpiece.

Fools' Parade (1971)

American crime-drama period film. It's about about three ex-convicts who try to cash a large check and start a new life, but face opposition from a corrupt prison official and a greedy banker in 1930s West Virginia. Starring an old Jimmy Stewart, a young Kurt Russell and a middle-aged George Kennedy among others. Definitely an entertaining movie. Can recommend.

The Mermaid (1904)

French silent fantasy short film. Of course this isn't one of Georges Méliès' more noteworthy films but it's still fun and whimsical and just nice for the time. It's just 4 minutes long so I can't just not recommend it, despite not being particularly outstanding.

Little Boxes (2016)

American comedy drama film. It's about an interracial family struggling to adjust after they move from New York City to a small, predominately white town in Washington State. It doesn't really have that much story but it doesn't really need to. There's a bit of friction here, a bit of conflict there and then the movie is already over again. Nothing outstanding but not bad either. Can recommend.

The Frisco Kid (1979)

American Western comedy film. It's about a polish rabbi (Gene Wilder) who, in 1850, is supposed to travel to San Francisco to work as a Rabbi there. But the journey is anything but a smooth experience. Along the way he meets a bank robber (Harrison Ford) who befriends him. Overall it's a surprisingly good Western and on top of that it's also very funny. Definitely one I can recommend!

A Good Person (2023)

American drama film. It's about a young woman who struggles with addiction and guilt after causing a fatal accident that kills her fiancee's sister and husband, and finds an unlikely ally in her former father-in-law. Great performances by Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman and everyone else involved. I went in blind so I didn't know what to expect at all but it's definitely a good movie with lots of heart. Can recommend!

John Wick Chapter 4.
They ran out of ideas since the second one. The worst of all four.

Splash (1984)

American fantasy romantic comedy film. Entertaining little rom-com about a business man and a mermaid. Not sure who I'm writing this for, everyone knows what this is about. Great cast (Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy, Eugene Levy and more) in a good 80s movie. Can recommend.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
A masterpiece. Loved every second of the animation. The colour and styles are fantastic!

BlackBerry (2023)

Canadian biographical comedy-drama film. It's about the rise and fall of BlackBerry. Definitely very interesting. Never really thought about BlackBerry as much. When I was young they were high-end phones and status symbols (moreso than the most expensive flagship smartphones nowadays because back then there wasn't really any competition. There were normal mobile phones but a BlackBerry was in its own league. And then they disappeared for reasons that are probably obvious. But that's all I knew about BlackBerry before watching this. In this movie you can see a lot of the business behind the scenes, like how it all came to be. So yeah, very interesting. Good cast as well (Glenn Howerton, Matt Johnson, Jay Baruchel, SungWon Cho, Cary Elwes, Michael Ironside and more), delivering good performances. Overall I can recommend it.

John Wick 4 several days ago.

Falling Down (1993)

American crime drama thriller film. Rewatched this yesterday and I still think it's a great movie. Highly recommended!

Circle (2015)

American science fiction psychological horror-thriller film. It's quite a simple movie about 50 people waking up in some kind of room (we later find out it's a spaceship). They're standing in a circle and every 2 minutes one of them gets killed by a laser. They quickly figure out that they're supposed to vote for who dies next. So yeah, it's almost 90 minutes of that. Pretty simple. But despite that it's very entertaining and those 90 minutes just fly by. So yeah, can recommend.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

American computer-animated superhero. Watched this at the cinema yesterday and I gotta say, it's great. It's not only better than the first one, it really pushes the envelope in terms of animation in cinema. The animation itself is incredible. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) we all said that the animation is great but this is ten times that. I mean we're in the Spider-Verse now so we see tons of different animation styles that all work together beautifully, scenes that already looked great in the original would've been done so much differently in this one. In the original, something rather intimate like a conversation between father and daughter would've had the background in misprint to imitate blur. In this one it's totally washed out watercolours where we barely see any background elements at all and the whole focus is completely on the characters. I don't want to talk too much about this but I can't praise the animation enough! And the story was great too! Keep in mind, this is not a complete story and it ends on a substantial cliffhanger but you should still watch it now instead of back to back with Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2024) when that comes out. Tons of great characters including Spider-Punk (who's even animated in a different framerate), Spider-Man 2099, and so many other variants of Spider-Man you can't even count them. There are even some live-action Spider-Man universes referenced, some more direct than others which means that yes, these animated Spider-Man movies are now part of the MCU. Quite a few funny scenes that got some laughs at the cinema, too. Overall I can highly recommend it. Definitely watch it on the big screen if you can! You won't regret it!

Grabbers (2012)

British-Irish monster horror comedy film. It's a funny little horror film about tentacled aliens who survive on blood and water. So the population of a remote Irish island are getting drunk to poison the aliens. That's about it. But yeah, it's fun. Can recommend.

The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

American biographical drama film. It's about the life of 19th-century French author Émile Zola, played by a fantastic Paul Muni. I mean I've seen Scarface (1932) and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) but this one made me realize how big of a movie star he was back in the day. Also, this has got to be one of his best performances ever. At least it's (so far) his best performance that I've seen. So overall it was a very good biopic that's definitely worth the watch. Highly recommended!

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

American romantic comedy film. It's about a divorced couple who rekindle their love when they meet again on the eve of the woman’s second wedding. Great cast (Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Roland Young and more) delivering very good performances (although I think Jimmy Stewart would've deserved the Oscar more for some of his other roles than for this one). Overall definitely something I can recommend.