Official last movie you saw thread

Prisoners (2013)

American thriller film. It's about the abduction of two young girls and the search for the perpetrator. Great cast (Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano, David Dastmalchian, Melissa Leo, Maria Bello, Dylan Minnette, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard and more) delivering outstanding performances. This is a 150 minute movie, but it never got boring. Lots of suspense. Overall I think this is a great movie and I can highly recommend it.

Mystic River (2003)

American neo-noir crime drama film. It's about three childhood friends whose lives are shattered when the daugther of one of them is murdered. Great cast (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Spencer Treat Clark and more) delivering great performances. Another very captivating movie. Overall I can definitely recommend this one!

Last Man Standing (1996)

A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.

Bruce Willis stars as the gunslinger-for-hire, Christopher Walken plays the dreaded Irish mafia enforcer Hickey. Great action, great sound track, great atmosphere.

During the opening credits I thought I saw the name "Akira Kurosawa", but I didn't pay much attention. It took me a few minutes into the film to realize that this was actually a remake of Yujimbo (1961), but as a mafia film-noir replete with weary voice over narration by the protagonist. It mostly works. Recommended.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

American coming-of-age drama film. It's about a young man in a small town who cares for his family and longs for a better life. Very slice-of-life. Great cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover and more) delivering stunning performances. I wonder, if DiCaprio would've won the Oscar for this, how that would've affected the rest of his career. Who knows? If the movie would've come a year earlier or later he could've won it, but like this the competition was so good that he probably wasn't even the runner-up. Overall it's a great movie and I can definitely recommend it!

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)

British-Japanese war film. It's about the hidden affection and the moral dilemma between a British prisoner of war and a Japanese camp commander in a World War II prison camp. Great cast (Ryūichi Sakamoto (who also composed the soundtrack for this movie), David Bowie, Tom Conti (who some of you might know as Albert Einstein in Oppenheimer (2023)), Takeshi Kitano and more) delivering outstanding performances. Overall a great movie with an amazing soundtrack. Highly recommended!

Night Moves (1975)

I have no idea how I've stumbled upon this movie. It's a decent detective story with chill yet captivating 70s atmosphere, but what's more important is that it turned out to be an accidental Disco Elysium adaption: the main character's appearance, clothes, relationships, acting, attitude - all of his personality screams Harry Du Bois. That's why I couldn't get rid of thinking of it as an alternate DE story, and it's beautiful.

The Meg 2: The Trench.

Not too bad. More action than the first and they left it open at the end for the third to be made.

I did read the first three books as well so....

Solid 6/10

Mean Streets (1973)

American crime film. It's about a troubled gangster who struggles to reconcile his friendship, his romance, and his career in the criminal underworld. Great cast (Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Amy Robinson, David Proval and more) delivering very good performances. Really good story and pretty influential movie, considering this was the first time Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro worked together; and also Scorsese's first movie to receive both critical and commercial acclaim. It may not be as great of some of his other gangster movies, but it's definitely well worth checking out! Can recommend.

8½ (1963)

Italian avant-garde surrealist comedy-drama film. It's about a famous director who suffers from writers block while trying to make his new science fiction film. Very good cast (Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Barbara Steele and more) delivering really good performances. Overall this might not be Fellini's best, but it's definitely great for what it is. Still, because of its surrealist nature I can't recommend it for everyone.

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)

French comedy film. It's about the clumsy but charming Monsieur Hulot causing chaos and trouble during his vacation at a seaside resort. I've seen some of Tati's other Monsieur Hulot movies so I can say that in this one the character doesn't feel quite fleshed out yet. So yeah, definitely not my favourite Tati but still well worth checking out, if only to see where such an iconic French character comes from. Can recommend.

Reptile (2023) and The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar almost back to back.

The former is a tense detective mystery about a murder and the secrets it hides. Honestly, nothing groundbreaking in both its plot or execution but a solid movie if you enjoy films of these kind and even if you do not, worth seeing for Benicio Del Toro's performance.

The latter is a short film by Wes Anderson, shot very much in his traditional palette with a minimal cast. It's a feel good film and something I really enjoyed watching - maybe because I watched it immediately after the former but who really knows. Almost the entirety of its dialogue is done as narration but it doesn't feel like a gimmick for gimmick's sake. Would definitely recommend.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

American psychological thriller film. It's about a teenage girl who finds out that her beloved uncle isn't quite the charming man she believes him to be. Great cast (Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Hume Cronyn, Henry Travers, Clarence Muse and more) delivering great performances. Very captivating story, has you on the edge of your seat the whole time. Overall of course not among Hitchcock's best movies but still well worth checking out. Highly recommended!

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

British historical drama film. It's about the marriages of King Henry VIII of England. Charles Laughton plays a great King Henry here and he won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal, so apparently other people 90 years ago thought so, too. The rest of the cast is great as well. Merle Oberon, Elsa Lanchester, Robert Donat and many more. Overall this is a very good movie about an interesting historical person. Can recommend.

Centurion (2010) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020558/reference/
Led by Michael Fassbender, set in roman empire times, specifically Brittania, just before the construction of Hadrian's Wall, featuring the infamous Ninth Legion. Fights against the picts soon lead to a mad pursuit through cold, barren lands. That part is very reminiscent of the 2nd part of Apocalypto (tho this last one has a better and madder pursuit). A good adventure movie with somewhat flat but strong characters, beautiful scenery and the usual brutality of times of war, thankfully not downgraded, actually I think it's somewhat exaggerated.
Not a masterpiece, but a good thing to watch anytime. There's a spiritual successor with Channing Tatum as main character, searching for the Ninth Legion's pennant, slightly not as good as Centurion. Sorry I forgot the name of the movie.

Safety Last! (1923)

American romantic-comedy film. It's about a young man trying to impress his girlfriend by pretending to be a successful manager of a department store, but ending up having to climb a skyscraper as a publicity stunt. It's so much more than just Harold Lloyd hanging off a clock on the side of a building but of course that whole climbing thing is still the main focus of the movie, with it taking up about a third of its full runtime. So overall this is a great movie and I definitely understand why it was so popular when it was released. Highly recommended!

Atlantis (1913)

Danish drama film. It's about a doctor who travels to America in search of a cure for his wife's mental illness, but faces a tragic shipwreck on the way. It's safe to say this caused a bit of a controversy, so soon after the Titanic disaster. The sinking of the ship and subsequent panic and death among the passengers is a big part of the movie, but not a major one. But the movie had nothing to do with the Titanic, it was in fact based on a Gerhart Hauptmann novel that was released a few months before the Titanic sunk. Fun fact: Because of the massive scale of this movie, two assistant director were hired. One of them was the young Hungarian director Mihály Kertész, who later changed his name to Michael Curtiz and became one of the most well-known Hollywood directors through such masterpieces as Casablanca (1942), White Christmas (1954), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and many more. Another fun fact: Hauptmann, the author of the source novel, met Carl Herman Unthan, a famous armless violinist of the time, on a cross-Atlantic voyage and was so impressed by him that he based a character in the novel on him. When the movie was made about a year later, the contract he made with the filmmakers stipulated that only Unthan himself could play the character that was based on him. So... overall this is actually very good for what it is. Might be a bit too long for most people's taste at almost 2 hours (especially considering it doesn't even have musical accompaniment) but I still think it's well worth checking out. Can recommend.

Life of an American Fireman (1903)

American drama short film. It's about the fire department rescuing some people from a burning building. I've been a volunteer firefighter before so it was really interesting seeing how they did it 120 years ago in action and not just on old drawings and stuff. So yeah, quite an interesting little short film but nothing to speak home about.

Rabbits (1893)

French documentary short film. It's about filming how rabbits move, specifically when they fall or when they come to a standstill. Directed by Étienne-Jules Marey, who was also behind the much more popular Falling Cat (1894), where he dropped a cat and filmed it to see how it is able to land on his feet. This one from a year earlier does the same thing (among other things) with rabbits. How he thought to do this with rabbits before cats I do not know. But yeah, this is very interesting to watch and the rabbits were dropped onto a mattress of course. Can recommend.

And with that this year's Decade Countdown Movie Challenge ends. There were a lot of great movies, some of whom I definitely didn't expect to be so great. But then again, I was also born in one of those years, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the years ending in 3 produced some good stuff. :D Anyway, this was fun. Can't wait to find out which movies I'm gonna use for next year's.

The Barbarians (1987)

It's a Cannon Films fantasy action movie staring The Barbarian Brothers who are seeking revenge against a warlord who captured them when they were kids and killed their mother. It is GLORIOUSLY cheesy, gloriously Cannon, and friggin' fun!

I'll let this scene speak for the movie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8xe02K3uZ0

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.

It was awful, but I have seen way worse. At least it looked like they all had fun.

Rewatched The Gentlemen (2019) again and yup, still a great movie all around with incredible performances from the entire cast. Probably my favorite modern, if you can call it that, Guy Ritchie movie. The black comedy is also absolutely peak in the movie. A definite must watch from me.

Also, somehow with this rewatch, Hugh Grant's role as Fletcher, the sleazy/amoral investigator and narrator of most of the movie became my favorite in the film, taking the position away from Farell's Coach and Hunnam's Raymond.

Scarecrows (1988)

American horror film. It's about a group of mercenaries who hijacked a plane in California, who, after making an emergency landing in a cornfield, find themselves stalked by murderous scarecrows possessed by spirits. The first half hour or so might be a bit slow but as soon as that's done and the action starts it's just very exciting. And one of the mercenaries is called Curry, so as someone who goes by Curry on the internet, that's very funny. Overall it's a low-budget horror movie with a simple yet effective story that's a lot of fun (especially in the latter half) and is very entertaining. Don't expect a masterpiece or anything and you'll enjoy it, too. Can recommend.

The Awakening (2011), I normally don't like ghost stories, but this one got me sad and I enjoyed it.

Bloody Hell (2020)

Australian horror comedy film. It’s about a guy who, after being imprisoned and harassed by the media for stopping a bank heist, travels to Finland to start a new life, only to be kidnapped by a family of cannibals. It's surprisingly good, I definitely didn't expect this movie to be this entertaining. It had some very clever scenes, the acting was very good... overall definitely something I can recommend if you're looking for a good recent horror comedy.

The Relic (1997)

American sci-fi horror film. It's about a detective and an evolutionary biologist who try to stop a monstrous creature that is killing people in a museum. Very good cast (Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore, David Proval and more) delivering good performances. This is a very dark movie, and I'm not just talking subject matter. There are a lot of times where you can't see much, especially if you're in a room with light shining into it. So if you plan on watching it, maybe make sure to make that room as dark as you can. But even then it's sometimes hard to decipher what's going on. But yeah, the creature design is cool, the story is pretty fun, too (with a few twists and turns you might not have expected) and overall this movie is entertaining. Can recommend.