Official last movie you saw thread

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

French legal drama film. It's about a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband's death. It's a very good legal drama, so if you're in the mood for something like this I can definitely recommend it. This really is Sandra Hüller's year. I only knew her from Finsterworld (2013) and 25 km/h (2018) where she was good, but this year she's nominated for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for her amazing performances in two great movies.

This movie is nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.
Best Picture: Like I said, it's very good. But I can't see it win, compared to the other nominees in that category.
Best Director: I like to believe this is still an open race, because I think everyone of the nominees could win.
Best Actress: The title race is obviously between Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone, but I would put Sandra Hüller safely on the third place.
Best Original Screenplay: This category is also hard to predict. Another one where every nominee could win and it probably just comes down to how people vote for the other categories.
Best Editing: Another hard to predict category. Each one of the nominees in this one are also nominated for Best Picture, so again, it might just come down to Academy voters thinking "I really liked this movie, but couldn't give it Picture or Screenplay."

Our Uniform (2023)

Iranian animated short film. It's about a girl growing up in Tehran and her school life. Animated on clothing, fabrics and such. For the animation alone I can recommend it.

With this I finished the Best Animated Short Film category. My pick would be either Pachyderme (2022) or Ninety-Five Senses (2023), but overall I feel like this category has been stronger in previous years.

Napoleon (2023)

British-American epic historical drama film. It's about Napoleon Bonaparte, his rise to power and his relationship with his wife. I've heard a lot of bad stuff about this one, so my expectations were accordingly today but in turn the movie is actually better than I expected. Definitely not the masterpiece it could've been, but far from a bad movie. So yeah, overall I can recommend it, but if you want to watch a (way) better Ridley Scott movie set during the Napoleonic Wars, watch The Duellists (1977).

This movie is nominated for Best Costume Design (which I don't think it has a chance at winning), Best Production Design (definitely a bigger chance at the win here but I'm still not sure) and Best Visual Effects (where I still got Godzilla Minus One (2023) to watch, so I can't really judge it, but I don't think it has a chance).

No Sudden Move (2021)

American crime thriller film. Rewatched this yesterday and it's still very good.

Forgot to post this earlier.

Golda (2023)

American-British biographical drama film. It's about the actions of Golda Meir, the 4th Prime Minister of Israel, during the Yom Kippur War. It's an interesting biopic with some very good performances (Helen Mirren as the main character of course) but overall nothing that'll live long in the memory, so I can't really recommend it.

It's nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, but I don't think it has any chance at winning.

Holes. Hadn't seen it in over a decade. Still a good movie.

The ABCs of Book Banning (2023)

American documentary short film. It's about book banning, specifically in Florida. It's genuinely baffling at how many and which books have been banned. I can definitely recommend this short film.

This is only the second nominated Documentary Short I've seen, so I can't really judge it against the rest of the nominees yet.

Io Capitano (2023)

Italian-Belgian-French drama film. It's about two Senegalese teenagers who are leaving their hometown of Dakar to reach Italy and escape poverty, but the journey is far from easy. Great performances, especially by the two young leads. Overall I can very much recommend this movie.

This is nominated for Best International Feature Film but the category is very stacked again this year. There are two more movies in this category that I'll have to watch, but from the ones I've seen this one is, despite being a very good movie in its own right, sadly on the lower end.

Bobi Wine: The People's President (2022)

Ugandan-British-American documentary film. It's about the presidential campaign of popular Ugandian singer Bobi Wine against long-ruling regime leader Yoweri Museveni. It's a good documentary, so I can recommend it.

It's nominated for Best Documentary Feature, but it's also my first watch of the category, so I can't judge it against the others at all.

Army of the Dead
It wasnt great but there was plenty of entertainment to sit through the whole movie.

To Kill a Tiger (2022)

Canadian documentary film. It's about a family in Jharkhand, India, who are campaigning for justice after their teenage daughter was brutally raped. It's an important and uplifting story about fighting for justice. Of course this documentary also has its harrowing parts, for example the fact that the villagers say that the girl should just marry one of the rapists and get on with her life. But yeah, the girl, the family and the father in particular just weren't having any of that and with the help of a gender rights group they fought to get legal processes against the three rapists, which leads to them getting 25 years each. Overall I think this is a good documentary and definitely worth the watch.

This is of course nominated for Best Documentary Feature. I still have 3 other nominees to watch in that category, so I can't really judge it, but right now, between Bobi Wine: The People's President (2022) and this one, I can't really predict anything.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Great. Action. Thrill. Action. More action. The way the plot and mistery unravels in great action sequence after great action sequence is amazing. It has truly ruined my next action thrillers for a while. I still think the greatest action movie is Mad Max: Fury Road. But Dead Reckoning 1 came amazingly close. The car chase is to be viewed several times. There's also a good chunk of nice casting choices and good performances, the plot is still open (waiting for part two ofc) and you can see it's a quality movie, a good thriller as Fallout was. But... Action.

Dune: Part Two (2024)

American epic science fiction film. Watched this at the cinema yesterday. It's about Paul Atreides as he unites with the Fremen people of the desert planet Arrakis to wage war against House Harkonnen. follows Paul Atreides as he unites with the Fremen people of the desert planet Arrakis to wage war against House Harkonnen. I'm not gonna go into plot details at all, because the movie isn't even out yet in lots of places. Just know that this definitely deserves to be seen on a cinema screen, as big as you can get. I'm pretty sure this was the first 2024 movie I've seen in 2024, but I already think it's gonna be one of the best of the year. Definitely feels like I've already started watching something for next year's Oscars with this one. So yeah, I can highly recommend this movie. You don't wanna miss it!

The Eternal Memory (2023)

Chilean documentary film. It's about Chilean journalist Augusto Góngora, his battle with alzheimers and his relationship with his wife, Chilean actress Paulina Urrutia. Well, of course this is a very intimate and personal documentary so it's definitely not an easy watch. But I can still recommend it.

This is only the 3rd of 5 Best Documentary Feature nominees I've watched this year but right this would be my pick.

Four Daughters (2023)

French-German-Tunisian-Saudi Arabian documentary film. It's about the family history of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, focusing on the emotional impact of their experiences before and after two of the daughters joined ISIS. This did feel kinda unusual, because the two daughters who weren't there where played by actual actresses, so it's a mix between documentary, drama and reenactment. I think it would've worked better as a full on drama film, like this the concept ended up overshadowing what it was actually trying to say. But the story is still very interesting, so I can recommend it.

With only one more Best Documentary Feature nominee to watch I can see them going for this, because of the gimmick. Hopefully not, though.

20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

Ukrainian documentary film. It's about the twenty days the filmmaker spent with his colleagues in Mariupol after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Very intense and haunting documentary. Highly recommended!

Okay, with this I finished the Best Documentary Feature category, so I can confidently say... this is gonna win. The other nominees are also really good (it is quite a strong category this year) but this one simply tops them all. For me, this is the clear winner.

The Teachers' Lounge (2023)

German drama film. Watched this yesterday. It's about a teacher tasked with finding out which of her students is responsible for a series of thefts. It's a good movie, but I don't think it's Oscar material. Still, can recommend.

Only one more Best International Feature nominee to go and I think I just watched the worst one. Again, it's good, but not really Oscar-worthy. It just doesn't feel like a movie that should even be nominated for an Oscar. For an award at the Berlinale, sure. But for an Oscar? Not really.

The Barber of Little Rock (2023)

American documentary short film. It's about a barber who founded a nonprofit community bank to try to lessen the racial wealth gap. Good documentary, can recommend.

Still got two more documentary shorts to go, but so far any of the nominees could win.

The Last Repair Shop (2023)

American documentary short film. It's about the stories of four workers from a musical instrument repair shop but it's about so much more than just repairing instruments. This one's great, you get the inspiring life stories of these people, the reason behind why they're doing what they're doing and how they're helping bring the music to people. The only bad thing about this is that it's not a feature length documentary, I would've loved that. But yeah, I can definitely recommend this!

One more documentary short to go, but right now I'd definitely put this in my top spot.

Dune Part 2 (2024). Watched it yesterday.
Fantastic visuals and sense of scale. Brilliantly done. But still wouldn't consider it my most favorite from the director.
Watch it on the biggest screen possible :)

Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (2023)

American documentary short film. It's about the filmmaker's Chinese immigrant paternal and maternal grandmothers. Another very personal short and I'm always kind of on the fence of rating them. I'm sure they mean a lot to the person who made them but on the other hand way less to me. I can still appreciate it, so I can recommend it.

Last of the Documentary Short Film nominees. And yeah, I'd still go for The Last Repair Shop (2023).

The Color Purple (1985)

American epic coming-of-age period drama film. It's about a young African-American girl and the brutal experiences she endured including domestic violence, incest, child sexual abuse, poverty, racism, and sexism. Great movie with an incredible cast who deliver stunning performances all around, especially Whoopi Goldberg. Definitely one I can recommend if you haven't seen it already.

I saw that movie "Society of the snow" on netflix. It's based on the same plane crash as "alive" only this one stars actual Uruguayans instead of Ethan Hawke in brownface. I kept yelling at the screen for those guys to bundle up cause the top of that mountain looked pretty cold yet they were still going around in their bell bottoms and sports jackets. Part times miserable and inspiring. 10/10 frozen tears.

look who's back

The Color Purple (2023)

American coming-of-age musical period drama film. It's about an African American woman living in the American South during the early 1900s. I don't usually mind musical films (most people seem to hate them) but this one felt kind of unnecessary, especially after watching the original yesterday. The acting is good, but I can't really recommend this movie.

Danielle Brooks is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for this. She was good, at this point Da'Vine Joy Randolph's is definitely the frontrunner.