🎥 Dr. No (1962) ★★★★
The one that started them all! I had pretty low expectations, but I enjoyed it through the end actually. Bond wasn’t that macho. The set design was simply beautiful. And Dr. No, played by Joseph Wiseman, really set the stage for all Bond villains to come.
🎥 Belfast (2021) ★★★½
Beautiful cinematography, strong dialogues, but with too little character development to make it coherent and really stick with me.
Went to see this film with a friend in Slachtstraat, Utrecht’s newest, beautifully renovated (and smallest) film theatre.
📺 I never gave a 10/10 rating to a TV series episode before, but the mid-season finale of Better Call Saul deserves all the praise. ’Plan and Execution’ has the perfect combination of comedy, tragedy, suspense and thriller. Also: one of the best cliffhangers in history! ★★★★★
📺 “Better Call Saul Remains One of TV’s Best in Tense, Exhilarating Final Season”
Most critics agree that the final season is going to be great!
And so the waiting begins…
📺 Seinfeld - The Soup Nazi (1995) ★★★★½
Best episode of Seinfeld, period.
🎥 Marriage Story (2019) ★★★★½
Poignant film about love, with great acting (and even great singing) by both Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. The neoclassical soundtrack sounded a bit off to me though.
🎥 Philomena (2013) ★★★½
Based on true events, this film shows in an excellent way two different perspectives on the evil crimes of Irish catholic nuns in the 1950s. Judi Bench in one of her best roles I’ve seen.
🎥 A Serious Man (2009) ★★★½
Beautiful art direction and of course brilliant dialogues, but that’s ‘just’ something you’ve come to expect from the Coen Brothers.
🎥 Zulu Dawn (1979) ★★½ & 📺 Shaka Zulu (1986) ★★★½
I expected Zulu Dawn to be a less problematic celebration of colonialism, but the triumphant music still made it painful to watch. Shaka Zulu on the other hand was a great rewatch of one of my favourite childhood TV series!
🎥 Barton Fink (1991) ★★★★
Strangest Coen brothers film I’ve watched so far. John Turturro as Barton Fink was a pleasure to watch. John Goodman as his evil neighbour even more so!
🎥 Turning Red (2022) ★★★
My daughter hated the boy band songs at first, but then she found out they were written and even partly performed by Finneas O’ Connell…
🎥 Raising Arizona (1987) ★★★½
“Everbody freeze! Everbody down on the ground!”
“Well which is it young fella? You want I should freeze or get down on the ground? Mean to say, iffen I freeze, I can’t rightly drop. And iffen I drop, I’m a gonna be in motion. Ya see”
🎥 West Side Story (2021) ★★★½
Steven Spielberg at his best. A feast for the eyes and an ultimate blend of cinematography with musical theatre. But - as with almost every musical I’ve seen - I still have a certain antipathy against singing actors (or acting singers).
🎥 Miller’s Crossing (1990) ★★★★★
In many ways the perfect film. Top notch acting, and written and directed by two of the most original film makers in film history. And yet it also seems one of the most underrated films in history. How come I just watched it for the first time?!
🎥 Shame (2011) ★★★½
I very much love the work of Steve McQueen, both his films and his art installations. All his projects have a very personal and a distinct, sober style. Strangely enough I haven’t seen 12 Years a Slave yet… Time to watch that one very soon.
🎥 Zero Kelvin (1995) ★★★★
At the time, this was one of the most thrilling films I had ever seen, with Stellan Skarsgård in one of his best ever roles. Would love to watch it again sometime. But I can’t seem to find it on demand…
🎥 My Own Private Idaho (1991) ★★★★
Loved the improvisational style of many scenes by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. The joy of acting is clearly showing off in this masterpiece by Gus van Sant.
🎥 A Humble Life (1997) ★★★★½
While preparing for an upcoming lesson on ‘portraits’, I stumbled upon an old favourite in my film collection. One that only could have been made by Alexandr Sokurov. Such a captivating combination of narration, sound and astonishing imagery…
🎥 Patriot Games (1992) ★★½
🎥 Spider-man: No Way Home (2021) ★★★★
After weeks of Corona related madness at home, my daughter and I finally went to the nearest theatre and watched the highest grossing Spider-man movie in history. The reviews indeed were to believe.
🎥 Point Break (1991) ★★★
I liked this one by a little bit better then the one I watched a few days ago. But, now I’ve seen 4 films by Kathryn Bigelow (I watched The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty a few years ago), I’m still not a fan of her work.
🎥 Blue Steel ★★
Written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, produced by Oliver Stone. I expected something better.
🎥 Drugstore Cowboy (1989) ★★★★
Beautiful, raw film by Gus van Sant. Matt Dillon and William S. Burroughs (as a wacky old junkie) stole the show.
“I predict in the near future right-wingers will use drug hysteria as a pretext to set up an international police apparatus.”
🎥 Tucker: The Man and his Dream (1988) ★★★½
A young Jeff Bridges shines in this lesser known Francis Ford Coppola film, a great critique of corrupt capitalism while also about not giving up on dreams.
🎥 Thor: The Dark World (2013) ★★★