The last movie you've seen thread 2016

[Middle-aged Europe]

This month I've seen...

Boyhood - Impressive, oscar-worthy project. Nough said.

A Most Wanted Man - Decent movie. Hoffman's final performance certainly makes it worthwhile. Went into the non-dubbed version, it's weird to see a movie set in Germany with predominently German characters who all talk English all the time nonetheless.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Okay-ish, although knowing the reviews I went into it with lowered expectations anyway. Second Eva Green movie in a row where I got to see her breasts, and this time she turned it up to eleven.

Who Am I - German hacker thriller with psychological elements. The not so original plot could be best described as "Fight Club meets The Social Network in Berlin" (at least they acknowledged where they took their inspirations from by included a Fight Club movie poster on the protagonist's bedroom wall).

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Gone Girl

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Interstellar

Despite a few goofy moments, I overall liked it.

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I'm seeing it this weekend. But it's sounding like Nolan might have forgotten how to make movies, after the disastrous failure that was The Dark Knight Rises and now this.

I liked it better than The Dark Knight Rises. I think I also liked it better than Inception, actually. But not as much as The Dark Knight.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Nightcrawler

Possibly one of the most accurate depictions of a sociopath in cinematic history. And also a great performance by Gyllenhaal, of course.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Kraftidioten (English title: In Order of Disappearance, German title: Einer nach dem anderen).

Norwegian crime film/black comedy, starring Stellan Skarsgard.

Pretty Coen-esque film, reminded a bit of Fargo in its style. Lots of snow, lots of dead bodies.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The Drop

"Small", but decent crime drama. I guess I never saw Tom Hardy play someone this likable before (even though he did play a murderer here, strictly speaking).

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Watched Laura Poitras' Snowden documentary Citizenfour yesterday.

And today I went into Im Labyrinth des Schweigens. German period drama set in the late 50s and early 60s, dealing with the efforts of the Frankfurt District Attorney's office to hunt down former Auschwitz personnel and the obstacles they had to face from within the system (because key personnel within the law enforcement agencies and the judicial system in 1950s West Germany were for all intent and purposes Nazis themselves).

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The Theory of Everything

Oscar prediction: Best Picture nomination, Best Actor win

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The Homesman

So, the *real* Wild West sucked because the American frontier was basically the 19th century version of present-day Afghanistan...

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2001: A Space Odyssey

Certainly not the first time I saw it, but the first time I saw it in an actual theater.

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The Imitation Game

In theory, it's perhaps a good movie.

Unfortunately, I knew beforehand how much of a fairy tale the story is and it somehow spoiled the experience for me. The fact that Turing worked in cryptography during WWII and his homosexuality are probably the only things which were entirely historically accurate.

Turing didn't have Asperger or Autism (or at least not to the extent depicted here) and generally got along well with his colleagues at Bletchley Park. The latter also applies to Commander Denniston who was turned into an antagonist in the movie for dramatic purposes and even tries to get Turing arrested for espionage, all which is a complete fabrication (or for the lack of better term, a character assassination). Turing also probably never met MI6 chief Stewart Menzies or Soviet spy John Cairncross, and certainly didn't work with Cairncross on the same team.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Wow yeah, that's pretty bad. I don't get why filmakers do these sorts of films. If you want to tell a fictional story, just tell a fictional story and don't use the names of real people.

They probably should have placed a greater focus on his homosexuality, because that was really  the only thing which Turing made an outcast in real life.

The Turing from the movie is inaccurately depicted as being so much of a loner with extreme social difficulties you wonder how he ever managed to get laid in the first place, be it by a man or a woman.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Birdman

Well, that was weird...

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Foxcatcher

John du Pont, what a creep... although I suspect his "weirdness" was somewhat exaggerated just like they did with Turing in Imitation Game. Brilliant acting by Steve Carell though.

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Whiplash

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No Way Out (1987). Still a goodie, but it seems a bit homophobic now...

The relationship between Gene Hackman and Will Patton in this movie is oddly reminiscent of that between Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers though.

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Selma

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American Sniper

Let's say that I understand the controversy and the movie may be even more controversial for non-Americans than it is for Americans.

Despite having being one of the most questionable foreign policy decisions made by the U.S. government in the last 40 years, the film largely depicts the invasion of Iraq as an integral part of the "War on Terror" in which shooting Iraqi children - while regretable - may be necessary to protect the lives of American troops.

Therefore the film omits to mention the fact that there had been no significant al-Qaeda presence in Iraq until the United States chose to invade the country. And to decide whether the shooting of children is justified is largely left up the viewers. Of course, if that one is left open to debate, then it must also be left open to debate whether the  killing of U.S. soldiers by said children (or Iraqi civilians in general for that matter) was justified as well... which the movie didn't really do. It only goes both ways. At least it speaks for Eastwood though that he didn't try to whitewash that aspect of the war by omitting it from the movie.

That being said the movie in itself provides an interesting glimpse into American psyche and how the Iraq war is interpreted there. Which was adimttedly one of the main motives to go see it in the first place.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Kingsman

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The original title of the last movie I've seen was "La famille Bélier".

A French comedy, for a change...

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A Most Violent Year

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Mad Max: Fury Road

Interesting to see that more than 30 years after Mad Max 2 George Miller is still at the top of his game and even outdoing himself, creating an action film which actually possesses artistic value.

It's basically a post-apocalyptic feminist western with elements of a black comedy.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The Wicker Man, Dracula, and The Curse of Frankenstein as part of my private Christopher Lee memorial marathon.

[Middle-aged Europe]

More Christopher Lee... The Devil Rides Out