Movies i’ve seen

Movie’s i’ve seen in the (home) cinema with a rating. 1 is lowest, 10 is highest. Titles in bold are highly recommended. Movies not released in the listed year have their release year between (brackets).

2024

  • Paris, Texas – 8.5 / 10 – Slow and sometimes even a bit long-winded in parts (especially the second half). Fortunately that is compensated by amazing visual shots (it sometimes looks like a Hopper painting), the atmopsheric Ry Cooder soundtrack and great performances.
  • Trains – 7 / 10
  • Eight Postcards from Utopia – 6 / 10
  • The Last Expedition – 8 / 10 – Portrait of climbing legend Wanda Rutkiewicz, the first Pole to climb Mount Everest. She disappeared in 1992 while trying to climb the Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas. Masterfully compiled from a wealth of archive material, supplemented by interviews and newly shot footage in Nepal. The subplot that Rutkiewicz is not dead but is said to be secretly holed up in a Tibetan nunnery feels a bit tacked-on. Still, this is an exceptionally honest and critical portrait of a complex woman.
  • Dahomey – 3 / 10 – Documentary capturing the return of colonial looted art from France to Benin. The maker did take that ‘capturing’ very literally, the movie consists of endless slow, often poorly shot, shots of museums, parades with dignitaries and a debate between students. Why this art is important and the how and why about its return is something you have to puzzle out for yourself from read-out catalogue texts, snippets of statements and ‘poetic monologues’ put into one of the statues’ mouths. Any kind of context is missing, making this mostly a test of endurance.
  • Digital culture @ Nederlands Film Festival
  • Inside Out 2 – 8 / 10
  • Kunstroof – 8 / 10
  • Dune: Part Two – 8 / 10 – All the different houses and characters still kind of confuse me. But that doesn’t matter given that Dune is still an audiovisual feast with the budget of a superhero movie, but not the cheap CGI effects and memy jokes.
  • Stop Making Sense (1984) – 9 / 10
  • Notes on Blindness (2016, VR)
  • From the Main Square (2022, VR)

2023

  • May December – 6 / 10
  • The Boy and the Heron – 8.5 / 10
  • Nyanga (short) – 7 / 10
  • The Sketch (short) – 6.5 / 10
  • Headprickles (short) – 8.5 / 10
  • Sister of Mine (short) – 6.5 / 10
  • Texada (VR) – 7 / 10
  • Floating with Spirits (VR) – 7 / 10
  • Citizen Sleuth – 7.5 / 10 – About a young woman who starts a true crime podcast, but discovers that there might not be a crime at all. I really liked how at the end of the documentary the director starts doing the things the main character should have practised: investigative journalism.
  • Tehran Has No More Pomegranates! (2006) – 6 / 10 – I like the kind of tongue-in-cheek whimsical tone of the director / narrator in this loose portrait of the city of Tehran. But it all feels bit jumbled and dull as well.
  • Past Lives – 8 /10 – The debut film, partly autobiographical, by the Korean-American Celine Song, about childhood sweethearts that meet again after 24 years. He still lives in South Korea, she has lived in New York for 24 years and is married to an American. It’s amazing how Song manages to make an enticing movig that is basically a play: the two protagonists mainly see each other remotely via Skype calls for the first hour, later only the American man joins as a character. The dialogues are subtle, but it never gets boring. Romance is rarely like in the movies, except for this one, because Song has turned it into a very realistic story.
  • Aftersun – 6 / 10 – Coming-of-age film about the relationship between young father Callum (30) and his daughter Sophie (11) who go on vacation in Turkey. Beautifully shot, excellently cast, and with atmospheric music. However, it didn’t really move me. It’s all a bit drawn out, the scenes about the troubled father and his past (and possible future) feel forced and suggestive. The story remains unclear. But perhaps that’s the intention of the debut director.
  • Barbie – Light-hearted but certainly not unpretentious spectacle about how Barbie ends up in the “real” world. The highlight is how Ken (a fantastic role by Ryan Gosling) “discovers” patriarchy and introduces it into Barbieland (unfortunately it’s not just about horses). Good example of of an ironic, post-serious metamodern film. Greta Gerwig couldn’t have made anything else out of it either. (★★★☆)
  • Oppenheimer – An intriguing biography about the “father of the atomic bomb”. Impressive in both image and sound. It’s great how Nolan portrays the tough story of the communist accusations against Oppenheimer. In the last hour, the film plunges into an identity crisis as it pivots from war drama to court thriller. Great how Nolan can continue to make these kind of “difficult” films with a Hollywood budget. (★★★☆)
  • Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – The last part of this series. The first fifteen minutes, in which Ford is de-aged with deepfake tech, are a bit weird because you do hear the voice of the 80-year-old Ford. Well-cast characters, a beautifully recreated New York City in the late sixties, and a plot you already know with Nazis and a MacGuffin. You get exactly what you want, so if you accept that, this is a fine last episode. ★★☆☆

2022

  • Mulholland Drive (2001) – 8.5 / 10
  • IDFA award winners matinee:
    • Apolonia, Apolonia – 8.5 / 10 – Intimate portrait of a young woman who grew up in a ramshackle underground theater in Paris and now wants to make it in the art world. Director Lea Glob followed Apolonia for thirteen(!) years. There must have been an abundance of material, including the stacks of videotapes her parents made of her birth and even her conception. Despite this wealth of material she still makes sharp choices and touches on fundamental themes. No wonder she won the IDFA prize for best movie in the international competition.
    • The Etilaat Roz – 5 / 10 – Abbas Rezaie follows his editor-in-chief and colleagues of newspaper Etilaat Roz during the fall of Kabul between August and October 2021. That could make for a very interesting documentary, but this is not that documentary. The technical execution is very medicore, thanks to poor sound, shaky camera work and messy subtitles. Perhaps acceptable given the situation. But editing and structure are also so bad that you end up watching archival footage for 93 minutes without any context. A pity.
    • Manifesto – 9 / 10 – Schools in Russia are a battlefield: shootings, weapons, teachers with loose hands and propaganda for the Putin regime. Manifesto shows this through the eyes of the children: the film is made up entirely of fragments from nearly 200 of their videos on YouTube and other social media. The fact that it is not a mess but a coherent (albeit gruesome) story showcases the exceptional editing, scripting and research skills of the (anonymous) makers.
    • Much Ado About Dying – 8 / 10 – Filmmaker Simon Chambers returns to London to care for his capricious elderly uncle David. The eccentric former actor definitely does not want to leave his house, even though it’s complete mess. David is so stubborn that you secretly hope Simon throws him into the Thames, but he is so charming and hilarious at the same time that it’s hard not to love him. The typically dry British voice-over makes for a very entertaining watch, even if the ending is a bit bittersweet.
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once – 6.5 / 10 – Action movie about a Chinese-American laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) who discovers she exists in multiple parallel universes. The first half is The Matrix combined with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The absurd hyperactive visual style of directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known for the brilliant video for DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s Turn Down for What) really shines here. The second half it unfortunately turns into yet another superhero epic with a feel-good sauce, with the message that you can do anything if you just love each other, or something like that. Bummer.
  • The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent – 7.5 / 10
  • The Tragedy of MacBeth – 7 / 10

2021

  • No Time To Die – 7.5 / 10 – The 25th 007 outing pretty much has everything you want in a Bond movie: beautiful locations, lots of action and a bad guy you love to hate performed by Rami Malek. I did get the impression i’ve seen everything before, but entertained for almost three hours i was.
  • Dune – 8.5 / 10 – Expectations were very high for the Villeneuve adaptation, and it delivers. For such a blockbuster movie, it’s amazing how much time they take to flesh out the characters and the plot. Great sounddesign as well.
  • Venice VR Expanded Festival in Eye Amsterdam:
    • Apart / Samen (2021) – 8 / 10 – Even though i’m not a fan of the poetic storytelling style the technical, visual and interactive execution is top-notch and makes great use of the new possibilities of the Oculus Quest 2.
    • Angels of Amsterdam (2021) – 6 / 10 – I dig the concept (stories of underrepresented women in 17th century Amsterdam). Unfortunately the execution is so shoddy, with amateurish LiDAR scans, haphazard scene transitions and overacting in a couple of the characters that i can’t really recommend this.
    • Lun Hui (Samsara) (2021) – 7 / 10 – A bit on the fence about this one. On the one hand the visuals are stunning and the whole experience flows and doesn’t feel boring for a second. On the other hand the story is absolutely ridiculous, like some kind of weird fanfiction SF-thing. Maybe best experienced after a couple of drinks or on acid.
  • Chungking Express (1994) – 7 / 10 – Kar-wai’s breakthrough movie highlights his gift as a storyteller, especially in the first half. The second half was a bit too poetic and disjointed for me, even though that might have been the point.
  • Nomadland (2020) – 7.5 / 10 – Drama by Chloé Zhao about Fern (Frances McDormand) who lives in a van and mourns her deceased husband. Beautiful slice of life about poor America, but without being sad or dramatic. Fiction, but well embedded in reality: almost all supporting roles are played by real vandwellers. Superbly carried by McDormand who won an Oscar for her role. Just like the director, and the movie.
  • Mayor (2020) – 8 / 10 – Documentary portrait of Musa Hadid, the Christian mayor of the de facto Palestine capital Ramallah. One moment he is discussing the mediocre city branding (“WeRamallah”), the next moment Israeli soldiers are firing tear gas bombs next to town hall. By combining the scenes about the daily bureaucratic grind with the fierce ones, the hopeless situation in the occupied areas is made even more explicit.

2020

  • Tenet – 7.5 / 10 – Starts out as ‘Christopher Nolan does James Bond’ then turns into a tasteful superhero movie, including all of the bored cliches of ‘guy saves the world’, countdown clocks and a megalomanic Russian mastermind. Still, entertaining. And the soundtrack was brilliant.
  • El Topo (1970) – 7.5 / 10 – Jodorowsky’s budget on this movie wasn’t as big as on The Holy Mountain, and it shows. Even though there’s lots of trademark weird Jodorowksy stuff, it isn’t as spectacular, and especially the middle of the movie is a bit dull. But quirky and entertaining it sure is.
  • Persona (1966) – 8.5 / 10 – Hits all the checkboxes of ‘difficult art house movie’, but i really liked this Bergman classic. Poetic shots, intense acting by Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann and quirky, David Lynch-like parts in between the drama.
  • Joker (2019) – 8 / 10 – Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliant interpretation as the ‘i’m a victim so i need to burn everything down’-character of The Joker. The production design also really shone in the 70mm print i saw.
  • Parasite – 8.5 / 10 – For some reason i thought this was going to be a horror movie, but it’s more akin to a black comedy. Entertaining though.
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – 7 / 10 – It was a good choice to focus this movie mostly on Rey, the most interesting character from the new trilogy, embodied fine by Daisy Ridley. But many parts of the movie feel like tired clichés, like rehashes of rehashes. Let’s hope for fresh, interesting ideas in the new Star Wars movies.

2019

  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – 8 / 10 – Tarantino’s ode to Hollywood’s golden age is unusually Tarantinoesque, not relying as much on the tropes we’re used from him. That’s why it’s probably his best since Kill Bill.
  • Mirai – 7.5 / 10
  • Lazzaro Felice – 8 / 10
  • The Story of Technoviking (2015) – 4 / 10 – Is this a pamphlet, a documentary or an academic dissertation? It’s boring and longwinded, that’s for sure. Even though the subject is fascinating, this movie lacks focus and a tension arc. With a good editor and a clear choice, this movie could have been so much better.
  • Persepolis (2007) – 7.5 / 10

2018

  • Lost Reactor – 7 / 10 – Meditative but lively ‘slice of life’ portrait of the people living around an abandoned nuclear reactor in Crimea. Could have used a little more drama, but the shots are gorgeous and the characters interesting.
  • Cassandro, the Exotico! – 4 / 10 – Such a shame that Marie Losier had such an excellent main character (a gay Mexican wrestler) then decided to do nothing with him. The documentary lacks any exposition: who is this guy, why is he important and in what kind of world does he live? The movie maker herself is present in the montage, but never bothers to properly introduce herself. And why was this filmed on analogue 16mm celluloid if the camera operator can’t properly sync the picture and sound?
  • Fragment of an Empire (1929) – 8.5 / 10 – With an awesome electronic soundtrack composed and performed by Colin Benders
  • Stalker (1979) – 9.5 /10 – In the beautiful new restoration done by Mosfilm
  • Tampopo (1985) – 8 / 10 – A weird but delicious film. And now i want a bowl of 豚骨ラーメン.
  • Carne y Arena – 8 / 10 – Not quite sure whether to put this here or under shows. Is it a movie? An ‘immersive experience’?
  • The Florida Project – 7.5 / 10 – A pretty bleak view on the Magic Kingdom and some intensely unlikable characters make this a hard, but in the end, rewarding watch.
  • Lawrence of Arabia (1962) – 9 / 10
  • Visages Villages – 8 / 10

2017

  • The Disaster Artist – 8 / 10 – hai marks!
  • Blade Runner 2049 – 8.5 / 10
  • Solaris (1972) – 9 / 10 – Before the screening we had a very disgruntled explicateur and one older man kept falling asleep (and snoring!) during the movie. Apart from that, great movie.
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – 9.5 / 10
  • Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – 7 / 10
  • The Holy Mountain (1973) – 8.5 / 10

2016

  • Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000) – 8.5 / 10 – An excellent documentary about gleaners in all shapes and forms. Those who glean from the land, from the city and those who ‘glean’ those people by making a documentary about it. Combined with a personal, introspective, but not pretentious or arrogant cineast in the lead (Agnès Varda), this movie is a true gem.
  • IDFA VPRO reviewday
    • Machines – 6/ 10 – Nicely filmed doc about the hard work in the textile factories in India, but lacks a story and/or main character.
    • Dream Empire – 8/10 – Explains the big thing (highrise construction frenzy in China) with a small thing (foreigners being hired for opening parties of said highrises) in an informative, at times hilarious and always excellent way.
    • Burning Out – 4 / 10 – The subject is clear (doctors get bored in hospitals because of too much focus on efficiency), but it’s basically people complaining for 90 minutes. And lacks a proper main character as well.
    • Life Animated – 7 / 10 – The main character steals your heart, but the doc could have done without the American sappiness and about 30 minutes of running time.
    • Death in the Terminal  – 8.5 / 10 – Crappy CCTV recordings and talking heads for almost an hour sounds boring, but Tali Shemesh needs nothing more for this reconstruction of a gruesome terrorist attack on an Israeli bus terminal. Highly recommended.
    • To Stay Alive – 2 / 10 – This pretentious, incomprehensible ‘documentary’ only gets 2 points for the appearance of Iggy Pop. And if somebody’s English is so awful that it’s unintelligible (Houellebecq) you’d say it would make sense to subtitle him.
  • The Red Turtle – 9/10 – Wonderful, imaginative, heartbreaking. And, at the age of 63, Dudok de Wit’s first (!) feature length movie.
  • Strike A Pose – 7.5 / 10

2015

  • Repulsion (1965) – 8 / 10
  • DECODER (1984) – 6 / 10 – Sort of the German version of Cronenberg’s Videodrome, but with an even less coherent story and no budget. But a fun trip nonetheless.
  • When The Earth Trembled (1913) – 7/10
  • Inherent Vice – 4 / 10 – Imagine The Big Lebowski, but then twice as long, without the comedy, and with dialogs written by Werner Herzog or Terrence Malick. Wonderful setting, great actors, but inherently (haha!) boring. Awesome soundtrack though.
  • The Imitation Game – 7 / 10 – Every attempt of rehabilitating Alan Turing should be applauded, and Cumberbatch does a great job of depicting the troubled computer scientist. However, the low score on historical accuracy is sad, especially for a movie that claims to be ‘based on a real story’.

2014

  • The Last Edition (1925) – 6/10
  • Gone With the Wind (1939) – 8/10
  • The Voices – 6.5 / 10 – Dexter meets Garfield, or something along that line. I liked how the room where Jerry lives changes depending on the character’s perspective. But aside from that, the movie seems to be in an identity crisis and can’t decide whether it wants to be a comedy or drama.
  • Interstellar – 8 / 10 – A nice and spectacular homage to 2001, but maybe just a tad too much technobabble and psychological blabla.
  • Videodrome (1983) – 8 / 10
  • Boyhood – 7.5 / 10 – The concept is amazing, and the movie stays interesting during its three-hour run. But an interesting concept, unfortunately, doesn’t automatically make for a good story.
  • Napoléon (1927) – 10 / 10 – Bigger screen than in the Royal Festival Hall in 2013, and the synchronisation between the projectors during the polyvision scenes was spot-on. It doesn’t get better than this.
  • De Wederopstanding van een Klootzak (The Resurrection of a Bastard, 2013)  – 6 / 10 – This movie never decides what it is. Pulp Fiction meets The Sixth Sense meets The Tree of Life in Friesland? A shame, because the visuals are stunning and Yorick van Wageningen is a great lead.
  • Her – 8/10
  • Grand Budapest Hotel – 7 / 10 – Every Wes Anderson movie is a pleasure to look at, but in this one the chemistry between the characters, however well they are cast, is lacking. Especially when compared to 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom.
  • Nebraska – 6/10 – Bruce Dern is good, but the other acting is stiff, the plot is boring and the visuals are so-so. Can’t really see why this was nominated for six Oscars.
  • Inside Llewyn Davis – 7/10
  • La Grande Bellezza – 9 / 10

2013

  • Delicatessen (1991) – 7.5 / 10
  • Napoléon (1927) – 9.5 / 10
  • Dial M for Murder (1954) – In 3D! – 8.5 / 10
  • In A World… – 7 / 10
  • Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – 6 / 10
  • What Maisie Knew – 8 / 10
  • Silver Linings Playbook – 7 / 10
  • Star Trek Into Darkness – 6.5 / 10
  • Before Midnight – 8 / 10
  • Only God Forgives – 9 / 10
  • Oh Boy – 7.5 / 10
  • Hannah Arendt – 8 / 10
  • Lore – 6 / 10
  • No – 7.5 / 10
  • Matterhorn – 7.5 / 10
  • Life of Pi – 8 / 10
  • Sightseers – 7 / 10
  • Django Unchained – 7.5 / 10
  • Searching for Sugar Man – 7.5 / 10

2012

  • Jiro Dreams of Sushi – 7.5 / 10
  • Cave of Forgotten Dreams  – 8 / 10 – Herzog’s voice over with musings about the essence of humanity may be too much at times, but the rare opportunity to see the first footsteps of man into a cultural society make this a must-see movie.
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild – 7 / 10
  • IDFA Festival
    • First Cousin Once Removed – 6.5 / 10
    • Little World – 8 / 10
    • Pablo’s Winter – 6 / 10
    • Charles Bradley: Soul of America – 7.5 / 10
    • Red Wedding – 5/ 10
  • Skyfall – 7.5 / 10
  • Jagten – 9 / 10 – Made my stomach turn around in this cold gruesome portrayal about a man incorrectly accused of the molestation of his best friend’s daughter. But oh so perfectly executed.
  • The Big Cube (1969) – ? / 10
  • A Simple Life – 7 / 10
  • Teddy Bear – 7.5 / 10
  • Holy Motors – 8 / 10 – This is a really, really weird movie. But weird in a Charlie Kaufman kind of way, so i guess it might be good :)
  • Le Gamin au Velo – 6.5 / 10 – Acting is superb, but i guess it’s a little too much misery for me.
  • Historias que so existem quando lembradas (Found Memories) – Poetic and visually interesting, but too long-winded and boring – 6 / 10
  • Moonrise Kingdom – 8.5 / 10
  • Marley – 9 / 10
  • Shotgun (1989) – 2 / 10 – Full movie!
  • Action Jackson (1988) – 4 / 10
  • Jesus Camp – 7/10
  • Intouchables – Funny, light, cool movie about a street-wise guy and a quadriplegic man of the arts – 8/10
  • Monsieur Lazhar – Wonderful small and well-acted movie about an Algerian immigrant who replaces a teacher that committed suicide in her classroom. 8/10
  • Anton Corbijn: Inside Out – 7.5/10
  • Take Shelter – Boring, long-winded, no plot. 6/10
  • Hugo – 7/10
  • Chronicle –  Really cool conceptual. Everything is ‘filmed’ from the perspective of a hand-held video cam. Bit long-winded and too much over-the-top fights at the end though. 7.5/10
  • Midnight in Paris – Liked the concept, but a bit too light maybe. 7/10
  • Le Havre – Imaginative, bizarre yet poetic fairytale. 8.5/10
  • Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – Unpretentious but lovely nice romcom. 7.5/10
  • Pina – Maybe i just don’t get modern dance… 7/10
  • The Forgiveness of Blood – 5/10
  • The Artist – 8/10
  • Ouwehoeren – 7/10
  • Les Géants – 7.5/10
  • Moneyball – Nice acting & plot, but you like this movie a lot more if you’re a baseball fan. Which i’m not. 7/10
  • The Hangover (2009) – 7/10
  • Larry Crowne – Dreadful moralistic boring story about a ‘normal guy’. 4/10
  • The Adventures Of Tintin – 7.5/10
  • Shame – 6/10
  • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – Old-fashioned spy movie. But a little too intricate and complex for me maybe. 7.5/10
  • Ex-Drummer (2007) – 8/10
  • The Descendants – 7.5/10
  • The Loneliest Planet – Couldn’t detect a plot in this movie. 4/10
  • Nana – 6/10

2011

  • X-Men: First Class – Simple unpretentious action. But done oh so well. 8/10
  • We Need To Talk About Kevin – 5/10
  • The Room (2003) – You’re tearing me apart Lisa! ☠/10
  • Drive – A disgrace this film didn’t win a single Oscar. 9/10
  • The Thing (2011) – 6.5/10
  • Wake Wood – 6/10
  • Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – 6.5/10
  • 11-11-11 – 2/10 – Cheap scares, awful long-winded dialogues and a dreadful plot.
  • The Tree of Life – I simply don’t get it i suppose. 5/10
  • The Ides of March – Nice story, bit disappointed by Gosling’s performance. 7/10
  • Rise of the Planet of Apes – Monkeys on horses! 7/10
  • The Light Thief – 5/10
  • Eraserhead (1977) – 9/10
  • Source Code – Had a drunk guy shouting ‘FAGGOTS! BAD PLOT!’ during this screening. I disagree :) 8/10
  • Melancholia – 6/10
  • Steam of Life (documentary) – 7/10
  • Chinatown (1974) – 7.5/10
  • Inside Job (documentary) – 7.5/10
  • La Nana – Everything a character/plot-driven movie should be. 9/10
  • Somewhere – 6.5/10
  • Howl – 6/10
  • True Grit – 8/10
  • Black Swan – 8.5/10
  • Ulysses (1967) – 6.5/10
  • Super 8 – Traditional SF action movie with its heart on the right spot. 8/10
  • The Trip – For those who like British humour, this is pure gold. 8/10
  • Tous Les Soleils – 7/10

2010

  • Bonded Parallels – 6/10
  • A Serious Man – 7.5/10
  • Where The Wild Things Are – 7/10
  • New Kids Turbo – Keigoeie film kut! 8/10
  • Toy Story 3 – 8.5/10
  • The Social Network – 8/10
  • Inception – 7.5/10

2009

  • Star Trek – 8/10
  • Avatar – Cool. But i would have thought that as well without the glasses. 7/10
  • Inglorious Basterds – 7.5/10

2008

  • The Dark Knight – 7.5/10
  • Burn After Reading – 7/10
  • Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull – 7/10

2004

  • Der Untergang
  • Tommorow’s Weather

2003

  • The Pianist

2002

  • Irréversible