What is the best recent movie you’ve seen.

[sportsbeast]

If we are talking to recent times then i would love to say the name > John Wick: Chapter 4
This is my favorite movie off all time! Really I love this move like Titanic, Avatar, or Train to Busan..

 

[Meta not Meta]

Very interesting interview indeed, few (not really useful) takeaways from this.
I wasn't familiar with the guy and realized i already watched 3 of his 4 films.... i'm getting old.
For some reasons i don't particularly think he's a nice guy
His knowledge of eastern europe old obscure movies is super impressive
He's one of the first cinephile directors who doesn't seem to have any interest in French cinema, especially Nouvelle vague.
He's a very interesting guy to listen to.

Artsy types can be among the most obtuse, self-involved & obnoxious people you'll ever meet. But mostly he just seems obsessed with his art. Laser-focused, especially on an amalgam of folk traditions and horror. Nevertheless, he's far more interesting than Nolan, Villeneuve and even Cronenberg, who all mostly stick to rather obvious stuff in their talks.

For esoteric French horror, I think of Jean Epstein's silent classic, La chute de la maison Usher ... plus any number of soft-core but oddly poetic Jean Rollin films from the 1970s, especislly La rose de fer ... and Season 1 of Les revenants.

Recently ... rewatched PCW's Stoker, maybe not his best but still pretty good ... saw a 35 mm screening of Heat in Dolby Surround, which was just incredible, maybe the greatest crime film of all time ... and caught up with the new Mike Leigh movie, Hard Truths, which is grimly funny but undeniably moving, like much of his work.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Yeah, for sure! Lee, Park and Bong ... the holy triumverate of South Korean cinema.

I first saw Memories of Murder as a blind walk-in twenty years ago at Fantasia. Knew nothing about it. But it blew me away. Still does. It was at Cinema Moderne here in Montreal for several screenings at around the time of its Criterion double-disc release a few years back. Also played Parc recently.

I'm absolutely convinced Fincher was using the Bong film as inspiration for his equally great Zodiac, which was made a couple of years afterwards. Not just in the similarity of real-life subject matter. But in the psychologically damaging, obsessive effect suffered by characters attempting to find a serial killer who ultimately remains elusive.

To this end, both films are very philosophical in that they leave the viewer pondering just what it is we think we know, and not just about the serial killer of each film, but about anything, ourselves included.

I guess at some level all knowledge is provisional ...

And that epilogue, so hauntingly beautiful in all its ambiguity ...

I finally watched this movie last night. I enjoyed it very much but not a fan of the ambiguity at the ending. Then i read that the movie was based on a true story of South Korea’s first serial killer investigation. So thinking of the movie this morning i wondered why there was no mention of whether or not the murders continued? Anyways the two first cops investigating the case were so infuriating at times with their blatant incompetence & especially their arrogance. And how corrupt they could be in order to pin the case on their main suspect(s) in order to close the case & get credit for finding the serial killer. Anyways i’m glad i found this movie & have this site to thank for or else i never would have heard or seen this.

 

[Meta not Meta]

I finally watched this movie last night. I enjoyed it very much but not a fan of the ambiguity at the ending. Then i read that the movie was based on a true story of South Korea’s first serial killer investigation. So thinking of the movie this morning i wondered why there was no mention of whether or not the murders continued? Anyways the two first cops investigating the case were so infuriating at times with their blatant incompetence & especially their arrogance. And how corrupt they could be in order to pin the case on their main suspect(s) in order to close the case & get credit for finding the serial killer. Anyways i’m glad i found this movie & have this site to thank for or else i never would have heard or seen this.

Hey, glad you liked it!

According to Wiki, they only positively identified the guy in 2019, many years after the making of the movie, when he was already serving a life sentence for the rape & murder of his sister-in-law. I'm not sure, now that you mention it, but I thought it was implied by the present-day post-script that this very localized series of murders had stopped and remained a mystery.

It does seem similar to the Zodiac serial killings that also ended quite frustratingly for investigators in that the guy was never caught, the prime suspect dying many years later, but positively ID'd through DNA, as I recall. Some even think the Zodiac killer was two people ...

 

[Johnny test]

So yesterday was a complicated movie day #1stworldproblems
I started watching Kalki 2898 and stopped after 20 minutes wasn't super convinced by the actors or the story, it's an interesting effort in terms of sci fi but it didn't really worked for me.
I then switched to Emilia Perez cause evereybody's talking about it and it seems the mexicans are super pissed by the movie. Thing is i didn't know it's a musical and i so hate musicals, so agin, dropped the movie after 20 minutes.
And the i watched Hunt a Korean movie sets in the 80's that tackles different topics of the time check this section of wikipedia that explained the background.
I wished i had checked the articles before cause it gives you some background cause the movie tend to assume you're familiar with that portion of South Korean history and i wasn't.
The movie is pretty good, rythm is fast especially since i was lacking the necessary background but there are a lot of interesting twists that i didn't see coming
I would definitely recommend Hunt

 

[Meta not Meta]

View attachment 87486View attachment 87487View attachment 87488
So yesterday was a complicated movie day #1stworldproblems
I started watching Kalki 2898 and stopped after 20 minutes wasn't super convinced by the actors or the story, it's an interesting effort in terms of sci fi but it didn't really worked for me.
I then switched to Emilia Perez cause evereybody's talking about it and it seems the mexicans are super pissed by the movie. Thing is i didn't know it's a musical and i so hate musicals, so agin, dropped the movie after 20 minutes.
And the i watched Hunt a Korean movie sets in the 80's that tackles different topics of the time check this section of wikipedia that explained the background.
I wished i had checked the articles before cause it gives you some background cause the movie tend to assume you're familiar with that portion of South Korean history and i wasn't.
The movie is pretty good, rythm is fast especially since i was lacking the necessary background but there are a lot of interesting twists that i didn't see coming
I would definitely recommend Hunt

I don't hate musicals but found myself really disliking Emila Perez, which surprised me, as I pretty much love everything else by its director, Jacques Audiard. He specializes in gritty, street-level realism; whereas musicals, for me, need a heightened level of visual artifice to match the inherent unreality of people breaking into song. So this just didn't work for me ....

I wasn't aware of the others, but if you're interested in espionage, though it's more drama/suspense than action, I highly recommend the recent-ish HBO-style French series 'Le Bureau des légendes,' aka The Bureau on English streaming services. Great writing, amazing cast, very contemporary ... but probably you're already aware of it.

 

[Johnny test]

I highly recommend the recent-ish HBO-style French series 'Le Bureau des légendes,

Thanks, as a matter of fact i mentioned this tv show in another thread, i missed it after i left France and rediscovered it recently since it's easier to find now because of the US remake "the Agency" (exact same story). It's an exceptional TV show in my opinion and the ending disturbed me a lot, funny story the last episodes were written end some even directed by Jacques Audiard who was much more inspired clearly.
I know you mentioned "les revenants" in an earlier post and it's also a very good show, much better in my opinion than the movie that came before (same title)

 

[Lunaseraphim]

I don't hate musicals but found myself really disliking Emila Perez, which surprised me, as I pretty much love everything else by its director, Jacques Audiard. He specializes in gritty, street-level realism; whereas musicals, for me, need a heightened level of visual artifice to match the inherent unreality of people breaking into song. So this just didn't work for me ....

I wasn't aware of the others, but if you're interested in espionage, though it's more drama/suspense than action, I highly recommend the recent-ish HBO-style French series 'Le Bureau des légendes,' aka The Bureau on English streaming services. Great writing, amazing cast, very contemporary ... but probably you're already aware of it.

You have great taste.

 

[Meta not Meta]

Thanks, as a matter of fact i mentioned this tv show in another thread, i missed it after i left France and rediscovered it recently since it's easier to find now because of the US remake "the Agency" (exact same story). It's an exceptional TV show in my opinion and the ending disturbed me a lot, funny story the last episodes were written end some even directed by Jacques Audiard who was much more inspired clearly.
I know you mentioned "les revenants" in an earlier post and it's also a very good show, much better in my opinion than the movie that came before (same title)

Yeah, haha ... the connection with Audiard was definitely in my mind. He did the last two episodes, as I recall. Omg, I love that ending! Rewatched it many times, both the assassination scene leading up to it and the Kassovitz' nightmare & its aftermath. Just devastating. Love the use of music throughout; but it's the depth of character, and the actors playing them, that really makes this series so strong.

And what is going on with that dog who shows up from earlier episodes? Anyway, I think it's the same dog. It's a like a bit of magic realism ... as in the final scene below from season 3. I mean his dog can't really be there, so it kind of foreshadows what happens in the nightmare scene at the very end of the final season ...

Except for duration, there's now little to distinguish the best movies and the best TV. Many of the best contemporary filmmakers cross-over between both, like Park Chan-wook, who's done a couple of series, or Marco Bellocchio, better than ever at age 85, who recently did a six hour miniseries for Italian TV about the Aldo Moro kidnapping and murder in 1978.

Which I'm looking forward to watching in one sitting later today. It's his third go-around on the subject, first a documentary, then a really great film in 2003, and now this miniseries that looks like a case of history repeating itself, first time as tragedy second time as farce ...

 

[Romeo99]

Watched Den of Thieves 2 last night. It was very good! The first was very good already so my expectations were high for the second. It didn't deceive. Suspense, action and also they play my kind of music.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Watched Den of Thieves 2 last night. It was very good! The first was very good already so my expectations were high for the second. It didn't deceive. Suspense, action and also they play my kind of music.

Great to know! A few days ago i decided to watch Den of Thieves again & enjoyed it even more than the first time i watched it. The recent sequel is currently available for streaming but i’ll wait until its price goes down a bit.

 

[Doc Holliday]

A few of my favorite horror films of recent years:

• The Girl With the Needle (Magnus von Horn, Denmark) *
• Alien: Romulus (Fede Álvarez, United States)
• Titane (Julia Ducournau, France) +
• Midsommar (Ari Aster, Sweden/United States)
• Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino, Italy)
• Hereditary (Ari Aster, United States)

I just finished watching Titane. You’re correct it’s a very Cronenberg-like type of movie. This has to be one of the weirdest movies i’ve seen in a while!

 

[Doc Holliday]

I haven't seen all of these but I really like Ari Aster, and I was impressed by Titane.. This movie caused a lot of controversy!

Just finished watching that movie & i can understand why it was controversial. What a weird movie! However after recently watching The Substance maybe it wasn’t as weird as i first imagined! Lol

 

[Johnny test]

Yesterday i watched "the Gorge" (it's on AppleTV), i've been waiting for this one since i watched the trailer a while ago, so some good things and some not-so-good-but-not-bad things
The good:
The casting is really good, both Anya Taylor Joy and Miles Teller are good actors and the dynamic works well.
The story is very original and in this time and age, that is always refreshing, basically it's the story of two snipers standing guard on 2 watch towers. Their mission is to stop anything that could try to escape from the gorge between their two towers.
They're supposed to watch during a whole year and then be replaced. The western tower is staffed by soldiers from the only two western countries who won WWII, namely the US and Great Britain (cause we all know they won the war on their own ).
The 2 soldiers are not supposed to have contact and, of course, they do or there wouldn't be any story.
It works quite well, some action, some romance but nothing too cheesy and it works well on screen.
there is of course, some horrific dimension to the movie when we discover what/who lives in the gorge.

So good entertainment overall, my only issue would be with the predictability of the whole movie, the story itself isn't necessarily predictable in its details but, you know how it's going to end, it's an action / (soft) horror movie based on a recipe so no unexpected twist at the end.
Still if you can watch it give it a try, probably won't change your life, but it will entertain you for a couple of hours..

 

[Doc Holliday]

The problem i have with Apple+ is its lack of content compared to the other streaming services. Especially for the price it charges. I’m not a big fan of the quality of the shows & movies it creates either. However i absolutely loved The Morning Show. I also loved Constellation & Silo. Severance was also very well made & different. I also loved Servant & the remake of Presumed Innocent. I loved Hijack mostly because i’m a huge fan of Idris Elba. What annoys me about Apple + is that shows are only released once a week instead of including all the episodes at once when a series is released. That’s why i only subscribe to their streaming service every three months or so since i’d rather binge than wait every week for an episode to drop. Look there is some very good stuff on that platform, don’t get me wrong. But for the price they charge there are mich better options elsewhere.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The problem i have with Apple+ is its lack of content compared to the other streaming services. Especially for the price it charges. ...... However i absolutely loved The Morning Show. I also loved Constellation & Silo. Severance was also very well made & different. I also loved Servant & the remake of Presumed Innocent. I loved Hijack mostly because i’m a huge fan of Idris Elba.

Someone has to pay for the cost of these productions you know. Idris Elba does not get signed for minimum wage. So this is what you are paying for. You want productions with talent on your streaming, then you have to pay to play.

 

[charmer_]

But for the price they charge there are mich better options elsewhere.

Apple+ is on the top of my list alongside HBO Max. The stuff they have that's good is REALLY GOOD, imho.

It's more for TV shows though (the movies I've heard from Apple+ had "meh" reviews).

 

[Johnny test]

The problem i have with Apple+ is its lack of content compared to the other streaming services. Especially for the price it charges

I don't disagree with you there, just mentioned where the movie was available for those looking for it

 

[Johnny test]

Le procès Goldman
This probably won't interest a lot of people but it's technically the last recent movie i watched
If you watched "Anatomy of a fall" there are some similarities between the 2 movies since they both choose to keep a certain distance with the topic they explore, they try to be as neutral as possible, if such a thing is even possible in a movie.
This is a particularly French movie in the sense that it depicts a trial that happened in the 1970s but there's no specific context or explanations, so if you're not familiar with that era it may be a bit complicated to follow i imagine.
Also the 2 hour movie is strictly focused on the trial, nothing before or after, no flashbacks it seems to be as if there was a camera inside the court; they even filmed in 4:3 instead of 16:9.
It unfolds a lot of topics of this era that may be too long to list here: post 1968 idealists; racism in French society; antisemitism etc.
Be also aware they chose to use the same language that was used at the time, so some could be disturbed by that.
I really had a great time watching it, especially since i wasn't familiar with the trial itself, dialogues are exceptional and actors are great.
If you can find it and have any interest in that kind of movie/era, give it a try.

 

[Johnny test]

Bit unrelated but i watched this Youtube video showing the 2025 movie trailers showed during the superbowl and it seems it's going to be an extremely poor year, at least in terms of blockbusters.
The "Thunderbolts" trailer is awful and i'm pretty sure it's going to be an epic failure; same goes for the new "Jurassic Park".
There are some sequels that could be entertaining if not original ("Mission Impossible" & "M3GAN").
Some unecessary monstrosities like the live action "How to Train your Dragon" and (another) "Smurf" movie.
Wasn't super convinced by "The Amateur" and "Novocaine" trailers, especially by the 1st one because there's Rami Malek in it who is a very good actor and seemed out of place.
Hard to have an opinion on "The studio" so it's a maybe
The only two i was curious about was F1 wich could be interesting and the new Fantasic Four who, at least, seemed quite original.
So 2 out of 12 isn't much :-(