When I can, I enjoy watching movies. An escape, or for inspiration or to connect with the themes.
I enjoy a breadth of genre (from action to horror).
I don’t often watch tv series, and most certainly not on a weekly release. I catch up usually once the entire season is posted and watch them when I can (read: binge watch them).
If you use Letterboxd you can follow me there.
If you want to listen to people discuss movies, I recommend these podcasts:
Mark’s Movie Collection // On The Subject // The Picture Show with Austin & Phil Rood
Here I’ll list a few of my favourites, and what I’ve recently watched.
Key: 🍿 = worth watching, 💧 = emotional, 🆗 = ok/meh, 💤 = got bored/didn’t enjoy 👎 = do not recommend at all.
Currently Watching:
Reminiscence
Want to Watch:
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
1899
Shadow and Bone
The School for Good and Evil
Want to Re-watch:
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Recently Watched:
The Empress 🍿
Quite enjoyed this series with the English dub-over. I’m looking forward to season 2.
Wednesday 🍿
Really enjoyed the first season of Wednesday. Fun noir series.
The Mandalorian Season 3 🍿
I love The Mandalorian. It is fun. It’s not perfect, but I have a great time watching my favourite characters.
Star Wars – all of the films and some of the series’… in chronological order 🍿
Haha! I loved re-watching all the films, and some of the series that have been made. There are debates as to which order to watch the saga in, and what is worthwhile and not. So long as you have fun, who cares! And I had a lot of fun. As a friend of mine said, The Book of Boba Fett is really The Mandalorian 2.5. In my opinion there are too many episodes in the various animated series, but I did watch a few from each of the series that were available on Disney+ while I had a month trial period.
The Dry (2020) 🍿
I bought the book in a clearance sale, then spotted the film on Netflix. The suspense and the twist, were well done. I read the book afterwards and found that it lent itself very well to being translated to a film, and the film was a solid representation with a few minor differences, one being the main character’s appearance.
Anatomy of a Scandal (2022) 🍿
This subject matter was not enjoyable, Trigger Warning – rape. It was effective at making you feel uncomfortable. And I’m glad that justice was served at the end.
The Weekend Getaway (2022) 🍿
Really enjoyed this. A few twists and turns. Nice to see Leighton Meester – I think her character definitely gets stronger as the film progresses.
3:10 to Yuma (2007) 🍿
I’m not a Russel Crowe fan… but I did appreciate the choice his character made near the end.
Is it Cake? (2022) 🍿
Really enjoyed binge watching this show recently. Hyper-realistic cakes are incredible and it was cool to see what they created.
The Harder They Fall (2021) 👎
Well the start of this film was horrifying, and instead of wanting to follow the story, I kind of lost interest afterwards.
The Power of the Dog (2021) 💤
Meh. It was a film. I am all for slow-burn films, but this one didn’t hit.
News of the World (2020) 🆗
I enjoyed this. It wasn’t overly exciting. But I did enjoy the premise and the ending.
Money Heist Season 5 🍿
Love this series so much!
Invasion (2021) 🍿
To be fair, I was drawn to this because of Sam Neill. I think Golshifteh Farahani is really good in this series, and I’m interested to see where the series goes.
Foundation (2021) 🍿
I like sci-fi and have so far been interested in this series. I haven’t read the books, not sure if I will yet.
Ted Lasso (2021) 🍿
My favourite tv series of all time. I love the light but also the very dark undertones in this series and have laughed and cried with the characters and enjoyed getting to know them over the first 2 seasons.
The Harry Potter Series 🍿
Recently completed my HP DVD collection and enjoyed the rewatch. I am also reading the books and am currently reading Book 4. Another rewatch will follow after the books are completed.
REC (2007) 🍿
I love the REC series! I first stumbled upon a complete box set for under $7, and while I don’t usually like the hand-held/found footage style, I love these movies. I recently rewatched the first one as I was going to talk with Zach from On The Subject about it. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to in the future.
CODA (2021) 💧 🍿
Loved this film. It has depth and development and I highly recommend watching this one.
The Mauritanian (2021)
I started watching this, and can’t remember what happened.
Stowaway (2021) 👎
This was a waste of almost 2hours of my life that I will never ever get back. I was like “Oh wow, Toni Collette and Anna Kendrick, Awesome.”
Then was like…. “wtf was the point of this film.”
Adrift (2018) 🍿 💧
Based on a true story. I felt that Shailene Woodley did an excellent job acting in this. And I had a laugh when her friend at the beginning was from New Zealand. (Side note – sometimes us kiwis get excited when we see/hear other kiwis in things like films, books etc).
This made me terrified of sailing. So there’s that. But such an incredible story of survival! Loved it.
Little Women (2019) 🍿
I enjoyed this version of Little Women.
Rebecca (2020) 🆗
I watched this film for Lily James. It was interesting, a bit weird, but not a complete loss of time.
Pieces of a Woman (2020) 🆗
I fast forwarded through most of this film. I wasn’t in the mood to watch it. I did like how the protagonist worked through the trauma. It wasn’t easy. It took a long time. She was alone and part of that was pushing people away but also not being able to relate to others and they weren’t able to understand how she was experiencing it.
The Midnight Sky (2020) 🍿
There’s a bit of controversy I’ve seen about whether this film was any good. I liked it. A slow burn. (Edit after having seen Stowaway, this film is worth the popcorn. Because Stowaway is much worse than this.)
I Care A Lot (2020) 🍿
Rosamund Pike was great in this. And it was nice to watch her in this after having re-watched Doom from 2005. Great twists in this story. Fun watch.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) 🍿
Like Soul, I loved this. It was interesting representation of division, brokenness and the finding of common ground and trust.
Space Sweepers (2021) 🆗
This was an ok film. It wasn’t terrible. Had a few laugh out loud moments. But nothing to really write home about.
Soul (2020) 🍿
I loved this. I watched it with others who weren’t as taken with it, but I thought it was an interesting approach to what makes us who we are.
The Merger (2018) 🍿
Such a fun one! I loved the growth in the characters and in the community. A couple of weak lines and awkwardness in a few scenes, but overall I really enjoyed this one. NZ & Australia can both have a laugh at ourselves in comedy films we make. The Merger also addresses the serious issue of racism
The Imitation Game (2014) 🍿💧
My heart – Alan Turing… I really enjoyed this film. But my heart hurts for all those that were and are harmed because of who they are. It would be neat if the apple image was a nod to Turing, but apparently that has been denied.
I am enjoying seeing the characters Allen Leech plays. He does the friend/villain well…
The Dig (2021) 🍿💧
This was lovely and I loved the performance by Ralph Fiennes.. It has been noted elsewhere online about the age difference of Carey Mulligan and Edith Pretty and I agree that casting someone of the same age as the person they are representing is important. The film built tension, and touched on a range of themes. The rescue scene was well done. I loved when they “sailed” the boat at night, it was touching..
Upload (2020, Season 1) 🍿
An interesting take on what might an “after-life” might be like.
A fun one, hopefully the upcoming season 2 holds up.
Uncle Frank (2020) 🍿💧
I didn’t read the description of this movie before watching it, and I really enjoyed the journey. The innocence of Beth, yet her strength. Uncle Frank, and discovering how traumatic his journey had been. I was moved.
The Vast of Night (2020) 🍿
This was a fun one. I liked the style and the development of the story. It did feel a little slow in parts, but overall I enjoyed it.
Hanna (series 1 & 2, 2019) 🍿
This was recommended to me, and I followed the episodes. The pacing in places helped the story, and I though I wasn’t sure at first, I ended up liking the actress that played Marissa Wiegler.
Jungle (2017) 🍿💧
This film (based on a true story) builds tension as you follow Yossi (Daniel Radcliffe) on a harrowing journey through the jungle. Well worth a watch.
The Expanse – Season 5 (2020) 🍿
I love The Expanse, and really enjoyed Season 5. Bring on Season 6.
Ready Player One (2018) 🍿
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this one. But I loved how the theme was to look into what pop culture meant to the creator of the virtual world.
Taken 2 (2012) 🆗
I’ve seen this before, but recently picked up a copy on Blu-Ray. I like Liam Neeson.
Hoping to add a copy of the original Taken to add to my collection eventually.
The previews on the disc showed A good day to Die Hard – and I’d love to collect them too…
Waru (2017, NZ) 🍿💧
Found this by chance and while it’s not a nice enjoyable film, it is well done and worth watching. Waru is a NZ compilation of 8 short films by NZ women featuring female leads that are linked by a central theme. Waru means 8. It’s the name of the central character, and also links to the number of short stories. I like to watch NZ films, to experience how storytellers depict the lives and times of various characters. This is similar to Once Were Warriors in terms of the grit and uncomfortable realism.
Geostorm (2017) 💤
Meh. It was ok. The essence of global environmental disasters, Gerard Butler. I enjoyed the bowl of popcorn I ate while watching this one.
Woman in gold (2015) 🍿
First time I’ve seen this one, and I loved it. It’s based on a true story, and like Erin Brokovich’s story, it’s amazing what these women achieved.
The Two Faces of January (2014) 💤
I think Virgo Mortensen must have been hot in his suit while filming. I haven’t read the book, but the film felt like it didn’t develop well. I wouldn’t call it a “tense, psychological thriller” as it self-proclaims. It was a mild ride following a couple and a con man until they are separated.
Serenity (2005) 🍿
I love Firefly and this film Serenity that capped the one and only season (so far). I used to have a copy on DVD, but it has been misplaced, so I found a Blu-Ray for $6.99 (NZ) and then a multi-region Blu-Ray player to watch it on. I’ll rewatch both the series and this film many times over and never get tired of it.