Gil Desmarais
‹ back to the overview

Movie recommendations

I like to watch and rate movies. Here are my recommendations.

Recommended movie Young Frankenstein 1974
4.0 / 5 stars

This Frankenstein mock comedy was really special and intelligent. I LOL’ed a lot.

Recommended movie Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One 2023
4.0 / 5 stars

A genre-defining, well, let’s say, genre-bending movie. It’s a must-see for every Action movie enthusiast.

Christopher McQuarrie
Recommended movie Kynodontas 2009
4.0 / 5 stars

In my opinion this is Yorgos Lanthimos’ best movie so far (Feb’ 2024).

Recommended movie The Favourite 2018
4.0 / 5 stars

A brilliantly deep and dark movie. Yorgos plays this at a royal level.

Yorgos Lanthimos
Recommended movie Vortex 2021
4.5 / 5 stars

You get used to watch two different screen parts quickly. By then, you will be sucked in to the play.

Recommended movie Berlin Alexanderplatz 2020
4.0 / 5 stars

A colorful interpretation and dark movie implementation of the 1929 novel.

Recommended movie Letzte Chance für Harry 1998
3.0 / 5 stars

A german Christmas movie with Harald Junke in the main role. Most of the movie is set in Berlin and beside the cold weather during the seasons, the vibe is heartwarming.

Recommended movie The Lighthouse 2019
3.5 / 5 stars

The Lighthouse was a very special movie. Shot in black and white in a square aspect ratio (yes, it has been produced in 2019). A great set and setting. Very intense, has many twists, it’s haunting. Overall a great movie but not particularly easy to watch (and understand).

Robert Eggers
Recommended movie The Master 2012
3.5 / 5 stars

In the epoch of our lifetime, at every corner, there is someone claiming to know it better…

Recommended movie Foxcatcher 2014
3.5 / 5 stars

A strong, dark and calm movie about a true murder. I found the acting to be top-notch; the emotions were transported so well.

Recommended movie Capharnaüm 2018
4.0 / 5 stars

A kid sueing his parents for neglect. It was filmed without educated actors and thus it appears very real (and it is - read the Trivia on IMDb after watching).

Recommended movie Bin-jip 2004
3.5 / 5 stars

Oh yes, the 3-Iron can not solely be used to play Golf. Barely any speaking by the protagonists.

Exceptional movie.

Recommended movie Zero Dark Thirty 2012
4.0 / 5 stars

If you like dark and violent movies, this one is for you. Gave me goosebumps a few times. Topic is the US haunting for a popular terrorist.

Recommended movie Z 1969
4.0 / 5 stars

This film paved the way for geopolitical thrillers. It’s about the Greek junta from 1967 to 1974. However, that information could not be revealed clearly in the movie - for political reasons.

Creating this is brave. The result is a well watchable movie.

Recommended movie Seul contre tous 1998
3.0 / 5 stars

Another movie by Gaspar Noe. English title is “I Stand Alone”. It’s Noe’s first full length movie, taking some characters from his previous short movies.

This is an inner dialogue of a person: you hear the person you’re following thinking. There is a warning in the movie that gives you 30 seconds to leave the cinema. Take it serious.

The movie breaks many social rules. It is hard to withstand. If you like such rule-breaking movies:

Recommended movie Lvx Æterna 2019
4.0 / 5 stars

Gaspar Noe is my favorite director.

This is a short movie (51 minutes) about the process of making movies.

You will be exhausted like you’d have watched an intense 3 hour thriller without any break.

If you’re planning to watch this, I recommend darken your room. Do not watch it if you had epileptic episodes. I warned you.

Recommended movie Tenet 2020
4.0 / 5 stars

This goes forward and backward at the same time. Had to watch it twice.

Tiny movie detail: when you play the radio messages during the car chase backwards, you’ll hear what will happen later in the movie.

Recommended movie Zero Days 2016
3.5 / 5 stars

Although the impression manifests that the told story is true, no evidence is provided which would hold up in a court house. This ambiguity in combination with its political explosiveness makes it a movie worth watching… with a grain of salt.

Recommended movie M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder 1931
4.5 / 5 stars

A must see, a milestone in film history.

Recommended movie Free Solo 2018
3.5 / 5 stars

This movie was thrilling and intense. Had goosebumps most of the time and wanted to scream.

Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Recommended movie Zoku Shinya shokudô 2016
3.0 / 5 stars

Take a seat at the counter of a restaurant and listen what the others have to say.

Recommended movie Judgment at Nuremberg 1961
4.0 / 5 stars

This should be a mandantory watch for every student in a German school.

Recommended movie Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound 2019
3.5 / 5 stars
Recommended movie The Great Hack 2019
3.5 / 5 stars

The story of Cambridge Analytica. I feel most people (and politicians) still do not understand the consequences.

Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim
Recommended movie The Cove 2009
3.5 / 5 stars

An activist group created this movie while investigating (cruel) japanese dolphin killers.

Louie Psihoyos
Recommended movie Joker 2019
4.5 / 5 stars

Had a good time in the movie observing when people laugh.

I thoroughly enjoyed the set and its decor. It’s well thought out with brilliant performances.

Recommended movie Taxi 2015
3.5 / 5 stars

This is a movie about movies. Get in the taxi with Jafar Panahi as a driver and experience the ride.

Jafar Panahi is banned from making movies by the Iranian government. That doesn’t stop him. Exceptional.

Recommended movie Le Mans 1971
4.0 / 5 stars
Lee H. Katzin, John Sturges
Recommended movie Life of Brian 1979
4.0 / 5 stars

A huge tank of citable quotes. Best watched during Easter. ;)

Recommended movie Lords of Chaos 2018
4.0 / 5 stars

It’s a controversial movie about the Black Metal scene in Norway during the 1990s. I liked it a lot because it pushes several boundaries.

Very dark and graphic, but most of it really happened. It’s not a documentary.

Jonas Åkerlund
Recommended movie Modern Times 1936
4.0 / 5 stars

Modern Times, filmed in the 1930s, aged well.

Recommended movie V luchakh solntsa 2015
3.0 / 5 stars

A propaganda movie about North Korea, but the director continues filming between the scripted scenes.

Recommended movie Soylent Green 1973
3.5 / 5 stars

A Sci-Fi classic.

Richard Fleischer
Recommended movie Tickled 2016
4.0 / 5 stars

“Professional tickling” sounds funny to you? Well then, go ahead, watch this movie and have your mind changed.

David Farrier, Dylan Reeve
Recommended movie Lola rennt 1998
3.5 / 5 stars

A German movie, playing in Berlin, about a running woman.

There’s never really a break… but continuos suspense. Probably one of the best German movies out there.

Recommended movie This Is Spinal Tap 1984
3.5 / 5 stars

You can rate this movie with 11 out of 10 stars on IMDb. Because 11 is better than 10.

Recommended movie Moneyball 2011
3.5 / 5 stars

A movie which I can’t unlike. It shows how to achieve success in sports with a systematic approach, using mathematics.

Recommended movie Rope 1948
4.0 / 5 stars

This feels like a one-take movie. However, it isn’t and it enriches the suspense levels.

Alfred Hitchcock
Recommended movie The Killing of a Sacred Deer 2017
3.5 / 5 stars

An intelligent and terrifying drama/horror/mystery/thriller.

Yorgos Lanthimos
Recommended movie Airplane! 1980
3.5 / 5 stars

Probably the most classic comedy movie ever?

What’s the vector, Victor?

Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker
Recommended movie WEIT. Die Geschichte von einem Weg um die Welt 2017
4.0 / 5 stars

A calm movie about a young German couple which travels the world in 3.5 years by going east.

They documented the trip by filming and this movie summarizes it.

Quite a life changing experience for the couple.

Patrick Allgaier, Gwendolin Weisser
Recommended movie Dunkirk 2017
5.0 / 5 stars

A WW2 movie without every clearly showing the enemy.

I watched it in the IMAX and it was an immersive experience. The constant ticking of the metronome did the rest to me. Amazing dog fights.

Christopher Nolan
Recommended movie Primer 2004
3.5 / 5 stars

A very nerdy (in the positive sense) film about time traveling. The budget for this movie was around $7000.

Recommended movie It's a Wonderful Life 1946
4.5 / 5 stars

What a classic from 1946. Best watched during Christmas season.

Recommended movie Toni Erdmann 2016
4.0 / 5 stars

An above average German comedy with hilarious moments.

The story of a career woman and her relationship to her father and her job.

Recommended movie Citizenfour 2014
5.0 / 5 stars

The story of Edward Snowden with original footage.

Recommended movie The Lobster 2015
3.5 / 5 stars

I’m not sure if I’d have picked that animal in that situation.

Yorgos Lanthimos
Recommended movie Hitting the Apex 2015
3.5 / 5 stars

A haunting ride on a MotoGP bike. It doesn’t always end well. RIP SuperSic58.

Recommended movie Sicario 2015
4.5 / 5 stars

Dark and atmospheric war against drugs.

Denis Villeneuve
Recommended movie The Imitation Game 2014
4.0 / 5 stars

A biographic movie about Alan Turing who cracks the code of the Enigma.

Recommended movie The Hurt Locker 2008
5.0 / 5 stars

A war movie with amazing sound, showing an army soldier operating in a bomb squad.

Recommended movie The Big Lebowski 1998
4.0 / 5 stars

A true classic search for a carpet. Best served with the promoted cocktail.

Recommended movie Senna 2010
5.0 / 5 stars

The extended version is worth it. An emotional roller coaster about the life of Ayrton Senna.

Recommended movie Office Space 1999
4.0 / 5 stars
  • Uhm yeah, you know what would be great?
  • Yup, watching this movie!
Recommended movie Inception 2010
4.5 / 5 stars

This is a movie to watch twice and scan for evidences to answer the question which is asked in the last scene.

Christopher Nolan
Recommended movie Enter the Void 2009
5.0 / 5 stars

A classic Noe movie. It has its lengths, but still it’s a highly immersive movie.

Recommended movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1964
4.5 / 5 stars

A classic and fun movie.

Recommended movie Blackfish 2013
4.0 / 5 stars

I recommend watching this movie before visiting zoos which showcase orcas. Good thing is, there aren’t so many anymore. But there is one in Europe, on Tenerife (Canary Islands), in a park advertising with parrots, and siblings of Tilikum are or have been caged there.

And after watching, I hope you chose to spend your money wisely.

Recommended movie Trainspotting 1996
4.5 / 5 stars

A drug drama. Some scenes are unique and have been referenced in other movies.

The great electro track ‘Born Slippy’ by Underworld is featured prominently.

Recommended movie Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa 2013
4.0 / 5 stars

An over the top comedy about a radio DJ.

Recommended movie American Psycho 2000
3.0 / 5 stars

“I have to return some video tapes.” Enough said.

Recommended movie Cars 2006
4.5 / 5 stars

I’ve watched this dubbed in German. The dubbing is exceptionally good. They’ve used to commentators and drivers of the Formula1 TV broadcasts.

The movie itself is quite emotional about friendship and family.

John Lasseter, Joe Ranft
Recommended movie Full Metal Jacket 1987
4.5 / 5 stars

Towards the end it reveals what this movie really is about: an anti-war movie.

Recommended movie In Bruges 2008
4.0 / 5 stars

Very dark humor in this one. The actual reason I paid Bruges a visit once.

Recommended movie Inglourious Basterds 2009
5.0 / 5 stars

A multi-lingual movie about WW2, which makes some fun about languages.

I can’t applaud enough to Mr. Tarantino to limit the speaking to a specific actor in this kind of movie to just a few words.

Amazing performance by Christoph Waltz.

Recommended movie Kick-Ass 2010
4.0 / 5 stars

A fun to watch superhero movie. Well produced with an excellent soundtrack.

Recommended movie Moonrise Kingdom 2012
4.5 / 5 stars

Wes Anderson’s film making style is so unique.

Wes Anderson
  • Open in IMDb
  • Adventure
  • Comedy
  • Drama
  • Family
  • Fantasy
  • Romance
Recommended movie Psycho 1960
3.5 / 5 stars

violin music intensifies

Recommended movie Spotlight 2015
4.5 / 5 stars

The story of how a news paper uncovered a massive child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

Recommended movie Sucker Punch 2011
3.5 / 5 stars

In an alternative reality weird things happen.

Recommended movie The Pianist 2002
4.5 / 5 stars

A haunting WW2 movie about the Warsaw ghetto.

Recommended movie There Will Be Blood 2007
4.0 / 5 stars

An intense movie about the oil business around the year 1900.

Recommended movie The Walk 2015
3.5 / 5 stars

I think it’s just to recommended this movie to be played on a big screen.

Robert Zemeckis
Recommended movie Vanishing Point 1971
3.0 / 5 stars

Whispering voice: “Kowalski, Vanishing Point”. Does that trigger something in you?

Yes? No? Doesn’t matter, the car needs to be delivered.

Recommended movie Vertigo 1958
4.0 / 5 stars

My head is still spinning!

‹ back to the overview