Yorck Unlimited
29 Jan, 2024
Something happened to my movie watching habits and choices when I became a parent. I became a bit less tolerant of uncomfortable viewing, a bit less patient with average stuff, and more drawn to the movie version of comfort food.
This was mostly down to fewer opportunities to get to the cinema, so I wanted to make those trips count. Ultimately though, I became risk-adverse and didn't take myself to challenging films, or to see things that previously I would have. It wasn't a complete departure, but I watched much less than I used to, and what I did watch was usually pretty safe.
Now though, the kids can look themselves and each other more. And Berlin cinemas seem to be showing many more original language versions than they used to. (I've still only ever sat through a handful of dubbed German movies, all them kids films).
So in November 2023 I bought myself a Yorck Unlimted subscription and set myself to get out to the cinema at least twice a month, even if there wasn't something on I was that keen on.
I'm going to list the movies I watch here. I may or may not record my thoughts as well, but just the list itself will work as a nice record of my new watching habit.
Watched List
Dune Part 2
23 Mar, 2024
Yes, I watched it again. I enjoyed it more second time around, but still feel that the first part is better. … read the rest →
The Zone of Interest
11 Mar, 2024
First thoughts anyway, probably more to come… The Höss garden could be our modern, communal, social space where we’re enclosed and shut away from horrors happening just beyond but really still within our ability to be aware of them. We can’t honestly say that we haven’t chosen to be ignorant. … read the rest →
Dune Parts 1 & 2 (Double Bill)
28 Feb, 2024
Easily the best sci-fi movies of the modern era … read the rest →
Reality
11 Feb, 2024
Disconcerting, almost dreamlike (stress-dreamlike) recounting of what happens when the FBI come calling. … read the rest →
All of Us Strangers
09 Feb, 2024
I watched much of this through the lens of parental regret, and how we (I) might hope to interact with our children as adults. … read the rest →
The Holdovers
26 Jan, 2024
Really great. Unflinching comedy of isolated, unpleasant, belligerent people that gives them reforming character arcs while honouring their inate, intrinsic selves. … read the rest →
Perfect Days
20 Jan, 2024
Contemplative, maybe meditative exploration of the difference between solitude and loneliness … read the rest →
The Old Oak
10 Dec, 2023
Political, yet not at all political, fictional telling of the friction and rubbing along of established communities meeting incomers. Empathic, assertively humanist and optimistic. … read the rest →
Napoleon
04 Dec, 2023
Reasonable, if a bit shallow. Gorily explicit battle scenes, and convincing depictions of the dynamics of power. … read the rest →
Anatomy of a Fall
20 Nov, 2023
Awesome, utterly immersive and convincing courtroom drama. … read the rest →
Lola Rennt
12 Nov, 2023
Classic of the nineties-era techno kino – sister to those early Danny Boyle movies – breathless headbanging fun. … read the rest →
Dumb Money
07 Nov, 2023
Decently compact telling of a significantly complicated (and possibly drier) financial ‘thing’ which I understood while watching, but struggled to recall or comprehend immediately afterwards. … read the rest →
2001: A Space Odyssey
05 Nov, 2023
First time seeing this on a cinema screen, and have probably not managed to sit through the whole thing more than once since watching it the first time (probably a bit stoned) at a friend's when I was around 18. … read the rest →
Wish List
Some interesting things coming up:
- Dune Part 2 (end of Feb 24)
- All of us Strangers (beginning of Feb)
- The Boy and the Heron (Feb)
- The Zone of Interest (end of Feb)
– Reality (Feb)
