Joker takes its time to develop his character. Even so long that the “real” Joker, i.e. Arthur in full clothing and with the final make-up, is only visible for the last 10 minutes. But does that make the movie bad? Not at all. It was important to bring his development so precise and long (although it never really seemed long to me) to the screen. Especially since Joaquin Phoenix is without a doubt playing his heart and soul. His acting is fabulous.

The film lives from Joaquin. It lives from his improvised and spontaneous ideas and interventions, which very often made it into the finished film. Joker lives from the basically gloomy mood with few but well placed amusing interludes. It lives from it’s comprehensibility. Joker manages that. It makes it possible to empathize with Arthur. No, it doesn’t make you understand every move he makes. But you do understand how and why he breaks. Why he’s becoming the man we all looked forward to. And we understand why he’s always been exactly that person.

My favorite scene: Arthur throws the Joker mask into the trash and calmly walks past all the cops in the subway.

My ★★★★★ review of Joker (2019) on @letterboxd: boxd.it/RddQR 🍿

I still find the young up-and-coming mutants in the movie extremely cheesy, but apart from that, the filmmaker did pretty much everything right when they restarted the series. The main actors were well chosen. The basic mood is somewhere on a serious drama level with a good portion of humor.

Basically, the film lives through James McAvoy and above all Michael Fassbender. Especially Fassbender gives Erik Lensherr exactly the depth that this character deserves. He is bitterly angry and cunning at the same time. Exactly that closes the circle to Sir Ian McKellen’s performance in the original X-Men movie from 2000.

My favourite scene: Erik Lensherr’s performance at the Villa Gesell, Argentina.

My ★★★★ review of X-Men: First Class (2011) on @letterboxd: boxd.it/11rt9x 🍿

What a wonderfully absurd and loving film. Various psychoses are perfectly passed on to the viewer by the actors, who harmonize with each other in word and deed. It is a story about love. Told as serious and humorous as life itself.

I like the kind of film. I like how the actors act. I like the music. All in all, I like the uniqueness of this work.

Silver Lining’s Playbook is an all-time favorite that I can really watch over and over again.

My favorite scene: The film offers countless scenes that manifest themselves in my head. But maybe the one in which Pat orders cereal from a “date” is one of the most memorable.

My ★★★★★ review of Silver Linings Playbook (2012) on @letterboxd: boxd.it/10MPV7 🍿

Watching American Pie at 16 is pure joy. 20 years later, say at 36, it’s just torture.

The film is a fairly pointless string of embarrassments. Yes, basically, adolescents’ growing up is shown relatively well - exaggeratedly so - but comprehensibly. (Nowadays you can’t do that to yourself.)

The result was cramped laughter on my part, shaking my head every second minute and shame. I also had to laugh honestly from time to time, but that was very rare by now.

Something you have to give the movie credit for: It has a great soundtrack and the actors are sympathetically dumb throughout the film.

On that note: I can’t say anything more about it. The movie is hard to bear for adults. Still: Somehow you can’t switch off the film.

My favourite scene: Jim runs to Kevin’s house, the whole thing underlaid with the still awesome song Mutt from Blink 182.

My ★★½ review of American Pie (1999) on @letterboxd: boxd.it/10xnu3 🍿

I’ve never seen anything like it.

Parasite, the big Oscar-winning hitter was on my wish list even before his awards. Now I’ve finally seen the movie. I was spellbound from the beginning. Fevered at all times with how it goes on, happy about every little intrigue and then… Yes, then the film takes a direction that I did not expect at all. It gets really creepy at times. I had to fight with goose bumps, partly I didn’t want it to go on like this, but the director was merciless. He presented me with something that I had never seen before. And with that he awakened so many emotions in me that on the one hand I was happy, on the other hand I just looked distraught at the credits.

Parasite is special. Not a Feel Good movie. I also don’t know if I will ever watch the movie again. But I am absolutely glad that I saw it. I like movies that are far from the mainstream. And that’s what Parasite does. Furthermore the actors are great in their own way. Sometimes extremely weird, but convincing in their actions.

The scenery is limited to two houses, so to speak. But honestly, that’s all it needed. The director got so much out of it, I’m thrilled.

Highly recommended!

My favorite scene: Well, it’s not really a favorite scene. It’s a disturbing, sick scene that’s burned in. Namely, the one when the “ghost” appears for the first time.

My ★★★★★ review of Parasite (2019) on @letterboxd: boxd.it/108pJf 🎥