Watch-List 01/2025

This is a list of all the great and interesting films and shows I’ve seen in January and February of 2025.

★★★★★ – Favourite / Classic / Masterpiece
★★★★½ – Excellent
★★★★ – Great
★★★½ – Good (Minor Flawed Elements)
★★★ – Interesting (Flawed Elements)
★★½ – Major Flaws but Worthy
★★ – Disappointing

Godzilla
★★★
dir. Roland Emmerich
Monster
[USA, 1998]
Budget: $125–150 million

Crazy
★★★½
dir. Hans-Christian Schmid
Biographical Coming-of-Age Drama
[Germany, 2000]

Tears of the Sun
★★★
dir. Antoine Fuqua
Military Action Thriller
[USA, 2004]
Budget: $100.5 million

Werner – Beinhart!
★★★
dir. Niki List, Gerhard Hahn and Michael Schaack
Animated/Live-Action Comedy
[Germany, 1990]

ドラゴンボールZ 地球まるごと超決戦
(Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might)
★★★
dir. Daisuke Nishio
Anime Science Fantasy Martial Arts
[Japan, 1990]

Out of Time
★★★½
dir. Carl Franklin
Mystery Thriller
[USA, 2003]
Budget: $50 million

Wolfsburg
★★★
dir. Christian Petzold
Drama
[Germany, 2003]

We Were Soldiers
★★★
dir. Randall Wallace
War
[USA, 2002]
Budget: $75 million

Hell’s Angels
★★★½
dir. Howard Hughes and James Whale
Pre-Code Independent Epic War
[USA, 1930]
Budget: $2.8 million

Captain America: Brave New World
★★★
dir. Julius Onah
Superhero
[USA, 2025]
Budget: $180 million

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
★★★★★
dir. Robert Wiene
Silent Horror
[Germany, 1920]
Budget: $12,371

Je n’avais que le néant – “Shoah” par Lanzmann
(All I Had Was Nothingness)
★★★★
dir. Guillaume Ribot
Documentary
[France, 2025]

Shoah
★★★★★
dir. Claude Lanzmann
Documentary
[France, 1985]

Volver
★★★½
dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Comedy-Drama
[Spain, 2006]
Budget: $9.4 million

Hundreds of Beavers
★★★½
dir. Mike Cheslik
Independent Slapstick Comedy
[USA, 2022]
Budget: $150,000

Swordfish
★★½
dir. Dominic Sena
Action Thriller
[USA, 2001]
Budget: $102 million

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
★★★½
dir. Mike Newell
Fantasy
[UK / USA, 2005]
Budget: $150 million

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
★★★½
dir. Chris Columbus
Fantasy
[UK / USA, 2002]
Budget: $100 million

铁西区 (Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks)
★★★★★
dir. Wang Bing
Documentary
[China, 2002]

The Viewing Booth
★★★
dir. Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
Documentary
[Israel / USA, 2019]

Babygirl
★★★
dir. Halina Reijn
Erotic Thriller
[USA, 2024]
Budget: $20 million

The Brutalist
★★★★½
dir. Brady Corbet
Epic Period Drama
[USA / UK, 2024]
Budget: $9.6 million

The Batman
★★★½
dir. Matt Reeves
Superhero
[USA, 2022]
Budget: $185–200 million

Leviathan
★★★★
dir. Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
Documentary
[USA, 2012]

攻殻機動隊 (Ghost in the Shell)
★★★★½
dir. Mamoru Oshii
Anime Neo-Noir Cyberpunk Thriller
[Japan, 1995]
Budget: ¥330 million

Schwarze Milch (Black Milk)
★★★
dir. Uisenma Borchu
Drama
[Germany / Mongolia, 2020]