2 Best Movies to Watch by Gregory Gudgeon

Staff & contributors
All Quiet on the Western Front is a period epic that unflinchingly shows us the savagery and senselessness of war. Set at the tail end of World War I, it follows two main stories: that of German soldier Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), whose boyish eagerness for warfare is diminished with each bloody step he takes towards the frontline, and that of Matthias Erzberger (Daniel Brühl), the real-life German politician tasked to negotiate a ceasefire between the French and German forces.Grim and sobering, the movie will leave you nothing less than stunned after viewing. Like 1917 before it, All Quiet on the Western Front relies on the juxtaposition of raw brutality and peaceful quiet to effectively forward its anti-war message. The film is Germany’s official entry for the 2023 Academy Awards.

Genre: Action, Drama, History, War

Actor: Aaron Hilmer, Adrian Grünewald, Albrecht Schuch, André Marcon, Andreas Döhler, Anthony Paliotti, Anton von Lucke, Charles Morillon, Cyril Dobrý, Dan Brown, Daniel Brühl, Daniel-Frantisek Kamen, Devid Striesow, Edin Hasanović, Felix Kammerer, Felix von Bredow, Gregory Gudgeon, Hendrik Heutmann, Jakob Diehl, Jakob Schmidt, Joe Weintraub, Luc Feit, Marek Simbersky, Markus Tomczyk, Martin Němec, Michael Pitthan, Michael Stange, Michael Wittenborn, Moritz Klaus, Nico Ehrenteit, Peter Sikorski, Sascha Nathan, Sebastian Hülk, Sebastian Jacques, Thibault de Montalembert, Tobias Langhoff, Tomáš Weber

Director: Edward Berger

Rating: R

Nosferatu is impressive on all counts. On the acting front, you have Skarsgård performing a career-best—he’s been many monsters, but nothing as chilling and transformative as Robert Egger’s vampire. Hoult reliably delivers as a lovelorn broker thrown into the depths of darkness and torment, and then there’s Depp, the clear standout as she writhes, contorts, moans, and cries all in pleasure and pain. The sets are immersive (picturesque old Europe blanketed in Orlok’s creepy shadow) and the editing deceptively simple. You might be tempted to psychoanalyze What It All Means, but I suggest you just let the movie flow through through you like thick, dark blood. Submit to the darkness, like the film’s poster suggests, for a truly chilling watch.

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Actor: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Andrea Miltner, Bill Skarsgård, Christian Dunckley Clark, Claudiu Trandafir, Emma Corrin, Gregory Gudgeon, Jan Filipenský, Jordan Haj, Karel Dobrý, Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Paul Maynard, Ralph Ineson, Robert Russell, Simon McBurney, Stacy Thunes, Tereza Dušková, Willem Dafoe

Director: Robert Eggers

Rating: R