Cinema, mon amour - a Puzl watchlist
Spending more time at home basically means watching a shitton of movies and devouring tremendous amounts of food & drinks while doing so. If you’re at the end of your watchlist and wonder what to load in there next, don’t worry - we come to the rescue! We’ve put together some carefully selected titles (we’re posh like that, yes) with a few lines of recommendation to each, just to get you inspired.
From undisputed classics that just H-A-V-E to be revisited every now and then to new gems that are worth discovering, you have plenty of options. With trailers, for your convenience. And some cool facts as well, ‘cause… we’re kinda geeky and we love digging deep.
Ready the popcorn!
Zsofi, Co-founder and Navigator at Puzl CowOrKing Budapest
I've watched thousands of movies, but this is the one that comes from the gut when I hear the 'Whats your favorite movie' question. I remember watching this back in 1999 in my teenage room, got completely blown away. Suddenly the Matrix seemed like a kindergarten coloring book. A super low budget movie, spot-on acting, compelling story about a mathematic genius trying to crack patterns in the stock market to only stumble upon a bigger mystery that might hold the key to the universal pattern of nature
Legendary OST. Only the best of the weird electronica and early IDM of the 90s. Highly recommend that too.
Cool fact: No location permits were secured for any of the scenes filmed. The crew had to have one man constantly serving as an lookout for police so they could stop filming if needed.
Ali, Puzl CoCafé Community Manager
The Marvelous Mrs. Masel (2017)
These series are showing the life of a 20-something Jewish woman comedian through the 50s and 60s, as she's trying to do what she loves to do and is good at - comedy. So far there are 3 seasons and every episode is better than the last one. There is a lot of laughter - what is needed right now.
Cool fact: The pilot episode was one of Amazon Videos most successful ever, achieving an average viewer rating of 4.9 stars.
A documentary series produced by National Geographic and hosted by Will Smith himself. One Strange Rock gathers 8 astronauts that are telling their stories, while up in space. The series is revealing a lot of interesting facts about the Earth and how every process on it is impacting another one and etc.
Cool fact: Did you actually know that just over 500 people have ever traveled past the Earth’s atmosphere? True that!
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019)
When I started the series I was interested in how Bundy was thinking and was eager to understand his point of view, BUT... while watching and the series was still premiering I saw how it impacted young girls nowadays and it was more of a social experiment for me to follow up the reactions which were extreme… Like, a lot of girls were falling for Ted Bundy after watching the series. It is out of my mind how someone would deliberately want to be a victim of his, but well... that's for another conversation.
Cool fact: The movie was released exactly 30 years after the execution of Ted Bundy.
Lia, Documentation Master
My absolute favorite movie is Wall-e. A simple story with powerful meaning. :)
Knowing our Lia, we couldn’t think of anything more suitable to be her top-choice movie - sweet, thoughtful and emotional! 😉
Cool fact: The concept artists studied images of Chernobyl, Ukraine and also Sofia, Bulgaria for ideas for the ruined world. Art director Anthony Christov is from Bulgaria and he knew the problems its capital had in storing garbage, so he used that… creatively.
Ilian, Facility Manager
It's a very tough, military movie and as the title says, the action is taking place during World War I. It follows the suicide mission of two young friends through the battlefield, who have the mission to deliver a rescue message to 1600 soldiers. The revenues say plenty about the movie, as well as its awards - 1917 won 3 Oscars, has another 100 wins and more than 160 nominations.
Cool fact: Cinematographer Roger Deakins won a total of 40 awards for his work in the movie.
Another one from last year with Matthew McConaughey in the main act. The story revolves around McConaughey’s character - a gangster who started from nothing and reached the top, as an owner of the largest marijuana empire in London. In the process of selling it, he goes under more than a few attempts of being fucked up. Guy Ritchie is returning to his best with this one!
Cool fact: There were no table readings for the film. Instead, Guy Ritchie had the cast do full dress rehearsals with a multi-angle camera crew. Ritchie would then review footage of the scenes and revise the script accordingly.
Nick, Chief Project Financier
No need to explain what it is about. I didn't have the time to watch it (I know only 5 hours isn't much, who am I kidding) but I did it during the quarantine. It gives you a nice, positive perspective given the current state - yeah, we gotta stay put, but nothing really compares to the radiation horror.
Cool fact: The popularity of the miniseries was credited with a 30 to 40 % spike in tourism to Chernobyl and Pripyat in the months following the premiere.
Dirty Money (2018) - by Netflix, not widely available on torrent trackers
The older you get, the more you enjoy documentaries. Netflix is putting a more interesting spin instead of just 90 minutes of interviews and explaining some famous deceptions (not conspiracies though). Writing this, my mind instantly relates it to the current news feeds where people are going big on the latter. Bonus - they released the 2nd season just on the verge of the quarantine. Zip up and widen your mind!
Cool fact: After one of the episodes, which focused on VW and their emission scandal, Alex Gibney (one of the many showrunners and a documentary filmmaker) and his wife were so frustrated by the facts exposed, that they said that they literally wanted to “chainsaw the VW dealership” and dump their VW Jeta they just bought.
On the fun side - a lot of you may have seen it but nevertheless - fun sitcom which you can get a thing or two about the biz from. What else to say? Give it a try - for 5 years I thought it is just Hollywood bullshit about IT stereotypes but thanks to Thibaut I had some decent laughs.
Cool fact: The principal cast members have reported that they often get pitched for apps by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs when they're spotted in public.
Hristo, Lead Barista at Puzl CoCafé
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
It has one of the best movie plots. Ever. It shows a man's perseverance and ability to adapt, evolve and overcome in a way only Stephen King can write it. If you don't drop a tear at the end of the movie, you have problems. Favorite quote from the movie: Andy Dufresne: “It's funny. On the outside, I was an honest man. Straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.”
Cool fact: Morgan Freeman has stated that this is his favorite film in which he stars. Stephen King has also considered this to be one of his favorite movie adaptations based on his work.
A touching movie based on a real story. It shows how two completely different people can help each other through hard times and see that life always has to offer something exciting even when you think it's all over.
Cool fact: In 2012, Éric Toledano (one of the two directors) stated that he had received more than 3,000 thank-you messages from wheelchair users all over the world because of the film.
The greatest saga ever. An overwhelming story of an underdog broke AF boxer who goes all the way to be the best in the world. The story shows us that will and determination can make you achieve everything you have even been scared of dreaming. The movie hit me so hard that the next day I watched it, I went to the boxing gym and started training, which continued for years. The story of how Stallone wrote the script and managed to get it filmed while playing the main role is also quite interesting.
Cool fact: The first sports film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Also, it’s the highest-grossing film of 1976.
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