Cinema

[eMTe]

I cant ignore it, I wonder why do you think this movie is that bad... For me, a renowned US-like cinema hater, it is pretty good.

[Pater Alf]

I don't remember it that clearly, but I still know that it was historical incorrect and I had the feeling that half of the story was just there to create cheap sex scenes (a thing that is typical for Paul Verhoeven). The other half was totally silly and created story twists in a row, not because they made any sense,but just for them to be there. Would have been fun as a trash movie, but it took itself much too serious to be fun that way.

But when I look at IMDB it seems I'm the only one who sees it that way...

[eMTe]

But you say exactly what I said! Im just less negative towards the sexuality aspect, considering it as Verhoeven's mark, impossible to remove in movie directed by him. Not that Im for including unnecessary sex into movies, I just accept the fact that Verhoeven's movies include it and forget it. As for plot twists, it's the essence of the movie. It was conceived that way. It's an action movie made to appeal to mass audience and smuggle some deeper thoughts here and there, not the history of Jews in WWII Netherlands.

[Pater Alf]

Yes, but story twists should make sense (at least inside the movie reality) and you should believe them. If they are just there, because the writer or director wanted them to be there, they are just silly.

About the sex scenes: It's not that I don't like erotic scenes. But here we have a movie with a serious historical background that tries to take itself dead serious. And on the other hand we have cheap and unneccessary sex scenes every few minutes and silly twist to create them. That doesn't work for me. Paul Verhoeven had two possibilities in my eyes:

a) Cut down the sex scenes He created some decent movies without cheap sex scenes a long time ago (e.g. Robocop), so I'm sure he can do it.
b) Present the whole movie with a wink. Could've been a nice trash movie then

[Pater Alf]

El secreto de sus ojos (The secret in their eyes)
When retired an old Argentinian commissar can't forget about an old case of murder and rape and starts to write a novel about it. By doing so, he starts to remember a dark time 25 years ago and has to face some facts and truths he carefully locked away and might not want to return.

Very intense and full of love and respect for its characters. Won the oscar as best foreign movie in 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFF8wXGF ... re=related

[eMTe]

He created some decent movies without cheap sex scenes

And one decent containing them. Turkish Delight may be close to trash movies, but it has the true hippie spirit.

[Pater Alf]

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
The new Woody Allen movie and what can I say? Great as always!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLLbzJC_mp4

[eMTe]

My friend says that Allen gets worse and worse with age, that he uses the same gags and themes all the time - only with different actors. Still, I dont fully believe his words, I always try to watch new Woody's movie.

[Pater Alf]

You're doing well not to believe him. I think I never saw a bad Woody Allen movie. Of course some are weaker than others, but still the "weak" ones are above average. And about the theme: Of course most of them are about neurotic middle-class people in New York or London, but still I think he doesn't repeat himself too much and he uses different classes of humour. Some of the movies are real screwball comedies while others are quite serious.

[Scythe]

Any gamer worth his/her salt must watch Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Yeah, so it's a while since it was out, but aren't we getting to DVD time about now? While they cramped too many comic books into one movie, I'm still in awe of this one. So many awesome gamer jokes, so much nerdgasm.

[Pater Alf]

Unfortunately it was nearly impossible to see "Sott Pilgrim" in German cinemas. They had planned a release date for april. But then fans protested and the publisher suddenly set a new release date which was in last november. But that happened in such a hurry that neither movie magazines could write reviews nor cinemas could react and so most of them decided not to show it .

Small World
A pretty average novel bestseller adaption. For me it has two big flaws:

1. You see the story twist in the end coming miles ahead.
2. I mismatched some family relationships right from the begin and so for me the story twist even wasn't one..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-SLKKuYDsk

Somewhere
The new movie by Sofia Coppola and the first highlight in 2011. Johnny Marco is a big Hollywood star. But all the fame, the alcohol, the wild parties and the sex can't hide that his life is empty and he is broken. In a certain way he is as lost as Bill Murray was in Coppola's last movie ("Lost in Translation"). Then his 11-year-old daughter Cleo has to stay with him for a while and something happens with him. He doesn't really change for good or sops behaving like and asshole, but suddenly there is something loving and caring in his eyes. In the end Cleo has to leave and the emptiness is back (or maybe not, there's a little bit of an open end here).
This is a very calm movie. Very long and static camera shots and not much dialogue. Instead there is brilliantly acting (especially by Stephen Dorff and and Elle Fanning) and very much is said through gesture and the way the characters look at each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3cPbxCBGVo

Rammbock (not seen in cinema, but still worth mentioning)
A German zombie movie with some interesting ideas and visual effects. Not bad for a debut movie and I hope to see more of Marvin Kren in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Kp2XWC ... re=related

[Pater Alf]

Nowhere Boy
A movie about the youth of John Lennon, his first meeting with Paul McCartney, the beginning of the Beatles (or Quarrymen at first), but mainly about the relation to his mother and his aunt. No must-see, but well made and more informative than the Gainsbourg movie I saw some time ago (even if I'm sure that they changed some things for dramatic reasons). Mainly because it concentrates on just a short period in John Lennon's life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfJ1vVM3TbY

[eMTe]

Well, if you havent watched 'When The Wind Blows' you have to. Ive always wanted to see it, not because I knew it is particularly great movie, but because my beloved Roger Waters made music for it. Somehow I didnt have a chance to watch it over the years. To put it straight: if youre not prepared for watching a deeply shaking and disturbing movie - dont watch it. Ive read comments of grown-up men who cried watching it, but I couldnt believe it. Til now. It's probably the most powerful antiwar movie of all times, and it also shows that animation isnt the inferior kind of movie art - it's all about applying proper means of expression to proper subject. Sure, it's manipulation of emotions - to put cartoonish drawing and elderly couple against nuke - but there's strong message behind it, so I think it's justified.

[Pater Alf]

I agree. I think I saw it about 20 years ago for the first time and I'm still impressed when I see it today. It has lost nearly nothing of its power.

[Chroelle]

How long is it? I found parts of it on Youtube, but I wanted to make sure I had all of it before digging into it. It was released back in 1986 I see.

[eMTe]

Approximately 80 minutes. And you should not watch it in parts. You can find it we-all-know-where.

[Zyx]

For the impatient, the graphic novel / cartoon is also condensed in to 11 minute song by Iron Maiden. =)

(Not really. But almost. The ending is a bit different.)

[Pater Alf]

The Kids Are All Right
Movie about a middle-aged lesbian couple which has some relationship problems. Suddenly their two teenage kids search for their sperm donor father. They get in contact with him, he becomes part of the family which causes even more problems.

Very well acted, but sometimes the movie can't decide if it wants to be comedy or drama. I don't think it deserves the Oscar nomination it got (at least not the one for best movie).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgwjTy_cohg

[eMTe]

The Kids Are All Right. I remember The Who song under the same name. I wonder if that was the inspiration for the title.

Ive watched huge amount of movies recently, usually good ones, what I find surprising.

For example Ive watched Wrestler and Black Swan by Darren Arronofsky. The first one I can recommend only for the main role of Mickey Rourke who shines; movie as a whole starts great, but in the middle starts falling into usual American pompousness. Worth watching anyway, because it has great moments. Black Swan on the contrary is thrilling from the beginning to the end, confusing you and making you think all the time what is actually going on and , before final scenes reveal the secret. So the plot is strong, on the contrary visual side is overstylized (Wrestler succeeded here), like in Nolan or Lynch movies, but maybe that is the part of movie's power.

Ive also watched Grave of Fireflies, anime from 1988 depicting life of two orphaned children who suffer from war and post-war food shortcomings of rural Japan, being at the same time ignored by the society. It's very sad movie dealing with many, not only political subjects, like loneliness and humanity. Sometimes a bit too sentimental, but overall it's one of the best anti-war movies Ive seen, especially that it focuses on ordinary people and tries to explain how life shortcomings change people, without showing the war which caused it.

[Chroelle]

I watched "Grown-ups" with Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock etc yesterday, and had a big old Hollywood laugh. The plot was funny, the idea was funny, and the cast was perfect! I even had to shed a tear from laughter more than once. Go rent if you are going on 30 or getting close.

Tonight we got Invictus with Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman as Mandela all lined up, and I am exciting about it, as I always thought that whole piece of South African history was very exciting. Wrote an essay on Mandela once, and still have it somewhere, because it got under my skin. (Oh I also have a paper on the American Civil War somewhere that got me the same chills, so its not just a single paper I got lying around.)