January01st:
#00001 Monsters Vs Aliens (DVD/1st time viewing)
A very, very uneven movie.Sometimes it's very entertaining (The fight against the giant robot in San Francisco), but sometimes it's even for me too silly (The President tries to make first contact with the aliens). "Uneven" is also the right word for the voice actors. We get some great performances from Hugh Laurie and Kiefer Sutherland, but Reese Witherspoon sounds bored and like she would just read her lines. And Seth Rogen...well, if you think he is already unbearable on screen, you will be surprised how much worse he is when you don't even see him! Did I already said "uneven"? Because that's what the script is. While the first half kept me pretty interested, I kinda stopped caring in the second half. I gotta give the movie credit for some cool SciFi design, very cool executed action scenes (Is Dreamworks Animation shifting from being the "pop culture reference studio" to the "great action scenes studio"? First Kung Fu Panda, now MvA!) and a good score. And I would rent the sequel if they make one, even if it's just to know if they have improved by now.)
6,5/10---------
02nd
#00002 Let The Right One In (DVD/ 1st Time Vewing)
Sorry to be Señor Partypoopero, but I was seriously underwhelmed by it. The movie is 75% the usual, a million times made "My first love"-childhood story and 25% suspense-, atmosphere- and dramatical-punch-free vampire tale without a real payoff. Not to mention that this Oskar-kid creeped me out. He should have been the vampire. And then the way the kids talked. I know it's difficult to make kids talk like real kids on film, but their stiff adult talk annoyed the fuck out of me. Sorry, I got no idea what the fuzz was all about. Apart from some beautiful cinematography, I can't say many positive things about it. Wanna see a good foreign supernatural drama with kids? Watch "The Devil's Backbone" instead!
3/10Still as funny as 12 years ago, when I watched my TV recording of it at least once a week.
8,5/10---------
03rd
Y'know, I never understood the hate for this movie. It's constantly entertaining (Yes, I even like the game show) and sometimes just fucking hilarious! And Ethan Suplee is the official scene stealer of the movie. I love how he calls a kid first "dumb bastard" and then starts yelling at it.
8/10---------
04th
Originally I didn't plan to revisit the full directorial work of Kevin Smith, but after watching the first two, I thought "Why not?" Well, "Chasing Amy" is for many people the best thing he has ever done and while I see where they come from, I can't really agree with them. Don't get me wrong, it is a a very good movie. Maybe the best RomCom ever and also exactly what "Sex & The City" should have been.It's sexy, it's hilarious, it's original and it feels honest. It just has two big problems: 1)There are 15-20 minutes in the middle part, where we have to abide one awkward speech after another. (Starting with the love confession in the car.) I think Kevin Smith can write great dialogue, but these long speeches in the middle part, are definitely not his finest hour. 2.)Joey Lauren Adams can't act and has an unbelievable annoying voice that only gets worse when she has to scream or cry. And unfortunately she has to do both of it several times. Sorry, you are cute, but you annoyed the fuck out of me. On the other hand I have to say that Ben Affleck was very good. I haven't seen many movies with him, but this might have been his finest acting hour. I'm not talking Oscars here, but he was very natural and believable.
7/10 (would have been more, but that pointless speech marathon in the middle and Joey Lauren Adams just killed it.)
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05th
#00006 The Hurt Locker (DVD/1st time viewing)
Does this one work as a thriller? Fuck yeah! Does it work as a drama? Not so much. The suspense scenes had me on the edge of my seat every time, but I gotta admit that most of the dramatic parts fell very flat. I liked the part where one soldier played with the thought of
killing the group leader, because otherwise they might all die because of him. That was the one drama part that I could get behind, but unfortunately they came never back to this.. Another thing that really hurts the movie is the always annoying shaky cam. Yes, even Kathryn Bigelow, the godess of action cinema, now starts to overuse handheld cameras in hope of catching authentic documentary flair. Didn't work here either. At least it wasn't "Bourne 3" or "Battlestar Galactica" bad. You could still very good see what's going on, but it was still far, far away from "24" or "Children Of Men" quality! Another thing that slightly annoyed me were the celebrity cameos. Once in a while we saw a known face between all these unknown newcomers and a few minutes later they were gone. Ralph Fiennes even gets a sitcom-style "Look, it's that guy" introduction, where you don't see his face at first until it gets slowly uncovered! But apart from these flaws it's a great movie!Kathryn Bigelow squeezes every drop of suspense out of the scenes "at work", the actors are doing a very good job and it doesn't try to shove you an opinion into your throat. Although I gotta admit that the ending leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I don't know if
they tried to make us worry for him, now that he spends another full year surrounded by bombs and snipers or that they wanted wanted to say "Hey, look at that hero! He gives up his boring life at home and does something very important! We need more people like him!"8/10 (would have been a 9 without the shaky cam and with more relatable characters)
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06th
#00007 Fanboys (DVD/1st time viewing)
I expected this to be a gigantic train wreck. You know how allergic I react to nerd humor. "Look, it's that guy from _________". "Hahaha, he made a Star Wars reference!" Oh for fuck's sake, leave me alone with that! This kind of humor is for me on the same level as fart jokes. It can be funny sometimes, but most of the time it's not. And of course the trailer, the premise and everything I've heard about the movie didn't make me too enthusiastic. But to my own surprise, I kinda liked it! I laughed several times and every now and then even very loud. And you know what? Even Seth Rogen didn't piss me off! That's a first! No other movie did that before! Okay, but it's not thAT good. The characters are the typical teen comedy characters that we've seen a million times before and after something like 30 minutes, the whole Star Wars talk got very tiresome. Yes, I get it, they are Star Wars fans. No need to prove it by letting them spit out a new quote every 10 seconds.

And the situations they run into are also pretty standard teen comedy fare. So don't expect any surprises. But I was entertained. It's not nearly as good as, let's say "Road Trip", but it was way more watchable than expected. (And Kristen Bell was hotter than ever! She should permanently change from blonde to brunet.)
7/10---------
07th
#00008 12 Rounds (DVD/1st time viewing)
Definitely one of the weaker Renny Harlin films. It has a serious DTV feel, mostly because of the C-List star and the unknown and uncharismatic supporting cast. Not too mention the fucking shaky cam and the stupid Avid farts. I gotta give it at least some credit for being an almost nonstop action flick. Once the plot kicks in, they don't waste much time with other stuff, outside of running from one action piece to another. Unfortunately the action is seriously unspectacular to watch, so while I wasn't bored, I also wasn't very excited about what was going on. Oh, and of course it's a shameless "Die Hard With A Vengance" rip off.
6/10---------
08th
Continuing my re-visitation of the View Askewniverse with the film, that was for many people (including me) their first encounter with indie-film-phenomenon Kevin Smith. I always thought that Dogma was not nearly as smart ( in terms of religious satire) as many critics (and viewers) thought it was, but that doesn't mean it's not a very entertaining movie. Okay, after more than 10 years and repeated viewings it lost a little bit of its freshness, but I think it still holds up pretty well. (And Alan Rickman just owns every movie!)
7,5/10---------
09th
#00010 Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (DVD)
This is without a doubt Kevin Smith's dumbest movie, but I think it's still funnier than most other studio comedies of the last decade. Especially if you are into the View Askewniverse and able to catch all the little details, that normal viewers won't get. I mean, even the cameo of Judd Nelson is an in-joke, but he doesn't say or do anything to make outsiders realize, that it is one. I'm not trying to defend the movie to anybody who doesn't like it, because it seriously reduces all trademarks of the View Asknewniverse to the lowest common denominator, adds some fart jokes and celebrity cameos and then just runs with it, but damn, it amuses me every single time!
7,5/10 (biased fan rating)
Smith's first real mainstream movie is also his most underrated. Although it's pretty predicatable and conventional, compared to his other RomCom "Chasing Amy", it feels more complete and satisfying. And most important: It lacks all of these awkward moments that somehow ruined a huge part of "Amy". It's also one of the few movies that portray realistic child behaviour. And the irrefutable proof that George Carlin was capable of giving great acting performances. Seriously, without all the Bennifer hate when the film came out, it probably would have been recieved much better and Carlin would have maybe gotten an Oscar nod. Yes, he's that great! Don't believe the haters. It's a wonderful feel good movie.
8/10---------
10th
#00012 Flash Gordon (DVD)
What can I say about this movie? It's silly, it's campy, it's crazy, it's creative, it's a wonder- and faithful adaptation of the old serials (don't know about the comics), it's NOT boring for one single second! It's a little bit like a good child's birthday party should be. Everything is colourful and there is always something going on. Okay, to be honest I still got no fucking idea if they planned to make it that campy or if just something went wrong, but one thing is for sure: I love the result! And not in a MST3K way. It's good old fashioned pulp fiction. (Y'know, in the original meaning of the term. Before Tarantino bastardized it.)
8/10---------
11th
I got seriously nothing but love for this movie. I adore every single minute of it and I just love how Smith avoided to repeat part 1, by seriously giving the movie a story and the characters some depth. Okay, I probably like this movie a little bit more than most others for personal reasons. I'm not just talking simple fanboyism here. It plain and simple touched my soul, because it eerily reflects a pretty fresh part of my life (And I'm not talking about the donkeyfucking).
8/10Now, that I finished my re-visitation of Smith's filmography ("Zack & Miri" isn't out on DVD over here till March or so), I also wanna talk about something that I noticed. Many people give Smith shit for being "one note", but I seriously have to say that they are wrong. All fanboy love aside for a few moments, I really MUST say that each of his movies feels completely different than the rest of his work. (I mean as different as films from a director who has a recognizable style can be.) He's not re-inventing himself with every movie, but he seriously tries to not make the same movie twice, although most of them are all connected with each other. Although he has some of his trademarks in every movie, it's impossible to say: "Watch one of his movies and you know all of them." He's maybe not Mr Versatility, but he's a more capable filmmaker than many people (want to) think he is.
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12th
#00014 House Of Frankenstein (DVD/1st time Viewing)
Maybe some of you will remember that I'm still writing a book with reviews of Werewolf movies. I'm WAAAAY behind my shedule, but I'm working on catching up. So today I went on with (kind of) part three in the Wolfman saga. "House Of Frankenstein", is about a Frankenstein wannabe and his hunchbacked assistant (who looks a lot like Tony Shaloub), who steals a traveling chamber of horrors to take revenge on the men who brought him into jail, by using no other than Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein's Monster, but really with one exception only his assistant. It's a very unfocused movie, but it feels still more coherent and entertaining than "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman". Especially because of the very touching subplot about the hunchback and his crush on a gipsy girl and wonderful performances from Bela Lugosi (mad scientist), John Carradine (Dracula) and Lon Chaney jr and his sad eyes. (The Wolfman)
7/10----------
13th
#00015 The Hangover (DVD/1st time Viewing)
I really wanted to love it. I even lowered my expactations, because I knew it wouldn't be THAT funny, as the hype suggests. I like Todd Phillips! "Road Trip" is one of the best comedies of the last decade! And while none of his other movies made me laugh that hard again, I enjoyed all of them so far. Even "School For Scoundrels" made me laugh loud a few times. And well, "The Hangover" wasn't bad. It was kinda entertaining, but...let's say that a comedy has a real problem when it only manages to make me laugh ONCE and it's not just during the end credit, but also because of
a Carrot Top cameo! I don't even really know what the problem was. The biggest flaws that come to my mind are that kind of stuff that I'm usually willing to forgive to a certain degree (stock characters, predicatable story), the actors do a good job (don't know why that Zack Galifrakis guy is suddenly supposed to be the funniest man on earth, but he is still way superior to people like Seth Rogen) and as I already pointed out, it's entertaining. But I was just sitting there all the time, watching it without even cracking a smile. My brain recognised that what I saw was supposed to be funny, but it just didn't click. Damn, I never thought that I would rate "Fanboys" higher than this movie, but:
6/10----------
14th
#00016 Ice Age 3 (DVD/1st time Viewing)
I'm a huge fan of the first movie. It's IMO one of the most underrated animated movies of the last decade. People often dismiss it for any reason as a simple farting-animals-quote-popculture-movie, although it not just lacks any farting, it also has very little popculture. But it has lovable characters, an interesting (though underwritten) story, some hilarious and inspired slapstick moments and a big, studly heart underneath all of it. Part 2 was at least entertaining, but it was way too episodic and unfocused to be really enjoyable. And while part 3 still doesn't reach the class of part 1, it's a huge step into the right direction. The script feels again like a full movie and not just like a string of small, losely connected episodes and it also tries again to make us care for the characters, instead of just letting them tell jokes. But again it feels terribly underwritten. They scratch some themes on the surface, but don't really know what to do with it afterwards. Everything seems just like a plot device, to give a scene or two a little bit more drama. But even Ellie's pregnancy doesn't seem that important, apart from being a MacGuffin in the pre-climax action scene. I was highly entertained by the movie and will definitely check out part 4 when it comes out, but it just hurts me to know that the whole series could be so much better, if they would just invest more time in the scripts. This been said: I gotta give "Ice Age 3" mad props for the dynamic "camera" work. I can't remember another animated movie, that feels so much like it was filmed with a real camera.
7,5/10----------
15th
#00017 Clash Of The Titans (DVD/1st time Viewing)
We all know that today's movies are shit. Nothing but Special FX showcases without soul, intelligent script or good acting. 30 years ago were the films just better. Especially beloved classics like the original "Clash Of the Titans". That's what the popular opinion seems to be and I would agree if "Clash" wouldn't be such an unbearable piece of shit. The script doesn't make any sense and seems to be written around the special effects (which are even by 1980 standards unbelievable bad [except the Harryhausen Stop Motion creatures]. I mean, that movie came out after "Star Wars" or "Alien", but looks cheaper than your average 1950's b-movie schlock fest! Even the "Flash Gordon" movie from the same time period looks better!) and the actors are even worse! To be fair, if Maggie Smith or Laurence Olivier had anything interesting to do, they had probably tried to give a good performance. Sheesh, I just wasted 2 hrs with a boring mess that can only be improved by the remake! Seriously, if the remake turns out to work only on a so-bad-it's-good-level, it's already way superior to the original!
2/10 (would be 1, but the creatures were cool)
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16th
#00018 Lady In The Water (TV/1st time Viewing)
Many people tried to warn me, but I couldn't resist. And hey, it was on TV. But to be honest, it wasn't THAT bad. Was it a boring, self-important, sometimes completely nonsensical mess? Shit, yeah! I mean, cereal boxes? Really? But it all came together in a very beautiful way. Because the movie was filled with likable and entertaining characters! The stoners, the half-bodybuilder, the asshole critic and so on. Every time the movie focused on them and not on the "Narf", the movie gained a lot of entertaining value and I just loved how they all played an important role in the end. Unfortunately was Shyamalan way too up his own ass to make an entertaining fantasy comedy in the tradition of films like "Batteries Not Included" and so we spent most of the time with lots of self important and boring bla bla, that almost challenges the typical Tarantino bullshit in terms of shut-the-fuck-up-I-don't-wanna-hear-that-go-on-with-the-cool-parts-of-the-movie-if-there-are-some! Too bad. Underneath what "The Lady In The Water" is now, is a much better film buried and screams for help.
4,5/10----------
17th
#00019 Where The Truth Lies (TV/1st time Viewing)
A very good and fascinating movie, that is often a little bit too artsy for its own good. It works very good anyway, although I had a real problem at first, that three or four different characters narrated the movie within five or six different timelines. But I got pretty quick used to it, so I approve on this. It was also good to see a twist-driven movie again, where you couldn't guess every single twist as soon as the opening credits are over, although none of the twists were really THAT shocking. I just don't think that it has that much re-watch value, apart from the scenes where Lohman doesn't even wear a wet shirt. But for now, I rate it:
8/10 (10/10 if you just rate naked Lohman.)
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18th
#00020 El Orfanato (DVD/1st time Viewing)
A pretty good movie. Not very original (A spooky house with a dark past, even spookier ghost kiddies, desperate mother who believes in everything immediately, while the dad acts like a jerk and gives up way too soon...), sometimes way too obvious (
Hello, you have to play the game to find your kid! And the opening credits even give away a big hint!), not very logical (
Why does she have to play the game anyway? Can't the kids just tell her, since she can hear them anyway? I mean, they can obviously move things all around the house. Why not just write a message?And why locked sackboy her in the bathroom?) and not just a little bit disappointing in the end (
All that hullaballo because she accidently locked her son in the secret basement?), but also suffering from what "Return Of The King" has been accused by millions of morons (Yes, "El Orfanato" has SERIOUSLY too many endings and unlike ROTK, where we spent some appropriate time to say good bye to all the characters that we followed on the long journey, it felt here just tacked on.). But on the other hand it's very atmospheric (although apart from the seance scene not very scary), has some great actors, wonderful cinematography, good actors and despite all its flaws a very tight written script. So it's worth checking checking out, but don't believe the hype too much.
7/10----------
19th
#00021 Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (DVD)
It's been an awful lot of time since I saw it the last time, so I thought I should give it another shot today. I've never been one of the people who hated it with a flaming passion. Hell, I even like JarJar! Anyway, I liked it a little bit better when I saw it around 10 years ago. I still don't think that it's really bad, but it drags a lot (especially in the first half, where they waste a lot of time on Tattooine) and I noticed for the first time how little I care for all the political power play. Not too mention that even the liberal viewer that I am will never forgive Lucas for killing the two best, new characters that early in the series (Maul & Qui-Gon).
7/10 ----------
20th
#00022 Thank You For Smoking (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
A very entertaining movie, that never gets preachy (although it looked more than once like they would suddenly start to force a moral down our throats) or gets too high on being oh so political incorrect! To be honest, in the end I got no idea what the movie wanted to say. I even accuse it of doing a South Park-esque cop out ("The message is that we are too cool to pick a side"), but it doesn't feel like it wants a reward for doing this (Unlike South Park these days.). But it was plain and simple nice to see a movie, in which the asshole protagonist becomes a better man in the end, without changing that much. I think the only other movie who did that was "Bad Santa".
7,5/10----------
22nd
#00023 Full Metal Village (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
A documentary about the small German farmer village Wacken, which is once a year "invaded" by thousands of headbangers from all around the world, because a famous open air festival takes place there. Now you think it should be interesting to see how all these old village folks and farmers live with that, right? Well, it should be, but in this case it isn't. This was one of the most painfully boring documentaries I've ever seen. You just see pictures of cows and other farm animals, every few minutes some old man or woman explains how he runs his farm, some of them mention that they get along fine with the metalheads, while other mention that they get along fine with the metalheads but still suspect them of worshipping Satan. Seriously, the most interesting part during the 1st hour is when one farmer explains how he loves to sit on a chair and look at the neighbours and then suddenly a cat appears and drinks out of a milk can, while he is talking. When the headbangers finally arrive, it gets at least a little bit interesting. Mostly because some of them do their best to behave as wacky as possible.
Especially these two guys. But you would be surprised how fucking BORING this movies portrays a three days Heavy Metal Open Air festival! Seriously! If you are for any reason scared that your kids will listen one day to this "evil satan music", just show them "Full Metal Village" and they will come to the conclusion, that everything that has to do with electric guitars is the most boring thing in the world!
1/10#00024 Death At A Funeral (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Maybe just a sampler of the most popular, dark humored sitcom gags, but the actors give 100%, you can't do much wrong with stuff like "Guy took accidently a wrong pill and acts wacky" and the movie runs only around 80 minutes.
7/10----------
24th
#00025 Mazes And Monsters (TV/1st Time Viewing)
Typical 80's TV Movie cheese, but with a good Tom Hanks and an interesting concept. But if you really wanna watch a "fantasy world get way too real in someone's head" movie, watch "Heavenly Creautres" instead.
2/10----------
25th
#00026 The Oxford Murders (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
I'm a huge fan of Alex de la Iglesia, but when a creative and crazy filmmaker like him makes a movie that seems to have all signs on "Mainstream", one should be prepared for a huge disappointment. Well, "The Oxford Murders" didn't disappoint. It's without a doubt his most serious and "normal" movie, but it not just still has several moments of the typical de la Iglesia craziness (
the amputee in the hospital, the story about the perfect crime...), it even
disproved all my points of critizism, that I collected over the run of the movie in the end. There were some moments that I thought were way too far fetched, like when Elijah Wood developes out of the blue a correct theory about the m.o. of the killer, but in the end it turned out that it wasn't a plot hole, it was a hint!8,5/10
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26th
#00027 Corpse Bride (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Visually it's one of the most stunning (animated) movies of the last decade, but its biggest problem is, that there is not much going on storywise. The protagonist does most of the movie absolutely nothing and then all of a sudden just decides
to give up and drink the poisoned wine. And of course the identity of the corpse bride's killer is anything else than a surprise, but to be fair, they don't play it like a big surprise reveal anyway. But the entertainment value is pretty high. The thin script profits from the short running time and there are some moments in the last 15 minutes, that are downright hilarious. So all in all it's not a bad movie, but don't expect a second "Nightmare Before Christmas". Compared to this one, "Corpse Bride" falls pretty flat.
7/10----------
29th
#00028 Ghostbusters (DVD)
I don't think that I have to write anything about that movie. If you haven't seen it yet, shame one you. There is no fucking excuse.
10/10 (And i don't rate many movies that high!)
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31st
#00029 Ghostbusters2 (DVD)
Despite having more and bigger flaws, it's a worthy sequel. Vigo is a lame villain who does nothing and apart from the scene where the baby gets kidnapped, it lacks the scare factor of part 1. And after all these years I still can't decide if I like that they took elements from the cartoon show (Janine's & Egon's hair, Slimers change in character). It's even after the millionth time a lot of fun to watch, though. There still more hits in it than misses.
9/10----------
February06th
#00030 Tinkerbell & The Lost Treasure (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
The first Tinkerbell DTVCGI movie was forgettable fluff for little girls, but with some stunning art direction and a beautiful score. It was also watchable enough to let every man, who was forced to watch it with their daughters, nieces or younger sisters, not constantly think about suicide. The second movie was the same. Still pretty forgettable (despite an Executive Producer credit of John Lasseter), but wonderful to look at and listen to. And this time the male adult viewers will probably even think less of suicide, because the writer of the upcoming "Wanted 2" cranked up the humor level a little bit. It's not a non-stop laugh fest, but it's filled with some wonderful sight gags and silly jokes. Maybe it's just me, but I chuckled very hard when
Tinkerbell fainted, got more and more annoyed by that Zack Efron Fairy and learned a lesson about friendship from two trolls.
6,5/10----------
13th
#00031 Willow (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Well, I can see why it is the one Lucasfilms production that nobody seem to talk about. It's not as great as Star Wars or Indy, but also not nearly as bizarre and trashy as Howard The Duck. It is somewhat entertaining, but chockfull of even by 1988 standards lame fantasy cliches, hammy acting, downright cringeworthy dialogue, gaping plotholes and underdeveloped characters. Not to mention that the two "Brownies" are maybe the lamest funny sidekicks I've ever seen. But as a nice piece of 80's cheese for a Saturday morning, it works pretty well. Especially because one part of the showdown consists of
two old women wizarding, punching and strangeling the shit out of each other. Even though it has not nearly the sadistic cartoon quality of anything that Sam Raimi has ever done in this area, it's fun to look at.
7/10----------
14th
#00032 All the Queen's Men (TV/1st Time Viewing)
This movie has a very bad reputation and I can see why it didn't click for some audiences, but I gotta admit that it's apart from some very obvious flaws pretty good! It works as a small-scale WWII adventure and is despite its humorous plot not one of these movies, that make a joke out of what happened back then. It never shifts its tone as radically as "Three Kings", but to give some examples, a subplot involves a mentally ill orphan and one scene even goes so far to show how the bombing of German cities often only killed civillians! They also got the characters right. You really root for the bunch of unlikely heroes and in the last act does the movie a great job with putting them in real danger! It also has a great cast. Matt LeBlanc is surprisingly convincing as womanizing hero, Eddie Izzard is IMO funnier than in any other movie that I saw him in, the always-great Karl Markovics is a convincing Nazi-Bastard and Udo Kier totally owns this movie with his small role as horny Nazi! But the best performance gave James Cosmo, as someone who never wanted to be a hero, but just can't do anything else than do the right thing. You laugh at him, with him and don't want anything bad happen to him. Unfortunatley has Oliver Korritke, one of Germany's most sympathetic and reliable actors, not enough to do and Nicolette Krebitz is even worse than usual. Maybe the biggest flaw of the movie is its clunkyness. Something is really wrong with the flow of it and more than once it seems like a first-time-director made it. But knowing that Stephan Ruzowitzky (Anatomie, The Counterfeiters) is usually very capable, something must have gone wrong in post-production. (The DVD has also an alternative cut version, so maybe I should check this one out too.) One more negative thing is the unbelievable in-your-face score, by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the producer of "99 Luftballons". It grabs you in every scene by your hair, punches you in the throat and yells in your ear: "Can't you hear how funny/sad/heroic this is1?!"
7/10----------
15th
#00033 Accion Mutante (DVD)
It's been something like 10 or more years since I saw it. While I liked it a little bit better back then, I still think it's worth checking out. But only if you love sadistic, mysognistic and overall completely crazy movies, that don't make any sense at all! Because that's what "Accion Mutante" is. Nothing more, nothing less.
7/10 ----------
17th
#00034 Universal Soldier 2 (DVD/1st time viewing)
Really, really forgettable, except for the endfight between JCVD and Michael Jai White. I'm not an expert, but this might be JCVD's best fight ever! Even though he does nothing memorable and gets permanently upstaged by White, but hey, this is so not a bad thing! The movie feels less cinematic than part 1, mostly because it only takes place in and in front of a high tech lab that looks like a warehouse. And then there is a short scene in a stripbar. The story makes no sense. I can' t even believe that Luc Deveraux would seriously supervise the UniSol program, after everything that happened in part 1. Maybe it was a more pleasant experience that it looked like. But it even gets weirder! Apparently the new UniSols still have parts of their old personality on purpose and in the beginning, we witness how one of them tries to rape a woman. But nobody cares about it! Okay, the woman isn't very happy, but everybody treats it like the new UniSols are expected to do this! Another big problem I had, was that the almost-rapist (played by Bill Goldberg) is supposed to become Deveraux's arch-nemesis, who is always after him and tries to kill him, but then he is mostly used as comic relief. Every fight between him and JCVD end with Goldberg being defeated and making a remark about how much he hates that guy! All in all the movie feels more like a pilot for a TV series. (Not one of today's series, where every episode has a movie budget and the writers don'T try to insult the audience's intelligence. I'm talking about a TV show from the 90's.)
4/10 (and it only gets that much because of Michael Jai White!)
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20th
#00035 Talladega Nights (TV)
This one really grew on me. Although I thought that it was already very funny when I saw it for the first time a few years ago, I now think it's fucking hilarious! And it still surprises me how professional the racing scenes are shot. Seriously, that's some A+ action scenes that you have in that silly Will Ferrell comedy!
8/10#00036 Are We Done Yet? (TV/1st Time Viewing)
Harmless, but bland, mediocre and unoriginal family entertainment, with a sympathetic Ice Cube and a fucking BRILLANT John C. McGinley! Seriously, I constantly laughed throughout the movie and just because of Johnny C! It's easy to see that whoever wrote that movie, spent more time with coming up with ideas for that one character, than with anything else. (Especially because of the [unnecessary emotional] character development in the 3rd act.) And it's even easier to see that McGinley had lots of fun with playing him!
5/10 (normal rating)
8/10 (John C. McGinley improved rating!)
----------
21st
If I remember right, this was the last Adam Sandler movie, that made me laugh. Everything that came after it, wasn't that good.
7,5/10----------
27th
#00038 The Longest Yard (Remake) (TV)
In my eyes it's one of the more interesting movie failures of the 00's, It'S full of pieces that work for themself, but definitely not as a whole! At first you got this pretty serious attempt of a real remake of "The Longest Yard" and to me this is the part that works the best. It's just a nice, simple, straightforward underdog story, that is very difficult to fuck up. But even though they treat it seriously enough
to kill Chris Rock in a surprisingly drastic way, a huge part of the movie is filled with the typical Sandler-humor. Especially during the final game. So we already have two worlds colliding, but then the whole movie is filled with a modern Hip Hop Soundtrack and filmed in a Michael Bay-esque videoclip look. Another thing that works, and even makes the movie IMO worth watching, is the casting. Although I don't buy Adam Sandler as Football Star, (especially not in a surprisngly serious toned movie like this one), you also get Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan (as transvestite), Terry Crews (hilarious as always), Nelly (who is surprisngly good. Not talking Oscars or even LL Cool J niveau, but he was very likable), Nick Turturro, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Great Khali (!!!), Kevin Nash, Bill Goldberg, Brian Bosworth, Cloris Leachman, Burt Reynolds, James Cromwell and William Fichtner! You could make at least three "The Longest Yard's" out of this one movie! One faithful remake, one modern Hip Hop version for the kids, one Adam Sandler comedy. And you could even split the cast between all these three movies and still had enough left for everybody! But they tried to mix it all together and it just didn't work.
5/10----------
March04th
#00039 Land Of The Lost (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
I'm a little bit undecided about it. It's definitely NOT the stinker that many people dubbed it. It has some entertainment values, a few good jokes (although as usual many of them were given away by the trailers), beautiful cinematography. a cool Giacchino score and great production design. Oh, and Anna Friel in a tank top and very short shorts!! On the downside the script has no idea what it wants. It doesn't really work as adventure movie, it's not funny enough to fully work as comedy. The heroes encounter menace after menace, but nothing comes across really menacing. And the jokes are often surprisingly immature, but not the great kind of immaturity (is that even a word) that make Will Ferrell movies usually the most entertaining mainstream comedies these days, it's more about boob or poop jokes. I liked the movie and I can imagine that it might grow on me after a 2nd viewing, but I didn't like it enough to tell everybody around me that I liked it.
6,5/10----------
06th
#00040 The American President (TV/1st Time Viewing)
Nice, little film, that works surprisingly good as kinda-prequel to "The West Wing", if you can ignore that President Sheperd's Chief Of Staff looks eerily like later President Jed Bartlett and his girlfriend once apparently worked with Will Bailey, which nobody ever mentioned. But apart from the usual Sorkin-qualities (entertaining dialogue, powerful speeches, his ability to make dry politics look exciting) and a great cast, the movie falls pretty flat. As sympathetic as they were, I didn't really care if the president and his girlfriend stay together and/or he wins the next election. I was entertained, but I didn't care. It's some above-average fluff. Not more, not less.
6/10----------
07th
#00041 Eagle Eye (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
This could have been a much better movie if the writers had come up with anything more interesting than
the generic supercomputer-goes-wild-story, the action scenes and chases wouldn't belong to the worst and most confusing that have ever been put on film and the lead roles weren't so horrible miscast. Michelle Monaghan is cute, but can't act and while Shia LaBeouf comes at least across natural, he lacks every kind of charisma that a lead actor needs. (And his look-ma-I'm-a-big-man-facial-hair was just ridiculous.) Too bad. It had lots of potential.
6/10------------
12th
This might be John Woo's best US-movie (Fuck Face/Off! You suck!). The first half feels unfortunately like a parody (thanks to all the cheesy close-up's, slow-mo's and the unbearable saxophone score), but the second half is just great! Not just full of insane stuff like JCVD punching a snake unconcious or Wilford Brimley as wacky sidekick, it all ends in an insane shooutout-and-explosion-porn! Plus: Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo are such a fucking cool and scary villain duo! And I just love the way how Henriksen bites it in the end. Especially because of his last word! Too bad that the first half kinda drags and Yancy Butler is such an unbearable bad actress.
7,5/10----------
26th
#00043 From Beyond (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
A nice little mix of Carpenter's "The Thing" and "Hellraiser". Nothing groundbreaking and it definitely lacks the suspense and impact of the two aforementioned movies, but it's entertaining.
7/10----------
31st
#00044 District 9 (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Not bad. Entertaining, good directed, some good performances, but not nearly as great or original as many nerds and the Oscar jury say. I mean, Avatar gets still critizised for having an unoriginal story, but District 9, which starts as a normal Mockumentary, then turns into a normal man-on-the-run-from-the-government-movie, ends as a normal action movie and has the overused message that the humans are the real monsters and not the harmless, but scary looking and strange behaving dudes from outer space gets praised as the most original thing ever? And why does Avatar apparently look "exactly like a video game" but nobody complained about the fake looking robot from District 9? But I'm not saying it's a bad movie. Overrated? Fuck yeah! But only because it's been handled as the greatest SciFi masterpiece of the last decade. It's definitely one of the best, but it's no Children Of Men.
7,5/10#00045 Wickie und die starken Männer (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
A nice mix of a faithful adaptation of the cartoon show, Bud Spencer violence and the typical (although this time more family friendly) Bully-Herbig-Slapstick. Nothing special but highly unoffensive and definitely enjoyable because of its perfect cast. (99% newcomers and first-time-actors who went through a casting show to get a role in this movie.)
6,5/10#00046 The Story Of Brian (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
That's an hourlong documentary about the making of "The Life Of Brian" and the controversy it caused upon its release. It's very interesting, but I wish it wouldn't be just a DVD feature, but a "real" documentary on its own. 60 minutes just feel too short for this subject, even if they packed a lot of interesting and unseen footage into it. It's an interesting watch anyway.
8/10----------
April2nd
#00047 The Life Of Brian (DVD)
It's been more than 10 years since I saw this the last time. I still prefer "Holy Grail" because of its higher gag per minute ratio, but I think we all know how funny "Brian" is, which means that I don' have to say anything else about it.
8,5/10----------
3rd
#00048 Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (DVD)
What Vern said, plus a nice, little "Fuck you, haters" from me.
8,5/10----------
4th
#00049 Scooby Doo: Abra-Cadabra-Doo (DVD/1st time viewing)
One of the better Scooby Doo DTV movies. The mystery took a few twists and turns and the writers did a good job to make its solution not too obvious. Pretty much everytime they found a clue which made you go "Oh, so it was done, he/she must be behind it all", a few seconds later an explaination followed, why it must be someone else. Okay, that the real solution turns out to be a little bit too illogical is a slight bummer, but come on, that's one of the core elements of Scooby Doo, so it's not that it would ruin the movie. Visually the film is stunning! They changed the look of the characters back to the original designs, but of course with modern, fluid animation. Think "Scooby Doo On Zombie Island", without the obvious japanese touch. They also used a wonderful, atmospheric colour pattern, that gives the foggy nights in the woods around the old castle a seriously spooly feeling. The only real bummer is that Casey Kasem isn't the voice of Shaggy. To my own surprise they let Matthew Lillard reprise the role, but he is a much better Shaggy than whoever voiced him in "Get A Clue". He's still no Casey Kasem. All in all it was an entertaining Scooby Doo Mystery. Very old-school, without any real ghosts, and very entertaining, if you don't mind the old formula. I hope they bring back Velma's sister one day. I like her.
7,5/10----------
5th
#00050 Ninja (DVD/1st time viewing)
My first encounter with Isaac Florentine and Scott Adkins. I can see why the action fans like these guys, because the first one is a capable DTV director, who gets the max out of the limited budgets and knows how to make an action sequence look good and the last one is a very impressive fighter, who would in a different era be the star of many big budget action films. The film itself was pretty entertaining. Nothing too memorable outside of the fight scenes, but it was without a doubt an a-class DTV actioner.
7/10----------
06th
#00051 Pootie Tang (DVD/1st time viewing)
It's dumb and silly, but the good kind of dumb and silly. I just hope for a directort's cut, because it's easy to see that this movie was heavily mutilated. I mean, it run's only 68 minutes! (minus end credits)! But I liked what I saw. I liked it a lot!
8/10---------
8th
#00052 Wanted (DVD/1st time viewing)
Man, that movie tried so hard to be clever that it hurts. And not even the entertaining kind of clever. More the dead serious we-tell-you-how-much-life-sucks-and-everything-you-do-is-unimportant-cleverness. Worked great in Fight Club, did not work here. Mostly because Fight Club didn't have its head so deep in its own ass (at least not the movie) as Wanted. The most positive thing I can say about it is that it used thousands of slow motions and bullet times without pissing me off with it. And the train crash was fucking insane! But apart from that, I prefer Shoot 'Em Up, when it comes to silly over the top gunfight action movies. That one knew at least that it was silly and had no problem with letting the audience know from the beginning.
6/10----------
24th
I didn't want to watch it yesterday, but as always when it's on TV, I can't stop after just a few minutes and MUST see the whole movie. But it is such a great one! Maybe the 2nd best film of the 90's! The perfect mix of parody and hommage! A hilarious comedy and exciting space adventure with some seriously touching moments and a fucking scary villain who has absolutely nothing likable and who you just wanna see dead! And the cast is so fucking perfect! Tim Allen is so convincing as greasy has-been who becomes a hero! Alan Rickman should have gotten an Oscar nomination. Sigourney Weaver has never been funnier (and sexier)! Tony Shaloub, Darryl Mitchell, Missy Pyle, Justin Long and of course Enrico Colantoni have all so much fun. And Sam Rockwell manages to become the scene stealer in a perfect cast!I said it before and I will say it again and again: Galaxy Quest is the greatest comedy since Ghostbusters!
10//10----------
30th
#00054 Freddy Vs Jason (DVD)
I don't know, I like that movie. It does many things right. Freddy is scary and sinister again, but he didn't totally lost his comedy-persona. But when he cracks a joke, it isn't as cheesy as in most other Nightmare movies. Maybe the most over the top part is when
he plays pinball with Jason. I like that they took the titel of the movie serious (unlike Alien Vs Predator) and spent enough time on the fight between the horror icons. I like that Kelly Rowland befriends the nerd after he tells her what a bitch she is and that this leads to
maybe the first and only time in both series that the death of a character seriously makes you feel sad for him. I love the fear in Freddy's face when
he realizes that he has to fight Jason in a world that can't control. And of course because Ronny Yu sat on the director's chair, the movie looks beautiful! But there is still something missing. I don't know what it is. It should be a much better movie, but it's entertaining nonetheless.
7/10----------
May05th
I gotta admit that I liked it a little bit less than on my first viewing. I still admire it for its well made action scenes, the great cast and that it doesn't forget to have fun, despite being a movie about terrorism and war crimes. Okay, I always disliked the pretty questionable message of it ("Weapons are bad unless you make sure that only you are pulling the trigger") and never thought that the movie was that special (You gotta admit, it's a pretty run-off-the-mill superhero origin movie), but for any reason I failed to really enjoy it on my 2nd viewing.
7/10----------
10th
#00056 Never Sleep Again - The Elm Street Legacy (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
It's that 4 hrs Documentary about the whole series. Not bad, but kinda disappointing, because technically it's just a bunch of interviews, where nobody has anything really new to say. It IS pretty interesting though, like when everybody who was involved in part 2 talks about how they didn't realize its gayness when they were shooting it and the "Freddy Vs Jason" interviews have a seriously hilarious and unexpected cameo. I also love how they interview everybody they could find (Like "Girl #9"), although it's frustrating how the people who became famous (Depp, Arquette, Darabont...) didn't have the time or the will to participate in this project. At least they interview every single director, from Craven to Yu. Like I said, it doesn't add anything new but if you are a fan, you might like it.
6,5/10----------
11th
#00057 Pandorum (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
The first 40 minutes of this movie are mybe not the most original, but nonetheless AWESOME! Since "The Descent" I haven't felt so claustrophobic, just from watching someone crawling through small spaces. But as soon as the Space Orks appear, it becomes an even less original, but still very good starship horror movie, with some dots of a crazy ass psychological thriller. My biggest problem with it might be the visual side of it. The whole movie is so dark and some scenes are so horribly edited, that I had more than once no idea what just happened. But apart from that, I approve.
7,5/10----------
14th
#00058 High Noon (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Trying to fill some gaps in my movie knowledge by watching classic films of my second last favorite movie genre, starting with "High Noon". A very good movie with a damn fine cast (Larry Talbot!!!)! The biggest surprise is maybe that it doesn't get boring, although it's technically only about a man who walks from house to house and asks his friends and neighbours to help him out. But you just feel the sadness and anger with every rejection he gets. But the movie also has a surprisingly gripping payoff, which
is not the saccharine filled, all american sweet apple pie we-changed-our-minds-and-stand-by-your-side happy ending that I expected. Okay, it ends pretty well, but y'know, the betrayal was still there and how the Sherrif and his wife just leave without looking back, says a lot.8/10#00059 Dude, Where's My Car? (DVD)
One of my Top 3 comedies of the last decade. It delivers everything "The Hangover" promised, but with that one last inch of creative silliness that the other movie was lacking. And Brent Spiner is much, much, much funnier than Mike Tyson!
9/10 ----------
25th
#00060 The Magic Roundabout (DVD/ 1st Viewing)
My sister brought my attention towards this british/french CGI animated movie. It was okay, although they didn't explain any of the character relationships to viewers who never had anything to do with the franchise before. (Apparently this is based on an old french stop motion show from the 60's, which became even more popular in its british dubbed version and Idon't know if the new CGI series was made before or after this movie) So I had no idea what was up with the creepy looking kids that lived together with these crazy animals or the magic Jack in the box without the box who apparently saves your day when you say his name three times. Or what was so magic about the magic roundabout, because it never did anything magical, apart from one thing in the end, which to me seemed to be caused by the magic diamonds that were the McGuffin of this movie and would've worked without the roundabout anyway. You also shouldn't expect an epic adventure story, because the story is kept pretty simple and kid friendly. From time to they put in some weird popculture references that would even make early Dreamworks Animation feel ashamed (A Pulp Fiction quote during a scene that is supposed to be sad? Really?) and add a drug joke (!) or two. The best parts of this movie are seriously the animation (not as detailed or breathtaking as Pixar, but fluid and colourful) and the voice acting. The cast contains names like Ian McKellen, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Tom Baker or Ray Winstone, but the real standout performance comes from...Robbie Williams! Usually when a singer (or other celebrities without acting experiences) take on a voice acting role, it turns ugly for everybody, but Robbie does a VERY good job as sugar addicted, cowardly, shaggy dog with a heart of gold. He goes even so far and tries to not sound like Robbie Williams, which I'm sure gave the advertising department a huge headache. Anyway, I think I would have LOVED that movie as a kid, but as an adult with the ability of enjoying simple kids movie, I was just mildly entertained without getting bored.
6,5/10----------
31st
#00061 Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (DVD/1st Viewing)
I heard lots of great stuff about it, but NOTHING prepeared me for the awesomness of this masterpiece of animated comedy. I shit you not, over the last 10 years have many animated movies tried to be "just" comedies instead of epic fairy tales or stuff like that, but most of them failed or were missing the last, final piece of inspiration that would have made them unforgettable. I think the best were "The Emperor's New Groove", the first "Shrek" (even if it's today hip to not admit it) and the first 2/3 of "Meet The Robinsons". But Sony Animated Pictures hits a homerun with "Cloudy". Seriously, the gags are downright hysterical (Especially the snowballfight and the
rat birds), the disaster is fucking spectacular, the adventure is exciting, the heart isn't too sappy and they didn't forget the most important rule of a small town comedy: Give the supporting citizens personality and make the audience care for them. Yes, I highly recommend this movie.
8,5/10#00062 The Princess & The Frog (DVD/1st Viewing)
Another positive surprise, although i didn't like it nearly as much as "Cloudy". The trailers made it look like a desperate try to earn some money with the same old formula that worked great in the early 90's, but became worn out and tired in the late 90's. And the idea of havin a black Disney Princess seemed to be nothing but a lame attempt of political correctess. But to my own surprise they not just variied the formula enough to make it entertaining (Vern's blues/slasher movie analogy comes to my mind), even the choice of the protagonist's ethnicity was more inspired than expected. (Although of course Racism doesn't exist in Disney's version of 1920's America and the only comparable conflict is lower Vs. upper class. And even that one happens in only one scene.). To see a Disney movie that takes place in a somehow real world, where the "princess" is a normal girl, who has to work her normal ass off to live her normal life and fulfill her dream, which is NOT finding Mr Right, was a huge surprise and worked great. And while I loathed the thought of the return of the animated musical, they also varied this formula enough to not give us some sappy ballads, but energetic Jazz songs instead. Okay, as soon as Tiara is turned into a frog too, the film gets more conventional but even then they have some nice surprises. Maybe the biggest one is
that one of the typical comic relief sidekicks gets murdered (!!!) in such a cold blooded way, that it would make Don Bluth get a boner. Okay, unfortunately the death of this character leads to a pretty corny and predicatble good bye scene, but you must be a stone cold bastard if you don't have at least one single tear in your eye. But as much as they tried to tweak the formula and surprise us from time to time, there is one thing that I just don't get: I can understand that Naveen (prince turned frog) falls in love with Tiara (hard working girl heroine who becomes a frog too), because she is smart, charming and has a good heart. I just don't get why Tiara falls in love with Naveen! Yes, he is not the douchebag that he seems to be at first, but even if she learns to know him a little bit better during the frog adventure, he just gets a little bit nicer and less douchy. Nothing to fall in love with head over heels as she does. But whatever. I should mention that the villain ruled! Not just because he is such a cold blooded bastard, but also the gimmick with his shadow is so damn cool executed. But my favourite character might be Tiara's best friend, because she made me smile almost whenever she was on screen. She seems like a parody of Paris Hilton and other spoiled rich brats of our time, but with the difference that despite her constant "DADDY!! BUY ME THIS! BUY ME THAT! I WANT. I WANT, I WANT!", she has a good heart and would never do anything to hurt her friends. Anyway, while "The Princess & The Frog" is a well made Disney musical with some original twists and surprises, it didn't won me over complete. Because after all, it was just the same old formula, that became such a tired cliche that people don't even make fun of it anymore. But it's enjoyble nonetheless.
7,5/10To be continued