bruno04 Reviews

Sommer (2008)

Bad, foreseeable, forgettable

[1/10 · 23 August 2008]

This must be one of the lamest movies I've ever seen. It's really bad.

I can't say anything good about most of the actors. The guy playing the main character fails to produce a credible portrayal. I wonder, why he was chosen for this rather big role. He just stands around, or smiles, or looks awkwardly, or kisses the girl. And this is it. Definitely not enough, I'd say. Unfortunately also many of his fellow actors don't display the kind of talent you're looking for when watching a movie on the big screen.

The storyline is a mishmash of the usual stuff you get to see when watching your favorite soap opera. Really everything is foreseeable. There wasn't even the smallest new idea that would create a surprise. Then there were some very bizarre ideas. For example towards the end the filmmakers came up with jellyfish. The problem is that the story takes place on a small island in Europe's North Sea. And of course there are no jellyfish in the rather cold North Sea.

The director should have tried to improve this movie. Maybe he should have insisted on some heavy cuts. In my opinion version that runs for approximately half an hour should be feasible.

I'll try and forget "Sommer". And wait for the next, hopefully better German movie.

Rabbit Without Ears (2007)

Nice beginning, lame ending - and Nora Tschirner should have kept her clothes on

[5/10 · 18 December 2007]

Achtung, this is a German comedy! Well, actually the movie is a lot better than what I expected (I painfully remember sitting through a few boring German comedies... Ja!).

The film's first third is very promising - unfortunately there are two other thirds which lack imagination and creativity. Especially the last third is more than lame. The movie makers obviously had used up all of their ideas before.

Til Schweiger proves to be a reliable and sympathetic actor. But he should do something about his voice. He would do himself a favor if he managed to lower it a little bit and get more melody into his way of speaking.

They say that Nora Tschirner is one of Germany's most popular young actresses. I can understand that. She delivers a convincing portrayal of an erotically retarded young woman whose seductive aura equals zero. What I didn't understand was the reason why she has to do two brief, totally superfluous nude scenes. What we get to see is really not that remarkable. At the same time, the bare chest easily destroys some of the ambiguity that Tschirner tries to put into her character.

In short: Enjoy the clever beginning, but prepare for an unsatisfying ending enriched with some clichés.

Heaven on Earth (1935)

Fine Austrian Comedy

[8/10 · 18 November 2007]

This is a prime example of the wonderful Austrian comedies that were produced before the country was taken over by Nazi Germany in 1938. Though not quite as witty and touching as Henry Koster's comedies made in Vienna around the same time this movie combines a hilarious story line with human warmth. It reflects a period when Europe was still suffering the consequences of the deep economic crisis in the early 1930s. Therefore money was easily confounded with happiness. Emo's comedy tries to show that there is more to life than just financial security. At the same time the film's rather implausible operetta ending proves that in real life things definitely can be more difficult to achieve than on the silver screen.

Aside from Emo's usually reliable directing skills it's the actors that move this superb comedy to a higher level. The great Hans Moser excels in a magnificent cast that includes the inimitable Adele Sandrock, Hermann Thimig, Lizzi Holzschuh, and Heinz Rühmann. Theo Lingen and Rudolf Carl provide for some terrific comedic moments.

The film was produced by Oskar Glück and his Projektograph production company. His work sadly ended when Nazi Germany annexed Austria and Austrian Jews were persecuted. Which retrospectively gives this comedy a tragic aftertaste. Robert Stolz whose charming waltz accompanies the story was more blissed: Being a strong opposer of the Nazis he emigrated to the United States and returned to his native Austria only after the war and the horrors of the Nazi regime had finally ended.

Beowulf (2007)

Dull and soulless

[3/10 · 12 November 2007]

I can't believe that Robert Zemeckis did actually direct "Beowulf". Of course Zemeckis has never been a cinematic genius like Spielberg or Cameron or Lucas, but he was always reliable and imaginative. If anybody during claimed that Zemecki had been asleep during the making of this movie I'd believe it immediately.

Because "Beowulf" is a prime example of a dull movie. It's incredibly kitschy and presents a cruelly simplified rendering of an old myth. The so-called characters are as lively and appealing as wax figures. Others seem to made of plastic. Thus they they completely fail to evoke any emotions - or at least not the emotions desired by the filmmakers. Watching those unbearable digital equivalents of Anthony Hopkins, Crispin Glover, John Malkovich, or Angelina Jolie with their soulless eyes is painful. I would have preferred to see the Simpsons in this movie rather than those digitally generated caricatures.

Yes, there is some interesting camera work, some nice scenery, some clever idea. Which doesn't save this movie for me at all. Not to mention Alan Silvestri's score that I found quite tough to endure.

Contempt (1963)

One of the most beautiful films of all times

[10/10 · 1 September 2007]

The beautiful music by Georges Delerue. Possibly the most beautiful music ever written for a film.

The beautiful cast: Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance. Watching how European cult actress Brigitte Bardot interacts with Piccoli and Palance is simply fascinating.

The beautiful supporting actor: the legendary Fritz Lang. Listen to the original and his Viennese French.

The beautiful photography by Raoul Coutard. Widescreen at its best. One of the greatest widescreen movies of all times. Truly fascinating.

The beautiful "Casa Malaparte" in Capri.

Beauty. That is what this stunning film by Jean-Luc Godard deals with. If you want to experience what beauty is about watch this movie. And then you will know.

Schamlos (1968)

Irrelevant Amateurism

[1/10 · 31 August 2007]

Yes, this is a terrible movie.

Is it so terrible that it could be looked upon as great?

I contemplated on that.

But I would say no. It is just a terrible movie. Terrible directing, terrible script, terrible acting, terrible... well, terrible anything.

Trying to make an Austrian exploitation movie was a very good idea. And if I'm not wrong Eddy Saller's "Geissel des Fleisches" starring the unforgettable Herbert Fux was interesting. Or at least that's what my memory tells me.

But "Schamlos" is just bad. Meaning that the filmmakers were not able to produce anything that strikes you visually. So this movie is not about exploitation. It is about the lack of talent to create exploitation.

And that is why this movie is so disappointing. It seems as if complete amateurs tried to make a feature film. I like trash and exploitation movies.

But, please, go for Italian, French, British or German trash films. And don't bother yourself by wasting time on watching this example of irrelevant amateurism.

Because quite obviously the Austrian wannabee trash director didn't even try to produce an Austrian trash movie. Otherwise Vienna or any other Austrian city should have been the setting. No, what you see are Viennese streets, but the movie pretends to take place somewhere in Germany.

Ridiculous. At the best.

Die Fledermaus (1962)

The destruction of a piece of art

[2/10 · 11 August 2007]

Actually "Die Fledermaus" is a wonderful operetta by Johann Strauß. The work of a musical genius, with unforgettable melodies.

It really would have deserved a good director. Just like Lehár's "Die lustige Witwe" was turned into a congenial movie by the great Ernst Lubitsch ("The Merry Widow").

But what we have here is a cinematic disaster. It's useless to think about the art of photography or lighting or editing. You won't find any of that in this movie. It was made as if no D. W. Griffiths or Alfred Hitchcock or Josef von Sternberg or Lubitsch or Busby Berkeley or Vincente Minnelli had ever existed. The total lack of knowledge about what film means is astonishing and annoying.

If anybody claimed that the director and the whole crew had been asleep during the making of "Die Fledermaus" I would go for it immediately.

Even worse is the fact that the original musical and its richness was destroyed by a simplified and very silly arrangement adding elements of German Swing and Schlager (!). Even new and very bad songs were introduced. Terrible, just terrible. Obviously this was done by the Austrian producers to please the audience in neighboring Germany where they probably hoped to earn more money than in Austria alone. It remains inexcusable.

And the opportunity to document the inimitable Hans Moser's rendering of one of his legendary performances - as prison official Frosch, that is - was completely missed. Instead the character was reduced to a caricature. And Moser got wasted in this uncreative mess and even had to participate in a very dull musical number. One can't help but feel pity for him.

The rest of the cast consists of some well known actors which on other occasions have shown their talent. But here nobody acts convincingly. It is not even routine that the actors are providing but plain non-acting.

The whole movie could be dismissed as a parody of "Die Fledermaus". But it is definitely not a parody. It is the destruction of a piece of art. And as it has no subtlety and is not at all interested in atmosphere this movie can't even looked upon as campy. It is just a bad, boring movie that makes you wondering why on earth it was produced to start with.

Then why two stars and not just one? Because at least one gets the feeling that the filmmakers did not pretend to produce an important cinematic masterpiece. This sincerity shouldn't go unrewarded.

Evan Almighty (2007)

A movie like a politician - don't get yourself a family...

[2/10 · 9 August 2007]

OMG, this movie is surprisingly boring! And I am dead certain that "Evan Almighty" could have been much better.

It could have been a witty comedy about Washington, a political freshman, about intrigues on the hill, about religious fantasies, about a cracking family... It could have been if the producers had not decided to make a so-called "family movie" (in general, that's the term used for movies intended to entertain practically everyone, even intellectually underprivileged members of the audience).

And the result is a movie that wants to please everyone. A movie like a politician in Washington. And therefore as funny and thrilling as a congressional debate.

Hmmm, "family movies". Does that mean that when I have a family I am obliged to watch movies like this one on a regular basis?

In this case I'd rather not have a family.

Perfect Stranger (2007)

Weak and disappointing

[3/10 · 11 April 2007]

What in the world has happened to Halle Berry? Can't she act any more? Judging from this movie I'd say: Yes - she can't... And Bruce Willis is ... well, he's Bruce Willis. And why does she have to participate in a mediocre thriller like this one? Because it is very mediocre. The beginning is quite promising, and I was ready for a nice, clean thriller. But what followed was like a bad version of some Michael Crichton novel. Oh, and the filmmakers filmed three different endings to the film, each with a different character as the killer? Then they must have chosen the worst ending. The film is not creative, not inventive, implausible, sometimes ridiculous. No, it's not a disaster. But a major disappointment.