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mabuse786
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Pacific Rim (2013)
Guillermo del Torro - you did excellent!
I don't want to write much more but you did it excellent, for a Kaiju and giant robot fan. Thank you very much.
One of the best movies I know, besides Godzilla, King of Monsters but Pacific Rim is better. Just to say this.
Looking forward to more of you!
Die kleine Hexe (2018)
Excellent movie, excellent acting
If you don't know this, the writer of the book is famous in Germany /Europe. The book of the little witch is famous in Europe and may be also in the US.
However, this movie -a Swiss German production - is great, I really enjoyed it and Karoline Herfurth is close to brilliant in the role of the little witch and Swiss Mike Schaerer is really excellent in directing the film. The settings are enchanting, CGI is very good but not perfect and if you look at Otfried Preußler's message at the end of the movie, I found it is not only for kids.
Enjoyable movie for the whole family.
Wakusei daikaijû Negadon (2005)
Great approach to the Kaiju genre
I fully enjoyed this movie and just stumbled over it by renting it. I think it's a small gem. I had the feeling it is made with great love and understanding of the Kaiju genre and it is full of small and also bigger citations of this movie genre. Even it is nearly 24 minutes short - without the credits, it tells a complete story. Desperate scientist lost his daughter by accident during an experiment and fights against the space monster and looses his life during the battle. The monster is all new but also familiar as is the whole scenery of the movie. It takes place in 2025 but is full of references and anachronisms to the 50s and 60s. An all new movie featuring some great ideas but breathing every second the feeling of the 'old' movies. Wonderful but only something for real fans. But if you are a fan, you will love this movie.
Qi jian (2005)
WOW - is it Star Wars???
I mean I am really flattered by this movie. I bow in front of Hark Tsui who did IMO a real EPIC movie! The four hour version would have been definitely better, however, the 153 minutes version give you an impression. In my understanding the love story could have been a lot more extensive than it is in the move. The martial arts part is just overwhelming! I have never seen anything like this before and I saw some - I guess some people know better. This is really a great movie, which stole from other movies, however, it stays unique and is no copy. Hark Tsui, if you read this and the studio, please give us the 4 hours directors cut! For me especially the scenes with the meteroites on mount heaven lacked a lot of story building. Highly recommended movie for the Asian and Star Wars movie fan.
Samurai 7 (2004)
It' all about the rice...
This is an intelligent adaption of 'The seven Samurai' as Anime. Yes, it is a typical Anime with comic elements but beautifully told and crafted excellent from cinematographic point of view. The story is never boring over all 26 episodes so it keeps you watching until the end. I found myself yearning for the next episode just to find out how the story continues and was never disappointed. Enterntaining, sometimes funny and sometimes sad, that's how a good drama should be. The character development is excellent and because you have the seven main characters plus some side-kicks, there are enough interesting things which can be told about these characters for 26 episodes. Each episode, something new is revealed about the characters in a natural way, which fits excellent to the development of the story. It is the theme of 'The seven Samurai' and the only movie, I know of, which got approval from Kurosawa's family. However, I would say, loosely based on. There is some small love story but the most impressive parts are epic fights taking place in huge battle scenarios with thousands of robots and huge battle castles - at the climax of the story towards the end. The story itself circles around 'RICE'. This is the main element the Samurai fight for. It is also about oppression from the leaders and their political games between robot Samurai, rice farmers and the land lords. This is the setting for the story about the farmers, trying to get help from jobless Samurais - after the big wars have ended - to fight against the oppression of the 'Lord of the heaven' and their relation with the salesmen, taking the rice from the farmers with force. I can highly recommend to watch it and you will see - It's all about the rice.
The Illusionist (2006)
This movie is truly beautiful
I really enjoyed watching this movie. I can't understand, why others are criticizing the end or writing it has a 'too obvious twist' at the end. Hard to understand. It is really beautifully made and Paul Giamatti is for me the real star of the movie. His performance is -IMO - over the top! Edward Norton, Jessica Biel and especially Rufus Sewell are acting excellent! I highly recommend to watch the movie. The photography is really like a piece of art and enhances the story by the pictures. The movie has that kind of story telling, most people miss so often in 'Hollywood movies'. This is a very refreshing and wonderful movie with a beautiful and in my understanding very consistent and good story telling - forget some flaws maybe; haven't we watched 'deep s***' this year concerning stories? Go, watch it and enjoy!
Judge Dredd (1995)
One of my all-time favorites
Well, I voted for the 'Return of the King' for a full ten - now you may ask, why I vote 8 for this movie? This is easily 'chewable' popcorn cinema at it's best. If you like Sci Fi, as I do, this is for you. This movie offers you a bunch of ideas about the future, Sylvester Stallone is really funny but the cast is great and believable. Don't forget, this is a comic adaptation and people act like this. It's a real fun movie and I often quote in real life: 'I knew, you would say that'. Ha, this movie is cool, intelligent and has an excellent and entertaining story. What else do you want? It is not serious about itself but like 'Fifth element' or 'Tiger and Dragon' it's just fun to watch. And it doesn't bore you, even you watched it five times. Just give it a try. 4.5 is really too low IMO.
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
Entertaining and educational
I found this movie - as non US citizen - very entertaining from the interesting film making point of view - interesting mixture of BW and color and 'aged' color photography as well as a solid story giving an interesting insight into the social live in the US in the 50ies. I was really stunned by the performance of Gretchen Mol, I never saw before. Her expressions and how she is playing the character of Bettie Page is excellent. The other actors are also very good and congratulations to the casting department who did IMO an excellent job for this movie. Everybody is believable in her/his role and I really enjoyed watching it. The story doesn't go too deep but is very solid and has IMO no flaws. Very good movie, excellent acting by Gretchen Mol and her co-actors. Beware of some full female nudity in this movie. However, this movie never comes even close to porn, according todays standards. The movie itself deserves 6 stars IMO but the acting of Gretchen Mol, raises it to 8. See for yourself.
Slither (2006)
Got the controversy
First of all, this movie is like SOAP. I mean it seems to be a fashion to do somehow so called horror movies today, with a twist. The twist is, you put in all the classics from 50ies, 60ies, 70ise, 80ies and 90ies, mix it up and make a movie our of it. OK, I admit, this is some kind of brain-work you have to do. I understand, that people were not laughing about this movie, because they don't know the 'chain'. Giant Tarantula, The day the earth stood still, Attack from outer space, the blob, X-Files and much more. If you haven't seen this, you won't understand the movie and there may be nothing for you to 'laugh' because it is just another 'scary movie'. However, this movies is full of citations of other movies. Now comes the good part, IMO the writers and directors did an excellent job in combining all these citing and made a modern and new mixture out of it. Also, the acting should not go unmentioned, there are really good actors in this movie, believable and very much OK for me. Please watch the movies I mentioned plus some more in this direction before your watch this movie and I believe, you will understand and laugh like me. However, this is a very interesting direction of US cinema. I would strongly recommend you as I wrote and then you can really enjoy this movie. RFM or what? :-)
Snakes on a Plane (2006)
This movie is full of clichés
I haven't seen a movie worse than this for a long time. Everything is predictable and it is full of clichés. The 747 interior is completely nonsense, the cockpit is much smaller and there is no 'basement' under the cockpit, because it is on the second floor and there are passengers under the cockpit. There are triple backup systems on a plane and I doubt that a single snake can destroy the avionics and cause some 'flashy' shortcuts. I mean this movie is this unbelievable, that it really sucks - how can a snake go from cargo bay (this is down) through some vents on top of the passenger area? YET, the interaction between the actors is really good and Samuel L. Jackson does IMO a very good and believable job. However, all these snake killings are just dumb and not realistic for me and add nothing to the 'possible' drama depicted. The CGI is much worse than e.g. in Lost. Not my choice of movie, somehow gore, somehow funny but completely unbelievable for me. More than 5 is a heavy misinterpretation of the movie IMO. But sure, it is funny and somehow entertaining.
Kaitei gunkan (1963)
My favorite Honda movie
This movie is unbelievably good - regarding the time it was made. The SFX are really spectacular and everything looks visionary and good. Sure you can see that their capabilities were limited and they worked with drawings or matte paintings which is also well visible. But the story is quite straight forward and contains no flaws. YES, there is a story. The movie focuses on the post WW II world of Japan and how it changed from the end of the war until the mid sixties. It also discusses the issue of war orphans and interweaves it with the story of a - presumably - lost captain who handed his daughter over to his former admiral, she works now for. The 'lost captain' secretly build a hidden base where he has constructed the ultimate submarine to be used to restore 'Japans glory' after the lost war. But his former admiral and his now adult daughter can change his mind to fight for the world against the thread of the MU people - something like Atlantis, just located in the Pacific. As you may notice, this is pretty much of a story, you might not expect with such kind of movie. The movie also lives from many atmospheric shots on the tropic island. Don't forget, this movie was made during the sixties. I own the DVD from Tokyo Shock and I can only recommend it, transfer and sound are very good for an over 40 years old movie. For people interested in this kind of story plus some SF action, I can highly recommend this movie.
Batalla en el cielo (2005)
A disturbing movie and very 'Catholic'
Well, I felt watching this movie that it is sometimes very pathetic and in the same way very Catholic or 'fundamentalistic' in any sense of believing. However, it was interesting to watch for me until Marcos kills his real love. This scene wasn't real for me at all and I couldn't understand this scene except for throwing in Catholic believes. However, the movie tries to be 'shocking' by it's explicit sex scenes - which are just one thing: REAL. I would summarize this movie as 'One guy fells in love with the one he took care since she was a baby and is lost in his daily live'. This means he doesn't have so many emotions for his family any more and his love for the 'strange women' becomes stronger and stronger and he adores her. At th end, he knows he did something or many things wrong and kills himself by going on a pilgrimage. It's worth to watch you, because it let's you dive into a unique and different world. At the end, it didn't tell me very much about life but it gives you a different angle of view.
Ultraviolet (2006)
Why ís this movie so heavily underrated???
I don't get it. Just watched the movie today and hell - it's good. It is not this bad as many people quote here. I am reminded to Domino, which also had very bad critics. I believe, this is the future and most people just don't understand or see it. The movie is just good, contains a lot of original ideas and is in my understanding much better than The Island e.g. For a decent SciFi flick, this movie rocks and kept me very well unmaintained until the end. Sure, the CG is sometimes bad, but I see this as a concept for the adaptation of the comic to the big screen. People, don't be so single minded, be more open minded and may be you will also understand the concept behind it. However, Milla is surely a sight in this movie, the action is awesome. First I thought, are we back to sword fights but if this a Japanese anime, everything starts to make sense. Just think about it.
Shopgirl (2005)
It's a screen gem I never expected from Steve Martin
WOW, I just watched the movie and it is so deep in it's emotions. I have to say, that I completely agree with Steve Martin's point of view. This is a wonderful movie and it deserves lots of Oscar's for the acting, the story and the movie itself. I felt really touched watching the movie, because it reflects in most parts my own findings about life. Wow, that I would be able to watch such kind of acting in my life once, makes me really shiver. Claire Danes is marvelous - haven't seen this kind of performance for a very long time. Jason Schwartzman is a really great actor and I would like to extend the gratuities to Steve Martin. I know his former movies but he became adult - overwhelmingly good. I bow my head in front of Steve Martin for the movie-making, his own acting and especially the story. WOW, great stuff for those who know about life. Not exactly for the youngsters but I understand. The whole movie is slow paced but it got a pace of it's own. I highly recommend to watch it and don't be fooled by it's slow pace - everything is right in this movie. For my opinion a real masterpiece. Thank you Steve Martin and you really changed for good! Thank you.
Netto (2005)
A very nice movie about the 'real world' in Berlin, Germany
I saw this movie and it kept me interested until the end. For me it was a picture about the real life in Berlin, the formerly East/West divided city and some of the problems occurred after reunification made it into the movie. The movie tells the story of a typical family where the wife (former East) left the husband (former East) for another guy from the former West who is offering her more security for her life and she becomes pregnant from this new guy. Their nearly adult son is fleeing this new 'nest' the mother and her new boyfriend are setting up for their new relationship. Thus their son flees to his real father who is living in a typical Berlin environment. The end of this movie leaves everything open, so it seems to me that it is only showing a snapshot of the live of ordinary people living in this special situation in Berlin. What I liked most, is how the film catches the real life situation in Berlin. I lived in Berlin for 17 years and can only say: Well done. Also the camera is sometimes out of focus and showing the actors sometimes from unusual angles, like half of the face in a closeup. But this helps to transport the emotional point to the viewer - at least that was my impression. Also the movie was filmed at least in some parts using a free hand camera and no tripod. I also found that this helps to strengthen the emotional transport of the respective situation to the viewer. Well, my summary about the film is, you see an interesting story, new interesting movie-making and craft - well, a very good film I can recommend to watch - if you can, because I don't know, if this movie is subtitle and I believe it is only available in German.
Gamera 2: Region shurai (1995)
Well, very slow paced but sometimes stunning
Just bought the movie at Amazon.com and found I am divided. Somehow it could have been an interesting movie but somehow it isn't. The female actresses are nearly totally 'emotionless' in their acting, some scenes are funny, like the generals - administrating the attack on the legion - sitting there like samurai on the floor, name signs at their side, first, second and third commander in rank - my Japanese wife was grinning when she saw it ;-). However, the whole movie is really slow paced and gets only fast and furious in SOME fighting scenes. The basic plot of the movie is that an obvious meteorite - which is in fact the legion - lands on earth but the meteorite leaves no trace and is gone. Alien legion builds in subway habitat and giant 'flower' grows through and of top of high rise building. The intention is too shot spores into space. OK, some soldiers die, Gamera comes and destroys center of Sapporo city and the same happens again in Sendai city where the whole city is destroyed in a nuclear like explosion. Gamera attacks a big legion monster - there is a big one and a 'swarm' of smaller legion monsters and is somehow beaten and somehow dead - as usual. Then final show down near Tokyo, the humans invent a signal to attract the swarm - the only fresh idea in the movie - and kill the smaller swarm monsters by tank breaking helicopters - very inventive. There are no super weapons, only tanks, fighter planes and usual military equipment. Gamera gets at the end super charged by some worldwide imaginary force and can kill the big legion monster. The CG is remarkable at some times - remember the film was made in 1996. IMHO Does not beat Godzilla movies but worth to watch it.
m
Alles auf Zucker! (2004)
One hell of a movie
This movie is really great. I fully enjoyed it and it was fun and gives you an idea of what the Jewsish community would have added to German society if they would not have been killed during the Holocaust. This is a sad thing and I say that as a German. I love to see what light hearted story Dani Levy made and it's really excellent actresses and actors. This movie is entertaining, easy to watch but has it's twists. Personally I really admire the screenplay of the actresses and actord -it is really wonderful and sets up a 'believable' environment for the movie. The fight between the brothers is also very noticeable.