3 Months of Movies (VII)
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The Daniel Quinn Files: Ishmael (4)
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We’re zooming in more on the idea of why our culture sees itself the way it does and which consequences this has. Let’s just say, we’re not jellyfish.
Read MoreSleepaway Camp (1983)
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(spoilers ahead)
Sleepaway Camp is a perfect bad movie. It’s so ridiculous in anything it is doing that it is a constant joy to watch (if you enjoy bad movies of course). The acting is over the top or non-existent, every aspect of filmmaking is weird and the story doesn’t make any sense. But it’s fun! It’s a classic slasher movie with silly death scenes and the most logic-free plot you can imagine. On top of it all, the movie is incredibly sexist (in many ways) all the way to the insane ending. It is really incredible that this movie was a success and seemingly is still remembered fondly by people who saw it in the 80s. But there is nothing better for listening to funny people talk about it.
Read MoreHere's My Future (1)
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In Here’s My Future I’m talking about my transfer from a traditional school after seven years to an integrated, more alternative school and all the changes that this change brings for my profession.
This is something I had wanted to do for a while and couldn’t because it wasn’t official, but now I don’t know how to start. I have been writing critically about school very often and made it clear that I have some issues with the school I am working at right now. So, after spending a lot of (too much) time considering my situation, I decided to leave my school and find something else. This will happen soon now and I thought this is a good opportunity to first talk about the whys and whats and to continually document the changes and challenges I will encounter in the coming weeks and months, if only to process myself what is happening now. But maybe this is interesting to others to, so join me in taking a leap of faith into new territory.
Read MoreThe Revenant (2015)
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The Revenant is a breath-taking movie, a visceral experience that not many movies can provide and while it may not be super-deep (as some critics accuse it to be), it resonated deeply with me on a pure emotional and symbolic level. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a great performance, but then he always does, so a real surprise for me was Tom Hardy. His performance is impressive in the many layers he finds for his character and put him on my radar (where DiCaprio has been for a while already). But no review could ignore the director Alejandro González Iñárritu because the movie is really noteworthy for its amazing filming style. The incredible long takes, the beautiful shots of snow and forests and mountains and horizons, the savageness of many scenes and at the same time the courage to analyze how we depict others as savages. Emmanuel Lubezki must be one of the greatest cinematographers of our time and he would just with this movie and Children of Men alone (and I loved the similarities like the blood on the lenses). The score by Ryuichi Sakamoto (and many others) is great, even the visual effects work quite well for such a seemingly naturalistic movie. I loved it and wasn’t bored for a second of its 152 minutes, even if not that much happens.
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Honig im Kopf (2014)
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Honig im Kopf, the most successful German movie of 2014, is a bit of a mess, trying to mix the trademarks of Til Schweiger’s other successes with a “serious” topic like dementia. One of the many problems of this movie is that few of these trademarks really work outside a pure comedy, neither the over-the-top slapstick nor the exaggerated characters nor his daughter’s weak acting nor the misogyny. Sure, Dieter Hallervorden’s acting is a pleasant surprise but the movie is working against him wherever it can. From the toilet jokes to the showcasing of guest actors to the insistence on songs with charts potential. But there is nothing that compares with the editing. The movie is easily one of the worst edited movies I have ever seen, coming close to real trash like Birdemic. How this happened is a total mystery to me. How anyone could have approved that and what the purpose was supposed to be, to have conversations with 1-second-takes, is totally baffling. It is a movie that annoys me the more I think about it.
Read MoreLast Year's Man: Looking Back at 2015
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Welcome back to my annual series of looking back at the last year. For the second time. A time for reminiscence and lists. Happy new year!
Read MoreJoy (2015)
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(spoilers!)
Joy is simply and shortly disappointing. It’s always a problem if you have really high expectations for a movie, any movie, but how could you not with these names attached? With two movies as great as Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle preceding them? But Joy never lives up to those energetic miracles and it’s hard to pin down what its problem is. It is incoherent in its mood, its message, its style. It wants too much and doesn’t know what it wants at the same time. Jennifer Lawrence is as amazing as she can be and even in bad movies I’d never get tired of watching her act. But this movie doesn’t work and it’s worse as failed potential than as an actual movie. Some of the acting by some actors is cringeworthy, the whole soap opera framing device is as dysfunctional as it is suddenly discarded and the structure of the script never achieves any kind of flow that this movie needs. The narration seems off, the ending is frustrating and Bradley Cooper’s role almost not necessary. Despite all of these (and many other) flaws, the movie is a collection of good parts that never add up. It’s one of the worst kinds of movies, the well-intended, ambitious mess that is worse because it could have been so good.
Read MorePoster of a Girl: The Joy of Jen
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Wow, I haven’t taken a current look at movie posters since March (outside of theme weeks that is). Considering that this is one of the simplest articles to write for me, this is kind of surprising. Anyway, here we go again.
Read MoreStar Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
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(spoilers ahead!)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a really good movie. It has enough nostalgia to keep everyone happy who knows the world enough to enjoy it but delivers many new ideas to hold newcomers’ attention too. Especially the first half is extremely entertaining and well-written and while the movie slags a little bit (just a little) in its second half, it still never gets boring for a second. I was really impressed by the acting, especially the two new leads, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, while I’m still not so sure about Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. There was at least one amazing long take that made me want to cheer along with Finn (Boyega) and overall J.J. Abrams’ directing was more than solid. I’m probably the most in love with John Williams’ score which is simply beautiful. I can’t really say anything bad about the movie. It’s endearing and enjoyable and fun while also being tragic. Coming out of the theater, I felt like watching it again, which doesn’t happen so often.
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A Series of Series: Jessica Jones, Episode 7-9
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Maybe these three episodes are among the best in the whole series. Especially 8 and 9 are so intense and isolated, but also really different from each other. So, there is no doubt that the series is not getting any weaker, just the opposite. Let’s get into the specific episodes.
Read MoreThe Battle of Fear: Politics vs. Terrorism
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When Paris happened, I said it won’t be different. What I meant was, that the reactions to it will be the same as after every other major terrorist attack. On the one hand, I was wrong, because I was surprised by many people bemoaning the same reactions and criticizing our ignorant view on these events, which makes me hopeful. On the other hands, seeing how politicians react, how the bombing started right away, how everything became a little bit more insane and extreme, I realize that it’s exactly what I feared, only worse. I’m not the first to say that terrorism’s goal is to instill fear and what most politicians are doing right now, is taking that fear and riding on it to do whatever they want, they increase and nurture it and keep it alive. They do exactly what the terrorists want them to do.
Read MoreA Series of Series: Jessica Jones, Episode 4-6
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Episodes 4 to 6 of Jessica Jones don’t disappoint and continue what the first three episodes started so excellently already. The themes are followed through but by showing more of Kilgrave, the show attempts a little of what Daredevil did with Wilson Fisk, although up to now, he has not really been humanized much more. But he’s not that mystery figure anymore. I also like how all the other characters, especially Malcolm and Will, become more layered and really develop, which is something, just like in Daredevil, these shows seem to do extremely well. I don’t know if Marvel gets enough credit for both shows, not just as good entertainment, like their movies, but really deep, well-made, thought-provoking shows that rarely fall into clichés or stereotypes. This is not just another comic book TV show (but then again, this is not based on just another comic). I’m going to focus on some highlights from the next three episodes (again, spoilers, obviously).
Read MoreThe Daniel Quinn Files: Ishmael (1)
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I’ve mentioned Daniel Quinn too often to not have gotten into his work yet here, so finally that’s what I’m starting now. Daniel Quinn is the author of many books and the first one, Ishmael, is the one that changed my and many other people’s lives. My plan is to work through his books step by step, discussing his ideas in each of them. Nothing I say can substitute actually reading them, so if nothing else, you can see this as a very long recommendation series. Maybe you know some of his books and find it interesting to hear some thoughts, maybe you don’t and my discussion encourages you to check them out or maybe you generally don’t read books and attain some of his ideas anyway through this.
Read MoreA Series of Series: Jessica Jones, Episode 1-3
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Exploring new grounds. I have wondered many times why I don’t write about TV shows since I watch quite a lot of them and some people actually asked me about it. Today, this will change because a) I really want to write about this show and b) there is no movie right now I want to write about. So, Jessica Jones it is. I’ve watched the first three episodes and thought I write about each 3-4 episodes as I continue. Needless to say, up to now I think it’s a very good show and I recommend everyone to watch it too. Besides, this review/analysis will obviously include spoilers, so unless you don’t plan on ever watching it, stop reading.
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Steve Jobs (2015)
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Steve Jobs is an excellent movie in every aspect. Its grounded in the clever screenplay by Aaron Sorkin who chooses an unusual structure and pulls it off better than anyone could have imagined. The other foundation of the movie’s success is Michael Fassbender in the title role. Fassbender is always brilliant but here he shows some facets I hadn’t seen before from him. Kate Winslet is amazing too in an interesting role. Danny Boyle’s direction also helps to keep the film entertaining, with unusual camera angles, different film stock and a fascinating color scheme. The movie is not realistic or authentic, but one of its charms is that it is fully aware of that and never claims to be. It breaks a lot of rules that normal Hollywood movies tend to follow and proves that sometimes that’s the right way to go. I mean, I’m not a big Apple fan (to put it mildly) and I have a hard time admiring Steve Jobs, but none of this stopped me from enjoying the movie so much, which proves how successful it is in telling a compelling, intelligent story.
Read MoreWhy Paris Won't Be Different
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Yesterday in school, I had a lesson about literature and movies in Germany during the Third Reich and after watching a clip from Die Feuerzangenbowle I wondered aloud, how people in 1944 were able to make such a superficial entertainment movie during that time, despite everything that was going on around them. One student responded wisely by noting that this is always the case, not just in Nazi Germany of the 1940s. I was caught surprised by that comment and had to admit she’s probably right. That same day, I went to see Steve Jobs at a cinema and came out afterwards highly entertained, almost energetic, already thinking about what to write about it. Then I heard the news of Paris. The student’s comment became almost prophetic in retrospect and though I don't want to claim to have anything profound to say about the attacks of last night, I can’t help but share my thoughts, even if it’s just for myself.
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