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Reviews
Max, der Taschendieb (1962)
Quite dated - but not too bad...
I saw this movie today for the first time, it's a typical Heinz Rühmann vehicle, set during the Wirtschaftswunder era in Germany. Rühmann plays Max who makes a living picking pockets and keeping an honorable surface towards his kids (of course, he's the loving dad) and the neighbors. He keeps out of big time crime, but has an in-law who is a no-good - and who inevitably falls into the lures of the crimelord, who is of course named Joe (Haha!). Sticking to his principles of not telling the police anything, he manages to make up with the big shots and turn good for a happy ending.
The movie was actually a little dated, especially with the dialogue (the ever-prominent youth slang issue when watching 35-year-old flicks), but on the other hand it surprised me with some swearing, cool music (The Shadows perhaps?), and even a short scene of female nudity from behind.
It was definitely a better Rühmann film and worth watching. As always, he plays the perfect, caring daddy; watch out for an out-of-character appearance by a very young Hans Clarin.
7.5 / 10
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Sickening, Important, lengthy at times... MUST SEE
The big problem with this movie is that it´s just not going to help the world, or the US citizens, for that matter. If it would become necessary watching material for high school diplomas or college degrees, it might make a difference, but not as a "choice movie", because the people who already hate "president" Bush will love the movie, but his supporters aren´t even going to watch it. Nonetheless, the latter will defame it and its creator (and rate it with a "1" on the IMDB, without watching it, of course, to bring the average vote down).
This is a propaganda movie against George Walker Bush, no more no less. It´s been said before that it´s not really a documentary, but rather op.-ed., and I agree. The big thing about it is that it´s merely a COLLECTION. Anybody could google the internet for an hour and find out everything the movie claims. And the information has been available for months and years. What´s sickening really is that it takes an overweight biased American to bring it all together and into the cinema, in order to get Americans (who should normally take steps to control and oversee the work of their own government THEMSELVES) to look at all these facts.
As I claimed above, the Bush supporters are probably not going to watch this movie in a cinema. And Bush himself neither. That´s what separates him from Adolf Hitler, for instance, who desperately wanted to watch Chaplin´s "The Great Dictator" - after banning it in Germany, of course. I don´t like Mike Moore that much anymore, he´s just TOO biased on every issue he touches, and he can´t take any criticism, but he´s important. At least one American stands up for his country and its true values, and does not follow the leader like a lemming.
The movie itself is pretty hard to swallow most of the time; especially the scenes shot in Iraq. There are some lengthy scenes in it; the camera just stays on the weeping mothers a little too long. But I realize it´s important to see ALL the pain and anguish in these human beings, because it´s simply not shown in the usual US media. The facts come way too fast and confused, but you get the general sense of every issue touched in the movie. Overall, a very good and important work.
The King of Queens (1998)
great comedy show, recently discovered, but not such a hit here!
"the king of queens" is one of my favorite tv shows at the moment, although i´ve just recently discovered it after some people told me to try it.
my girlfriend and i now watch it every time we can, and it´s true, manuel lingo from austria, it runs 4 episodes every day in the evening (and these are even repeated the next morning!), but this is NOT a sign for this show´s success, i´m afraid; rather the contrary!
the station that shows "tkoq" here in germany, rtl2, is by far not the one with the highest ratings; and they are notorious for running their shows to the death (see jonathan frakes´ "beyond belief", which they sometimes air for 4 hours!). this show isn´t such a hit as manuel thinks, but nevertheless, as i said above, i love it.
the interaction of doug and and carrie is always realistic and, often, laughable and even hilarious. their marriage and everyday life are romantic and normal.
although the father-in-law annoys me more often than not, i recommend this show. all you need to get to love it is two days (or 8 episodes...)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
unbelievable stuff, no letdown!
i´ve just come home from the premiere of reloaded, and it was great. i had read everything i could get my hands on in the months before today, and i was a little scared that the movie would disappoint me. but it didn´t - it was great. the fight scenes, the stuff they call "virtual camera", the ultra-speed flying... it was great, and, yeah, there´s only one word: cool. kind of the only stuff worth mentioning that speaks against an absolute high score was that cgi people STILL don´t look 100 per cent convincing. movie special effects have gone a long long way since star wars, terminator, and gollum, but to this day, you can still spot where characters are real and where they´ve been created. i´m waiting for the movie in which it´s going to be perfect, but "reloaded" still doesn´t make it.
nevertheless, this movie rocks. i had tears in my eyes (once more) when neo pays back what trinity has done for him and again they show their love. the deadly jealousy with persephone is a great scene, and so are the first pictures we get of zion (the defense systems).
all in all, this is great stuff. i already have tickets for the german premiere in 6 days, a matrix doubleheader pre-premiere (i´ve been to the netherlands just so i could see it a couple days before it starts in my homeland!), and it´s gonna be great. watch this movie, and wait for revolutions like i do. i´m dying to know more about neo´s new-found powers...
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
unbelievable fx, cheesy dialogue (possible spoilers!!!)
i´ve always been a star wars fan since i saw "jedi" in 83 as a five-year-old. and i was about 70% of a complete internet star wars freak/nerd this year, meaning i tried to find information about this movie for the last 3 months or so online, but not any longer than that, and not at any cost (e.g. trying to find and download it). but: i was hot as hell waiting for the release, and i saw it in a midnight premiere in my local theatre.
i was completely blown away.
the movie was about 135 minutes long, but it didn´t seem that long to me. from the opening titles, music and all, to the coming-much-too-soon good-ol´ closing titles, i was glued to my seat, only disturbed by anakin´s many cheesy lines to padme, reminding many people in the audience of bad soap operas. but i can assure y´all: it wasn´t SO much time.
what i meant about it´s length was: in the beginning, there were some very cool action scenes that i had actually FORGOTTEN by the time the movie was over. the last act is so completely mind-blowing for anyone who ever liked a movie with special fx in it, it makes you completely forget time and everything.
all those lightsabers on screen, laser shots, deflections, sounds, lasers BURNING through armies of enemies... i was almost screaming. it was star wars with a big W. i have seen a lot of sci-fi flicks, trek series, everything, and believe me: the spacefight in "jedi" is something that will never be surpassed, but the ground fighting in "clones" is phenomenal.
something that was also very nice to see were the connections to the old movies (especially "hope"): tattoine, mos eisley, the lars´s farm (including the sunset and the fitting music), aunt beru... and, finally, c-3po and r2-d2 as we all know and love them. the killer was r2-d2 unleashing his never-before-seen repulsor-flight-pack. that was SO cool.
the story is a bit complex, never trust anyone with a cloak and dark music. there were many planets, and settings, and it was all good. obi-wan (e. mcgregor) is now a full-on jedi master, and the king of cool. lots of fun (but also boredom when it comes to the romance... as i said above).
conclusion: an absolute must for all sci-fi-fans, you will LOVE it. "clones" might really be the best of the series, it´s got the magic and all. for non-fans: my girlfriend liked it too. but don´t expect too much good dialogue and unexpected storyline twists. do expect over two hours of fun cinema and visuals galore. i rated it 9/10, but that one point missing is only because anakin´s teenage problems and love banter was a little too much.