Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Anne Hathaway, Stephen Fry, Tim Burton, Alice in Wonderland (2010), ohnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Alan Rickman
Alice doesn’t live here anymore, but luckily there’s another one
I cannot think of another director, who has an instantly recognizable trademarked style like Tim Burton, besides Hitchcock or possibly Spielberg. And interestingly enough like his favorite Johnny Depp, he has managed to seamlessly creep into mainstream. To my utter delight. 7 Burton/Depp collaborations and still going strong, “Alice in Wonderland” is another twisted and flashy fairy tale. And it is completely Burton. The sets are spectacular, the costume design and make up are outstanding and as usual Danny Elfman rounds things out seamlessly with a haunting score. Man, I’d love to spend just 2 minutes in Tim Burton’s mind. What a trip.
19-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to Wonderland, a magical place from her childhood, where she reunites with some old friends like the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the White Rabbit in a Waistcoat (voice: Michael Sheen) and the Cheshire Cat (voice: Stephen Fry). First believing she is stuck in a dream, she manages to outgrow herself and learns her true destiny: to end the Red Queen’s (Helena Bonham Carter) reign of terror.
So far so good.
I have read reviews that ranged from “disappointing” to “unwatchable”. I beg to differ. I made it a point not to re-read “Alice in Wonderland” before watching the movie. And since Burton’s effort is somewhere between adaptation and insanity, I think it is best not to get hung up on the original. Just like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Sleepy Hollow”. In an interview Depp famously spilled that he based Sleepy Hollow’s Ichabod Crane on Angela Landsbury in “Murder she wrote” and was referred to as “Ichabod Crane – girl detective” on the set. I would really love to know who Depp based The Mad Hatter on. He shifts from Scottish sailor to mad man to child and back. He combines child-like innocence and world-weary horror with terrifying skill. No one does mental illness like Depp. And I dare to write this because in the movie his pupils are dilated differently, an indication of brain damage.
But I might be impartial, because the movie combines two of my favorite people to see on any kind of screen: Johnny Depp and Stephen Fry, who voices the Cheshire Cat. It perfectly fits a cleverly animated character. Helena Bonham Carter is deliciously cruel as the Red Queen. Anne Hathaway is positively trippy as the White Queen. And Crispin Glover is just overtly mad.
I loved the movie and as always I love how Tim Burton creates an entire imaginative universe for himself. I’ll leave you with a quote fitting for a Tim Burton review: “You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are”.
Directed by: Tim Burton
Written by: Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (books)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Stephen Fry (voice), Alan Rickman (voice)
Release dates:
March 5th 2010, USA
March 5th 2010, UK
March 4th 2010, Germany
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Bojana Novakovic, Danny Huston, Martin Campbell, Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, The Edge of Darkness
Dark doesn’t even begin to describe it
With the director of “Casino Royale” and the writer of “Departed” in tow, this movie was supposed to be Mel Gibson’s comeback. And to write it plainly, it isn’t. Or as a friend of mine put it: “He was a lot better when he was drunk”. I beg to differ. In my view Mel Gibson was just terrified to be charming. Approaching a certain age, charming at some point stumbles over itself and autopilots into creepy. Or in this case: bad acting. One thing that Mel Gibson always did painfully well was cowering over someone who was heading toward a swift and brutal demise and comfort them – in any sitation. Comedy, drama, dramedy, you name it. You could count on the trademark charm to comfort you and let you know that everything was going to be ok. In “Edge of Darkness” he seemed all weird and repressed and strangely morphed into Joe Pesci. His co-stars made the impression they were forced into grandiose over-acting, just to evoke some sort of performance from him. What happened?
Surely this cannot be purely blamed on sobriety or recovery from addiction. If you used to be that good and suddenly cannot trust yourself sober, there is a deeper underlying issue and it is as plain as, well, a drunk person who does not notice they are raging rampant. Throwing yourself into work isn’t always the best therapy. But I am only guessing. I just know that alcohol and power don’t mix, however many episodes of “Dynasty” tried to tell my youthful and impressionable mind in the 80s. It is a horrible addiction that takes time, effort and a good support system to heal.
I would hate to see Mel become a cautionary tale, but I am afraid he is clearly headed in that direction. It is especially noticeable when emotional reactions change within edits. The bad, bad, bad dialogue didn’t help either.
You can tell that this movie was headed in the right direction. But in the end it is just an uninspired story about money, politics and big business. If you have to cue dramatic music that heavily, it is just bad. It was the first time I ever heard someone demand their money back during the credits. Ouch.
Kinda tragic.
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Written by: William Monahan and Andrew Bovell (screenplay), Troy Kennedy-Martin (television series)
Starring: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic
Release dates:
January 29th 2010, USA
January 29th 2010, UK
March 11 2010, Germany
Filed under: General Madness, Movie Reviews | Tags: Emily Mortimer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Martin Scorsese, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson, Shutter Island
The mind is a beautiful thing to waste
It is really quite difficult to write about “Shutter Island” without resulting to bunny boiler spoilers. And I might be the entirely wrong person to tell you about it, because from the moment that Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) sets foot on it to investigate the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from the hospital for the criminally insane, I knew where this was going. So since it was spoiled for me, I’ll try to keep this a little mysterious.
I have been wrapping my mind around the subject matter of insanity for quite a while. Psychiatry has come a long way from lobotomies and encounter therapy, yet it is still a fairly juvenile science. Moving on from childhood trauma and repressed sexuality, now it is all mostly about correcting chemical imbalances in the brain. The goal seems to be to mold chaotic and unstable people into adjusted and productive members of society. But how sane is our society, really? “Shutter Island” is set in 1955, which gives carte blanche to indulge in all the atrocities our society had to offer back then. And Scorsese does use this masterfully to his advantage.
But are we really so much more advanced? A good first step would be to take responsibility for one’s own actions and that in itself is a tough nut to crack. I think that most people would not be able to mentally withstand the everyday horror without a republic of defense mechanisms to belie them through the day. There are hundreds of ways to make life bearable, actions justifiable and relationships workable – all in your mind. Some are more adept than others and after a certain threshold has been crossed, it just makes for good horror.
Depicting such devious workings of the mind is just about the most difficult thing to put on a screen. Internal phenomena are so intensely subjective and complex it needs considerable skill. And Scorsese and DiCaprio are two ideal candidates. “Shutter Island” is elegant horror but personally, despite being fantastically directed and acted, it seemed very old school to me. I fear psychology has moved on and more sophisticated tricks are needed to warp the average mind. Or my mind at least. But let’s face it, I’m pretty out there.
But it still works for the movie. It is more complex than your average horror movie, well written and I still got a kick out of the performances of Leonardo DiCaprio, Sir Ben Kingsley and Mark Ruffalo, as well as Michelle Williams and Emily Mortimer.
I liked “Shutter Island” – guilty by reason of insanity
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay), Dennis Lehane (novel)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson
Release Dates:
February 19th 2010, USA
March 12th 2010, UK
February 25th 2010, Germany
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Anthony Hopkins, Art Malik, Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, The Wolfman
The Cat’s Meow
I saw this movie with 2 men. One on each side. The way God intended it. And I have to point out that they both tremendously enjoyed this movie. Hence the third star in brackets. But, alas, I am a woman and I view it a little differently. So please read this with the proverbial grain of sparkling salt.
I am sure that God also intended for men to evolve. But I fear he left out the wolfman. He is still his old furry self. He slapped on some stunts and special effects, but it is still just an emotionally constipated cat unable to access his female side and tragically overcompensating. Meow.
But admittedly, Benicio del Toro is a great cast, as is Anthony Hopkins, who plays inherently evil like no other. And Emiliy Blunt would have deserved to be more than an accessory. But even they cannot stop the burgeoning tackiness. “The Wolfman” opts for a classic version that to me just seems to be outdated. And maybe it is just me repressing my macho side.
Yes, it is dark and yes, it is spooky. And there are tons of thrills. Intestines oozing out of bodies, separate limbs, blood splattering. But I get enough thrills looking in the mirror in the morning. Oh, the horror. So please excuse me when I proclaim that I prefer the “American Werewolf in Paris” version, with Julie Delphy and Pierre Cosso as the french macho version of le kittycat.
Dracula meets Teenwolf. Men seem to be able to relate.
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Written by: Andrew Kevin Walker & David Self (screenplay), Curt Siodmak (1941 motion picture screenplay)
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Art Malik
Release Dates:
February 12th 2010, USA
February 12th 2010, UK
February 11th 2010, Germany
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Jae Head, John Lee Hancock, Kathy Bates, Lily Collins, Quinton Aaron, Ray McKinnon, Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side, Tim McGraw
I am not a big fan of inspirational sports movies. And I am even less of a fan when they are based on a true story, because the hero’s journey is usually very badly adjusted like a (insert bad sports metaphor here). And I got a very strong feeling that this might be the case here. Nevertheless it is an entertaining movie and apparently a surprise hit and an Oscar contender. “The Blind Side” is very calculated in its efforts to make everyone happy. And to a large extent this works. But make no mistake, it is what it is because of Sandra Bullock.
The story is that of Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron), a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman, Leigh Anne Tuohy (played by Sandra Bullock) and her family. What “first round NFL draft pick” means, I cannot even begin to tell you and I deserve to be shown a red card and then be sent to my room to google even cornier football metaphors. But there are several other things I can point out. One is that Sandra Bullock simply delivers a knockout blow in this movie. She makes the movie much like Jeff Bridges does it in “Crazy Heart”. She is a cross between Mrs. Brady, Anne Coulter and Judge Judy and she carries it beautifully, as much of a contradiction as that might be. This is her Erin Brockovich. Neck and neck with the Streepster, bless her. I am rooting for Sandy, only to hear her say German things in her acceptance speech.
But I also know what it is like to be swept up by a group of supporting people that alter your life and make you feel even more fortunate if you get a change to positively change theirs as well. This is exactly what makes this movie a little tacky but likeable at the same time. And let’s face ot, kids, sometimes you need tacky.
I am done with my sports metaphors, kids. All hurdled out. Oh, just one more:
Not a home run, more of a level playing field with a great Sandra Bullock.
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Written by: John Lee Hancock (screenplay), Michael Lewis (book)
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Jae Head, Lily Collins, Ray McKinnon, Kathy Bates
Release Dates:
November 20th 2009, USA
March 12th 2010, UK
March 18th 2010, Germany
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Colin Farell, Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, Scott Cooper, Thomas Cobb
The Price of Redemption
Life has a way of relentlessly providing lessons, like this: don’t eat pizza bread with garlic, because just minutes later you could be sitting next to “Mel Gibson circa 1985″ at the movie theater (not the actual Mel “Sugartits” Gibson, girls, don’t get too excited). “Mel” was nice enough to pretend not to notice that my breath smelled like I was trying to fend off an entire Wes Craven movie, but thinking that life cannot surprise you is seriously wrong. In the words of Captain Jack Sparrow: Spiritually. Ecumenically. Grammatically.
And this movie shows how interesting life can rock your socks like a mean country music song. Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a has-been country music singer, who drank too much, smoked too much, married too many women and slept with one heck of a lot of way too many of them. When journalist Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal) starts asking some probing questions, the real man behind the music slowly emerges.
The older and more stubborn you get, the harder the lessons are. Spiritually. Physically. Professionally. Those like Bad Blake that were touched by the muse, get away with a lot because they are gifted. But Bad is a hopeless drunk and anyone who was ever forced to deal with an alcoholic in full frontal denial knows that they lie, steal and cheat while smiling at you and tell you not to worry.
But there is always a limit. When a man gets old that limit often is a physical one. Bad Blake can still perform. He can still get laid after a show, no matter how undignified. But he is slowly and perpetually losing steam. And he knows it and short-sightedly numbs himself by any means unnecessary. Classic addict behavior.
He has people who care for him, but manages to keep them at arm’s length, slowly giving in to a painful and suffocating demise. But here is hope, once Jean and her 4year old son enter the picture. Bad transforms into a self-reflective addict, whose sobriety has been a long time coming. It is not classic textbook, it borders on miraculous and thankfully the movie does not give in to the temptation of providing a satisfying crescendo. There is a price to pay for redemption and it ain’t pretty.
Jeff Bridges is a joy to watch. Although am not sure how calculated a move it was to set one of his first scenes in a bowling alley. I was half expecting him to say: “The dude abides”. He manages to look cool and aloof in one scene and heart-achingly old and useless in the next, while learning a very brutal lesson in human connections. One thing that bothered me was the love story between Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhall. It was kinda offbeat and would have been much better with an older actress.
First time director Scott Cooper is very, very timid and over-cautious. Clutching a familiar bag of tricks. But who can blame him, really? Still the script got me working up quite a second story in my head.
And admittedly it was a stroke of genius to cast Colin Farell as Tommy Sweet. Sweet. There was an audible gasp when he entered the frame. So unlikely and so great.
Also, the score is a definite asset to this movie.
One of the more interesting running gags I’ve seen in a while made me wonder whether the working title was: “Crazy Heart – Open Pants”. You’ll know what I mean…
Written and directed by: Scott Cooper
Written by: Thomas Cobb (novel)
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farell, Robert Duvall
Release dates:
December 16th 2009, USA
March 4th 2010, Germany
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Anthony Peckham, Eddie Marsan, Guy Ritchie, Jude Law, Mark Strong, Michael Robert Johnson, Rachel McAdams, Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes, Simon Kinberg, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Boys will be boys, Part 2
(for part one, click this)
One of my friends recently told me that my blog unmistakably screams my yearning for, shall we say male company. The words he used, from what I recall, sounded like being corny and getting late. But my fragile mind may have scrambled that up a bit. Ok, I admit. I am a little desperate, but that is easy for him to say, being gay and all. On planet hetero things are slightly more complicated than an initial “You, go” commonly initiating contact in the gay universe.
And so I am deflecting and delighting myself by watching some handsome dudes on the screen. Frankly, it could be worse.
In case anyone was wondering why on earth Guy Ritchie would try his hands on “Sherlock Holmes”, fret not, because Mr. Ritchie makes it clear from the very first second that this is not your usual detective story. There are some familiar benchmarks, as the address 221b Baker Street, the pipe, the bohemian habitat, the ego, etc., but all in all this is a heavily inebriated comic version with quick-tongued antics and a mild gay undercurrent. Just as you would imagine it.
Which I find relieving because I am still waiting for a new “traditional” version starring Hugh Laurie as Holmes and Stephen Fry as Watson. If you don’t know what I am talking about I suggest you check out “Jeeves and Wooster” or “A bit of Fry and Laurie”. Pure genius.
Guy Ritchie does his usual thing. Who can blame him for making cathartic movies that have women as accessories and men beating each other up constantly? I don’t. But when watching his movies I always get a sense of him pointing out “look what I can do” or “I’ve always fantasized about doing this in a movie”, like an overexcited 5year old with a tractor that spits fire. Admittedly a talented show-off of a 5year old. But that might be too harsh. There is lots of attention to detail, particularly the well-made sound design, the great costumes and the obvious freedom RDJ gets to do whatever he wants. Smart move. I hereby profess my eternal love for the reformed sinner Robert Downey Jr. Gusto, guts and glory. Love it. And Jude Law fills a frame nicely. No complaints here.
One more thing though: The fast-paced heist confusion that usually works for him is kinda, well, confusing here. It works on ensembles, but when the plot follows two people it gets messy.
More fog on the screen, less in the story. Otherwise very entertaining.
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Written by: Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg (screenplay)
Lionel Wigram, Michael Robert Johnson (screen story)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan
Release Dates:
December 25th 2009, USA
December 25th 2009, UK
January 28th 2010, Germany
Filed under: Movie Reviews
5 Reasons to love Clint Eastwood
1. Is there anything he cannot do?
After being elected the South African President, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) initiates a unique venture to unite the apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team, the Springbok’s, lead by their captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
I am usually not a big fan of contact sports or politics in movies, but Clint Eastwood manages to perfectly capture the uproar of a country, the excitement of the game and the quiet impact of one man. The interplay of sports and politics is sprawled beautifully in the script, the direction is precise and uncluttered and the acting is superb.
Both Freeman and Damon get immersed in their roles. I have no clue as to how one would even start to play “inspirational” or “transformative”. But Freeman makes Madiba Magic nothing short of inspiring. Notably impressive is the physical transformation of Matt Damon (even more so somewhere in the heavy vicinity of “The Informant”). Those soft yet burly barbarian shoulders sing the level of commitment of everyone involved.
Man, it would be fun to be on one of his sets. I certainly would obey any utterance from Mr. Eastwood’s laryngity vocal cords and love it, no question.
2. Pure class.
Scenes that might have been impossibly hokey or even desperate are not. Clint Eastwood does this with no frills and lots of detail (like the traditional Maori war chant, the Haka, which is performed at every game to intimidate rival teams) without being obvious and/or preachy. The Springbok’s visit to the Robben Island prison cell, where Mandela stayed for 24 years brings back some Shawshank and even a little redemption.
3. Every one of his movies is a film lesson.
“Gran Torino”, “Changeling”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Mystic River”. Watch and learn, kids.
4. He is one hell of an Octogenarian.
And he is steadily improving as a composer. How impossibly infuriating! It is a joy to watch Mr Eastwood doing what he obviously loves to do. One can only hope that arriving at this age to be as comfortable, wise and willing to bring a vision forward with such determined grace.
5. Humor.
On Oprah, when asked about the age difference between him and his younger wife, he answered: “Well, if she dies, she dies.”
Hope, you’ll be around for a long time and many, many movies to keep making my day.
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Written by: Anthony Peckham (screenplay), John Carlin (book)
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Julian Lewis Jones
Release dates:
December 11th 2009, USA
February 5th 2010, UK
February 18th 2010, Germany
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Anna Kendrick, George Clooney, J.K. Simmons, Jason Bateman, Jason Reitman, Sam Elliott, Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga, Zach Galifianakis
Have a nice day!
Sometimes I sit there in a darkened theater, a few minutes into the movie and think to myself: Ok, I love this one. And a few times this crush survives the second act. And very rarely, even the ending. This is one of those cases.
Aside from the damned fine writing, “Up in the Air” also provides a killer role for George Clooney as Ryan Bingham. His job consists of flying around the country firing people. He has made traveling into an art form, a calm and effective microcosm in a collective and equally effective macrocosm. He is virtually unmoved by his difficult assignments, experienced in offering the firees to “follow their bliss” which clearly to him is bullshit and a corporate mockup coverup, but mysteriously works. It works because he is expertly “faking depth” during these encounters that would crush anyone with a soul. Ryan Bingham has arrived at this state as result of inexperience, avoidance and fear that is challenged when his company begins to “ground him”. Sorry for the (” “) metaphorical mayhem, there is just a lot said with a little in this script.
One could always argue that Clooney is too handsome, but this role provides yet another opportunity for him to be shockingly deep and vulnerable. In the Mount Olympus version of Hollywood I imagine him as a kind of Zeus, known unjustly and heavily voyeuristically for erotic escapades, but striding forward, supreme and ultimately human.
Jason Reitman exacerbated a quality in Clooney that is perfectly illustrated in a scene in “Out of Sight”. Clooney has just robbed a bank and says to the female teller: “Have a nice day”. She bats her eyelashes and responds: “You too”. He is part soul seducer, part clown and part executioner. And comfortingly there is so much more beneath the surface.
His female counterparts are perfectly cast and beautifully acted by Vera Farminga and Anna Kendrick.
And lastly, “Up in the Air” is a very refreshing twist on the “a man learns the importance of commitment” lesson that is so tackily overused in especially romcons. Thank you for being classy. It so rarely happens.
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Written by: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliott, Zach Galifianakis
Release dates:
December 4th 2009, USA
January 15th 2010, UK
February 4th 2010, Germany
Filed under: General Madness
Depending on your gender, “If you build it, he will come” is either a reference to a popular sports movie (slightly adjusted like a jockstrap during a game of baseball) or to an episode from “Sex and the City” season 2 called: “Was it good for you?” when Miranda buys new sheets to improve her sex karma. And there it is, the entire problem. And it keeps jumping me, only metaphorically. Sometimes that is a good thing.
I would like to share with you a scene from my life and matching Facebook thread that is verbatim, just as it happened today:
I wrote: Do men really think they can impress women with shouting incoherent “business orders” into a cellphone when sitting next to you in a cafe? That is beyond hilarious, especially with a thick Bavarian accent. Sakradi! (Sakradi is a Bavarian term that is literally untranslatable, a jovial grunt of annoyance).
2 minutes later:
I wrote: Now “Claus” is talking about people partying half-naked in the sand. He greeted the other person with “alles logge?” (don’t ask). I think he has officially reached the boundaries of his marketing vocabulary. The contingency wasn’t a remote one, kids.
Another 2 minutes later:
I wrote: “Claus” has left the building.
2 of my girls (Yvi and Julia) instantly liked that with a thumb’s up (a Facebook thing in case you’re not familiar).
Then followed this:
Yvi wrote: probably his best move today.
Svenja wrote: Men… will they ever learn?
Yvi wrote: we need to teach our sons the right way to do it soooooonnnn…
kleines Beispiel: habe in die Puppenküche gestern eine Stoffrose gesteckt…mit dem Kommentar in Justus`Richtung: ” Sohn, merke dir, wenn du einer Frau das Frühstück ans Bett bringst, gehört eine Blume mit dazu!” Er ist zwar erst 2, aber vielleicht hilft`s 
a little example: I put a rose into the doll’s kitchen yesterday… with a comment directed to my son Justus: “Son, take note, when you bring a woman breakfast to bed, there should be a flower! He’s only 2, but maybe it helps
I wrote: Yvi, du gefällst mir immer besser!
Yvi, I am liking you better and better
Svenja wrote: Wenn Du lange genug wartest, kannst Du ja Justus heiraten 
If you wait long enough, you might be able to marry Justus
Yvi wrote: ich fall gleich vom Stuhl vor Lachen….ihr seid süß Mädels …
Yvi finds this hilarious.
Svenja wrote:
bei dem Tempo das sie beim daten vorlegt, ist das ja wahrscheinlich mit justus. wäre auch praktisch, weil sie dann vorher durch dich einfluss auf die erziehung nehmen kann. HAHAHA.
With her speed, this will probably work out. and it is really practical because she can influence him through you in his upbringing. HAHAHA.
I wrote: Ich heirate NIE!!!! Obwohl Justus sicher mal ein Schwiegermuttertraum wird. Ohne Frage.
I am NEVER getting married. But I am sure Justus will be every mother-in-law’s dream.
Svenja wrote: Na, das mit dem “Nie” werden wir Dir bei passender Gelegenheit noch mal aufs Brot schmieren. Klarer Fall von Sagniemalsnie und Habichdochgleichgewusst.
She doesn’t believe me.
Yvi wrote:och ja…”ich heirate nie” hab ich schon ganz oft gehört…von vielen, (jetzt) verheirateten Müttern
They don’t believe me at all.
I wrote: Bin leider völlig unfähig! Schwer vermittelbar sozusagen. Da sind schon andere total daneben gelegen mit Vorhersagen. Leider. Ich glaub ich wäre eine Spitzenehefrau.
I am a complete dating idiot. Others have tried and failed. But it think I’d really make a kick-ass wife.
Julia wrote: Yvi, vergiss nicht, Justus zu erklären, dass ältere Mädels eh mehr zu bieten haben – sonst wird das nix mit den beiden:-) HAHAHAA!
Yvi, don’t forget to tell Justus that older girls have more to offer, otherwise this will never work out between them. HAHAHAA
Yvi wrote: mmmhhh …ich hätt da auch noch einen ganz brauchbaren Bruder (Brudi, verzeih mir, dass ich das jetzt hier so kundtue, aber sie ist toll)
mmmhhh… I have a nice brother. (Bro, forgive me for selling you out, but she is really great.
A day in the life. Girls, you are fabulous!!!
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Andrew Bergman, Cathy Moriarty, Elisabeth Shue, Garry Marshall, Kevin Kline, Michael Hoffman, Paul Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Robert Harling, Sally Field, Sheila Kelley, Soap Dish, Teri Hatcher, Whoopi Goldberg
Pardon me, I’m having a life here.
For the last couple of days I have been taking a working stroll in TVland, a financial necessity. I guess it is a bad sign when you’d rather not share what exactly you have been working on, so don’t ask. I view my job in this field as a meditation on how we are all going to hell. It is just the degree of hysterics that varies. “Soapdish” just makes all this and the terrible rest a little better.
Celeste Talbert (Sally Field) is the queen of Misery. She is the star of “The Sun also sets”, a cheaply produced Daytime Soap. But the show’s spiraling ratings and predictable story lines force the producers to do something drastic. This comes very handy for her supporting cast members, who have secretly been plotting her downfall. When Celeste’s love interest from a lifetime ago Rod Randall (Kevin Kline) is re-hired and her long lost niece Laurie (Elisabeth Shue) charms her way on the show, a drama of unforeseen proportions and consequences unfolds. It is just a case of behind the scenes drama imitating art. Just like in real life.
From the opening scene at the Daytime Emmys (“Ohhh, there’s so many people to thank. First of all, my fabulous supporting cast, who gives a new meaning to the word “support”… – Bitch! – Hag! – I hate her so much!”) to the last ballroom shot, every member of the all-star cast gives a fantastic performance. I think that especially Sally Field’s is one of the most brilliantly histrionic ever captured on screen. It is 30Rock meets “The Bold and the Brash” in an 80s stlye showdown. It has great sets, over-the-top clothes and very memorable cameos. It is one of the best comedies ever made. If it slipped by you, rent it. If you’ve already seen it, re-visit and old, charmingly hysterical friend.
The writing is nothing short of brilliant. Here are a few moth-watering lines:
You don’t realize how serious this operation is. You will not have a brain when it is complete. – I don’t need it, take the damn thing. – Alright everyone, clear the restaurant.
I just, I think if we could try it one more time, and this time… I don’t know… maybe try one without your shirt.
I don’t feel quite right in a turban. What I feel like is GLORIA F***ING SWANSON!
Deliciously funny. No one can cry like Sally Field. No one is oily like Paul Johansson, villainous like Cathy Moriarty and no one can squish and lift her breasts into position better than Teri Hatcher. Whoopi Goldberg is dark and sarcastic, Robert Downey Jr. is the proverbial producer and Kevin Kline a helplessly narcissistic actor.
At last, DRAMA!
Directed by: Michael Hoffman
Written by: Robert Harling, Andrew Bergman
Starring: Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr., Cathy Moriarty, Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Garry Marshall, Paul Johansson, Sheila Kelley
Release dates:
May 31st 1991, USA
August 23rd 1991, UK
September 12th 1991, Germany
Available on DVD
Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: John Cusack, Lee Sobieski, Max, Menno Meyjes, Molly Parker, Noah Taylor, Ulrich Thomsen
Art+politics=power.
My great-grandmother saw one of Hitler’s first speeches here in Munich and she immediately knew he was trouble and she was in even more trouble. She was a progressive woman, very outspoken, never wanted to get married. She was an actress, a writer and to make a living, a seamstress. This impossibly seamlessly translates to me being a cutter, family history repeating itself. I just realized that.
“Max” also made me remember a high school history class where the question “how different would the world be now, had Hitler been accepted at the Vienna art school?” was posed by a teacher, who shortly after was involuntarily committed. But it is a relevant question, although the mode of delivery was a little frightening at the time. Hitler’s hellish art and politics have obviously left their mark, especially here in Munich. It is still very openly visible in the architecture. Hitler’s impact on the art world was concise and gashing. The Nazis developed their very own ideal art and declared existing modern art as corrupted and degenerate, coined with pessimism and pacifism. The artists not in blind accordance with the Nazi Kitsch ideal were persecuted, forced to leave or murdered. Occupational bans and desist orders for painting were issued and the artworks were confiscated and removed from public viewing. Among those artists that failed to meet the Nazi ideal were Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Max Ernst, George Grosz, Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.
“Max” takes place in Munich in 1918, before all this happened, depicting friendship between a Jewish art dealer named Max Rothman (John Cusack) and an aspiring painter, Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor). Hitler before politics. Their common bond is the experience of WWI, Rothman having lost an arm, rendering him unable to even draw and Hitler, desperately wanting to be a painter, but lacking an artistic soul. How can you find your inner voice when it is drowned out? It might possibly be why the horror unfolded. This is what makes this character study and Noah’s performance so intriguing. Cusack is equally brilliant as his counterpart.
It is an example of how intricately events can intertwine and mutually depend on each other. How the self-concept of one man can change the course of history when sparked at the wrong time and how differently people deal with the same experiences. And the powerful mix of visual perception and simple words.
Fascinating and thought-provoking.
Written and directed by: Menno Meyjes
Starring: John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Lee Sobieski, Molly Parker, Ulrich Thomsen
Release date:
December 27th 2002 , USA
June 20th 2003, UK
available on DVD
Filed under: General Madness
Unfortunately this is what most of my day looked like… Staring at small bars driving like Miss Daisy. That is all for today, kids.
foto
Filed under: General Madness
Kind of an oximoron. Being creative means letting go. Go with the flow. Let things happen. Happy accidents are my favorite. I do my best work when I go “in the zone”, when it is suddenly night and I have no idea how I did what I just did. This is post #100 and it still looks like Chaos Rules. But as C.G. Jung put it: In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order. Working on it!
Filed under: General Madness
Yes, Latin. I took Latin in school. Go figure. I would not survive two sentences in Ancient Rome. One of them would probably be “Morituri te salutant”. Otherwise it’s all “People called Romanes, they go, the house?” from here.
However, this motto means: solving while moving. And it just sounds all imperial rolling off your tongue. See, strut and conquer.
Filed under: General Madness
At the risk of sounding detached, I think love and beauty can be found almost anywhere. I took this photo at the Jewish Cemetary in Berlin Mitte. I found a heart right among tombstones that were nearly destroyed in 1943 by ignorance and stupidity. Or as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it: I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Filed under: General Madness
It’s 2010. It is even, divisible without remainder and it literally looks like things are moving forward. I like that. New year’s resolutions however are so 2009. Inspired by my friend Svenja this year I am trying something new: mottos. My first motto is: Be yourself.
It is harder than it looks, kids. It is possibly the hardest thing to do. I never get comfortable enough with people to dare being myself. This makes me of course insanely boring to everyone else. I am getting that now. So this year I will not try to save anyone from me. Especially anyone who reads this blog.
I am already liking myself better.
Filed under: General Madness
January started with an insane amount of work. Jipee! Although I never really believe it until the check is in the bank. So I will post more sparingly for a few days. But I would like to encourage you to rummage through the innards of my intent. Enjoy this oasis of sense and sensitivity.
Filed under: General Madness | Tags: 2012, Avatar, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, hurt locker, Inglorious Basterds, new moon, Revolutionary Road, Sunshine Cleaning, The Princess and the Frog, Up
Hi munchkins,
I am not doing a “best of the decade”. Mainly because I have spent a good part of the past 10 years in hibernation. But 2009 has been kind of interesting. This blog (now up to about 50.000 words) is tremendous fun. For me at least and let’s face it, that’s what matters. (I’m kidding, I like bringing joy to tens of people around the world.) Since I am not sleeping with anyone, my writing senses seemed to be heightened. (I haven’t really figured this universal interconnectedness thing out at all. This goes right along with my theory why I always get the best parking spaces, but grossly lack what really matters in life.) Hint to self: It might have something to do with unneccessary and uninteresting detours.
Here are the movies I gave the highest ratings:
Five Stars:
Avatar
Inglorious Basterds
I didn’t review “Gran Torino”, but it would have made this category as well.
Four stars:
2012
Hangover
The Hurt Locker
The Princess and the Frog
Revolutionary Road
Sunshine Cleaning
Up
The front-runner “one pity star” movie is of course, well, it’s a tie between New Moon and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. But somehow they still managed to outwit 1989’s “Karate Kid, Part III”, which set an impossibly high bar.
For a complete list of the other 60+ reviews, click this.
On the madness front, the most popular one was definitely the “Austrian Milkmaid Porn” debacle. “Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert” seems to have delighted some of you. And finally, the 2012 photo call for me seems to have been the weirdest of all. I am still in recovery from that one. There is just not enough green tea chocolate in the world.
Whatever happens next, I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for reading. All the best for 2010!
