Reviews

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is a just beatiful film about the struggle of not being corrupted by an in part incredibly cynical and selfish world and what it takes to remain a good person in this seeming mess. We need more timeless stories like this - timeless stories about the timless struggle of being human. We need films like this to remind ourselves that being good has actual value and significant impact - not just for oneself but for society as a whole.

Infectiously joyous, free from bitterness even though the occurrences lend themselves to cynicism, and a pure joy to watch as it celebrates Hollywood as well as movie industry tropes with a wink while still being clever and far from vacuous

13 ASSASSINS is a tough one because I get that it's a twist on classic samurai stories about honor and loyalty and in theory that is refreshing. But it just didn't really connect with me for the most part. It just felt not inventive and different enough - even artificial over longer stretches.

TAPE is raw, an uncut diamond, about the weltschmerz induced by fading adolescence, dealing with the past and coming to terms with reality - in short and unsurprisingly: perfect and typical Linklater material.

Watching STRANGER THAN PARADISE unfold feels like moving to Berlin - coming to an overpromising and underdelivering safe haven for the aimless, the drifters, the outcasts, the mistfits, the oddballs, the depressed, the free spirits, the undecided and whatnot. And therein lies a mundane, timeless and simple beauty.

PATHS OF GLORY disects power, temptation, manipulation and consequently severe disconnects from reality and ultimately humanity. Kubrick shows a war beneath the war - a war for a decency and humanity which both were stripped off of people by the actual war, both in the hostile environment of the trenches and decadent and above all safe residences of higher up military leadership.

"Gentlemen of the court, there are times when I am ashamed that I am a member of the human race and this is one such occasion."

Kubrick portrays soldiers as vulnerable human beings instead of pseudo-heroic combat machines only running on duty and pride and reveals that the only path to real glory is remaining human.

MORVERN CALLAR is a low-key exploration of grief, captivity, deliverance, guilt, conscience, friendship, loss, repression, ignorance and a dream of leaving everything behind. The film is simple - but that doesn't make it weaker, it just makes it feel more truthful.

Vibrant, poetic, melancholic, beautiful, elegant, confident, pulsating yet calm, sad, profound, heartbreaking, tragic

<3

Sergio Leone uses Eastwood perfectly to transform a stereotypical into an archetypical character. And therefore A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS feels like one of the primary templates for films like MAD MAX. So Leone's film compensates on a meta-level what it lacks in plot. Because the one at hand feels kind of forced and overly construed towards the end.

Curse, blessing and message at the same time: You can't manufacture authenticity, not even with authenticity - at least that seems to be OUR BELOVED MONTH OF AUGUST's underlying groundwork on which the blurring of the lines between fact an fiction is constructed.

SUPERGIRL features dialogue, acting and writing so stiff and figuratively frozen that not even Supergirl's heat vision could melt it. This movie desperately wants to seem Shakespearean but in the end is nothing more than a terrible and nonsensical excuse for showing a beautiful woman in a short skirt and tight shirt.

It is never directly spelled out but certainly heavily implied:

Tony Lip: "Hey Doc, we're both marginalized - me because I am not highly educated and you because you're discriminated against and have to fear for your life just because of the colour of your skin. EMPATHY! Oh, and I am not racist because I have a black friend."

RAGING BULL is less a sports film than a study of physical and psychological violence, privilege, entitlement and abuse.

It's interesting to see the work of a matured filmmaker headed for GOODFELLAS while the Sturm und Drang of MEAN STREETS still shines through. At the same time, it feels like Scorsese is a tad lost. He tries to go for something else but doesn't quite know how to get there without the Mafia. In the context of his filmography, Scorsese seems somewhat indecisive.

A timeless and forceful manifesto of the Social Question (and sadly also anti-Semitic undertones)

Gaspar Noé understands like very few other contemporary filmmakers how to create a very uncomfortable pull with his films. In IRRÉVERSIBLE Noé uses a simple technique to create a pseudo-complex feel. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Because using that technique also creates a feeling of "the worst is behind us" - even though it is not. It produces the narrative equivalent of a palindrome: IRRÉVERSIBLE always seems to be showing a development getting worse and worse - no matter if you look into the future or the past.

While this is an impressive move to pull off, IRRÉVERSIBLE is also cynical af and features unchallenged racism, misogyny, toxic maculinity as well as anti-LGBTQ rhetoric while failing to redeem its victims. And that is undiscuttably immoral.

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY trips, falls and fails the exact second Freddie plays a few notes of Bohemian Rhapsody while laying with Mary beneath the piano, saying 'It has potential'. And at that point there are still a full two hours of movie left.

Queen's history is full of stories worth telling, instead BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY is one giant 'nudge nudge, wink wink'-fest. But you've got to admit that the Wembley-sequence is pretty stand-out.

Everything about JACKIE BROWN is cool and smooth - the acting, cinematography, direction, music, writing. But maybe that's the problem. Even though the movie is obviously very good, it lacks Tarantino's edge and does not really try to swing big. It feels like a safe-bet version of PULP FICTION.

WIDOWS is a lot more than a well crafted crime thriller. Steve McQueen does not only tell a thrilling story but constructs a very detailed and nuanced world by picturing society and it's systemic as well as institutionalized problems - very much like he did in 12 YEARS A SLAVE.

Every scene, every shot, every line of dialogue has a precisely worked out purpose: to shed light on racism, sexism, domestic violence, abuse of authority and power, police brutality, privilege, corruption, toxic masculinity, patriarchal structures, bigotry in politics, media and organized religion.

And McQueen does it brilliantly. WIDOWS processes a lot of these societal themes practically in passing, but with due weight.

Linda (Michelle Rodriguez): "Because our lifes are trickier than yours"

WIDOWS is a social drama disguised as crime thriller with phenomenal performances across the board.

I'm not a big anime guy so up until now there are not a lot of movies I can compare AKIRA to. But with regards to the dystopian setting, GHOST IN THE SHELL is a particularly obvious comparison.

AKIRA does not feel as tight as Mamoru Oshii's masterpiece but they are definitely on par in terms of profoundness. While GHOST IN THE SHELL ponders what could be, Katsuhiro Otomo's movie reflects on the past - especially japanese history - and toys with elements of surrealism to bridge the gap between between the sociological and philosophical layers of the movie.

BRICK is the high school remix of a noirish gangster thriller that walks the line between absurd fun and suspensful seriousness. It feels like fish out of water except the fish has already roamed land quite a few times.

BIRD BOX is a wannabe A QUIET PLACE - but instead of effectively and coherently establishing the rules of it's world, the script makes them up randomly along the way. There are hardly any scenes in which the impending conesquences are palpable. It's never clear what's actually at stake.

Billy Bob Thornton gives a stellar performance in a seemingly tailor-made role. BAD SANTA is a fun, subversive movie that ultimately is more tragic than funny. "Hurt people hurt people" is the cynically portrayed - but with truth in it's core - moral of the story.

To say that I have mixed feelings about UTØYA: JULY 22 would be a massive understatement. This movie makes you suffer, grasp for hope and tremble with fear - in short: it moves you. A lot. And this is what any good movie should do.

But: UTØYA: JULY 22 fails to properly process on a dramaturgical level what is presented to the audience. It's just wading in terror and misery. And that is the problem.

I cannot speak for the survivors and certainly not for the victims and their families. But I find the movie to be a gross disrespect to all those who lost their lifes on Utøya and to those who have to live on with their horrific memories. You cannot use those people as a tool - a tool meant for letting anyone experience what sheer terror is but ultimately only can produce a simple reflection.

A few lines of context at the end of the movie do not resolve those problems.

Very impressive und beautiful craftsmanship that is equally a pure joy and almost exhausting to look at. LOVING VINCENT is for the most part more of a well constructed history lesson than compelling drama. But who says, a well taught class can't be beautiful and touching?