It arrived only a few hours after I posted the last entry – time to celebrate!
Archive for 2007
Nuovomondo – let the sound tell the story.
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007Two weeks ago, I have been to my now-favorite cinema in Oslo: the Gimle Kino. Located in a very fine art deco building, it only has a single show room, an old school wood paneled and heavily carpeted entrance area where you cannot get popcorn – high-quality beverages and the usual choice of chocolates is being served instead. Very much adequate to the refined setting was the movie we saw: Nuovomondo or The Golden Door. A movie about an utterly poor rural Italian family who finally decides to leave their barren homestead to try their luck in the US of A. When I write barren here, I do actually mean barren. If you do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes a barren landscape (in contrast to a desert, for example) you have to see this movie, and the meaning of this word will much more than dawn on you. It might well overwhelm you.
One thing that took a while until it dawned on me during that evening was the sound of this movie. I think I have never seen a movie where sounds were able to tell so much about the emotions and the materiality of the setting as this one (with the exception of Das Boot, though with submarine flicks sound is an obvious thing to invest in). The landscape, the vessel that ships the migrants from Italy to America, the life below decks – all of these places become really vivid in this movie.
However, this is not where my praise stops. In addition to the sound and the thing about the barrenness – two features which would make this movie outstanding on its own – this work of Emanuele Crialese also offers many openly dreamlike aesthetic images, images that weave themselves into the fabric of the story that is being told. All want to swim in the land of milk and honey, as you will see. So, the story seems fine, the imageary is fantastic, and the sounds scaringly good. Then what about the cast? Do they spoil the thing? No! They don’t! They are actually perfectly fitting, too. I guess you get my drift: I do urge you to go and watch this movie. In a cinema, please, try to watch it in a real movie theater.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Michael Clayton – kind of a thriller.
Saturday, December 8th, 2007The genre given for this film at the Internet Movie Database is Drama / Thriller
, at Apple’s website it is just Drama
. I guess I was expecting a thriller when I went to watch this movie – but in that regard it did not really live up to my expectations. However, the drama part was actually working out good – something that is at least as much thanks to Tilda Swinton as to our omnipresent smart and good-looking main actor, Dr. Ace. The cast and the plot were good, and I actually liked the small touch of another, hitherto unmentioned genre, which played into the movie now and then: mystery! All in all, this is solid entertainment that encourages the audience to take a closer look (some of those with whom I saw the movie overlooked several important clues regarding the mystery – so enjoy keeping your eyes peeled!)
IMDb entry | Trailer
1999.
Friday, December 7th, 2007Does that look like the past to you? In the year 1999.
To me it did, and I was surprised when I typed this in today and was confronted with the past-like feeling of this number…
Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Woman warrior queen?
Saturday, November 17th, 2007To my regret, I haven’t seen the first Elizabeth movie starring the most wonderful Cate Blanchett. (It was done in the late nineties, and Gwyneth Paltrow got the Oscar in her role as Julia in Shakespeare in Love, not Cate Blanchett for her role as the 15th century Queen Elizabeth. Well, I will not comment that. )Instead, I will comment on the nonsensical tag line of this second Elizabeth movie: Woman warrior queen
. The tagline fits with the image that we seen on posters etc. – Cate Blanchett in armor and with open, somewhat umkempt hair and dramatic sky above her. Wrong image. This movie is about costumes, aesthetics, some love, some drama, some war, but mostly about scenes that are shot and presented like paintings. Some of these were pretty nice, but in general I and the other four people with whom I went to see the movie agreed that it was quite overdone. Not to an extent that would make this a bad or dreadful movie, but to an extent that lessened the grip on the audience. There was not enough story to really keep me involved – even if the cast and the acting were perfectly fine. Many shallow characters, too few surprises or interesting twists… A pity, of course. The trailer, however, is great, so you may watch this and then make your decision if this is a cinema, a home or a not-to-be-seen-at-all film for you.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Ratatouille – (Not) A cheesy movie.
Friday, October 12th, 2007The trailer (link see below) for Ratatouille was charming enough to lure me into the cinema for an evening free of philosophic discourse during last weeks conference of the German Society for Phenomenological Research (DGPF) in Darmstadt. In addition, this movie has been made by Pixar, which has produced several highly entertaining animated movies during the last years, making it even more attractive in my eyes. Pixar studies seem to hire the right writers who keep a certain degree of edginess in the stories, thus making their movies stand out positively in contrast to most of the boring Disney productions of the last decade. This is again true for Ratatouille. The main character is charming enough, his buddies and relatives are funny, and his enemies bad – luckily all of them in a not overly schematic way. There were one or two very touching moments in the film and the rest was pure entertainment enriched with several very well-made animations and scenic views. Something for a relaxing evening at the cinema, but also something that you could rent for a night at your DVD booth around the corner.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Auf der anderen Seite – Istanbul, zu Dir will ich kommen.
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007Ich habe schön öfter darüber nachgedacht: Gegen die Wand ist wahrscheinlich mein absoluter Top-Film des Milleniums. Er hat sich mit seiner Intensität tief in meine Erinnerung eingebrannt. Die Latte für den neuen Film von Fatih Akin, Auf der anderen Seite, konnte also kaum höher hängen. Ich bin glücklich, dass ich nicht enttäuscht wurde. Auch dieser Film ist wirklich sehr gut. Eigentlich bin ich vielleicht sogar genauso glücklich, dass er nicht noch besser ist als Gegen die Wand – denn wie hätte ich das körperlich und seelisch aushalten sollen? Der neue Film ist also weniger nervenzerrüttend intensiv. Er ist aber trotzdem gut und hart und zärtlich und spannend und amüsant. Die Charaktere sind auch hier Grenzgänger im politischen wie auch im persönlichen Sinn. Ihr Leben spielt sich entweder in Bremen oder in Istanbul ab, sie wechseln von einer Stadt in die andere, leben, lieben und leiden dort auf jeweils eigene Weise. Das Drehbuch und die Regie sind einfach hervorragend und die Darsteller in ihren Rollen ergreifend. Kamera und Schauplätze tragen ihres bei und machen diesen Film zu einem Muss. Ja, auch für Dich, los, ins Kino!
IMDb entry | Trailer
The Bourne Ultimatum – Speed & suspense.
Monday, October 8th, 2007I enjoyed the first two flicks featuring Jason Bourne tremendously. In a way, they showed what James Bond could be – and finally became, with the most recent, reinvented Bond. Of course, the main character of the Bourne movies is laid out in a way that could be seen as the direct opposite to the classic, self-assured and smug Bond: torn by inner conflicts, not sure who and even what he really is, if he should open up and trust or even love others or not… However, even with these traits, the Bourne movies stayed true to their genre: they were action movies to the core. And they were the best action movies I saw during the last years. All of this is still true with the most recent (and probably last) incarnation of the series. Breathtaking fights, murderous hunts, and extremely well-timed plots that swirl around each other in dazzling arrays. If you are ready for some fast-paced action: go for it!
IMDb entry | Trailer
Du bist nicht allein – Unansehnlich & schön.
Saturday, September 29th, 2007Axel Prahl ist wahrscheinlich der Tatort Komissar, der die besten Rollen im Filmgeschäft bekommt. Oder sie sich aussucht. Keine langweiligen, klischeedurchtränkten deutschen Fernsehproduktionen, sondern Filme mit viel wahrem Leben in Handlung und Charakteren. Du bist nicht allein ist da keine Ausnahme. Mit Katharina Thalbach an der Seite und vielen anderen gut gespielten und platzierten Charakteren spielt er sich durch einen Film, der traurig und schön ist. Ein Film, in dem Gescheiterte die Kraft zur Solidarität finden, die Kraft zur Liebe und zum Aufbruch und die Kraft, sich ihr Scheitern einzugestehen. Ein schöner, offener Film, der sicher nicht nur im Kino gut funktioniert.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Not overly rebellious.
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007Even though the tagline of the most recent movie of the Harry Potter series is The Rebellion Begins
there is not too much that is opposed to convention. Not even much that would be unconventional. Entertainment as we know it. Better than the hauntingly bad first two episodes, worse than the magic third, on par with the fourth episode. That would be my judgement and depending on how you liked the different episodes that should be enough to tell you if you might want to see this movie or not. If you haven’t seen any of the Potter movies or – shock and surprise – not even read the books, than watching some other movie might be a wise decision.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Settling & lunsjing.
Thursday, September 6th, 2007
Things are developing nicely. We moved into our very cozy new apartment, the nice weather still allowing us to have our dinner outside on the balcony in the late afternoon sun. I moved into my new office (in the building displayed to the left), where I could not only attach all my electronic devices and even get full network access without having to jump through hooks but also enjoy a nice view on one of the central campus plazas – with the Holmenkollen in the background! And I started to participate in the informal daily institute lunches (lunch is spelled lunsj in Norwegian), where I struggle myself through the Norwegian conversations – not overly successful yet, but I am working on it.
The Simpsons Movie – Entertainment also for non-insiders.
Saturday, August 18th, 2007Watching the credits of this movie roll through, I was seriously surprised how many people work on a 2-D animated major motion picture these days. The credits were not as long as those of The Lord of the Rings, but they were still l o n g. The result of this big enterprise is worthy: I found the trailers nice and I was not disappointed by the movie. As far as I can judge, all the common characters appear and have something entertaining to show or do, some really funny ideas have entered both picture- and dialog-wise. I went to see this film with two other non-Simpsons freaks, and we had several series’ of serious amusement. Nevertheless, neither the eco part of the story nor the personal part was overly great – criticism, shock and grief were hinted at but not performed in a way that would make this movie more than amusing or entertaining. However, I will soon take a look into one of the books that I got as birthday presents: The Simpsons and Philosophy : The D’oh! Of Homer and let myself be enlightened about this side of The Simpsons.
IMDb entry | Trailer
Live-Report aus dem Seevegarten.
Friday, August 10th, 2007
Es ist soweit, es ist soweit. Hier zu sehen: vor dem Zeltaufbau und danach geht’s dann noch zum Abkühlen in die Seeve. Denn es ist warm. Schalalalaaa.
Irina Palm – Russian names are romantic.
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007The trailer for this movie was promising (see below for the link). A woman needs money and starts to … prostitute herself? Kind of. She masturbates men, who put their (obviously male) genitals through a hole in the wall. She sits on the other side. And seems to be doing a very good job. Her neighbors are not that enchanted. Little surprise here.
The story might sound somewhat blunt, but there is no bluntness in this movie. It is told in a very subtle way. The camera is respectful, the actors are, too. In this movie, it becomes tangible to us that the world of prostition is a world of delicate balances. Between pimps and prostitutes, between family and work, between collegialism and competition, between love and loathing. A really excellent movie. Since it has been running in the cinema for several weeks by now it might be difficult to find a theater that is still showing the film. If you can find one, go and watch it there. If not, keep it high on your list of movies to rent for couch-watching.
IMDb entry | Trailer