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When you liked the first two movies you're probably gonna love the third This is one of the few movie series where each movie tops the previous one.

I missed the soundtrack that I loved in the second (and the first?) movie - in general I did not feel like the third one had a sound track that is memorable, but other than that, the movie is at the top of it's craft. The sound and sound effects as well as the visual effects are extremely good. I've seen it in cinemas in 3D and I can add: the 3D was also really ingenious. Right at the beginning of the movie I suddenly ducked because I thought somebody was throwing something from behind us to the front - only to realize that it was a sound and 3D effect of the movie. That hasn't happened to me since the introduction of 3D movies in the 00s. The new level of detail is incredible, for example the scales on Toothless, the hair of Hickup in the wind, the water, sand in the beach, the clouds in the sky or the fern leaves and grass in the wind - it's really incredible and a lot of fun to see - the style is of course the same as it was in the first movie 10 years ago, so really simple faces and forms. Still the added level of detail shows that DreamWorks is really getting out everything they can, animation-wise. This is really beautiful to watch, and worth your time just for the images. Also the style and tone of the movie has changed. Right from the beginning we get really dark atmosphere, fog, great camerawork - it feels like being in a Pirates of the Carribean movie when we are on the ghost ship - scenes that could easily be taken out of a action or even war drama movie. This is counterbalanced by really colorful art - especially in the "Hidden World" we are greeted with an explosion of colors, light and glowing effects.

But enough about the imagery. Let's take a look at the plot, which again is extremely dense and packed with a lot of side stories and elements. One of the main topics seems to be love and different facets of it: Love between lovers, love between friends, love as people grow, jealousy and letting go. Another important topic is growing up and being a grown up. What does it mean to take responsibility and to make decisions? And there are even social topics, such as making a group of people dependent from others, how to live happily, overpopulation, migration and immigration - boy this movie is packed. And all of these topics are handled really mature but in a way that this movie still stays a typical children's movie. I really liked this pretty much.

And if you are open for it, then this movie is extremely touching. There was a lot of sobbing in the screening that I visited, and a lot of watery eyes. This movie is extremely emotional and extremely touching.

Plot-wise I was surprised as the movie develops in a totally different direction than you would expect. 2 or 3 times I did not see the things coming the way they did, and expected something totally different.

So to sum up, I had really great fun with the movie, it is done incredible well, it conveys important topics and ideas in a very subtle way, it still has it's funny moments and great humor, that works on both grownups as well as children, it invites you on an emotional roller-coster ride and is technically really incredible to watch.

Everybody who loves animation movies should watch this movie and if you can, watch it in cinemas, and try to get a 3D screening. It's really worth it and a constant improvement of the series, as well as a great finale.

Based on a true story, Diane Keaton plays a embittered widow who cannot uphold the luxury life she used to live with her husband, while Breandan Gleeson is portraying a cranky hermit who built himself a minimalist shack that is build hidden away on a piece of land, on which he is able to live autarkic. Now, of course exactly this piece of land has to be sold and it is Diane Keatons character that wants to chase Gleeson of the land, but in the process of doing so falls in love with him and at the end fights on his side.

I think the movie had great potential. It had a few really funny moments and of course grate actors. However all in all the movie lacks authenticity. It starts with the lack of chemistry between our two main characters - seeing them on screen you wouldn't believe that there are any feelings involved at all. There is too little build-up, too little investment in the characters, which is why they stay absolutely shallow. Even though the actors themselves are doing okay and the general idea and concept of the movie is okay as well, there is somehow no emotions at all.

To make things worse, this movie has just one song. One single theme, that - if you hear it without context makes you feel like you are watching one of these feelgood advertisements for some care product. Only, this positive feelgood melody is used throughout the entire movie, and I gout sick of it after the first quarter.

The plot is really slow, the characters sometimes not reasonable in their actions, but over all it is so foreseeable that I actually knew the entire outcome after the first quarter. Its a typical love comedy for the elderly from which we have seen so many already, and it doesn't add anything new to the genre that we haven't seen already.

A big negative point however is the ending:

After Keaton being the one pressuring Gleeson to fight for his land to be finally able to live out his days in peace and quiet as he always wanted, and to stand up for his rights and not to give in to the others who bully him arround against his will, at the end she is actually the one who pressures him into selling so that they could move in together. Wow. Seriously? Because he doesn't she breaks up and moves away, and in the end he sells, moves his shack onto a boat, because conveniently enough she lives at a river and now he is anchoring right in front of her house... Happy end.

Way to build someone up to live the life he always wanted only to then pressure him to do something else and force him by emotionally blackmail him...

For me this wasn't a nice movie experience, and these 4 points are just because of me liking the main actors and the few funny moments, but not for the movie direction, editing, sound, or overall plot.

After having seen the trailer and after hearing all the critics I wouldn't have watched this movie. I thought it would be stupid and boring, without much action and totally unbelievable due to the total disregard of physics.

I must say that after watching it anyways (I got the Blu-ray due to a coincidence) I was actually pretty impressed. Yes it doesn't reinvent the wheel, yes it's not a Die Hard, and yes, there are scenes that are laughable due to the afore mentioned disregard for physics. But in general, this is actually a pretty decent action movie - it's not full of jokes and stupid one-liners, it has some decent acting and it is pretty thrilling most of the times, and has some really clever ideas, beside the obvious crane jump for which you needn't study physics to know that it's totally absurd. It's still good for a laugh though and other than that, this movie was good fun.

If you like simple action movies, if you don't expect the next "Die Hard", "John Wick" or "Equalizer" but are also content with simple movies, this is one of the better ones worth a watch. Really. I've seen far stupid (e.g. that really horrible Die Hard 4.0).

I cannot believe I haven't written at least a small review on this movie, yet. This can be - no doubt - regarded as a classic already. It's the movie that revived the slasher era, who had it's "Golden Age" in the mid 70s to mid 80s, and then disappeared for a decade from the big screen. The genre of course wasn't dead, and enthusiasts where happy to get new movies to classic slasher movie series on direct-to-video releases. But in mainstream they disappered totally - untill - yes - until Wes Craven decided to make a slasher movie, that both, paid it's tribute to the slasher classics while also being fun and new, and more appealing to a modern youth.

Following Scream, we get 3 sequels and a number of new generation slasher movies, such as "I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Urban Legends", "Final Destination" and "Jeepers Creepers" and finally the "Saw"-franchise, and also finally created budgets for follow-ups and/or reboots on those 80s movies, such as Halloween, Cucky, Friday the 13th or Elm's Street. Not to forget the 2010s first(?) slasher television series that is also called Scream and steps into the fooprints of this movie. Now that deserves the term "classic" doesn't it?

The movie convinces you not by a scary killer or inspired new or especially hard kills, but by a really good base story an excellent cast that play some of the most lovable slasher movie characters, a witty meta-level about slasher movies and last but not least finally not a scream queen but a survivor girl. It is not by accident that Neve Campbell's Sindey Prescott survives, you never see her fall down crying between a still masked Michael Myers just to start screaming again the minute he get's up. No, instead she'll confront him, fight him, and stand her ground.

For me, the secret show stealers are however Courntey Cox's Gale Weathers and David Arquette's Dwight Riley - who together with Sidney are staples throughout the Scream series.

Then of course there is the iconic Ghostface, a great soundtrack, and a great supporting cast, including the antagonist, who isn't revealed until the end, so the entire movie you keep guessing. Oh and did I mention all the great references to the classics?

I don't know what's not to love about this movie. I've seen it a number of times, and I am not yet tired - I usually watch this around Halloween and nearly once a year, and up to now it never got old. If you haven't seen it, you need to watch it. If you have, you know what I'm talking about: It's a great atmospheric horror classic :)

As a kid and young adult I was never into Manga or Anime or Japanese culture, so I believe that I've actually never seen a Japanese Anime before this one. I did watch the Last Airbender series, though, but even though they use the typical Japanese Anime style I'd feel like cheating if I'd list that as an Anime, because it's a US production.

However, as someone that is interested in movies and talks to other movie enthusiasts, there are certain Anime movies that you will simply hear popping up. Director Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli productions for instance, and Princess Mononoke as one of his works is - according to many - something you should have seen. His works are celebrated as classics, even among non Anime-enthusiasts, his movie Spirited Away is listed in Steven Jay Schneider's !1001 movies to see before you die", and in the IMDB Top 250 movies you'll even find 6 of his movies, one of them being Princess Mononoke. This is just one reason why I always planned on giving those movies a try - I just never came around. Another one was just added recently as I started learning Japanese and saw it a good practice to watch movies in Japanese. And a third reason was a recent special in a YouTube format I like to watch (for the German readers: "Rocket Beans TV's Kino+"), where the guests talked about their Top 20 anime movies.

So finally I got myself the Blu-ray to もののけ姫. I actually really wanted to get the Japanese releases on Blu-ray but as they are extremely expensive, I settled for the German Steelbook releases which look fine as well (but unfortunately don't feature the Japanese Titles). Mononoke was the first I got, because it was the one with the lowest availability. It wasn't the movie that I was interested most in (that is actually "Spirited Away" but that is already out of print :( ), but it became the first I watched.

As someone who isn't that deep into Japanese Anime Culture the movie was somewhat confusing at the beginning. There where a few things I did not pick up, and this might have also been due to the fact that I watched it with original soundtrack and German subtitles - I feel like it's much harder to read subtitles on animated movies than it is on live action movies. But even though I was sometimes a bit confused about the behaviors, I generally enjoyed the movie. It had a few really cute ideas, e.g. I enjoyed the "Kodamas" as they are called - the wood spirits. And I liked the general idea of the Shishigami - the forest spirit. I did expect this movie to be much more about the girl (called San, not Mononoke - also she is not really a princess - so the title is a bit puzzling) though. However it is told entirely from the perspective of prince Ashitaka, who is actually a prince who got attacked by a vengeful spirit and tries to find a cure/and or the cause of the demons existence and finds it in Lady Eboshi and her Iron Town, who seek to destroy the forest and by doing so defeat all the Gods and spirits that dwell in it.

As you might already have heard out of the small plot summary, this movie bears a deeper meaning, and it is really strange from any western movie, because even though we get a typical antagonist, we actually never ever really get a showdown with her. She is still treated as someone who is good and protected by our protagonist, even though her actions are pure evil and threaten the world and are the cause of curses and wild demons savaging the nearby villages.

All in all, it's an interesting movie, it has a deep meaning that we should all think about, yet it is also really strange and at times confusing. I feel like I'll have to watch it a second time, and maybe at least once with German dubbings.

I was excited though. The art is beautifully done, and there are really creative ideas that went into this movie. I am probably still not an Anime/Manga guy - yet even I can realize that it is worth a watch.

I have to say it right away: This is probably one of the best German movies made in the last 20 years. And having gotten this out of the way, just sink your teeth into this next bit of information: It's a "No-Budget" production. This team started out with an idea, that was developed in free time and produced in free time just with the help of friends and family, and whenever they had something they could show off, they asked for any money they could get, to get the next bit of movie produced. All in free time, e.g. over the time of five years they filmed on weekends, using as requisites what they had. The result was something most people shook their head - famous directors said to just delete the movie as it could never work. The cool thing? The crew kept believing in it. As they said in the making off: "Often we said to our selves: We cannot do this, this can't work. And then we stopped and asked our selves: But why not? We are laughing? We're having fun? Maybe it will work?"

The end product was subtitled: "The most fucked up German fairy tale since the Brothers Grimm." And yes, that it is. Let me just say a few words on the story - but beware: The less you know, the better:

Two gangsters, after committing a crime and steeling a car, find a screen play in that car that - in the screen play describe what just happened since the movie started. It end's a few minutes after the screenplay is found, so the two gangsters, believing that they are in some kind of hoax, search for the author of that screenplay.

Javid: "If this screenplay is turned into a movie it's going to be the most retarded movie that has ever existed"

The movie is a really strange genre mix: it has action, it has gore and splatter, crazy shoot-outs, comedy, a revenge part, a love story, it has God in it, cannibals and even social criticism. All this is packed together in a movie that is captivating right from the moment it starts, that has great black humor, doesn't take itself to serious and has a plot that is surprisingly refreshing and has a really original story idea.

To make it short: This movie is just fun to watch, and whenever I think about it, it's fun again, and whenever I see scenes or hear other talk about it, I start smiling, so yeah. It's a must watch!

I've seen this movie in a sneak preview and I really liked it for the message it conveys as well as for the movie being different to all the other movies that you'll see. It is really slow, it takes a lot of time, has a lot of dialogues and is probably told for at least 40% in off-screen narration. I think this is something that is pretty brave.

Additionally I liked a lot of the scenes that where really artistic, e.g. the scene where you have Fonny with his sculpture and the camera circles around it and we have the smoke of his cigarette. I liked that a lot. And I liked the camera, e.g. in the beginning scene where Tish conveys her news to the mother - this is really great camera work, really great editing and aspects that make this movie really good. Another thing that got me right from the get-go was the music.

Now having pointed out all the positives, the biggest problem I have with this movie is in a kind a missing emotionality. Take Green Book for example: I really had a lump in my throat when Mahershala Ali stood in the rain and started screaming out his dialogue - that was intense. That gave you goosebumps. And I would have really liked to see something of that sort in this movie as well - the story is absolutely worth telling and could have easily included a scene of that kind. In a way it even has - that moment when the mother Sharon is in Puerto Rico. However, and I don't know why - it didn't get to me, which is why I was really surprised that this performance actually won an academy award.

However, I am not saying that the acting was bad. I liked the acting, there was great chemistry between some of the actors, especially KiKi Layne was really great as this young, dreamily-naive girl that just experiences first love. And Colman Domingo and Michael Beach as the two fathers where absolutely great as well and had some really great laughs. Equally good where of course the mothers, portrayed by afore mentioned Regina King and Aunjanue Ellis.

However, in the end, I feel like I wasn't as invested into the characters as I should have been, and I am not sure where exactly to pinpoint the guilt. One aspect I did not needed in the extend it was shown in the movie was the love scenes - we had a lot of those, and for a movie where there isn't much happening, you really wonder if it would have needed that many love scenes - maybe that time would have been better invested into further developing the characters and thus having the viewer more invested?

To end on a positive note: One thing that I actually realized, was the really settle but still very apparent switch of tone - while in the beginning you see this movie probably ending on a positive note, there is that one scene (the artsy one I mentioned before) where this feeling starts to tip over to the negative side - I wouldn't have been surprised if this movie had a really bad ending; and reviewing this movie I wonder if it maybe would have needed this ending ... e.g. I wouldn't have been surprised if at the end the scene from the beginning was something Alonzo was experiencing in his head right before successfully taking his life after having lost the trial

I am quite a Liam Neeson fan since I actively took notice of this actor due to his Qui-gon Jin role which was one of the only good things about Episode I. I've since then seen over 20 movies with him, and most of them are probably a tad better rated just because I like his character.

So I was really looking forward to this movie for a long time - Liam Neeson staring in an action movie against nature, in a nearly one-man-show, with a lot of positive reviews from people who've already seen this movie. Now that's got to be good doesn't it?

Well... the movie starts off really great. We have some workers doing seasonal work at an oil station in Alaska, which is not only a rough place location-wise, but also from the people. Liam Neesons character John Ottway is a hunter who's task is to guard the workers from wild animals. On their way back home however the plane crashes in the mountains, and only a hand full survive. The first survivors succumb to their wounds but soon they find themselves facing another enemy, that is picking the survivors for killing one after the other: A pack of wolves.

Liam Neesons character gets a really good background story, that makes his character interesting: He has lost everything and given up on live already, but when thrown into this live threatening situation his survival instincts kick in. There is something secretive in his character and we get to learn this while the movie enfolds. This makes the entire first half of the movie really interesting. Also they have a great location, with stunning pictures, a really high quality camera, and good performances, which I really enjoyed a lot. There is good chemistry between all the surviving characters which are totally different in style and believes, providing some room for arguments.

However, on the other side there where a few things I disliked. First of: The wolves, that hardly look anything like wolves. Here we get really cheap CGI and as the movie maker probably knew, most of the wolf attack scenes are in the dark and with hectic camera so you only see glimpses of the wolf. However I don't really enjoy shaky cams and rapid movements through hectic editing, so all in all this took a lot of excitement out of the scene because you actually do not see what happens but keep pondering about the few glimpses you get, while the action sequence is still going on. Also, the behavior of the pack of wolves is totally atypical: They don't hunt a group of men that are capable to defend them selves over days just for sports?

Also, during the movie the physical accuracy gets smaller and smaller - with the cliff jumping scene being the worst part of it. If you find yourself thinking: Well that's not realistic at all, that's plain idiotic, your brain gets occupied by other things than merging into the plot of the movie. And there are a number of these little things (like Ottway finding his letter after the crash which has been for hours in the snow but is still in excellent condition, or all the guys sleeping and not hearing how the one guy standing guard is taken by wolves just a couple of meters away, etc.), as well as movie mistakes (the letter has an re- and disappearing coffee stain throughout the movie).

In the end we get a 2hrs movie that feels really long and doesn't add anything new to the typical man vs nature survival movie (such as The Edge or the Mountain between Us, which I actually liked a bit better), that starts of really great but in the end gets actually pretty unrealistic and boring. And that's really sad, because they have some great scenes, really wonderful images, and a good Liam Neeson. But especially with high expectations that I had, this movie was mostly rather disappointing to me. It's still a solid movie, though.

I feel like lately I am always pointing out that on of the genres that I do not enjoy at all is romantic comedy - and though this is more of a family comedy I would put it into that broader category of romantic comedies.

And actually, this movie is not that much of an exception: It is absolutely foreseeable right from the get go, most of the jokes are not that funny and have been heard a number of times, and in the end we get a dreamy happy end. It's so unbelievable cliché.

Yet, I gave it a good rating - that might shock you, but different to most other movies of this genre, I was pretty entertained - while thinking about it, I think there are 3 main reasons:

First, though humor is always difficult (and I mostly like intelligent humor, good made parodies, socially critical, ironic and sarcastic humor, such as in Silicon Valley, South Park, Futurama etc.) I do have to appreciate their take on things. Even though it's a 2018 movie it is far from the really stupid and dumbed down humor that (like movies by/with Melissa McCarthy, Jillian Bell, Kevin Hart, etc.) everyone uses this time. It's also not intelligent, of course - but at least it has heart. And it had some surprises in it's story, side characters that are funny in certain ways, etc.
Second, even though it's a comedy the actors play serious (not over the top like for instance Blockers) and the play really good. Of course with Marc Wahlberg and Rose Byrne we have two veteran actors. Of course, especially Byrne is in her element, having made mostly comedies (I would have loved to see her in more movies such as 28 weeks later). But we also have a lot of unknown actors and they are good as well - the kids are great, they are cute and great actors - you start to hate the petulant episodes of Julianna Gamiz character Lita, pitty the clumsy weepy boy Juan portrayed by Gustavo Quiroz Jr. and you sympathize with the teenage girl Isabela Moner having a hard time adjusting. And then there is a great supporting act by Margo Martindale.
Third, as already mentioned, the movie has hart. You start to like all the characters, even though they are so cliché.

Of course - as for a romantic comedy there are a few negatives - the story is all in all rather unbelievable, and avoiding any deeper character conflicts (e.g. the birth mother had great potential for drama), and in the end you get an happy end that is rather unbelievable (180° turn of emotions by some characters just because of one moment). But hey. It's a romcom.

To put it up front: I am not a fan of boxing, it never really interested me. And thus I haven't even ever seen any of the Rocky movies. So you might think: "Why am I watching this? Can this review really be fair"?

Well, I can at least try? Give me a chance. The truth is: I really enjoyed this movie. I still cannot understand why everybody likes boxing so much - yet, this movie made it seem really interesting. The staging is really captivating, and the fight scenes look really authentic - it was a pain watching them bloodied up. It also had a lot of heart, and the actors where great. I like Tessa Thompson, I think she is a great actor - unfortunately she doesn't get much screen time and especially not much background - but hey: It's about Creed - and Michael B. Jordan is not only a good actor - he also makes you jealous as a man, because of his great physique. And Sylvester Stalone is also pretty decent.

All in all I was really entertained, would love to both, see the second movie in cinemas soon, as well as filling a gap in my cinematic education by watching the Rocky movie. What more can a movie like Creed hope to achieve? Keep in mind that I never ever was interested in boxing ;)

Worth your while!

7 Days in Entebbe is a movie that shows a dramatized version of the real historic events around a plain kidnapping and blackmailing that took place in 1967. Similar to movies like 13 Hours, this movie concentrates on planing a military coup to free the hostages, but different to other movies this one creates its drama by a theatrical dance piece.

This makes the movie unique when compared to other movies that you are used to. There will be a number of viewers that will probably be disappointed by this; others - like me will be extremely pleased by the fact to not have yet another movie concentrate on this story (that has been told in a couple of other movies already) the same way, but to actually have a movie that uses new innovative and intelligent aspects of art to dramatize a story that is otherwise heavily based on dialogue and personal emotions and personal doubt. that is what this movie focuses on heavily. We don't get classic good and evil - instead every character is put into a spectrum in which he decides to go to the one or the other direction, while not knowing if what they are doing is right or wrong. This is something that a few people critizise and I can understand it, because it makes the characters appear different than they where in reality. A lot of critics have pointed out that certain personality aspects are simply left out and that the historic personalities get off much better in the movie, downplaying the actual horror these people unleashed.

However in these situations I like to counter with this being not an accurate documentary but rather a entertaining movie. Movies are a form of art, and art is never something that is factually correct but always something that explores ideas and emotions, that points out certain aspects of life and explores them in great detail. This movie does nothing else. It presents us with characters that do extremely violent things but are still represented as the heroes, as a group of people that have a moral code, and that question their actions on every step and live with the consequences they unleash.

The movie is pretty captivating and interesting, even though it is heavily based on dialogue (which eventually starts to repeat itself) and where not much else is happening. It is captivating even though there is no action, no violence and no drama - which I think is a real achievement.

This of course needs good actors and we do get two really great actors. On top there is Rosamund Pike, who is not only acting extremely well (as I have no doubt since seeing here in Gone Girl), but also speaking a language that is not native to her. And she does so incredibly well - she has an accent of course, but after learning German only for this movie, that what she does here is incredible. It saddens me a bit, that only us Germans are able to actually appreciate this, and I hope so much that the German dubbing does not replace her original voice. Next to her we get german Actor Daniel Brühl, and he of course also is a great actor and one of my favorite. Other know actors include Eddie Marsan and Denis Ménochet, but non of them are really challenged in this movie, even though they are really good and provide believable performances.

And I really liked the dancing parts and the music. I had an earworm right after watching the movie and even looked up the theater group that performed for this movie - it is really good. And it really is something different.

Unfortunately I am pretty sure that this movie wont find many fans, but I recommend it to anyone open to seeing something different.

I was lucky to catch this movie in the sneak preview, otherwise I wouldn't have watched this one, as it did not seem to be any interesting.

I was expecting something in the direction of Bliar Witch Project when watching the trailer, and I though that as a found footage movie this would be as bad as all the other found footage movies I've seen (I am absolutely not a fan).

However, this was totally different and a total surprise for me - I found it to be pretty innovative to have the entire story told from the view of a computer screen (though now, having seen Unfriended, I have to see that it's actually not that original). The actor was pretty decent, the way of story telling worked really well and there where a number of surprises and turnarounds I did not expect.

The only criticism I have where those scenes that where a bit "too much", telling and showing the obvious to the viewer as long and in such detail that even the most stupidest person couldn't have missed it. You feel like the director thinks the viewers are extremely stupid sometimes. That was a bit unsatisfying but only a small flaw in an otherwise pretty great movie. It's really entertaining and a positive surprise. Definitely worth a watch!

This movie should be on everybody's watch list just for the cast: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Zachary Quinto, Dave Bautista, Brian Tyree Henry, Jeff Goldblum, Charlie Day and Sofia Boutella. Wow.

The setting of this movie: We have a future dystopia, there is hardly any fresh water to drink for the people and the world is ruled and divided by companies and mob bosses. Technology and living standards have rapidly dropped (though due to us being in the future the technology is at least far beyond the things we would be capable right now). In this setting there's this independent hotel called Artemis that is led by a former nurse (portrayed by Jodie Foster) and her personal aid and bodyguard (Dave Bautista) as a private hospital. To being able to be treated you need to be a member of the hotel Artemis, make your monthly payments on time and follow the three important rules: You cannot be a cop, you are not allowed to carry any kind of weapon and as a patient you are in no way allowed to harm another patient.

However, on the day the movie plays all three rules get broken and hell breaks loose.

This movie, that is narrated primarily from the viewing point of the nurse, who is old and suffers from anxieties and phobias. Foster plays here believable as a slitary-eccentric scared person that knows her ways and who - in her element - is totally under control, but also totally looses it if things don't go according to plan. We learn a lot of things from her past and because of this really perfect portrayal you'll start to embosom her really fast, which makes this movie so captivating. The two other characters that really shine are the ones played by Brown and Boutella, because their roles are important - all the other characters, like Day, Goldblum or Quntio actually are only the supporting cast - they deliver as great performances as the main cast, but due to low screen time do not carry any weight. Once the story get's going, it will soon become violent and brutal, some of the scenes where so brutal that I was actually thinking this movie could get an FSK18 rating in Germany (still it didn't - jsut FSK16).

All in all it was pretty interesting, a captivating neo-noire crime drama in a sci-fi setting, with a great cast and for me, as a Jodie Foster fan, it was really nice seeing her on the big screen again, though she got really old, she still owns it!

I've finally come around to re-watch this movie, after it has been sitting on my shelf for nearly a year now. I first saw this movie in a sneak preview - it was a movie that I would have wanted to watch anyways, so I was happy to get a head start, and I really enjoyed it. By now I think everybody knows that this movie is finally the long awaited continuation of Unbreakable (2000) which was not communicated and came as a surprise for all - unfortunately I was the only one to realize that at the cinema hall, screaming "Oh my god, this is Unbreakable" while everyone else looked puzzled. The story, however, is totally detached from Unbreakable and if it wasn't for the ending scene, you wouldn't have known it, as this one does not tie in any of the other characters and stands on its own:

When wanting to leave from the birthday party, the birthday girl Claire and her two friends Marcia and Casey get abducted by a strange guy. The girls are locked into a cellar and don't know what to expect, as their kidnapper seems strange and mentally unstable. And so a struggle for life and death begins.

I've originally rated this 8/10 after watching it at the cinema, but while re-watching it, I believe that this movie even got better. It was interesting in three ways:
First, now knowing that this movie is a sequel to Unbreakable, this movie has so many parallels that seem so obvious. Yet, I did not see them watching the movie the first time, and maybe wouldn't even have realized now, if I hadn't watch those movies back to back.
Second, re-watching this movie I figured out so many more interesting aspects I did not get at the first glance.
And third, even though I now knew the entire story, this movie was still so thrilling and captivating that I really felt of pushing my initial score up a bit.

It really is a great movie, it has so many interesting aspects, a really fascinating premises, and a really great story telling, pacing, it's wonderfully shot with a really great camera and has a great score. This becomes so clear right at the beginning of the car scene, which is so ingeniously done. Everything in this movie seems perfect already - but we haven't even yet talked about the actors and while all are great, there are of course two that stand out. First, there is "The Witch"-Star Anya Taylor-Joy, and her performance is absolutely stunning - her performance is absolutely believable, and she can convey so much just with her facial expression: fear, frustration, disappointment, but also her cleverness, the way she portraits that she is a fighter and a survivor. I feel like her performance isn't actually not valued as much as it should be - and the reason for that is of course James McAvoy, who gives his absolute best performance of his career: A DID patient with 23 prominent personalities of which we actually get to experience 5 in greater detail. He does that so stunningly well, that you can actually always tell, which person he is, right now. Of course there is some help in a number of scenes where the clothing changes - but there are also a number of scenes where he switches personalities in-scene, and even those are absolutely stunning It is a real pleasure to see him change his voice, change his accents, even change his entire facial expression from one moment to the other - that is some extremely high level acting that only few could master. It's incredible that M Night Shyamalan knew how to pick 'em and cast the perfect guy for this incredibly demanding role.

It's simply a really great movie with superb acting, great story telling, a really good story to tell, a clever idea - it's the prefect package.

PS: If you get the BD, take your time and watch the extras as well - Shyamalan actually comments on a lot of things: There's an alternative ending, a huge number of deleted scenes and all of them are introduced and explained by a commentary from Shyamalan that also gives a lot of additional background context to the movie itself. And there are three behind-the-scenes featurettes that are all worth watching as well.

A few years ago by accident the first movie I watched with my mother after Sylvester night was an Liam Neeson action movie I did not know (Unknown) and since then this became somewhat of a "tradition". I've been watching Liam Neeson action movies as first movie of the year ever since, and normally it's the movie I watch on January 1st.

This year however we where on vacation and could not watch the movie on 1st, but hey - it is still the first movie of this year, and out of necessity (I ordered The Grey and A Walk Among the Tombstones on Blu-ray but they did not arrive on time) it was Taken, which I've already seen, but my girlfriend hadn't.

We get the story of Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative, who - to get closer to his estranged daughter - allows her to take a trip through Europe with her friend. However, in Paris she get's kidnapped while on phone with him, forcing Mills to reactivate his retired secret agent skillset to hunt down the kidnappers in Europe.

This movie is french cameraman Pierre Morels second movie as director, and he was heavily backed by Luc Besson, with whom he had already worked on The Transporter. It ensembles a great cast with Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Katie Cassidy, and Xander Berkeley who are all but supporting characters to Liam Neeson, with - unfortunately - very low screen time.

I remember watching it the first time and I really liked it then. Liam Neeson is a great actor and his character is wonderfully introduced. He get's a lot of back story, plays a somewhat broken person that has no other desire than to reconnect with his estranged teenage girl that he had neglected in his active days - which is even harder as he is divorced from her mother for the same reasons. He is totally believable throughout the movie and is one of the positive aspects of the movie.

The second positive aspect is the action which is mostly hand made practical effects, hardly any stunt doubles, hardly any greenscreens and CGI, which is really great. The movie is therefore not as action packed, not as fast paced, a lot of steady cams but all the fight scenes are totally believable, and therefore quite thrilling.

The great negative aspect in my opinion - and this was so much more bothering watching it the second time than it was the first time is the story itself, which is totally unbelievable. To start, even the premise is crazy - given what we see, every day at least 20 girls that travel to Paris - apparently mostly from the USA - are kidnapped. And nobody cares? Also, it is inspired by "The Bourne Identity" but does not quite reach that level, and after having seen many current action movies such as The Equalizer, John Wick or Atomic Blonde, this movie seems a bit dated.

Never the less a movie worth watching (but probably not re-watching material).

A classic with a motif that is often been adopted since - creepy kids that kill all their parents and try to live on their own; in away this was lastly depicted in American Horror Story: Hotel, with the School-Sidestroy-Arc.

That is definitely something to take into account; as is the fact, that over the time it has gained a certain cult status (it even inspired the name of the Band KoRn as well as one of their song titles "Children of the KoRn"), despite the really low budget this film was produced on.

It is that low budget that in the end invited so much negative criticism: The bad, really cheesy graphics effects, the rushed ending, the bad acting by some actors. Story-wise it is - on the other hand - really strong. It is mostly suspense, and less explicit graphics, it had an - for that time - inspired new idea, it paved the way for children as the evil creatures of horror movies; all points to take into consideration. And talking about bad actors: There are also really good ones, such as Linda Hamilton, who seems to be too good (and kind of untapped as she is capable of so much more) to be in this movie.

On the other hand, however, from a today's viewers standpoint, it has aged really badly. Comparing it to movies such as Orphan or Insidious, the kids are completely tame and not at all frightening, the dialogues are a bit dated and feel strange, and the suspense is - for today's standards - much less frightening and lean more towards the boring side of things.

So in the end I am torn between a high rating that deserves a cult classic that has inspired many other movies to come and the low rating of a dated movie that leans towards being a bit boring and cheesy. I still believe it is worth at least having seen it once. So I'll grade it with an average 3/5

I was happy to get to see this movie in a sneak review, because I did not hear of it, and I probably wouldn't have watched it. We get a distrophy in which everyone lives underneath the earth, as the earth itself was attacked by aliens. Those are called "Nonsuchs" and one of the privates of the army, called S.U.M.1 is serving his duty on the surface; every army member has to serve 100 days on the surface and we follow S.U.M.1 in a movie that is mostly a one-man-show seeing what he is experiencing on the surface.

S.U.M.1 is played by Iwan Rheon (Ramsey from Game of Thrones) and is a German low budget movie, directed by a film professor from the SAE institute. This, at least to me, sounds like a great start. However, the low budget is pretty obvious, especially when it comes to the CGI, which looks like the cheap stuff we where used at the beginning of the 90s when watching TV shows. Even the first 3 minutes will make your toes curl.

However CGI is not everything, and the movie manges to build up tention a lot of time, while showing us one soldier serving his 100 days in solitude; however this puffes out unused. At the end, the movie is really long. Also some of the story elements are so obvious (calling the guy S.U.M.1 = someone, and the aliens nonsuchs = no such (thing))

A good idea, and good shooting overall, with a great actor and good soundtrack - but over all, it did not convince me. There are a number of plotholes, some of the things are never explained, other things only work because of coincidences, and a lot of background story is simply missing; they introduced a rat to whom S.U.M.1 starts talking - why not use this idea to give some background? Some flashbacks, or simply some naration of what exactly happend, how the live is under earth, etc.

I wouldn't watch this one in cinemas and I also wouldn't recommend paying money for the home release. Instead, if you are a really big fan of sci-fi movies, then wait for it, until it is shown on free TV.

Taking into consideration that it is a low budget movie, otherwise it would have gotten a worse rating.

If you want to watch a movie that is really similar
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then you should rather watch 10 Cloverfield Lane. That one is pretty similar, especially also regarding the ending, and that is a movie wich is so much better.

I've seen this a s a sneak preview and I was really entertained - cool movie, a lot of fun. It's not a master piece, and after the incredible good critics I can understand that some might have been disappointed, but other than that, it's just a lot of fun. I liked the action, the cool driving scenes, some really great compositions as well as the incredible good symbiosis of music and pictures. The thing that bugged me most, is that the general idea of having an action movie married to a great 80s soundtrack is not that new, and since the success of Guardians of the Galaxy somewhat exploited. Only this year we had Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Atomic Blonde, doing the same thing, so this is already the third one in one year. And especially Guardian of the Galaxy has some parallels with the soundtrack and an antique music playing device being in the center of attention.

Other than that it was however a good movie. I liked all of the main actors; after coming out of the cinema I was a bit dissapointed by the small roll Kevin Spacey was playing - at that time I would have liked to see him a bit more (of course that was before the scandals).

Other than that, great action movie.

I believe I've rated this one a bit higher than it actually deserves, and maybe that's because I am impartial when it comes to having a movie with batman.

However, this was - after seeing Spider-Man and Thor, the first super hero comic adaption that is more in tune with what I expect from such a movie.

The biggest flaw of this movie is the short playtime, because you feel like there is so much more missing, so much more backstory that could have been told, so many more quieter moments that the movie could have benefited from, and a bit more character time, for a movie where we have three new heroes introduced (next to the villain, and other story arcs that this movie gets into). Still the movie is alright - you don't feel rushed. The Characters are well developed, each of them has its own personality trades - we have the strong and funny guy (Aquaman), the insecure guy (Flash), and the one with a troubled background who still needs to come to terms with who he is (Cyborg) - a good mix that (in contrast to Marvels Avengers) has some interesting contrast, and that fits well into our fighting "couple" consisting of the broken and cynic Batman and the optimistic Wonderwoman.

And we get some fan service - there where at least two references to the old Batman movies as well as one to the old Superman movies - I loved them :)

Of course, this movie also just reinvents the wheel - there is nothing new, nothing we haven't seen already, no elaborate story, and the typical DC problems in regards to the villain who is shallow, superstrong, and leads to an CGI smashdown. However, it finds the right amount of fun paired with seriousness, which I found refreshing after the other two movies.

Justice League definately falls behind MoS and BvS, and probably also behind Wonderwoman, but not by far.

"If you can't beat the house, be the house" - according to this motto, the Johannes decide to create an underground casino with their friend Frank in their suburban neighbourhood. Their motivation are money problems due to wich they lost their last savings at Vegas.

As expected with such kind of comedy movies, the jokes are pretty simple and mostly based on the stupidity of our characters, which for me is seldom a reason for laughter. So, taking the comedy part, this movie was only seldom funny to me (some sex jokes, he's to stupid for simple calculations, etc.). Also Will Farrell is not someone I'd consider a great or funny actor.

Considering the plot, there is also not too much that is offered to the audience. And taking into account the number of high ranking movie and TV actors, one might wonder why one sees them in such a simple movie that does not demands anything, and gives them no chance to show their talent.

However, there's one thing that speaks for this movie and that is the absurde ideas this movie offers, e.g. the slow mo fighting scenes, the slasher elements, the absurd amount of blood, the image of the gang running through the neighbourhood, collecting money, the kick scene with Nick Kroll. Those where some inspired ideas that worked greatly with the movie and because of them being so absurd I had a number of scenes where I could actually laugh.

In the end it's an okey movie. Nothing that you'll have to see, nothing I would recommend, but also not a movie that annoyed me, or that I would deem a total waste of time. Which is why I rated it a solid middle 5/10. Let this one run in the background, when your local tv station plays it - with some friends, crisps and lights on, and then you won't regret it ;)

It starts of like a great movie, the actors are fine, the camera and scenes look like that of a high quality movie, the soundtrack is good - all the ingredients are there. However, it starts getting strange already, when the couple Ken and Rachel finally meet up with Marco. Premises set: Marco is an old friend of Rachels and in love with her while she is having a serious relationship with Ken, who is ambitious and successfull while Marco had to travel the world to "find himself" (only to realize that he actually loves Rachel).

Of course these three are on a boat trip, and this is already the first thing that seems strange. However, before they start, there is talk about greek mythology and sirens (oh what a clumsy hint, already?), and of course - Marco changes course to an island because he saw a guy in need of help, they strand (and have to fix the motor from the inside to get off again?), the guy dies so they decide to swim over to the island to bury him only to find a beautiful, misterious blond, and from there on, they move forth and back from ship to island, to actually do nothing but wander around and having dreams and fantasies; and up to the ending of the movie that's it.

The biggest problem of this movie is, that it is utterly boring. Nice locations, great setting, and stunning pictures as well as decent acting apart, actually nothing interesting happens - even all the dramatic scenes are so badly done that it just bores you. Action? Not a bit, Thriller? Do you actually know the meaning of this genre? Horror? Ahahahahaha.

Then there are a lot of actions that seem totally random, or do not have any meaning at all (e.g. they stumbling across the boat and the bodies, where Rachel freaks out even though she didn't actually see the bodies, and even though she was totally calm, when the guy they rescued, died). And last but not least, this movie is far from being settle. Calling it "Siren" already tells you what to expect - talking about Greek mythology does not help being suprised about what they'll encounter on the island, and making it so absolutely obvious that Marco is still in love with Rachel only makes you wonder when this will actually become a problem - and it will suprise you that they even did not manage to action-whise cash in when that situation finally arises in the movie.

Seriously, one of the most broing movies I've seen. Even movies that I've rated lower did actually deliver more thrill than this one. Great potential for a good movie destroyed by a horrible script/director.

Intresting movie. As far as I can reconsider my ver first "blaxploitation" movie (I didn't even know this genre existed) which is exactly like any other exploitation movie: You get violence in form of fistfights, shooting, and rape, there is love, there is sex, there are drugs, there are criminals, helpless cops, corrupt judges, prostitution and vigelanty justice - the only difference are the main cast being black. I found some of the depictions a bit stereotypical and there are some racist prejudices (like for instance "No family loyalty? I guess that is something those kinds don't have". But taken the time this was created into account it's okey I guess and depicts quite well what white people then thought of black people (a shame, but accurat contemporary testimonies).

Other than that, the movie has not much to offer, acting is alright, the dialogs are not that great (except for the crazy one liners), action and violence is cheap (you can figure that they are not actually fighting a lot of the times), the fake blood looks horribly like paint :D But hey, it's a B-Movie. Not as much fun as modern B-movie remakes (such as Machete or Planet Terror), but still pretty neat.

If you are into those kind of movies, or if you'd like to know where Quentin Tarantino get's his inspiration from (Jackie Brown is heavily inspired by Foxy Brown and Coffy), you should give this movie a whirl. But probably also if you are a cineophil, as this movie is probably one of the landmarks in the history of cinema, having a strong black female lead, that fights herself thoruhg an entire drugs cartell, as well as it being one of the more prominent blaxploitation movies.

I am actually not the biggest Disney fan, I grew up with quite a lot of Disney movies and I wouldn't want to miss them, but while growing up I soon realized that somehow they all follow the same storyline and logics and in the end they started boring me; if I am not mistaken, The Lion King was the last Disney movie that I really enjoyed and watched at cinemas, and from there on, most of the Disney movies I've seen where somewhat below the quality standard that I think the first movies had.

Beauty and the Beast is of course a movie that came before, but still as a kid I never got deeply interested in that movie (as opposed to e.g. Aladin, which I had on VHS and watched regularly); I only saw it once and I never rewatched it ever since.

So having this movie be turned into a live-action adaption should have probably not have interested me at all, but strangly seeing the first trailer it did. So I went to the movies and I watched it with no greater expectations and - well - I was blown away. Somehow even though I knew the whole story, this movie kept me on my toes the whole time, the acting was great, it has a great cast, the musik was great (okey, in the beginning I was like "Oh my god, song after song - if that keeps going on, I'm definatley in the wrong movie"), the CGI was mostly great (I discovered that the beast looks funny while walking and then I realized that sometimes they forgot to leave footprints in the snow for the beast -.- ), the jokes where funny and all in all I was entertained the whole time.

I couldn't have forseen this but after having only positive things to say, to me this ends up to be a 9/10 Points!

Great movie, go watch it!