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One might guess that it is a no-brainer to rate this movie a 10/10, however, for me it wasn't. The reason is that Tolkien is one of my favorit authors of all time. I've read everything that he ever published, and also everything that he didn't but that was published posthumous. This includes letters, and scripts, essay-like writings where he just describes how certain islands look like, or how certain plants look like, family trees, etc.

My favorite book, by the way is the original release of Narn i Chîn Húrin, which is a loose collection of chapters that did not really fit together and that missed some chapters - in Germany at least it was released as single book, in England/America it is part of the Unfinished Tales. Recently (2007) his son Christopher Tolkien edited that story into a finished tale and released it as new book under the title "The Tale of the Children of Húrin" (which until now I haven't read because I am really content with the J.R.R. Tolkien-Version).

But I digress. What I tried to point out is, that while being his famous work, I think "The Lord of the Rings" is one of his lesser works, with his best being those about the early times (which are really unfilmable). Still being a fan of Tolkien I've read Lord of the Rings several times and some of my favorite parts are the first encounter with the woodland elves, as well as the adventures in the Old Forrest and of course Tom Bombadil - non of which appeared in the movie. Instead, you get the feeling, that Frodos travel to the prancing poney is a days jorney (it isn't, and in the book it takes months to prepare and further months to reach), and that meeting Aragorn and going on to Rivendale is another day or twos journey (again it itsn't) - all in all it takes 9 months from Gandalf telling Frodo about the Ring to the journey of the Fellowship starting in Rivendell. And the time between Bilbos birthday and Gandalf returning from his research about the ring is 17 years, rather than the same evening (what some people actually believed after watching this movie).

So while watching it for the first time in cinemas I felt totally rushed through the story, I missed important parts in the book, and instead Peter Jackson added things that never happend, e.g. all the scenes with Arwen (Arwen in the books is a sidenote, that Tolkien takes when finishing the third book and explaining what happend to all the characters of the book, after they disband). And also Galadriel getting all blue-greenish ghostlike. And I hated, the soupy romantic scenes "I choose a mortal life. - You cannot give me this. - It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart." ....

So, even though I hated it, befor it came out to cinemas I did buy tickets for two shows at once, one with German dubbings and on the next day in original Language. And at second viewing, while knowing what to expect, I liked it a bit better - still being angry of course, I had time to take into account all the little things. And of these, the movie has plenty, such as using the Rings engravings in Black Speech as background song at the Council - something only true fans of the book would recognize - as well as adding parts of Bilbos journey (the stone Trolls), or the Lore of Middle Earth with Aragon singing about Beren and Luthien. Some things are so well hidden, that even hardcore fans will have a hard time recognizing them, for instance when Boromir dies the music uses elvish singing using English quotes from the book. So we find references to all of Tolkiens other works, showing that Peter Jackson has read them all and understood their importance and relationship to the Lord of the Rings-Story. He also wanted Christopher Lee in his Cast, because Lee is famous for being a Tolkien fan, and at own admission reads books by Tolkien every year; furthermore he was the only one in the crew to have met and spoken with J.R.R. Tolkien in person, which is why his input was valued highly - most of the scripts where rewritten daily to incorporate such input, and even Tom Bombadil was to have an cameo which in the end they couldn't shoot. Besides we have homages and cameos hidden all over the movies, paying tribute to famous Tolkien artists as well as people who have had any connection with Tolkiens works (Ian Holm voiced Frodo Baggins in the 1981 radio series, many scenes where taken straight out of Ralph Bakshis 1978 animated Lord of the Rings moive, etc.)

These are enourmous levels of detail, and once you get over the fact, that the Lord of the Ring movies are not 1-to-1 adaptions of the book (which is impossible to do) you will actually realize that the adaption per se is pretty darn good. Everything you see, meets your expectation, there is always the highest amount of detail, even all the little things matter, nothing seems arbritary. A lot of craftsmanship was put into the movie - they use CGI only where absolutely neccessary and if used, it is extremely good. But hordes of orcs are masked extras, weapons have been forged, a lot of carpenters, gardeners, mansons, blacksmiths, landscapers, etc. employed to create middle earth. The score is one of the greatest in the last years, with a number of themes that all have their single purpose (we have the theme for the wraiths, the theme for Gondor, the theme for the hobbits, a theme for the fellowship, one for Gollum, etc); in the end, listening just to the score, when closing the eyes you can see the entire movie in your head!

The acting of course is also great, everyone was put through a lot, by having to learn languages such as different Elvish languages (Quenya and Sindarin), dwarfish language and orcish language (which all exist! Tolkien was a philologist, and in one interview he said, that his stories are just a side product as any good language mus have it's story of origin - so in the end, what he really did was develop at least 6 languages with all their words, pronounciations, grammatic rules and writing systems!), they had accent coaching, Gandalf for instance talks in the same accent that Tolkien did!, they had to learn to fight and to ride, etc. And it is all turned into perfection, nowhere is it half-hearted. The scenes and locations are great, the camerawork is beautiful, all in all it is a good movie in every aspect.

I've ended up watching the movie 6 times in cinemas, then I got a copy of the movie and watched it for half a year nearly every weekend at least once, until the official home release of the cinema version of the DVD, and half a year later, I of course got the extended cut, and watched that at least as many times as I did the DVD. So to sum up: It is my most favorit, most often watched movie - even today I am not tired of watching it, altough I nowadays only watch it once every 1-2 years. If compared to other movies I wouldn't say it is the best movie ever, because of several reasons: First and foremost it is an adaption, and therefore not an original work, which I think is an important factor - I wouldn't know if I was a fan of the movie if I never read Tolkien or disliked him - then and only then would I be able to judge the movie without prejudice. Also - I am a big fan of all the works so I get a lot of the little hints, which to me are a "wow. how cool is this"-moment. But that is just me (and some other hardcore fans), but to the general audience these little acts of greatness that influence my judgement go unnoticed. In addition to that, a movie that has so much to tell and three overlength movies to do so, escapes the boundaries of a traditional movie, i.e. to bring across a story, emotions, and a message, to make the audience meet new people that they like and that they understand, in just under 2 hours. That, I think, is a hard job to do and a reason why most movies might be "okey" but only a few are great.

So is it the best movie ever made? Certainly not, although it deserves to be listed beside those. It is however the best adaption I've ever encountered, it is the greatest, most fan-friendliest movie that takes into account everything available to that fictional universe and it is one of my alltime favorites and the best tribute that could have been paid to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.

I haven't seen this movie for a really long time and just bought the new restoration from a 4k master on blu-ray and was happy to watch it. I thought it wouldn't be as good as I remembered it, because most of the time you realize that movies you liked in your childhood weren't actually that good.

That's however in no way true for Rambo (the German title of "First Blood" which is why I always got confused in the past when I heard the original title and thought that it was a part of the franchise I hadn't yet seen).

The restoration looks really good (except for some scenes that stand out because of their worse quality (mostly due to bad lightning in the original movie, I guess), and besides that, the movie is still really captivating, though it is in no way over the top. The car/motorcycle chase for instance - how unimpressive was the car flip or Rambo falling from the motorcycle? Still it was more captivating than a lot of modern movies with so overrealistic and fast paced cuts, that you just stop caring all together.

Also I totally forgot how funny Richard Crennas persona was: "God didn't make Rambo - I made him. I'm Sam Trautman - Colonel Samuel Trautman. I came to get my boy" - what an introduction :D And then follows a dick-measuring contest between Will Teasle and Sam Trautman. That is great acting. As is the acting of Brian Dennehy as the dislikable villain character - and of course we cannot forget the actin of our main character, portrayed by Sylvester Stalone - I also forgot how extremely moving the last scene was - I remembered that there was this critical moment when Rambo finally opens up to Trautman, but I forgot just how intense it was, and how unexpected it came. It feels somewhat displaced in a movie that builds up as an action movie with the underdog fighting the bad guys who unfortunately have the law on their side. And at the finale all of a sudden this change of tone - that is really bold, it's both strange but because of it strangeness so much deeper and better - as you are simply not prepared to what is going to happen. I always remember to feel sympathetic towards Vietnam veterans even though I am and always was a pacifist. I guess that is an impression that this movie left with me when I saw it the first time at my earlier teen years.

Last but not least I also really liked the sound track and the setting and locations are also really great. All in all a pretty good movie and factoring in that this movie had me so interested even though I've seen it a couple of times in my youth, and feeling that though it is so 80s it is still a movie that could captivate so many young audiences who have never seen this movie before, I am inclined to give it the best rating possible.

And because I mentioned the new blu-ray release: this is really worth a buy. There is more than 1,5 hours of extras, and these are pretty mixed - from the classics like interviews, making-ofs, trailers and featurettes to two serious documentaries, one on the Vietnam war and the other on the training of Green Barrets, as well as a fitness training featurette from the personal trainer for Rambo, there is a lot really interesting and unconventional ground covered. And the steelbook artwork looks just stunning as well :)

Wow. This movie is great. it is sick. It is disturbing. But also, it is great. Probably one of the best movies of this year, most definatley one of the top 10 candidates. But also so hard to describe without spoilering that I won't even get into it. Just this much: It's a movie about dark secrets, revenge, blackmail and some strange notion of justice.

The story is especially in the beginning, totally strange, and only after some time you'll start to understand who's who and what's happening. However, from the first moment on you get the notion of "something's not right", which is conveyed in so many ways - the dialogues, the way the people talk with each other, the strange relations they have. There is also some small symbolism to find, but not as much as with other movies of this kind, e.g. Nocturnal Animals.

The storytelling is absolutely great, the movie is totally atmospheric and unsettling from the first scene onwards - I mean, wow was that intro intense - classical music, church-themed, and the close up of an open beating hearth at an operating table - uncomfortably long, hard to look at, even harder to look away. Cut. Discarding of rubber gloves and the scrubs from the operation. Cut. Mundane dialogue of the two doctors that walk down a frightening and disturbing looking long corridor, with the camera being far away and moving in the same pace as the two doctors. Cut.

Especially the camera is also quite interesting - it doesn't matter which scene, which shot, which setting - somehow it is always frightening and unsettling. Wow. What great skill in this shootings. The soundtrack is also absolutely strange and uncomfortable - switching from the imperfect singing of a child that in its way is totally scary (see the trailers), to classical music to a soundtrack that is absolutely grotesque and that bears a lot of resemblance to the soundtrack of the Hannibal series.

The cast is great as well - we have Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman who are absolutely great - but the star is probably Berry Keoghan, who is creepy as hell.

After watching this movie you'll feel the urge to discuss it with other people and it'll keep you occupied for hours and days afterwards (at least if you are open to such thoughts about movies and their meanings) - and this is something that I love in movies - there are many ways a movie can be really good. But to be a great movie it'll have to keep me occupied with it. This one does, so it's already clear that I'll consider it to be a great movie. It is however not for everyone. I think it can be best categorized with movies such as Nocturnal Animals, Enemy or mother! - if you loved those, you'll probably also like this one. If you, however hated those, I don't see any chance for you liking this one.

What a tarrific movie. Again one of this lucky moments at the sneak preview - I hadn't heard of this movie before, hadn't seen any trailers, previews, reviews - it would have totally passed by me. This is director Sam Levinson's second movie as a director and in it he tells ports the story of Salem (the biggest witch hunt in the history of the USA) into the modern times and retells it as a story under high school teenagers who live an excessive live on social networks, in a society that still sexualizes women, discriminates against the different and stigmatizes those who do what everybody does in secret but get outed publicly. In this tinderbox of a society a hacker is doing his mischief by stealing private data from our teenagers and also the adults surrounding them and publicly displaying them on the internet, which first only leads to mobbing of individuals and personal tragedies but soon the entire situation switches into a nightmare and a new kind of witch hunt.

The first thought I had when the credits of the movie rolled was "Wow". The dangers of social networks of information leaking and the effects this has both on individuals as well as the society in its entirety is not new (there is even a South Park episode on this regarding the browser history); yet how this movie handles it is refreshing. This movie is different - you get thrown into the story without any introduction, you are there with a group of girls hearing their ordinary daily dialogues (which is kind of Tarantinoesque) about every day's boring stuff, to introduce the characters and their way of thinking. We get great story telling and a really great camera work that captivates you right from the beginning. From all the main characters only Bill Skarsgard rings a bell, so I guess all of them are newcomers yet they all play very well. The sets, the scenes, the costumes the colors, everything is trimmed to create really stunning images that are combined with a great soundtrack. But best of all there is an incredibly great one-take dolly shot that is really stunning as well.

But what kind of movie are we actually watching? That is really hard to answer, actually. The movie starts quite heavy, only unfolds its story slowly and is packed with social criticism without being in your face. The first part reminded me of Spring Breakers. However, Assassination Nation is also packed with a morbid sense of humor while staying serious the entire time, becoming more and more a personal drama until it actually turns into a Gore movie that starts reminding you strongly of the movie "The Purge". And if that is not enough we get a finale that has a lot of elements of a classic Rape-Revenge-Movie that slowly drifts into the surreal.

As you can see, this movie is hard to explain and I feel that rather than reading about it, you'd really have to experience this movie yourself to get a picture of it. I myself was captivated for the first minute, I was really curious how this story will unfold, I have been thinking about the message or the messages that this movie probably tries to convey a lot, I was entertained by the gore elements and I had a couple of scenes where I had to laugh. All in all a well rounded movie, with only one critizism that I have: I thought the ending was pretty forseeable. Not too worse, but still.

Other than that, a really great movie! And everything is done on a low budget!

Btw. here is a great "Anatomy of a Scene" with commentary by Sam Levinson, published by The New York Times. Worth seeing, but also spoilery of course: https://youtu.be/VJNLmfyNpqk

Wow. Only a 69% rating and no comments? I cannot let that stand as it is, so here's a short review. I have watched this movie countless times since I first saw it, and it was one of my "must haves" movie collection wise. I still only have it on DVD, but in my opinnion this movie deserves an collectors edition re-release on blu-ray as well.

What we get is a modern kind of western, somewhere down south, near the mexican border in the 1930s, where John Smith, portrait by Bruce Willis is getting into a ghost town that is inhabited by two rival gangs, one of italian the other of irish origin. John Smith, being an excellent gunman, is drawn into this fight by accident, but instead of leaving as soon as he can, he sees opportunity, playing both ends against the middle for personal profit. But while it starts out to be great, in the end it turns out, that John Smith isn't as ruthless as he likes to appear, which is his downfall.

I used to love the 80s and 90s action movies with Will Smith, and if you do too, you'll get a movie that you've got to love. It's hard, it's brutal, it's Will Smith at his best, it has a marvelous scenery, this ghost town in the desert is perfect for the movie and adds to this gerat atmosphere, and the story - though simple - is not too bad either; plus point are the monologs and the ingenious plan that Will Smith has, and that nearly works out to perfection.

It's not deep in any ways, it does not have a deeper meaning, it has no added value, it doesn't even reinvent the wheel - this is credited as a remake of Akira Kurosawas Yojimbo, and the producers also list the heavy influence of A Fistful of Dollars (which has a nearly identical plot); then again - that movie doesn't have neither Bruce Willis nor Christopher Walken, both really great actors that play perfectly in this movie - but also all the other actors are really gerat and so in the end, you'll get a modern western that is fun watching - if you are into those things.

I know, 10/10 will seem much overrated for many, and I probably wouldn't have given it this rating, if I'd watched it nowadays. However, given the countless times I've already watched and enjoyed this movie (mostly during my youth, but even nowadays I do enjoy it from time to time), I think it has earned these 10/10 - at least in my account.

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.

I've literally seen this movie decades ago and really enjoyed it then, but during the last years entirely forgot about it - until I saw Split in a sneak preview - when they showed the closing (or after credit?) scene, I was the only one in the cinema hall screaming "Oh my god, this is Unbreakable", while all the other visitors where puzzled. Unbelievable. Even my girlfriend didn't know the movie, so it had to be rewatched, and as "Glass" will be released this month, we finally got to actually watching it:

David Dunn (portrait by Bruce Willis) lives an ordinary life in modest circumstances, working as a football stadium security guy who is estranged from his wife and planing to start anew, when he gets in a train accident which he survives as the only person. He is then approached by the comic book enthusiast and comic art trader Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) who is certain that David is a real life impersonation of all the super heroes written about in comic books. He tries to mentor David who doesn't believe a word...

Being a comic book fan and loving the mid 2000s for all the stunning great super hero movies (Sam Raimis Spider-Man, X-Men, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Hellboy, Constantine, Watchman, 300, Sin City and of course the first MCU movies), I have to say this movie really stands out. It's not a typical comic book movie - it's not based on a comic book, it isn't even seeing itself as a typical super hero movie - it's rather a meta comic book movie, all the while having an integral part of typical comic books and focusing on this relevant mechanism that every comic book thrives on.

All the while this movie is so totally different to any super hero movie you have ever seen. Totally calm, slow paced, no special effects, hardly any fight scenes, all the while absolutely thrilling due to brilliant cinematography, great acting and a killer score. The characters and their relations are as deep as in a drama movie, and nearly the entire movie is a built up to a great finale and an unexpected turn of events. There is no CGI, no action, not even a hero vs super villain showdown. All the while it touches the essence of every comic book story, and does so in an ingenious way.

Because of this, of course not everyone will like the movie - a lot will probably not even consider it an comic book or action hero movie. But it really is a memorization of the comic book genre and given its age, and the fact that it came before the action hero genre took off, it really aged well - even after all the Marvel, DC and independent stuff this movie stands out as a great movie.

And now I am really looking forward to seeing the final movie :)

I cannot remember having seen this as a child; but watching this the first time I was really moved. The episode focuses on depression and how society "To sad to play dodge-ball? That's ridiculous, now let's see some enthusiasm!" and especially parents handle it (both are helpless and while Homer treats her as a child, Marge tries to force her to happiness and sees Lisa's unhappiness as her failure as a mother). It is the first episode after five rather Bart- and Homer-centric episodes that focuses on Lisa, and the first episode that gives her character some real depth and also gives it directions for the rest of the series (after she has been shown as slightly as brattish as Bart in the previous two episodes).

I especially loved Homer in this episode, who even though helpless, behaves warm and fatherly towards Lisa. And then of course there is the music. While I am not a fan of Jazz and the Blues as such, I really love how the saxophone music is integrated into the episode. The tunes and lyrics are catchy. It's also the first time (besides in the Intro) that we see Lisa play the saxophone in an episode.

I feel like this episode addresses some real problems, combined with humor, critical commentary on society, good music and a great conclusion of the conflict that Marge and Lisa have, there is once more also some critic on the school system ("I hope we don't see any unbridled creativity again"), and I can even relate to it on a personal level. And on the negative side? Well, I cannot find anything, this time. For me, this is one of the must sees if you watch the Simpsons.

9/10 Points.

This movie has quite an unfortunate history: It was conceived by three film students at the AFI in 2003, and after managing to get some financing (apparently only 750k) and winning friends for cast and crew, it took them three years to actually get the movie done. It premiered on the IFI in Toronto in 2006, and was bought in a fierce bidding war by the Weinstein Company including worldwide distribution rights. But then the Weinsteins where in disagreement about the movie and in the end it went into the archives until the filmmakers managed to convince Weinstein to sell the rights in 2008 to the German company Senator, who got the rights for Germany and Austria and set out to also distribute it in the USA with their US branch. However, they got hit hard by the financial crisis, and the rights went yet again to another party - an investor who wasn't into film business, and who vaulted the rights. In 2010 the producers tried to get the rights back, and finally in 2013 the Weinstein Company bought the rights back again, to stream it on their Radius-TWC VoD service; probably because most of the actors and the director have finally become famous with later productions, and names like Amber Heard (Machete Kills, Zombieland), Michael Welch (Twilight Saga), Luke Grimes (Taken, True Blood) and even the director Jonathan Levine (50/50, Warm Bodies) mad names for themselves. Only after the start on the VoD platform was there also a limited theatrical release. And even though there was hardly any marketing for this movie and not many know it, it can be considered a financial success.

In the movie, Mandy Lane is the perfect survivor girl of a slasher movie. She is smart, she is sexy, she doesn't do drugs or alcohol and she does not fool around with guys (probably even is still a virgin) - this is the cliche of 80s teeny slasher movies, and this movie caricatures this cliche with Mandy Lane, a girl that every guy wants to be with and every girl wants to be like - but because she is so unattainable boys start to do everything for her - even go as far as to kill themselves or others.

While in the 00s a lot of 70s movies where remade in 00s style, Levine wanted to make a 00s movie in the 70s style, and created a wild mixture of coming of age and slasher movie that was suposedly inspired by films like "Dazed and Confused", "The Virgin Suicides" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" manages to do really a lot with its limited budget and has a lot to offer. There is a really slow pacing with a lot of time to get to know the characters, the gore scenes are sparse but when they come they are super effective and even though there's not much shown, it can keep up with rather bloody genre colleagues by intelligent cutting and sound design. And even though at first it seems to be a run-of-the-mine slasher movie, it actually isn't, which can be seen both, in some intelligent and unexpected plot twists, as well as in little details, such as turning around the typical slasher movie setup, which usually starts in the day with the first confrontations and ends in the night with all the slashing (where as in this movie, we start at night and have our grand finale in broad daylight). There is a lot of love and appreciation for the 70s slasher genre in the way it looks and feels, yet it manages to find it's own style and add something new and unseen to the genre, that makes it stand out.

And in the end, it even makes you think and realize one and the other thing, like when you think about the motivation. Why do the guys get killed? Obvious. But why do the girls? Why the change of hearts? What's special about the farm hand? If you think about these, you'll realize that these things are not random, there's a deeper rooting, and some kind of a message in this.

And there's nothing much else you can criticize! It has great acting, great camera work, great post production, a good and solid story with some surprises, but no plot holes or logic mistakes, it's thrilling, the gore scenes are gruesome, it has great music, great pacing, and given that this is a 750k budget release, it feels like a really expensive production.

9/10 points!

I am ashamed to admit it, but I've just seen this movie for the first time now (on Feb. 27th, 2019), so this review has to be seen in that context: We have 2019, so the movie is nearly 45 years old, I am in my mid thirties and a movie enthusiast since at least half of my life, so I've seen a number of movies already.

So, I probably cannot appreciate this movie as much as someone who has seen it in his early years or who was even lucky enough seeing this movie when it was released.

Yet, as you can already see, I really enjoyed this movie. It is incredibly iconic, and if you are a movie enthusiast you will probably recognize a dozen movies that where inspired by, or that pay tribute to this movie. I especially had to laugh at the scene with the white board.

Other than that, it has aged incredibly well. I watched a Blu-ray version that was released by Universal for their 100th anniversary and it has crisp images - there is only one image that is strange, but that's probably due to editing (the scene has both, near focus on a head in the foreground and far focus on the sea at the background and right at the border of these two images you have a really blurry line, so I guess, this scene consists of the image of two cameras that where joined together in editing) - a good sound quality, the dialogues weren't to stale, there are some really great images some of them where you wonder how they managed to achieve those shots in the 1970 on a small boat, and even though the shark puppets are not realistic at all, in general the movie manages to build up a really frightening atmosphere, and there was also one jump-scare-esque scene that really got me (and it's really seldom that I get scared like this by a movie). Also story wise it manages to captivate you and surprises you in the way it evolves. So even though it is that old and even if you've seen so many movies that you feel like you've seen it all, this movie will leave a mark and you will understand why people will tell you that it's one of the best movies.

From today's perspective I'd rate it 8/10, because a) the shark puppets made me laugh - they ARE really bad - b) it had a few lengths and c) some decisions did not make too much sense to me. But I gave it an additional point, because thinking of it, this movie has produced a milestone in cinemas, it is absolutely ambitious and for that time really extremely good produced. And most of all: It has inspired so many movies that followed. I didn't know how many actually where, but watching this I was reminded of a couple of films, and I guess the number is much higher and if I'd watched this one before I've seen all the other movies I would probably realized more movie inspirations than I was able to.

If you haven't seen it already (and let's be honest: who beside me hasn't?!) what are you doing? Please don't wait longer, you are missing out on general knowledge.

This is a really great movie, with some disturbing imagery. David Ayer wanted to capture the everyday life of police officers in one of the most criminal districts: South Central Los Angeles, in a way that hadn't been done before; of course there are many movies that play in South Central Los Angeles, such as Colors, Boyz N the Hood, South Central, or Training Day, and especially compared to Colors you can find a number of similarities. Still, Ayer makes good on his promise: Similar to Colors we get a movie that in the first half seems totally random, we follow two around two cops, experiencing a lot of ugly stuff and soon some of these events lead to bigger events that unfold dramatically.

Different to Colors, however, Ayer focuses on the two cops. These are both young and in the beginning of their careers, and as two young guys their heads are full of shit, while their hearts are still in the right place. Even though being highly trained and professional when it comes to the job, they fool around a lot, and often just push their damn luck. They seem different at the beginning, yet they call each other brothers and you soon get to know why: Being in a car with each other nearly 8hrs a day makes for a really special friendship. In the Interviews Peña says that a third of the movie plays in the car, and I don't feel like that's an over-exaggeration. What's also interesting about this movie is, that for probably half of the movie "found footage" like shots where used. Gyllenhaals character "Brian Taylor" is filming his everyday for a class project, and both carries a camcorder with him as well as having his partner and himself wearing body cams on their shirts. Besides we often also get "ego perspective", especially when they move in somewhere with weapons drawn. Other great "found footage" like shots include cameras mounted on long weapons filming towards the actors, dashbord cams, etc.

These are however mixed with real camera work, and different to most found footage horror movies they are not used as long single shots, but all these different approaches are edited together to form great scenes. The pacing switches from slow scenes that are mostly driven by dialogue or off-duty scenes that seem mundane (e.g. the day that Brian has off with his girlfriend and has a special date planned from which we only get to see the drive with both of them singing to music playing on the radio), but that in their very special ways convey so much emotions, that makes you really love all of these characters, with all their quirks and idiosyncrasies. In contrast we get these highly thrilling on-duty scenes that are either packed with suspense or with fast pace action. Acting-wise we get a number of high ranking actors such as Anna Kendrick, Maurice Compte, Frank Grillo or David Harbour who just play small supporting roles with minimal screen time. The main focus lies on Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, and both are so good and excellent in their roles that you cannot imagine this movie with any other actor in their place.

So all in all this is a shocking movie with a - to me - really unexpected ending that shocked me. However, I found it could have had an even deeper impact if the ending was slightly different, and I would have loved it if it wasn't for the last scene.

The main character in this movie is a Captain Joseph Blocker (portrayed by Christian Bale) , a veteran in the wild west, who is a living legend for his merits in the American Indian Wars with an reputation as a ruthless killer. Waiting for his retirement he gets one last mission, that goes against his entire believes and that he only attends because he would be court marshalled and lose his pension if he doesn't: After 7 years of imprisonment the Cheyenne war chief and arch enemy Yellow Hawk should be brought to a reservoir, and Blocker and his company are task with safely escorting the war chief through enemy territory controlled by warring Comanche Indians.

This movie has totally conviced me. The storytelling is sensitive and precise, and is supported by really great imagery of the landscape - if you can, watch it on the big screen. This visually stunning picture is supported by a great and fitting score. Even though the movie is really long and mostly really slowly, it is not boring at any time. There are a few action scenes but they are sparse and most scenes are slow and quiet, as the main focus of this movie is what our characters go through emotionally and how they are believes are challenged during this mission, as well as how they cope with the things happening to then during this mission.

For this to work, the movie needs good actors and of course with Christian Bale we get a high class actor that delivers an absolutely great performance: Wow. He's supported by Rosamund Pike who actingwise is his equal. Both of them have a great chemistry going on, and it is ingenious how often they converse just with looks and gestures, without seeing a word - yet the viewer gets exactly what's going on, what the characters feel and think. They do this so well that at the end I had goosebumps when for instance Pike looks thoughtful and melancholic, then tears starts running over her face and in the next moment, she wipes them away, contains herself and puts on a natural smile. Wow.

It is really seldom that I feel like clapping in cinemas, but here I did. This is an absolute recommendation beyond the typical blockbuster mainstream, absolutely worth watching. Great movie!

I cannot believe that I am the first one commenting on this movie. I've bought this on blu-ray from a small independent German label because the label boss recommended it to me and after watching it I have to say: Wow. This is one of the most absurd and craziest movies I've seen in a long time. It is full of morbid black humor with a touch of social criticism, and tells the story of a guy who has build himself a little paradise in a shopping mall that he works in. But after years and years of perfection his life takes a turn for the worse (quote): "In this moment I realized that hell existed. And the devil existed as well. He wears a skirt, a girdle and an incarnadine bra!"

This movie isn't for everyone, but everyone who loves angry humor, exaggerations and caricatures, everybody who is open for movie that is truly different (quote from the director in the audio commentary: "We actually did everything exactly in the opposite way then they teach you in literature") will find a little movie pearl, full of references and tributes to great directors of our time. Stile-wise we get a really crazy mixture of drama, thriller, horror and comedy, great camera works, that manages to show the same set once like being in paradise and then fearful and claustrophobic. The Set is great and timeless, even though this movie is now 15 years old you get the feeling that it could play just today - or in the 60s or 70s.

Some of the scenes are so absurd (for instance while one of the detective is in a dialogue with another person, his partner all of a sudden and with no reason starts to play with a plaster this guy is wearing and then starts padding his face - all this happens without any interruptions of the Dialogue). There are a lot of details you won't get when watching it the first time and I had to watch it a second time right after the first time (this time with audio commentary).

The actors are - unfortunately - rather unknown, because they are local Spanish actors - nonetheless they are really great actors: Guillermo Toledo for instance plays a character that is totally lovable even though he is an unsympathetic despicable person. On the other end we get Mónica Cervera who has to do the same thing - but in opposite order. While we start to sympathize for the asshole, Cervera is sympathetic right from the get go and over the movie you start thinking "oh my god, please help me, that woman is crazy!". Also Enrique Villén plays a character that you will remember.

The story itself is in no way foreseeable - you will be totally captivated. And everything is managed with an absolutely low budget. This movie is really really great fun. A must see, and a recommendation for anyone that shares my sense of humor :D

I have to say, I was a bit scared about this movie as the critics I've heard beforehand where all rather negative. But: The movie was really good, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I've seen it in 3D and it was one of the best 3D movies I've seen lately, so I can really recommend watching it in 3D. The setting was really great, and I liked it quite a bit better than the first Fantastic Beasts ; we get a great 1920s vibe, the look is incredible. We are mainly in London and England, and we get to see a lot of new magical creatures and again, what I really liked was that this movie is opening doors and becomes a bit more "international" - so instead of just the creatures of our own mythology (dragons, unicorns, centaurs, giants) we get Asian and South American folklore creatures such as Kappas, Chupacabras, Zouyus, etc. And to me, this is what "Fantastic Beasts and where to find them" is still a main aspect that this series should be all about - expanding the known British magical universe told in Harry Potter to both, new locations as well as new creatures and folklore. Of course as it is closely connected to the Harry Potter universe, there are also a few references, and a number of new background information is provided to a number of characters - some where interesting and of course this is majorly done as fan service. Most of the time I thought that this wasn't necessary, though and I could have lived without them.

What I did enjoy though, where the effects, and I think they where even much better than the in the first movie - with one exception those hairless cats in the French ministry of magic? Seriously: WTF?! Did the budget for the animator run out and so they hired an intern?! It looked like CGI we know from cheap television series such as Xena or Buffy. Other than that, however, I loved the effects, and also the tone that is set in this movie - different to the first one, this one is really dark and grim the entire time - the cuddly aspect of the first one that is spiked with funny jokes and "aww" moments of the first movie are nearly entirely gone. Instead we get to experience an evil emperor like person (a new "Hitler"-like character if you will) slowly gain power and influence with ideas that are horrible but still find their followers. The movie walks into a lot of new territory: becoming more political and mature than any other movie in the Potter universe, but also more dramatic and sad. And I really like that.

Acting-wise everybody is again on a very high level. Eddie Redmayne plays as lovely as in the first movie and I really like the Newt Scamander character. Katherine Waterson is great as well but has much less screen time than in the last movie (unfortunately) and Alison Sudol is again totally charming and beguiling, and one of my favorite characters in this series. But of course everyone was most interested in Johnny Depp and Jude Law; when hearing about the cast I was more covinced of Depp than of Law, but in the end both where really great. Law's Dumbledore is so good that you can really see him as the young version of Dumbledore as we have known him for 8 movies - something that is really hard to achieve. And Depp had one of his greatest performances since probably a decade? Perfectly on spot, never too much, never boring, giving you the chills especially during his monologue.

When talking with other Potter-Fans the greatest criticism I heard was the character break of Qeenie, and I was puzzled as well, but in the end, I see so many little aspects that might give you hints of what might have happened take for instance, the tea scene. What was that all about? Why do they obtrusively try to give her tea which she declines the entire time? Also she is not at his side from the beginning and even raises her wand once he enters - however we never get to know what the talked about - the movie cuts away - maybe something that is revealed in a later movie?, and I can somehow empathize with her - given that it is 6 months later and in all this time she has suffered a lot under the society and their conventions that do not fit her unconventional choice. So even though some of her actions seem extreme and at first glance unreasonable, try to put yourself into her shoes and think of the situation as something so frustrating with no way out where everyone works against you, and then finally you get a "way out". Is her action still so unrealistic?

Another criticism is of course the open end, and the fact that this movie does not proceed in any way. And I share that feeling - but it's exactly the same way I felt about "The Two Towers" - in the end you can say "well great, Sam and Frodo are at the same situation they where in right when the movie started". Of course, story-wise we don't get any progression. But it's not about the story, but rather about building up characters and their emotions and motivations, putting all the pieces together for a great finale, and I myself find that "The Crimes of Grindlewald" does this perfectly and while doing so there is a lot of good stuff going on, character-wise. Also I do believe in J. K. Rowling - she presented as with Harry Potter and had a master plan and an ending that heavily relied on character trades and actions that happened right in the first book - she had a plan - a great one, that unfolded itself over 7 books that where written subsequently as the story progressed, and I cannot imagine that she worked differently when conceptualizing "Fantastic Beasts". So even though the ending seems strange and does not appear to make any sense, I think one should bare with it, and see where the journey will end. Many other movies (such as Infinity War) get better critics even though it is totally clear to everyone that they will just undo everything done in that movie, making it both meaningless and boring. Why be so hard with a movie where everything still is absolutely open?

I myself was really excited - I enjoyed the movie a lot, I think it's worth watching a second time to look into details overlooked the first time, I enjoyed the characters, the magic, the discovery of new worlds - all in all, I really had good fun and liked this one even better than the first movie.

This movie was a suprise to me, because I haven't heard of it before. Even when you spent 2 or 3 evenings a week at the cinema, there are trailers and movies that you do not find any advertisement for. So when this movie started I did not know what to expect at all.

Only as the movie commenced did I finally get that this must be the story of McDonalds - a story I did not know anything about, so it was pretty interesting. As I am no fan of fastfood, I probably wouldn't have watched it, if I had known about it exsistance, but watching it was great. The story is interestingly told, we have a great cast and we have Michael Keaton who again plays ingeniously good. Even better than the so acclaimed Birdman. I really loved his play, the way he deals with his ups and downs and the turn from being a likeable fellow who you feel for, to turning out to be a person you dispise, yet find somewhat disturbingly understanding in his situation.

Additionally I love the 50s and 60s flair of the setting and the cast is great (Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, B. J. Novak - you cannot go wrong with these guys). I was considering 8/10, especially as it is probably not a movie that you will rewatch often; but taking into account that there was not a single minute in this movie that I wasn't captivated, I think the little more outstanding position is justified.

For me, this movie was quite difficult to follow and therefore also a bit difficult to rate. In the beginning we see Elizabeth Sloane, a successful lobbyist working in a prestigious lobbying office that develop ideas for their clients and pitch them to the right people to make them happen in politics. And we get to know how good Sloane is at her job, but also how ruthless she is, both with her co-workers/employees, clients and also bosses - but also with herself, when it comes to substance abuse and an unhealthy living style that is built around her job and her addiction to winning.

The first turning point comes in place when she is approached to work for another firm that contrary to the firm she is employed with, is for stricter gun regulations. She accepts, saying it is because of her believes, but it seems like this is also just for the challenge - the firm is on a sinking boat and it seems impossible to win, because they lack power, money and supporters. And here we get to see her bloom, using everything at her possession be it legal or illegal, moral or immoral, humane or inhumane.

While being in general interesting, I often felt lost and thought that this part of the movie was too detailed, and also for me a bit complicated to grasp in all it's details (and I do also not know in detail how the US politics system works). If it had stayed this way I would have considered a 7/10.

However midway through the movie it gets extremely interesting due to her downfall and here is where the genius of the movie plot start to shine through. Not only does Sloane start to crack, due to some unfortunate events, we also get a feel of how important it is for her to win, and how conflicted this is on the one side, but also how enormously great she is. This turning points deserve more, so in the end I'd reward it with 8/10, and there has to be an additional point just for Jessica Chastain. Hell was this a great piece of acting, ingeniously played in all facets - she has great emotional scenes (even though 90% of the time she is just the tough woman), but maybe some of her greatest scenes are those where she just shows little nuances, and where you start asking yourself "Is she just regretting this? Was that a glimpse of sorrow?" etc.

So I end up with 9/10 Points, because I think it is worth watching, and I believe it is a movie that has to be seen at least twice. Interestingly even though it is about gun regulations, this whole topic is just means to an end, the end being not to be a pro/against gun regulations movie, but rather to be a political thriller as well as a character study, that - if you want to take a message from - shows how the American politics system (and by the way - this is true for so many other countries as well, even though the mechanisms work in different ways) is somewhat corrupt in a way that senators do not act according to their own believes or in the interest of their voters, but rather in their own political interest which are highly steered by people in power that can afford to pay geniuses like Miss Sloan to force through political ideas.

And in this sense the note scene at the end becomes especially interesting and conveys another character trade of Miss Sloan that was up to then hidden and could only be guessed.

One last thing: I felt in a way remembered by another great movie that - even though being made totally different in style and content bears some resemblance when it comes to the main motives: The Life of David Gale. If you liked that one, you’d probably also love this movie - for me, The Life of David Gale is a 10/10.

Life is a pretty interesting movie that is basically a survival movie with elements from horror and thriller that is not afraid to have some drastic scenes (some of the people in the cinema left when the first dead occurred). However, these scenes are scarce. The Alien looks great, far better than I expected from the trailers.

Most of the time this movie keeps you on the edge, it is pretty captivating - the acting is great, however I found the characters to be a bit shallow and would have loved a bit more insights and development. Never the less, the crew is likeable and you do care for them which makes the story of course much more thrilling. The ideas are in part pretty innovative and the filming is great - so is the soundtrack. So all in all a good movie. However, shortly before the end, I did guess what would happen and it did, which I consider to be quite a bummer. However, the way they shot it, was still enjoyable - and again, the music for the end is ingeniously picked.

This is why I award the movie 9/10. It was fun watching from beginning to end, and I will love watching it again some times.

Wow. This movie is quite intense. I did not know much before watching it, except that poeple considered it to be good and that it's somehow about drumming. Not much to go on. So the first thing you'll notice is the unconventional start - no introductions, no title credits, etc. You are just thrown in: It's dark, you don't see anyome, someone is drumming, and he's getting faster and faster, at the last (climax) beat: light on. A long floor at which end (far away) you see Miles Teller at his drumset. He starts the next song, we slowly move towards him - Teller suddenly looks up and stops, because a man (J.K. Simmons) just walked in - they have a short unconventional dialog, J.K. Simmons being quite condescending. This is how their relationship start, and that's what the movie is all about - there are other actors, but they are just means to an end and could easily all be extras - no one gets enough screentime to leave a deeper impression.

At least 80% of the movie takes palce in the practice room, and shows either Teller in front of his drumset or J.K. Simmons conducting. Sound's riskey, but that's what makes this movie so great: it totally works out! It's thrilling, captivating and intense - right from the first scene to the last, and that's because of so many things: Great camera work, grate editing, great music and of course: great acting.

I don't want to say much more about the story, because I think it will spoil the fun and the movie - only so much: throughout the movie this picture stays unconventional - up to the final which is exceptionally good and yet another "wow".

This is really worth seeing and also worth owning. Great movie!

A man wakes up in an abandoned hospital, to realize that the world has been taken over by zombies.Well that’s a story we all know? Just turn on the TV and of you go with the Walking Dead. However, 28 days later was released in 2002, it plays in London, and even though everybody is absolutely positive about it being a Zombie movie, it is actually never said they are Zombies. In contrary, we don’t have living deads, or walkers or what you want to call them, but actually an epidemic! Scientists searched for a cure for range (which as the prolog to the movie reveals leads to our typical destructive behavior, such as riots, fighting, looting, etc. However something goes wrong and instead we get a Virus that enhances rage in a way that the being is transferred into a state of full, pure, unconditional and extremely enhanced rage that makes the being irrational and let them lust for blood and flesh. And by being bitten you get infected too - so yeah, basically Zombies. But the focus lies on the Virus that is in the blood, so even a drop of blood into any body opening and you get infected too, in just seconds.

We start with nearly soundless scenes, the quietness is depressing and horrifying, the camera has a number of cuts to show in different perspectives the vast emptiness and loneliness of this situation. We then get to see the empty London, the totally abandoned and our main character making sense of it. Even with this entry scene we get a sense of how ingenious this movie is - the great camera work consisting of many cuts from the same scene that give us the feeling of being lost, the fast pace, the great pictures and the absolutely fabulous use of great music - from starting soundless, to a very slow and quiet music that nearly is just a beat, to the build up that is somewhat absolutely dramatic and hits when it hints the main character of what has actually happened. We get a number of these, and even though we are reminded all the time that this actually is a low budget movie by the quality, you also get a feel that here someone is making a movie that knows what he is doing and that creates great thrilling scenes and enthralling story lines regardless of the money.

Also the actors are great - we have the till then unknown actor Cillian Murphy who has his break-through and will later be seen in high-profile movies such as Christopher Nolans Dark Knight Trilogy, as well as Inception, Transcendence and lately Free Fire and Dunkirk. Naomie Harris as the female lead was also unknown till then and also her career skyrocketed afterwards, with roles such as two Pirates of the Caribbean-Movies, as well as in the new James Bond movies (Skyfall and Spectre), Southpaw, Moonlight and the coming Jungle Book. Other actors chose different career paths, such as Megan Burns who is now the lead of a rock band. However even she does great in the movie. And a few stars could also be acquired, such as Brendan Gleeson. So all in all we have a great cast of unknown actors who did so well that afterwards they where considered for all the big movies in Hollywood.

So great music, great camera, great actors - what about the style and story? You would probably file this movie under horror. However, it has elements of a lot of different subgenres - there is the apocalyptic movie aspect, there is a road movie aspect, and then we have something of an revenge thriller at the end. Further more interesting, we have different aspects of the rage idea - on the one hand we have the zombies who are the extreme regarding rage - on the other hand we have our main character, who is actually a pretty decent guy - the one that comes back for you even if it means to risk his own life, and who in doubt would always help. On the other hand, we have the female lead who is full of rage and heartlessly butchers everyone down even for the slightest doubt of him being effected. And we have that turning point, where she gains hope while in the same time he gains rage (the revenge part of the movie) and this is important because otherwise the group would have been lost. 

So if you want, you can start asking philosophical questions (and yes, there are scientists who did and who quote this movie for their assessments) about whether and to what degrees rage is good or bad.

So in the end considering all the aspects, this movie is ingeniously great and this is actually a low budget flick; for me this is a 9/10

We've catched this at the sneak preview in our cinemas and I was totally suprised. I did not hear anything about this movie before and I found the movie to be great, but at the same time also hard, because of it's difficult topic. So it is nothing you want to see if you want to be entertained on a light/happy evening, but rather a family drama dealing with a difficult situation that is hard to discuss and decide and where the different positions are already so stuborn that it seems to be a deadlock. Of course there is one position who could just decide it for all and therefore is in an advantage point, however especially this person is interested in finding a solution that everyone can live with.

While trying, we get to know the differnt individuals not only by their strange behaviour, but also by showing us different events that took place before and that slowly let us understand the people, even if they are not rational and hard to follow, at least you can understand where they are coming from. These events are not shown linear but unfold over time, piece by piece and keep the whole movie interesting.

The director is playing with the audience, and does not reveal everything - a lot is left even open to imagination. The camera is reallly interesting, there are some quiet sometimes even bizzar scenes that are dropped in, and especially the main cast is ingenious in acting, and we get presented some great dialogs. All this keeps the movie interesting and if that is not enough, we also have a great mismatch both in the setting where the dialogs take place as well as in the music that is used while this family argues.

So to sum it up: I was pretty excited. This movie is definatly nothing for someone who wants to be entertained (at the end a lot of people where asking "WTF?"), but whoever is interested in a really difficult controverse discussion as well as a character study, will find an interesting movie that is worth seeing.

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.

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 :)

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 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!

I was a bit shocked after watching this movie, to find out that actually (here in Germany at least) no one is talking about this movie! I don't know why, I have started some discussions about it, but the general interest is really at a lowpoint, despite the partly famous cast (I mean Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, Nicole Kidman - all names one knows). There are so many bad movies that everyone talks about and that are not worth the attention. This one is actually a masterpiece.

We see the story of a young boy, 5 years old, who living in India makes a mistake, which separates him for 20 years from his family. This alone is so absurd and unbelievable for us living in the western world, as we have functioning civil services that will be able to bring you back to your parents if you are found lost. Not in India though. This movie is devided into three parts - the first part being the general part showing him how he grows up as a child, what he does for "leisure" and where he is rooted. The second part is his faith and how he deals with it in India, and this is probably the most horrible part in the entire movie. I realized when watching this in cinema that some people actually didn't get what happened and why it happend, because the movie does not care to actually explain, that India has a number of (somewhere I've hear 36?) main languages that totally differ from each other. Most people grow up learning only their language, only the educated ones from the big cities also know how to talk in Hindi and/or English (both accepted main languages besindes the one of your county); the boy being miles away from home basically can't communicate with anybody, because he doesn't know Hindi/English and nobody in that county speaks his home tongue).

The last part than focusses on his turn of luck and his search, with the search being the final 20 Minutes, so not a major part.

Not only is this movie totally touching because of the general story; it is also an ingenious acting piece, with the star being the 6 yesrs old Snny Pawar. Wow, is this guy good. Absolutely crazy, absolutely believable and therefore also absolutely frightening and touching, when it comes to the sad parts of the movie. This is really one of the best child actors I've seen since dakota fanning, and he beats her by lengths. You are actually sad when it comes to the agining and suddenly Dav Patel jumpes in, even though, also Dave Patel is great (you know him from Slumdog Millionair or Chappie). Rooney Mara is a great support and also Nicole Kidman is really great in this movie.

And if that is not enough, we also get great pictures and sets, a really thrilling contrast in comparing India to Australia, and wonderful camera work. So, yeah - it is a great picture, it is really worth seeing, it will invite you for an emotional jorney and give you a lot of food for thought.

Absolutely worth watching!

Wow. This was so not what I was expecting, and really something to chew on. The story was really moving, even though you could say that actually there is not much happening. But even so, it keeps you captivated throughout the movie - you wouldn't feel any drags. On the other hand it is really depressing and no feelgood movie, and I am not sure if you do your kids a treat (you'd rather make them cry :D ). The movie is made really good, however I was so captivated, that I did not have any time to analyse the movie in more detail (which normally I do, when watching movies) - all I can say that in the first 20 minutes I was not really immerged, so it took a shot while. In this time I had the feeling that it would be a lot like Pan's Labyrinth. However this movie stands on it's own and any resemblence to del Torrors movie that you might get in the beginning, will soon be whiped away: while Torrors movie are more on the dreamy-fantasy side, this movie is more direct and more depressing on the reality side of things.

Additional information: My girlfriend read the book and she thinks, this movie is a perfect adaption that stays true to the novel. So whoever liked the book will also like the movie ;)

Wow! Probably one of the best Hammer movies, and at least the best that I have seen by Hammer thusfar. I really enjoyed it. It is not the typical monster movie you expect from Hammer (no Vampires, no Dracula, no monster of Frankenstein, no Werewolfs, etc.), still it has a supernatural component with a girl being possessed by a ghost.

She is the perpetrator of the movie, yet you feel pitty for her - not having had an easy life she still seems totally innocent and lovable and you start blaming all the other people around her, that take advantage of her or by using her, by raising her badly or by raping her.

The other lead is the doctor, who is also interesting; in the beginning you suspect him to be the morally steady person, but while the movie progresses you start wondering, and learn that actually he isn't. This is so good, that in the end I wondered if he would stop her, or let it happen, allowing him to get rid of something he is not fond of.

We have - for that time - great actors who manage to protrait deep and interesting characters and that is just the first component. In addition we have a great story, that does not have a black-and-white look on things, and that is interesting from the beginning to the end. Also we have a philosophical-scientific component that is also fun to think about.

At no minute did I feel bored, or was I reminded by the age of the movie, due to modern camera, gerat acting, and a fast-pace movie.

I am really blown away - I did not expect anything this great by Hammer. Up to now I would say, the movies from the studios, that I have seen, all average at around 7/10; this one is clearly far better!

The Beguiled in a word is best described with "different". The movie disregards typical cinema techniques, which most obviously jumps at you with its antique 4:3 format, which on the big screen looks totally alienating, even if you grew up in the 80s and 90s and still know that television had this as standard format since the beginning of television. Also, you won't find any camera tracking shots, fast editing, cuts, or dramatic music - this movie makes due without.

Instead we get a movie with a colour grading that seems ancient, with flickers in stills, unsharp images, many quiet and really prolonged stills, capturing not only the main part of the scene, but also profane things that one would normally discard as uninteresting. If you didn't know it better, one could come to the conclusion that this movie was made by an amateur. But Sofia Coppola is no such thing, and she know that this unconventional style only adds to the atmosphere that she wants to create, which - besides historic - is best described as threatening; the stills captured of the house and it's surroundings are unsettling, and it seems scary that because of the 4:3 format your vision and your grasping of the scenery is always somewhat constrained - there is a hint of a horror moving feeling in there. As scenery we get this old house, hidden in the woods, behind trees that are moss-grown.

Even though its slow pace, it strangeness and the amateur like long stills, this movie never gets boring. We have an ingenious cast consisting of beautiful and talented actresses such as Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning on the one side, and of course Colin Farrell on the other side. All of them are absolutely superb and especially in this movie they need to be, because so much is not said in dialogue but by using facial expressions and with glances through the eyes - and these things are at times so settle that it is absolutely great acting which makes it work so well.

Colin Farrell is the alien, the guy that changes everything and stirs up a lot, and it is absolutely ingenious how this changes are reflected in every person - with out anything happening or dialogue - just by watching them and their body language. We see the characters question their life, question their faith and the things happening outside. Also the chemistry between the actors is great. Nicole Kidman plays a totally torn personality, Kirsten Dunst is especially subtile - both deserve to be pointed out. Colin Farrell also needs little acting to convey both his longing, as well as his hidden agenda (figuring out how to get out of his situation without any harm by using the girls).

I also love the look, the setting, the gothic victorian southern states style, and the few humorus scenes that every now and then break the gernally dark tone of this drama/thriller movie.

You'd already guessed it: I liked this movie pretty much. I cannot suggest it to anyone - if you don't like more toned down movies, chamber plays, movies without much action, etc. then you will probably be bored by this movie. But whoever has a sense for the subtile things and loves an atmospheric and asthetic movie with sharp dialogs and great mimic play, that asks the viewer to engage with the movie, to think about what's happening (and why) - all those will probably love watching this one.

I rated it 8/10, and it will surely not be the last time I've seen this one.

I am always on the lookout for movies outside Hollywood and therefore was really excited to find this movie as original version with subtitles; I think I haven't seen any Chinese movies before, when it comes to Asian Cinema, only Japanese and Korean cinema. So I had to visit this show to see 影 (pronounced 'Ying').

The movie plays during the period of the "Three Kingdoms" (220-280) in China: The kingdom of Pei lost the important city Jing Zhou to the neighboring kingdom Yang when the commander Ziyu loses a duel to the commander Yang Chang. Ziyu yearns for revenge and wants to recapture Jing Zhou, however the King of Pei, Peiliang is spineless and rather stomaches every disgrace even if it leads to his peoples contempt, as long as he can keep the peace. And thus, in his shadows his subordinates begin to plot and work on their own goals...

While the trailer suggest this movie to be action-packed including foolish martial arts stunts (if you watch the trailer you'll see armies fighting with umbrellas that have razor blades instead of cloth or use them to slide down slopes). However, this is misleading. Zhang Yimou's movie nearly feels a bit arthousy, with a large number of really slow paced scenes, some scenes being totally silent, short dialogues where the subtile facial expressions and subcontext need to be taken into account. Actually, the director trusts the viewer with as much intelligence that he leaves a lot of things unsaid. Instead, the movie focuses on great imagery, and presents a visual feast for your eyes. Also, the whole movie plays with a lot of symbolism. You'll obviously see the "Yin and Yang"-Symbol, with "Yin" meaning wet, feminine, passive, quiet and "Yang" the opposites. And our shadow fighters attack the kingdom of "Yang", using a new, feminine fighting style; all these characteristics can be found and seem to be easily distributed to the different characters, but soon you'll see, that as Yin and Yang, positions will switch, making the story more complex and interesting. Thus also the color grading is focused on the colors black, white and grey, giving the movie a different look that I have never seen. Besides the imagery that looks like Chineese paintings, and all those symbolism we also have a great set and costume design. And last but not least, the music and how it is integrated into the movie is also phenomenal.

On the negative side, I have to say that in the beginning I had a real hard time to get into the movie. The flick starts with a few text screens and than just throws you in, and hearing a lot of foreign names as well as seeing a couple of people that actually look alike (in clothing, hairstyle, etc.) made it not easier. So the first round about 20 minutes I was a bit lost and had my problems following. But I am not sure if I can count this as a negative aspect of the movie. Same goes for rather strange cultural aspects, e.g. there is a scene, where the King asks the commander to play an instrument and sing with his wife, and she refuses, excusing that she has distracted her husband from his duties and that, if she has to play she'll cut of her fingers. She then plays and after that grabs the knife. Her husband stops her and instead cuts of his hair, which is filmed in such a dramatic way, and the entire court is extremely shocked to see this happening. And I was like "uhm... what's just happening?"

These things made it a bit hard in the beginning, but after getting into the movie you'll get a really great move that is worth watching. I'll rate it 8/10 points.

Rewatching and rerating all Simpsons episodes (and this time, hopefully sticking to it), the second entry (that really was produced as the second episode) is already more to my liking.

As this series is just starting of, this episode is more of a "closed world" episode, i.e. it focuses on the Simpsons family and their relations (as did ) and does not give room to too many outside characters: only Martin Prince, Mrs. Krabapple and Principal Skinner are introduced as characters, Milhouse as a minor and insignificant appearance. The focus is mainly on Bart, with a second focus on the father-and-son-relationship, that really has multiply cynical aspects to think about:

Homer - even though (at least in the first seasons) a caring father - doesn't show much affection or love towards his son, who is on a path that will probably lead him into a similar life (and there are some foreshadowing in coming episodes that also hint that way). Only when there is outside certification of some specialty this aspect shifts; which is especially dramatic as the quite gifted Lisa, who - with 8 years of age - knows "hard" words like "nurturing" as well as as the works of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is not even noted most of the time. This episode can also be seen as a critique on the education- and societies class system. Clearly we know how to teach our children best by giving them the possibility and room to explore their abilities and allowing them to set their own goals and train their abilities individually. However, to get there, you first need to pass an aptitude test, which the kids are clearly not prepared to, giving only a few elite the chance to unfold their full potential, while the rest is rather thought to learn facts by heart and comply - training them to be a good work force. It's not that obvious and maybe even a bit far fetched, but for me this is one of the main takeaways from this episode. Having Bart embark on a journey that on the end helps him figure out what's important in life, is just another aspect that makes this episode really good and one of the few episodes that will stand out.

Starting from 5 points for the average rating, this episode has a number of positive aspects and hardly any negative ones, it has some funny moments, it has a lot to consider and think about, its witty. I like it, and I think it's one of the episode you should consider if you only watch a handful to decide if this show's for you. 8/10

PS: Again some trivia - even though not the first episode, this is the first to feature the famous Simpsons intro, and with Bart having to write "I shall not waste chalk" it conveys the sassy sarcasm this show can offer.