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supermaggie
Reviews
La chiesa (1989)
Complete lack of thrill, logic, reason, decency - no Argento for me anymore
I read many times, that this movie is an 80ies horror classic. After watching it, I totally disagree. Not only is there very little horror /fantasy elements a fan of this genre likes to watch, it is not only full of logical holes (why is Herman suddenly alive again to kill the poor teacher? Why is there a hole/cave/vacuum under the church/the seal/the cross, when the knights laid the cross directly over the sand/earth-covered bodies? Why should the bishop jeopardize his sacred mission by telling Gus? And so on.) But -connected with the lack of logic-: the most repulsive reason: this is another movie destroyed by uncalled for, obsessive hate for Germans: again set in Germany (where Dario at least gets right that these oh so evil Germans have been taking in a lot of black people like Father Gus for a long time now - and have also put a lot of money into Italy for many decades which the Italians were never reluctant ro take), and bashing those oh so evil knights (not Italy's fascist dictator Mussolini, not the still active, still murderous Mafia, not the recent Berlusconi (or evil politicians before him respectively, I know when the movie was made), etcetc., but teutonic knights - a still problematic/dangerous group indeed, haha)- well, Signore Argento, if these knights were so awful, how come they did exactly the right thing locking these people away for centuries, since when they come back they turn out to be demons bringing along the devil himself - I guess they were not the innocent victims after all, killed by evil, evil teutonic knights, right? And why let the own daughter portray one of those evil German characters? Everything absurdly inconsequent, mean, and in the end mostly lame and not worth giving a shot. I am done, all the critics may praise Argento into 7th heaven, I never ever understood why he is so successful anyway. Boring, hateful, dumb. My opinion.
Wickie und die starken Männer (2009)
Worth your while, give it a(nother) shot, cute and entertaining
I am surprised by the many poor reviews. On the other hand, the movie did not get me the first time I watched it, either. Maybe it is because the marketing raised the wrong expectancies? Or people expected something like Manitou's shoe or the equally hilarious Dreamship surprise, I guess this is what kept me from completely getting the Wickie movie the first time. And I was around when the animated show was on TV, I did watch it sporadically, but I was not a superfan. Yes, it is not a hilarious comedy like the huge Bully hits, sure, it is a children's movie. Yet, I found it very entertaining and likable, once I had forgotten all the associations and expectancies and just watched the movie for what it is: a cute adventure story with wonderful, diverse characters (a character for everybody to like/identify with), a great message for kids (yes, a lot of Wickie's plans would not work, but this is not the point/this does not make him not clever. The point is, that it encourages kids to get into science, use their heads, not define themselves by physical strength alone, not define smart kids/people as lame Nerds, and in addition there is the message, that females are strong and clever, too, in particular Ylva, who perfectly directs her husband into the right directions). And en passent Bully succeeds to show how real diversity is established in a natural, unobtrusive way - and this in a movie about Vikings, a pretty little diverse looking group. And let's not forget the funny action. If you enjoyed Pirates of the Carribbean I can only recommend you to give Bully's Wickie a shot. And for the ones who liked it: watch the DVD features with the Making of where Bully tells funny details about the roles, actors and the shooting process. There is even a music video featuring Bully and Sasha ('If you believe in love tonight', Dick Brave, etc.). And if you already saw it and were disappointed: give it a second shot, you will see it with different eyes and not regret it.
The Mentalist: White as the Driven Snow (2014)
Symbolic episode of a disgusting motive behind it all
When watching stories told from the view of bank robbers and other criminals, where Hollywood wants you to root for the criminals and wish them luck with their crimes, a part of me always is repelled and is aware how unethical this is. And it is surprising that I have never had so much sympathy for the designated villain like in this episode. R. Haibach - given a German name to expand the disgusting uncalled for hate against Germans with many of the villains being given German sounding names in particular throughout the poor season 5 - built up to be the ultimate creep, does not work for me. He is the ultimate victim for me. He was being tortured and maimed because Patrick Jane - whose evil character is perfectly revealed here - manipulates and plays with people just as he likes. He is arrogant, plays God and therefore gets (innocent) people killed and hurt. I completely understand and feel with Haibach, although I surely condemn his actions. But in this case I fully understand where it comes from. With this episode The Mentalist no longer is a good show for me, since it shows the true character of its roles (and makers), there is no decency (or justification) in building up enemies by being arrogant and feeling superior and righteous, in particular since the people behind it often err, and the enemies change, but the victims stay hurt - a very symbolic episode of what is and will always be wrong with Hollywood, because no matter what they preach, they obviously will never change. And none of it is justified, it was and is just wrong, only the victims change.
The Mentalist: Red Lacquer Nail Polish (2013)
One of the lowlights of the poor season 5
(Attention: massive spoilers ahead:) When I first watched the show - hooked by the intelligent dialogues - I somehow missed season five. After reading the disappointed reviews and finally watching season five myself I have to say: I did not miss anything. As always when Hollywood - and even til then wonderful writers - hit a lack of creativity (like when the Red John story came to a halt in season 5), the solution/marching order is: warm up old- not new, recent, relevant, but cliched, overcome, (now) inappropriate - enemies, and in 90% this means: dig up racism (you may call it "just" discrimination, but either way it is disgusting, hurtful, unjustified hate, slander) against Germans, as reflected in giving all the evil, creepy characters German (or rather mostly somehow German sounding) names, this happens throughout all seasons of the Mentalist (and most other crime shows), but cumulative in season 5, like I said, since it is the worst season and needed a boost, even if - as always - this depraved hate rarely works/improves anything (care for proof/some examples? Haibach, Schulz, Panzer, Deutsch, Wagner, of course Volker (in this case not even a real/common German family name but a first name), Wagner, Gottlieb, Wiehagen, and in this very episode: Reinhardt and Vogelsong (double points), and so on). The makers cannot even argue that it is an actual grievance and they need to set an example since there are many other nations with more contemporary grievances which they never slander. It's just ancient hateful propaganda hoping to get stick-in-the-mud hateful viewers to approve. No approval from decent people though. And if you want German (sounding) names to slander, how about Scherer, Heller, Appelbaum, Weiss, Ulrich, Hochman, Hochfeld and so on? It wouldn't matter much if it was a bad show from the beginning, but ruining one good show after another just for hate and to please a hateful audience for no justified reasons at all? Shame on you for ruining a good show(s) and insulting millions of innocent people again and again. At least it actually says more about the obsessive personality of the writers than their victims of the insulting attacks (and these are (uncalled for) hate crime attacks against an entire nation).
Shameless: Father Frank, Full of Grace (2021)
Too shameless in the end - a shame!!
It's so sad to see another great show hitting rock bottom on the very last inches. It started with the completely unfitting Eva Braun-remark - just another lame, mean attempt to pin America's problems/crimes on other nations, even if - as so often - it is not fitting (anymore) at all (this is what many other garden variety shows do, but I always thought Shameless was better than that, I was wrong - after 11 seasons), and the end is just alarming: if yelling and singing is the reaction that comes to the writers' minds when somebody's possession is going up and being destroyed in flames and being madly, ill-willingly/sadistically happy to see that person suffer - that is highly disturbing. But the worst thing was the abduction of the dog. They didn't even bother to show what happened to him. How about, wrtiters/creators, your kid/the child/baby of someone you know is being abducted on the backseat of your car while the car is stolen by some depraved subject - is this still funny, too? Having no respect for other humans is one thing, but harming innocent, powerless animals is so low, I don't find words for it. Shame on everybody who thinks this scene was a good idea. Like other reviewers wrote: Huge let down after many great seasons...
Graf Bobby, der Schrecken des wilden Westens (1965)
Just a wonderful hommage - don't miss the fun
I disagree with other reviews who think this is silly. I actually did not watch this Count Bobby-movie as a child, and I was afraid it could be cheesy and silly (given the fact that it is an Austrian Western from the 1960ies), but I was extremely positively surprised. It is not the best Count Bobby movie (which would probably be the first), but it has a good/actual "Wild West" storyline, great female characters (Olga Schobernova, Hanne Wieder etc.) and, of course, the great Peter Alexander and Gunther Philipp, along with funny performances by these two. It is (refreshingly after all the gore and darkness of recent movies) harmless, yes, but I do not mind at all, it is just cute and yet suspense and fun and a bit action - to sum it up, it is less a silly parody than a cute hommage and therefore even close to the perfect Michael Bully Herbig's Manitou's Shoe. Don't overthink it, just enjoy.
Kingdom Hospital (2004)
A complete waste of time, just an insight into a hateful narcissist's mind
Remakes are never good/rarely make sense at all. I am not Danish, but I truly enjoyed the original series by Lars von Trier 'Kingdom/Riget', but this remake by the painfully overrated Stephen King is probably the worst remake ever. It, however, tells you a lot about Mr. King's personality. While Lars von Trier is clearly an arrogant and narcissistic person who finds a sadistic joy in torturing his characters, he does so without actually judging. He pretty much leaves it to the audience to make up their minds. Mr King, on the other hand, is even more arrogant and narcissistic and seems to believe he is allowed to be judge and henchman in one person. He judges and condemns characters he thinks deserve it, sympathizes with the antisocial punks lurking around wothlessly in the parking lot and just hassling people who have no connection to them. I am not talking about the homeless, I am talking about the useless juveniles who got nothing better to do than to make decent people's lives a living hell, together with the useless janitor who aggressively kicks the poor car just doing its job and sounding alarm, he thereby shows no respect at all for the car or the car's owner, just like the awful hassling crowd, and Mr King sides with them - says a lot. He even involves Abel and Christa, who were some kind of angels in the original and though they - unfortunately like 'real' angels - did not do much to help people, but at least they didn't harm and terrorize them. Not so in the remake, since they as well torture Stegman by smearing paint on his poor car. Stegman is an arrogant (but so is S. King) snob and he did harm Mona K. Beyond forgiveness, for St. King, however, Mona is not the reason for his hate for Stegman, Mona rarely appears in the remake and St. King clearly does not give a s... about her and her poor mother. In my eyes Mona is the biggest victim in both versions and in order to reach justice for her, Stegman has to be sacked and tried and banned from practicing, but attacking his car etc. Does not help things/is not right at all. And having his girlfriend kill the poor rats in both versions is just terrifying as well. But this is, what S. King is about and what he thinks the American audience expects: just reason to hate. Lars von Trier is cleverly observing and let's the audience watch uncommented, too, but S. King serves a/his opinion and delivers his 'solutions' right along with it. And it is all clichés and not worth watching. While von Trier uses Mary's background to introduce the incredible, ingenious character played by the wonderful Udo Kier - a most original, fantastic, creative character that I cannot imagine anybody else can stage (that's probably one reason why he is not in the remake))- S. King only comes with the most beaten to death clichés every ghost story serves, beating on them heavily just in order to create even more hate. And just for reasons of completeness: the Baseball-episode is mere BS, as is the 'Miracle Jimmy'-episode. I wonder why S. King was brought into a hospital after his accident and not into a church, if he thinks that some miracle working priest can help better than physicians and scientists. This is just the blunt bawling of ignorant, dumb people who like to sympathize with rude, insulting juveniles and featherbrainedly jump on the wagon to agitate (not only against scientists but also) against the police. I call this dumb, blunt, tacky, sucked dry, arrogant, ignorant, and just all in all a waste of time. No more remakes and in particular no more remakes/anything by Mr. 'hateful, cheesy, overrated' King anymore, please. And I would be very surprised if he gets his vaccination by Biontech (yes, it was created in Germany by Biontech, not by Pfizer) after all his insults, he can risk thromboses with other vaccines, and he should never use PCs, TVs, cars and many other medical treatment for this reason as well, who mindlessly bawls against (German) (physicians and inventors and) scientists (in general) should not benefit from their inventions and think he is doing the right thing. This is where I judge, and you, Mr. King, are wrong and I know what you deserve... - My opinion. But I don't assume that nobody knows better. A shame about the good cast, but this is not worth watching, not at all. It's not even scary, except for the disturbing insight into Mr. King's mind.
Der Musterknabe (1963)
My favorite back-to-school-flick
Germany has wrongly been denied to have great humour and good comedians - Germany, in fact, has a lot, it is just ignored, too confined due to language barriers (like the wonderful Michael Bully Herbig stuff) or more on the intelligent/satirical side (Loriot, Dieter Nuhr etc.). A great comedic tradition of Germany (and Austria) is the tradition of funny but also satirical (intelligent criticism in a funny/entertaining way) high school movies, like the ultimate classic 'The punch bowl' featuring the wonderful Heinz Ruehmann in 1944, the Hans(i) Kraus stuff from the 1960ies and 1970ies up until recent successes like the F* ju Goethe (Suck me Shakespeare - not a fitting translation) - series. And this one is another example and a very well done one. I can't and won't conceal that I am biased since I have always been a huge fan of the most excellent Peter Alexander (but who isn't a fan of "Peter the Great"!), and consider me very happy having been able to meet him in person as a child at one of his shows. Beside his Count Bobby-movies (sometimes cheesy but always cute and funny, and also starring Gunther Philipp and Bill Ramsay) this is one of his best movies, witty, humourous, with a lot of charm of course, and also featuring the wonderful Theo Lingen, Gunther Philipp and Cornelia Froboess and cute songs (with funny lyrics and word changes). Although 'The punch bowl' is absolute cult and the F* ju Goethe-stuff is hilarious, I guess this is my favorite back-to-highschool-movie. RIP, Peter Alexander, you were superb!
Ocean's Eight (2018)
This is how it is done - in many regards
I liked the male versions, but I am not such a diehard fanboy (or girl) that I have to complain about this sequel being not as great as the others, I was just happy with this one, and this is why: apart from being very, very well entertained by the story, this is the cast I was looking for. All the movie makers twisting old roles and stomping on history in order to make diversity work (a contradiction in itself/won't work that way), here is how it is done and in a relaxed, natural, fitting way. We have great female characters (I know, too much for many gentlemen, so don't watch and get back into yout caves) of pretty much all colors (and blondes!), in newly written roles, and it works perfect. All right, we could do with some more range on the age-side and maybe some physically challenged people (at least someone with glasses maybe) and a bit fuller shapes, maybe in a sequel, but for now, it is perfect. Even some German words are spoken and not by Nazis - I am shocked, in a very, very good way. It shows: it can be done, and it can be done perfectly. I had a blast with any aspect of this movie and can only recommend it. Way to go, thanks Sandra and all the other great women and men being involved.
Hudson & Rex: Mansion on a HIll (2021)
No diversity on one end - death kiss for a crime show
I cannot believe it, here we go again, while there has been none, zero person of color been the murderer over the entire season, probably because, like the writers let Joe say, people of color have been wrongfully accused and put in prison - well that does not justify making all of them saints either, and while, sadly,innocent people of color have been wrongfullly sentenced, there are also innocent white people who have been wrongfullly sentenced. That is no argument to eliminate the regularly requested diversity on one end of the spectre (making people of color and white people part of the good guys, but only white people the bad guys, this is racism, a lack of diversity and discriminating, I would even say propaganda because racist people have done nothing else in the past but onesidedly portray one group as evil and one group as saints, just shifting the groups doesn't change that it is wrong/racial discrimination), and it doesn't help people of color either, since they are solely portrayed as toothless victims - not flattering at all, and not true. Talking about statistics, if you want to stay true to the truth (and there is nothing more important than the truth), if you want to not burden one group any further who has had to suffer from injustice over the past AND who are less often present in murder statistics: you should give women a break. Because funnily, while there is not one person of color who turns out to be the killer, in many, many episodes, a woman is the killer (which real life statistics do not back up at all), and not only that, if there is a blond woman: she is the killer for sure, like in the episode at hand. This is what I call discriminating, a call to hate blond women. You may think you are helping many people (of color) with this lopsided racism, but you do not see that you are insulting, villainizing, infamizing, demonizing and bashing (blond) women - what is your problem with about half of Sweden, Norway, Finland, great parts of the population in Russia, Switzerland, also Germany, France, Austria, Britain, Australia and so on? They have done nothing wrong, but you are hurting and jeopardizing them (jealousy-driven hate has taken its toll on many blond women, this is injustice that you just ignore). And women in general (in all colors and shapes) have suffered from so much hate and discrimination, that - if you (justifiedly) cry for sensitivity for other groups - you should also cry for sensitivity for (all) women and act accordingly. This is just unacceptable, and for a crime show it is the death kiss, since all the suspense is gone. I started watching this episode and as soon as I saw the blond woman (and a person was poisoned) I did not want to or need to watch the whole episode anymore. I just skipped to the end (just because I coud not believe they did it again) and - surprise - the blonde woman was the evil killer, again. When you are watching this show, you don't have to guess, all people of color can be excluded/will never be portrayed as the perpetrators, never (and the writers showed one woman lied to by her fiance, and the woman was deeply hurt that he did not think she could take it/that she was too delicate - portraying one group solely as the helpless victims means denying them power and declaring them too weak to be able to take realistic portrayals - not good/okay at all, for noone), and if a blond woman is shown, you can be pretty, pretty sure that she ends up being the killer. Doesn't work for me on so many levels. A shame, because I liked the entire team, but that's it, I do not support racism and hate of any kind, and there's no fun it anymore, either. A good show ruined completely, again, by hobnailed political propaganda, a shame. RIP. I am all for equality, equal treatment of everybody, always have been, and I was glad that things get moving, but overdoing it massively is just tipping the scales in the other wrong direction - no balance and peace can or will come out of this either.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
An immoral call for arbitrary hate/violence - and you should care
I loved Reservoir Dogs when it came out. I liked Pulp Fiction a lot, also From dusk till dawn, Four rooms and Jackie Brown were alright, but everything else from Tarantino (plus etc.) afterwards was just creepy disgusting. Instead of coolness some strange, depraved hate took over, finally leading to The hateful eight, aptly titled. You wonder why there is so much violence (particularly) in the U. S.? So much violent crimes, then police violence, then violence against the police and so on? I do not wonder at all. (Let me take a quick detour:) You propagate it is okay to kill, it is okay to kill (Neo-)Nazis, because they are (Neo-)Nazis, and it's okay to kill (Neo-)Nazis (just like this with no trial / court order). It used to be okay (not my opinion, all the examples aren't, just thought provoking) to kill African Americans, because they were African Americans. Or Native Americans. There still are some cultures where it is okay to kill women (particularly sassy ones) because they are women. Or female babies (like in India). The Chinese are killing Uyghurs because they are Uyghurs. The Rwandan Hutus thought it was okay to kill the Tutsi people, because they were Tutsi. (Coming back to the hateful 8:) In this movie it is declared that it is / was okay to kill Confederate soldiers (beyond the battlefield as well/after the war) because they were Confederate soldiers. I guess the last group rather thought that it was okay to kill Unionists/Yankees because they were Unionists/Yankees. Do you see, that there is something wrong? And don't let me get started about the story that Samuel L. Jackson's character tells, in which he tortures and kills a man he does not know, has never seen before, just because he is the son of somebody he knew (and then telling this story to an old man in order to provoke him and be able to kill him) - you don't think this story was disgusting, vulgar, depraved? So it is okay to kill (possibly innocent, unfamiliar) people because they have a certain name, a certain skin color, a certain nationality/place of origin? You decide who can be / deserves to be killed?? Is that what you are saying/advocating (not just in this but many, many other violence-praising, hateful, arrogant, discriminating, irresponsible productions as well)? This is outrageous and you should know that. It's not cool, it is an unparalleld call to hate, violence, immorality, even murder. This is no different than what the often cited Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan did. And you even enjoy it and support it, because: forget dollars and churches - your currency, your God is hate. You indulge in it, you spread it, you live off it. And then you accuse the Europeans or whoever comes in handy as scapegoat for what is wrong in the world. You try so hard to change the target of your hate, but since you do not give up all the hate altogether but you just shift the target to the next group of (possibly/ mainly) innocents, just because they have a different color of skin (than your target before) or a different nationality (than you) or just because you needed anybody else/a new group to hate, nothing will ever change, nothing will ever be good. This is why there is so much wrong with this world, unjustified hate, called forth by irresponsible, manipulative human (?) beings. Not cool at all. Please learn and turn around, like many of the ones you so easily condemn have done. We need true peace and respect and equality for everybody.
Overboard (2018)
Perfect story, perfect message, perfect cast, perfect fun - don't miss
I was hesitating a long time since I have loved the original for so long and couldn't imagine a remake to work, but I am so glad I gave it a shot. I was surprised that they changed the main roles/genders, but it turned out to be a smart move. Sorry guys, but it would have felt strange in a contemporary movie to see a woman being used and bossed around by a man (and the reluctant sex part would not have been as plausible, too ;-) ). And it is unexpected given today's cliches in Hollywood movie making but even better and wiser so, that they portrayed the Latin American character(s) as millionaire(s) and the blond woman as hardly scraping by (since we all (should) know, that color of skin/hair does not determine wether you are a smart business person and/or if you are an underprivileged person, these are represented in all groups and in the end due to good/bad luck), and also very important: the message of the movie is (like in the original) a great one and proves that (immoral/wrong) movies like Knives out (that postulate that rich people (white of course) are privileged, therefore happier and that everything is/should be about money) are wrong: you are privileged (no matter what your color of skin/hair/your weight/ family's inheritance is) when you have a loving, caring family, and no wealth will make you truly happy if you do not have somebody loyal and caring about you and that you can trust and care for. Just great, smart and extremely funny. Also funny: Eugenio Derbez looks like a young Billy Bob Thornton (not necessarily a compliment, though), but he and Anna and Eva and the sisters, the daughters and everybody in the cast do a great, great job. Really worth to check out, you will be greatly entertained, you might learn something, and when the end titles fade you will notice a big smile on your face - Highly recommended, these are the (positive) stories the world needs.
Die Masche mit der Liebe (2007)
Great entertainment with a moral message
A great portrait of a strong, loyal, hard-working, independent middle-aged woman who is showing backbone despite getting stress from all sides and is therefore positively changing everyone's life. Hollywood might call this a Working Class Hero, but that would be too clichéd and striking for me. And in addition there is the charming and funny romantic banter between the characters played by Anja Kling and Henning Baum (both just great), and in such a way that it remains clear that Anja Kling's character is and remains an independent, strong woman - with and without a man. Really a neat piece of work, entertaining and still morally correct/instructive - top!
Servant: Espresso (2021)
This is too much
The show was not great from the start, and now it is getting ridiculous. I wasn't aware that M. Night S. has joined the ranks of televangelists now trying to bully and pressure viewers into blind and anxious piousness. When Leanne is one thing, it is not an angel, she is pure evil, but she is exactly what God is and does what God does and wants, therefore she is not the rebellious angel but his best servant, the servant of a sadistic devil, since - as his acts against Dorothy (and many, many real good people) show - he loves to unjustified/unjustly punish and torture and hinder good people and support and empower the ruthless, evil ones. If there is an unjust being, preventing justice and obscuring the truth, it is God, he is the sinner, look around, it is the truth. And if someone should fall to his knees and ask for forgiveness, it is God (and his helpers), who should ask the victims of their sins for forgiveness, the (good, innocent) humans. Dorothy is not the evil witch (I am surprised she is not blond, since Hollywood loves to spread hate against blondes lately, but a redhead seems to be the next best thing to hate) and God not a being of light - I wish it (the part about God) was different, but unfortunately evil is winning by such wrong propaganda. I 'm out, I wouldn't have watched 40 episodes of this anyway. I gave M. Night a lot of chances, eben when he was already counted down, but this is it. This is not storytelling but straight propaganda (and more so: evil one).
MacGyver: SOS + Hazmat + Ultrasound + Frequency + Malihini (2021)
Surprise
Oh look, another evil blonde again. The show runners are really pushing the hate. And it's getting double ridiculous, the team don't have to look around the world to find evil codex criminals, just capture and eliminate all blond women, that's what you wanna in achieve in real life anyway, right? Who is acting like Nazis now (just with a different target)??
MacGyver: Golden Lancehead + Venom + Pole Vault + Blood + Baggage (2021)
Surprise
Oh look, another evil blonde again. The show runners are really pushing the hate, their mothers must be proud. They even dyed Lucas' hair darker. What? Do you want to bully all blond people and especially blond women into dying their hair and wearing brown contact lenses, even if this ruins their eyes just to indulge the hate of jealous idiots? Disgusting.
MacGyver: Quarantine + N95 + Landline + Telescope + Social Distance (2021)
The once good show is losing direction/its moral compass
Darn, despite the many negative reviews I was such a fan of the show at the beginning, because they tried to be fair, but with all the hate Hollywood is trying to raise recently, the makers seem to have been swallowed by that completely. And I am not only talking about the newly raised discrimination of Europeans. I am not sure what to think of the highly racist/discriminating practice of making Superman black and casting by quota, since in my opinion this does not help any side. I am all for diversity but not by taking beloved characters and legends away from one group and giving it to another and thereby forbidding them to have their own. But, alright, MacGyver (and Hollywood in general) largely eliminates white characters and introduces one character of color after the next, well, okay I guess (I wouldn't want to be cast by quota/skin color, but okay), but what is not okay at all is that all the movies and shows start treating blonde women like lepers. MacGyver sacked or even killed the positive blonde characters and there are only sporadic and short appearances of blonde characters now who are all at least dubious if not even downright evil. Just because ill-willing people envy blonde women does not mean Hollywood has to indulge this hateful, depraved feeling. I do remember the movie Perdita Durango, I watched it because I loved Rosie Perez - and was shocked that she starred in a movie where blonde kids are kidnapped and tortured just out of jealousy and hate, but at least I thought, it was just fiction. Now Hollywood seems to want or at least hazard that there will be unjustified mad attacks against blonde women in real life (not that there haven't been any already - yes, out of jealousy, by people of color, just facts) just because this is the image that Hollywood conveys, that it is okay to hate and discriminate against blonde women (Not all lives matter)! Madness and not a bit better than any other discrimination/injustice. If you want to reach equality and lessen the envy, Hollywood would have to cast a lot more "fat" old women, this is a group that needs support, but we will never see Hollywood do this!!! A shame.
I, Tonya (2017)
A bit justice
As many, many others all around the world, all I knew about "the incident" was what the media fed you, which is: Tonya was the one behind it and with cruel, selfish motives. I do remember hearing some attempts of corrections that it might have been somebody of her entourage and that she did not order or even know about it, but after the crazy story, nobody bothered to change one's impression - Tonya was a / the stereotypical cold-hearted witch, period. This movie is successful in showing and reminding you / us all to never just take in, but ask questions, keep your own mind and allow other possibilities. It is well-written/conceived, perfectly acted and has a lot of heart and decency without being too partial, just nicely served facts. Well, well done. And it also shows - as side effect, that it is ridiculous to assume that white people, in particular blonde women (who are spuriously being attacked and discriminated against massively by media all over the world right now), are automatically priviledged and have a better life and more luck than people of color or brunettes (I could also list many counterexamples from my life as well) and therefore can or even must be robbed of their rights today. Tonya did not have it easier, never, quite the opposite. And I hope this movie can bring her back a little justice and a bit happiness, she truly deserves.
I Love You to Death (1990)
It's your own fault if you miss this blast
I cannot believe this incredibly funny, well-played and also suspenseful movie is getting such a low mean rating here. These were the times when Hollywood was still telling (great) stories. And in this case it is even a true story (which makes it more compelling and touching), top cast and staged sensitively (as far as possible on the subject ...) as usual by Lawrence Kasdan (as usual for Hollywood, there is some disrespect of Germans again, but since this comes from the mouth of a compulsive Italian Casanova, I can even not take it too seriously here.) You have to suffer with Tracey Ullman (who I still knew from the music scene), Joan Plowright is always a blast (as is Miriam Margolyes in a very short role), the always magical River Phoenix, the great Kevin Kline (who I always enjoy but who plays the philanderer so convincingly that you immediately root for Rosalie and her Mother), and of course William Hurt in a very unusual role and Keanu Reeves - always underestimated, but not even in a particularly unusual role for him at the time (if you think of Bill and Ted and Parenthood,River's Edge, Prince of Pennsylvania etc. - and yes, these and many other films, are the reason you love Keanu, and not because of The Devil's Advocate and Matrix, not even Speed, because I keep hearing that people reject him due to these - well, wrong selection of films, their loss) - a top cast and just as funny and touching and entertaining today as it was then. Whoever misses this film : your bad!
The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020)
Boring and no fairness
You gotta give them this: it seems like an art to make a zombie show this boring - this is something!! Uninteresting plot, uninteresting starting point, uninteresting characters - and talking about characters: The Walking dead had - with the many, many, many characters passing the screen during the many seasons - TWO, again: TWO positive female blondes (Beth and Andrea) which both were killed much too early. Fear the walking dead had one great positive blonde female character, who was bullied from the beginning and killed - which was pretty much the end of the show, appeal- and storywise. This show seems to have a 'no female blondes on set at all' rule (and is not the only one in Hollywood today it seems). A blonde female might not make the plot better, but the boring story, the boring characters a n d discrimination (in my eyes it is, and no explanation about 'discrimination against nations or hair colors is not racism' changes anything about my feeling) adds up to me not watching this show anymore, glad I won't miss anything anyway.
Ballon (2018)
Highly recommended highly thrilling and moving "history lesson"
This movie is amazing on multiple levels. There is for one (which might explain some bad reviews) the fact that a wonderful comedian/actor/producer and director of incredible funny movies/TV shows managed to create a thriller, and not just any thriller, but a political, historical, based on true events thriller, which is authentic, believable and moving. I love Michael Herbig most for his funny stuff, but one cannot deny his bandwidth as an actor and director, his acting in the thriller Four against the bank was hilarious, his movie Buddy was heartwarming and touching, but still: his genius mostly shows in his comedy stuff - so far. Now he brought the true story of two families on the big screen (a story that I was familiar with for pretty much all my life since the families settled down in a neighbortown in the 80ies and I remember the repair shop of one of them - I also remember the border and the depressing atmosphere there/where many people died - shot trying to escape). And this story is a gripping one. You wouldn't believe it if it wasn't true. A story about families, about a misanthropic system (where people on each side were victims pretty much), a torn country and most of all, of course, a sensational escape. A lot of suspense, a lot of great actors (including a handsome Thomas Kretschmann - who escaped the GDR in 1983 himself - turned into an ugly secret police agent and performing (creepily and) brilliantly), a great eye for (historical) details - if you want to know some of the burdens that happened to (white, European, non-Nazi) Germans (yes, they had to suffer, too) after the war, this is an entertaining, thrilling, moving, accurate way of doing it. Highly recommendable. A history lesson that is also a thriller - what else can you wish for.
Deadline - Jede Sekunde zählt: Die Falle (2010)
Great characters, great actors, great (crime) storyline - a bliss
I did miss this show on television, but I managed to watch the last episode starring Henning Baum (besides other great actors or actresses respectively), and I was thrilled. It reminded me a bit of Inside man, as far as it mainly takes place inside the bank (or even in the basement of the bank) and yet, it is very suspenseful and keeps you guessing. It has a great (crime) storyline and great characters, the only thing I did not like was the ending (not the solving of the crime/riddle, which was great, but the ending of the episode), but I guess they wanted a cliffhanger in case the show was continued, which, unfortunately, it was not). All in all a bliss.
Kidnapping Stella (2019)
Clearer, more likable - for me the better version
I was hesitating to give this a try since I did not like the British original (hi there Oldmanwrigley: the story is a remake) , but I do like Jella and the teaming of Jella and Max a lot therefore I watched it - and I liked it a lot more than the original. I know it is always kind of unfair to give the remake a better rating, since it lives off of the original, but the predecessor just made me sad and was somewhat disappointing. To be fair: I guess this is one of the reasons I liked this version much better, I knew what was coming, therefore I was not so down at/about the end(ing). But I think it is also due to the cast, which I liked better. I do like Gemma Arterton and the others, but I thought that Jella Haase's Stella was much more likable than Gemma's Alice, which made a huge difference. And I could follow the story better this time (might be because of the repetition, maybe, but I frequently expected it to go different ways due to the original). Clearer, more likable, less dark, I enjoyed and prefer this version.
Hudson & Rex (2019)
Nice, clean, old-fashioned quality fun without regret
I agree with the other reviewer who called it a refreshing change from the blood and gore. I cannot watch the disgusting murders in Criminal minds etc. anymore (isn't that why Mandy Patinkin left? And they learned nothing. Instead they added hate to the cruel murders by lying about Germans insulting the new team member (after that I stopped watching Crim. min.) etc. - it is the other way round, the show makers have been insulting Germans from the start of the show). Hudson and Rex is positively put old-fashioned crime/detective stories and - like in the predecessing Austrian show - a cute, clever dog as the cherry on top of it. I can enjoy watching this without cursing the writers/producers for their implicated (hateful) propaganda - a rather rare thing compared to many Hollywood shows today and therefore I hope it will run for a long time.
Ink Master: Grudge Match (2019)
Someteimes a bit rough, but very enjoyable allover
I have watched every season of Ink Master - some decisions (and aggressive artists) made me mad, but overall I enjoyed the art a lot. I also came to like Ryan Ashley (liked Ink Master Angels a lot, too), DJ Tambe and Cleen Rock One pretty much, therefore I enjoyed IM: Grudge Match very much. The premise of the show, however, which is obligatory for the competition and the suspense, I am aware of that, which lives from people fighting (having been hurt before and now struggling to best another artist who pretty much feels the same) is not that much enjoyable, even if I am not concerned, seeing people fight or slip/embarass themselves/fall etc. (in other words all reasons for Schadenfreude (or even hate) ) are no entertainment for me. Therefore one star less.