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Reviews
Picture My Face: The Story of Teenage Head (2020)
What an amazing film!
Picture My Face captures the essence of Hamilton Ontario in the 70s and 80s PERFECTLY, The lumberjack jackets (Hamilton Dinner Jacket), the bleak snow, Westdale Secondary School, Victoria Park, Gage Park, driving down King St West toward Christ the King Church, 900 CMH, TiCats at Tim Horton's Field (prev Ivor Wynne), Stelco, Dofasco, OMG this is so good. It deals very well with Gord Lewis' depression after Frankie's passing. The poor fellow just suffered. And that's depression for ya. Having attended Westdale just after these guys left, EVERYONE had their albums. Mega popular. Some kids from Westdale caused a riot in Tronna! How cool is that?? What a great.film. Good lads from a tough city with few role models,
Pieces of Her (2022)
Original premise good; really bad execution
I've seen than I am clearly not the only one who cannot stand the character of the "Andy" as a 30-year old. As there are so many flashbacks, one might think that old and new characters might look somewhat similar. They dont at all. Like not even close. 30 year old Andy is literally so annoying in every episode that it is hard to take.
The Lost Daughter (2021)
Really bad
This film has no redeeming value. The characters have no redeeming value. If i knew anyone of the main characters, i would want to have nothing to do with them. It is simply a whiney whinge about why the main character is a narcissist woman who treated her kids (and others) badly. Pathetic. New title suggestion: "How to be a narcissist and feel good about it afterwards". Urghhhh! Who makes these Oscar nominations? How about: "The Lost 2 Hours"?
Taxi Driver (1976)
Do not watch this
This film has no redeeming value whatsoever. It is a film about a loser who is surrounded by nothing but losers. Waste of time. The main character is a psychopath and guess what, he behaves like one. Scorsese's cameo appearance was an equally unlikable character. Nothing but losers. How this film launched any career is beyond me. De Niro should buy the rights to this film and forever bury it.
Capitani (2019)
Really good!
Interesting "Krimi" story taking place in Luxembourg. I watched the series in Luxembourgisch. It's a stand-alone language but close enough to a heavy dialect of German with lots of French thrown in. The scenery and the town shots are so clearly Lux-pure. The story has lots of twists and turns which makes it really interesting. Désirée Nosbusch is of course in the series. But the real superstar is: Sophie Mousel.
City of Angels (1998)
Original is: Der Himmel ueber Berlin
As with any copy of a film, especially into another language, some things are lost in translation. The original ("Wings of Desire") is amazing but this is mediocre.
The Equalizer 2 (2018)
100% Denzil
Bad guys. No problem. It's a tough job but somebody has to take out the garbage. Denzil delivers, but then that was expected.
Lebanon (2009)
Interesting premise; completely inaccurate
This was really bad. Hard to imagine that the entire tank crew wasnt court martialed in the field. All bloody useless as soldiers. Nobody's army would want them. Did IDF comment on this: nobody obeys any orders in the Israeli army? Not realistic.
Joker (2019)
Film has no redeeming value
Phoenix plays an ultraviolent psychopath very well. But unfortunately we learn nothing from that. Is the film: inspirational? No. Entertaining? No. Thought provoking? No. Just supposed justified/righteous violence. No redeeming value. Time and money wasted.
Blade Runner (1982)
Simply the best ever
Dealt with the fundamental question of what it means to be human, or alive. A masterpiece from Philip K Dick. I saw the original voice-over version in 1982 when it came out in cinemas. Simply stunning. Soundtrack mindblowing. Scene with the piano piece from Satie is classic. Tears lost in the rain is one of the best scenes in cinema history. Ever. I mean EVER! The whole feeling of the film reflected the feeling of 1982 when everyone thought the Japanese would control everything economically with their precision, efficiency and neon lights. So cool to be confronted with our own limits of imagination.
Counterpart (2017)
Metaphor of BRD/DDR
Having lived in Berlin 7 years, i really appreciate the detail. I have been through Checkpoint Charlie before the Wall fell, and the "crossover point to the other" side is very similar to the Checkpoint: automatic closing doors, coldness, mechanical detachedness. It is a metaphor for the old east-west German conflict/coexistence. Loyalties, betrayals, consumption goods, technologies, etc. Ich bin total begeistert!
Calvary (2014)
Did you cry then?
The synopsis of the film can be summed up with a scene at the end. The murderer has killed the priest's dog by slitting it its throat. The priest is distraught and cries. The murderer at the end has the innocent priest in his gun sights and asks if the priest cried when his dog died. The priest answers, yes. The murderer asks if the priest cried when kids were being raped. No, the priest didnt cry, he was somehow detatched. Bang the first shot goes off to the priest's chest. The murderer is in rage: the priest cried for his dog yet not for the raped kids. Closeup: headshot with brains splattered everywhere. The murderer executes the priest. The christian church worldwide has much to answer for, how sexual assault was condoned, tollerated, protected for years. Yet this continues today. :-(
Breath (2017)
All over the place
I am not Australian. The film really didnt do it for me. The characters were too simple too one-dimensional. The "obsession" pretence didnt work. The plastic bag should have been omitted from the film version. Completely needless. Just WTF?
Babylon Berlin (2017)
Great series
Great series. However, almost everyone speaks Hochdeutsch. Only a few speak Berlin dialect. I think for the time, many more would have spoken local dialect despite being well educated. And the commisar from Cologne doesnt speak Kölsch.