antonov-2 Reviews

The Last of Us: Long, Long Time (2023) Season 1, Episode 3

What an amazing episode!

[9/10 · 3 February 2023]

Due to the strange rating of this episode I felt compelled to write something here as well, which I usually don't do. I have not played the computer game ever so I can't really speak to the faithfulness of the series to the original material. I can only say that I was so very moved by the story of Bill and Frank. I was not really prepared for this at all and wound up shedding a tear or two. The acting and writing was simply brilliant. Definitely one of the better episodes of television I have seen and one to watch again.

As for the large amount of 1 ratings, it is just sad that people seem to have nothing better to do than rate content on political grounds. Objectively, rating this episode with "1" (as in worst possible) is just ridiculous, even if it doesn't match your taste.

Don't Look Up (2021)

Pathetic movie (unfortunately)

[3/10 · 7 January 2022]

Just to be sure I will lead with clarifying that I agree with all the points that the movie makes. I still hated it to a point that it made me angry. As some other reviewers pointed out, the movie is so obvious about what it criticizes about the current world, it's just unbearable. With such a stellar cast, the potential was huge and it delivers on none of it. Additionally, the editing is so horrible it makes the movie even more unwatchable. Time and again, scenes cut in the middle of Dialoge.

All this is too bad, because the messages of the movie are very important in my opinion. I just couldn't help feeling angry about how unsubtle everything is.

Suicide Squad (2016)

What a shameful movie

[2/10 · 17 August 2016]

Normally I do not review movies, but in this case, I cannot help myself. It was such an awful experience, one of the most irritating movies I have seen in a long time.

Movies like Suicide Squad are supposed to be fun entertainment, nothing more and nothing less. Here we have such an uninspired mess of a film, with an awful script which is so inherently unfunny, it hurts. There is not one punchline that delivers, not one dialogue that creates even distant engagement to the story, not one character that makes me even superficially care what happens to them. Even fundamental characteristics like special effects are unimpressive at best, amateurish at worst. And I cannot say that I am in any way impressed by the acting, though the film features many big names. I do not believe it is their fault, though.

Today, I have read a review of this movie in a German newspaper which was titled "Better hit your head against the wall for two hours". I cannot say that I disagree.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

One of my personal favourites

[10/10 · 31 March 2012]

The first thing I thought when the credits to this movie rolled was: Only Quentin Tarrantino can come up with a movie like this and get away with it! For me it turned out to be one of the most exhilarating movie experiences in recent years.

I mean seriously: If someone told you that there is a movie about WWII in which Hitler is shot in a french movie theatre by a bunch of Jewish-American resistance fighters, you would think it can only be some low budget farce. The mere fact that you can take this movie seriously is a big achievement in itself.

What I admire most about the movie is the carefulness with which it was made. An American filmmaker who actually bothers to pick Germany's finest in his cast (Daniel Bruehl, August Diehl, Til Schweiger and so on) is almost unheard of. And Christoph Waltz - What a revelation that guy is. I honestly did not now him before I saw the movie even though I am German and being Austrian he had starred in countless German/Austrian movies before. His performance of SS Col. Hans Landa is one of the finest I have ever seen.

I do not want to get into details about the plot here, enough has been written about it already. One other thing about the movie that struck me is how well the German dubbed version is made (although I do not know to which extent Q was involved here). Of course the original version is still superior, but compared to the ragged dubbing of most other non-German movies (I just cannot stand this any more, going to the cinema in Germany can be a very frustrating experience), the job done here was quite decent. Of course it had a lot to do with the fact that all English lines of German actors were done in German by those same actors. In the first scene of the movie it took me a while to even realize that the scene was dubbed.

So see this movie and see it now! You will not regret it.

Batman Begins (2005)

Absolutely beyond my expectations

[8/10 · 26 June 2005]

No Spoilers! First I have to say that I was not a very big fan of the Batman movies so far... now I am (at least of Batman Begins).

After seeing this movie I was really impressed. I did not see Batman Returns, the other three I did see. While the first one by Tim Burton is quite enjoyable, the two attempts by Joel Schumacher are horrible enough. Batman is reduced to a ridiculous cartoon character especially in Batman & Robin which is one of the worst movies I have EVER seen.

Batman Begins is a HUGE step in the right direction. The movie is dark and sinister, the exact opposite of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, but exactly the way it should be! I even prefer it to Spiderman 2 which I thought was a very strong movie, too.

Christopher Nolan was a very good choice for directing this movie and to revitalize the Batman series and Christian Bale is the perfect Batman. Anyway, the whole cast (which really was an accumulation of top notch actors) was good especially Michael Cane as Alfred Pennyworth and Cillian Murphy as the creepy villain Dr. Crane.

After watching this movie with some friends, we agreed it would be great if all Batman movies that came up so far were filmed again with the same crew. Too bad, that this will never happen.

Thanks for reading!

Winners & Sinners (1983)

This movie rules!

[8/10 · 31 August 2002]

'Winners and Sinners' is one of the funniest movies ever made. First disappointed by the fact, that Jackie Chan's part is pretty small, I started to love the other characters of the movie, especially Teapot (Samo Hung) and Exhaust Pipe (Richard Ng). It's very funny to see, how the members of the 'gang' get arrested (especially Exhaust Pipe trying to steal the wheels of a police officer's car while he is searching his keys).

The humor of the movie is mostly created by the funny dialogues and the stunning fight scenes, which also are, at times, very funny. But if you don't like this kind of 'silly' fun, you won't enjoy this movie. But I did. More than once ore twice (I saw this movie about 30 times). But I must admit, that my relationship to this movie is kind of special. It is one of the movies I have ever seen.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this movie to everyone who likes silly fun and stunning fight sequences!

P.S.: If you like this movie, watch other 'five lucky stars' - movies like 'Fuk sing go jiu'!