missmarmite Reviews

Head Full of Honey (2014)

Absolutely brilliant, stunning, impressive!

[10/10 · 10 January 2015]

Go and see this film, next week, tomorrow, right now!

No matter how old you are or of what gender or what you think about both Til Schweiger or Dieter Hallervorden. Go and see this film. It's worth it. It will touch you, even if you're a tough guy. It will amaze you. It will make you silently cry into your tissue. Silently, because you don't want to miss out on the next joke. Yes, this film is drama and comedy and character study and at the same time not shy to do fart jokes. It's the best by and with Til Schweiger I've seen and I certainly don't fancy him. But he knows so well what he is doing and in this film he placed himself rather in the background.

Because the foreground is taken by Dieter Hallervorden, known for silly silly silly comedies in the 70s and 80s and delivering here a performance which is prizeworthy. And by Emma Schweiger, who is not only an actor's cute daughter dragged in front of the camera to make daddy happy, but she can act and very well so and carries with her eleven years one half of the film on her shoulders.

Go and see this film. And you, distributors out there in the world, make sure people around the world CAN actually see this film and bring it to lots and lots and lots of cinemas. Everywhere. North, south, east, west. Please. I never give ten out of ten, but this time there was no other choice. I couldn't give eleven out of ten.

See. This. Film!

Foster (2011)

Well done!

[9/10 · 17 May 2012]

What a beautiful film! I've just seen it on youtube, it was uploaded yesterday, apparently I've been the second person to stay until the sixth and last part. I hope it stays there for a long time so people can find it and enjoy it as much as I did! Toni Collette and Ioan Gruffudd make an adorable couple, and although both the boy and the surroundings are just almost too quaint to be true (houses, streets, the home, the factory, the shop), the film never feels too unrealistic. Well, there are places like this in Britain and thankfully so. I loved the acting, especially of little Eli played by Maurice Cole, but also of aforementioned grown-ups and Richard E Grant, who I hadn't seen in years. Still as good as he always was. As it was mentioned before by someone, yes, two or three lines in the film were a tiny bit odd, but looking at the whole film they really don't matter.As a viewer you feel how much everybody enjoyed making this film and I certainly enjoyed watching it. I hope it soon will come out on DVD in Europe as well (not only in Australia!) so that more people can see it. Everybody involved in this film: Well done!

Le code a changé (2009)

Some ingredient was missing

[7/10 · 31 July 2009]

Ten people meet on June 21st to have a dinner together, two of them inviting the other ones. No one really wants to go or meet the others although they are friends, they all have enough to do with their problems and would like to spend the evening in a different way. But they go, they smile at each other, they have nice chats and everybody is laughing and having fun. Then they go home, knowing they will meet up all again next year and everything will be the same.

Not quite. Things have changed. Their relationships, their health, their self conscience. The code to open the door.

Like in many French films, people talk a lot. That's what the French love to do and they love to do it openly, in real life as in films. But although there's lots of talk about, none of the ten main characters (plus the eleventh one which is the father of two protagonists, who are sisters) will probably stay with the viewer a longer time. With so many characters around, it's difficult to create deeper insights. Sometimes you wish for more background information, but the story is set at two evenings and you can only put so much into the film if you don't want to make it three hours long. The end is left somewhat open, which is okay, leaves you with your own imagination of what will happen next.

Still, something is missing. I can't quite put my finger on it. I liked the actors, the dialogue is good and sometimes really funny, other scenes where a bit moody or more serious. That's life for you. But still... some ingredient was missing. It's a film you see and once it's digested, you probably will soon forget about it. And that is a pity. But I don't know what should have been different either. Any idea, anyone?

PS: The recipe in the credits was a nice touch, though. Have to check whether I can find it somewhere again...

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

No positive surprise this time... pity

[6/10 · 25 May 2009]

When reviews start appearing in magazines about films which will be released soon and the writers can't really write anything because the film wasn't shown to them... then normally there's something wrong in the state of Denmark, so to speak. The trailer(s) on the other hand looked fantastic and mouth watering, no matter in what language I checked (English, German, French).

I went to see this film because the first part had really surprised me (positively, I had expected a stupid cheap comedy), because I like Ben Stiller (Keeping the Faith, Tropic Thunder, Meet the Parents, lovely and promising) and because I love the guy who had the honour to play his famous countryman, Napoleon: Alain Chabat. Three good reasons and yet... after only half an hour or so I got a weird feeling I wouldn't be exactly happy when the film had finished and I would walk out of the cinema. And so it happened. But what had happened? Ben Stiller was funny, but not at his best. Larry Daley always seemed a bit remote-controlled, not really knowing on his own how to take the lead, where to go, what to do. He was the main character and then again not. The leading character, the one that you remember when the film is over, is Kahmunrah and his I dare say brilliant actor Hank Azaria, who deserves some real leading roles in the future. I hope someone will give him a couple soon, the man is simply wonderful. And the little Frenchman? I stick to watching his French films, as he actually gets to do something in them and I can actually understand what he says. I just hope his thick, incomprehensible accent was asked for by the director, because Monsieur Chabat's English in general thankfully is much better than that. For anyone who might be interested: "Papa", "I Do" (Prête-moi ta main) and "Didier" come warmly recommend, all available with English subtitles. But Napoleon in this film here, he was underused like the other baddies and could have been a great character if only the scriptwriters had let him. Some too short funny minimoments don't do the trick, sorry.

The whole film all in all seemed to be too long as certain scenes got boring because they were not fast enough, where other scenes should have been slower or different so that one could have actually got what all was going on as there was so much going on. Or maybe there just was too much going on in too many places with too many characters. Too many cooks spoil the broth, German saying, and there is something true about it.

So, well, I'm looking forward to the next films of Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria and Alain Chabat. Those three together again would be lovely, but with a slightly better script as they are all good actors and deserve good writing.

Pitbullterje (2005)

When Saturday Lunch Time Comes...

[27 October 2007]

Sometimes it happens that you switch on the telly and you fall into a film which began five minutes ago - and although you have no idea what this film is about or where it will lead, you just can't stop watching because the actors and their characters keep you prisoner. This happened to me this Saturday lunch time.

If someone tells you simply the story line in one sentence, "there's a boy who is about 11 who meets a new classmate who is big and fat and no one likes him, and that fat boy forces the first boy to be friends with him while the first boy actually would like to be friends with the class bully, and has a mother who suffers from agoraphobia and the fat boy's father is a drunk who works as a rude Father Christmas"- well, then you probably would think, erm, no thanks, not for me, too weird. But this weird story works brilliantly.

Both boy actors are great, very natural, good acting for their age, some adults could learn a thing or two from them; good acting equally from mother, father, teacher and other children from school. There is something about Scandinavian films, that you rarely find in other films, and I can't quite find the right words to describe it. They have a way to present the quirkiest story as if it could happen to you any time. And that makes it magically good and you want more like it.

Also look out for the actor who plays the teacher, Andreas Cappelen, in Monstertorsdag, another weird film, yet for an entirely adult audience.

This film here deserves a clear 9 out of 10.

Prête-moi ta main (2006)

Hilarious

[8/10 · 30 September 2007]

There wasn't a dry eye amongst the audience yesterday afternoon after I left the cinema, having seen this gem of a film in a sold-out house as part of this year's Hamburg Film Festival. And the tears shed were all of laughter. This film was hilarious, there's no other way of saying this. There wasn't one boring bit in it, I laughed right through it and with me everyone else of us three hundred lovers of French cinéma.

Alain Chabat was absolutely terrific. A great clown if needs be and serious if the situation calls for it. The performance was of course completely over the top, but this was exactly what the story needed and what made it work so well. Equally great was Charlotte Gainsbourg who I love to see a lot, and the mother was also a very strong performance. The sisters could have been a bit more detailed in character script-wise, but apart from that there is nothing to moan about. I had a great afternoon seeing this film while Hamburg was drowning in rain outside, and I wish films like this from France would get a regular release in Germany. But the distributors is this country don't seem to understand that the French make good films. I at least can't wait to find a DVD which offers subtitles (Hello Australia? Please?) because that film I need at home to watch several more times!

Papa (II) (2005)

Beautiful

[10/10 · 29 September 2007]

I actually had intended to see this film on the annual Hamburg Film Festival as this was going to be the only chance to see this film in Hamburg on a big screen. French films very often don't get a release in this (stupid) country of mine, so best take the chance you get. But on the very day I wasn't in the mood to go out and therefore I didn't see it. I didn't know by the time what I had just missed out on.

Half a year later I was able to buy the film on DVD, as there were English subtitles on the French DVD, a glorious idea the French sometimes have, hence I could understand the film (my French is sort of non-existent). And only now I realized what an idiot I had been not seeing this film on the big screen.

This is so far the most beautiful film I've seen this year and after having seen two handful of films with Alain Chabat, this is now my favourite of his.

I can't find another word to describe this film than beautiful. The script, the direction, the camera work, the light, the choice of music and most of all the choice of actors is perfect. The only thing which also might have been slightly different is the title, as I think "Papa et son fils" would have made a good title as well. The son is as important as the dad, he could have been mentioned in the title too.

What really amazes me is that here is a film that works while it has no story. Films need a story, otherwise there is nothing to tell, one seems to think. But here is a film that works without a story. Because "a father and his son are driving in a car" isn't a story. And yet there is so much happening and not happening, said and not said, in the end you have seen a film with no story but so much to tell. Whatever you get to see, they drive in the car and sing to the music, the father jokes around, they stop to have lunch on a parking lot, they find a petrol station - everything that happens is just so normal, it happened to every one of us before, and yet there is something lurking underneath, the viewer gets soon the feeling, something is wrong here, not normal, and starts to wonder what it could be. And soon we get glimpses of what is the trouble. And still we know, these lovable characters, these two people, father and son, will manage to handle this, their lives.

This is one of the most realistic and at the same time beautiful films I've ever seen and all I can do is thank the writer/director to have had the courage to make this film. Chapeau! And thanks also to both leading actors who are more than performing in this as often it looks as rather like a documentary than an acting performance. I don't know whether French people see Alain Chabat more like a comedian or an actor, I think he is an awfully good actor and this is his strongest performance to date. Merci beaucoup.

Anna Pihl (2006–2008)

Like Expensive Ice Cream

[24 July 2007]

This is the first ever series coming out of Denmark to be shown on German TV, I believe- and bullseye right from the beginning! We all have seen lots of crime fiction on TV now, haven't we, with lots of corpses lying around, lots of gun firing, lots of blood gushing out of enormous wounds... This series shows us, the opposite is possible AND exciting. Don't you believe it? Watch it! Anna Pihl is a normal policewoman, no hero, no über-mensch, no tough bitch, she is a human being who happens to work in the police force. She lives together with her young son in a shared flat with a gay guy, has trouble with her father who gets older and is looking for Mr Right - or rather Mr Right, or two of them, to be precise, are looking for her. Everyday life. Everyday cases during work. And exactly that makes this series so great. Beautiful, to be more explicit. Of course you get thrilling scenes with screeching tyres and honking horns, swearing criminals and not-so-amused bosses. But it all looks real, as if work in the Copenhagen police force is exactly like this. Or in any other northern/ western European city. This series is a nice opportunity to get away from all that American fast food the channels like to serve so very often. Once in a while a little gem from Denmark is like expensive ice cream in your favourite flavour for dessert. Thank you, producers! 8 out of 10, for sure!

Apocalypto (2006)

Very strong cast, but sadly not much of a story

[7/10 · 9 June 2007]

As soon as Apocalypto was out on DVD I rented it because after having seen Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ a few weeks ago for Easter on TV I was curious what this film was going to be like. Passion was a disaster of a film, stupid blood shedding and nothing but. No good actors, no story whatsoever, no detectable direction - just hearing spoken Latin in normal dialogues was what made me stay through the film. I was amazed how much I understood when subtitles were missing out on short sentences from time to time. Having learned Latin in school wasn't so bad after all! But the rest of the film was just looking like the extract of a sick mind. Sorry.

So, now Apocalypto. After just a few moments I was surprised that it was good what I was watching. It didn't look so much like a feature film but like a documentary. The actors didn't act, they were. Which is a quality in an actor you often don't even find in the great ones. But here, faces you've never seen before, you completely believed every bit of what you saw. Laughter, jokes, bitterness, timidness, joy, everything was the real thing. Normally you get this in European independent films only. But this here was a major production from Hollywood. Or not.

Congratulations to all members of the cast, you will hopefully get lots of good parts in the future, especially Rudy Youngblood and Jonathan Brewer. They can show lots of known actors how to act. The supporting cast was great, down to the smallest part. And certainly people from the departments for make-up, hair and costume did an absolutely fantastic and stunning job. I don't say too much in saying you've never seen things like these before in a film like they created.

I just wish - and that's why this film gets only seven out of ten points - there would have been a script which had been treated with the same care as everything else. There was almost no story. A man gets separated from his family, is brought to another place, can flee and gets back to his family. Is that really all you can come up with if you think of the Mayas? If you put up such an effort why use such a bleak storyline? This weak story took much of the characters' depth away which is a pity as the actors filled them with so much life. What would they have been able to do if the story had been greater? One can only imagine.

I'm curious what Mel Gibson's next film project might be. He doesn't seem to be a bad director. He just shouldn't participate in writing the script, rather concentrate on directing. He could make really good films, I believe. Thrillers, action films, mysterious stuff. Just concentrate on directing. Let somebody write a terrific story and then make a great film out of it! Within those limits... yeah!

Happy Feet (2006)

Disappointing

[5/10 · 5 April 2007]

Whenever Robin Williams does a film or a voice, I want to see it. So I wanted to see Happy Feet as well. I didn't know what the film was about apart from being about penguins. Which probably was bad, as I sort of expected a children's film (you know, it being an animated film). I was rather disappointed.

What I watched was an animated film which, yes, was aimed at children, but that children probably can't understand. At least not young ones and in Germany everybody is allowed to see this film, even children under 6. There's lots of sex talk, never plainly outspoken but always there, very often underlined with gestures. I'm not prude, but what does it do in a film like this? It's not necessary for the story, is it? Has nothing to do with a story about a penguin which is different and who shows his people that being different is okay too.

Well, if only that would have been all in the film. But no, of course there has to be a message, too. Don't forget, this was done for children, they have right to get a message, just a good story isn't enough. And yes, the message has to be hammered home instead of being subtle. The last ten minutes were almost unbearable. What, a little penguin dances? Oh my, let's stop fishing empty the seven seas!!! Please. Why is it that this happens so very often in American films? Can't they write a message into a film without clubbing the viewers to death with it? Only a few filmmakers seem to be able to do so, most of them doing independent films...

The same kind of story (someone is different, leaves and comes back to help the community with his different ideas) you can find in the equally animated film A Bug's Life. The characters in this film are more lovable, although equally voiced by Americans you don't have the feeling they come from a 'hood in New York but they speak just normal American English, and the message is treated subtly here. You learn something without noticing, without being hammered into the ground. Which is very important. A far better film!

Bobby (I) (2006)

Good job done

[8/10 · 23 February 2007]

Lots of reviews said this film is not what was expected of it. I don't have the same opinion. I liked it. Full stop. It's a good film, not perfect, but good, true, honest, clean.

I simply wanted to see it because of the amazing list of actors in it. I thought, if they wanted to be in it, I can't make a mistake in seeing it. I 'm not really much interested in American history or especially small fractures of it. I had heard of Robert F. Kennedy, yes, but that was it.

Now, having seen the film, I know more, and I think I know everything I need to know if I don't want to go into deeper studies. The film showed me more than you can find in history books. It showed me what people felt at the time. And that is far more important than any historical fact in a dry book.

Emilio Estevez did a good job as director. He did what all directors should do: tell a gripping story in an interesting way, so that people take something home - a new feeling, new knowledge, new experience. And be honest about it, because people can tell if you don't feel the story yourself, if you are "just doing your job".

As for the actors: well chosen cast and the viewer has the feeling, they also understood what the director wanted to do. And so they helped him doing it. Very well done.

The Science of Sleep (2006)

Art

[9/10 · 23 February 2007]

This is definitely a film which was made for people who can dream. Who can read between the lines. Who don't need everything spelled out for them. Who are creative. Whose imagination is allowed to run wild. Who feel the chaos in themselves. They will be able to love and cherish this film. Everybody else, who need films which are plain, straightforward, easy to digest - stay away and give the tickets to people who think differently.

I've only seen Human Nature so far, but now, after having seen The Science of Sleep, I know, the next film I rent is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This director knows how to do something special. It's easy to tell a story the usual way. But it tells of a great mind if someone is able to tell a story in a way that the viewer doesn't know what hit him, but knows it was great what he was just able to witness. That was exactly how I felt when the lights came back on again. This film doesn't fit into any genre, it's a romantic comedy, it's an animated film, it's slapstick, it's foreign language and then again it's not...

There is probably only one word that captures what this film really is: art.

Notes on a Scandal (2006)

Stunning film... but what about the music?

[23 February 2007]

I probably don't have to go into details about the performances of the three main actors and their supportive colleagues - they are all outstanding and deserve every award which could possibly be given to them. Same goes for the script which was exactly what actors long for - well written, offering great characters and a fascinating plot. Just with a script like this a good actor can deliver a brilliant performance! What I found annoying after half the film was over and which bothered me more and more the longer the film grew, was the choice of music. And I don't mean songs or anything, I mean the music which makes the original soundtrack, written by Philip Glass.

I haven't seen any of the other films he composed the music for so far, so I can't say I know his style. But at least in this case the music didn't fit the pictures at all, I thought while sitting in the cinema. It was roaring, blasting away, thundering like cannons in mid-fight... and the pictures showed a tense drama. Not an action flick. After a while it really got on my nerves, hearing these loud eruptions where subtle, creeping, goosebumps-inducing music would have been necessary. I heard elephants in a stampede instead of a cunning snake slithering towards her uncanny prey. That just didn't work at all for me. Judi Dench was so mean, so fierce, so creepy - and the music blasted that away and tried to tell me she was a stomping rhino instead.

I wished for "small" music, getting under my skin, causing me to flinch while the nasty bitch was trying to destroy another person's life. Music, which would have supported the pictures, the actors' performances. Apparently both the director and the composer wanted a different thing than me. Pity.

The film minus the music get 9 out of 10, the music gets 3 out of 10. It was great music, but completely in the wrong place.

Nine Lives (2005)

Nine Lives - A film like a cat - purrfect!!!

[8/10 · 12 August 2006]

Sorry about the cheap joke, couldn't resist...

I rented this film having no idea what it was about, I was just stunned by the long list of fabulous actors an the cover. And not one of them, and certainly not the director, disappointed me.

Like so many people have mentioned, my favourite episode was also the second, with Robiun Wright Penn and Jason Isaacs. It was the most natural one, the one most of us probably can identify with. Something similar might or has happened to each of us, so we can relate to it better than maybe to the other stories. Although the one with Amy Brenneman and William Fichtner comes second and it's a very close second.

Unfortunately, I have to add that there was one thing which bothered me. Dakota Fanning and Glenn Close would have made a great couple as grandmother and grandchild, but mother and daughter... sorry, Ms Close is simply too old for such a young child.

In the first story I didn't even realize that it was one long shot, going for ten, eleven minutes. I just noticed that during the stroll through the supermarket. And from this moment on I loved this film deeply. Very often editing takes a bit of the atmosphere away, often it adds on the other hand, especially in action films. But here, with these very personal stories, where the viewer almost feels as an intruder or spy on these characters, here it was the only way to do it. Otherwise the whole film might have become just a concoction of small stories, but with no soul or heart. This film has both. And lots of it.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

For fans of the genre only - unfortunately...

[4/10 · 14 July 2006]

Although I normally prefer other types of films, a good drama, a feel-good comedy, an art-house film, I need a good horror film from time to time. I had hoped this was one for me. It was not.

I had chosen this particular film because Ted Levine is in it. And having seen lots of his films, the choice was an easy one to make.

The problem was, apart from him, there was nothing to like about the film. And even he couldn't deliver a performance up to his standards.

When I read horror, I expect horror, and not just some cheap close-ups of blood gushing from various wounds. But this film didn't offer much else. I wasn't thrilled, I wasn't even disgusted by the amount of blood, I wasn't entertained. Because there was no horror, just the work of a director, who doesn't seem to know any other way of filming something apart from close-ups. The easy way, in my opinion.

One example. In a scene some fingers get cut off by an axe. This happens in a close-up, the viewer sees everything, blood spurts, the owner of the hand yells out in pain. I think that is an easy but not clever way to show what's happening. Let's compare it to a similar scene in L'empire des loups, a French film with Jean Reno. Here we have a police officer who isn't shy. He grabs the bad boy, sticks his hand under a huge paper knife ( the one you cut entire sheets of paper with) and yanks the knife down. You see the officer's distorted face while he is doing it. The bad boy cries out in pain. Similar scene, but so very different, because in the French film the viewer sees the hand being placed under the knife, but not in a close-up, in a corner of the room, and the rest happens in the imagination of the viewer. The ones who need gore can imagine it, the weaker ones can imagine something softer. So it's right for everybody and everybody will remember that scene as a good and satisfying scene. This is clever film making. Just bluntly showing everything isn't. Every film student can do that. Not showing things and yet letting people think they actually did see something, that is art.

Maybe this film was made for an audience who love blood and nothing else, don't expect clever film making, unusual solutions in showing simple slashing, new ideas for old hat. Then this film hit the target, no doubt. But everybody who wants to see a good horror film, turn away and look someplace else.

I give this film 4 out of ten. One for Ted Levine, one for the fuel station house which was built from scratch in the Moroccon desert, one for the CGI faces which really looked very good. And one for the laugh I had about a film, which could have been so much better.

Guest House Paradiso (1999)

What was that???

[1/10 · 11 March 2006]

I had seen Rik Mayall in Blackadder and the New Statesman, so I thought I'd give this film a try.

At around 4 pm I bought it, at around 8pm I started to watch, at around 8.15pm I fast forwarded the remaining film to see if there was anything left watchable for a human being with a brain... but there wasn't. At around 8.45pm I threw the DVD into the dustbin. And that's where this "film" belongs.

What ever happened to British humour? The humour so fine and witty, intelligent and artful that you find in Yes, Minister, Blackadder, Vicar of Dibley, Fawlty Towers or The Fast Show? The black humour Britain is so famous for? I don't want to insult anybody, but I presume even stupid children wouldn't find this funny. They deserve more intelligent fun. And Rik Mayall, you can do better, so please, do!

Gideon's Daughter (2005 TV Movie)

Very touching

[7/10 · 11 March 2006]

This is definitely not a film for everyone. But I was eager to see it and happy to get it on DVD, as I live outside the UK and don't get the BBC. Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson and Robert Lindsay together in one film is must, no matter what the film might be about.

This is a slow film, things happen almost in "real time", and the characters are very realistic. I work in a shop in a big train station, I get to see the most different people every day. People like Gideon or Stella do exist, and why not make a film about characters like them? The most beautiful or rather endearing scene, enchanting maybe even, was when Stella and Gideon lie next to each other in Stella's bed and talk about their lives and loved ones. A very quiet scene, and endlessly touching to watch.

Someone else said here, people probably have to be quite creative to understand this film. This might be true. You have to let go of conventional films a bit to be able to embrace this one. But if you're open enough to new impressions, then this is the right film for you. Or if you just want to see excellent performances by aforementioned actors.

Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005)

I had a ball!

[11 March 2006]

This happens when you let your stomach decide, and not your hands. My hands wanted to take Flight Plan of the shelf at my local videoshop, but then I came across this film and my stomach told me, that's the one to make your day! And it most certainly was and did! For a long time I haven't seen such a broken yet lovable character as this Frank Keane, played so soulfully by Robert Carlyle. Marisa Tomei was amazing, as was Mary Steenburgen. Equally I enjoyed watching all those widowers thawing up in the ballroom in the end. Wahlberg, Paymer, Arkin, all of them in small roles, but brilliant nevertheless.

The music did the rest. What a gem of a score, I hope I can find it on CD somewhere. Not just the songs, for dancing and background, but also the original music by Mark Adler was mesmerizing. A treat for everybody who loves violins.

The film is out now on DVD in Germany, so nobody has an excuse any more, get out and get this film. Don't say I didn't recommend it! Nine out of 10.

The Constant Gardener (2005)

What a disappointment!

[26 February 2006]

I nearly went all the way to Berlin to be able to see this film in English. That would have been twice three hours and ten minutes or 35 euros for the coach ticket not so well spent. Thankfully I didn't go because I could rent the region 1 DVD.

First the wobbly camera work got on my nerves. Then the story that went backwards, forwards, backwards... Then the camera work annoyed me again - or was still annoying? I couldn't concentrate on the actors because I had to concentrate on the picture so hard. Just nasty.

This film was all in all such a disappointment that I fast-forwarded lots of moments because nothing really was happening. I really love arty films, slow films, not that blockbuster stuff, quiet films, with lots of dialogue and so on, but that was just a bad film. I can't understand what other people see in it. When I remember correctly the film was nominated for lots of BAFTAS and got none. I don't wonder why. It is just a bad film. Unfortunately so, because there were such good actors in there. Disappointment. 2 out of ten. One for the African landscapes and one for Bill Nighy - the reason I watched that film. But even he couldn't save it for me. Sorry.

Touching Evil (1997–1999)

Good - but those crosses.... tut-tut.

[26 February 2006]

I have just seen the first ever episode and that one was okay, decent crime with good acting from both leads and supports, good lines and a believable story. Something which could happen any day to any of us still makes the best story for crime, I think.

Especially Ian McDiarmid as the mysterious Professor Hinks was a fine piece of casting.

Unfortunately, there was one thing which really distracted me and pulled me out of the story for a moment. The story led us also to Stuttgart, Germany. There was a scene on a cemetery. And there they were: Irish crosses. On a German cemetery? I don't think so. I'm not even sure, they are allowed here, as I have never seen any here. And then the street in the suburbs of Stuttgart. The houses looked so distinctively English, it couldn't have been more obvious with Rule Britannia painted onto the windows! Houses like those you will never find in Germany. The old lady living there was also not really German. Maybe once, a long time ago, but you heard a big accent. She sounded as if she hadn't spoken German for along time. So, Mr Producer, next time, please either go to Germany or set the story somewhere else. Don't take your countrymen for so stupid not to notice, okay? Oh yes, the Brandenburg Gate at Stuttgart airport was equally lovely. Why should a building from Berlin be on a huge picture in Stuttgart? Doesn't make any sense, really.

Apart from that, the beginning of the series was good and I hope the remaining episodes will be as good or better - as long as they stay in Britain!

The Wool Cap (2004 TV Movie)

Delightful afternoon spent

[9/10 · 14 May 2005]

I heard or read about this film in November last year, then again during some awards show (Emmys?) on TV late in the night where they also showed a clip. And then nothing for the next months. Now suddenly it's out on DVD, and the moment I read that I went to the next shop and bought the disc. You know, when you have that combination, Macy and Schachter, there is no need to hesitate. Just buy and watch. You know it will be excellent.

And so it was. I spent a delightful late afternoon with Gigot, Lou, Grace (I wonder, if both the monkey and particularly the name were already in the story they adapted the film from...) and the others and was just a bit disappointed, when five minutes to the end the atmosphere suddenly became a bit too sickly-sweet. Up to then everything had been exactly as I had thought it to be: full of true emotions, real life characters and wonderful performances by outstanding actors. This should be a play as well, it could become a hit with small theatre ensembles.

Should somebody read this to find help in deciding whether to watch a film with Macy or not, decide for "yes". And then afterwards watch Door to Door and Slight Case of Murder and you can't make a mistake. They are Macy's best in my opinion (adding Fargo here, too).

And, Mr Macy and Mr Schachter, please sit yourself down to scribble the next co-production of yours, I simply can't wait to watch that one, too. It will be good. I know.

Go for Zucker (2004)

At last!

[22 February 2005]

Wow, I can't say for how long I have been waiting for a film like this! I was always looking enviously over to America where they have films with, say, a dozen characters and one of them happens to be Jewish. But neither the Shoah is mentioned, nor Israel nor any other "typically Jewish" topics. These characters are Jewish like others are catholic or Mormon or atheist. Great. We never had this here in the last decades and I wondered when at last we would be treated to films like that made in Germany.

This film might not be 100% brilliant, but it's funny, it's very good and worth its while and money. Originally made only for Arte TV, they decided to get it into cinema first. And what a great idea this was! Hopefully more films like this will follow, so that we all can go another step on the way back to normal. Because it is normal to see black German characters, Turkish-German characters and Jewish German characters and what else in films and series and plays. So, writers, sit yourself down and write. Directors and producers are hopefully waiting for good scripts! They better be...

Die Schwarzwaldklinik - Die nächste Generation (2005 TV Movie)

Times are changing...

[22 February 2005]

I loved the series and had seen most episodes back when it was still on and was a bit sad when with the 70th episode the series was over. I can't really remember the quality of the script, if the dialogue had been kitschy or in any way stupid, unrealistic or just too hammy. But with the dialogue now in the special I often had problems.

Some characters were from the old series, revived in some cases only for an alibi line, that the producer could say:"So there, all of the old actors came back for the special". To deliver the line and to fill the background. But okay. At least these lines sounded good and were delivered in a proper way. These actors are after all good actors, even in bit parts. Some characters were new (or grown up rather) and most of them sounded wooden, unrealistic and .... yes, as if the script writer was writing for the first time. I hadn't seen the credits because my VCR started too late, so I didn't know who wrote this stuff as the old writer had died a couple of years ago. Now here on IMDb I found out what I had suspected: two writers and one of them not having much written yet. They seem to have split the list of characters in half, you take this one, I take this one, and as a viewer you can tell who wrote which. But for the film this is not very healthy.

Alexander Wussow had the best written part and he also was most convincing - although his role was amongst the new characters. An exception. I would like to see him in a "real" film in a good part, drama or something. Could be interesting. The slightly bigger nurse was worst. Sorry, dear, you need theatre practice and lots of it.

Camera work also was a bit dull. Who spoke was in the frame, changed the frame, the speaker changed. There are dozens of other ways to show something, this here was without much fantasy and looked a bit like first year film college. I would have expected a DP with more interest in what he does. Or maybe he wasn't allowed to try out something. Pity.

All in all, I was quite disappointed. Other people might see it differently, but having seen myself hundreds of films since the series stopped and dozens of other series, hospital series included, I have to say, that the special looked very much 80's style (despite massive mobile usage) and this doesn't quite work any more today, at least not for an audience younger than 60. The idea though was nice, a special after 20 years. Other series could do that, too, but please think of the script quality! Times are changing...

Early Doors (2003–2004)

Even great for non-Britons!

[21 October 2004]

The other day I went to my special little video shop again to get some nice DVD for the evening in and found Early Doors sitting on the shelf. I had never heard about it, I didn't know the actors and feared I wouldn't be able to understand the northern dialect. But I rented it nevertheless (there were subtitles, they convinced me, because the mere sound of a Yorkshire dialect is beautiful, but I also want to know what they say) and was interest what Early Doors would be.

In the first episode I got to know the characters, in the second their habits and moods, in the third you got used to them, in the fourth you started to like them, in the fifth you did like them and the sixth... was the last, unfortunately, although by now you loved the pub and its people and wanted to know more about them. But then it was already over. Three hours had passed without me noticing it! I hope there will be more episodes out on DVD soon, I really would love to watch them.

And I can't get this catchy tune from the credits out of my head. For days now I'm humming it. This really is a beautiful little gem of a series. Typically British, I'd say. Let me tell you, if you love Britain and the British, watch Early Doors. You won't be disappointed. Time for more, gentlemen, please!

Schillerstraße (2004– )

BRILLIANT!!!

[7 October 2004]

Yes, what can I possibly say about this long waited for concept...!

On a studio stage there is the interior of a flat (American style, no hall, with the door you burst into the living room, I've never seen such a flat in my life, but okay...) with a small kitchenette. Cordula lives here and she has a lot of friends, all of them comedians like herself. And pretty good ones, the comedy scene in Germany is very strong at the moment, thankfully.

Whatever happens from the beginning to the end is improvised. There seems to be a kind of storyline, where to go roughly, but all dialogue is completely up to the actors. The only thing is - they all have a little man in their ears! Georg Uecker sits next to the director and tells them from time to time what to do. An example: someone sits in the kitchenette on a stool and drinks something while talking to the others. Then Georg tells her "Make love to the stool". And she promptly has to do this! None of the other actors knows that Georg just told her something to do. They just startle a bit when suddenly she starts moaning. Has of course nothing to do with the rest of what's going on and is therefore dead funny. And I have to say, she (Annette Frier in this case) made love gloriously!

The first show (each is 30 minutes) was okay, but there was potential. And ever since the shows are getting funnier and funnier. I hope this great new thing will be shown for a long time. I will watch every Friday, a quarter past ten, that's for sure! Cordula, Georg and the others, go for it!

9 out of 10!