The Heartbreak Kid

We all know Ben Stiller, I like him very much and he is in my opinion one of the funniest actors. So here we are, Ben Stiller is Eddie Cantrow, a buisness man in his fourties, the owner of an outdoor-sport shop. He visits the wedding of his ex-girlfriend, a quite depressing thing, but for us of course very amusing. However, he meets this women, he falls for her and so on. After six weeks they marry and drive to their honeymoon. Soon he has to discover that his wife isn´t quite as loveley as he thought (brutal sex, no money but a lot of debts,not the same hobbies, a clitoris piercing, a hole in her nasal septum from her koks-past;...), but good luck, he meets Miranda. And falls for her. But of course she find out about him being married and then the story has this unexpected turn. He doesn´t get her, his angry wife stole all his cards and he sits somewhere in Mexico, no papers to go home, but he tries anyway illegal. Not succesfull but when he finally arrives at Mirandas house she is married. Bad luck. I won´t say how it ends, but I was laughing my head of.

Breach/Enttarnt

The FBI has found out that one of their secret agents is a spy for Russia. Robert Hansen (Chris Cooper) works for the FBI since 28 years. He is clever and better than a lie detector, he can smell when somebody lies at him. Agent Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) sends Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillipe), an overmotivated guy who wants to become agent, as the new assistent into Hansens office. He starts to adore the secret agent for his life, his attitudes his faith. He doubts he can do the spy job properly, till he finds out about the "real" Hanson. The movie is made after a true story, of course very american like, but no big action, no explosions, it´s about the relationship of the two men. I liked it though I wasn´t very impressed, it sometimes even becomes a little boring. I found it a little too superficial, the characters could have been worked out a lot better. But anyway, it is nice entertainmant.

The Messenger

Children see what adults can´t. The Solomon family moves from Chicago to a house in the middle of nowhere. The normal problems appear that parents have with their teenage daughter. So here we go, Jess finds out that there are ghost in the house but of course none of her parents believes her. Her little brother, that stopped talking after an accident can also see those paranormal phenomenas. They both walk through the house at night, trying to find/ trying to be found. The scary happenings become rough, what is in this strange cellar going on and who is the guy that helps the father with the sunflower crop? I liked this movie very much and I would not have guessed so, I watched it in the Sneak Preview. First most of the action happen during daytime while the sun is shining, but it is still so scary. The the plot (even though I thought so in the beginning) is not clear and there are some surprises. The start is the best: big zoom, black and white, sreaming and killing. Nothing about building up tension slowly. Some things are stolen from other horrormovies, but it´s ok, I can accept that.

La science des rêves (2006)

Director:

Michel Gondry (2007) From the director of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind " another film that finds relationships stuck somewhere between reality and fiction. I find it "bolder" than "Eternal..." in terms of assuming a surrealist type of storytelling but somewhat of a lesser story. It seems that the director himself was a bit lost ...probably because this film is more personal than the other. [at least that`s my impression]. But still, it has a diary like feeling, that makes it charming and makes the character very loveable in his confusion .

This is England (2006)

Director:

Shane Meadows

Writer:

Shane Meadows

Release Date: 27 April 2007 (UK)

Some say that this is a skinhead film whatever that means...and reading some of these "skinhead theory" reviews I was obviously expecting raw violence, spilled blood etc. etc.

But this is actually a film about growing up in England when your father is dead in a war overseas that you cannot understand, about confused rebellious and frustrated young people, a weird combination of skinheads and hippies, people that don`t know what to believe in...it`s a film about truly living the words "who the f*** knows?".

But most of all, it`s the honest, moving story of a kid that goes through all these problems because he lives in England and...this IS England.

What I really liked is that you can feel that the story is told by someone who went through all that and I was not surprised to find out that the film is inspired from the director`s actual life.

It has the feeling of a story told in a circle of friends but still has the power to ask important questions and that is quite rare in films these days.

I definitely recommend this film.

Sommarnattens leende - Smiles of a Summer's Night (1955)

A "romantic comedy" by Ingmar Bergman. How, you might wonder, does a romantic comedy by Ingmar Bergman look? Oh, it's easy. Do keep the deep thoughts and concerned people, even the old wise ones, even the mean and the young desperate ones, just have them all laugh at each other; also set up some coincidences (my favourite scene is the one where trying to hang himself on an ill-chosen piece of tube, the son falls against the hidden knob that causes his secret love aka wife of his father, angelically sleeping in her bed, to slide into the room) --- and you're all set.

Paradise Now (2005)

Set in West Bank/Israel, this movie tells the story of two brothers who have volunteered to be suicide bombers. When they are told that the next day the mission is to be fulfilled in Tel-Aviv, their faith in Allah seems unshaken. Stepping in is a young, sort of enlightened (or enpeaced) and also very pretty woman who has grown up in France and Morocco; Her line goes along the critique of the old testament, "the Israelis will have to give in once we stop fighting back", whereas Said and Khaled understand the conflict more as a war, and the "imprisoned life" as pointless anyway. But on their way to Tel-Aviv some complications occur and they gain time to think about it. The movie won quite some awards (among which the Golden Calf). Possibly because of its pace which is very slow, creating an athmosphere that can be both very intimate and very tense. There's lots of time to observe in Said's face changes of thought - a very attentive movie, in that sense. Actually it's much more obvious that he's thinking hard than what it is he's deciding. Maybe that makes him a character to empathise with as it is obviously not obvious what to decide. I found interesting also how little talk takes place in terms of clarification. The frames in which they live are clear enough to everyone. The soldier lets you pass by a slight movement of the head. Also sending away a boy that begs for more money is done without words: there is a dialogue of glances, eyebrow lifts and slight head movements that settles the matter. Said seems to tell his mother about the suicide plan (which is supposed to stay secret even to the family) also by looks and slight head shaking... Showing a very close community. Also very calm and peaceful (again, the pace), not hateful or aggressive in any way, not even against Israelis (that part is somehow spared from the movie); the suicide bombing as a reasonable thing to do on the grounds of the common interpretation of Allah's word and facing the Israelis' thread. (I wonder why does that surprise me!? I probably expected the wild bearded guys.) Overall: recommended.

1408

What Mike Enslin would like to see the most is a ghost, but he never saw one even though he published lots of books about these paranormal phenomenos. He visits all places that seem to have ghosts but he always comes back disappointed. Then he gets this message, not to enter room 1408 in the "Dolphine Hotel". So of course he becomes curious but doesn´t really believe in anyhing authentic. But he isn´t able to rent the room, the owner of the hotel is acting very strange and wants to convince him to take another room. So of course he gets the room and after he has been inside the movie looses what I think belongs to a good horror movie. All these ghosts walking to the windows again and again to kill themselves, all his obvious fears that he was suppressing before, and the worst is when the ghost of his father appears, from whom we only know that he must have done something wrong with his son. Well, well, that´s more or less it, still some things happen that are weather logical nor scary (what is the essence of horror). So, don´t worry about missing it.

Surf´s Up

"Find your way cause that´s what winners do", since "Big Z", the most famous surfer spoke to him, Cody want´s to become like him. Not so easy if you work in a fish factory and live far away from where the sufer-competition takes place. But this year he is lucky and so he arrives at the beautiful beach far away from home and has to learn first that a big ego is not enough to win. Ashamed he hides from the others till he finds out what surfing is really about. And we get an impression about the philosophy of surfing. I liked this movie, it is really not exiting but sweet and made for big and small children with a good soundtrack which guides us through the waves.

Full Metal Village/ Ein Heimatfilm

Wacken. A small village in north germany. Many farmers, mainly old people. Young girls that dream of a model career, a lot of cows. Nothing special, nothing exiting. But then, once a year the metal fans from all over the world travel to this small unexiting small village to celebrate one of the most famous metal festivals worldwide. The idyll of the village is disturbed for a few days, the old ladys philosophise about blood rituals while they are having their cup of coffee and the metal fans run over the supermarket for beer. This movie from the japanese Sung-Hyung Cho shows two completely different worlds that meet once a year. When you bring patience for the slow motion you will enjoy it. It is absolutly worth watching.