Reviews

No flight from Berlin Tempelhof this night because of fog. A group of stranded people spend the night in the check-in hall. What could have been interesting is merely a string of conversations between hypothermic young ladies and hysterical, sweating "Wirtschaftswunder" men. The character sketches are plain and there is no development either. Without contemporary relevance and rather dusty. Perhaps this may be an example of young German film in the sixties, but it lacks the bite of later works. Only the appearance of the young Iris Berben and Mario Adorf, as well as the Tempelhof Airport building, make the film worth seeing for some.

Two secret services (Verfassungsschutz and the Gehlen organization, forerunner of the BND) compete in the young Federal Republic. Gehlen's concern is to combat the influence of communism. The Verfassungsschutz is on the hunt for old Nazis.

An atmospheric picture of the West German Republic in the early 1950s is presented here, true to the original style and beautifully photographed. Historical are mixed with fictional characters. Unfortunately, the plot is somewhat predictable, but it is still fun to watch the intrigue play out.

This might not be the new Babylon Berin, but it is close. Watch it.

The action is ok, but the rest is cliché characters, fart jokes, everything but funny jokes, no suspence and no surprises. Jamie Foxx can do better. Netflix can do better, but I guess it's easy money.

Unfortunatly no Band members are interviewed. Well Kenney Jones is the last survivor of the original line up. But besides that it's the best thing to watch if you want to learn the story of the unique 60s band.

Can be seen on YouTube under the title: Was it really all or nothing.

Only watched this fick after seeing R. Altmans Gosford Park. One member of the hunting party is a Hollywood producer reseaching for his upcoming production "Chaly Chan in London".

So, that's a good double feature. Still funny and entertaining.

What a letdown. Usualy european movies can avoid clichés much better then US flix. But this norwegian SciFi comedy is like an Adam Sadler film with amateur actors.

I can only feel sorry for Johanna Hogg if this one is truly autobiographical. But you must have had such a terrible life in the eighties to be able to make such a repulsive film about it today.

4 points for craft, soundtrack, Tilda, Swinton and the dogs.

Another folk horror masterpiece from Brit Ben Wheatley, this time shot on a micro budget and under Covid 19 conditions.

A virus is ravaging the cities. A scientist sets out to find a colleague / ex-girlfriend who is researching deep in the woods. Soon unpleasant events and encounters occur. Nature strikes back... There are several references, quotations: from the 70s slasher to Shining, Long Weekend or Tarkovsky's Stalker.

The use of music, editing and nature is masterful.

The many very negative reviews come from people who watched with the wrong expectation and didn't know Wheatley's work beforehand.

Spy city tells the story of the secret services in Berlin shortly before the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The story is entertaining and is broadly consistent with the historical facts.

But the realisation was a bit sloppy. Suits, clothes and cars that are a bit too new for the early summer of 1961, a phone box and a record cover from the 1980s and a film that only had primiere months later. Not accurate enough to satisfy the history-minded viewer.

Usualy I go with the Metascore. And winning festival prices is usualy a good sign too. Usualy... But I never got any feeling for the movie or it's main character. His actions seem sensless. There are shiploads of movies right now, dealing with alienation in a forign country, but why this one is celebrated stays a mystery with me.

My hope to see a good b action film from a young female director from New Zealand with humor and charm was painfully disappointed. A witless chamber play with cliché characters, a pointless genre mix with dumb monsters and mediocre action.

Clichés and B CGI make the film an ambivalent experience. This goes so far that the "white savior" has to show the wolf how to survive in the wilderness. Against this are beautiful landscape shots and an idea of how life may have been in the Stone Age.

Perhaps too big for the young director, perhaps too small the budget. Ponderous and without any tension. Good actors, good set. Still a must for friends of Italian opera.

A fine genre piece with little to no cgi but great cutting in the action scenes.

Likable characters and a good story without big plotholes or logic mistakes. Much better then the whole Fast & Furious franchise.

Starts great and runs well for 45 minutes. Then becomes flat and finaly falls apart. Was it the skript, the directorial work, the evil studio again? I don't know. But the result is sad.

The view from the educated middle class on the low-wage sector. Good actors, beautifully photographed. But much too klishee and looked at from the outside.

Finally a genuine SF story, inexpensively implemented, but with a philosophical aspect that gives the viewer more than pure entertainment. At the end the makers want a bit too much and some action scenes are confusing to unbelievable. Still worth watching.

There are few genre movies made in Germany, but this one is well made and can compare with the international competition. With simple means, the film creates a dark and oppresive mood.

The Film is loosely based on the life of GDR Author Christoph Hein to which Donnersmark spoken for some hours in 2002. After seeing the movie he was very disapointed of the movie. The GDR was a unjust state and the infamous Stasi is a fact to. But the description of life and work in the 1980 GDR was very different, to that shown in the movie. I'm German and of cause proud when a fellow countryman wins an Oscar, but not in this case. And now, 2019, knowing the other Donnersmark Movies "The Tourist" and "Werk ohne Autor - Never Look Away" (based on the life of German Painter Gerhard Richter - who hates the film and took distance), I must say, it went downhill for Donnersmark from there. Americans seem to love this kind of history telling, since "Never look away" is an Oscar nominee in 2019.