First Blood

This is the first of the Rambo franchise.

John Rambo, Vietnam vet, former green beret, trained to become a killing machine, can't catch a break back home. When he gets picked up in a small town for minding his own business, he ends up beating up a few officers and fleeing into the mountains. The local sheriff sends everyone and their grandmother in pursuit of him.

Rambo goes into self defense mode and holds his ground against some two hundred assorted law enforcement people. Casualties are kept to a minimum (one tends to falsely remember vast numbers of dead bodies when it comes to this, because the later Rambo films spill more blood than this one).

In the end, he faces off with his 'creator', one captain Trautman and breaks down crying, before surrendering.

6/10

Elevator

Nine people get stuck in an elevator when a stupid, arrogant little brat (grandpa's little princess) decides to "accidentally" push the emergency stop button because one of the other people in the elevator is claustrophobic (and, also, an asshole).

The dynamics in the group are grounds for conflict.

(1) the little brat
(2) the elderly rich guy, grandfather to said little girl, building owner
(3) the claustrophobic comedian, racist
(4) the security guy of Iranian origin, victim of racism
(5) the overweight company guy, working for (2)
(6) a young blonde, pregnant with the child of
(7) a young, handsome hot shot company guy, working for (2)
(8) his fiance, journalist
(9) an elderly lady, husband killed himself over money he lost thanks to (7) and (2)

Lady number (9) carries a bomb upon her body. Her plan was to 'make a statement' by blowing herself up at the party held in honor of the big cheese. Getting stuck in the elevator was not part of the plan and makes the situation all the more disagreeable for everyone involved. She eventually dies of a (stress-induced, one assumes) heart attack but not before alerting everyone about the bomb issue.

Accusations fly. They pull together to try and escape and just when they are about to catch a break, the stupid brat decides to frantically push the buttons again, causing the elevator to drop a few stories and ripping off the arm of heroic (7). Thanks to the journalist ladies and modern technology, they broadcast their ordeal and try to get help asap.

Most, but not all, get out alive.

3/10

Kon-Tiki

Another film watched at the Gartenbaukino Oscar event. I might have never watched Kon-Tiki if it weren't for winning tickets for the entire event.

This is the story of Thor Heyerdahl and his trusted crew giving themselves to the wind and currents to prove that Polynesia was actually populated first by South Americans (Peruvians, to be precise) rather than the then held popular belief that the original settlers came from Asia.

I understand that this is the most expensive Norwegian film ever made and it really is a feast for the eyes. Beside the obvious beauty of shots of the grand ocean in all kinds of weather we get eye candy.

Lots and lots of eye candy. The adventurers are mostly well-built Scandinavians running around with their shirts off.

Aside from that, the film is actually really good and I'm glad I saw it. It was nominated for best foreign language film. Of course, it never stood a chance, as it was up against Amour, which won every award imaginable this year.

6/10

Searching for Sugar Man

I spent the entire Oscar night (and much of the day before) at the packed Gartenbaukino to watch the transmission. The pre-program the theater offered were five films nominated for one thing or another. The heavily favored film to win best documentary feature was one of the film shown - the wonderful Searching for Sugar Man.

This is the story of Detroit singer Sixto Rodriguez, who made two albums in the 1960s/1970s that fell pretty much on deaf ears, even though everyone involved and, really, everyone who ever heard him play cannot explain why he didn't take off. His music is wonderful and the lyrics and songwriting draw comparisons to calibers like Bob Dylan but somehow things didn't happen for him.

But somehow his debut album "Cold Facts" ended up in South Africa at a time when the country was shunned by other nations due to its regime of Apartheid and people withing South Africa were widely shielded from outside influences. Rodriguez singing of speaking up against the establishment triggered something of a musical revolution, as local musicians started to realize that they do have the means to make their voices heard. All of those musicians were heavily influenced by Rodriguez. He sold approximately half a million records in South Africa and the strangest thing is...he didn't even know it.

One day, a journalist took it upon himself to find out more about the singer/songwriter, who was something of a mystery. Nobody knew anything about him. The most important question that needed answering was: How did Rodriguez die? Rumors of him setting himself on fire, blowing his brains out or overdosing on drugs swirled around but nobody knew for sure. When he eventually got a hold of the producer of the first record and at the end of the interview asked his most burning question the journalist was told that Rodriguez was alive and well.

People interested in solving the mystery set up a website about their search for more information. One day, Eva Rodriguez, oldest daughter of the mysterious musician, wrote on the website's forum and left her contacts and finally got them in touch with the man himself. And when we, the audience, finally meet the man he turns out to be the most humble and gracious individual, working on construction sites, not bitter about not having had the success he would have wanted as a young man.

Eventually, he went to South Africa to play a sold out show (the first of many), which marks the climax of this wonderful, wonderful film. And after he played to sold out crowds in South Africa he went right back home to the house he has spent the last few decades in and back to work at the construction sites.

This is such a moving, loving portrait that everyone watching with me seemed to adore as much as I do. In the following Oscar night, along with the awards given to Austrians (Christoph Waltz, Michael Haneke), Searching for Sugar Man winning (as expected) best documentary got the biggest applause from my hometown crowd.

When I got home I went online an purchased both of Rodriguez' available albums.

10/10

The Twilight Zone: Deaths-Head Revisited

One Mr. 'Schmidt' (formerly an SS officer operating under the name Lutze) revisits the town of Dachau and the remains of one of the most infamous concentration camps. He goes through all the buildings, regarding everything with a happy sense of nostalgia.

What he does not expect is to meet the prisoners that have died there some 17 years earlier. The first of these is named Becker and Lutze assumes that he is a sort of caretaker of the site. Only briefly he wonders why the man hasn't changed since they last met.

It's the sound of what seems to be the wind that makes him nervous and he cannot seem to open the door again. Becker then informs him that he has to stand trial for crimes against humanity, the court entirely made up of the former inmates of 'Compound 6' of the camp Dachau. The verdict, of course, can only be 'guilty' and his punishment is insanity.

6/10

Matango (Attack of the Mushroom People)

A professor tells his story in the psychiatric ward in a hospital in Tokyo.

He was on a sailing trip when the boat got into a storm which left it ruined. After drifting in the open sea for a few days, the group of travelers strands on a small island. When they venture inside in search of food and water they first discover a pond that appears to be man made and is surrounded by a field of mushrooms.

Later, they discover a shipwreck covered in fungus, but where they also find some food. The longer they remain and with food running low, they start to get more agitated until one of them starts eating the mushrooms.

One day, the group starts getting randomly attacked by a weird (mushroom like) creature and - also under the influence of the mushrooms - they start turning on each other. They die/go crazy/get killed one after the other until only the professor is left and flees onto the drifting yacht.

While waiting for rescue or death, he questions his leaving one of the women, Akiko, behind, thinking he might have been happier with his love, infected by the mushrooms or not. He is discovered a few days later, questioning humanity and their not being so different from the mushroom people.

3/10

A Good Day to Die Hard

Wonderful, brainless action combined with the humor one expects from a Die Hard movie.

This time around, John McClane is in Moscow to aid (or so he thinks) his estranged son. What he doesn't know, however, is that McClane junior is a key player in a covert CIA operation. The botched (thanks to McClane sr.) mission takes us after Moscow to the only other place in the former Soviet Union that the average US American might have heard of - Chernobyl.

The story, of course, doesn't matter. The fillm is loaded with expolsions, shoot-outs, double-crossing, villains dancing, McClanes jumping off buildings and a car chase that has them destroy a string of vehicles along the way.

For everyone worried about Bruce Willis getting too old for this shit - he has a son! The franchise is secure!

4/10

The Twilight Zone: And When the Sky Was Opened

Two astronauts, recently returned from a flight with an experimental plane called X-20 that mysteriously disappeared from radar screens for 24 hrs, meet in a hospital room where one recovers from a broken leg. One of them, Col. Forbes (Rod Taylor), remembers the journey and the following events quite differently. For one, there was a third member on that flight, one Col. Harrington, that has not only disappeared from yesterday's newspaper story but that the injured Major Gart has no recollection of.

The night before, Forbes and Harrington went to a bar, when Harrington suddenly started feeling peculiar, like he 'doesn't belong'. When calling his parents, he learns that they don't know him and he is not their son. Shortly after, he vanishes into thin air and nobody in the establishment remembers Harrington ever being there. In fact, nobody at all remembers any Harrington.

Eventually, the two remaining army men realize that they, too, 'don't belong'.

7/10

The Servant

A claustrophobic film about an upper-class English twit named Tony and his manservant Barrett. Tony's fiance, Susan, immediately dislikes Barrett, but Tony is content and ambivalent. After having worked for Tony a while, Barrett brings his 'sister' into service, who starts an affair with the master of the house.

When he realizes that Vera is not actually Barrett's sister and he starts to doubt the servants' loyalty, Tony throws them out. Some time later, however, he meets Barrett in a pub. He decides to take him on again. The two engage in foolish games (like hide and seek) and the tables turn with Barrett gradually wining the upper hand while Tony turns to drink.

Wonderfully acted by Dirk Bogarde and James Fox (both very handsome) with interesting symbolic shots aided by mirrors.

Great, great film.

9/10

Small Town Murder Songs

In a small Mennonite farming town a murder occurs. Local policeman Walter, whose violent past is no secret to the community, is one of the people working the case. The suspect is his ex-girlfriend's new lover and over the course of the investigation, Walter struggles to keep his newly found composure.

The film is not so much about who killed the girl - with only one suspect and a witness putting him in the same location with the victim the night of the murder - but more about everyone's, especially Walter's, reaction to the tragedy that has befallen this quiet town.

Peter Storemare in the lead role is absolutely wonderful. The film's look borrows from the Coen brothers. The story, however, has all the dark of a Coen mystery without any comic relief. And the soundtrack is absolutely wonderful (never heard of Bruce Peninsula before, but went right onto iTunes to download the album).

I like this a lot.

8/10

Thinner

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King (or rather, his alter ego Richard Bachman).

Billy Halleck, an overweight small town lawyer, accidentally hits and kills a gypsy woman with his car. During the deposition, the local judge and a policeman fix the case so that there will be no further criminal investigation into the death, which gets ruled accidental. As he leaves the court, the gypsy's father comes up to him, strokes his cheek and says, "Thinner". From that moment on, Billy starts losing weight rapidly.

The gypsy apparently also cursed the judge (who slowly turns into a lizard - official explanation "skin cancer") and the policeman (who sports a gross collection of boils all over his body). Billy tries to find the gypsy, convinced that the one who puts a curse on you is also the only one that can lift it again.

Stephen King himself has a cameo in the film, like in several others. Here he plays the local pharmacist.

The book is rather mediocre and so is the film.

3/10

The Frozen

A young couple, Mike and Emma, goes camping in the snow (ya know, like you do) in a rather remote area. They are all by themselves (or are they?) without cell phone reception (of course). After an accident with the snow mobile, they are somewhat stuck and frequently get lost when trying to hike back to their truck, which they left parked some 10 miles away.

Then weird stuff starts happening.

They see (or imagine) a guy with a hunting rifle watching and/or hunting them. One night Mike goes to investigate strange noises (ya know, like you do) they believe to come from the hunter taunting them. He never returns.

The rest of the film, Emma stumbles through the wilderness trying to find her way back to civilization, all the while running from a hunter.

She has a few weird nightmares (visions?) along the way and finally ends up in a small town, where she bursts into a diner begging for help. When no-one reacts and she realizes that one of the patrons is actually the guy she tries to escape from, he explains to her that she died in the snow mobile accident, as did Mike, who didn't give him such a hard time with constantly running once he explained the facts to him. Then Emma takes the hand of the hunter (death? an angel? some spiritual guide?) and walks off into eternal peace.

Or something.

4/10

All About Evil

Slasher film of the worst kind. And by worst, I obviously mean awesome.

Librarian Debbie runs the movie theater her late father left her. When her evil mother (formerly playing the Wicked Witch in a Wizard of Oz themed matinee) wants her to co-sign a sale contract, Debbie snaps and kills her.

The security camera in the lobby has captured the entire encounter and as she panics and accidentally plays it back to the audience instead of the actual film that was supposed to screen, it becomes an instant hit and Debbie is henceforth celebrated as a heroine filmmaker.

She proceeds to produce a string of horror shorts, assisted by a group of misfits, that play to increasing success in her own theater. Obviously, Debbie - now going by Deborah Tennis - eventually dies a gruesome b-horror-movie death.

Funny/ridiculous film that makes fun of itself and the b-horror genre as it produces rivers of fake blood.

6/10

All Movies Are Just One Nicolas Cage Movie

Found this on the website of the AV Club (always a fun site to read).

....which brings me to my constantly returning question: Is Nicolas Cage the worst actor ever?

(Answer: Yes, of course he is.)

Academy Awards - Official Poster

The official poster for this year's Academy Awards is quite brilliant, I think.

Every bets picture winner is represented by an Oscar statue, and you can try your hand at guessing on the website, as well.

The Words

This is a story about a book about a book.

Let me explain:
Author Dennis Quaid wore a book about wannabe author Bradley Cooper who found a manuskript inside a leather bag his wife bought for him while on honeymoon in Paris. The manuskript is, of course, awesome. Bradley Cooper, not scheming or anything, types it into his computer (like you do). His wife Zoe Salander 'finds' it and tells him how wonderful it is.

It finally gets him an agent and success. The original author, Jeremy Irsons, one day walks into a bookstore and stumbles upon the book that he wrote. He follows Copper into Central Park one day to talk to him about the hi-jacked book. Or rather, he tells him his life story (the story in the book). Why? Not sure. It's not like he wants anything for it, it seems.

And Dennis Quaid reads all this to an audience that includes grad student Olivia Wilde, who is, like, totally intrigued by the tale and ends up in Quaid's apartment (of course). When he tells her the ending (Cooper comes clean to his wife and publisher, but they all keep mum and enjoy the money reaped fromt he stolen book), Wilde is for some reason unhappy with it, because that is not what she expected or wanted.

Whatever.

3/10

Academy Awards - Best Picture

Now that I have seen eight of the nine Oscar nominees for Best Picture let's put them in the order of my liking, shall we?

Argo
Beast of the Southern Wild
Amour
Life of Pi / Django Unchained
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
....
Silver Linings Playbook

I'm saving the second to last spot for Les Misérables, as I don't like musicals and it is safe to assume that this will not change my mind, however beautiful the songs.

And, yes, I get that this will probably come down to Argo or Lincoln. I liked Lincoln fine, but found is a bit long and kitschy. Thing is, I actually liked all but one of the nominated films I saw so far and I have to squeeze them into some kind of order.

Zero Dark Thirty

This is a 157 min movie that feels like a 157 min movie. Does that make any sense? What I'm trying to say is that it does not drag on, but it doesn't fly by either. Every scene is stretched to the point where it is about to get exhausting, but then doesn't quite.

It starts off with an extended torture scene. The main players are established as being tough, but only because they need to be. They are really only doing it for the intelligence and are totally awesome true patriots. Never mind that the new name they get out of the poor guy is one that they eventually get from multiple others that seemed to be giving up details much easier.

From this moment until the final showdown at Bin Laden's hide-out we follow CIA agent Maya in her years of struggle to convince her superiors that her hunches are right and, ultimately, she knows how to find the big bad wolf. This part is pure drama, no action - other than the occasional explosion that will have you jump out of your seat.

The storming of the hide-out feels like it takes place in real time. Sure, it is exciting, but - much like the torture scene - is so detailed one could argue that it is too long.

Overall pretty good. Jessica Chastain is much more deserving of the Oscar than Jennifer Lawrence in the same category.

6/10

Nine Lives

These are snippets of the lives of nine different women. The situations depicted are difficult for each one of them, mostly in different ways but always in the settings of some relationship.

Every episode bears the name of the woman at the center of the story. Some of the scenes are done in one lengthy shot, which is interesting/impressive.

All stories are unresolved, most feature well-known and well-respected character actors (Holly Hunter, Robin Wright Penn, William Fichtner).

And of course there is the insufferable Dakota Fanning.

3/10

Beasts of the Southern Wild

This is the story of Hushpuppy, who lives with her ailing, stubborn father in the Bathtub, a little slab of land in constant threat of disappearing through the frequent storms that flood it. A group of locals refuses to leave.

Hushpuppy gets some rough treatment from her father, because he wants her to grow up strong and survive in the world after he's gone, which is likely to happen sooner rather than later, as he suffers from a heart condition.

When the locals are forcefully evacuated after blowing a hole in a nearby levee that threatens their existence they break out of the medical camp again and return to the Bathtub. Tough group.

Hushpuppy is on a constant search for her missing (deceased?) mother while a horde of mythical aurochs roam the land and eventually face off with the little girl. But since Hushpuppy is 'the man', what chance can they possibly have?

The 9-year-old Oscar nominated Quvenzhané Wallis (and no, I have no idea how to pronounce that, either) is simply wonderful, carrying the entire film on her tiny (and then 5-year-old) shoulders.

9/10

Ace In the Hole

In June 2007, The Guardian published a list of 1,000 films one must see before dying. Although I do not agree with all of the films featured, the list differs from all the other such compilation, where you basically get the same 1000 films, give or take a few.

Here are some that I have never even heard of. I started watching them a while back and this is as good a time as any to share my thoughts. So, in the upcoming days, weeks and months I will review films that may not be fresh in my memory anymore but appear on the list. Look for the label 'guardian1000' to follow.

Some I simply refuse to watch (nobody can tell me that I simply must watch Ace Ventura before I die and keep a straight face), some I have watched and hated (I will tell you about them), some I have not been able to track down (yet).

The list is alphabetically and the very first must-see film is Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole.

Here is the first I had never heard of before, not being the biggest Billy Wilder fan (or, not yet). I am actually grateful for the suggestion, because this is really good - and a hint of what was to come in journalism (*cough* *cough* Murdoch *cough*).

Kirk Douglas plays a journalist that recently fell from grace with the big newspapers in New York. While holed up in New Mexico, he stumbles upon a story that carries the promise of getting him back on top.

A young man is trapped and hurt inside a local mine and Douglas is the big-shot on location to milk the story for all it's worth. And we know that trapped miners make for good sob stories.

Somewhere amid the town fair-like atmosphere and the profit seekers, Douglas loses any kind of morals he had and delays a rescue mission for the good of the story. Too late he realizes that he has essentially contributed to the miner dying and that's no good because he really needed a happy ending for his orchestrated story.

Billy Wilder himself considered this the best film he'd ever made.

7/10

The Twilight Zone: Five Characters in Search of an Exit

An army major wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings with no memory how he got there. Worse even, he doesn't know who or where he is. The room he is in has no doors or windows, the only light source coming from high above his head.

Almost immediately he encounters other characters in the same situation - a clown, a ballet dancer (moving mechanically), a hobo and a bag piper. The major starts questioning the situation and looking for a way out.

Rod Serling makes an ominous appearance, looking over the edge of the pit, talking to the camera, telling us,

"We will not end the nightmare, we will only explain it, because this is The Twilight Zone."

Everyone tries to make the major feel more comfortable, explaining that they all suffer from neither hunger nor thirst and tell him that his efforts to get out are futile. They have themselves tried every conceivable option long ago. The newcomer then concludes that they are in hell.

The only break in their eternal boredom is an occasional ringing of a bell, so loud it makes their surroundings shake and hurts their ears. In the end, the five turn out to be toys at the bottom of a bin, collected for poor children as Christmas presents.

6/10

Lincoln

So, this is it. The film that received 12 nominations for the Academy Awards. And it was.....okay.

Daniel Day-Lewis was fantastic (obviously), as were Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Fields. However, most of the film was really, really, really slow. One could have easily clipped off a few minutes here and there.

The most entertaining parts were the ones that Daniel Day-Lewis was not even in - the discussions in the House and the trio Spader/Hawkes/Nelson going about their task of getting a few of the Democrats on their side. Everything in between is laden with kitsch and pathos.

Oh and am I the only one that thinks Steven Spielberg gets nominated as a matter of course?

6/10