This German comedy is based on the book “Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps” by Allan and Barbara Pease. The film is funny. I cannot speak about the book because I have not read it. The film argues (explains) that the differences in men’s and women’s behavior are largely due to the different roles men and women had in early human societies. Anyone familiar with evolutionary psychology will know these ideas but they are put on display well in this comedy. The film is staged in Berlin in the year 2006. The internet is already a force in hooking up but we are not yet in the era of everyone having a profile on dating websites. The film is quite funny until the end. But the end is not a real end. The film just stops and you are left hanging. What happened to the other characters we got into?
Continue ReadingSometimes in the 1990s I had vowed never to see another James Bond movie. In my early teens, I watched a James Bond movie every weekend. I described c my teenage love affair with James Bond that came to an end like many teenage love affairs do here: Me and Mr. Bond. But when Daniel Craig took over the role and the producers announced that they would give Bond emotional depth, I wanted to see whether they have achieved this in Casino Royale. They did as I wrote in my review.
Continue ReadingLiving in LA, a young white journalist writes about the trials and tribulations of finding a partner in the age of social media and online dating. Her recent date conveniently failed to mention a relevant extra-curricular activity: he is already married. Now our heroine is s back on her dating app and soon gets connected to a guy far away in Lake Placid, New York. They are hitting it off well, talking endlessly over the phone.
Continue ReadingI do not count myself as a big aficionado of Sci-Fi movies but Dunes get’s my two thumbs up. A marries futurism with features of the Middle Ages. On top, it puts the old theme of a person being the chosen one to lead humanity out of the darkness and mental superpower skills where you and take over the mind of another human being. The film is based on a 1965 novel that was considered unadaptable for the big screen after early flops. But the 2021 version is a success and I loved the attention to detail and learning about life in an inhospitable dessert. I am looking forward to the 2nd installment.
Continue ReadingBooks, Fiction, Movies, Phantasy
Eric Carle made beautifully illustrated books. Here is his most famous one made into a beautiful short film of 6 minutes. Click on picture below to play the film.
Imagine one day you run into someone who looks just like you, whose voice sounds like yours, and whose behavior seems to be a carbon copy of you. If you live in the greater New York area and are between 60 and 70, this is a real possibility, as we learn in the intriguing documentary Three identical strangers. Around 1960, an experiment was made to separate twins given up for adoption. The experimenters did not tell the adopting parents or the children about the existence of the other twins.
Continue ReadingI loved Slumdog Millionaire and Liondepiction of India. I was particularly moved by the scenes when Lion was lost in India. When novels work well, they depict real social problems and injustices and mobilize us to action. After seeing White Tiger I felt paralyzed rather than mobilized. Charles Dickens’ novels created in the hearts of many people the desire to change the awful working conditions in 19th century Britain. I was disgusted by the murder that the protagonist committed, making me more outraged about the poor storytelling than about social conditions in India. This was not how the writer and filmmaker intended it. I felt that they exaggerated so strongly and came across as so assured that their viewpoint is the correct one that I was turned off. I also did not learn anything new about India or became more sympathetic to the challenges for this gigantic country. Two thumbs down.
Continue Reading© 2024 Peter Murmann. Powered by ExpressionEngine.