Movies, Phantasy
I asked the stewardess just after the plane had taken off: “Do you know what movie is going to be shown today?”“The Notebook,” she replied. “It is a chick flick, but it is really good.” The film turned out to be a love story where everything goes right. When misfortune seems to deliver a fatal blow to the bliss of the charming young lovers, a force intervenes to keep the story moving toward its happy end. If you want to take a break from the challenges of earthly romantic life, this film provides you an escape into fantasyland. The big advantage over “Titanic” is that the fiance who stands between the match made in heaven is a real nice guy. But don’t expect to get a deeper appreciation of your own life. This is all about what life could be…if it were a fantasy.The Notebook
Movies, Documentary
Anyone who expects a documentary in the style of Ken Burns will be disappointed. There is no true analysis of why almost half of the electorate still seems to supporting Bush a few days before the election. Michael Moore has copied the methods of the Bush Whitehouse and engages in his own kind of propaganda. He turns the George Bush presidentcy into a farce. There are a few funny lines that will make you laugh unless you are George Bush. The first half of the film about the Saudi connection to Bin Laden and the Bushs is weaker than the second part where Moore turns the camera on the war in Iraq. He features a soldier who will rather go to jail than go back for a second tour in the Iraq war and a mother who lost her son in Iraq and is mad as hell. If Bush loses next week, the decision to invade Iraq will be the chief reason, giving Michael Moore a beautiful opening to help film him out of the office.Fahrenheit 9/11
Movies, Drama
After watching its sequel Before Sunset, I wanted to see the first part of the story. A young American (Ethan Hawke) and a young French student (Julie Delpy) meet in a train. She decides not go on to Paris as planned but step out of the train with him in Vienna and spend the evening together before his plane takes off for America. Now we follow them on a romantic adventure through Vienna. Before Sunrise is both better and worse than its sequel, Before Sunset. It is better because the director paced the movie much more effectively and used the glorious architecture of Vienna to surround the narrative with a romantic canvass.Before Sunrise
Movies, Drama
Do not read this review before reading my review of its predecessor film “Before Sunset.” Nine years ago two young people spent, we are told, an amazing night in Vienna togehter. To play with fortune they did not exchange phone numbers but promised each other to meet on a particular day six months later in Vienna. He goes to Vienna, but she does not show up. Later he feels compelled to write a book about this amazing evening they enjoyed in Vienna. Now he is on a tour promoting the book and the last stop in Europe is a reading in a small bookshop in Paris. At the end of his reading she is suddenly standing in the back of the audience. He only has a little bit of time before his limo is scheduled to take him to the airport. She agrees to his proposal to go to a cafe and catch up… Before Sunrise is almost perfect.Before Sunset
Movies, Phantasy
Two people hit a wall in their romantic relationship. But medical science offers a rather painless way out. Simply remove all memories of the other person. For her it works. But for him it is much more difficult to let go. This is an interesting film for a number of reasons: It takes you until to end to figure out what is real within the fiction. Second, Jim Carrey for once does not overdo his acting. Kate Winslet gives a fantastic performance as an impulsive red-haired bubble head. And most appealingly, it portrays life-together and love in a nuanced way.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Movies, Phantasy
It is a regular fairy tale, but there a few clever twists. The writers located most of the action in Wisconsin. A playboy Daenisch prince discovers a farm girl who does not like dating because it could interfere with her going to medical school. She turns him into an responsible adult and is invited to live the life of a princess in Danmark. I don’t recommend this film but if you happen to be stuck in an airplane and you like romance movies, I can report that the film has a few good lines.The Prince & Me
Movies, Drama
Even good acting (Marlon Brando) cannot save a script that has no depth and a director who lacks an eye for how to pick stories that are worth telling. If one is confused in one’s head (as writer or director), it does not make for good art to let confusion take over the story. The film likes to come off as being intellectual, but it’s creators lack intellect. Five out of the 130 minutes are truly moving: Roughly two thirds into the movie, Marlon Brando sits in front of the coffin of his dead-by-suicide wife and shows off his genius as an actor. From then on the film is again terrible. The film end’s with the line, “He is a madman.” Ostensibly, Marlon Brando’s character is meant, but one wonder’s about how much grip on reality both the writer and director of this film had themselves. Insight is what is terribly missing here.Last Tango in Paris
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