Dunkirk (2017)

- Suspense/Expense

Wie Sardinen in der Dose stehen die alliierten Soldaten am Pier von Dünkirchen. 400 000 Mann sind 1940 am Strand der französischen Stadt eingekesselt. Vor Ihnen die raue See, im Rücken die feindlichen Linien, über Ihnen fallende Bomben. Angespannt warten sie und hoffen auf ein Schiff, das sie rechtzeitig nach Hause bringt. Die Zeit tickt. Jede Sekunde kann es zu spät sein.

Sieben Minuten nach Mitternacht (2016)

- Märchenhafte Trauerbewältigung

Schweißgebadet wacht Conor in seinem Bett auf. Den introvertierten Jungen plagen nachts Alpträume. Tagsüber muss sich Conor nicht nur um sich selbst kümmern, sondern auch um seine schwerkranke Mutter. In der Schule hat er es nicht leicht. Er wirkt müde, sein Gesicht ist blass. Einzig mit seiner Mutter kann er hin und wieder lachen. Die meiste Zeit jedoch verbringt Conor allein und zurückgezogen, bis eines Nachts um sieben Minuten nach Mitternacht ein ungewöhnlicher Gast vor seinem Fenster steht...

Nocturnal Animals (2016 - GERMAN ONLY)

- Parasozialer Thriller

Nocturnal Animals erzählt dem Zuschauer zwei Geschichten zum Preis von einer. Beide Handlungsstränge haben eine gemeinsame Schnittmenge, funktionieren aber auch unabhängig von einander. Dreh- und Angelpunkt ist die deprimierte Kuratorin Susan. In ihrer Arbeit sieht sie keinen Wert, in Ihrer Ehe ist die Kommunikation längst gestört und Schlaf findet sie schon lange keinen mehr. In jedem Blick kann man Schauspielerin Amy Adams dabei die Leere und Melancholie von den Augen ablesen. Als sie von ihrem Ex-Mann Edward (Jake Gyllenhall) einen selbstverfassten Roman mit dem Titel "Nocturnal Animals" geschickt bekommt, holen sie alte Wunden aus der Vergangenheit ein...

The Accountant (2016 - GERMAN ONLY)

- Bilanz: Chaos!

Ein Buchhalter (englisch: Accountant) zeichnet sich unter anderem aus durch genaues Arbeiten. Beim Überwachen und Erfassen von Finanzgeschäften eines Unternehmens zum Beispiel sollte alles geordnet und übersichtlich ablaufen. Wenn das Drehbuch für diesen Film die Bücher über die Bilanzen eines Betriebs darstellen würden, würden die Behörden sicherlich schnell mit dem Hammer auf den Tisch hauen. Hier herrscht absolutes Chaos!

The Revenant (2016 - GERMAN ONLY)

- Filmische Belastungsprobe

The Revenant ist eine Belastungsprobe für den Zuschauer. Vom ersten bis zum letzten Moment eine viszerale filmische Erfahrung, ein rasanter, kompromissloser Survival-Trip, der in seiner Inszenierung an Mel Gibsons "Apocalypto" erinnert. Zuschauer sollten sich warm anziehen!

Sicario (2015 - GERMAN ONLY)

- Verloren im Drogensumpf

Die ambitionierte FBI-Agentin Kate (Emily Blunt) führt ein SWAT-Team im Kampf gegen die Drogenkartelle in den USA. Ihre Qualifikation verschafft ihr einen Platz in einer Sondereinheit, die direkt an der mexikanischen Grenze operiert. Kate ist schnell von der Härte des Vorgehens der Einheit schockiert. Dienst nach Vorschrift ist hier Fehlanzeige.

Rush (2013)

- This one's got a drive! 

Rush is one of those movies that work so well that it will make someone who is not interested in its basic setting in the motorsports world enjoy this hell of a ride from start to finish.

Gravity (2013)

- "2001" in 2013?

If you ever wanted to be an astronaut as a child or if you are still dreaming of flying around in zero gravity then now you've got the chance!

Trance (2013)

- Hypnotic? No, you may have just fallen asleep.

I was never a fan of "28 days later", I really despised "Sunshine" but quite simply: "Trance" is Danny Boyle's worst movie yet.

The Great Gatsby (2013)

- Jay Gatsby is no Charles Foster Kane

Baz Luhrmann starts this fifth film adaptation of the hugely prestigious novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald with velocity and excitement but can't maintain any of it as all curiosity gradually decreases after the first act.

The Master (2012)

- Seductive and bewildering

1952. A marine named Freddie Quell returns from war. But he is not the same man anymore. Fighting obviously left deep scars in his soul and on his body. His walk is unstable, his face always feirce and his stare empty. Freddie is in search of something which even he can't identify. Something to give him a hold and orientation. Aimless he wanders around, wasting his time, sleeping whereever he can find a place to stay. Every once in a while he gets into trouble. He is unbalanced and has an unreckonable temper. He can't controll his actions and his behaviour can revert instantly into violence. On his rambles through the states he coincidentally finds himself on a ship owned by Lancaster Dodd, a charismatic founder of a union named "The Cause". Dodd is strangely fascinated by Freddie. He offers him help and invites him to stay.

Series Special: True Blood (Season 1 ... and a half)

If you order 'Tru Blood' in "True Blood", you don't recieve "true" blood but a synthetic potion of fake blood that tastes rather awful. But if you are a civilized vampire in search of a meal and not willing to kill for your dinner then this is the market-leading, legal product to go for.

Sightseers (2012)

- A murderous adventure

Haven't posted a review for a while but on vacation I got to know some really wacky people I have to tell you about. Their names are Tina and Chris, they are from England and have planned to go on a trip through the country with their caravan. What is supposed to be happy holidays is soon going down an unexpected road in this deadpan black comedy by director Ben Wheatley.

My Oscar Picks 2013

In November last year, Kathryn Bigelows "Zero Dark Thirty" still seemed to be the prime contender for "Best Picture". Almost every (American) critic loved it. But when the nominees were announced things changed by almost 180 degrees. Bigelow wasn't even nominated in the director's category and all the controversy surrounding her film weakened its chances. Lincoln then seemed to be the most obvious choice. But the last couple of weeks showed another unexpected trend. Ben Affleck's tense thriller "Argo" was sweeping most of the important awards including DGA, PGA, SAG and Critics Choice Award. However, Affleck is also not nominated as best director which is really odd since he got the appreciation by the Directors Guild. So if "Argo" wins best picture after all the recent buzz it would be only the fourth time that the corresponding director would not recieve a trophy. It's gonna be an interesting night this time.

So here are my guesses in all 24 categories:

Director's Diary - Part 4: All that remains

Hell, we thought this was gonna be fast and easy. Basically what we had to do were some detailshots, a couple of shots of the monitor while being in a chatroom and getting a call, and two tracking shots through the hallway. The one thing that we hadn't have a solution for so far, the thing we thought was the most difficult to do today, was then brillantly solved by our cameraman in a couple of minutes.

Director's Diary - Part 3: Lucky Number Three

On day three we had to film the most difficult scene in the film. It was a short tracking shot that was really hard to do for the cameraman as he had to go from a static position for some short lines of dialog to a free walk through the room following the protagonist out the door and around the corner with the camera in hand, all whilst regulating the focus at certain moments. It certainly wasn't looking "professional" in the end but for our purposes I thought it was fantastic. I was surprised of how good we got it.

Director's Diary - Part 2: Surprises of each kind

New day, new room, new angles. We needed some time to accomodate and set everything up again.
we then kept shooting a lot of takes for the dialogue counterpart to what we did the day before, this time with our protagonist. While recording his parts and reactions we ran a take from the day before for him over the computer screen. I was surprised of how great it worked. Also, to hear those takes in context made them sound a lot better and a lot more convincing which was also a positive surprise. It was a little more relaxed than yesterday, too since we got another two days time.

Director's Diary - Part 1: A hard day's night

"Fucking amateurs!" - Walter Sobchak

The very first thing you learn when making your own movie for the first time is that you'll have to make A LOT of compromises and accept the fact that the movie won't turn out the way you want it to. Two friends and I already realized that in the preproduction for our little student-film project.
We already faced a couple of problems organizing everything we thought we would need. If you have no time and no money, you don't have a lot of choices. If, on top of that, you don't have any experience in film making (aside from a little theory maybe) it is a really rough time.

Hunger (2008)

- A stomach-turning experience, but an experience nontheless

The most peculiar thing about "Hunger" is that it finds beauty in a film that depicts people being tortured and treated like animals, caged in cold, dark cells and living in their own excrement. It will certainly leave a bitter taste in your mouth. But at the same time writer/director Steve McQueen constructs his film so carefully that you can neither take your eyes off the screen nor stop to admire what you see.

Django Unchained (2012)

- Tarantino Unchained!

I guess Mr. Tarantino couldn't resist to turn everything up to eleven when dealing in his most beloved genre - the spaghetti western. Like a hyperactive, young kid in the playground or maybe like an untameable, hungry dog breaking loose, he is running, jumping and kicking around his latest film in relentless pleasure while his hero Django, an obvious Afro-American reincarnation of 1966's Franco Nero, is riding, shooting and kicking around slavetraders in pre-civil war Mississippi. The result is a lot of fun and a lot of chaos.