How I Learned to Stop Worrying

a HOW I LIVE NOW review

Growing up 21st century's Europe has its perks - technology redefines the limits of communication, consumerism and culture, we can travel without having to do little more than showing our passports and politicians seem busy sustaining peace in our own little world as well as the Middle East. It becomes difficult to differentiate between documentations of the World Wars and movies like Independence Day, both depicting horrible, life-threatening situations and ending on a happy note (more or less). I for one find it incredibly hard to believe that my own grandmother fled (mainly by horse waggon) from what was once Pommern (the eastern part of Germany) to the north, and had to work under more or less slavery-like conditions for the Russians. Hell, I can't even fathom there was once a great wall separating Eastern and Western Germany - that fell only 6 years before I was born! However, once in a while, I am reminded of the actual danger that still surrounds every living creature in this world; the animal-esque war of survival that is hidden beneath health care, unemployment benefits and supermarkets. Watching How I Live Now was one of those experiences that made me realize there is a threat of war in my life and the lives of the people surrounding me, and that our little bubble of peace, equality and freedom of the mind could burst any day. 

Obstruction 1/5: A Positive Review of a Movie I Dislike

Bored by the unchallenging everyday (or for me rather every week) task of blog writing, Nostra from myfilmviews.com has created his perhaps most ambitious blogathon yet. Over the span of 5 months, the 5 Obstructions Blogathon is going to challenge film bloggers by presenting them with a different obstruction each month - hence the title. If you face the obstruction and succeed, you'll move on to the next round, otherwise you will be punished, simple as that.

Obstruction #1: Write a positive review of a movie you don't like OR write a negative review of a movie you like.

To me, the latter one was too easy. Ripping a movie - anything - apart, is much easier than praising something or explaining things that you like about it. So I'm going with the former possibility and I'm writing about one of the (luckily) few movies that I've seen in the past few months that I've disliked a lot. Here goes my positive review of 'HowFarObsessionsWithActorsWillMakeYouGo' aka Afterschool, the 2008 directorial debut of Antonio Campos.

Braindead: A ballet of braaaaaaains

That brainy little bastard. Somehow, Peter Jackson - who managed to completely bore and disgust the hell out of me with his first feature gore feast Bad Taste - won my heart (and liver, and... ribs) with his third blood bash Braindead aka Dead Alive.

It's a movie very similar to the former, fully living up to my expectations of an illogical and unimportant plot, a good portion of black gore movie humour and some cool effects. But this already sets it apart from Bad Taste, for even though that one did have all of these qualities, it didn't have them in great quantities. Braindead was never afraid to go for it with everything it had, featuring the stupidest characters making the stupidest choices, saying the worst and hence funniest lines, and ripping each other apart in the most inventive and disgusting ways I have ever seen in a movie of the genre. It's not a big surprise Lord of the Rings had such great effects, when you take a look at the awesomely executed battles of Braindead. Their setting in a huge cottage in New Zealand instead of, well, Middle Earth, doesn't make them any less original and fantastic. Keeping in mind that all of these effects were done without the help of computers only adds more joy to the experience. In that way, this was a very technically interesting movie to me - I kept wondering how they did this and that, where the blood was coming from, whether somebody gargled with water in order to produce the matching sound effects... and so on. Still, Braindead is more than just a technical experience. Its over-the-top-ness in every aspect that you can possibly believe, makes me want to compare it to the extravaganza we see in for instance Baz Luhrmann flicks. It takes a big portion of self-conciousness and commitment to produce something so ridiculous and pure, and I can't help but admire Jackson for that. 

Gore-fans, like me, should keep in mind that Braindead isn't a movie for everyone. The people who cried out in disgust when we watched Fight Club in philosophy class (I know... it's sad) definitely shouldn't search out this one. But if you do enjoy or don't mind a lot of blood, Braindead is probably straight up your alley. If you live in Germany, there's another good reason to watch it, since the original uncut version was, and still is, banned here.

FINAL FRAME

STRAWBERRY

Unglamorous Indie Rock 'n' Roll of 2012: Wild Girl Waltz and Gut

It's been a while since my last proper review and I thought I'd use the occasion to write about two films that I've been meaning to write about for a while. They've both been sent to me by two different indie film makers, who funnily asked me to review them almost the same time. That was one of the first times I felt that blogging actually has some material advantages, something you can touch. Like a free DVD. That's pretty cool for a poor student.

Wild Girl Waltz

Written and directed by MARK LEWIS

www.wildgirlwaltz.com

    

WILD GIRL WALTZ is a light-hearted comedy set in the middle of nowhere, centering around three friends who have an exceptionally messy time together. It also strikes some more profound notes in the middle of all the madness and despite some technical "flaws" I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

The Cate Blanchett Essentials, #2 / 5

Notes on a Scandal (2006) Richard Eyre

IMDB: 7.5 - RT: 87% / 81%

The reason

„I watched the making of a long time ago and thought it sounded extremely intriguing. Okay, maybe I have a weakness for films like this - they are just so interesting, psychologically - but I've actually heard that this one is supposed to be very good.“

Dystopian City Lights

USA, 2008

City of Ember

Directed by Gil Kenan

Written by Caroline Thompson

★ Saoirse Ronan, Toby Jones, Bill Murray

            

What is it we movie buffs are searching for? I often thought it was the perfect film. But City of Ember makes me think differently. Maybe it's the perfect viewing experience we're searching for instead. The right film at the right time. And in contrary to the perfect film, it is possible to find the perfect viewing experience.

I wanted something new, fantasy-esque, that's easy to get into and understand, but still challenging enough for my mind. Something with good, young actors and beautiful cinematography. And art direction, an interesting art direction with many small details and other perks. A mixture of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Kind of. And guess what? I got this!

Cousteau Mini Blogathon: Voyage au bout du monde

YEAR: 1976; DIRECTOR: Philippe Cousteau, Jacques-Yves Cousteau

With this review of Voyage to the Edge of the World, my Cousteau Mini Blogathon comes to an end. It was out of a spontaneous mood that I started this little project, knowing that it would catch little interest among my readers as Cousteau with his 4-5 films isn't exactly a man of the cinema (although he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature two times). 

I'm still glad to see that there was a handful of people that read my posts, and maybe it's not too much to hope for that someone got inspired to watch some Cousteau film. 

World Without Sun remaining my true favourite of the three movies I watched and reviewed for this event, I did enjoy Voyage to the Edge of the World. It was the most conventional documentary of the three, with a special 70s flair to it. Something about the lighting. 

Being accustomed with J. Cousteau's voice-over from the first two movies, it was an interesting alternation to be listening to his son Philippe during the underwater sequences of this movie. Clearly, Jacques himself has grown much older since the 12 years older World Without Sun, which is why he didn't participate in the diving this time. It was amazing to see what the Arctic sea looks like under the surface, regardless of the fact that we've seen it before many times. The feeling that we are the first to see these intriguing shots, and the scientists' enthusiasm just really comes across. Like, "whaaat, the iceberg is actually 7 times larger under the surface?!".

I just love it when films are able to capture me like that. And that without really proving or discovering anything - quite an accomplishment for a nature documentary. 

What Voyage to the Edge of the World did was show things, and show a few people's love for those things. As well as their fear. But no risk no fun, right? I'm pretty sure this was the mantra of the people who made this. Climbing a giant sphinx-formed iceberg and diving into its grottos is near to suicide. But when you get the best and never before seen shots of more than 1000 year old chunks of ice, forming a complex tunnel system, that's pretty much worth it, I guess.

And although Voyage to the Edge of the World neither had a title as catching, nor an ending sentence as inspiring (though it was quite great) as the ones of Cousteau's previous films, it still lingers with me. 

Adding up to the knowledge I have gained from the previous three nights.

The final frame

Cousteau Mini Blogathon: Le monde sans soleil

YEAR: 1964; DIRECTOR: Jacques-Yves Cousteau; WRITERS: J. Cousteau, James Dugan

Aside from winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and starting with the same two words, Le monde sans soleil („World Without Sun“) has nothing much in common with the previously discussed Cousteau film Le monde du silence („The Silent World“).

While the latter is a fairly interesting depiction of ocean science in the mid-fifties, accompanied by beautiful underwater shots, the film I'm writing about today both has beautiful underwater shots and a story, even conflicts.

The most interesting of these is the question whether, and under what circumstances, man is able to survive deep down under the surface of the sea - and even more interestingly; what impacts such a way of living has on the human body and soul. Cousteau and his scientists have dived deeper since their last journey on film, and instead of taking small trips to the mysterious silent world without sun, they now spend most of their time in it. The "Continental Shelf Station Two" has become their home for the next 30 days, and during that time the men themselves grow more and more silent. 

As in The Silent World, a few enviromentally and morally questionable incidents can be found in World Without Sun, but generally it seems Cousteau has grown more aware of that problem. His fear for shark remains just as strong though, and each time one of the "beasts" enters the surrounding waters, you can expect to hear creepy tunes á la Spielberg's Jaws.

Another of the scientists admits in one scene, that he is afraid of sleeping at night, for he feels he is surrounded by creatures that seem to origin from his worst nightmares. Personally, this was one of my favourite scenes, at least for its great narrative, cutting from the mentioned scientist to shots of those night-active and wondrous creatures that are then accompanied by a monologue of the man. It's hard to explain, but I really liked it. 

Generally, fewer of the scenes seemed as artificial as in the first film, though I don't know the cause for this. Maybe Cousteau listened to his critics. But of course most of the scenes don't even have any potential to seem artificial, as the main part of the footage consists of underwater shots or shots of the crew that don't include dialogue. I loved the diving parts - often it felt like the men became real creatures of the sea, as elegantly and casually as they were swimming around with the fish. It made me want to learn diving too, so I understand that the film caused an intense interest in sport diving. 

If you don't know much about Cousteau yet and would like to start out with something you most likely are going to enjoy, I recommend watching World Without Sun. The same goes for anyone interested in documentaries, as this one really is a must-watch, not only for winning the Oscar. 

World Without Sun is my clear favourite of Cousteau's filmic work until now and I am very surprised about its quality after the more or less disappointing The Silent World.

The final frame

If I caught your interest, read the first post in the Cousteau Mini Blogathon: Le monde du silence

Two Boys Grow Up

UK/ USA/ France, 2002

About a Boy

Directed by Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
Written by Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
★ Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz

            

I have the feeling it's not only me who is tired of seeing all these absolutely current-treasure-y super positive reviews on my blog, and that's why today, I'm going to write about a film that I liked.

A film that made me smile almost all the time, but never made me feel, "God, this is awesome!". Perhaps the reason for my reaction is that I had already read the ingenious book by one of my favourite authors, Nick Hornby, and there was no way to top that. Or perhaps it was just... well "just" a good film.

But this is not a bad thing, and actually there's almost nothing bad I can say about About a Boy. It had humour, an interesting narration, a good story (obviously) and a good soundtrack. It was good.

Sometimes I wonder what it is, that makes some movies great, and others good. I thought it might be predictability that would "spoil" a movie, as I already knew most of the plot of this movie (it felt as if only one scene had been changed from the book). But then again, why would people - including me - re-watch films then?

Today I've come to the conclusion that it's sheerly impossible to put a finger on that particular, I don't want to say "x-factor"... let's say, "factor of awesomeness". You can't explain why and how the strawberry explodes, and why it doesn't - all you know is that it does, in some films.