Week 7 in film

Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
Sometimes I can't resist to watch one of my favorites again. In most cases my enthousiasm grows, as is the case with Lost in Translation. I love the Hotel settings, I love how this film feels like Asian cinema. I love Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Their chemistry and life phases are a recipe for a masterpiece. Johansson is the bright girl who sees that the enthousiastic behaviour of her generation (the talky actress) is fake and that real life might be a struggle. A struggle that Murray is living, acknowledging but he also knows how to deal with it. This, a great soundtrack and soothing pace makes one of my favorites, for sure.
"I guess every girl goes through a photography phase."
9.5/10



Venus in Fur (Roman Polanski, 2013)
Polanski adapts another play, and makes it even more minimal than Carnage. Just two players, Emmanuelle Seigner (Polanski's wife) and Mathieu Amalric (who looks very much like Polanski), and obviously they talk a lot where play and reality are interwoven. The tension builts up as the film progresses culminating in a grand finale. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I knew the play, not bad, but became interesting too late. 6/10

Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
I really like what Jarmusch does here. Adam and Eve are vampires, they have lived through the whole of history, made their contributions and are contemplating on modern society and on what the future will be like ("Are they already fighting over water? No, it's still about oil"). I like the mood that Jarmusch is creating but does it really have to be that slow?  7.5/10

Dallas Buyers Club (Jean-Marc Vallee, 2013)
Some great performances aside (Oscar bait...), this film really isn't much more than a by the numbers, based on true events, TV-movie (we've seen all the obligatory characters before). I can imagine the gay-community being somewhat pissed off that this had to be from the perspective of a straighter than straight redneck to become a success. 4.5/10

Week 4-6 in film

Skipped 2 weeks because of a holiday and only watching a few films. I made up for it this week :-).

25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
The saddest news: Philip Seymour Hoffman died. Perhaps the best of his generation, he was my favorite for a couple of years already, so I had to (re)watch a good role (basically each of his films would do). 25th Hour is great, not only Hoffman, but Norton, the whole pace and direction of the film are great. The mirror scene is mind-blowing. Hoffman is a decent part of the whole, as he was so often, just as often as he lifted a mediocre film to a higher level. 8.5/10



Otto e Mezzo (Federico Fellini, 1963)
I love Fellini but not this film that much. Hailed as his masterpiece by many. I find it too fragmented and it fails to grab my attention except for some of the beautiful cinematography. I understand the story but I just don't think it is interesting enough to make it a masterpiece, it exhausted me eventually.  7/10

Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
After watching The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle I couldn't resist to go back to watching the Scorsese classic. Yes, this one is better. I saw it about 5 years ago and I could remember a couple of strong scenes and not so much the overall story or mood which is exactly describing the strong and weaker points of this film. 8/10

Two Mothers (Anne Fontaine, 2012)
Two mothers falling in love with each others sons. Really? Unfortunately the romantic constructions in this film are not very plausible. Love the scenery, however.  5/10

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
Entertaining, sure, and a hell of a closing scene, but not a masterpiece. Therefore it feels too much like 'The Dukes of Hazzard'.  7/10



X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn, 2011)
Its great cast made me watch this and I don't regret it. In the big pool of comic-action-hero films one of the better ones. Especially the first hour had quite a good built up of tension and story. Lawrence is good, as ever, Fassbender is too much 'himself', I couldn't help seeing his Shame-character instead of Magneto. Nevertheless worthwhile.  7/10

The Lonely Voice of Man (Aleksandr Sokurov, 1987)
I love Russian cinema, but not this one. Perhaps I am missing the point, but still, how slow and boring can film become. Beauty can't save this one. 4.5/10

Oh Boy (Jan Ole Gerster, 2012)
Germany's Frances Ha? Is Niko,the protagonist weird or crazy? Or is everyone around him? I like this notion, and I somehow symphatize strongly with our Niko. Charming film and well shot. And how hard is it to get a cup of coffee? :-)  8/10