msz Reviews

Nurse Betty (2000)

Will leave a smile on your face

[9/10 · 26 June 2000]

A wonderful comedy full of black humor and REALLY weird situations. I wasn´t that surprised when I found out that "Nurse Betty" won an award for its screenplay - I have surely seen worse stories get such an award. This story and of course the great cast (all of them but mostly Renee Zellweger) makes this a really entertaining evening. Not a deep movie - but it doesn´t happen that often that you just can´t wipe that smile of your face when you leave the theatre for hours afterwards. You just can´t.

Dogma (1999)

Faithful to his other work ... and his beliefs

[9/10 · 25 April 2000]

About two years of waiting (from the first set reports of Kevin himself) until I finally could see it here in Germany. It was a long time - esp. after "Chasing Amy" which is one of my all-time favourites. But it was well worth the wait. Ok, it didn't affect me as deeply as "Amy" but it was 1) funny (and most of the time extremely so), and 2) thoughtful. I wasn't exactly overwhelmed directly after having seen the movie but now with four days to ponder it has grown on me. A really good comedy that also can make you think (if you let it happen :). Unfortunately some of my fellow catholics don't feel that way ... but then the pre-opening comments say it all ...

-michael

8MM (1999)

Schumacher tries to be Fincher ... and fails

[4/10 · 6 November 1999]

I can't really say that I liked "Se7en" (although I think it's a good movie) - but at least it stayed in my head for a long time and Andrew Kevin Walker's script is surely one of the reasons for that. But this will not happen for "8MM" - and this is probably due to Schumacher's way of putting a promising idea on screen. Many people that submitted a comment on this movie found it "disturbing", "dark", "sick" - I think it was mainly a standard Hollywood thriller with a slightly off-Hollywood subject. Just the fact that the movie deals with underground pornography and snuff films doesn't make it disturbing - a better insight into the characters and their demons would have. Cage's transformation from loving family man to angry avenger is quite unmotivated and many scenes are just soo typical Hollywood thriller-like. I would've liked to see a believable descent down into the personal hell of the main character; "Se7en" did that; in a way Friedkin's "Cruising" did that; "8MM" didn't. Next time I will need more than one good reason (like a script by Walker) to watch a Joel Schumacher movie.

Funny Games (1997)

I'm glad that I saw it - and I'm sorry that I didn't quit

[8/10 · 13 October 1999]

I wanted to see this one for a long time. I'm glad that I saw it. I will probably not see it again.

I'm no hardcore horror or action fan but I've nothing against violence in movies. Hey, I love "The Killer" with its aesthetic shoot-outs and choreographed slow-mo killings. I still will after seeing "Funny Games". However I might think differently about the way violence is portrayed in this movie and others. I'm glad that I saw this film - and I'm sorry that I didn't switch off my VCR before it was over.

And I'm seriously wondering how anyone could view this movie as something like a "black comedy" or even slightly "entertaining". There is no entertainment in "Funny Games" - not by my definition. Not by anyone's I know ...

Best Laid Plans (1999)

Very good thriller - recommendable

[8/10 · 30 June 1999]

This was one of the movies I decided to watch at this years film festival in Munich. That decision was based solely on the short description in the festival program. And I'm glad I saw it. And I'm glad that the synopsis was very short and overall very general. This was one of the cases were you enjoy the movie the most when you don't know anything about it beforehand. A very good thriller with an intelligent plot, but somehow I never got "sucked" into it - some kind of spark was missing. But very good nevertheless. However ... ... as surprising as the end was, I wished that it would've been darker. Something in the way of "A Simple Plan". I think that would've been much more fitting - but I'm just a sucker for downers ...

Sonatine (1993)

Funny, violent and moving

[10/10 · 11 June 1999]

One of my favourite movies - and many people will probably fall asleep or think: "What's the point?". I can't really tell - except that I like that movie. Wonderful scenes, at times very funny (but mostly smiling-funny, no slapping-laughing-out-loud-funny). Give it a chance to find out for yourself.

23 (1998)

Very good movie - with very misleading ads

[8/10 · 10 June 1999]

An intriguing portrait of a young man drifting away from reality. And since that young man was a famous hacker with an unhealthy interest in conspiracies, the movie has got to be about conspiracies, right? Wrong. But that's exactly what the ads would like you to think. Very bad marketing for a very good movie. And beware: it can bring you to tears!! (Just thinking about that PDP in the rain makes me weep ... *sniff*)

Forgotten Silver (1995 TV Movie)

A wonderful movie about the movies

[10/10 · 10 June 1999]

This film could've been made only by someone with a deep love of cinema : an homage to movies, coming from the heart. It's just too bad that Colin McKenzie didn't live to see his work being appreciated ...

Come to tink of it: it's just too bad that Colin didn't live at all. What a loss!

The Mummy (1999)

As bad as it gets

[1/10 · 2 June 1999]

I am frustrated. Frustrated that more movies like this will come out of Hollywood and reap in tons of money. It just makes me sad. The basic answer on a negative critique on "The Mummy" seems to be: "Hey, what did you expect? It's a fun movie." It's not. It's bad filmmaking at it's worst. It's not entertaining - and I was looking for shallow entertainment. It's not funny - the jokes are lame and the scenes that should've been serious are jokes too (which are also lame). The script doesn't even try to present a coherent or consistent plot - it's just a series of badly written, acted and directed scenes, held together by plot holes. Three days before I've seen "The Mummy", I started reading William Goldman's "Adventures in the Screen Trade" and I think it gives a really good overview of the inner workings of the American film industry. However, "The Mummy" told me more about Hollywood filmmaking (and the power of marketing and the average moviegoer) than this wonderful book - and it makes me sad.

Arlington Road (1999)

Disappointing

[3/10 · 23 April 1999]

Like I do with other movies, I saw this one with absolute no knowledge of the story - and I found it very disappointing. The story seemed very predictable, full of cliches and Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges did a lot of overacting. This was the first movie in a long time I even considered walking out (like one other person out of an audience of six did).

However ... POSSIBLE SPOILER (don't read further if you want to see this movie!!)

after the movie I found myself wondering "Can a last minute surprise ending turn an otherwise bad movie into a good movie?" Because I was surprised - oh boy! And in retrospect, all the bad things I have to say about this movie seem to be intentional, so that you are fooled into that twist.

But why should I pay 12,- DM ($7) to be NOT entertained (or thrilled or moved or frightened) until the very end of a movie? IMO that shouldn't be the goal of a movie.

Breakfast of Champions (1999)

Weird and very enjoyable

[8/10 · 19 February 1999]

Normally I don't like movie adaptions of books. But since I haven't read a Vonnegut novel before, there is nothing stopping me from liking this movie. Agreed, there is no real story in there, but it's a great vehicle for weird and wacky characters - and surprisingly that was enough for me to like it.

Seeing two movie "tough guys" (Willis and Nolte) playing a mentally unstable car salesman and a guy with a certain women's clothing fetish was very refreshing.

If forced to compare this to other movies, I would describe it as "Garp" meets the "Cadillac Man" with a good dose of weird Coen humor and little salts of Paul Auster.

That sounds strange - just like the movie felt, but in a very good way.