August, 12th

Top Gun

Tom Cruise    …    Maverick
Kelly McGillis   …    Charlie
Val Kilmer   …    Ice
Anthony Edwards   …    Goose
Tom Skerritt   …    Viper
Michael Ironside   …    Jester
Tim Robbins   …    Merlin
Clarence Gilyard Jr.   …    Sundown
James Tolkan   …    Stinger
Meg Ryan   …    Carole
Adrian Pasdar   …    Chipper

Synopsis: Lt. “Maverick” Mitchell – a slightly maniac F-14 pilot – and his RIO Lt. “Goose” Bradshaw have been accepted into the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School – more commonly known as “Top Gun”. There they will learn the finer arts of aerial dogfighting. That is, if they don’t get thrown out due to Maverick’s behaviour. And the competition is hard, Top Gun accepts only the best pilots to begin with.

My Opinion: This movie has incredible flying scenes even after all these years. No crappy CGI but real planes flying in real air. And a great soundtrack, too. Ironically I haven’t seen that movie that often but I seem to know it by heart due to the many parodies on many scenes of that movie.
And while I recognized Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli in Heroes) at once, it took me a while to recognize Goose as Dr. Greene from ER.
Too bad, that there aren’t more good airplane combat movies out there.

August, 14th

Hot Shots!

Charlie Sheen    …    Lt. Topper Harley
Cary Elwes   …    Lt. Kent Gregory
Valeria Golino   …    Ramada Thompson
Lloyd Bridges   …    Adm. Thomas ‘Tug’ Benson
Kevin Dunn   …    Lt. Cmdr. James Block
Jon Cryer   …    Jim ‘Wash Out’ Pfaffenbach
William O’Leary   …    Pete ‘Dead Meat’ Thompson
Kristy Swanson   …    Kowalski
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.   …    Wilson

Synopsis: In this parody of Top Gun (amongst many others) Topper Harley is a Navy fighter pilot who has mental issues – especially when someone compares him to his father. He and his wing serves on the carrier S.S. Essess and it’s their task to destroy a nuclear plant of Saddam Hussein’s. But there are also saboteurs who want to prove the ineffectiveness of the current Navy planes in order to sell them new ones.

My Opinion: While I still enjoyed this movie very much, I had very few laugh-out-loud moments. There were more sentimental smiles every time I recognized the movie that was spoofed in this scene. But what I found very amusing was to see “Alan Harper” (Two and a Half Men) as ‘Wash Out’. I hadn’t seen this movie since before I started to watch TaaHM. This was also the first time I watched this movie in English and have to say that there were some good puns in the German dubbing that weren’t in the original and I was a bit disappointed. I was like “I wonder what the original version of ‘Mach 1, Mach 2, Mach 3, Mach Feierabend!’ or ‘Heb nicht ab vom Acker ohne deinen Tacker!’ will be.” and then there was … nothing.

Hot Shots! Part Deux

Charlie Sheen    …    Topper Harley
Lloyd Bridges   …    President Thomas ‘Tug’ Benson
Valeria Golino   …    Ramada Rodham Hayman
Richard Crenna   …    Col. Denton Walters
Brenda Bakke   …    Michelle Rodham Huddleston
Miguel Ferrer   …    Commander Arvid Harbinger
Rowan Atkinson   …    Dexter Hayman

Synopsis: Topper – who lives in a buddhist monastery now – is contacted by the CIA. They want him to rescue a rescue team that tried to rescue a rescue team that tried to rescue some hostages from Iraq. In order to accomplish this they meet with their contact deep in enemy territory – and the contact (codename “Bench Press”) happens to be Ramada.

My Opinion: This time they spoofed the Rambo and other commando team movies and I enjoyed this more than the previous one. Especially in the beginning with the monastery and the Kickboxer fight. Or the scene on the jungle river (In Iraq?!? ) where Charlie Sheen meets his father (one starred in Platoon, the other in Apocalypse Now) and they congratulate each other for Wall Street. Or the scene with the body count – “Bloodiest movie of all time”. So great.

August, 16th

Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Uma Thurman    …    The Bride
Lucy Liu   …    O-Ren Ishii
Vivica A. Fox   …    Vernita Green
Daryl Hannah   …    Elle Driver
David Carradine   …    Bill
Michael Madsen   …    Budd
Julie Dreyfus   …    Sofie Fatale
Chiaki Kuriyama   …    Gogo Yubari
Sonny Chiba   …    Hattori Hanzo
Chia Hui Liu   …    Johnny Mo

Synopsis: Four years ago the head of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad decided to kill on of its former members: *beep* a.k.a. Black Mamba. They killed 9 members of the wedding party including Mamba’s unborn daughter. They should have killed 10. Mamba has survived and now she wants revenge. Her first targets are O-Ren Ishii a.k.a. Cottonmouth and Vernita Green a.k.a. Copperhead.

My Opinion: “If on your journey you should encounter God, God will be cut.” I love the mixture of English and Japanese in this movie (Japanese/Japan is a very fascinating language/country for me) and the Katana is one of if not the most elegant blade weapon(s) and I love fighting scenes with them. But the scene that sends shivers down my spine is when Hanzo shows Mamba his collection. The respect and reverence she showed towards these instruments of death and the music that is played makes me want to be there in that very moment. From the moment she enters Hanzo’s sushi restaurant until he gives her her own Katana is the highlight of the movie for me, not the big end fight. But of course I enjoy that, too.

August, 31st

Nikita

Anne Parillaud    …    Nikita
Tchéky Karyo    …    Bob
Jeanne Moreau    …    Amande
Jean-Hugues Anglade    …    Marco
Jean Reno    …    Victor nettoyeur

Synopsis: When a couple of junkies break into a pharmacy they are cornered by the police and most of them get killed. But Nikita survives and kills a cop. She’s sentenced to 10 + 30 years. But then a government agency takes an interest in her, trains her and makes her an assassin. From now on she lives a public life as nurse and a secret life as killer.

My Opinion: The only thing I found interesting was that the training took actually several years (and were depicted as such) and that several jobs took months to plan – in modern day movies such an operation is often just a matter of days to plan and execute. But I had hoped that this Luc Besson movie would be somewhat the template for the character of Sydney Bristow in Alias. But it was not. This movie was so slow-paced it was nearly standing still. OK, there was another thing I found interesting: Jean Reno in the role of a cleaner, I assume that’s where Besson got the idea for his later (and way better) movie Léon.

September

January, 1st

The Dark Knight

Christian Bale … Bruce Wayne / Batman
Heath Ledger … The Joker
Aaron Eckhart … Harvey Dent / Two-Face
Michael Caine … Alfred Pennyworth
Maggie Gyllenhaal … Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman … James Gordon
Morgan Freeman … Lucius Fox

Synopsis: Batman, Lt. Gordon and DA Harvey Dent have become a very efficient team and they dealt some major blows to Gotham’s underworld. But now Batman gets a new class of enemy: The Joker. The Joker has no plan, he has no goal beside causing havoc and creating chaos. And he’s very good at what he does. But can he force Batman to cross the line?

My Opinion: A great continuation to the great first movie. I always liked the first two Batman movies and I never really liked the cheesy third and especially fourth movie. Although I’ve never read any Batman comic I’ve always felt that it had to be dark and dirty and sometimes morally grey. Batman is no bright character for me. And although it had many comic elements in it Batman Begins felt very realistic. And The Dark Knight is the perfect sequel. It continues where the first movie left off – and I love the Joker. When he first told the story about how he got the scars I thought they were going to blew it and then was relieved when he then told yet another – totally different – story and thus remained his mysteriousness. But to be perfectly honest, I had expected that the “good people” on the ferry would pull the trigger. And then have themselves blown up. That would be totally in the line of Joker’s thinking IMHO. If I were to give stars, what I rarely do, I’d give 9.5 out of 10.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Kevin Costner … Robin Hood
Morgan Freeman … Azeem
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio … Marian Dubois
Christian Slater … Will Scarlett
Alan Rickman … Sheriff of Nottingham
Michael Wincott … Guy of Gisborne
Nick Brimble … Little John
Sean Connery … King Richard

Synopsis: When Robin of Locksley returns home from the crusades, he finds his home burned down and his father killed. Behind this are the Guy of Gisborne and his cousin, the Sheriff of Nottingham. They try to forge an alliance of “noblemen” against the absent King Richard “The Lionheart” and to rob him of his throne. They supress the common folk to finance this plot. But Robin stands up to them and he uses Sherwood Forrest as his base of operations.

My Opinion: I’ve never understood why Kevin Costner was suddenly “out”. I like most of his movies and I like this one, too. Alan Rickman plays an excellent opponent with some comical elements. Although the movie is trying to tell the story earnestly they also insterted enough funny elements to make it not too serious. I also really liked the rants of Azeem when he complains about the english’s lack of education but that he is considered the “barbarian”.
And the appearance of Sean Connery, however short, crowned the movie for me.

January, 2nd

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Johnny Depp … Jack Sparrow
Geoffrey Rush … Barbossa
Orlando Bloom … Will Turner
Keira Knightley … Elizabeth Swann
Jack Davenport … Norrington
Jonathan Pryce … Governor Weatherby Swann

Synopsis: The pirate captain Jack Sparrow is coincidentally nearby when the daughter of Port Royal’s governor nearly drowns and he saves her. But that lands himself in a cell. Ho won’t stay there long. In the night after the “Black Pearl”, a feared pirate ship, comes to Port Royal and kidnaps Miss Swann. Only Jack knows where she’s been taken the blacksmith Will Turner teams up with him to rescue her. And now begins a wild chase across the Caribbean.

My Opinion: This was a great movie. Alas, if it has just remained one. Just like with The Matrix nobody can tell me they actually knew they were doing more than one movie and that they had a plan what was going to happen in the sequels. But this is about this movie and this movie was cool. It had all the fun and action a movie needs. It takes the whole pirates genre totally unseriously and makes a great fun out of it. And to be honest: This could only work with the current special effects. Remember how the skeletons walked in Army of Darkness? Back then this movie could have never worked. Nowadays (visual) special effects are mostly used to blow something up or destroy it in another way. But to use them in a totally un-technical movie, in sword-fights – it made the movie whole.

This was once again a very “intelligent” solution of the german title translators. They made it “Curse of the Carribean”. And when part two came out they didn’t know what to do, so they called it simply “Curse of the Carribean 2″.

A History of Violence

Viggo Mortensen … Tom Stall
Maria Bello … Edie Stall
Ed Harris … Carl Fogarty
William Hurt … Richie Cusack
Ashton Holmes … Jack Stall

Synopsis: Tom Stall is a simple man. He lives in a small town and owns a small diner. He has two children and his life is quiet. But that changes one day. One day two armed robbers come into his store. He can’t know this but they’ve left a trail of blood and killed a lot of people. Tom is willing to give them all the money but when one of them attempts to rape a women a switch turns in Tom’s head and he attacks and kills the robbers. This makes him famous and suddenly he gets visits from mobsters from the east coast who think he is someone else – or are they correct?

My Opinion: This is a very interesting movie that has no hollywood-like moral agenda. It’s brutal, it’s explicit and it doesn’t want to hide anything. The “good guy” isn’t a good guy at all, but if they would have left him alone, he would have never bothered them at all. I thought everyone played their role very well, from Viggo who has at first to pretend he doesn’t know anything to Maria and Ashton who have to learn that their husband/father is someone totally different. And of course Ed, but I like Ed in most of his roles. I also liked the semi open end where it isn’t clear what is going to happen now.

Cliffhanger

Sylvester Stallone … Gabe Walker
John Lithgow … Eric Qualen
Michael Rooker … Hal Tucker
Janine Turner … Jessie Deighan
Rex Linn … Richard Travers

Synopsis: The international thief Qualen captures a US government plane and tries to steal 100 million dollars in cash. The money is in three trunks but they get lost when the plane crashes in the Rocky Mountains. Fortunately the cases have location beacons but now they need the help of the mountain rescue to find them. Gabe and his former friend Hal are the unlucky ones to meet the gangsters and are forced to help them. But soon Qualen has to realize that it won’t be that easy to get the money back because Gabe develops into a real PITA.

My Opinion: This movie hasn’t much story and sometimes it doesn’t make much sense. But it’s a Stallone action movie, if one expects much story on has gone into the wrong movie. it has however great pictures of the Rockys and beautiful panorama shots. It’s also interesting to watch them climb these basically vertical walls. To sum it up: It’s a no-brainer action movie with a lot of Rocky Mountains imagery.

The Saint

Val Kilmer … Simon Templar
Elisabeth Shue … Dr. Emma Russell
Rade Serbedzija … Ivan Tretiak
Valeri Nikolayev … Ilya Tretiak
Henry Goodman … Dr. Lev Botvin

Synopsis: He is a man who has no name. And if he has then it’s one of a catholic saint, like Thomas Moore. But he is a thief and a good one at that. If it can be stolen and someone pays for it, he can steal it. But his life changes drastically when he steals the chemical formula to create cold fusion – a clean and basically unexhaustable power source. Now he’s not also on the run from Scotland Yard but also a russian oil magnat who wants to putsch against the russian president and he’s fallen in love with the scientist who discovered the formula.

My Opinion: This is also a movie one can’t take too seriously. Even the whole cold fusion affair aside it has quite a number of ridiculous moments. For example: He’s already at the 20th or so floor when he climbs out of a window, and uses his extendable aluminium ladder to climb vertically upwards – with no hold whatsoever. But since I’ve never watched the original Simon Templar series I still enjoyed this movie because I knew what to expect.

Four Brothers

Mark Wahlberg … Bobby Mercer
Tyrese Gibson … Angel Mercer
André Benjamin … Jeremiah Mercer
Garrett Hedlund … Jack Mercer
Terrence Howard … Lt. Green
Josh Charles … Detective Fowler
Sofía Vergara … Sofi
Fionnula Flanagan … Evelyn Mercer
Chiwetel Ejiofor … Victor Sweet
Taraji P. Henson … Camille Mercer

Synopsis: The four brothers Bobby, Angel, Jermeiah and Jack return home after their mother had been killed in a store robbery. The four aren’t genetically brothers but they’ve been raised by Evelyn who was a warm soul of the city and who cared for all children. But something doesn’t add up. This was no ordinary robbery but an execution. And now the four brothers want to bury Evelyn’s killer.

My Opinion: When I first watched this in the theatre I had no real idea what to expect and I thought it to be a very good movie. Mark Wahlberg played a very good Bobby which was the reason for me to watch Shooter, too. I also liked the occasional insertion of Evelyn, as if she was still there – and in the minds of her boys she still is! One could brush this aside as simple action flick, but for me it’s a bit more and I have to be in the mood to watch this.

January, 3rd

Blast from the Past

Brendan Fraser … Adam
Alicia Silverstone … Eve
Christopher Walken … Calvin
Sissy Spacek … Helen
Dave Foley … Troy
Nathan Fillion … Cliff

Synopsis: During the cuba crisis Calvin Webber a rich but eccentric (doesn’t this always come in the same package?) inventor locks himself and his pregnant wife in a fallout shelter because he thinks a nuclear war has broken out. They live there for 35 years with their son Adam until one day the locks unseal themselves. Now Adam goes out to buy supplies in huge numbers and he’s looking for a wife – no mutant and from Pasadena, if possible. But then he meets Eve.

My Opinion: I love this movie. It’s so great to see Adam and his seemingly outdated manners to win Eve’s heart (and the heart of nearly any woman in that movie for that matter). I have to admit I love romantic movies, the number of such movies in my collection is nearly twice as big as my science fiction movies. I can watch them until I’m totally overdosed.
Too bad that Alicia Silverstone isn’t seen more often on screen. I can’t describe it but she has something about her that I totally like.

Music & Lyrics

Hugh Grant … Alex Fletcher
Drew Barrymore … Sophie Fisher
Haley Bennett … Cora Corman
Brad Garrett … Chris Riley
Campbell Scott … Sloan Cates

Synopsis: Alex Fletcher is an 80s-Has-Been of the pop band “PoP” who sings now in theme parks and class reunions. But then two things happen at the same time. The star Cora wants him to write a new song for her about a broken heart. And Sophie comes to his appartment to water his plants. And incidentally she can actually write lyrics! They team up together to deliver the new hit song for Cora and fall in love on the way.

My Opinion: Romance movie stories are often rather simple and predictable with the usual break-up shortly before the happy end. So is the story of this movie. But as I said I don’t care. It’s not really what is told, but how it is told. And Hugh Grant doesn’t need to play much, he is actually the forty-something-doesn’t-want-to-grow-up-kinda-guy. But how he performed the typical 80s pop band member on stage was hilarious. It was so funny. And Drew as this shy yet totally sweet character is great.

Notting Hill

Julia Roberts … Anna Scott
Hugh Grant … William Thacker
Richard McCabe … Tony
Rhys Ifans … Spike
James Dreyfus … Martin
Tim McInnerny … Max
Gina McKee … Bella
Emma Chambers … Honey
Hugh Bonneville … Bernie

Synopsis: She’s an american actress who’s gotten 15 million dollars for her last movie. He owns a travel book store and earns nearly nothing. But one day their paths cross and they virtually run into each other. And then she kisses him! But is this going to work? She, known by the whole world? Him, whose name is sometimes forgotten even by his mother? In London’s Notting Hill their fate will be decided.

My Opinion: I love Julia Roberts in both her romantic movies as well as her more serious roles (e.g. Erin Brockovich). What I especially liked about this movie was, how they portreyed the gossip’s part of the life of a star. I – personally – couldn’t care less what they do outside the big screen. If I were the only consumer in the world all the gossip magazines would go bankrupt. The only time I’d really care would be when one of these beautiful actresses would fall in love with me.

Juno

Ellen Page … Juno MacGuff
Michael Cera … Paulie Bleeker
Jennifer Garner … Vanessa Loring
Jason Bateman … Mark Loring
Allison Janney … Brenda ‘Bren’ MacGuff
J.K. Simmons … Mac MacGuff
Olivia Thirlby … Leah

Synopsis: Juno is 16 and pregnant. And although she thinks about an abortion she decides against it. But she also doesn’t want to keep the baby. Thus she’s looking for adoptive parents who will take her child after it is born. And she finds the seemingly perfect couple. But there are still a few months left until the birth and some things aren’t meant to be.

My Opinion: This was a blind buy for me after it got good critics. Ellen Page played the role wunderfully. But I have to say one thing: Although I would love to have children, I wouldn’t have wanted one with Vanessa either. She felt to overwhelming to me. Her entire world did spin around that baby and I’m not sure I could have borne that weight. And in my opinion Michael Cera’s role could have been a bit bigger, it’s his child after all and he loves Juno. All in all an interesting movie but another one that one has to be in the mood for.
One additional remark: Juno says she’s named after Zeus’s wife. But Zeus’ wife is Hera. Only in the roman mythology they are called Jupiter and Juno. But then again, Zeus’s son is not Hercules, but Heracles and no one ever cared.

January, 4th

The Hard Way

Michael J. Fox … Nick Lang / Ray Casanov
James Woods … Detective Lt. John Moss, NYPD
Stephen Lang … Party Crasher
Annabella Sciorra … Susan
LL Cool J … Detective Billy, NYPD
Christina Ricci … Bonnie

Synopsis: Nick Lang is the action star of the “Smoking Gunn” movie series. His lives the life of a normal star with personal trainer, beach villa and whatnot. But he wants something more, he wants to play a cop who bleeds, who doesn’t know how to pay his rent. And so he goes undercover to New York to team up with a real cop: John Moss. And John should be delighted to work with him, shouldn’t he? How wrong he was…

My Opinion: It was so funny to watch how Nick/Ray drove John to despair and he didn’t know how to respond. I especially liked the hunt of the party killer in the theatre in front of the running “Smoking Gunn” movie. But the party killer himself was also a cool opponent in my opinion, all the action scenes with him were well done. The roles for Michael and James were totally fitting, especially from the viewpoint of what they are usually playing.

January, 5th

Léon

Jean Reno … Léon
Gary Oldman … Stansfield
Natalie Portman … Mathilda
Danny Aiello … Tony
Peter Appel … Malky

Synopsis: Léon is a professional hitman, a cleaner. Mathilda’s family has just been executed by corrupt cops over a drug issue. Now she seeks refuge at his appartment and he doesn’t know how to deal with this twelve-year old child. But soon he teaches her how to become a cleaner and she teaches him how to read. And she has also a score to settle with the killers of her four-year old brother.

My Opinion: Everytime I watch that movie I wonder if Tony is really saving Léon’s money because everytime it comes to this topic he evades it. Yes he says that Léon could have it but he gives a number of reasons why he shouldn’t take it. And at the end he treats Mathilda the very same way. It’s a fascinating movie actually and excellently played by Reno, Oldman and Portman. I am especially fascinated by Gary Oldman. In my opinin he’s very good in speaking different accents and playing varying degrees of insanity.
This is one of few movies where I notice the music much more, it seems more intense and helps to tell the story and isn’t just a background noise.
If it weren’t already late, I’d just watch another Luc Besson movie with Gary: The Fifth Element.

January, 7th

X-Men

Hugh Jackman … Logan / Wolverine
Patrick Stewart … Professor Charles Xavier
Ian McKellen … Eric Lensherr / Magneto
Famke Janssen … Jean Grey
James Marsden … Scott Summers / Cyclops
Halle Berry … Ororo Munroe / Storm
Anna Paquin … Rogue / Marie D’Ancanto
Tyler Mane … Sabretooth
Ray Park … Toad
Rebecca Romijn … Mystique
Bruce Davison … Senator Kelly

Synopsis: Evolution is a long and slow process. But every few hundred millenia it takes a leap forward. It has created human mutants. But how are they going to live in our society? Do we have to control them? Do we have to know what they can do? There’s a war upon us and Magneto wants to make sure that he’s on the winning side. And for this he needs a mutant called Wolverine, or doesn’t he?

My Opinion: Although it’s a comic adaption it feels much more real than previous superhero movies, Christopher Reeve’s Superman movies come to mind. As with Batman, Superman and all the other american superhero I’ve never read any of the comics and am thus not burdened with any expectations or knowledge that could hinder my enjoyment of the movie.
And so I enjoyed it a lot. The characters were great altough a bit few for my taste. It’s a dilemma: One the one hand it’s not really logical that each side has only three fighters (Wolverine, Storm & Cyclops vs. Sabretooth, Mystique & Toad) but if they had been more it may have been to much. But the fights were cool, everyone could participate and use their abilities.
When X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes into the theatres this year you’ll find me exactly there!

X2

Patrick Stewart … Professor Charles Xavier
Hugh Jackman … Logan / Wolverine
Ian McKellen … Eric Lensherr / Magneto
Halle Berry … Storm / Ororo Munroe
Famke Janssen … Jean Grey
James Marsden … Scott Summers / Cyclops
Anna Paquin … Rogue / Marie D’Ancanto
Rebecca Romijn … Mystique / Grace
Brian Cox … William Stryker
Alan Cumming … Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
Bruce Davison … Senator Kelly
Aaron Stanford … John Allerdyce / Pyro
Shawn Ashmore … Bobby Drake / Iceman
Kelly Hu … Yuriko Oyama / Deathstrike

Synopsis: While Wolverine is searching for his past, his past is coming to him – in form of Colonel Stryker. Stryker once gave him his adamantium skeleton and now he wants “Cerebro”, Xavier’s technology to find all the mutants in the world. And Stryker wants to control them with it. But he hadn’t anticipated that the “X-Men” and Magneto’s “Brotherhood of Mutants” would join forces to stop him.

My Opinion: It’s the best of the three X-Men movies, the main characters are all aready introduced and we see much more mutants and abilities. The story is very enthralling but also balanced between action scenes and more quieter ones like the one at Bobby’s parents. I’Ve never noticed this before, but: Bobby’s parents ask him whether he has tried not being a mutant. As if the question itself isn’t funny enough, Buffy’s mother asked a similar one: Whether she can’t be the Slayer anymore (must have been in Becoming [second season's finale] if I remember correctly).
Too bad that Bryan Singer decided to make Superman Returns instead of the third X-Men movie. Just like with Spider-Man the third part can’t keep up with it’s predecessors.

January, 8th

X-Men: The Last Stand

Hugh Jackman … Logan / Wolverine
Halle Berry … Ororo Munroe / Storm
Ian McKellen … Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto
Patrick Stewart … Professor Charles Xavier
Famke Janssen … Jean Grey / Phoenix
Anna Paquin … Marie / Rogue
Kelsey Grammer … Dr. Henry ‘Hank’ McCoy / Beast
James Marsden … Scott Summers / Cyclops
Rebecca Romijn … Raven Darkholme / Mystique
Shawn Ashmore … Bobby Drake / Iceman
Aaron Stanford … John Allerdyce / Pyro
Vinnie Jones … Cain Marko / Juggernaut
Ellen Page … Kitty Pryde

Synopsis: A “cure” has been found to “heal” the mutants. And while some mutants like Rogue want to be healed most of them don’t see their abilities not as a disease that has to be cured. And Magneto will do anything in his power to destroy what he sees as poison for his kind. But the X-Men have problems of their own: Jean has returned as Phoenix and she’s already killed Cyclops. Can she be stopped?

My Opinion: A not so good conclusion to the overall very good trilogy. There were too many things I didn’t really like about it and most of them are connected to the Phoenix: Scott’s death (offscreen, too!), Xavier’s character change, Jean’s character change, Xavier’s death, … I know that the “Dark Phoenix” story is part of the comics but not everything that works in a comic works in a movie, too. Especially when it has never been mentioned before. If they had really wanted to conlcude the series this way they would have dropped hints in the first two installments. This goes also for this sudden classification: What the heck is a “class 3 mutant”?
I have told you before that I am not really good with faces that I have a hard time to recognize a person if I haven’t seen him or her that often before. What helps is that I have a good recognition of voices, so I often recognize an actor even if he wears an alien mask or something else. And so it was with the Kitty Pryde of this movie. I heard her voice and instantly said “Hey, that’s Juno!” and so it was.

The Blues Brothers

John Belushi … ‘Joliet’ Jake Blues
Dan Aykroyd … Elwood Blues
James Brown … Reverend Cleophus James
Cab Calloway … Curtis
Ray Charles … Ray
Aretha Franklin … Mrs. Murphy
Steve Cropper … Steve ‘The Colonel’ Cropper
Donald Dunn … Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn
Murphy Dunne … Murphy ‘Murph’ Dunne
Willie Hall … Willie ‘Too Big’ Hall
Tom Malone … Tom ‘Bones’ Malone
Lou Marini … ‘Blue Lou’ Marini
Matt Murphy … Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy
Alan Rubin … Alan ‘Mr. Fabulous’ Rubin
Carrie Fisher … Mystery Woman
Henry Gibson … Head Nazi
John Candy … Burton Mercer
Kathleen Freeman … Sister Mary Stigmata (a.k.a. The Penguin)
Steve Lawrence … Maury Sline
Twiggy … Chic Lady
Frank Oz … Corrections Officer
Jeff Morris … Bob
Charles Napier … Tucker McElroy
Steven Williams … Trooper Mount

Synopsis: Jake has just been released from prison when he and his brother Elwood visit Sister Mary who asks them for a favour. She needs 5,000 dollars or the city will close the orphanage where Jake and Elwood had grown up. And now both are on a mission from God: They put the band back together to raise the money. And now starts one of the best music road trips of all time.

My Opinion: Great movie. Great music. Great car crashings. Great guest appearances. Great movie. Everyone who likes good music (that excludes addicted ) should have seen this one. And the story is really funny, too, especially Carrie Fisher’s character. Did I mention “great movie”?

Early in the nineties I used to get up real early on saturdays because at 5.50 a TV show called Rawhide used to run where a Mr. Favor was the trail boss and he brought a herd of cattle from A to B and one of his cowboys was Rowdy Yates, played by a certain Clint Eastwood.

January, 10th

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Neil Patrick Harris … Billy / Dr. Horrible
Nathan Fillion … Captain Hammer
Felicia Day … Penny
Simon Helberg … Moist
Nick Towne … Bad Horse Chorus #1
Jed Whedon … Bad Horse Chorus #2
Rob Reinis … Bad Horse Chorus #3

Synopsis: Dr. Horrible wants to become a member of the ELE – the Evil League of Evil. But his inventions haven’t been a success yet. Somehow his crimes always fail, mostly due to the intervention of Horrible’s nemesis: Captain Hammer. But the league wants him to commit a real crime before he can become a member of the ELE. And additionally he’s in love with Penny but he’s to shy to approach her.

My Opinion: It’s a very funny musical by Joss Whedon. I don’t know if he produced it during the writer’s strike but he got the idea back then. The three acts were released on the internet without charge, without being accompanied by advertisement. I watched them back then and loved it from the start. The musics, the lyrics, the acting – everything matches and it’s a great fun to watch. I even watched all the bonus material, something I usually don’t do. And I watched the application videos for the ELE which were also really funny.

A must-see for every Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse) fan.

PS: When I first watched this, I didn’t even know him, but now I recognized “Moist”: It’s “Wolowitz” from The Big Bang Theory!

January, 11th

Masters of the Universe

Dolph Lundgren … He-Man
Frank Langella … Skeletor
Meg Foster … Evil-Lyn
Billy Barty … Gwildor
Courteney Cox … Julie Winston
Robert Duncan McNeill … Kevin Corrigan
Jon Cypher … Duncan (Man-at-Arms)
Chelsea Field … Teela
James Tolkan … Detective Lubic

Synopsis: Whoever becomes lord over Castle Grayskull on Eternia becomes the Master of the Universe and Skeletor plans exactly this. He uses a cosmic key to open a portal directly into the castle and he can assume control. He-Man and his friends have to retreat, they use the key to get out and they land on Earth. But neither Skeletor nor He-Man is giving up. And suddenly the highschool students Julie and Kevin are in the middle of an epic fight between good and evil.

My Opinion: This is a guilty pleasure of mine. I love this movie even though it’s totally cheesy and Dolph Lundgren can’t act at all. But it doesn’t matter. It’s still a great fun to watch.

January, 17th

Never Been Kissed

Drew Barrymore … Josie Geller
David Arquette … Rob Geller
Michael Vartan … Sam Coulson
Molly Shannon … Anita
John C. Reilly … Gus
Garry Marshall … Rigfort
Leelee Sobieski … Aldys
Jeremy Jordan … Guy Perkins
James Franco … Jason
Gregory Sporleder … Coach Romano

Synopsis: Josie Geller was one of the nerds in highschool, the kind of girl who asked for extra homework. It was not a pleasent time for her. But now she’s an editor at the Chicago Sun-Times and good at her job. But she wants to be a reporter, to write stories instead of reading them. And for this she has to go undercover to highschool again. But neither she nor highschool has changed.

My Opinion: A sweet liitle comedy about a young woman who gets the chance of having a better highschool memory and to finally fall in love with the right guy. Not the best romance I’ve ever seen but still quite enjoyable.

Back to the Future

Michael J. Fox … Marty McFly
Christopher Lloyd … Dr. Emmett Brown
Lea Thompson … Lorraine Baines McFly
Crispin Glover … George McFly
Thomas F. Wilson … Biff Tannen
Claudia Wells … Jennifer Parker
James Tolkan … Mr. Strickland

Synopsis: Marty McFly is an ordinary 17-year-old highschool student in the year 1985. But he also happens to have a weird friend, a scientist who invents a lot of stuff that doesn’t work. But this time he has done it. He invented a time machine and he has built it into a DeLorean sports car. But he had to con some Lybians out of their Plutonium and that would become his death sentence. Marty has no choice but to flee before them and he does. The time machine brings him to 1955 where he has to find the Doc again in order to bring him home. But he also runs into his parents and that’s where the real trouble starts.

My Opinion: If asked for a top ten movie list, this movie would be in it. I enjoy the entire trilogy very much (and I will continue watching as soon as I finished this review). Marty and the Doc are a great pair and it’s fun to watch them. I also really enjoyed the entire idea that a teen could actually observe the teenage years of his parents and see that they weren’t that different.
One of my favourite scenes is when Marty disguises as Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan and plays Van Halen music (he was also sent by the Supreme Klingon”, but that was cut out, I read it in the novelization of the movie).

And if there’s anyone out there who isn’t familiar with the story, here is it:

Back to the Future: Part II

Michael J. Fox … Marty McFly / Marty McFly Jr / Marlene McFly
Christopher Lloyd … Dr. Emmett Brown
Lea Thompson … Lorraine
Thomas F. Wilson … Biff Tannen / Griff Tannen
Elisabeth Shue … Jennifer Parker / Jennifer McFly
James Tolkan … Mr. Strickland
Jeffrey Weissman … George McFly

Synopsis: Doc is back from the future and he has bad news. Marty must help him to protect the future of Marty’s children in the year 2015. But not everything goes according to plan. When they return to 1985 it’s not the one they have left. Suddenly Biff is a rich and powerful man. Someone has interfered with the timeline and it was neither Doc nor Marty. To solve this they have to return where it started – to 1955.

My Opinion: This was my very first VHS I ever bought, back in the early 90s. If I remember correctly (and I have a memory for numbers) I paid 39.95 DM for it which is – including inflation – about 34 euros today. I don’t think I paid that much for my very first DVD (Braveheart).
While I enjoy it a lot, it’s still my least favourite movie of the trilogy. Sometimes I jump directly from the end of part one to the beginning of part three which fit neatly together. But as I said it is very enjoyable with the antiques store and the number of close encounters of the same person. Unfortunately it’s already 2009 and we have neither holo projections like the “Jaws 19″ movie nor hover technology for boards and cars.

January, 18th

Back to the Future: Part III

Michael J. Fox … Marty McFly / Seamus McFly
Christopher Lloyd … Dr. Emmett Brown
Mary Steenburgen … Clara Clayton
Thomas F. Wilson … Buford ‘Mad Dog’ Tannen / Biff Tannen
Lea Thompson … Maggie McFly / Lorraine McFly
Elisabeth Shue … Jennifer Parker
James Tolkan … Chief Marshal James Strickland
Matt Clark … Chester the Bartender

Synopsis: Marty’s stuck in 1955 while the Doc’s back in 1885. But the Doc isn’t going to live much longer after he had written the letter and Marty decides to go back and get him.But the old West didn’t have real roads and Marty subsequently rips the fuel line apart. Now they have to find another way to accelerate the DeLorean to 88 miles per hour. As if this weren’t enough Doc also falls in love and Marty agrees to a gunfight against ‘Mad Dog’ Tannen.

My Opinion: In my opinion this movie is a bit more serious than the other two and both characters seem to have grown a lot due to their travels. I felt it to be a bit unfair that Marty travelled back to save Doc’s life and he doesn’t even thank him by warning him of the “Rolls-Royce accident”. But I also thought it to be a really good idea to let Marty make that decision alone and to show that the time travels have taught him something. I also thought that Mary Steenburgen was a great addition and to see Doc in love was very nice. It great conclusion to a fantastic trilogy.

January, 28th

Bad Boys

Martin Lawrence … Marcus Burnett
Will Smith … Mike Lowrey
Téa Leoni … Julie Mott
Tchéky Karyo … Fouchet
Theresa Randle … Theresa Burnett
Joe Pantoliano … Captain Howard
Nestor Serrano … Detective Sanchez
Julio Oscar Mechoso … Detective Ruiz

Synopsis: Heroin worth 100 million Dollars gets stolen directly from the police’s evidence room. It is suspected that this was an inside job and Internal Affairs is investigating. The detectives Lowrey and Burnett have only one lead, an eyewitness to a shooting between the thieves. But for this to work, Lowrey and Burnett have to switch roles and their lives are very different.

My Opinion: I listened randomly thorugh my iTunes library when the theme song of COPS suddenly played and that gave me the idea to watch Bad Boys again.
It’s a good action movie although neither my favourite Michael Bay movie nor my favourite Will Smith or Martin Lawrence movie. But it was funny to see them bickering about their different livestyles and I loved all these different shootouts and explosions. Hey what did you expect? It’s a Bay/Bruckenheimer movie for crying out loud!

February