Delosario-2 Reviews

Life Is Beautiful (1997)

Sorry, but a little overrated

[6/10 · 22 July 2007]

This movie definitely has its moments but overall it is not more than a small charming melodrama which is worth watching but nothing too special.

The hyperactive humor of Benigni reminded me of Louis de Funes which I find almost(!) unbearable. The contrast between the horrors of the concentration camp and Guido's effort to pretend it's all a funny game to keep his little son from the truth is quite a bit out of balance. This movie does not do justice to the demise of the prisoners in those camps. I'm sure it was not Benignis intention to show torture, violence and death as Schindler's List but in my opinion this subject does not leave room for extenuation for the sake of a friggin' movie. Overall this film tends to be quite naive (especially at the end)which, again, I think is intentional. Nevertheless, I don't like that at all. With all due respect for Benigni, his craft and talent and his father (who was held captive in Bergen-Belsen) this is playing with fire - in a moral sense. The romantic aspects are very naive too but also quite cute and funny - maybe just because of that naivety.

Additionally I'm starting to get uncomfortable with the fact that even modern movies seem to be unable to shake the habit of showing German WW2 soldiers as nothing but fat and/or creepy squallers. But there have been movies far more worse then this one. So it's just a small bellyacher.

It's a good movie. Charming and funny but with quite a few weaknesses. It surely would have been better to work on that superficial "la dolce vita" atmosphere. The Academy Award is justified but only because of the lack of competition.

6/10

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Great! I liked it!

[7/10 · 24 December 2006]

I saw Rocky Balboa at a special screening and I'm sure as hell going to see it again when it's officially released. This movie has a lot more heart than I suspected, and much more than previous Rockys. After I saw the trailer I thought this would be the same kind of self-ironic trash like Terminator 3 was. Well, not exactly 'trash' but, you know, just not a serious movie.

I was so wrong and I'm happy I was! Stallone actually can act! There are two very emotional scenes (one with Paulie, one with his son), the first one almost made my (!very sensitive guy!) cry :-) This movie has everything it needs! Great cast (not a single miscast here, everyone fits perfectly), a MESSAGE to tell, heart, tears and action. I think this one is on par with the original Rocky. I'm very happy Stallone got the chance to make this one, struggling so long with wise-ass producers who tried to tell him that nobody wants to see this or that he was to old. Bullsht! I hope Rocky Balboa does very good at the box office so those useless pricks can suck on that!

Rocky!!!

Verschollen (2004–2005)

Just ridiculous and embarrassing.

[13 September 2004]

A very poor try of transforming the old 'Robinson' story into a German TV series... let me stress "very poor" again.

'Verschollen' is filled with exceptionally bad visual fx (blue-screening all the way since this... thing was entirely shot on a soundstage with loads of cheesy props).

Unknown actors (obviously for reason since they're ALL bad - and I mean EVERYBODY). The performances cover everything from embarrassing to exaggerated to funny (unintentional that is). And of course there is this annoying blurry videolook with over-saturated colors making this wannabe "Cast Away" clone look even a little more sleazy.

The total lack of character development reminds us of all those (surprisingly popular) cheap superficial German soap operas. The story itself is boring since you just don't care about the characters and actually don't give a sh*t if they'll be saved or not.

The impertinence of the producer comparing this TV trash to the great Cast Away almost outrages me since it shows us again this typical arrogance of German television industry which gave us crap like "Alarm für Cobra 11" or "Medicopter" or "Helicops" or "Motorrad Cops". You really start to wonder how such a bunch of obviously incompetent filmmakers get the budget and the green light to produce TV slime like "Verschollen". Apparently RTL has too much money. I'm not just ranting without a reason, because I had a bad day or hate my job (which actually is indeed the case). It really IS infuriating to watch this if you're a movie fan. It's just so pathetic. Let's hope this show goes down the drain and the producers and directors never EVER find a job in the German movie industry again!

I give it 2 of 10 stars 'cause I laughed twice about the unspeakable dull dialog.

EDIT: Now we have 2005 and look what happened! The show got canceled! What a surprise!

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993 Video Game)

Absolutely fantastic!

[25 June 2004]

I bought the game years ago when it was released on 11 floppy disks, now, years later, I bought the CD talkie version and I still play it over and over again, probably every half a year. I keep asking myself "Why?" I know all solutions to all the riddles and quests, I know all the dialogue - and still I can't stop putting that CD in my driver over and over again. This game is absolutely magnificent and probably the best adventure game ever! Although I liked the second part "The Beast Within" too (and totally disliked the third one!) I wish they'd make a fourth part... in 2D, without FMV and without 3D graphics! What wonderful 2D(!) games must be possible these days when you look at todays (mainly 3D) games?

But let's get back to GK:SOTF. Years ago I was so amazed by the beautiful animations, the complex story and the score. Sierra put a lot of effort in this and I hope so dearly that we see such beautiful 2D games again in future... when we all got sick of hi-realistic 3D rendering. That would be my biggest game-related dream: Gabriel Knight 4 in 2D just like part one... with the same voice cast :-)

Parents please keep in mind, that GK is definitely no game for children. Sometimes it becomes pretty gory and bloody. But everybody who's no afraid of a few litres of pixelblood will have a wonderful time.

If you've never played this game, GO AND DO IT!!!

Baise-moi (2000)

Pure bullsh....

[4 February 2001]

Movies like "Man Bites Dog" or "Natural Born Killers" were intelligent films. Created by intelligent people. They delivered a message. They showed us a mirror so we can see the reality that this movies want to show us in a third-person perspective. "Baise Moi" is just a piece of sh..! The female director didn't spend a second to get some intelligent elements in to the movie or the story. Maybe she just hasn't the skill. The two actresses showing us a very poor performance (otherwise: there isn't anything to do but having sex and killing people). Really! You need NO acting skills to give a better performance! Instead of creating a violent psychological intelligent drama the director put in more violence, more sex, more violence and more sex! "Violence sells!" The movie was a success and was positive mentioned even in some very respectable papers. I don't know why! Maybe because you can make every piece of crap into an outstanding masterpiece if you just want to.

When you look at a Kitano movie you see violence. When you GET INTO a Kitano movie you discover a masterpiece. "Baise Moi" is the exact opposite of that!

Don't watch it! It's a waste of time! Even I could do better movies with a handheld camera, gallons of fake-blood, some blank guns and two BAAAAAAAAD actresses! I have no problems with violence. I have no problems with sex. They wanted to make money and we (including ME) are so dumb and give it to them! They thought we were dumb enough... well, they're right!

Brother (I) (2000)

"Brother" rocks!

[4 February 2001]

"Brother" (directed by Takeshi "Beat" Kitano) is a masterpiece! Not as beautiful as Kitano's older flicks like "Hana-Bi" or "Sonatine" but it's still great! You can divide the movie into two parts. The one part plays in Japan and is dominated by silent and slow scenes with lot of text (subtitled, even here in Germany where normally everything is dubbed). Therefore the second part (plays in the US) is dubbed. But there is more action than speech.

"Brother" is one of the most bloodiest action movies so far! But Kitano said that this violence is needed to thrill the Japanese audience otherwise it would be a very lame experience for them (hey! you can by splatter and rape movies there at every corner!)

People who just see the violence will never get into the world of Takeshi's movies! It's a world of honer, trust, cold violence and sadness!

Jetzt oder nie - Zeit ist Geld (2000)

A masterpiece...

[9/10 · 12 December 2000]

I just watched the premiere here in Hamburg and I've gotta say: JETZT ODER NIE is film making at it's BEST! In many scenes you just don't know if you should be laughing or crying... or both at the same time?

Director Lars Büchel is genius! JETZT ODER NIE is Oscar-worthy touching entertainment, the soundtrack is stunning and the entire movie is very beautiful photographed. Of course, congratulations to the actresses and actors too!

JETZT ODER NIE is one the the BEST German movies ever and even Hollywood could learn from it. A MUST-SEE for E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y!!

Herzlichen Glückwunsch an Lars und sein Team, für einen erstklassigen Job!

Die Motorrad-Cops: Hart am Limit: Ypsilon - Wie alles begann (2000) Season 1, Episode 0

Mach 'brumm brumm', Bruder!

[1 October 2000]

'MOTORRAD COPS' delivers for the very first time some really good (but not outstanding) special FX and stunts in German television. But the camera views, the acting and the choreography are still not more than german-TV-standard... (or in other words: BAD!)

Sieben Monde (1998)

I was surprised

[6/10 · 7 May 2000]

In "Sieben Monde" an author thinks he could be a werewolf because of very myterious murders happening around him. Sieben Monde is a surprisingly good horror-thriller. When I saw the TV-trailer I thought it would be just another bad german b-horror flick. I was really surprised! Mysterious atmosphere, very good acting and editing and very much violence and blood for a german movie! But no film is perfect! The end isn't very surprising, the story could have been more complex and Jan Josef Liefers was definetly not the best choice for the main character. Nevertheless "Sieben Monde" is clearly worth to watch.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

I was very disappointed

[7 May 2000]

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is a terrible Steven Spielberg film! Usually Spielberg's films are very intelligent and demanding masterpieces but SAVING PRIVATE RYAN wasn't more than a gory bloody massacre! The Germans were again the pieces of scum, not worth to live. Films like STALINGRAD, DAS BOOT or PLATOON show us, that there are ALWAYS innocents and unscrupulous killers on BOTH sides! In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN the german soldiers are just the meat stock of the WW2. American soldiers are dying always a gruesome painful death, so the audience can really start to hate the Germans and hope for more scenes in which more Nazis get killed. The german soldiers were usual soldiers too, and especially in the last months of the war they didn't want to carry on fighting, but there was not a single sign that the Germans were humans too in the movie, they were just cannon fodder. For example: There was the standoff between the Americans and the Germans in the destroyed city. Every German got killed the Americans survived without any problems. It's painful enough that such senseless movies are still so popular in this time but the fact that SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is a Steven Spielberg film (hey, the man made movies like E.T. Schindler's List and Jurassic Park) is truly shocking! I think the movie was so much glorified because it was a Spielberg! If S.P.R. would be a war movie by a no-name-director it wouldn't be more than a second MISSING IN ACTION. (Please mail me your opinion)

Armageddon (1998)

Outstanding BUT too much patriotism!

[7 May 2000]

ARMAGEDDON is surely one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever (in my opinion it doesn't reach the INDEPENDENCE DAY level, but who cares). Perfect special FX, outstanding acting, funny, touching and one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. Some people say ARMAGEDDON was edited like a trailer and the cuts were too fast. ARMAGEDDON was a very fast movie indeed, but I can't believe, that ARMAGEDDON would be such a success without this fast editing. BUT! Armageddon was TOO MUCH PATRIOTIC. Everybody knows that the americans are the most patriotic people in the world, but in Armageddon this patriotism becomes ridicules! Especially the scene in which Bruce Willis tries to persuade the NASA officials to let his men out to have a some freetime. Did you notice the huge US flag behind Bruce Willis? Again only the americans save the world (ok, there was this russian cosmonaut, but he was just the "funny guy" that almost every movie has). No other nation in the world have to put in all this patriotic stuff into a movie, EXCEPT the americans. Many many people in europe and my friends dislike this, but America is the most important market for movies so I think movies MUST BE patriotic otherwise the american audience feel bad touched. Nevertheless ARMAGEDDON is a must see, although I believe there are not many people who didn't see this masterpiece already!