beyer-sebastian Reviews

The Gryphon (2023– )

Good show

[8/10 · 31 May 2023]

I was excited to see, this will be a series. The novel this show is based on was my start into fantasy and is probably not known to an international audience. Funnily the plot is set in 1994 which is about the time I devoured the book as a 14-year-old. I remember reading around 250 pages on a rainy Sunday.

So as it is obvious the creators are trying to follow the success of "Stranger Things" in some ways, do not make the mistake to compare The Gryphon too much to the Netflix hit. It is an original story that Hohlbein created long before. As far as I can tell after three episodes (earlier start in Germany as it is a German production) the buildup is good and leaves enough things to your imagination, while hinting enough to keep it interesting.

The series seems to be a little darker than the book, which was youth fantasy, whereas this is fun to watch as an adult. CGI quality is better than I expected and acting and plot are fine. So is the depiction of 1994 Germany, although the town of Krefelden is fictious. I feel like most clothing styles of the teenagers came up a few years later.

After almost thirty years after first reading the book (and many others by Wolfgang Hohlbein) I enjoy this so far and will keep watching, respectively bingeing the episodes to come. I just fear this season will end in a cliffhanger and the wait for continuation will be painful.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015)

Good series, even though I thought the book was boring.

[7/10 · 7 April 2020]

Well, not exactly boring, but unnervingly slow in the beginning. So I never read all of it. The series though is interesting for me: Magic more of a philosophy than the way to gain power, used only by two people, who do not always get all the consequences of their actions. Good characters, interesting plot development and more detail than a movie could deliver. I like this one.

Gundermann (2018)

Great acting and a good perspective on the Germany's reunification

[8/10 · 6 July 2019]

As a German born and socialized in the western part and having lived in the eastern part for more than 17years now, I feel like this is quite some masterpiece. One year after the initial theatre campaign many people seem to relate to the movie, as a concert of Gundermann's songs performerd by director Dresen and lead actor Scheer yesterday in Leipzig was sold out.

The authentic interpretation of Gerhard Gundermanns poetic and mostly deep songs is the most fascinating part of the movie, closely followed by the makeup departments stunningly exact remodeling of Gundermann's face. Even his widow has said in interviews it was spooky to look into the face of her deceased husband just as she remembered it from 15 years ago.

In fact both Dresen's singing and his looks are so close to the original that I have to listen closely when hearing a song from the movie to distinct it from one of the original works of the popular East German songwriter who as many had to find a way of dealing with the profound changes of 1990. the big turning point in Germany's most recent history.

The film also achieves an unbiased perspective leaving it to the spectator to find a point of view towards Stasi activities and SED ideology. A fascinating and totally underrepresented movie on this platform. Just see for yourself.

Uncle Brian (2010)

Shocking youth portrait

[8/10 · 4 October 2017]

This movie takes some twists I definitely did not expect, which let's it stand out among coming of age movies. Brian does not care what other people think of him, but through carefully written dialogues you learn he is not careless, especially not, when he learns his sister is pregnant.

However I have to agree, the comedy label is a bad joke. This is among the darkest and most tragic movies I have seen, and the fact, that most of the actors are quite unknown lends more realism to this story. Anybody remember the song "Jesus of Suburbia" by Green Day? This is a similar story in movie form. I liked it.

American Gods (2017–2021)

Irritating but interesting

[6/10 · 20 May 2017]

The very vague evolution of any plot is irritating, but at the end of season 3 I think I begin to understand what the connecting string is. Interestingly I feel like a lot of other people might find their very own connections, or even like the show without seeing some for themselves.

This is the fascination of "American Gods" which gives you some characters totally out of the blue, not tied to whatever the main plot is (still not too clear in ep. 3) and I kind of had to get to terms with that and was like: Okay, I'll give this one more episode and either dump it or keep watching. Now with a very mean cliffhanger I will keep watching, putting the series on a prolonged probation, to find out if it is as brilliant as some others find it.

(Review might be updated)

Das Lied in mir (2010)

Good drama with plausible story

[7/10 · 5 January 2011]

"Das Lied in mir" (German title) is a pretty good movie. It features good actors in Jessica Schwarz and Rafael Ferro and a fitting (i.e reduced) cinematography to give the actors more room to develop their characters.

Let's have a look at the plot: German citizen Maria is quite astonished, when she recognizes a Spanish children's song. She does not know any other Spanish. When she loses her passport in Buenos Aires, she has to stay there, in order to wait for police and embassy to sort this out.

Her father joins her, apparently because he was so worried, about how his daughter sounded on the phone. But as we learn after he is dodging Maria's questions he is not her real father. She grew up in Buenos Aires was adopted and taken to Germany. And this is not the only lie that gets uncovered and keeps a good amount of suspense in this drama.

While Maria searches for some of her real relatives and Jessica Schwarz is acting well as the distressed daughter she gets help from a cop (Rafael Ferro) who had a German-speaking grandma and can act as her interpreter. At the same time, the man she came to know as her father tries not to lose her completely.

I liked the calm way the plot unfolds, while still having enough suspense and the succinct acting that I feel you get to see more in European productions these days. I think a lot of Hollywood movies are exaggerated and don't feel the least like real life, even if their stories pretend to be real life.

Go and check out for yourself

Jane's Journey (2010)

Sound documentary about a fascinating woman

[7/10 · 30 July 2010]

This documentary is the filmed biography of Jane Goodall, who studied chimpanzees for most of her life. Knauer also lets her point out, what made her change her focus or as she puts it: "I was a scientist and turned into an activist." Watching the movie I got the feeling of getting to know Jane with her sympathetic quirks, her great sense of humor and an incredible amount of energy for a 76-year old woman. She is also wise and a lot of the things she gets to say are really deep. So this is by no means a film to lean back and enjoy but one to broaden one's mind. The only slight flaws I saw were some out of focus shots (though I guess marching through the jungle you don't always have the perfect camera equipment) and some redundancy that I don't think is Jane's fault but the directors. I still liked the movie very much it is really inspiring and gives you hope that you can actually do something to change the world we live in.

StreetDance 3D (2010)

Mediocre Story garnished with breathtaking moves

[6/10 · 4 May 2010]

I am not a big dance movie fan, but I have to admit this mix of the somewhat raw energy of streetdance and the controlled grace of ballet is enjoyable.

First and foremost the brilliant streetdance choreographies are what make the movie worth seeing. The story on the other hand is mostly very predictable and does not offer anything new. I also have to say, that I think you can just as well see this film in the normal version as there were only two scenes with motion directly towards the camera. To me that is the only big difference the relatively new 3D technology makes. I always enjoy when objects or people seem to leave the screen and fly directly towards me.

In a movie where most of the time a lot of people are in motion, I would have expected more of that and think it could have been achieved easily by using more different camera positions. Of course that is much easier in the animated movies, such as Avatar or How to train your dragon. A few mouse clicks did the trick in those cases. But I guess as filmmakers are learning to adjusts to this, we might see more true 3D shots in the sequel.

Die 4. Revolution - Energy Autonomy (2010 TV Movie)

Well filmed documentary really gave me something to think about

[8/10 · 26 April 2010]

This documentary is extremely well filmed at locations all over the world. Before saying more about it, you should know I watched the original German version, so that one is what I'm talking about.

Based on the book by German member of parliament Hermann Scheer, who is also one of the protagonists of this movie, Carl A. Fechner shows, in which ways alternative energies can be used today. As far as I am aware he is correct on the facts, the only thing I disliked is, that it is a slightly biased movie. You get to hear a lot from people who develop or distribute these non-fossile energy forms, but there is only one person speaking for the other side.

Nevertheless the movie gives those a voice whose arguments are often underrepresented in a discussion that has been going on for a while on a topic that needs some action. The sooner the better. If you are a stubborn conservative you will dislike the movie, any open minded person should definitely see it.

Iron Man (2008)

I've seen better

[6/10 · 26 April 2010]

While the first 30 minutes are very well told, in my opinion the storytelling has some weak points from there. Okay we are dealing with the realization of a comic hero here, so let's not overrate that.

So the plot is kind of typical for a superhero movie, I'd say the closest related hero is Batman, because he also does not have any talents by himself but is relying on technical gimmicks. Just as Iron Man does. I really liked the acting, but there were a couple of scenes that I thought were a little stupid. Oh, and the product placement of Audi was a little to obvious for me.

I rented this movie because the sequel is opening today in German theaters, but I will save my money and wait for the DVD, I was not into this enough to go and see it.