pefrss Reviews

Money Monster (2016)

Do not believe TV hosts or for that matter movie stars

[4/10 · 14 May 2016]

In a way the movie is realistic. It shows the culpability of everybody. Those idiots who believe these TV show hosts who promise them heaven on earth if they part with their money, are as culpable as those who take their money or those who help the white collar crime bosses, i.e. hedge fund managers by promoting their agenda.

Over the decades I tried several times to like cable TV and ended up each time canceling the service because I saw no reason to pay money for the stuff offered. That leaves me with antenna TV where I occasionally, while channel surfing, watch a few minutes one of these TV preachers asking for money in exchange for sound advice how to save your soul. It is beyond me how anybody with some kind of brain matter can actually send them money but they obviously do because we know that all these TV preachers are multi millionaires. Now of course these poor souls will only find out after they are dead that their money did not buy them salvation, so none of them will try to take out one of these TV preachers. I have never seen the guy who served as a role model for Clooney's character in this movie, as I do no watch cable but if he is close to the portrayal, anybody who follows him deserves to be punished..

In Money Monster the poor soul ,who invested his money in a hedge fund promoted by the financial adviser/TV host played by George Clooney, tries to held him and the financial company accountable, only to be shot in the end. Sounds realistic to you? The top one percent always get away with it. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster will make millions with a mediocre movie and we who paid for it by watching this drivel are the idiots left with nothing but a bad taste in our mouth. The movie started out okay but became more and more unbelievable as it lumbered along, especially the scenes where they took to the streets with a whole SWAT team in pursuit.

I want them to make movies about the corruption of the financial institutions, the sensationalism of TV shows the deception in our society everywhere we look, But I do not believe one second that these Hollywood stars like George Clooney , who is the producer of this movie, is really interested in achieving change. Not with his life style. Not with his endless self promotion based on nothing but good looks and charm. I do not think he is a very good actor, none of the movies he ever directed or produced was outstanding or remarkable. In everything he ever did he is mediocre, but he is lucky and now he is rich and so he thinks he knows better than others. He may know better than others how to make money, but that is it. He offers no solutions to the problems of our society as this movie clearly demonstrates. Contrary to Clooney I think Jodie Foster is an outstanding actress and I wish she would stick to acting.

The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)

Pure genius

[10/10 · 14 May 2016]

Unfortunately movies like this usually only make it to only one theater in town, which is literally on the other side of town. So I often wait until the movie is available for purchase on DVD to see it . But I made the effort and drove all the way to see this movie and it was worth it. I did it mainly because I love India and the Indians and had enjoyed Dev Patel in his previous movies. I also love movies about geniuses. Especially if they are scientists or artists. Those of us who are no geniuses should learn from these portrayals that we have to tread very carefully when we are around people, who do not fit the rule. Small minds can destroy big minds. And why, if geniuses are inspired directly by God, does God give them so often troubled and short lives? As an atheist I have a hard time understanding this god and I have a hard time understanding geniuses. Life seems so unfair. I wish film makers would not feel the need to distort truth and the marriage of Ramanujan would have been presented in a more realistic way. He married his ten year old wife when he was in his early twenties and left for England when she was only 14. These child marriages were common in India at that time. Gandhi married his wife when he was 13 and she was 14 , but that did not mean that the marriage was consumed at that point in time. Also the age difference in between Hardy and Ramanujan was only a few years, not decades.

Otherwise I loved the movie and wished so much that it would be promoted more widely and young people would see it instead of the crash-and-burn movies which fill the screens everywhere.

Mother's Day (I) (2016)

No candy for mommy

[1/10 · 8 May 2016]

I feel like I have to apologize that I went to see that movie. But it was raining like crazy and I decided to wait it out and see a movie before facing the floods in the roads. I have not seen a movie with Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Kate Hudson and I was surprised how ordinary all of them looked. There are plenty of more beautiful and interesting looking women everywhere I go. So the casting person did the right thing when they gave Kate Hudson rather ordinary parents and an Indian doctor as a husband who did not look very Bollywood. Roberts' wig did nothing for her and the daughter she acquired in that movie looked like somebody else's child. I never liked Pretty Woman and the new combination of Roberts and the director Marshall was even worse. So I have seen Roberts in a movie before... The second surprise was that one of the so-called funny moments in the movie was a very tired scene where a candy bar got stuck in a vending machine. The same thing was used in another movie I recently saw where the whole movie revolved around the stuck candy bar: Demolition. Screenwriters must be on an unhealthy diet ........ And so must be the character Jennifer Aniston played, she acted like a nut case. The movie was filled with one stupid cliché after the other. Divorced husband going for younger woman, parents not accepting partner with different skin color or gender, successful business woman giving up child for adoption, lonely widower not wanting to date.

None of the characters felt real or relatable. It certainly was no feel-good movie , no mother should be subjected to this soap opera. I may have been the target audience and for once they got me, usually my built-in chick-flick detector prevents me to see these kind of movies.

A Hologram for the King (2016)

Unexpected Saudi Arabia with skinny dipping women

[6/10 · 25 April 2016]

Attracted by the filming locations in Morroco and Egypt, which I both visited, and not having seen a Tom Hanks movie in a long time, I was ready to be charmed Well, we all age and the Tom Hanks on this screen is a long cry from 'Big' or 'Joe versus the Volcano'.but he pretty much got the ugly American business man right, though billing him as middle-aged at age sixty is stretching it. I doubt he will reach the ripe age of 120. As the story goes the movie "Lost in Translation" and the acting of Bill Murray did a much better job to portray the alienation a short time visitor feels in a different culture. I have not read the book this story is based on and after watching the movie I have very little desire to do so, but I hope that the book has a little more depth than what we see on screen. The author, the screen writer and the director are all males and consequently this unattractive, failing elderly business man still has all the women he meets falling all over him. At least the women are not twenty or thirty years younger, but only ten or twelve, the reason for that maybe because the director is European where age discrimination against women is not so bad as in the States. Nevertheless I doubt that a fifty year old Saudi Arabian woman goes skinny dipping on her first date, this is pure male fantasy as well as being assaulted by a middle aged woman at a party. I always enjoy watching Sarita Chowdbury though, naked or not. The happy ending seems as improbable as the guy with his driver accidentally ending up in Mecca. The idea behind the movie is interesting, the execution missed the mark. Again Sophia Coppola has done it much better, though I sometimes think she is a one trick pony because I have never seen a movie from her again which captivated me.. .

Anomalisa (2015)

Very realistic, very depressing movie

[7/10 · 24 March 2016]

This is one confusing movie. You do not know what these characters in the movie are? Are they puppets? Are they they animations? Are they real human beings acting like puppets? Is the main character gay because his love interests seem to be men when he talks on the phone to them? Does everybody look the same because they were too lazy to create different types or is it just the main character who sees everybody as the same?.

We follow a motivational speaker on his way from the airport into his luxury hotel and with him experience what the fate of every business traveler is. Subjected to the same talk by taxi drivers, hotel personal and the crushing loneliness in a strange town resulting in having sex with a total stranger, believing for a second that the physical closeness brought real intimacy.

I went to an afternoon showing and there were children in the audience. The characters in the movie, though animations ,look anatomically very real and they perform real sex acts including oral sex. I heard the kids gasping watching the guy go down on the woman and I assume that the adults with these kids did not a lot of research before taking their kids into this R rated movie. I do not see any harm in children seeing nudity, but I think that smaller kids are too young to watch oral sex and explicit sex acts. Oh well, I am probably naive, they all get in from the Inernet anyway nowadays. I thought the movie was a very realistic, i.e. very depressive picture of real life and I walked out of if with a sense of hopelessness.

London Has Fallen (2016)

Unwatchable

[1/10 · 11 March 2016]

Wow, what a mistake to see that movie. I cannot believe that there is anybody who thinks that something like that makes sense. Yeah, the only world leader not to be killed in a massive terrorist attack is the American president and that because he has a bullet-proof security agent and he himself is some kind of a mixture of superhero and combat fighter.

The rest is all blow ups and car or helicopter chases. There is not one original scene or thought in that movie. The whole story is unbelievable and the characters unconvincing and even ridiculous. Shame on Hollywood to produce such drivel.

Room (I) (2015)

Room with no view but full of great performances and love

[10/10 · 9 March 2016]

Saw Room finally. Saw it because it had Oscar nominations and did not really read about it before I went to see it. So I was lost watching it first. I tried to understand why this woman and the child were so poor and lived in a room which was bedroom, bathroom and kitchen and living room and never seemed to go out. Slowly it dawned on me that they were held captive by Old Nick and that the child had never seen the outside world, but knew television and some books and stories told by his mother. I was fascinated. Somehow the film succeeded in making me identify with every character in that movie. I tried to imagine what I would have done or thought if I would have been the mother, the child, Old Nick, the grandmother and grandfather, the partner of the grandmother . I loved the movie. I loved the performances. I loved how it make me think and feel and imagine living in a world reduced to a room . I loved the art the two captives were creating and the love they had for each other. Some people obviously find this movie boring, I was captivated from beginning to end. Awestruck really.

Where to Invade Next (2015)

Bernie Sanders should use this documentary in his campaign

[10/10 · 12 February 2016]

Bernie Sanders should use this documentary in his campaign because nearly everything Moore shows ,Bernie wants to realize in this country.

Michael Moore has no problem convincing me. I lived in Europe, I had 6 weeks paid vacation, I had thirteen salaries, I had good health care, I had short work weeks, I had free public education and I did not know one person who ended up in jail because of drugs. I am also against death penalty , rehabilitation of prisoners and punishment of bankers and hedge fund managers who destroy lives by playing with our money. Moore points out that he cherry-picked the best things. There are plenty of problems in other countries too. But the reality is that people in other countries care more about us than me. The US have become a cruel country.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)

More question than answers, but fascinating to watch

[8/10 · 23 January 2016]

When I learned history in school I had trouble to relate. It seemed that they wanted me to learn mostly dates and places. And dates and places were not able to fascinate me. Luckily I was also an avid reader of fiction and reading historical novels made the events of the past so much more real . So to this day I have a tendency to look at historical events through the interpretation of artists, be it writers, painters, musicians or directors of movies. The older you get the more you realize that even events which happen during your life time and sometimes just around the corner from you are being interpreted in so many different ways, that at the end nobody really knows what happened. The attack in Benghazi certainly falls into this category. So politically charged and obfuscated, what was really going on? So I went to see the movie. First of all the movie was filmed in Malta not in Libya, I have been to Malta not to Libya and while there are similarities, they are not the same. The movie posed more questions than answers for me. Why was there so little security for the compound of the ambassador? Why did the official refused to send help? Why were these highly paid security contractors not used to help? Why did Tripoli refuse to send help? Why did the American base in Italy or Spain did not send help? All these places were not far away? I read somewhere that these American bases took 15 hours before they were able to dispatch somebody??? Why do the Libyan hate the Americans so much? Obviously big failure all around,from the state department to the pentagon and from some bureaucrats. So we are left with a handful of macho super warriors, who finally get permission, to fight hundreds of terrorists and that is the movie. We see this story in American war movies over and over again The super heroes who dodge all bullets while everybody else dies , they keep their sense of humor in even the most volatile situation and come out okay at the other end. Well, not everybody came out okay at the end and the film did a good job showing the humanity of those whose job is to kill and to be tough. So leaving the movie I was as knowledgeable as I was before. I do not know what happened I do not know what is being disguised from us and what orders have been issued to those who were there to shut up. I am glad to know that the surviving members of the warriors resigned and are pursuing a less dangerous life. Would I recommend that movie? Yes, I thought it was interesting but do not think that you know what happened afterward.

The Hateful Eight (2015)

A theater play where the blood drips into audience

[1/10 · 18 January 2016]

This year I decided to see the popular most talked about movies though I knew in advance that I would not like some of them. The Hateful Eight falls in the category I normally would not see. I do not think that the fans of this kind of movie are really appreciating the fact that it is a theater play with endless dialogue. And while I like dialogue, in this movie it did not fit. It is hard to imagine that these kind of people spend hours talking I hate guns and I hate violence and vile language, and the last place where I would enjoy myself is in the emergency room of a hospital where one shot victim after the other is brought in, so for me it is pure punishment to sit through something like this. I am not opposed to recreate history even if it is painful to watch and I thought that Private Ryan did a good job showing and not glorifying war. But this movie did not recreate the Civil War for me.

After suffering through two gore fests :the Hateful Eight and the Revenant ,I am convinced that the only purpose of these blood orgies is to attract people who love cruelty or are mentally underdeveloped and there seem to be plenty of them. Not that the showings I attended were sold out, far from it. None of the actors was convincing because the whole thing was unbelievable, it was not a western and it was not a theater play. It was just an awful orgy of violence, blood and bad language. I left the theater and needed a big bubble bath to wash off all the memory of it. Not that it helped. Never again.

The Revenant (I) (2015)

Unbelievable bloody gore fest. I did not watch most of the time

[1/10 · 16 January 2016]

Yeah, a Hollywood actor can survive the mauling by a huge bear. Can survive being buried half-dead in freezing temperatures. Can survive alone and half dead and wounded in freezing temperatures without food and weapons, swimming in freezing cold water, surviving in wet clothes in freezing temperatures . Miraculously this Hollywood actor can suddenly run when necessary while he limped just a second ago. Though finally arriving at a safe spot still half dead , he is immediately able to go out again and fight his enemy. Half of the movie I closed my eyes because I had no desire to watch the gore fest, the beautiful scenery with stolen Ansel Adams images did not make up for the rest. I should have followed my initial instinct. After watching a preview I thought that this was not a movie for me and I was right. Never again will I fall for the hype. Unbelievable.. Disgusting blood orgy.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

This was my first Star Wars movie and there was no awakening for me

[1/10 · 18 December 2015]

There is a movie theater in town where seniors can see movies for four dollars before four p.m. I take advantage of that if there is a movie I am interested in. Today I decided to give the Star Wars movie a shot if it would not be too crowded. It wasn't. I cannot recall if I ever saw one of the movies in this series before. If, it was not in a movie theater and it did not have my full attention. Of course it was impossible over the decades not to know some of the characters and I was intrigued because Joseph Campbell, who I admired, thought that the Star War movies were outstanding. He was a friend of George Lucas. Well, I may have to get the DVDs of the old Star War movies to judge that, but this movie was not outstanding.

If you are not familiar with the whole thing, you are lost and I was. So my impression of the movie was the following: These white armors. the soldiers on one side, are wearing are completely useless. They could as well wear sweatshirt as far as protection goes. There is an incredible amount of shooting and explosions in this movie, if I would have known that, I would have saved my four dollars, I hate movies with a lot of shooting and explosions and as I thought that this is mainly a movie for children, I did not expect so much violence..

Harrison Ford looks his age. As I have not seen the previous movies, I did not really understand who he was and what he stood for. Obviously he is too old for the franchise now , so they killed him off. This film has been promoted on every single show from early in the morning until late at night and so I happened to see one show where Lupita Nyong'o was introduced as a member of the cast. I have to admit that I did not see her. Maybe she was wearing a mask?

I saw a lot of merchandising stuff. Not that I ever bought anything related to a movie, but I thought that little round robot was cute. Is that available as a toy?

I guess this movie is only meant for people who are already fans. It certainly did not gain a fan in me. Actually I was bored and disappointed. At the end it felt like a boring TV series with a cliff hanger trying to keep you hooked. . By far the most interesting thing in the theater was my neighbor who seemed to masturbate all through the movie, maybe he also thought that the movie was not exciting enough.

Spotlight (I) (2015)

I have no faith that priests can live without sex

[10/10 · 21 November 2015]

This is a well made, well acted movie. Worth while seeing. Reading the reviews there is one review which claims that the story was really broken by Kirsten Lombardi working for an alternative Boston paper called Phoenix. She does not get any credit in this movie. I have found often that these alternative papers dig out a good story and because they do not have the resources of big newspapers are not able to follow up the same way. Nowadays there is not much money for investigative journalism anywhere. Everything is owned by a few corporations who impose their agenda on the news staff, which is very sad and worry-some. This movie also shows that journalists embedded in a community may not question thoroughly those which have been their friends since childhood and who may threaten their survival in that community. It sometimes takes an outsider to force the spotlight on things. That became evident in the journalist played by Michael Keaton. First I suspected that he might have been molested himself, but then it turned out that he had ignored the story twenty years prior though it was served to him on a platter. In this respect the movie was well rounded and realistic. It is also realistic about the abuse children had to suffer by priests. I was raised Catholic, I never encountered an abusive priest during my childhood. But there were plenty of indications that priests were suspected to have sex. With their housekeeper or with devoted church ladies. I remember people making jokes about it and finding it okay. In my personal opinion I consider it abuse that the Catholic church forces priests and nuns to live a sexless life. It is against nature and obviously nature takes revenge. If priests and nuns could marry the Catholic church would probably not have such a huge shortage of people willing to serve. I have left the Catholic church the moment I legally could. As a woman I saw no role models and no place for me. I looked at all the other religions in this world and decided that none of them appeals to me. Religion may be a comfort to some people, but it also seems to be the breeding ground for so much hate and so much violence. So for decades I have lived happily without religion or faith. A strange thing happened to me and a few dozen of other movie go-ers while trying to see the movie. We were informed by the theater management that they could not show the movie because they did not have permission. We were refunded and offered to see other movies instead. This was a first for me in decades of movie going. I ended up seeing this movie in a different theater run by a different company, they obviously had permission

Spectre (I) (2015)

World travel with James Bond

[8/10 · 16 November 2015]

This is the first James Bond film I have seen with Craig in it. I liked some of the old classics, but did not think that Bond brand should continue forever. I saw this one because I read somewhere that there was some spectacular scenes from a "Day of the dead"parade in Mexico in it. And I was not disappointed, just these scenes alone were worth the price of admission for me. I have to admit that I hate to watch violence, so I spent quite some time in the movie not watching. But I also laughed on several occasions, some of the Bond brand is so retro and it took me back a few decades. I enjoyed the trip around the world and was entertained, but for the fight scenes. Obviously they cannot come up with new ideas to improve the Aston Martin, so this time the car was mainly good for a long and sometimes spectacular chase. Spectacular were also the helicopter stunts. I like Craig, but in my mind Sean Connery will always be 007.

Suffragette (2015)

Revolution not Gandhi style

[10/10 · 13 November 2015]

Sometimes I feel like I am the only one supporting important movies in my town. When I entered the theater to watch Suffragette, I was the only one. Only shortly before the movie started not even a dozen more people showed up. All women. This is a movie which should be seen by young people instead of all these car chasing and blow up movies. Not that there were no blow ups in this movie. The Suffragettes were quite violent and bombed mailboxes and houses. there was also plenty of violence against women and I would prefer that young people see this realistic violence instead of the video game-like violence, they consume in the blockbusters. This is a great movie, well acted, moving and with historical interest. I did not quite understand what Merryl Streep was doing in this movie beside providing a big American name, but the rest of the cast was well chosen. Not that Merryl was not great, she always is. The movie moves you to run to the next voting booth and cast your vote. It seems that the suffering from these ground-breaking women is not really valued by the women who came after them, if you look at voter participation. The end of the movie was not really the end win of the Suffragettes , that came only after WWI. But before the finale credits run, we see a list of when women (and sometimes all men) got their voting rights in different countries. It was fascinating.

A Walk in the Woods (2015)

Trying to get excitement into old age

[8/10 · 28 October 2015]

There are so few films made for the baby boomer and older generation that I usually see them all, just to encourage the people who make them. I enjoyed this movie very much. Beautiful landscapes, two old men, who are taking on a real challenge portrayed by two great actors. Much reflection about life's meaning and how to handle old age. All handled with a lot of humor. This is the second film I saw lately about somebody hiking long distances to sort out their lives. The other one was Wild with Reese Witherspoon. My personal dream would be to do something like this by bike. Biking is meditation for me. It is difficult to watch Robert Redford and not be puzzled by the fact that he is nearly eighty. Not that he does not look old, he does, but for his age he is incredibly fit and alert. I was a little bit unhappy about the fact that he was paired with Emma Thompson, who is in her fifties. That old Hollywood standard that the woman of a major star always has to be much younger is so tired. Probably Redford's character was supposed to be in his sixties, but he looks too old for that. Nick Nolte was nearly unrecognizable . He is in his mid-seventies. Whatever he did in his life, it shows. But he has not lost his acting skills in the process. So the two men easily carried the film together with the beautiful Appalachian trail.

Phoenix (II) (2014)

Great movie experience

[10/10 · 27 October 2015]

The ending of this film alone deserves the ten rating. I cannot remember ever having seen a more moving and better acted perfect ending. I have seen many movies about that time period and I have to say the best and most authentic looking to me were made by German speaking crews. Somehow they manage better to show the complexity of feelings and motivations of the people involved into atrocities of the Third Reich from both sides. Again in this movie. The heroine suffers through Auschwitz and disfiguring due to the betrayal of her husband, but somehow refuses to believe that her husband does not love her. it is heartbreaking. I really did not want to see another film about the Holocaust. But this film is about the illusion of being loved, while in reality your partner betrays you. See it, if you can. I found the movie today in an obscure little theater with bargain prices and i think I will see the movie again before the end of the week. I will also buy it on DVD . I had seen Barbara with the same director and lead actress before but only on DVD. I prefer to see real good movies on the big screen.

The Martian (2015)

Starving yourself does not work, you just stay well fed

[2/10 · 17 October 2015]

To my big surprise I liked the Bourne movies with Matt Damon and this is why I went to see this "Mars"movie with him. (I am not an action movie fan)

Am I the only one who gets tired of seeing big stars raking in millions for a movie where they basically behave like they do on every talk show they visit to promote their movies. George Clooney comes to mind too. I have not read the book and after the movie I probably won't. But I understand that there was a lot of danger and suspension in the book, not so in the movie. Damon obviously is too big a star now to go through the trouble and actually loose weight for a role where he is supposed to nearly starve to death. Instead we get a naked, emaciated body of somebody else walking through the room and the well-fed Damon for the rest of the movie after eating minuscule portions for months. Decades ago I loved to see the NASA movies on Imax whenever I visited Houston or Cape Kennedy. None of the movies about space I have seen lately gave me the same sense of awe-inspiring greatness of our universe. I just sit there and ask myself if it is all filmed in a studio or in some desert , or is it all the work of computers? Nothing awe inspiring.

Well, I should have learned my lesson by now, if a movie is really pushed by the studio I am always disappointed. Luckily I paid only four bucks to see it.

Irrational Man (2015)

A murder movie and I was the criminal

[8/10 · 14 August 2015]

Every summer I look forward to Woody Allen newest offering and I always enjoy his movies, some more than others. In the last years two movies especially stayed with me and I own them and watch them from time to time. My favorite is Match Point, probably the music, the visual art and the story line of luck determining your life convinced me. The other is Blue Jasmine because it is one of the best performances by an actress I have ever seen. In all of his movies I can find something which seems to be unbelievable or far fetched. In the Irrational Man it is a little bit hard to believe that an alcoholic, overweight professor attracts so much positive attention and female desire. But I have seen similar cases on campus where students throw themselves into the arms of much older not very attractive professor, whose shady reputation is based on some meager publications. So I guess it is not so far fetched. I somehow can understand that he chooses murder to spice up his unsatisfying life. And once you did it once, the second one comes much easier. The photography is stunning in this movie, I cannot remember the music , the set decorations seemed sort of old fashioned and last not least the acting was outstanding. Woody has a hand to get the best out of his actors and Joaqin Phoenix has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I did not think that it was a very funny movie, but it certainly kept my attention from the beginning to the end.

This is was my first movie since the latest shootings in movie theaters and my bag was searched when I presented my ticket. It might have been my last movie I am going to see in a movie theater. First the powers in charge ruined my flying experience by punishing me for the actions of some terrorists and now I am being punished for the failure of the system to get help to mentally disturbed people, who on top of that can buy as many weapons and ammunition as they want to. My response is more and more to withdraw from all kind of activities which seem to be the target of these homegrown terrorists. And I refuse to be searched like a criminal everywhere I go.

Tomorrowland (2015)

Tomorrow is in a large genetically modified wheat field

[2/10 · 27 May 2015]

There was a time in my life, decades ago, that I had to visit Disneyland and Disneyworld on a regular basis. I did not really mind and some of the attractions never lost their charm and magic. When I saw the promotions for Tomorrowland I tried to remember the attraction and could not. As forgettable is this film. I am for sure not the target audience, but there were Disney movies in the past which could hold my attention. This one put me to sleep and only the fact that the theater people cranked up the ac to the freezing point kept me awake.

I do not get it. I do not get the message of the movie. I did not understand why the girl wanted to destroy the NASA facility, but to ensure her father's employment. I did not see why the Tomorrowland portrayed would be something to strive for. Given, we saw very little of it. The wheat fields with the towers in the distance did not tell us anything about the future but maybe that we will eat more gmo food in the future and the short visits of the various kids showed us nothing but some people walking around in costumes and public transportation systems which exist basically everywhere but in the States. It looked like a commercial for the attraction, not something anybody would want to live in.

If I would have had any idea that most of the movie would be stupid fights with toy robots on steroids and a lot of explosions I would not have spent a dollar to see it. Somehow I was hoping for some kind of intelligent message which would tell our children to take care of our world to preserve it for tomorrow. I did not see it.

The original Disneyland was a good idea and has survived for decades and enchanted millions. Somebody dragged me into one of the Pirates of the Caribbeans movies at the time and I did not like it either. Sometimes you just cannot improve on something good. As for George Clooney. Boy, he looks old in this movie and he still cannot act. I hope he only made this movie to make enough money to buy new clothes for his wife, not because he is planning to become a father. He is too old for that.

Ex Machina (2014)

Deus Ex Machina- A closet full of custom made women

[8/10 · 28 April 2015]

I happened to be the only woman in that afternoon showing of this movie I attended. I am a big fan of dystopian literature and films and happened to catch one critic's recommendation for Ex Machina though I had not heard anything else about the movie otherwise. Maybe women do not dream about creating the perfect man, at least I have not seen or read about it, women resign to reality.. But starting with Stepford wives there seems to be a constant stream of artificial women being created by men who do not want to deal with reality.

In this case one single billionaire,Nathan,search engine owner, living in a beautiful remote bunker adorned with priceless artwork and the most beautiful nature surrounding him, created himself a closet full of beautiful women robots of all colors. To test how well the artificial intelligence he gave his creations works, he invites one of his employee, Caleb, to stay with him for one week and asks him to evaluate his robot Ava, i.e. Eva the first woman. Obviously Nathan extracted the personal preferences of Caleb from the search engine and created the ideal woman for him and subsequently Caleb falls for the robot and tries to escape with it. To see how that ends you have to see the movie.

I enjoyed the movie. Good acting. An absolute unique setting and a good script. I would just go back and see the movie again to see that stunning Pollock painting and I wonder if one of the paintings was a Gustav Klimt. I am sure it was a coincidence that I happened to be the only woman in that showing, on the other hand which woman wants to watch how she is being replaced by a robot?

Mike & Molly (2010–2016)

Great black and white cast

[9/10 · 16 March 2015]

I stumbled on this show watching reruns on a channel which shows only reruns and I caught the first two episodes and thought they were extremely funny. What especially attracted me to the show is the fact that the cast is more or less half white and half black . I did not grow up in the States and before I came here , that is how I always imagined it to be. All races living happily together and being friends. Not the reality unfortunately.

After seeing more episodes I saw some stuff I did not care about, Molly becoming a writer and catering to an outrageous famous writer, played by Susan Sarandon. But the show is always saved by all the other players . First of all Mike, stoic Mike who seems improbable as a police officer as you cannot imagine him following any suspect without getting a heart attack, but who makes you wish there would be a police officer like him in your neighborhood. And of course Carl, who is just as lovable and unable to find love. Molly's mother and sister are priceless and I had to look it up where I remember Swoosie Kurtz from. It was the TV series Sisters in the 90s and WOW she has not aged. The always high and always kind sister of Molly is the counterpoint to the always mean mother of Mike and Carl's grandmother balances out with her realism and witty Samuel amuses with his tales of Africa. Vince, Joyce's boyfriend/fiancé/husband is a very well drawn character and very believable, I met a few people like him.

I guess all shows become difficult after a few years. Two and a half men was entertaining for the first year or so and then became repetitive and even the Big Bang Theory struggles . I guess real life is not always so funny and writers run out of good ideas and there is certainly no laugh track running in the background of my life, which is good because I do not like laugh tracks. I do not like to be told when to laugh.

CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (1979– )

Looking forward to it all week

[10/10 · 16 March 2015]

I am always looking forward to the CBS Sunday Morning show, especially in winter. In summer I have a little bit of a conflict because I usually go on a long bike ride on Sundays and I am not good at recording things. Most of the time I enjoy all the segments, even if the subject does not interest me first, they usually succeed to hold my interest. I am especially looking forward to segments about visual art, architecture and classical music. Something which you barely find in any other show. I could live without celebrity interviews if they are from the movie or pop music kind. There is enough of that on every single talk show. I nearly always follow up on the artists they feature and find out more about them . Great inspiring show.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

Second Best - a little bit of Bollywood

[7/10 · 6 March 2015]

I did not really think it was necessary to make a sequel to The first Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. But I could not resist returning to Jaipur and watch that great group of British and Indian actors again. Somehow I felt like the inclusion of an American actor was only written in to make the film even more popular in the US. I did not care so much about the story line this time. While the first movie seemed more realistic to me, the second one looked more like a fairy tale. More Bollywood, and I was expecting everybody to break out in song and dance at any moment.

Yeah, seniors in their sixties or seventies are going to attract plenty of love interest and Indian wealthy men are going to be competing for a senior British lady, who finally falls for a driver. Nearly 80 year old women are going to get great jobs, while the men have to stutter their ways through tour guiding and watering down wine.

Not only makes the movie people believe that India is a very beautiful exotic inexpensive place (which she is with exceptions) but that everybody regardless of age will get a job there.

About the Indian part, I wish I would have found anything remotely as pretty and exotic as the Marigold Hotel in India. Even the Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur was not so exotic when I visited and Jaipur in general looked messier than the one shown in this film. Since the movie the Monsoon Wedding I was impressed by Indian weddings, but somehow it seems that now every movie about India has to include an elaborate wedding and it makes you wonder how people who obviously do not make much money can afford such expensive affairs. Not that I mind seeing a little bit of Bollywood and I love seeing people dance in India. So no complaints there.

Well, I guess the movie is still good entertainment for the target group to which I belong, but it is second best and has obviously been put together out of greed. .

American Sniper (2014)

Killing machine made into a hero

[1/10 · 25 February 2015]

I was very reluctant to see this movie, but then decided that I should see it because it is so popular. I liked some of Eastwood movies and did not like this one. It was just one killing after the other.

I did not pay for it. Thanks for that. I did not enjoy the movie, I do not enjoy watching people killing other people. I did not enjoy the implication that this war was okay and what the US did over there was okay. There are these millions of Nazi films showing how effective the German military was. Does that make it right?Should we glorify certain Nazis because they were good at what they were doing?

Obviously Clint Eastwood as director and Bradley Cooper as producer and star knew exactly which trigger points to use to get the average non-thinking American to get into the movie theater and like this movie.. While we are now dealing with thousands mental and bodily cripples in this country due to this war , this guy obviously got over his killing spree without problems. The number of disabled veterans has jumped by 25 percent since 2001 _ to 2.9 million _ and the cause really is no mystery. And as we are hearing in the news a lot of the Veterans seeking help get ignored by the authorities. While the companies who were working as non military support in these wars made a killing financially. I would have applauded this movie if it would have shown much more how the life of these soldiers who signed up for these wars, was destroyed by it. How the life of the soldier's families got ruined by killed or disabled family members who served.

There was no reason for this war in the first place and we all have to live with the consequences for the next decades. This is why so many veterans commit suicide, this is why we have veterans running amok with PTSD or just drop out of regular life. In former wars like the WWs for example, everybody had to serve and when they came back all of them had the same experience. In these wars with the voluntary army you have a few who have to carry the burden and are deployed over and over again until they are mentally or bodily destroyed.

Military is brainwashing. Brainwashing somebody to become a killing machine without thinking. Just following orders. Will that ever stop?