Change Your Image
veronika-lackerbauer
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Revenant (2015)
Revenge just for revenge's sake
First of all: Yes, I am glad that Leo got the Oscar. Finally. 'bout time. Although I have to say that he had about a dozen movies deserving it better than this!
A man witnesses the murder of his son and ever after fights his way through all obstacles to take revenge on the murderer. So far, so fair. Anyone being a parent would relate to that one. But anyone who has lost a dear one will also know: Hate, pain and desperation can be eased by nothing... ... except maybe forgiveness. Only like half an hour into the movie I knew: He mustn't get his revenge. If this movie is worth only a penny he mustn't get his revenge. The rest is quite a bit to watch. Lots of very beautiful landscape shoots. A hell of a lot of blood and guts and disgust. Leo is suffering and suffering and suffering, he fights and fights and still keeps on fighting. In the end he arrives at the Fort, he finds his enemy, he dares him and at this point of the story you start asking yourself what's this all about. What is the point? What does it want to tell us? The murderer says a quite reasonable thing in the end. He says: This is your revenge, enjoy it, but it will not bring your son back. That's it. It will not bring him back. There are too guys with nothing left to loose and they lay in the snow fighting each other, trying to cut off as many limbs as possible but - why? Where's the sense? They could stand for the insanity of mankind itself. Could be. Next moment the Revenant remembers something: Revenge is not upon man it is only upon god. This would have been a good punch line. Let go of it, it doesn't bring you any relief. However revenge is not upon god in that movie, at least not if god isn't an old Indian chief who was in search of his kidnapped daughter all along. The Revenant lets go off his enemy and witnesses how he gets killed by the Indian tribe. He himself gets spared because he accidentally saved the life of the Indian princess earlier. The end is a bit ... flat. Uninspired. Plain. Would have been waiting for more deepness. Leo had a bunch of real deep roles in other movies making of him the actor he is and for being the actor he is he got the Oscar. It's alright with me.
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
Right movie at the wrong time
I dare say that kind of Hollywood-Blockbuster-Action was a greater entertainment when it wasn't so real. Remember "Independence Day"? It was funny, it was suspenseful and in the end you left the cinema thinking: Hey, yeah, but... honestly... aliens?!? Terrorists are f***ing commonplace nowadays! I thought like more than just once: Why showing them how it'd work? Why invite them? The reason gets obvious quite soon: For letting them know that America will never be wrestled down by terrorism. Nobody will ever defeat America. They can be weakened, they can be heartstriken but they will never ever be defeated. God bless you all. And god bless the United States of America...
And Gerald Butler. Because if anything else won't work, he will save America single-handedly. Very patriotic. Very pathetic. But nowadays not very amusing.
The Butler (2013)
More up-to-date than ever ...
Nowadays racism has become a big subject once again. This movie shows where it all comes from and what generations before ours have done to stop it! It's a historical movie that helps understand the present. It is also a movie about devotion, love, family bonds ... It is a love story. A story about a real devoted man who loves what he is doing. A story about a young boy with a devastating childhood who works his way up to the White House. A story about a father who looses contact with his children. I admire the stylists and make-up artists of movies that tell the story of so many years and who manage to let the actors age authentically. Very much recommendable!!
Dance Academy (2010)
My 12-year-old self is deeply in love with this series
I came across "Dance Academy" years too late. I'm already in my thirties but I know that I would have loved every single episode of this Australian dance series when I was a teenager. There's everything in it you need: authentic characters, lots of dancing, lots of romance, a bit of drama, a bit of tragedy... the perfect mixture! Tara and her friends are highly professional dancers but they are teenagers coming of age at the same time. And none of them is a cliché. I don't like children or teenage movies that don't take children or teenagers seriously. "Dance Academy" does. It's been some time but I still remember what it felt like back than and the series feels just the same! It's so sad it ended after season three and the last season is even much shorter than the other two. I read that there might be a spin-off movie, I do so much hope there will be one!!
The Hateful Eight (2015)
A genius has left the building...
Yesterday a supernaturally gifted genius has disenchanted himself in my opinion. The director who's responsible for the best and the best and the second-best movie of all times from my point of view, has also made the two worst movies ever. Tarantino can do it only big, just in superlatives, either it's one or the opposite pole. But "The hateful eight" is just so damn ordinary that I feel personally offended by it. I doubt that I will ever go watching another Tarantino again.
There's a lot of violence and blood which is a common stylistic device in Tarantino's works. I'm not much bothered by that. After ten minutes you get used to it and overlook it. But in his earlier masterpieces there lay a deeper meaning in all this brutality which I sorely missed in this one. Some parts are so chewy and long-winded that it's enough to put you to sleep. There are plenty of well renown actors as usual but they act without enthusiasm and persuasion.
All in all this movie is not worthy the title Tarantino movie.
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
Go see it - it's worth it!
This movie is likely to be the worst movie I've ever watched. It's not only incredibly bad work concerning special effects and make-up but also a lousy performance of all highly decorated actors. I can't believe that Marlon Brando accepted a role in such a project. He was awarded a "Golden Raspberry" for his performance and he deserves it. H.G.Wells novel contains a lot of social critics and critics on sciences and medicine. There's nothing left from Well's intentions in that adaption from 1997. I'd recommend reading the book rather than wasting time with that movie. But after all this movie is bad on such a level that it is already worth being watched!
Warm Bodies (2013)
Zombies in the "Twilight" zone
While watching this movie I frequently thought: Wow, this storyboard must be written by a true illusionist. At the same time I thought what a freaky movie to be presented within afternoon hours. The zombies and especially the "bonies" look creepy like taken directly from a horror movie. Some parts of the movie are full of suspense and thrill. At least one could think it a teeny horror movie. But that is only one part of the story. The other is an rather ugly dead boy falls in love with a beautiful living girl. Sounds a bit like the Gothic version of "Beauty and the beast" or like "Twilight". But I bet that most teenage girls have experienced moments with boys their age which made them believe boys are zombies. You might know guys who could do with a good shower and some hairstyle before presenting themselves in front of the living. And I'm sure that lots of teenagers very clearly know how to behave, just like R, but when they act they rather feel like zombies. So you see, after all it's just an coming-of-age comedy.
Identity Thief (2013)
For a boring rainy Sunday afternoon... why not?
Sure, this is a RomCom and it offers not much what we haven't seen before in other comedies with at least as much fun. It might not be worth spending money at the movies but it is definitely worth being watched on a boring rainy Sunday afternoon when nothing else could be better than watch a movie and have some fun. McCarthy is quite funny in her role as the identity thief. And she helps her co-actors to some funny moments. The story has nevertheless some logical gaps. First of all: Why does the police not chase down criminals and put them to jail? Why is poor Sandy (m) from Denver forced to travel down to Florida and hunt after Sandy (f) to get back his stolen identity? Who else is hunting her beneath Sandy and a headhunter? Why don't they just disable the faked credit cards to stop her? Anyway, the road movie part of the story works pretty well and if you don't expect the movie to reinvent the wheel it works as well.