Flufffysheep Reviews

Princess (2021)

Heartwarming and heartbreaking

[8/10 · 7 March 2024]

Prinzessin is a fascinating and heartwarming story about the unique relationship between an uncle and his niece - subvided in two stages of their life - that takes an unexpected turn. Although the story is told quietly and slowly, you never feel bored. You just want to follow the two main characters, both young and old, on their way through life, you laugh and cry with them and just wish the best for them. This is why the movie would be nothing without its great actors. Lia Hahne is the cutest girl and plays her part very well just as Johanna Bantzer, the performances of Matthias Habich and Fabian Krüger as Joseph are just overwhelming.

I would have given it an even better rating, but I am too sick of movies about drug addicts that make their families and friends look like one-dimensional heartless beings. While Joseph is shown as a struggling, yet loving and warm-hearted person, Nina's mother is cold, distant and arrogant (and not only her), in her short screentime you never see her laugh or cry or showing any kind of true affection towards her daughter. I know that this is a common way to make it easier for the viewer to take sides for the addicted one. But it takes away much credibility from the movie for me. It feels like a slap in the face of people who suffer from drug addicted famliy members, day after day, year after year, until they just can't stand it any longer. There is no need to present them as just mean and callous. Nina and Joseph are lovely enough to empathize with them AND their family.

That is my only criticism. Dispite of that I can really recommend this movie to everyone who has a heart. But beware: The second half of the movie might not be what you expected.

The Lodge (2019)

Atmospheric, but way too constructed

[6/10 · 2 July 2022]

The lodge is a dark and atmospheric thriller that really has its moments. The setting and the sounds are well done. And I really like the concept, that the roles of vitctim and offender aren't so obvious. You somehow feel for both sides and distrust both sides.

The main problem of the film is: It is way too constructed to really get into it, even for a horror movie. The children hate Grace and think, that she is responsable for the suicide of her mother. They have never met her before. And she suffers a mental disease and needs medics everyday. What kind of father and husband would ever force his family into such an uncomfortable, scary and even dangerous (they have no chance to escape in case of a medical emergency) situation? And the children? They are obviously afraid of Grace. They think, she is a psycho who was involved in the death of her whole family - and she has a gun. Even if not, how would they ever plan anything like that, even steel her medicine, without any fear this could end up really really bad for them? Why didn't the dog return? How could Grace accidently find his small white body in the great white wilderness? How can a young girl keep up a lie like that without revealing herself accidentally? Why did Grace end up at the Lodge again, after she tried to escape? In the end, the film leaves to many questions to be really satisfying.

Maybe, if the creators didn't try so hard to force an "Oh my god"-plottwist and concentrated more on logic and continuity instead, this could have been a very good movie. A missed opportunity.

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

No simple answers

[8/10 · 8 February 2022]

What makes this film so beautiful is the courage of the creators not to give simple answers to difficult questions. They do not ask: Who is to blame? There is no good or evil. This is just an exciting and loveable story about a familiy trying its best to get through a difficult time. The characters have true feelings, all with their own strengthes and weaknesses and own desires. Sometimes they fail and come to a wrong decision, but this is just human. You really feel with the characters because they feel like real persons and not like figures in a script. The actors, especially Moore and Bening, are doing a wonderful job. The only thing that bothers me is the affair of Jules and Paul. It just feels wrong and comes out of nowhere, especially because there is no hint that Jules is bisexual. It's like seeing a heterosexual man suddenly getting horny for another man just because of marital problems.

Nevertheless this is a wonderful family drama not about a "lesbian family" but just about a familiy. So if you are sick of films about stupid people doing stupid things that no one would ever do in real life: Watch this movie, you won't be disappointed.

The House at the End of Time (2013)

If you liked "El orfanato" and "El espinazo del diablo" you will enjoy this one

[7/10 · 3 February 2022]

This movie was quite surprising. Surprisingly good, as I would not have thought of such refreshing ideas in a horror movie, for this has become a true rarity in this genre. And it offers some really good and surprising twists, another rarity in the horror genre. There are some plotholes, sure, (who will cast the first stone?) but all in all this is a good and effective horror movie that focuses more on the characters than on jump scares and has a (most of the time) well-thought-out story. Its spirit positively reminded me of "El orfanato" and "El espinazo del diablo".

The Virgin Suicides (1999)

I didn't get it

[4/10 · 3 February 2022]

After all the positive critics I really wanted to see this movie. I expected a small piece of art instead of an exciting rollercoaster. But the longer I watched it, the more I was wondering, where all the good critics come from. I tried to focus on aspects like imagery, music and so on. But in the end to me this was just a trivial movie about trivial people doing trivial things until some of them kill themselves...

The main problem is: None of the characters raises any kind of empathy. The girls are empty shapes with no spirit, no individuality, no soul at all. They are lifeless, exchangeable mannequins. Their death left no impact on me. I just... noticed it. Same for the boys. Exchangeable figures with no life, no soul. I could not even keep them apart, neither the boys nor the girls. Everybody in this movie is a walking cliché of what an 80 year old person would think is a typical teenager's behaviour. This might have some very deep and meaningful reasons, but it ruins the story for me. I wasn't interested in anything happening on screen, it just bored me.

Optically the flick is pretty nice. Camera and light are beautiful, the slow storytelling is fine. But that does not save the film. Nor do the "Oh so deep"-commentaries of one of the faceless boys or a random metaphor here and there. Maybe one's youth must have been similar to these ones to get the point of the film or to sympathise with the characters. I could not.

Grimm (2011–2017)

Really entertaining - until season 4 and in the dubbed version

[6/10 · 1 May 2016]

First of all: You can really have fun with that series. The plot might not be very innovative, all in all "Grimm" is yet another mystery-series beneath the many many mystery-series out there. However it is really entertaining for two reasons: First, the episodes are mostly well written, amusing and exciting. Second, you immediately have a crush on the characters. Especially the supporting roles like Hank, Monroe, Rosalie, Trubel, Sean Renard or the adorable Sgt. Wu are likable and interesting, not only pale patterns, but "real" persons with their own life and own specialties. Even Juliette, who is curiously hated by so many fans, is (until season 4) a pleasant character to me, not such a disgusting Mary Sue with superpowers and childhood trauma, but a normal girl (and a good emotional support for Nick), you can easily sympathize with.

I could have lived with the extremely awkward and embarrassing attempt to imitate a foreign language only with the help of an unpaid trainee with a dictionary from the flea market on his knees. I don't know, how much the creators earn on every episode, but I can't believe, there haven't been left 20 dollars to pay one of the millions of German native speakers to ask him, if the words they created are correct (spoiler: they are not) and how they are pronounced.

Fortunately, we still dub foreign series in Germany, so I did not have to listen to that gibberish nonsense and was able to enjoy "Grimm". And I DID enjoy it - until the fatal season 4... While most series have to reach season 7 or 8, until the greed for "Faster, higher, further" ruins the whole franchise, "Grimm" manages to do that already after 3 and a half. Making Juliette more interesting? For my sake. But turning her into a bitch-witch-fury, that kills Nicks mom, and smoothing the way for a soap-opera-like Nick-Adalind-Shipping? No, thanks. I am out.

It's a pity for the lovely characters whose fate I really cared for. But I rather quit now, than watch one more season and regret it. Yet I can keep it in fond memory.

Prisoners (2013)

Could have been good - and turns into a complete failure

[2/10 · 28 March 2016]

"Prisoners" might be the best example for a movie, that could have been really good, but then fails in every single way and leaves you behind with a mix of anger, irritation and sheer disappointment. What could have been a good movie with interesting ideas, great actors and difficult moral questions turns into a boring and annoying peace of Hollywood-average-garbage by trying to satisfy a Hollywood-average-audience, who expect every story to turn into a fluffy fairy tale with simple answers, happy endings and the destruction of evil... All proceedings after the first half of the movie are so forced and stupid and inconsistent with the whole storyline, they just lead you to face palm yourself again and again and again.

What did upset me the most - beside the incredible incompetence of the on-screen-police and the fact that no one in the movie seems to give a sh** about the fate of Alex and Bob, who were victims just like the two girls - were the following points:

1) Both Keller and Detective Loki try to reach their goal by using brute force without searching for alternatives.

°Real-life-consequence: Every innocent victim will die: The young men - directly or indirectly - by the hands of Keller/Loki, the girls, because no one ever got the idea to ask a psychologist to TALK to the two obviously mentally ill/disordered boys to find an answer. Instead they are tortured or lead into suicide, the only chance to find a trace gets literally smashed, which gives the real kidnapper enough time to accomplish her work. (Which is even more annoying, after Loki must have recognized, that he came furthest with cool-headed investigation, while his fit of rage did ruin everything)

°Prisoners/Hollywood-consequence: That's alright, because in the end everything will be fine, no matter what you do, because you are the good guy. Just sit down and relax, god and destiny will fix everything for you and turn the world into a lollipop-sky-loft with cute little rainbow-unicorns.

2) Alex, a mentally ill, traumatized and, as we see, innocent boy, is tortured and violated in the most brutal way, with heat, frost, darkness, his head is nearly smashed and who knows what other bodily parts,too.

°RLC: If lucky, Alex will die by the terrible injuries or a following inflammation, as he had no water, no food and the old house was full of dirt. In any case he will keep long-term damages, not only physically, he is now more traumatized than ever before. Almoust certainly he is going to kill himself sooner or later.

°P/HC: That's alright, just put an article into a newspaper about a wonderful family-reunion, so the audience will know, he will live happily ever after - you know, with the rainbow-unicorns I mentioned before.

3) Keller didn't achieve anything by his outrage, except leaving his family alone in their fear and grief, (nearly) killing an innocent boy, playing into the hands of kidnapper Holly Jones by keeping away Alex, who could have given a real clue with the real treatment, and turning himself into a victim of evil Holly by acting careless and imprudent.

°RLC: Keller will die in that hole in the belief, that his daughter is dead - which will happen with the utmost probability. Even if he escaped, his family would turn away from him (if his wife did not die accidentally of an overdose of sleeping pills before, which is most likely), because he did not care about them all the time, brought his daughter into great danger and turned himself into a monster by violating a victim like his own daughter without any effect. He will go to jail for that - just like his two friends, whose daughter will then have no parents anymore, just like Anna is left behind with an imprisoned father, a disillusioned brother and a mother addicted to pills.

°P/HC: That doesn't matter, because you're meant to be the good guy, and good guys always get saved in the end, and if anybody had a doubt about the fact, that you're the good guy, your wife will point it out loudly and proudly for the audience once more and explain, that you just did what you had to do (which does not make any sense at all, because his actions lead into nothing), that everything will be alright now and that you will be forgiven for everything.

It was an interesting idea for a movie to ask the question: How far would you go to save someone you love, and what if it turns you into a more awful monster than the one you are chasing? Because in the end there is not much difference between Holly and Keller and between what they are willing to do to innocent children. The main character has done everything wrong and his actions had to be leading into a dark and deep abyss - including the death of his daughter, the death of Alex, the imprisoning of his friends, maybe the accidentally suicide of his wife and, not to forget, his own death. Instead the moral of this story is, that the end always justifies the means, torture and witch hunt are alright, no matter against whom, when you're the good guy, as who you are above reproach. In my opinion this movie is a complete failure, because the creators were too scared or too contracted (or too scared of a contracted audience) to bring their storyline to an adequate ending.