OlliBLN's Reviews

In 3 Tagen bist du tot (2006)

8/10

6 November 2007

Warning: Spoilers

This is a nice little movie from a country, which is not that well known for movies in the international movie-scene! ( which does not mean, that their movies are bad!! ) At the end of teenie horror wave here comes a little horror-thriller about 5 young students passed luckily their MATURA ( maybe like finish of High School ), good friends since Primary school. They received messages on their cell's telling "In 3 days you're dead!" One by one of disappeared and get killed.

The acting is good, in Germany released with the "original version" - means Austrian dialect - makes it more realistic, a little charming town in the Alps... But the special effects are totally disappointing and silly. Away of "Less would have been more", if the director would have been avoid bloody scenes, the shock effects would not have been involuntary funny!

The actors told at the bonus material, that the characters here are more deep and well developed, as in American movies. You feel with them, in American movies they would be to superficial... I totally disagree, they are as bad or as well developed, as in every other teenie-horror-movie to!

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Danger - Keine Zeit zum Sterben (1984)

1/10

One star for the nice pictures of Indonesia

27 October 2007

The story, the acting, the stunts are deserving a 10 with a very fat "-" in front of.

The laser gun could be better created by LEGO, the stunts and car chases ( the amateurish without sense and tension )are helping to find minutes in the movie without any dialog, which are absolutely silly... The cast itself with the most unknown ( and untalented ) actors of Germany ( Horst Jansson, known as German anchorman in the German Sesame Street-series of late 70th and early 80th )! Exception is Winfried Glatzeder, but why the actor, who played main character in "The Legend of Paul and Paula", make his signature under a contract for a movie like this could just be explained that he was maybe bankrupt and had to pay his rent, or could not afford a holiday in Indonesia and find his chance with a role in this crap.

At least, the sets of Jakarta ( but a lots of them in the ANCOL holiday park ) and country side of Indonesia are nice, and wasted for a shameful movie like this.

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Runaway Horse (2007)

10/10

Intelligent Comedy

28 August 2007

I saw it last night in a SNEAK-preview in cinema and was very surprised.

Rainer Kaufmann made such an intelligent comedy of a married couple. Helmut is Teacher with depressed mind and living in a chewing gum routine. Sabine, his wife, is loves him, but is bored. During a holiday trip ( to the nice set of the "Bodensee"-lake in southern Germany ) where they traveled for the pas 12 YEARS (!! ) they meet Klaus - an old school friend of Helmut - and Helene his much younger girl friend. Klaus is completely the contrary to Helmut, vital and adventuresome. Against Helmut's mood and will Klaus and Helene brake into his calm and routinized world,and Sabine is happy about this pleasant change, seeing a chance to free Helmut and her marriage out of the lethargy, they are living in for years. Helmut is fending all their efforts to break his mental suit of armer. But in little moments you can see, how he is jealous of the life of Klaus, but he has no strength to break out.

The cast is fantastic, especially Ulrich Tukur's acting as a grown up small boy is wonderful. Also Katja Riemann acted superb, after she had bored the audience during the '90th with her comedies. Ulrich Noethen is the personified depression, and Petra Schmidt-Schaller a nice new-coming actress.

And the nice sets in the Bodensee-area next to German/Swiss border makes me think for a holiday there... but not for 12 years...

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Hostel (2005)

1/10

Lemon Popsicle meets Saw

23 May 2007

Warning: Spoilers

Young tourists ( backpackers ) traveling around Europe ( story begin in Amsterdam, The Netherlands ) with just one interest, girls, girls, breasts ( big big breasts, and naked ) and Sex. The get told about a nice place in Slovakia, a hostel, to visit... Why? Having sex, sex, sex! The girls there are only awaiting for Americans for having sex, sex, sex... The complete dialogs are about that. So, no wasting time, they travel to Slovakia, which is set like 3rd world nation with violent children gangs, obsolete cars / trains, shabby villages. Every stereotype of Eastern Europe is served here.

They checked into the hostel and get to know with young girls, for sex sex sex...

Up to now, you believe, that you picked a cheap sex comedy movie, as the "Lemon Popsicle" movies from the late 70th, the dialogs are crappy and they are even undergoing the low level of "American Pie".

Then rapidly the movie turned into a cheap slasher movie, bloody pictures, the stereotype chainsaw. Because the Hostel is only there to kidnap young people for millionaire, which pay a lots of money to torture them to death.

The violent scenes are making no sense, are overages especially when the "hero" cuts with a scissors the rest of an eye from a Japanese girl, with was burned out of the face with an welding set. With this burned face, cut out eye, of course, they fled through "half" Slovakia without consulting a doctor, or even attracting attention on a crowded platform of a station.

The level of the movie is somewhere underneath the carpet, the acting is horrible, the dialogs childish, there's no story at all. No surprise by seeing the "Making Off", on which the maker is first introducing us about the bad toilets in Slovakia, "on which he can feel the heat of his excrement, because it is so close to his buttock..."

So, debating like this, no surprise about the childish peace of crap made here. Quentin Tarantino, sorry, why making such good movies like "Pulp Fiction" or "Jacky Brown" or "Kill Bill", why after producing such great movies like "Killing Zoe" or "From dusk till Dawn" or "True Romance"... and than supporting this flick?? And even producing a sequel? After "Natural Born Killers" the next big mistake...

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Tears of Kali (2004)

7/10

Good Low-Budget-Production

21 May 2005

The plot is real horrific, the atmosphere really depressive, unusual for a low-budget production like that, and at least, for a German production. A little bit of Indian spirituality, mystic thriller and slasher movie mixed together. The development of plot and characters are great, the sets very close to reality, without any studio-atmosphere. It could be perfect, but at unfortunately some things were a little bit disappointing, what don't inevitably have to be typically for low-budget movies:

1.) The cast sometimes is not more than average. Almost every actor look like a layman. Some of them do a good, or a very good job, but some are acting like the actors of crappy German court-shows! But I was very, very disappointed of the acting of Mathieu Carrière! His acting ( in a lots of of his older movies his acting was fine ) here was below-average! But that could be the reason, why he today takes part in crappy German soaps or TV-series on private channels.

2.) The dialogs are sometimes on soap-opera-level.

3.) The bad sound made it sometimes very hard to understand, what the characters are saying. I saw it on DVD and was glad to could rewind and to listen it again. It caused by the set ( big halls as in the hospital or with the esoterically group ) and sometimes the strange dialects of the actors!

But all in all, it is an interesting movie, worth to watch it, far beyond the commercially movies, which are often more terrible.

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The Tommyknockers (1993)

4/10

Awful

14 February 2004

For a story itself, i would be okay, but still an average one.

But this is a King-adaptation, a very awful one. The mystery of the spaceship. the influence to the citizens of Haven and at least the story of Jim Gardner and Bobbie Anderson! Everything just scratched and badly followed regarding to the novel ( as Bobbie Anderson died in the original book, she survived ).

The acting average, the casting horrible ( Tracy Lords, what else to say? )

Bad King-adaptation like "IT", "GRAVEYARD SHIFT", "TRUCKS"... With "The Tommyknockers" you have a deja-vu

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Anatomy (2000)

9/10

In tradition of american slasher movies

25 January 2004

This movie tells a story about a young medicine student called Paula, coming to the university of Heidelberg. There, a group of "Anti-Hypocrates" making forbidden, medical experiences. For this, they kill people. As Paula see a dead guy, she met on her way to Heidelberg, she searches for the reasons and find out of the existence of the "Anti-Hypocrates".

"Anatomie" is filmed in the tradition of american "slasher"-movies like "Scream" or "I know what you did last summer". As these movies, "Anatomie" combines horror with an interesting story. German movie and TV productions are copying american productions, this movie easily reaches the international ( or better american ) standards in good movie productions. It may be a rip-off of american movies, but also rip-offs wanted to be done perfectly...

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Final Hour (1995)

9/10

Strange Horror movie

11 January 2004

Seven pupils of a school are told to school by mail, regarding their failed behavior. They met in the biology classroom. Suddenly the door is shot, the curtains going down. On a TV, their failure is mention and they have to find out a riddle: "A murdering has happened in this school, find the murder!" After talking about a legend about a teacher, murdered by pupils in the biology classroom, they find a hanged and heavy wounded man. Also they found out, that the TV was not plugged in.

During this time, Mickey Holm, a talkmaster of the Reality-Show "Sidste Time" gets a facsimile from the school. He and his team are going to the school, to film what happens. He is glad, because until this time, he had no material for the evening show.

The pupils try to leave the school, but all doors, windows are closed, nobody can hear them. One by one is found murdered. While the TV is showing the "Sidste Time"-team on the school playground, later also INSIDE the school building and showing the murdered pupils, the scary children don´t see anything of the team, looking on the same playground.

Rough pictures and scary atmosphere are great parts of this danish movie, in good tradition of "Nattevagten" ( or "Nightwatch" ). A school as death trap with a maniac murder and a situation of no escape, no matter what they do. The pupils do not stand together, because of their very different personalities.

The movie is very confusing, especially at the end. Did not figure it out yet, but it is one of the most interesting part of this movie. Alse a great example for danish cinema.

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The Day After (1983 TV Movie)

9/10

Disturbing movie

11 January 2004

Kansas City and the small town Lawrence in Kansas. A day like everyday else, during the early Cold war 80s. Soviet troops and troops from GDR are attacking West-Berlin, later on West-Germany. Beginning of 3rd Worldwar. After using nuclear bombs in Europe, the both super nations USA and USSR made a cruel decision, nuclear strikes against each other.

The story shows the life of an average american town before, during and after the strike. As supermarkets are run over, people try to get save in their homes, parents try to reach their children on camp holidays or keep on discussing and up to the strike, still don´t believe, that it really happens.

The strike, the death of Kansas City.

The day after, people in poisoned, radioactive enviroment, people, try to save themselves in their homes against radio activity, a hospital, unable to help the people, which are looking for help.

The special effects are blamed as old fashioned, but they are not the main actors here.

What may be unluckily, that many different persons and their stories are told in a movie of not even 2 hours. A little bit to much characters or less time, to develop them, to give them space to let their story live.

But still a disturbing movie about the results of a nuclear war, that nobody can survive.

After watching this movie nobody really can tell, that he didn´t know anything!

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Sonic Impact (1999)

2/10

Poor "Airport 75"

4 January 2004

Please, never fly with "Columbia Airlines", it is the second time, that they get a hole in the cockpit and a hero must climb through the hole in order to land the plane.

A maniac murder is transported in this plane, sure he overthrow his guards and take over control of the plane. After a little shooting an explosion break a big hole in the cockpit. The First office isn´t able to land the plane, the pilot is dead.

You already know the plot of a plane with a hole in a cockpit?? Already saw a man, coming inside the plane through this hole?? Already know "Columbia Airlines", already saw the plane??? Yes, the story was ( better ) told rather 30 years ago, "Airport 75". Differences? It was Karen Black as stewardess, who was not able to land the Boeing 747, here it is an attractive female first officer! Here it is a maniac murder, who cause the hole, in "Airport 75" it was an accident with another plane. In "Airport 75" the acting was quite good, here it is horrible.

Also the outdoor scenes,when you see the airplane over snowy mountains... the jet, the helicopters. They are taken from the original "Airport 75" movie.

At least, if you would like to see a good airplane action movie, take one of the old "Airport", "Passenger 57" for example, but not this cheap crap here.

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Manitou's Shoe (2001)

9/10

Not thinking, just laughing

20 December 2003

The indian Abbhachi borrows some money from the apache leader in order to open a saloon, together with his white friend Ranger! But he gets betrayed, the bad guy "Santa Maria" not even steals the money, he also kills, during a shooting, the son of the apache leader, and blame Abbahachi and Ranger for it.

In order to give back the money, and to proof their guiltless, they are searching for a treasure, followed by maniac indians and santa Maria and his guys.

With a help of a greek (!!) friend, the beautyfull Uschi ( in which Ranger and Abbahachi were in love year ago, and also have parts of the treasure map tatooed on her skin ) and the gay twin brother of Abbahachi ( who has a beauty-farm in the desert ) they pass many adventures, until a big meeting near "Mantu´s Shoe".

This movie is a great parody on the former "Winnetou" and "Old Surehand" movies from the 60th, not to tell them for silly! It is a loving sight of one tradition of german adventure movies based on Karl May´novels. Joke by joke, clearly or in details ( indians were watching soccer, did not have a tomahawk, just a chair to put out, the gay twin of Abbahachi serving Pina Colada at his beauty farm... ) makes your stomace working ( caused by laugh attacks ) not your brain...

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Anatomy 2 (2003)

8/10

Better then expected

28 August 2003

To copy Hollywood by making a movie in the tradition of SCREAM, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER etc., now a sequel was made ( also like SCREAM etc. )! But I was surprised, that it was much better then expected.

The styles of the both movies are totally different, the first part, a real horror-slasher-movie, Anatomie2 became a horror-thriller. Less

(but still enough) bloody shock effects, more action, more thrill. Also good, the little insight view of todays reality in hospitals, it gives a touch of autencity. But unfortunately also silly scenes ( power-penis after implanting a new muscel ), they were not really necessary! After all, not the best movie, but good enough for nice entertainment.

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