Reviews

Hi, my review is based on seeing the original German production. Germany has a long history of producing fine crime dramas, it is the most popular genre in television. The series "The Toten von Marnow" is in my opinion, one of the best shows ever made in this genre. Everything about this series has been beautifully crafted and I'll list some of my reasoning below.

Firstly, the realism of the characters. The cops in this show are absolutely not like your typical Hollywood maverick cops who seem to win every fight, have an IQ of 150 and are disrespectful to their bosses. The main protagonists are just ordinary detectives, both with tragic back stories, which become involved in a conspiracy reluctantly. Each bad decision they make leads to further unforeseeable consequences. They are portrayed brilliantly with a full range of emotions by the leads Sascha Alexander Gersak and Petra Schmidt-Schaller.

The antagonists are equally well portrayed and their motivation, based on misdeeds of the bankrupt former East German government at the end of it's reign, is understandable. There are not hoards of minions being thoughtlessly slaughtered on the way to solving the crime. The people behind the conspiracy are not evil masterminds or one dimensional villains, they are just ordinary people too, who just want the story buried, so they can go on with their new lives in the West.

The pacing of the series is almost perfect. Each episode ends leaving you wanting to see how it develops further. There are plenty of truly unexpected moments in the series, and the conclusion, where the reason for the crimes and the actions of the perpetrators is revealed is both poetic and understandable.

Definitely worth watching if you're a fan of realistically portrayed crime dramas.

This nice German film is based on a simple idea. The unemployed factory worker Edwin Strunz goes on holiday and after a haircut is mistaken for the local governor (Ministerpräsident) Uwe Achimsen. The governor was taking a holiday, which leaves Strunz in charge. Rather than taking advantage of this mix up for his own benefit, Strunz stays true to his roots and uses his new found position to help others. His simple charm enchants both allies and enemies and enables Strunz to get things done as governor that his less charming double couldn't. The humour comes mainly from the way that the character Strunz manages to avoid answering questions directly and the interactions with Achimsen's nearest and dearest. Wolfgang Stumph does an excellent job, playing both roles convincingly. The supporting cast is well chosen, Katja Riemann adding the necessary dramatic edge to the whole film. Overall, well worth watching on a snowy Sunday evening.

Not all prison films have to be all action affairs about fighting other prisoners to survive, violent guards and escape plans. Instead, this rather quiet and entertaining film is about a prison program that involves using inmates to train guide dogs. The theory being of course, being responsible for a dog will mean that they are more responsible for themselves.

Thomas Sarbacher does an excellent job as Mosk, the lone wolf character who is forced against his will into the program. Sarbacher does a great job presenting the reluctant character who is unable to connect to his dog, until he almost loses it. The transition from "don't care" to "must care" to "want to care" is done very well.

If the film can be criticized it is for not developing the other characters. Only the Turkish side kick figure "Döner" and his relationship to Mosk is developed at all. Several plot sub-stories were also not clearly presented, e.g. the connection to Italy, that Mosk thought he had. However, the role of the dog trainer is extremely well acted by Hark Bohm.

Nevertheless it is a well filmed prison drama. Prison life is presented realistically, without any frills. The dogs are wonderful and not super trained Lassie types and the sound track is wonderful. Good late night viewing when you're feeling like a chilled out thoughtful film.

Brilliant, prize winning short film from Germany. The story revolves around a twelve year old boy called Jakob and how the separation of his parents affects the relationship to his father. Director Martin Busker successfully films this entirely from the perspective of the boy. Jakob's thoughts are cleverly mixed into the dialogue happening around him, constantly providing the viewer with Jakob's perspective. The short film contains many comic elements, situation comedy, childish slapstick as well as the very effective use of colours, graphics and fantasy situations, that spring from Jakob's thoughts.

The tale is hypnotic, you keep waiting for things to get better for the boy, only to be disappointed again and again by his socially clumsy father. The ending is thoughtful and funny, without being sentimental. The acting is superb. All supporting characters - his friends, the father and the new girlfriend and her daughter; all looking completely comfortable and natural in front of the camera. Well filmed, great story, great acting, I gave this 10/10. In my eyes you can't do more in an half an hour format.

Hi, this is a animated remake of the classic 60s and 70s German TV Series "Augsburger Puppenkiste".

I went with a my kids and a bunch of others (four girls aged seven and two boys aged ten). The seven year olds liked it, mainly because of the slapstick humour. The ten year olds thought it was a bit slow, not enough excitement for them. The cinema was full of little kids though and there was a lot of laughing going on.

The characters are true to their original characters. They behave the same way and have the same speech impediments. The storyline is exactly the same as the old one. Nothing new here. The animation was OK, but they weren't trying to do anything special with it, just entertain kids.

Worth taking the kids to on a rainy Saturday afternoon, but I wouldn't go if I was an adult.

Hi, I only rarely write reviews and only for films that I think are rated very wrong, and this is one of them. This film is much BETTER than what I was expecting.

The two central characters are very true to character in their bumbling ways. The leading lady is absolutely gorgeous. There are some genuine comic moments in the film, the chase scenes are good and the dramatic cliff scene at the end kept my kids on the edge of the seats. The plot is nice and tidy and has no loose ends at the end. The story moves along at a nice pace, the relationships between the characters are explained and I was left thinking, what a good kids film for kids 8 and above (Too many men with guns for the littlest ones).

The kangaroo has only a little to do with the story. The animated kangaroo jumped very realistically though and thankfully, they didn't make it into a talking kangaroo (except in a dream sequence).

All in all, 7 out of 10, way above the average of 4.

conan

I hated this movie from start to finish. Warning, minimal plot aspects revealed. I thought the humiliation of his wife was atrocious. What a double standard, he's been lying to her for 20 years and she has a coffee with another guy so she has to sleep with a foreign agent to make up for it. Yeah right. I thought the humiliation of the wannabe spy was also pathetic. Talk about a microcosm of 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'. Morally empty. The action scenes were OK until the crappy helicopter scene. So he's trying to save his family right. That's why he unleashes five million rounds into the friggen tower, so that it would collapse onto his family. Crap film, through and through.