On The Waterfront (1954) Review

 

How can I call myself a movie lover if I've never seen an Elia Kazan movie? Shame on me. To the younger audiences who consider movies from the 90s to be old, Elia Kazan was one of the most acclaimed directors of all time, creating mostly outstanding motion pictures during the 50s and making actors shine in their roles.

As I said before today I've seen my very first Elia Kazan flick, On The Waterfront starring Marlon Brando and I must say, I was not let down, this film was amazing.

Marlon Brando plays an ex-boxer who tries to get by as a longshoreman while being mixed up as a thug in some criminal activities. Through the love of a girl and a smoking and drinking priest he discovers his conscience and tries to stand up against his corrupt union bosses.

The movie starts out rather bumpy but once you get a glimpse of the top notch acting by Brando, Karl Malden (who plays the priest) and Eva Marie Saint, you'll be drawn in completely. And if that doesn't help you then the classical Leonard Bernstein score will put you into the right mood.

Nowadays the old classics don't get as much as attention as they deserve so if you have the choice of watching an acclaimed film that might be a bit older than your usual flick instead of the newest Harry Potter, comic book movie or Michael Bay idiocy then give the old one a choice, you won't regret it.

Timecrimes (2007) Review

Let me get one thing straight: There are two absolutely awesome movie magazines, Empire and Total Film, both british, both genius. But only Total Film also has a great website, http://www.totalfilm.com/, which is awesome because of one thing: the features!

They just had one on the best time travel movies and on this list I found Timecrimes (Los Cronocrímenes) by Nacho Vigalondo. I knew all the movies on the list besides this one. So I went and finally got my hands on a DVD of the movie and watched it last night.

The setup is interesting with a guy just accidentally stepping into a whole time travel mess and trying to get out of it without causing more trouble. It's mindbending, sometimes ludicrous and at times just plain illogical and silly but boy, this movie kept me at the edge of my seat. It has a dark tone, almost black humorous and is anything but pretty and that's exactly what I liked about it.

So if you're into time travel and like to think while you're watching a movie, give this one a try, you shouldn't be disappointed.

Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) Review

It's a funny coincidence that the first movie I am watching is Goodbye Lenin!. I mean, I am German, the movie is German, I am born in the GDR, the movie deals with the GDR (for the ones that don't know what the heck I am talking about, call it East Germany). I haven't seen this one in quite some time now and although I remembered it as being pretty good, I was surprised how drawn in I was, this movie was great.

The film is about Alex, a boy growing up with his mom and sister in the GDR. When his mom has a heart attack and is in a coma unfortunately the wall goes down and a whole country is more or less disappearing. When she wakes up and is not allowed to be exposed to any sort of trouble Alex is figuring out ways to trick her into believing that the GDR still exists.

Actually this sounds like the pitch to a comedy and there are definitely moments in the movie where you will laugh out loud. But it's also way more than that. The film has a very strong emotional anchor in lead Daniel Brühl and deals with realistic family issues and has scene stealing supporting characters.

Overall this movie was brilliant and I recommend it to anyone who doesn't have an issue with reading subtitles (come on, it wasn't too hard in Dances With Wolves or Inglourious Basterds).

Welcome!

Hey to the world out there!

My name is Tom and for as long as I can remember I've been a cinephile, movie lover, film addict, call it what you want. If you're also into motion pictures then I don't need to tell you how awesome movies are. I set up this blog to keep track of all the movies that I'll watch from this day on. I don't have any preferences, I watch anything if it's worth the time. So check in to see which movies I'll watch and what I think of them.

Cheers, Tom