mib-29 Reviews

Mr. Church (2016)

Congrats, Eddie Murphy

[9/10 · 18 December 2016]

I make it short and sweet. I was surprised about the movie and how much I liked it, even though I can't stand these tearjerker stories. And the only reason why I felt compelled to write a review is that I loved Eddy Murphy in it. It is good to see him playing a serious role and be so great at it. Worth seeing the movie just for his performance. Hopefully this will be a comeback for him, because he brings something to this movie. And I just feel reminded, when I thought that John Travolta's time was over and than all of a sudden I saw him in Pulp Fiction and he was awesome. So my gut feeling is, we will be seeing more of Eddy Murphy. But the other actors, of course, were great too. So this is a movie you should consider seeing.

Funny People (2009)

A very "real comedy"

[7/10 · 14 November 2009]

I am not an Adam Sandler fan. Most of his movies I don't enjoy or think are funny. In this movie he is not funny or even trying to be, but I enjoyed it the most. If you are a big Adam Sandler fan and love his style, you will certainly be disappointed, but if you just watch this as a regular movie then you might appreciate it. This movie is different from the standard Hollywood stuff. It doesn't have an happy ending (or a sad ending) and it doesn't work with clichés. And the director takes time to develop the story. The movie is over 2 hours long without ever getting boring or feeling too long. It looks at how a successful comedian would deal with learning that he is terminally ill. How he would reflect on his life and question some of his past decisions and choices? While it certainly is not a movie that I will add to my DVD collection, I liked it and even would see it again.

I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009)

I enjoyed it ...

[8/10 · 22 October 2009]

So we all know that Teens Movies follow a certain formula. And this one certainly does too to a certain extend, but it actually deviates from the standard plot far enough to be interesting and surprising. But what really pulled this movie together and made it believable was the performance of Hayden Panettiere. She really gave the whole movie a quality that makes the movie actually stand out a little bit among all the teen movies. While this movie will clearly not write movie history, I found it to be enjoyable and even witty. Despite all the negative reviews here, if you don't mind watching a teen comedy, then give this movie a chance. You might actually like it ...

Management (2008)

Much more "touching" then expected

[8/10 · 8 September 2009]

I had no expectations for this movie and I can understand the people who dislike this movie. Some of it is formulaic, predictable and unbelievable. And I would even agree, that the chemistry between the two lead characters is not the strongest, but it actually works in this case, because there is simply no reason why Jennifer Anistons' character would fall for this guy. But he grows on her and also the audience. And what I like about this movie is the fact that the pace is so slow and that the mood is so tender. It is actually interesting to see Jennifer Aniston play in this movie, which is really not what you would expect. You would also not expect the quality of her performance, which I think, really pulls the entire movie together. Her acting is in my humble opinion much better than the acting of any other one in this movie. It makes me want to watch her in more movies like this. Bottom line, this movie is much more "touching" then expected and I think it is worth checking out.

Brüno (2009)

brilliant, but did not enjoy it

[7/10 · 1 September 2009]

You have to give it to Sacha Cohen ... his movies are provocative and are just far out. He is to movies and comedy, what Howard Stern is to Talk Radio. And what he does in Brüno is in its own right brilliant. There are some great moments in the movie e.g. when Paula Abdul comes for an interview and sits on the back of a worker guy, talking about her charitable work and her humanitarian efforts (very classy Paula ... you are so full of yourself, it took you 10 minutes to realize that it is not okay to sit on poor people? I am so glad that you are not anymore on American Idol). Or when Brüno is trying to get counseling from some religious groups in becoming straight ... Sacha Cohen holds up the mirror to society in his own way. Or take for example the "fame obsessed" parents that would agree to almost anything to have their child be in TV or the movies. Come on, you've got to see that Sacha Cohen is making also a documentary about society and in particular America. But while there are funny parts in this movie, I can't say that I enjoyed Brüno as much as I did Borat. Maybe because Borat was a more endearing character, maybe because when Borat was released, it was new and shocking/surprising. Now you know to expect the outrageous, but since you can't connect with Brünos character, it becomes less funny and entertaining, at least for me.

So my advice to you: if you are not someone who particularly enjoys this kind of humor (e.g. are a fan of the Jackass movies), Brüno might be a movie that you can live without.

Just a side note: most of the German that Brüno used was mispronounced and butchered. Sacha Cohen obviously did not learn German for this movie, let alone understood what he was saying in this movie.

The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

Terribly disappointing - THIS IS NOT FOR CHILDREN!!!

[2/10 · 11 May 2009]

Let me start with the positive: the movie is animated very well with nice textures and rendering. That's about it. I don't even know where to begin with this movie. From the movie trailer you would expect a story of a mouse that is different than the other mice ... one which is unusual, courageous and therefore getting into trouble, but at the end saving his fellow mice and being the hero. It would have been a simple, but touching story. Certainly a story suitable for children and that I could have let my 3.5 year daughter watch. But this movie is not what you would expect, and unfortunately not in a good way. The plot is weird (!!!!) with no point or moral to it. It starts with a rat that by accident spoils a fest in a kingdom far far away, leading to the death of the queen. He, and all the rats in the kingdom get casted out. Then we have Desperaux who gets also casted out by his fellow mice because he is not afraid of anything. They actually want to execute him by throwing him down the drain to the rats world. In the rats world they throw him to the lions (in this case a cat), but it gets even more weird ... there is a servant that hates the princess and wants to kill her ... the princess ends up almost being eaten by the rats ... come on! The author Kate DiCamillo must have been stoned when she wrote this book on which this movie is based on. Quite frankly I don't want to waste much more time and words on this movie. The main reason why I feel compelled to write this review is that I don't think that this movie is suitable for children at all. It is too scary and children (and adults) will not be left with anything that they can take away from this movie. Save your time and money ... I am very disappointed.

Valkyrie (2008)

Great movie, doesn't do history justice

[7/10 · 13 April 2009]

I was curious about this movie since it had caused so much controversy with Tom Cruise in the main role. Personally I think he was after all not a bad choice for this part and all in all I am very happy that there is an American movie that shows the different side of Germany and Germans in the Third Reich (there was a time when in every Hollywood Movie the villain were always Germans). But Americans, who in general don't really have much understanding of history, fail to realize that Hitler wasn't voted into power by the people. As a matter of fact, he only received 36,8 % of the votes in the election. Though this made his party the leading one, he could only gain power because the politicians of the other parties thought they could control him. Once Hitler was able to turn Germany into a dictatorship, it was extremely difficult to form any resistance. So much as cracking a joke about the Fuehrer was reason enough to be imprisoned, investigated and executed. Organizing a conspiracy meant risking not only your life, but the life of everyone even remotely associated with you. And you could never be sure who you could trust or who might be a spy or simply rat you out for personal gain. This is where this movie falls a little short, because it shows Stauffenberg and others simply talking freely about their plans and their convictions. Yes, I get that it is very difficult to portrait this conflict and the tremendous danger in a two hour movie, but I can't help it, I just feel that it doesn't give the audience a real picture of how daring this operation was and how nerve wracking this must have been (remember, this was the third attempt of Stauffenberg. He had the explosives with him two times before and had to abort ... each time risking detection). If you really think this through, you can not have enough respect for their courage. And I can't help but to point out, that most people don't even have the civil courage to demonstrate and protest in a free country with a democratic government.

Bottom line: great movie and you should watch it. Just be reminded, that this is a very watered down version of history.

Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

Who is this movie for? Who will enjoy it?

[1/10 · 10 April 2009]

You got to be kidding ... Who is this movie for? Who will enjoy it? This is supposed to be a families movie?! Don't see that. The monsters are too scary, the drama way to intense and threatening. So all kids under the age of 8 will have nightmares. And I am not sure if the movie offers anything for the older age group. I certainly didn't enjoy it and I am very disappointed. I was hoping for something along the line of Monster Inc where the storyline is on some level cute and funny, even though it is about monsters. The monsters in this movie however are really ugly and it is hard to warm up to the characters. I thought this was an awful movie and I can only recommend you save your money and time.

Suspension (I) (2008)

Creepy ... unintentionally?

[3/10 · 8 June 2008]

This movie is creepy and I don't think it is intentionally. While the movie is well done (good cinematography, directing and acting), the script seems to me a little bit off. Here you have a guy that looses his family in a car crash and gains the power to stop time through the pause button on a camcorder (no logical explanation ever given in the movie why and how), all he does with his new found powers is to stalk the woman of the other victim in the car crash. And this is where the movie becomes really creepy because she clearly doesn't want his advances. The movie becomes then this really strange action/psycho flick, that I don't think was ever truly the intention of the makers. Or maybe it was? To me the writing in this movie really sucks because there is no clear idea or concept or story line that makes sense. If you make the movie about a man loosing his family in a car crash who then gains the power to stop time, you develop the story with the context of a man trying to fix the past or someone trying to prevent others from experiencing similar traumas (in the movie the main character does try to help others, but always with catastrophic results. The writer/director could have just explored this and the movie would have been fine). Or they could have made the entire movie just about the abuse of power ... in that case the car crash would not have been a necessary element. Or the movie could have been about how you protect yourself from somebody who has these powers and is after you. In that case the movie could have been set in the future where that kind of power might be available (of course only in the movies). Bottom line: there are three stories wrapped up in one movie and that is what makes it so bad. I don't think this movie is worth watching other than for the special effects, which I have seen however in other movies before. And now that I think of it, it almost seems to me that the idea for the movie was developed because of the special effect. That would explain the weakness of the script and the hodge podge of ideas.

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Like a Woodie Allen movie

[3/10 · 8 June 2008]

This movie feels very much like a Woodie Allen movie. A lot of the acting and the lines seem to be improvised, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but unfortunately the plot is just all over the place. I am not a big fan of Woodie Allen movies, but at least his movies follow a certain idea and I can appreciate his work. With this movie I felt awfully bored and annoyed even though it had a great cast. I can't believe that this is the same writer that made "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind", which was a brilliant movie. I am very disappointed and think this movie is a waste of time. It didn't make me laugh or smile, it didn't make me feel for the characters and the story didn't captivate me. Not only that ... the movie bored me so much that I felt compelled to waste my time on writing a review on it.