Reviews

This Silly Symphonies short and early work of Disney meiser director Wilfred Jackson, is a prime example of not only how Disney understood the spirit of pop culture Christmas, but how much Disney helped shape it. Santa's Workshop is a classic that draws Santa Clause, his elves, the Christmas factory, the reindeer, the Christmas village and the North Pole so wonderfully that you can't help but look forward to the holidays. The short film creates a comforting warm feeling, is beautifully drawn, full of innocent wit and an incomparable charm of its time. The fact that timeless classics are currently being swept away with a combine built of cultural incomprehension, arrogance and an ahistorical understanding of the world, including this film, is tragic but simply to be ignored. The Twitter bubbles don't watch movies, the Cancel Culture activists don't flush money into the coffers, and the corporations that engage in this nonsense don't understand their own franchises and fans. For the pop culture nerds, however, the timeless classics will remain for all time. Santa's Workshop" is one of them.

This Christmas classic from Disney has not only internalized everything that Christmas is about, but can be seen as a cult classic in its own right, with massive influence on pop culture Christmas dedications.

Burny Mattinson, in his directorial debut, manages to capture the essence of Charles Dickens' Christmas story, and to condense it into a short film that in turn manages to come across like a main course in cinema history. A fantastically animated, lovingly voiced, heavenly directed masterpiece that hits just the right mix of lightness, profundity, pop culture and morals & ethics. The cast of characters from the Disney world is perfectly chosen, the reunion with numerous characters of the magical film forge slipping into new roles is simply fun, the music is aptly composed and the running time is enough to give not only the young viewers a magical evening.

A masterpiece.

For this Disney film, two actually very great directors joined forces. Joe Johnston and Lasse Hallström have both brought some top-class cult films of their very own kind to the screen and so the expectations for the film adaptation of Hoffmann's novella and Tchaikovsky's ballet could be quite high. In part, the expectations were quite fulfilled.

For one thing, the film wades up with a top-notch cast that more than solidly does its job. Watching Foy, Knightley and Mirren in their roles is thoroughly enjoyable. Freeman and the others play solidly, as expected. The story, which is very much based on the Industrial Revolution and reinterpreted, is thoroughly enjoyable, but sometimes gets lost too much in the innovations. In places, a more classical approach would have been quite advantageous. Visually, the film is quite impressive, even if the special effects show weaknesses here and there and are not subtle enough for a film adaptation of such a romantic work of literature and art history. On the other hand, some ideas are really successful, such as the depiction of Mother Ginger in her gigantic tent.

The music and ballet interludes are not incorporated too often in the film, but are convincing where they occur. The basic essence of the plot, i.e. The connection between daughter, family and deceased mother, is lovingly realized in places, but on the other hand also described too shallowly in some places. Small contradictions in the film's narrative are only noticeable by their accumulation, the moral of the story remains somewhat pale due to the simplicism, but is then again heartwarming in the resolution, i.e. The final scene of the film. Disturbing moments, such as the fact that the deceased mother had a favorite daughter, weaken the film briefly, but not throughout. They do linger in the memory, however, and then work against a fundamentally good feeling towards the family story.

All in all, "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" is a well-done Christmas movie for today's times, but it also has to nibble at the flaws and exaggerations of today. Too often modern suspense arcs, which are always the same, are used, not too exaggerated, but still too often the Twitter bubble, that is one of the many deaths of democratic discourse, becomes influentially visible, the finale is too action-packed. On the other hand, the quieter moments, which, in all the beautiful scenery, are present, visible and significantly responsible for the basic mood of the film, but too sparsely integrated. There could have been much more meaningful conversations, more images in the estates and beautifully decorated rooms, more focus on the great costumes and the make-up, which is definitely implemented with love.

But despite the aforementioned weaknesses, the good aspects of the film, the signature of the two directors, which still manages to be visible through the spectacle, barely but sufficiently outweigh them. Thus remains a film that will certainly not become a cult classic, but represents a small novelty in the world of enjoyable Christmas movies and therefore "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" is quite a welcome film for the cozy season.

This series from the Forsman universe is similarly atmospheric in structure to "The End of the F***ing World," but the plot is more one that moves into the fantastical alongside everyday teen problems and evolves into a strange but interestingly unconventional origin story of a superhero, or supervillain. The story is exciting, exceptionally well conceived, and at the same time full of landmarks in genre classics, such as Stephen King's "Carrie." Every now and then, subplots get a bit lost in "Twitter discourse", which, as we all know, is rather the opposite of discourse; a condition that unfortunately weakens the overall picture a bit. Sophia Lillie's portrayal of the main character bears the same ambivalent relationship, which she hits well time and again, only to drift too much into facial spectacles she's familiar with, which are apparently meant to appear bubbly and freaky in a very stereotypical way. The supporting characters do a better job. Oleff and Bryant don't perform at a consistently high level here either, but seem to be able to interpret their roles better in their quieter ways, giving the viewer a more sympathetic, approachable picture of the characters.

The series is fun, has beautiful settings, interesting characters and a fitting atmosphere. However, it also has acting weaknesses, shortcomings in its adherence to the important themes and a slight overrepresentation of clichés. Still, it was more promising than disappointing. The positives outweighed the negatives.

Unfortunately, the series has been discontinued by Netflix and the reasons given seem like excuses. It is well known that Netflix earns money mainly from new series productions and not by keeping good, established series alive, because the streaming service doesn't get anyone to sign a contract with new seasons. So the cliffhanger of the last episode remains unresolved and the potential of the series doesn't get a chance to unfold. Simply a pity.

This serialization of an independent comic is a successful show, peppered with British black humor, in which the characters seem absurd but grow over the course and gain traction in a real world. This balancing act of artistic exaggeration and opportunity for identification is well done.

The actors are indeed well-chosen almost all around. Lawther manages to convincingly portray the development of a self-diagnosed psychopath into a cranky but basically very empathetic person over the various stages of the series. As a viewer, you still have a hard time forgiving James for the murders of the animals he started in his childhood, but through the narration you at least grasp the actual change in his nature that he had to go through even before the plot begins, namely through the suicide of his mother. Jessica Barden manages to do the same with her character, even if the nuances here are not so bumpy purely from the script, but rather fluidly given. Alyssa retains her basic characteristics through and through and actually gains in personality density exclusively. She also becomes more empathetic, self-reflective and gains the sensible insight to accept help from friends and move away from the supposed but imprisoning help from selfish figures like her parents. Throughout, both the original and the film version seem to succeed in illuminating the importance of interpersonal interaction, especially in the failure of the same.

The second season is inferior to the first in bulk, but manages to bridge the gap between the two stages of the story through subtext and especially the ending. Naomie Ackie as Bonnie, one of the three creepiest characters in the series (along with the murdering professor and his deranged mother), doesn't quite manage to foreground her character's importance to the development of Alyssa and James. Her interpretation of the role seems too adapted to cliché images of the outsider psychopath.

In any case, the compilation of the soundtrack and the cinematography, which manages to flawlessly switch from the intimate interior view of the actors to the larger panoramic theme of the series, deserve praise.

"The End of the F***ing World" is ultimately a series that almost managed to ascend into the realms of cinematic grandeur, only to fail on minor details. Nevertheless, what remains is a series that tells an extraordinary coming-of-age story in wonderful pictures, which quite surprisingly successfully avoids the debris field of the genre's cherished clichés - a depressing series that gives courage and comes up with a happy ending that could not have been more realistic and at the same time more romantic in a fantastic way.

Mike Flanagan's third film is a home invasion horror thriller with light slasher elements and a little narrative twist that adds new suspense to a familiar story.

Kate Siegel plays Madison, a young writer who is deaf and mute. Madison has only recently moved from the big city to the outskirts of a small town, where she is semi-retired in a woodland cottage writing her second book. From the beginning, Flanagan references greats of horror, as well as ideas of her own that should have a realization in the future; well, at least one. So we see Stephen King books in Madison's house and learn the book title of her debut work and bestseller - Midnight Mass - a story that would be made into a series by Flanagan in 2021.

Madison is separated from her boyfriend but is still hanging on to him. Distraction is provided by new friend Sarah (Samantha Sloyan), who is diligently learning sign language and studying Madison's literature. One evening, however, Sarah storms up to Madison's house, covered in blood and screaming, and begins drumming on the windows of the house. The deaf and dumb Madison doesn't hear Sarah's desperate cries for help and also misses the murder, which happens right behind her back. The killer (John Gallagher Jr.) initially begins to toy with the young writer, but soon reveals himself to be a psychopathic serial killer whose motivations and background Flanagan doesn't tell us about. They don't matter, though, because the essence of the film revolves around the particular challenges a deaf-mute person must overcome to save her own life from a man who, as the attacker, clearly has the advantage of the moment. Madison locks herself in the house and tries to find a way to escape from the death trap that the killer has turned her secluded home into. After the power is cut, the latter begins a nerve-wracking game with the desperate Madison, but she gains more survival instincts and determination as the film progresses.

Flanagan manages to keep the film's tension alive for long stretches and to incorporate surprises that were able to find their way into the script, mainly due to the main character's disability. The coolly and very suspensefully staged film manages to make you as a viewer slip into the despair of the young woman, fear along with her and sympathize. But the director doesn't quite manage to escape the genre problems. Thus, missteps on Madison's part are simultaneously missteps on the script's and the director's part, as they could have easily been avoided. Individual small scene moments are seemingly willy-nilly sprinkled into the running time, but then later take on a significance for the course of the plot, which then unfortunately smells too much like pre-planned, clumsy control of the plot and does not smell of spontaneous creativity in the course of the film. For the most part, however, the script, staging and direction work. The actors are also well chosen and meet the expectations that one has as a viewer of such a production.

All in all, "Hush" is a very watchable film that unfortunately missed becoming a modern classic. This, however, quite narrowly.

This great game show is a little treasure of game show history, especially in its first version with Bob Saget. Based on a Dutch show with a clever game idea, with a great set design for a show of this format and an unusually high speed, it only takes a likeable gamemaster like Bob Saget to bring an insider tip to life.

The later version with Carrie Ann Inaba keeps the core of this successful mix, but weakens a bit in terms of design, execution and atmosphere. Still, it would have been nice if the US version of 1 vs. 100 had existed longer.

The Australian version should also be mentioned, which is also fun, but falls a good deal behind the US version.

With Old People, director Andy Fetscher has brought neither a scary horror film nor one hell of an allegory to the screen, but instead has shown once again how dull and unimaginative the world of filmmaking is in Germany.

Old People is a film that tries its hardest to model itself on the manner of U. S. productions, but fails miserably even in this attempted theft. The script comes up with only a reasonably interesting basic pitch, namely the question of how creepy it would be if old people suddenly collectively went berserk in a murderous way, but gets lost in the vain laziness of contemporary German storytellers of the film medium. Holey, illogical, without explanations, the film comes along, but at the same time wants to see itself as clever, allegorical and shocking and expects that from the audience.

If the film would get along without moral sermons on preschool level, with simultaneous obvious absence of a real moral understanding, it would not seem as if those who tinkered and contributed to the film had always thought a few seconds too little about the plot, it would not be like a slap in the face to have to witness once again the naughtiness of German film conversations and the film would not be just as far away from a life reality of real people, be it familial, work-related or in the interpersonal dynamics, as approx. 95% of German films of the last 20 years are, the pitch might have turned into something.

The screenplay should have either fully relied on the demonic justification of the old people's actions and thus dispensed with the "allegory" of the generational issue of taking care of the old people, or it should have ditched the demonic aspect, but as a consequence also shifted the plot to an individual case, more like a chamber play. Both together do not work, one notices already, if one thinks only 5 minutes about it. But that the means of thinking was hardly used here is also shown in the incredibly stupid finale, when radio news and messages on smart phones draw a doomsday scenario that immediately jumps into the eye as totally stupid. If the Bundeswehr and other European state armies can't manage to get a bunch, or even all, of the rambunctious pensioners under control, it seems questionable how armed groups of criminals couldn't have managed to turn the European continent into their kingdom long ago. After all, they don't bite anyone, or if they do, the bitten ones don't become new rampaging pensioners. But probably for this the demonic approach of an explanation attempt was needed. Ridiculous and inconsistent are the adjectives that probably best fit the ambition of this film.

In addition to all these faux pas, there are the disgusting depictions of violence, during the shooting of which Fetscher must have felt really American, without even understanding the essence of American splatter, the pale, no, probably rather all-around bad acting "performances", bad camera angles, an amateurish use of scenery and especially make-up and the air of total antipathy that constantly surrounds the film atmospherically.

A film to forget, but probably one of the best reminders that German film has been digging in the trash for decades, while pretending that Goethe and Schiller fathered a prodigy. Simply awful.

This gothic horror flick from director Osgood Perkins can be safely forgotten. The film is predestined for that. Told only through the background narrative of the main character, it just plods along with a few exceptional moments (which don't really strengthen the inner drive to continue watching this film), makes little sense in its truncated basic story and is visually rather a poor attempt to create its own would-be atmosphere.

Ruth Wilson can indeed get little out of the shallow premise of her role, but what she does get out of it is, unfortunately, also at the very least, a rippling around in a very limited sophistication of acting repertoire. Sometimes it even seems as if she herself doesn't know exactly who and especially how her role is, whether a surprised or a reserved face is just appropriate, or how she should react to an event in the film.

Paula Prentiss, in fact, could hardly have picked a worse role for her return to film. She lies, sits, says funny things with a confused look on her face. It's a role in which there's not much to pick from and hardly anything to show. The condition of little to offer also applies to Bob Balaban, who can also only look featureless in a featureless role. Lucy Boynton at least visually fits her ascribed role as a ghost woman, but definitely has very little to do. She whispers, wanders back and forth through the house and is supposed to look pretty, mysterious and creepy all at the same time. At least she gets that right.

The film's biggest weaknesses, however, are the immature script, which doesn't seem to know exactly where this film's journey is supposed to go, and the vacuous staging, which was probably meant to come across as "deep" and "cranky," but in the end is just a failed attempt at creating its own atmosphere, which would have been more than obviously oriented to already familiar stylistic elements of Gothic horror anyway.

In the end, we are left with a not-so-nice film that will probably only generate enthusiasm in very few houses and apartments.

This comedy from brilliant stand-up comedian Ricky Gervais is a charming reminder of the innocent, fun entertainment of decades past, particularly the 80's and 90's. Gervais' remake of the French film Envoyés très spéciaux (2009) comes entirely without woke nonsense, without fear of being pilloried if Twitter "discourses" are ignored, without SJW nonsense and so unfolds before your eyes of the happy viewer a comedy that so successfully weakens its own weaknesses in a nice way, well-written humor, a suitable mixture of slapstick and subliminal jokes that in the end a fun film experience remains.

The story of the film is, of course, complete nonsense, but that's perfectly fine for a comedy that simply wants to entertain and simply seeks its narrative levels in other narratives of the film, such as the conflict between the supposed failure and himself through staging self-deleting popularity king, or also in the conflicts of a marriage in which the downsides can sometimes be described as very one-sided, without this being dismissed as unrealistic nonsense.

Gervais and Bana play radio station employees who are driven by mishaps to pretend they are correspondents in a conflict zone. Marriage dramas, true romances, stories about friendship and just humorous scenes play out all around, all of which make for a complete and well thought-out film. Well-written and well-acted secondary characters complete the film with charm, wit and unique selling points, which are less helpful in driving the actual plot and are more committed to creating a comedic atmosphere.

The movie really isn't perfect, but it's so full of charm and the potential to be a nice flick for a night out with buddies or girlfriends that you really shouldn't miss it. He is a gem in today's film business simply because of his completely agreeable ignorance of art inspectors in the blue Twitter color.

Special Correspondents is a comfortable, warm and well acted film that is just plain fun.

This 2017 Netflix production is the directorial debut of screenwriter Oren Uziel, and the actual scribbler has managed to tell a good story more than solidly, while still integrating atypical atmosphere into a streaming film and picking actors who manage the balancing act between quiet excitement and loud suburban calm very well.

The story is unfairly compared to Christopher Nolan's "Memento" (2000), though those who make this very incorrect comparison only manage to cite a single argument, namely the story being told backwards. Except that's simply not a unique selling point of Nolan's debut feature.

Uziel tells his story - he is, in fact, also the film's screenwriter - in chapters, starting with the last one and then moving backwards over the days to the beginning of the story arc. The narrative style suits the film, is clever and also has a purpose that is fulfilled, namely the twists and turns that are surprising in places. The film makes it easy to compare the scenes after watching, to put the plot together and then to enjoy everything again mentally. Due to the fun of it all, some of the plot's weaknesses don't matter so much, small inconsistencies of the bank robbery are rather easily wiped away and one also forgives a discreetly exaggerated overdrawing of the characters in the film.

The actors, on the other hand, do a very good job. First and foremost Benjamin Walker, who with his almost stoic manner makes the main character an interesting one, but one that is difficult to get through, and this again comes close to the basic idea of the film, or rather this kind of play is rather essential to what happens on the screen, or on the streaming screen. Russel, Williams, Higgins and co. Play solidly and in their familiar rut, so easily watchable. To their credit, they were cast wisely for their roles. Still standing out is Adam Pally, who mixes his very funny, but not silly, character with just the right amount of charm, wit and seriousness that the script and the essence of the film give. Pally is also a contributing character to the film's comic element, which Uziel sprinkles into his film in a well-sorted way that is always present but never too much. The running gag about sitting in the back seat of the police car is about a perfectly written for this backwards film and manages to tickle out a laugh while watching it.

All in all, Shimmering Lake is a surprisingly good film that manages to pull off a mix of genres that rarely goes well. The film isn't quite the big hit yet, but it's good entertainment that everyone involved was happy to work on and put effort into.

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have brought a really good Halloween slasher horror to the screen with Halloween Haunt, which is very reminiscent of good films of the genre from the 90s in long stretches. The basic story and setting are simple, the surprise twists in the plot were to be expected, but still well directed and the actors are solid to good. The horror scenes are not innovative but well executed, the blood factor is high but does not overshadow the atmospheric effects of horror and creepiness that find their way into the viewers psyche through well written individual scenes, scary staging and good makeup and costumes. The set design is fun and almost hits the nail of the theme on the head.

A group of psychos, unfortunately only explained in rudimentary terms, chase young people through rooms of horror in specially created houses of horror. The teenagers are as naive, or dumb, as you know it from classics of the genre, the forces of evil are so twisted, confused and cruel, as they can only scare you, watching this film on a dark, rainy evening at home. But also in the cinema, with friends and a burger and a Coke afterwards, this simple, but definitely wacky film is certainly fun and that despite some obvious weaknesses, such as missing explanations for plot motivations, deus ex machina moments and the very strong reliance on slasher moments to mask some plot weaknesses, such as the weakness that the clowns don't really take care of their haunted house, or the fact that the whole story would fail if a person just claimed not to have a cell phone to hand in before entering.

Katie Stevens handles her lead role well, being sympathetic, vulnerable and strong all at the same time, trumping her lead role in the horror film "Polaroid" (2019) from the same year.

Beck and Woods definitely have potential in the competitive world of horror directors to earn spots in the top third. This more than solid, exciting, if not entirely well-rounded film is definitely a big step in the right direction.

Antoine Fuqua is an immeasurably overrated director, and with this film he shows once again why that's the case. This remake of the Danish thriller of the same name is overused, pale and unrealistic, Gyllenhaal mimes the tortured cop in the same manner and the staging makes heads shake until they almost fall off.

"The Guilty" is set without exception in an emergency call center of the L. A. P. D. and seems out of this world just from the premises, the way it works, the dynamics and miscommunication among the colleagues. A telephone cop (Gyllenhall), accused of murder or at least manslaughter, who regularly goes berserk in the space of just under 5 hours, works the night shift the day before his trial and loses his nerve during a supposed kidnapping case that later turns out to be one of those constant movie clichés of violent mental patients. He makes phone calls completely on his own authority, calls family, friends, superiors, and continues this behavior, unpunished except for a few small, half-hearted admonitions, even in an explosive case that reaches him via a caller. In the process, his manner, his situation, and his overtiredness lead him to numerous misjudgments and, as a result, to wrong decisions that could cost lives. The fact that no one dies in the end is only due to the poor script and not another poorly acted emotional outburst.

Presumably, the film is trying to show the empathetic side of a cop who made a deadly and self-righteous decision; s supposed to be about repentance and insight. But the connections between the individual storylines are so porous, so transparent, and at the same time so petty and bumpily told, that by the end of the film no overall picture has emerged that could entice supposed viewers to recognize what psychological path of suffering and reflection the main character is supposed to have taken here.

Fuqua and Gyllenhall have both made better films, though it is also quite the case with Fuqua that his lesser regarded films are the more pop-grained entertainment, such as "Bait" (2000). "The Guilt", on the other hand, is a film that takes itself very seriously, is boring, poorly written and clumsily directed, but also lacks the pretense that could lead to the same affective fallacy that could, and not infrequently did, occur during the initial viewing of his most praised, but also very overrated film, "Training Day" (2001).

Émile Reynaud's third animated film is the oldest preserved animated film in film history. Un bon bock & Clown et ses chiens fell victim to the inventor and artist's disappointment at the oblivion of his Théâtre Optique, though at least a few images of the former have survived.

In Pauvret Pierrot, Reynaud tells a short story of the trickster, but ultimately successful in his scheme, of minstrelsy, superstition, and fear, and he does so in a comedic style of classical storytelling. In a single scene, Pierrot has three acting characters dance across the screen, amusing and shocking his audience.

The work is not only a piece of history, but also a work that stands on its own, meant to be viewed in the splendor of its time, the Théâtre Optique, the beauty of the cosmopolitan city of Paris at the time, and the burgeoning entertainment wonders of modern technology, and it is then that all of its beauty comes to the fore. This brief (surviving) birth of the animated film is a small masterpiece in itself, a trailblazer, a beautiful work of entertainment art and a nostalgic-romantic, a tongue-in-cheek look at two times gone by at once, on three different levels. A look that motivates a smile on the face. A funny hoax that made history.

Clifford Smith's "The White Outlaw" is an underrated work of early Western film. The 1920s flick is an original, novel tale told in a blend of then-contemporary Western pulp culture and classic fairy tales. The nature shots are beautiful to look at, the work of the editors is essential to the seriousness and atmosphere of the story, and the underlying tragedy of the story anticipates many later westerns in their melancholy way of searching for profundity, or at least "The White Outlaw" is one of the early pioneer flicks that gave the western film essential traits that still have their meaning and validity today.

The actors are all surprisingly modern for the time, as is the idea of creating a film around the fate of an animal, or the bond between man and animal. Bernstein, Hoxie and Day play respectably within their silent film framework and all deliver solid performances. However, with the advent of talkies, the three disappeared from the film business beginning around 1933 - a fate that befell many of the silent film stars of the time.

All in all, "The White Outlaw" is not a masterpiece, but nevertheless definitely a work of early film history that is unfortunately too often overlooked to this day. Especially exciting are the many technical-cinematic tricks that come to the fore here, which were quite modern or experimental for their time. Especially the horse training behind it is an exciting matter and the film is an open invitation to ponder about it. A film worth seeing and an exciting look back into a very early phase of film history.

This horror film does a surprising amount right, despite the attacks that modern times are not only inflicting on entertainment arts and pop culture. The basic idea (minus the cellphones and apps) could also have originated in the 90s, the jump scares aren't over the top and feel appropriate, the brutality of modern exaggerations gives way to the classic approach of not showing too much, but certainly not too little. The balance that director Justin Dec finds and implements in this film is an increasingly unusual sight. The effects are well done, the supernatural is well staged and the humor relies on lovingly written supporting characters who shine with dialogues that you can hardly find anywhere in films these days.

The actors are all okay to good. Elizabeth Lail in particular plays her role of a rather shy but quite powerful woman very believably. Jordan Calloway is okay, if a bit pale, and Talitha Bateman is at times a little over-the-top in her role. Byrne and Segura show that they have a little more experience in the film business and are small highlights in their very comedic supporting roles. Facinelli also plays his role as a secondary antagonist appropriately, if not particularly multifaceted.

The film might open up one or two secondary storylines, but doesn't let them distract it from its path, instead integrating them for the most part appropriately into the main storyline. This is interesting with its intersection of religious horror and modern technology, which often proves to be quite real horror of its own kind. The quiet narrative style is impressive, the mixture of frightening scenes and a good horror staging, which can be found in quieter moments, the conveyed film feeling, which through cinematography, lighting and scenery seems like a journey through time to better times in film history and the short playing time, the one really good pacing favors such a storyline.

Director Dec's feature film debut comes as a bit of a surprise. Although this is not a film that can be found in the ranks of great films of the genre, it is definitely a nice popcorn cinema that is fun and shows on many levels what so many modern productions lack: passion for the genre, a feeling for atmosphere and the courage not to take yourself too seriously.

"The Open House" is arguably one of the most uninspired, ill-conceived horror films and one of those flicks which makes passion and intellect not at all a prerequisite for cinephiles to precede analysis of the film. The dumb core idea, apparently broken down by the filmmakers as genius, is so shallow, so disrespectful to the paying movie lovers, that it can easily be counted among the most unjustified realized stories that have been allowed to torment the eyes of the viewers since the Lumière brothers and the invention of film.

The film is the realization of a crackpot idea: what if you made a killer horror film in which the killer played a purely random role throughout the film?

In concrete terms, it comes about as follows: establish a clichéd plot beginning, consisting of a family tragically torn apart, think about a suitable setting, original, comprehensible and creative, so for example a setting in the middle of a property that is to be bought, which is why the small family of two, who want to get back together away from old hustle and bustle, have to spend days in shopping malls and diners again and again because of the open house visits. Make the viewer believe in a thousand silly connections, such as a conspiratorial meaning to the actually meaningless beginning of the plot, or danger, due to the open house setting. Make sure that the dialogues underline, no, substantiate these actually meaningless connections, such as by the expressed fear that in the absence of the nuclear family, strangers have entered the house. But don't forget subplots with supporting characters, such as a creepily intrusive flirting acquaintance, or a semi-irreverent woman who exudes danger but isn't actually dangerous at all. But in the end, the most important thing to remember is to make the actual "resolution" of the plot even sillier than all those muddles thrown into the ring before for oh-so-clever distraction.

Matt Angel's total failure on this feature debut is a waste of time and another indication of the destructive force that streaming services are to cinematic art. The wasted cast and the film's atmospheric wrapping, which ends up being worth a damn, are further evidence of this. "The Open House" is a work of art - uninspired, self-indulgent and with the not uncommon arrogance of many a pubescent teenager. A film to be avoided.

This animated short, released as part of the DVD release of "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (2018), is a fun little treat that definitely manages to stage the absurd and cabaret Spider-Ham character better, more true to the original and with more stylistic confidence than the overly-praised film, for instance, whose name can be found on the DVD cover. For a four-minute short, the story is adequate, if not loaded with new ideas. By now, viewers know enough about breaking the fourth wall, and the wacky nature of what is shown can be found in almost every mediocre cartoon by now; but also in a lot of good ones. "Spider-Ham: Caught in a Ham" is at the lower end of the good cartoons with this gimmick. The voice acting, already known from the feature film to which this cartoon is a tie-in, is solid, though not outstanding. All in all, 4 minutes that you can definitely have a look at once. Time is not wasted with this one.

An Vrombaut's first major project on his own is a very sweet and nice little series consisting of bedtime stories. The idea is simple and - as is often the case with children's series - all the more effective because of it; it is well thought out in any case. The adventures a little girl has with her friends from the zoo are a nice and simple story with an educational factor. This one doesn't come up short, but it also doesn't overtake the whole series in an unpleasant and fun way. The voice acting is more than solid and the art design sketchy yet quite clear and distinct, sweet it certainly is.

Vrombaut hasn't created a masterpiece here, but an undeniably good series for kids who want to be tucked into bed at night. Alternating this series every now and then with reading a children's book aloud should bring joy to the whole family in meaningful activity. It's nice when children are taught something without propaganda and have the chance to learn. Vrombaut's idea is, contrary to many a terribly religious children's series, simply fundamentally democratic.

This Israeli found footage horror is a small, not perfect but surprisingly acceptable story about a religiously motivated end of the world. The framing of the characters, their environment and their way into the story is peppered with numerous clichés, but is solidly told and not too boring to get the audience through the first 50 minutes of the film. As soon as the apocalypse begins, one of the gates to hell opens without explanation and the demons go about their work, the previous storylines become irrelevant anyway. Fervently, one then tries to catch a glimpse of a demon shadow here, one of the diabolical angels there, and elsewhere a closer look at the abrahemite giants who begin to herald the end of humanity in Jerusalem.

To the film's advantage, directors Paz have decided to let the religious aspect enter the film merely as a vehicle for the appearance of monstrous beings. There is no exploration of the pointless question of religious morality, and the anti-theistic thought of Christopher Hitchens is pleasantly expressed as a matter of course through the horror that God, or several variants of God, unleash on Earth.

The actors are all solid, with no one standing out as particularly good, or particularly bad. In terms of special effects, the filmmakers demonstrated a directorial deftness with a low budget, and the found footage camerawork takes its cues from the better films in this subgenre. The idea of special tech goggles is noticeably unnecessary and only serves as a relatively cheap explanation for why such a density of found footage should have been shot in the first place.

The resolution of the film cries out for a sequel, as the final image of the angelic demons hovering over Jerusalem makes you want to see a more elaborate version of this end of the world. The Z aspect, or zombie moment of the film, alludes to the transformation of people touched by angels, who then become the spitting image of them and join their ranks. First, this aspect is rather a small and minor part of the story, and second, the Z in the film's title seems more like a desperate attempt to lure zombie fans into the movie theaters. This attempt could have definitely been dispensed with.

All in all, "JeruZalem" is a solid religious horror with some fine ideas, but not enough will, and perhaps not enough budget, to devote to the project more devotedly. However, you can definitely watch this film and without feeling the tragic sense of wasted time. The Paz siblings can build on this work with pleasure.

"Extinction" is a good example of those films that come up with an exciting, but not very sophisticated basic idea, then very quickly reveal it generically, a fact that the story then fails to address. Such films usually fail from a mishmash of other factors, but here only one very elaborate one will do: mediocrity.

Pena is a mediocre leading man, better than thought, but pale in most scenes and with only a weak pulse. The supporting cast seems to match that vibe. Caplan, Colter, Booth and many more seem as if they had little fun on the set, watching them feels like watching people do grumpy work - an unpleasant, or at least inappropriate, occupation if you don't reach out to help and cooperate. Of course, that's not possible in a film, no matter how much one would like to retrospectively boost the fun factor during the shoot.

The staging is so solid that it could have come from a couple dozen decent TV movies that you've seen x number of times on one of those boringly tired Sunday mornings, at least halfway through, while dozing off. 'Boring' would also be a word that clarifies the circumstance of this comparison.

It is a pity how negligently this film theme has been treated, because the idea of seeing that theme brought to the screen in an exciting approach is not a far-fetched one, nor is it a comparative, apologetic idea that could rightly pop up here, as a light bulb of hope over the heads of those responsible. Humans who are not humans, aliens who are humans and androids who think they are humans is a thoroughly exciting game idea for the theater of thoughts. To find this idea so lovelessly packaged at the end is quite depressing.

This short film is a mix of drug-induced horror trip, Lovecraftian horror, mysterious apocalypse and doomsday, plus a sprinkling of family drama as a hook for the acting characters; and though so much has been crammed into this film, director Matt Sears manages to calmly craft his short story, larding it with questions and garnishing it with unsolved mysteries. A work with solid acting, acceptable effects and enjoyable camerawork carries a small idea here, picking up a small smorgasbord of so some cornerstones of cinematic storytelling and managing not to seem overstuffed or overambitious. Not a masterpiece, but definitely more than a nice little treat. These 11 minutes are worth investing in.

Colin Trevorrow has managed to make himself the Ryan Johnson of the Jurassic Park franchise with this film and the vanity with which he promoted and defended it. Jurassic World: Dominion is a soulless film, without a shred of understanding of the magic of the original. This made-for-its-own-good movie has no originality on its own terms, no respect for the fans of this once-grand dinosaur movie series, and not an ounce of artistic merit to the film genre. On top of that, this film is also dumb from start to finish and full of holes in the story. It's a good thing Trevorrow is also responsible for the screenplay and apparently spent years looking forward to this finale, because according to his own statements, he knew from the start to which end he wanted to lead the Jurassic World trilogy.

The film begins by leaving out its own story plots from the last two films. For example, how the dinosaurs were able to spread across the planet is left out, or it is assumed that you accept that this is explained via the illegal and legalized trade in the animals. The dinosaur scenes at the beginning are quite nice, but ultimately just a two-minute montage of big dinosaur scenes. The animal rescue comes across as a naive idea in the context of the film and additionally as a silly attempt at a cross-reference to the actually problematic treatment of animals in our society. The character development of Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is just thrown at you, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), on the other hand, is so on the mark in his already shallow and cliché-laden development that as a viewer you can definitely handle the fact that he is now foolishly riding horses, severing individual dinosaurs from their herd for "rescue". Secondary characters are introduced, only to be used as vehicles for the unfolding silly story without any depth of their own. The story surrounding the characters in the Jurassic World series quickly devolves into a globe-trotting, bad James Bond knock-off with a focus on the use of firearms, car chases and silly, superficial short cons. It goes to some Arabian countries, to a stupidly hidden black market for dinosaur goods, to a reservation of the company of "Dogson!". We've got Dodgson here" - Dodgson (Campbell Scott), who for reasons not told somehow managed to become one of the biggest tech moguls in the world. Just as somehow, by the way, he has also managed to recover the nostalgic cream can of Dennis Nedry's dinosaur DNA theft and keep it on his shelf. Their story then just jumps from action scene to action scene, where the "heroes" of the story, staged in a very modern way, survive every adversity. Apart from gunshots and dinosaur attacks, they survive a plane crash, numerous accidents and explosions unharmed. This plot, which undercuts any suspense, also leads to no fear or adrenaline buildup at all around the characters, which should actually serve to help viewers identify with them. Trevorrow makes himself the king of despondency here and destroys the legacy of the original film and its two original and respectful sequels.

By the way, the motivation for the cloned girl Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) is simply thrown overboard. Yes, that's how this trilogy was planned by the would-be visionary Trevorrow. Instead of the comprehensible cloning of the lost daughter, it is now the daughter herself who clones herself. The motivation, of course, is to save the world from disease and natural disasters. Oh, no, the motivation was the desire to save one's own new self from a deadly disease from which one suffers. Or was it? Didn't Trevorrow write a scene in which it's made clear that Lockwood didn't know about her disease when she cloned herself? Well, at least Trevorrow is so self-convinced that he doesn't care about consistency in the plot even in the context of just one film. The director and filmmaker never seems to have read an ethics book either, because the cloning action is consensually presented as a moral heroic act. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) would have to perceive this as a slap in the face, but what do the philosophical underpinnings of the original matter if a film is just poured on with cool sayings and action scenes without paying attention to the plot or the development of individual highlights in the film.

The plot around the characters of the original resembles chicanery for the fans of the franchise. The dream team of Alan Grant (Sam Neil), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), which worked so well, is suddenly a group consisting only of references to the grandiose start of the series, which becomes more insufferable, shallow and uninteresting by the minute. Their plot around the locust plague, which at least at the beginning seems like an interesting idea before it too is told into the barrel, is at least a tad better than the action movie scenes around Pratt and Howard. But again, it's overflowing with plot holes, dumb lines, and a dynamic between Grant and Sattler so unpleasant it could make you sick. Laura Dern, by the way, plays her role so badly that she makes Ellie Sattler the most unpleasant character in the film, but since her Star Wars appearance, she's been practiced at helping destroy classic franchises.

BD Wong's character development, by the way, is among the dumbest in film history. From an over-motivated and morally disinterested character in Jurassic Park, to the self-convinced and morally still subterranean leader in Jurassic World, to the morally now completely disintegrated dinosaur trader from Fallen Kingdom, we now witness here a Henry Wu who at the beginning of the film is still responsible for a biblical-capitalist plague of locusts, but at the end of the film is sneaking through a cornfield like a reformed science hippie, enjoying the redemptive feeling of moral poise. Incredibly stupid.

Unbelievably stupid is much else in this film as well. The overpopulation of different dinosaurs that you get to see for a few seconds attests to a lack of understanding of the magic of the original and a lack of appreciation for the genius of how the dino scenes were handled there. The sprinkling of modern wokeness is still within limits, but where it does appear it is, as you might expect, just plain silly. The waste of potential from the old films is obvious here. The Dilophosaurs are wasted, the Carnosaurs are so scary that a couple of betting-addicted dino-fight viewers just keep watching a dino-human fight while a few feet behind them the Carnosaurs wreak havoc. The Dimetrodon, which by the way are not dinosaurs, are barely shown, just as no dinosaur can be viewed even once with enough time and calm, instead they become animal horror creatures with nothing on them but brutal aggressiveness. In the end, there is yet another stupid dinosaur fight that seems like an even dumber copy of the stupid finale of the otherwise watchable first part of the Jurassic World trilogy. The T-Rex pretending to be dead is perhaps the dumbest dino scene in the entire franchise. Let's not forget that Dearing and Grady's love for their adopted daughter is so strong that they simply make the girl stand very, very close to a velociraptor at the end of the film, because Grady is, after all, friends with this primeval predator. In order to shoot such nonsense, one must have a completely narcissistic alienation from reality.... One could go on for a long time listing the numerous plotholes, stupidities and the impudent lack of understanding of what made the original so fantastic, but that would probably take readers of this review just as long as this bloated action nonsense has running time. But one thing needs to be mentioned: The recap of the plot and the outcome for the planet presented at the end of the film is over-politicized, naive, unscientific garbage that you can either laugh your head off at in cynical fashion or cry yourself to sleep in lonely despair over humanity. Dinosaurs coexisting in harmony with the rest of nature, triceratops performing their savannah march with elephants, geese flying fearlessly with pterodactyls, blue whales swimming in peace alongside a mosasaur, and herds of wild horses, mingling with other racing dinosaur herds are certainly realistic and the ultimate goal that a human race should have in the context of a specially created species extinction by genetically manipulating the evolutionary rhythm of Earth's history.

As a conclusion, it remains to mention once again that Trevorrow could impressively prove his complete lack of cinematic understanding with this film and that Star Wars: The Last Jedi now has to share the Olympus of destroyed franchises with Jurassic World: Dominion. Nothing short of a disgrace to cinema history. Tragic.

Michael Jacobs and April Kelly have created a TV classic with "Boy Meets World" that unquestionably has its place at the dinner table of the sitcom Olympus in terms of warmth, transmission of values, pop culture roots and simple beauty, with the likes of "Roseanne," "King Of Queens," "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory," to name a few. Along with "Happy Days," "Boy Meets World" probably even tops the list of childhood-related genre debauchery.

The series is about Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and growing up over the 7 seasons. In the process, he is constantly learning, enjoying his childhood, but also steadily getting closer to a new phase of his life. This approach to adult life is of course only completed on paper at the end of the season, but along the way he experiences many happy, but also tragic moments, of course all within the framework of a classic 90s sitcom. He is accompanied by a fabulous cast of supporting characters, most notably George Feeny, played quite wonderfully by the fantastic William Daniels.

The episodes deal with friendship, love, neighborly togetherness and family, as well as playing pranks, pop culture, hobbies and simple, childish fun. Storylines that deal with moral values, civic activism, and many other social issues round out the picture of a series that is rightly considered to have special educational value.

It can be noted that every cast member in this series has reached the career peak so far. They all function wonderfully together and this chemistry among the cast, along with the atmosphere so warmly written and directed, the clever episodes and the coziness factor, is one of the four supporting points of the harmony aired here, the likes of which are rarely found in television productions today.

"Boy Meets World" is a classic of TV history that will outlast generations with all its charm, but also bring the spirit of the great pop-cultural 90s to future generations.

This exorcism film from 2014 is a production between low-budget and lower budget levels of smaller horror films from Hollywood and this is also noticeable in the film, but really disturbing, besides the resulting and often wooden performances of the actors these production requirements are not. All in all, the set design is actually quite good, as are the costumes and makeup. The few special effects, on the other hand, could have been implemented in a more old-fashioned and thus more charming way.

The main problem with this film lies in the basic premise, which is not exactly nerve-wracking. There's nothing wrong with having seen a plot before in other films, but it's exhausting when an affectionate slant on the genre doesn't really come into play. Chan's direction seems more like working off the supposedly original idea of shooting the film from the camera perspective of the body possessed by the demon of the film. Concentrating on this seems to prevent Chan from taking other aspects of the film more seriously, expanding on them, or making them more atmospherically dense.

Alexia Fast's acting performance in this film is unfortunately, and probably in the wake of the sporadic shots of her anyway, rather sluggish and too perfunctory. The script doesn't give much more, though, as her character is really almost completely reduced to the shy church girl or, on the other hand, the completely demonic young woman who kills a few priests. Lin Shaye, who is now one of the regulars of creepy old horroromics thanks to her role in the "Insidious" series (2010-2022), plays her role skillfully as always, but also without adding any great new nuances. The rest of the cast is hardly worth mentioning, having hardly any screentime either. Some of them play solidly, some of them just stereotypically, not particularly, but also not particularly bad. All the performances in the film seem wooden, which once again underlines the weaknesses of the script and the direction.

The best thing about this film is that it's hardly a shame that it fails to convince.