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OrwellHuxley
Reviews
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Deserved only 5 *s
Now, why only 5 stars? The acting was OK, the setting was beautiful, and the camera work was quite brillant. Anyway, there were three flaws, three big mistakes which are inexcusable: Why for heaven's sake have the film makers used extra music for the soundtrack which has been recorded later than 1934?
Duke Ellington recorded his 3rd effort on "Merry-Go-Round" in 1935, Leo Reisman has waxed Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out Of You" also in 1935, and "The King Of Clarinet", Mr Artie Shaw, has recorded "Any Old Time", featuring Billie Holiday, in 1938, during his very first recording session for RCA-Victor.
That's why. Next time, please ask the experts for avoiding such kind of unnecessary anachronisms..
Babylon Berlin (2017)
My Tender Berolina
Berlin is a great place, and 20s Berlin is the place to be. And those Ivan guys heading to the German capital with the runaway train really scared the sh*t out of me, while Commissario Brunetti investigates the case of the evil porn dealers in the mean streets of Wilmersdorf. I was so scared out of my pants that I thought Wilmer from the Maltese Falcon would round the corner any second. Unfortunately, Wilmer remained in Steglitz, so my friends and me (among them my old friend Axel) had to put up with that Wilma girl who bumped into the Commissario when they left the elevator. That was pure suspense, and this certain kind of subtle humour you only find in German movies. A terrific scene, full of awesome suspense. I have to admit that I also missed Maria Furtwaengler, as well as the great Hubert Burda. The plot is similar to Mad Men actually. Although I think Babylon Berlin is better and also better than Game of Thrones. Because you have real characters here, pure action, and lots of porn. Though I think there might be a little bit too much of porn on German TV, especially since the prime time hard core porn Tatort shown in October 2017. Did I already mention that it is a great series? More so, heaven.
Tatort: Der rote Schatten (2017)
Some Like It Hot
That German actor Hennes Jaenicke makes me hot, and he's even hotter playing a German RAF terrorist in his heydays, now 70 years old, and he's looking hotter than ever. Thanks to director extraordinaire Domeneck Graf, who makes Hennes Jaenicke looking hotter than you might imagine. There are also a few terrific action scenes in this potboiler, especially when a female German terrorist is shot and dragged by a car over the tarmac at 0.005 miles per hour. This is a welcome invention of tardiness only a master director like Mr. Graf could create. The story about the Red Army Fraction is highly controversial and gory to the max, and the bathtub scene (there are several bathtub scenes) is one of the greatest bathroom scenes in movie history. I wonder why that nice young girl was not in the bathtub, but her ugly Bavarian mother! But the Kommissar suspected her of being in the bathtub with Hennes Jaenicke. A really amazing story twist. A highly convincing meditation on bathtub terrorism in my humble opinion.
Tatort: Hardcore (2017)
Patronia Bavariae
It was more hardcore than I expected. Fantastic, real hardcore live action with Ivo Batic and Klaus Leitmayer, my favorite Tatort detectives. I love those guys, who for sure prove in this episode that they are really the cream of the crop. Though I was a bit disappointed that Leitmayer did not cream the girl, and Batic was more hardcore than ever. The poor Batic! Leitmayer always had the hardcore part in those grey Tatort movies, but Batic always stayed out of the hardcore. The girls were real randy, though it was a little bit too much porn for me. But I have to admit that producer Stefanie Heckner created a future of hardcore porn here. I was excited to the very last second.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
The unnerving H. Zimmer soundtrack...
...was the reason I gave this flick just 5 stars.
This is not a western, Mr. Zimmer. And stealing from, err, quoting Mr. Morricone won't bring you any further. The story is OK, the special effects are awesome, and the acting is brilliant.
Also, the restored London of the 19th century is just a spectacular sight. Marvelous! Anyway, 5 stars are OK.