30 August 2006

Drink up, me hearties. Yo ho!

After a feast at our local Marché-restaurant, I got the opportunity to watch the sequel to 2003s blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl yesterday. As a sequel, I naturally didn't expect anything more from it, than I had seen in the first movie, so I wasn't disappointed at all. We had a very good time, as had erveryone around us.

Like the first film, this one was extremely funny, even in its more complex fighting-sequences, which I suppose can be credited to its cast which perform absolutely great together. Maybe I am not fuly objective here, because I really long for these kind of movies. There are too few funny adventure-driven movies nowadays. The fun and exitement which brouht us the Indiana Jones Trilogy could not be reestablished in many films thereafter. The Mummy and Cutthroat Island (1995, with Geena Davis) being two great exceptions, I even liked National Treasure, whose sequel is beeing shot sometime in fall.

However, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a worthy sequel, and being produced in one row with the third installment of the franchise, left open enough of its storyline to be concluded next year. There where some unexpected twists in the storyline, which I would never have anticipated. Such as the kiss'n'cuffs between Elizabeth and Jack and his overall more agressive and ruthless behaviour towards his supposed friends. The very end with the comeback of a character being the greatest twist, of course.

The most annoying thing within the movie was the 10minute break which wasn't really needed.

A lot of ships were destroyed and I am guessing that the East India Trading Company, while enlarging their territory of influence, will be massing an armada to end all piracy in the Caribbean in the third part. I can hardly wait.

I loved it and so will you, when you're fan of adventure and laid back fun. Just don't take the scenery in all too seriously.

Facts:

- Adventure/Action - USA 2006
- FSK: ages 12 and up
- Runnig Time: 150 min.
- German publisher: Buena Vista
- in German theaters since: 27.07.2006

PS:
feast @ Marché

25 August 2006

Big, furry guy .. and his blonde

You guessed it, I watched Peter Jacksons remake of 1933's King Kong. Boy was I right not to spent any money on a ticket when it first aired in december. This mix of Lord of the Rings-, Jurassic Park- and Mimic-elements really doesn't need much more words to be explained. Its three hours of running time are not really needed to get the story across, most of the time they're on that Skull Island anyway.

So there are Orks .. ehm .. indiogenic population inhabiting the black, harsh cliffs of Mordor .. ehm .. a long island-circling wall of a civilization, lost long ago. Dinosaurs without their glamourous entrance in JP and insects ten times their normal size. A freakshow with an idiotic film-maker who always wants to end his film, on that island, in the name of anyone, who just happend to die a minute ago (instead of leaving after two people were killed) but refuses to die himself (which, ironically is pointed out by the ship's captain on their rescue).

The best scenes, and they're the best scenes visually as well, are those of Kong in the streets of New York in the late 1920s/ beginning 1930s and on top of Chrysler Building fighting the loosing battle against the planes. I am a fan of the 20s/30s and as such of any movie depicting that time-period and showing it to us with special effects available to film makers nowadays. As I loved Chicago in Road to Perdition or New York in the Matrix-like world created in The 13th Floor, I also loved Jackson's New York, but that doesn't make a three-hour movie. Of course everybody knows the story, but that island-stuff was just too much Peter Jackson, if you know what I mean. In The Lord of the Rings, Middle-Earth needed the contrasts of landscapes as much as of creatures, but I would have loved to learn more about that lost civilization and why they built that wall (Kong can't swim, neither can the T-Rexes) but Jackson chose not to explain this.

The indiginous (was it?) tribe also seemed to disappear, after they killed two men and gave the blonde to Kong. Of course the Venture's captain and his men held them off with their guns, but I am feeling, that Jackson didn't quite know how to integrate them further into the story.

So, if you want to see a gorilla falling in love with a blonde - which is kinda disturbing when you think about it twice - or love the looks of the 1920s/30s or people getting killed for nothing (there are a lot of men dying to save ONE woman), then you should probably think about spending money on the DVD or renting it. But think twice, before you're sitting through the 187 minutes of this popcorn-driven big screen adventure.

Facts:

- Adventure/Fantasy - New Zealand/USA 2005
- FSK: ages 12 and up
- Runnig Time: 187 Min.
- German publisher: UIP
- German Publish Date: 14.12.2005 / DVD: 04.04.2006

PS: there's a Deluxe Extended Edition beeing released on 3 DVDs in Germany November 30th, 2006. This one will be 13 minutes longer than the original.

queer BBQ

Yesterday we met up in Potsdam's BUGA-Park celebrating the leave of Stefan - you will be dearly missed, but oh well, six months aren't the world. So as we say bon soir to you, your new home in France welcomes you: Bonjour!.

Lots of beverages and fine foods went down our throats and as the night had fallen upon us remaining few, we knew: this young, we'll never meet again.

23 August 2006

Frequently Asked Questions OR a synonym for the word used most

So, tonight I went out with a bunch of Queens to watch FAQs, the new film from Luster-maker Everett Lewis.

Story: Hustler gets into trouble with supposedly gay bashers and is rescued by a tall, afro-american Drag Queen called Destiny. She gives him somehting to eat and takes him home, but he's to obey some house-rules: 2 hours of nudity each day, for "we" aren't ashamed of our bodies and: always wear a condom.

Watcha gettin': So this all-too typical start for any Hustler-movie out there (streetkid sells his body, is taken in by s.o. -> new life!) is nice only because it's over soon enough. Afterwards the movie's comedy (while I'm not sure if this humor is intentionally or not) is the one thing setting it above the real real awful Sugar. The more it progresses, the more time is spent on kissing or having sex or getting in or out of bed. As finally the white police officer and the gay bashers from the beginning of the movie join the gay community, this piece of motion picture gets incredibly trashy and kitschy.

There are a lot of guns pointed at each and everyone of the characters, but no-one dies, so there's absolutely no drama at all. The problems of the characters seem to be all the same: family is white and christian so they got rid of their faggot kids, and their quick solution is wanting revenge by killing them or blowing them up with home-made bombs (WTF?!) - which they don't do. So in the end, the movie is all but West Hollywood - it's Hollywood, because there's a Happy Ending, with too much gays per square feet. Credibilty = Zero. But hey, it's funny.

So, don't watch it in a theater, borrow the DVD, have some friends over with popcorn and laugh off your asses.

Facts:

· USA 2005
· Writer/Director: Everett Lewis
· Camera: Gavin Kelly
· Actors: Lance Lee Davis, Tera Green, Adam Larson, Joe Lia...
· Length: 96 min.
· DVD: Code 0, PAL · Color · 16:9 · english w/ german subtitles
· in German theaters since: 10. August 2006
· German Publisher: GMfilms

20 August 2006

I fell in love with another movie

I just recently watched Cameron Crowe's ELIZABETHTOWN on DVD and was blow away. This movie is sentimental w/o being kitschy at all. The love story's been molded out of Orlando's character's grief for his dad and even more so out of his grand failure in business. The family on both sides is just hilarious, just like in the real world. What got most tears was the drive back home on the road. The music chosen, the pictures taken, the entire mood just catches you right off the feet and one wishes to be right there.

I didn't get the chance to watch it last year when hit the theatres, so this is a little late for a review, but alas.

I really feel compelled now to actually take the road trip, me and my best friend planned so many years ago and never took, because life got in the way. As one could see, time works in nobody's favor and he more we let go of it, the less chances we have to be with the ones we love, to experience the world and it's treasures. I don't expect a road trip to be life-turning, but it sure has some romantic qualities to it and I'm sure meeting people along the way and visiting places you've never been is what it is all about. Getting their stories and sharing your own. Sometimes it helps to set things into perspective.

Ok, it's getting deep now, just watch the movie!

Facts:

- Comedy/Drama - USA 2005
- FSK: no restrictions
- Length: 123 min.
- German Publisher: UIP
- German Publish Date: 03.11.2005 / DVD: 02.03.2006

OMG another blog!

Oh yes, here it is. Another blog - by another idiot - who thinks anyone's gonna read, what he's gonna publish here.

A friend of mine finally convinced me to do this, because my life is oh so interesting. Well, we'll see about that. This first entry is actually worth nothing at all, I just needed to write anything to be able to preview and change my template. So guess what, you just lost 30sec. of your life to no information at all.

Have a nice day.