Juja1 Reviews

Gravity (2013)

Huh?

[3/10 · 3 November 2013]

I was not impressed. The technology behind the movie may be impressive, but I can only rate my subjective enjoyment of viewing, coming down to 3 points. Here is why: - Absence of character-based drama: I had been much intrigued by the idea of a character-based drama with a space setting. But with the number of characters quickly reduced to one, it actually had minimal interplay of characters. Also there was practically no character development. This was simplified to the main character having lost a child, and overcoming this trauma in a rather cheesy "angel" scene. I did not like Children of Men either, and wonder what it is with Cuaron and the mother-and-child theme. It was hard to emotionally relate to characters with hardly any backstory about them. - The movie was not very suspenseful, probably because the plot is an event-driven one-way success story. The main character successfully reacts to a straight-forward series of catastrophic events (board space station: check, overcome trauma: check,…). Each try takes her one step further to a new physical location, but without any character related setbacks or emotional to-and-fro that could create suspense. - The movie felt rather "Hollywood" and clichéd. For me, possible suspense and emotion was instantly killed by the bombastic musical score, a major cause of cheesiness. I react badly to musical scores that tell me I should be feeling moved NOW. I feel that the movie might have been much more captivating with a reduced score, focusing on only those sounds that can really be heard in the loneliness of space. - Although I like the idea of exploring personal "rebirth" in the movie, I think that the spiritual element was not woven into the story in a consequential and layered manner involving resonance on many levels of storytelling, but rather bluntly included through a few key scenes (fetal position; evolution scene in the end of the movie etc.). Especially with the lack of character definition, these scenes thus came over as cheesy and out of context. I'd say, if you want to go metaphorical, go all the way. - To me, another movie where "pathetisch" (grand) comes over as "pathetic". I give it a 3, but I can understand reviewers who gave only 1 point for the same reasons.

Tangled (2010)

Very entertaining

[9/10 · 20 December 2010]

This movie felt like a 9 on the entertainment scale. The movie drew me in and made me laugh many times. First Disney movie I liked since years. The 1 point missing to a full ten goes off for the plot holes (...why is it now necessary to sing in order to activate the flower/hair magic, and then again it isn't? ...how did the horse get the bunch of thieves to follow him, plus place them behind open prison doors? ...why wasn't the princess at least a little sad for her stepmother whom she had loved for so many years?...). I liked the loving attention to detail such as in the art-nouveau style wall paintings and the pub scene. While I love the old hand-drawn Disney Classics such as Djungle Book and Aristocats with wonderful swing music, I could never really connect to any Disney movie since then - did not like the over-polished gaudy-coloured look of Aladdin & Co. and the pop-style songs; found Princess & the frog a bit boring, too full of cliché visual references to old-style Disney which did not work in my opinion, and was put off by the unnatural purple colour in the voodoo scenes. Tangled on the other hand seems to look more forward than back, and at the same I thought this feels more like one of the old movies. Some scenes felt almost like a movie scene with real actors, such as the one in the cave. A turn towards realism goes well with me. As another reviewer remarked there were still other scenes of unlikely physics (surviving a huge fall) which made me stumble a bit, but which I did not mind too much. Rapunzel's big-eyed pink barbie look...well...thank god she acted differently. As for the lantern scene...it was beautifully made though maybe just a bit too much, think I heard some viewers disconnecting due to the sentimental overdose and getting a little impatient, at least when having a 3D lantern shoved into our faces :-)...I got this random thought about masses of waste lanterns littering the woods on the next morning, and then all the time I had to think about this poor guy who according to the newspapers is fighting paper lanterns, because one of them came down on their house and killed his son in the resulting fire. He will probably not enjoy the movie as much as I did.

Cherry Blossoms (2008)

Sad and Beautiful

[9/10 · 31 August 2008]

This movie was deeply touching. It is a movie about how a man copes with mourning, about the impermanence of being and the permanence of memories, still very funny in places, and often very tender. Equal amounts of laughter and nose-blowing in the audience, an audience which was very silent and in thought in the end of the movie. I appreciated: the great acting in this very well-cast movie, with outstanding Elmar Wepper and Hannelore Elsner but including the very fitting supporting cast - the artful to-the-point wording - the quiet yet well-timed pace of scenes and shots - how very well the movie conveyed the feeling of loss - the use of background scenes that carry meaning which unobtrusively reflects the foreground action (e.g. marching duck, sand castles washed away, fly trapped by window glass without being aware of it etc.) - the contrast of the inner search of a man for happiness leading him to consequential, necessary and healing actions that are being perceived as ridiculous or crazy by outsiders who do not share his perspective. I was shocked to some extent by a funeral scene near the end of the movie. 1 point off for some slight lengths in the middle of the movie - but then weren't these lengths somehow fitting as the main character had just then reached a dead end in his life?

The Golden Compass (2007)

Much roaring about nothing

[1/10 · 15 December 2007]

I just walked out of this movie near its end. (never walked out of a movie before). It was so boring that I had no inclination whatsoever to know how it would end, and a desire to make something better out of the evening. The special effects and costumes looked great. Also the actors did a good job. However, to me it was nothing more than just a colourful stream of images. There was nothing in it to captivate me emotionally. An action based storyline, no apparent character drivers than some displeasingly simple notions of valour and might; no apparent message, no universal human themes to which one could relate. When each picture is just a glossy brochure, and too perfect in every detail, special effects can be a real mood killer, and make the movie look phony and artificial. Always the same panoramic wide screen view of events. Why is it that many filmmakers seem to employ a pompous and pathetic music score as the only means intended to evoke emotion? Why not make more creative use of perspective, lighting, timing, realistic settings in order to drive a story emotionally from the inner perspective of a character? All in all, much roaring about nothing. A very meaningless movie.

Music and Lyrics (2007)

Positive surprise!

[9/10 · 20 March 2007]

I like positive surprises! More than the shallow romantic movie I expected, but sufficiently original, lively and funny. Good entertainment for me for me from first to last minute. Lightened up my spirits on a lonely Friday night, was no doubt worth the money. I sympathized with the characters for their slightly freaky way, and liked that the movie - at least at most times :-) - did not cross the line to soppiness but always stayed funny and a little ironic, and also the way some inconvenient truths were outspoken between the characters which is always a healthy preventive to soppiness. I appreciated a lot the musical&show performances the actors delivered. I think that anyone who has ever been on a stage themselves will truly have to give them some credit for their accomplishments in entertainment, especially newly-cast Haley Bennett. On-the-spot entertainment for me, which will say something for someone like me who neither has a liking for the 80's nor for the usual git Hugh Grant. No, I liked both Grant and Drew Barrymore a lot in this one as well as the music. Light entertainment is an art in itself, and was accomplished pretty much to my satisfaction. Strongly support the tagline of another user's comment "Surprisingly good fun - better than you'd think". OK perfectly happy as I was, why did I not give it a ten? The female realist inside myself was annoyed that they never talked about the money Drew Barrymore (aka Sophie Fisher) would receive for the lyrics she drew.

Grave Decisions (2006)

the most wicked German feelgood movie of the year

[10/10 · 14 November 2006]

Full 10 points, would have loved to give 11. Not only the most enjoyable German movie of the year, but in general the most enjoyable movie I have seen in a long time. Contents: Take a child's fantasy, take Bavarian Catholicism, and watch a series of hilarious events unfold from this combination. If you are – such as me - German but not from Bavaria, be sure to take also a South German friend with you in order to translate the punch lines you have been missing due to dialect. If you come over this movie out of Germany, don't miss out on the fun – you're even luckier because you will most probably be watching a subtitled version. I am sure you don't have to be German in order to like this movie, because religion - and all those strange blossoms which it may spread - are truly international. Last but not least: If you're German and the rabbit from „Nach 5 im Urwald" made you laugh – here's more :-)

Me and My Sister (2004)

go watch

[10/10 · 7 October 2005]

Fantastic acting, very entertaining. Though the things which happen in the movie are not always nice, it has been long since I have followed a movie with so much enjoyment from the first to its last minute. Not having read anything about the movie before, I was open to let the action surprise me. I recommend anyone not to read to much about the storyline before watching it, but just go and watch. To answer one of the comments above, yes, the movie is also interesting for people not familiar with the Paris-Countryside clinch (such as me). I think it is because the feelings/situations transported in it, though set in a French framework, are universal. There have been situations in my life when I have felt more like the one or like the other sister. Different as they are, the reactions of all characters are completely understandable. The movie does the trick to combine affectionate caricature and merciless realism. This is why the movie is catching and moving, while at the same time you are observing and enjoying from a kind of layd-back perspective. I just realize that might be the reason why the action never made me feel embarrassed, and allowed me to watch at times with some voyeuristic indulgence. Yes, the movie does not condemn any character, but brings affection for human imperfection. If you like the taste of film food which is a quite perfect dish of different flavours, go watch.