Filmlist: Garden State 

In Hollywood movies, people used to go out on adventures. To the big city. Since the 90's, but since the heyday of indie cinema, you return to the small town where you were born. In former times one sought victory, today one escapes defeat. But your hometown is the centre of your depression. Here you will meet all the crazy people of the past again - and your parents. That's risky! And these films dramatize the decay of every optimism. You can't make it in your small town and you can't make it anywhere. Sounds pathetic? But no! Garden State, Lonesome Jim, Elizabethtown or Beautiful Girls are beautiful movies, which are also constantly rented by you in our video library. Especially Garden State! The focus is always on sad guys. I wouldn't call them men, rather big boys. Not grown up. But always helpful women appear in these movies. Liv Tyler in Lonesome Jim and Jersey Girl or Nathalie Portman in Garden State. They approach the heroes cautiously. After all, the point is to make the need stronger than fear. Often the sad guys are afraid of women. The question is: Can they accept the love of Liv Tyler or Nathalie Portman? Can they even be happy? Although the small towns to which they return are often staged like filthy holes? (Think of Indiana in Lonesome Jim - awful! Or Knights Ridge, Massachusetts in Beautiful Girls - always snowy!) Well, I think it's up to them. These small towns don't look any different than the Berlin suburb where I grew up. Of course you can be happy there! I know people who are.

FREE ON YOUTUBE Duncan Jones - Moon 

FREE ON YOUTUBE Probably I belong to the science fiction traditionalists and consider the 70s to be the last good decade of this genre. And of course I am wrong, like all traditionalists. Duncan Jones' Moon proves that. This is one of those science fiction pearls that doesn't want to offer a battle of equipment, it's an idea! With a budget of five million, the film seems quite modest and its title seems like a bow to the time when the moon was still a noble goal of American space travel. For Jones, space is a metaphor for the loneliness of its only protagonist. Perhaps his inner emptiness is as great as his outer emptiness? Sam Bell is the name of the astronaut and is played by Sam Rockwell. For three years he has been working on the moon and supervising mine work for a large corporation. On the moon's surface the element helium is extracted, which supplies mankind with clean energy. Sam's only companion is an intelligent calculating machine that even helps him to cut his hair: her name is Gerty and she even has a dozen different emotional states. Actually, Sam's pad on the moon looks like a geek's flat share: Somewhat decayed, with note messages and a table tennis table. The photos show that Sam also has a family. In former times the surfaces of the moon station were white, like the ones from the SciFi movies of the 70s, now they are yellowed. Too much does not happen. We witness Sam's everyday life. Once he has an accident with one of the harvesting machines, which mine helium, but is supplied by Gerty. Knowingly violating the base's layout, Sam returns to the scene of the accident and pulls a second injured Sam out of the cockpit. Now he's dealing with a doppelganger, but who could take the resulting problems more lightly than Sam? However, the classic philosophical questions of the genre about the origin of existence or the will of artificial intelligence are to be enjoyed with caution in Moon: they remain postmodern references to the classics of the genre without significance for the plot. Almost everything in Jones' film points to something; if you wanted to collect quotes, you'd have to go through Moon a few more times. Finally there is the showdown: the clones recognize the senselessness of their being and ally themselves with Gerty against their creator. Moon develops into a Western in the finale and we realize why Sam acts so casually...

In Cinemas: Rambo: Last Blood

Sylvester Stallone is the last great star of the silent movie era. That's because he doesn't open his mouth when he speaks. You don't understand anything. Stallone is a physical actor, one who always threw himself fearlessly into the action sequences. Has he ever seriously hurt himself? Now he tries a second time to revive his Rambo (the second time after 2008). Can he offer his character a real environment this time or just a comic-like scenario again? Rambo lives the simple life. Quietly on a ranch, somewhere in Arizona. He is fully attuned to his adoptive family, loves his adoptive granddaughter and reflects on his life on the terrace in the rocking chair. What might such a Rambo think of? Maybe about how he fought the Russians with the Taliban in the third part, i.e. how he is a founding member of the Taliban? He confesses to his adopted granddaughter Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal), who is college-aged, that he is still struggling with his inner anger. That's why he dug a sophisticated tunnel system under the porch. As a child, I always appreciated Rambo's skills the most: his effective traps in the forest from pointed branches. Gabrielle, for her part, tells Rambo that she found her long lost father in Mexico. She wants to go to him and ask why he just left her years ago? Only nine minutes after crossing the border, she is caught by traffickers. From the infamous Martinez gang. Rambo attacks and is almost beaten to death. Fortunately, Carmen (Paz Vega) discovers him in a side street. Will Rambo save Gabrielle? And will he still use his great tunnels? Will he use sawed-off shotguns and knives? And even the sound of The Doors? Will he once again undermine the Geneva Conventions? In short; Rambo: Last Blood is a pretty bad movie. Just like all the Rambo decals from the 80s, produced by Cannon with various musclemen. Basically, there is no plot or dialogue at all that could be from the 80s: "I want them to know that death is coming" And: Rambo: Last Blood is exaggeratedly bloody. As bloody as a good old B-movie. Maybe it's still time for Rambo to get movies as good as Stallone's "Rocky" character in "Creed"? Even though this Rambo is a respectable B-movie, he pays too little respect to the character who made Stallone Hollywood's biggest star. One more please! Or else simply a "Cobra II" or an "Over The Top II".

FREE ON DAILYMOTION B-Movie Lust And Sound In West Berlin

FREE ON DAILYMOTION A warm promise from the past! A film that forges cohesion, among those who have experienced it, but also unites those who would like to experience it! Mark Reeder came from Manchester to West Berlin in 1979 on a route that did not seem easy: through the German democratic republic. In the island city, the military fetishist and label boss finds his way into the New Wave/Punk scene. He meets Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld or Gudrun Gut and plays in a Jörg Buttgereit film. Reeder opens his video archive and we experience never seen material: Nena as a street singer or Nick Cave, who shows us his German Gothic collection as well as his Colt. Deadly Doris plays at Potsdamer Platz (which was still Potsdamer Wiese at the time), The True Heino is sued by the "real", Ideal collect money for squatters and Blixa Bargeld explains why he never went to East Berlin. Not all the material is new, but thanks to the charming way shipowners introduce us to West Berlin, we suddenly feel right at home! The documentary becomes a biopic! When shipowners moved to West Berlin on the tracks of German Krautrock, I was six years old. Nevertheless, names like Gudrun Gut still shine in the 90s, so that many things still seem familiar to me. For those who couldn't experience the 90s, B-Movie is also a great service, because the documentary brings to life the myth of an island of the pure avant-garde! Mark Reeder, however, does not act as a braggart who transfigures the past, but rather as an outside insider who seems more like an astonished child. Despite the subtitle Lust & Sound in West Berlin 1979-89, B-Movie doesn't end pessimistically either, but with a view of techno-loving Berlin. But Mark Reeder has to return to Manchester with a Berlin collapse...

FREE ON YOUTUBE Richard Linklater - Surburbia

FREE ON YOUTUBE  Do you remember your teen time? The deepest and most passionate feelings of your life? That's exactly what Richard Linklater's early films are about. That's why I watched "Before Sunrise" and "Dazed And Confused" 30 times! Directly after "Dazed And Confused" Surburbia came into the cinemas. I had seen Surburbia in the cinema and then tried for years to get a good DVD copy for our video store. Unsuccessfully. Today was one of those days again. I entered on YouTube: Surburbia 1996 film and landed a hit! Despite Warner rental Surburbia runs free and in good quality! Still! So it's best to stream right away! We know the scenario. A few "Slackers" in the Mini Mart. "Don't tell us about private property--this is America!''; one of them yells at the couple from Pakistan who run the shop. Maybe they find it business damaging when the same "slackers" hang out with them every day and drink half a dozen beers? Because the life of the "slackers" stands still. There is no idea for the future. That's why they sit in the Mini Mart. Waiting becomes the principle of life. Richard Linklater gave this generation a name with his debut "Slacker". He hit the right note in "Dazed And Confused" (although it plays in the 70s). In Surburbia he now expresses the desperation of this waiting for Godot. Surburbia is a dark and disturbing movie (that's why it's so hard to get, I think). Everything takes place during one night in the parking lot. One of the group of losers made it. That night he will "return". His name is Pony (Jayce Bartok). The last time they saw each other he was still the geek who played folk songs. Now suddenly he is surprisingly a rock star and has promised to stop by after the concert with his old friends. Friends? The leader of the "Slackers" is Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi). A sardonic, intelligent guy. He lives in his parents' garage. Jeff left with Sooze (Amie Carey), but that should be over soon. Sooze will move to New York and attend an art school. The fact that she has plans is considered a crime in Jeff's world. Sooze's friends will stay in the parking lot. Tim (Nicky Katt), an alcoholic. Bee-Bee (Dana Spybey), who just got out of rehab. And Buff (Steve tooth), the loser. They sit on a bar and sometimes have word fights with the Pakistani, who in turn represent classic American values. In the parking lot there is nothing to do. Except speeches. With a dramatic flair. Their suburb is called Burnfield, which fits quite well. Then comes Pony. Contrary to our assumption he is a nice guy who is now successful. A decent guy who just wants to hang out with his old friends. But his chances to be one of them are immediately spoiled by Pony's limousine. This challenges Jeff with his inferiority complex. "It's just airport, hotel, show, airport, hotel..." The poor rock stars. Whether he still lives with his parents, asks Jeff of all people. Like Linklater's first three films, the plot takes place over a period of about 24 hours. The plot? The non-action, because the characters are in a kind of waiting loop. Linklater examines the waiting. Life without a goal. And waiting can make you pretty mean. P.S. a nice 90s soundtrack underlines the sense of time: Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus & Elastica, Girls Against Boys, Beck, U.N.K.L.E., Boss Hog, Skinny Puppy, Superchunk...

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

Film List British Movies 10s

For a long time, British cinema profited from the hype of "Cool Britannia". Yet we have long since found ourselves in times of "chaotic Britannia". Are there any films at all that examine social issues? Or ask questions about national identity? How was it possible that a flabby blonde prime minister could lead the British back to a civil war against the neighbouring island?