I’ve seen the Immortal one. I don’t seem to remember much about this complicated futuristic yarn with Egyptian gods who live alongside humans, and a pyramid - 'scept it was very visual (as you’d expect from such an artist).
I’ve not got any of his comics, although I’ve seen one along these lines, but I have a lovely book of some of his drawings and paintings which include many pics of scantily clad women and blokes with sketchy eagles popping out of their heads. stunning stuff :o
[url]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/stalingradoriginal1.jpg/[/url] [size=12pt]STALINGRAD[/size] (1993, Joseph Vilsmaier)
![http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/stalingradoriginal1.jpg/[/url]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/stalingradoriginal1.jpg/%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
Rewatched this brutal, often gruesome, but fascinating German war movie, telling the horrible story of the battle of Stalingrad and its aftermath.
A stunning movie, very well acted and directed, gripping all the way, only marred by a couple of dialogue scenes that feel a bit hollow.
According to some sources, Vilsmaier deliberately made the decision to show his protagonists as lacking any militairy dignity or courage, due to the political climate of the day and the growing sympathy for fascism among younger Germans. If so, this decision didn’t hurt the movie at all: it only seems to make it more realistic and powerful. The soldiers only concern in the icy Russian hell is survival, and I guess that’s exactly what most German soldiers were thinking of in those days.
No doubt on of the best - or at least most powerful - German war movies in recent memory. One of the most astonishing things, is that director Vilsmaier never did anything again that came close. Odd.
7,5 out of 10
[size=12pt]Léon The Professional - 1994 - Luc Besson[/size]
Always liked Besson specific style of filming, he did failed in The 5th element, but he does have several good films, and Lèon is just one of those.
The action is great, the more comic reliefs doesn’t spoil such a dramatic film, but the thing I liked the most is how self-centeres the story is presentet to the viewer, the places where everything happens don’t change much, even the sense of time with evertything happening very fast, works perfectly.
Nathalie Portman is just fantastic, hard to believe she was just twelve at the time, she acted better than many full grown actresses I know, Gary Oldam was at the top of his game in the period the film was made, and always liked Jean Reno a very hard working kind of actor (a good face for any SW).
I’ve watched it the first time in the cinema long ago, the uncut version I’ve seen now is of course more complete but can’t really compare both
Great film
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:8642, topic:1923”][url]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/stalingradoriginal1.jpg/[/url] [size=12pt]STALINGRAD[/size] (1993, Joseph Vilsmaier)
Rewatched this brutal, often gruesome, but fascinating German war movie, telling the horrible story of the battle of Stalingrad and its aftermath.
A stunning movie, very well acted and directed, gripping all the way, only marred by a couple of dialogue scenes that feel a bit hollow.
According to some sources, Vilsmaier deliberately made the decision to show his protagonists as lacking any militairy dignity or courage, due to the political climate of the day and the growing sympathy for fascism among younger Germans. If so, this decision didn’t hurt the movie at all: it only seems to make it more realistic and powerful. The soldiers only concern in the icy Russian hell is survival, and I guess that’s exactly what most German soldiers were thinking of in those days.
No doubt on of the best - or at least most powerful - German war movies in recent memory. One of the most astonishing things, is that director Vilsmaier never did anything again that came close. Odd.
7,5 out of 10[/quote]
Great film, always liked the initial scenes in Italy, with the the soldiers recovering from the desert campaign. About the soldiers lack of militar dignity, that may be correct with the commom wehrmacht lander, but not so much if we talk about the waffen ss troups.
Also the German film from the fifties with same title, does have a different feeling with a bit more of hope, and a great ending.
[quote=“El Topo, post:8643, topic:1923”][size=12pt]Léon The Professional - 1994 - Luc Besson[/size]
Always liked Besson specific style of filming, he did failed in The 5th element, but he does have several good films, and Lèon is just one of those.
The action is great, the more comic reliefs doesn’t spoil such a dramatic film, but the thing I liked the most is how self-centeres the story is presentet to the viewer, the places where everything happens don’t change much, even the sense of time with evertything happening very fast, works perfectly.
Nathalie Portman is just fantastic, hard to believe she was just twelve at the time, she acted better than many full grown actresses I know, Gary Oldam was at the top of his game in the period the film was made, and always liked Jean Reno a very hard working kind of actor (a good face for any SW).
I’ve watched it the first time in the cinema long ago, the uncut version I’ve seen now is of course more complete but can’t really compare both
Great film[/quote]
Good film, I agree with most things, but I felt Olman’s performance was way over the top.
(I don’t dislike The Fifth Element, btw)
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:8645, topic:1923”]Good film, I agree with most things, but I felt Olman’s performance was way over the top.
(I don’t dislike The Fifth Element, btw)[/quote]
Not that I don’t like The Fifth element, is just that I think that it could be a better film, hard to explain but I got the feeling that maybe a more “European” approach would had worked better.
About Oldam he’s (or was) one the few actors that could go over the top, without hurting the character much (or that much), that scene with Nathalie in the public bathroom is plein great.
The Fifth Element could have been a lot better if Chris Tucker wasn’t in it. He almost destroys the film IMO.
I agree a “Euro” approach, or at least a Blade Runner knockoff approach would have elevated the film. It has a weird goofy look to it, with a little hardening of the edges it would have looked like a live action take on a Heavy Metal story. Chris Tucker is awful in that movie, that shit is so irritating but it’s burned in my mind forever from youth.
I watched SCREAMERS: A good enough take on Phillip K. Dick’s Second Variety, another film that sort of tries out John Carpenter’s skin but possibly isn’t smart enough to fully wear it. It rides a fine line between 80s sci-fi action cheese and the 90s age of Sci-Fi Channel Original Film being made around 93 or 94. It is stuck enough in the past that the film grain looks like actual film but I dunno, maybe it feels a bit like Star Trek TNG but its a little better than that as well. The film is without a doubt inspired by Carpenter’s take on The Thing and his use of possessed hordes attacking people fighting them off with flame throwers, but it never feels cool in this movie. It was a 4 dollar DVD and I think the money was well spent, it’s not schlocky enough for a film night get together but it’s not entirely terrible. Peter Weller is an underrated actor, wish he had more than just Robocop and Naked Lunch, or do you know more?
More or less my thoughts too. I didn’t hate it, but it left a lot to be desired. It somehow created expectations that weren’t fulfilled. Not intelligent enough to do Philip K. Dick (one of my favorite writers) justice, not entertaining enough to do it on Carpenter (one of my favorite directors) level. Not bad, but falls between two stools.
That is of course true
I preferred the directors cut of Leon, only that charades scene (John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, etc) feels so out of place and unrealistic… but its in both versions.
And The Big Blue is my favourite of Luc Besson
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:8642, topic:1923”]Rewatched this brutal, often gruesome, but fascinating German war movie, telling the horrible story of the battle of Stalingrad and its aftermath.
A stunning movie, very well acted and directed, gripping all the way, only marred by a couple of dialogue scenes that feel a bit hollow.
No doubt on of the best - or at least most powerful - German war movies in recent memory. One of the most astonishing things, is that director Vilsmaier never did anything again that came close. Odd.
7,5 out of 10[/quote]
This is indeed a surprising film from Vilsmaier, mostly associated with sentimental and “Heimatfilm” stuff.
What also surprises me is your rating for an often “fascinating and stunning” film compared to the 7/10 for Bandolero.
The 50s film about Stalingrad has a very different original title (Dogs, will you live forever?), which could have also been used for a SW.
Not a bad film, but it has all the typical 50s German war film cliches with good soldiers and bad Nazis. The very important message to heal the German post war soul was:
- Only the Nazis were evil
- Only a few Germans were Nazis
- We were also victims of the evil Nazis
- We knew nothing about the crimes of the Nazis (we are innocent)
- We would have won the war if Hitler hadn’t been a madman
- The Wehrmacht fought a fair war (all war crimes were done by the SS)
I’ve seen Leon very long time ago and I remember liking it. I must re-watch a lot of stuff by Besson.
[quote=“Stanton, post:8653, topic:1923”]The 50s film about Stalingrad has a very different original title (Dogs, will you live forever), which could have also be used for a SW.
Not a bad film, but it has all the typical 50s German war film cliches with good soldiers and bad Nazis. The very important message to heal the German post war soul was:
- Only the Nazis were evil
- Only a few Germans were Nazis
- We were also victims of the evil Nazis
- We knew nothing about the crimes of the Nazis (we are innocent)
- We would have won the war if Hitler hadn’t been a madman
- The Wehrmacht fought a fair war (all war crimes were done by the SS)[/quote]
All that is true, but still I liked the film. It displays German allies very well (The Romanians in the case), got a very good main character (in pure classic Hollywood style), but still in the end the story goes against everything the films stands for, except for the fact the hero stays alive, for long we will never know.
Every decade got the films peolple need or want. And yes great title
I have to watch it again. I haven’t seen it for ages.
Director Frank Wisbar was probably one of the few talented directors in the mostly forgettable 50s German cinema.
But the best known war film was always Bernhard Wicki’s The Bridge.
[quote=“Stanton, post:8652, topic:1923”]This is indeed a surprising film from Vilsmaier, mostly associated with sentimental and “Heimatfilm” stuff.
What also surprises me is your rating for an often “fascinating and stunning” film compared to the 7/10 for Bandolero.[/quote]
7/10 for Bandolero was an ‘entertainment rating’, Stalingrad is a totally different movie, another scale. I compared it war movies like Die Brücke (7), Steiner, das Eizerne Kreuz (Cross of Iron) (6), Der Untergang (7), etc. and thought a 7,5/10 was fair. 8/10 would have been possible too.
On a scale for rating all movies, Bandolero would be 6 - 6,5 maximum. That’s always the problem with ratings.
Watched the new Total Recall last night, and it was a lot better than expected. They made some references to the original, but really made this movie their own.
I would put Das Boot, Downfall and Cross of Iron all out 8/10. Great pictorial dipictions of war. Are you not a fan of the war genre per se?
Not per se, it’s not a favorite genre, but I don’t hate or really dislike war movies.
Das Boot is a 7/10 too for me, not bad, but not great either (basically it’s a sort of Moby Dick rewriting). Downfall, or Der Untergang, is a good movie, but not one you easily go back to. Once is enough (for a decade or so). Cross of Iron is simply not my kind of movie. I gave it a 6/10 because it has a couple of tremendous action scenes (especially in the first half of the movie)