Pia-12 Reviews

Monsters, Inc. (2001)

How excited can an adult get ?

[10/10 · 17 January 2002]

Gosh, this movie was a great surprise, because I can not remember when last I was amused and anticipating with a plot like I was with the Monsters Inc. There are hundreds of great little things in this movie. I particularly enjoyed that the Monsters company had taken recognizable characteristics of "normal" companies and mixed them with freaky monsters. Original ideas like contaminated socks never seemed fetched from too far. And apparently for translation into German not much of the original humor got lost. "We scare because we care" was also a funny rhyme - even in German. 10/10

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Superbe Soundtrack, southern accents are hard ...

[8/10 · 20 October 2000]

I have seen this movie twice and it was all for the better because I could only follow some jokes in the Southern accents after having seen it before. Despite these difficulties I loved many sequences and my favourite scene is when John Torturro is screaming in the car because he feels that there are women nearby. Of course the frog scene is really hilarious ! Yet, I realized that antagonists who one can somehow still anticipate with are preferable. (Patricia Highsmith for instance even says this about her strange murderers, i.e. Mr. Ripley) The Coen brothers' choice seems another: To create nasty characters who are really disgusting. In my opinion this aim became too obvious, but it surely did not spoil this great masterpiece with its superbe soundtrack.

To Matthieu (2000)

Very human story, well told

[8/10 · 7 September 2000]

This movie consists of an amazing story and good story-telling and good photography. It is basically the main character's feeling of revenge which is very moving - I think many at least once in their life had emotions like the working class son in Selon Mathieu. This feeling of being weak against a superior power - and as a result the desire to revolt against it. After I have seen this movie I kept asking myself whether revenge could ever heal a broken heart or whether the suffering only just starts when you are looking for revenge. The actor of Mathieu is great - I liked his way of expressing without words. 8/10

Boys and Girls (2000)

Not superficial - unlike the title

[6/10 · 7 September 2000]

I expected this movie to be very superficial especially because of its extremely trivial title. I was surprised in the end because it had some wise comments and deep thoughts about relationships and friendships - I have lived similar stories. I hope this is not a spoiler coming up: But what did the director think of when adding this stupid sequence after the finish together with the finishing titles ? When I saw this, what I had seen before was almost spoilt - at least then the trivial title had its justification. 6/10

Paradise Mall (1999)

Don't waste your money

[1/10 · 26 December 1999]

It is very easy to tell this plot. A bunch of youngsters are hiding in a shopping centre and are caught by the police ... This movie is very bland and unlike the makers say, does NOT represent today`s youth. The figures in this film have appeared very unreal to me as the scenes were given a very fast pace, there is no time to really understand what the young people think or want to do. The dialogues are not characteristic and the plot is not original at all since it only has very much useless violence.

Wonderland (1999)

Nice story but bad soundtrack

[6/10 · 26 December 1999]

While I was in the theater I thought that I would like to meet the characters in real life but to follow their days on a movie screen was more than slow. I realized later that the slow pace was an advantage. When I had left the theater I felt I had lived the story in reality and the characters became sort of like my friends. Michael Winterbottom has obviously great respect for women and not so much for men. In his movie male figures appear to be only sleepy heads. Not far from reality, you may think.

And one reason why this film appears very authentic. The acting was very appropriate to the story. It was sometimes hard to look at it because the picture quality is not good. As far as I'm concerned the soundtrack is very boring and does not match with the lives and the city in this film.

Random Hearts (1999)

Questionable attitudes and no conclusion

[1/10 · 23 December 1999]

I have to say that Random Hearts is one of the worst films I have ever seen. Some people said about it, you can only understand it if you have life experience. The problem with this movie, as far as I'm concerned, is that there is no moral answer to the question of betrayal and the loss of a life. The figures who are ought to have a lifetime experience act very immature in my opinion. I simply did not understand the protagonists aim. Especially, his attitude of moaning the death of his wife on the one hand and falling for another one so easily on the other is very questionable. It is a difficult subject and the makers did not succeed in giving it some sense. I was frustrated because the main figures did not find a solution to the things which bothered them. All in all it is a very frustrating film.

Big Daddy (1999)

Not very funny but rather vulgar

[2/10 · 15 December 1999]

Adam Sandler is not very known in Europe. After the first announcement, I thought, this will be a very funny movie but I was disappointed, especially because there was an unnecessary vulgar language in it. The story was a good idea but it seems that trying something new with a plot that is not a new and not very very original failed indeed. They were trying to make it different than those usual become-a-parent-in-one-day-plots but in the end it wasn't very funny. I think Adam Sandler is a fairly good actor but not a comedian. 2/10