wahlker827 Reviews

Reine Geschmacksache (2007)

About growing pains...

[9/10 · 25 October 2022]

An utterly charming movie on how a dysfunctional family goes through the growing pains together. The family patriarch Mr. Zenker is a wayward fashion sales rep caught up in a career crisis. He is failing as a father and husband, not least due to his self importance and reluctance to change. Edgar Selge's portrayal of this caricature-like character is phenomenal. While all the heavy-lifting performance falls on Edgar, Florian Bartholomäi's approaches Karsten just as masterfully with great tenderness and subtelty. They are the two clear standout actors in this film for me.

It is not surprising that this movie was quite polarizing on its audience. I think the suspension of disbelief is a must for the pure enjoyment of it. But for me personally, the absurdism of the plot is balanced out by the realism imbued into each character. I absolutely adore this movie.

Fourth Man Out (2015)

Amazing!!!

[9/10 · 25 October 2022]

I am honestly quite overwhelmed by how good this movie is. Coming out is an overused trope that can easily be banal and trite if not handled masterfully. This film smartly avoids that by focusing on both Adam and his friends' growths following the revelation. It explores the themes of friendship, romance, and family with humor and tenderness.

Great performances from the cast. Evan Todd and Parker Young are the standouts. Chord Overstreet and Jon Gabrus also bring to life two well-written bantering bro dudes. Although the gay stereotypes abound, it doesn't feel too forced or offensive. Though not groundbreaking, script is very witty and fun.

Finding Love in Big Sky, Montana (2021)

Questionable production

[4/10 · 5 October 2022]

The first two minutes of this movie already took me off guard. Probably the most atrocious voice-over work I have ever heard in professionally made films. Hedy Nasser lacks the basic ability to emote in her narration. It is so bad that I was genuinely amused for a moment.

Fortunately the movie picks up a bit afterwards (I mean how can it not but still). It is a sweet little story about rekindled love and finding roots. I also quite enjoyed Jonathan Stoddard's performance. Supporting characters are fun to watch and provide some much needed levity. For some scenes the dialogues are obviously re-recorded afterwards, which sounds too whispery and stands out like a sore thumb.

I really wanted to like it. But the production just screams amateurish. Awful sound quality and a weak female lead let this movie down.

Best in Miniature (2022– )

A for effort

[8/10 · 25 September 2022]

This show is a nice introduction to miniature making, a world of great fun and creativity. Eleven contestants flew to Canada to build their miniature houses and compete for the championship. What's not to love about that?

1. Format (8/10) It is very clear that Best in Miniature is hugely inspired by The Great British Bake Off. What in format originality, the show makes up for it with great execution. Throughout the competition, we get to see the contestants adding details and flairs to their miniature houses. To see their creative visions realized bit by bit is simply gratifying, which I think is very rare in an episodic reality show.

2. Contestants (10/10) A round of applause to the casting director because they did a fantastic job! This is a very fun and eclectic cast with distinctive skillsets and personalities. There are both amateur and professional miniature artists but they are all very different stylistically. An English gentleman with his deadpan humor and a fully painted theatre, a no-nonsense elderly lady who wants to build a tower for her baby dragon, a flamboyant white gay from NY that excels in being sassy and artistic... What's not to love?

3. Host and Judges (7/10) Aba is a great host and an amazing conversationalist! She has good chemistry with all the contestants but knows not to overshadow them. Both judges are well qualified. Micheal is an interior designer and Emma is a professional dollhouse designer. Though they do provide helpful and constructive criticisms, I can't help but feeling they are somewhat skewed towards judges' favorites. Take Emma for instance, she is very particular about the 1:12 scale, which is totally legitimate on its own, but seems to only hold it harshly against one of the contestants and let others off the hook so easily.

4. Production (7/10) It seems that the show has a relatively lean budget compared to GBBO, but the production value does not suffer much. The editing is quite standard for competition reality TV. There are also a lost of confessionals for each contestant, while most of them do feel authentic, some just seem too scripted and homogenous.

What strikes me the most is the cinematography. It manages to capture and mimic the beauty of miniature building. Some overhead and angled shots on set and the elimination sequences for each episode are very tasteful.

Overall (8/10) The show is clearly a labor of love. I greatly enjoy it and binged the whole season in just two days. Kudos to everyone who poured efforts on it and let's hope there's more coming!

The Sea Beast (2022)

A decent but frontloaded film.

[7/10 · 13 July 2022]

Story starts out strong but goes downhill halfway through. Villain's arc is not well defined and too many plots end unresolved.

Dialogue is great. Cast is overall good. Karl Urban is the clear standout, who does a fantastic job bringing Jacob to life.

I enjoyed the movie, wish it didn't wrap up so hastily.

Big Boys (2022– )

Tender, Sensitive, Heartwarming

[10/10 · 14 June 2022]

Big Boys is a coming of age story about Jack, a university freshman who deals with the loss of his father, explores his sexuality, and strikes up a rapport with his flatmate Danny. Along the way he discovers himself and slowly steps out of his shell. The story is narrated by a more mature Jack and directly addressed to Danny, in a reminiscent tone.

The show is so well written and brilliantly performed. It is also a crash course on pop culture references to the early 2010s. Watching Big Boys is like having a dear friend recounting the loving moments of their treasured past.

I greatly enjoy the whole season. It feels genuine. It feels warm.

10/10.

Stalked by a Prince (2022 TV Movie)

Girlboss vs. Stalker Prince

[7/10 · 16 May 2022]

This is Natalie Hall and Jonathan Keltz's sophomoric pairing since "Fit for a Prince" and they have graduated from Hallmark-saccharine to thriller-hardcore(sorta)! The film tells a story of how a resourceful girlboss falls for, becomes trapped by, and eventually saves herself from a psychopathic lover prince.

In terms of it as a thriller, Stalked by a Prince has a fittingly intense score and a serviceable plotline. Though I find the film's portrayal of Prince Jack's psychopath personalities to be quite on the nose and sometimes one-dimensional, Jonathan Keltz's dedicated acting does add layers and depths to his character. Natalie Hall is equally brilliant, especially in the third act where her character Alyssa faces off with her evil lover. The film also gives a brief yet appreciable commentary on mass media sensationalism.

This film is definitely flawed but does have its bright spots. I came into this with doubt but in the end, I found myself enjoying it much more than I expected.

Yakamoz S-245 (2022)

Poorly Written Characters

[5/10 · 6 May 2022]

Though the survival apocalyptic premise has already been experimented quite frequently, I do find the submarine setting to be intriguing. Unfortunately, the storyline is really let down by the poorly written characters.

Take Defne, the old flame of Arman, she was established in the beginning to be the level-headed voice to his charming waywardness. Then she had to morphed into this oversentimental foil to him because god forbid our beloved Arman is not here to clean up her mess. Then we have Rana and her cutesy bathing conundrum. If we didn't have those equally bad, if not worse, comedic duo Felix and Cem I would have thought the writing panel is purely misogynistic.

That said, I was really impressed by Kivanc's fluid and natural acting, especially during the exposition part of the first episode. Sadly it all went downhill from there.

The Great Canadian Baking Show (2017– )

A Nice Relaxing Watch

[8/10 · 2 May 2022]

In my humblest opinion, GBBO has a faultless recipe production-wise. And this is a fairly decent recreation of that for it manages to capture the magical atmosphere in that white tent, kindred spirits drawn together by their passions for baking.

Judges are fine but they seem a bit bland and less eloquent compared to their British counterparts. As for the hosts, I actually prefer Dan and Julia's style, which is inoffensive yet not boring at all. Lastly, I love all the contestants and always self-actualize as one of them while watching hahahaha.

The Wedding Fix (2022 TV Movie)

A Feel-good Gem

[7/10 · 20 April 2022]

This is a comfort chick flick with predictable plot and passable acting, elevated by beautiful scenery.

Every character is stereotypically nice. But what is a feel-good ROM-COM without its harmless tropes? Just kick back, suspend your belief, and enjoy this little gem!