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thivai-1
Reviews
Der Greif (2023)
YA novel from the 1990s with influences from "Dark" and "Stranger Things"
I felt like this series was made with me in mind, but I realize of course that it is also targeted at young adults and teenagers. I was a teenager in the 90s and had a frenzied Wolfgang Holbein phase where I read many of his most popular books. "Der Greif" was one of the most popular and one of the best.
I was a huge fan as a teenager. I also bought the audio play version as a young adult. I realized when I got older, that Holbein has many faults (mostly repetitions of language patterns and plots/characters, lots of clichés and he got his ideas from other famous authors I didn't know as a teen). But "Der Greif" as a live action show is a dream come true for my inner teenager none the less. It's amazing to see the world they came up with, and I really like how they did it.
They did an incredible job overall with a few weak elements that I can forgive easily. The changes and additions they made are reasonable and well done. I don't care for fantasy or teen drama, but I found the characters sympathetic and the drama engaging. That alone is rare for shows from this genre.
I think I could see the influences from "Stranger Things" and "Dark", but they did it very well.
If you like me were a teenager in Germany in the 90's, you will find they have you in mind (especially in the first episode) and lots of music is referred to in almost every episode. The main character is making mix-tapes for his love interest. It almost gets a bit too much, but doesn't take away from the overall story.
I will definitely watch the second season and I also think you don't need to have read the book to "get" what is going on. To be honest, the story of the book is rather weak, it is more about atmosphere and teenage angst stuff. The story in the show is interesting enough, they made it look really great and have nice character building and good drama. A good pace and some action.
Im Westen nichts Neues (2022)
Disappointing
I read the novel over 20 years ago as a teenager and don't remember much. I was afraid of watching the film because I remember it was gruesome and deeply depressing. I have become more sensitive and while I'm very interested in good anti-war-movies, the depiction of the emotional trauma and senseless deaths of soldiers has become more difficult to bear as I get older.
So I was hesitant to watch this, as I still remember that the book was hard to stomach. I was very impressed with "Bands of brothers" and was expecting something similar. It would have been a much better anti-war-movie had it been so, but despite the amount of gore, it was not (maybe lucky for me, but also disappointing).
Many have already mentioned many points of critique that I share. I didn't really feel for the soldiers because I had no grasp of who they were and what they wanted, thought, felt.
I have to give it 5 stars because the actors were great and the cinematography was flawless.
I want to add a bit of nit-picking that I have not seen anywhere else (spoilers ahead):
First, Kat's ending. I get that many soldiers in this situation don't care much whether they live or die. But Kat and Paul wanted to live, they made plans of what to do after the war. They knew the French farmer had a gun and would shoot at them if they try to steal from him. On the last day of war, why take such a risk for a bit of better food? Then they sit down for a rest close to the farm, where the homicidal farmer could still see/reach/find them, as if they were students on a field trip. They are so stupid that I don't even care that Kat get's shot.
Also these men sit next to each other while they defecate, but for taking a leak, Kat walks miles into the wood for some privacy? That was only for his demise to be even possible the way it came, which was stupid on top of stupid.
Now I was already angry at the movie for making me feel bad for their stupid, reckless decisions. Then comes the unlikely finale (I think historically totally fiction) with the last ditch attack on the French. I get that Paul is in shock because his friend died so senselessly (even more senseless than dying in combat).
But remember the scene with Duvet in the shell crater? I was made to believe that Paul realized that the other side's soldiers are just as much poor devils as the German soldiers are, who don't want to be there and kill boys that are just as young and afraid as themselves. Ok that was a bit rushed and frantic, but I got that Paul does not believe that murdering French is a worthy goal any more.
Now he becomes a mindless killing machine and wants to kill everyone who he encounters, no matter that the war will be over in 5 minutes? At that point, I was rooting for the French to take Paul out, which luckily they did.
It was a nice idea to have the new kid collect the dog-tags from dead bodies, so that Paul has come a full circle (sort of), but then the kid takes the scarf from Paul's body and forgets the dog-tag (maybe I saw it wrong). If I saw it right, that was just lazy.
One more thing that bothered me was the scene where a whole group of new soldiers died due to gas because they foolishly took off their masks too early. I find it hard to believe that not one single one saw that the others were dying/ suffering from the gas and decided to hang on to their masks just a little longer, just in case.
Also I would have expected that there would be some scenes with gas attacks and the effects of that. I feel like I remember that was a big theme in the book.
Also spoiler: The suicide with the fork scene also was way over the top and not believable to me. I get that many soldiers would be traumatized and think about suicide, but right in front of their comrades, in such a painful, disgusting way, I think that's very unrealistic.
I still could have liked it more, only I couldn't suspend my disbelief so much as to believe some of the senseless deaths.
Fear the Walking Dead: No One's Gone (2018)
I don't even care any more
I could follow the jumping timeline, but it took away from enjoying the story because I had to constantly put together the pieces in the back of my mind. It felt forced and clumsy the way they edited the different parts.
My main problem with the whole last episodes is the plausibility of character development, or the lack thereof. Now that we know what happened to Madison, I don't feel that Alicia's persistence to kill June/Naomi/Laura and letting John die/shooting him in the first place is warranted at all. I was waiting for a good explanation why Alicia and the others have suddently become the bad guys. I'm not buying their explanation at all.
Another thing that bugs me: El had overpowered Alicia and let her watch the video, then allows her to go to Morgan/June with a gun, knowing she was probably wanting to kill at least June? Why would El allow that? The whole scene with Morgan and Alicia that came after that was cheesy and silly. I didn't feel touched at all and right now I stopped caring for any of the characters at all. The show seems dead at this point.
Schneckentraum (2001)
very cute short movie :-)
I saw this film on a short-film-festival in Cologne some years ago. It moved me so deeply that I still remember many details. I think it was in Black and White. The story is very cute but sad as well: SPOILER WARNING here is the content: A girl in a bar sees a boy and is interested in him. She is too shy to talk to him but follows him to his working place: A book store. She pretends looking for a book and when he asks her whether he can help she nervously grips any book. I think she even holds it upside down. It is about snails. She buys it and asks him to wrap it as a present. Now she goes to the bookstore very often and buys books from her secret love, never daring to speak with him. She soon has a big collection of wrapped books at home which she doesn't unwrap. Finally, one sees the girl getting dressed up and "practicing" in front of a mirror. She is determined to confess her feelings to him but as she enters the book store he is not there. MAJOR SPOILER WARNING! As she asks the owner of the bookshop, he informs her that the boy has been killed in a motorcycle accident. Understandably she is full of despair and back home she unpacks the books. And this is when she finds written in the books little notes from her beloved, saying "who are you?", "why don't you talk to me?" and finally "I love you".....