Reviews

"Wut" (translates to "anger") is a much debated German made-for-TV movie. It is about a juvenile Turkish second-generation immigrant named Can who pushes around Felix, a German boy his age to whom Can sells dope. The movie is set in Berlin, Germany.

Felix' parents feel that something is wrong and eventually find out that he is being bullied by Can. The situation gets more and more out of hands as the Turkish boy and Felix' father develop a mutual and violent hatred. Can terrorizes the family; he deliberately damages their property. The father reacts by having a friend beat the crap out of Can. While the situation between the two escalates, Felix and Can become something like friends.

As the father finds out that Can is selling drugs to Felix, he denounces Can. Can who is now running from the police and faces jail wants to take revenge on the family, the father in particular. Can thinks that Felix' father does not have pride and honor; that he is a wimp and not a real man but someone who has to ask for help and cannot protect his family himself. Can breaks into the family's house and threatens to kill them. He tells them about pride and honor; him preaching to them is not very realistic (the rest of the movie is shockingly realistic) but the scene is suspenseful and has a political message.

"Wut" is a bold and honest movie. Showing a Turkish boy as the bad guy in a German movie was a taboo. Felix states in the movie that German's have a "Hitler complex". That means that they put up with everything done to them by people from other countries or races because they fear to be regarded as Nazis or racists. Therein lies a problem in German society because people are uncomfortable talking about problems which immigration brings along (only the right-wing extremist parties do; everyone else feels they need to add "But I am not a Nazi" every time he or she says something negative about immigrants).

Bullies like Can exist; and for a fact they are often Turkish immigrants. The movie is bold as it says what most Germans think but don't dare to say; not meant here is that Turkish people are criminals but that there are problems integrating them into society. As shown in the movie, Germans and Turkish people often live in very different milieus. There is great inequality which is the main reason for Turkish adolescents to be more likely to become criminal than Germans of the same age. Turkish people do the jobs that Germans don't want to do and even though they officially are socially accepted unofficially many people see them as 'the Turks' rather than an integrated part of society. The movie criticizes both sides but its main purpose is not to criticize but to make people think.

And the movie is thought-provoking. The German rating is 12; the American would go something like: Rated R for violence, language and drug content. But everything shown in this movie (except of the ending maybe) happens in real life...all the time; many young people experience crime every day. The movie was planned to be broadcast at 8pm but then removed and shown at a later hour because the content was found to be inappropriate for young people. I have to disagree with that decision which was widely criticized as the movie's topic is especially important to young people (12+).

The implied message of the movie is that if a society stays passive for too long (as Felix does) and does not react in time to the problems of integration and immigration, it will have a fatal ending. You may disagree with the movie but the movie makes you think about the political problems discussed and forces you to form an opinion.

Felix' parents are described as liberal and open-minded (Most viewers would describe themselves that way too). The father occasionally smokes pot, both parents have extramarital affairs and try hard not to be conservative or square. The sub-plot concerning their affairs is interesting but weaker than and not relevant for the main story. It is, however, interesting to see the change which the father undergoes throughout the course of the movie. At the beginning he is all about political correctness but later on he has to find out that he is not free of racism. He tells Can "to get his Turkish ass out of the room." It's not really a bad insult but it is aimed at Can's origin. As the father undergoes that change, the viewer's believes are also tested.

The movie is not racist. It does not say that all Turkish people are pushers and bullies. It is in fact directed by a Turk (don't know if he is also half German). The director says that it must to be allowed to make a movie about the downside of immigration and call a spade a spade (looked that expression up in the dictionary hope it exists; means s.th. like being honest).

There really are areas in Berlin and in other cities in Germany (and everywhere else in the world) where the events described in the movie are common. For many people that might be hard to admit and an open mind is needed when watching this movie. If you are open-minded you will like the movie. You may not agree with every point the movie makes but this suspenseful and dramatic movie will make you think about the problems of integration.

**** 7.5/10 ***

"The Deep End" is a psychological thriller about a kid, Beau, who apparently killed his boyfriend (Reese) and about his caring mother Margaret covering up the deed. Margaret, who lives with his son and her other kids in a house on Tahoe lake, wanted Reese to stay away from his son. After Margaret heard the boys fight earlier on, she finds the dead body and without ever talking to Beau about it, she disposes the body in broad daylight using her boat's anchor to weigh the body down in the water. She wants to protect her son. Many reviewers complained about the fact that she should have at least spoke to Beau about it but I find this not unrealistic and like this use of unconditional love. The movie takes a promising start.

Back to the plot: A few days later a guy (Alek) shows up at their house and blackmails Margaret. He wants her to pay $50.000 and threatens to hand a videotape to the police who have found Reese's body in the meantime. The tape shows Beau and Reese having sex. Maragret tries to somehow get the $50.000.

Now comes the part of the movie that I found really annoying and stupid. She cannot tell her children anything about the blackmail so she has to keep doing her maternal duties while she desperately tries to get the money. Margaret explains to Alex why she does not have the money yet and their dialog is really laughable:

Margaret Hall: We don't have the money. Alek 'Al' Spera: You have to get the money. Is that not clear enough? MH: It's $50,000. It is not the kind of thing that everyone can just go out and get. Alek: Have you spoken with your husband? M: He can't be reached. He's on a carrier somewhere in the nor - This is truly none of your business. Alek: What about the old man? Well, you have to try harder. M: "Try harder?" Alek: I don't think you're really trying. M: Really? Alek: Yes. Margaret Hall: Well, maybe you should explain "really trying" to me, Mr. Spera. Tell me - how would you be "really trying" if you were me? But you're not me, are you? You don't have my petty concerns to clutter your life and keep you from trying. You don't have three kids to feed, or worry about the future of a 17-year-old boy who nearly got himself killed driving back from some kind of a nightclub with his 30-year-old friend sitting drunk in the seat beside him. No, these are not your concerns. I see that. But perhaps you're right, Mr. Spera. Perhaps I could be trying a little harder. Maybe sometime tomorrow between dropping Dylan at baseball practice and picking up my father-in-law from the hospital, I might find a way to try a little harder. Maybe I should take a page from your book: go to the track, find a card game. Maybe I should blackmail someone. Or maybe you have another idea. I mean, maybe you have a better idea of how I might try a little harder to find this $50,000 you've come here to steal from me. Alek: You're right. I'm not you. I don't - This is only a business opportunity. That's all.

Just the typical conversation between blackmailer and the person whom he blackmails. Happens all the time. But Alek turns out to actually be a really nice guy and the two fall in love. Alek does not want his part of the money anymore and tries to convince his boss to give Margaret more time to get the boss' $25.000. This turn is laughably ridiculous.

Him falling for her is really unrealistic. There really is not a lot of tension and the police is underused. They never show up at her house again after they briefly asked if she knew anything about an anchor. She says their boat has no anchor; the cops leave.

In the end, Alek sacrifices himself by driving off a cliff as he is driving with his boss. Magaret who was following the two takes the videotape out of the wrecked car and as she is reaching for it her lips touch Alek's lips. Alek and his boss die.

It turns out that Beau did not know anything about Reese's death which turned out to have been an accident. Beau and Reese had an argument outside Beau's house. Beau told Reese to leave and went back inside before drunken Reese fell into an anchor and died.

Seems like a missed opportunity as the story really has some potential.

** 5.0/10 **

The famous British mystery author Sarah Mortan seeks inspiration at her publisher's vacation house in France. The quiet is gone once a person (Julie) who claims to be the publisher's daughter arrives. The two are complete opposite and don't get along very well but then Sarah realizes that Julie is good inspiration for the book she wants to write. Julie is a party girl whose sex life consists of one-night stands with middle-aged men. Sarah after a while is not bothered anymore by Julie's behavior and also "loosens up". The competition of personalities which had always been between the two women becomes sexual when a local waiter is involved. After a night of flirting between these three, in which Julie is ousted by Sarah, Julie murders the waiter and Sarah suddenly becomes the young girl's only friend and protector and she helps her dispose the body. As the gardener is about to discover the dead body, Sarah distracts him by taking off her clothes. The two have sex. (quite bizarre). Back in London, Sarah meets Julia, the only daughter of her publisher. Julia is very different from Julie and the two seem to have met before.

There is one shot that implies that Julie only exists in Sarah's imagination and almost none of the events in the movie actually happened. The events described are the subject of Sarah's next book. The movie misleads the audience and plays with it. The ending is quite smart and interesting, however, the first hour or so is so boring that you don't really care about the ending and might even miss the twist because you don't pay close attention anymore or are already asleep. Plus it is not really relevant if it actually happened or not. Saying: "But none of it actually happened, she made it all up" does not compensate for the lack of suspense. It's not that great of an idea.

Slow erotic thriller/drama that did not live up to what it could have been.

*** 6.0/10 **

Max is a former judge who became a cop after he had to turn loose criminals (due to a lack of evidence) of whom he knew that they committed the crime. He is obsessed with catching criminals red-handed. He also wants recognition or a promotion or something (don't remember) so he decides to trick some petty thieves led by an old friend of him into robbing a bank so he can catch them (weird understanding of justice). He tricks them by starting a relationship with his old friend's girlfriend Lilly who works as a prostitute. He poses as a rich banker and encourages Lilly to think about her future. He hints at a payroll that comes through his bank and knows that she would go to her boyfriend saying that she doesn't want to go on like that and talk him into robbing the bank. The plot works, the petty thieves decide to rob the bank and as they do the cops are in place.

While this movie is a crime movie -parts of it are almost like a heist movie- it also has an almost philosophical touch to it and can easily be categorized as a drama. The development of the characters is good and the movie is always interesting.

However, since one knows in advance what is going to happen, one expects a giant twist. Of course this movie is out of the pre-Se7en/pre-Usual Suspects era, but still the ending is disappointing: Max is told by his boss (who knows that he set up the criminals) that another detective (who also knows) is going to not only charge those you actually robbed the bank but Lilly also. Max has fallen in love with Lilly who also has feeling for Max. Max goes to talk to the detective and because he would not change his mind, he shoots him. This is unrealistic as Max has had time to think what he was going to do if he cannot convince the detective. However the movie implies that his decision is a spontaneous reaction to the detective's reluctance. Shooting him might solve part of the problem since no one else (besides the boss and he wouldn't tell) knows that Lilly was involved (even though there might be files or colleagues could know). But Max now has to face life in jail.

That's what I think he (as a former judge) should have come up with: (I'm not an expert on French law (the movie is set in Paris) but I assume that entrapment is illegal in every democratic country.) Max could have just said that he entrapped them to rob the bank. That he not just hoped that they would come up with the idea of robbing that bank but that he actually told them to do so. You cannot be convicted for a crime that you would not have committed if the police had not entrapped you (at least in America). Lilly (and the criminals) would go free and he had to face some kind of punishment but not life in jail.

"Max et les ferrailleurs" is a movie with an interesting idea and good performances and it is certainly an above average film.

*** 6.5/10 ***

I have not seen the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". That is I think a fair ground to base a review on. The story of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is simple and lacks creativity and originality. The movie is not done badly but is really nothing special.

The plot is, as I said, really simple: A group of teenagers, including too-hot-to-die Jessica Biel, is riding in a car as a girl that they picked up somewhere shoots herself in the head when she discovers that they are taking her back to the place she just escaped from. They drive to the next gas station or something to call the police and report the suicide. The village they are in turns out to be inhabited only by bizarre freaks among which is a guy, Leatherface, who wears masks made off human skin and tries to kill everyone with a chainsaw. Really nothing new but "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" has its scary moments.

Before I watched this movie I didn't know why anyone thought Jessica Biel was all that great. But I understood right in her first scene why everyone does. She is really beautiful and a surprisingly talented actress and if her character died in the beginning, I would have quit watching this film because really she is the best thing about this movie. It quickly becomes clear though that she won't die. Her character is that of a cute, moral, good girl...really unrealistic and so likable and perfect that it is already annoying. It is however her moral behavior that in some way leads to the deaths of her friends. It's her who wants to pick up the confused girl and wait for the sheriff. That leads to the encounters with Leatherface and his friends. She is the one responsible that the group ever ends up in that bizarre town and she is the only one of them who ever leaves it alive but not before she killed about the same amount of people as Leatherface...(unintentional) irony?!...decide yourself.

Anyway, some tense scenes and scary moments make this a watchable film. But even more do Jessica Biel's looks and her performance.

** 5/10 **

"Ransom" is about a rich man with a slightly shady past (Mel Gibson) whose child is kidnapped. Instead of paying the 2 million dollar ransom (which he first intends), Mel Gibson's character decides to put a 2 million dollar (later raises that to 4 million) bounty reward on the kidnappers' heads.

"Ransom" is an average movie, some suspenseful scenes but overall too predictable. Giving away that this movie will have a happy ending is not even a spoiler. One knows from the start. Not for a second can this movie make you believe that the boy will die.

But for a second I thought (hoped) that the corrupt cop who kidnapped the boy but then decided to collect the bounty reward by killing his accomplices and "freeing" the boy would get away with the money. I would like this ending way better: Mel Gibson's character gives the corrupt cop the reward. The FBI finds out that the cop was involved in the kidnapping but since he left the country he gets away with the 4 million dollars.

This movie is also not very realistic as some actions are not credible: The FBI shooting one of the kidnappers in the ransom pickup is unrealistic in that situation and would be a huge threat to the life of the boy as is Mel Gibson's refuse to pay the two million, not to mention the threat the bounty reward poses to his son.

Mel Gibson's character's wife thinks that the actions of his husband are wrong and there is tension between them as she tries to somehow get 2 million (she does not) and pay the ransom without telling her husband. A second sub-plot deals with Mel Gibson's illegal business stuff about which the FBI knows. Both sub-plot are fine but not done as good as they could have been.

In the ending scene, Ron Howard uses slow-motion in an "action" sequence. It looks really ridiculous. I hate this ending. Gibson could have at least shot the villain but no. As the cops want to arrest Gibson because he carries a gun that he pointed at the villain (whom the police shoots as he reaches for a gun), one of the FBI agents jumps in between and saves him from being arrested. It made me laugh...don't think that was intended. At the end the family is united and wife and husband seem to have forgiven one another after the kidnapping had almost tore apart their relationship.

The directing is rather poor and the script is bad because the basic story line could have worked (with a different ending). Mel Gibson's performance was weak. He fails to make his character and thus the whole movie believable.

I cannot recommend this movie. It has a some good parts but, overall, it is predictable and unbelievable. Plus it has a stupid ending (think I already mentioned that)

** 5.0/10 **