pumsti goes NYC

After being recommended to me by a colleague I had to watch District 9, a science fiction movie about Aliens living in a slum on planet earth. Peter Jackson, the genius that directed the lord of the rings trilogy, gave his name for that movie as producer but the writer and director is actually Neill Blomkamp. The short resume would be that it’s a weird movie but I guess you can tell that already by watching the preview. The opening movie was very successful and it has already brought twice the revenue of what the production costs have been. The style of the movie is a mixture between a documentary and action movie and it was much more “bloody” that I anticipated. It has a huge symbolic character. First of all it plays in Johannesburg and deals with the concept of Apartheid. Then it shows what happens when a minority is being treated unfair and what side effects can occur in this scenario. The major point that the film is trying to make though is what happens if someone suddenly unwillingly changes sides. I think there will be strong opinions about that movie and some people might think that the story is kind of too simple but I really enjoyed watching it.

I have to admit I’m a big fan of the Harry Potter stories written by J.K Rowling. That means I read all the books and watched all the movies so far. And I had to see the new one as well of course. Knowing the book, it is a hell of a story and very exciting especially at the end. Fair enough, for a movie it is always hard to keep up with a book and I always lower my expectations for a movie for which I have read the book already. This film has good and bad. I think the special effects are well done and there are also a couple of funny parts but the middle part feels way too long. I was also disappointed by the last scene which is supposed to be the highlight of this 6th part of the Harry Potter sequels. Overall I think you have to see it if you are a big Harry Potter fan such as me and there is still hope that the last part is going to be the best Harry Potter movie ever

After watching Borat in 2006 I kind of knew what to expect from Brüno but I guess I was expecting more. To be honest I was disappointed. I don’t know why Sacha Baron Cohen actually picked an Austrian character for this role but I was hoping to see more jokes about Austria like he did with Kazakhstan in Borat. Most of the good jokes he made are already in the preview and they are really hilarious and you get some good laughs watching that movie but the only two connections he makes in the movie are Adolf Hitler and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don’t know how they are gonna dub that movie for the German market since he is – or better trying to – speaking German in a couple of scenes with English subtitles. Why would you take a Swedish co-actor (Gustaf Hammersten) and try to speak German with him when every native speaker can tell that their German sucks. A couple of times the syntax was wrong and they were far off from having an Austrian dialect. And why would you start the movie by explaining the Austrian character and his beloved home town Vienna but walking through the streets of Berlin? Which was easy to tell by the way since all the registration plates of the parked cars on the street in the first scene were German. I think for the US market it doesn’t really matter since no one here will understand those flaws and the goal was more to show Americans and their stereotypes. Once again after Borat. Overall I don’t think it’s worth to spend the money on the movie. Looking at the current statistics I’m alone with that opinion. Brüno was Nr 1 in the US movie charts this weekend.

I finally had time to watch the long awaited new Terminator movie last night. Unfortunately most of the story is already told in the trailer and it doesn’t come any close to the Terminator 2 movie (I think we can all agree that Terminator 3 was not a worthy successor) but it has overall a good story plot and some nice action scenes. If you are a big fan of the Terminator 2 movie you definitely want to spend the money and go to the next movie theatre and watch this one. And yes, Arnie is back. At least you can enjoy a digitalized version of him playing his T-800 role for a couple of seconds

I haven’t been in the movie theatre for a long time but after watching the trailer and reading the very good reviews of that movie I had to go and see it. Also friends were telling me that it is a really good one. It wasn’t that easy. The original plan was to go and see on Friday night after work but the first cinema we went to offered only a room without air condition which we refused as it didn’t seem to be a good idea to sit in there with 200 others and sweat like in a sauna. I still don’t understand how there can be a theater without AC in town. Anyways, we got a cab and went up from downtown to union square and tried to get tickets there. All shows sold out. So went to the next theater we knew a couple of blocks away. They weren’t even showing the batman movie. So we decided to go Saturday morning instead and having bad luck already the ticket machine printed only one ticket instead of the purchased two. Finally after we got the second ticket from the box office we were ready to see it.

To keep it short: I think my expectations were just too high. I think it was just alright. Another batman movie in which the director really tried hard to pack as much story as possible and I think it was a little bit too much. But I have to say that Heath Ledger who died accidentally on a prescription drug overdose in January did a really god job playing “The Joker”. From my point of view his role makes to movie to one that I would recommend to watch if you liked the previous one called “Batman begins”. The replacement for Katie Holmes for the character of Rachel called Maggie Gyllenhaal was a bad choice in my opinion as she didn’t do a good job as actress and even worse I think she isn’t even that pretty.

Conclusion: The movie is ok but don’t expect too much. If you are a Batman fan you won’t be dissapointed.

“You know what you are, what you’re made of. War is in your blood. When you’re pushed, killing’s as easy as breathing.” First of all I must say that this is one of the bloodiest movies I have ever seen. It is definitely no movie for the faint-hearted. Sad topics like war, genocide, rape and mass murder are shown in a very realistic manner and you should always be aware that you’re watching a movie and not a documentary otherwise you wouldn’t be able stay in your seat until the end. For me it was quite was I had expected: A lot of bloody action. I was just really surprised about the realistic looking pictures (bodies exploding by mines, peoples heads getting chopped off being hit by a heavy machine gun….) but I guess that’s what the RAMBO audience is asking for.

Tonight we’ve been to a theater called Angelika. It’s actually not far to walk there from our apartment. We watched this movie which I would highly recommend if you like movies with a weird story like e.g. Fargo and the kind of movies that go back and forth in time. Go and watch it

Yesterday I went to one of the IMAX Theaters around here to watch this new computer animated movie about the legend of Beowolf in 3D. Since I’ve been to a couple IMAX movies before in Vienna/Austria I knew what I would have to expect from the 3D experience wearing this special 3D glasses and I must say I like the effects. The only problem I had yesterday was that I’ve been late and the auditorium was nearly full when I arrived there so I had to sit in the 3rd row which was to close to the screen. In an IMAX theater you are supposed to feel like being part of the movie but this was too much and it especially the fast action scenes were nearly impossible to follow.

One thing I don’t get though is that they had this setup of celebrities for this movie although every character is just the animated version. If you have an IMAX theater close-by go for it!

I love animated movies! The price I had to pay for this passion was that I had to share the cinema with 100 childs yesterday but it was fun to see how much excited they were although I’m not sure – considering some language and jokes – if this film is really addressed to young kids.

Bee movie was written by Jerry Seinfeld and he is also the voice of the bee called “Berry B. Banson” which thinks that the current life in the beehive is too boring and wants to see something of the world outside. So he joins the pollen jocks on one journey outside where he gets lost. Hiding from the rain he meets a human girl called Vanessa (voice of Renee Zellweger) which saves his life and then the story begins

If you like animations as much as I do and if you want to see a funny movie about bees talking to humans and see behind the “scenes” of the honey making industry you have to see this one

“You think it’s over? You think you’re safe? You are wrong!”

The fourth part of these torture porn sequels is out

Like the three parts before this is nothing for weak nerves. A lot of blood and a lot of people dying. If you enjoyed the predecessors as much as I did then this movie is a must for you. I don’t want to tell much about the story, you have to find out by yourself. The only thing I can tell you for sure: Jonathan “Jigsaw” Kramer is really dead (as he died in Saw III) and there is no supernatural rebirth in Saw IV. But you’ll learn a lot of the story behind his mad character and why he’s become this criminal that kills people not randomly. Every victim of Jigsaw has a reason to be a part of his “games”.

Another goodie today was the preview of Rambo IV. I find it quite awesome that Stallone does a version of a John Rambo which just came out of the retirement center “WAR is in your blood. When you’re pushed killing is as easy as breathing”