3DD!3

I really don’t know Allen’s movies at all and I readily admit that I only watched Cassandra’s Dream for the choice cast. Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell are both perfect and anybody would believe they are brothers. I was a little surprised that it was Farrell who was the bigger chicken of the pair. The story isn’t at all complicated or overly psychological, but it’s a pleasantly unwinding drama about problems and their solutions. Maybe it hasn’t got all is needs for a clear 5, but thanks to the music by Phillip Glass I can go a bit higher.

A pretty good watch with great actors in the main roles. Unfortunately, the screenwriters didn’t manage to exploit the theme properly. In fact, apart from a couple of scenes, this is a regular crime drama that contains only a couple of brighter passages and a couple of tips on cleaning stains. And I would have expected more action from Harlin.

My favorite “new" Disney movie. It’s just got it all. A great story, lots of excellent jokes and amazing music by Hans Zimmer. When I first saw Lion King I can’t have been older than ten and its world totally swallowed me up. I even bought that sort of album that you stuck stickers into. It’s simply really powerful and I look forward to watching Simba and his crew again sometime. 100%

Martin Scorsese is simply an expert at this genre. It’s like he was born to make mafia movies. The traditionally super Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci are joined by Ray Liotta possibly in his best role ever. And by the way, did any of you notice the young Samuel L. Jackson? :-D

A slightly above par police drama starring an excellent Joaquin Phoenix. The highlight of the film is an interesting car chase, but the finale is also very good.

A dark atmosphere, iconic images and a bloody trail to revenge. The animation is captivating, as is the story full of hate, betrayal and nicely matured one-liners from Samuel L. Jackson. The fight scenes are indescribable, the opponents better and better and each of them pushes the bar a little higher. 90%

A very decent short from the video maker from my favorite group. The special effects are pretty good for such a small project and the story is punchy and entertaining. Will Yun Lee puts a lot of effort into his main role; the fight scenes were good. Keep ‘em coming, Joe ;-).

The best medical environment series yet. And mostly thanks to Hugh Laurie, of course. You see, House always the best snappy lines up his sleeve that manage to light up the evening and assure me that the world is a cruel swine ready to trip you up when you’re least expecting it. Season five of House probably deserves a bit of a synopsis. Not only is it the best yet, but it’s also almost astounding that the concept remains the same and the creators still keep on coming up with new ideas. There was no shortage of shocking moments this year and the ending of the season will take the breath away from most typical House viewers. But how’s it going to pan out from here? Will the concept change next time? Will the screenwriters look for other, new and novel trails? Broken: This double episode or perhaps TV movie definitely deserves praise. It changes the overall setting of the series and shows house in a formerly unimaginable situation. This episode never loses momentum and has several climactic moments. Apart from Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard, the cast has completely changed, but the new actors who we’ll probably never see again shined brightly here and I found several favorites among them. If only all “attempts at movies" were this good. 5* Season six changed House and in places changed the episode structure. A good example is the episode about Wilson where his best friend just plays second fiddle. But it’s much more important how House behaves and what’s happening to him. Which climaxes in the closing episodes with an end only expected by spoiler readers. And the creators sure did good work. Otherwise, Chase is back and he’s changed for the better. Thirteen is more beautiful than ever before (Olivia Wilde completely blew me over with her speech in the last episode) and Darth Vader’s voice gets a guest appearance. A darn good season. Season seven at last cut the knot between House and Cuddy and showed House in an undepressed mood just to make the final reckoning that much more crushing. I wasn’t very happy about the disappearance of Thirteen, but Masters proved to be an adept (although not so esthetic) replacement. I waited a good long time for the final shot. For good reason it is said that hell lies in other people. Season eight following Dr. House’s last cases again plays with the motif of return, a new beginning and friendship. The new female recruits to the team were a welcome surprise. Odette Annabelle is gorgeous and a more than satisfactory replacement for Thirteen. And the rise of Chase is also fine. The last episodes revolving around Wilson’s problem are again the best that a drama series can offer. A mixture of suffering, harsh cynical jokes and inevitability. The last episode that basically asks the question if there is any sense in living is a worthy conclusion to the series.

A depressing family drama put together masterfully by director Sidney Lumet. The story is almost unpredictable, full of dark corners and incredible realities. The acting performances are great, especially Philip Seymour Hoffman is chillingly perfect. If the story hadn’t dragged in places, I would give this 5.

I first saw Stand by Me a long, long time ago, before I’d even read the original short story by King (I didn’t notice that I knew the story until the separate scenes of the movie started to unfold in front of me) and I really liked it. Now, god knows how many years later, almost nothing has changed. Maybe just that I savored it more and enjoyed seeing the young Kiefer “Jack Bauer" Sutherland in the role of Ace. The young actors put on amazing performances, most of all River Phoenix, who is no longer with us. This really is one of the best adaptations of a King book.