Saturday 16 March 2024

Dinner in America (3 Stars)


Patty is a 20-year-old woman who lives somewhere in Michigan. She's bullied by people who call her a retard. I would never use that word to describe a woman, but I have to admit that she's intellectually limited. She's the sort of woman I would be kind to, but I wouldn't dream of asking her on a date. The only thing I like about her is her taste in music. She's the fan of a punk band called Psyops.

I'll pause there to praise the film's director. Americans in general don't know what punk is. They get punk confused with alternative rock music. Most Americans describe Patti Smith and the Ramones as punk. Okay, the Ramones were a borderline case, but Patti Smith herself insists she was never a punk. True punk originated in England and was epitomised by bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks, Sham 69 and Ultravox. It wasn't just the aggression in their music; there was a deliberate intention to be offensive. I'm not saying that America didn't have any punk bands. There were the Dead Kennedys. Punk rock was nihilistic. The bands didn't want a revolution, they said that there was no future.

English punk rock fizzled out very quickly. After a few years of saying there was no future they realised they were in the future that they said would never come. Either the bands changed their music style, or they watered down their message. In Germany, for instance, punk bands copy the melodies of the early bands, but they've politicised their messages. German punk rock is left wing, whereas the early music was apolitical.

When we finally hear Psyops play in "Dinner in America", it's true punk rock. It's the sort of band that could have been playing in England in the late 1970's.

"I'm a watermelon slammed into your driveway,
Crack me open so I feel the air inside me".

Beautiful! Pure nihilism!

Now let's get back to the film. Patty has been sending letters with sexual photos of herself to the band's singer, John Q. One day John takes refuge in Patty's house because he's on the run from the police. He's a pyromaniac and he's been selling drugs. She doesn't recognise him, because he wears a mask on stage. He doesn't recognise her, because the photos are only close ups of body parts.

I went through three phases while watching the film. I hated the first part, because John is so objectionable as a person and Patty is so intellectually limited. The second part was okay, when they discovered their connection and it became a love story. The third part was great, when the music kicked in. I've given it an overall rating of three stars, i.e. average.

The film is currently only available on Blu-ray in Germany, but it can be watched on Amazon Prime in America and other countries.

Beste Zeit (4 Stars)


Kati is a 16-year-old girl who lives on a farm in Bavaria in the 1990's. Based on the car license plates she lives near Dachau. She's only days away from her 17th birthday. What does she think about? Her school? Her career? Of course not! She's interested in boys. She's trying to find love, but she doesn't know what love is. Does anyone? It's one of life's great mysteries, but she knows that she likes a neighbour called Mike. She gets excited when he comes back home from his military service the day before her birthday.

Kati's best friend Jo warns her away from Mike. Maybe it's not possible to say what love is, but it's relatively easy to recognise when there's no love. Mike tells Kati directly that he wants to sleep with her. Kati thinks that means he loves her.

Kati hardly notices one of her school friends called Rocky. He idolises her, but he's not as tall and good looking as Mike. And he wears glasses. It's obvious to the viewer from early in the film that he's the right man for her. Kati is the only one who doesn't know.

The film is slow moving and sometimes dreamy. Nothing much happens, so it took me time to find my way into the film. I've always liked the films directed by Marcus Rosenmüller, but somehow I missed "Beste Zeit" (engl. "Best Time"). I've been told it's the first film in a trilogy about Kati's coming of age. I need to find the other two films.

Thursday 14 March 2024

Kamikaze Girls (3 Stars)


17-year-old Momoko is an outsider. She lives in a small village in Japan, but she's fascinated by the clothing of the rococo period in France. That's how she dresses, and everyone thinks she's crazy. She wishes she could have lived in France in the 18th century, but it's 8000 miles away and she's 250 years too late. She finds Japan ugly in comparison with the elegance of France. I disagree. I'd rather live in Japan.


If a Japanese teenager dresses like this, it's understandable that she's an outsider.

Momoko's father used to sell bootleg clothing (illegally using the logos of large companies), but he was sued and had to give up. Momoko makes money on the side by selling her father's old stock. One of her customers is Ichigo, a 17-year-old member of a girl biker gang.


An unlikely friendship develops between the two girls from different worlds.

I enjoy the film a lot, but there are too many silly little details. Ichigo falls in love with a gangster with a ridiculous hairstyle. You can find him in the poster at the top. Momoko's father likes to fart in her face. That's disgusting. I don't want to see things like that. The film could have been made better with only a little effort.

Monday 11 March 2024

The Paperboy (5 Stars)


I wrote a long introspective review of this film three years ago. I don't want to repeat what I said, so please check it out. I still relate to the film in the same way. Johnny McFarley is unbalanced, and I see myself in him. I could have turned out like him, if I hadn't had a wonderful loving mother.

In my last review I said that I was mentally unbalanced when I was 12, Johnny's age in the film. That's not quite true. I was more like him when I was 14. So much was going on in my head. I wanted to be loved. My mother gave me the love I needed, but it still wasn't enough. Some of my friends at school already had girlfriends. I didn't. I was obsessed with my sister's best friend, Wendy Broome, but I never had the courage to say anything to her. I wrote poems about her. To be honest, the only reason that I was obsessed with her was because she was the only girl who came into my family home.

I finally had my first girlfriend, Mandy Stickland, when I was 16. The relationship lasted three months, and after her I had many more girlfriends. There was something about me that made girls want me. I was good looking, I did a lot of sport, and more than anything else I had the reputation of being a Casanova. But my relationships were all short lived. The girls who dated me sensed my madness and couldn't put up with me. There was an obsessiveness in me that scared them. Every girl that I went out with became the great love of my life, even though (on looking back) I had so little in common with most of them.

When did my madness fade? I can't put an exact date on it, but it was probably the end of my teenage years. I started to pull myself together when I was 18. By the time I was 20 I was normal, or at least as normal as any young man can be. It was an emotional setback when my parents separated, but moving to Germany and starting work when I was 22 gave me a purpose in life, something to focus on.

I can talk about it now. When I was a teenager I didn't consider myself unbalanced. I can only see it in retrospect.

Johnny McFarley didn't have a mother like mine. His mother, already dead before the film starts, was a religious fanatic who treated him badly. His father was emotionally cold, like my own father. Johnny's madness made him a killer. I was spared.

Sunday 10 March 2024

Kung Fu Panda 4 (5 Stars)


If I'm gauging his reaction correctly, this is the best film that Oliver's seen so far. He didn't laugh much, even though the film is a comedy, but he was shaking with excitement. It's a fast paced martial arts film that's perfect for young children.

There's so much going on that I felt like I needed a scorecard to keep up. What I mean is that there are so many characters running around and fighting. The basic plot is simple. Po the panda has reached the level of Dragon Warrior, but Master Shifu tells him that it's time for him to advance. He has to give up fighting and become the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. He has to choose a successor, but the candidates are all so good that he can't decide. Before he makes a choice a village is destroyed by a new enemy, known only as the Chameleon. She's a shape shifter who's able to absorb the kung fu skills of anyone she fights. So Po has to fight as the dragon warrior for one last time.

I remember watching the first Kung Fu Panda film with my friend Pete in Birmingham. I don't remember exactly when it was, but it's not mentioned in my blog, so it must have been before I started writing in September 2010. Pete owned the film on video, and he was totally excited about it. Pete often invited me to his home for a meal, but we rarely watched films together, so it was a special occasion. (As far as I can remember, the only other films that we watched together were "Kill Bill Vol 2" and Peter Jackson's "King Kong").

I never watched the two sequels, so I need to catch up. For Oliver and for me. It seems like "Kung Fu Panda 4" is the final film in the series, so I'll wait for a four-film box set to be released.

Saturday 9 March 2024

The Art Of Self-Defense (4 Stars)


It's not usual for me to watch the same film twice in a row. "The Art of Self-Defense" (sic) is a special film that deserves special treatment. I'll just add a few thoughts to the review I wrote yesterday. The main humour in the film revolves around toxic masculinity. It's repeatedly stated by the karate trainer that women are inferior, and his word is unchallenged, because he's the sensei, the teacher. Nobody who practises martial arts disagrees with his sensei. It's not done. His best student is Anna, played by Imogen Poots, but he will never promote her to a black belt because she's a woman.

One thing I don't like about the film is the spelling mistake in the title. It's a common mistake for Americans to misspell the word "defence". Many Americans defend it by saying it's American English, but that's an oxymoron. There's no such thing as American English; there is English and there are mistakes.

Friday 8 March 2024

The Art Of Self-Defense (4 Stars)


There's one thing I can say about Jesse Eisenberg: he has a knack for appearing in off-beat films. I wonder how it happens. Is his agent always looking for unusual film roles? Or is it the casting agents who say, "This is a weird film. Let's ring Jesse Eisenberg"? Whichever way round it is, this is yet another film with a role that nobody but Jesse could have played.

Casey Davies is an insecure man who works as an accountant. He's 431 months old – that has a significance in the film – but he doesn't have a girlfriend. He lives alone with his dog, a cute little dachshund. One evening he's attacked by a motorcycle gang on the way home from buying dog food. He recovers from his injuries, but the worst damage is below the surface. He's afraid to leave his house. He stops going to work, and he only goes out to get food for himself and his dog.

Then he has an idea. He joins a karate class. He's immediately impressed with the charismatic teacher who calls himself Sensei. Casey's fighting skills quickly advance. But he finds that the dojo has dark secrets.

The film is very slow moving. Too slow? It seems like the slow pacing is deliberate. It makes the interspersed action sequences even more shocking. The lack of background music or even background sounds makes the film enthralling. Even though the film is serious, some of the dialogue is so funny that I had to laugh out loud. It's a ridiculous film. It's a film that showcases Jesse Eisenberg's unique abilities.

When the film came to an end my first thought was, "Wow! I need to watch it again!" Okay, I haven't awarded it five stars, because I'm still not sure what to make of it. It's a film that shocked me. Let's see what I think next time.

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (5 Stars)


What a week! Yesterday "Donnie Darko" was shown in the cinema, and today "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Two of the best films ever made, shown back to back. Today's film was shown as part of the Weird Wednesday series. Most of the films in the series are horror films, but I agree that it can be classed as weird.

I didn't get a chance to talk to anyone after the film, so I don't know how many were seeing it for the first time. Based on the audience reactions, occasional laughter, I'd say about half the audience were watching it for the first time, I envy them.

There's always a quiz at the beginning of the Weird Wednesday films. Usually I know the answers, but I'm too slow putting my hand up. I couldn't answer today's question. Can you?

"Kate Winslet has four hair colours in the film. What are they, in the correct order?"

I know the answer now, because a clever guy in the row behind me answered the question. Could any of my readers have answered correctly?


I didn't win the Weird Wednesday T-shirt, but I didn't come away completely empty handed. Everyone who saw the film received a free bottle of beer and a bag of crisps. There was the sound of corks popping until the film started. Life is good.

Success Rate:  + 1.6

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