Critical Film Condition

Because there’s a movie for every situation.

Review: “The Proposal”

The plot is usually a negligible factor in RomComs and “The Proposal” is no exception. In fact it is a somewhat laughable excuse. But Director Anne Fletcher (”27 Dresses”, “Step Up”) and writer Pete Chiarelli manage to turn this into a very likeable comedy with a tag-team of two fantastic lead actors.

Review: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

The visuals are fantastic, as are camera and editing. The locations are exotic, among them Paris, Luxor and Giza in Egypt. And World Heritage Site Petra in Jordan (don’t be fooled, it’s not in Egypt!)
Prepare for a testosterone ruled, glossy world where men are heroes, women are hot and machines battle it out for themselves.

Review: “Angels & Demons”

Sometimes you just have to listen to your soul, not the marketing department.
Let’s not make this more than it is. But if you can get free publicity from the Vatican you have my blessing.

Review: “Star Trek”

The costumes are an homage to the Gene Roddenberry classic, but don’t look tacky, the characters are all there, but somehow develop themselves differently due to the new parallel storyline that is being set-up, and the action is not silly, but amazing nonetheless. Why is “Star Trek” the best movie so far this year for me? Because in every aspect I can think of, it absolutely rocks… And that is all a movie needs.

Review: “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

Although the story-arc in “Wolverine” might be a little convoluted, the fact that they managed to pack a story in there is already something of a relief. There’s character development, convincing interactions, a shit-load of action scenes… So, my surprise with this movie was mainly due to the fact that it featured everything I was expecting and then lots, lots more.

Review: “Hannah Montana: The Movie”

Honestly I wasn’t prepared for the amount of singing and dancing because I have never seen the sitcom, played the game, bought the CD, gone to the concert, well, you know. I like to see movies unbiased, which severely backfired when I discovered that there was actually wrestling in “The Wrestler”. That scene with the staples and the barbwire was just God-awful.

Richard Kelly is getting closer and closer to becoming a one-hit wonder. “Donnie Darko” was a brilliant movie that got a little bit of cult status because it was so complicated… But it still was a brilliant movie, with a good cast, very creative and well-developed story-arc, etc. “Southland Tales”… Not so sexy. I actually got bored and still have to see the second half when I’ve got nothing else to do on a rainy Sunday. “The Box” seems interesting,... more

To make a long and totally constructed story short: Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is a very ambitious and pushy editor at a New York publishing house. She manages to make her staff’s life a living hell, especially her smart assistant Andrew Paxton’s (Ryan Reynolds). When her Visa application is denied, she has to present an American fiancée in order avoid deportation to Canada and save her job. Not really easy for a single and grumpy professional with no life outside the office. This is where... more

This will be short and sweet since I want to leave the honors to Guddy and just cover the basics. He is the Michael Bay buff. And he will forever hate me because I touched Michael Bay at the “Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen” premiere party in Berlin on June 14th. I said: “Awesome movie”. He said: “Thank you very much”. Michael Bay that is, not Guddy. But I am confident that the two will cross paths at some point in their lives. In “Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen” Michael... more

I don’t care what you think about Roland Emmerich (personally, I don’t like 90% of his movies), but “2012″ looks massive. And in Emmerich terms (”Independence Day”, “The Day After Tomorrow”) that’s definitely sayin’ something. The movie deals with, well, the end of the world… And I don’t think it needs much more explanation than that. Stars John Cusack, Danny Glover, Oliver Platt and a bunch of other known names. Even if it... more

There’s nothing that I hate more than eagerly entering a website and seeing that it is under construction… But, it seems that I will have to put you through this. Work has been hell lately and Kristie and I are working on a new format for the website. We’re changing all our ratings systems and separating the site into one division for her and one for myself. The main page will still be a conglomerate of it all. I’m still working out the kinks out of the new CMS (to whoever... more

We actually saw more of this “A Christmas Carol” couple of weeks ago in the Disney Press Event here in Munich. But here goes something for the general public (yes, I’m a snob). Well, this isn’t a trailer, per se… I don’t think it even qualifies as a finished product, because “The Polar Express” actually looked better than this, CGI-wise. But the perfectly timed delivery of the punchline after this short 20 second clip just proves how good Robert Zemeckis... more

What ho! Here it is: the first trailer for the much-anticipated Guy Ritchie adaptation of „Sherlock Holmes“. It is very apparent, even in this 2 minute trailer, that this will be a though one to swallow for all hardcore fans. 221b Baker Street – Holmes and Watson don’t live here anymore. I always thought that the next film version of Sherlock Holmes would have to star Hugh Laurie as Holmes and Stephen Fry as Dr. Watson. Alas, one can dream… Arthur Conan Doyle’s original has undergone... more

Ironically lacking soul. It is a dicey endeavor to create suspense when a presumed 80% of your audience already know how it is going to end. Fortunately there are some alterations that were made from the book version, which I am obviously not going to reveal, but anyone who read the page-turner has a pretty good idea what is going to happen. James Cameron managed to catch me off guard when the Titanic finally sank, but that is another ballpark or in this case, universe. And the universe is where... more

About Me

It’s a rare thing, to read a movie review and know, for a fact, if you’re gonna like this movie or not. Movies have existed for over a century now, and with all the changes in techniques and styles, older movies have become irrelevant as a reference for the modern public. Movie critics have become overzealous of their knowledge in cinematic history and forgotten the fact that most people watch movies just to have a good time. That’s where Critical Film Condition comes in