Watched on YouTube
How I loved this movie as a child! A trashy mix of "The Neverending Story" and Terry Gilliam. I watched it again today after a very, very long time. "Olle Hexe" is a movie that really makes it clear how quickly technical means have developed in recent decades. Even though the film is 33 years old and therefore not actually that old, its technology seems ancient from today's perspective, although that certainly has its charm. At least…
Watched on Disney +
Innocence. Christmas spirit. At the North Pole, where the elves make presents for Santa Claus, three commandments apply: 1: "Treat every day like Christmas Day", 2: "There's room for everyone on the list of good people" and 3: "The best way to share Christmas joy is to sing at the top of your lungs." Buddy arrives in New York as a 30-year-old adult, raised among elves and educated according to the three elven commandments. Like a…
Watched in the cinema (194th visit in 2024)
Over 300 million for "Sonic the Hedgehog" and over 400 million for the sequel "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" two years later: the box office figures for Sega's golden hedgehog are certainly impressive, which is why this series about the blue hedgehog who whizzes around at a monkey's pace is constantly being expanded. There was a mini-series on streaming TV this year with "Knuckles" to tide us over (which I haven't seen), and…
Watched in the cinema (193rd visit in 2024)
Disney lets the lions roar again! Barry Jenkins invites us into the realm of the wild animals and presents the sequel (actually the predecessor) to "The Lion King". With vocal support from Mads Mikkelsen, Seth Rogen, Thandiwe Newton, Beyoncé and her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, we enter a fantastically animated world in which Mufasa tells his story. Packed with action, drama and suspense, this is an adventure lasting just under two hours…
Watched on Disney +
Tim Allen's big breakthrough came with "The Santa Clause". The film is typically American in every respect: lots of sentiment and many clichés. The Christmas atmosphere of the movie also fits in seamlessly. But this is actually good for the movie, because the exaggeration with which everything is portrayed gives the viewer the feeling of being presented with the ultimate Christmas movie. Especially in a movie that is about "faith" and "being a child again", this…
Watched on Disney +
Meg Cabot is a well-known author whose novels are aimed at girls and women from adolescence to adulthood. Her stories revolve around universal themes such as family, love, the search for identity, etc. She is one of the most important figures in American chick-lit. One of her most important series is undoubtedly "The Princess Diaries", which comprises almost fifteen stories centering on Mia Thermopolis and the royal family of Genovia. The first volume, published in 2000,…
Watched on 3D Blu-Ray
After hitting rock bottom in the 00s, Disney's animation studios have recently regained their former strength with a series of big hits. In 2016, they were even able to prove with two films that they are still a force to be reckoned with and, in the opinion of many, have even surpassed their in-house subsidiary Pixar. However, "Zootopia" and "Moana" could hardly be more different. While the animal adventure has an astonishingly contemporary story to tell…
Watched in the cinema (162nd visit in 2024)
The name Katja Brandis may not mean much to adults, but children and young teenagers have been devouring her books about the shape-shifting Woodwalkers, Seawalkers and Windwalkers for years. In addition to at least two books a year, the first film in the series is now also being released; incidentally, the first of two planned sequels had already been filmed before the movie was released.
Admittedly, the introduction to the cinematic world…
Watched in the cinema (153rd visit in 2024)
In 2007, director Michael Bay brought "Transformers" to cinemas and was able to rub his hands with glee at the almost 800 million dollar worldwide box office takings. Among the sequels were "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "Transformers: Age of Extinction", both of which even broke the billion-dollar barrier. After that, things went downhill again for the robots from toy manufacturer Hasbro's range. Now, however, the machines are back as animated…
Watched in the cinema (149th visit in 2024)
It seems as if the success of "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" in 2018 has encouraged the big Hollywood animation studios to leave the perfect recreation of reality to one side for a while and instead go all out artistically again. The makers behind "The Wild Robot" are also following this trend in their adaptation of Peter Brown's three-part children's book series, with the backgrounds in particular being inspired by Impressionism. As the…
Watched in the cinema (126th visit in 2024)
"Harold and the Purple Crayon" by author Crockett Johnson is one of the most popular children's books in the USA. In Germany, however, the adventures of the four-year-old boy who uses his magic crayon to make his world the way he likes it are largely unknown. However, this does not play a role in the film adaptation. While in the original Harold remains in his book, in the film adaptation by director…
Watched on Blu-Ray
The status this movie has achieved is quite remarkable. Everyone knows the "wax on, wax off" scene, probably even those who have never seen the movie, and it has become the source of countless parodies and homages. Pat Morita became his own cliché with this one role and is probably only known to most as "Mr. Myagi", and the archetypal story of the lanky Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) defeating the nasty bullies of his school in the…