Sneaks' Movie Reviews: 'The Forest for the Trees (Der Wald vor lauter Baumen)' (2006)

Movie: The Forest for the Trees (Der Wald vor lauter Baumen) (2006)
Director:Maren Ade
My Rating: 6.1/10 Stars *****'

This movie was stressful to watch. A young school-teacher begins a new position at a new school in a new town after leaving a long-term relationship behind her. This movie is really about relationships, and what happens when people don't know how, or are un-willing to establish strong boundaries between themselves and others, between what is acceptable to them and what is not. I found this movie to be quite realistic from my own experience as I have known very socially awkward people who constantly over-step boundaries and who just don't seem to have an innate sense of what is appropriate and what isn't, and the character in this movie has this problem with her students and with her attempts to make new friends. Be prepared to be stressed, not an upbeat movie by any means. Sorry, couldn't find a trailer for this online.

A Brief Review for 'Paths of Glory' (1957)

Movie = Paths of Glory (1957)

Director = Stanley Kubrick

5/5 Stars *****

This movie is one to watch, although it is not for the light-hearted as it is a war-movie. Kubrick does a brilliant job showing us another side of war not often talked about or shown in movies, and by that I mean the internal politics that ravages the very structure of the military itself. Like all human organizations, when the big egos clash their is a price to pay and it is usually in the form of sacrifice by the lower-ranking infantry. Of course the powerful do this all in the petty search of their own egoic and short-lived personal glory. I must disagree to those critics (most of them) who say it is an anti-war film, it is a war-film, and it depicts situations of war that are not uncommon, so if having a hint of realism means a war-movie is anti-war then maybe they are right. I won't say any more here, other than that Kirk Douglas and George Macready both do an excellent job in their roles and so cheers to them both. Good one to watch for sure.

Brief Movie Review for "City Island" (2010)

3/5 Stars ***

Una peli divertida, claro! Was a funny comedy and was produced well. Is about a family who keeps lots of secrets and interesting personality perks from each other, which inevitably unravel and the comical situations this puts the characters in makes the movie worthwhile and not serious. I recommend this movie for a good laugh, and I looked it up on the map, City Island aye??

Brief Movie Review for "American Splendor" (2003)

 3/5 Stars ***

Interesting story about comic writer Harvey Pekar, and apparently its not that rare of a name. Paul Giamatti does a great job with this persona, as he always does. Story takes place in the industrial and depressing landscape of Cleveland, Ohio and is about a very depressing life of a surprisingly successful Harvey Pekar. Its hard to say how I feel about this one, it is like a serious version of "Napolean Dynamite," and not near as funny because it is based on real people. Just make sure you pop some of your prozac before you really sit down with this one...not really, but a good flick all the same. 

Brief Movie Review for "The Yellow Handkerchief" (2008)

4/5 Stars ****

Good flick, William Hurt always does a great job with his characters and all of the characters in this movie are believable as true personalities. The movie is mostly about Hurt's character and his life, while Stewart and Bello and Redmayne (whose character is most annoying but in a realistic way) all support. Check this one out if you get the chance.

Brief Movie Review for "I Married a Monster From Outer Space" (1958)

3/5 STARS ***
Talk about another classic (that term is getting worn out a bit I know, I will strive to come up with some new adjectives)! Did MST3K do a piece on this one, would love to see if they did. Good for a 50's movie I suppose, good for laughs and I wonder if people will ever decide to dress like that (on a large scale I mean) again, there always bringing back old trends, and we Americans are so bloody casual in our dress these days it is almost embarrassing.  Bit of a tangent there, sorry bout that, but seriously....CBF!

Brief Movie Review for "Down to the Bone" (2005)

4/5 STARS ****
Very realistic, and an educational story about what I believe is probably the experience for most people in modern society who are not wealthy or well educated and who rely on drugs to numb their pain, although the wealthy and educated spend just as much time if not more, on drugs and alcohol to numb their own inner-conflicts and insecurities in life. The story is about a mother who works at kmart and is also a drug addict, and everyone in her life are also drug addicts. Drugs and alcohol can turn off some of the mind's constant fear-mongering and harassment, but it really is a trap in of itself, and the only way to really quiet one's mind (without destroying one's own body and life) is to put a lot of time and effort into facing issues that one does not want to face, but must if healing is ever to occur, and then to once the majority of one's issues have been at least accepted and surrendered to, then one can start to work at cultivating a quiet/peaceful mind...a theory anyways. 

Brief Movie Review for "Fury" (1936)

Well, this movie is quite a bit older than the others I've reviewed, but one must keep some diversity going, plus I watched a few weeks back and was impressed, it seems a bit significant for the times, but that may often be the case.   

4/5 Stars ****

"This one is mos def a classic by Fritz Lang, starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney! Its one of those movies that has a real message about what I perceived as compassion. The desire for revenge when victimized is strong, but as we all know, one will become the very thing one opposes when one takes the path of vengeance. What is it that Einstein once said, something like a problem can not be solved significantly changed using the same energy that was put into creating it...or something like that. CBF." 

Brief Movie Review: "Triage" (2009)

 4/5 Stars

  

Another realistic movie, this time about War and Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder, or as George Carlin so aptly reminds us that the more appropriate and less watered-down term is "Shell-Shock." All those people who worship/idolize the military and wars so much would do well to be exposed to the not-so-glorious side to wars and conflict. The landmine scene was horrific, and of course the triage scenes leave their mark. 

Brief Movie Review for "Crazy Heart" (2009)

Ok, so I have decided I want to start doing some more movie/tv reviews, but brief ones. I did a few in the past on this vlog/blog, but ultimately I found myself not wanting to do long ones. Now, I do short and quick ones (some extremely short) on flixster for facebook, so I figure I will just transfer those over to the blog here and enrich the content a bit more. These are just going to be movies that I end up watching, not necessarily new ones only or anything. The brief review is as follows:

4.5/5 STARS

Well done, the alcoholism bit is pretty realistic, and its probably true that about 85% of Americans go about their day, drive their cars around, and function at some level with a constant measurable blood-alcohol level and/or dose of pain-pills. By far the best acting job I have seen Jeff Bridges do ever, and perhaps that is why he got the Oscar for it.  


Ok, so that was a sample first "brief movie review." I will add more as I get to them. Woot!