Ein freund von mir (A friend of mine) – 2006

German film, about a silent and meticulous young man, by the name of Karl, who is given a second job from his boss, just to make him realize how valuable he is. To encourage his ambition of becoming more and wanting to become more in life. There, he meets another man (Hans) that will change his perspective of life. He will become his best friend, and will release him of his own severity. At first Karl will hesitate about this new friendship, but then he’ll accept with arms wide open. They will briefly separate and fight, because of a girl, the same girl that he sees for the first time in a disco, before the second job. He will see he same girl later as his new friend’s girlfriend.  But true friends overcome everything, and they reconcile before he (Hans) gives him (karl) a blessing to go after the woman he loves, in this case Hans’s ex. 

Wild Target

British movie, in British stile (comedy in stile) :D Precise and old school assassin just before his 55-th birthday meets a woman so challenging, that he decides to guard her, instead of obey his clients and kill her. Along the way young man, comes along and becomes his apprentice. The second most wanted assassin, brutal and sadistic prick will come after them, and loose naturally. At the end, the girl (the wild target) will soften his resigned heart and become the mother of his child, the child that’s going to keep the family tradition and name in the future. 

Horrible bosses (2011)

Three best friends are gathering every night in the same bar, and complaining about each others bosses. One of them is a psycho, the other one is a female molester blackmailing her assistant to sleep with her, and the third one is a pure jackass, and a tool. The story culminates when the tree buddies after a horrible and worst day at the job possible, decide to kill their bosses. Comedy increases as they search “guidance” for how to kill them from a black man in a bar. :DD Somehow they unintentionally turn their bosses on each other, at least one of them, the psycho on the tool, and that is the right formula for getting rid of them. The third boss is taken care of sweetly, exactly the way she did on her employ.   

Bunraku (2010)

Group of unsatisfied young people, one samurai and the other cowboy, combine their knowledge of battle and will for revenge against the most vicious leader known to the world. They both are lead by family honor and hunger for righteousness. In a way the red army of Nicola (the vicious leader) reminds me of a battle between the east and west, and the fight for freedom that the capitalist counties always like to emphasize when they talk about “democracy”. So the vicious leader is exactly that, a man who keeps people under his control, a tyrant who suppresses and pours blood, all over the country, who keeps the poor people in fear just to rule. Nicola is also enriched with nine assassins which are obstacles that the two warriors need to vanquish, to get to him. Bartender plays the trigger person, who will join the two warriors together, lead them, and merge them with an army of like-minded rebels. The drifter (one of the revenges) at the end will see that to be able to kill the dark power (Nicola), will have to die himself as well, that, there is no revenge without any losses and consequences. Good always prevails if you have pure heart, at the end.

Step up 2: The Streets

Dancing and moving and inspiring staff, the story is old news, but the vibe of it it’s great. You just want to stand and dance after. Something like the first part (Step Up), smart talented individual that lives in a rough neighborhood gets a chance to study at one of the most prestigious dancing schools in NYC. Naturally the first step was getting in the school, with an explanation that that sort of talent and street dancing (which the eminent professors don’t even count as dance) can be used with hard work to become as the perfection they want to achieve. A dilemma in this young individual mind is growing, should she stay in the hood as faithful member of her dance group, or should she try and make it in the new environment, with new people, new ideas and more subtitle way of dance. She gets cast out, and even expelled from the school, as bed influence. The competition, called “the streets”, on which her ex dancing group is a five time winner in a roll, is the right challenge for her and her new school friends, not only to prove to herself to her ex friends, but also to prove to herself that she can make it all, no matter what. She wins, gets the respect back, and her way to school again. 

Bridesmaids (2011)

Film which transfers the “rising up again” concept, showing us a woman in her late 30-ies, struggling to get her life back around. Her best friend’s engagement and preparation will set her of track a bit, she will have a break down, or as they putted in the movie, she will hit bottom. The fact that she’s supposed to be the main maid of honor will only accelerate her “bottomness”, or recovery. She, after loosing all of her money in cake business and boyfriend at the same time, is barely living a satisfactory life. Her income now is from a job that her mom found for her, which is just to pay rent, her “lover” is a dick which uses her only for his good time, and she knows it, but is just in the faze of accepting her misery. So she keeps hoping that his idiotic behavior is because they agree on some “terms” about their non obligation relationship, and finds it excusable. Moreover there comes long a cute policeman, who finds her great just the way she is, and because of her wrong momentarily perspective of life, drives him away. On top of all that, there is a threat from this other bridesmaid, who is new figure in her bff’s live, to loose the “first” place in the heart of the only stable person that she knows, her now engaged friend. The other woman just drives her crazy, and actually she is the catalyst of her reaching the bottom stage. With all the bridesmaids activities and plannings she, the other woman always wins, partly because she is rich and knows people, and mostly because she is doing it on purpose, to make our heroine look bad. You have to reach lowest point of life, loose your self-esteem and then start again, fresh. You need to get over the changes, and in the process you have to try not to demoralize to the point of not even liking yourself. That's this story, bridesmaids were the one that made her feel bad, but actually they were the ones that made her realize the everyday straggle in live, and acceptance of change during it. 

Midnight in Paris 2011

Woody Allen film, and as usual his concept in a characteristic way, draws you to the most essential questions in life. Happiness above all, is the moral to this story. The question that runs till the end is: should we be satisfied with just OK version of our life, or should we try and seek for the love and happiness which we know we deserve?! Midnight in Paris shows exactly that. Through the eyes of Hollywood writer, in love with the city, we see a man who at first is not completely satisfied with his work, and live with an illusion that there was a time in the past (early twenties) where everything was wonderful and charming.  He, one night starts to walk in the city, gets lost, and at midnight somehow travels in his favorite time. There he meets his greatest heroes and inspirations. Not only that, but there, he learns about passion and love, and courage to do what’s in your heart. Most importantly he learns that no time is better then yours, you just have to live it with full lungs, no regrets and wonders how if?!

Pure genius, as always!

Water for elephants

Story about two people driven by fate, who are meant to meet with each other, so that they could fall in love and conquers all obstacles of life. Young man, after loosing his family and his house, joins the circus to be able to survive, as a vet. There is where he meets the girl of his dream, also without any family, but also the wife of the circus manager. He’s been given a chance to work with her, when an elephant is brought in as an attraction to the circus. His job title is a boy that gives water to elephants. The circus manager, who is a vicious man, smells the love between his wife and this young individual and casts him away. Justice was made, by the other workers, who also have a grudge with the manager. They let all of the animals and create a chaos, killing in the process every bad bodyguard there. The young couple fights to be together, poetically after the struggle with her husband, almost loosing her life, the elephant gets to the manager and kills him. 

Chalet girl (2011)

Talented girl needs to find her way back into the world. She finds herself lost, after her mother dies and leaves the only passion which she knows (skateboarding), to help and take care of her father. Money is tight, so she is by pure luck, gets to work in the mountains for very rich folks. Because of her affinity towards skateboarding, she tries to relax on snowboard as well. Romance is developing with the rich son. As in all rise up’s, she gets the slap one more time, just to make her even more strong and decisive about her future and commitment to the one thing she always like, boarding. At the end she gets the rich son and the first price on the snowboarding contest, and with that actually she finds her way back.  ;)

Griff the invisible

Super cool drama! Young man is living imaginary life that he is a super hero, which helps the ones in need. When he’s out there the streets are safe. His mind is so brilliant, that the only person, who is able to see that, is his brother’s new girlfriend, which is a “weirdo” herself. Her ability to make his 6 year old imaginary world even better makes him a stronger man in reality, ready to take risks, and continue with the struggle against evil on the street. And the greatest power of all is to become invisible, what he in his mind succeeds, when the girl shows. She is the missing component to the secret ingredient of invisibility. 

Friends with benefits (2011)

It looks like they made the movie just to promote J.T. and to show his “actor” skills. I guess he is one of Americas multi-talented individuals :)) with every movie he gets better and better, and get bigger and bigger roles :))) Read the title and you don’t need any explanation. I am a fan of easy movies, the ones you can watch with your boyfriend/girlfriend and not involving to much thinking. Man and woman meet, become friends, good company, decide to become sex buddies on accessions, fall in love, of course there is a scene where she gets mad at him, and then he realizes that she was the one all along :DD  a grand come back, involving dancers, honest acknowledgment of his love and stupidity…bla bal babalal…it finishes with hug and kiss scene. I admit, that it is a cute movie, and that I’ve seen worst acting from “professional” actors, so I’ll give it a chance ;)

Hall pass (2011)

Same old story, a husband is feeling very unsatisfied and like a robot every day, finds himself wanting to get back at the party days, when all was so easy and happy and without worries. Finally the wife gives him a “hall pass” a week off marriage, to do what ever he wants to. Having so, he will realize that it’s just isn’t his time to go wild, and party all night long, those days were great, but now other things are more important and worth more than the craziest party ever, a family. On the other hand, while he was trying to experiment, he could almost loose his wife. It is however recommendable for middle-aged fathers, whose having a second puberty, just to remind them what the stakes are for wanting to be “young” again.

Terri (2011)

This movie is drama that captures a difficult teenage life and his choices to a way to make it better.  Overweight boy of 15-16 years old, by the name of Terri is left to the care of sick uncle, who’s on occasions fine, and on others needs to be taken care like a baby, is on the verge of snapping form all the circumstances that he lives in. He’s indifference to every day activity, wearing pajamas in school, being late all the time, or not coming at all, will make the principal to connect with him on a much deeper level, making him his best friend, and a rise him up to the task of becoming aware of his qualities, his goodness and humanity. That man (the principal) through his actions and deeds will make him (Terri) understand, that helping others will also at some point help him as well, heal him too. He picks up this attitude and the results from being there and helping a friend are faster then expected. In a short period, from invisible and wired he’s now a good friend and support.

Basically, the message is never to give up on anybody, always try to find the right key to reach out for the kids, and getting the wanted result.