It’s been a week since I wrote about my plan to write more. A super busy week and my mind often all over the place because of it. My mind also was running ahead with plans for posts and none ever came to fruition because of all the business and also my need to recuperate from it. There probably won’t ever be a post about the gig in Cologne last week. Oh well.
Since February I have been going to the cinema more often. The main reason was that a UK friend told me they had signed up for a 3-months “Unlimited Card” at their cinema and I looked into if the multiplex chain over here offered a similar deal. And they did. It’s 19,90 € / month and if I go to see two movies a month I’m already saving money.
So I signed up, because I actually do enjoy the cinema quite a lot, but haven’t been going as much as I used to many, many, years ago. There are reasons for that of course. In parts it’s lack of time, even though I could have made time for it. Then there was the steep rise in tickets prices (at the multiplex most of all). If I wanted I could also blame the lack of interesting films, but that’s only partially true or a reason. Because decades ago I used to watch all kind of films and not all of them were all that good. If I’m honest sometimes I’m prone to inertia, as in getting in the car to go to the movies feels like too much hassle these days. It’s not as if I’m watching / streaming a lot of movies at home either though.
Anyway, I thought I should do something about it: Battle the inertia and also try to recover some of the film – loving part of me. When I was at uni 25 odd years ago, I was going to that multiplex several times a month. With friends on the weekend. With another student during the week for “sneak previews” where the tickets were half-price (if even that) and you never knew what you were getting into.
One thing that has changed though is that these days I do prefer to watch movies in the “not dubbed in German” version. I guess I can blame the language options of all the streaming services for that. And there’s often only one movies shown in the original English and it’s not always the one I want to watch. Which also might lead to me going to see more German movies or see a movie in English in a different cinema (and pay for it then), like I did yesterday.
Anyway here is a quick run down (from latest to first) of the movies I’ve seen in the past few weeks:
Eden (5 April, in a small 20 seat theatre)
This was based on true events from the 1930s where a couple of Europeans try to settle on an island in the Galapagos. Wikipedia calls it a survival thriller, but that doesn’t do it justice. It is much more an intense study of the human psyche: What drives us? What separates us and what brings us together? I thought the trailer was interesting and the movie didn’t disappoint (me). It also had a few surprising twists and turns in the end.
Heldin (16 March, Multiplex)
This Swiss/German production has a documentary vibe, as it follows a female hospital nurse through one shift. There isn’t all that much happening, but it gave me a really good insight into the working life of hospital staff. I’ve basically only ever been on the other side – as family member of someone in hospital – and I’ve complained and bitched about staff to some degree. So this was a helpful reminder to see the other side. And with lack of staff and lack of resources it’s not a pretty side.
Mickey 17 (5 March, Multiplex)
I kind of like Robert Pattinson, even though I haven’t really seen all that many films with him, I think. I admire that he managed to withdraw from the hype after Twilight and pick a variety of roles even though he probably could have easily build a career on heart throb / hero roles. He was awesome in the film and so were the other actors. Mark Ruffalo was doing such an amazing Trump impersonation in his role and he didn’t even have to dye his hair blond for it. I thought the sci-fi plot idea of identity and such was a good one. Bu I wasn’t such a fan of the creatures on the planet to be honest and I might not have picked the movie had they been featured more prominently in the trailer.
A Complete Unknown (1 March, Multiplex)
I admit I only know Dylan’s greatest hits. I know that his music played a big role in the US peace movement in the 1960s. I know he’s got a Nobel Prize and that he’s got a reputation to be difficult. I thought the movie was a good way to educate myself a bit more and it was. I like that Bob Dylan doesn’t necessarily come of as the good guy in this one. To be honest, I thought he was kind of asshole a lot of time. As a Frank Turner fangirl of course I compared Dylan’s ethos about performing to an audience to Frank’s and I’m glad Frank is more appreciative of his audience, to put it mildly. But the 1960s were a different time of course as well. I put Joan Baez on the list of musicians I need to learn more about after watching this. Timothee and Edward Norton played and sang all the parts in the film themselves, which was quite impressive.
Wunderschöner (15 February, Multiplex, before I got the Unlimited Card)
A sequel to a German movie success from a few years ago. A sort of interconnected multi-episodes movie about women of various ages and professions and relationships. I hadn’t seen the first one at the cinema back then so had to watch it on Amazon first, but I had seen the trailer a few times and thought I might like it. And I did, even though this sequel now was more serious than the first one. Still very funny but in parts it felt like the female director (and lead actress) tried a bit too hard to comment on everything that’s making womens’ lives to hard these days. Still a great and enjoyable movie.
I’ve seen quite a few trailers for new movies as well. Some trailers over and over again, which is no surprise. There are a lot of “let’s make a sequel / retell the same story” movies out this year. Paddington. Bridget Jones. Karate Kid. Plus variations of Marvel movies of all kinds. I’m not interested in Bridget Jones, but the Karate Kid trailer is starting to wear me down. I might want to watch the original movie first, because I don’t think I’ve seen this back in the day or since. But I’m not sure. It’s been a long time ago.
Anyway, I’m quite happy that I was able to recover some of my passion for the cinema again. I hope it’ll last.
