MadiZone

"En familie" revolves around the confusion caused by the death of a leading family member. The uncertainty it causes and the power vacuum it creates. Now, this could be an interesting story if the involved characters were interesting - if there was a sense of conflict among the succeeding generation. Unfortunately, this is not the case. If there is any conflict, it's between the dying generation (Richard Rheinwald) and his children about the future of the family bakery that has been in the family for generations and that Richard considers his lifework. None of his dimwitted children are capable of or interested in continuing the bakery business.

Other reviewers has praised this movie for the emotion it displays. If brooding confused adults is your thing, then this movie has emotion. Albeit unbelievable. While Richard Rheinwald has a seemingly genuine personality that slowly descends into despair, his family is remarkably dull. Most of the family members are just briefly explored. Most attention is given to Ditte Rheinwald, Richards daughter. She cannot decide whether or not to have a child. Whether or not to move to New York or stay in Denmark. Whether or not to be an artist or a baker. Whether or not to put her father in a nursing home or just his home. And when she eventually makes decisions, she remains confused and uncertain about them. In one scene she lashes out against her boyfriend and accuses him of not having any character, creating a psychological projection of her own insecurities.

Anyway, for me it was a drag to follow these indecisive daughters. I guess the message that the director may be trying to convey is that strong dominating patriarchs can perhaps create dull confused children. I don't know. This movie didn't leave any impression on me, it didn't give me anything to reflect upon.

I decided to give this movie 3 stars in recognition of the sporadic glimpses of comedy and in recognition of Jesper Christensens and Pilou Asbæks performances.

This movie has a fairly interesting premise. A young uneducated man becomes a millionaire on a gameshow after getting every single question right. Not because he's a trivia buff, but because each answer is extracted from previous events in his life. The movie primarily deals with flashbacks illustrating these events. They show that the young man has led a hard, impoverished and dangerous life at the bottom of Indian society.

This kind of tragic realism is interesting in the beginning, but as the boy reaches adolescence, the flashbacks begins to bore you. The movie tries to compensate for this through a love triangle, but it comes across pretty cliché and unbelievable. Because of this, the main thing pushing the suspense level is the increasing winnings on the gameshow and that's not enough to keep the movie going.

If you like scenic landscapes and enjoy watching impoverished children struggling in a cruel world, this is a movie for you. If you are looking for interesting characters and an integrated plot that keeps you watching, you might be in for a disappointment.

In the dysfunctional city of Yallahrup Færgeby (Port Wog) lives a boy named Ali. Ali is 12 years old and going through severe hardship. He has an ambition of becoming the gangster thug of the town, but it's not easy since he is yet to enter puberty and his best friend, Hassan, has a crush on him and that really isn't very gangsterish.

Eventually, Ali turns to Abu Babu, local town terrorist, who promises Ali 72 randy virgins, much to Ali's satisfaction. However, Ali later learns that it requires a suicide and he backs out since he figures virgins are no good if he's dead and being dead is not very gangsterish unless you are 2pac.

In school, Ali is constantly subjected to the absurd and arrogant behavior of headmaster Hanne, a declared feminist, as well as Morten, a spineless man, working as the librarian of the school. Morten is assigned to teach Ali about freedom of speech, which Ali uses to slander and insult people around him. Hanne wants to arrange a Saint Lucia march, but when she realizes that 6 of the students in the marching class are non-white, she quickly concludes that they are unsuitable as Lucia characters and she orders them to dress up as chocolate cookies and join the march. Strange, yet hilariously fun.

Through 24 episodes, we follow Ali and his companions in their ambitions to seize power in Yallahrup, but nobody seems to notice. The humor is this series is crude and without restraint and stereotypes are taken to absurd lengths, which might offend you if you are a bit rigorous by design. For the rest of us, it is a giddy and witty Christmas calendar that mocks Danes and immigrants equally, much to the amusement of the audience.

Great calendar guaranteed to make you chuckle repeatedly.