GoD-s-LoNeLy-MaN

"The Pursuit Of Happiness" is a good based-on-true-story drama. It is the story of Chris Gardner struggling to make a living and literally pursuing happiness. Lead actor Will Smith gives a good performance. The movie succeeds because it never gets cheesy. I was afraid that the movie might be ruined by the last scene being cheesy but the scene is not cheesy at all, very well done.

*spoilers to come* "The Pursuit of Happiness" is about the life of Chris Gardner, an intelligent and hard working man. Despite his intelligence he has to really fight himself through life. This is not a movie on poverty, it is a well-narrated biography but looking for answers to questions like "What happens to people who are not as intelligent and persistent as Chris Gardner?" / "What happens with those who try hard and still fail? Are they unable to reach happiness?" / "Can poor people not be happy?" leads you to disagree with part of the movie's premise.

"The Pursuit of Happiness" is far from being a masterpiece. It is predictable, there are numerous differences between the movie and the real life of Chris Gardner, all of which can be considered to be in a way harmful to the movie's authenticity and, as mentioned before, the concept of happiness represented in the movie might be a bit too simple. These are the negative points one can find. On the other hand you will find many, many positive points, such as the performances of the actors (Will Smith in particular) and the good storytelling, that ultimately outweigh the weak points.

Gripping, moving, inspiring drama. A good film...no more no less.

*** 7/10 ****

"(T)Raumschiff Surprise" is sometimes funny, sometimes hilarious but it is also embarrassingly stupid at times. It has some new jokes but what I found shocking is that some of the jokes were "borrowed" (from Austin Powers; Loriot,...). So really you have creative ideas and funny and original jokes but in the same scene you have old or plagiarized jokes and gags that are complete misses.

I like Bully and I think he is funny, loved "Der Schuh des Manitu". There was a huge hype around this movie and when I finally saw it I was disappointed as the movie did not deliver. About a year after watching it the first time, I watched it again and I laughed about 5 times and smiled maybe another 10 times. I remember laughing quite a bit the first time I watched it but even back then I found it disappointing.

This movie is not quite as bad as the IMDb-rating (5.4) suggests but way worse than the hype around it makes you believe it is. (Most of the time my ratings for a movie are below the IMDb-average so me rating it the same as the average voter while saying it deserves a higher score is not a contradiction. Hope you can follow.)

** 5.5/10 **

This is the ultimate zombie movie. I watched it in 2006; that is almost 40 years after it was made and this movie still shocked me. It is disturbing and scary. The basic idea is not new (not even back then) but this movie is better than all the other zombie films I have seen. It is a very simple idea but the filmmakers really push the envelope. It contains shocking scenes, gory scenes, dramatic scenes, great characterizations and suspense.

NOFLD has a perfect ending. I expected it to end the way it does but that does not give me the feeling that the movie is predictable but rather that it delivered everything I hoped for. I got the ending which I hoped for!

One of the best horror films ever! A must-see!

**** 8/10 ****