Goldene Zeiten

When it came out, it completely went by me and I just got a hold of it a couple of years later. Even after re-watching it recently, I felt it was a nice little movie. Wotan who's in the lead role (and he isn't often enough considering he's much better at it than some other A-Listers in Germany), has the charisma to lead the movie. Even Dirk Benedict who has a very extended cameo playing himself, but as someone else, is really funny.

Many say this isn't the funniest movie the director made and this may be true (there is a lot of dark moments in there too that might take away some of the fun for some people), but I like the way he mixed it up. You can never be too sure about the outcome, when there are variables that you can not connect. Some characters might act strange, but that always happens. One of the better comedies to come out of Germany in the last 10 years.

Peter's script doesn't know what it wants the be: a comedy, a drama, a mix between. The central character is not very likable, we dot care for his problems. And then again, the whole "Charity Golf Turnament" set up is so weak. The entire story lacks structure. It doesn't sparkle any interest. Peter tried obviously hard, actors are as usual all great, so is the cinematography, but when hardly anyone laughs at the Berlin premiere, which I attended, then you have a major problem at hands. The audience doesn't care, nor did the original distributer "Senator Film" who also happens to be a co-producer of the film. They didn't believe in the film so they put it on the market and newcomer 3L picked the film up. Terribly first weeks numbers; only some 27.000 people went to see the film on the weekend. Next time more luck Peter.

I had heard a lot of bad stuff about this movie in advance and so i was pretty excited about it. now, after seeing it i can't share this criticism. this movie is full of interesting characters with whom you can easily identify. of course it's impossible to work out the very last detail of each one if them within two hours, but this increases the tension and confronts you with a lot of different and fresh characters. the story has many plots and it's very interesting to see how they all fit together in the end. I can recommend this movie to everyone who likes the two other PT-movies. You'll find a lot of parallels to especially Bang Boom Bang. Goldene Zeiten even tops the other movies in my opinion and offers a lot of plots to be implemented in further movies. i'm looking forward to that. the actors are well chosen and you'll recognize a lot of well-known characters. great movie which improves the "german cinema" *g*.

This movie is not as funny as Thorwarths first two movies, namely "Bang Boom Bang" and "Was nicht passt wird passend gemacht".

And that was not the intention at all. I cannot conclude with other comments describing the depicted characters as being one-dimensional. As usual, Ralf Richter kind of plays himself, and is good at impersonating the low life small criminal.

And Dirk Benedicts performance is absolutely believable. He plays an average guy who suddenly gets the chance to enter the stand in the spotlight of show-business, and who starts to really like it. His lines are funny ("I did not want to play John Stryker anymore, all those Bang Boom Bang, that shooting in afternoon series like 'A-Team', that really pi**ed me off"), and he really delivers the tragic aspects of his character.

Thorvarths movies are always over the top in regards of how the action and the stories culminate, but this kind of exaggeration is often funny in itself.

I like this kind of mixture between comic and tragedy, in that case I would compare it to "Boogie Nights", which tone reminds me of "Goldene Zeiten".

Peter did with BANG BOOM BANG a very good and very funny movie - maybe the best German comedy in a new-style ever. But in his second movie you can see, that there is no substance in his art and talent. Maybe it is the same problem of Thomas Jahn, the director of Knocking On Heavens Door - no ideas and no talent for really good scripts. The look and the coolness of the business is more interesting then a good script and really good ideas.

And there is also for Peter as for Thomas nothing more as a filmmaker then their very funny first movies.

It is a typical situation for the German movies. One or two movies are really good, the rest is nothing but nonsenses and overacting as a movie-maker. Peter seems to be a wanna-be (and who watched his audio-commentary to Bang Boom Bang knows the he is a notorious wanna-be). The typical amateur-movie-setting (the all-time-local-hero feeling in his movies) makes him a good director for his town and friends. But for a good movie it needs more the then privacy of a local-hero.

So it is a professional amateur-movie.