Reviews by Bael

Everyone in rock/metal business knows: the singers and guitarists get all the girls, fame and money. But what if a band where to emerge, where the underestimated bassist guitarists would be the heroes? One man, namely Markus Großkopf of Halloween fame, made this dream come true. He allied himself with other bass guitarists like from the notable german metal bands Rage, Destruction and Sodom, invited some guest singers like Apollo Papathanasio and Jesper Binzer and some guest drummers to form the band "Bassinvaders".

The songs on "Hellbassbeaters" vary very much, in musical style and in singing, depending on who actually wrote and played the song. As one could suspect, "thrashy" songs work with only bass guitars and drums way much better than lets say power metal songs, which beg to be played with a screaming guitar. Also the musical and lyrical quality of the songs ranges from really bad to mediocre. Some bassists aren't really up to the task, although on the best tracks you'll get quite an impression of what is technically possible with a bass guitar. Generally, the saying "Too many cooks spoil the broth" is more than true with "Hellbassbeaters". There are too many different (partially substandard) musicians and styles to deal with to give the album or the band an unique identity. With a missing leitmotif and Markus Großkopf as the only official member this record has more of a sampler character than that of a full-fledged band album.

Ultimately this average album fails to deliver, and although ambitioned it - rather than being a showcase of bass solo capabilities - shows that bass guitars can't stand on their own without one's ear constantly screaming "Give me more instruments!". So in the end the despised singers and guitarists will still get all the girls, fame and money, because - if they really wanted - could get all this without a bass guitar, which vice versa, so it seems, is impossible...

In this comedy the Wayans brothers portray two FBI agents who have to disguise themselves as two spoiled rich girls and blend into high society. The problem: those two girls are "white chicks", which doesn't make the disguise any easier. But - behold - the allmighty FBI can easily transfer two black males into two white females. It just needs some contact lenses, lots of silicon and some suitcases full of expensive clothes. However, i'd really like to know how the FBI magicians manage to get those contact lenses automatically off together with the masks, when they are being taken off, in one step...

This comedy plays a lot with differences in social status, culture and sexes. Mostly in a slapstick way. Although many gags are clear misses, there are also some hits that will make you giggle at least. So, as already stated by other reviewers, this movie is certainly no sophisticated kind of comedy like Monty Python used to make, but more the kind of "turn off your brain and enjoy the pretty colors and action onscreen" comedy. Nonetheless, you could enjoy it if you are into the latter and can blend out the weak story and overall acting.

Schelmish originally started, like many other bands in the past 15 years in Germany, as Medieval Folk band. In this regard, Schelmish was one of the better contenders for the throne of this genre for the last couple of years.

Sadly, with their latest release "Wir Werden Sehen", they decided to dismiss all their roots and "go In Extremo" all the way. Instead of hearing bagpipes, schalms or harps you now hear several guitars and drums shredding the characteristic nature of Schelmish away.

"Wir Werden Sehen" is a mixture of many different styles except Medieval Folk, so one can hear In Extremo, Rammstein, Tanzwut or even ASP on it's songs. Although the album is well produced, it lacks it's own character and uniqueness which would make you hear this album more than once. Also you can notice that they didn't make mostly instrumental songs for years for nothing, as the lyrics really lack any depth or wit.

In the end i'll rather go with the artists they desperately tried to copy than with their attempt at it in the first place.

GoodFellas is certainly well directed, has some very good supporting characters and a great score.

Nonetheless the story, which is loosely based on the rise and fall of the real life Henry Hill, didn't catch me for most of the time. The portrayal of the Mafia was almost like they are a poker club for older men, occasionally stealing some money from the dumb. I really missed the constant menace like in The Godfather or the epic of Once Upon A Time In America. The movie was too lighthearted for my fancy. Sure, it had some hints of black comedy, which is always a bonus for me, but the film didn't captivate me. I never really cared for any of the characters, mostly because they were way too one-dimensional or underdeveloped. Furthermore Ray Liotta was a bad choice for the main character. His obvious lack in acting didn't really help to enthrall me.

Still, for reasons mentioned at the beginning, this movie is good, but not brilliant, like it's IMDB-score would suggest. It is definitively one of the better Mafia movies out there, but in my opinion never reaches the best of this genre and/or Scorsese's portfolio.

I get this movie has a huge cult following, because i see no other reason why it is so highly rated. Of course, if you are into a young Mel Gibson clad in leather, sweating and bleeding, you will be more than satisfied. If you are into a good storyline or acting you should give chase like one of those you'll see in this movie.

The story kind of continues the first part of the Mad Max series, but on a second look it is only loosely tied into the trilogy, as you will notice some continuity and logical errors when you watch the movies from the beginning until the end. However, since the first part the world or at least Australia went down completely, because some kind of unspecified conflict got the world into a wasteland with marauding gangs of criminals roaming the lands. One of these gangs besieges a Fort that holds one of the last oil refineries, protected by lawful citizens.

At this point, where gas is scarce, you wonder how the gang is able to roam around the refinery 24/7 with their cars, bikes, trikes and whatnot. But this is only one of the many questions you will ask yourself. Another one is how a gang of supposedly brutal individuals follows someone who looks like an almost naked and ridiculous Jason Vorhees on steroids. However, amongst all the other campy elements in this movie you'll hardly notice that.

The only real interesting part are the stunts, especially the car chases. They make up most of this movie and are definitively worth watching.

The story evolves around the beaten to death horse "nerd guy gets ditched by dream girl, meets other nerd girl, dream girl wants to get back and nerd guy gets in conflict of which of them he should choose".

Naturally this is not much to fill a full length movie with, so you better got some brilliant cast to make up for this shortcoming. Unfortunately the cast of the movie is average at best, with a quite bland Jennifer Aniston and a mediocre Ben Stiller in the leading parts. Also i never had the impression of some chemistry between them, which never is a good sign for a romantic comedy.

The comedic value of this movie is low, with no memorable scenes whatsoever. Most of the gags are situational, which unfortunately are not well executed, but match the story in all it's irrelevance perfectly.

All in all it is a boring but quite family-safe romantic comedy, which doesn't rely too much on fart-jokes and vulgarity like other of Stiller's work.

The Good:

- Kurt Russel. He just eminates coolness. He looks better than ever too. Also his portrayal of the menacing antagonist is very convincing (until near the end of the movie).

- The music. A very fine and fitting selection as in all Tarantino movies.

- The cars. Beauties to behold. A Tarantino standard too.

The Bad:

- The performances of the female actors. Mediocre at best.

- The dialogues. Tarantino got that better (with Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction). If he wanted us to endure this tedious movie, he should have made the dialogues at least interesting or witty.

The Ugly:

- The story. Where is it? "Death Proof" is almost like a reality soap about three little red ridinghoods talking trash until the motiveless big bad wolf comes out of nowhere and devours them. I've seen more story in most slasher movies.

- Character development. Absolutely missing. Not only there is none of it, the characters also get out of role for no or very little reason (see the overacted part of Kurt Russel's supposedly cool character near the end). Also at no point in the movie you ever care about any of the characters. They live, they die? Who gives a damn. You just hope it all ends one way or the other.

- The ending. A huge disappointment. Absoultely unrealistic (if you can call anything in this movie realistic) and destroying any of the poor character development.

All in all Death Proof is a weak, outright boring movie that's undoubtedly stylish, but very empty.