The Lives of Others/Das Leben der Anderen (2006) - Donnersmarck stuns the world with defining film of the evils of complete state control

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+ Best Movie of the Decade

+ Best Movie of the Year
+ Best Debut Movie of the Year + Best Dollar Return of the Year: 38.6 Times its Cost + Best German Movie of the Year + Best Mega-hit Movie of the Year + Best Spy Thriller of the Year

Intimate snapshots and one of the men carrying out the invasive surveillance make up this unmemorable poster for Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others

In 1984 East Germany is under full surveillance: by its own colossal state apparatus. The minister of culture demands dirt on a prominent theater writer, so that he can have the man's actress girlfriend to himself in peace. But the spy who has to do the dirty surveillance work gets in doubt of the validity of his tasks.

The Lives of Others is written and directed by feature-debuting German master filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (Never Look Away/Werk ohne Autor (2018)). He has managed to erect a monumental film of the destructive Stasi police and their methods in the long defunct East German state, the DDR. The film is an incredibly well-made and energetic grappling with history. It boggles the mind that East Germans helped to install not just one but two of the most horrifying regimes that the world saw created in the 20th century, of which the first, the Nazi ideology, still seems the most destructive human endeavor ever committed by man.
Martina Gedeck (I'm Off Then/Ich Bin Dann Mal Weg (2015)) and Sebastian Koch (Bel Canto (2018)) are excellent as the couple who get harassed; so is Thomas Thieme (Fritz Lang (2016)) as the feared minister. Ulrich Mühe (Engelchen (1996)) as the spy gives a formidable performance as a man who is controlled through and through, who suddenly makes an individual stride. In this way The Lives of Others is a beautiful film of the human ability to change and improve, but it is also about the dissolution of an inhumane ideology of submissive all-encompassing control and surveillance as caused by the beauty of music, as an early scene conveys so persuasively. The Lives of Others is a masterpiece for the ages.

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2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Top 10: Best German movies 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch Donnersmarck receive the Best Foreign Film Oscar - and a fun bit by the year's host Ellen DeGeneres in a video here

Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 77.3 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 38.6 times the cost)
[The Lives of Others premiered 15 March (Berlin, Germany) and runs 137 minutes. Donnersmarck's thought up the film inspired by a recount of a discussion between Maxim Gorky and Lenin, in which Lenin admitted the disturbing fact that his office did violence against the people in pursuing their ideals. Donnersmarck has stated: "I suddenly had this image in my mind of a person sitting in a depressing room with earphones on his head and listening in to what he supposes is the enemy of the state and the enemy of his ideas, and what he is really hearing is beautiful music that touches him. I sat down and in a couple of hours had written the treatment." He wrote the script at the Heiligenkreuz Abbey, where his uncle served as the abbot. Shooting took place in Berlin, Germany from October - December 2004. The film opened #36 to a 213k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #15 and in 259 theaters (different weeks), playing an impressive 31 weeks and grossing 11.2 mil. $ (14.5 % of the total gross). The biggest markets was the film's home country Germany with 19.1 mil. $ (24.7 %). North America was the 2nd biggest, and 3rd biggest was France with 10.7 mil. $ (13.8%). Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, equal to its rating here. Criticisms lashed against the film by others include that Donnersmarck was wrong to create a sympathetic Stasi protagonist and that the playwright character is unlikely in the hard communist regime. The film won the Best Foreign Film Oscar, was nominated for a Golden Globe, won 1/5 BAFTA nominations, a César award and a David di Donatello award, 3/6 European Film award nominations, an Independent Spirit award, 7/11 German Film award nominations and countless other honors. On IMDb's user-generated Top 250, the film currently sits at #57, between Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Dr. Strangelove (1964). The film has has had influence in the debate against mass surveillance in Israel and the US. Donnersmarck and Mühe were successfully sued for libel by Mühe's 2nd wife for an interview in which it was stated that she had informed on him during their 6 years of marriage in the DDR. - Although 254 pages of government records supported the claim, the woman's controller came out and stated that she had not know that she had been talking to a Stasi agent and that many things had been made up. Donnersmarck returned with The Tourist (2010). Mühe returned in Das Geheimnis von St. Ambrose (2006, TV movie), Peer Gynt (2006, TV movie) and theatrically in My Führer/Mein Führer - Die Wirklich Wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler (2007). The Lives of Others is certified fresh at 92 % with a 8.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Lives of Others?

Enemy of the State (1998) - T. Scott, Bruckheimer, Marconi ahead of their time in outing NSA in exciting thriller

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+ Best Action-Thriller of the Year + Best Political Movie of the Year + Best Washington DC Movie of the Year

The stars look apprehensive on this undeniably unimpressive poster for Tony Scott's Enemy of the State

A strong Washington DC lawyer experiences a former school buddy confiding his troubles to him before he expires in a wild accident. Soon our man comes in possession of a tape of a murder. - And as a result becomes a hunted man.

Enemy of the State is the 11th film by English master filmmaker Tony Scott (The Hunger (1983)), written by David Marconi (Collision (2013)). It sports an unusually strong cast and is a high-charged political action-thriller, which hooks with intense scenes between Jason Robards (Parenthood (1989)) and Jon Voight (The Champ (1979)), who plays the super-villain here. Will Smith (Shark Tale (2004)), Philip Baker Hall (In Good Company (2004)) and Gene Hackman (Superman (1978)) are such professionals that the plot works even when it becomes a bit contrived and feeds us unlikely strikes of luck. As with several other Scott films in the action-thriller genre, Enemy of the State is edited at a fast pace throughout, which at times becomes exasperating.
The issue of the right to privacy versus the consideration for national security continues to be a mined and hot topic. In Enemy of the State, the evil, governmental mass-surveillance side, as represented by the NSA, attain an almost Communist glow, - they steal our protagonist's blender and seem to have a wish to literally own everything, - which is a clever perspective in an already very entertaining film.

Related reviews:
 
Tony Scott: Stoker (2013) - Chan-wook Park's over-styled American debut revolts and bores in turns (producer)  

Unstoppable (2010) - T. Scott's mechanically exciting final movie
Déjà Vu (2006) - T. Scott cuts a helluva suspense-cake!
Domino (2005) - T. Scott's bounty-hunter biopic a complete misfire, mega-flop  

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Days of Thunder (1990) or, Very Little Thunder

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 90 mil. $
Box office: 250.6 mil. $
= Box office success
[Enemy of the State premiered 18 November (New York) and runs 132 minutes. Smith declined to star in Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes (1998) in preference for Enemy of the State. Shooting took place in Maryland, mostly in Baltimore, and in Washington DC and California from November 1997 - April 1998. The film opened # 2, behind The Rugrats Movie, to a 20 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it 'had legs', spending a total of 4 weeks in the top 5 and grossed 111.5 mil. $ (44.5 % of the total gross). Comparisons were drawn between this and Hackman's turn in Francis Ford Coppola's acclaimed, similarly themed The Conversation (1974). Roger Ebert agreed with Film Excess in awarding the film 3/4 stars. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has announced that he is producing a TV-series based on the film. Enemy of the State is fresh at 71 % with a 6.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Enemy of the State?

Snowden (2016) - Stone's inflammatory political thriller is a powerful must-see

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+ Best Biopic of the Year

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the gentle title character on a sleek poster for Oliver Stone's Snowden

 

Snowden is the 20th fiction feature from great New-Yorker filmmaker Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July (1989)). It is written by Stone and Kieran Fitzgerald (The Homesman (2014)), based on two novels: Luke Harding's (WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy (2011)) non-fiction The Snowden Files (2014) and Anatoly Kucherena's (We Cannot Do Without Bloodshed (2003)) fictionalized Time of the Octopus (2015).

Edward Snowden, a precarious but deeply dedicated young American male, finds out that he can best serve his country by using his prodigal computer skills, working for the NSA and CIA. Over the course of several years, he is increasingly distraught by the covert tactics of his government, leading up to his becoming a whistle-blower for The Guardian in 2013.

Stone, once again, succeeds with a controversial, highly relevant and political current issue, - namely that of Edward Snowden and the mass surveillance and privacy infringement and espionage perpetrated by the US government. His film is arguably more important, inflammatory and needed than any other he has done in decades. As such, it is this year's The Big Short (2015); a thrillingly substantial outlaying of outrageous recent history; eye-opening and assured in its conviction: That Snowden is no suspicious expat that deserves decades behind bars or to rot in his involuntary refuge in Russia, but is, in fact, an American hero, a brave friend of the common man and an excellent citizen.

Cinematically, Snowden isn't as innovative as Big Short. But it's solid all-around, deftly illuminating the problems of mass surveillance in the digital age while letting us ever closer to its title protagonist and his struggles as a loyal citizen with increasingly burdening knowledge and feelings of complicity.

Thanks to a stellar cast that Stone has managed to gather, the film becomes a riveting encounter: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (10 Things I Hate about You (1999)) has a smugness that peaks through his otherwise impressive performance; he really embodies Snowden credibly. Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars (2014)) is, once again, excellent, here as the very normal, loving girlfriend. Rhys Ifans (Another Me (2013)) and Nicholas Cage (Drive Angry (2011)) appear and are great in minor but pivotal parts, and the cast is full of exceptional actors; young up-and-comers like Scott Eastwood (Diablo (2015)) and Ben Schnetzer (Pride (2014)) and more seasoned actors like Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood (2004-06)), Joely Richardson (101 Dalmatians (1996)), Tom Wilkinson (RocknRolla (2008)), Zachary Quinto (Star Trek Beyond (2016)) and Melissa Leo (Flight (2012)).

Don't go into Snowden expecting a break-neck paced conventional thriller. - Its hero is a geek, and it's about technology and the real world, which is thrilling in another way. - But no less thrilling, mark you. Snowden is a must-see.

 

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2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess

 

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: 40 mil. $

Box office: 22.7 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[Snowden premiered September 9 (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 134 minutes. Stone was working on a film about Martin Luther King's last years with Jamie Foxx starring when he started getting contacted about Snowden and eventually went to Russia and met him. Stone allegedly paid 0.7 mil. $ for the rights to Harding's book and 1 mil. $ for the rights to Kucherena's, scrapping the King biopic. Financing proved tough: Stone and his producer financed the film themselves until 8 days before production, when French and German financing came through: Probably due to its controversial content, it was not possible to get American financing for Snowden. The film was shot in 62 days from February - April in Munich, Germany, Moscow, Hawaii, Washington, D.C. and Hong Kong. The budget was so tight that when Stone's mother passed away, he had to miss her US funeral, because the production couldn't afford any delay. Fears of surveillance and hacking by the NSA made the cast and crew adhere to special precautions during production. Gordon-Levitt, who had also gone to Moscow to meet Snowden and his girlfriend to prepare for his part, donated his entire salary to the production. The release was pushed out from a December 2015 release until the fall of 2016. The film opened #4, behind Sully, Blair Witch and Bridget Jones' Baby, to an 8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spend its 2nd week in #5 and then left the top 5 and has to date grossed just 18.8 mil. $. The film has yet to open in several important markets like France, Germany, Spain, the UK, Italy and Japan, and hopefully it will still gather the much larger audiences it deserves, and avoid becoming a major flop. Snowden is fresh at 63 % with a 6.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Snowden?

Eagle Eye (2008) - Caruso's wobbly sci-fi ride

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The slick, a bit dull poster for D. J. Caruso's Eagle Eye

The US Defense Department has launched an enormous computer database, but when it makes a recommendation in relation to a terrorist liquidation in the Middle East, which gets ignored, it 'activates' two citizens in an autonomous effort to coup the government with a super-bomb!

Surveillance grievances and state paranoia is dusted off and fed into a plot of running, worried glances and action spectacles that are mostly fast forgotten here.
Eagle Eye wants to be adrenaline-pumped suspense throughout. Shia LaBeouf (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)) speed-talking declarations, brillo hair and moist baby-face is utilized but often annoying and/or laughable. Other stars do their best, but this is a paycheck job for them all. Billy Bob Thornton (U Turn (1997)) contributes some dry humor and is watchable as usual, - and the film is generally wittily written by John Glenn (The Lazarus Project (2008)), Travis Wright (The Lazarus Project, producer), Hillary Seitz (Insomnia (2002)) and Dan McDermott (Human Target (2011), TV-series). D. J. Caruso (I Am Number Four (2011)) directed it.
Eagle Eye is a package deal that isn't all that.

Related posts:

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or, Humanity and Space  
D. J. Caruso: Disturbia (2007) or, Good Nightia

Shia LaBeouf does some serious running in D. J. Caruso's Eagle Eye

In lieu of a trailer for, not currently on Youtube, here's an interview with Shia LaBeouf for the movie

Cost: 80 mil. $
Box office: 178.9 mil. $
= Flop
[Eagle Eye was released September 26 and runs 118 minutes. The screenplay was written on behest of executive producer Steven Spielberg, who had an idea based on the Isaac Asimov short story All the Troubles of the World. Spielberg hired Caruso to helm the film, because he himself was busy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, also with LaBeouf. The conveyor belt scene in the film was shot for real, without any use of CGI, and both Michelle Monaghan (Machine Gun Preacher (2011)) and Caruso were injured during its filming. The score for the film was recorded with the 88-piece Hollywood Studio Symphony. Eagle Eye was released to poor reviews, - Roger Ebert gave it a measly 2 stars, - but also a #1 opening weekend of 29.1 mil. $ in North America, where it grossed 101.4 mil. $ (56.7 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 13.2 mil. $ (7.4 %) and South Korea with 10.6 mil. $ (5.9 %). The film made in excess of 38 mil. $ on DVD sales alone, which, if added to the gross, makes it a success. Eagle Eye is rotten at 26 % with a 4.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Eagle Eye?

Hidden/Caché (2005) - Haneke's slick, cold surveillance drama-thriller

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+ Best French Film of the Year + Best Mystery of the Year

Spanish poster for Michael Haneke's Hidden

QUICK REVIEW:

A married parental couple who work in the creative industry start to receive videotapes with recordings of their own house as well as ominous drawings in the mail. The man (Daniel Auteuil (Conversations With My Gardner/Dialogue Avec Mon Jardinier (2007)) believes that they may come from a brother, he once never had ...

Caché is a drama thriller written and directed by Austrian film master Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon/Das Weiße Band - Eine Deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)).
My sympathy for the leading couple in this film reaches a limit at some point, because they are so awfully 'intellectual', pathetic and ridiculous. The film is told in a starkly realistic style without a score even, and the many emotions going through the main characters are quite palpable, and work to heighten the tension. The film also has SPOILER one of the most shocking suicide scenes that has ever been put on film.
The couple, who is the core of Caché, are pretty much lost throughout the film, and thus Caché itself also gets to feel somewhat lost in my eyes.
Still, it is a smart and sleek European co-production, if not among Haneke's best.
At the moment, he is in preproduction with a film that is set to come out next year with the title Flashmob.

Related posts:

Michael Haneke: Amour (2012) - Tender love, unseizing death in Haneke's pictures

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: 10.5 mil. $
Box office: 16.1 mil. $
= Flop
[Caché was most successful in Europe, which is common for Haneke's mostly very European films, here about French intellectuals. It has won a slew of awards; chief among them, 3 at Cannes, including Best Director. It did make 3.6 mil. $ in the US, which isn't bad for a thriller as minimalistic as Caché, but with its relatively high cost, it didn't sell enough to start turning profits.]

What do you think of Caché?
If you think it is a masterpiece, please, tell us why