The Toxic Avenger [2025] (4 Stars)

This is the sixth film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

What a beautiful film! I wouldn't say it's perfect, but it's a breath of fresh air after the poor films today. It's not meant to be a serious or meaningful film. It's just 90 minutes of unashamed violence, although the violence is so unrealistically that it made everyone laugh.

It's pitched as a remake of the 1984 Toxic Avenger film, but there are brief references to the characters in the first film. What I especially like is that the film was obviously made with a large budget, but a deliberate effort has been made to make it look cheap. It could have been made in the 1980's. Pete Dinklage is the perfect actor to play the Toxic Avenger, and a sequel is promised after the credits. I can hardly wait!

Wicked (4 Stars)

This film bookends my life as a film fan. The very first film I saw was "The Wizard of Oz". I saw it in the cinema, but obviously not when it was first released. I wasn't born in 1939. I can't remember the exact year when I saw it, but I'm certain it was my first film, because my parents didn't own a television until I was six years old. Yes, I'm old enough to remember the dim, distant days when televisions weren't an item taken for granted. They were very expensive in my youth. My parents always rented a television, because they couldn't afford to buy one.

The correct name of this film is "Wicked Part One". That's what's written on the splash screen. The second part is due to be released next year. The two films serve as a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz".

I don't want to give too many spoilers for the film, but the main theme is that we're invited to have sympathy for the Wicked Witch of the West. She was an outcast all her life because of her skin colour; she was born green. In "Wicked Part One" we see that she uses her magical powers for good. So how did she turn bad? We'll have to wait for Part Two to find out.

I've always been a sucker for a musical. The music was uplifting, even though the lyrics were often shallow. I was happy to see that the cinema was almost full. That's the way cinemas should be.

Pixels (5 Stars)

Netflix Thursday #29

I watched this film two months ago, but it's worth watching again, isn't it? If I'm limited to the film selection on Netfix, I should at least pick out the best films. Maybe "Pixels" should even be in my top 100 films list. I'll think it over.

I noticed today how many extras are used in the film. No expenses were spared in making a good film. But it still made a profit.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

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Pixels (5 Stars)

Kevin James as President? Don't laugh. Why not? America has had much worse presidents in recent years. I shan't name any examples, because I don't want to be accused of political bias. The majority of my blog's readers are from America, and I don't want to alienate them, or even 50% of them. Think of your own examples. At least Kevin James has the dignity and posture of a President.

A few words to explain my current situation. As my regular readers must know by now, I live in the same house as two of my grandchildren. I live in an apartment on the third floor, and my daughter lives with her two children on the second floor. Now that I've retired I have a job as an unpaid babysitter. I'm not complaining. I love my grandchildren. Every day I bring my granddaughter Evelyn (21 months old) to kindergarten at 8 am and bring her home at 2:30 pm. With my grandson Oliver (seven years old) there's no fixed schedule. I see him every day, but the times vary.

At the moment Oliver is on holiday for two weeks, so I'm seeing him more than usual. He's at home alone while his mother is at work, so when he wakes up he comes upstairs to see me. He also goes to bed later than usual, since there's no school in the morning. He's made the request to have a film evening every day. Wow! That's a request that I'm glad to fulfil. I want his love for films to develop in young years. Yesterday his two weeks of films began with "Night at the Museum 3". He'd already watched the first two films with me five weeks ago.

Oliver told me he wanted to watch the fourth film, "Kahmunrah Rises Again". I tried to talk him out of it, but he was determined to see it. He's the boss. This evening I turned on Disney Plus and started the film. After less than two minutes he asked, "Why do the people look like that?" What he meant was, why is it an animated film? It's not that he doesn't like animated films. He watches a lot of animated films in the cinema. What bothered him was that he didn't want to see an animated version of "Night at the Museum" after the first three were live action films. It was a let down for him. I breathed a sigh of relief, and grabbed my "Pixels" Blu-ray.

A year ago he wouldn't have been able to watch "Pixels". He was too impatient when there were talking parts. He wanted action all the way through. Now he has the patience and the intelligence to appreciate characters talking to one another before the big fight scenes start.

Oliver loved it. He laughed out loud at the scenes with Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. They're two games that he'd already discovered while clicking around on his mobile phone. He didn't know Galaga or Centipede.

I loved playing Pac-Man when I was younger, but I gave it up because I wasn't very good at it. I was wasting too much money. Later in the 1980's I discovered Q-Bert, which I liked even more, and I was a good player. In retrospect I'd call myself a champion player. Nobody else was as good as me, and I filled all the slots in the top scores.

Dojo Quest is a fictional game that's shown in the film.

This is what Dojo Quest's hero, Lady Lisa, looks like with less pixels. Games never looked this good in the eighties.

It's well known that gaming nerds fall in love with game characters rather than real women. Ludlow is no exception. He lives in his grandmother's cellar playing games, following conspiracy theories and watching porn. That's a sad life. But miracles can happen. Lady Lisa falls in love with Ludlow.

They get married – see the photo on the wall – and have baby Q-Berts.

This is a hilarious film, suitable for adults and children alike. Oliver was disappointed when I told him there isn't a sequel. Personally, I'm glad. Sequels shouldn't be made for the sake of it, only if it makes sense. So I'll have to pick another film for him tomorrow. I already have some ideas.

Success Rate:  + 0.8

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Avengers: Infinity War (5 Stars)

"The hardest choices require the strongest wills".

Success Rate:  + 4.5

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Avengers: Infinity War (5 Stars)

Despite my love for this film, I have to point out – yet again! – that it's not the same Thanos that we know in the comics.

In the comics written by Jim Starlin, Thanos' motivation for killing half of the universe isn't to achieve a cosmic balance or to solve the problems of overpopulation. It's a sacrifice for the woman he loves, Death. He thinks it's something that will please her and make her love him. I don't know whether I'll get as far as the Infinity Gauntlet comics in my Marvel Years posts. That's in 1991, and I'll probably stop when I get to 1984. I'm not sure yet.

Thanos would never retire and become a hermit or a farmer. If he destroyed half of the universe he would want to rule over the other half.

So much to his motivation. As for the Snap, it wasn't a magical act powered by the gloves. He could have killed half of the universe merely by thinking about it. The finger snapping is just a gesture to show that killing trillions of people is as easy as snapping his fingers.

What I likie about this film is its epic quality. There are battles taking place at the same time all over the world, and all over the universe. Some of the battles are very close, and we expect the good guys to win. In other battles it's obvious that they're too weak, but all the battles are enjoyable.

We can almost like Thanos. He's an environmentalist who is carrying out a plan to save the universe. In the film at least. Maybe he's not Thanos as we see him in the comics, but his benevolent nature is suitable for the film. Films profit from having villains that we can sympathise with. That's not so necessary in comics. It's just an added plus.

"You can't be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man if there's no neighbourhood".

Don't worry, Peter Parker, there will still be a neighbourhood after Thanos snaps his fingers; there will just be less children playing in the street.

Is there anyone else who disagrees with the German translation of "Wakanda Forever"?

This character isn't named in the film, but in the credits she's listed as Proxima Midnight, a post-canon servant of Thanos. She was played by two actresses: Carrie Coon in facial close-ups, and Monique Ganderton when her full body was shown. She returns in "Avengers Endgame", but in that film she's only played by Monique Ganderton. I think that she has a fascinating face. Fascinatingly evil.

I intend to rewatch "Avengers Endgame" tomorrow. I can judge the films better if I watch them back to back.

Success Rate:  + 4.5

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Avengers: Infinity War (5 Stars)

This is the 19th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in April 2018. It's the big film that Marvel has been working up to, ever since "Iron Man" in May 2008. The ten years of planning have  paid off. Despite the big differences from the comics it's an exciting film with the atmosphere of a mega-crossover-event.

I'll only talk about one difference between Thanos in the comics and Thanos in the films. It's a matter of his motivation. In the comics Thanos was in love with Mistress Death, the personification of Death, and he was prepared to do anything to win her love. This led to him killing half of the sentient beings in the universe. In the film Thanos has noble motives. He wants to solve the problem of overpopulation and the resulting poverty by removing half of the universe's population. It might sound twisted, but it's logical. If there isn't enough food to go round the problem can be solved immediately by killing half of the people.

In the comics it's Thanos' love for death that causes him to fail in his ambitions. This makes him a tragic character. In contrast, Thanos in the films is an eco-warrior.

Captain America returns with a beard. It doesn't suit him. He's a traditional old-fashioned sort of guy. The beard makes him look sort of cool. He's not cool.

Black Widow has changed her hair colour. Does this have any significance?

Iron Man looks the same as he always does.

Bruce Banner is unable to turn into the Hulk. That's possibly a mental block, because he was traumatised by spending two years as the Hulk in "Thor: Ragnarok". I would have liked to see the Hulk. If anything, Bruce Banner's futile attempts to become the Hulk are annoying.

Part of the battle is fought in Wakanda, so we see the Black Panther again.

We also see Okoye. Did I ever mention that I find her sexy?

But the film is all about Thanos. By the end of the film we're almost sympathising with him. He gives up the person he loves the most in order to save the universe. He's not quite the same Thanos that we know from the comics, but he's still a fascinating character.

I'll say something about Stan Lee's appearance before you think I've forgotten him. He's the driver of a New York school bus. The children start to panic when they see one of Thanos' space ships hovering over the city. Stan takes it in his stride, saying "Have you never seen a space ship before?"

Success Rate:  + 4.5

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Rememory (4 Stars)

This is a fascinating film with a concept that overlaps "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Very few people were in the cinema today, even though the film will only be shown for one week. Maybe they don't like Peter Dinklage as an actor? Whatever the reason, they were wrong to stay away. It's a film to watch and talk about afterwards.

The inventor Gordon Dunn has created a device that reads a person's memories and stores them in digital form to be viewed by others or the person himself. As he explains, the human brain remembers everything that is ever seen and heard. When we say we have forgotten something it just means that we can no longer access it. Everything is stored. The machine can be used therapeutically or for entertainment purposes.

Shortly before the machine is due to go into mass production Gordon is found dead in his office. The prototype of his machine is missing, and it's impossible to rebuild copies of the machine without the prototype. A man called Sam Bloom (played by Peter Dinklage) breaks into Gordon's home after his death and finds the machine in the cellar, together with memory cards containing memories from the primary test subjects. He steals the machine and uses the stored memories to solve the mystery of who killed Gordon Dunn.

Sam and Gordon have a history together, which is explained in more detail as the film continues. They met in a hotel when Sam was thinking of ending his life, and the short time they spent together changed his mind. Now he feels that he owes everything to Gordon.

There's so much about this film that fascinates me. I couldn't stop thinking about it all the way home, asking myself repeated philosophical questions. I like the idea that my brain has recorded all my memories. Is that true? What I mean is, I consider that I have a good memory, probably better than most people's, but there are still things that I've forgotten. My early memories are patchy. I have a few sporadic memories from when I was three and four years old, but I can remember very little of what I experienced before I started school. I would give anything to be able to see my early years again, even the unpleasant things. I had a serious accident when I was 18 months old, something my parents told me about, but I have no memories of it happening. My earliest memory of my sister Shirley is her first day at school. I wish I could remember things I experienced with her before then.

Even more recently there are gaps of a trivial nature. What did I eat for breakfast on this day last year? What was my birthday present on my 16th birthday? Just because they're things not worth remembering, supposedly, it doesn't mean that I wouldn't be curious to see these days again.

Some people have bigger memory losses. One of my friends in the Stuttgart Film Group told me that he has no memories at all of the time before he was 10. That's a shame. I have some very vivid memories of that period in my life, and I'd be missing something if I no longer had them. Another example is Phil Daniels, who played the lead role in "Quadrophenia" in 1979. In an interview he gave in 2005 he said that he couldn't remember making the film. When he watches the film he can see that it's him as a young man, but he can't remember it happening. That's something I can't understand. I would have thought that a film record would have reminded him and made it all impossible to forget. Apart from that, how could he forget his passionate kisses with Leslie Ash in the alleyway?

Some memories might be lost accidentally, while others are deliberately suppressed because of trauma. There's the case of my ex-wife Brigitte. When I returned to her after 19 years apart I wanted to talk to her about my reasons for leaving her. I couldn't. She's forgotten everything that happened. I hoped for some sort of apology about the way she treated me, but she can't apologise for things that she can't remember saying and doing. I left her because of the terrible way she was treating me, but she denies she ever did anything wrong. I don't think she's lying. She honestly doesn't remember anything. This is her mind playing tricks on her. She's so obsessed with the idea that she was wrongly deserted by her husband that she can't remember what led up to it. Maybe she got so used to complaining about me month after month after I left that she reached the point that her excuses replaced her memories and became her new truth.

Some people might want to forget what they've done. I've done things in my life that I regret. The worst thing I ever did was to hit Karl, a nurse who was looking after me in hospital in 2000. Yes, I was ill at the time, but that's no excuse. It's something I wish I could forget, but it's imprinted on my brain. In a way, it's like a foreign memory stuck in my brain. People who know me know that I'm a gentle person who never loses his temper. I never attack anyone, and even in cases of self-defence my punch is just a small tap to keep the person away. Karl, poor Karl, his face will haunt me as long as I live. I wrote him a letter apologising, but he never replied. Ignoring my apology hurt me even more. Nevertheless, it's good that I remember this incident, to remind myself of how low I can fall when I don't keep control.

This is an important theme in the film "Lost Highway". When the police detective asks Fred Madison if he has a video camera, he replies, "No, I hate them. I like to remember things my own way, not necessarily the way they happened". Later in the film the mystery man points a camera at him, filming everything he does. It's wrong to have incorrect memories of things that didn't happen. In its worst form, that's a psychosis. On the other hand, it's acceptable to interpret your memories. When you look back on something you've done you can explain your actions in retrospect. You can also try to explain what others did.

Though "Rememory" is primarily about recording memories, it also deals with the possibility of deleting memories or creating new memories. If that's therapy, I don't want it. I want to keep my memories, exactly the way they happened. If my memories were stored on hundreds of discs, I could decide which to show other people and which to keep for myself. It's not about deception. If I'm editing my life for public consumption I should decide what's relevant in order for others to understand me. Even if I could remember what I was given on my 16th birthday it's not necessary to tell everyone.

I've written a lot, I know, and I could write even more. This is a subject that interests me. I'd like to discuss it with any of my readers who have thoughts about it. Leave your comments in the box below.

Avengers: Infinity War (5 Stars)

When I told a friend of mine that I was going to see "Infinity War" today he asked me not to write a review because he hasn't seen it yet. I understand what he means. He's afraid that I'll give away spoilers. I can't agree to my friend's request, because I've written about every single film I've watched for the last eight years and don't intend to stop now. However, as a regular reader of my blog he ought to know by now that I avoid spoilers when I'm writing about a new film. In fact, I can write a lengthy post without saying anything at all about a film.

I've heard it said that this film is based on the "Infinity Gauntlet" mini-series that was published from July to December 1991. That's not correct. These comics dealt with the battle against Thanos after he had collected the six Infinity Stones, also called Infinity Gems. The story of how Thanos acquired the gems was shown in the "Thanos Quest" mini-series, which was published from September to October 1990. The individual Infinity Gems were featured frequently in the first 50 issues of "Silver Surfer", from July 1987 to June 1991, written by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. (These are some of the best comics ever written). The gems changed hands several times, and at the end of these comics one gem was held by the In-Betweener and the other five by the Elders of the Universe. Thanos, who was dead at this time, was allowed to re-enter the world of the living to collect the gems.

The In-Betweener is a cosmic being who represents everything that has to be balanced, such as good and evil, reason and emotion, truth and illusion, life and death. The Elders of the Universe are the survivors of the oldest planets in the universe, who have come to represent concepts.

Thanos took the Soul Gem from the In-Betweener by force.

Thanos took the Power Gem from the Champion by trickery.

Thanos took the Time Gem from the Gardener by force.

Thanos took the Space Gem from the Runner by trickery.

Thanos took the Reality Gem from the Collector by bartering. (We see the Collector in "Guardians of the Galaxy").

Thanos took the Mind Gem from the Grandmaster by playing a game. (We see the Grandmaster in "Thor: Ragnarok").

The nature of the Infinity Gems isn't clearly explained in the films, but in the comics we read about them in detail. Before the universe was created there existed a single all-powerful being. Thanos called this being God. This being could not bear to live alone in absolute nothingness, so he killed himself. This shattered him into six parts, the six Infinity Gems. The power of his self-destruction caused the "Big Bang" and the creation of the universe. The six gems were scattered throughout the universe. Anyone who combines the six gems and becomes one with them becomes God and can do anything.

You can see from my brief description that the films bear little resemblance to the comics they are based on. That's regrettable but understandable. The so-called Marvel Universe slowly developed from November 1961 to September 1990, a month at a time. Characters were gradually introduced, one at a time. 18 films would not be enough to tell the tale of these 29 years of comics. Short-cuts had to be made to prepare for "Infinity War", the 19th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Judging "Infinity War" within the parameters of what was possible, it's an excellent film. That's all I'll say about it for now. I hope my friend will be happy.

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (4½ Stars)

This film has been nominated for seven Oscars at the 2017 Academy Awards, including Best Film. Does it have a chance of winning? The odds are stacked against it. It's a black comedy, and the last time a comedy won the Best Film award was 40 years ago. It also faces stiff opposition from "The Shape of Water".

The film takes place in a fictional small town in Missouri. It's seven months since Mildred Hayes' daughter Angela was found dead after being raped just outside of town. After all this time there are no leads. Mildred blames the police, so she rents three billboards to post a message of protest:

1 - RAPED WHILE DYING

2 - AND STILL NO ARRESTS?

3 - HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?

A subject like this might not seem like a suitable topic for a comedy, but if you know the previous films by the director Martin McDonagh, "In Bruges" and "Seven Psychopaths", you already know that he has a twisted sense of humour.

I'm surprised that the film is so popular in America, because it's obvious that McDonagh is making fun of American society. He's a British director, and normally Americans only allow their own countrymen to criticise them. Subjects such as racism and police brutality are presented as something hilarious. The cinema audience couldn't stop laughing.

Nobody in the film can be considered a good person, not even Mildred. Everyone has faults, some more than others. If Ebbing is a microcosm of American society it's a rotten apple full of worms. I don't say that to criticise the film. That's what gives it its appeal.

It's a very good film that I'll definitely buy when it's released on Blu-ray. It's worth watching more than once. I overheard someone in the row behind me saying it was the fourth time he'd seen it in the cinema. It's a film that can fascinate people, and I suspect that it will fascinate me even more after I see it again.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (5 Stars)

This is the fourth time I've watched this film, and my rating has been bobbing up and down like a yo-yo. Evidently I don't know what to make of it. Who knows what I'll rate it next time! Today the story gripped me like it hasn't in the past. Maybe I was just in the right mood for the film. That's why I could never be a professional film critic. I'm much too erratic.

Hank McCoy is apparently a Star Trek fan. He has one eye on Bolivar Trask, the other on Star Trek reruns. By a strange coincidence the episode being shown is "City on the Edge of Forever", in which the Enterprise and its crew has to travel into the past to change the present.

Jennifer Lawrence appears as Mystique and shows that blue is beautiful.

Or do you prefer her with a normal pink skin? It's hard to choose.

There's a newspaper shown in the film. Wolverine is checking it out, holding it in place with his unenhanced bone claws. But take a closer look at it. The first two columns are about the peace treaty between America and Vietnam, but in the third column everything breaks down. The text is about the murder of Isidore Fink, the owner of a small laundry at 4 East 132nd Street. It's strange that this report is in a 1973 newspaper, because the murder took place on 9th March 1929. As if this weren't bad enough, the same text is repeated in the fourth column. That's all very sloppy.

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Pixels (5 Stars)

I love this film. I've increased the rating to a full five stars, after only giving it four and a half in my last review. It's a film I can watch over and over again.

I'm starting to get really annoyed at not having a Blu-ray drive in my computer. It means I have to rely on images that I find on the Internet, rather than inserting my own appropriate screenshots.This will have to be put right. Soon!

Since I can't use my own screenshots, I'll restrict myself to showing the scene in which Peter Dinklage tries to chat up Serena Williams. Shouldn't he pick on someone his own size? She'll kill him!

Peter seems to be boasting about his hidden qualities. Serena isn't impressed.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (4½ Stars)

Empire Magazine is well known for publishing its monthly magazines with alternative covers to tempt collectors to buy multiple copies. In January 2014 they outdid themselves. 25 different covers were printed to advertise "X-Men: Days of Future Past". Moreover, the covers could be arranged side by side to make one large picture. I doubt many people have invested in all 25 copies, so here are the 25 covers. You can click on any image to reveal its context between the two images left and right.

1. Sentinel - Moderately powerful mutant-hunting robot.

2. Havok - Absorbs cosmic energy and releases it in plasma blasts.

3. Toad - Super-strong legs, prehensile tongue, gross paralysing mucus.

4. William Stryker - Mutant-hater, military man, nutjob.

5. Bolivar Trask - Robotics genius, mutant-hater, smooth political operator.

6. Mystique - Shapeshifter.

7. Beast - Superhuman strength, agility, speed and furriness.

8. Quicksilver - Runs at supersonic speeds.

9. Magneto - The master of magnetism.

10. Professor X - The world’s most powerful telepath.

11. Wolverine - Accelerated healing, enhanced senses, retractable bone claws.

12. Bryan Singer - Puppet master, franchise creator, director.

13. Wolverine - Accelerated healing, enhanced senses, adamantium-laced skeleton, retractable adamantium claws.

14. Professor X - The world’s most powerful telepath.

15. Magneto - The master of magnetism.

16. Storm - Mastery over the elements.

17. Rogue - Absorbs the mutant abilities of anyone she touches.

18. Warpath - Super-strong, near-invulnerable, and he can fly.

19. Kitty Pryde - Phases through solid objects.

20. Sunspot - Solar-powered super-strength and near invulnerability.

21. Blink - Teleporter.

22. Iceman - Creates and manipulates ice.

23. Bishop - Absorbs energy to redirect it in kinetic blasts.

24. Colossus - Transforms his skin into organic steel.

25. Future Sentinel - Super-powerful mutant-hunting robot.

Click here to see the covers combined as a complete picture. Most web browsers will allow you to scroll left and right. Unfortunately the image has been compressed to 60% of its original size due to limitations of Google's blogger software.