Mulholland Drive (5 Stars)

To remember David Lynch after his recent death, I've decided to watch his last three films. I might even rewatch "Twin Peaks", but it won't be now. Maybe later this year.

Today was the first time that I watched the bonus features on the Blu-ray. There's an interview with Richard Kelly, the director of "Donnie Darko". He said that he first saw the film in the cinema with Jake Gyllenhaal. Two films were being shown that evening. On one screen it was "Donnie Darko", probably the reason they were at the cinema, and on the other screen it was "Mulholland Drive". Richard felt honoured to see the name of his film written next to a film by David Lynch, and they decided to watch "Mulholland Drive". He says that he and Jake were blown away. Understandable. After this they went to visit Jake's parents, who lived on Mulholland Drive. It was a surreal experience.

Richard Kelly also said that he immediately understood the film. He must be smarter than me. I understand the film's main outline, but I still don't understand all the details. For me it's a more complex film than "Lost Highway". But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it.

As I've said in an earlier post, the BBC has voted "Mulholland Drive" the best film of the 21st Century so far (2000-2016). I can't disagree with that, although I find some of the other inclusions on the BBC's top 100 list remarkable.

Success Rate:  - 0.7

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

After watching an underwhelming film in the cinema this afternoon, I thought it was a good idea to pick another film from my top 100 film list. What better choice than "Jackie Brown", currently in 34th place? It's an homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970's, but let's be honest: were any of the blaxploitation films half as good as "Jackie Brown"? It's a classic, considered by many to be Quentin Tarantino's best film.

One small criticism I have is that the film needs to be remastered. Many of the scenes are slightly blurred. A film like this deserves to be presented in the best possible quality.

I like pictures of a beautiful woman when the camera is pointing up at her. It makes the woman look like a Goddess. And that's what Pam Grier is. She's a Goddess. She's a giant among women, beautiful and powerful.

Success Rate:  + 4.2

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Survivor (4 Stars)

Three films in one day? I think I still have momentum after the film festival.

"Survivor" is another film that I discovered on the ZDF Mediathek today, so I watched it dubbed into German. I knew nothing about it in advance. I was attracted by the actors Pierce Brosnan and Robert Forster. It's an American film that feeds on the 9/11 paranoia. Kate Abbott (Milla Jovovich) is a diplomat at the American Embassy in London who examines visa applications to spot potential terrorists. She blocks the visa of Emil Balan, a Romanian scientist, because she finds it suspicious that he's visiting a medical congress. He protests, and her decision is overruled. But we see that he's involved in a plot to detonate a bomb at the New Year's celebrations in Times Square.

An assassin known only as the Watchmaker (Pierce Brosnan) is hired to kill her. By luck, she leaves the restaurant where a bomb has been planted, but several of her embassy colleagues are killed. Kate is blamed for the bomb. There's an exciting chase through London, fleeing from the police while the Watchmaker is still trying to catch her.

"Survivor" is a film with blockbuster potential, but somehow it didn't attract enough viewers to make it a success. I enjoyed the film, but I don't think I'll watch it again.

Success Rate:  - 5.1

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

Quentin Tarantino has said that he'll only make ten films. So far he's made nine films, which means his next film will be his last. He claims that most directors end their career with poor films, and these are the films they'll always be remembered for. He wants to stop while he's at his peak. I think he has too little faith in himself. I could name many directors who have remained good after making many films, starting with Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.

On the other hand, I think Quentin has already passed his peak. If you look at my top 100 films list, you'll see that it contains seven of his nine films. The two films missing from the list are his last two films, "Hateful Eight" and "Once upon a time in Hollywood". I'm not saying that they're bad films, but they're not up to the quality of his earlier films. "The Hateful Eight" lacks the detailed character development of films like "Jackie Brown", while "Once upon a time in Hollywood" seems to lack direction. Quentin himself says that "Death Proof" is his weakest film, but I strongly disagree. It could have been slightly improved by making the car chase longer, but I can't say anything else against it.

Today I watched "Jackie Brown" using the enhanced trivia track, a text commentary while the film is running. I don't want to write anything more about the film after reviewing it five times already, so I'll just talk about one thing in the text commentary:

"As Jackie is walking towards Max Cherry, the song playing is Natural High, performed by Bloodstone. Quentin Tarantino says this is one of the greatest soul ballads of the 1970's. According to Quentin, when white audiences hear this song, they think Max is falling in love with Jackie, but when black audiences hear this song, the audience is falling in love with Jackie".

I don't understand why Quentin thinks white and black audiences react differently when hearing the song. It doesn't make sense. It's obvious to me that the song is played to show Max is falling in love with Jackie at first sight. That isn't just because I'm white. And why does Quentin think only black audiences would fall in love with Jackie? I had a crush on her for years.

Success Rate:  + 4.2

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Mulholland Drive (5 Stars)

When I watched the 20th anniversary 4K restoration in the cinema earlier this month, I said that I expected a new version on disc soon. I was right. The new version of "Mulholland Drive" had already been released on 31st January, so I ordered it straight away, and it arrived in the post this morning.

The picture quality is excellent. I don't have a top quality sound system, so I can't judge the fine details of the newly mixed sound, but I can recognise some big changes. The dialogue stands out better from the background music, especially in the Club Silencio.

Normally I complain about the film critics who've lost touch with cinema audiences, but today I'll praise them. In 2016 the BBC wrote to the world's top 177 film critics and asked them to name their ten top films since 2000. I don't know what criteria the BBC used to pick the critics. I just know they didn't pick me, but they didn't pick Mark Kermode either. Or maybe he didn't want to participate. The BBC says that they invited many others who didn't want to send a list.

"The critics who participated hail from 36 countries: 81 from the US, 19 from the UK, five each from Canada, Cuba, France, and Germany, and four each from Australia, Colombia, India, Israel and Italy. Lebanon, the UAE, China, Bangladesh, Chile, Namibia, Kazakhstan and many others are represented too. Of the 177 critics, 55 are women and 122 are men".

Here's the list that was created from the replies received:

1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)

2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)

6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)

9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)

10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)

11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)

12. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)

13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)

14. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)

15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)

16. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)

17. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)

18. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)

19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)

20. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)

21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

22. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)

23. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)

24. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)

25. ​Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)

26. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)

27. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)

28. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002)

29. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)

30. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)

31. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)

32. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)

33. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)

34. Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015)

35. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)

36. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)

37. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)

38. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)

39. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)

40. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)

41. Inside Out (Pete Docter, 2015)

42. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)

43. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)

44. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)

45. Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)

46. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)

47. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014)

48. Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015)

49. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, 2014)

50. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)

51. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

52. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)

53. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)

54. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)

55. Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013)

56. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, director; Ágnes Hranitzky, co-director, 2000)

57. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012)

58. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembène, 2004)

59. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)

60. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)

61. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)

62. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

63. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, 2011)

64. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013)

65. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)

66. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)

67. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)

68. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)

69. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)

70. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)

71. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)

72. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)

73. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)

74. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)

75. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)

76. Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)

77. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007)

78. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)

79. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)

80. The Return (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003)

81. Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)

82. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)

83. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)

84. Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)

85. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)

86. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)

87. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

88. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015)

89. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)

90. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)

91. The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009)

92. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)

93. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007)

94. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)

95. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)

96. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003)

97. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009)

98. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)

99. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)

100. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)

This is probably the most representative best film list ever published. I confess that I've only seen 39 of the films in the list. For comparison, here are my top 50 films since 2000, simply put together by deleting all the older films from my all time top 100 list.

1. Donnie Darko (2001)

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

3. Tag (2015)

4. Spider-Man (2002)

5. The Wall (2012)

6. Kill Bill (2003-2004)

7. The Last Circus (2010)

8. Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

9. The Life of Pi (2012)

10. The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

11. House of Flying Daggers (2004)

12. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

13. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

14. Downfall (2004)

15. Witching and Bitching (2013)

16. King Kong (2005)

17. Cold Fish (2010)

18. 800 Bullets (2002)

19. Django Unchained (2012)

20. Triangle (2009)

21. Deadpool 2 (2018)

22. Deadpool (2016)

23. The Door (2009)

24. Love Exposure (2008)

25. Phone Booth (2003)

26. Legend of the Fist (2010)

27. Night Train (2009)

28. Death Proof (2007)

29. Adaptation (2002)

30. The Raid 2 (2014)

31. Summer in Orange (2011)

32. Flowers of War (2011)

33. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

34. The Gift (2000)

35. Ip Man (2008)

36. Ip Man 2 (2010)

37. Snatch (2000)

38. Tragedy Girls (2017)

39. Gladiator (2000)

40. The Virgin Psychics (2015)

41. John Rabe (2009)

42. The Walk (2015)

43. Perfume (2006)

44. Little Nicky (2000)

45. Monster (2003)

46. We are the night (2010)

47. Dark Water (2002)

48. What to do in case of fire (2001)

49. Azumi (2003-2005)

50. Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001)

There are big differences between the two lists, but I have great respect for the BBC's list. It's my intention to watch all of the films in the BBC's top 20. There are 10 films in the top 20 that I've never seen, and I'll also re-watch the other films if I haven't watched them for a long time. I shan't watch them in order. I'll just slip them in with my regular viewing.

I just have a few thoughts about the BBC list for now.

I'm pleasantly surprised that "Mulholland Drive" is in first place. I already regret not including it in my own top 100 list.

It's been a long time since I watched "In the mood for love". I'll make sure that I watch it again soon.

"Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" is the highest placed film (6th place) that was also high in my list (second place).

There are three Christopher Nolan films in the BBC list, of which "Memento" is the highest. It's already on my list of films to re-watch.

I'm surprised that "Spring Breakers" made it into the list. I'll have to give it another chance.

After watching "Mulholland Drive" in the cinema this month I read film reviews by several critics, including Roger Ebert. I initially intended to quote and comment on what he wrote, but I've already written a long post today, so I'll save my thoughts till next time. If I don't forget.

Success Rate:  - 0.7

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Mulholland Drive (5 Stars)

I run a meetup group in Stuttgart called the Stuttgart Cinema Club. As of today, it has 2384 members. That might sound like a lot, but look what happened today. "Mulholland Drive" was shown in the cinema today, one day only, to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Apart from simply posting the film for a meetup and relying on the automated messages, I wrote to all the members telling them that this is a special event and it'll be years before they can see "Mulholland Drive" in the cinema again. So how many people came? Three! Only three people for a masterpiece of cinema like "Mulholland Drive"? I have to ask why they're even members of the group. It's true, I don't expect everybody to come. Some people don't like David Lynch, some people might not have had time today. There are lots of reasonable excuses. But I expected a 1% turnout at the very least. 23 people wouldn't have been a good turnout, in my eyes, but I would have grudgingly accepted it. But three? Sometimes I despair!

"Mulholland Drive" is a film about Los Angeles, or to be precise, a film about Hollywood. Los Angeles is the City of Dreams for some and a City of Nightmares for others. "Mulholland Drive" shows the latter. When hundreds of people are competing for a few jobs in the film industry, you don't know who you can trust.

Most fans of David Lynch's films say that "Mulholland Drive" is his best film. I personally prefer "Lost Highway", which is my favourite film. Many critics call "Mulholland Drive" one of the best films ever made. When the BBC made a poll of 177 respected film critics in 2016, "Mulholland Drive" was voted the best film of the 21st Century. Click here to read the BBC's list.

I didn't include "Mulholland Drive" in my own top 100 film list. That was a mistake that I'll rectify when I (eventually) publish my revised top 100 list.

Today's film was described as being a new 4K transfer from the original negatives, supervised by David Lynch himself. That means a new 4K disc can be expected soon.

Success Rate:  - 0.7

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

London has Fallen (5 Stars)

Take a look at the film poster above. Can you see something wrong with it? It might not be obvious at first, so look for a while.

It's one of my pet hates with film posters. It's a mistake made so often that everyone has got used to it. Everyone except me. Most film posters put the faces of the film's biggest stars next to one another. That's good marketing. A lot of people go to see films based on the actors, not the director. They also print the names of the actors on the poster. And that's where the errors creep in. The names don't match the actors. Look at the poster again. Do you see what I mean? "It doesn't matter", you might say. "We know who they are anyway". If it's that trivial, think how easy it would be to put it right. The faces could be rearranged, or the text could be rearranged.

This is a sequel to "Olympus has fallen", which I watched yesterday. It's unclear how much time has passed between the films. The sequel was released three years later, but evidently more time has passed in world. In the first film the president's son Connor was 10 years old. In this film we don't see him, but we're told that he's about to go on his first date. Maybe, just maybe, he's a young starter and is going on a date at 13, but I doubt it.

The film starts with news reports of a major terrorist attack in the Philippines, with hundreds dead and wounded. The mastermind behind the attack is the Pakistani arms dealer Aamir Barkawi. America retaliates with a rocket attack on his private residence. His daughter is getting married, so there are many people present. Aamir survives, but his daughter is killed, as well as many of the guests. He swears revenge.

Seriously, what does Aamir expect? "He who lives by the sword will die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52). This very wise Bible verse is just a different way of describing the law of Karma, which is found in many religions. If Aamir kills innocent civilians, he shouldn't be surprised if the ones he loves also die as collateral damage.

Aamir's revenge is spectacular. Two years later the British prime minister dies. World leaders gather in London for his funeral. Aamir's son leads a paramilitary force that attacks the politicians, killing many of them. However, his main target is the American president. He wants to capture him alive, so that he can execute him in a live broadcast.

Many innocent people are killed in the attack on London, but this film is less explicit than "Olympus has fallen". In the first film we see civilians being gunned down in the street, but in this film we just see the police and the terrorists shooting one another.

Once more, the president's personal bodyguard, Mike Banning, saves him. This time it's slightly more realistic. Instead of acting alone, he's backed up by an SAS squadron, in the last half hour at least.

"London has fallen" is another excellent film. It has the feeling of a disaster film, even though the destruction is man made. We never get to know the bad guys. We don't need to. They're like a force of nature. We're not intended to sympathise with them, we're intended to hate them and cheer when they get killed.

Success Rate:  + 1.4

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Olympus has Fallen (5 Stars)

The word Olympus in the film's title refers to the White House. Supposedly it's the American secret service's codename for the White House. I wasn't aware of it before seeing this film.

The film is shockingly realistic in the way it shows how terrorists storm the White House and capture the president. The attack is expertly planned by a paramilitary force. They begin by attacking random civilians as a distraction. That's the way terrorists work. Innocent people are killed. Then the White House itself is attacked.

What's less realistic is that one man, the secret service agent Mike Banning, is able to single-handedly overpower the terrorist group. That's the main criticism of the film by the serious film critics. It's not a problem for me. Every film needs a hero. We cheer for the underdog.

Could something like this really happen? It's possible. The 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center proved that America is vulnerable. It was the element of surprise. A future attack that involves crashing passenger aircraft wouldn't work again. There are now procedures in place to stop it happening. But attacks of a different type are still possible.

America is a controversial country. Some people think of it as the land of liberty, others think of it as an evil country. It depends where you're coming from. Most people are biased in their judgement of America, one way or the other. People who are opposed to democracy hate America. I should say, people whose leaders are opposed to democracy hate America. I've discovered that friends of mine from Middle Eastern countries have twisted views of America, because they believe what their leaders tell them. Today everyone has access to the Internet, so they should be able to tell right from wrong, but the standard line is that the western media outlets publish fake news; i.e. "Our news is correct, everything from the West is false". Let's not be too harsh on them for being so easily brainwashed. If I lived in a country like that, would I think any differently? Probably not.

As for the people who live in America, their patriotism blinds them to the faults of their country. I'm generalising, of course, but generalisations are generally true, which is why they're called generalisations. There's nothing wrong with being patriotic. Everyone can love his country. It's one of the most natural things in the world. I love England. I say England deliberately, because I consider myself English first and British second. However, I wouldn't say that England is better than every other country. I've lived abroad for so many years that I can appreciate the advantages of other countries. Germany definitely has a better political system than Britain. (Britain has a united government, so it wouldn't be correct to say England in this case). Germany has better health care than Britain overall, although Britain has better dental care. And Germany has better wine.

When I lived in America I worked for a German company, Siemens. Only about 200 of the 600 employees were American citizens; the rest were Germans and French. I was the only Englishman. I noticed something about my American colleagues. When the Americans sat together they moaned about their president. (It was Bill Clinton at the time). But as soon as the foreigners joined in the conversation they went on the defensive. They said that foreigners have no right to criticise the American president. They're wrong. A foreigner in America is more capable of seeing things neutrally.

Nevertheless, I try to avoid discussing politics with Americans. Sometimes I'm drawn into it, but I try not to go too far. Recently I met an American in Stuttgart, a member of my film group. He started a discussion about politics, and I let him know that I disagreed. That was a mistake. He wouldn't drop the subject, and he kept going on about it, making everyone around us feel uncomfortable. Next time I'll bite my tongue.

There's one thing I love about America. It's the country where my favourite films are made. In my list of my top 100 films, 58 of them are American. That's something which will always make America special in my heart.

Success Rate:  + 0.4

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #41

This is an amazing film. I've written about it a few times, usually concentrating on Pam Grier. Today I'll do something different. In an early scene Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) is showing his partner Louis Gara (Robert De Niro) a film featuring the guns he sells. This film, called "Chicks who love guns", is included in full in the Blu-ray's special features. Here's a small gallery of the girls in the film with their weapons of choice.

---

Hi, I'm Sidney. I'm a personal trainer and Miss Orange County finalist, and this is my Tec-9. The popular Tec-9 is designed after the Russian KG-99 submachine gun. It boasts 32 rounds of 9 mm firepower and can spit bullets at a rate of 700 rounds per minute. Made in America, the Tec-9 is most often used by police SWAT teams and military personnel. Because it's both compact and lightweight, the Tec-9 acquires its target with ease, making this little brute the perfect choice for home defence. I love my Tec-9.

---

Hi, I'm Cindy. I'm a student and a part-time actress, and I'd like to show you my Steyr AUG. AUG stands for Army Universal Gun. A primary design emphasis behind this weapon was for use from vehicles. Talk about versatile, it goes from a 223 to a 9 mm carbine with no tools. The Steyr AUG is a snap to use.

---

I'm Gloria. I'm a full time model and actress. You might remember me from "Girls just wanna have guns". This is the famous AK-47. With over 50 million manufactured in ten countries, the AK-47 is the most popular assault rifle in the world. This is the Chinese model. You can tell by the extra rivets running through the metal struts. Nothing gets between me and my AK.

---

Hi, I'm Brittany. I'm part-time actress, dancer and model. This is the Italian Beretta model 12S. It shoots 500 rounds of full metal jacket 9 mm Luger at 1270 feet per second. At 10 pounds it's really heavy for such a small gun, but the weight and balance really reduce muzzle rise during firing. I've never held anything that felt so strong and confident.

---

Hi there, I'm Tammy Jo. I'm an exotic dancer and a calendar girl for a national chain of tyre wholesalers. This is the Mossberg 500, a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. It's made in America, just like me. It holds five shells in the magazine, one in the pipe and can fire a round as fast as I pump the slide. It's got an 18 inch standard chunk barrel and weighs in about six and a half pounds dry. The Mossberg comes in handy when you don't have much time to aim and you've got plenty of close range stopping power. You'll love the thrill of having this much raw power in your hands.

---

As in Quentin Tarantino's last two films, there's a scene where people look into a car trunk. There's a similar scene in "Death Proof".

Success Rate:  + 4.2

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

El Camino (4 Stars)

As my regular readers know, I'm an Englishman who lives in Germany. When I watch American films in Netflix I watch them with the original English dialogue. That's the only way I can fully enjoy them. Today was a rare exception that I watched a film in German, because I was watching with a friend who hardly speaks any English. I wanted to watch the film in English with German subtitles, he wanted to watch the film dubbed into German, so we made a compromise: we watched the film dubbed into German with German subtitles as well. That's something strange that I've never done before. However, I'm glad that I did this, because I noticed something: the spoken dialogue in the German dubbing isn't the same as the written dialogue in the subtitles. The meaning is effectively the same, but there are subtle differences in style throughout the film. I'll quote the first three lines of dialogue in the film as examples.

English: Now he's not going to be happy.
Subtitle: Er wird nicht glücklich sein.
Dubbing: Es wird ihm ganz und gar nicht passen.

English: No, I suspect he won't.
Subtitle: Nein, ich vermute nicht.
Dubbing: Nein, ich schätze es wird es nicht.

English: Only you can decide what's best for you, Jesse.
Subtitle: Du entscheidest, was das beste für dich ist, Jesse.
Dubbing: Nur du kannst entscheiden, was am besten für dich ist, Jesse.

I can't say that one version is better than the other. As the film progresses, sometimes the subtitles are a more literal translation, sometimes the dubbing. In all cases, as far as I could tell, the alternative less literal translation always expressed the meaning of the original English language adequately. Obviously the dubbing and the subtitles were translated independently of one another, but I don't understand why. Isn't that a waste of money? Wouldn't it have been easier to transcribe the subtitles from the dubbed dialogue?

I think the film is good. It's difficult for me to say, because I was concentrating on the differences between the subtitles and the dubbing rather than trying to enjoy the film.

The film was given a limited cinema release, and is now only available on Netflix. The fact that it was released on Netflix only a few days after its cinema release is the reason for its low box office sales and the poor success ratio.

Success Rate:  - 150.0

Olympus Has Fallen (5 Stars)

Having more than 10,000 readers each month puts me under pressure. I feel I have to make an effort to write entertaining reviews to keep everyone happy. But today I refuse to be stressed. This isn't my job, it's my hobby. I'm not writing anything about "Olympus has fallen", except to say it's a great film. If that's not enough for you, go read one of my other reviews.

Success Rate:  + 0.4

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Jackie Brown (5 Stars)

Here is Pam Grier in the title role flipping through her LP collection before finally picking an album by the Delfonics. Music plays an important part in this film, just as it did in Quentin Tarantino's first film, "Reservoir Dogs".

We don't just hear the music playing in the background, the Delfonics are mentioned by name several times. The gun salesman Ordell Robbie expresses surprise when he finds out that the bail bondsman Max Cherry listens to the Delfonics. I'm not sure why. Does Ordell think Max is too old, too square or too white to like their music?

The scene of Jackie Brown in her apartment is the only chance we get to see Pam Grier's bare feet. I would have liked to take a closer look. To make up, the film offers several close ups of Bridget Fonda's feet.

Feet, alcohol, keys and jewellery. There must be a hidden message.

Let's take a closer look at the feet. Perfectly formed toes.

Almost all of Quentin Tarantino's films feature close ups of feet, but I believe this is the closest view we get. I'll point out the bare feet in my next reviews of his films. I posted a few screenshots in my review of "Death Proof", but I'll make an effort to show all the feet in my upcoming reviews.

Despite not seeing much of her feet, the film is an ode to Pam Grier's beauty. I used to have a crush on her when I was younger. Here are a few photos that will show you why.

She's stunning, isn't she?

It's difficult for me to say which one of Quentin Tarantino's films I like most. They're all so good. "Jackie Brown" is a contender for the top spot.

Success Rate:  + 4.2

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de