Koenig-2

There is no denying that this movie is quite bad in many respects. Some of the actors are not very good, the whole plot is laughable, the characters are predictable and naive, and the whole style is way too glittery and Italian for this to have any taste at all.

But strangely enough, this also works in its favour. The whole thing feels like a naive and glittery pulp cartoon from the 30ies, glamorous, adventurous, and often with little substance - and therefore quite fitting in its own way, regarding that Flash Gordon actually WAS all this.

Still, the whole movie would still not be half as entertaining without the wonderful Queen score. Flashy, shallow, naive, glamorous and hero-worshiping - I bet those guys enjoyed themselves immensely with this!

I did not expect overly much from this movie when I first heard about it, but Helge Schneider's voice acting and Walter Moers' unique way of storytelling convinced me to watch it. On the surface, it is simply an animated feature for kids, but much of the humour and the action is clearly aimed on an adult audience and will probably go right over kids heads. Nevertheless, the somewhat simplified setting with Käptn Blaubär, his three grandchildren and Hein Blöd, his first mate and only crew member on the one side and the both sinister and ridiculous insane scientist-artist-genius Professor Doctor Feinfinger with his countless evil super gadgets and monstrous allies is appealing and is similar to all too well known superhero and Bond settings. But Moers adds his own special twist and the whole affair is completely ridiculous and very funny. The voice acting of all the characters, especially all-round entertaining genius Helge Schneider who also contributed some of the music, is superb and makes the movie even more fun to watch. Some scenes are known to scare the wits out of small children, chiefly when the Sea Shadows attack Blaubärs elderly sailing ship.

Summary: suitable for kids and adults alike, but adults with a strong inner child will get the most out of it. 9/10.

Following the return to the Homeworld Hiigara, the Kushan have set up their dominion over the surrounding space sectors. Each major clan (kiith) provides ships for the defense fleet, while others seek their fortune among the stars in civilian ships. One of the smaller clans traditionally bent on mining, the Kiith Somtaw, has constructed two major mining ships that can set up interstellar mining operations on their own and can construct service and escort vessels themselves. One of these mining ships, the KUUN LAN, is drawn into a developing war against a nameless evil that falls on the galaxy: the BEAST, a bio-mechanical virus able to take over and control any being or technology it encounters, spreads like wildfire throughout the sector. As the KUUN LAN has first discovered it and accidentally activated it, the Somtaw take on the challenge of wiping it out - the mining ship is converted into a military carrier vessel, and the Kiith constructs its own improvised battle fleet. Can they stop the Beast before it spreads too far? Based on the 1999 Strategy Game of the Year, "Homeworld", Homeworld Cataclysm is a convincing sequel with an all-new fleet and strategy. The Somtaw ships are very interesting in their combinations, but somehow lack in streamline, as to be expected in an improvised fleet. The missions are challenging, the story is interesting, the enemy is EVIL.

Rating: 9/10. Not quite as smashing as the original, but still very good.

This was "Game of the Year" in 1999, and rightfully so. Apart from being a damn good real time strategy game, the single player mode also managed to tell an epic story that I have found to be superior to almost every game I have ever played and also most movies I have ever seen... by rights this should be made a movie as well.

The plot begins as follows: your race, inhabiting the old desert planet Kharak, finds mounting numbers of hints that they are not indigenous to this world - the local biology is different, and fragments of metal are found in orbit. By accident a 4000 year old spaceship is found under the sands of the Great Desert which indicates that the ancestors of your race once stranded on Kharak and fell back to barbarism, rising to space travel once more over the centuries. The ship possesses a functioning faster-than-light-drive, and a stone with an galactic map etched on it, indicating the position of your lost homeworld: HIIGARA.

The whole economy of Kharak is set to construct a huge colony ship, taking 600.000 volunteers deep corewards, where the Homeworld is said to be. After 60 years of construction the Mothership, as it is called, is finally complete and undergoing tests. Following a test jump to the outer rim of the Kharak system, the support ship which it should meet is found to be destroyed, and alien ships attack the Mothership. After they are defeated, the Mothership returns to Kharak, only to find that the planet has been attacked and the population was wiped out - only the colonists remain in their cryo sleep chambers in orbit, which must be rescued from being destroyed by the attackers, servants of a huge interstellar empire which once banished your ancestors to Kharak.

With nowhere to go but onward, the Mothership sets out on a long quest for the lost Homeworld, carrying all that is left of your people. Numerous missions take it from the Galactic Rim near the Core. You have to fight every inch of the way, with ever more powerful ships ranging from simple utility vessels as resource collectors over fighters, bombers, corvettes, frigates and destroyers up to gigantic carriers and heavy cruisers, each with its own strengths and weaknesses which can be avoided by clever combination of forces. All this is presented in breathtaking graphics which look good even today, seven years afterwards, and mindboggling music - the best computer game soundtrack I ever heard, and completely fitting. In the end, the Exiles arrive at Hiigara to face the Emperor and his fleet in the final battle high over the Homeworld.

Rating: 10/10. This game still has it all: gameplay, skill, graphics, music, story... you name it.

This was a really good movie. Epic battles, excellent acting and breathtaking special effects made it very worthwhile. Both Minas Morgul and Minas Tirith were really great to look at, as was the march of Saurons Army out of the gate. But a few shortcomings should also be mentioned, most of them are differences to the book. First, I really missed those cool Southrons from TTT (infantry and cavalry as in the book, that is) on the Pellenor Fields - the mûmakil were, while massively animated, a bit disappointing all on their own. I really looked forward to Rohirrim battling those really smashing Southron Infantrymen. Then the Frodo-Sam breakup. This was not really necessary, Gollum was nasty enough as it were. Then the Army of the Dead. In the book, they only defeat the corsairs at Pelargir and don't come to the Pellenor Fields. I think their appearance at Minas Tirith was a bit too showy, this could have been managed differently. In the book, the victory was achieved by Gondorian and Rohirrim forces alone, without the assistance of the Dead. Last but not least: the crossing of the Plain of Gorgoroth somehow felt very short. They could easily have incorporated the Orc incident that brings Frodo and Sam to Udûn to ease the pace - it all went a little quick at the end. They hardly left Cirith Ungol behind and hoopla! they are at the Sammath Naur. I hope the EE will take care of that.

As a summary, I still think FOTR was the best movie, it's closest to the book (especially the EE). TTT was somehow diminished, only the EE shows it's true qualities. And I had the same feeling in some places for ROTK - lets see what the EE can rectify.

This was a rather good series running in the WWF programme of the ARD in Germany. Its subject was a little pop-band in Munich with about half a dozen members, struggling against a music mogule called Bleistein who tried to break the band apart or incorporate them into his empire. Featuring largely was his boot-licking aide, Hibert.

I quite liked the series, it had rather surrealistic plots and good tunes along the lines of German an international 80ies pop and a strong remeniscence of the earlier Neue Deutsche Welle. I would very much like to see it again some time, but till tonight I could not find it anywhere in the Net, not even here.

Martin Held plays an aging thief who is hired by a movie company to help them set up a movie about a bank burglary. He uses the opportunities lying in this to steal the bank's money for a good cause. A very good little play with other well-known German actors, such as Dieter Krebs and Brigitte Mira.

Either you love this movie, or you hate it. It depends on how you like the unique humour of the famous (or notorious) comedian and jazz-musician Helge Schneider. The story is practically nonexistent, and the whole movie seems to be made of out-takes and bloopers. The secret is that it works just like the recipe for success that brought Schneider a huge followership in German-speaking countries: "Turn Sh*t Into Gold!" This movie is made so carefully and outrageously bad that it turns out good again. Previous experience in the boundaries of the Schneider universe and excellent skills in German are a must for enjoying this little masterpiece.