Malarkey

The creators of Big Ben just can’t leave the German Catholic Church be. In this case, they dedicate a whole episode to it. In this episode, on the one hand, the church is helping the Turkish refugees, on the other hand, a murder of a priest is being investigated. What the episode lacks in humor, it gets in the amount of investigation. The conclusion is pretty shocking and clerics may not be okay with that. However, Pfeiffer is on the scene again and during his shift he eats supplies of the clerics from the local parsonage, which they otherwise bring to the refugees in the church. There is no need to add that he flushes it down with a bottle of beer. And the fact that he does it while driving is a proof that everyone would want to be a cop in Bad Tölz.

The thousand-first boxing story told in the thousand-first way. The boxing dramas are extremely similar, but they always come up with some minor thing that distinguishes it from each other. In this case, it’s the actors. Especially Miles Teller, who entertains me possibly in every movie where he shows up, and Aaron Eckhart, whom I wouldn’t even recognize here at first. His impersonation of a coach, who is an alcoholic, is absolutely amazing and he performs excellently right from the beginning. It was also thanks to these two acting performances that I had no difficulty in watching the film till the end. Even though it was clear what was going to happen and where the whole story was going.

The Englishmen (and in this case, the Irishmen) are never able to film any Jane Austen story well. Maybe it’s because her books are difficult to read even under usual circumstances.

I think I already know why I didn’t think the Blade Runner was my cup of tea when I first saw it. It is a visual orgy without a hint of emotions. Harrison Ford, who usually plays a hundred percent lovable characters, is in this movie almost invisible. In his case, it is a completely different role, which the audience may not like, but it fits perfectly into the visually precisely sketched future, which really enchanted me.

It shows an exemplary Scandinavia with everything it entails. Including a lack of emotions and reasons to like the main character. Despite the fact that the story itself is incredibly strong and is the driving force for the whole two hours. The Swedes are apparently different than you ever thought them to be. Not only did they oppressed Finland from the east, they were also oppressing the Lapps in the north. I was really sorry for the girl. Especially when the “pure” Swedes were calling her names I wouldn’t even dare to say out loud. And most importantly, I would have no reason to curse at her at all, because she was acting just fine for two whole hours. It only affected her soul so much that she still thought about it even when retired. A really sad story of one nation living in the midst of another, which apparently did not make it easy for them at all, and I admire the Swedes that they were able to open up this topic in a film and admit it as a mistake.

An unrivalled episode. There is a carnival in Bad Tölz and the mess at the police station is so big that a worse mess can be found only in a barn. Everyone is showing off their masks and the clown’s mask commits a murder. People could argue that the clown is again the one to blame for death, and that nothing good ever happens to clowns. Maybe that’s why it’s worth thinking about. However, everyone is drunk a bit in this episode, Pfeiffer is investigating terrible nonsense, for example, when a local farmer drags a bunch of drunken rednecks who were pissing all over her fence to the police station and wants Pfeiffer to solve it. I have not laughed like this in a long time. And I forgot to add that the center of attention is a nymphomaniac, and we also see a lot of the prelate, who shows what we have not seen of him before. The lovers of the German Church should rather skip this episode.

The landowners fight and one of them ends up with pitchforks in the back. The investigation team Benno and Sabrina rock it, and Pfeiffer is interfering with their investigation as usual. The spotlight is on the landowner and businessman Toni Rambold, whose visions make it seem like he is the one to blame. In the second half of the episode, however, there is a properly dramatic investigation with a pretty decent conclusion. This episode is less funny, more investigative, but there is no harm in that.

They really have everything in Bad Tölz. After this episode, I know that they also have an insane asylum. A murder happens there, and Benno starts investigating it. Apart from trying to treat the lunatics by yodeling, nothing interesting is happening. Except that Resi – Benno's mother – is mistaken for a rocket engineer who is supposed to come to the insane asylum for treatment and they immediately seize her. Benno doesn’t notice her in the asylum at first, but at home he despairs. However, he despairs that he doesn’t have food cooked for him rather than that his mother hasn’t been home for two days. There is no Sabrina in this episode, so the creators place more attention on constable Pfeiffer. As usual, he does not investigate anything at all, but the more he drinks and eats at the police station. This episode was not so bad after all.

I can’t understand who in Netflix decided that this film will have a low budget. The actors would have to play for free, and this film features way too big names for my taste. Jamie Dornan, Mark Strong, Mikael Persbrandt or Guillaume Canet? Plus, they threw all of them into the turmoil of war with absolutely great action shots. I really don’t understand how the creators shot it for those few bucks, but it’s nice that they presented a story like this. I haven’t heard about Jadotville until now, so at least I know now that the UN troops actually do something here and there. It does not always happen, and, in this case, it deserves more attention. And, of course, a lot of respect. Why? Find out for yourself, because a film like this deserves far more reviewers on this site than it currently has!

One of a series of forgotten war movies, in which the Germans blame themselves and try to cleanse themselves of their own stigmas from previous generations. So they tell one of the harshest stories which takes place in the Buchenwald concentration camp. And it’s definitely not an easy story, rather the opposite. I would not think of this as a television film at all. For that it is too historical and accurate. Nevertheless, I appreciate how the creators combined acted scenes with moments that represented real shots from the war or specifically from the concentration camp. This combination can shock me far more than the often austere and emotionless documentaries.