"State Of Play" is your usual and pretty generic conspiracy flick where an ambitious journalist chases an obscure organization involving soldier veterans and politicians.

The investigation is rather predictable and features the usual chasing scenes, minor twists in the ending and stereotypical characters such as an ambitious politician, a tough old journalist working together with a young, naive but motivated young journalist and an impatient, severe and very direct boss. This sounds very generic but the roles are at least played with enough authenticity by the actors to grab some attention.

While the acting is solid and especially well done by Russell Crowe, the rest of the movie is too worn out to stand out. In the last years, there have been tons of better conspiracy flicks such as the Bourne series. This one isn't worth your attention. It's okay for a loan or a relaxed view on television if nothing else is on that attracts your interest but I wouldn't recommend a purchase or multiple viewings of this flick.

The movie is a shortened version of a more detailed series that had been done with different actors a few years ago but the story still manages to have some lengths and overall lacks dynamic and originality. This movie should have been more compact, more surprising and a little bit darker to convince but the story is told from a rather boring and neutral third person view. Apart of the solid acting and the good but not outstanding story line, there is not much to talk about. It's not a bad movie after all but simply features too many standards and stereotypes.

Hello my friends,

finally, my profile and my first interview have been uploaded on the page of the Metal Observer. I will contribute some reviews and interviews in the near future. Right now, you can take a look on the following links. This is my detailed profile:

http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=3&id=18498

Here comes the link for my interview with Senmuth which you can already find right here on my blog:

http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=4&id=18499

Have fun with the links and continue to follow my activities in 2012!

Have a nice year!

Sebastian Kluth

"Vertige" is a very entertaining movie with a lot of intense suspense in the first half that is comparable to "Cliffhanger". Apart of some generic character plays, the first half especially convinces with an interesting camera work that perfectly captures the vertigo and the fears of of one of the characters. By watching these scenes you really can identify with the character and you won't feel at ease as well. You feel as if you were climbing up the mountains of Croatia and suffering from vertigo for real. The first half also shows us many great landscapes captured by a very good camera work once again.

The second part of the movie turns from a suspenseful action drama into a solid horror movie that can be compared to the legendary "The Hills Have Eyes". The transition is well developed enough to not feel like a sudden rupture but it might still mislead some people. Those who expected an intense mountaineer feature may be mixed up and feel disappointed by the second half. Those who awaited a rather generic adult horror movie might already get confused by the first half of the movie. The mixture of both genres is very particular and I personally equally adored both halves but this experimental idea is rather courageous and might not sell well. It can be considered as a mistake from a commercial point of view. From an artistic point of view, the idea is worth it and turns out to be rather intriguing.

In this second part of the movie, there are some gore and splatter scenes but fortunately the movie rather focuses on the atmosphere and the fate of the characters than on a generic slaughter fest. The negative thing is that the fate of the main villain is not explained and the screenwriters could have created a few better ideas and a more profound character. On the other side, even though the movie has a radical change of style and genre, the flick is very dynamical and will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end even though there are no big twists or surprises in the movie that might push this flick above average. The ending is a little bit too generic and has some very weak and random explanations for what we have seen in about ninety minutes.

There is a lot of potential in this feature and it's surely entertaining but it could have been better with an additional running time of maybe ten minutes and an improved ending. If you see this movie for a cheap price or if it is shown on television, don't hesitate to buy or watch this but don't spend more money on it and don't expect anything outstanding.

P2 is a surprisingly enjoyable suspense flick that convinces with an intense atmosphere and a very good acting by the strange and intriguing main villain played by Wes Bentley and the refreshing and pretty smart female victim portrayed by Rachel Niochols. I didn't know these actors before but they did a brilliant job and they needed to convince as the entire story turns around their particular relationship. The location always remains the same as in a classic theatre play and this adds a lot of atmosphere to this movie. The work of light and shadows is also very well done in this movie. The camera work is also interesting and varies a lot to capture the different states of the two main characters.

The story itself is quite predictable and maybe the only obvious weak point of the movie. A lonesome security guy kidnaps a female workaholic and single during the night before Christmas to spend some time with her. The villain is though not what you might expect. He's got some feelings for the woman but he doesn't want to rape her. He just wants her to be friends with her or to possess her in a certain way. He goes very far to realize his weird dream. As the situation gets more and more complicated, the tension arises and the clever victim begins to fool a more and more nervous, brutal and unpredictable main villain which leads to an intense finish.

The movie is short and sweet and after a short period of introduction to the characters, there is not a single minute of boredom in this fast paced thriller. This is a different and refreshing kind of Christmas movie written by the promising horror expert Alexandre Aja and filmed by his young partner in crime Franck Khalfoun that I might look forward to watch again next year around the same time of the year.

Hier ist ein altes Video über mich, das eine gute Freundin von mir anlässlich meines Geburtstages im Jahr 2008 erstellt hat.

Voici une vieille vidéo sur moi qui a été faite par une bonne amie lors de mon anniversaire en 2008.

Here comes an old video about me that a good friend of mine had created for the occasion of my birthday back in 2008.

The song my friend used is "No More Sorrow" by Linkin Park from the record "Minutes To Midnight". All rights reserved by the band, its management and its label. I don't own anything.

PS: Auf Grund wenig oder negativer Resonanz habe ich das Video wieder gelöscht. Wer sich wirklich dafür interessiert, dem schicke ich das kurze Video gerne bei Gelegenheit persönlich zu. Schreibt mich dafür einfach an.