Review: All Quiet on the Western Front

By Christopher James

Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) heads into World War I in "All Quiet on the Western Front," the German submission this year for Best International Feature.

It’s daunting to remake a Best Picture winner. Steven Spielberg was able to breathe new life and vitality into West Side Story, making it a companion to the timeless original. But, more often than not, filmmakers buckle under the weight of expectations and self importance (like the failures of, say, Steven Zaillian's star-studded rendition of All the King’s Men or Timur Bekmambetov's Ben-Hur).

The Lewis Milestone adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930 struck new ground for realism, brutality and anti-war sentiments. It earned Oscar wins for Best Picture and Best Director. It's been regarded as a classic ever since, later receiving citations on AFI’s list of best films and best epics and inclusion in the National Film Registry. How could a new film pack a similar punch? Director Edward Berger doesn’t reinvent the story, but his 2022 re-telling of All Quiet on the Western Front is loaded with enough technical panache to make it a worthy, additive remake and a great time at the movies...

Click to read more ...

German & Polish finalists for Oscar submissions

by Nathaniel R

Four countries have already announced their Oscar submissions thus far but soon the official titles will start pouring in from all over the place. Today we have news from Germany and Poland, both of which have won the category before. Both countries have named a list of finalists for the submission. Those titles are after the jump...

Click to read more ...

The long reach of 'Nosferatu,' now 100 years old

by Brent Calderwood

A century after its March 4th, 1922, premiere in Berlin, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu remains a truly chilling classic. It’s widely acknowledged that Nosferatu and other German Expressionist masterpieces were influential not only to the development of Hollywood horror, but also to film noir and other genres. Nothing demonstrates the shadowy reach of Expressionism quite so strikingly, though, as its prevalence in the first wave of Walt Disney’s full-length features, which quoted heavily from Murnau and his contemporaries...

Click to read more ...

Dan Stevens is a tempting romantic ideal in "I'm Your Man"

by Matt St Clair

Despite having otherworldly leading man looks, Dan Stevens has a clear affinity for playing eccentric character roles. That being said, some of those roles that he’s played, like flamboyant, implicitly gay Russian singer Alexander Lemtov in Eurovision Song Contest and the enigmatic titular character from The Guest, have allowed him to play into his sex appeal. The German sci-fi romance I’m Your Man, which is opening today in US movie theaters, is a continuation of that trend. 

Stevens plays Tom, an android designed to be the perfect companion, someone with perfect looks who is programmed to fulfill the every need of their human partner...

Click to read more ...

Germany submits "I'm Your Man" to the Oscars

by Nathaniel R

Dan Stevens and Sandra Huller in a scene from "I'm Your Man"

Germany, which has long been popular with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced their submission for the 94th Oscars. They're going with the sci-fi flavored romantic comedy I'm Your Man starring British hunk Dan Stevens (who happens to be fluent in German) as an android specifically programmed to make a woman happy. The movie, distributed by Bleecker Street in the US, hits theaters a week from Friday... 

Click to read more ...