New Tales of Franz hits the mark. And it does so with a minimal running time and captivating editing, bringing to the movie screen a compendium of friendship, courage and consistency that is certainly educational and pedagogical for the audience for whom it was intended.
It is not a film with many pretensions, Help, I shrunk my Parents. Not even as far as the various script twists are concerned. The story unfolds in an often predictable way, albeit with good dynamics, and the young audience seems to be happy with it.
Help, I shrunk my Teacher is a film of international scope that is clearly inspired by contemporary US entertainment cinema and also aims very much at an extensive distribution abroad. Yet, despite this, we cannot fail to notice an almost television-like approach that, together with sometimes excessively contrived special effects, makes the whole thing easily forgettable.
Help, I Shrunk My Friends is clearly inspired by the now cult film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. But if those nostalgic for that film – as well as for the glorious 1980s – are hoping to re-experience the same feelings they felt when watching Joe Johnston’s film, their expectations will inevitably be disappointed.
The School of magical Animals entertains, but not too much, enthralls, but not too much. And, as a result, it is in danger of being forgotten shortly after its theatrical release.
Fast Film. “Almost a film”. So Virgil Widrich wanted to call this precious little work of his. And more than a true declaration of love to film history and, more generally, to the world of the seventh art itself, this short film represents one of the many forms that cinema can assume, thanks to a sophisticated work in which stop motion and computer graphics coexist in harmony.
In Austria2Australia, an overly selective editing – together with a practically omnipresent music, which contributes to giving the whole thing a purely television character – makes the entire film lose much of its verve and personality. Despite its many potentials.
Fully following the canons of the mainstream television film that we all too often come across in German productions, North Face, co-produced by Germany, Austria and Switzerland and directed by German director Philipp Stölzl, doesn’t know how to exploit its opportunities (first and foremost, the climb undertaken by the four protagonists), making the whole thing excessively flat and rhythmless.
Few people know that one of the most important periods in Austrian cinema was the 1920s. During this period, in fact, films with a biblical or epic character were mainly produced in Italy and Austria. This is the case (if we want to remain in Austria) with Samson and Delilah – directed in 1922 by the Hungarian Alexander Korda – as well as with the famous Sodom and Gomorrah, by Michael Curtiz.
Brothers of the Wind by Gerardo Olivares and Otmar Penker is a timeless tale that has several elements that make it rhetorical and sappy.