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Calendar Girls (2003)
Fun for all ages! Well, except children, of course.
Much like one would expect out of a crisply produced, professionally acted British film, Calendar Girls delivers feel good without the big whoops and roaring laughter that accompanies its American counterparts. The acting is brilliant, with both Mirren and Walters balancing the inner conflicts of their characters marvelously. Praise should also be given to the rest of the cast, right down to the kids who play Jem(?) and his friend. Casting like this makes you wonder why other films seem to pick absolute blocks of wood for their side cast sometimes.
My nitpicks with this particular movie are mostly to do with the fact that the movie not only doesn't tie up some loose plot threads, it doesn't even look like it WANTS to. That, and the pacing of the movie never reaches anything higher than a slightly excited ho-hum, although that's hardly unique among British films.
Overall a good watch. It's refreshing to see sexuality portrayed without all the regular cliché ideas.
Der Untergang (2004)
A must-watch
Bruno Ganz does an eerily convincing job of playing Hitler, during his last days, as visually narrated through the eyes of Traudl Junge. The pacing may be a little slow for some, although I felt it added to the palpable tension in the bunker. What I loved most about it is the gradual breakdown of several levels of human behavior. Their walls of confidence are shattered, their cocoons of denial slowly but surely pried open, their last glimmers of hope extinguished before their very eyes.
Anyone who wants to truly understand what Hitler was like should include this as part of their research material. It doesn't put as much spotlight on him personally as one might be led to believe, but what you do learn of him will change the way you think of him.