Kai-Arne Zimny

Blog posts by Kai-Arne Zimny:

Storytelling: Of Geniuses and Maps
What makes a piece of fic­tion suc­cess­ful, apart from a good por­tion of luck? Well, some writ­ers deem the craft of ‘plot­ting’ essen­tial for cre­at­ing fic­tion … Continue reading Storytelling: Of Geniuses and Maps →

Letters to a Young Writer – Some Practical and Philosophical Advice for Newcomers to the Trade
“Nobody can advise you and help you, nobody.” This is how writ­ing instruc­tor, nov­el­ist, and screen­writer Colum McCann starts his Let­ters to a Young Writer (2017). … Continue reading Letters to a Young Writer – Some Practical and Philosophical Advice for Newcomers to the Trade →

The Mandalorian
You’ve prob­a­bly already heard that The Man­dalo­ri­an was nom­i­nat­ed for 15 Emmy Awards, includ­ing Out­stand­ing Dra­ma Series and Out­stand­ing Children’s Pro­gram. And even if you weren’t … Continue reading The Mandalorian →

So much to stream, so little time? Netflix has a solution.
Whether it’s the mo(u)rning rou­tine of hav­ing to leave your beloved bed, or the devi­ous­ly bril­liant book that won’t let you stop turn­ing pages while the … Continue reading So much to stream, so little time? Netflix has a solution. →

May 8 – Celebrating the End of World War II as a German
75 years ago, the world sighed in relief. After six grue­some years and over 70 mil­lion lost lives, World War II was final­ly over. May 8, … Continue reading May 8 – Celebrating the End of World War II as a German →

Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
[Author’s note: This review is spoil­er free.] A year has passed since the events of The Last Jedi (2017). Kylo Ren (Adam Dri­ver) is Supreme Leader of the … Continue reading Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) →

Blue Valentine : Endings, Beginnings, and Nothing in Between
Blue Valen­tine: A Love Sto­ry (2011). That’s what it says on the movie poster. But is this what the movie is real­ly about? A roman­tic, sus­tained, … Continue reading Blue Valentine : Endings, Beginnings, and Nothing in Between →

The American Dream Reconsidered: The Outsiders (1967)
14-year-old orphan Pony­boy Cur­tis lives with his old­er broth­ers Dar­ry and Sodapop in a city some­where in Amer­i­ca. They are part of a greas­er gang which … Continue reading The American Dream Reconsidered: The Outsiders (1967) →

Doom and Decision – The 75th D‑Day Anniversary 2019
    Only a hand­ful of history’s myr­i­ads of dates is uni­ver­sal­ly remem­bered even out­side the domain of aca­d­e­m­ic his­to­ry. June 6, 1944, is one of … Continue reading Doom and Decision – The 75th D‑Day Anniversary 2019 →

We Need a Break or We’ll Break or Why to Vignette
  ”Lose your mind and come to your sens­es.” Fritz Perls   In an age of nev­er-end­ing par­al­lel con­ver­sa­tions, screens and sec­ond screens, and an even more … Continue reading We Need a Break or We’ll Break or Why to Vignette →

Adventure Time – Not Just for Children
It was long after mid­night. I was sit­ting in a fan­cy bar, killing time while wait­ing for my train home. I’d been at Com­ic Con in … Continue reading Adventure Time – Not Just for Children →

Two Sides to Every Story – The Affair (2014–19)
Have you ever talked about a past event with some­one who was involved in it and came to a point where you and that some­one didn’t … Continue reading Two Sides to Every Story – The Affair (2014–19) →

What’s your story? In two sentences or less…
Peo­ple love sto­ries. And appar­ent­ly, they always have. Neu­ro­sci­en­tists sug­gest our yearn­ing for sto­ries is root­ed deeply in the human brain; sup­pos­ed­ly sto­ries even help us … Continue reading What’s your story? In two sentences or less… →

“When you spot your flower, you can’t let anything get in your way”: Adaptation (2002)
Adap­ta­tion is an oldie but good­ie with an excel­lent cast of char­ac­ters. Screen­writer Char­lie Kauf­man (Nico­las Cage) is sup­posed to write a movie adap­ta­tion of Susan … Continue reading “When you spot your flower, you can’t let anything get in your way”: Adaptation (2002) →

Living by the Watch: Stranger Than Fiction
Yes, ok. So the film is twelve years old? It’s fun­ny and clever, and it fea­tures some of the best actors and actress­es Hol­ly­wood has to … Continue reading Living by the Watch: Stranger Than Fiction →

The Many Worlds of Rick and Morty
Imag­ine you get home and see a bunch of your friends, let’s say friends whose taste in films and shows you usu­al­ly trust, watch­ing a show. … Continue reading The Many Worlds of Rick and Morty →

Cozy Horror – Stranger Things
The title font, rem­i­nis­cent of 1980s hor­ror-thriller nov­els, buzzes over the flat screen TV or lap­top mon­i­tor to the eeri­ly pul­sat­ing beat of elec­tron­ic music. We … Continue reading Cozy Horror – Stranger Things →

Archie Reloaded – Riverdale
“Our sto­ry is about a town. A small town. And the peo­ple who live in that town” are the first words we hear on Riverdale (2017 … Continue reading Archie Reloaded – Riverdale →

Star Wars – The Last Jedi: No Light without Darkness?
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” The bright blue let­ters appear on the big black screen. Rev­er­ent silence fills the movie the­ater. Maybe … Continue reading Star Wars – The Last Jedi: No Light without Darkness? →

The Pursuit of (Un)happiness
BoJack Horse­man (voice by Will Arnett) is a long-faced, washed-up Hol­ly­wood star whose career end­ed two decades ago, along with his Nineties sit­com, Horsin’ Around. Since … Continue reading The Pursuit of (Un)happiness →

American Hustle
“As far as I could see, peo­ple were always con­ning each oth­er to get what they want­ed. We even con our­selves. We talk our­selves into things. … Continue reading American Hustle →

Safety First!
Many of you might remem­ber Kate Winslet and Leonar­do DiCaprio togeth­er on the big screen, sur­round­ed by water and ice. While “Rose” whis­pers last words of … Continue reading Safety First! →

Watch and Write! Writing the TV Drama Series
  “To cre­ate a tele­vi­sion show out of thin air, with­out any­body pay­ing you, requires a cer­tain amount of delu­sion, and that’s tak­en me very far.” Matt Wein­er, … Continue reading Watch and Write! Writing the TV Drama Series →

School Ties
It’s 1955. David Greene (Bren­dan Fras­er), a Jew­ish boy from a work­ing class fam­i­ly, leaves his home, the indus­tri­al city of Scran­ton, Penn­syl­va­nia, to go to … Continue reading School Ties →

Do you really want to live Forever?
Dr. Hen­ry Mor­gan (Ioan Gruffudd) is British, works as a med­ical exam­in­er for the New York Police Depart­ment, and likes scarves and clas­si­cal music. Oh, he … Continue reading Do you really want to live Forever? →

Reindeer Games (2000): A Review
If the film Rein­deer Games doesn’t ring a bell – a Christ­mas bell – it’s not sur­pris­ing. This isn’t the kind of film that would inspire … Continue reading Reindeer Games (2000): A Review →

The Road
Sev­er­al years after a cat­a­stroph­ic event has destroyed all of America’s – and maybe the whole world’s – flo­ra and fau­na, a father (Vig­go Mortensen) and … Continue reading The Road →

The Last Tycoon: The Golden Age of Hitler’s Hollywood
olly­wood, 1936: Mon­roe Stahr (Matt Bomer), co-founder of the Brady Amer­i­can film stu­dio, has just begun shoot­ing a film about – and ded­i­cat­ed to – his … Continue reading The Last Tycoon: The Golden Age of Hitler’s Hollywood →

This is a (M)ad Men’s World
1960: Don­ald Drap­er (Jon Hamm) holds a high posi­tion in a renowned New York adver­tis­ing agency, has an ex-mod­el wife he calls “Betts” (Jan­u­ary Jones), two … Continue reading This is a (M)ad Men’s World →

Grave New World: The Man in the High Castle
It’s no sur­prise that the adver­tise­ment cam­paign done in late 2015 for a then upcom­ing Ama­zon Stu­dios’ series was con­sid­ered a provo­ca­tion and had to be … Continue reading Grave New World: The Man in the High Castle →

Nothing New on the Western Frontier
Even though in folk­lore the term revenant stands for a being that has returned from the dead, the recent award-win­ning movie The Revenant (2015), direct­ed by … Continue reading Nothing New on the Western Frontier →

Midnight in Paris: Somewhen, Somewhere, Someway
Gil Pen­der (Owen Wil­son) is a suc­cess­ful Hol­ly­wood screen­writer, lives in Bev­er­ly Hills, and has a beau­ti­ful fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams). And yet, life feels a … Continue reading Midnight in Paris: Somewhen, Somewhere, Someway →