Riding into the sun

Marlo has it extra rough. She's married to a douchebag and she's a mother of three children one of whom is newborn and one is 'quirky'. It's almost too much to handle for her, so they hire a 'night nanny' called Tully who turns everything inside out, she's a true gift from heaven. Predictable waste of time.

For thee the hammer of the anvil rings

The seventh James Bond film, directed by Peter R. Hunt in 1969, starring George Lazenby as the agent 007, Diana Rigg as the Bond girl Tracy, Bernard Lee as Bond's superior 'M' (the head of MI6), Desmond Llewelyn as 'Q' (the head of Q division), Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny (MI6 secretary) and Telly Savalas as Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE, as the main antagonist. Title song composed, arranged, and conducted by John Barry. The movie is rather unique in the Bond series, there's the little awkward George Lazenby in the lead and the ending is more tragic and melancholic than we are used to, but otherwise it's a solid 007 adventure.

Kill three to save eight billion

Life is hanging by a thread on earth as it has utilized most of its energy resources. So people must venture space and pursue unorthodox tests for unlimited energy. The experiment might unleash chaos of biblical proportions, make the world disappear or unravel parallel dimensions. It's a dime a dozen scifi thriller.

In cold voodoo town

Tsunami struck Norway and three years later the bona fide hero of the catastrophe Kristian Eikjord (Kristoffer Joner) ain't doing so well. He's become a hermit and a doomsayer with a nervous breakdown to whom even the company of her own daughter is too much of a crowd. Only another major catastrophe looming on the horizon energizes him, but is it too late to rescue the city of Oslo and his entire family from total devastation? The predecessor The Wave (2015) was already surprisingly well-made, tragic, devastating and hair-raising catastrophe movie for a Scandinavian feature and this one follows suit.

By the power of Greyskull

I knew that It Came From the Desert wasn't going to be the highlight of this year's movies and I also knew it was going to be trashy indie bullshit. But in all the perfect tackiness, it's all good. Movies don't need to be too hard on themselves. Perhaps not enough bullets to become a cult classic, but decent laughs in the scifi horror camp.

Sadness never ends

A kindergarten teacher and a wanna-be poet Lisa (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is mesmerized as one of the kids in the school seems to be at least ten times better a poet than his teacher. No one else seems to notice the talent of the new Yeats, but Lisa's obsession with him is showing distressing signals. Not only is she trying to possess and utilize the weed lad's poetry and his extraordinary talent, she wants have the child prodigy on herself only. Nothing of sexual or lethal nature stirs up, the thrills and true fears are only halfway there.

Burnt circuit in the brain

Nicole Kidman's character Erin Bell is an utterly joyless person. A lacklustre, dull and grey person. A humourless git. She'd be an abomination to hang out with. She tries to be a decent mother though, but she's too detached from work. She's an undercover agent with a vengeance in mind. Destroyer is a crime drama with such a melancholic theme that it's inescapably boring.

Trout with noodles

Pretty desperate. Offers little hope, Arctic, a survival movie set in the Arctic. Overgård (Mads Mikkelsen) is a resilient bugger standing against death, hunger, polar bears and arctic cold. Some of his choices make no sense and, apart him being stranded in the ice and cold, there's so little to the story. Offers no reasons and explanations. Would have been terribly good otherwise.

Fuck off hairball

Remembering nothing of the original, I honestly believed I started watching the Pet Sematary remake that is out now and thought they had captured the style and the spirit of the times of the authentic one so exceptionally well. After a second thought, I had to check it out. I was wrong of course. It was the modern packing of the 20th anniversary edition of the original Mary Lambert's Pet Sematary that fooled me. It's a story of a Native American burial place that brings animals and people back to life and it's still some kind of creepy shit. Stuff of nightmares.

Harbringer of death

German labor camps or nazi death camps weren't too nice. A few prisoners made it extra difficult hiding a wee Polish boy in their barracks in Buchenwald concentration camp. Their hope were the approaching Allied and Russian forces as Germany was showing signs of losing the war, altho some of the prisoners seemed to plan a revolt of their own. Pretty powerful film but hardly scratches the surface of the horrors that happened in Buckenwald.

Ignorance is the new excellence

Group of men steal money from bad guys, but the gig ends sideways and they all die. The bad guys - no-good mafioso types - want compensation from the wives and girlfriends of the recently deceased robbers, so the ladies need to figure a way to get huge amount of cash in a little time. Luckily they acquire blueprints for a perfect robbery and decide to execute the heist! Little far-fetched the whole idea, but still tempted heavy-weight names such as Liam Neeson, Viola Davis, Jon Bernthal, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell and Daniel Kaluuya.

Money doesn't buy everything

As of late, I have seen lots of movies based on true stories (The Captain, Suomen Hauskin Mies, White Boy Rick, Embrace of the Serpent). Right now it feels The Upside is the best of the lot. It's such a beautiful story. I remember being impressed by the original French film version as well. It's all about a relationship between a wealthy man with quadriplegia and a guy with a criminal background.

Hiding in plain sight

Shit starts to get too real in an escape room. A group of people are imprisoned inside a murderous maze where the only way of escape is locked behind a series of challenging puzzles. Straight-to-DVD nonsense, but mildly entertaining.

Taste a little paradise

Stars weren't aligned for Rick. Mommy left him when he was little, sister is a drug addict and his dad sells firearms for meagre living. Everyone from the cops to no-good friends in the drug dealing business stabbed him in the back. A though-provoking mind-blowing true story of how things were in done in Detroit in mid-Eighties.

White terror, red terror

Finnish Civil War in 1918. There was a power vacuum with both German and Russian empires wielding their shields in the mix. All the suspicious leftist people were thrown into jails. Suomen Hauskin Mies tells a tale of a prison island full of incarcerated theatre people who must write and perform a play for German delegate and unless it isn't well received they are going to be executed. Probably the best Finnish movie I've seen all year. 

Brotherly with heart and hand

Two weeks before Germany surrendered in WWII, the German army had a fair share of deserters who became outlaws and thieves. A fugitive Willi Herold however finds a deserted captain's uniform, adopts the role as the officer of the Third Reich and continues the war. He got big-headed and the rest of the harrowing movie you wish someone reports or kills him.

Beware of the dwarf

I guess I secretly loved all the Goldie Hawn comedies back in the day. Had a crush on her of sort. I also liked Chevy Chase as a funny man. So this was a perfect match and I liked it a lot. Now, 40 years later Foul Play (1978) has lost a little of its momentum, the farceness of the comedy is outdated, but it's still entertaining.

Every inch is stained with someone's sin

Maybe not as brilliant as I remembered, but it's still the best thing Oliver Stone has directed thus far. An exceptionally wicked story of a man stuck in a small American town. Young Claire Danes and hilarious Joaquin Phoenix just starting their careers. And the heavyweights Jon Voight, Bo Hoskins, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe and Billy Bob Thornton having the time of their lives. Music by Ennio Morricone to boot.