Litany of divine absence

Things take place in Iraqi city of Mosul, the world’s most dangerous place for a number of years. It’s full-blown war, ceaseless fire is killing people like flies. The fuckers of ISIS and the local SWAT police are gunning down each other and everything is miserable and bloody and fucking hostile. The movie is technically flawless, perfectly acted, so much so that it looks authentic. What happened there is absolutely devastating.

You can't really dust for vomit

I didn't know there was a book - Spinal Tap: The Big Black Book (2017) by Wallace Fairfax - of the greatest rock'n'roll movie ever released (hats off to Bad News as well), so I got the book and refreshed my memory with the movie. A gift that keeps on giving. 11/10.

A smoke of blood comes from the earth

Russian villagers try to make do under strict German rule and patienty wait until Russian army might liberate them some day. The local school teacher try to adapt to the new regime the best he can, altho it's a bit difficult because the German occupiers are dickheads and the district commandant lusts for his wife. A Russian movie of an ordinary man standing up against insuperable enemy.

Deliver us from evil

The suspense never breaks away from Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners (2013). It's a wonderfully intrigueing crime puzzle, runs over two hours, but the story is so captivating and well performed that it's hardly an issue.

Chasing a ghost

Commando Jan Baalsrud had quite a miraculous story to tell of his ordeal trying to avoid capture by the nazis in Norway and his escape to Sweden in 1943. His buddies were executed, but he survived through severe cold, avalanche, bullets, snowstorms, self-amputation, delirium and the iron claws of Gestapo. What an amazing find from Netflix. Directed by Harald Zwart.

Constitutional right the spread the deadly virus

Globally, 2020 was not a very good year (and it seems 2021 follows suit). Will people remember it still in, say, 2220? Reckon by then people have had their share of pandemics, world wars and shortage of clean water, oil and oxygen to give a shit. But if people exist in 2220, and they read a history book (or an equivalent of a book) and open the chapter of 2020, they read about Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, Liverpool FC winning the premier league, Brexit and one deranged president. This is a mockumentary that was only momentarily funny.

In a kingdom by the sea

Clint Eastwood's directional debut from 1971. Radio DJ Dave is about to find out the difference between a groupie and a stalker, as he's acquainted with Evelyn (Jessica Walter), a fan of his show. Where he's completely smothered by her, she's totally obsessed by him. An intense psychological thriller, a damn good opening to unleash your monumental career as a film director.

A warlock baby with La Bruja

The third Bad Boys sequel, Bad Boys for Life, is exactly what you expected (perhaps feared) it to be. Another buddy action movie with a comical undertone. There's a new mafia boss in the city of Miami and he wants everyone dead, Will Smith's Mike included. What a load of bull, senseless violent entertainment, there's absolutely nothing to see. 

Dead as a doornail

A freshly appointed night watchman of local morgue has plenty of customers as there's a serial killer at large in Copenhagen. Ole Bornedal's Nattevagten (1994) that spawned a Hollywood remake in 1997 (also by Ole Bordedal) is both hilarious and scary featuring future stars Kim Bodnia, Sofie Gråbøl and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Perhaps should look onto the remake as well, tho' doubt even with the cool cast of  Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, Patricia Arquette and Josh Brolin it can beat this cult classic. There's Nattevagten 2 announced as well.

Beyond good and evil

Richard Ramirez was one of the sickest motherfuckers out there. Exceptionally, he didn't discriminate. He hurt, killed, kidnapped and raped anyone regardless of their race, colour, sex or age. He’d happily rape an elderly or a child. He cut peoples eyes out, or perhaps bludgeoned them to death with a crowbar. He also used guns, machetes, butcher knives. His modus operandi was limitless. The Night Stalker documentary tells the true story of how one of the most notorious serial killers in American history was hunted down and it's riveting as hell.

An arrow from the sun

Pretty good, sad and heartfelt story of a few people in Manhattan who are desperate to find food and shelter for themselves and their loved ones. In a series of random accidents they are bound together and little kindness and love make a long way. Makes an entertaining low-key indie drama as well.

There are killers among us

Kudos to Joe Berlinger's Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) for not gluttonizing on the gruesome details and graphic images of the murders of Ted Bundy, but focused on the courtroom case, conviction and the relationship with his girlfriend. Having said that, leaving the grotesque stuff out altogether can bit a bit of a fucken bore too. The ludicrous courtroom drama and his relationship not one but two women - who he didn't chop to death - are interesting, but not enough weight for a full lenght feature.

Death is the only freedom

Spartacus is a 'slave general' trying to liberate all the slaves in Italy by force. The former gladiator puts fear in the hearts of the Roman commanders, Julius Caesar included, but is his unorthodox and measly trained army enough to overpower the greatest military force ever existed? Stanley Kubrick's epic 3 hour piece of liberty and justice, and love, starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov and Laurence Olivier.

We all started out as someone's little angel

A fucken terrible tragedy. An intoxicated yuppie stockbroker causes a collision killing his friend, ends up in jail, loses contact with his family and becomes a member of a white supremacist prison gang gradually going up in its heirachy. Suspenseful prison movie of life turning upside down and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays the role of Money, the prisoner, perfectly.

Slicing through the morn

Virus, that turns people into zombies, spreads like wildfire. Luckily they isolated it in South Korea and the peninsula has been quarantined for four years. Some people want to go to the zombie-infested place because all its money and gold just lie there unguarded. For instance a team of four to retrieve a truckful of cash and only to witness that in four years South Korea has rotten to pieces and the zombies are still alive, well and aplenty. Peninsula is a follow-up to Train to Busan, but not quite wicked as its predecessor.

Staring down the dust

Bleeder is one of Nicolas Winding Refn's and Mads Mikkelsen's earlier pieces, years before Hollywood found them. Lenny is somewhat a simple, shy and kind video rental shopkeeper who only wants to see movies with his buddies, but there are cracks in the friendship because his friends are of more explosive nature. A downbeat indie with truly a grim and realistic feel to it.

The devil knows his own

To be fair, I never intended to choose a Russian action movie to start off a new year. It happened more or less accidentally and, for sheer boredom, I almost stopped watching after the first five minutes, but I'm glad I didn't. Terrorists held a houseful of theater audience hostage and it immediately brought back memories of the real life Moscow theater hostage crisis in 2002 and Die Hard (1988), but instead of Bruce Willis crawling through elevator shafts, the hero of the day is a history teacher Alla Nikolaevna (Irina Kupchenko) who educates to fuck out of the terrorists, hostages and the people watching the movie.

2020

MOVIES

Light of My Life (Casey Affleck. 2019)
Crawl (Alexandre Aja. 2019)
The Golden Glove (Fatih Akin. 2019)
The Others (Alejandro Amenábar. 2001)
Midsommar (Ari Aster. 2019)
Lo Imposible (J.A. Bayona. 2012)
Behind the Curve (Daniel J. Clark. 2018)
Midnight Sun (George Clooney. 2020)
The Man Who Wasn't There (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. 2001)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola. 1972)
The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola. 1974)
Gridlock'd (Vondie Curtis-Hall. 1997)
The Fugitive (Andrew Davis. 1993)
WolfCop (Lowell Dean. 2014)
The Eiger Sanction (Clint Eastwood. 1975)
Richard Jewell (Clint Eastwood. 2019)
Todos lo saben (Asghar Farhadi. 2018)
Green Book (Peter Farrelly. 2018)
Fisherman's Friends (Chris Foggin. 2019)
Little Women (Greta Gerwig. 2019)
The Next Three Days (Paul Haggis. 2010)
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Marielle Heller. 2019)
Ballon (Michael Herbig. 2018)
Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock. 1943)
Parasite (Bong Joon Ho. 2019)
Official Secrets (Gavin Hood. 2019)
They Shall Not Grow Old (Peter Jackson. 2018)
The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch. 2019)
Avengement (Jesse V. Johnson. 2019)
Knives Out (Rian Johnson. 2019)
Sorry We Missed You (Ken Loach. 2019)
The Outpost (Rod Lurie. 2019)
Les misérables (Ladj Ly. 2019)
A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick. 2019)
Ford v Ferrari (James Mangold. 2019)
Hotel Mumbai (Anthony Maras. 2018)
1917 (Sam Mendes. 2019)
Deadwood: The Movie (Daniel Minahan. 2019)
Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols. 2011)
Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan. 2005)
The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan. 2008)
The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan. 2012)
The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah. 1969)
Joker (Todd Phillips. 2019)
J'Accuse (Roman Polanski. 2019)
American Murder: The Family Next Door (Jenny Popplewell. 2020)
The Gentlemen (Guy Ritchie. 2019)
Gladiator (Ridley Scott. 2000)
Robin Hood (Ridley Scott. 2010)
The Clovehitch Killer (Duncan Skiles. 2018)
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino. 2019)
The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier. 2018)
The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell. 2020)
Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler. 2018)
The Hunt (Craig Zobel. 2020)

SERIES

Twin Peaks (Mark Frost, David Lynch. 2017)
After Life (Ricky Gervais. 2019)
Band of Brothers (Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg. 2001)
Norsemen (Jon Iver Helgaker, Jonas Torgensen. 2016)
Fauda (Avi Issacharoff, Lior Raz. 2015)
Bosch (Eric Ellis Overmyer. 2014)
Mindhunter (Joe Penhall. 2017)
M/S Romantic (Jani Volanen, Tommi Korpela. 2019)

R.I.P.

 

Frank Banali (musician, Quiet Riot) born 1951 (age 68)
Orson Bean (actor, Being John Malkovich) born 1928 (age 91)
Martin Birch (music producer, Deeo Purple, Iron Maiden) born 1948 (age 71)
Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore, Goldfinger) born 1925 (age 94)
Bob the cat (streecat named Bob) (age 14)
Chadwick Boseman (actor, Black Panther) born 1977 (age 43)
Kobe Bryant (basketball player) born 1978 (age 41)
John le Carré (author, A Most Wanted Man) born 1931 (age 89)
Ray Clemence (football player, Liverpool FC) born 1948 (age 72)
Sean Connery (actor, 007) born 1930 (age 90)
"Crazy" Cavan Grogan (musician, Crazy Cavan) born 1949 (age 71)
Stuart Corson (filmmaker, Re-Animator) born 1947 (age 72)
Jacques Crevoisier (football coach, Liverpool) born 1947 (age 72)
Clive Cussler (author) born 1931 (age 88)
Spencer Davis (musician, Spencer Davis Group) born 1939 (age 81)
Brian Dennehy (actor, First Blood) born 1938 (age 81)
Jörn Donner (politician, author, movie director) born 1933 (age 86)
Kirk Douglas (actor, Spartacus) born 1916 (age 103)
Conchata Ferrell (actress, L.A.Law, Erin Brockovich) born 1943 (age 77)
Gale Riley (musician, Power Trip) born 1985 (age 35)
Peter Green (musician, Fleetwood Mac) born 1946 (age 73)
Eddie van Halen (musician, Van Halen) born 1955 (age 65)
Olivia de Havilland (actress, Gone with the Wind) born 1917 (age 104)
Olli Heikkinen (musician, Miljoonasade) born 1961 (age 59)
Jyrki Heliskoski (football coach, HJK) born 1945 (age 75)
Ken Hensley (musician, Uriah Heep) born 1945 (age 75)
Richard Herd (actor, Seinfeld) born 1932 (age 87)
Sir Ian Holm (actor, Lord of the Rings, Alien) born 1931 (age 88)
Gérard Houllier (football manager, FC Liverpool) born 1947 (age 73)
Raimo "Höyry" Häyrinen (journalist) born 1940 (age 79)
Anthony James (actor, The Unforgiven) born 1942 (age 77)
Terry Jones (director/actor, Monthy Python) born 1942 (age 77)
Klaus Järvinen (music professor) born 1936 (age 83)
Otto Kanervo (friend) born 1972 (age 47)
Kayla (The Crystal Palace eagle) (age 28)
Lee Kerslake (musician, Uriah Heep) born 1947 (age 73)
Timo Ketola (artist, Watain, Centinex, Asphyx) born 1975 (age 45)
Bob Kulick (musician, Kiss) born 1950 (age 70)
Ilkka Kylävaara (journalist, author) born 1946 (age 73)
Pentti Linkola (environmentalist) born 1932 (age 87)
James Lipton (dean emeritus, Inside Actors Studio) born 1926 (age 93)
Little Richard (musician) born 1932 (age 87)
Sean Malone (musician, Cynic) born 1959 (age 50)
Diego Maradona (footballer) born 1960 (age 60)
Ennio Morricone (composer, orchestrator) born 1928 (age 91)
Juha Muje (actor, Raid) born 1950 (age 69)
Reed Mullin (musician, Corrosion of Conformity) born 1966 (age 53)
Ollie (Ricky Gervais' cat) (age 17)
Pertti Paasio (politician) born 1939 (age 81)
Sir Alan Parker (filmmaker, The Commitments, Angel Heart) born 1944 (age 76)
Neil Peart (musician, Rush) born 1952 (age 67)
Regis Philbin (TV host, Who Wants to Be a Millonaire?) born 1931 (age 88)
Kelly Preston (actress, Jerry Maguire) born 1962 (age 57)
Steve Priest (musician, Sweet) born 1948 (age 72)
Jason Rainey (musician, Sacred Reich) born 1967 (age 53)
James Randi (magician) born 1928 (age 92)
Carl Reiner (comedian) born 1922 (age 98)
Sean Reinert (musician, Cynic, Death) born 1971 (age 48)
Bill Riefin (musician, Ministry, R.E.M., King Crimson) born 1960 (age 59)
Kenny Rogers (country music legend) born 1938 (age 81)
Paolo Rossi (footballer) born 1956 (age 64)
Seppo Ruohonen (opera singer) born 1946 (age 73)
Jope Ruonansuu (actor, musician, humorist) born 1964 (age 56)
Vexi Salmi (music producer, lyricist) born 1942 (age 77)
Reni Santoni (actor, Dirty Harry, Seinfeld) born 1939 (age 81)
Jarno Sarkula (musician, Alamaailman Vasarat) born 1973 (age 47)
John Saxon (actor, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Tenebrae) born 1935 (age 84)
Florian Schneider (musician, Kraftwerk) born 1947 (age 73)
Joel Schumacher (director, Falling Down, Phone Booth) born 1939 (age 80)

John Shrapnel (actor, Gladiator) born 1942 (age 77)

Jerry Stiller (actor, Seinfeld) born 1927 (age 92)

Max von Sydow (actor, Det sjuunde inseglet, The Exorcist) born 1929 (age 90)

Linda Tripp (whistleblower) born 1949 (age 70)

Alberto Uderzo (creator and illustrator of Asterix) born 1927 (age 92)

Ritva Valkama (actress, Häpy Endkö?) born 1932 (age 87)

Seppo Vesterinen (A&R executive, Hanoi Rocks, HIM) born 1948 (age 71)

Pete Way (musician, UFO, Fastway) born 1951 (age 69)

Leslie West (musician, Mountain) born 1945 (age 75)

Kirsi Westerlund (Miss Finland) born 1970 (age 50)

Carlos Ruiz Zafon (author, El juego del ángel) born 1964 (age 55)