Hiding from the world

Joy is a bright young woman full of ideas and inventions, but somehow she can't move on with her life. Can blame her; an ex-husband who wants to be the next Tom Jones living in the basement of her house with her dad (also divorced), two kids, grandmother and a TV-addict mother. After the family dysfunctions out of the way, we concentrated on selling a self-drying mop. What the heck, this was close to brilliant. Superb people, Jennifer Lawrence as a stubborn inventor excels, DeNiro his usual cool as a father, even Bradley Cooper as the head of Kmart, all the others too. A bit different thing overall, outstandingly well put together. Can't believe it really, emotional movie of selling mops business.

Funky buzz

In the heat of space race, NASA wants to beat Russia in the quest to conquer the moon, so they send a producer to England to meet up movie director Stanley Kubrick to fake the moon landing mission. Problem is, they don't find the right Kubrick. A fine idea alright, cool specs for an offbeat comedy, a tad away from greatness in fact, but it was ridden with useless bullshit as well.

Holy fucking brains

In some kind of freak reality, humans and vampires and zombies coexist in more or less habitable harmony. Until aliens arrive. Three students (human-vampire-zombie -triplet) try to outsmart the full-on alien apocalypse. This is a wild horror comedy that holds absolutely no barriers.

The massacre at Sioux Falls

1979 Minnesota. Fargo-based German family Gerhardt are dealing with an ultimatum given by the Kansas mafia. At the same time, there's a mass murder and the prime suspect has vanished into thin air. It's almost too much to handle for the god-fearing simple folks of Luverne, but luckily the sheriff department of this small city is more adequate than no-one dared to imagine. It's Fargo season 2 and there's nothing quite like it, I watched it through during the course of couple of nights and fucking loved every minute of it. Amazing soundtrack to boot.

Wishful tunes filled the air

The rise and fall of Love Records, the somewhat rebellious underground recording label in Finland that in the 70s had the courage to swim against the current by producing music that was different, daring and radical to the conservative Finnish music industry, sort of musicians' own stable not approved by an elitist inner circle. I know a bit about music and this was - even though set in fictive terms - an educative piece, altho as a film it hardly gave anything because Finnish movie industry doesn't quite know how to make vintage.

Green inferno

A blast from the past. I remembered just a few memorable scenes of this "cult classic", mostly involving animal cruelty and cannibalism. Pretty powerful sickening stuff.

Tricky waters to navigate

Lots of good things going in Will Farrell comedies, lots of laughs, but they've never really made a proper full-lenght feature film yet. It's like a stand-up show heavily emphasized on the performance of one person only. Mark Wahlberg here as a sidekick to uphold dialogue.

Deathless reality

A group of film students are trying to crack a mystery generated by a cult leader and the mass suicide orchestrated by him. People like Jessica Alba and Thomas Jane tarnishing their career in this pretentious force-fed horror boredom. Based on their performance, that's what they rightly deserve.

The citrus war

An elderly Estonian has stayed behind enemy lines to harvest his tangerines. Stuck in between Georgian and Abkhazian war in 1992, he ends up nursing two wounded soldiers on both sides. They have fought crazy wars the ordinary people in the Caucasus region, essentially brothers against brothers, and this movie cuts a very clear image of it, one of those heartfelt pieces you feel in your gut.

Twisted fairytale horseshit

Good old fantasy horror set around Christmas time and spirit where a couple of families are up against a terrifying goatlike figure Krampus and his minions. Cooks up a rather entertaining tale demolishing all the traditional x-mas myths and beliefs. From the German folklore I assume.

Shepard protecting the flock

Johann Georg Elser, a German dissident whose attempt to blow up Adolf Hitler to kingdom come failed. Going through a thorough Gestapo interrogation ain't picnic, but he was steadfast not betraying his friends and suspected allies. German productions that delve into the nazi past are always somewhat special.

The shadow of the fir forests

They say cops and other officers of the law would make the best criminals because they know the ins and outs of the criminal underworld. Based on a true story, a bit loco French gendarmarie is seeking comfort in the serial killing business. It's a mindblowing and utterly brutal series of event what - evidently - happened. Known as Next Time I'll Aim For The Heart.

Lötjönen and Törrönen

A movie of making a movie. A Finnish comedy produced in 1969 put together by a team that set the tone for Finnish humour for few decades straight. They weren't known for overly intellectual or challenging comedy, critics hated them for that, but the simple folk of Finland loved 'em to death. Pohjantähteet is easily one of their greatest efforts yet, sadly, it's one of the least known ones.

Down into the sewer

The infamous Kray brothers were known to me by name only. They were ruthless gangsters and overall hooligans in the East End London criminal underworld in the 60s. How much is translated truthfully here is a mystery, but it's a bloody cool cinema and Tom Hardy's double role as both Reggie and Ron is a powerful presence of its own.

Building up the anticipation

Evan (Keanu Reeves) is an architect who - when wife and kids are away - lets two young girls into their home and things get a bit weird. I have never liked any of Eli Roth's movies, don't understand why is he allowed to produce such uninspired and unoriginal pieces the first place. This - his take on something like Funny Games - is one of his shittiest one yet. And Keanu Reeves takes his one dimensionality on a whole new level.

Pain is international

The title says it all. German Angst consists of three German short films that all are unpleasantly sadistic. Better than the commercialized torture horror that was a hot topic in Hollywood couple of years ago.

Chimney is on fire

Herman Melville wants to hear a story so he can utilize it building his next novel Moby Dick, thence an elderly seaman (Brendan Gleeson) tells a story of whalers. There were lots of - seemingly beautiful - scenes in the open sea, altho I reckon they were all generated in the safety of indoors studios. Looks terribly flat and stupid, kills away all the entertainment and adventure.

Not good at dying

What a wonderful take on the Scandinavian stubbornness. Rolf Lassgård is Ove who wants to end his days after losing his wife and job, but after coming across a cat and a mixed-race family, things take a little lighter note. This little Swedish movie reminds us all that the common good and goodwill of people makes the life on earth so much better.

Built by bailing out winners

I reckon, I haven't seen a movie of the real estate business before. Be it as it may, but Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon both do excellent job portraying a couple of bamboozling dickheads robbing people out of their homes.

Lords of the Yangtze

Published in 1987, yet I haven't seen it before. It's a decent war movie, but perhaps it's better remembered as Christian Bale's march into fame. He was a young lad back then, still steals everything in the film.