A fine line between clever and offensive

They founded National Lampoon - Douglas Kenney and Henry Beard - a humor magazine that spawned films, radio, live theatre and books. A true comedy empire. Funny shit, but as often the greatest comedians carry the heaviest insecurities and unhealthy appetites.

Last push in the trenches

A reasonably good war movie, but not such a fucking masterpiece that is hyped pretty much everywhere. Based on Väinö Linna's novel The Unknown Soldier (1954) and it's already preceded by two adaptations before. Visually alright, but needlessly jittery and yo-yoing story-telling and below average acting performances, except for Eero Aho, who did damn well.

The sense of health and wellbeing

Not only is this a pretty good movie of three siblings running a vineyard, it also lets know of the brilliant craft of winemaking. There's a litte drama sprinkled here and there for cinematic measures, but I'd done well without.

A surgeon never kills a patient

Surgeon and his family have themselves a stalker. The surgeon's deceased patient's son is a hideous pain in the ass. It's kind of Cape Fear allover again, but for better and for worse, they spawn the story with weirder tone. There's too much left unexplained, it's all too unbelievable and surreal to deserve a classic or cult status, now or in the future.

Never trust a junkie

It ain't that invigorating to watch anarchist junkies' life. But what makes this special is Gary Oldman's performance as Sid Vicious. He probably has the finest and most versatile acting career I can think of, from the bass play or Sex Pistols, to Count Dracula, Lee Harvey Oswald and Winston Churchill. Haven't seen him performing poorly yet, pure gold everywhere.

They even have their own choir

Didn't make much of anything of this. A dark comedy, directed by George Clooney who is influnced by the Coen Brothers who are influenced by Alfred Hitchcock. Looks nice, but never ignites and go with the flow. In short, the story involves two lovers messing around with an insurance scam and contract killers in 50s all-white suburban community.

Her husband is fucking my mother and is looking for his son who is my father

A truly capticating time travel thingy set in small town of Winden, Germany, in the years 2019, 1986 and 1953. In 33 year cycles, there's people missing, riddles to solve, black holes appearing, the butterfly effect, all the time bending craziness. Sometimes I paused and contemplated the scenarios and possible outcomes to hell and back, sometimes to no avail, but it still makes a great fucking mystery. Almost hilariously thought-provoking shit.

Back in the shit

After 19 years, IRA is back in action, causing havoc and terror in London. Bomb goes off, killing 12 people, the 'true' IRA claims responsibility, British Counter Terrorism Command and Irish government (former IRA and Sinn Féin lads) are on their toes. And so is the father of one of the deceased. The bereaving father is no other than Chinaman Quan who takes matters into his own hands. A bit cliched, not at all believable story, Jackie Chan in superimposed role showing his trademark martial art tricks one more time, however Pierce Brosnan excels as the former IRA liuetenant.

The chariot of the sun

Jason Clarke makes a great nazi. He's tall and robost with jaws of steel and chins that could kill. In The Man with the Iron Heart he's Reinhard Heydrich, an officer with a nazi résumé that puts everyone else in shame, in the killing jews business, as the main architect in the Holocaust, he was the most meticulous one, really mathematical and systematical in his approach. Because the nazi regime reigned supreme in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland and in the Baltic, the dude had many enemies and they all wanted him dead. The movie is quite nicely divided into two parts; The SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich and his rise to power, and his enemies, people in the Czech Resistance.

Glimpse the eternal

I rarely choose to see really old movies. It's a bit odd watching something where everything you see is now dead. In Frank Capra's Lost Horizon (1937) there's a plane crash and the survivors end up in Shangri La, an idyllic valley located high in the mountains of Tibet. The Shangri La people seem suspiciously happy particularly because they are led by the cultlike figure High Lama. For the fuck of it, I read a few reviews and lots of people deem the movie a classic, to some it's the best movie they've ever seen. Either they haven't seen that many movies or, more likely, I have a shit taste.

Like thunder through the skull

Supposedly the first Finnish superhero movie. Much like Punisher, Daredevil or Batman, the masked avenger from Mikkeli, Grendel, eliminates people from criminal organizations and vanishes into the shadows. The movie has been received badly, a few brave or bribed critics have given 4-star reviews, but mostly it's bombed with ridicule. I understand the criticism, it by no means is a proper film, reeks of amateurism. But I kinda like the clumsy and not-so-serious approach because it was damn funny at times. Hopefully they will go on with the project, make sequels, I'd even write an own movie of Rendel's nemesis Rotikka (excellent Rami Rusinen), he was a funny fucker.

Bullet always tells the truth

Sad to see him go so early, Tony Scott (1944 - 2012). Liked his directing style a lot. There's a whole lots of good things happening in Man on Fire. First off, the chemistry between Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning equals to anything in lead roles in the movies you've seen. Tony Scott masterfully builds up tension in the story, tightroping between quiet and loud moments, pummeling his trademark visual fireworks, exploding into amazing action.

Mere data makes a man

I understand why Blade Runner 2049 is loved by so many, but just as well I understand why some people can't stand it. It is pretentious in its artistry and the purposefully slow and boring tempo can get to your nerves. There's strange beauty in the bleak Blade Runner world and at the same time it's just frustratingly tiresome. Every once in a while I noticed myself thinking that the dystopian shit looks nice, but two scenes later I contemplated of ripping the DVD apart.

In the safety of holy fear

Maybe the most ridiculous thing I've seen all year. There's some kind of alien invasion on the way and Batman is putting together a team with special abilities. This special fight team (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash) is then up against the supervillain Darkstein and his handy assistant Steppenwolf whose agenda is retrieve three Mother Boxes hidden in the Planet Earth. As far as the movies go, The DC Comics characters are effectively losing to their Marvel counterpars.

Wolves don't kill unlucky deer

Elizabeth Olsen is far from convincing as an FBI agent. She's like a deer in the headlights whenever she utters a line. And it's not only that, the writers go overboard as well, even if the movie is tagged 'inspired by actual event' (worst possible tagline for a movie). In short, a Native American woman is murdered and police reinforced by a professional hunter are into the case. Makes a terribly average movie.

A collective consciousness

For some reason it took me ages to finish the season 2, I just treasured it there and watched the episodes in an annoyingly slow pace. I decided to finish the last four episodes at one go and once again was thoroughly impressed. One of the greatest series out there.

Heart is just a muscle

Journalist Alex's (Kate Winslet) and doctor Ben's (Idris Elba) plane crashes in the middle of High Uintas wilderness. The rescue never arriving they have to figure out how to survive and escape the harsh conditions. It would have been an average survival movie, but the love story they had to stuck there is pretty thick and laughable.

Enough magic out there in the moonlight

Recently I saw a comedian (can't remember who) saying in an interview that Field of Dreams is the best American movie ever made. That's why I had to see it. Released in 1989, starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster. It's a story of a farmer who hears a voice that he has to build a baseball field. So they guy destroys his perfectly productive cornfield, builds the baseball field and - lo and behold - it's soon occupied by a teamful of deceased players. A lovely little fantasy thing.

Death's kiss

There's no two ways about it, this is a very bad movie. If a story lacks logic, I reckon that's the worst thing there is. Fucking half of the movie is two people trapped inside a fucking tent and they can't escape because there's a snake in there as well.