Man in the jar

An emotionally charged story of a construction worker turned a basketball couch. His former life was ridden with booze and death and misery, so leading a Catholic high school team could be a welcome change. There's lots of sadness, with little glimpses of hope, and the film deals with the emotions comfortably enough. Ben Affleck in one of his better roles.

Allsång på Skansen

Just a while ago I read Miika Nousiainen's hilarious novel - Vadelmavenepakolainen (2007) - about a Finnish man who desperately wants to be Swedish. The movie is a wasted opportunity. Not only have they left most of the contents out, but they've just snipped the basic idea and cooked up the rest. Almost a completely different entity. And the result is close to terrible.

Where the lightning strikes

I decided to choose between two films from 2019 that I haven't seen before and that I kind of knew weren't going to make much of an impact. Nicolas Cage's Grand Isle or John Travolta's The Fanatic. Randomly picked up the former where, during a hurricane, a fence repairman gets stuck in the mansion of a rather batshit crazy couple and can't seem to figure out what to do. He just wants to survive the night. Completely embarrassing to everyone involved, me included.

On trial for thoughts

Chicago 7 were a group of American activists/anarchists and they were on trial for several things including conspiracy and inciting a riot. They did amazingly well with the legal drama, some of the best courtroom sequences ever witnessed. It's both funny and shocking. Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, the social activist, and Mark Rylance as William Kunstler, the lawyer defending the Chigaco Seven, particularly stood out.

What's the point ending up dead?

After 29 years things are falling apart for Grace (Annette Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy). Edward has found someone else. But can he just walk away, disappear into a new life? They have a son who, albeit unwillingly, is joining in as a mediator and a messenger boy between the parents. A hopelessly decent relationship drama set in a picturesque coastal town. Nothing remarkable anywhere except that it's always a pleasure watching Bill Nighy's somewhat inconspicuous and leisurely acting.

It's like riding a bike

Four young women steal professional diving equipment and enter an underwater cave for fun. Their stupidity deserves to die because shit like getting trapped in the cave with a great white shark and running out of fucking oxygen might happen. B-movie horror full of claustrophobic panic and hysterical screams, but that's all.

Voices from a starless domain

It's just awfully disgusting and disturbing. Chris Watts cold-bloodedly murders his wife, unborn baby and two little daughters, aged three and five. Left a stinking feeling in my stomach that will linger there for days. A true life documentary and a true testimony to the evil that men do.

Tip of the pentacle

A James Bond movie directed by John Glen in 1983, starring Roger Moore as the agent 007, Maud Adams as the Bond girl Octopussy, Robert Brown 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 Louis Jordan as Kamal Khan, the main antagonist. The opening theme "All Time High" sung by Rita Coolidge. A story of illegal jewellery trade is quickly escalated into a threat of nuclear war, but luckily James Bond is awfully good at sniffing out the perpetrators.