Thursday, June 30, 2022

Night of the spitting worms

British guys, comic book and sci-fi geeks Graeme and Clive (Simon Pegg & Nick Frost), meet a real alien Paul and they have a wonderful time together driving through the heartland America in an RV. Too bad the Feds are out to get them though. A rather amusing comedy and a buddy movie.

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Friends until the end

Two lads get kidnapped. The other one escapes, but instead of running and calling for help he bravely but foolishy decides to go back to help his friend. His stupidity doesn't end there. Far from it, but just about every character's logic has gone haywire, so it's not just him. A creepy little thing in its own right, but moronic shit beyond belief. Pretty good laugh though.

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Just a touch of diftong

The officers of the law in a small town somewhere in New Mexico want one of its citizens dead, so they hire a mysterious gunfighter (Yul Brynner) to do the job for them. Somehow though it seems that the hired killer isn't intend of doing what he's being paid. A moody and melodramatic western, but mediocre at best.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Egocentric little freak

Kenneth Branagh has done brilliantly with the two Agatha Christie adaptations and thus proven he's a great artist as a director, writer and actor. He's crafting his own genre of reminiscences of the past masters and utilizing everything that is new in the world of cinema. Of course Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile are backed by Agatha Christie's terrific murder mysteries, but Kenneth Branagh brought them back to life in stupendously beautiful manner.

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Choking on oatmeal

It's the same narrative as in his (Jonas Berghäll's) Miesten vuoro (Steam of Life) from 2010. A documentary of real life tragedies that are pretty heartbreaking to hear, but the film maker also added his personal problems (obesity, loneliness, exhaustion) in the mix. Back then Miesten vuoro took a chokehold, it was such a breath-taking depiction of the hardship of a common man that Miehiä ja poikia has quite a legacy to escape, but I reckon unheard harrowing stories never end.

Nightmares not to be believed

What was funny in 1988 necessarily ain't funny now. Someone or something like Monthy Python have proved their comedy stands the test of time. Charlie Chaplin as well. Mel Brooks perhaps. I bet Ricky Gervais will do as well. The 80s and early 1990s Hollywood comedy (either Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase or Tom Hanks's cuts) seems some a little naive now. But at the same time, it's - like The Great Outdoors - adorably good-spirited and sincere. Hardly makes you laugh though.

Monday, June 13, 2022

Both sides in the game

It seems Swedish officers made a terrible mistake 15 years ago and sent an innocent man to jail for of murdering a girl! Someone must go to the bottom of this, the police have to admit they've been all wrong and find the real culprit. Or are they wrong yet again and thus a laughing stock of whole Norrland's community. There have been two movies before and the season 1 as well - and it's still pretty fantastic.

Monday, June 06, 2022

History is not propaganda

Do we need yet another Adolf Hitler documentary? Apparently we do because there are still people trying to outhitler Hitler. Historians (Saul Friedländer, Richard Lenze) and authors (Martis Amis) and Holocaust deniers (David Irving) speak their mind, but it goes nowhere.

Friday, June 03, 2022

Make the most of it

I laughed out loud. And hard. Take a bow to this guy. It's vulgar yet intelligent, off-limits masterclass. A little reminder that you shouldn't take any shit seriously.

Descending winds from the mountainous shadows

After the final episode (Una tradición familiar), you realize you are going to miss the show, all these guys and all the action and excitement like hell. You had witnessed something so extraordinary in La Casa de papel's (Money Heist) 41 episodes that it left a lasting remark. You possibly dread that Hollywood will franchise and rape it to shit, but they should be intelligent enough to stay the hell out of its legacy. A brilliant series, I'm thankful.

They listen to toilet bowls these days

Four Finnish men, and a pig, celebrate Christmas in the middle of a summer. It includes male nudity, stiff drinks and an innovative makeshif...