Exploring the female’s strength from behind the camera

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Assisting to the recent Tampere Film Festival was director Petri Kotwica. Do not get mistaken by the Polish surname; Kotwica is 100% Finnish, and he happens to be the great winner in the past Jussi awards ceremony (the Oscars of the Finnish Film Industry). He got the awards for best director, best script and best film and his film Musta Jää (Black Ice) was also awarded for having the best soundtrack. Before going back to gather with the rest of the jury members for choosing the festival winners, he had time for a nice talk with FREE! Magazine. 

Musta Jää was the huge winner in the last Jussi Awards, so I suppose you must feel really satisfied with it. How long did it take to put all the film together?

Well, of course when you receive a prize, you cannot less than be very happy. The film took me about six years. I was not working on it all the time. In the middle I made another movie.

What was your motivation for creating such a script?

Well, I think that at some point I had messed my own personal life. Well of course nothing that happened in the film really happened to me but I started to think about what would happen if I changed the perspective of it and would take the point of view of the women.

And certainly in the film the women´s characters are the strongest ones. Was it difficult for you to direct women in such strong leading roles?

Yes, that took extra time… to create the emotional aspects, you know. I had to spend time on discussions with women. There is a long tradition in having female characters in the leading roles, but usually the scripts are written from the male point of view. So those films are done by men, directed by men, etc. I think that I would be happy to see more films from the female´s point of view

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I heard that your next film will feature also women as main characters. Is that true?

Actually it will change order a bit and won´t be my next one. My next one will be about young people who are playing too much computer games…  We will start shooting it in February-March.

In Musta Jää, you counted for the soundtrack with the collaboration of Eicca Toppinen, one of the members of Apocalyptica. Are you a fan of the band?

Yes, I got in contact with him because my motivation was to have very contradictory music: I wanted very traditional music but at the same time containing some disturbing elements and I had always found those features in Apocalyptica. I follow a lot of rock music.

In Musta Jää appears a German character in a small role. What is your general opinion about the integration of foreigners in Finland?

Well, that was requested by the German co-producers when signing the contract. In any case, I love that part about integration. I think the more the relation we have with foreigners, the more we learn. I am a very peaceful person, and you know that you do not want to have a fight with people you know. That is the aspect I like in globalization. Economical aspects are more complicated…

In my native country, Spain, we have had for many years this “Almodovar´s effect” in cinema industry, so seemed like there was no life after him. Is something like that happening in Finland with Kaurismäki´s fame?

Well, I was just in Berlin Film Festival and the first question everybody made was always “what do you think about Kaurismäki” but well, it is ok. It is important that now other films start to be known outside Finland.

 

 

"It is the first time that Hollywood shows interest in making a remake of a Finnish movie"

Petri Kotwica – Film Director {mosimage}

 

I can see some common features in recent Finnish movies like the mentioned Musta Jää, Valkoinen Kaupunki or Suden Vuosi.: Helsinki portrayed as a cold dark city, twisted love triangles, relations of young girls with older men who belong to academic world… Do you think that the same than in music, people talk about “Finnish melancholia”, is there a Finnish style in making movies?

I think so, yeah. Well I must say I have not seen Suden Vuosi although I know there is an older professor also there. In any case, I tried with my drama to show something a little bit different.

Is there anything you want to share with our readers?

Actually I wanted to comment you that there are some offers to make a remake film of Musta Jää in English language. It has never happened to a Finnish film before. The offers came from Hollywood. They contacted the production company, but well, for the moment it is only a speculation, not confirmed at all.

If you could choose, what English speaking actresses would you like to see in that version?

Well, I would like to see some strong female characters like Susan Sarandon or Sigourney Weaver. Before that they contacted us also from Russia and South Korea. Actually South Koreans producers were offering straight away to buy the rights and make a remake during last Berlin festival, of course in Korean language. I was thinking… “whaaaaat!!!???".

Photos: Eduardo Alonso.

I now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry

{mosimage}What happens when you have to take the relation with your best friend to a new level? 

Adam Sandler is, together with Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell, the golden boy of the American comedy for adults nowadays. Together with Kevin James, he offers here a deliciously funny performance as Larry, a fireman and well known gigolo who will have to return the favor of having his life saved by his best friend in a very special way: getting married with Chuck so the insurance can cover his children after the death of his previous wife. 

Added to the couple, the presence of a very sexy lawyer, Jessica Biel, who is going to turn Larry´s mind totally crazy, and the hardest inspector of the city of NY trying to discover if they are a fake gay couple, impersonated by no other than Steve Buscemi.

Apart from the unavoidable funny situations, the movie becomes also a scream for the respect of election of everyone; friendship taken until the last consequences, even if that means to go to jail, and braveness to be natural against a much closed minded society. A good plot, and as a highlight, an exhilarating scene in the showers of the firemen´s brigade, with huge Ving Rhames putting the cherry on top of the cake. It will certainly entertain you!

Rate 4/5.

2 Days in Paris

{mosimage}Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg are not having exactly a romantic stay in the French capital. 

Relations are never easy, and cross-cultural relations add even a bit more of complication to the issue. Marion and Jack (Delpy and Goldberg) are heading to Paris with big expectations, but life is not always as easy as fairytales. Condensed in just a couple of days, both actors are going to give a good display of the problems that every couple has to face nowadays: jealousy against old relations, patience for the manias of the other, sex not always working as great as both would expect, the problems of communications with the in-laws, etc…

The idea is promising, and some moments of the film are certainly good, like the lunch with Delpy´s parents (who happen to be the actress ´real parents) or the night party where Jack feels so overwhelmed by Marion´s ex boyfriends. But all in all, in general dialogues lack of that touch of sharpness to be remembered, and the sense of humor is quite poor all over the film.

Stereotypes about French and Americans overflow the film, and it is just in the end, with Delpy´s off voice reflecting about relationships melting with images of the fight in her room and others of happiness in the streets of Paris, when the essence of the film can be fully caught. With a sharper script it could have been deliver a much better final movie, but in the end, the product is boring.

Rate 2/5.

Kometa – A strange Revelation

{mosimage}Second album by the guys from Helsinki: Kometa. 

The three-piece band from the Finnish capital features their second studio album: A Strange Revelation, after releasing in 2005 their debut record Like a Light Bulb.

The band is well known and experienced in the Finnish music scene, having played in hundreds of venues here, including some big festivals, and having also visited other foreign countries such as Germany or Estonia. That experience gets transformed into maturity and consistency in an album that surprises all over the 11 tracks. From the starting guitar riffs of Jet Pack to the final song that is named after the album´s title,

Kometa achieves something lacked by many Finnish bands: a personal style. Rock with guts and a feeling of assisting to a controlled sloppiness while playing that for some moments can remind you of The White Stripes in songs like Holy Spirit or Quit.

They will be playing during March and April in the biggest Finnish cities, and surely it is a band worthy to check on live.

Rate: 4/5

Stam1na – Raja

{mosimage} “Hyrde”, “Pexi”, Kaikka” and “Kake” are the four members of Stam1na, one of the most interesting metal bands in Finland nowadays. are the four members of Stam1na, one of the most interesting metal bands in Finland nowadays. 

Raja is the third studio album of a band that shows a lot of “sisu” not only in their names. After signing with Sakara records in 2004, all the critics have been favorable to a band that, far from the usual shyness of the Finnish society, is quite pompous on and off stage.

Lyrics in Finnish that combine speed metal with progressive rock, all under the control of the powerful voice of the vocalist Antti “Hyrde” Hyynynen. It is not just by chance that they are currently sharing stages around Europe with that big Finnish phenomenon called Apocalyptica.

Raja has only 10 tracks, but diverse enough not to have the feeling that the album is too short or too monotonous. Metal riffs close to Kotiteollisuus in a song like Kädet vasten lasia, a drum on fire in the initial tracks Hammasratas and Susi-ihminen or heavier guitar riffs in Vartijaton makes the album one of the most interesting compositions released in the extremely rich Finnish metal scene of the last months.

 It would be interesting to see if in the future they would jump to sing lyrics in English too. 

Rate 4/5.

51 Koodia – Mustat Sydämet

{mosimage}Looks like the Finnish Winter left some black hearts in Joensuu. 

51 Koodia has been around since 2002. After Nimetty and Rautaiset Linnut, they release a new studio album, being their most ambitious project so far. It has been recorded in the legendary Finnvox studios in Helsinki and the promo photographs have been taken by Ville Juurikkala, the photographer or the Finnish rock stars. With so many good ingredients to create a good cocktail, the only thing left is that music answers to the high expectations.

And certainly the quality of the sound is pretty good. Pete, Om, Jutte and Hannu achieve a square work of good rock/pop with the unavoidable doses of Finnish melancholia in the lyrics. Vocal skills are pretty decent and the compositions sound catchy and rocky enough, like in the romantic Toivomus  or in Mustat Sydämet.

Nevertheless, the band will face the usual problems of these kind of works: the limits of singing in Finnish language, and a soft rock style that will delight a fair amount of female fans, but will make them difficult to become more mainstream in a saturated market. Just a good album of Finnish pop-rock, but do not expect big surprises here.

Rate 3/4

Turbonegro gigs cancelled – guitarist fallen seriously ill

CONCERT NEWS The Finnish gigs by Norwegian 'homoerotic death punk band' Turbonegro have been cancelled after the group’s guitarist Euroboy fell seriously ill. Also the rest of the group’s Volcom Tour has either been
cancelled or will be rescheduled. U.S. bands Valient Thorr and Year Long Disaster, the other acts scheduled to perform during the tour, won’t be coming to Finland either.

Turbonegro have so far not publicly given any details as to what  Euroboy is suffering from other than that it’s a ‘serious illness’. [full statement below]

At this stage there is nothing certain about any future replacement dates. Ticket holders can return their tickets for the gigs on April
7th at Tampere’s Pakkahuone or April 8th at Nosturi in Helsinki to
Tiketti or Lippupalvelu ticket outlets, depending on where they bought
them.

The band have released the following statement:


Dear All,

Due to serious illness with Euroboy, Turbonegro will be unable to perform on the forthcoming European Volcom tour.

We will work on rescheduling the dates to some point later in the year.

Euroboy has asked that we relay to you that he is very sorry that he's unable to do the dates, and looks forward to seeing everyone later in the year, when he is well again.

We'll do our very best to keep everyone updated as to how he is doing, but would ask that his privacy is respected at this time.

Turbonegro


Earlier this month [8.3.2008], Turbonegro announced that it had asked drummer Chris Summers to resign from the band, after he had been absent for six months “due to a damaged foot, personal priorities and a focus on other projects”. He  was officially replaced by former The Yum Yums and The Wonderfools drummer Tomas ‘Caddy’ Dahl, who had been filling in for Summers at 60 gigs already.

Related:

Album review: Turbonegro – Retox


Turbonegro: Official website | MySpace

Volcom [Volcom Entertainment]

Valient Thorr: Official website | MySpace
Year Long Disaster: Official website | MySpace

Tomas Dahl: MySpace

Hellslaughter prefers to look onwards

More than one metal fan can think that Johan Edlund is a kind of “enfant terrible” in the death metal music scene; a musician with a reputation of being able to change the sound, the band members or even his own vocal registers with every new Tiamat´s album in the search of new musical achievements. However, the person who salutes me on the phone from Greece sounds relaxed, friendly and pretty talkative (for being Swedish…). Tiamat is releasing pretty soon their new studio album Amanethes and there is a lot of curiosity surrounding every Edlund´s new project. I talk to him from Finland during half an hour, and the feeling is that we could go on chatting for a whole night if we would be sitting in a bar with some booze in the middle. 

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How long have you lived in Greece, Johan?

I have lived for 3 years. My girlfriend is from here, and I like it pretty much. I live in Thessaloniki.

The hot topic surrounding Tiamat nowadays is the incoming release of your new studio album Amanethes. Can you tell us a bit more about the recording process?

It has been very relaxed, quite straightforward album. We are not so connected with the music scene nowadays or with the new bands, so we just try to make the music that we like, out of what others want us to do or what the record companies want us to do.

Usually Tiamat was a band that had no problem in releasing a new album every 2-3 years maximum, but it has been 5 years since the release of your last one: Prey (2003). Why such a long waiting?

Well, there were many things going on with the band. I moved several times, I was living in Germany and then I moved to Greece, and we had other family issues. As well, it seems that when we are not teenagers anymore, when we grow up, the time is passing by faster!

Do you have any favorite track from the new album or do you love all your new babies equally?

I do not really can pinpoint just one. After mixing it and finishing I listened to the whole album a lot of times, in different environments and music equipments, to check how it sounds. But for me, now it is kind of “old material” since the songs were made some time ago, even when it is not yet released. I am already thinking about new songs…

So it is kind of “when it is done, it is done, and better to look at the future”?

Yes, exactly. It is like when you pay taxes, for example. You pay every year different ones so you cannot keep looking back at what you paid in the past.

Uhhh…  Taxes are a sticky topic here in Finland… hehehe

Yes, well of course creating songs is a much nicer activity than paying taxes!

You released in 2005 the excellent DVD The Church of Tiamat, which was recorded in Poland. Why the decision to do it just in that country?

Well, we always had a special relation with Poland. For example, it was the first country where Tiamat went to play outside Sweden. So it was kind of normal for us to continue the relation with the country.

I see that you used Greek language in the title of the song Katarraktis Apo Aima (literally translated as A Waterfall of Blood) Can you speak Greek?

No, only some few words. It is a very difficult language! Same than Finnish. And you, can you speak Finnish? 

Well, I have lived here for 5 years, so more or less I can communicate, but it is very difficult too. I am far from speaking it perfectly. Do you speak Finnish? Because there is a big Finnish speaking population in Sweden, and many Swedish have Finnish ancestors.

No, but I have been in Finland many times. And I know that in Finland a lot of people speak Swedish

Yeah, they have a Swedish speaking minority and it is compulsory to study it at schools. I knew that during the recording of Prey you were working with it in Finnvox studios here in Finland

Yes, I spent 3 weeks there. I also visited a city called Oulu, but most of the time I was in Helsinki. It is a city that I like very much!

I have also heard that you are a great football fan, so I suppose it must be something special to live the atmosphere of football in Greece, where they are so passionate!

Yeah, actually I was last Saturday in a match. They really live it with passion! It is a bit crazy. This summer Sweden is playing against Greece, and I am used to display the Swedish flag on my balcony and shout a lot during the matches. But let´s see… I think my neighbors are going to hate me…

This time maybe you will have to keep a low profile there…

Yeah, well, fortunately maybe I will be in Sweden at the time of the match! hehehe

Many fans of the band, no matters in what way you innovate in the following albums, always compare every new  Tiamat´s release to Wildhoney (1994), that has been kind of the most successful album for the group so far. Do you feel any kind of pressure with these comparisons?

No, not really.  I mean, I am very happy that we did Wildhoney. I think that it is a great album, and I certainly know that has influenced many bands later. But we just do what we feel that it is ok to do. I do not have any problem feeling pressure.

You have your parallel project, a band called Lucyfire. Will there be anything coming up for 2008?

There were rumors about a second album being released soon…I worked a bit on it during 2007, but then we were busy with Tiamat´s projects. So I don´t know, we will have to see about it. It depends on the time.

 

 

"I would love to go to play to Finland on summer, if we would be invited!" Johan Edlund – Tiamat

 

 

The title of the first (and so far unique) Lucyfire´s album is This Dolllar Saved My Life at Whitehorse.  Do you have any kind of item that you carry always with you to give you good luck?

Yes, actually I have my own silver dollar. After the release of the album, with the first money we earned from it, I went to this kind of shop where they sell coins and stamps and I got one. I always have it with me in my pocket since then.

And you have managed not to spend it in booze!

No, no! I am quite a superstitious person actually when it comes to these kinds of things…

And you have also collaborated in one album with Arjen Lucassen´s and his Ayreon projects. He has released a new one a few weeks ago, but you are not in this new one.

Yes, it was nice to collaborate with him. He wanted other members of Tiamat playing also in the project, but at the end we could not make it happen.

By the way, maybe many of your fans who are searching for Tiamat information can feel a bit surprised because of your official website is not currently working. What happened with it?

We have had some problems with the domain, but hopefully it will be running again pretty soon, with the same name that had before.

Do you have any kind of idea of how the touring season will be for summer?

We have only 3 gigs confirmed so far. We are not even sure yet what are the places where the album is going to be released, so once that it is in the market I think that it will be easy to plan where to go.

Do you have anything confirmed in Finland?

No, actually we have never been invited to summer festivals in Finland, and it is a pity because I have heard that they are pretty good. I actually would love to go there to play with Tiamat, if we would be invited! 

Yes, actually there are many and with a great quality for such a relatively small country. We will try to spread the word because I am sure the audience here would love to have you coming. There is a wide musical culture in Finland. It would be nice to see you playing here this summer! So if any Finnish promoter is reading these lines, you already know! Tiamat has a new album and its leader, Johan Edlund, is more than willing to come to Finland, so this would be an excellent chance to see one of best kicking ass Swedish bands playing here after the snow melts! 

iRonica – Consequences

{mosimage}I am not sure that Ironica – no, wait, iRonica – is that entire smart name for a band.

Of course, the world is full of good bands with crappy names, but still, I find it somewhat hard to look at this Finnish five-piece’s debut album without fearing the worst. Luckily, the record is better than what the band name suggests.           

It would be fitting to describe iRonica’s music as power metal with female vocals. Having a female lead singer in a metal band hasn’t been a new concept in years, but luckily, iRonica are not another Nightwish copy band. The band’s fast-paced, very melodic metal is performed solidly and with conviction. They are not the most original band around, but they clearly have their place in the local music scene.           

The focal points of iRonica are guitarist/songwriter Ville Nepal and singer Elina Iron, who both handle their respective fields well. The song writing is sharp, although there are some less-exciting tracks as well, and Iron is quite different from standard female metal vocalists. Her vocal sound is kind of dirty, and she sounds genuinely angry. The other musicians handle their respective fields well, also, although some cheesy synth sounds and drum fills appear.           

The kind of metal that iRonica plays is not really my cup of tea, but I have to admit they are good at what they do. Despite the name. 

Rate: 3/5 

Kauko Röyhkä & Riku Mattila

{mosimage}Kauko Röyhkä, the (somewhat) unsung genius of Finnish rock music, makes an interesting and unexpected career move.

Kauko gets reunited with his old collaborator, guitarist Riku Mattila, who used to play in his band in the beginning of eighties, when both of them were just starting out. Since then, Mattila has played with many other Finnish musicians and become a respected producer, whereas Röyhkä has continued his career as an artist and an author.           

Despite being a good songwriter and one of the best Finnish lyricists ever, Röyhkä has always been a bit uneven artist. However, he has made good records during all the years, and with Mattila, he sounds better than in a long time. Somehow it looks like these two guys can really bring the best out of each other.            

There are plenty of good songs. The album opener Helvetti is surprisingly dark and melancholy for a Kauko Röyhkä track, but it works. Odotetaan kultaista laivaa is a much more positive, relaxed piece with brilliant lyrics and an equally brilliant guitar solo by Mattila. And the album closing epic Välitila shows that nobody can put a short story to music better than Kauko Röyhkä.           

The overall mood of the album is very loose and easy-going, like one could expect – Röyhkä and Mattila have nothing to prove to anybody. That this record has been the biggest commercial success of Kauko Röyhkä’s career is at first surprising, but in the end, it feels very logical. After all, this is a huge artistic success as well. 

Rate: 4/5 

Drunken lullabies

In the early nineties, guitar player Dennis Casey moved from his hometown Rochester, NY to Los Angeles. Inspired by classic punk rock bands like The Clash, Dead Kennedys and Sex Pistols, and impressed with newcomers like Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Casey searched for bands and gigs to make a professional career playing guitar. What he could not guess then is that 15 years later he would get involved with Irish music and tour the world with the most successful Irish punk band of the moment: Flogging Molly. To celebrate the release of the band’s latest album, Float, FREE! Magazine called Dennis Casey while on tour in Florida.

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How is the tour going so far?
Great! Every show has been sold out so far. We have some new songs and the audience is getting to know these songs. The album is also getting some radio airplay already. So far so good!

Dubliner Dave King formed Flogging Molly in Los Angeles in 1997, when he gathered a bunch of musicians and start playing every week at the Molly Malone’s pub. The seven-piece band evolve a characteristic sound that blends sharp punk guitars with accordions, fiddles, mandolins and banjos. It’s The Dubliners meet Johnny Cash. The live shows of Flogging Molly are intense and festive. Every member of the audience cannot help dancing to the band’s “drunken lullabies”. The Finnish audience knows it well. Flogging Molly have played in Finland very often in the last couple of years. In May the band is playing at Tavastia in Helsinki twice. The tickets for the first show were sold in just a few hours and a new date was added. A couple of months later, Flogging Molly will return to play at the Ruisrock festival in Turku.

Some reviews speak of Float, like it is a mature album for the band. Are you getting softer and old?
No, not at all. The album is as hard as the others. It’s been four years since our previous studio album and the band grew, but Float rocks as the others.

How different is Float from the previous albums?
The main difference is that it was completely recorded in Ireland. We stayed there around one year in three different periods of time. We got together, close to each other. We lived in the same house, then went to the studio and the pub to have some pints. Four years since Within a Mile from Home seems like a long time. Why did the new album take so long?
We wanted to have some time to release the live album / dvd Whiskey on a Sunday. Besides that, we kept on touring. We were busy.

In Within a Mile from Home, you recorded a great duet with Lucinda Williams (Factory Girls). How did this collaboration happen?
Dave wrote that song and it is very biographical, about his mother. He thought that it would be great to have a female singer on it. He believed it would relate very well to the theme of the song. We dropped some names and Lucinda Williams came up. We got in contact with her, but we had no hopes that she would accept. But surprisingly she liked the idea and the song. We did it and it was great.

Who was your first guitar hero and how did you decide to start playing guitar?
My parents were always playing Elvis stuff and Sun records artists. Then I got a guitar and that became my only hobby. I just wanted to play guitar and that’s the only thing I wanted to do.

When you arrived in LA, did you get into the sleazy hard rock scene?
Not really. I first liked all the classic punk rock bands, but when I arrived in LA , I listened to the Chili Peppers and Nirvana and I thought “wow, this is the shit”. But I tried to play whenever I could, whatever I could.

I bet you didn’t imagine that you would play in a band like Flogging Molly.
No way! I would never have said that I would play Irish music. That comes from Dave, he’s originally from Dublin. I have never thought I would play something like this or get this popular. This is no other band doing this.

Flogging Molly is really popular in Finland. What memories do you have of the country?
Finns are the craziest people I’ve seen. Very energetic people. I remember the first night we were there, we went out to some pubs and everybody was crazy. People were drunk all around. And there were many pretty girls too. Great memories.

What can we expect of the upcoming shows?
We have a new set of songs and we’ll be just as hard and as energetic as usual. We’ll give it all on stage. We are playing two nights there, so we’ll play some different songs.

Astrid Swan – Spartan Picnic

{mosimage}After Poverina, the Finnish artist releases her second studio album. 

Compared to other female singers such as Kate Bush or Tori Amos, Astrid Swan is undoubtedly one of the most “exportable” Finnish singers, out of the heavy metal scene. Having released simultaneously her debut album in USA and Finland, and having toured in the new Continent quite often, there is no doubt that Astrid´s career is lead to perform in more places than just the relatively tiny Finnish market.

I must recognize that first time I heard this Spartan Picnic, I did not like it at all. The rhythms were too commercial, but after giving it a new chance, I started to like more Astrid´s vocal skills. Songs like This Could be Mother´s Milk or For Those Who Drown will make you move your feet and give a very positive vibe, while some others as Continents can make you appreciate Astrid´s quality as a singer while intonating a slow tempo ballad.

Still, if I have to compare her with other Finnish artists closely linked to America as Janita, I still prefer the later one. Not a bad album thought, but it will take some time to catch the fully taste.

Rate 3/5.

Norther – N

{mosimage}Norther is a Finnish band founded in 2000, with Petri Lindroos as vocalist (previously he sang in Ensiferum)

The band features their fifth album “N” after leaving Spinefarm and signing with Century Media, company with whom was released some months ago the EP No Way Back. This new N has stepped into the Finnish charts quite powerfully, reaching the number 5.

Previously in 2007 they were touring around Europe, including a gig in the German festival Wacken, and they have also seen their formation reinforced with the drummer Heikki Saari. The band has a more melodic sound that others like Turisas or Moonsorrow, and Lindroos can exhibit his excellent vocal skills. Back vocals are good in tracks like To Hell (that for some moments can remind you of Crematory), good guitar riffs and a consistently hammering drum, although my favorite song in the album is one of the “Softest” ones: If You Go.

Norther has been able to make a difference inside the huge Finnish metal panorama. A mature work of a band able to offer a wide amount of variety in their compositions. Pretty recommendable.

Rate 4/5.

The Kingdom

{mosimage}Saudi Arabia is the destiny of a group of FBI agents leaded by Jamie Foxx on pursuit of islamic terrorists. 

The Kingdom has positive and negative features almost on equal quantities. The film is certainly thrilling and has some amazingly shocking visual moments, like the terrorists attacks at the beginning. The acting skills of Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper are certainly excellent, but we cannot say the same of Jennifer Garner, in a role too big for her. She does not look plausible as a tough F.B.I. agent in the middle of Middle East.

Director Peter Berg achieves a film that makes you catch your breath during most of the action, but on the other hand the final message sounds too much like old American propaganda from Bush administration, where the best solution is to kill all the terrorists quickly and efficiently.

It looks also that the new rule in Hollywood is to show the collaborative side of the native security forces, something that we saw not so long time ago in A Mighty Heart with the Pakistani  police helping in the case, and now it is repeated with the role of colonel Faris (Ali Suliman).Maybe when USA, including their cinema industry, realizes that the world is not all black or white, we will have a better future. Meanwhile, get entertained with The Kingdom and try not to take it too politically serious. 

Rate 3/5

Negative – In The Eye of the Hurricane

{mosimage}The glam band from Tampere features their first DVD, recorded in their hometown. 

Negative has step by step been able to get a place in the hearts of, not only the Finnish bands, but also an increasing international audience. Without being revolutionary, but drinking directly from the glam bands of the eighties and showing the correct attitude on stage, Negative is nowadays one of the most successful Finnish rock bands. Added to this, his vocalist, Jonne Aaron, is a charismatic front man beloved by the female fans (if not, just watch out the first rows of the concert in Pakkahuone, literally crowded by young girls) with a kind of fragile beauty similar to a young Sebastian Bach. Together with the other 5 components, they release a great doses of glam and AOR in Pakkahuone, the legendary concert venue in Tampere. Nothing better than releasing their first official DVD in their hometown, and you can feel that the band is happy to be there. Good chemistry on stage, with the members having fun and sometimes recording directly with video cameras all what is happening on the stage.

Apart from the almost 2 hours of concert, where anthems like The Moment of Our Love, In Memoriam or Frozen to Lose it All could not be left behind, the DVD includes also a second cd with a lot of extra material: 5 music videos, an Interview with Negative, a documentary of the band touring around the world and some videos recorded by the fans. 

A praising effort to make the fans happy and eager to pursue the DVD. If you like hard rock and glam from the eighties, and you admire bands like Guns & Roses, the earlier Bon Jovi or Skid Row, surely you will be delighted watching In the Eye of the Hurricane. 

Rate 4/5.