Author: Antonio Díaz

Categories
Cinema DVD

The Heartbreak Kid

{mosimage}Ben Stiller is a bachelor reaching his forties, afraid of compromising too much. When he finally decides to get married, nothing will turn as he expected…

Looks like the Farrelly brothers have something against blondes. If some years ago they shocked the world putting a big of sperm on the hair of Cameron Diaz, now it is the turn of Malin Akerman (who looks alike Cameron…) losing all her sensuality day after day after getting married with Eddie Cantrow (Ben Stiller).  The couple will live a crazy honeymoon in a hotel resort in México where a third woman will step in the middle of the relation, Miranda (Michelle Monaghan).

Although Farrelly´s are refraining themselves from other previous shocking (and sometimes disgusting but nevertheless very funny) gags, the movie still has the irreverent touch “made in Farrelly”. Akerman is one of the nicest surprises of the last year, being able to change totally the register from the blonde sex bomb that every teenager would wish to have to a hatred wife destroying every piece of loving spirit during the honeymoon.

Stiller has nothing to prove, being one of the kings of the comedy during the past decade, and the film really goes smoothly because the chemistry of Stiller with both women works. The extras as Uncle Tito or Boo back up the plot perfectly, and there is even space to make fun of the many Americans who go to spend holidays to México (special mention to the scene of Stiller trying to cross the border as if he would be one wetback more).

Resuming, the movie is funny and counts with a nice surprising final twist, so you will get what you ll pay for: a couple of hours of Farrelly´s sense of humor applied to love relations.  Ay, loves…love…love…

Rating 4/5.

Categories
Interviews Music

27 Years at the forefront of industrial music


Einstürzende Neubauten (translated from German means something like “Collapsing New Buildings”) is a legendary industrial music German band that has always been able to renew themselves in these almost 3 decades of existence. They are currently on tour and will visit Helsinki pretty soon at the end of April. A piece of European music history still alive and kicking!

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Berlin now and then

In fact, the historical changes have played an important role when shaping the career of the band: The fall of the Berlin wall was a turning point in the member´s lives. Alex Hacke, who joined to the 3 original band members, Blixa Bargeld, N.U. Unruh and FM Einheit, some few years after their appearance, tells us more about his personal vision of what is going on in the German capital nowadays:

“I am still based in Berlin, but it turns out, that I spend the main part of the year everywhere else, which is good because obviously the place has changed to the extent where it is fair to say that the spirit, which once possessed this city has forever departed, to put it mildly. Certainly, West-Berlin was a special place, but it doesn’t exist anymore. Where there was room and artistic headroom resides now the government of this country and where there was intuition and rebellion rules now the struggle of survival and competition”.

But if a great part of the bohemian spirit is getting lost, is music still able to inspire and excite the minds of the listeners?

“Of course! I like all kinds of styles and genres and better still it is to combine a choice of them. To me it is all about friction. 1 + 1 = 3. It’s that third kind of music I’d like to create” affirms Alex.

A straight relation band-supporters

The band has recently released his new album Alles Wieder Offen (“All Open Again”), and once more, there is space for a committed and risky tone in tunes like Nagorny Karabach, a line that is not new at all, since the Germans have always been very politically active in their lyrics, like in their previous work Armenia (1983). Innovation is their way of life. Years ago they recorded albums just using pieces of garbage picked from the streets, but this time the change comes when we talk about producing the album. There is no record company behind the creative process, and the album is just founded by the fans themselves, who paid even before the album is completed. On exchange, they have a much more active role giving feedback and advice to the band members via Internet. 

“To have an immediate response to the music we create is the most stimulating aspect of working in this set-up. It’s very much like playing a show with an audience in attendance. Besides that we just do what we choose to do, but we are able to tell when we are going astray, because at that point the attention of the supporters will quickly fade. What I like about this album is that for the first time it seems to deal with us, as a group of individuals, who spent the major part of their lives together. And it does that in a very intimate and loving manner. If you open yourself to that extend and let your guard down all the way, you certainly put yourself in a rather fragile position” explains Alex.

There is also time for a more relaxed and lascivious tone in their music, like in the new track “Let´s do it dada”. Simply love for Marinetti´s artistic movement? Hacke discovers the meaning behind it:“DADA is a French slang- or children-word, which means rocking-horse. It is also position in sexual intercourse, where one person is lying on its back, while another is straddling the former and therefore riding him like a horse…”

Einstürzende Neubauten will visit Finland on April 24th, playing at Tavastia club in the capital, Helsinki. If you want to listen to one of the bands that have defined the industrial music in the European scene, do not miss them!

www.neubauten.org
www.tavastiaklubi.fi

Categories
Cinema Interviews

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.

Categories
Cinema DVD

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.

Categories
Cinema DVD

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.

Categories
Albums Music

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

Categories
Albums Music

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.

Categories
Albums Music

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

Categories
Interviews Music

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! 

Categories
Albums Music

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.

Categories
Albums Music

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.

Categories
Cinema DVD

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

Categories
Cinema DVD

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.

Categories
Cinema DVD

Elizabeth – The Golden Age

{mosimage}English Queen Elizabeth´s life is once more taken to cinema, again being Cate Blanchett the one responsible to impersonate her. 

It is difficult for me, being native Spanish, to give an objective opinion about the historical facts of the film. Obviously, the point of view is pretty pro-English, portraying the Spanish as dark people dressed in black and behaving like catholic zealots (which in part could be true). Nevertheless, what the English ships did against the Spanish float that traveled to America cannot be less than considered as simply piracy. In any case, good to see Jordi Mollá in the role of King Phillip the II of Spain. Every time he is given a minor role in a big super production, he knows how to show some classy actor´s skills. Hopefully he will get soon or later the big chance he deserves.

This movie do not have the astonishing battle scenes or thrilling action of some others, but nevertheless the strong point is to see the life in the English court, and the triangle of love among Cate Blanchett as the queen, Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh and Abbie Cornish as the sensual Queen´s maid, all of it observed by Geoffrey Rush.

Owen and Blanchett are enjoying a sweet moment in their careers, and the good chemistry when they share some sequences is the best of the movie. Forget other details like the unnecessary speech of the Queen to the troops before facing the Spanish Armada (why lately every historical movie must have a speech before a battle? "Braveheart´s effect" does not always work the same…) and enjoy the struggle of a powerful couple between their passions and dreams, and the love for their country and their compulsory duties.

Rate 3/5.  

Categories
Albums Music

Herra Ylppö & Ihmiset – Sata Vuotta

{mosimage}The front man of Finnish band Maj Karma is in good company with the debut album of his new Project.

Mr. Ylppö, who apart from being the singer of Finnish successful metal band Maj Karma works also as graphic designer, gets surrounded by talented people in the first album of Herra Ylppö & Ihmiset: Iranian-Finnish  Hamid Moeini on the guitar, Jami Westergärd who is also a theatre actor on the bass, Jukka Kröger on the drums and Janne Halmkrona, the guitarist of CMX, as special guest.

The band is currently on tour around Finland, so you can have a taste of the project on live. The sound is not as powerful as Maj Karma´s one, but still you can find the special mysticism of Ylppö´s lyrics in the work. My favorite tracks is the homonymous to the album title, Sata Vuotta, and Kleopatra, where you can get totally caught by the special voice of Herra Ylppö, but some other songs are very interesting as well, as the one called Porno, raw, sexy and straight like if we would be listening Kotiteollisuus, and one of the “heaviest” of the record.

In my opinion, one of the best Finnish albums of the last months.

Rate 4/5.