Category: Cinema

{mosimage}Director Markku Pölönen tells the story of a bohemian family that believes to be the descendents of the Romanov in Finland.

A finnish family that wanders around like gypsies, lost in memories and tales of other better past times, joined by a young guy who loses the memory, Samuli Vauramo, as Kasper. A family that is leaded by strong women, opposite to the brothers who do not seem to do anything more than drinking and spending the money with no sense.

Finnish director Markku Pölönen defends family values in a Finnish society that seems to be losing them too quickly at the present times.In any case, the action is slow during the first half of the movie, only spiced up by the moments when Kasper meets the young and pretty Kaisa (Sanna-Kaisa Palo) and it just start to become more interesting with the superb appearance of Peter Franzén as Laszlo, the black sheep of the family who has been travelling around Europe, and comes back to deceive the good feelings of the Kopeloinen family. He is probably the best of a film that tries to be deep but falls in the simplicity of the boredom too often. Unfortunately, for those of you who cannot understand Finnish, it can be difficult to follow since the DVD only counts with Swedish subtitles. 

Rate: 2/5.  

{mosimage}What is left when your life is torn into pieces by cruel and heartless people? Revenge. 

Director Neil Jordan (Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire) has been able to put together another solid movie with this Stranger in You (also known as The Brave One). It looks like the feeling of vengeance is getting very present in Hollywood industry, since it seems that there are rumors that also an American version of the Asian hit Simpathy for Ms. Vengeance will be shot soon, having Charlize Theron as its main star.

Here we find the always admirable Jodie Foster, that although not completing the best role of her life, looks solid as the tormented radio journalist who is cruelly beaten and suffers the loss of her fiancée in front of her eyes, finding the peace of mind only when pulling the trigger to get New York rid of some disturbing and not much friendly human beings. But the nicest surprise of the movie is undoubtedly the excellent work of Terrence Howard as the methodic detective whose morality is going to face a serious dilemma while getting more and more involved with Foster´s character. Howard looks convincing, tough but funny and friendly at the same time, and steals the show from Foster whenever they share sequences.There are some fluctuations in the storytelling that could have been improved. Not much space for secondary roles, turning the end the movie is just a “tëte a tëte” between the two main characters. It could have been much more dynamic with some interventions of other side characters like the female radio boss, the neighbor or the closest friend.

In any case, there are a couple of features that make the film quite unique and rule-breaker, and I like that feeling of challenging the mainstream trends in the industry. One is the end: polemic and surely not correct at all for many conservative watchers, but that is exactly the feature that makes it great. For once, it runs away from Hollywood´s formulas and shows a character that can break the law without paying the final prize. Secondly, it also breaks the taboo of interracial couples in Hollywood; Foster´s murdered boyfriend is Indian, and the detective (with some slight flirting going on) is black. A good combination for an actress publicly declared lesbian.

All in all, not a masterpiece, but entertaining and challenging enough to make you have a good time and reflect about some moral questions and the fairness of revenge after watching it.

Rating 3/5.

{mosimage}Guns, blood, millions of bullets flying around and… carrots!!?? A breathtaking action for a movie that takes the shooting scenes to a new level! 

Shoot ´em Up is just the perfect show for Clive Owen. After showing his skills as tough guy in Sin City, he comes back as the mysterious and lethal bulletproof “ bad ass” able to dispatch killers faster than eating carrots. Do not expect here a great drama or a huge developed plot. Dialogues just link action sequences, but what action sequences! All the best from shooting scenes in film history has been condensed (and mostly improved here).

And the main characters have also some sticky and funny lines, very according with the general relaxed atmosphere of a movie planned to entertain, not to reflect about. Monica Bellucci looks splendidly sensual (as always) and Paul Giamatti is quite convincing as the methodic leader of the organization trying to kill the innocent baby rescued by Mr. Smith.

Hundreds of different ways of watching a bad guy dying with a bullet inside any part of their bodies, slow motions purely “Made in Matrix”, a corrupted runner to the White House that gets what he deserves, teasing games with the guns,  one of the funniest torture scenes you can see lately (Tarantino and Roth can learn a bit for a hypothetic new Hostel´s film) and some splendid final credits are some of the good arguments of a film that will certainly entertain you for one hour and a half. And you can always learn a couple of new ways to use a carrot as a lethal weapon…

Rating 3/5.

{mosimage}Controversial director Michael Winterbottom is back with a film that narrates the real story of the kidnapping and assassination of journalist Danny Pearl in Pakistan. 

Winterbottom´s cinema is far from the mainstream productions. The director of films like the highly erotic 9 Songs or the highly surrealistic A Cock and Bull Story is very influenced by the military intervention of USA after the sad attacks of September 11th in his last two films: A Road to Guantanamo and this A Mighty Heart. The film focuses on the kidnapping of American Jewish journalist Danny Pearl, but the main star of the film will be the role reserved for his wife, Marian Pearl, incarnated by Angelina Jolie. Personally I find her too much overacting in the film.

I would have preferred some other real Latina actress for the role. Since the end of Danny Pearl´s sad story is well known for most of the people before and while watching the movie, the excitement about the final solution for the plot is, in this case, transformed on an attention and curiosity to observe how people can react to such extreme situation as facing the kidnapping of a beloved relative in a foreign country. For me, the best parts of the movie are when the Pakistani police captain (Irfan Khan) is in action through the never ending streets and suburbs of the city of Karachi, or when the investigation team is sitting around the table analyzing the twisted situation in Pakistan and its special and tense relation with neighboring India.In any case, being a journalist myself,

I cannot less than feel proud of those colleagues that risk their lives all over the world, far from home, in search of the truth and honest information. May Danny Pearl not be forgotten, but just settle a message of peace and understanding among different cultures. Winterbottom´s delivers that message, and the final scenes with the birth of Adam, Pearl´s baby, symbolize that there is always a new chance for a better future in this world.

Rating 3/5.

{mosimage}Vicenzo Amato and Charlotte Gainsbourg embarked in a tough trip from Sicily to USA in search of hope and a new better life. 

Italian director Emanuele Crialese has created a simple but beautiful story about strength, hope and the collapse of the new world symbolized by USA against the old World of the Italian immigrants that departed to America at the beginning of 20th century in search of a new world. Vicenzo Amato is Salvatore, a very poor Italian widow who is going to try his fortune leaving his native country and embarking with his peculiar family to the brave new world.  In his way he will meet Charlotte Gainsbourg, and English lady who will put the cosmopolitan touch to the group of immigrants.The journey is slow, and boring at some times. But Amato´s and Gainsbourg ´s acting skills stand out, and when they share the planes, you find the best of the movie. A plot especially interesting for the Italian and American public that surely can see now on big screen a real story made by their grandparents decades ago. 

In the middle of the poverty and the hard conditions, there is time for solidarity and love, but also for the stupidity of the rules and examinations awaiting the tired immigrants after the hard journey. A situation that can be extrapolated to the present days, when it seems that the world is more and more divided between first and second class citizens, depending on the place of destination. Maybe the Finnish watchers can take some wise advice from Crialese´s film and think twice about their tough and not much flexible immigration policy. At the end, just as the main characters, we are just foreigners swimming in the middle of a milky sea, trying to reach land, in hope of a better life.

Rating 3/5  

{mosimage}A beautiful fantasy tale with a lot of love, humor, and one of the sexiest witches of film history: Michelle Pfeiffer.

I must recognize that I have a special weakness for fantasy tales. It can be Lord of the Rings, Labyrinth…etc. Saying so, I have to say that Stardust is probably the movie that I enjoyed the most in cinema theaters during last year. Saying so, I cannot less than praise this DVD edition.

The cast is superb, with the nice surprise of Charlie Cox as Tristan, and the always beautiful and angelical presence of Claire Danes, who really looks like coming from a star. But the show is stolen by the most veteran stars: Michelle Pfeiffer who looks deliciously sexy in her comeback to the big screen, repeating role as a witch 20 years after making the life impossible to Jack Nicholson in The Witches of Eastwick, and Robert de Niro who explodes again his comical side with a really hilarious role as the homosexual pirate captain of a ship that sails across the space. He is probably the best in the whole movie, and that is to say a lot, since there are many good features to highlight in Vaughn´s film.

The script is great, landscapes are astonishing, the magic atmosphere is credible, and the secondary character´s list is impressive and make the story dynamic, as the evil brothers (with Rupert Everett there included) that one after another become special guests of the story as ghosts , the always incredible Peter O´Toole as the dying king,  or  Siena Miller as the beautiful girl to whom Tristan promised love in first term make a rounded movie, that can be enjoyed every minute of it for 2 hours. Run and get it, since it will be one of the releases of the year 2008 in DVD!

Rate: 5/5. 

{mosimage}The last dream from Disney, coming from the privileged minds of Pixar guys, is about good food and a little rat. 

R

atatouille is about mixing the possible and the impossible: a rat, an animal that has provoked for centuries repulsion, being the king of the high cuisine in Paris, the city with reputation of hosting the best chefs in the world.

 There, our little friend Remy, who has a great developed sense of smell, and a predilection for creating new and amazing plates that can challenge  him, will help young and unskilled Linguini to cook not only some of the best food in the city, but also the receipt of love with job mate Colette.

There, our little friend Remy, who has a great developed sense of smell, and a predilection for creating new and amazing plates that can challenge  him, will help young and unskilled Linguini to cook not only some of the best food in the city, but also the receipt of love with job mate Colette.

The genial people of Pixar makes once more an innovative and outstanding animation movie where we are given advice to follow our dreams until the last consequences, no matters how difficult they can seem. Technically, the film is outstanding: the rat moves like a rat, but also has a very human side. The design of Paris is magnificent, in contrast with the darkness of the under face where the pack of rats habit, and the work in the kitchen is meticulously copied and reflected. As the final note to put a perfect end to the action, the voice of Peter O´Toole lent to the character of Ego, a critic that will be finally touched by a food made with love and care.

Excellent work by director Brad Bird, who is also behind of other excellent Pixar products such as The Incredibles. Animation movies are in excellent shape, overwhelming many times in terms of quality the normal movies. Let´s see what is the next exciting thing that the guys from Pixar can bring us after this excellent gift!

Rate 4/5

{mosimage}The story of legendary Finnish rocker Remu Aaltonen and his band: The Hurriganes, that remains one of the most important music phenomena in Finnish history.

Ganes is interesting to watch for both Finnish and foreign audience. For the first ones, it is an approach to one of the biggest rock and roll bands of the country with many winks to Finnish culture. For the later, it is an excellent way of knowing how Finland was, especially Helsinki area (and the neighborhood of Pohjois-Haaga, where I lived myself during half a year), almost four decades ago.

The picture of the film is excellent and you can really feel embedded in the atmosphere of the 70s. Legendary venues like Vanha or Tavastia that are still the temples of music in Finland, are portrayed here, following the first steps and struggles of The Hurriganes in their way to success. However, this film focuses mainly in the character of Remu Aaltonen, a young and disturbed guy, with never ending problems against authority and police that will find his vocation in rock scene.

Eero Milonoff completes an excellent performance (taking into account that the guy did not know anything about music before facing this role) as Remu, but I miss some more interaction with secondary characters. The other members of the band or of his own family (Tommi Korpela as the drunkard father is excellent in the few minutes that he is allowed to appear on scene) are poorly portrayed. And the music takes for too long a secondary role along most of the movie against the relation between Remu and justice.

In any case, the film is solid, the script is good enough to have some excellent and exciting moments, like the final arrival of the ferry to Helsinki and the police checking, and all in all, the best is that it provides an excellent choice to rediscover the music of The Hurriganes.

Rating 3/5.

{mosimage}The film narrates the twisted relationship between Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick, who became an icon of glamour during the 60s.

Finding out before watching the DVD that Guy Pearce was in the movie as Andy Warhol, I must honestly admit that I had great expectations, since I am a great fan of his work since I watched Memento, one of my all times favorites movies. And I still had fresh in the memory the sensuality of Sienna Miller who had appeared recently in Stardust. So after all that, I could not feel less than disappointed after the end of the movie with the poor depiction of the characters. The actors make a decent work of interpretation, but the script is poor and does not catch the essence of the characters. Andy Warhol does not look like a genius, but just like a clown, and Edie´s sensuality and glamour is erased during half of the movie with a too much overwhelming focus on her drug addiction. Funnily, at the end the best of the movie turned to see Hayden Christensen playing brilliantly the musician that has an affair with Edie (Bob Dylan…!?).  This was the first role of the young actor after the new Star Wars trilogy, and apart from his deserved fame as the new Hollywood heartbreaker, he shows that he can really deliver a good acting performance.

The narrative of the film uses cliché after cliché: the typical images of New York, the typical walks around Central Park, etc., but in the end the characters are not substantially developed, and we do not feel identified with any of them; it's a waste, in spite of the promising cast.
Unless you are a Warhol´s super fan, you do not miss much with this film. The Factory, in this occasion, has failed in creating a new piece of art.

Rating 2/5.
 

{mosimage}Critically praised and highly award Petri Kotwica’s drama is released on DVD.

At the time of its theatrical release last autumn, Black Ice (Musta Jää) was acclaimed by critics. Since then, the film has received several international awards and most recently the film was honored with six Jussi awards (the Finnish Oscars), including Best Director, Best Film and Best Script and Best Actress. With such a hype, I was very intrigued and really eager to watch this film. Fortunately, I was not disappointed.

Many might say that Black Ice is a typically (depressing) Finnish movie. Indeed, a not so funny plot takes places in a freezing and snowy Helsinki and it is a calm and restrained storytelling. But the core and the theme of the story are quite universal: in short, Black Ice tells the story of a woman and her relation with her husband and her husband’s lover. This effect is increased by the way the city is portrayed. We see Helsinki on the screen but we don’t really recognize its streets. It could be any other city.

The film is magnificiently directed by Petri Kotwica, who portrait the dark and corrupted relationship between the three characters with a beautiful photography of blue and cold tones.

The script is addictive and in spite of the tragedy or the extreme turns of the plot, the film is convincing and solid. It avoids the easy drama. Outi Mäenpää’s acting is outstanding and it really helps making the story real.

Black Ice, now easily available for the non Finnish speakers thanks to the English subtitles included on the DVD, is one of those stories that offer strong characters and a solid dilema that will remain in our minds days after we finish watching the movie. How far can we go because of jealousy?

Rating 5/5

{mosimage}“Sex, death and freedom” is the motto of this crazy film that pays homage to Russ Meyer’s style.

If not long time ago we reviewed the last book of Juho Juntunen:  Paholaisen Morsian, in the same line we could place this Pervert! from American  director Jonathan Yudis, or what is the same: sex, tits, blood and a lot of fun!

Filmed with a very low budget, the film is quite entertaining, overall during the first third, when the presence of porn star Mary Carey makes the story totally amusing and crazy (not mentioning the presence of her voluptuous curves). Later, with the appearance of the so called: “the pervert” and the animated scenes, the film loses a bit of punch, but it still has some good moments like in every intervention of the director himself, Jonathan Yudis, as an exhilarating crazy Nazi gay mechanic.

In any case, the best part of the acting goes to Darrell Sandeen, who is able to complete a great role as the sexually and "artistically" active old father of the main character. Another good feature is the length of the film, just 1 hour and 20 minutes, because it could have certainly turned a bit boring if it had lasted longer. Nevertheless the plot follows a similar dynamic all the time: new girl that goes with the father, with too high carnal instincts, the son getting seduced…and blood spilled.

A good effort and guaranteed laughs for this Pervert! It is good and healthy to have this kind of B movies from time to time bringing a touch of fresh air against  the big productions.

Director: Jonathan Yudis
Cast: Mary Carey, Sean Andrews, Darrell Sanden, Juliette Clarke, Jonathan Yudis

Rating 3/5

{mosimage}Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart are a sensual couple of chefs sharing the same kitchen… and a couple of tips about the flavours of good food and good love.

Love in the kitchen is trendy in Hollywood. You can check it out in an animated film like Ratatouille or here, in No Reservations (in Finnish the title is Rakkauden resepti) by director Scott Hicks, featuring the always sensual welsh Catherine Zeta-Jones as a dedicated chef totally concentrated and even obsessed on his work in the kitchen, with no other private life. But some happenings are going to transform radically her life. The sudden death of her sister in a car accident that makes her being in custody of her nephew Zoe (Abigail Breslin, the girl in Little Miss Sunshine) and the entrance in the kitchen of a new chef with a particular style and charm “made in Italy”: Aaron Eckhart. Chemistry works pretty well between the couple, but nevertheless the plot is too obvious and there is hardly any time for surprises: Fights, falling in love, reconciliations… all is too predictable. The best parts maybe come when little Abigail Breslin is into scene and both characters try to gain her sympathy. The relation with the little girl has even more punch that the love relation between the main characters, and brings a bit of rhythm to the film.

A good story for the lovers of good cuisine and romantic stories cooked inside the kitchen, but do not expect any big surprise here.

Rating 3/5

{mosimage}Hostel was one of the nicest surprises in the horror and gore movies genre during last year. Now director Eli Roth tries to repeat the formula again.

It seems that Tarantino appears lately in every film project bathed with blood. This time is not about crazy drivers terrorizing young ladies on the wheel, but with an active collaboration in the script of the second part of Hostel, a film that revitalized the horror movies genre, applauded by millions of cinema fans and not so beloved in Slovakia whose reputation does not exactly “shine” when you end up watching these films (remember other close examples like Borat and Kazakhstan…).

But the surprise element is missed this time, and the movie turns to be boring and predictable. One of the most significant changes is that this time the main characters are girls instead of the boys of the first movie. The cast is decent, with the three American girls perfectly counter partnered by the two male sadistic businessmen, but the trick of swinging the personalities of the bad guys when the blood is spilled is nothing new and not surprising at all anymore. A couple of visually shocking moments save the action, like the unforgettable scene with the naked woman receiving her bath of blood, or the cannibal Italian police officer tasting carefully one human leg while his poor owner screams in horrible pain, but apart from that, do not expect anything extraordinary. Even the sensuality (and sexuality) of the first part has decreased here, except for the always splendid view of the sensual Vera Jordanova.

The only issue that can keep on ringing inside your mind is “Can a place like this really exists in real life?” We hope not, but in any case, watch out if you meet a guy with an Elite Hunting tattoo in a train towards Central Europe…

Director: Eli Roth

Cast: Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips, Vera Jordanova, Roger Bart, Richard Burgi

Rating 2/5