Change Your Image
eatpajdittsvin-520-811150
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againDue to personal tastes I don't list any movies before the 1980s.
Reviews
Drive (2011)
Hard to make it better
After rewatching this movie for the fifth time I've come to realize Drive is among my favorite movies of all time, albeit a low key one, that the first time I watched it I didn't pay any particular attention.
Here are some reasons:
- It perfectly portrays falling in love, for me as an introvert. It takes me back in time to my 28s-31s when I was frantically searching for the woman of my life.
- It accurately portrays complete loyalty. You don't ever abandon the people you love, ever, no matter how dire the circumstances.
- The theme song (a real human bean/being) is just surreal, and the other music is great as well.
You don't need to love cars to love this movie, by the way. I'm as uninterested in cars as it gets but I find the action scenes riveting nonetheless.
Griselda (2024)
Enjoying it a bit so far but not the best out there
The writing here is formulaic. You can usually guess what's coming, it takes heavy queues from Narcos and stereotypical drug themes. There's the conventional drama of a supposedly straightforward success followed by failure followed by an even greater succeess, followed by failure, followed by success... in an evident cycle that dosn't surprise any longer.
Much like on Narcos, there are lots of lovely looking ladies on this show. The problem with this is, many criminals aren't pretty which adds another reason to why they struggled in life and became asocial. Look up the real Griselda for comparison.
Like Queen of the South, the show's writing at every corner is telling us how amazing & strong women are. Look, I don't disagree but maybe it's a bit much of a focus? I dream of a world where it is granted that men and women are equal and we don't constantly need to push how amazing one gender is in films.
Viggen Viggo (1955)
There is a duck. It grows up.
There is a duck. It grows up.
Jokes aside, this is a sweet story of a filmmaker and his wife taking care of a newly born tufted duck in 1950s Sweden on one of the islands in the archipelago east out of Stockholm. As with most animal documentaries, it is uncertain whether all of the depicted events did happen as told in the story, nontheless the overall timeline of events is accurate. If you like cute animals doing their thing, then chances are you will like this.
Worth seeing also because of its historic significance: this is among the first productions on Swedish television. The downside is the black and white format, but the material is nonetheless easy to follow and to appreciate (and I'm saying this as someone who usually dislikes black and white TV).
Gettysburg (1993)
One of the best battle portrayals there is
Much like another mammoth of a timeless classic "Lawrence of Arabia", "Gettysburg" opens a portal to another time (and for me as a European, place). I first watched Gettysburg when I was about ten years old, and I've carried a life long interest for the American Civil War's history since. It's that impactful.
If this movie has a weakness, it's that it will leave you with the enduring impression that the generals in this conflict, especially the Confederate ones, were all unconditionally nice guys whom you would have liked to have a beer with at your local pub. For comparison, no doubt there were times that Hitler was a really pleasant guy to be around for certain people, but it would evidently be extremely problematic to just portray that side of him. It's hard to say how else it could have been handled without straying from the purely military topic, but nonetheless it's why I subtract 1 star from the score. If you want a movie that dives head on into some of the more sinister aspects of the Civil War and does it well, see "Glory" (1989).
Inception (2010)
Overrated and somewhat boring, but with a creative story
This movie is:
Weird: While this is a fantasy, movie there is not much in the way of internal consistency, or much of anything making common sense.
Repetitive: Oh, look yet another action sequence with supposed figments of an imagination manifesting as a generic shoot out, of course with generic "dramatic" music pumping... I was watching with two friends, one of which literally fell asleep some time during the last third of the movie. This is my biggest criticism of the movie - the action sequences don't really feel like they matter.
Overrated: It was incredibly hyped up at the time of its release. Sadly, it meant my expectations were perhaps impossible to meet.
On the plus side, it is a creative story you likely haven't seen anywhere else.
Bachelor Party (1984)
Classic 80s silly fun
I watched Bachelor Party with my male friends for the first time in my late twenties, and it was a great fit for our age group. The movie is condensed silly raunchy fun and has some surprisingly clever jokes that keep on coming non-stop. There are so many worse variants of this type of movie out there, and I regard Bachelor Party as almost best in class.
I was surprised, but perhaps shouldn't be, to see the not too high IMDB rating. The rating probably reflects that you must enjoy the genre to enjoy this movie. Because of Tom Hanks's name and maybe additional factors, a lot of people who never could enjoy this genre have watched this movie, and rated it correspondingly.
Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010)
Unlike anything you've seen.
Certain slimmed down versions of Who Killed Captain Alex rank among the funniest comedy films I've seen in my life. The full length film unfortunately has some slow parts that drag down the otherwise immense comedy, probably because it was not intended to be a comedy categorically speaking.
Half the reason (or more) why this movie works as a comedy is the VJ - the Video Joker. It's clear that it's not his first time narrating a movie. This type of narration is practically unknown to western audiences, but it must be said it works really well. The straightforward sometimes to the point, sometimes nonsensical remarks ("I thought your wife is a goat???"), aided by the Ugandan accent brings forth the best in the material.
The budget for Who Killed Captain Alex, crucially, was really really low. Whereas a western super low budget film might get by with "just $10 000", this Wakaliwood production fit everything into $200. That meant the most simple of CGI was used, which actually is another major reason the result is so fun to watch. In part because nobody in western film making dares to use such crude CGI, which means that it's rather unique when applied here.
The funniest cuts of this movie unfortunately were deleted from Youtube at some point. Still, there are summaries of the best moments that are worth watching if you don't want to sit through the full length movie. Enjoy the ride!
The Others (2001)
A timeless ghost story, maybe the best one.
A great horror movie, if you can stomach the slow pace necessary to develop a ghost story without either gore or action, instead thriving on the eeriness of the unexplained rifts in the fabric of reality Nicole Kidman's character experiences. The characters are endearing and the setting timeless, so that this movie may well be watchable a century from now.
Unfortunately, it doesn't necessarily lend itself to additional viewings once the overarching secret is known after the first viewing. I've watched it two times but had to give up the third time - it is that reliant on the big twist revealed at the end. Oh, and if you guessed the outcome before the end, unlucky you.
The fact there happens to be at least one other well known film with a similar plot resolution doesn't make this movie bad, despite the allusions of some other reviewers. In fact, I would say The Others is the better movie, despite borrowing (intentionally or not).
Suspiria (2018)
Not a 'must watch'
I'm looking at this film on its own merits as I barely remember the original.
Despite prentensions not to, this movie goes hard for style over substance. Just some examples:
- There's a lot of corny dialogue that's supposedly deep at face value but doesn't really convey much of information.
- A lot of detail is put into placing the movie into a period theme relating to the Baader-Meinhof/RAF. However, absolutely nothing in the story meaningfully relates to that (not even Patricia's supposed associations is elaborated much upon), so it's as detached as can be.
Given the preceding points, it then becomes more important what transpires in the story. And on that count, there's a lot of young women dancing and women of various ages talking... like women. Lacking deeper meanings, that's all the movie really is.
I actually did like the horror connection to dancing and wish that more emphasis would have been put into detailing that, and more importantly, explaining the (for the story's universe) logic. Ultimately, the story did not seem very credible, as in lacking in internal logical consistence.
I concede that Dakota Johnson's backside looks nice on the move, so extra stars for that. Otherwise, visually speaking, the movie is perhaps somewhat drab on purpose.
Let me just leave off with the note that I applaud horror movies like this that are not just solely about killing. This one however falls flat in spite of its pretensions.
Nobody (2021)
Odenkirk the Action Hero... Better than it sounds
It was hard for me to figure out why I enjoyed this film despite its (to put it mildly) simple plot, driven by happenstances, as well as an overt reliance of plot armor, protecting the main character as he goes against impossible odds. After thinking hard about it, it's probably because the movie doesn't try to be more than it is, and the ideas conveyed in most scenes are, if certainly not novel, still fresh and expertly filmed. An unusual aspect is the subdued and almost introvert behaviors of Odenkirk's main character (reminiscent of e.g. Ryan Gosling in Drive).
The movie starts off as mildly realistic and then spirals into ever increasing violence and gore. I do think the last fight scene is over the top in most respects and maybe is the weakest part of the movie, but it still has a nice surprise in how it ends.
Queen of the South (2016)
In the Shadow of Narcos
It's unavoidable to compare a show like Queen of the South to the better known show Narcos, so that's what I will do.
'Queen' has a smaller regular cast than Narcos. So characters are frequently reused, i.e. Rather than anybody else in the world, by happenstance, it will be an already known character rushing in to help or fight.
On the whole, the script in Narcos is more complex. It's not just about the bigger cast, but also about realism.
For instance, quite a few of the core characters in 'Queen' unfortunately wear plot armor. It's not at a silly comedic level, but it's definitely enough to challenge the viewer's suspension of disbelief. Likewise, if someone has been tied up, it is more likely than not that they will manage to untie themselves before something bad happens to them.
I'm going to make a bold guess here, and it's that the writers' of Queen of the South primary experience of the narcotics business is watching shows like Narcos. I.e. Narcos is meticulously researched (if not always accurate), 'Queen' hasn't necessitated a similar level of research since it is closer to fiction.
Where this also comes on display is in how law enforcement is detailed. 'Queen' makes police work seem to be about opening fire at every opportunity. There's little need to investigate, "we have located where they are" or similar is the typical sub-plot.
I don't want to come off as bashing Queen of the South here. It has positives, as is well rounded over all. The twists and turns in the plots are almost too many, and will usually surprise you. The action can keep you on the edge of your seat if you've managed to turn the analytical part of your brain off first (e.g. To forget the plot armor).
This show quite evidently places a lot of emphasis on female actors. I'm not personally that fond of the lead actress Alice Braga who comes across to me as plain and ambiguous for the role, but I look past that. Veronica Falcón on the other hand is perfect in her role as a cartel leader. There are some other well casted actors and actresses as well.
So if you're in the mood for something not overly complex that is somewhat reminiscent of Narcos, Queen of the South may well fit your bill.
Note: At the time of writing, I'm halfways through the show (i.e. Half of S3). I think it's enough to fairly judge the aspects I've talked about.
Heat (1995)
Possibly the Most Memorable Movie of the 90s
If I'm asked to name one movie from the 90s, I will probably think of Heat. It is the essence of action films of the era, with some of that time's best actors at the top of their game.
The tension in the movie above all comes from the fact that you want both sides to succeed, as the characters almost become your friends. You are thus faced with the fact your own emotions being morally inappropriate - one side being bank robbers, after all. The movie also nicely illustrates how a few critical decisions at key turning points determine the fate of our lives.
Heat has aged well and is still an enjoyable watch in 2023, though it shall be said that the premise of robbing physical transports and banks of course has become mostly obsolete, with that kind of crime today occurring in cyberspace. Nonetheless, the recommendation cannot be any other than to go see it for yourself. It's not just nostalgia.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apocalypse Now is a weird movie
In all fairness, this film can certainly be exciting when watching for the first time (whether you're familiar with its inspiration Heart of Darkness or not), as the movie is all the way to the end filled with great suspense, but ultimately the film's ending does not deliver what the suspense promised, except weirdness.
This movie well illustrates why 'war movie' is such an ambiguous term. The Vietnam war is the backdrop, but barely any authentic military operations are depicted. The characters are caricatures and over the top.
To that effect, as a fan of more realistic war movies, I somehow ended up feeling a bit cheated about having spent my time watching Apocalypse Now. It is a piece of art, with many beautiful and haunting images, but it is not "a war movie" to the sense I would like that term to have.
The IMDB rating therefore is a bit high for my taste. Apocalypse is OK on a evening you're in the mood to deal with a complicated artsy movie, but it will leave more questions than it answers.
Seven Kings Must Die (2023)
Primarily for The Last Kingdom fans
I am on the fence about whether to recommend this movie to someone who has not followed The Last Kingdom series. The movie is absolutely choke full of past characters and locations that need to be rushed by in the roughly two hours available to the movie. Chances are you will be confused if not already familiar. The pacing is just too fast for me as a previous viewer as well, since what should be impactful situations can't be dwelled on very long.
The last battle scene is not even the best battle scene in the series in my opinion, highlighting the fact you're better off seeing the series first. On the positive side, I liked the ending which felt like a proper close to the series - compare that to the trainwreck which is Game of Throne's ending. So to conclude this movie is a must watch for a The Last Kingdom fan.
Taken (2008)
Straightforward revenge fantasy of bad guys getting what they deserve
There is a deus ex machina for almost every problem Liam Neeson's main character finds himself with unravelling his daughter's kidnapping: Most often, it's his 'past connections' (as a retired security professional) that enable him to solve issues promptly to proceed to the next clue.
Consequently, the movie becomes a tour of Liam Neeson beating up bad guys one after another without interruption. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as the action is well shot and certainly enjoyable for some brainless Saturday evening Netflix watching.
There is not much character development beyond the bare minimum to establish the main character's relation to his daughter. This keeps the movie tightly focused, but it can also be a bit irksome that every other character is throwaway afterthought. For instance, nobody appears to care the daughter's friend Amanda is dead at the end of the movie.
So, don't expect to be thinking for hours after watching this, because there plainly is not much to think about. It's simply entertaining seeing moral lowlifes getting wrecked, nothing more.
Troll (2022)
Godtrolla/Trollzilla
First half of the movie was passable. It helped that it took a decent amount of time for the troll to show. As is a well known phenomenon in the horror genre, the mind paints scarier pictures than artists can. Unfortunately, they eventually gave in and started to give the troll full screen space.
The second half of the movie devolves into a Godzilla (1998) rip-off, with way too many similarities. That would maybe have been fine if executed better, but the combination of bad execution (e.g, the military acts stupid on every occasion as a plot driver) and the feel of having seen the movie before wasn't good.
To be sure, there were some interesting ideas, even in the latter half. The Norwegian royal castle being built above the "halls of the mountain king" is one. It's unfortunate that this wasn't delved into deeper (no pun intended), and was highly underutilized.
Something that bothered me was "hacking" yet again appearing as a plot device, represented as something that can be accomplished by a nerd in a few minutes on high security network. It's getting incredibly cliche at this point.
While at cliches, most characters fall into one or another stereotype we've all seen before, often by making stupid caricatural decisions. Since the film lean towards a humorous tone it's not all bad, but nonetheless the cartoonish characters become emotionally disengaging; I don't care about the most stupid prime minister or general in Scandinavian history. Dialogue is rarely convincing in the same vein.
Ultimately, the troll's motivations are not sufficiently explored, nor does the conclusion seem very satisfying. I was happy I had watched the movie (and double happy my girlfriend somewhat enjoyed it) but it's not something I will watch a second time.
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Two decades later: This is THE War Movie
This is a near flawless movie that takes an objective view of the events in Somalia that day in question. While the movie mainly portrays the American side, we are given ample exposition of the Somalis fighting, and can therefore sympathize with their fates as much as with the Americans'. As for flawless, this is especially in how brilliantly this movie is shot, with what to date is probably among the most gripping action sequences in any movie ever. If you're a young person that have an interest in educating yourself about the horrors of war through movies, this movie should be on the top of your watch list.
Hercules in New York (1970)
Scores highly on So Bad It's Good scale
Arnold Schwarznegger (whom you've heard about) and Arnold Stang (whom you probably haven't heard about) is certainly among the most (unintentionally?) funny comedy duos in film history... Stang manages the most awfully hilarious facial expressions while Schwarznegger has none at all in this early stage of his acting career, giving the no brains only muscle stereotype a (false) play here.
Other highlights:
- THE BEAR vs ARNOLD
- An incredibly annoying music loop on repeat throughout the film.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
Needed more variation in action sequences
...given that the movie is entirely a long list of action sequences, the lack of variation is a bad thing. Non-stop shooting and melee without enough creativity where the protagonist wears plot armor simply gets tiresome.
A side note, I had a somewhat similar detached feeling for a somewhat shorter duration while watching Inception (a vastly better movie with a strong plot) when antagonists "in a dream in a dream in a dream" were attacking with firearms for the N'th time where I had stopped counting N.
The derivation of the said verdict is not obvious given that I liked John Wick I and II. Sure, the plots have mostly been nonsense but the creative carnage made John Wick worth watching. Style over substance, in a good way. Even so, the plots of I and II were more engaging to me, subjective as it is.
Don't get me wrong, Parabellum isn't horrible, but it's a disappointment. The next entry of the franchise needs to be better.
Orgazmo (1997)
Among the best of Trey Parker's work
I consider this one of the absolutely funniest movies I have ever seen (at age 34). It is however incredibly divisive and a movie you either love or hate, which the IMDB rating reflects. There simply are many people that won't find the subject matter funny and there's nothing wrong with that.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020)
Not a home run
Unlike the first Borat movie (and his appearance in Ali G before that) this Borat movie rarely manages to drive big points home. If I had to guess, it's partly because of the (ironically probably more thought through) script making it seem less genuine, relying too much on pure shock (ala Bruno), or simply being victim of measuring up to the past success of Borat.
I think Sacha Baron Cohen's recent Who Is America is honestly a much better watch if you're interested in contemporary American politics and society. Borat: Subsquent Moviefilm simply doesn't manage to show us much that's worth remembering a week, a month, or a year from now (despite being linked to the election). I had a good time watching it with the family though and had more than a few laughs, so I will rate it mid way as such.
Gagarin. Pervyy v kosmose (2013)
Tame movie by international standards
The flight happens almost immediately, and is interspersed by (what seems mostly like random and sometimes irrelevant) flashbacks from Gagarin's life and training, plus the rare simultaneous scenes elsewhere. The writing fails to convey any problems of note during the flight or its briefly shown preparations, hence there is almost complete lack of drama. Characters are thin with few exceptions (Gagarin) - the flashback format probably makes them harder to develop.
Added a star above minimum for decent visuals/effects. The film's IMDB comparatively high score is a bit surprising. Absolutely don't watch this for the drama or thrills as those do not exist. It might be worth watching if you're very interested in Gagarin.
Tuntematon sotilas (2017)
Finally, my Finnish grandfather's war adequately portrayed in movie form
Suffice to say, it's one of the strongest war films I've seen in a long time. Some good characteristics of this movie are:
- It does not excessively linger in the psychological trauma that war involves but nonetheless spends an adequate amount of detailing here.
- War is (most of the time) very boring, so soldiers try to figure out things to do while waiting. The movie portrays this without becoming boring (unlike some other movies that go overboard).
- The characters (owing to Linna's source material with which I was not very familiar) are very well written and interesting. They certainly don't fall into stereotypes, and it is very hard to predict who is going to survive, which keeps you on the edge in your chair during the combat sequences.
- Above all, this movie is highly realistic and clear about the randomness and unfairness of war.
I watched this on Netflix in a mini-series format; if I had been forced to watch it for several hours in one sitting in a cinema I might have had a worse experience.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
Works well as an action movie if you turn your brain off
Much like the first film, Soldado has a stylistic tone of Mexico as a place of great evil, which is probably somewhat biased if you ask a Mexican. If I was inclined to be harsh to the film, I would point to the beginning which conflates the cartels to islamists, an introductory plot which is then immediately dropped, amounting to a debatable quality of writing.
To mention another weak point, it would have been nice to see the politics behind the scenes being better detailed than they were. What we get are nameless generic government officials saying generic things such as "this was never about changing anything" (paraphrased).
Overall, the action scenes are all solid and that goes a long way to earning the "decent movie" score from me. Soldado doesn't quite manage the same level of suspense of Sicario and thus I rank the former higher.
The superhero (in a contemporary way) is doubtlessly Alejandro, and he's the main reason it all works out as a decent movie, despite Macer (Emily Blunt, Sicario) missing being fairly noticeable and regrettable. This character impersonates never giving up, and I did enjoy the not-quite-a-cliche comeback near the end.
1917 (2019)
Visions of Hell
The strong point of this film: It's a stark reminder that Hell is on Earth and we humans are responsible for creating it. In that way, it is a successful and haunting movie.
Another, more neutral way of describing the movie would be as a WW1 battlefield landscape tour. We're taken around in all kinds of environments resulting from artillery shelling; from the trenches, bunkers, no man's land, artillery dumps, destroyed farmsteads, burning town ruins, and ongoing assault and what else. The amount of engagement with these surroundings, or even depth of characters, is however relatively limited.
There are two archetypes of "war movies": one type that tries to accurately portray military actions, and another that uses war as a backdrop for something else, such as psychological studies; 1917 belongs to this second category. Drawing comparisons, a similar recent movie is Dunkirk, but 1917 is far more low key with the threat often lurking in the background rather than asserting itself at every moment.
Ultimately, I had been wanting more of an active take on the subject matter, i.e. WW1 military history, and it seems I will have to wait longer.