November - Short Reviews

9.11.  The Lego Movie (2014) - 9 / 10

Yes, as you can probably imagine, this morning hasn't been too happy. I felt like creating a bubble for myself so I don't have to think about how bad the world seems right now. What better way to ignore everything than to watch The Lego Movie?

The Lego movie is probably the funniest animated movie I have ever seen. The dialogue is so much fun and the craziest lines seem impossible to predict. The whole film is a wild ride and considering all the rights Lego company owns, there's bound to be some pretty amazing characters. Of course there are the original characters created for this movie,  but there's also characters like Batman making appearance. The cast of the characters is one of the reasons this movie is so epic.

I just love this movie so much.  It's clever, funny and even touching. At first the whole idea seemed ridiculous: who would want to watch a movie about Legos? But why wouldn't you? This is better than the crap Disney is throwing our way.

Also I am glad because The Lego Movie and the upcoming Lego Batman Movie have given me my favourite version of Batman, played by one of my favourite actors, Will Arnett.

13.11. Baby Mama (2008) - 5 / 10

I've been watching so much 30 Rock lately, and I just wanted to watch something else with Tina Fey in it. And since Amy Poehler was in this movie as well, it felt like a jackpot.

Baby Mama is a fun movie, and I had high hopes for it. That's mostly because I wanted it to end happily, because at a certain point it felt like there's no way for it to end happily. But still, the way it ended felt so stupid and just... too easy. It was too happy in a way that it make everyone's dreams come true, and that happens very rarely in real life. Of course it's nice to have a movie where everyone is more or less happy, but that also felt really cheap.

I love the chemistry between Fey and Poehler. I wish there were more movies with both of them on Netflix.¨

20,11, The Lego Movie (2014) - 9 / 10

OOPS I DID IT AGAIN

25.11. Jennifer's Body (2009) - 8 / 10

This movie is so gay, how did I not see it the first time?

26.11. Stardust (2007) - 7 / 10

I'm not into fantasy. I only like it in video games and when I'm writing it myself, I'm not into fantasy literature or movies. I watched Stardust because it was directed by Matthew Vaughn, and now I have seen all the movies he's directed and are already out.

Stardust is a typical fantasy love story. It's filled with cliches but there are also so many delightful details that are very rare in fantasy, yet they are amazing. The cast is wonderful, and the world seems astonishing. I'd like to know more about it, yet I feel like I didn't care about the movie enough to actually do some research. 

Äkkilähtö (2016)

Directed by: Tiina Lymi

Written by: Nina Laurio & Tiina Lymi

Katri finds out that his boyfriend has been living a secret double life with an Estonian woman. She finds a bag of money and receipts and decides to make a run for it. She is accompanied by a little girl named Anna running away from her criminal stepfather. Together they decide to head to Anna's grandmother's house.

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I saw the trailer for this movie earlier this year in the theatres. I meant to go see it, but eventually forgot. I'm usually not interested in Finnish movies, but the story of Äkkilähtö (in English it basically means "last minute travel deal", literally "sudden departure", but apparently the English title is "Last Minute" according to Letterboxd) seemed interesting, so I decided to rent and watch it.

The reason why I'm mostly avoiding Finnish movies is the dialogue. It's very hard to make Finnish dialogue that seems genuine and not at all forced. The dialogue in Äkkilähtö, however, is excellent. It's very casual, and there are only few words that stand out and seem so fake. Also  the use of English was weird, but I did remember I have friends who do in fact mix English words with Finnish when they are speaking, so it's not that unrealistic, it just stands out weirdly. It's hilarious to compare the dialogue with American movies. If in a Hollywood film someone sees their friends beaten up, all bloody, they are horrified. In Finnish film they just give a casual notion "Oh, you got your ass kicked". And of course writing dialogue for child actors is always a challenge. Mostly the writers succeeded with Anna. 

Anna as a character is interesting. She's had a rough life, he has a mother who doesn't seem to care, who doesn't seem to be aware of her situation. She says really worrisome things very casually. The writing is successful because there are scenes, during which it's hinted what kind of life she's lived. Most of those the viewer can just guess, it's never said directly or thrown in your face. The only proof of her tragic lives is the conversations between her and her stepfather Tero. The way he acts towards her already makes you want to just protect her and / or punch Tero. 

It's also so much fun to see Tero try to interact with Katri's ex, because neither of them wants to really give away why they are after Katri and Anna. And actually that refusing to share proves out to be a useful way to hide something from the audience and surprise them, but I don't want to give anything away.

The soundtrack of this movie is amazing. Sometimes it reminds you of the surf music used by Quentin Tarantino in his movies. Mostly it reminds you of some kind of typical western. It just makes you think "Texas Ranger" or "Ranch". That mixed with Finnish nature is an interesting combination, but it definitely works.

Äkkilähtö is an amazing movie, and while I'd love to recommend it I think that mostly goes for all my readers from Nordic countries. Still, Äkkilähtö is funny, and it's way better than I thought any Finnish movie would be.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

9 / 10

Hot Pursuit (2015)

Directed by: Anne Fletcher

Written by: David Feeney & John Quaintance

An uptight police officer has to protect the widow of a drug boss while her name is tarnished by dirty cops.

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I find it hard to describe the movie since the description on the back of the cover felt a little inaccurate.

This movie caught my eye a while back, and when I was browsing through DVDs to rent, I decided to finally watch this. It seemed interesting - an action comedy with two amazing ladies starring. Female led comedies are really fun most of the time, and female led action comedies will always be so much fresher than their male counterparts. 

The plot of the movie is really thrilling and exciting. Of course the patterns are typical: the two main characters are trying to get away from two bad guys, who still show up all the time and the main characters never seem to get rid of them. That's all very predictable, you can always tell that the two bad guys are going to show up at the worst moment possible. Still the story had amazing and clever twists I did not see coming. Of course there are some weaknesses to the plot. There was that forced romance between Witherspoon's character and the... Did that character even have a name? Nobody needed that!

I love the leading actresses in this movie. I've seen Witherspoon in some romantic comedy once while I was in a plane, but I've always wanted to see Legally Blonde, I don't know why I still haven't. And Sofia Vergara is magnificent in Modern Family, and I really loved her in Machete Kills. 

Hot Pursuit is an entertaining action comedy. It's definitely worth a watch, although I will say this: it could've been gayer. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10

Hot Rod (2007)

Directed by: Akiva Schaffer

Written by: Pam Brady

Self-proclaim stuntman Rod Kimble announces he will do a bike jump of a lifetime to get enough money for his step-father's surgery - so he can kick his ass.

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The only thing I knew about this movie when I rented it was that it has incredible cast. That was the main reason I chose to watch it. It wasn't until later that I realised Akiva Schaffer directed the movie (I realised that like three minutes ago when I actually googled this movie and prepared to write this review). 

This movie has amazingly funny dialogue and writing, but also the typical physical stunts, or how the main character fails at them. Hilarious conversation and the bumbling around both work, and there are memorable scenes from both types. Good example of the humorous dialogue is this quote: "You look pretty." "What?" "I said you look shitty!"

Hot Rod's structure is typical to almost every comedy or drama that was ever made. But still as Rod is about to do this big stunt, it can go horribly wrong or amazingly well. That's the thing about comedies, they are unpredictable in a way. Only certain thing is that whether it goes wrong or right, it will be hilarious. 

I like the 80s aesthetic, but I'm still not entirely sure when the story actually takes place. There are other things I'm not sure about - like how old were the main characters? The way they acted and the stuff they said made it seem like they were teens or maybe early 20's. Of course it's even harder because of teenagers are mostly played by 20-somethings instead of actual teens. And the age thing didn't really bother me until Jonathan, who was played by Will Arnett (6' 2½''), showed up. The character is taller than everyone else and considering he had a real job and all seemed way older than everyone else. That made me think that maybe the main characters weren't as young as I thought, just a little immature.

Hot Rod is a pretty typical comedy. It makes you laugh, so it does its job well, but I don't think I'll be re-watching this any time soon.

☆☆☆☆☆

5 / 10

Date Night (2010)

Directed by: Shawn Levy

Written by: Josh Klausner 

Married couple tries to have a nice romantic night out, but dangerous people think they are someone else, and the night turns into dangerous adventure.

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I've been watching a lot of 30 Rock and last night I was looking throught Netflix to find different movies Tina Fey has been in. Date Night is one of the movies I found, and since my dad had already seen it, and he said it was funny.

Date Night is definitely a funny movie. The way the two main characters just keep getting mixed in misadventures and situations which get crazier all the time is hilarious. 

Usually when a movie is about a married couple, there are those few annoying tropes. Screenwriters seem to hate marriage - they make it seem boring and hellish if there are kids involved, and there's no spark anymore and blah blah. But in Date Night these  two actually communicate, even if there seemed to be the same exact problem in the beginning as in many other movies. It's refreshing to see a somewhat typical comedy, yet the writers are not using those tropes as a way to create humor. It's not funny if a couple hates each other, it's just sad and weird. 

Date Night is an ordinary in its genre, though it is mixing two typical genres together. Still, it's hilarious and worth watching.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 / 10

Trailer Thoughts: Live By Night (2017) & Collateral Beauty (2016)

It's time for me to officially write down some of my Trailer Thoughts. I have done this earlier, but those trailers and thoughts I just shoved at the end of a review of the last Harry Potter movie, and they are hard to find on their own. 

Also since this is my first Trailer Thoughts post, I'll give myself some rules. I won't post two posts about trailers in a row. Reviews are what mostly drive this blog, so they come first. Also I'll just try not to have a review and a trailer thoughts posts like one after another, I'll try to have more reviews. 

I'll mostly find these trailers on YouTube. Right now I'm following four different channels posting news and trailers and stuff about movies.  I'm going to look through my subscription and take the trailers that seem most interesting, because there just is too many trailers for me to write about all of them. These posts would be way too long for that. I'm always looking for more channels, though, so if you know a channel, recommend it to me, and I'll be happy.

First trailer I'm gonna talk about today is Live By Night. The movie will come out in 2017, and it's directed by Ben Affleck.

This movie is simply about a group of people living in the Prohibition Era, and their dealings with the world of organised crime.

First of all, who here is surprised that Ben Affleck is going to star in the movie he also directed? Because he keeps doing that.

The atmosphere of the trailer is weirdly mysterious. It's caused mostly by the amazing cinematography and the music, which is perfect and well-chosen for the trailer, but also by the way the trailer is edited. It makes you wonder what is going on, and who is the main character, and yeah, mostly, what is going on? It's intriguing. 

But while trailers are trying to trick everyone to just go see a movie, I know already I won't like this kind of action movie. I'm really picky about action, because I want it to be more than just people shooting guns at each other while exciting soundtrack is playing in the background. Yes, Live By Night seems more than that, but it's the type I hate. It's old and there are gangsters, and I know I won't enjoy that. But still, Ben Affleck has made interesting movies before, so I might go see this. I don't know yet. Everything depends on whether or not it hits the theatres in my hometown.

The second trailer is for the movie Collateral Beauty. It's coming out this December, and it's directed by David Frankel.

Will Smith plays a man who after a tragedy starts writing letters to Love, Time and Death. 

The cast of this movie is incredible. That was the first thing I notice: Will Smith stars in this movie, and he is one of my favourite actors, which definitely makes me interested in this movie. Will Smith is brilliant, and it's a crime he hasn't gotten an Academy Award already. Well, maybe this movie will change that. Also this movie features another one of my favourite actors, Edward Norton. I'd never miss an opportunity to see two of my favourite actors working with each other. 

The very plot of this movie makes it clear this movie will get so many nominations. It's clear this movie will be so deep and also I know I will cry watching this movie. The idea is weirdly abstract - this man will meet Death and Time and Love and talk to them and write letters to them. It seems brilliant.

Oh I will definitely go see this if it comes out, and cry in the theatres.

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Reasons to go see Live By Night: Probably will be a great action movie, the cinematography seems incredible and Ben Affleck is a great director.

Reasons to go see Collateral Beauty: The cast is amazing, and this movie will win some awards. Also you will definitely cry (if you let yourself to)

Let's Go to Prison (2006)

Directed by: Bob Odenkirk

Written by: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon & Michael Patrick Jann (written by) & Jim Hogshire (book)

John Lyshitski wants to get revenge on the judge that put him in jail. Since the judge is dead, he wants to make the judge's son's life a living hell. He frames him for a crime and then joins him in prison.

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I've been trying to understand the difference between the unrated and the rated versions, and apparently the difference isn't much. From what I understood, the unrated version is 90 minutes while rated is 84 minutes, and the one on Netflix was 90 minutes, but it didn't have the scene movie-censorship.com said was the key difference. Seems that the missing scene wasn't as crucial as the people in the IMDb message boards might let you believe, but you can never trust strangers online, can you?

I chose to watch this movie because of three different factors. First, Will Arnett is in it. Second, it's directed by Bob Odenkirk, while I know practically nothing about his directing, his name still made me interested. But the third and final reason that made me watch Let's Go To Prison was that it seemed extremely stupid. It's always refreshing to watch stupid comedies, instead of extremely clever and weird art dramas, because those get boring really quick. Sure, silly comedies with the same exact plotlines get boring, but at least they are somewhat fun. 

But was this comedy stupid? To be honest, it could've been stupider. The plot was actually pretty sly, just like it says on the poster. The writing amazed me, not because it was that brilliant, but mostly because I was expecting something so much worse. It actually was pretty fun to listen to the dialogue, and it sometimes was even clever.  Also certain plot twists were no easy to predict, and the movie was so much fun. I felt ashamed of how many inappropriate things felt funny in this film.

Also this movie has the perfect ending. There's clever twist and then the last setting feels idyllic.

The story was told in an interesting way. First-person narrative is always pretty interesting in a movie, especially when the movie is based on a book. You can't use all the narrative used in the novel, so what do you pick? The writers of this movie sure knew how to pick the exact right lines and nothing more, nothing less. Also there were a lot of fun effects used, mostly the cinematography: zooming, angles and such.

Let's Go to Prison feels weirdly fresh. The idea feels used, but the movie itself feels different from the typical movies of this genre. It was a lot different from what I expected, a lot funnier and a lot cleverer. I think I actually liked this movie.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 / 10

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) + Trailer Thoughts

Directed by: David Yates

Written by: J.K. Rowling (novel) & Steve Kloves (screenplay)

Harry, Ron and Hermione are trying to find and destroy mystical and dangerous items known as horcruxes to finally destroy lord Voldemort.

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Yes, I know it took me a while to watch all the Harry Potter movies, longer than I hoped. I haven't really watched other movies in between, because I wanted my blog to seem more or less clean with all the Harry Potter movies in a nice bundle. But to be fair, that was ruined by my Halloween post and the post with my shorter reviews from October. Still, I did manage to finish what I started, but honest to god I hope I never start anything like this ever again.

This movie is bullshit! There is so many useless scenes and they make me angry! They decided to make two movies out of one book, they cut many scenes out and then come up with scenes that don't exist and make no sense. I'd ask, but I know why: money. Two movies make more money than one. The people behind these films don't care about story telling they do this thinking about dollar signs - or pound signs, since it's a British film.

The original novel is so sad. There are so many significant deaths of characters you never feared would die. And in the movie those scenes are butchered. You briefly see someone dying - or you don't even see them dying, they just are dead all of a sudden. It's a lousy way to do this, because the emotional response from the audience isn't as great as when reading the novel. 

First part had the tale of three brothers that was so beautiful and amazing. The second part has nothing beautiful. Everything is million times faster and all the important pieces of information are lost. It's annoying!

I don't know if I can express my anger and frustration towards the series any better. Everything is wrong, and there are so many weird and awkward scenes that just don't go with the original story. The only thing that brings life to this movie is the cast, but many actors and actresses are now seen for maybe five minutes and that's it. They should've given more thought to how this movie is going to go down. Agh!

☆☆

2 / 10

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Anyway, because this post sounds really angry, I want to bring up something else to talk about. Something I'm rather excited about.

I know I haven't talked about trailers ever, but I'm going to start that. Mostly because I want this blog to be more than a movie review blogs, I want to talk about movies in any way I can. Hence, I'll start talking about trailers.

There are two trailers that I want to talk about, because I'm really excited about. The first trailer is for Logan.

First of all, I've loved X-Men since I saw X-Men First Class, and then all the others. While people are of course getting annoyed of Wolverine being everywhere, he is my favourite character, and Hugh Jackman is the perfect person to portray him. Also there's this feeling I have that this might be the last time we do see Wolverine in a movie, or at least in a movie where he'd play a major role.

Why do I feel like that? The whole trailer gives off that kind of vibe, like this is going to be something... ultimate. That this is all going to end. It's mostly the song Hurt, which suits the trailer amazingly.

Also it seems like Logan is going to be everything I ever wanted from a superhero movie. It's going to be violent and dark yet deep and hopeful. Yes, people have been saying that "Man Of Steel did it first" and blah blah blah, I don't care. I don't like Superman, I didn't like that movie, but I know I liked The Wolverine, and if James Mangold is directing Logan, this will be amazing.

Now the other trailer... It's also a superhero trailer, but the whole vibe is different:

I don't like Batman in general. Batman is boring and angsty. But ever since I saw The Lego Movie, I've loved Lego Batman. Lego Batman is fun. Lego Batman is the other thing I've wanted from a superhero movie: a ridiculous comedy. And the LEGO Batman Movie is perfect for my sense of humour.

I love Will Arnett, and he was born to play Batman... At least animated Batman. But the whole cast is amazing. I love Michael Cera in the trailer. Also it's amazing to get to see hear Arnett and Cera working together again.

I have no idea what this movie is about, but it sounds and looks amazing, and I am super excited.