Lapland Odyssey (2010)

Directed by: Dome Karukoski

Written by: Pekko Pesonen

A comedy about Janne, a man from Lapland in Northern Finland, a man who isn't even able to buy a digital TV box. His girlfriend Inari gives him an ultimatum: a digital box needs to arrive by dawn or she leaves. Janne sets out into the night with his two friends to find a box. 

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I’ve seen Napapiirin Sankarit or Lapland Odyssey once before in Middle School, when we watched it in class. At the time I didn’t have my blog nor did I think that much of movies, and especially Finnish movies felt almost foreign to me, so I rarely watched any outside of school at least.

Someone actually talked about the way this film starts in school – because it doesn’t start with the main character Janne. It starts with his friend and his narration. He talks about the tree many men in the area used to hang themselves from. It’s an interesting way to start, mostly because that’s super dark – but it suits the movie and it suits Finland – but also because there has to be a shift in the point of view, if you want to change from the side character to the main character. That shift works well though. It’s smooth, and it feels natural to start following Janne not getting the digital TV box.

The story is fun, and it’s entertaining to see what kind of misadventures the main characters get themselves into. It’s not the most original comedy out there, when you consider it globally, but at least around the time when it came out, it stood out from most of Finnish comedies. Mostly it’s not as bad as some, since there are Finnish comedies I refuse to watch because of the cast and the fact that the movies are remakes of a Danish comedy. I’m not mentioning the movie by name, but I think my Finnish readers know exactly what I’m talking about. Also Napapiirin Sankarit did win four Jussi awards, for best direction, best film, best screenplay and people’s choice award, and a Silver Dolphin for best cinematography at Tróia International Film Festival, and two awards at Alpe d'Huez International Comedy Film Festival.

Napapiirin Sankarit is entertaining and it looks amazing, and it takes place in the north, which is a plus since most modern movies seem to take place in the southern Finland. It’s definitely worth seeing, whether or not you’re from Finland or elsewhere, except most Finnish people have probably seen it already. However I’m not sure about the sequels. I haven’t seen them, and they are not directed by Dome Karukoski, but at least the third one is directed by Tiina Lymi, who also directed one of my favourite Finnish movies, Äkkilähtö. Not sure if I’ll ever watch them though, since they feel forced. The first one is always the best, right?

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10

Wonder Woman (2017)

Directed by: Patty Jenkins

Screenplay by: Allan Heinberg

Story by: Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg & Jason Fuchs 

Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained warrior. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny.

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Wonder Woman is now the first movie I've gone to see in this new town. I wanted to go see it already while I sill lived at home, but it was in the theaters for like two weeks, which is unbelievably weird, considering it has had good reviews, like, even compared to some earlier DC films. 

Wonder Woman is an amazing superhero movie, and this comes from someone who's a bit tired of superhero movies already, and is really picky about which ones they're going to see. It stands out for several reasons, one of them being that there are more elements from fantasy than science fiction in this movie.

First and most important and obvious thing has to be the fact that it has a female lead. It's ridiculous that it has taken this long for DC or Marvel to actually make a movie with a woman playing the main role, considering there are amazing heroines in the comic books. Diana is an amazing character, because while she's being a hero and kicking ass, she can still be a woman. There are tons of characters who are "strong female characters" while strength being their only defining characteristic. But Diana actually has feelings and is feminine without being just eye candy for the male viewers, while still looking absolutely stunning, though. 

One thing that bothers me is the excessive use of CGI and slow motion and all that, but Wonder Woman definitely isn't the only movie guilty of that.

Storywise this movie is enjoyable, and I felt amazing after I saw that. Is that how men feel all the time when they see other men in superhero movies constantly? 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10

Win It All (2017)

Directed by: Joe Swanberg

Written by: Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg

Eddie Garrett agrees to watch a duffel bag for an acquaintance who is heading to prison. When he discovers cash in the bag, he's unable to resist the temptation and winds up deeply in debt. When the prison release is shortened, Eddie suddenly has a small window of time to win all the money back.

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I came to visit my parents over the weekend and we wanted to watch a movie together. Looking through Netflix took a while, and eventually I just chose a movie that seemed funny from the small clip Netflix showed us, and mostly my decision was affected by how I've been watching New Girl again.

Story-wise Win It All is a standard gambling movie. I haven't seen that many, I've seen Rounders and... Does Casino Royale count? But there's a really familiar structure, which can make you feel like you've seen this movie already. That might be good if you're just looking to spend time, but if you're looking for something new, then the story won't do much to you.

While the story itself might not be original, it's still well-written. The characters feel like human beings instead of simple characters designed for the story. Especially the main character Eddie is an interesting character. You really want him to get through his problems, maybe because you see yourself in him. Also you really want to yell at him and stop being an idiot. And as the story progresses you get really stressed over how he uses the money. So even though the story isn't original, it takes you with it, and it's the perfect balance between a heavy and a light story.

But what is amazing in this movie is the cinematography and just the whole visual feeling to it. It looks like an old 70's movie, even though it takes place in 2000-2010's. The colours look amazing and bright, and the quality look like it's old or even made on an actual film. I especially love the handheld camera, which makes most of the scenes very feel very intimate as we get so close to the situations at hand.

Win It All might not stand out as a really special movie, but it's definitely worth watching at least that one time. It's a bit predictable, but there's something else about it that's special, mostly the cinematography and how just in a short while you already feel very invested in the characters and what happens to them. Definitely well written and directed movie, even though not close to perfect.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10

Film Student Update #1

Guess what!

Well actually you can pretty much guess already if you read the title of this post.

I'm now officially a film student.

Today I started at a "adult education collge" (Honestly, that sounds just wrong, but there's no better phrase for that, becaus "people's high school" sounds even worse) and I'm going to be studying films and TV with other people. And it's not going to be just studying everything theoretically, we're going to be making short films and stuff like that!

So I thought, since I'm running a blog about movies and since I think my blog played a crucial part on this, since mostly this shows my passion and my knowledge, and has made me a better writer and a better film-viewer, I might be updating something here every once in a while.

Mostly it will be anything of interest to me: something I never noticed before, or just an update on how I can't watch movies anymore without noticing every little mistake. We'll see.

And thank you to all of my readers. You might not comment much, but still the stats have kept me going with this blog. Love ya!

Hugo (2011)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Screenplay by: John Logan

Based on a book by: Brian Selznick 

In Paris in 1931, an orphan named Hugo Cabret who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

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I've wanted to watch Hugo for a long time, mostly because of its steampunk look. Also knowing it was directed by Martin Scorsese helped a whole lot.

As the story progressed, it reminded me a bit of Series of Unfortunate Events - mostly because of the mysterious fire Hugo's father died in and the previously mentioned steampunk aesthetic of the film. However instead of being a simple mystery story for the whole family, it took a weird turn I did not see coming, and there's a chance it might've ruined the movie a little. Not that the surprise-element ruined it, it was the way the whole movie changed into something completely different. First it's about a young boy and then... Then you're not even sure what's happening or why it's happening.

I haven't read the book, and frankly didn't even know it was based on a book until I read that on IMDb. There's a chance this story and the turn it took works better as a book, depending on how long it is and how long they dwell on which part. But as a movie it just feels like there's a lot of themes and stories they wanted to work in the plot, but it just feels like a hollow mess. If anyone's read the book, be sure to tell me if it works better.

But there's a lot of good in this film. It looks amazing, the cast is incredible. What I love most about this movie is the smaller characters. They don't have that big a difference, but they are in the background, and there's some focus on them, and they make the world feel more alive. The characters are fun and almost caricature-like, and the talented actors, very familiar to the audience, make sure to amplify that feeling. My favourite, who got actually more attention than most of the side characters, might be Monsieur Inspector, portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen. It's a fun yet threatening character, who manages to have depth, even though he's mostly there so the main characters have someone to fear.

All in all, entertaining movie, even though it feels a bit long and tiresome, and even though I didn't like what it turned out to be about. I would've wished for a bigger mystery and more adventures, but if I view this once, it's not too bad. Second time it might get more annoying.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

6/10

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Directed by: George Miller 

Written by: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy & Nico Lathouris

A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in post-apocalyptic Australia in search for her home-land with the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshipper, and a drifter named Max.

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I haven't see the original 80's Mad Max movies, so in case you wanted to read a review by someone with actual knowledge of the series, this might not be the blog post for you. I can't compare this to the original movies, but of course I'm aware of the influence the Mad Max series has had on popular culture, especially post-apocalyptic fiction.

I didn't actually think I'd want to see Mad Max: Fury Road, mostly because I haven't seen the original ones, but also because I generally didn't think I'd care about a movie that's mostly about car chases - even if that happens in post-apocalyptic Australia, and I love post-apocalyptic fiction. However what drove me to watch this movie was mostly the video game RAGE I've been playing a little, that's heavily inspired by Mad Max, but also the second episode of season 3 of Rick and Morty. Both of these made me realize I really do want to see this movie.

Of course I had heard a lot of good about Mad Max: Fury Road. Hell, it won six Oscars! But of course it's different to actually see it for yourself than just to rely on the opinions of others.

It's clear that this movie is different from the typical action movies that we get nowadays from every fucking movie studio that exists. There's something unique in the story and of course visually this movie beats any other action movie out there.

While the story is a bit dark and it has very serious themes in it, there's a somewhat loose feeling to it. The movie can be taken seriously, but there's a somewhat relaxed feeling to the things they've come up with. The filmmakers are pros and they know what they are doing, so if they want to add a flamethrower electric guitar in there, they can and they should - and it will be fucking awesome.

That flamethrower electric guitar reminds me, since I haven't seen the original movies I can't help but feel that I'm missing something. Why is there a guitar and war drums on a car? Is that... normal? Is that a regular thing or is Immortan Joe just a drama queen who needs his own theme music? It's cultural stuff like that that I don't know, but in the end that didn't seem to matter that much. But at least it feels like there's a world outside this movie, that the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland has a culture, instead of just those three or four tribes we get to see.

Mad Max: Fury Road may be a bit long, and definitely feels longer than it is, but it's worth it. The audience wants desperately to see what happen, they desperately want a happy ending, all that. I was on the edge of my seat, even though during the start of the movie I was indifferent towards it.

Visually... I've never seen an action movie that looks like this. The editing is amazing, so are the effects, which might have something to do with the fact that they used CGI very little. But the cinematography... It's astonishingly beautiful. Every shot seems to be careful, and the colours are mind-blowing. Also the costume department has done such an amazing job, and all the vehicles look amazing... Everything in this movie just stands out from the typical post-apocalyptic action movie, and it's amazing.

Mad Max: Fury Road is an amazing post-apocalyptic action movie, that definitely stands out from all the shit that's out there. It's different, original, and just so damn thrilling and beautiful. It's a fucking action movie masterpiece! What are the originals like? If they are anything like this, I have to see them!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

10 / 10