Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty

Review: Well made and understated film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Good acting and direction. However, at two and a half hour running time there are quite a few moments where the attention drifts quite a bit. Worth checking out though if you're interested in the aftermath of 9/11.

Rating: 5.5/10

Mansome

Mansome

Review: Morgan Spurlock will never be Michael Moore. His documentaries will always be on the border between a bit interesting and just kind of silly. Mansome is no different. Easy entertainment but nothing more.

Rating: 4.5/10

Life of Pi

Life of Pi

Review: I remember really enjoying Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi when I read it 10 years ago. A perfect combination of fantasy, spirituality and general feelgood vibes. I couldn't quite imagine it as a movie back then, but now Ang Lee has made one. And it's a very beautiful film, as always when it comes to him. But I don't know if my taste has changed during these 10 years or what, but the movie quite quickly bored me. I think I have to re-read the book to see.

Rating: 5/10

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook

Review: I wish that this movie had been around 90 minutes long instead of 120 minutes. Because for the first 90 minutes it was an interesting film with some good acting and a nice plot. The last 30 minutes though just dived into the usual romantic comedy cliches and left me slightly with a bad taste in my mouth. Too bad, because the performances from Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence were really good and it's a shame that the ending let it all down so much.

Rating: 4.5/10

Hitchcock

Hitchcock

Review:  I wasn't too sure what I would think of this film when I first heard of it, but the choice of actors for it made me decide to watch it. And I'm glad I did, both Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren did excellent performances in it. I also liked most of the other actors as well as the settings. Not sure if this is a very memorable film, but at least I'm satisfied for the moment.

Rating: 5.5/10

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina

Review: Well made, beautiful, somewhat good acting, too long, kind of boring in the long run.

Rating: 4.5/10

Django Unchained

Django Unchained

Review: I'm not a big fan of Western movies. As a matter of fact, I stay away from them. But I can make exceptions, especially when Quention Tarantino decides to make one. I first heard of Django Unchained over a year ago, so it was with great joy that I sat down to watch it. And I enjoyed it. It has most of the classic Tarantino parts; the violence, the nice settings and the interesting and good cast. I kind of missed his great dialouge in this one, but it worked without it. There was really only two things that bothered me with this film. First of all, it was too long. 2 hours and 45 minutes was way too long to tell this story. The second thing I didn't like was Samuel L. Jackson's character Stephen. It felt way too typically Samuel L. Jackson than anything else, and I didn't buy his house slave persona at all. As always I loved Christoph Waltz though, a truly great actor that outshone both Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx here. 

Rating: 7/10

Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths

Review: A great cast, a promising idea, a disappointing film. As much as this action comedy tries to be edgy and entertaining, it just feels low budget and lame. The director Martin McDonagh managed to do something interesting when he did In Bruges, but this time he fails. A shame.

Rating: 3/10

Kovasikajuttu

Kovasikajuttu

Review: An truly great and entertaining documentary about the Finnish punk group Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät. A must see if you want to get to the true essence of punk rock.

Rating: 8/10

Bully

Bully

Review: Bully is a documentary about, well, bullying. It's focus on a few American teenagers and their families, and how they suffer from, but also fight againt, bullying. It's a really strong and emotional film that handles an all too important subject, how to protect our kids from being put down in the worst possible ways. I don't really feel that it offers any real solutions, but showing that the problem exists is perhaps just as important.

Rating: 7/10

Palme

Palme

Review: First off  I have to say that what I saw wasn't the version of Palme that went up at the cinema. I was too lazy to get around to watching it there. I saw what you might call the extended version of it that Swedish television showed during the holidays. With that out of the way, this was a really great documentary. Well put together, personal and showing a bit of both sides of this man. There are certain scenes that the makers of it put in just for effect which I felt was unnecessary, but with that being said, I really recommend everyone with a slight bit of interest for modern history to check it out.

Rating: 7.5/10

John Dies at the End

John Dies at the End

Review: John Dies at the End is definitely not one of your everyday films. This twisted dark comedy-horror flick is quite entertaining though. Not something for everyone, but it worked for me.

Rating: 4.5/10