The Thick of It

Just finished watching the fourth season of the highly entertaining British comedy show The Thick of It, and I will miss it. Especially the character Malcolm Tucker, he's been like a wonderfully evil relative these last few weeks.

Rating: 7/10

Wadjda

Wadjda

Review: Wadjda is a really beautiful Saudi Arabian film that covers subjects such as the longing for freedom, love, religion, injustices and just being a kid. This is, after what I've heard, the first Saudi arabian film directed in Saudia Arabia by a woman. If you want something thoughtful, sad, warm and funny, watch this one.

Rating: 7.5/10

Äta Sova Dö

Äta Sova Dö

Review: This film got a lot of good reviews when it first came out. This is not like one of them. First off though, the acting in the movie is doing a good job. And I guess that if you spent your whole life in a big city, the story here seems really gritty and real. But growing up in a small town, I've lived this life already and I'm not really into watching the cinematic version of it. Final verdict: Bored.

Rating: 4.5/10

Trek Nation

Trek Nation

Review: Trek Nation is a documentary by Eugene Roddenberry, the son of the legendary Gene Roddenberry. It's the personal search to find answers as well as getting to know his father through his body of work and through the fans of Star Trek. It's a somewhat interesting documentary if you're a fan, but other than that I think that this isn't much to watch for the average person.

Rating: 5/10

Searching for Sugar Man

Searching for Sugar Man

Review: This film has been a must see for a long time, so I just had to watch it today, the day after it winning  an Academy Award for best documentary feature. And I think it really deserved it. This story about musician Rodriguez is warm, interesting as well as being beautifully made. But what made it such a good film is the almost fairytale story that it's never too late to find your destiny.

Rating: 8.5/10

TPB AFK

TPB AFK

Review: I finally got around to watching this documentary about the trials against the co-founders of The Pirate Bay. I can't say that anything really turned up here that I hadn't heard before, but still it's an interesting documentary. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Looper

Looper

Review: This sci-fi action flick is both worth checking out as well as worth missing. You decide.

Rating: 6/10

Vamp U

Vamp U

Review: I didn't have high expectations sitting down to watch Vamp U. Kinda figured it would be really stupid. And it was, but in a good way. Actually a really funny movie that kept me entertained all the way through. Nice one

Rating: 6/10

Derek

I just watched the third episode of Ricky Gervais show Derek. I'm not really convinced by it. I have a feeling that I know what they want to accomplish with the series, to make a warm and funny show that makes you reflect about life. But in order to really accomplish that in 20 minute episodes they would need a better script and better actors. Nice try though.

Robot & Frank

Robot & Frank

Review: A warm and quite charming movie about Frank and his relationship to his robot butler. Frank Langella is very good in the lead role, acting with small but strong gestures. A feelgood film with a sorrowful touch.

Rating: 6.5/10

Lost Christmas

Lost Christmas

Review: Eddie Izzard and the rest of the cast of this Christmas drama is doing their best to do what they can with the script that they're handed. Unfortunately it's too filled with cliches and weak storytelling to work. 

Rating: 3/10

House of Cards

I just finished watching the first season of Netflix's new tv drama House of Cards. Was it as good as I hoped it would be after watching the initial two episodes? Yes, it was. It's one of the more interesting series that have come out these last few years. It might not be as good as for example Newsroom if you ask me, but still very good and a lot of it because of an excellent cast. I also really liked that Netflix decided to release all 13 episodes at once, letting us viewers decide for ourselves when to watch them. I'm looking forward to season 2.

Rating: 8/10

The Master

The Master

Review: Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of my favourite actors and always a good reason to watch a movie. Paul Thomas Anderson have made some nice films through out the years, so I had quite high hopes for The Master. A bit disappointed though. Not that it was a bad film, far from it. It just didn't do anything for me, and at the end I already began to forget what it was about.

Rating: 4.5/10

Allt Faller

There's not question about it whatsoever! Allt Faller is the best Swedish tv-show in more years than I can begin to count. Yesterday the final episodes was shown on TV4. As much as I will miss the show, I hope there won't be a second season. Quit while you're ahead.

Rating: 9/10

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas

Review: Cloud Atlas is definitely an ambitious film, but unfortunately it just ends up trying a bit too hard and leaves me quite bored to be honest. Nice try though.

Rating: 4.5/10

Argo

Argo

Review: Argo is the dramatization of the Canadian Caper, the popular name given to the covert rescue by Canada and CIA of six American diplomats from Iran in 1979. It's an interesting historical document, and a well produced one. Definitely worth checking out if you want to know more about this event. Not a movie for those expecting solid action and a high tempo.

Rating: 6.5/10

House of Cards

Just watched the first two episodes of Netflix's new show House of Cards. As a fan of political dramas and Kevin Spacey, this was a nice watch and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the season.

The Great Debaters

The Great Debaters

Review: This film is based on a true story. It tells the story of the debate team at Wiley College, the first Afro-American college to beat Harvard University. The film is very predictable, but is somewhat saved by great acting from the entire cast. To me it's always a great joy to watch Forest Whitaker perform.

Rating: 5/10

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