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Reviews
Helmikuun manifesti (1939)
Rallying patriotic feelings in perilous years
Historically it's an interesting movie, and the cast is top class of the era. However the movie was filmed during very bad relationship with Soviet Union and released when Winter War was being fought. Hence it was trying to rally patriotic feelings.
B-rapunSaario had some mistakes in his review to this movie. Finland was not a province of Russia, but an autonomic grand duchy of the Czar 1809-1917 that enjoyed many privileges. Also, Lenin didn't give Finland independence: independence was declared by the parliament of Finland. After that foreign countries were asked for recognition. Neighboring countries were careful and suggested Finns should first feel recognition from Russia. The descendant of the imperial Russia, the Russian White Movement, was however hostile to the independence declaration, so instead Finns feeled the recognition from the rebellious bolshevik government, who recognized the independence. There was really nothing they could do against Finnish independence anyway: their hands were tied with the internal conflict. The Russian bolshevik government already had tried to back up Finnish reds in the Finnish Civil War, but failed. The bolshevik government was protected by Finnish Red Army men who had escaped into Russia, and the commander of Finnish White Army even considered an attack into St Petersburg against the bolshevik government, but the Finnish government didn't support him. The bolshevik government at the time was very vulnerable.
Z Nation (2014)
Most HORRIBLE thing in zombie apocalypse is the background noise.
Some episode of this series are really well written and funny. Comedic characters are plenty and they fit in well to the overall take of the show. Doc has plenty of funny quotes that I regret I didn't write down. The show does have its entertaining moments. And the actors are all very good, nothing to complain there. The overall plot isn't bad either: I'm usually fast to blame the writing, but it wasn't bad here. Some episodes were boring but the story archs were pretty good. I would recomment to watch the show. But there is one big but.
What bugs me to no limit is the background audio of the show. It has this static noise and mechanic sounds background always, except when someone speaks. Makes me VERY difficult to watch this show. Who was the idiot who created this soundscape?
Fear the Walking Dead (2015)
Sugar and syrup for the brain dead and the leg injured
There's good actors and actresses, but the writing was unfortunatelly lame. What irritated me to no end, is how stupid the characters behaved, and the incredible coincidences which were constantly made to cause problems, or to save the day. In many occasions the herds of the dead could be lead by causing noise, yet this option although it would have been completely available and saved the situation... somehow then wasn't considered or used. These incredible co-incidences and the stupidity of the characters' actions, really made me pull my hair.
The dead didn't most of the time appear as a real threat. Small budget and bad writing was the reason. To make them threatening, the people just stood on their ground, instead of moving away to avoid the dead. Or their leg was injured, which was used repeatedly as a cause of dangerous situation. How they managed to get the slow shuffling few dead knock them over and get pinned under them, boggles the mind. So helpless and clumsy people are just incredible. They could have used closed spaces and buildings, where only a few dead would pose a threat, but most often these lame and helpless people met the shuffling dead open air.
The alive foes, the evil villains, the adversaries of the protagonists, didn't offer serious threat either. The two biggest fails were the ever-grinning psychopath and the helpless woman who got obsessed with making a protagonist strong, for reasons I didn't get. There was far better choises, for example the Latino crime league or the American native tribe, but they were a very short time adversaries. Maybe good thing in the crime league's case, because they were far too big and well organized for the protagonists.
A lot of American family show typical sugar and syrup moments. And declarations of noble behavior. It almost seemed like made for kids or religious house wives, which seems very odd considering the theme. I certainly do like romance in TV-series and human relations need to play a role so that you care for the people. But it was overly done, like Mexican breakfast cereals: criminally sweet. For example much better made The Walking Dead against which you need to compare this series, did not suffer the same problem although it too had romances and kids and families. Writers should know where to draw the line, and here they failed.
My favorite characters were John the simple sharpshooter and the nurse girlfriend of his. Also Charlie the kid traitor, whose best story was the hurricane episode, was an interesting character, but did not get as much attention as the adult characters. The loan from The Walking Dead, the staff using philosophist fighter, was an unfortunate choise for a protagonist and group leader. His smokey voice is so weak, all his many speeches were painful to listen. Unfortunately he had none of the charisma he had in the sister series, and he didn't have much there either. How can you choose such a charater for the leading role? A bad mistake. The blonde mom we had in the beginning, was much better.
Also I think the series used unnecessarily lot flash back story telling, playing the story for a long time in the future, and then returning to the past. You could use that if it served some function, but it did not: it was a chosen style of storytelling, and it was a poor choise. Several times when starting to watch a new episode, I was thinking did I skip an episode, did I insert a wrong disc.
My ears suffered from the constant strange background distorted noise. I've never heard such a thing constantly on the background in any other movies, TV-series or videos. And when the characters talked, you could hear how the noise reduced, and then became stronger again when they stopped speaking. It all made it feel a cheap production. I cannot uunderstand what this constant noise was supposed to come from. I watched the series, seasons 2,3,4 and 5 from Blu-ray, so the media was not quilty for the noise.
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Attacked by anime fans - better than the anime I saw
I read about 100 reviews (easy, they were mostly very short), almost all were written by a fan of the anime movie series, and gave this from 1 to 3 stars. I wonder what would be the rating without angry fans. I for one liked the movie a lot.
I had seen "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" before watching this movie. I found that one failed, it didn't resonate with me at all, but watched to the end because my friend told me to see it. Compared to that, I found this movie vastly more watchable.
The movie certainly isn't boring. It has a lot of action scenes and an interesting plot: At least for people who don't know the story in advance, this offers lies, betrayal, an unexpected main plot twist and sacrifice. And must say, Tokyo police seems to be quite a vigilante gang in this sci-fi vision.
Special effects weren't top notch, but I liked how the futuristic Tokyo was imagined. There's some Blade Runner influence, but without the destroyed dystopian world bleakness.
Did I have problems Scarlett playing a Japanese cyborg? English spoken language is much bigger immersion breaker to me. Japan is now ethnically very homogenous, but it is getting more international and this is sci-fi. Not a reason big enough to hate the movie for me.
Falling Skies (2011)
More syrup coated family drama than alien invasion Sci-Fi
This is way too much syrup coated family drama to someone who wasn't grown up in the Bible belt. God, kids and guns, the holy trinity of the conservative Americans is strong in this one. The main character has 3 sons, and most of the family dramas seems to be about dads and sons - women are in the background. This is NOT the Walking Dead, the suspense is minimal and there is no real survival feeling. The aliens are there just for the excuse of more "I love you son, more than anything" -lines. Even in battles you always have time for these syrupy dad-son moments. I didn't really care for any of them people, they are all too thin characters: All they have is their love to their family, that defines them. And the bad guys, humans and aliens, they try to take the kids away from them.
If you can't stomach to watch "Little House in the Prairie" or "7th Heaven," this probably isn't for you. I tried for two seasons. More and more of it was forward double speed towards the end. I'm not gonna see the rest 3 seasons if it turns better, it would have to become entirely a differend show, with different characters. Noah Wyle was good in the Librarian adventures, this role was a mistake.
Son of the Dragon (2006)
Chinese version of Aladdin has good intentions and sacrifice
If you like fairy-tales, romantic drama and Medieval China, you will love this story. If you are looking for a kung fu action hero movie, you will not be as well served. This isn't a big budget spectacle, but the settings are still beautiful.
It is a story in Medieval China of a thief and the family who adobted him. When rich princes come to propose the local princess, the thief aims to steal from the gifts, to provide for the family and the villagers. The prince of thieves was adventurous and good-hearted, the former warrior step-father couldn't help but aid him, despite resisting the whole risky idea, and the step-sister is caught in the events with her heart torn. It wouldn't be a proper Chinese story, without a bitter-sweet taste and tears.
The Magicians (2015)
Fillory is out of magic, and luck
This fairy tale got the worst bunch of inept, spineless drunks you've ever seen. And that is not entertaining. Might sound like it, but it is not. They are just a very annoying, boring bunch.
The lead character is the worst of them. Can not finish a simplest sentence, stutters and is continually lost, overwhelmed and confused seeking help glancing left and right (although there is nothing to see) trying and, surpringly, actually succeeding to appear utterly indecisive. "Eh, no, yes, errr... what," is the magnificent decision of our hero, the best he can ever do! I just wished I could have shaken him, slap his face or kick his behind, to awake him, make him actually do something, for once in his life. Unfortunately, this is not Discworld and our "hero" is not Rincewind. He is not funny, sympathetic or cute in his ineptness and indecisiveness: he is the most annoying of the annoying bunch. Followed by the gay (not gay as happy) king, who is about the worst ruler a fantasy kingdom could get. Poor Fillory, poor us. This just sucks. And is not funny.
Vercingétorix (2001)
Battle of Gallia - good Roman age war movie
This movie seems to divide opinions. I loved it, and I really didn't have any problems with any actors or the actresses either. All the main roles were played quite good enough. The Roman army looked better than I have ever seen, and there were huge troops, lots of cavalry with the Germanic and Gallian troops. Quite a massive war movie.
This looked quite historically accurate to me. They didn't want to go the stupid fantasy way like the 300, a movie that I despise with passion. I loved how the Gallian towns were actual fortified towns, not just some little cheap villages. Even the Germans had a Suebi knot hair.
This was a good war movie, of a little touched subject and of interesting characters. No, it wasn't about druids, at all.
AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007)
Lights out
Before this, I just watched Aliens vs. Predator, the 1st movie. No problems. But this one was so dark, you couldn't see anything. Every action with the predator and aliens was way too dark. I turned all my lights out, and tried to watch it in darkness, but even that didn't help. Were the computer effects so pathetic they had to hid it all behind darkness, or was it an artistic choice. Either way, epic fail. Oh yeah, and very irritating writing. Nobody ever could answer what happened, and nobody was wondering what "the monsters" were and where did they come. As if nobody had had any thoughts. The city of imbeciles got attacked.
The 100 (2014)
S-F for kids, with all the S wrong
This must be the worst Science-Fiction show I ever saw. All the main characters are irrational or lunatics and completely unlikeable. Well, not quite all. Monty and Lincoln are decent, and Octavia was irritating mostly in the beginning, not so much later on. All the others are anti-heroes, people you would hate in real life. How anyone can enjoy watching a TV-show populated with such characters, monsters, wretched people, is beyond me.
Another thing, the science is so full of stupidities that you have to laugh, and lose the immersion. Three generations, and there are no cities, no roads, all the steel and concrete gone? People in North America talk a new language? Other people die in radiation in seconds, while others, adapted people and animals, suffer not even radiation sickness, only some newborns have birth-defects? And giant unkillable carnivore gorilla?
Oh yeah and the typical connect the wires Star Trek -miracle technicians and password hackers, but those I'm used to from other silly TV-series. I mean, who writes this crap? Who believes this crap? Kids? Un-freaking believable. Truly, unbelievable.
Ye yan (2006)
Touching poetry!
I've always hated Hong Kong -style super-human marshal art movies, and almost quit watching this with such martial art scene in the beginning. Bye-bye ten stars. So glad I continued, because rest of the movie is about the story, very beautiful, artistic scenes, emotions and acting. A few soft words, a look, a touch of a hand, a silent second speaks seldom so loudly. If this poetry of a movie does not touch your soul, live some more, you were too immature to watch it.
In the end the empress asks, how many lives has passion burnt (ruined). I'm asking, how many movies did passion ruin. Certainly not this one.
Many times I find these grand productions plagued with melodramatic loud over-acting when they attempt to make it larger than life. This movie used opposite means with a great success.
The Wicker Man (2006)
Seen, oh so many, worse horror movies
I did watch the "alternative version" that was in the same DVD. Maybe that's the reason why I disagree with the majority of the reviews. I've seen a large number of bad horror movies. Really bad. And so, so many with no plot at all. Or reason. This one has both.
The island is believable as a religious cult that is hostile to outsiders. If one would say, cults sacrificing humans aren't believable, I do not sign that. Unfortunately those have been practiced, and still are. Oh yeah, and seen so many horror movies, that are completely unbelievable.
What comes to the plot, I did not expect it to turn as unfortunate to the cop (played by Cage), as it did. The conspiracy went deeper than it originally appeared. The end truly was surprising, I was expecting this is about saving the girl. But then a classic ending in horror movies is with the victims really meeting their bloody fate and the monsters surviving.
SAGA - Curse of the Shadow (2013)
It all fails with the bad writing
I really wanted to like this film. It could easily have been a rather good movie. Unfortunately, the writing was so bad it ruined it all.
Doesn't surprise me the movie was written and produced by the same men: Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin. These guys shouldn't write movies. It's not even bad in a good way, like in some funny and enjoyable B-movies. There is no tongue in cheek. It is not a parody. It's not even a hong-kongish marshal art film. The solutions are just incredibly bad and the plot is thinner than an elven maiden's hair. The final battle with the avatar summoning is fittingly the unholy crowning of this: the elf who was just a moment ago captured by these orcs, can now join the worshipers and then is suddenly realized as an assassin, the failed distraction the orc and the paladin were supposed to create, the unbelievably lame slaying of the avatar with an unexplained ability of the paladin, the unbelievable death of the whole orc horde but the heroes staying alive, it's all so insanely bad I wanted to pull my hair and cry.
The movie has beautiful scenes, nice camera shots and magical moments. The orc and the elf were actually rather good characters and the actor and the actress played them good.
Project: Potemkin: The Void (2011)
Simple plot, mostly stiff acting
Unfortunately acting isn't the strong side of this episode. I've watched other fan Star Trek productions: New Voyages, Farragut and Osiris, and have to say the acting in this episode was the most hopeless I've seen so far.
However, for a fan production, two characters in the crew weren't too bad, the gorgeous science officer Lt. Patricia Allen and the tactical officer Lt. Cmdr. Polim n'Ahman with a funny horn. Polim, I would say, was actually rather good. The biggest problem was the captain who lacked dynamics, and unfortunately had great majority of the lines. Also, I was hoping all the time they would have given more lines to the crew members who most of the time just sat there, with nothing to do, nothing to say. Criminal under use of crew members.
The plot was very, very simple. If it had been great acting, then the bad writing would have shot this one down. No twists, no turns, nothing to guess, so suspense, no character building, not even typical Star Trek moral lessons. It seems to me their effort went to the computer graphics and the ship's bridge setup.