holsu Reviews

Vodkaa, komisario Palmu (1969)

Usually underrated

[10/10 · 8 January 2010]

TV-reporter Reino Torpo is brutally murdered while working on a scoop at the Svartträsk mansion. The police starts working on the case on the leadership of Commissionar Virta. The arrogant Virta can't get any results and the investigations finally starts progressing with the help of Palmu.

From my point of view Vodkaa, komisario Palmu is much underrated. I think it's fun that we got one Palmu-movie done in color. True, Palmu looks really pale, especially in the beginning but it doesn't matter. For Finnish viewers the movie includes some important documentary moments especially while visiting the Pasila TV-station. We see actual persons in they're work and they are shortly participating in the movie (Anssi Kukkonen, Reino Paasilinna etc).

Also I'd like to point out some good characters and actors. I love Matti Oravisto's and Viktor Klimenko's roles. Also there are included lots of other Finnish heavy weight actors (Kauko Helovirta, Seppo Kolehmainen, Martti Pennanen etc). Still extra points for Lars Svedberg for his role as Brunkeberg.

Casino (1995)

Very good movie

[8/10 · 7 January 2010]

I've just lately learned myself to dig Scorsese movies as much as I do. Casino is actually a very good example of what it's all about. A long movie (almost 3hours) with lots of characters, explicit violence, dark humour, beautiful cinematography and very good acting. Robert de Niro plays the jew Sam "Ace" Rothstein who's getting in charge of a casino in Las Vegas. After a good start things start messing up themselves. Rothstein falls in love with the wrong girl (Sharon Stone) and his gorilla (if you can call Joe Pesci gorilla) is getting way out of line. Casino turns out to a quite basic gangster movie.

Robert de Niro reaches one of his best performances ever as Rothstein. Sharon Stone is very good as Rothstein's girlfriend. I guess the Academy at this point understood her potential since she got nominated for Oscar. With Basic Instinct she should've gotten it. Joe Pesci is as good as he always is playing the same character. He really got his way of pronouncing the F-word. Also there are a lot of smaller roles with older actors who really gotten themselves looking like mafia bosses.

All in all a very good movie as long as you take the time to concentrate on it.

Luna (1979)

Far from best Bertolucci

[5/10 · 7 January 2010]

Bernardo Bertolucci have a fantastic way of making movies. His stories are usually a bit weird but altogether very interesting. This time the story doesn't please me that much.

La Luna is a story about the relationship between an opera singer (Jill Clayburgh) and her son (Matthew Barry). The movie is as beautifully filmed as Bertolucci's movies always are but the weird incestical feeling about it does not appeal to me. I just can't find any reason for it. I also think that the heroin addiction is not portrayed very believably.

Plus points for the strong European feeling in the movie.

Streets of Fire (1984)

Fantastic small movie

[10/10 · 12 November 2009]

Streets of Fire is a movie from my youth. I've had it on tape for several years and now finally watched my DVD-version first time.

The movie tells the rock story about Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) who's been kidnapped by a gang of bikers. Ellens old love Tom Cody (Michael Paré) is sent for to come and save the girl from the villains. Together with Ellens new boyfriend/manager Billy Fish (Rick Moranis) and a postmodern cowgirl, McCoy (Amy Madigan) , Cody rescues Aim. But the bad guys aren't happy with that and there will be a final battle between Cody and the leader of the bikers pack, Raven Shaddock (Willem Dafoe).

I've always loved Streets of Fire but I guess I've never understood how much there really is to like in it.

It's only fair to start with Diane Lane. I'm not sure if any woman on earth ever might be as beautiful as Lane is in this movie. She just is a goddess. On top of that her acting is very good. I would say that Lane's work as Ellen Aim is the best acting ever of an actor/actress to portray a singer. The song scenes usually just doesn't work. I am very glad that Diane Lane did get a good career though playing in lots of smaller movies most of the time.

Michael Paré too does good work. Probably most of the watchers would like a hotter Tom Cody but I kind of prefer Paré. I like him a lot as the righteous dude who comes and helps out when needed. His acting is plain but good.

Willem Dafoe as the bad guy makes one of his best roles ever. He really is naughty and look at the hair style. Cool. His face in the ending when he realises that his gonna lose is really something.

As Streets of Fire is a rock'n roll fable it of course need some good hits. The basic music in the movie (by Ry Cooder) is okay. It goes well with the story. Then again the songs by Fire Inc. are to me real classics. Tonight is what it means to be young and Nowhere fast (both written by Jim Steinman) both gives the movie such a kick. They really makes you feel good. Sad that neither ever became any major hit.

On top of all is the love story between two different kind of persons. Ellen Aim wants to make it as a rock star while Tom Cody just wants to continue with his modest way of living. I'd like to think that someway they found each other in the end.

Martyrs (2008)

Weird, very weird

[4/10 · 31 December 2008]

Went to the movies without actually knowing what Martyrs is all about. I knew it was horror but...

The story in short is about a little girl (Lucie)that escapes from her torturer. Then 15 years later together with her friend (Anna) she kills the guilty ones. Later Lucie dies and her friend gets trapped by the bad guys. Now Anna has to live through all that Lucie had to suffer 15 years earlier.

After a bad nights sleep I had moments close to falling asleep in the audience. This was mostly because of getting so numb of all the violence. The end saves a lot since it is really surprising but when rating a movie it's hard to say how much a good end actually can save. I give 4 out of 10 since the audience really feels numb most of the movie. And remember - I like horror movies.

The movie was well done. It's mostly impossible to rate the acting since the actresses just swam in blood most of the time. The script just sucked. I myself didn't get any other feelings toward the main characters except hoping they'd die. This was because the movie never built up any feelings towards the characters. It was bloody and messy from the beginning to the end and especially Lucie was so unstable to start with that I never saw any reason for her to live. Yet her friend Anna all the time tried to keep her from hurting herself.

Just to collect the problems with this movie: Violence without feelings toward the victim makes one feel numb. The same sadistic acts were portrayed too many times (made me laugh). The fighting and screaming bored me.

Martyrs can be recommended to very big horror and violence movie freaks but for others - don't bother.

Helter Skelter (2004 TV Movie)

Very interesting movie

[8/10 · 23 December 2008]

First of all, I must say, that there probably ain't a subject that could be more interesting to me, than Charles Manson and the Tate-La Bianca murders. Maybe Nazis and concentration camps but then again maybe not. Playing Manson must be the most ungrateful role for any actor. You just can't succeed. And still, considering the dilemma, I think Jeremy Davies makes an incredible role here. He manage the role very well, he looks quite alike and his habitus is just as small and weird as I expect Mansons to be. Also the other roles in the movie are played very good though having partly the same problem in portraying actual events and persons. Very much look-alike casting by the way. The movie in itself is a good and entertaining collection of the happenings in 1969. Comparing to the knowledge that I have about the true events I'd say that the film comes very close to what actually happened. Of all the stunning scenes, I would like to lift up the one in which Sharon Tate asks the murderer to carve out the child and at least let the unborn live. Though probably being fictitious and in a way unnecessary I still think that the line in someway points out the unfairness that Sharon Tate had to become victim of. May her soul rest in peace while her name and angel-like beauty will live forever in the movies that she gave us on her short career as movie star.

Matti: Hell Is for Heroes (2006)

Next mistake by Mäkelä

[3/10 · 8 December 2008]

To start with it is probably necessary to remind everyone of who Matti Nykänen is. At least if some international guy ever makes the mistake to read about this Finnish crap.

Matti Nykänen is the most successful ski jumper ever. He must also, by far, be the most talented one, since he so miraculously combined sports and booze. Though ski jumping -like ice hockey - is a minor sport, the stars are anyway big names and there's lots of money in it. And in Finland Nykänen was a really big name and was chosen (if I remember correctly) twice the athlete of the year. Nykänen's greatest achievements are five Olympic medals of which 4 are golden and just one of them from team competition. But significant for Nykänen is also the drinking and after the sports career his been mostly in the headlines because of different catastrophes, not least when hitting he's ex-wife to be with a knife and therefor doing some time in jail.

About the movie: The director, Aleksi Mäkelä is an annoying case of awful movies getting lots of viewers. My three stars comes mostly for being a Nykänen fan since he won the World Championships in 1982 at Holmenkollen and therefor the subject interests me. The basic problem with the movie is that Mäkelä hasn't been able to chose what he wants the film to be. It is not a drama, it is not a comedy, it is not thrilling, neither does it give any new information of the character. Anyhow I think Mäkelä tries this to be a comedy. It just didn't once make me laugh. Jasper Pääkkönen looks quite a lot like Nykänen but the acting suffers from the stupid one-liners which Nykänen is well known for. The screenwriter could have used some of them but why did he have to use them all?? The actor I liked the most was the fresh Elina Hietala in the first wife Taina's role. The last wife so far(in the movie Mirva) was played by Elina Knihtilä, an actress almost as ugly as the woman she portrays. The make up department had managed well since Mirva and Mervi Tapola looked very much alike. The movie also includes a lot of supporting actors which are on the top of my hated actors list: Peter Franzen as the friend and manager Nick Nevada who messes everything up, Kari Hietalahti as Hammer, Jope Ruonansuu as Oksanen and Juha Veijonen as the trainer Maisteri.

All in all, considering how very interesting and even emotional a movie of Matti Nykänen could have been, this was really a lousy effort by Mäkelä once again. The sad thing about it is that people really go to the movies to look at Mäkelä's movies. So why should he try to change his style. Well I just continue avoiding to spend a dime on this guys movies...

Riisuttu mies (2006)

First miss of Louhimies

[2/10 · 19 December 2007]

This is such crap.

Aku Louhimies is by far the most talented director in Finland. At least of the younger generation. I hadn't much expectations on this movie since it didn't seem to be as interesting as Louhimies earlier production. Still this was a huge disappointment.

One big problem with Louhimies is his casting. He goes on with the same stars on and on and personally I'm bored with most of them, especially Samuli Edelmann, Laura Malmivaara (wife of the director) and Mikko Kouki. Not very satisfied seeing Matti Ristinen and Matleena Kuusniemi either. So it could be time to find a new acting team.

The story is about a priest, his relationship to his wife and ambitions in his career. My tolerance broke down in the first half hour which to me mostly included running from one place to another. In between the running there was a lot of unnecessary nudity and drinking.

It is somehow difficult to understand how an important director like Louhimies hasn't realized that the story sucks. When I saw the movie I couldn't avoid thinking, that he must have had thoughts about making a mistake.

We can only forgive him for his mistake and hope he'll achieve his normal standard again soon.

Stand by Me (1986)

My favorite movie

[10/10 · 7 December 2007]

Isn't it interesting that the best stories Stephen King ever come up with are drama instead of horror. Stand By Me, or actually the novella The Body as its called, is the greatest of them but there are others too. The Shawshank Redemption -story for example. Considering that these two plus two more novellas (Apt Pupil and one more, which doesn't strike my mind right now) are included in Different Seasons makes the book a wonderful piece of art.

I'm quite a nostalgic fellow and things about friendship concerns me a lot. Maybe that's why this movie gives me such kicks. But also, in this movie it seems like even all the small thing matches perfectly.

The actors are perfect. The young fellows, including the late River Phoenix, are great. My favorite is probably Teddy Duchamp played buy Corey Feldman but also the others do a nice job. Kiefer Sutherland is fantastic as the tough guy with his stupid disciples. One of my favorites is John Cusack as the main characters dead brother and then of courses Richard Dreyfuss as the narrator.

Also the pace of the movie is so fantastic. There are a few fast-paced dj-lines on the radio and a lot of pop and rock music but still the tempo of the movie is slow and calm as life itself in an almost forgotten small town as Castle Rock.

When watching the movie you soon start to realize that the important issue is not finding the dead kids body but all the small things which happen along the way and the stories which are told by the becoming author. To me the climax is in the ending (as it should be in good movies). The storyteller sits in front of his computer and reminisces. He writes down the line: "I've never had any friends later on, like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone." Then he shuts the computer and goes out playing with his kids as we hear Ben E. King sing his beautiful Stand By Me - hit. One of the best endings ever in a movie.

Only death ends the sadness of life.