Author Archives: jorialaaho

Casino Royale

I read the book Casino Royale, which is written by Ian Fleming. The book was published in 1953. As everyone knows Ian Fleming has also written many other James Bond books, in total 14 novels. He has also written two other books Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Thrilling Cities.

The genre of the book is spy fiction. Main characters are James Bond, Le Chiffre and Vesper Lynd. Other characters are Felix Leiter, Rene Mathis, M, Miss Moneypenny, Q and Gettler. Le Chiffre is the villain of the book who tries to win money by gambling.

The plot: Le Chiffre is a Soviet Union agent who has wasted secret fund. He is afraid that Soviet SMERSH foundation is going to kill him and decide to gamble to get money. 007 is sent to gamble against Le Chiffre. Lynd, MI6 agent Mathis and CIA agent Leiter joins Bond to help him on his mission. Le Chiffre, Bond and other players play baccarat. Bond loses all his money but he gets back to the table because Leiter gives Bond 30 million francs. 007 is threaten to be killed but he is able to continue the game. Bond beats Le Chiffre but he kidnaps Lynd. Bond tries to chase them but he swerves off the road and Le Chiffre kidnaps him too. He tortures Bond to get his money back. SMERSH agent comes and kills Le Chiffre. Bond wakes up in hospital and afterwards decides to marry Lynd. One day Bond finds Lynd dead and Lynd tells in a letter that she was Soviet agent. Lynd made a suicide that SMERSH wouldn’t kill Bond.

The Language was a little bit challenging but still understandable. The story is told by an omniscient narrator. The book was really good and it’s hard to say which is better the novel or the film. It was the first Bond I have read and I think I should read more of them. It was a little bit harder and slower to read an English novel than a Finnish one.

Sources: wikipedia.org

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Filed under arvosteltu, Novels, Yleinen

The Interview

The Interview is a movie, which was released on the 24th of December 2014. It has been directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen.  In leading roles are Seth Rogen and James Franco. The budget was $42-44 million and box-office $11.3 million.

The plot: Dave Skylark and Aaron Rapoport are working in Skylark Tonight talk show. They discover that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a fan of Skylark Tonight and they want to interview him. They get the permission to interview Kim from North Korea. Before travelling to China CIA agent comes to Dave and Aaron’s apartment and asks them to assassinate Kim Jong-un. When they arrive to North Korea Dave spends time with Kim playing basketball and having fun. Kim explains Dave that he is misunderstood and they become friends. Dave discovers that Kim loves the song “Firework”. Aaron tries to poison Kim with ricin, but Dave prevents that. A little bit later Dave discovers that Kim isn’t what he seems to be and he is malicious and evil. Dave, Aaron and Sook, who is a North Korean propagandist, plan to break Kim’s cult of personality. They arrange an internationally televised interview with Kim and during the interview Kim starts to cry and soils himself, ruining his reputation. Kim shoots Dave, but he had a bulletproof vest. Dave, Aaron and Sook escape the presidential palace with a tank. Kim takes a chopper and starts to chase them. Dave takes down Kim’s helicopter and kills him. Dave and Aaron escape and they are rescued by SEAL Team Six. Later North Korea becomes a democracy.

The Soundtrack of the movie was pretty good. Special effects could have been better. The movie was a little bit unrealistic, but it’s still worth of watching. The movie was first cancelled because North Korea threatened to make a terror attack to movie theaters.

Sources: wikipedia.org

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Filed under arvosteltu, Films / theatre