Category Archives: Films / theatre

The Lucky One

The Lucky One is an american drama. It was release April 2012. The Lucky One from the author of The Notebook. Running time is 100 minutes. The Lucky One movie director is Scott Hicks. He is a film director from Australia and he is best known as the screenwriter and director of Shine. Leading actors of a movie are Zac Efron (Logan) and Taylor Schilling (Beth).

The Lucky One movie tells about Logan who is peacekeeper in Iraq. He finds a picture of some woman and that picture brings a lot of good luck for Logan. When he come back home, He starts to look for the woman whose picture he has. He find her in Hamden, Louisiana, USA. Logan find out why Beth’s picture was in Iraq. They fall in love. But Beth ex-husband try to get between Logan and Beth. Becauce Beth and her ex-husband have a boy, Ben. The ex-husband doesn’t be so nice to Logan. The situation get totally out of control. The end is not so good to everybody.

Plot is almost same than everyone other drama and romantic films. But I like this movie. I enjoy when I watch this film. That is touching and interesting film. You could identify everyone because they are so real. The actors were great and they fit good their role. It is easy to follow what they say. They speak very clearly. Music was good and beutiful. The music is compose Mark Isham. The movie don’t fit so young people because they don’t understand everything. If you like romantic and drama films I recommend The Lucky One movie to you.

 

 

1 Comment

Filed under Films / theatre

Life as we know it

 Life as we know it is a hilarious movie with drama and romance added in it. The movie was released in 2010 and is directed by Greg Berlanti.

 Life as we know it is a story about two people who can’t stand eachother, Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Eric (Josh Duhamel), and who are forced to take a huge responsibility together. Holly is a control freak and hard working bakery owner and Eric is working as a televisions technical sports director and he’s a huge womanizer. These two are the exact opposites and the only thing they have in common is that they happen to be the godparents of the third main character of the story, a little babygirl Sophie.

The movie has a really sad beginning when Sophies parents pass away and the baby is left to Holly and Eric. They are both named as Sophies caretakers so they have to start living together and start looking after her. From that moment on there will be a lot of fun scenes when these two, Holly and Eric, try to be good parents. This movie reveals the horrors and wonders of parenthood in a humorous way. It’s interesting to watch how these two so very different people and little Sophie are starting to become a family.

 Life as we know it is suitable for those who want to watch something light and hilarious. I myself like these kind of movies the most and this one is definitely one of the best I’ve seen. The subject of the movie might not be very unique or fresh, but who doesn’t love a good romanctic comedy? All the little details of the story make it easy to empathise. The secret of this films excellence is that the main characters are played by Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. These two work well together and make the movie worth watching.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Films / theatre

The secret life of Walter Mitty

The secret life of Walter Mitty

”The secret life of Walter Mitty” is for everyone who needs some inspiration in their lives. This movie is released in 2013 and directed By Ben Stiller, who is also one of the leading actors. The movie is a mixture of comedy, fantasy, drama and adventure. In addition to Ben Stiller(Walter Mitty), other leading actors are Kristen Wiig(Cheryl) and Sean Penn(Sean O´Connel).

I have always liked movies containing comedy and fantasy. You don’t get bored, because the movie is full of excitement and funny parts. And that’s why I wanted to see this film.

The movie tells about Walter Mitty, middle-aged shy and quiet man, who works in “Life”- magazine. Walter doesn’t have an exciting life or that many friends, but he has everything in his day dreams. In his dreams he saves the world and gets the love of his life.  One day when he almost gets fired for work, he realizes that he had to do something with his life and travel to make memories. And while thinking a moment he travels to Greenland and Iceland, where he unexpectedly swims with sharks and climbs to worlds highest mountains.

After watching the movie, my first impressions were that it was great. The story was well done from beginning to end and it was also very instructive. All of the actors were plausible with their own way, and that’s why many people could identify to them. I could identify to main character, Walter, because he was like any normal person, who wanted to achieve something in his life. He fought hard and reached his target.

My favorite part of the movie was the scene, where Walter won his fear and spur of the moment jumped to the helicopter where he was afraid to go. But after jumping to helicopter, he realized what he has done and got nervous, but still was very proud of himself.  That part made me understand, that it’s good to be fearless and spontaneous sometimes, because then you can do what you have always wanted to do.

The atmosphere in the film was inspiring and rapid, but still warm and nice, that made the film very easy to follow. I didn’t even notice the time pass. After watching the film I realized that I can do anything I want, if I just work hard for it.

 

1 Comment

Filed under Films / theatre

Hallam Foe

Hallam Foe, also known as a Mister Foe, is drama film directed by a Scottish film director David Mackenzie. He is also one of the writers with Ed Whitmore and Peter Jinks, who wrote the novel which the movie is based. Hallam Foe was released in 2007 and won the Silver Bear for Best Music in Berlin Film festival. Leading actors of a film are Ciarán Hinds, Claire Forlani, Jamie Bell, Jamie Sives, Lucy Holt, Sophia Myles.

Hallam Foe is a coming-of-age story about a boy named Hallam. Hallam is pretty creepy boy who is lost with himself and have some kind of mental disorder. Hallam spends his days and nights by sitting in his tree house and sneaking in peoples yards to stalk them and then writes about his notices in his little diaries. Hallam escapes reality in his own fantasy worlds because he is distraught about his mothers death which happened two years ago. Hallam blames his new stepmother Verity about his biological mothers death and does everything to make his dad realize it too. Verity manages to blackmail Hallam and he leaves his familiar tree house and moves in to Edinburgh. In Edinburgh Hallam sees a woman who looks just like his mom and his already confused mind gets mixed again. Hallam follows her secretly and finds out that her name is Kate and she works in a hotel. Hallam manages to get a job as a dishwasher in the same hotel. Hallam also knows where Kate lives and starts to stalk her through the skyline. Hallam makes his home into clock tower because of its vantage point in to Kate’s home. In Hallam´s 18th birthday starts his and Kate´s weird and confusing relationship. The end of the movie was pretty odd but it worked well.

Hallam Foe is actually very beautiful and touching story in all it´s creepiness. Jamie Bell does excellent work as a Hallam. In the end of the movie it´s watcher does not know what to think about Hallam, sometimes he is just a sympathetic boy who is  lost and all you want to do is to hug him, and in the next episode he is terrible, kinky stalker. Hallam Foe is kind of artistic movie, and I think that in someones opinion nothing really happens in the movie. Qualifications of the movie are it´s simple visual execution and strong characters. I like the way how characters relationships are showed, not too much, leaving something to guess and think about. Hallam Foe is carefully balanced between the derangement and the beauty.

 

1 Comment

Filed under Films / theatre

TITANIC

Titanic (1997)  is directed, written and co-preduced by James Cameron. The film tells about Titanics maiden voyage, and its sinking during the trip from England, Southchampton to USA, New York. 

Plot:

In 1912 17-year old Rose Dewitt Bukater enters titanic in England with her mother Ruth and betrothed Cal.  Rose doesent want to engagement with him and considers  suicide by jumping from the ships stern. Jack Dawson, penniless, third class passenger saves her from falling. Cal hears about that and invites Jack to dinner with them in first class.  Jack and Rose develop a friendship. Calin forbids Rose not to meet Jack, but then Rose realizes that she likes Jack more than Cal.  Later Jack meets Rose in  the bow of the ship, where they admire the sunset together. Later that evening the ship collisions with an  iceberg and starts to leak.  Jack and Rose attempt to tell Cal of the collision, Cal slips a necklace into Jack’s pocket and accuses him of theft. Jack is arrested, Cals bodyguards  take him to  the office and captures to a pipe.  Rose is desperate to free Jack, because she is already in lifeboat and the ship is sinking quite fast .  Roses mom Ruth and Cal are in the same lifeboat with her. Suddenly Rose decides to save Jack and flees from lifeboat to rescue him. After many obstacles Rose and Jack returns to boat deck, but all lifeboats are full. The ship breaks in half, and lifts  the stern into the air,where Jack and Rose are. They survived from that ultimately. Jack helps Rose onto buoyant wooden panel, but its too small for two persons. By watching the film you will find out how it ends.

Starring:  Leonardo DiCaprio ( Jack Dawson), Kate Winslet (Rose Dewitt Bukater), Billy Zane (Rose Calvert), Frances Fisher (Ruth DeWitt Bukater, ships crew and Jacks friends.

It t has won 11 oscars. In other awards gala it has collected 76 awards and 48 candidacies. The films soundtrack is also very known: Celine Dions- My heart will go on.

The story from the Titanic interested me. A film which cost over 200 million dollars came along and blinded critics and audiences alike into being overcome with gitty delight that a smart action film can be made is  truly remarkable film. It is one of the greatest films ever made I think. I would give 10/10.

Titanic is very famous, touching, thrilling  experience that unerringly lures viewers into the beauty and heartbreak of its lost world

1 Comment

Filed under Films / theatre

The Wolf of Wall Street

The wolf of wall street (2014) is a mix of drama and comedy and it tells about a stockboker whose life revolves around drugs, alcohol and work. The wolf of wall street movie is based on the autobiograbhy of Jordan Belfort.

Martin Scorsese’s film is shameless, lascivious, entertaining and thoufht-provoking: sometimes the story goes so overly outlandish it’s hard to believe it’s true. However the film has been well received and the main character (Leonardo Dicaprio) has been praised worldwide.

As a young man Belfort gets a job as a stockbroker. Later he loses his job during the 1987 market crash. After that, Belfort stars his own firm and wondered if they could make big bucks by selling worthless penny stocks. Belfort’s idea worked and after a short time the firm started making money more that Belforth had ever dreamed of. He and his partners earn millions of dollars a week. Their lives soon spiral out of control in a binge of alcohol, drugs and recklessness.

Belfort’s wife is completely ignoring her husband’s drug problem. Most of the time during the film it felt like the wife didn’t want to get divorce only because of Belfort’s huge asset. Not to mention those gifts he gave to him. Belfort’s wife is discribed as a duchess of the house. She is also a model, mother of their child and she has her own lingerie collection. Other an important person in Belfort’s life is his workmate and friend, Donie. Belfort believes everything in his hands. But when Belfort needs the help the most, Donie isn’t there for him. That makes a viewer ponder what kind of friendship they really had.

I definitely recommend to watch the movie if you think (even a little), that Leonardo Dicaprio’s films are worth of watching, because this is one of the best films he had ever played!

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Films / theatre

The Hobbit : Desolation of Smaug 3D HFR

From 12.12.2012 to 11.12.2013 . My rather amazing movie year got its ending with movie prequel for movie that begun it. I’m talking about Peter Jackson’s second part of the Hobbit-trilogy,  which has got a lot of attention last two years. Some say it should have been only one movie , but instead they make three with total length almost nine hours, like one over two and half hour movie isn’t enough. I must disagree as a lotr fan and agree as eager follower of films.  The first part was and is way too long to maintain interest, but however the production crew learnt from their mistakes and the result is The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.

HFR ( high frame rate) is completely new in movie business, which simply means that the movie uses 48 frames per second instead of normal 24. This makes Hobbit’s 3D and sceneries extremely smooth and high quality, that you can not miss on the first few minutes . Every view and CG made character is absolutely marvelous, all this simply pleases your eyes…most of the time.

Unfortunately the  first movie didn’t serve that well the HFR as ” it felt too video game alike ” and the fact they only shot the movie in 48 and rendered it in 24 fps might have something to do with ” losing the cinematic touch ”,which almost all of us loved in The Lord of the Rings -trilogy .These are something that Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian magazines were thinking. However the second seemed to have great improvement. Yet there are no correct words to describe the visuals and you must experience the film by yourself, but perhaps there are something to share.

Is it good ? Are there major problems ? Yes, the movie is fine if you don’t care about  little things. Sadly there are some more or less important issues. Cutting between three different happenings at the same time, stupid turn-offs in otherwise great scenes and time.

Least important problem: How to slow down: Almost for the whole movie the time seems to fly at the exactly same speed. There are shots and scenes that needs some slow-motion or events that divert your attention elsewhere just for while.

Modern time structure in movies seems to be a problem for Peter as he tries to tell of three different events at the same time at totally different places. Clearly he isn’t Christopher Nolan ( Inception , Dark Knight -trilogy ) and Peter’s result is bit awkward as you wait for the best. Every clumsy or less-working scene, idea or animation slowly destroys you from within as you realize it isn’t going to blow you away. Peter might just die to stress, as we others wait for top quality, which the LOTR was and Hobbit never will be.

What a turn-off! Incredible spider set-up, touch of tension, there you are desiring for more and all of the sudden these gigantic tarantulas, horribly voiced, speak as Bilbo uses the ring. This isn’t only turn-off element. Mostly soundtrack is totally epic , but there are just way too stupid sounds, which apparently should be funny. Too much attention for some sounds that shouldn’t even been heard such as some head dropping into water. Peter has still made excellent scenes and this time they feed your interest for the whole film. Ending is only part, which hits you like the good old stuff. Good thing Peter’s ending lasts almost an hour.

All the whining however do not change the fact that I respect Peter’s work and love his Lord of the Rings -trilogy and couldn’t be more happy for the Hobbit -trilogy production, which many of us had been waiting. In fact , personally I find his production diaries of Hobbit very interesting. I advice to spend two hours watching them over youtube. Those diaries include a lot of material about shooting, directing , sound capturing, special effects etc.

Despite some problems Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug is a enjoyable gift, filled with stunning action, smooth and high quality shots, best movie dragon yet and wrapped with pinch of Lord of the Rings.

THE HOBBIT, Production Diaries

Leave a Comment

Filed under Films / theatre

The day after tomorrow

The day after tomorrow is an american movie from 2004. Movie tells about climate change and its consequenses. The movie has been writed by Roland Emmerich, who has also directed it. Main actors are Dennis Quaid as professor Jack Hall, Jake Gyllenhaal as Sam Hall, Emmy Rossum as Laura Chapman, Ian Holm as professor Terry Rapsom and Sela Ward as Dr. Lucy Hall.

The movie tells about professor Jack Hall who studies climate change. He has discovered that global warming may change the directions of seacurrents. That may stop the North Atlantic current and cause new ice age. Hall tries to covince everybody to start actions to stop global warming before is too late. Hall however underestimates how quickly the effects start. All over the world happens unprecented weather conditions, which lead to three super-storms which cover the whole northern hemisphere. Jack Hall demands authorities to start evacuations and tries get to New York to save his son Sam Hall and his friends before is too late.

The movie is normal disaster movie, where reseachers try to covince authorities who don’t beliveve until the disaster happens. When Jack Hall is covincing authorities, meanwhile his son Sam Hall is in New York participating in decathlon with his friends Laura Chapman and Brian Parks. After the decathlon they try to survive under weather conditions. Sam and Laura fall in love middle of disaster which was very predicdable, but it brings drama to the movie. After all the movies plot takes wiever with it but it is also normal to disaster movies and so it is very predicdable.

One part of the movie which needs fixing is its actor performance. Some critics say that it was clumsy and only thing that saved the movie was its special effects, but in my opinion performance was not entire failure. In some parts the acting is great but sometimes it could be done better. Older actors acting was great, but younger actors performance needs fixing.

One of the best parts of the movie was its special effects. Effects where spectacular and make already good movie fantastic. Many critics have also praised the effects and said that they were the best part from the movie. All those tornadoes, storms and floods will take wiever with them.

The movie have one big problem. The whole idea. Climatologists say that many weather conditions which happen in the movie are impossible and some are even against the laws of the physics. Critics also say that climate change cannot happen so quickly and dramatically and say that the movie is propaganda. In my opinion that is the point in the whole movie. It tells what can happen if climate change happens and we don’t do anything to it.

In my opinion the movie is great. It has compelling plot and cool special effects and also its message is important. If we don’t do anything to stop the global warming, we can face the same fate as Jack Hall.

 

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Films / theatre

The lone ranger

The lone ranger is an American western movie which appeared in movie theaters in 2013. The movie is directed by Gore Verbinski who has already directed Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Leading actors of a film are Johnny Depp (Tonto), Armie Hammer (John Reid/Lone ranger) and William Fichtner (Butch Cavendish). I watched this Wild West movie only because Johnny Depp was one of the actors and just like I guessed Depp made a fantastic performance.

The movie tells about a weird and humorous indian called Tonto and ordinary townie John Reid. These two team up after Tonto realizes that John is the ”chosen one” or The lone ranger. These two begin the batlle against Butch Cavendish who tries to come rich with silver and he is ready to eliminate all barriers in front of him. The film has been done comically and thats why it’s a more entertaining. Anyway, the film is overshadowed by a clishe plot, but it does not bother me because all actors are so great.

Although actors were great, it does not change the fact that movie would have had a lot of room for improvement. The biggest problem was the length of film. Film was absolutely too long and that is one reason why it sometimes repeated itself. Personally I liked movie set desing and effects because they gave me a real feeling about Wild West. Second thing that I liked was the scene where Tonto and John fighted with Cavendish and his forces. In that scene, the viewer will certainly get in the movie. The language of film was fairly easy to follow, because actors spoke very good english. There was still many Wild West phrases which I had never heard before. On a scale of four to ten, I would give eight fot this movie.

2 Comments

Filed under Films / theatre

The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese directed a true story based film of Jordan Belfort  (acted by Leonardo DiCaprio)  who was born to an original middle class family in Queens, New York. Only few years after Jordan had had his 20th birthday, he got a stockbroker job in Wall Street. That lead him to the world of big and also illegal moneys, luxury life and drugs.

The Wolf of Wall Street were released at the end of 2013 in USA and in Finland at the start of 2014. Right from the start it has been a great success and for instance the heartbeat of movie life IMDb has given to this crime/comedy genre film a perfect rating (8,7/10). The Wolf of Wall Street includes a high-class cast with DiCaprio. For example Jonah Hill as a Jordan’s business partner Donnie Azoff and Margot Robbie as a Naomi Lapaglia (Jordan’s wife).

Every stockbroker knows the term Black Monday in Wall Street. A huge one-day percentage decline in recorded stock market history. Jordan Belfort was having his first day as a real stockbroker and immediately he losed his job because of this stock market crash. He didn’t give up and found himself selling shares that were not in stock. After selling them a while he gather up a team and created own company Stratton Oakmont which gave to him and to his team a highway to the stars.

Drugs came to their lives. Also partys all the time and a prostitute for every night guaranteed a life that these men’s had wanted. Sad but true, most of the stories are not only for flying top of the clouds. Also in this case it had lots of turbulence. Jordan were suspected from many crimes for example stock market manipulation. Many things lead to another so it didn’t end how it started…

3 hours watching Wolf of Wall Street in cinema wasn’t too much at all, every minute was a pleasure to view. Okay, maybe there were few scenes during the movie when I supposed that it’s gonna end now. Leonardo DiCaprio made an excellent work as a Jordan Belfort, because he has the skill to make it feel so real. Also the story made you feel like you could be the main character (from normal family to world of richness by your own). I enjoyed the most from the parts where the whole Stratton Oakmont were selling shares with great team spirit and attitude.

Like allways, movie is made to make a profit and famous to it’s company, actors, directors and etc… This movie anyways told a good story about good sides, but also dark sides of life. Everyone who loves business life and good entertainment are the ones who should see The Wolf of Wall Street.

 

1 Comment

Filed under Films / theatre, Yleinen