Change Your Image
topijalkanen
Reviews
1917 (2019)
Well presented emotional story of 2 people's mission.
This movie tells the story of 2 messengers in ww1. It's not a grand plot to save all of humanity and as the "high up army guy" states in the end, it makes no difference cause next week there'll be a new order. However we are with the message all throughout it's path & we experience the journey of the messengers step by step.
Some people complain that they want more action but this isn't just an action flick, if you want one go watch something else. There's tension & there's emotional scenes. Especially the tension of proceeding through the no man's land is very well done. The emotional scenes could've worked better if we had been with these people for a longer time, I don't know why movies these days are made so short? This could've really benefited from us getting to know these characters more. That being said, MOST of the emotional scenes are really good.
Another thing I've read people complaining about is that this movie is pro-war, which I find very odd. I'm about as anti-war and anti-military as one can be & I'm currently on forced labour type civilian service for a year because I refused to join the military & I don't think this film is pro-war at all. It clearly shows that war is hellish & meaningles. Medals don't matter, the stopping of the attack doesn't matter & no one is presented as a hero. People are rotting in the trenches or dying in horrendous pain. This movie ends more or less in 1 of the main characters brother crying over his death.
It should be stated that this movie isn't 100% realistic & contains some scenes where the main actors doing things that wouldn't be the wisest ones to do, but then again not every soldier in ww1 were a tactical genius. But it's a valid criticism, however this is not a fantasy film level of inaccuracy as some would have you believe.
The cinematography is top notch, sometimes amazing. The sound design is good, but not outstanding in my opinion.
Joulutarina (2007)
Wholesome feel-good movie
It's not as brain-dead as most Christmas movies. That being said, it's not itsactly comparable to Dostoyevsky in writing either. But it's a good story with an interesting premise.
Pros:
-Wholesome, but not over-happy or forced full of jokes. It has some genuinely sad parts that bring a good balance too.
-Well shot, though many of the shots could've been more effective with slower pacing.
-Finnish history is sadly rarely looked into in movies. That being said this is not an exact historically accurate recreation or even set in an exact time in history. Still a good location.
-And continueing on the locations, this movie really shows the beauty of Lapland well. Also great sets like the village, the cabin and the workshop. These combined with good camera work do give this film a very beautiful aesthetic.
-Santa Claus is presented as an actual Human Being.
Cons:
-This movie could've really benefited from a slower pacing like I mentioned earlier. Not only the shots that would've gotten more weight to them if they were longer, but also the story, that feels like it goes forward at a speed around thousand miles in an hour. There's enough story that this could've easily been a 1h 50minute piece.
-Iisakki's story was over-explained. He literally said "X happened to me and that's why I'm like Y. " Then again this is a children's movie, so maybe a bit of over-explanation can be looked over. But it was still rushed feeling.
The Visit (2015)
Bad choices with a great third act.
The grandma and grandpa are absolutely magnificent characters, how you see who they really are is very well written imo. The kids... At first I absolutely hated them but actually it was good that it was like a childrens comedy at start as it amblified the change in tone. The darker parts are some of the best non supernatural horror/triller that ive seen in a while.
Bird Box (2018)
Missed potential
The river part is great, and the concept overall is great. Also mainly pretty good camerawork and editing.
But theres 2 that i think ruined it:
1.The characters
2.The structure
So big part of the movie is centered around this group of characters that are straight from an b-horror movie in the style of 5teenagers went to a cabin. All of the characters except the one portrayed by John Malkovich were so obvious and thin plot devices if even that, maby more just filler.
The house section becomes good around at the point when the birth giving starts but still.
A mayor problem in this section is also that we have already seen the main character alive 5 years later, so theres absolutely no tension about her surviving trough the scenes, which would not be a problem if the movie didnt center around trying to create tension to the main character's survival.
So altough I love the time jump structure when it's done right here it feels like it's been slammed on as afterthought. it would have made this a lot better if it would've just used an linear timestructure or then given it a sideplot to keep it interesting.
Also the ending would have been a lot better if they had changed it so it ends to them releasing the birds but not nearly as important, would've been a nice touch though.