Directed by Tom Hooper
Starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce, Michael Gambon, Claire Bloom, Timothy Spall, Jennifer Ehle, Eve Best

The big favorite for the 2011 Academy Awards had to be seen before the big event itself (later today in fact) and even though my personal favorite, Inception may not win the statues it so rightfully deserves, it's a relief to know that should it fall in the wake of The King's Speech, it has still lost to a great effort.

 The film depicts the sudden rise to power of King George VI of Britain (Firth) after his brother abdicates. The King has a dreaded stammer and his Queen (Carter) enlists the help of an unorthodox speech therapist by the name of Lionel Logue (Rush). The two men get off to a bad start, but as his stammer gets worse, the King begins to trust Logue and their dawning friendship starts to take shape.

 The King's Speech is exactly the kind of film which the Academy favors. It has a broad canvas, essential themes and the feel of greatness. Firth and Rush are both up for statues and I'd be pleased to see either one of them as a winner, though as powerful and magnificent as Firth's interpretation of the King is, it's Rush's Lionel Logue who really stands out from the film with his unconventional treatments and personality. Also, director Hooper (The Damned United) is man of whom we can expect many great films in the future. I hope. A special mention must go out to the photography of the film which too is unconventional to say the least. At times, the characters are placed within the frame in very weird compositions and occasionally with lots of dead space above their heads which really creates a very unique look. It's very weird if you pay attention to it, but surprisingly it works well. Another traditional method questioned with great success.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
Kuninkaan Puhe on loistava leffa, jos haluaa keskittyä taidolla kirjoitettuun ja etenkin upeasti näyteltyyn aikuisten draamaan. Historiallisesti hyvinkin paikkansa pitävä leffa on suuri suosikki tänään yöllä pidettävässä Oscar-gaalassa ja vaikka itse kampanjoinkin Inceptionin puolesta, on mukava tietää että jos kyseinen leffa ottaa takkiin Kuninkaan Puheen hallitessa, niin kilpailijakin on patsaittensa arvoinen. Ja sitä se on. Erityinen maininta pitää vielä antaa filmin erittäin eriskummallisesta kuvauksesta, sillä kuvakompositioiden kanssa on rikottu "sääntöjä" ja ajateltu laatikon ulkopuolelta. Lopputulos on erikoisen näköinen, mutta onnistunut.

The King's Speech at IMDb

Directed by David Fincher
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Brenda Song, Justin Timberlake, Joseph Mazzello, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Patrick Mapel, John Getz, Rashida Jones

When I first heard that there was a movie in the works about Facebook.. well my thought was probably the same as everyone else's: "what?!". Shortly after I learned that Fincher was involved. Now, upon hearing news like that, you have to start thinking that maybe there is something here. After all, the man is a true force behind the camera and even a subject such as Facebook got a stylized treatment.

 Socially awkward Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg, Zombieland, The Village) is a genius with his computer and spends his time at Harvard writing code in his dorm room. Through some complicated circumstances he hits upon the idea of a social-networking site which proves to be more popular than anybody involved could've imagined. What follows is a story of investigation into the most significant internet phenomena of the 21st century and the crumbling relationships it took to get there.

 The Social Network is a film which shouldn't have worked at all. In theory. It tells the story of these somewhat boring and nerdy characters but through ingenius direction and an amazing string of performances from the cast, The Social Network works beautifully and at it's core it turns out to be a very compelling look into the dynamics of friendship or rather the lack of them while still coming together for the same agenda. I'm not surprised that this film has gathered all this attention around it and as brilliant as Eisenberg is in the lead role, for me personally it was Andrew Garfield (The Imaginarum Of Doctor Parnassus and the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man) who delivered the most memorable performance as Eduardo Saverin, the hard working but yet backstabbed collague of Zuckerberg.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
Luultavasti jokainen joka aikanaan kuuli että Facebook-sivustosta oltiin tekemässä elokuvaa, ajatteli samaa kuin allekirjoittanut: "mitä?!". Lopputulos on kumminkin jotain mitä ei voi katsella alas silmiä pyöritellen, sillä The Social Network on vahva ja erinomaisesti toteutettu draama ihmisistä kyseisen saitin taustalla ja heidän kaatuvista lojaalisuuksistaan. Ohjaaja Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en) on aikaisemminkin takertunut vaikeasti filmattaviin aiheisiin (Fight Club) ja tehnyt niistä mestariteoksia ja vaikkei tässä elokuvassa päästäkään aivan samoihin nerokkuuksien stratosfääreihin, on kyseessä silti loistava katselmus yhden 2000-luvun alun merkittävimpiin virstanpylväisiin kuuluvan sosiaalisen nettisivuston katkerasta alkutaipaleesta.

The Social Network at IMDb

Directed by Rodrigo Cortés
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Ivana Miño, Stephen Tobolowsky, Robert Paterson, José Luis García Pérez, Samantha Mathis

Holy shit. Personally, I admire nothing more than these "one man shows", films which revolve around the talent of a single actor or actress. Buried is such a film and a few others are Cast Away (2000) with Tom Hanks, Phone Booth (2002) with Colin Farrell and most recently 127 Hours (2010) with James Franco. The latter I haven't seen yet but all the others are a true pleasure to watch because they are brilliant performances in their purest form.

 Paul Conroy (Reynolds) is a US contractor who wakes up buried in a simple wooden coffin, buried beneath the dirt by Iraqi terrorists. He quickly discovers few items buried with him such as a lighter, a phone, a pencil and few other crucial things. The phone is his only link to the world above and Paul sets out to get help before his time and oxygen run out.

 Reynolds and Miño are the only visible actors in the whole film and Miño only through two videos via phone. Everybody else literally phone in their performances. The film is a masterpiece of minimalist approach as the whole film literally takes place inside the box which holds Conroy. The atmosphere is very claustophobic throughout and although the filmmakers could've easily made a boring film, Buried is anything but dull. Reynolds delivers his best performance yet of the one's I've witnessed and the script keeps throwing little twists which still do not belittle the tone, all the way to the very memorable ending. This really is a very intelligent film, not perhaps in terms of plot development but indeed of giving the audience a truly horrific experience of being buried alive up close and personal. After Inception, Buried is easily the best film I've seen from what 2010 had to offer.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
Buried eli näin suomalaisittain Haudattu on kiduttavan ahdistava elokuva miehestä, joka haudataan elävältä. Katsoja on koko elokuvan ajan ahtaasti Ryan Reynoldsin (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Smokin' Aces) kanssa arkussa, sillä missään vaiheessa filmiä ei näytetä oikeaa kuvaa ulkopuolelta vaan ainoastaan nopeasti kahden kännykkävideon kautta. Klaustrofobinen tunnelma on jatkuvasti päällä ja Reynoldsin luoma Paul Conroy on sen verran samaistuttava hahmo, että katsoja elää samaa jännitystä Conroyn kanssa niin ajan kuin hapen loppumisen pelossa. Näitä "yhden miehen show"-leffoja (Cast Away, Phone Booth) on aito nautinto katsoa, sillä ne nojaavat koko taakallaan yhden näyttelijän harteilla ja jos hän epäonnistuu uskottavuudessaan, luhistuu koko elokuva ympärilläkin. Näin ei ole käynyt esimerkkinä antamissani leffoissa eikä niin tosiaan käy tässäkään elokuvassa. Buried on mestariteos, joka kannattaa katsoa kun on aidosti aikaa keskittyä hyvään leffaan.

Buried at IMDb

Directed by Terry Gilliam
Starring Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield, Verne Troyer, Tom Waits, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, Peter Stormare


Let's be brutally honest here and say that this film would never have gotten the attention it did if it wasn't for the untimely departure of it's leading man. A modern The Crow-syndrome if you will. Of course, then again media attention has never been and will never be a measure of a good motion picture. The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus received extra press but people still weren't too interested, most likely because the film is quite heavy.

 Dr. Parnassus (Plummer) travels the modern day Britain with his mobile theatre and offers people access to his "Imaginarium". Behind the scenes it's a different story though, since he's made a vager with the devil himself (Waits) and the price is nothing less than the soul of the beautiful Valentina (Cole) travelling among the crew. Along comes Tony (Ledger), a mysterious stranger who helps Parnassus turn his theatre into a success.

 Gilliam has never been a favorite for large audiences and to tell you the truth, his films thus have hardly been accessible with perhaps the exception of The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995) and The Brothers Grimm (2005). Parnassus, again, is anything but easily accessible. It's immersed in the crazy fantasy world of the Imaginarium (in which the character of Tony changes appearance due to Ledger's demise and his character is also played by Depp, Law and Farrell who all donated their fees from the picture to Ledger's daughter, Matilda) and is stretched very far at times. Still, when you consider the amount of work and sacrifice that went into this film, it's nice to find out that it wasn't for nothing because the finished picture is solid, although uneven towards the third reel. I wasn't previously aware that Andrew Garfield was in Parnassus, but since that is the case, I now got the first chance to see the man in action before seeing him in The Social Network (2010) and the Spider-Man (2012) reboot which is being filmed now. He is comfortable in front of the camera and I think we can expect great things in the future.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus on ohjaaja (ja Monty Pythonistakin tutun) Terry Gilliamin paluu Paroni Von Munchausenin Seikkailujen (1988) kaltaisen fantasian pariin. Olihan tässä välissä toki Grimmin Veljekset (2005), mutta tuossa leffassa ei kumminkaan päästy täysillä irrottelemaan mielikuvituksen syövereihin, toisin kuin nyt Parnassuksessa. Halusi tai ei, leffan väistämätön vetovoima on Ledgerin kuolema ja sen aiheuttamat mutkat tuotannossa, joita on paikkailtu Deppin, Law'n ja Farrellin suorituksilla samaisessa Tonyn roolissa. Vaikka Leffa onkin hienoa katseltavaa Gilliamille tyypilliseen tapaan, se silti joutuu pinnistelemään aikalailla kolmannessa kelassa pitääkseen narut käsissä, mutta onnistuu siinä silti ihan kivasti ja sallittakoon tuo, koska olosuhteet ovat pakottaneet kaverit ajattelemaan kovin luovasti laatikon ulkopuolelta. Kevyenä popcorn-viihteenä tätä ei voi pitää, mutta pohdinnan iltapalana kylläkin.

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus at IMDb

Directed by Ben Affleck
Starring Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Slaine, Owen Burke, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper, Titus Welliver, Victor Garber

Back when Affleck was making dime a dozen action films like Paycheck and Daredevil, it really would've been a stretch to imagine him as a talented director of such serious films as his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone (2007) and now The Town. Nevertheless, that is what we've come to and the success behind the camera suits the man well.

Doug MacRay (Affleck) is a bank robber and after he and his crew pull a heist on a bank, he finds himself falling for the manager (Hall) of the bank. Also in play are MacRay's long time friend and loose cannon James (Renner) and FBI agent Adam Frawley (Hamm) who's looking to bring the whole crew down.

Gone Baby Gone came out of nowhere in terms of the kind of film it was and what was expected of Affleck as a director. And believe it or not, I don't mean that as an insult but rather just an observation that he had hardly displayed any proof of his skills on grown up dramas with the exception of Chasing Amy (2007), Good Will Hunting (2007) and Jersey Girl (2004). The Town is a strong tale and told very well accompanied with memorable performances from Renner, Postlethwaite and especially Cooper as MacRay's imprisoned bank robber father. I'll be looking forward to what Affleck grabs onto next.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
The Town on hieno draama ystävyksistä, jotka keikkaavat pankkeja ja joiden välille syntyy jännitettä kun toinen rakastuu edellisen keikan panttivankiin. Leffassa on myös mukiinmeneviä toimintakohtauksia, mutta tätä filmiä ei silti kannata lähteä katsomaan pelkän rymistelyn toivossa, sillä silloin pettymys on suuri, kun tylsyys iskee monesti toimintabiittien välissä, mutta nimenomaan vain jos se on ainoa mitä olet tullut hakemaan. Muilta näkökanteilta The Town on hienojen roolisuoritusten ja Affleckin itsensä hyvän ohjauksen ansiosta erinomaisesti toimiva elokuva. Näin ei olisi uskonut vielä jonkin aikaa sitten kun mies työsti isoilla näyttelijäpalkkioilla keskinkertaisia ja huonoja toimintaleffoja kuten Pearl Harbor ja Daredevil. Mielenkiinnolla jään odottamaan millaiseen proggikseen mies asettuu seuraavan kerran kameran taakse.

The Town at IMDb

Directed by Jimmy Hayward
Starring Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, Wes Bentley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Rance Howard, Michael Shannon, Tom Wopat, Aidan Quinn

I'd heard from everywhere what a horrible piece of shit Jonah Hex was and thus it was almost impossible to go into this film without any expectations. As it turns out, this wasn't the Wild Wild West (1999) I expected it to be and here also lies one of my pet peeves.

 Jonah Hex (Brolin) is a bounty hunter with a warrant on his own head and he seeks revenge on his archenemy Turnbull (Malkovich) who is responsible for the murder of Hex' family. Now Turnbull is in possession of a modernised weapon with which he is going after the whole of mankind and Hex is recruited by the President of The United States to stop him in exchange for a full pardon.


 Back to my pet peeve. Every time a film is singled out by the internet trash talkers, it seems they do so without any real objective input and I'll bet my dashing good looks that also often without actually seeing the fucking thing. Hey, because everyone else is saying it, they don't wanna be singled out for going "umm, shouldn't we see the film first and not judge it only by the previous work of an actor or the director involved?". Sure, I might have had negative expectations based on the same criteria, but where these dicks blindly judge the work all the way, I've stayed ready for a positive surprise and most importantly, I've had the balls to admit when I was wrong. I hate those douchebags and only really have one thing to say to such assholes: grow up. I strongly believe this to be the case when discussing about Jonah Hex. Look, the film clearly has it's flaws. Malkovich is bored all the way and does only his routine, phoned-in baddie thing while the excessively modernized gimmicks still do not fit to the western setting at all. You'd think they would've learned that from previously mentioned Wild Wild West but I guess not. Still, at the end of the day, Brolin isn't bad as the titular antihero and while Fox does her usual flirt with the camera she doesn't come even close to being the worst leading actress of the year as the recently announced Razzie-nominations would lead you to believe. Jonah Hex is as basic as action films come but is it as bad as the hype around it? Hell no. Uninspired at times but far from the worst picture of the year.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
Mistään mestariteoksesta ei Jonah Hexin tapauksessa voi puhua, mutta ottaen huomioon että leffa floppasi lippuluukuilla ja tuomittiin melko sokeasti netissä jo ennen julkaisuaan, on se silti ihan pirteä perus krapulaleffa. Brolin vetää nimikkoroolin kivasti läpi. Mikä helvetti muuten saa aina liikkeelle nuo saatanan roskasäkit, jotka arvostelevat rinta rottingilla leffat ennen kuin ovat edes nähneet niitä?! Vastaus on ärsyttävän yksinkertainen: heillä ei ole mitään elämää ja kaatavat sen turhautumisen nettiin haukkumalla näyttelijöitä ja ohjaajia usein ilman minkäänlaista objektiivista näkemystä, käyttäen pelkkää sokeaa dissausta joka perustuu korkeintaan tekijöiden aiempiin töihin. Turhuuksien roviot palavat kun nuo mäntit pääsevät näppiksen ääreen.

Jonah Hex at IMDb

Well, it's been an interesting year for the silver screen. I'm not a professional critic by any means and thus don't have equal opportunity to see as many films, but I have to say that for me of the movies I did see, Inception was clearly the best film of the year. If Oscar nominations don't come knocking, the gala's already shaky credibility will reach new highs. And by shaky credibility I mean, just to name a couple, the lack of crucial nominations for The Dark Knight and the fact that Stanley Kubrick never won a statue himself. That's just gotta be embarrasing.

I have a couple of questions and it would be interesting to hear my readers' opinions..


A) What did you think of Inception?

B) Which men-on-a-mission film was better?
 - The Expendables
 - The A-Team


C) Your own personal favorite for 2010?

Send your answers as comments (link on the top left corner of this post).


Thank you all for reading my dribble. I'll be back at it next year.

Directed by Steve Barron
Starring Josh Pais, Michelan Sisti, Leif Tilden, David Forman, Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas, Kevin Clash, James Saito, Michael Turney, Toshirô Obata, Sam Rockwell

Yes, that's right, four statues. I kid you not. I decided to give this childhood classic from 1990 a new watch with mature eyes (which isn't always a good idea because most films tend to be shit when you see them again later in life). Jim Carrey's The Mask is good example. Geez, that movie sucked ass when I saw it again. Luckily and believe you me, surprisingly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was as good as it ever was. And even better.

 Four baby turtles end up in the New York sewer and through contact with mysterious substance called the Ooze they mutate into intelligent humanoid form along with a former pet rat called Splinter. Years later the turtles, now teenagers, are experiencing growth pains and after being trained as ninja warriors by Splinter, they also have to face a youth consuming criminal gang called The Foot Clan lead by a mysterious and very dangerous ninja The Shredder.

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is obviously a family film, but as such it doesn't follow the traditional rules of the genre, meaning that the film is not corny, tasteless or worst of all, cute. There are serious themes at hand like family, not only from the point of view of the turtles, but the young teens who are drawn into this criminal gang by attraction of togetherness and sense of belonging. After all, that is how real gangs lure young people into their ranks. The tone at times is surprisingly dark but it also allows the film to be taken more seriously. The make-up and design of the tutles are what they are but one, it could be a lot worse and two, at the time it was the best available. I really enjoyed this film after years and years and even though the two sequels this film gained in the early 90's were not as good, they too still delivered the fun. Watch this if you have a chance, you just might enjoy it. I know I did. By the way, there's a remake slated for 2012.


KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
Teini-ikäiset Mutanttininjakilpikonnat on viihdyttävä ja dramaturgisesti yllättävän laadukas perheleffa vuodelta 1990, kun nämä önkkimönkit olivat ensimmäisen kerran muksujen suosiossa. Vauhtia riittää, mutta parasta tässä on silti se viimeksi Transformerseissakin nähty lähestymistapa perheen pienimmille suunnattuun leffaan, eli korni söpöys ja mauton älykkyyden aliarvioiminen on karsittu minimiin ja leffassa on keskitytty vilpittömään viihdyttämiseen ja onpa mukaan ympätty ihan aitoa henkilöhahmojen kehitystäkin. Usein nämä lapsuuden klassikot on parempi jättää unholaan hyvien muistojen seuraksi, sillä muistojen verestäminen saattaa vain päätyä huonoon kokemukseen, mutta tämä filmi oli edelleen yhtä hyvä kuin muistinkin ellei jopa parempi ja se on jo aikamoinen saavutus leffalta jonka nimikin on realistisesti Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Vitun hyvä leffa.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at IMDb