Taking opportunity that I have an excellent cinema theater 15 minutes walking from my place, with affordable prices and always empty seats (sadly people hardly go to the movies anymore) I spontaneously decided 1 hour before the show started to buy a ticket for Gladiator II, the must awaited return for director Ridley Scott to the blockbuster from year 2000.

As many other people, I love the original Gladiator movie. From the amazing initial sequence of the battle, its cinematography, the outstading and powerful performance of Russell Crowe, the dialogues, the unforgettable duels in the arena… so many moments to be remembered in cinema history.

So Gladiator II had a very high bar to reach if wanted to be close to the quality of its sequel. Did it succeed? Well…sadly no.

Let’s start with the positives, as not everything is negative here: the initial naval attack battle has some outstanding photography and it really kicks to a promising start of the movie, and Pedro Pascal‘s performance as Marcus Acacius is pretty strong (as almost everything this actor does in the last years). And I was also happy to see Lior Raz, an actor that I really love from the series “Fauda” casted pretty nicely as Viggo, the ruthless trainer of the slave gladiators.

Also some winks to the original movie here and there will cast you a smile.That’s about it about the good.

For the non so good part, the script and history feels like put together in a night of heavy drugs involved, same as most of the battles scenes in the arena and Coliseum (crazy monkeys, rhinos that act like trained warhorses, sharks with a higher IQ than most of your co-workers invading a flooded Coliseum (yes, the Romans did naval battles in the arenas, but I never hears of a highly superior intelligent race of sharks inhabiting there…). It just feels ridiculous most of the times, instead of epic, and the cuts between the scenes feel sometimes like an intern was the one putting the cuts together.

About the rest of the cast, Paul Mescal as Lucius does just not feel right to the role, he is not charismatic, powerful or likable, even when you try to. Even Denzel Washington, one of my favorite actors in Hollywood, feels hateful in his histrionic performance of Macrinus.

So, if you are really a hardcore Gladiator fan, well, you can give it a shot and be disappointed. If not, better skip this one. The 250 million of production cost were really not well used here.

Rating: 1.5/5

Here you can find the top 10 of movies in the Finnish theaters during the last year with the total number of spectators that watched them. Ice Age 3 leads!

1. Ice Age 3 (trailer) 01.07.2009 387 000

2. Harry Potter ja puoliverinen prinssi (trailer) 17.7.2009 345 000

3. Rööperi (trailer) 09.01.2009 256 000

4. Up – kohti korkeuksia 09.10.2009 219 000

5. Enkelit ja demonit (trailer) 13.05.2009 197 000

6. Slummien miljonääri (trailer) 13.03.2009 183 000

7. Kunniattomat paskiaiset (trailer) 04.09.2009 181 000

8. Twilight: Uusi kuu (trailer) 20.11.2009 181 000

9. Bolt (trailer) 13.02.2009 161 000

10. Twilight (trailer) 02.01.2009 152 000

{mosimage}Ganes, the long awaited and much advertised film about
one of the pioneering Finnish rock and roll bands, opens today. Eero Milonoff, Olavi Uusivirta and Jussi
Nikkilä bring the Hurriganes to
the silver screen on the second film directed by JP Siili. Get on and rock and roll all night long!

In the
seventies, Hurriganes became the most successful band in the history of Finnish
rock and roll, achieving popularity and recognition even outside of Finland.
Its original vinyl records are highly appreciated in the second hand market and
they cannot be found for less than 30 euro. Ganes,
the film, tells how the band reached the top from the neighbourhood of Pohjois
Haaga in Helsinki. But the film focuses mainly on Remu Aaltonen, drummer and founder of the Hurriganes, whose life at
the time was pretty peculiar and that includes learning to play drums in jail,
among other adventures. “This is something that we discover while writing the
film”, producer Aleksi Bardy
explains to FREE!, “In order to make a dramatic movie, it has to be also
personal. It cannot be equally and democratic on three persons. We had to
concentrate on one person. Remu is the most prominent of all the Hurriganes and
his life story is particular intriguing, with his difficult background”.

From this
point of view, there is a dramatic plot that makes the film interesting,
besides the musical context. Director JP Siili, who works with Bardy again
after his first film Hymypoika
(2003), admits that “it was very important to tell the story so it would be
attractive not only for fans of the Hurriganes, but also for those people who
have never heard about ‘Ganes’”.

The story
and the Hurriganes weren’t unknown to the director. Indeed, he was very
connected to the band. “I grew up in the same neighbourhood. My elder sister
went to the same class with Cisse,
the bass player”, Siili remembers.” I felt very interested in going back to
this time. And I was a fan too. The first record I taped for myself was Rock And Roll All Night Long.

{sidebar id=25}Siili worked
with Bardy again after both did the director’s first feature film in 2003, Hymypoika. Both acknowledge that it was
long project since the writer Antero Arjatsalo (Riisuttu Mies) started working on the script in 2001. According to
the producer, there was a lot of background documentation to work with and many
music rights to solve. Also there was a lot of work on the script and many
versions were written. “When I started working on the project, we still wrote
for 13 or 14 months. I start with version four or five and we finally shot version 14”,
the director explains. “One of the most difficult things was to find the
balance between a dramatic story and the real story of Hurriganes”.

Obviously,
to recreate such popular characters, casting was a very important aspect. “JP
Siili pointed out that he wanted the cast to perform the music themselves”,
says Bardy. “That’s why he looked for musicians who can act, like Olavi
Uusivirta or actors who can play like Jussi Nikkilä, who was the lead guitar of
band before becoming an actor. The question of who Remu would be was more
difficult. We found the right person in Eero Milonoff, who didn’t know how to
play or how to sing, so he was taught from zero. It is impressive how well he
learned and adapted to that role.” This way, the music that appears in the movie
is mostly re-recordings done by the actors.

However,
lead actor Eero Milonoff will not change his profession. “No, I won’t become a
rock star”, he says to FREE!. “Maybe it will become a hobby. I had never played
before. It was fun and difficult. I started playing with hand and doing basic
things, then playing with the band and rehearsing with them, which was very
helpful for me because both Olavi and Jussi are musicians”. To prepare his
role, Eero had first hand help from Remu Aaltonen himself. “I met him a lot. We
went through the script because he has a very particular style of speaking. That’s
very important for the role. I went to his place in Porvoo with the script and
a minidisc and I recorded how he spoke and we added those expressions to the script”.

Films about
musicians have gotten very popular in Hollywood with blockbusters like Ray or Walk The Line, so what a Finnish production can add to this
particular genre? According to Aleksi Bardy, Ganes has certain characteristics
that make it very Finnish. “It’s a very edgy movie. It has some Finnish characteristics
like guts, ‘sisu’. It is also a portrait of the time. It shows how Finland was before
rock and roll came. Ganes is very Finnish. It is not as polished as other
foreign films tend to be. But I think Walk The Line is a great film and in the process of making this film, we
follow many of the good things of it with great admiration”.

If you know
and like the Hurriganes, you will find this to be the perfect film. If you don’t
know them, this is a great opportunity to learn about one of the most important
moments in Finnish rock and roll. And in any case, you will see an intense
personal story, the one about a natural born rocker Remu Aaltonen.

{mosimage} The yellow
universe of The Simpsons finally hits the big screen. An environmental
disaster, provoked by the one and only Homer Simpson (with a bit of help from
his new close friend, Spider-Pig) threatens to cause Springfield’s apocalypse. The
much-anticipated big-screen adventure of the most dysfunctional family opens
worldwide today.

{sidebar id=1}T

he idea of
a Simpsons film was rumored for many years and it also took many years to
complete. The big day is here and as Homer exclaims at the beginning of the
film: “I can't believe we're paying for something we
get for free on TV!”

After
creating such universal pop icons, sure Matt Groening and the crew of writers
felt a lot of pressure to avoid disappointing the millions of fans. Watching
the film is easy to notice that they tried very hard, even too hard.

The movie,
especially in its first half, is a tour around Springfield and it contains most
of the best gags in the movie, including the naked skate ride by Bart,
including a moment of full frontal. Almost every character has some seconds on
screen. But many of them appear too briefly as the film focuses exclusively in the
Simpsons.

It seems
that the writer made a conscious effort to separate the feature film from the
series and usual locations, like Moe’s bar, the school or the nuclear plant,
are hardly seen. The animation has been improved with detailed backgrounds and
shiny computer effects.

There are
some good gags and well written dialogues, but the film ends up suffering from
the same flaws the series has suffered in the last seasons. Homer has become a silly
caricature of himself instead of the absurd genius that he used to be. There is
also a futile effort in keeping the series contemporary and transmitting political
message instead of being satirical and unconventional. But the main problem
with the film is a weak plot and the lack of remarkable jokes. One wonders how
come a large team of writers didn’t come up with a better story.

In spite of
all the defects The Simpsons is still entertaining, but it is just a bit
disappointing that it is nothing better than an extended episode, done when the
glory days of the series are gone. In a way, this film leaves the same feeling
as the latest Rolling Stones’ album: it’s not bad, but not great and, above
all, was it necessary?

A dubbed version in Finnish will be released in theaters across Finland. It is the first time that The Simpsons will speak Finnish.

{mosimage}
For me and many of my close friends, Transformers
was much more than just another science fiction movie project.  We belong to a generation that grew up sitting
on the sofa since early hours in the morning, in front of the TV set, devouring
one animation series after another, totally flabbergasted by the huge amount of
new and exciting shows coming from America and Japan. And Transformers was
for most of us, the cherry on top of the cake. It was a happy time with no much
worries; our glass of milk in one hand, the biscuits in the other, and the eyes
was totally hypnotized in front of the screen, watching the battles of Autobots
and Deserticons.

For many of you, the story is well known.
Two robotic clans with amazing skills and powers, coming from a destroyed
planet, that find the Earth their second home. One of them is evil and wants to
destroy human beings: The Decepticons. The others are friendly with
humans: The Autobots. Both clans have charismatic leaders whose names
are an evocation of power: Optimus Prime, the red and blue truck, leader
of the Autobots that fights against Megatron, the sneaky and nasty boss of the
Deserticons.

Many were the fans of the original animation
series that was released in 1984 and the success was so huge that countless
series, comics and adaptations were made in following years. The product got
followers in Japan,
America
and Europe, becoming a worldwide phenomenon. I
have read many blogs where every Transformer´s character is deeply
analyzed to the last chapter and verse, and even some freaks fans had an
enormous pleasure in theorizing about twisted love relations between human
characters and robots.

And here we are in 2007, where finally the project
is taken by Hollywood
and put under the hands of Michael
Bay (director among
others of The Island or Pearl Harbor).
Well, I was a bit afraid before watching the final product about what kind of
angle would be used for the adaptation. I suppose, as many other fans, you
always try to preserve the original spirit as much as possible. After watching
it, I think that the title of this article speaks by itself. Michael Bay
has created a film that is totally directed to hail the American way of life,
and the power and sophistication of their weapons and arsenal. This is really a
pity, because the original idea could have been developed into a really much
more wonderful result.

The robots, that should be basically the “main course” of
the film, are poorly depicted. You can hardly make any difference about who is
who, or what are the special features that every robot has. And the extremely
fast rhythm of the action and battles does not help at all to solve the
problem. Michael Bay continues stamping the “video clip
tempo” in his action movies, and the spectator continues praying for an
explanation to understand what is happening on the screen.

{mosimage}
About the human
characters, Shia LaBeouf
looks like a clown all along the film, and it is difficult to concentrate on Megan
Fox’s acting skills, since every shot where she appears is treated as if
taken from a Playboy sketch. The girl is really hot… and not much more to add.
I don’t know what is about with such a huge polemic about Iranian videogames promoting
actions against western countries, when products so unnecessarily pro-America
like this slap on our face month after month. I have nothing against USA. I am a
citizen of the world and I think that it should be easier if people just would
appreciate what is good from every culture. But I hate to feel betrayed as a
fan. I hate when such a nice original idea as Transformer was is just
turned into a political propaganda movie. I have no other option that just jumping
back in time and use my memory to remember again the good moments sitting on my
sofa with my glass of milk in one hand, and the Transformer's catchy
intro music announcing that another great episode was just going to be
broadcasted! 

Participate in our Transformers competition and win good prizies. Click here

Milos Forman’s new film, Goya´s Ghosts, offers a biography (and it seems that the polemic Czech director never gets tired of the genre) of one of the most important painters in all history, the genuine and genial Goya, interpreted by Stellan Skarsgård. But it must be said, that the appeal of a new Goya´s biography is used in this case as a mere excuse for representing a critical vision of Spain during that twisted time of darkness and light. Goya´s role gets quickly eclipsed by another superb performance by Javier Bardem, who is able to provoke, equally, love and hate in the eyes of the spectator. Goya´s artwork has a secondary role in the plot, since Forman is more obsessed with showing the fight between the reason of the French Illustration and the madness of religious fanaticism, with the obsolete role of a numb monarchy in the middle. And he certainly achieves it.

On the other hand, it is a pity that such an interesting figure as Goya himself does not get more importance in a film whose title points directly to him. Maybe, we will have to wait until Forman decides to make a film about the Spanish Inquisition (or a new biography of its leader, Torquemada) to get an accurate description of the genial painter from Aragon.

Milos Forman´s film passes the test of the Spanish Inquisition, but somebody should teach him some more lessons of history: regarding how the Spanish citizens were able to fight the French oppressor without such a huge help from the British, as he wants us to believe on screen.

Take 300: a mixture of one car commercial/remake director, one sexy ‘graphic novel’ (from the creator of Sin City), spiced up with a few speeches about freedom, and served lukewarm with IMAX-tailored cinematography. The result: a product that even the creators refer to as the ‘300 experience’ rather than calling it a film.

Director Zack Snyder (of Dawn of the Dead-remake fame) remakes Gladiator and Sin City at the same time and casts snarling action figure Gerard Butler as the take-no-shit Leonidas, the king of the Spartans and patron of chiselled abs. And when Snyder expands Frank Miller’s original comic book by adding a political intrigue sub-plot, where limp-wristed liberals do their worst to hinder the brave Spartans from beating the hell out of a force of million Persians lead by the enigmatic Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), it’s hard not to start seeing this as a republican wargasm film. But maybe drawing such conclusions from this film are uncalled for, since 300 is pure entertainment, which does not concern itself with depth.

After such a my critical onslaught, it has to be said that 300 is nonetheless a fast-paced yarn and a stunning visually: every shot is a piece of art, sometimes directly lifted from Miller’s source work and the battle scenes are, at their best, breathtaking. Still, it’s hard to care for any of the two-dimensional characters and the end result is ultimately unsatisfying: this is combat pornography, where you can fast forward the boring bits and watch spears pierce flesh and blood-spattered man-flesh gleam. Which makes watching 300 like watching somebody play a game on a super-charged game console rather than sitting at the cinema.

{mosimage}Kid is a
confused girl trying to find her place in this world, between being Swedish and
Finnish, and being a child and an adult. Not knowing where she belongs, she
desperately wants to be loved by her mom, but at the same time she is ashamed
of her. Kid is almost a teen and her sexuality is starting to awaken, which
makes things even more complicated for her. The tension between Kid and her
mother rises so high that it almost destroys everything.

In many
ways Aavan Meren Tuolla Puolen is a
nostalgic and bright movie paying regard to the fact that it is director Nanna
Huolman’s first feature length movie, plus the young actors’ first movie. In
addition to good storytelling, the acting is excellent, especially the young
talent Mia Saarinen, who performs very well. The scenery is beautiful with
thousands of Finnish lakes and endless forests, and the Art Director made a big
effort to find artefacts from the ‘80s. A great film that reflects exactly how
the Finnish summer of 1984 was!

Juha’s
friend agrees to help him to sell his body. Soon their business is booming and
Juha is making more money in an hour than in two days at his old job. His guilt
worsens every day, as does the shame and lies, but the money helps him cope with the downside of his
new profession. Everything is fine, so long as his wife doesn’t know about his
new job or touch her antidepressants.

Miehen Työ is a film about a man’s
dignity and humiliation, as well as male prostitution. It is also a story about
taking responsibilities and the pressure on a man, a father and a husband. The
film is dark with a hint of a humour, but realistic and quite intense thanks to
the credible acting. Directed by Aleksi Salmenperä, Miehen Työ is
his second feature, although he has made several short films, and hopefully we
will see another feature film from him again soon.

{mosimage}Interview with Tommi Korpela

You played the leading man, Juha,
in Miehen Työ. What’s Juha like and
was it easy for you to play the part?

Juha
is a man who thinks that his value is measured by his achievements. He feels
that he is loved only when he is able to support his family. I don’t think that
there are very much similarity between me and Juha. The part was challenging
and enjoyable to play.

Why was it interesting act in this
movie?

This
is my first main part in a movie and before this I have been doing more acting
at theatre and TV. So, acting on the screen is always good fun and experience.

How was the team?

It
was great and everything went smoothly. We shot the whole thing in about 6
weeks. I would like to do other projects with the team in a future.

What else are you going to do this
year?

I
am busy for the rest of the year. I will continue my work at theatre and act on
TV as well.

Aleksi Salmenperä answers

Why did you make a movie about the
shame of a man?

I
liked the topic. It is interesting and important issue. There are plenty of men
in Finland and everywhere else on this planet who feel like Juha.

Did you any research about the male
prostitution?

I
met a journalist who had written an article about the subject. I read it, got
interested in it and read some other articles as well.

What is the deal of the man’s
shame?

Men
want to accomplish things, be successful and if they fail, it is a matter of
their self-esteem. Men are very competitive and they measure their achievements
all the time.

Do you think that there will be
public conversations about the main topics of the film? Which topic will gain
more attention in publicity?

Probably
the male prostitution -topic, which really isn’t the main topic. It is easy to
hang on to it.

What’s on your agenda this year?

I
am planning new films. Few subjects have been in my mind for a while now. I
would like to do a film about an old man and his despair or about kids in the
70’s.

{mosimage}There is
nothing astonishing new in Besson’s movie, but it outstands due to its innocence,
simplicity and the friendly fairy-like characters, the Minimoys, who borrow the
voices of Madonna, Snoop Dogg, David Bowie and Robert De
Niro, among others. The dubbed Finnish version also features the voices of
pop stars like Paula Vesala of PMMP
and rapper Elastinen.

While working
on the films, Besson published a series of children books based on Arthur’s
adventures. More movies based on these books are expected.

Luc Besson on Arthur and the Minimoys

Why did you
choose the film to be part animated and part live action?

I don’t
come from the animation world. For me it is very important that the audience
believes in the story. Making a live action introduction helps us to believe.

The main
characters have the voices of pop stars, how did you come up with that idea?

It was just
a coincidence. The character of Max was inspired by Snoop Dogg. Madonna is a
queen so it was easy for her to lend her voice to a princess. David Bowie…
well, he just has an amazing voice. It was easy to call them. The idea worked so
I suggested that dubbed versions around the world would use pop stars too.

This is
your 10th film. Once you said you would retire from directing when you reach
this milestone. Do you still think this way?

I don’t
know. I’m scared of repeating myself. I need to feel that I still have
something meaningful to say. I burned my first short film because of a friend’s
opinion. He showed that I need to have something to say if I want to make
movies. I learned the hard way.