minna Reviews

A Long Hot Summer (1999)

Brilliant film about Finnish band Kalle Päätalo

[9/10 · 7 January 2002]

I really enjoyed this movie and would like to recommend it to others.

The story centers around Unto Helo, a young boy who has left the Finnish capital Helsinki for Joensuu, a place in the province close to the Russian border. He meets Lajunen the lead singer of a rock'n'roll band. The time is the early 1980's.

Unto claims that he has the best contacts in Helsinki and that he could help the band make their way to a gig at Tavastia, Finland's most famous legendary rock club. Unto fells in love with Noora and after a lot of adventures they all really end up at Tavastia.

Young director Perttu Leppä has created a movie with a lot of atmosphere, he takes his characters serious, the cast is completely well picked together. "The long hot summer" is a movie about growing up in the Finnish province and it is so well done that the famous brothers Aki and Mika Kaurismäki are no longer alone in putting Finland on the map of European and World cinema. I would like to give 9 out of 10 points.

Hjärta av sten (2000)

Disappointing Swedish movie

[1/10 · 29 December 2001]

"Hjärta av sten" (Heart of Stone) is definitely the worst Swedish movie I have seen in many years. We are used to the fact that Swedish crime fiction and movies have a remarkable international standard. Henning Mankell and Åke Edwardsson sell extraordinary well not even in Scandinavia, but in many other countries. Kjell Sundvalls movie "The Hunters" starring Rolf Lassgård and Lennart Jähkel has a well deserved IMDB-average of 7.3 points, I could name a lot of other examples, among them some features of the Beck-series with Peter Haber.

"Heart of stone" is the story of a Russian mafia killer who happens to be on the same plane to Stockholm as tough and brutal policeman Ronny Asplund (played by the otherwise brilliant actor Allan Svensson). A murder is committed by the Russian killer and thereafter we are witnessing an orgy of unmotivated violence among characters without any content. The dialogues are almost ridiculous; the decent colleague of inspector Asplund for instance always says something like "Please. Don't do that! No.", whenever Asplund is beating up or humiliating suspects involved.

Fortunately the film is over after 75 minutes, but even earlier you realize that every minute you spent on this was just a waste of time.

What Lies Beneath (2000)

We've seen this hundred times before

[3/10 · 21 April 2001]

For the first time Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer can be seen in one movie together. And the screenplay is unfortunately a composition of many films in this genre that we' seen hundreds of times with lesser known actors. It doesn't take long that you suspect Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford) lying behind everything that happens there, because he doesn't believe his wife. The perfect fassade with a congenious scientist married to a retired extremely talented musician (Pfeiffer) has something beneath. Spencer betrayed his wife a year ago and has killed the girl who wanted to ruin his career... Now he is willing to kill his beloved wife too, she is able to escape several times, but as an experienced spectator of thrillers like this you know that he will come back - as badly injured as he is. And of course she will win, escaping death and rescuing herself in the last second. Although the performances of Pfeiffer and Ford are really good, although Zemeckis is a well-known director with entertaining films like Romancing the Stone, Back to the Future and Forrest Gump - What Lies Beneath is nothing but a great disappointment.

The Barber of Siberia (1998)

Disappointing almost all the way

[4/10 · 12 February 2001]

Most critics have written devastating about that Michalkov-movie, but I wanted it to see myself. And, unfortunately, they are right. The film had the greatest budget ever in Russian movie history, two international stars, colorful mass scenes, apparently shot quite close to the Kremlin - but in the end it appears to be a nice, sweet nothing. You would not believe, that this director earlier has made masterpieces like Urga and Burnt By the Sun. The characters in the storyline are not convincing, neither Jane nor McCracken nor Andrej. Only general Radlov worth being mentioned. It remains on the surface all the time. Politically it is to me a glorification of the army, and especially the Russian one with values like honor and duty. And, having lived at least half a year in Siberia: My Russia is much more than the one that is depicted in Michalkovs movie. Regarding "Burnt By The Sun" by the same director as a no-question-10-points-movie, one of the best I ever seen in my entire life, I was totally disappointed by that one. Sorry. Nevertheless, Michalkovs unique talent in delivering amazingly beautiful pictures is still there.

A Simple Plan (1998)

About the dark sides of human soul

[9/10 · 16 January 2001]

Raymond Chandler once wrote in the "Simple Art of Murder" that everyone under certain circumstances would be capable of committing a murder. Hopefully not everyone would act like Hank Mitchell (Bill Paxton) in Sam Raimis brilliant movie. "A Simple Plan", based on Scott B. Smiths bestselling novel, is a sometimes frightening character study of two brothers and a friend, finding 4,4 million $ in a crashed airplane somewhere in Minnesota. Their simple plan, to keep the money, ends up in a situation that they cannot control. Watch out for another outstanding performance of Billy Bob Thornton as Hank's stranded brother Jacob.

Limbo (I) (1999)

Unconventional drama/thriller in Alaska's beautiful landscape

[10/10 · 27 August 2000]

Bruce Springsteen contributed to this film with an exclusive song that he authored and performed. No wonder. The characters in "Limbo" show similarities to those in Springsteens songs.

John Sayles tells the story of three people who without their own fault get into deep trouble. Joe Gastineau is a former fisherman in Alaska. He stopped working on boats since he was the only survivor of an accident at sea many years ago. He fells in love with singer Donna DeAngelo (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), who has a teenage daughter and has sung in 36 states, always on the run and never able to keep up a relationship.

Suddenly Joe's brother is there, asks for a favor and they set out on a boat to nowhere to meet some mysterious people. Bobby gets killed, the three flee to an island where they try to survive.

This is an outstanding American movie with real characters, even in the supporting roles. Director John Sayles describes the fate of three people, a potential new family, very calm and human. The molvie reminds of songs by Springsteen and of short-stories by Bobbie Ann Mason or Jayne Anne Phillipps.