quevaal Reviews

Victoria må dø (2024)

Watch this before it's remade

[8/10 · 23 February 2024]

While I expected a good movie I didn't expect one that would work so well for grown-ups while also entertaining the kids at the cinema.

I don't want to spoil anything and the synopsis should give enough details.

The characters are quite flawed (except the hitman which is more cast as being desperate) and this creates a lot of room for humour.

This is one of those hilarious European films that necessarily will be remade and polished by Hollywood into something mildly entertaining - just like "En man som heter Ove"(2015) became "A man called Otto"(2023). Watch this one at your earliest opportunity to be able to say that the original was better.

Hør her'a! (2023)

Starts good

[6/10 · 30 December 2023]

On the surface this is a comedy about Mahmoud who is growing up in Oslo as a boy of Pakistani parents. The first part of the movie works very well by showing the differences between Norway and Pakistan in a light hearted way. For a comedy the characters are also quite complex. The uncle who visits from Pakistan is a good opportunity to dig more into the differences. Jokes are hitting in every direction so this works quite well.

Mahmoud's younger brother Ali then appears to be identifying as a girl and this changes the movie from a comedy that hits in every direction to a very one directional movie. Their father is raging while even uncle Ji becomes very understanding.

So, we can all see where this story is going which flattened an otherwise good movie.

Mayor of Kingstown (2021– )

Preachy TV

[1/10 · 23 March 2023]

I must admit that I was fooled by the positive comments of this show here. But I didn't have to watch for long before I realised that the plot was completely contrived and that the characters had nothing interesting about them. There's no back story presented just corruption.

Then The Woke Teacher pretty much sealed the deal. I mean, you can sometimes get into something confusing and unbelievable after a while but using TV for preaching is a no-go. As I have also recently watched a few seasons of the Spanish prison series "Vis a vis" and had my share of prison TV (but much better) I switched this off.

Bullet Train (2022)

Thomas the tanked Bullet train

[6/10 · 18 March 2023]

I didn't expect much here, just some plain action and fun, but it was actually very boring. The action is of course choreographed well but the dialogue is like someone asked ChatGPT to "create a Tarantino script with lots of hitmen on a Japanese Train".

Of course the gallery also reads like a modern stock photography where any cliché is represented.

Now this could have worked fine for a while but as with so many modern films it's a long movie - 2 hours. Earlier, only the artsy films were long movies and the standard fare clocked in at 1:45 max. But now any generic action movie can be between 2 and 3 hours.

This is odd since in today's fast-paced media landscape, audiences (who go for generic films) have shorter attention spans and don't necessarily want to sit through a movie that is overly long.

So just because you don't have to use a cinema for an extra half hour it doesn't mean that you can just squeeze in 1000 references to Thomas the Tank engine.

Gold Run (2022)

Good and uncomplicated movie about Norway in WW2

[7/10 · 17 December 2022]

This movie is based on real events (Flight of the Norwegian National Treasury) that is not that well known among most people and as a story it works fine. I didn't originally know the details of the actual event so I wasn't sure how much is true. One thing I did look up was the female character Nini who looked like a modern invention to add some women to an otherwise male war. She fought in Spain during the civil war and here she suddenly helps out her secretary brother rescuing the gold from the Germans. Nini Gleditsch is for real indeed, and even the flamboyant Norwegian poet Nordahl Grieg was on this journey. It is otherwise well-known that he died in an air raid over Berlin.

(For good measure they could even have included Norway's legendary prime minister Einar Gerhardsen in the film, but they have left him out.)

All in all, it's a good and uncomplicated movie about Norway in WW2 and one of the few highlights in the defence.

House of Norway (2017)

Funny take on Norwegian culture

[7/10 · 21 October 2022]

The strengths of this comedy lies in how it deals with Norwegian culture and bureaucracy. There are a lot of good laughs to be had. In particular the swearing scene. Even if swearing could be cheap fun, this one escalated nicely.

As for a comment on immigration policy it's not so good simply because the immigrants in the movie are without personality or history. Even the main character Ramin we learn nothing about. He's just a happy go lucky man who loves his mother. The actual system in Norway tries to get the "correct" refugees and most of us can see how this could be improved. But in the movie all immigrants are the same.

Anyway, it's still a very funny comedy taken as a comment on Norwegian culture.

The Defeated (2020)

Laughable post war serial killer drama

[5/10 · 21 August 2022]

This series is pretty dumb. The post war horrors of Berlin were apparently not enough and we need some American serial killer and a German crime syndicate to get the story going.

Generally I have liked a lot of modern German movies and series about WW2 because they have been realistic but the realism has been dropped here to satisfy a dumb audience.

So if you like me enjoy realistic WW2 dramas then just avoid this one. If you fancy serial killers etc. Then this might be for you.

Also a word on language. Most Germans I have met don't speak so good English but here, everyone knows a little English and even Russians and Germans speak English among eachother.

Made in Oslo (2022– )

From ego tripping to ethics

[7/10 · 28 May 2022]

This was a nice series. It started off with the main character trying to get a baby with any legal and illegal means, and sometimes the situations she got herself in were embarrassing. However, as the series went on, it changed from her personal ego tripping to more ethical considerations. Also great acting.

Fjærsynet (1982– )

Early 80s TV parodies that aged well

[7/10 · 1 May 2022]

I saw this series recently since it's available through the NRK app. (If you have Norwegian IP you can use it I think). It's 7 episodes each being a satire on a typical early 80s TV evenings from 17:55 till midnight. Back then we only had one channel (NRK) and this series go through the programmes that people loved and the programmes that people hated.

Each episode roughly starts with News, then children's programme, random information programme, more News, film/drama and then late News.

Watching it 40 years later I still had a lot of laughs. Partly because I remember how dreary TV could be and the parodies were also well done. Also a lot of the jokes were timeless. In particular the children's TV (Spare TV) episode where the children aren't allowed to use scissors or glue etc.

A real pet hate was Fjernsynsteateret (TV theatre) and we see several varieties of this and it's deliberately and painfully cringy. The spoiled upper class house occupant eating dinner with his parents was my fave.

The trio that made the series was later known as KLM and was highly influenced by Monty Python.

But while Monty Python would go at length with surreal scenes KLM generally settled for an earlier punch.

I absolutely recommend this for people who grew up in the 80s and understand Norwegian.

Herod's Law (1999)

Fumbling mayor

[7/10 · 24 April 2022]

I had high hopes for this film due to the other reviews but I found it to be a bit slow. The protagonist is generally fumbling and sad instead of what I had expected from the reviews: a determined dictator type.

More effective cutting might have helped here to get the movie going.

Great acting though and stylistically it's very well done and pleasing to the eye despite the bleak settings.

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Numb3rs

[7/10 · 1 April 2022]

Interesting plot but overall superficial. The beginning felt like an episode of "Numbers" where everyone are dropping names and ideas to seem clever. It gets better but all in all its pretty shallow.

Holy Goalie (2017)

Light-hearted movie with lots of laughs

[8/10 · 27 February 2022]

I'm an atheist who don't even like football and what did it for me was the religious references in the jokes.

Also, the nice portrayal and development of the characters. Yeah, you could see the ending from the start, but it was still moving.

The Players (2020)

Italian men behaving badly

[5/10 · 22 November 2021]

While it's quite well made visually and the acting was good, I quickly saw were it was going. In all stories, men were bad or at best sad.

It could certainly work well if it was less predictable.

Love Crime (2010)

Flat but effective

[6/10 · 11 August 2021]

I thought the movie was somewhat flat. Both the acting and production, so at least in the beginning I wasn't sure if it was worth watching. Once the conflict was established it got more interesting and the short scenes drove the plot forward quickly. Summed up, I think the business, police and legal side was the most interesting aspect while if you want believable erotic tension you may find more of it in a cup of tea.

Flykten till framtiden (2016)

Swedish take on time travel

[7/10 · 25 June 2021]

I liked this movie. Svante goes back and forth between 1973 and 2016, and let's just say that the butterfly effect is strong here. There are obviously quite a few films with this as a subject but as a Scandinavian I appreciate the local take on time travel. The final scene was a bit of a laugh but mostly a nod to Back to the Future.

Happy Hour in Paradise (2015)

Funny

[7/10 · 8 March 2021]

Funny movie with a lot of good, unique characters with warmth. It's way better than the score here would suggest

Boy Erased (2018)

Educational

[6/10 · 7 June 2020]

It's an interesting subject. However, as a movie it feels more educational than as a proper drama. On the other hand the low key dramatisation work quite well if as me you find the topic interesting. I don't know the original story, but I am missing that they discuss religion itself. These are all Christians who have different views about religion and gays, but as an atheist I am very familiar with the Bible. There is a reason why the father behaves this way. So that part is completely omitted and the moral of the story seems to be to pretend the bad verses are not there.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Cardboard

[6/10 · 25 April 2020]

I expected better from such a high rating. The problem with this movie is that all characters are cut right out of cardboard. The captain is an evil military genious, but most others are quite predictable. I am not sure what to think of the fantasy scenes. They are well done but I can't make much sense out of them.

So this movie would have improved a lot if the backdrp made any sense.

Peaky Blinders (2013–2022)

Skip season 5

[6/10 · 25 March 2020]

Really liked this in the beginning. Started tilting in season 4. Season 5 became very annoying, however. A bit like Falcon Crest but with better music.

The Beguiled (2017)

De-beguiled

[6/10 · 27 July 2019]

I saw this one a couple of weeks ago. I didn't know of the 1971 version so I thought it was a good film. But now I have seen it I see there are a couple of issues with this script. What happened to Hallie? She was a good character bringing additional dynamics but it seems like she had to go to make it more PC so as not to offend anyone? Also, in the 1971 movie I finally understood why he went to the "wrong" bed. In this version, that is a meaningless thing to do.

There are more issues that other reviewers have pointed out, but the general feeling I have now is that thew new version is sterile in many ways, and that didn't need to be the case.

It's still worth seeing but it does appear like a textbook example of "why the original was better".

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999– )

Soap

[4/10 · 25 July 2019]

I watched SVU a lot before but now it's just soap all the way. Just sad to watch really.

Ali's Wedding (2017)

Lighthearted

[6/10 · 23 July 2019]

It's a lighthearted comedy that promotes the "right" ideas but it also feels very much like Australian TV, so don't expect complex characters.

I Am Not an Easy Man (2018)

Good story, bad science

[7/10 · 8 July 2019]

I was half worried that this film would be very single minded, but since I quite like Alternative Reality, I thought I had to see it. It was generally quite clever What makes the film is characters that you can like and good storytelling, even though the subject can get serious. Also some absurd moments. The only thing that irked me was that it is written from a ideological blank slate perspective with no respect to actual biology. Damien has a negative childhood experience which is presented in the beginning as the root of his womanizing behaviour. Then later in the film he not only behaves and dresses as the other society expects, but he starts to react more emotional to movies in private, which is meant to show that faced with this society, he transforms. This would not happen since he would still have his old genes. There is an embarrassing drunken reference to evolution too, which wile not being meant too seriously works like a strawman. Other than that I liked the movie, but I would have liked to see a story like this without bypassing biological explanations entirely.

Life (I) (2017)

Missed opportunity

[5/10 · 10 March 2019]

Good plot, good filming. However, the crew makes one bad decision after another, so in the end I don't care. "Alien is really smart, what could possibly go wrong". "Whoops, alien is eating our buddy, let's open the hatch and see if buddy is alright".

Birthmarked (2018)

Welm done social science comedy

[7/10 · 5 November 2018]

This movie is a lot better than what the current rating of 5.7 suggests. I think to fully be able to enjoy it, you need to be familiar with the nature / nurture debate and also enjoy the somewhat dark comedy. You can not expect the science to be sound. Helium does not explode, and the experiments would be a failure from start to finish in real life. Still, there are actually people who think that nurture is everything and the movie is best seen as playing around with this idea plus some added drama and warmth.