pianys Reviews

Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019)

Orange Is the New Brilliant!

[9/10 · 1 August 2013]

I started watching this show reluctantly, not being a Weeds fan, but I got sucked in so fast. Taylor Schilling just grabbed me, with her fantastic portrayal of the main character, she almost made me question my sexuality;-)

The story telling is spot on, mixing up what's happening in current time in prison, with main character flashbacks, and supporting character's back stories. A very neat and clever flow.

This is Oz without constant shiving, but still edgy enough. And lesbian sex. And female camaraderie. And some hetero sex too.

Watch it - this is good TV!

Warlocks Rising (2013– )

A Glimpse of a Different Reality

[6/10 · 1 August 2013]

I will admit to you, I've only watched one episode of this show so far - but I was intrigued.

We get to follow around bikers from a club called Warlocks in Florida. These guys are middle aged, very salty characters. They obviously have their hearts in the club, but they also care a lot about their families.

One thing I noticed was that Kurt Sutter got the club house right, for his show Sons of Anarchy. Otherwise not very similar - there is no Jax on this show. We are talking grey beards and neck tattoos. But the guys have charm and loyalty.

My problem with watching was that a lot seemed scripted. I got the feeling they got genuine people to act out what might happen. Since they broke the law all the time, perhaps that was the agreement.

Still not bad TV, just label it more honestly.

Vikings (2013–2020)

The Gods Heard Me!

[10/10 · 4 March 2013]

I've been looking forward to a viking film or TV series for many years, and when my wishes were finally granted, I was very worried that this production was going to be total crap. After viewing the first two episodes I do not worry about that anymore. Thank you, Odin:-)

As a person of some historical knowledge of the viking era, I can point out numerous flaws - but they don't ruin the story for me, so I will let them slip. Historical accounts about those days are, after all, not entirely reliable.

Happy to see Travis Fimmel in a role that totally suits him. A physical and intense character, with that spice of humor that is the viking trademark from the sagas. Gabriel Byrne plays a stern leader, that made me think of him in "Prince of Jutland", and Clive Standen seems like he's going to surprise us.

Been pondering the Game of Thrones comparison, since I love that show too, but in my opinion Vikings has its own thing going on. Way fewer lead characters to begin with, and also a more straight forward approach. Plenty of room for more series with this high class!

Can I wish for more than the planned nine episodes, PLEASE!!!

Switched at Birth (2011–2017)

ASL for Dummies:-)

[7/10 · 12 February 2013]

After watching Switched at Birth since the start, I have come to realize that the series is more about being deaf in America, than being, well, switched at birth. And I really like that. More shows should explore what most people consider just a way to cope with a handicap, but what actually is its own culture and a beautiful form of expression. After reading the reviews and comments, I've come to understand that I am not the only one actually learning a bit of sign language, simply from checking out a cute and entertaining family show.

I am also pleased to see the story lines going into darkish places, even if we never come too close to any social realism; it will entertain way more than stir up emotions about issues. But it touches on difficult problems, and makes the viewer a bit more aware in a nice and polite way.

As far as writing and acting: very high standard for this type of production. Very well cast. I hope this show stays on the air - we could all use a bit more ASL in our lives;-)

Blandings (2013–2014)

"Light Writing"

[7/10 · 22 January 2013]

I will easily fly in the face of recent opinion on this show. If you want Jeeves and Wooster, then just watch your old DVD:s. I'm sure the ambition was to make this series as funny, but even if it can't quite reach up to that level, it's still good quality entertainment.

We have great actors, relaxed performances, fun guests - and a huge fat pig:) Pretty happy right there:)

I'm not a Wodehouse purist or expert, but I still have a feeling he would have appreciated the efforts to make his writings worth checking out for a new generation. Give it it a shot, and don't be so jeevesed off!

Raising Hope (2010–2014)

Third Season Seems Super:)

[8/10 · 3 October 2012]

After watching the third season premiere, I felt I had to change my eight to a nine in the votes. This show is just so full of life and in your face rudeness, and at the same time it's so weird and lovely - my kind of show;)

And best of all: the unexpected curve ball, usually delivered by the hilarious Cloris Leachman, with scene-stealing steeze. Yea, that's steeze, style and ease!

Season three looking to a great start, story-arc in place, cast in excellent form, craziness nowhere to lessen, and positive messages poured at you without judgment or prejudice. The kind of show that will leave a smile in the back of your mind!

Raising Hope will take the edge off after a rough day, while keeping you thinking:)

Partners (2012–2013)

Lightweight and Snappy:)

[7/10 · 25 September 2012]

I'm glad I checked the first two user reviews after I watched the first episode, or I probably wouldn't have bothered, since they were rather negative, and a 4.4 rating will sometimes scare me off as well. Anyhow, I'm glad I gave this new show a chance to entertain me, and entertained I was!

David Krumholtz and Sophia Bush both have great personalities, they can keep it low-key and still get the message across, and their style was contrasted nicely to Michael Urie's more over the top comedic mannerisms. Brandon Routh seems solid and likable, hopefully his character will develop into the series.

I was in the mood for something light and funny, something to watch that would simply entertain and make me smile, and Partners gave me that. I enjoyed the snappiness, Urie's facial expressions and body language, bordering on too much - and the clapping transitions didn't bother me one bit:)

In short: Fast paced jokes, fine cast, enjoyable and easy. I think it has potential, for sure!

Brand X with Russell Brand (2012–2013)

Cumming Along;)

[7/10 · 12 August 2012]

I've watched a few episodes, and I was well entertained and had some good laughs, but I feel the show hasn't yet reached its full potential. Russel Brand really wants to bring up important issues, and make deep, meaningful points - but when he gets too close to doing that, it seems he gets scared and flimsy, and pulls a bunch of sex jokes out of the pocket of his skinny jeans.

I don't have a problem with balancing serious with funny, I love that concept, but Russel the producer should tell Russel the performer to chill once in a while, and actually explore a subject deeper, even if it's not instant laughs every two seconds.

Russel Brand has a very warm personality, and he connects with his crowd in the studio so well, he takes us to the brink of awkward, but brings us home safe:) I want to see this show evolve!

Goon (2011)

Puck in Goal!

[8/10 · 10 June 2012]

Definitely not a hockey fan, though I am from Sweden - but I so enjoyed this movie. Funny, stupid, smart at times, and pretty gritty.

I always thought that Jay Baruchel had something special, and he delivers. This script is very well written. Seann William Scott is perfect in his role, as are many others - I wish we had seen more of the Russian brothers;)

Amidst all the violence and stupidity, there were a few thought provoking lines, this was my fave: "Everybody loves the soldiers, until they come back and stop fighting."

I would also like to mention some of the sequences when Laflamme is on the ice, it just looks awesome! I loved it! And I may become a hockey fan;)

Draumalandið (2009)

A Very Important and Sad Film

[9/10 · 30 January 2010]

This film had me in tears as the end credits were running. It had a lot of stunning images of the Icelandic landscape from start to finish, but the one scene that I still see before me, was of a goose sitting on her eggs in her nest, as the land was flooded, and the bird's attempts to stay her ground even as the eggs started to float away. I guess that symbolized the innocent victims of voracious greed, and greed was the main character and villain of this film.

The story is about how Iceland has become the bitch of outside economical interests, how the leaders of the country have been duped to exploit the country's natural resources, just so a powerful aluminum cooperation, Alcoa, can make a huge profit on Iceland's cheap energy prices.

To get the cheap energy the untouched wilderness needs to be destroyed, dams built, rivers exploited, the land flooded. The film tells the story with passion, great insight and fantastic images, and hopefully it will have some impact on the people who see it, it certainly did on me.

Tomorrow at Dawn (2009)

Play Piano or Sword?

[8/10 · 29 January 2010]

Just saw this one at the Göteborg International Filmfestival. It was my opening film, and considering the talent, I expected something quality, and I got it. Vincent Perez plays a concert pianist, Mathieu, who takes a break from his good, but perhaps complicated life, to offer support to his brother Paul (Jeremie Renier), who lives with their very sick mother. Paul is into reenacting historical battles from the Napoleonic era, and Mathieu is sucked into this fantasy world, to stand by his brother. It turns out that the fantasy is more real than he had bargained for, and things get serious when people are easily offended, while playing the game. I'm not about to give the whole story away, but besides the interesting plot and excellent acting, there is also beautiful piano music and fantastic dueling scenes at dawn with great light. So go see, I'm glad I did!

Metalocalypse (2006–2013)

Metal - I loves its

[10/10 · 20 September 2009]

Being Swedish and a former heavy metal guitarist, this is too funny! It's about time someone wrote this story. I've met a lot of metal people with delusions of grandour, so it's pretty accurate. A metal band with a mix of Americans and Scandinavians is right on the money. Again as a Swede I totally laugh at the wrong accents of the Scandinavian dudes, they sound so German/Polish - too funny! This animated series is great, there is the brotherhood of the band, but also the forces they are up against. Total corruption is par for the course; all players of the game are more or less scummy. Our heroes stumble through it all just by being stupid, and I loves its!

Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America (2007)

Severed Thoughts

[5/10 · 29 August 2009]

As a huge fan of viking stories, I watched Severed Ways with hopeful eyes, but it seems that no-one but Hrafn Gunnlaugsson is ever going to get close to capturing anything that is close to what those days might have been like. The basic setup for the story is fine, but the lack of a script becomes a problem right away. Being from Sweden I was very annoyed with the few speaking parts - the director has stolen dialogue/sound from what seems to be an old Bergman film, and put subtitles to it that has nothing to do with what is spoken. That was just weird. I doubt that it is even legal. Chopping down trees right, left and center in the woods seems illegal as well, not to mention the killing of the chicken. This film obviously had no budget, so I doubt that Tony Stone had permits to do that. Burning down a church to the tunes of Burzum was a kick in the nuts to authority as well, as Varg Vikernes is in prison for doing just that. And still I kind of like this film - anybody can go out and capture what they want with a digital video camera, go nuts and produce something that is not that bad. I give kudos for effort - and the poop scene had me gagging for days;)

Desperate Romantics (2009)

Hot, Steamy, Educational

[8/10 · 10 August 2009]

So far I have only seen the first three episodes, but I must say I am hooked big time. I love a good costume drama, especially one based on real life historical people. This one tells the tale of the Pre-Rafaelite Brotherhood, a group of young, talented and influential artists, active in London around 1850. As with most historical dramas, you can argue that the story has been modernized to appeal to what an audience today wants to see, rather than depict a true documentation of actual facts, but I have no problem with that whatsoever. I want my dramas hot, juicy and plot and character driven; as I want my documentaries dry and fact based. As it happens, this show has kept me busy online for several hours, finding out more about these artists and their paintings. So my verdict is: hot, steamy and educational.

Virtuality (2009 TV Movie)

I Totally Want More!

[8/10 · 28 June 2009]

I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, I'm more into drama, and this pilot seemed to me like a very clever drama. Sure, it's set on a spaceship, but that's just one of many layers to this story. I can see this story developing not just in space, but in all the various virtual reality modes that the crew tunes in to. A pilot is always about setting the stage and introducing the players, and it was some good writing that had me doubting the presumed main guy for some reason, and when we lost him, it hurt but not for long. The character is obviously not gone, and I think there are endless possibilities for this to work. Peter Berg is one of my favorite directors, I could see a bit of Friday Night Lights camera work in there, some hate that style of erratic camera work, but I happen to be fine with it. Talking camera work, the VR mode sequences were beautiful, they sucked me in, really nice stuff! So in conclusion, I really hope I will see the continuing saga unfolding, this is a great idea for a TV-show!!!

The Mentalist (2008–2015)

Shall I compare thee to ... other shows.

[8/10 · 12 February 2009]

After reading some of the comments, I was surprised not to to see the most obvious in there: Lie to Me (starring Tim Roth) and Eleventh Hour (starring Rufus Sewell). Simon Baker's character has a lot in common with these two: The clear scientific eye, the sadness behind the charming smile, the way they could care less for protocol and police authority. Another thing is that the actors are all non-American; two Brits and one Aussie. These three shows are all good in their own way, and I have no problem with similarities. Medium and Psych are both decent shows, but I don't think The Mentalist should be lumped in with them. As far as I'm concerned, you can play as many variations on a theme as you like, as long as they are good!

Muukalainen (2008)

A Very Muted Story

[5/10 · 30 January 2009]

I really wanted to like this one, as I sat down in a fairly empty theatre at Göteborg Film Festival. The people making the film were there, they were in competition for a prize, so I felt that friendly feeling - let's hope this is the forgotten gem. And it started well enough, slow and with contrasting dark and bright images, holes to look through, absolute silence and loud shrieks - that were repeated a bit too much. The main character, a mute adolescent, just leaving boyhood, filled his every shot with absolute certainty. But it seemed there was no story. I hoped I was stupid, and missed it somehow so I totally stayed alert. And a conflict slowly emerged - OK so this may go somewhere after all. But no, all this good filming and the kid's fine acting just seemed pointless; a film needs a story, needs a story..... And this one could have had a great one, but It seems getting artsy was more important than polishing the script.

Carnivàle (2003–2005)

Don't miss out!!!

[10/10 · 31 August 2008]

This is possibly one of the best TV-series ever. I recommend watching it twice, at least. Such a clever script and great acting. And wonderful characters.

HBO canned this after two seasons; that was a bad move. It had so much potential to become even greater.

I can only hope that the makers of this one continue on and give us something similar, or even greater!

It seems like a shame to let this one go to waste. Was it even ever properly marketed? I only heard of it when it was done.

I miss this show, as I re-watch it again!

Jackass Number Two (2006)

Cranky old man

[4/10 · 23 August 2008]

Where do I start? First of all the whole thing seems to be a shoddy attempt to recreate the outstanding work of Del Lord and his groundbreaking films with The Three Stooges.

As far as slapstick comedy is concerned, this is not as funny as a frying pan to the head or two fingers to the eyes. Where were the hilarious antics such as vicious hair pulling and pliers to the nose?

I think that you young people need to observe the craft as it was meant to be by the masters of the 1930:s.

Buster Keaton never needed a snake on his private parts to be funny.

What if Charlie Chaplin crapped in a gas mask?

Signed

Theodore

(This is a joke, I hope you get it!:)

Haggard (2003 Video)

Horrible but educational

[1/10 · 23 August 2008]

I kind of like Bam Margera, so I was curious.

But watching a home production with somebody elses friends and family, with a decent camera and a sound guy, just isn't good film-making.

Writing, direction, acting and editing is abysmal at best. But I sat through half of it. And why?

This film gives perfect examples of what not to do, it is a film student's dream of what to avoid at every stage of the process. Cram it into film school curiculums all over the joint!

So thanx Bam! Now I know Jackass is for real - cause you ain't looking to win an Oscar, dude:)

Into the Wild (2007)

Mind gone wild

[9/10 · 25 July 2008]

This starts out like a fairly ordinary young man breaking free from the norm, finding his inner self. But a lot more is added. Alex/Chris has issues with his parents, well dad mainly, and goes off on an adventure, where the goal is living off the wild in Alaska.

On the journey he meets people that really care for him, but he must keep moving. His choices seem to make sense at first, but gradually you wonder about his self preservation.

At the end I pondered what his own take on the story would be, and if he actually managed to grow up, he was still so young. Some say the brain is not fully developed until age 25.

As a film I totally recommend: direction, acting and pretty much everything is first class.

The Machinist (2004)

Dark, stressful and clever

[9/10 · 26 October 2005]

I checked out this movie today and yesterday; I felt I wanted to see it again, knowing what the writer knew from the beginning. After the first viewing I was a bit worried about the script's logic, but I was a bit more content after the second one.

This film had me worried about Christian Bale's health. Starving yourself this bad for a character is borderline uncool - even though it made the story more believable. All that press about Bridget Jones and putting on weight - what about looking like a walking corpse?

The story is well written and the set is almost black and white in its bleakness - it has a sickly green/gray/yellow tint. The feel is paranoid from the get go, and then it gets more and more twisted.

This is good weird - and Christian Bale is fantastic!

Royal Deceit (1994)

Falling for Bale

[10/10 · 25 November 2003]

This was my first encounter with Christian Bale, and I immediately

saw him as one of my favourite actors. He simply hit the screen,

fresh face and mature acting, and I was hooked.

The film shows the original Hamlet-story, not the Shakespeare

adaptation, so perhaps there´s too much happening in too short a

timeframe. Director Axel Gabriel is not your most Hollywood-pleasing filmmaker; he will give you a different

perspective.

Brilliant actors throughout, and well worth a a watch. An unusual,

low-budget film that remains one of my favourites.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Rape of the viewer

[8/10 · 20 November 2003]

If my mind was ever raped... This movie will touch you where you

don´t want to be touched. Heroin addiction was never shown so

prettily and nasty in one shot.

The acting is almost too real.

Don´t miss this one, it´s a film that will become a classic. Sadly

and painfully.

Farinelli (1994)

Music for the castrated generation

[9/10 · 20 November 2003]

The first time I watched this film the subtitles didn´t work, but I was

still hooked on its beauty and emotion. After a proper viewing I

went straight out and bought the soundtrack - and I´m totally not

into opera. The scene where Farinelli sings Händel sent such

huge shivers down my spine and tears down my face.

The story itself may not be entirely historically correct (when was

ever filmmaking all about facts and figures?), but the tale about

Farinelli is captivating to say the least. The castrato singers were

both worshipped and shunned by society, loved for their heavenly

voices and scorned for their lost manhood.

Michael Jackson is the obvious modern day comparison, but I´d

say that´s not fair to Farinelli. Check out this film, enjoy the music,

and learn that extreme celebrity is not a new thing!