Pussikaljaelokuva, 3 stars (+1 for Kallio images)

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Apr 032012
 

Pussikaljaelokuva posterI loved Mikko Rimminen’s Pussikaljaromaani, a novel that combined utter slackery with industrial strength verbal acrobatics. My expectations of Pussikaljaelokuva, the movie of the book were on the mild side, and the result was indeed lukewarm. Not exactly disappointing, but nowhere near the lofty heights of the original.

Though the original plot is retained (where a trio of aimless young men spend a lazy day in Kallio, the slackeringest neighborhood in Helsinki), the story is muddled by additions. Neither a series of comical encounters with policemen nor a budding romance is worthwhile, and both sap the energy generated by the leading men. Indeed, the delightful streamofconsciousness of the original has been toned down, in favour of a more conventional approach.

The story takes place on a single summer day in Helsinki. And the environs are shown in their beauty, ugliness and eccentricity. A full bonus point on account of the imagery – claimed by anybody for whom the streets, bars and passersby in Kallio are more than just scenery.

Awkward things happen, to an appropriate soundtrack.

Not a movie for everybody, but an impressive debut for Ville Jankeri, and good clean fun for two hours.

The road to taking back the Earth

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Mar 052012
 

Mass Effect logo
The last steps between the second and final installments of the Mass Effect trilogy have been rather misguided.

Arrival, the bridging piece of DLC leading into the third game manages to forget everything that made the games worthwhile. It is a single character shoot-em-up with far too limited control over events. Gave up in disgust, my action chops were clearly inadequate to finish the repetitive firefights.

Deception, the fourth novel of the sequence introduces a new author. Drew Karpyshyn’s original trilogy went beyond expectations in providing insight into the universe. William C. Dietz’s take is peculiar to say the least, prompting guesses that it was written after no exposure to the vividly realized world. The fan reception has been so violently hostile that the publisher has announced it will rectify the worst offenses in future editions. Which, obviously, doesn’t do anything for the people who have already purchased the novel.

The Complexity of Wolverine

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Dec 012011
 

Wolverine 101When I saw the Dorling Kindersley’s Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon on the shelf of the local library, I assumed it would have been a leisurely-written mostly fanboy-ish guide to the world’s favorite short-tempered canadian mutant.

How wrong I was.

And how out of touch of the world of mutants I was.

During the last two decades the storylines have gotten complicated enough to warrant page-long explanations in miniscule font even for the Cliff’s Notes version. The brawl-prone Wolverine is seemingly involved in the most complex and multi-layered conspiracy that spans decades, hundreds of issues and heavy-handed work on retroactive continuity.

No wonder the volume of modern X-men I borrowed in the summer made sense only very occasionally.

Going to Ankh-Morpork

 board games, books  1 Response »
Sep 032011
 

Ankh-Morpork coverMartin Wallace’s Ankh-Morpork debuts today.

As a card-carrying Pratchett fanboy, I guess the lure of the collector or limited editions are strong with this one.

There’s plenty of pieces and cards in the basic game, and the design probably lends itself very easily to expansions After all, there’s the whole Discworld to explore beyond the confines of the city.

Hole beats Potter

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Aug 152011
 

Been reading the early Jo Nesbø mystery novels.

At least the first four Harry Hole novels vastly exceed the norm when it comes to nordic noir. The damaged protagonist’s progress through complex cases turns out to be far from simple. The opposition regularly outwits him, his colleagues prove deceptive, and in the end his alcoholism tears down what’s been built up.

There’s still half a dozen books in the growing series, which ought to give plenty of good moments.

But the Harry Hole-continuum is hardly the full extent of Jo Nesbøs output. He seems to be a modern version of a renaissance man. In addition to writing award-winning and impressively plotted novels, he’s also writing children’s books and playing in a band that’s gone well beyond just therapy-level.

1984

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Aug 152011
 

1984Saw Thespians Anonymous’ 1984, a rather minimalistic version of George Orwell’s classic dystopia.

The amateur play was indeed laid out with a small set of props, though not exactly a minimalistic one. After all, there were even clothing changes on stage.

It’s been ages since I read the book, so any omissions and changes to the plot went unnoticed. Almost, as the last line was not the original.

Green Zone, 4 stars

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Jul 312011
 

Green Zone posterPaul Greengrass’ Green Zone could easily be mistaken for the fourth Jason Bourne-installment – after all it reunites the director with Matt Damon in yet another murky-moraled thriller.

The movie juxtaposes the award-winning Imperial Life in the Emerald City with a futile search for weapons of mass destruction. The former was covered well in Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s book, and the few ludicrous scenes in the film are but a shallow scratch on the surface. The other side of the coin is not as strong – the reality here is as strange as fiction and played out in the news – the invasion of Iraq on account of the missing weapons happened anyway.

Matt Damon plays the protagonist, Chief Warrant Officer Miller, to the hilt. He’s again utterly convincing as a man who leaves no stone unturned on account of dirt underneath. Greg Kinnear’s thinly disguised take on Paul Bremer, the Coalition Provincial Authority is spot on when it comes to pomposity and doubledealing. After all, the worst excesses in mismanaging the rudderless country occurred on his watch. Amy Ryan is (once again) faultless in the role of a WSJ reporter on location.

Green Zone takes a turbulent period of recent history and manages to provide a nicely streamlined presentation of the events without glossing over important details nor painting a too rosy picture what could have happened if the chips fell in different ways.

ASoFaI @ 50%

 books, television  No Responses »
Jul 312011
 

Bought Dance with Dragons, but haven’t started it yet. There’s a good 1500+ intervening pages, as I still want to read through the second half of Storm of Swords and Feast for Crows to remember what’s going on in Westeros.

Dance with Dragons got heavy promotion in Akateeminen Kirjakauppa, it’s not often that english hardbacks are pushed so hard (only the latter Harry Potters and Dan Brown’s novels exceeded this).

There’s no word for the home-release of Game of Thrones yet, but considering the reception of the show, HBO’s certainly slavering over the potential revenue from the dvd/bluray-releases.

Noted that I’ve recently acquired quite a few interesting links to Song of Fire and Ice-related pages. Will start on posting them soonish. And also try to note whether they carry spoilers either for the books and/or television show (which will be broadcast by YLE in 2012).

Silhouetting across the popular culture

 art, books, comics, games, movies, television  No Responses »
Jul 302011
 

Prisoner silhouetteI’ve been an Olly Moss fanboy for a long time. A recent addition to his portfolio is a collection of papercuts of various characters. There’s plenty of figures I do not recognize, and quite a few I wouldn’t mind on the walls. The style is very much the traditional silhouette – black on white – with colour very sparingly used for special effect (like the jackets of the Reservoir Dogs crew).

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