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VierasTalo added 1 item to VT's episodemeter list

Episodes: 23 Seasons: 2 I really wish I wouldn't have waited this long to watch this because now when S2 hits in April I might feel inclined to watch it but I know there is no way I will be emotionally OK with it this soon after this first one. A powerful show to say the very least. EDIT AFTER S2: Gee this show sure fell down a drain pipe huh

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 6/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

This movie doesn't do a lot with what it could play with but what it does it does very well so... it's good? Look, the video game angle is almost completely wasted – the characters have life counters, they respawn, and there are heavily scripted NPCs. That's literally it. What the video game narrative offers, though, is ye olde body switching gag, and they milk it real well. Jack Black is amazed at having a penis, Kevin Hart is short and doesn't like it, The Rock mostly stares at his own muscles and Karen Gillan is basically Cynthia Rothrock, so everyone sort of plays against type by playing exactly their type. It's weird, I know, but it works, and almost all of the jokes revolve around it, so it damn well better work.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added The Devil at Your Heels to wanted list

 The Devil at Your Heels 

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo voted for list

Watched in 2018 (67 movies items)

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated Call Me by Your Name

 Call Me by Your Name 6/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

I might have had the slightest doubts about that Suspiria-remake Luca Guadagnino is working on, but then he made Call Me by Your Name which is such a pitch-perfect Rohmer-tribute that all my hope is there for him to pull it off. Oh, and this movie is alright. It's still Rohmer-y and dude's easily my least favorite new wave director. Yeah, more than Chabrol. OK maybe not more than Chabrol. Still. On the bright side it's all-around quite charming.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo voted for list

Watched in 2018 (23 movies items)

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated Ferdinand

 Ferdinand 2/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

Look, I know I give Disney shit for appropriating cultures using their own white dudes to do it, but here's a Fox-animation based on a book a white dude wrote about Spanish bulls in the bullfighting circle that, to start with, is such complete horseshit I could never get over the sheer concept to actually enjoy anything this movie has to offer. So this bull (voiced by John Cena, the voice of Spain) wants to sniff flowers and gallop on open fields with his human owner but gets thrown into a bullpen from which bullfighters grab their opponents. After like 80 minutes of movie we get to the bullfighting scene which naturally ends the only way it could in a kids movie: John Cena humiliates the matador and the audience begs to let the bull live. And he does! Now, this is an actual thing; The audience can, with the approval of the person preciding over the events, pardon the bull in a bullfight, skipping the part where they stab a big sword into it's heart. However, it happens when the audience is beyond impressed with the bull's ability to withstand the pain of having six spears shoved into it's neck and whatnot. If the bull does what Ferdinand does here, or what he does in the book, that audience is sending him to the nearest restaurant because a Spanish bullfighting audience is there to see blood, sweat and pain. It's a masculine sport in the most traditional of senses, something to revel in the toughness of. And ain't one of those people waving that white handkerchief for a bull that does fuck all. Because where the story goes is so stupid the Brazilian director (the only significant PoC in the entire crew/cast save for bit-parts in the voice actors) doesn't even bother trying to make a movie that would connect it to the real world, which makes the inclusion of real-life transportation like modern cars and trains all the more baffling. If it'd gone full-on fantasy it'd work better but it's a timely film. It's a weird call. I don't really know how you could ever pull this story off without significant changes. Though I will say, not having John Cena and Kate McKinnon, two people I really do love, as the poster names for your movie about a Spanish bull would be a pretty great start because those people are both whiter than an early 90s SNL sketch.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated The Granny

 The Granny 8/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

Absolutely primo 90s horror schlock filmmaking. The editing and style is incredibly on-point. Whenever the 90s reach that same fever-pitch of nostalgia the 80s have, this'll be in high demand. Stock-full of offensive, great, terrible lines (and line-reads), The Granny runs super smoothly through the 85 minutes it takes to tell the decade-spanning tale of a granny whose greedy relatives kill her only to have her come back as an avenging demon. It often makes no sense but the characters are so fun and they spout such bullshit that it absolutely never matters.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo commented on a list

Watched in 2012 (514 movies items)

"Öhm, olen nyt kyllä pettynyt! Sijalla 66 olevasta Lemorasta: "Alussa Dracula hiippailee hissukseen käytävillä ja menee paikallisen tyttökoulun tiloihin. Hän ei suinkaan lennä kuin lepakko tai "

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

Lesley Gilb is a treasure as the proverbial lady Dracula in this movie, but uhh. What the hell is everything else here? So, the lead, a girl named Lila Lee, is almost sexually assaulted by every adult man she encounters during the first 20 minutes, then plague zombies attempt to eat her but she's saved by vampires lead by Gilb's Lemora, who instead of having vampire brides has vampire kids because she's a woman, then she spends an hour seducing Lila Lee leading up to a final confrontation. Everything during that one hour save for a plague zombie attack that ends with shattered glass and a face on fire is pretty boring, but the climax kicks it up a notch with a fun duel of wits between the two women. It's kind of a shame the movie is heavily colored by the full-on pedophilia of the opening 20 because the rest is kind of fun when it isn't boring, and the music throughout is very enjoyable. The story doesn't make sense since there is a lot of missing footage that has never been recovered but I guess that's what happens when you make a movie about seducing kids? Anyhow, when Lemora is crazy, it's great, but when it isn't, well, it isn't great either, and it's very clearly a vampire-rehash written by men that just kind of happens to have a lady lead vampire because that justifies some of the more gross seduction? Which in turn makes it more gross? Ehhhhh.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated The Disaster Artist (2017)

 The Disaster Artist (2017) 4/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

A somewhat flabby comedy about the making of The Room that mostly hangs on how funny you find a pretty good Tommy Wiseau -impression, which is kind of a shame because there's an actual movie waiting to be made within that book that doesn't come out here in particular.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated I, Tonya

 I, Tonya 6/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

There's something in the domestic abuse angle here but I find it kind of at odds with the rest of the film, being mostly about of bumbling criminals, ice skating, and making sure everyone gets their voices heard. Sure, they're all abuse in one form or another, but what could be a strong narrative gets tarnished by the supposed objectivity of the script despite the fact that it's far from objective to begin with. Since they lean very heavily on a certain interpretation of all this (which you kind of have to), I don't know why they wouldn't just, you know, lean heavier, give it a 110% instead of 90%. That 10% really nags away at me. PS. Paul Walter Hauser should've been nominated. Such nuance.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated Verónica

 Verónica 4/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

Functional isn't the word I'd like to use when speaking of horror films. This is exactly that. There are a scarce few creepy moments but nothing worth sitting through 105-minutes of mostly not-particularly-exciting exposition. The music in particular is a weird mishmash that fails any mood the rest of this movie tries to build up. And it goes a few ways! You've got your paranoia thriller, your average haunting horror and an early 90s nostalgia trip to Spain. It kinda pulls off the last part but doesn't focus enough on the rough drunkards littering the streets for it to be enjoyable for, again, 105 minutes.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

Enjoyed this more on second viewing as I had kind of accepted that yeah, the writing is mostly poor and such a cynical riff on Cherbourgh, but just watching it for cute people, great HDR, good music and good choreography? That's quite alright.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated Coco

 Coco 6/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

As someone who gets misty-eyed for Moana's way of discussing remembering those who came before you the heavy-handed handling of the subject in Coco was a bit much. It's still good. Dunno how much I enjoy this concept of Disney making movies about other cultures without much participation of members of them but hey, they're doing it regardless.

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added A Chinese Ghost Story to wanted list

 A Chinese Ghost Story 

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo rated The Shape of Water

 The Shape of Water 8/10

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

There's a very nice, even distribution of things in The Shape of Water which makes it a very, very enjoyable fairy tale. It isn't GDT's best and kind of lacks a clear emotional journey but hey, I'll watch Sally Hawkins act this well any day of the week. Bestiality is also certainly a message I can get b... uhm

6 years, 1 month ago

VierasTalo voted for list

Seen in 18 (143 movies items)

6 years, 2 months ago

VierasTalo rated Lady Bird

 Lady Bird 6/10

6 years, 2 months ago

VierasTalo added 1 item to Film Journal 2018 list

Lady Bird is a movie through which you re-experience all the classic hijinks you experienced when you were a teenager. I never had these experiences so I mostly come to these to appreciate the good acting and occasionally funny situations. It's OK for that.

6 years, 2 months ago

VierasTalo rated Murder on the Orient Express

 Murder on the Orient Express 6/10

6 years, 2 months ago