Next week: Human Rights Week at PÖFF

Posted: November 28th, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: cool, films, human rights, promo | No Comments »

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This year’s PÖFF human rights programme includes great documentaries and films as well as exciting discussions.


PÖFF: Humboldt County

Posted: December 4th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: films | No Comments »

Today I saw Humboldt County, an American indie about people in the forest growing weed. I did not really care for it, the film was a bit thin-layered for me. It was quite a typical american indie as well, and I do not like these as well. I just do not feel that these films talk to me.

I wonder what possessed me to buy the ticket to this film.


PÖFF: Die Welle and Waltz with Bashir

Posted: December 2nd, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: films | No Comments »

Here are my thoughts on the next two movies I saw today. They were both powerful films.

Die Welle (The Wave) is a film about totalitarianism and how people can find in authoritarianism the missing structure or fulfilment. I would say it was a cross between the Estonian film Klass and the german film Das Experiment. I have been interested in the impact of totalitarianism and what makes people act in this way for a long time (a good source is Hannah Arendt’s work), and this film dealt with the topic quite bluntly.

Waltz with Bashir is a powerful anti-war documentary, with a distinct animated style. It was almost entirely in Hebrew, but the stories and the scences were vivid. A great, great film with a great mission.


PÖFF: Absurdistan and Hamam

Posted: December 1st, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: films | No Comments »

The time has come again for the Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival (Black Nights Film Festival). This year’s programme is bigger than ever with hundreds of films and related events happening in five bigger Estonian cities. I have picked quite randomly six films for which I have bought tickets in advance, the first two of which I saw today.

Absurdistan is a tale about a small forgotten village in which problems start brewing when the local water pipeline breaks and the happenings that take place after that. It is a very humanistic comedy, and it leaps into the realm of absurd in order to make the points. It is beautifully and very artistically shot, I liked the style of it. I gave it 4 stars in the SMS vote.

Hamam (The Turkish Bath) is a touching film about relationships, but also about issues within postmodern life, family, tradition, David vs Goliath. It is multilayered, but it never gets too strong with pathos, instead it slowly eases the viewer into the scene. I liked the movie exactly because so many themes had been fit into one movie.


Star Trek trailer

Posted: November 18th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: films | No Comments »

The new trailer for the new star trek movie is now available. I cannot wait for the film!


Quantum of Solace

Posted: November 14th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: films | No Comments »

I saw the new Bond movie today in the cinema. It was quite nice, I liked it much more than i thought I might. My favourite scene was the opera scene, it was beautiful.


In the pocket (Taskus)

Posted: October 26th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: cool, films, personal, travel | No Comments »

I have been in Tartu yesterday and today. I had quite a lot of spare time, which I mostly spent in the brilliant new shopping and entertainment centre Tasku. I found some great things: the Rahva Raamat bookstore, where I bought two books (in order to learn French I bought Michel Houellebecq‘s “Les Particules élémentaires” and in order to satisfy my abnormal craving for Michael Jackson related information I bought Randy Taraborrelli’s “Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness”. The café at the bookstore, called Cookbook also serves great Chai. Tartu also has Estonia’s only Celio shop, where I bought a fedora and some other things. Celio is great, as it only has clothes for men and those clothes are relatively cheap. If you are after more expensive stuff, the centre also has Pepe Jeans, Levi’s Store, Blend of America, Guess, Esprit and others. There is an Apple authorised reseller iDream as well.

But the best thing about Tasku is the multiplex cinema Cinamon, which has reasonable prices and where I saw 2 great, but diametrically different films. On Saturday I saw “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” which was wonderful, although perhaps for me already a bit too fast-paced. It used the same formula that worked well for the wildly successful made-for-TV previous intalments and it translated into the movie screen rather well. Kenny Ortega is a genius. The songs perhaps could have been a bit better, but on the whole it was great.

Today I saw the Estonian film “Detsembrikuumus (December Heat)“, which I actually liked even more. Estonian films have gone a long way, and I really think the film was brilliantly done and acted. I especially liked Tõnu Kark, but the whole experience was so good. The film is about the attempted Soviet coup in Estonia on 1 December 1924, but there were references also to today’s challenges throughout the film.

I used to dislike Tartu, but now I cannot wait before I can return here. The Tasku centre is a worthy addition to the magic of Tartu.


Films: Wall-E, Mina olin siin, Pineapple Express, The Nines, P2, Speed Racer.

Posted: October 10th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: films | No Comments »

Lately I have been watching some great films:

  • Wall-E: Incredible. Pixar has again delivered something different but truly extraordinary. There are no words to describe the brilliance of Wall-E.
  • Mina olin siin: Interesting to see shots of Tallinn in a film. Quite a lot of swearing and the like, but overall I liked the film. 
  • Pineapple Express: the best comedy I have seen for a long while. I really laughed a lot. It was kind of unexpected that a movie that some people still know how to make genuienly funny movies. Also on the plus side: James Franco! I did not like the weed theme as even mild narcotics are completely foreign to me.
  • The Nines: Ryan Reynolds in a rather bizarre mystery that has a twist at the end. I liked it quite a lot.
  • P2: A clever and fast paced horror film, that is somewhat predictable but still very enjoyable.
  • Speed Racer: I cannot help but to like the style and the imagination that has gone into making this movie. I was not expecting what I saw, but it was enjoyable. It is substantially different from any other film I have seen.
BTW: At the Osturalli in Kaubamaja there are some really great films for 33, 44 and 94 kroons. In Selver some other great films can be bought for 15 or 20 EEK.

The Batman

Posted: July 25th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: films | No Comments »

Saw the new Batman film yesterday evening at the Estonian pre-screening. It was quite brilliant, it had style. Christopher Nolan did a great job with it, but the most spectacular performance was by the late Heath Ledger. He played the Joker in such a convincing way that you might think that this comic book character actually could exist.

UPDATE 26 JULY: I agree with the Movie Blog regarding the elevating role played by Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face. It really makes the movie stand out.


High School Musical 3: Senior Year trailer

Posted: July 14th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: cool, films, music, youtube | No Comments »

High School Music 3: Senior Year Trailer

Here comes the trailer for the third part to the wildly popular teen musical. This time it will be in cinemas first. Cannot wait!