Movie Review: Let the Right One In (2008)

Good afternoon, my friends. Or good whatever-fucking-time-it-is-when-you-read-this. Either way, time for another Summer of the Swedes entry.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Let the Right One In” (Original title: Låt den rätte komma in).

Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) doesn’t have it easy. He tries to just live his life, which is made harder at every turn by some other boys who bully him. But one day on a chilly winter night, he meets Eli (Lina Leandersson), a weird and mysterious girl that he soon starts befriending, which will change his life in a major way. Initial setup sounds a tad similar to “We Can Be Heroes!”, which I reviewed a week or so ago. But in execution it’s very different. Instead of being a lighthearted and funny story about outcasts who learn to follow their dreams, this is a slowly burning, somber affair that incorporates elements of existentialism and of course also the supernatural. And I found it to be utterly fucking engaging. Some people might hate the slow pace of it, in combination with the lack of scares (since it’s technically a horror movie)… but for me it just really clicked in an emotionally engaging way.

The characters in this are flawed, nuanced, and overall just really interesting. Something about the characters here just feels real to me, at least more so than many movies I’ve seen recently. And while some of the kid actors here aren’t necessarily great, they do still sell their performances pretty well. Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Patrik Rydmark, they all do well. And the adult actors like Per Ragnar and Karin Bergquist all do really well in their roles. It’s a well rounded cast.

The score for the movie was composed by Johan Söderqvist, and I think he did a really good job with it. It’s a somber affair, helping create this electrifying, almost dreamlike vibe for the movie. It helps create a deeper emotional connection between the viewer, really adding a lot to the atmosphere of the movie.

Based on the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the script for “Let the Right One In” was written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, with Tomas Alfredson serving as director. The craft here is generally really good. Alfredson really knows how to make scenes feel both warmly engaging and weirdly unsettling. He also knows what to show, when to show it, and how long to show it. There is some genuinely disturbing imagery at times, and Alfredson does an excellent job in its usage. And the cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema is really good as well, giving the movie a unique and stunning look that adds so much to the atmosphere.

This film has been very well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 98% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 82/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,9/10.

“Let the Right One In” is an excellent little horror-drama. It has a great plot, great characters, really good performances, great music, and great directing/cinematography. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Let the Right One In” is a 9,78/10. So it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “Let the Right One In” is now completed.

Finally, a great movie in this series of mine.

Movie Review: The Hunters (1996)

The Summer of the Swedes continues, this time moving a bit further north in the country.

Ladies and gents… “The Hunters” (Original title: Jägarna).

Erik Bäckström (Rolf Lassgård) is a policeman who recently moved from Stockholm to his old home in Norrbotten following his father’s funeral. While there he starts investigating a case of large scale reindeer poaching. And as he investigates it, he soon starts discovering some dark secrets in and around his home. Yes, this sounds like a typical police film with a mildly unique setting. And at times it does feel like that. But then it also throws in its secondary main plot, which is Erik trying to reconcile with his estranged brother (Lennart Jähkel). And that relationship and the drama surrounding it is pretty fucking compelling, often managing to really get in my heart and my head and actually elicit some emotions. And while the main cop plot isn’t the most original or even nuanced (it does feel kinda shallow), it does work pretty well. And while that’s all good, there are a few bits throughout that don’t work too well for me, all falling within the second half of the movie. They don’t break the entire package, but they do bring it down somewhat. Overall though, the story here is quite good.

The characters in this are for the most part surprisingly layered and interesting. Rolf Lassgård might at first seem like “tough cop with a past”, but we do see throughout that he does have a sensitive side to him that helps endear us to him, with Lassgård giving a great performance. Lennart Jähkel as Lassgård’s tragic backwoods brother is fucking excellent. And the rest of the cast, containing people like Jarmo Mäkinen, Tomas Norström, Göran Forsmark, Thomas Hedengran, Editha Domingo, and more, all generally do very well in their respective roles.

The score for the movie was composed by Björn Lindh, and it was generally pretty good. It’s often pretty emotional and tends to add to the quality of the movie. Though there are admittedly a few tracks that maybe are a little bit too melodramatic for their own good. But generally the score here is good.

“The Hunters” was written by Kjell Sundvall and Björn Carlström, with Sundvall handling directing. And good god damn, the direction here is great. I am so used to movies here having a very “press record” kind of look. But you can tell that they really gave a fuck about making a well crafted drama here. The cuts are well done, the shot lengths are great, and the atmosphere Sundvall’s direction is just palpable. This is further complemented by the cinematography by Kjell Lagerroos, which is fucking stunning.

While this film doesn’t have too much data on my usual sites, I can still say that it was generally well received. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,1/10.

While flawed, “The Hunters” still rises above many of its peers in the police drama genre, thanks to the crew actually giving a fuck about being compelling. It has a good story, good characters, great performances, pretty good music, and great directing/editing/cinematography. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “The Hunters” is an 8,76/10. So I’d say it’s worth buying.

My review of “The Hunters” is now completed.

The Swedish word “jäkel” can be translated as “asshole” or other such rude words. Which is funny when there’s such a character in this, played by a man named “Jähkel”.

Movie Review: We Can Be Heroes! (2002)

Time for the Summer of the Swedes to keep going. So what’s on the menu today? A children’s film? Oh fuck.

Ladies and gentlemen… “We Can Be Heroes!” (Original title: Bäst i Sverige!).

Marcello (Ariel Petsonk) doesn’t have it easy. He’s bullied by some boys in schools, and his parents (Michael Nyqvist, Anna Pettersson) try to dictate where his life is supposed to go. But when he befriends the new girl in his class (Zamand Hägg), his life starts changing in a few ways. If some of these elements sound familiar, that’s because you’ve seen other movies. But just because this film borrows cliches from other ones doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, I’d argue the story here is pretty good, with writing that takes the cliches and uses them in charming and enjoyable ways. There’s a lot of times when our main character has really vivid dreams, both in the middle of the day and during the night, which serve to not only develop him as a character, but also further the plot and also entertain. And it helps make the storytelling here feel fresh and fun. There are one or two moments in the story that maybe don’t fit too much, since they push the suspension of disbelief a bit too much, but overall I really liked the story here.

The characters in this are colorful, fun, and at times surprisingly nuanced. Sure, they all might seem like walking cliches at first. But as the story moves on, we see most of them get some decent development that makes them endearing and likable. And the cast, which features people like Ariel Petsonk, Zamand Hägg, Michael Nyqvist, Anna Pettersson, Ralph Carlsson, Pontus Stenshäll, and more, all do pretty well in their respective roles.

The music in this movie is based heavily in a lot of pop tunes, which I guess is used to help add to the overall fun tone of the movie. I’m not saying all of them 100% fit all of the time, but I also don’t think any of the tracks ruin the mood at all. The songs work fine.

“We Can Be Heroes!” was directed and edited by Ulf Malmros, and I think he did a damn good job. The way he shoots a scene is energetic and fast-paced, while still allowing for some of the more quiet scenes to nicely simmer. And man, the editing is really good too. Malmros knows when to make perfect cuts and how to nicely transition between reality and Marcello’s dreams. The craft here is really good. And since this is a comedy (despite imdb not acknowledging it), how is the humor? Fucking funny. It’s charming, it’s silly, it’s cute, it’s even a little brash at times… and most of it made me laugh.

On Rotten Tomatoes it exists with no rating. And on imdb.com it has a score of 5,8/10.

“We Can Be Heroes!” had a bit of an uphill battle with me, being both from my own home country and a children’s film. But god damn, it managed to win me over. It’s a charming little comedy about finding yourself. It has a good plot, really good characters, really good performances, pretty good music, great directing/editing, and funny comedy. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “We Can Be Heroes!” is an 8,89/10. So I’d definitely say it’s worth buying.

My review of “We Can be Heroes!” is now completed.

Things are starting to look up.

Series Review: What We Do in the Shadows – Season 2 (2020)

Taking a break from my dive into my own country’s filmography, just so I can talk about a show I’ve watched over the past ten weeks.

Ladies and gentlemen… “What We Do in the Shadows” season 2!

We once again follow  Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), as they deal with all sorts of supernatural hijinks throughout their daily lives. All the while their human familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) tries to keep his recently discovered vampire slaying legacy secret. So it’s another season of vampiric shenanigans. And just like the first season, the story here are quite a bit of fun. They really went for a deep dive in exploring their own world, as well as old school vampire mythology. And I found it all very entertaining. Sure, there are parts of the show where it dips every so slightly, but generally I have nothing negative to say about the stuff going on here. It’s a silly bit of fun with a surprising amount of thought behind it all.

The characters are colorful, charming, funny, and overall just really interesting. Some of them even go through a surprising amount of development throughout the season. The returning lead cast of Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, and Mark Proksch are all terrific once again. And the guest stars this season (that I won’t mention by name, because it might spoil things) are terrific too.

The music for the show was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, and I think it’s really good. Really captures the sort of gothic, semi-Victorian vibe that they go for with these centuries-old vampires, while still keeping a somewhat cheeky/silly vibe to it. Really fits the show splendidly.

This season was written and directed by a whole bunch of different people, and I think they all did an excellent job with it. The directing is great, they really make the most of the mockumentary format, making for a lot of energetic cleverly directed scenes. The editing is also really good, a lot of good cuts and such going on throughout. And since the show is a comedy, I guess I should briefly touch on the show’s sense of humor. It’s really funny, at times even gutbustingly hilarious. It’s very silly, relying on a mix of wordplay, slapstick, and a hint of raunchy stuff. Sure, the show’s sense of humor might not be for everyone, but I certainly love it.

This season/show has been well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 100% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 81/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 8,4/10.

Season 2 of “What We Do in the Shadows” continues the show’s winning streak, with another ten episodes of funny supernatural antics. It has fun stories, great characters, great performances, good music, really good directing, and hilarious comedy. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “What We Do in the Shadows” season 2 is a 9,80/10. So it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “What We Do in the Shadows” season 2 is now completed.

BAT!

Movie Review: House of Angels (1992)

The Summer of the Swedes continues.

Ladies and gentlemen… “House of Angels” (Original title: Änglagård).

When an elderly man (Per Oscarsson) passes away very suddenly, his granddaughter (Helena Bergström) and her boyfriend (Rikard Wolff) inherit and move into his old mansion. And the arrival of this somewhat bohemian couple starts stirring quite a few emotions within the village. The setup is one we’ve kind of seen before, and it’s one I have no problem with seeing, because it’s a fun setup. And while there are some enjoyable moments throughout this film’s narrative, I overall find it lackluster. Any time you see a hint of conflict to add drama, it finds a way to resolve itself before anything genuinely interesting has a chance to kick off. This makes the story feel very inconsequential. What doesn’t help it either is an ass-draggingly slow pace. I don’t mind a slow pace, as long as there’s something actually happening to add to the story (See stuff like “The Godfather”). So when you combine an inconsequential narrative with a drawn out pace, you get an experience that isn’t very fun to follow along with. Like I said before, there are a few fun moments throughout, but the overall package that is this movie’s story just feels very underwhelming.

The characters in this are all wandering cliches, with some of them handling it better than others. Helena Bergström plays Fanny (don’t laugh, it’s an actual name), a young and ambitious woman working to renovate her new home, all while trying to be friends with people in the village and still being herself. It sounds layered, but it’s not. Again, no conflict, no character development. She’s a blank, friendly slate throughout the entire thing. I’ll give her this at least, Helena Bergström is okay in the role. I am generally not a fan of her, but she did an alright job here. Then we have Rikard Wolff as Zac, Fanny’s boyfriend. He’s a man of few words, a cool as ice biker dude with a background as an artist. And while he doesn’t do too much in the story, he at least has a sense of cool that I enjoy watching. And Wolff is good in the role. We also get supporting work from people like Sven Wollter, Reine Brynolfsson, Ernst Günther, Viveka Seldahl, Per Oscarsson, Jakob Eklund, and several others, all doing quite well in their respective roles (even if their characters feel a bit hollow).

The score for the movie was composed by Björn Isfält, and it was alright. If you’ve seen other movies set in these sort of rural parts of Sweden, you have heard this sort of idyllic, old school kind of music before. It’s a certain sound that I haven’t really hard in movies from other countries, which I find interesting. Anyway, it’s an alright score that works fine for the movie.

“House of Angels” was written and directed by British expat Colin Nutley, and I think he did an alright job with it. While his direction can’t save the ass-dragging pace or underwhelming story, I do think that it still manages to give some level of watchability to proceedings by being visually pleasing and actually somewhat competent.

This movie has gotten some mixed (but mainly positive) reception. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an 80% positive rating. And on imdb.com it has a score of 6,3/10.

While other people seem to like it, I found “House of Angels” to be an uneventful slog to get through. It has a boring plot, hollow characters, good performances, fine music, and pretty good directing. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “House of Angels” is a 4,99/10. So even if there’s some good elements to it, I’d say skip it.

My review of “House of Angels” is now completed.

Summer of the Swedes is off to a rocky start…

Movie Review: Adult Behavior (1999)

Hi there friends. Recently on twitter I announced that I would do a little series called “Summer of the Swedes”, in which I would take a good chunk of my summer to cover more movies from my home country of Sweden on here. I’m not the most well versed in my own country’s output, so I think this little series of mine could be a good way to experience more of it. So let’s get into the first review in this series!

Ladies and gentlemen… “Adult Behavior” (Original title: Vuxna Människor).

Frank (Felix Herngren) works for a respected law firm and lives an alright life with his wife (Karin Bjurström). However, he is also very bored with his life, often drifting off into sexually charged fantasies about most women that he sees. This soon leads into Frank cheating on his wife with a young art student (Källa Bie). However, Frank isn’t the only one in a precarious spot, as those around him also have complications of their own to navigate. “Adult Behavior” has an interesting setup, and even has some interesting things to say about its situations and characters at times. But as a whole, the plot does disappoint slightly. At first it really seems like it will explore its themes and characters in-depth, but never quite goes as far as they probably could. They also have a trouble with tone, sometimes it’s more on the lighthearted side of things, and sometimes it’s quite serious, but there’s no natural transition between the two to justify the sudden switches. This isn’t saying that there aren’t things to appreciate in the storytelling, just that it could’ve used a few more tweaks. But as for what we got, it’s okay.

The characters in this are flawed, somewhat layered, and pretty entertaining. Felix Herngren plays Frank, our main character. He’s a somewhat immature, very horny man. I think he’s probably the most interesting one in the cast since we get to see right into his mind as he drifts off at several points throughout. And Herngren is really good in the role. The rest of the cast, consisting of people like Karin Bjurström, Källa Bie, Mikael Persbrandt, Cecilia Ljung, and more, all portray pretty interesting character, and all give good performances.

The music for the movie was composed by Matti Bye, and it was alright. It’s a little different than other film scores I’ve heard, going for a mildly psychedelic pop-rock vibe that adds a weird and unique edge to the movie. The movie also uses the song “Happy Together” by The Turtles, and I think the usage of it is pretty clever.

“Adult Behavior” was written by Fredrik Lindström, with direction by Lindström and Felix Herngren. And I think they generally did a good job with that stuff. They have really good control of camera and blocking, giving us some visually interesting scenes. There’s also some fun editing going on here, mainly in the scenes switching between the real world and Frank’s filthy thoughts. And since the movie’s a comedy, how is the humor in this? It’s alright. There’s some really funny jokes, but there’s also a bunch that don’t really land, because there’s little to no punchline in them. Really, on that fron it’s kind of a mixed bag.

On Rotten Tomatoes it exists, but has no rating. And on imdb.com it has a score of 6,1/10.

“Adult Behavior” is a mixed bag of a movie. It has an underdeveloped (but overall okay) plot, good characters, great performances, pretty good music, good directing/editing, and mixed comedy. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Adult Behavior” is a 6,25/10. So while heavily flawed, it can still be worth a rental.

My review of “Adult Behavior” is now completed.

Look forward to more Swedish flicks being discussed this summer.

Series Review: Transformers Prime – Season 2 (2012)

There are probably those in the world who would say “You’re 23, stop watching cartoons!”. And to that I say “Be quiet, fool, I’m trying to watch a cartoon”. Oh, and there will be spoilers for the end of season 1, just so you don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Ladies and gents… “Transformers Prime” season 2.

At the end of the previous season, we saw Optimus (Peter Cullen) defeat the mighty Unicron. But that doesn’t mean him and his fellow Autobots get any time to rest, since they find themselves in a race against Megatron (Frank Welker) and his Decepticons to find and gather up mighty Cybertronian artifacts, all scattered across Earth. Yes, most of this season is a MacGuffin hunt, but so are all the “Indiana Jones” movies, and those are great. And “Transformers Prime” does it really well too by throwing in a lot of enjoyable character development, some clever twists, and genuinely fun sci-fi concepts. It also continues the show’s exploration of “Transformers” lore in really nuanced ways. The narrative manages to be a lot more compelling than a lot of contemporary cartoons… and a lot more compelling than the live action movies… what I’m saying is that the story here is great.

The characters here are flawed, layered, colorful, and just in general great. In season 1, they kinda started out one way, kind of being a cliche. But by the end of it, they had developed further. And they kept that going here in season 2. A lot of cartoons return to the status quo every now and then, just to make syndication easier. But none of that’s here. Character development sticks, and even gets furthered throughout the season. And the voice cast is great too. Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jeffrey Combs, Sumalee Montano, Josh Keaton, Tania Gunadi, Steve Blum, Ernie Hudson, and a few more all return from the previous season, all delivering damn good voice performances. And some of the newer additions, including the likes of Tony Todd, David Kaye, and Nolan North, are also great great.

As with the previous outing, the music for season 2 was composed by Brian Tyler, and he once again did a good job with it. It’s a big, bold, badass, brass-based score that fits the tone of the show really well while adding an extra layer of emotion to certain scenes throughout.

In my review of season 1, I praised the show’s animation for being fluid and dynamic without sacrificing much in terms of detail. Well, I can happily say that it’s still the case here. The animation is beautiful. Sure, the human characters look a bit like putty, but that’s an acceptable compromise for the titular robots. My god, they look amazing. The amount of detail on them, from parts, to shine, to wear and tear in their paint… you can tell that the crew really cared to make them look amazing. And the good animation carries over to the action too, which has plenty of exciting fights, shootouts, and chases. It’s all fluid and super fun, without compromising on any of the detail.

On imdb.com the show has a score of 7,8/10.

The crazy bastards did it. They somehow managed to give “Transformers Prime” another terrific season. It has a great plot, really good characters, great performances, really good music, and excellent animation/direction. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Transformers Prime” season 2 is a 9,82/10. Which does mean that it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “Transformers Prime” season 2 is now completed.

Roll out…