Zodiac (2007)

Zodiac (2007)
D: David Fincher
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443706/

Zodiac is director David Fincher's less-known (?) crime mystery film. It revolves around the notorious 'Zodiac killer' who was a serial killer in the US from around the late 50's to the early 70's. Controversy exists over whether all murders the killer claimed responsibility over were in fact his, so nobody can be sure how how long the killer remained active. The killer claimed responsiblity to 37 murders, while authorities confirm only 7 murders to be his  The mystery around the Zodiac killer remains unsolved until to very day. Read about the true story behind this film here.


The film is deeply atmospheric and saturated with Fincher's trademark film-noir-esque scenery. It rains a lot, most scenes take place at night and the general ambiance of the soundtrack makes it a subtly haunting experience.

The actor performances are great, with some great development in the characters as the movie depicts over 20 years of the lives of the characters. I was quite impressed by Mark Ruffalo's performance, as he's a somewhat unknow actor to me, and I've never seen him quite this serious. Robert Downey Jr. pulls off a perfromance not unknown to him. The happy go lucky turned drunkard playboy we all know is The San Francisco Chronicle's main writer Paul Avery, assigned as main journalist of the Zodiac murders.

The most interesting character in the film is however Jake Gyllenhaal's Robert Gracesmith, who becomes the main character in the film only after about half-way through the film. This is the most interesting thing about Zodiac: the film seemingly has two storyarcs, both serving one overall story arc. The transition in the story from one to the other is done beautifully, and the second half succeeds in entertaining you even more than the first one. IMDB's description of the film "A San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac killer." actually only depicts the second half of the film.

The movie is just under three hours long and so if you're looking for a light quick film with some suspence, this isn't your film. If you have time to sit back and enjoy a deeply psychological and atmospheric detective story, this is the film for you. This film has become a classic and a favourite movie of mine, and I haven't been intrigued this much by a crime story since reading 'In Cold Blood'.

5/5

YouTube's spawning some crap-tastic trailers as usual, but here's the best one I could find:



Robert Gracesmith's Zodiac book on Amazon.

(THANKS GUYS BUT YOUR FAN MADE TRAILERS SUCK)

Jersey Shore: what's the attraction? Who the hell watches these fools?

 
In short, my answer is: me. This piece will give you an idea of me and my conclusions on what the attraction is for me to watch the show.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this entry by no means represent those of the entire Rinki-Reviews staff. I wholeheartedly take full and sole responsibility of writing and publishing this, as I do with dealing with the possible consequences. If you read thoroughly through the post, you can find my e-mail address for hatemail. Rinki-reviews strides towards utter honesty, and so these things about Jersey Shore had to be said. The bit about the e-mail address was a lie, though. Continue reading at your own discretion.

Jersey Shore is yet another reality show by MTV. The show is in it's 3rd season on writing this and it shows no signs of slowing down in terms of popularity. Seeing IdiotBox.ca's "Jersey Shore ... I just don't get it!" post, I realised that this respected TV news site didn't see eye-to-eye with me on this show. As I respect the site a lot, I felt it was time to justify watching the show to myself again.

The prerequisites

When I think about what things about me could make me susceptible to enjoying the show, I came up with the following things:

I've had a big heart for dubstep and drum'n'bass (genres of electronic music) before ever seeing season 1 of Jersey Shore. So basically my musical tastes didn't radically change after Jersey Shore, the focus just shifted and expanded to include music that was and could be from the soundtrack of this show. My playlists suddenly had more Deadmau5 alongside Goldie (d'n'b forefather) and Benga (the best Dubstep ever).

The second thing I thought of, was the probable influence of an ex-girlfriend. She was into house, introduced me to Deadmau5 back years before the show. She also just generally enjoyed the life of clubbing and wild parties associated to electronic music (think: raves (in the Finnish forest), underground bars to packed clubs with strobe and laser lights, all perforated with bass-pumping tunes and mating rituals through this kind of hard partying). So I was somewhat aquainted with this world, although never really was a part of it.

Some other things about me

I'm an university student, I go to some parties, but study hard. Everything I study every day has to do with thinking about tomorrow. I also happen to be studying a field that is going to be completely different when I graduate to what it is now, so it's really hard to try to prepare for the reality of the future. There's just no knowing what its going to be like and yet I should be prepared for it.


How not worrying turns into my la-la-land

In other words, I feel that I have less and less understanding of people that don't worry all the time. To me, the Jersey Shore cast are prime examples of people, that simply don't worry. And this is exactly the draw to the show for me.

For example, for all the guys on the show, GTL, Gym (staying in shape), Tanning (staying tanned) and Laundry (having a fresh t-shirt for the night) forms the basic structure of every day. Performing these rituals form the base of one's well-being and these rituals always pay off at night when they hit the nightlife. Life is all about having fun, and everything that precedes the act of having fun, is enjoyable activities that constitute towards the ability to have fun. This to me, sounds like a damn near accomplishment of "making life your own" and finding the meaning of life, making it your own and totally achieving it. Other things they enjoy, are eating good food, doing your thing and just enjoying the company of other people. This is something I can totally relate to.

Here's a peek into the world of the boys through the character Pauly D:



I can understand how the petty fighting, macho-bullshit of the guys, neurotic behaviour of the girls and just overall incoherentless of the show (it doesn't go anywhere) can be a huge turn off for people. For me it has the opposite effect, because between the lines reads this: life can be about petty things. For these people it sure seems to be! Somehow I feel, that for the time I watch this show, thinking about the big picture in relation to all the small things involved, suddenly becomes unnecessary. Jersey Shore is my chance to focus attention only on my self and my hedonistic yearnings. And I can do this by living through them. Why think about tomorrow, when its just going to be like today?


Food for thought, is there any?

If you ask anyone I know, they'll tell you I have a very analytical streak to me. I think this is why people close to me don't understand me watching this show at all. Well in response to this, I have to say that Jersey Shore actually offers a social experiment setting like nothing that has ever been pulled off in scientific studies of social sciences (such as psychology, sociology). Sure you can't study anything in Jersey Shore scientifically or make any scientific conclusions, but for the kitchen psychologist, there's quite a bit of material.

You can form a lot of theories of how the characters view their social setting and try to cope in it. For a work of fiction, characters seem to work through their problems in quite many different ways, although they might seem at first to have the same methods for all problems. Their methods all seem to involve evading responsibility, the inability for empathy and the need for confrontation. The drama that constantly evolves in the house gives some delicious food for thought about the central human struggle of defending his own ego. It is fascinating how the characters' descriptions of themselves just radically differ from how they actually act. In fact, for me their self-descriptions differ so wildly from how they actually behave, that I feel disbelief at how things still manage to stay together. But they do. People stay together (well, Angelina leaves every season) and in the end nothing happens. So again, a permit is given to me to not worry about how a relationship between two people turns out. There's no consequence in the world of Jersey Shore.


Conclusions and some further studying material


So there, I think I might've touched a little on why I watch the show. I understand completely everyone's views on how the show is pointless and just isn't worth watching.


But as you press "Play" on the following video, throw away your standards and think about the things I said about just not worrying. For the next 4:11, life's meaning is to have fun and party. Hate it all you want once its over. Mr. Iglesias has nothing to do with my point, btw. The music just happens to be "his". Now press PLAY!




Chris 2010

Kowloon Walled City/Ladder Devils/Fight Amp - Lose Lose Lose

Some time ago I got this brilliant idea about reviewing records that probably don't make it very widely out of their country of origin, and as quite many of the underground acts I've become acquainted with are from the USA, I'll offer you something from across the pond. I thought I'd start with a new release, and therefore selected the three-way split between Kowloon Walled City, Ladder Devils and Fight Amp, Lose Lose Lose.

The split is available on vinyl, with 1 song from each band on both sides. That makes up for the first 2 new tracks for Kowloon Walled City and Fight Amp since their last year's albums Gambling on the Richter Scale and Manners and Praise respectively and Ladder Devils' first ever released tracks. All the bands play a sort of similar style of punky, rocking sludge and there isn't much variation on the record, although you can clearly tell the bands apart. Nevertheless, there is massive amounts of appeal, at least for yours truly, in their crushing brand of sludge from the brisker end of the spectrum.

Kowloon Walled City opens the album with ”The Busker”, which is a continuation of the style they did on their full-length last year. Ladder Devils then ups the groove with ”Get OK” after which Fight Amp kicks up the gear with a more aggressive ”Thankless”. The second side begins with Ladder Devils' fast and groovy ”Leavers”, followed by Fight Amp's ”Old Soul” and is concluded by a slower number from Kowloon Walled City, ”The Commuter”. Despite from jumping to and fro between bands, the tracklist sounds really well-balanced. Clocking in at a bit over 25 minutes, this split album makes for a sweet, albeit short, soundtrack for a sludge party.

Oh, and best of all, it can be downloaded for free (endorsed by at least Kowloon Walled City): click here!

4/5

Burzum - Belus

For people my age, Varg "Count Grishnakh" Vikernes, incarcerated in 1994 for the murder of Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, guitarist and leader of the band Mayhem, has probably always been "that black metal guy in jail". His release on parole in early 2009 therefore brought up the hopes of a new Burzum record for those into his older stuff. And we didn't even have to wait that long: Belus, Burzum's 7th full-length album, came out in early March 2010.

Stylistically, Belus is a continuation of the style of metal, whether you choose to call it black metal or not, displayed on Filosofem, the last Burzum album to be recorded before Vikernes's incarceration. The album is built on slowly undulating, layered guitars and opts to appeal to sense of hypnotism rather than all-out aggression, as opposed to what a lot of black metal bands are prone to do. By the middle of the album the tempo creeps up (in the songs "Kaimadalthas' Nedstigning", "Sverddans" and "Keliohesten") and while Vikernes has certainly succeeded in writing fast songs before, these aren't really up to par with the slower songs. Were there no faster songs, however, the slower ones might sound duller, therefore justifying the faster ones.

Production-wise, Vikernes has gone for a cleaner sound than many of his earlier works. Or at the very least, a better balanced one. Calling this album over-produced would be a mistake, but it's not like Filosofem either, where Vikernes, for example, specifically asked for the worst microphone in the studio to record the vocals and the guitars were recorded through a stereo set (I do love the sounds on that album, nevertheless). The result is an organic sound that supports the music.

Lyrically, the album is a return to the myth of Belus, or Baldr, who was the topic of Dau­ði Baldrs, the ambient album from 1997, and is told by Vikernes to be the metal version of said album. The myth states that the death of Baldr is an omen of Ragnarök, the end of the world, in which the gods will be destroyed. Afterwards, Baldr is born again in the new world, which also concludes the album.

While I can see how this album might alienate the fans of Burzum's older material, however much they might like Filosofem, I have to place it on par with the "classical" albums. On the other hand, Belus doesn't compare with all the majesty and perfection of the 4 first tracks of Filosofem, but its lack of a 25 minute, boring-as-all-hell ambient number such as "Rundgang um die transzendetale Säule der Singularität" totally makes up for it. And while some people say Vikernes has done a shoddier job composing hypnotic, yet evolving songs, the doom enthusiast in me does not mind the occasional stagnation, because, for those prone to get carried away by hypnotic music, this album is a state of mind.

4/5

Stam1na - Viimeinen Atlantis

Ympäristökatastrofi. Ihmisen piittaamattomuus. Tsunamiaallot, freonikaasut, muovi, muta ja paska. Loppuräjähdys ja vesiplaneetta. Lemin Lehmipojat maalailevat maailmanlopun värejä tuoreimmalle albumilleen varsin nihilistisestä näkökulmasta.

Viime vuonna viisihenkiseksi metallikokoonpanoksi kasvaneen Stam1nan edellinen Raja- albumi koettiin suoraviivaisuudessaan ja kertosäevetoisuudessaan jonkinasteiseksi notkahdukseksi. Semminkin kun kaksi edellistä albumia oli kehuttu kotimaisessa musiikkimaailmassa maasta taivaisiin. Uusimmalla levyllään yhtye palaa piirun verran takaisin UKK:n aikaiseen soundimaailmaan. Löytyy koukkuja, löytyy monitasoisuutta ja sinfonisuutta.

Konseptialbumin sanoma on lyhykäisyydessään tämä: Ihminen on sodassa luontoa vastaan. Ja tämä taistelu hävitään. Tarina ekokatastrofista kerrotaan ihmiskunnan viimeisen elonjääneen silmin. Osansa tuholle saavat viihdyttävää paskaa suoltava viihdeteollisuus, kulutusvimma sekä ihmisen piittaamaton käytös ja toiminta luontoa kohtaan.

Soitannollisesti Viimeinen Atlantis on kotimaista huippua. Vuosia kestänyt intensiivinen keikkailu ja treenaaminen on tehnyt tehtävänsä, bändi yksinkertaisesti soittaa ihan helvetin hyvin yhteen. Piristävää vaihtelua soundille tuo basisti Kangasmäen tavallista paremmin esiin tulevat viinanhuuruiset vokaalit esimerkiksi kappaleessa Maalla, merellä, ilmassa sekä vakiojäseneksi kositun synistin Emil Lähteenmäen loihtima kosketinmatto, joka luo levyn taustalle entistä täyteläisemmän sävyn. Solisti Hyyrysen konekiväärivokalointi on tuttua laatua, sanoitukset toimivat mutta kryptisyydestä ei nyt kuitenkaan voida tällä kertaa puhua. Kitaristi Olkkosen soolot sitä vastoin jäävät hieman väsyneiksi. Kappaleista esiin nousevat hc-riffeineen pauhaava Jäteputkiaivot sekä albumin omalta osaltaan mainiosti summaava Eloonjäänyt.

Pian albumin ilmestymisen jälkeen näin paria kaveria baarissa ja puheet ajautuivat väistämättä Stam1nan uusimpaan. Toisen kommentti oli: ”Onhan se semmosta luonnonsuojeluheviä”. Toinen kysyi: ”Erottuuko tämä uusin levy millään tavalla niistä aiemmista?”. Ekohevistelystä sen verran että mielestäni kyseessä on saarnaamisen sijasta ennemminkin toteamistyyliin tehty julkilausuma siitä, miten huonosti ihmiskunnalla tällä hetkellä menee. Paska on jo puntissa, ja sen lemu inspiroi tekemään musiikkia. Toisessa kommentissa onkin sitten jo vähän enemmän perää. Albumi ei itsessään luo mitään uutta suuntaa Stam1nalle. Ehkä sen ei tarvitsekaan.

Kaiken kaikkiaan Viimeinen Atlantis on kaikessa ajankohtaisuudessaan piristävä ruiske kotimaisen rock-todellisuuden varsin harmaaseen massaan.

Sicko - Movie Review

Sicko (2007)
D: Michael Moore
Cast: Michael Moore & his hand-picked victims
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386032/

"A documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories"

 
Michael Moore's best known for his docudrama Bowling of Columbine, that discussed firearms laws and regulation in the US. Often wide-eyed and constantly hiding his agenda behind a "pathetic little average American Joe looking for justice", he's received his share of criticizm as well.

There was some of this present in Fahrenheit 9/11, but luckily not so much anymore in Sicko. Sure, he drags WTC rescue workers all the way to Guantanamo Bay just to be stopped at the gates to request the same medical care for them as the prisoners receive inside. Obviously they weren't going to let him in.

Sicko makes a couple of great points, though about the American healthcare system. This is particularly relevant now, as Obama's health care bill was just passed. This is something that's been sought after by some politicians for the last 100 years, but is coming a reality only now.

Being a Scandinavian I had no clear understanding of the US healthcare system, so I will briefly explain it here. In the US you buy health insurance, so that if something goes wrong your treatment will be paid for by your insurance. We at least in theory. Moore tells the stories of numerous people that are turned down by their insurance companies because of frivolous reasons and thus are denied any treatment for their illness. According to Moore, the insurance companies hardly ever truly cover you, but try to help you out as little ass possible. If it was this bad every time, I can't understand why Obama's bill receives so much opposition in the States - even from citizens, not just the insurance companies.

So Moore's film has incidentally become very relevant to our time, even though at the time of filming this now passed health bill wasn't even heard of. For us Europeans that are mostly used to the opposite kind of healthcare, it's a great wake-up call to appreciate what we've got. Also, a study should be done accross European healthcare systems to highlight differences and similarities between them. I personally think that Finland's healthcare system would have a few things to learn from say the Britts and the French.

Check this one out, it will make you think, not sob eventhough the latter seems at times to be Moore's ultimate goal.

3 / 5

Jurassic Park (1993) - Movie review

Jurassic Park (1993)
D: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/

"During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok."

Jurassic Park is an epic action flick with elements of a disaster movie as well as a touch of horror. Since it revolves around mankind bringing creatures extinct over 65 million years ago, some elements of sci-fi bear heavy here as well.

I first saw Jurassic Park as a kid, so naturally it had a huge impact on me. This grip still holds. I picked up this film again after a nostalgia trip to my MegaDrive/Genesis games, among which is the original Jrassic Park title.

Jurassic Park hasn't aged one bit. Well, you can tell when there's CGI on the screen, but SFX-wise Hollywood hasn't come notably further in my opinion. Besides, you can always tell when there's CGI on the screen, so this can't really be a point of review. Howver, in Jurassic Park, special effects were used to tell a story, a feat that in my opinion is currently being lost in 3D gimmicks and films like the new Star Wars Episodes. There are a lot of dinosaur dummies thrown into the mix as well, suspending disbelief atleast a little better.

So on the surface, JP still looks good. The dinosaurs sound good and it's a very powerful universe into which you're thrown since minute 1. Actor performances are really good as well for this kind of movie. One-liners, snappy remarks and some stereotype characters really contribute to this film. This is yet another feat not very often accomplished in high-budget Hollywood movies.

Some of the scenes in Jurassic Park deserve the 'simply epic' label, and it has nothing to do with jaw-dropping visual gimmicks designed to woo the audience. For example the introduction of the T-Rex is simply brilliant. The scene where the T-Rex attacks the two vehicles is methiculous and solemn, as well as exciting and even scary. There's no over-the-top music in the background and no stingers or other gimmicks. The pace is just right and it's just interesting to see the characters cope with this situation.

Now don't get me wrong, though. Jurassic Park is the cornerstone of larger-than-life high-budget Hollywood films. It just carries with it such originality and interesting content, that its really a remarkable film. And I just love the score in this.


4.5 / 5