Every year again, citizens of the Western world get bombarded with Christmas music right after Halloween. We are exposed to it on the televison, on the radio and in shopping malls to just give a few examples. Instead of increasing the excitement for Christmas, it actually gets annoying really quickly. However, many artists and bands still think they have a brilliant idea when releasing revamped Christmas songs that have already been covered hundreds of times. Obviously, there is no artistic purpose behind it and only done for strictly commercial reasons. It's difficult to find Christmas records that are at least slightly interesting. The only albums I could at least recommend are the Roten Roses' Wir warten auf's Christkind which opts for a vivid punk rock approach and Twisted Sister's A Twisted Christmas which is at least partially entertaining. Tarja's boringly titled From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a Dark Christmas) manages to stand out for all the wrong reasons. Even among the mass of unnecessary Christmas albums, that one here is particularly bad. Even Justin Bieber's Christmas record Under the Mistletoe was much better than Tarja's depressing lullabies.

Tarja Turunen hasn't made the mistake of covering religious songs for the first time. Only two years ago, she released a record with twelve different cover versions of the song Ave Maria. I would feel offended if more than five people actually bought that absolutely vapid release. Now, Tarja is back with twelve more cover songs performed with choir and orchestra and her usual classically trained vocals that might sound impressive at first contact but turn out sounding emotionless, invariable and predictable if you listen to more than two songs.

Christmas is a time of joy, love and togetherness. Tarja now tries to deliver a score for a dark Christmas which leads the idea of Christmas carols ad absurdum. It makes just as much sense as a Cantonese pop singer covering Norwegian black metal tracks. That would still be pardonable if the musicianship and the vocal performances were at least passionate. They don't sound like this at all. Choirs and orchestra deliver unimpressive routine jobs despite changing a few melodies here and there for the record. The repetitive vocals sound bland, cold and sterile. Tarja Turunen should play a cold-hearted witch in a fantasy movie as this would suit her talent better.

Tarja hasn't released one good record since My Winter Storm ten years ago and things are only getting worse. Those who are still supporting her are only doing it because of her career in Nightwish. I attended one of her performances during a festival and the crowd was only reacting to the Nightwish songs. I understand Tarja Turunen wants to move on and try out new things but her music is too uninspired to compete with classical music and too soft to be classified as symphonic metal or symphonic rock. This new record is a big mass of nothing at all. It hurts me to say such harsh things but this release doesn't have any redeemable quality whatsoever.

If you like to listen to bland symphonic music with an emotionless singer performing over it to make your children fall asleep or feel depressed for Christmas because you're a sadist, then go ahead and buy this joke of an album. If you have any common sense, avoid this release like the Black Death.

Final rating: 5%

Some administrators seem to have the strategy to exploit their best human resources until they are completelty drained just to drop or exchange them as soon as they aren't considered valuable enough anymore. In most cases, those inhuman and purely bureaucratical decisions are just as despicable as they're wrong.

Remember Montreal Canadien's Patrick Roy, undoubtedly one of the best goaltenders in the history of the NHL. He might have had a difficult personality but he was respected among most teammates, adored by numerous fans and last but not least incredibly successful. Then a new manager without much experience, reputation and success came in and didn't know how to handle such a heavyweight. It came to a clash and the coach tried to humiliate the goaltender by not taking him off the ice during a game when the entire team played terribly. Patrick Roy was furious, announced his departure and went on two win two more Stanley Cups for the Colorado Avalanche. The Montreal Canadiens haven't won one single Stanley Cup since then.

Some sportsmen and other people in their everyday lives don't always have the occasion to make such a brave move so easily. They aren't financially independent, they have families, friends and houses to pay near their workplace and they don't always have the occasion to start a new career or life. The administrators in charge know about this and exploit their employees recklessly.

This leads me to the current case of Laurent Ciman. He has had an incredibly successful career, a large group of fans and followers and is still a national player for the Belgian team despite his advanced age. He didn't join Montreal Impact for the fame and money but because he needed a secure environment for his autistic daughter who could get better treatments in Canada than in Belgium. Even though Ciman made his choice for the sake of taking care of his family, he gave everything for his new team. He was elected defenseman of the year in the MLS in his first year. He brought some attention to an internationally unknown team. He supported local charity and developed a strong bond with numerous fans. Ciman was also known for being severe and demanding towards himself and his teammates. Taking leadership also means taking risks. Laurent Ciman was always a perfect example for determination, honesty and integrity in both good and bad times.

Now, a new coach has joined the team and his first noteworthy decision was to send Laurent Ciman to an expansion team in Los Angeles to get two younger and rather unknown players in return. The coach, whose name isn't even worthy to be mentioned here, justified his decision by saying that he wants to start a new era and that his decision was only influenced by recent performances. The new coach wanted to show that the management is more important than one of the team's most experienced, most faithful and most successful players. The fans reacted very negatively which surprised the coach. This proves how disconnected from reality he really is.

The worst thing is the way this transfer was made. Laurent Ciman wasn't even asked whether he agreed to the transfer or not. The decision was taken while he was in Belgium with his family, just two weeks before Christman during offseason. Apparently, this transfer had been planned over weeks but nobody told Laurent Ciman about it. This is nothing new: managers expect their players to be honest but when it comes to themselves they are rarely role models for integrity.

The worst element about this trade isn't the fact that a great player is leaving a team that desperately needs a leader after the departure of captain Patrice Bernier. The worst element is the human factor in this decision. Laurent Ciman's autistic daughter now either needs to leave the country and work with specialists from yet another foreign country and in a foreign language which could seriously harm her developed or Laurent Ciman must separate from his family to work in Los Angeles while his wife and children must stay in Canada. Let's not forget that Laurent Ciman bought a house in Montreal, was very well integrated in the local community and that the family members were even planning on becoming Canadian citizens. All those dreams and hopes are now shattered - by a coach who didn't even take the time to talk to his star player appropriately.

It's very difficult to support this team after what has just happened. True fans have to criticize and question decisions like these. It's impossible to just turn the page from one day to another and to replace one player with another one. This example stands for many things that are wrong with society these days. Power, money and influence matter but empathy doesn't, even if managers might wrongfully claim otherwise.

It's time to change things for the better - by showing your disagreement with this horrendous decision. Or by deciding to leave and start anew like Patrick Roy once did.

Takashi Miike did it again! His one hundredth work as a director is at least one of his very best, if not his greatest film and a serious candidate for movie of the year.

Everything about Blade of the Immortal just seems perfect to me. First of all, there's the gorgeous cinematography. The first twenty minutes of the film are shot in elegant black and white sequences and tell the background story of a samurai who becomes immortal. The two hours consist of colourful shots with calm and professional camera work. Instead of overusing special effects, the film convinces with a gripping sense for realistic sounds and visuals. It also honours the stylistics of the classic Japanese samurai movies of the sixties and seventies like Zatoichi and Lady Snowblood. The film uses a great mixture of epic long shots and intense close-ups inspired by the world's greatest directors like Sergio Leone. This intensifies the film's atmosphere and gives it an epic dimension. Just as in Sergio Leone's film, moments of silence and narrative elements are followed by shocking outbursts of violence. This makes for a diversified narrative that carries the movie despite its epic length. There wasn't one single unnecessary minute among the one hundred forty ones this film consists of.

Secondly, the movie has a story that manages to remain relatively simple to follow but still turns out to be profound because of a strong character development. Once again, the movie finds just the right balance between two extremes and the storytelling progresses in chronological and logical manner. Our lonesome samurai Manji gains his immortality from a mysterious eight hundred year-old nun after he had turned against his corrupt lord and lost his sister in an unfair fight against a horde of bandits. Fifty-two years later, Manji lives a secluded life and still has to cope with the poisoned gift of his immortality. When a girl approaches him to help her avenge her family after her father got brutally murdered and her mother raped and kidnapped, Manji sees his dead sister in the innocent Rin. After initially refusing to help, the bitter samurai ends up saving Rin's life and challenging a powerful group of warriors who desire to control the country. Manji doesn't only need to fight those ferocious warriors but has to face numerous competitors and must take care of the desperate Rin.

Thirdly, the characters have depth and are performed brilliantly by the actors and actresses involved in this film. Kimura Takuya convinces as bitter yet passionate samurai, Sugisaki Hana impresses as innocent yet traumatized young woman and Fukushi Sota delivers the goods as ambitious antagonist who soon becomes hunted himself and has to deal with a conspiracy. The numerous quirky side characters such as the mysterious eight hundred year-old nun, a female contract killer with internal conflicts and a sadist swordsman without any moral compass make the movie even more valuable.

Obviously, the fight sequences are another essential element of the film. Instead of focusing on elegance, this film concentrates on passion as the combats are quite brutal, fast and pitiless. They give the fantastic movie a gloomy and grounded note that contrasts its epic atmosphere very well. Obviously, most of these fight scenes are exaggerated when a lonesome samurai slays through a group of fifty bandits and kills all of them in roughly five minutes. This intensity is however typical for many Japanese samurai movies and is also related to the eponymous manga series. Overall, the fight sequences are brutal enough to be gripping but also exaggerated enough to fit the movie's fantastic side.

An honourable mention needs to go out to the soundtrack of the film. It always suits the respective moods of the different scenes and intensifies feelings of anger, despair, fear, introspectivity and sadness among many other elements.

In the end, Blade of the Immortal is probably my favourite movie of the year because of its clever directing, its intriguing story, its diversified characters, its intense fight sequences and fitting soundtrack. Even with his one hundredth movie, workaholic Takashi Miike proves that he cares as much about quality as he cares about quantity and that he still has a lot to show. Blade of the Immortal definitely elevates him among the greatest filmmakers of all times such as Sergio Leone and Kim Jee-woon.

The unusually titled Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a big cinematic surprise towards the end of the year, receives massive critical acclaim and is even considered a favourite for the upcoming Academy Awards. All these positive reactions are well-deserved.

The only reason why I don't consider this film excellent is because of the rushed exposition and the aborted resolution. It would have been interesting to get a more detailed introduction instead of being thrown right into events based upon something that happened seven months earlier and which the viewers will have to figure out step by step. The open ending certainly has an intriguing artistic approach but my curiosity was certainly longing for a few more answers.

Everything that is actually shown on screen is though excellent. The story revolving around a bitter mother coping with the brutal death of her daughter is desperate, infuriating and touching. 

The characters is in this movie are dynamic and round as they have a lot of depth and smoothly change throughout the movie. Even the side characters such as an abusive ex-husband, a determined black sheriff and a provocative war veteran with a filthy secret are very interesting.

The acting performances by Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell are incredibly authentic and powerful. 

The movie manages to combine tense moments related to classic thrillers, tragic moments inspired by heartfelt dramas and a solid dose of absurd and black humour in a balanced way. Especially the humorous parts make the tragic story more bearable and the characters more human. As a spectator, you are constantly torn between wanting to cry, laugh and yell at the screen. The emotional power of this movie is of the grandest kind.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is the movie you didn't know you have to watch this winter. It's a detailed, emotional and intelligent film with an immersive flow that requests multiple views. This film restores some faith in Hollywood cinema which had been rather unconvincing this year. I certainly hope the movie gets even more recognition and that cinemas around the world keep screening movies like these that take their audience seriously instead of only focusing on shallow sequels and superhero flicks.

© Jim Robertson