In Order Of Disappearance (Kraftidioten) (2014)

The 2018 American remake of this darkly funny Scandinavian Harry Brown seemed to think the interest lay in the irreverent detail - the gangster nicknames, the odd bod characters, and the quirky relationships - and so ended up an unfocused Fargo mess while the 2014 Norwegian original includes all the irreverent detail but remains tightly focused on how the actions of a revenge-seeking everyman (in fact, a small-town Citizen of the Year), um, snowball and erupt a war between rival drug gangs, all while the everyman miraculously dodges bullets.

★★★☆☆

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Ragnarok (Gåten Ragnarok) (2013)

Following in the giant footsteps of André Øvredal's Troll Hunter (2010) is this creature feature - nothing to do with superheroes - also set in the wildest reaches of Norway, but where Troll Hunter plumbed Norwegian folklore and came up with a creature feature that was inventive, this movie is far more tired with its main character, a gormless cross between an Indiana Jones archeologist and an Alan Grant paleontologist, banging on for the first half of the movie about Norse mythology - Oseberg ship artefact finding, runic alphabet-deciphering, code-breaking and very loose history-building - but only as an extremely longwinded way of getting him and his two children and a few other hangers-on to a Jurassic Park in Finnmark where a giant monster briefly harrasses them.

★☆☆☆☆

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The Snowman (2017)

Ice-cold and grisly Norwegian thrillers are popular among readers but this Jo Nesbø adaptation plays out on screen like it has been hacked to pieces and put back together again by a crazed killer with a piano wire, with scenes appearing out-of-order and side storylines, particularly the ones involving Chloë Sevigny as identical twins, Val Kilmer as a drunk detective, and J K Simmons as the leader of a Winter Olympics Host City bid, built-up elaborately like the serial killer's snowmen only to melt away without consequence.

★☆☆☆☆

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Troll Hunter (Trolljegeren) (2010)

Stick this out through its tired first 20 minutes while the Blairwitch found-footage premise is cornily set-up and be rewarded - to some extent - with inventive creature footage, Norwegian scenery, amusing moments (Ned Kelly suits and fake bear tracks, for example) and plotting that though uneven adheres to traditional Norwegian troll folklore.

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS