'I, Tonya' is a really good dark comedy.

Last week me and my friend managed to watch a movie that we had heard good things about. We managed to find time to watch 'I, Tonya', a critically acclaimed movie about the life of the famous - or infamous - figure skater Tonya Harding.

Like many others, the biggest reason that we wanted to see the movie was to know more about the incident between her and Nancy Kerrigan. We wanted to know more about what happened during the run-up to the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994.

So having now seen the movie, it can be said that 'I, Tonya' managed to surprise us in a good way. Even though the movie is not always easy to watch - there are some violent scenes in it - the film is still extremely well made.

The biggest reason that the movie works so well is that the story of  Tonya Harding - that is based on real life events - is so compelling. Harding being pushed by her crazy mother to become a world class figure skater is a story that deserves to be told.

When it comes to the film, the first part of the movie is about Harding's progression from a four year old to a professional figure skater. We see her beating the odds as an underdog and her becoming the first american female skater to pull off a triple axel jump.

Later on, things obviously get more complicated for everyone involved. We get to see things like Harding's struggles with her violent husband, her struggles with her mom and the Nancy Kerrigan incident that probably everyone has heard of.

Not surprisingly, it's during these scenes and moments that involve the planning and the execution of the Kerrigan attack, that the movie really takes off. This is when the film really shines and manages to get almost ridiculously good.

Especially when it comes to all the scenes that involve Harding's so called bodyguard, you can't help but be floored by all the bizarre and darkly comedic things that happen. It's so incredible to imagine that these things more or less happened in real life.

Still, by far the most important aspect concerning the movie has to do with the notorious Nancy Kerrigan incident. How accurate is 'I, Tonya', when it comes to this bizarre skating incident that became a huge media circus?

After all, when it comes to the truthfulness of 'I, Tonya', some have said the film downplays Harding's part in the Kerrigan attack. They say that she definitely played a role in the attack and was guilty of being part of a conspiracy.

Yet, based on the research that is out there, it's more than possible that this might not be the case. It's more than a possibility that Harding is being honest and that she didn't have much - if anything to do with the planning and the execution of the attack.

Especially when you consider that her ex-husband confessed to lying about her involvement, it's more than likely it was actually him and the bodyguard who came up with the plan. They were the ones who schemed and decided to attack Kerrigan.

In that sense, when it comes to 'I, Tonya', I think it's pretty clear the movie manages to be pretty accurate and factual from start to finish. It manages to get most of its historical aspects right when it comes to things that actually matter.

After all, even though it's true that in certain scenes the film takes artistic license - like when it deals with Harding's coaches - those changes don't matter that much. These changes were made in order to make the story more straightforward and easier to follow.

In the end, when you put all these things about the film together, it's really not that surprising that 'I, Tonya', as a sports / biography movie works so well. It's not surprising that the film is so well made and entertaining.

After all, the movie more or less gets everything right when it comes to producing, writing, directing and acting. You can't help but to wonder how the whole crew managed to come up with so many good performances in the movie.

Especially when it comes to Allison Janney as Harding's monstrous mother, you can't help but to admire her. She gives such a creepy portrayal as the crazed mother, that it's no wonder that she won an Oscar for her role.

In that sense, if you haven't seen the movie yet, you should give it a go. You should give it a go, because even though the film is pretty sad in certain places, as a whole, 'I, Tonya' manages to be a funny, entertaining,  insightful and a genuinely well made movie.

How to manage your perfectionism as a writer.

When it comes to me being a writer, it's not exactly a secret that I tend to be pretty hard on myself. As a writer, I feel that I have to write good stuff all the time and that I'm not allowed to make mistakes in the process.

Especially when it comes to writing on behalf of others, I feel that I have a responsibility to get things right. I feel that since I'm not just representing myself, making mistakes is unacceptable and makes me a bad person.

So when it comes to me - or anyone else - being this kind of a 'perfectionist', it's obvious that even though it's not a bad thing to set high standards for yourself, it's not always a good thing either. It's not good to always demand too much from yourself.

The biggest problem with being a perfectionist is that even though writing good stuff requires that you try your best, there are days when things won't go your way. No matter how hard you'll try, on some days you won't be able to write good stuff at all.

During these bad days, if you're a perfectionist, you might get so stressed from possibly 'failing', that you might even think that you have failed as a human being. You might think that you're the worst person in the world and that you can't succeed in anything.

So when it comes to these situations when things don't go your way, is there anything that we could do so that we could perhaps avoid them? Is there a way to handle these moments when things just don't seem to work at all?

At least in my opinion, the best way to 'manage' yourself as a perfectionist - unlike what some might say - is actually not to lower your standards. You should not automatically think that you should become a writer that demands less from yourself.

Instead of lowering your standards, a more constructive way to manage your perfectionism would be to become more aware of yourself as a writer. You should become more aware of what your strengths and weaknesses are.

For example, when I start working on a project, it always helps (strength) if I have had previous experience working on my tasks. It helps if I feel comfortable about the processes and have a solid idea on how the writing process is going to work.

By that I mean that as long I'm aware of the mistakes that I'm going to make and how I can fix them, things are going to be okay. As long as I know how long the project is going to take on average and where the obstacles are going to be, I won't get too frustrated.

On the other hand, when it comes to projects that I'm not used to doing at all (weaknesses) - like writing stuff using some other language (Finnish in my case), there's more than a good chance that I'm going to run into real problems with my expectations.

For example, when I wrote a thousand word documentation for our team's project last week, I felt really uneasy during the process. I didn't feel comfortable almost at any point during this supposedly 'easy' writing task.

The reason for this feeling was that even though I did have tons of experience in writing articles, I had written all my articles in English. I didn't have a writing routine at all when it comes to using my mother's tongue.

So not surprisingly, when I tried to write in Finnish after like a ten year break, I kept running into obstacles all the time. I ran into problems, because I didn't know that I would have to adjust and that the two languages weren't completely interchangeable.

Especially when it comes to certain phrases and transitions, I felt completely lost with the project. I had such big problems that I even had to spend more than twice as much time on the project than I usually do when I write in English.

In that sense, when it comes to managing your perfectionism as a whole, it's pretty obvious that the biggest issue with the trait isn't necessarily perfectionism itself. It isn't necessarily a bad thing to keep setting high standards for yourself.

After all, when it comes to writing, we shouldn't forget that writing good stuff isn't really that easy to do. Even though it might sometimes look that way for an outsider, that's not how things usually go when it comes to the craft.

In that sense, even though it might sometimes be painful to screw things up (especially for a perfectionist), we shouldn't let that discourage us too much. We shouldn't forget that it's not impossible to overcome these things.

After all, as long as we know what we're doing and we're able to predict and control our projects, our perfectionism won't be a problem. As long as we know where the usual pitfalls are going to be and how to fix them, things should be okay.

On the other hand, if we don't know what we're doing and are not used to our tasks, things will be harder. Things will be harder and no matter how talented or perfectionistic we might be, our projects are going to be in trouble and won't be finished that easily.

'Paddington 2' is a genuinely wonderful movie.

A couple of days ago me and my friend managed to watch a movie that we had wanted to watch for quite some time. We managed to watch an animated live-action film called 'Paddington 2', a movie about a friendly, talking bear that lives with humans.

The reason that we wanted to watch the film as much as we did was that we had really liked the first 'Paddington' movie. We knew that the first movie was good, so there was a good chance that the sequel would be pretty good too.

So having now seen the second film, it has to be said that our expectations about the movie were more than met. Even though the first 'Paddington' was a good movie, I think it's fairly safe to say that the sequel is even better.

One of the best things about this second film is that there's almost nothing mean-spirited about the movie or any of its characters. Even though not all the things that happen in it are uplifting, 'Paddington' manages to have a positive tone throughout its length.

In the film, the story is basically about our main character Paddington going to jail after getting framed for a book robbery. He is sentenced to jail after being framed by the villain of the movie, an old school actor Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant).

During his time in prison, our friendly and good natured bear tries to befriend his inmates. While our villain actor Buchanan is trying to locate a long lost treasure, Paddington does his best to get on the good side of the prisoners.

The biggest reason that the story of the film - that may be a bit hokey - works so well is that the movie doesn't take itself too seriously. Instead of being too serious or judgemental, the film manages to be lighthearted in a good way.

In practice, what this means is that in almost every scene, the movie manages to go against the expectations. It intentionally turns things around and surprises us, instead of going through the usual motions that most movies do.

For example, I just couldn't help but to love when Paddington wins over those prison inmates. I couldn't help but to love how his earnest and well intentioned behavior quickly disarms the inmates and the notorious Chef Knuckles (Brendan Gleeson).

In these scenes, the way 'Paddington' manages to get laughs from almost every moment is simply amazing. You can't help but to appreciate how those making the film were able to come up with so many good and funny ideas that work so well.

Still, the biggest surprise in the movie without a doubt has to do with Hugh Grant's character. The veteran actor as the scheming - yet utterly likable - villain Phoenix Buchanan is the single biggest reason that the film works so well.

After all, without his performance as the actor who's trying to find the hidden treasure, there's no way that the movie would be as charming as it is. Without his sense of humor and his willingness to 'ridicule' himself, the film wouldn't work that well.

In that sense, when you look at 'Paddington' as a whole, it's obvious that even though the story could have been a bit better and more organic in certain places, these minor flaws in storytelling don't really hurt the movie much.

After all, even though I had some minor issues with the film, 'Paddington' still manages to bring out all the good qualities that we expect from British movies. It manages to lift your spirits and makes you feel without being too calculating or too sentimental.

In the end, that is something that is extremely rare when it comes to movies that get released nowadays. It's super rare to see a movie that manages to entertain and makes you laugh without being judgemental or mean to anyone.

In that sense, when it comes to 'Paddington' as a film, I couldn't recommend it more. I couldn't recommend it more, because even though it's not a perfect movie, it's still the funniest film that I've seen in a really long time.