Thread: NonRussian films (work in progress)

I can honestly say... I have never seen any of these movies!!!

Worst of the Worst
Counting down the worst reviewed movies of the last 10 years
(if you want to learn more about these movies here is the link http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/wo ... the_worst/)

100 Whiteout (2009)
99 Glitter (2001)
98 Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)
97 Boat Trip (2003)
96 All About Steve (2009)
95 Lost Souls (2000)
94 The New Guy (2002)
93 A Sound of Thunder (2005)
92 Babylon A.D. (200
91 Surviving Christmas (2004)
90 Dragonfly (2002)
89 Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
88 Kaena: The Prophecy (2004)
87 Testosterone (2003)
86 Pavilion of Women (2001)
85 Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006)
84 Thr3e (2007)
83 Doogal (2006)
82 Supercross: The Movie (2005)
81 Extreme Ops (2002)
80 Big Momma's House 2 (2006)
79 The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)
78 Deck the Halls (2006)
77 Date Movie (2006)
76 Johnson Family Vacation (2004)
75 Son of the Mask (2005)
74 Envy (2004)
73 Gigli (2003)
72 Broken Bridges (2006)
71 College (200
70 New Best Friend (2002)
69 The Cookout (2004)
68 Yu-Gi-Oh: The Movie (2004)
67 The Hottie & the Nottie (200
66 The Fog (2005)
65 Swept Away (2002)
64 Corky Romano (2001)
63 Yours, Mine, & Ours (2005)
62 Serving Sara (2002)
61 Good Luck Chuck (2007)
60 The Perfect Man (2005)
59 88 Minutes (200
58 Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
57 Godsend (2004)
56 Because I Said So (2007)
55 The Celestine Prophecy (2006)
54 Harry And Max (2005)
53 Modigliani (2005)
52 The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2005)
51 Fascination (2005)
50 Dirty Love (2005)
49 In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (200
48 BloodRayne (2006)
47 Soul Survivors (2001)
46 Material Girls (2006)
45 My Baby's Daddy (2004)
44 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)
43 Darkness (2003)
42 House of the Dead (2003)
41 Zoom (2006)
40 Down to You (2000)
39 Miss March (2009)
38 Happily N'Ever After (2007)
37 Code Name: The Cleaner (2007)
36 The Whole Ten Yards (2004)
35 Deal (200
34 The Haunting of Molly Hartley (200
33 Delta Farce (2007)
32 Deuces Wild (2002)
31 The Covenant (2006)
30 Fear Dot Com (2002)
29 Bless the Child (2000)
28 Rollerball (2002)
27 Battlefield Earth (2000)
26 Kickin' It Old Skool (2007)
25 Meet the Spartans (200
24 Texas Rangers (2001)
23 The In Crowd (2000)
22 Disaster Movie (200
21 Epic Movie (2007)
20 Crossover (2006)
19 Half Past Dead (2002)
18 The Master of Disguise (2002)
17 Twisted (2004)
16 Daddy Day Camp (2007)
15 Alone in the Dark (2005)
14 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009)
13 Constellation (2007)
12 Killing Me Softly (2002)
11 Merci Docteur Rey! (2002)
10 Witless Protection (200
9 Redline (2007)
8 3 Strikes (2000)
7 Strange Wilderness (200
6 Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)
5 National Lampoon's Gold Diggers (2004)
4 King's Ransom (2005)
3 Pinocchio (2002)
2 One Missed Call (200
1 Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)

Originally Posted by Оля

if you only knew how many kids were getting lost then! They just were not able to say where are they from and what is their surname and the parents' names, so how could one look the parents then?

That is such a tragic result of the war! I am so grateful my country was not affected -- but it took in lots of orphans whose parents could not be located. Probably USSR was the worst affected country, but Germany and many other countries also had lots of lost children.

I remember a very touching Russian film about a group of Russian WW2 orphans who lived with a Moslem couple, don't remember the name of the film unfortunately, but it was good. From Germany there is "Suchkind 312" (Lost Child 312 - loose translation) which has been made into a film twice. A woman is on a refugee train and loses her daughter while she leaves the train to get some milk. The train leaves without her and in the chaos of the war, nothing can be done to re-unite them. These stories really caught my imagination as a child. All so tragic and actually, most of these children are still alive! Here are some such stories:

Suchkind 312 --- A German heart-wrenching classic about a mother and daughter who got separated during the last months of the war.


"They called her Leni" True story about a 1950s German girl who discovered that she was really Czechoslovakian, and went there.


Kyra and Shurik - True story about a nurse who adopts an orphan called Shurik during the siege of Leningrad. Both starve and freeze due to the blockade...


"Hitlerjunge Salomon" aka Europa, Europa.. A horrible TRUE story about a Jewish orphan boy who first fights with the Red Army, then gets adopted by a German couple who sends him to a Nazi boarding school. The man is still alive and lives in Israel.


EDIT -- I found the Russian film I was talking about earlier. "You are not an orphan". But no subs unfortunately..

Смею посоветовать вам фильм Долгие проводы. Я про фильмы не умею говорить, особенно на языках не моих, итак просто перепишу его synopsis, вот:

Саша был смыслом всей ее жизни. Теперь, когда сын подрос, у нее появилось больше свободного времени - и она позволяла чуткому Николаю Сергеевичу ухаживать за собой. После летней поездки сына к отцу, она стала замечать в Саше перемены. Тайком прочитав письмо его отца, поняла, что сын хочет уехать. Ей не хватило мудрости для правильного поведения и понимания не своей жизни. А Саша оказался тоньше и сильнее матери. Поняв, что мать страдает, он отказался от своего решения.

Можно посмотреть отрывок из фильма сюда: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no1jzz05tvI

(Кстати, «она позволяла чуткому Николаю Сергеевичу ухаживать за собой» звучит очень странно для меня, а для русских нормально?)

Originally Posted by Zubr

Смею посоветовать вам фильм Долгие проводы. Я про фильмы не умею говорить, особенно на языках не моих, итак просто перепишу его синопсис (краткое описание/содержание, аннотацию), вот: <...> Можно посмотреть отрывок из фильма [s:29h892v8]сюда[/s:29h892v8] здесь: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no1jzz05tvI

(Кстати, «она позволяла чуткому Николаю Сергеевичу ухаживать за собой» звучит очень странно для меня, а для русских нормально?)

1)
Несовершенный вид: можно посмотреть здесь/там, ходить здесь/там
Совершенный вид: обязательно посмотрите сюда/туда, пойти туда/сюда

2)
Фраза нормальная. А что в ней смущает?

Саша был смыслом всей ее жизни. Теперь, когда сын подрос, у нее появилось больше свободного времени - и она позволяла чуткому Николаю Сергеевичу ухаживать за собой. После летней поездки сына к отцу, она стала замечать в Саше перемены. Тайком прочитав письмо его отца, поняла, что сын хочет уехать. Ей не хватило мудрости для правильного поведения и понимания не своей жизни. А Саша оказался тоньше и сильнее матери. Поняв, что мать страдает, он отказался от своего решения.

The main idea of the film is monstrous for me. A mother is a life, and a death, is a death for an individuality will.

Originally Posted by Звездочёт

2)
Фраза нормальная. А что в ней смущает?

Кажется, в ней местоимение собой указывает не на мать, а на Николая Сергеевича.

Аааа.
С точки зрения грамматика ты, вообще-то, прав. Хотя из-за контекста я эту ошибку не заметил, и вряд ли кто из носителей (если только он не очень щепетилен) заметит.

Originally Posted by Zubr

...(Кстати, «она позволяла чуткому Николаю Сергеевичу ухаживать за собой» звучит очень странно для меня, а для русских нормально?)

Если бы местоимение собой указывало не на мать, а на Николая Сергеевича, то фраза звучала бы так: она позволяла ...Николаю Сергеевичу ухаживать за самим собой.

Originally Posted by Lampada

Если бы местоимение собой указывало не на мать, а на Николая Сергеевича, то фраза звучала бы так: она позволяла ...Николаю Сергеевичу ухаживать за самим собой.

Ммм... думаю, это не обязательно. Просто выражение распространено, и глагол "ухаживать" в таком контексте применим обычно к женщине. Поэтому ясно, о чём идёт речь.

Originally Posted by Звездочёт

Хотя из-за контекста я эту ошибку не заметил, и вряд ли кто из носителей (если только он не очень щепетилен) заметит.

Я не вижу тут ошибки. "Она позволяла ухаживать за собой". Совершенно нормальная фраза. С точки зрения грамматики она не ошибочная, а двусмысленная. Но с точки зрения контекста тут никакой двусмысленности нет.

I met Kenny Johnson YEARS ago when I first started to study film in LA. His son, David, attended the same college I was at and we were in several classes together. At that time, Kenny was filming his TV mini-series "V" and it was the first location set I "remember" being on. Interestingly enough, there is a remake of "V" coming out this year on ABC yet he has nothing to do with that remake as the studios own the TV series rights!

For all of you SciFi buffs, he will be in Moscow in a week!


http://www.kennethjohnson.us/Classes.html (English)

http://www.cinemotion.ru/cinemotion/main_article_cont
Кеннет Джонсон — создатель, сценарист, продюсер и режиссер таких сериалов, как «Невероятный Халк» и «V», римейк которого выходит в этом сезоне на одном из главных каналов США — «ABC». Кеннет неоднократно был номинирован на различные премии, в том числе на Премию Гильдии Сценаристов. В 1996 году он получил награду журнала «Sci-fi Universe» за многочисленные достижения (Lifetime Achievement Award).
29 октября. Кеннет Джонсон. «Создание пилотного эпизода. Как рождаются сериалы»
Мы предлагаем вам уникальную возможность лично встретиться с автором, работавшим более чем над 10 сериалами.

Вы сможете узнать:

В чем специфика сценария пилотного эпизода?
Как написать сценарий пилотного эпизода так, чтобы заинтересовать продюсеров и каналы?
Как представить персонажей и ввести в пилотный эпизод завязки будущих сюжетов?
Какие идеи имеют потенциал развития на протяжении нескольких сезонов?
Какие элементы обязательно должны быть в пилоте?
Насколько проработанным должен быть мир сериала до написания пилота?

Кроме того, у вас будет возможность задать другие интересующие вас вопросы.

Мастер-классы проводятся по адресу: Москва, Филипповский пер., д. 8, стр. 1. (м. Арбатская, Кропоткинская) с 19 до 22 часов.

Стоимость одного мастер-класса составляет 4 200 рублей. При ранней регистрации (до 11 октября) — 3 500 рублей.
Стоимость посещения двух мастер-классов Пола Брауна — 6 200 рублей.
Стоимость посещения трёх мастер-классов — 8 500 рублей.

Подробную информацию вы можете получить по телефону +7 495 411–74–77 (Лиза Вайнер), e-mail: courses@cinemotion.ru

Let's talk a little bit about Russians invasion to Hollywood. Couple-three days ago I was in a store and saw a DVD box from which an unshaved man wearing a horn-rimmed glasses fixed with a tape looked at me holding tightly in his hands a guitar and a sword. My mind was flashed with the memory of the movie I've seen ten yeas ago. I grabbed the DVD straightaway and put myself into the stream of the movie entitled "Six-String Samurai".

Six-String Samurai is a post-apocalyptic kung-fu-rock & roll road movie depicting America where guitar-slinging swordsmen wage battle to succeed a recently deceased Elvis as the king of Lost Vegas.

Even though the movie start point is the fact that a Russian nuclear bomb made the US to be a desert and during some scenes the main character defeated the Red Army, these points are just the screenplay features which I am sure were not intended to put a black spot on Russia but to put the main character in more troubles than one can expect.

So, if the Red Army is not the Russian invasion to Hollywood I am talking about, what else in the movie the Russian invasion is? It is the music! The entire movie is accompanied with the music by the Russian based band "Red Elvises". You even can see them in the movie: the guys with "nice shoes".

Some fun stuff: Red Elvises being Russian speak English in the movie's scenes while the actors for Red Army general and lieutenants being non-Russian speak Russian with remarkable accent.

The power of good acting, of an audience, and a big screen.

Last night, I attended a film festival and was reminded of a few things.

First, I was reminded that sometimes you really need to see a movie in a movie theater WITH people to properly experience and appreciate the film. To have people around you sniveling and crying. To hear them laughing through their tears. Or muttering “that little slut” at the same time you are thinking it.

Secondly, I witnessed firsthand how good acting can save a movie. Last night I witnessed something amazing. During one of the screenings a film which started off really poorly, bad sound, bad camera work and even some really poor casting (two adult siblings … one was Hispanic and the other was Black... the audience actually laughed at that one)… and yet… part way through this film… magic happened. The audience, who was ready to rip this film apart, fell in love with this film and was actually crying at the end and it was all due to the acting.

I have seen this particular film before, yet never with a large audience and never on a large screen. So for me this experience of seeing it with people was new and very interesting. It actually changed my perception of this film. I now understand WHY this film does so well in festivals. Before, last night I just could not for the life of me understand why it had won awards. Technically, the film is a train wreck (I should be fair and say it is by a first time director). The acting I always thought was fairly good, yet I had no idea it sucked people in SO much that it help people to forgive all the negative things. During all the other films screened last night, there was NO audience reaction and yet with this film, there was right from the start (as I mentioned they laughed at the bad casting) and then when the main star came on, she drew the audience in and made them care about her and forget all about the bad technical work and focus on her. Her body language. Her lines. Her. And the audience fell for her hook line and sinker. I would not have believed it if I had not seen and heard it with my own eyes. People laughing out loud at all the right moments in the film and then crying at the end and then finally trying to laugh through their tears when she delivered perfectly two final witty lines.

This actress saved this film and now after seeing this film WITH and audience and in a big theater, I finally understand WHY it does so well.

Finally, it makes me wonder about other films we have been discussing. Would I change my mind about them if I had seen them in a theater with an audience???

Originally Posted by Оля

To be honest, I don't remember the film very well, and I don't remember the whole plot in details, even. But I remember very well all my impressions about this film. I can tell you that I didn't like the acting AT ALL

Well, I havent' yet read the whole thread but already found lots to comment on.

First of all, I agree with Оля about "The Cranes Are Flying". I'd heard so much about it before I finally watched it and I was a bit disappointed. With the acting. It seemed WAY too theatrical. At the very beginning of the film when Veronika and Boris are running around Moscow and later when Veronika slaps Mark in the face - it seemed overacted. The camera work was interesting, of course. And it's not to say there were no redeeming moments in the film. I did like some parts of it. Just wouldn't call it a favourite. I might yet change my opinion if ever I get to rewatch it - but I'm not sure that's likely to happen.

To be quite honest, I see really good acting (in my opinion) in foreign films very rarely. At best, acting in foreign films is just "okay" to me.

Oh, I find lots of good acting in foreign films. I'm a fan of period drama, so I consider some of the BBC adaptations of English classics absolutely fabulous. I'm a huge fan of "North and South" (2004 - not to be confused with the film about American Civil War), "Pride and Prejudice" (1995), "Wives and Daughters", "Sense and Sensibility" (1995), "Wuthering Heights" (1992), "Jeeves and Wooster". If that's not good acting, I don't know what is. So thanks to watching those I now know quite a lot of fantastic British actors, like Michael Gambon, Richard Armitage, Emma Thompson, Justine Waddell, Ralph Fiennes, Hugh Laurie... And I love Rowan Atkinson, he's a great comedian - "The Thin Blue Line" tv-series was hilarious.

Turning to American cinema, "Titanic" and "Gladiator" are the first movies that spring to my mind as having great acting - still find myself crying every time I watch Rose being lowered in the life-boat and looking at Jack. Kate Winslet is a fantastic actress, as is Leo DiCaprio, though I've only seen him in "Titanic" and "Catch Me If You Can", which I liked very much as well. Oh, and "Some Like It Hot" is a splendid comedy - Marilyn Monroe may not have been much of an actress, but the male leads are hilarious. Watched it recently with English subtitles, wouldn't have understood anything otherwise.
And I just love "Gilmore Girls", "The O.C." and "Friends". Some very good acting and script-writing going on there.

The one thing that the Western filmmakers know is how to structure the story and make it enjoyable and entertaining. Think Disney - "Beauty and the Beast", "The Little Mermaid", "The Lion King", "The Sleeping Beauty"... And I'm not talking about the sequels to these animated pictures here, as I haven't seen them and don't think it's a very good idea. Those movies are not only about stunning visuals and beautiful music. Some very good thinking went into creating the plots. Well, Andersen's "Little Mermaid" got rather er... butchered is not a good word, but I can't think of any other right now. I love both stories. Andersen's is lyrical and poetical, Disney's - pure fun and entertainment.

Not that the Russians don't know how to make a good story or write a fabulous script. Quite the contrary. But it wasn't made into a sort of ABC of how a story should be written. Perhaps it's a good thing, I don't know. But when I watch our "War and Peace" (the old film), for example, it strikes me that some scenes were a bit too long, or some shots weren't all that interesting - when Andrei Bolkonski is talking to his wife Lise at the beginning there aren't even any close-ups and it's such an important scene, establishing their relationship and everything. And who could possibly resist shooting as many close-ups of Anastasia Vertinskaya as possible, as she's so gorgeous? The modern adaptation with Clemence Poesy tried to address some of the issues of the book - to flesh out characters which were very vague and one-dimensional in the book, like Ellen and Anatole, to provide motivation for Natasha agreeing to elope with Anatole. I rather enjoyed some of these changes but the thing is, they managed to utterly destroy Natasha's character in the process. Clemence Poesy is very nice, but she's not Natasha, while Tatiana Samoilova is. Oops, sorry to go on about "War and Peace" - I'm sure most of the folks here haven't seen in ages, if at all. I've only recently read the book and watched three adaptations. I felt like such a punk not having read such a famous piece of literature. Didn't manage to do it in school - seemed way too boring, though I was quite a bookworm and swallowed "Anna Karenina" and "Quiet Flows The Don", which is the same length as "War and Peace".

So, to come back to the Russian cinema - I also agree about other films that have been mentioned here, such as "The Thief". I enjoyed it quite a bit the first time I saw it but I'm not planning to re-watch it again. It's too depressing.

Well, I guess I'll be back to you later when I've read the entire thread.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Finally, it makes me wonder about other films we have been discussing. Would I change my mind about them if I had seen them in a theater with an audience???

That's an interesting question. One thing that the theatre does is that it sucks you into the film, makes you sit through the whole of it and pay attention (I don't know how people manage to fall asleep in the cinema - even if the film is very boring, the sound is so loud). When you watch something on tv, if you don't like it from the start, you'll switch off directly, thus not giving it a chance, perhaps.
I've had an interesting experience with the Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King. I first watched it in the cinema and didn't like it - the sound of the battles was too loud, the battles themselves scared me out of my wits, besides I haven't seen The Two Towers, so didn't understand the plot properly, and I suspect I was falling ill because I returned from the cinema with a temperature. Watching this movie on dvd at home, after having seen the second part, was a completely different experience.

Originally Posted by starrysky

First of all, I agree with Оля about "The Cranes Are Flying". I'd heard so much about it before I finally watched it and I was a bit disappointed. With the acting. It seemed WAY too theatrical...

I didn't write anything like that about "The Cranes Are Flying". I like this film. The quotation you made was about other film, "The English Patient".

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by starrysky

First of all, I agree with Оля about "The Cranes Are Flying". I'd heard so much about it before I finally watched it and I was a bit disappointed. With the acting. It seemed WAY too theatrical...

I didn't write anything like that about "The Cranes Are Flying". I like this film. The quotation you made was about other film, "The English Patient".

Sorry, got everything confused. I'd never say that I hate or even dislike "The Cranes Are Flying". I liked it when I watched it and couldn't help crying in some parts - this movie is certainly very emotionally-affecting and the emotions are portrayed very strongly. But two things put me off a little. First of all, when I sat down to watch it I expected it to be a film about war and self-sacrifice and it turned out there was hardly any war and no self-sacrifice. It's more about relationships, human frailty and the society which doesn't forgive mistakes.

The second thing that bothered me was Samoilova's acting at the beginning. Especially the way she keeps repeating "Нет! Нет!" in the rape scene, it seemed very unnatural. Couldn't she start crying or something, instead? I'd feel more sympathy for her in that case. I certainly think that the whole scene is a bit more complicated than simple "rape". She does bear some blame. Did she absolutely have to marry Mark, when he is obviously such a scoundrel? Well, she might not have known it then and after the bombing she had no one left to turn to, except him and his parents. The thing is, imo, she didn't really have to marry him. It's not the 19th century when the morals were that strict, it's 1940s. Such prejudices might have been left in villages at that time but hardly in Moscow. The Soviet woman was a mistress of her fate in this respect. I guess it's the eternal question of how much imporatnce the circumstances have over us and how much power and free-will we have to resist them. I suppose I partly agree with CoffeeCup here in not being overly in love with Veronika as a character. Oh God, I'm acting the part of the "unforgiving society" here I do sympathise with her. The sure thing is that this film is thought-provoking.

Those are my favourite war films (in bold)

Originally Posted by Оля

Here are some Russian forceful war films I'd recommend to watch:

Проверка на дорогах
Офицеры
Летят журавли
Баллада о солдате
Восхождение (very forceful)
Судьба человека
А зори здесь тихие
Расскажи мне о себе (the only one which is not very famous, but it touched me a lot)
Иваново детство

I'd add "Звезда" (2002), "В бой идут одни старики" and "Гусарская баллада" (love the humour and the songs )
"Судьба человека" is a very good and touching movie just not a personal favourite. The others I haven't seen yet.
And here's a link to a thread about favourite war films on my local forum (though it includes foreign films as well) http://forum.academ.org/index.php?sh...2&st=0&start=0

Originally Posted by rockzmom

The power ... a big screen.

A big screen, yeah, it changes a lot.

First, it allows us to feel some sort of participating in the action. If you are delighted with the action of a movie and feel hunger for being a part of it, you should certainly go over the movie again on the big screen.

Second, if the movie aim is not only to tell us a story through the characters talking, but also to give us some more specific impressions or feelings the big screen is the only way to get the full scent of these impressions.

Third, of course, the landscape views are filmed only for the big screen.

I am ultimately sure that these movies are the best when on the big screen:
- At Home among Strangers, Stranger at home
- Kin-dza-dza
- Solaris

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

... an unshaved man wearing a horn-rimmed glasses fixed with a tape looked at me holding tightly in his hands a guitar and a sword.
... "Six-String Samurai"

By the way, surfing the web I've found out that many people find the filming process, scenes' landscape, the movie line and the sci-fi world of the "Six-String Samurai" being close in some way to that of the "Kin-dza-dza".

Originally Posted by starrysky

I'd add "Звезда" (2002)

I know it's considered as a good movie, but I didn't like it. First of all, I didn't like acting. Igor Petrenko is too young or maybe not enough talanted, but he didn't convince me he was a person from 1930-1940 years. His eyes... They looked like he's just playing a role, not living in the USSR, being at war... I can't explain it better.

The Soviet woman was a mistress of her fate in this respect

Woman, indeed.

Also, I suppose you didn't live in those years. How could you know that marrying a man without being virgin was okay?