Thread: Films & TV: Russian & Non - Q&As/Reviews/Links all in here!

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Hey Alex (and/or others) .... did the episode of The Simpsons called "Treehouse of Horror" air in Russia? If so, was it well received? Was the connection made and understood about the poem "The Raven?"

Oh, I remember that one! It WAS funny. "Raven" was in the school programm, somewhere around 7th grade (not everywhere, though), and anyway Poe is rather well known here, so most people probably made a connection.

BTW, I LOVED Poe when I was 7-9 y/o. His "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and a few other stories ("The Masque of the Red Death" and "Black cat", for example) were my favs. Me and my bro were reading them (along with Wells's "The Island of Doctor Moreau") when we wanted to "get scared". There were no other source of "spookiness" in USSR, you realise. Horror movies and such didn't exist, and kids like to be scared once in a while. The nice part was that the adults never minded this, beacuse it was "classics". ))

Searching for the poem I came upon this http://dotsub.com/view/58591756-7128-48 ... 463d46d907, even with subtitles. I don’t remember Poe from the school program so I wasn’t able to make a connection when watching «Treehouse of Horror" and I sadly admit this part of the episode was lost on me, ye English of yore is hard to understand and there were no subtitles to boot.
They air sometimes in Russia, but I wish they didn’t. Lousy dubbing eradicates all of the humor. DVDs are my choice.
Thanks for the lowdown on "A Streetcar Named Desire". Now all the pieces fit

Originally Posted by alexB

Searching for the poem I came upon this http://dotsub.com/view/58591756-7128-48 ... 463d46d907, even with subtitles.

Check this link: http://lib.ru/INOFANT/POE/crown3.txt (there are 8 or 9 different translarions, made in the 19th-20th centuries + original poem)

I don’t remember Poe from the school program ...

I guess our teachers got a little creative... They did bend a program a little (we studied 'Lolita' and '1984', for example. I'm not sure kids in the other shools had to do this).

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

BTW, I LOVED Poe when I was 7-9 y/o. His "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and a few other stories ("The Masque of the Red Death" and "Black cat", for example) were my favs. Me and my bro were reading them (along with Wells's "The Island of Doctor Moreau") when we wanted to "get scared". There were no other source of "spookiness" in USSR, you realise. Horror movies and such didn't exist, and kids like to be scared once in a while. The nice part was that the adults never minded this, beacuse it was "classics". ))

gRomoZeka,
Being a dark and twisted soul, I was reading Poe at an early age as well, though not to be scared, I just identified with his writings! I too, remember very clearly (a little older than you were) taking my mom's large pale ice blue/green (like a seafoam green almost) covered book off the shelf with all of his work in inside of it and I would read it over and over.

Originally Posted by alexB

Having read the Wikipedia’s article on Citizen Kane I got the joke, really funny.

Alex, I remembered another cartoon show, "Pinky and the Brain," not certian if you have seen this show or not, that used the Rosebud theme.

In this eposiode, they are for certain referencing Citizen Kane, yet don't say "Rosebud."

So, here is the real clip from Citizen Kane (sorry, it was the shortest one I could find online) and the Pinky and the Brain one so you can see how they did it!

Citizen Kane
[video:10hwjws1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjVjyxzutwg[/video:10hwjws1]

Citizen Kane - Pinky and the Brain
[video:10hwjws1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-cS2Y2-Cds[/video:10hwjws1]

You're making me discover America.

Originally Posted by alexB

You're making me discover America.

Okay so now I am going to question EVERYTHING and wonder what you get and don't get about The Simpson's .. poor you!!! (no disrepect I hope you know)

Okay, here is a link to last night's episode of The Simpsons.Yes, I actually watched it, now, I would like to know, at the very end of the show at around 19:38, Principal Skinner says he is throwing out the schools ban on dancing and they play a song and start dancing. Now, I would like to now, Alex, as your quiz... do you understand this???

Do you know the song that is being played because that is the clue. If you don't know the song... you won't understand the joke. So, once again, most kids won't get this, only old people like me!

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=1S0HGJJV

I’ve heard the song somewhere, I did like it then and I liked it this time, cool, awesome, but I did not see Footloose and that’s my problem.
How the Test Was Won is the name of the episode, How the West Was Won is a classic American movie. There must be something in it.
Miss Caldecott is now Mr.Newbery has to do with Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal. Not that I’m smart up to here but there’s nothing in The Simpsons for no reason, so I looked it up.
Shame on me, for I got the number two joke with Principal Skinner.
How was that, when the piano fell on the Orphanage for the Musically Gifted and the same moment divine music started issuing off the roof hole? By the way, shouldn’t orphanages be for the somehow challenged?
Shy is to gre-gar-ious
As peaceful is to
Bell-icose song was funny.
Though Otto humming the Apocalypse Now theme of The Ride of the Valkyrs while piloting a chopper-bus was my best, outrageous.
That’s what I dug up so far.

Alex!!!!!!

I am right back to where I was when I first joined MR.... HOW on earth can you be Russian? You must be an ExPat and fooling all of us!! :fool" You are too good!

Yes, the last piano falling on Orpahange for the Musically Gifted was great.

Daughter just loved the line that Lisa gave during the test when she could not figure out the answer to question # 1 so she went to question #2 and question #2 said, "Using what you learned in question #1..."



Okay, so about the movie Footloose, it was the first movie that had all the songs written for the movie instead of using songs that were already out in the public. So in that sense it was a BIG thing and BIG risk. It was also released just when MTV got started so they pushed the songs and videos on MTV whiched made kids want to go see the movie because they had seen the videos out on MTV! A number of GREAT songs came off the soundtrack from the movie:
Holding Out For A Hero, Bonnie Tyler
Let's Hear It For The Boy, Deniece Williams
and of course Footloose by Kenny Loggins

Here is the video for Footloose
[video:3jbc067x]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwBbMXYDsXw[/video:3jbc067x]

And here is the "famous" Warehouse Dance Scene
[video:3jbc067x]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX38dNneIiU[/video:3jbc067x]



Last thing you need to know about Footloose and it's main star Kevin Bacon is "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" as this is refered to a great deal. People will ask you "What is your Bacon Number?"

Have you heard of this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_Kevin_Bacon

The trivia game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is based on the concept of the small world phenomenon and rests on the assumption that any actor can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon.The game requires a group of players to try to connect any film actor in history to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible. In 2007, Bacon started a charitable organization named http://www.sixdegrees.org/
The Bacon number of an actor or actress is the number of degrees of separation he or she has from Bacon, as defined by the game.

rockzmom
I wonder if many Americans ever heard of this old British TV show that is being spoofed here (this is the fragment that is relevant, after 40 seconds anyway):
http://nerdnirvana.org/2007/08/18/the-s ... ace-shoes/
Do you recognize it?

Originally Posted by E-learner

rockzmom
I wonder if many Americans ever heard of this old British TV show that is being spoofed here (this is the fragment that is relevant, after 40 seconds anyway):
http://nerdnirvana.org/2007/08/18/the-s ... ace-shoes/
Do you recognize it?

I googled it, and the article about these series says "Visionary and disturbing, "xxx" remains one of the most talked about series in the history of TV". I'm surprised YOU watched it, though. Was it on TV?

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Originally Posted by E-learner

rockzmom
I wonder if many Americans ever heard of this old British TV show that is being spoofed here (this is the fragment that is relevant, after 40 seconds anyway):
http://nerdnirvana.org/2007/08/18/the-s ... ace-shoes/
Do you recognize it?

I googled it, and the article about these series says "Visionary and disturbing, "xxx" remains one of the most talked about series in the history of TV". I'm surprised YOU watched it, though. Was it on TV?

Okay I am a bit muddled here.

E-leraner, I could not get the video to come up, are you talking about the TV show The Prisoner? I found this other link...
http://www.tubearoo.com/articles/894..._Prisoner.html

If so, gRomoZeka, I did not see were that was an XXX rated show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061287/

Also, once again Pinky and The Brain did a spoof of it!
"Pinky and the Brain" Brainwashed: Part 1: Brain Brain Go Away - The land of hats is a parody of the British TV show entitled The Prisoner. The character ‘straw boater’ is based on the main character number 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOHSP...eature=related


E-Learner, as for your question, no I would not have picked up on that one. I was more of "The Avengers" person. I loved that series! Especially with Diana Rigg as Emma Peel! I think somewhere in my house I have an autographed photo of her!! And the opening and theme music was way cool too!
[video:1d839hfa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYKMnTADbxY[/video:1d839hfa]

Originally Posted by rockzmom

If so, gRomoZeka, I did not see were that was an XXX rated show.

Oh, I was talking about "The Prisoner", I just used "xxx" as a substitute to the title (didn't want to spoil Elearners' game by giving an answer away ) )))

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Originally Posted by rockzmom

If so, gRomoZeka, I did not see were that was an XXX rated show.

Oh, I was talking about "The Prisoner", I just used "xxx" as a substitute to the title (didn't want to spoil Elearners' game by giving an answer away ) )))

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Silly me!!!! I do take everything WAY to seriously! Ya know, you did say you were surprised if he had watch that show and all.... so I put two and two together and got 3!

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

I'm surprised YOU watched it, though.

I don't know why you are surprised, although I'm surprised myself that I managed to watch it through.
It was insane, yet strangely appealing, and I watched further and further hoping to make some sense of it, but this was not to happen.
It reminded me of Zakharov's "Munchhausen", but of course the latter was not nearly that crazy.

Was it on TV?

I didn't watch it on TV.

CoffeeCup (and others....)

I know... still no film review for you and I do apologize... Maybe someone can post a review for me? A ghost reviewer? Any takers?

E-Learner--- you could try another puzzle and maybe this time I could play along properly?

Or someone else could put up a spoof they know of OR did not understand the meaning of?

........In the mean time I saw this very timely article on CNN today and thought it fit right in with part of our most recent thread here... top film quotes...


You talkin' to me? Film quotes stir passion

Some movies, like "The Godfather," "Casablanca" and "Gone With the Wind," seem infinitely quotable.

Others can produce a single unforgettable line that will define that film forever: "You can't handle the truth" from "A Few Good Men" and "I see dead people" from "The Sixth Sense."

A number of Hollywood masterpieces can infuse a single word with meaning: Think "plastics" from "The Graduate" and "Rosebud" from "Citizen Kane."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movi...tes/index.html

rockzmom
I know you are not into slapstick comedy, but I feel that your research into Russian cinema will not be complete without this. It's only 10 minutes, not a word of language, an utter slapstiсk from the 60's. At least one of the actors you've already seen. Do you recognize him?

Пес Барбос и необычный кросс

[video:1dz37mdg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKb0Nh9nWh4[/video:1dz37mdg]

Originally Posted by E-learner

rockzmom
I know you are not into slapstick comedy, but I feel that your research into Russian cinema will not be complete without this. It's only 10 minutes, not a word of language, an utter slapstiсk from the 60's. At least one of the actors you've already seen. Do you recognize him?

Пес Барбос и необычный кросс

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKb0Nh9nWh4

E-learner,

Bless you... While it is true, slapstick is towards the lower end of my list of favorites, this was just what I needed to watch tonight! I have had a very hard few weeks and was in need of something silly and funny. Okay, I still thought about all the reasons the scenes should not work like, why didn't they just put out the fuse and why were the trees so nicely cut down like hurdles for them to jump over and of course I knew that darn dog was going to jump into the water after the stick... but ya know what I DID NOT CARE TONIGHT!!!!

I laughed right along until the very end!!!

THANK YOU so very much for this E-learner. As the expression goes... You have done your good deed for the month!

Now, for your question... I must admit, you have stumped me yet again and while yes, I could Google away and learn the answer within about 2 seconds, I will not and be fair and see if someone else might want to guess.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

CoffeeCup (and others....)

To put a review, there should be a starting point: what kind of the review you like: for movies you have seen or not.

So, I try to refer to "Kin Dza Dza" which one you have already seen.
The grotesque point of view to our ordinary life: waking up in the morning, going to work, working, supermarketing, returning to home, talking to wife, talking to children to do their homework, sleeping. The way of life becomes automatic (or zombified) process. Even when the zombified person faced an alien world (which inhabitants are also in the same zombified mood) he resolved the arisen problems without any remarkable changes in the mood.

What I like in this movie is the background impression of the mood imposed to the spectator. The background impression, I am trying to describe, is something like if one removed the dialogs and maybe removed the main characters, the movie still would impose the mood on to the spectator. So, the background views, music, the way camera moved: altogether becomes one more main character.

For example, two movies which provide such a background impression (each the movie provides its own type of the mood imposed by the background impression) are "In Bruges" and "Lost in Translation". The last one is brilliant in the performance of the background impression. The main character (Bill Murray) in some scenes merges with the background (scenes in the elevator cabin and when he participates in Scarlett Johansson friends meeting).

Returning to Russian movies the good example in this connection is "Брат" ("Brother"). This movie was already recommended above. Take in to account that "Brother 2" is absolutely different in idea and performance. The movie "Brother" was really the cult movie in Russia. The level of cult was so high as to be compared with that of the "Godfather". Returning to the background impression, here it is mainly performed by the music of the cult Russian rock band "Nautilus" (in some scenes one can see the leader of this band). This music saturates the entire movie.
The famous quote from the movie "В чем сила, Брат?" ("To what the strength belongs, Brother?")

Guess the line.
The line is actually given at the end of the clip, but I removed the sound. Are you any good at lip-reading?
[video:3gfpuqwp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cs6CfWa6Bw[/video:3gfpuqwp]