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

Originally Posted by Johanna

No, I haven't watched this Terminator film and I am not sure I even watched the originals. Well maybe one of them, the one where Sarah Connor got locked into a mental hospital. Hasta la vista baby!

Haven't seen the Cyborg film from 1989 either!

It's from 1984. I'm not a huge fan of the 'Terminator' franchise, but this film (Terminator 1) holds special significance for me. It was the first 'real' American movie I have ever seen. By 'real' I mean a contemporary and unapproved by censors movie, that people watched on VHS (they were called "видеофильмы", or "видики"). The movie itself was so different from anything that was showed in Soviet theatres, that we were overwhelmed, and for the first 20 or so minutes we were just gaping (and thought that Terminator and the guy, who came to save Sarah are the same person, only in different clothes)
Also by pure coincidence in a few scenes, when an answering machine was used, they showed an iguana, and I thought for some time that it was a talking iguana who had been trained to receive calls... I was like "Mom, do they realy have lizards like that in America, or it's just a sci-fi?" Seems like a different world now.

But the series got cancelled after only one or two seasons. This seems to happen to all TV series that I like. I wish they go back to making series that run for 10 years...

Oh, it's a pity. ( That happened to me too. I liked a TV show about a talking toddler, and it got cancelled after 13 episodes. To add insult to injury, every person, with whom I tried to share my grief, laughed at me. Yeah, it was about a talking toddler, so what? It was good.

And have of course seen Cheburashka. Apart from the Russian original, there was also a spin-off series that ran for a decade, at least, which was actually produced in Sweden. A sort of a "chat show"/"documentary" for kids, hosted by Gena and Cheburashska. Cult.

That's the most cool and strange thing I've heard about Sweden yet! Did they look exactly like cartoon Gena and Cheburashka?

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

thought that Terminator and the guy, who came to save Sarah are the same person, only in different clothes

No wonder considering the quality of the pirated recordings of that time. (Usually such tapes were dubbed from a copy from a copy from a copy ... and the end result was an assortment of multicolored stripes with some vague picture behind them).

Okay everyone! A PM came my way about a Russian Film and English subtitles for it...does anyone have the answer? Has anyone seen this movie?

I'm looking for the English subtitles of a movie, called Musulmanin or Мусульманин (1995), directed by Vladimir Khotinenko. I searched the databases of most of the subtitle websites, including the ones in your posts. But I couldn't find it, even the DVD comes without English subtitles.

Do you know if there's English subtitles for this movie? Or do you know someone from this forum, who can help me to find the subtitles?..
Also, if you have seen the movie I'd like to hear some comments about it...(not spoilers )

I found the IMDb page for the movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113878/

Actually most Russian films don't seem to have subtitles.

Additionally, when you search for the subs there are lots of different possibilities for how the Russian title is translated or transliterated into a European langauge or a Latin letters.

Quite often it is not transliterated in the English way but in some other way. For some films there are different English titles.

The main subtitle sites online are allsubs.com subsearch.org subscene.com and opensubtitles.org.


If he speaks any other European languages it might be possible to find subs in alternative languages but not in English. He can also check if there are Russian subtitles - it might be easiser to follow if he sees the word written down.

If he can't find it there with any of the possible spellings, then it probably doesn't exist.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

That's the most cool and strange thing I've heard about Sweden yet! Did they look exactly like cartoon Gena and Cheburashka?

Yeah, I think so.. Part of the "story" for the show was that the puppets had travelled from Moscow to Sweden (train, ferry etc). It was explained that they had previously lived in Russia and had all the adventures shown in the Russian cartoon. They also returned to Russia a few times to do "news stories" about kindergartens, playgrounds, fun fairs etc.

I think this show became so loved by children because of the great interaction between the dolls (Cheburashka was small and VERY stupid, Gena big and very kind & patient.) It looked like this:


Based on what I remember seeing back then, the USSR was probably not a bad place to grow up in at all - it certainly looked great in this show at any rate. So many impressive special facilities for children!

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Okay everyone! A PM came my way about a Russian Film and English subtitles for it...does anyone have the answer? Has anyone seen this movie?

I've not seen this film but I looked it up and it looks like a good movie... I'd really like to see it. Evgeny Mironov played the main role and he's considered a very talented actor. It's not available on dvd right now, unfortunately, or I would've bought it. It's about a Russian soldier who spent 7 years in Afghanistan as a prisoner of war. An Afghan peasant saved him when he was led to be executed, in consequence of which this young man converted to Islam. However, when he finally returns to his native village, people don't understand him.



source http://emironov.ru/

source http://www.e-mironov.narod.ru/movie/mus/mus-foto.htm

I've found Russian subs on http://subs.com.ru. They look quite easy so I suppose I could translate it but it would take a lot of time -- a month at least, because I've got a lot of work. So I'm not promising but with time on my hands I could be a good Samaritan. Send me a PM.

Originally Posted by starrysky

I've found Russian subs on http://subs.com.ru. They look quite easy so I suppose I could translate it but it would take a lot of time -- a month at least, because I've got a lot of work. So I'm not promising but with time on my hands I could be a good Samaritan. Send me a PM.

You can open a new translation at http://notabenoid.com/ so that others could join it.

Okay, so some of you have noticed and PM's me that I have been away again for a while.. those darn headaches of mine!!! But as a result of my just hanging around in bed.. I drift in and out and watch lots of movies! DVDs are wondeful to stop and start and rewind! I have no ablility to read these days, so books are out the window for now and the movies have filled there place.

Now I just need to find the time to write up the reviews! Or at least short thumbs up thumbs down. It might be easier if anyone has a question about any of these to just ask me for I have no idea when I might get the mental state to write reviews.

So here is the list:
Alice (Syfy Version of Alice in Wonderland) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1461312/
An Education http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1174732/
Avatar (but remember, not in the theater) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/
The Blind Side http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878804/
Coco Before Channel or Coco avant Chanel http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1035736/
Fantastic Mr. Fox http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432283/
Good Hair http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213585/
Inglourious Basterds http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/
Invictus http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1057500/
Julie & Julia http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135503/
Meeting Place Should not Be Changed http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078655/
Precious http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0929632/
The Proposal http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1041829/
Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560169/
Sherlock Holmes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988045/
Twilight New Moon http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259571/
Up in the Air http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1193138/
Where the Wild Things Are http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386117/

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Meeting Place Should not Be Changed

Did you like it?

The film about the guy who becomes a Moslem seems very good. I would like to see it. I guess there were no subtitles then?

If anyone is interested in Central Asia region, check out a film called "Chimp" "Maimil" from 2001. Slightly existentialistic film from Kyrgistan. It's about a guy who is drifting around before joining the army and about his reflections on the world around him. 90% in Russian and 10% in Kyrgiz. I thought it was pretty cool and funny. I came across it completely by chance and decided to watch it because I am a bit fascinated by Central Asia. The film is available on the "AsianDVDClub" torrent site.

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Meeting Place Should not Be Changed

Did you like it?

Now, let's see.. I watched that one just about a month ago... I can't believe I forgot to post about it! I will have to sit myself down and write a proper review as it is a Russian series (bad girl!). However until then, YES, YES, YES!!! I liked it very much. I would have enjoyed watching that series for years. It is a shame they could not have some how made a t.v. series from that short miniseries. I could just imagine coming home once a week to turn that on and watch it! What a joy to look forward to after an awful day at work or school!

Johanna, have you watched it yet? I don't want to give anything away if you have not. I will be careful and put a spoiler alert in my review.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

somehow made a t.v. series from that short miniseries.

Well, there almost wasn't such thing as "TV series" in Western sense of the word on the Soviet TV. They tended to view such things as very long movies, rather than a category in itself.

The only non-animated exception I can think of is "Следствие Ведут ЗнаТоКи" but even that show wasn't quite something one would call "TV series" nowadays.

And, to be frank... Seing what they did in the sequels(, I'm glad no one tried to make a real series from this.

( I won't even name them. As far as I'm concerned, the sequels never happened. Of course, it's in part because they take place decades later, so no post-war Moscow, no Zheglov and (although he was in the books series were based on) SPOILER on the "meeting": no General Sharapov, who was replaced by a "generic general." Heck, there goes half the best lines from the books. Why Mosfilm, WHY? And that heavily implied sex scene. That never happened in the books FOR A REASON, not because Vayner brothers were prudes. And speaking of that, where is the "Your gun? In a handbag? How... Weird. Women shall not carry guns in their handbags. No, not that, no one should need a gun ever!" moment? /Says a cop to his partner, whom he secretly loves. Or does he? We're never told, unlike the movies. And sorry for me not remembering and translating the lines exactly. / Actors are overacting as if they're on the stage, not on the movie set all the time. Or they don't act at all.

Ok. Must. Stop. Ranting. It's just that such a good movie had such an uninspired sequels...

rockzmom, you are very considerate, thanks! Actually I don't think I have seen that film ("Meeting place...")But I would like to, because it's been mentioned several times here. I'll watch out for the spoiler alert.

I downloaded a whole bunch of classic Russian films a few months back, but then I "parked" them and decided to watch more contemporary films instead; films that show present day Russia. Unfortunately those are more difficult for a learner to watch and only rarely have subtitles.

The older films are really good for learners because the actors speak much more clearly and it's much easier to understand what's being said. I even wonder if they choose simpler words on purpose - there is such a big difference.

Speaking about series: I think the USSR cinema did "miniseries" though. I definitely remember a few running on Swedish TV. The one that immediately comes to mind is "Siberiada" which I did not like at the time but wouldn't mind rewatching at some point in the future.

A site I visited yesterday linked to this interesting BBC story about Russian cinema. Would you agree with the commnents made?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8470156.stm

Originally Posted by Johanna

I even wonder if they choose simpler words on purpose

Of course they don't.

Originally Posted by Johanna

A site I visited yesterday linked to this interesting BBC story about Russian cinema. Would you agree with the commnents made?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8470156.stm

Imho, there's no "fresh blood" in Russian cinema now. Too many today's directors are children of the known parents: Bondarchuk, Konchalovky, Todorovsky, Yankovsky, German... There's no room for ordinary people like Shukshin and many others famous soviet talents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz0qh0GHrW0

At 03:14-03:19, is he alluding to Lewinsky?

Originally Posted by studyr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz0qh0GHrW0

At 03:14-03:19, is he alluding to Lewinsky?

Actually, Monica was an "intern." Congressional "pages" have also been known to end up having sexual relations with members of Congress. A "page" though is a minor (a high school student) and an "intern" is usually a college student.

here is information about a recent page scandal ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Foley_scandal

I didn't know this was on YouTube!! Let me know if you have any more questions! This was filmed not far from me. I've been in that theatre before.

Just saw Groundhog’s Day on TV, once more of God only knows how many times and it never fails to amaze me. Bill Murray is brilliant.
Call me Bronco.
One adult and…two adults, I guess.
My father was a piano mover.

Originally Posted by alexB

Just saw Groundhog’s Day on TV, once more of God only knows how many times and it never fails to amaze me. Bill Murray is brilliant.
Call me Bronco.
One adult and…two adults, I guess.
My father was a piano mover.

Ya know, I was going to have the girls watch that movie this year! So they actually showed it IN Russia on TV on Groundhog's Day?? Too Funny!

Poor Phil, you get yourself pulled out of a stump by some drunk men with a bunch of drunk hillbillies and a gazzillion tv lights in your eyes and see what you think about life??? Then after that, you spend the rest of the year in a glass box in a library on display!

So, has anyone happen to watch it already? What are the impressions?

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jysji45PKgA