Showing posts with label USSR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USSR. Show all posts

11 Apr 2018

DISTASTEFULLY BIASED



Documentaries are always a dangerous weapon in the hands of a skillful director and this fact hadn’t missed the Canadian attempt to make a story behind the rise and fall of the last Soviet hockey team before the collapse of the Union.

Fetisov, Karpov, Kasatonov, Krutov. The mighty Four that terrorized the world on ice for almost a decade isn’t just a classic sport story and the makers of ”Red Army” wanted us to show the dark secret behind their success, the back side of communism and the controversy that followed with the departure of the Mighty Four in NHL. This was done in a poor, maniristic and propaganda kind of way, often highlighted by the persistently strict responses by Slava Fetisov himself.

Instead of educating ourselves, ”Red Army” tried to remind us how we were lucky not living in communism and it miserably failed to do so, making it a poor documentary.







10 Apr 2018

TYPICAL SPORT FLICK



Sport movies are pathetic and there is no way around that fact.

This can especially be said for the modern Russian sport movies, which tend to confront the Western culture by glorifying the past achievements in the sport arenas.

Hockey was the best Russian collective sport and it still is, mimicking the power and awe of USSR times. Among many stories that had been written on the ice pack, the one of Valeri Kharlamov is one the most dynamic, although not depicting the tragic ending.

All the elements of  a classic sport story will be there, the painful, but stellar uprising, the moral dilemmas and challenges that follow the glory and a triumphant resurrection in the legendary revial matches between USSR and Canada.

On the other side, little will be given on the depth of characters and the acting will be just mediocre, with an exception of ever versatile Oleg Menshikov, here portraying the legendary coach and the father of modern Soviet hockey armada and collective sport itself, Tarasov.

If you are into sport movies, ”Legend N.17” will please you in a really decent way.






14 Feb 2018

FASCINATING, BUT OVER THE TOP


Space exploration in the USSR is one of the major topics in modern day Russian cinematography these days and one of those fascinating stories is the one about the first exit into the open space by Alexei Leonov, but also the chaos that followed their return to Earth and the battle to rescue them from ice storm in the desolated area of the country they landed.

However, all the unbelievable elements were not always collected and arranged together by the script in a satisfying manner, so there is a overall sense of a pathetic and over the top subplots all through the entire curse of the movie.

’’Spacewalk’’ has an interesting subject, but also an unstable script as well.






6 Feb 2018

HANDSOME EXAGGERATION


Cheap productions, bad acting and too artsy atmosphere were a thing of the past when it comes to contemporary Russian cinema. Movies coming from the largest country in this world are now fueled by a respectable amount of cash and also some really interesting stories, like the one about the first successful salvaging of the man made object in the outer space.

As for the CGI, tensity and cinematography, ’’Salyut-7’’ deserves all the praise, bringing it to the level of the much acclaimed ’’Gravity’’, while simultaneously creating the corrugated atmosphere of the USSR-made machines and heroes of the space race.

However, script tends to deviate significantly from the reality in the bottom half of the movie, managing to spoil the good impressions with the US-style pathetic at the very end.

’’Salyut-7’’ is a true blockbuster for the movies that succeed in its primary role to entertain the average viewer with a slightly different perspective to modern day SF.




FOTO: ctb.ru


6 Mar 2016

BRIDGE OF BOREDOM



„Bridge of spies” is about espionage, double espionage and the struggle to exchange US and Soviet spies in Cold war Berlin. It lasts almost two and a half hours, it is directed by Steven Spielberg and casts Tom Hanks as a lead male role. And still, it is one painfully boring movie.

Why?

Because nothing happens during its course. Except for consistent Mark Rylance nothing twists, nothing changes, nothing, nothing, nothing. They just end up exchanging those spies on a fogy bridge and that's it. Literally!

„Bridge of spies” is one of the year's largest disappointments.