Reviews

It is such a heart warming filmed to be nice four-segment TV-series that for a lot of people it can be border-line tear-jerking. Unbelievable all-star-cast for early 70s USSR - makes this worth watching. Actually - the cool part of this TV mini-series - is that it shows - how being mendacious in order to be polite and well-behaved - can severely complicate lives of many really cool and good-hearted people. The guy who is planning to become a great historian finds himself (through being mutually overly secretive with his roller-coaster-ride swiftly head-over-hills fiancée) teaching Adult Ed - in a school for adults run by huge oil refinery. Tricky part is - that every student is an adult - with strong opinions, personal life etc. As the series unfold - it gets more and more complicated. But every scene is full of very kind humor. That's a good material to keep in personal video collection for when one feels down (provided it has English subtitles or one is fluent in Russian. LOL!). It is a reliable cheer-up material.

The movie itself is a bit weird. Nevertheless interesting and unusual. It has some characters and references from Russian mega-hit and gangster-classic - "Mama ne goruj (1998)". So all of the "Mama ne goruj (1998)" fanatics went for it. So did I. Since I had very little expectations I hadn't been disappointed at all. In fact - I like it so much - I'm gonna go watch it again. Konstantin Murzenko did excellent job with the script. The acting at times had been not believable. Needed the touch of Maksim Pezhemsky I guess. Those two had chemistry like Lennon and McCarthy. The movie is about the loner, ex-juvenile delinquent, who is hard as nail, but too young to be taken seriously and with a lot to prove. He finds himself in tremendous pickle akin to one of Lola's boyfriend in "Run Lola, Run" and that sets the pace for the movie. That makes it very interesting for me.

I can sort of understand the confusion of anyone watching that film who is not familiar with the era and the subject matter. For those - movie makes no sense whatsoever making. Causing annoyance for the time wasted. One of the reasons (and there are few) I have totally loved the movie is that it hits the spot. It depicts something that is no longer there. The grotesques are right on the money. From the trashy metal band (that is surprisingly still around with the same stupid look sporting lack of personal hygiene) to stupid dance moves and overblown interest of some local youths to all things American. Polansky was awesome BTW. So if you are born in the sixties and ever been to the USSR in the eighties - there is a very good chance you will love that movie.

The hoards of die-hard fans of the original movie had been so anxiously awaiting the sequel - they had sacrificed their sense of humor and lightheartedness in the process. The wait had proved to be way too intense. It is imperative to totally forget the expectations of greatness in order to truly love that particular sequel. It is different! As much as patterns of activities had changed with times - for the main characters of the movie. Basically in a way the sequel is set in a whole new era. So the main characters act accordingly. Oh! Yeah! And they had not gotten any younger too. To me it was a tremendous pleasure to meet the same characters again. 8 years later. To see character development. The sequel is not as inspiring as the original masterpiece. The humor is lighter. The characters lack the depth and are no longer psychedelic. At times some jokes had turned out to be even corny. But nevertheless - it is still very curious - to see what happened to those characters that used to inspire.

I really don't like to comment on complete disasters, but this time it is an exception! This flick was not merely waste of time and money. This time it was a product - that has achieved pretty hard thing/ It has managed to insult my intelligence really deeply. i don't want my money back! But if I could - I would have made the producers to donate the money I spent on the ticket - to US Navy hospital or some veteran's organization. This time one more thing I found pretty exotic/ Normally - if I don't like the movie I try to take in consideration the amount of effort, talent and soul - the production crew invests in the end result - and I try to find it? see it etc. This time - I am failing - to find ONE frame? one line? one anything to praise! None at all! NADA! That was probably one of the worst scripts to EVER go on the big screen. Quinessential B-movie sans T@A (Jessica Beil is lovely - but over-trained and down right wrong for the part/ Come to think of it - everybody was wrong for their parts their) I am truly sorry - to write and post such a thing - but somehow - now - I feel like screening - PEOPLE! Don't go to see that movie.

Lovely is the word! In fact - inspiring! Not a rip-off of alder American musical classics like Wes-side story - or even Grease (why not). Excellent musical score. Plenty of intricate choreography - make this french attempt at American musicals - tasteful and definitely worthy of a home video collection. Story is not contrived at all. Some trite twists are cleverly disguised as necessities for the plot development. Multiple love stories are in a widest french variety range one can imagine! From "The Graduate"-like - to "Three's the company"-like. A lot of fun to watch. i gave it 10 out of 10 - just for that fun-to-watch part - and excellent musical score.

I loved it. REALLY. For some reason I can not even name a sincere relaxing and fun to watch comedy of recent years - that would come close. Two guys - who are not really losers at the first glance - indulge themselves in a bit of a weird hobby. Owning and operating an illegal FM radio station. And local listeners LOVE THEM. For a simple reason. Every "official" Bawarian radio-station in their area totally and utterly lame! Tragedy for monokini wearing German beach-girls haplessly trying to catch a glimpse of timid European sun from behind the clouds on the lake shore with a trusted boom-box. So they tune every time when "Tommy und Mike" are on the air. The problem is - investigators from the official broadcasting corporation together with cops are tuning in as well. And using modern technology in a form of triangulating equipment of WWII era used by Nazis to pinpoint location of British and Russian radio transmitters. And they are hell-bent on finding and taking down Tommy and Mike's fun, but illegal (though non-profit) enterprise. At the same very moment Mike's farmer owning big sister comes up with a plan to make money of her brother's passion for broadcasting and radio DJing. She sells some heirlooms. Buys Chevy Van stuffed with professional mobile broadcasting equipment... And hilarity begins.

That movie employs a lot of artistic talent - and totally flushes it down the drain. I feel it was strictly directors fault. It seems - that quality of certain shots hinged solely on actors alone. And it looks as though very often - they are lost. Completely. OK - we have here clash of several families. Conflicts in issues of unplanned pregnancy. Sad divorcees. Unpleasant in-laws. Unexpected house-guests. Plot twists - that are simply begging to be milked properly. Never happens. Trite. Contrived. And actors are compelled to mumble platitudes in front of the camera. The idea with the script should have been pitched - to a different filmmaker.

Of all Paolo Villaggio characters - Robbi - is most well-balanced - to my opinion. It is not as "overly-pathetic" as Fantozzi. Au contre... In fact "Il Signor Robinson" as a movie - contains some very well written characters. Simple - but not dumb. Some scenes - I think - are exotic, unique and elegant from comical perspective. For example - I've never seen anything - like a scene - with crushed Coke can washed ashore - and the tribal chief. Actually - I was wondering - did Coca-Cola company know about it at all? I believe it was a major "Burn!" All and all that piece of comedy is timeless. I will always recommend this one to comedy fans worldwide.

Sad. Very sad. Depressing. Plot thins as it progresses. In fact - I am still under impression - that moviemakers of that flick sort of decided to depress the viewers on purpose. Every shot int the movie seems to serve that particular purpose! Rather successfully - I might add! In all fairness - some bits of sadness were done artistically. But - action scenes - lack action. Fun scenes - lack fun. And love scenes... yeah! Lack love! AT ALL! And "we" know that leading players CAN act! "We" have seen it! So - who's fault is it then? The movie does show some trace of study of provincial characters of rural Russia. But not deep, not enough and simply not catchy. I did not feel it, at all. I wish I did though...

This is silly New Year "Vodka comedy" with all the best things available within the genre - used properly - for one purpose only - to amuse! The movie is extremely funny. If you are watching it drunk or stoned - it will be quintessentially hilarious. There is absolutely nothing thought-provoking, or even serious - about this movie. Which is a good thing! What kind of silly comedy - would contain any of that heaviness. The cast is excellent. Which actually makes this no-budget comedy stand out. One thing about it - special though. New Year celebration - is probably the biggest and happiest holiday in Russia. We have group of people from all walks of life jammed together in "Casualty" right on New Year's Eve! But the need to party is overwhelming! No pain, no casts, no crouches can stop them from partying. PARTY MUST TAKE PLACE! Very happy movie!

That is - to my opinion - one of the best foreign TV movies for kids - of all times. In fact even adult viewers will find a lot to laugh about in to be amused it - while watching. It is anything but primitive. Plot is intricate, funny and fast paced. Actors are absolutely brilliant. Musical score is legendary! (makes me wonder actually - will they ever release a CD). The plot itself thickens from the very beginning when - the wolf clan hires an outside wolf-MERC - to track down and kill the Little Red Riding Hood (actually more of a Bonnet - in the Russian version) But there's no unity within the wolf clan. The little cub - has been studying human book. Secretly. And is not a primitive carnivore anymore. And the charismatic wolf-MERC - is so full of battleground wisdom. And his timid companion he's forced to take care of. And the betrayal of cowardly human "the hunter". Oh! The plot is VERY intricate. Definitely worthy title!

The book by Alexaneder Mirrer - simply deserves an American Sci-Fi TV series with proper budget. The movie sucked. TOTALLY. It failed in every way possible. It failed the great Sci-Fi Book! The Book itself is similar in feeling to the TV series ' V ' But boy! The makers of this little disaster tried hard to bore everyone to death. Badly lit, set in terrible weather and dull colors. Boy - they even managed to picture the beautiful Russian forest - as a grey and ugly place. Very depressing place. I can't figure out what was the point in that. If it wasn't for Olesya ... What would we (disappointed viewers) do? I sincerely hope that this movie will not stop anyone from reading the book. The book RULES!

That is - in my never so humble opinion - hands down - THE BEST gangster comedy-drama I've ever seen in my life. It is mission-impossible to translate it properly into any other language. So I don't think that will ever be done. Not successfully at least. The humor, the charismatic characters, the soundtrack....... And MAN! The treasure of a script. It is totally and completely the work of art. It's genius! It defines the word - TALENT. Russian language is worth learning - just to watch that movie alone... The script deserves to be memorized. It helps in everyday life. Basically some of the Russian followers of that movie have done just that. The movie itself - feels like a tasteful cross between Tarantino and Guy Ritchie. It shows qualities of both with amazingly inspiring Russian twist. While watching that - I felt it! Every moment of it. I was entertained. Sad. Happy. Aroused (just watching Olesya Sudzilovskaya flick her hair would do that to a man). Laughing. Crying. Cheering. All that and more in under 90 minutes. If that is not 10 out of 10 movie experience - I don't know what is.

An absolutely brilliant flick! Le must - for many decent DVD collection. Fast paced. Not a single second of it is boring. Not even out of rhythm.

Keeps you glued to the seat. Not tiring when you watch it over and over again. Besides this movie has a very rare quality. You can successfully quote many lines from the film - in different conversations. Extremely useful bonus.

I truly wish I could watch a movie like that every day. It inspires. Sorry about the last couple of sentences being a bit contrived. I was unaware of a 10 line rule! A++++++++++

What could be better - then to see your loser self from (stoned) ages ago - being poetized on video. And in a such a talented way - that you just feel that warn rush of such a proper nostalgia - totally and completely overwhelm! Like a pleasant and giant tidal wave. If you were ever into Hard Rock and (or) Heavy Metal - DO WATCH THAT MOVIE! If you were born in 60s or very early 70s - DO WATCH THAT MOVIE. It will probably end up in your video collection. Oh yeah! And if you EVER wore a leather jacket with nothing under it - hunt the copy of this movie - if it is the last thing you do! It's worth it! It's just a story of one rocky(ing) night of a teenage life of two cool losers. But that story is told in a most talented, unforgettable and brilliant manner. PRAISE!