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Midnight in Paris (2011)
Weak for Woody
Usually Woody Allen movies maintain certain artistic level: acting, humor, avoiding cliché, music, etc. Usually Woody Allen movies are made for intelligent viewers, with intelligent viewer in mind. Unfortunately Midnight in Paris is not one of such films.
Instead of a light, dynamic, full of irony and natural acting "smart" comedy, we get a cheesy, predictable, and oversimplified "Hollywood" style flick. All the characters are so primitive, and overemphasized, that it's boring like hell. Snobism of one of the characters, lack of understanding between a main character and his bride , eccentricity of "great artists", naive character of a main character, etc, etc, etc - all of it - is so exaggerated and so dull, that I could not believe, that it's for real. I thought that maybe in the end there will be some twist, or some justification of such bad acting and such terrible script. But no, everything was for real, and a movie ended with the most predictable and boring end.
I would never believe, it's a Woody Allen movie. The only good thing about the film is music, but that's definitely not enough.
O bednom gusare zamolvite slovo (1981)
One of the best Soviet films
This movie is one of my favorites. It's extremely intelligent, funny, hilarious, sad, musical, graceful, nostalgic, beautiful comedy, with brilliant actors, incredible script, and a very special mood.
The plot takes place in 19-th century in a military hussar regiment, which spends few days in a provincial Russian town. A high profile Secret Service agent has a task to investigate if this regiment is loyal to the Tzar. The agent finds an actor who agrees to play a role of a captured rebel. Agent's plan is to test regiment's hussars ordering them to execute (shoot to death) this false rebel. Everything is staged, but hussars think it's a real execution...
It's about honor, friendship, love, youth. It shows in depth few terrific characters, it makes you think and feel, and laugh. On the surface it's a satire against Czar Russia, but this satire is even more relevant for any totalitarian society and especially for Soviet Union. Acting in this movie is unbelievably great, so is the script and the story.
Also most importantly: unlike many other Soviet movies, you do NOT have to be Russian to understand and enjoy its humor and points.
Ivan Vasilevich menyaet professiyu (1973)
Nice comedy
This is a pretty nice comedy, popular in Soviet Union and Russia. I would give it 7.5 out of 10. Please, be aware, that this is not SCIENCE FICTION. Yes the story line is not too realistic, still it's pure comedy, without any attempts to become classics in sci-fi genre. I think this movie is placed in the wrong category.
As far as comedy goes, it has nice actors, music, story, interaction. It's not an intellectual comedy: if you look for depth, or mix of sad and funny moods, you will not find those in this movie. It's more like "take it easy and have fun" film. Some lines and episodes from this film became extremely famous in Russia. Still, be aware: lots of jokes will not be understood by western viewer as they are related to Soviet way of life. Those jokes are already out-dated (though still appreciated) in modern Russia and - completely not comprehend-able in the west.