Reviews

Ridiculous story line, ridiculous casting. All cops are big black guys. Blonde redneck- maniac-brothers kidnap and rape blonde chicks. Of course the maniacs are super-religious Christians. The dialogues they have with their mom are on kindergarten level. I guess reverse racism is the safest way for bad movies in US nowadays. But is way too blatant in this case. Having read the screenwriter Jeff Rosenberg's twitter I am not at all surprised he wrote up this mess. And the director seems to be fixated on rape stories. His previous movie didn't even get a single review on IMDb. At least this one had a few viewers who liked it, that's success, bro.

I was shocked with the "crap" review here. I wish you guys learned French and read a bit about this film on allocine.fr for example. It's not a rip-off from Woody Allen, the director admits that he loves Woody Allen, Eric Rohmer et al. And yes, "L'art d'aimer" was influenced by those masters. Be warned, if you prefer r'n'b over Mozart and Schubert you will have hard time watching this. And maybe that guy is right, the director doesn't know "the life". Because that Frenchie is not from Pittsburgh after all. The film is based on Emmanuel Mouret personal notes about love and life, each story is like a visual illustration to another thought. So just relax and watch, it's all about love, nothing else.

This film has a very patriotic purpose, that is to teach the Lithuanians the importance of the book and the written language. They show how hard it was back in 1869 to spread the Lithuanian books under the tsarist regime. That is well documented, so the film team had lots of sources to work on. And so this is supposed to be a "costume drama". But aside from the Russian gendarmerie what kind of costumes do we see? Those Lithuanian guys look rather like "forest brothers" from the 1950's. And the Russian gendarmes talk like the modern "gopniki", the low-class youth. Especially their "captain" is so recognizable as one of the junkies in another Lithuanin film hit, "Zero 1, alyvine Lietuva" with all those "scary" intonations and slang. But this is 1869! Well, I guess the Lithuanian viewers just don't concentrate on details like that, judging by the high score.

Just finished watching this Mexican gem. The actual name,"Sangre"(Blood) is misleading. I would call it "The Unbearable Dullness of Being". As I see it, the moral of the story is that a dull life leads to losing any idea of honour, honesty, and after a while you don't know what's dear to you, what you're living for. And the point of selecting unprofessional actors is probably in proving that you and me and that guy might so easily lose our soul instincts if the life is filled just with 9-to-5 job routine, evening meal, TV and some copulation. So, if you're strong enough to have sat through this seemingly senseless film, then give yourself a bit of a mental job and probably you will get the point...

Looking for Western analogies to "Gitler Kaput!" won't lead you further than to the latest silly parodies of "Meet the Spartans" sort. But in this case a parody ("Semnadtsat mgnoveniy vesny" (1973)) is just a skeleton, and the meat is Russian pop-culture, pop-music, popular jokes, all sorts of silly internet memes. So you don't have to be a cinephile to enjoy this movie like you do in Hollywood parodies' case. Just watch and listen like you do in circus. Busty beauties, special effects, acrobats in nazi uniform but incoherent in each and every detail - sorry if it's not your cup of tea. Don't expect too much from a trash comedy, which is a pretty new genre in Russia. One can only wonder if it matures in the years to come.

As if there is nothing more interesting in today's Russia except for marital problems of successful muscovites, more and more directors turn themselves to the Soviet era. Indeed, Russian "back in the future" movies happen to be quite amusing set against the latest shallow "real-life dramas". "Park Sovetskogo Perioda" is stuffed with aged Soviet actors, Soviet tunes, clothes and allusions, ready to burst like a cabbage roll, swimming in Red Soviet Sauce. Everything is predictable in absence of a strong story line. There are some sarcastic pearls too, strewn across the story but it's a far cry from the dark moody atmosphere of "Zerkalo dlya geroya" (1987) that started the trend 20 years ago. The message is simple: Soviet style might be cute but not for those who inhabit the totalitarian reserve. So, you're happy to live in the democratic society with all its lies and crimes. Dude, your personal problems are just ridiculous as long as you're not a Gulag prisoner. "My iz budushchego"(2008) is another fine and newer example of a reconstructionist movie. There's way more action in there (World War II), so you might want to give it a try.

It's not bad as an action thriller. I guess Norte-Americanos are more surprised than Europeans with the quality of the flick. Well yeah, there is life this side of the pond. Of course, jailing of an Albanian mafia boss does happen sometimes in EU and its rare enough to give thrills to the french movie makers. Rarer than jailing a Serbian ex-communist, for sure. I really doubt French and Germans would organize that hypothetical arrest that way, that would be a scandal. But whatever, its a perfect occasion to pack in as many shots, explosions and metallic sounds as possible in a movie that happens in Strasbourg! Forget Baghdad and Gaza, we've got wild Muslims right behind the European Court, heehaw! So its a must if you want to enjoy all of your mega speakers, go for it, pump up the volume!