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ilia_davidovich
Reviews
Big Hero 6 (2014)
Horrible
Don't waste your time. To me it looked like a mash between Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Kung-Fu Panda. That's about it. The plot is contrived and full of childish, simplistic clichés, too many to number. Disney is on its war path destroying anything remotely decent. Turning the magical "The Snow Queen" by G.H. Andersen into the abominable "Frozen" wasn't enough apparently. I'm cringing at a thought those butchers may get to one of Miyazaki's classics one day.
(Spoilers) The plot had many questionable spots, but my biggest question was why for the love of God Hiro couldn't make the second neuro-band to try and take back control over his microbots? He went at length to turn himself and his clumsy friends into the super-heroes, but somehow decided that building an army of his own microbots was a waste of time? I don't even want to point out that 4 additional heroes were utterly useless and goofy, and why even mention the fact that Hiro appears in so obviously intellectually superior to any other character in this movie, yet he wanted to go to school and study. Robert Callaghan is chosen to be a villain because his daughter presumably died during failed experiment by Alistair Krei (what a silly name, Aleister Crowley was definitely an inspiration so we would think he's an ultimate evil), but of course she hadn't died.
Baymax is as cute as Dupey and speaks like Dilbert. He's the only slightly meaningful character but thanks to such a predictable, contrived plot even he becomes annoying. His looks are a mix of Kung Fu Panda and Marvin from the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I wonder if his brain is as big as Marvin's. In the end this cute inflatable fella sacrifices himself of course (wow!).
I can't believe Disney wasted 165 million on the production of this "movie", but couldn't write a decent story and think through the characters. What a shame. I have no doubt though many people will gobble this junk and ask for more. Sad, sad, sad!
Black Swan (2010)
Great movie and improvement for Aronofsky
I follow Aronofsky since when he was an obscure young director making Pi a memorable feature about paranoia, personality split and obsession. I'm very glad he did another movie about that. As with any of his movies, he is factually never perfect. Pi, Requiem, Wrestler, those movies are not depicting the Math, Wrestling or Drug Abuse the way it really is. But Aronofsky is not teaching Math, he's showing emotions, vulnerability, obsessions and personality disorders. Anyone whining how ballet companies are not as depicted, stop bitching and go watch something else, don't waste your time, you should know by now that it's impossible to predict stock market prices and people don't go nuts from diet pills. Look at those subjects as means to communicate the emotional state of the protagonist. The fight within human mind, vulnerability of human psyche.
Now about the movie itself. It is great. It's claustrophobic, it's intense, it's raw and unpleasant, it's what Aronofsky does so well. The whole movie is so tight in the head of Nina, it's really impressive people are now open enough to such movies, the movie doesn't deserve all the hype, it's clear that many people will not understand it, and many negative reviews proving my assertion. Repulsion and especially The Tenant come to mind when comparing the intensity and anxiety of the action. It's not important if actually anything happens for real, because it's not the point. The point is to show how sensitive people are vulnerable and unfit to live in our society, how life may become unbearable when the person is tense and obsessed.
So - if you want stories about ballet, dance or life of primas - look somewhere else. If you want psychological thriller with some shock and horror attached, look past factual discrepancies, and enjoy solid movie by talented director. I'm very glad I watched the movie which I can compare to The Tenant. I never thought I would. Polanski should be proud his legacy goes on.
Pobeg (2005)
Nice Hollywood Clone
This movie is a Russian way of making typical Hollywood movie. Egor Konchalovski should be the son of Konchalovski who filmed in Hollywood, and I generally enjoyed his father's work. In this picture we have a decent performance by Mironov, but I personally don't like his style, his face is very expressive, but I can't believe in what it is trying to express. He's a little bit phony for my taste, he would be much better on stage. All other actors are not required of doing any comparable job. The post-production washes away any effort. The movie is too fast to be suspense thriller, you can easily divide it into 3-4 parts, and each could be a movie for itself, so the pace is very high, I couldn't feel anything about Vetrov and his series of unfortunate events, before the happy end cleared all "secrets", that honestly were too predictive from the beginning. So I wouldn't call it a thriller, since I was not fast enough to be thrilled, I would call it an action movie.
I have to mention this movie stands out by interesting story, decent leading acting and nice cloning of the Hollywood style special effects. I disliked how the apartments looked, and all that refined clothes and make-ups.
Garazh (1980)
One of my all time favorites!
This movie is one of the best by Riazanov. It's not appreciated as much as "Ironia Sudby", because of its strong satire, I believe many people from former Soviet Union can easily recognize themselves on either side of that usual conflict of interests. And as usual one side has an ultimate advantage, thus gets furiously attacked by other trying to level the disposition. Once being the theater show, the movie preserves the theatrical spirit, the scenes are long and the pace is moderate. Starring actors are usual for Riazanov's cast, all his favorites in: Oleg Miagkov, Lia Ahedzhakova, Gerogy Burkov are performing exceptionally well. As mentioned by previous reviewer, the subject is acceptable for any person familiar with corporate culture and the script is full of hilarious lines, soviet jokes of 70's, and even romance. Highly Recommended!