Posts from Recently viewed movies.

So, what have I been watching lately? Quite a lot.
"Looper" – I saw this one among others, yes. An interesting film idea, a good ending, and many good and/or funny moments. Still, the plot, in my opinion, wasn't very engaging. The film is, for the most part, equal to its idea, neither more nor less; I would have liked something more serious... 8/10
Divergence + gradient = "Divergent" – I really liked this film. A great dystopia. There are some unsuccessful moments, in my opinion, but overall... the dynamics, the plot – everything is in place. 9/10 I would like to watch the sequel.
"The Expendables 3" – Awful. Why did I watch it? Only Banderas saves it; the other actors are completely uninspired, and the plot is accordingly weak. I can even say that the worst moment in the film is when the African, who was initially bearded, shaves. I've never seen a face like that before... 3/10
"Avatar: The Legend of Korra" – the third season has been watched. Well, what can I say? It's another pale shadow of Aang. They tried to improve it, however, compared to the previous seasons. Did it work? Not really. They promised, for example, more of Bumi. In the end, Bumi is almost non-existent. They tried to introduce new characters, but the old ones have already failed. They weren't developed or revealed in the previous seasons, so now it's useless to do anything in that direction; in any case, they are perceived as extras. Okay, they introduced this guy, who looks like Sokka's twin. And what? First, he steals everything that isn't nailed down, and then he immediately demonstrates airbending of epic proportions and saves everyone from terrible fate. Yeah, right. A perfectly developed character, not idealized at all. Now, the villains... At first, I really liked it. They created such an intrigue! The mysterious Red Lotus Order! What do they really need? To revive Vaatu in Korra? Or maybe they are actually good and want to protect the Avatar from something terrible? Well, their methods... Well, they've gone a little crazy, but who hasn't? What do they need? You won't believe it... They just want to kill Korra. Yeah, that's it. To just take her out. According to the creators of the animated series, this is called intrigue and a non-standard plot. Well, that's how it is! But overall... Well, it's watchable. 6.5/10

3/10

6.5/10

I believe these ratings.

An interesting movie idea.

"Avatar: The Legend of Korra"

Agree. Only the first season was good.

"The Expendables 3" Awful. Why did I even watch it? Only Banderas is decent, the rest of the actors are terrible, and the plot is equally bad. I can even say that the worst moment in the movie is when the African man, who was initially bearded, shaves. I've never seen a face like that before... 3/10

I agree.

I haven't watched anything else.

I watched the movie "The Judge" (2014). I really liked it. It's a great movie. I recommend it.

Bitter! 2. I didn't like the first movie very much. It's a typical "vatnik" comedy. There's a lot of the beautiful and clever Yulia Aleksandrova; she knows how to act in films with an unchanging facial expression: "You're all losers, and I'm in a wedding dress." At first, you watch her with interest, but after 15 minutes, you start to get tired of it; it's like watching a mannequin. Plus, Svetlakov is terribly predictable. You already know exactly what he's going to do – he's going to fall to the floor, he's going to start kicking his legs... I was dragged to the second part with great reluctance. I was ready to tear it apart with poisonous comments, but around the twentieth minute, I realized that I didn't want to do that. First, the roles in the second part are evenly distributed among all the actors, and it turned out that the cast was quite good – Yan Tsapnik, Elena Valyushkina, Vasily Kartukov, Alexander Robak. Secondly, there's a healthy dose of madness in what's happening. The scene with the funeral finally killed me – the fairytale landscapes, the Cossack choir... and an ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER. I didn't expect that. It was the last showing, it was a holiday, and the hall was full. When the last chords of "Not for Me" sounded, the hall, which had been crunching chips until then, erupted in applause. The last time I saw something like that was 25 years ago, when I watched the premiere of "Ace." There was a little bit of Svetlakov, and a little bit of Yulia Aleksandrova. An undeniable hit. I highly recommend it; you'll enjoy watching it as much as you enjoyed "Garage" or "I.V. Changes Professions." 8 out of 10.

+15 .

Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and The Ten Commandments (1956).

Spiritual Film Festival. We went as a large group and watched two films. The first, "She," which won the main prize, was about nothing. It depicted the lives of migrant workers in Moscow. Life is boring for migrant workers in the capital, so they start second families. The scene where a crowd of Russian wives sees off a bus with Tajik men was supposed to be impressive, but it wasn't. Yes, it's a tolerant film, politically correct, but nothing more. It's suitable for showing on the "Domashniy" TV channel. 5 out of 10. The second film was much better. "Dar." It seemed like it was about nothing, a mix of Twin Peaks and Harry Potter. There's either a bear cub or a girl named Umka, there's a modern businesswoman named Amalia who desperately needs to kill Umka, and there's an old grandmother with a stuttering grandson, whom they want to save. In reality, they would have dissected this Umka in half an hour for her organs, but in the fairy tale, the grandmother is a kind, powerful witch who passes on her gift to her grandson. Some scenes are simply beautiful, especially the grandmother's death. She, young and beautiful, leaves in a winter haze on a sleigh. There were different interpretations of the ending. As a lawyer, a distrustful person, I doubted the happy ending when the boy wakes up healthy, cured of his stutter, his mother returns, his beloved girl, and he even learns to sing – I decided that he was still killed. But everyone else attacked me, saying that he remained alive: the mother realized that she was wrong and returned, the father got his act together and started working, the girl realized what a hero the boy was, and so on. My friend, an Orthodox Christian, was silent for a long time, and then suddenly said that the grandmother doomed her grandson by passing on her gift to him – she turned him away from God. In general, when six adults are walking in the middle of the night and arguing about a fairy tale, it means the film is engaging. I'll say a few words about the film's modest budget. In the film, Umka is found on a barge and brought to a zoo, but it's clear that it's not a zoo at all, but some kind of dirty corner for filming, and there are no other animals besides Umka. The "lopotuny" (some kind of creatures) are simply disgusting. According to the film, they are the keepers of traditions, so they could have told a fairy tale, sung a song, or danced. But they just eat, they are dirty, unkempt creatures. I have to admit to myself that if they were exterminated, I wouldn't be upset about it. I feel sorry for Umka, but not for them. And the provincial town in reality looks a little different than in the minds of the film's St. Petersburg-based creators. But these are minor details. In my opinion, I came across an amazing film that had much more reason to win the main prize. 8 out of 10.

I watched The Hobbit. There are few discrepancies with the book, and they are not as significant as in the previous two films. I liked it.

Watched The Hobbit. The final battle was almost completely redone (invented), but otherwise, there aren't any major discrepancies. Overall, it's not bad, although the ending isn't great. 7/10

The book barely describes the battle, which is quite logical, and the ending is consistent with that.

The ending of the battle itself, I mean. From the moment the hobbit regains consciousness until he returns home.

Watched The Hobbit. The final battle was almost completely redone (invented), but otherwise there aren't any major discrepancies. Overall, it's not bad, although the ending isn't great.
7/10

Just finished watching it. A fair review, a fair rating. Although it would have been worth adding something about Thorin. I don't remember him going crazy in the book... No, he was certainly a greedy character, but in the film, they really overdid that aspect ;) And in general, the film is full of pathos. What I definitely remember from the book: in the first part of the battle (before reinforcements arrived from Ravenhill), the allies won relatively quickly and with few casualties. Their problems started when the reinforcements arrived. Jackson decided to make it so that every moment of the film contained maximum tension. I think that was a mistake... But never mind. Overall, it's still good, a beautiful film.

I just finished watching it. Fair review, fair assessment. Although, it would have been worth mentioning Thorin as well. I don't remember him going crazy in the book... No, he was certainly a greedy character, but in the film, they exaggerated that aspect a bit too much. And overall, the film is full of pomp and circumstance. What I definitely remember from the book: in the first part of the battle (before the reinforcements arrived from Ravenhill), the allies won relatively quickly and with minimal casualties. Their problems started when the reinforcements arrived for the orcs. Jackson decided to make sure that every moment of the film contained maximum tension. I think that was a mistake... But never mind. Overall, it's still a good, beautiful film.

I watched it in IMAX HD and was disappointed. The dragon was defeated in the first 5 minutes, and in a rather silly way. First, he burned the city, and then suddenly he started talking to the guy who was throwing toothpicks at him... If they wanted to, they could have easily included all of that in the second part.
The battle, which was supposed to be epic and spectacular, turned out to be ridiculous. For example, the king wanted to sacrifice half of his elven army for some stones, or the fact that the orcs joined the battle without letting the elves and dwarves finish fighting each other. The powerful and intimidating trolls died like flies, the orcs just stood there and took the hits, there was no intrigue. And again, the eagles, they couldn't do without them. Long conversations instead of just killing the enemy... and so on. If they were going to make it so pompous and turn the fairy tale into something for adults, they should have followed that path to the end, but instead, it turned out to be something only children would enjoy. They hardly made any connections to The Lord of the Rings, and the ending was pointless. Sauron also made a brief appearance and then disappeared... Every moment of the main characters' rescue is easily predictable. The worst part of the series, at best 5 out of 10 (for the beautiful scenery, music, and the death of at least one of the main characters)