Translated material
Premieres: 03/21/2013
"Jack the Giant Slayer" (directed by Bryan Singer)
For 51 years, cinema has not turned to the English folk tale about Farmer Jack, magic beans and evil giants. An eternity by today's standards. However, there is nothing surprising in the fact that they decided to revive the long-standing plot right now. The "fairytale" trend is still strong. Only at the beginning of 2013, such films as “Witch Hunters” based on the works of the Brothers Grimm and “Oz the Great and Powerful” based on the works of Frank Baum were released. And now Bryan Singer joins Tommy Wirkola and Sam Raimi.
The director, who once gave comic book movies a second life and taught them to be realistic (yes, it was he, and not Christopher Nolan), has recently lost his form and, having directed the disastrous "Superman Returns" and the weak "Operation Valkyrie", For 5 years he went into the shadows, doing only producing. In “Jack the Giant Slayer” he had a 200 million budget, an excellent cast (proven fighters - Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci and Eddie Marsan, as well as a new British starlet - Nicholas Hoult). ) and the good old English fairy tale, familiar to everyone from childhood. However, you can never predict the reaction of the audience. While “Oz” collected quite a decent $80 million in its first weekend in the States, “Jack the Giant Slayer” on the debut weekend it was limited to a measly 30 million. This is a failure comparable to last year’s collapse of “John Carter.” And this is in fact the third failure in a row for Singer as a director. First class." So the big studios will stop trusting Brian.
But in general, it’s easier to talk about projects like “Jack the Giant Slayer” in terms of numbers. They are more eloquent than any words. Here are some of them:
— Each frame that visual effects specialists worked on cost 90 thousand dollars
— It took visual effects specialists 6 weeks to animate just one giant using motion capture technology
— to digitize the movements of the giant’s body, 122 cameras were installed on the site, to digitize the face — 19 cameras
— It took the production designer 18 months to prepare for the filming period, which in turn lasted 5 months. In total, work on the film took 4 years.
— 3 film crews worked on the film in parallel.
Appreciate what a colossus it is. Then, while watching, you can entertain yourself with the thought that the cost of this or that frame is equal to the amount of your earnings for a certain number of years.
"The Croods" (directed by Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders)
A cartoon from DreamWorks Animation about primitive people. They still can't keep up with Pixar, but at least this time it's not about animals. Already good. In the original, the main characters were voiced by Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds and Nicolas Cage. In the domestic dubbing we will hear the voices of Dmitry Nazarov, Yegor Druzhinin and Nyusha Shurochkina.
"Vegas Fortune" (directed by Stephen Frears)
The new film by the brilliant British director Stephen Frears has received deafening criticism in all parts of the world. Although nothing seemed to foretell. Frears, a couple of years earlier, had directed the quite nice and witty “Irresistible Tamara”, he was not noticed in the inarticulate senile muttering under his breath, his actors here are the envy of everyone (Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rebecca Hall in “pornographic shorts” (I admit, I misspelled the phrase), Vince Vaughn). Perhaps the American climate influenced him this way? In any case, you will probably have to look to make sure that they are not lying. Frears is still a big deal.
"Maniac" (directed by Frank Khalfoun)
The frantic Frenchman Alexandre Aja continues to delve into the wilds of American slashers of the 70s and 80s in search of material for the next remake. The “previous series” included “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Piranha 3D” (the latter, however, were great). Now the choice is not so obvious: “Maniac” 1980 is hardly known to a wide range of viewers - except perhaps to connoisseurs of the genre. But then fewer people will look back at the original. This time, Aja chose to limit himself to producing duties, placing Frank Khalfoun in the director's chair and calling Elijah Wood to play the leading role. The last circumstance is especially noteworthy. Elijah, with his handsome appearance, should look very unusual in the role of a psychopathic killer who scalps young girls. Another highlight is the first-person camera, i.e. we will look at the events of the film through the eyes of a maniac. Overall, a very intriguing project, in my opinion.
"Mobius" (directed by Eric Roshan)
Oh, and this is my favorite genre - Russians through the eyes of foreigners. It is unlikely, of course, that Roshan will come even one iota closer to David Cronenberg and his “Vice for Export,” but Jean Dujardin in the role of an FSB major named Lyubov is also, you see, impressive. In addition, as usual, it will not do without selected Russian obscenities with an accent. The main intrigue is whether Dujardin will surpass Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel with their imperishable films like “What za blyad' takaya?” In addition, for some reason, the best Belgian actresses of our time, Cecile de France and Emilie Dequienne, are here. Well, a very strange choice of the actual Russian actors, led by Vladimir Menshov, as if he came straight out of some typical Russian “cop” series. Oh yes, and Tim Roth, apparently, plays Berezovsky.
"Catch the Fat Lady If You Can" (directed by Seth Gordon)
American comedy, of which there are millions. Funny fat woman, ridiculous Jason Bateman, predictable gags - everything is as usual. You can probably go and have a “clean laugh,” as the new generation likes to say.
"Attack on Pearl Harbor" (directed by Izuru Narushima)
Japanese historical drama about Admiral Yamamoto, whose figure still causes much controversy. On the one hand, he is an opponent of the war with the United States, the coalition with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, a talented military leader, “a servant to the Tsar, a father to the soldiers,” on the other hand, he personally developed a plan for the attack on Pearl Harbor, made a number of strategic mistakes that ultimately predetermined the defeat of Japan on the Pacific front. Let's see how the authors of this film see it.