Since the Titles of a few movies have surfaced recently in some threads, I thought I would start a place for people to Post their reviews or favorite movies Dealing with Russia The FSU or similar themed productions.

Actually I have not seen that many and so this might help steer my DVD shopping list.
Usually I buy from Amazon and if others know of good on-line sources to locate the movies mentioned here, feel free to post that site. Sometimes I can price check on ebay, and come out cheaper but Ebay tends to charge 2x the Amazon price for shipping.
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I will kick the "list" off with ENEMY AT THE GATES.
My favorite role is the guy who PLays Kruschev.

"I want them to stop shitting in their pants!@"

In fact, I think a great movie could be done around this character and have even more weight as a film.

It seemed a little odd the first time I watched it to hear the English accent, I am guessing it was made England or Australia?

Over all a good solid movie with great sets, great actors and realistic scenes (for the most part).

One things that seemed a little odd was the boys access to the Enemy, as if he were a Shoe-shine kid on the streets of Vietnam.

Dude, I've got a list of favorites....

Spies Like Us
Hunt For Red October
Gotcha
From Russia with Love
Moscow on the Hudson
White Nights
The Saint
The Russia House
Top secret

Just a few classics I can name briefly. Some of these are actually horrible films, but are nostalgic nonetheless. Mind you, these are American films. And most of them exploit the stereotypes heavily. Hey, it was the Cold War....whaddya want from me??

Ирония судбы
Москва слевам не виерит

And one more.

Children of the Revolution.

Australian film, about ten years old. Fantastic, with Judy Davis, F Murray Abraham,
Sam Neill, and Geoffry Rush. Very funny. (Russian will hate it.)

Ночной дозор was a huge movie in Russia.

Мастер и Маргарита wasn't exactly a movie, but the mini series was big two years ago.
You guys will probably love it, I've never seen so many boobs in a TV series.

Sorry about the scrambled letters, the movies were:

Ночной Дозор

Мастер и Маргарита

By the way, Bob Hoskins played the role of Nikita Khrushchev in "Enemy at The Gates". French director named Jean-Jacques Annaud. This too is one of my favorite "Russian themed" films. but since you listed it, i left it out.

What actual Russian films have you all watched? I'm curious (I've seen quite a few, but
always looking for more)

Also (probably a question for Sat) - there is a cartoon of a Pushkin children's poem that I would like.
I don't know what it is called (there are probably a few. I can post part of the
poem if it helps. Watched it in class a few years ago.

Ever heard of this guy?



http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%80%...%B2%D0%B5%D0%B4

(English Version)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preved

NetFlix.com, MoscowFlix.com, even Blockbuster.com all have a pretty large selection of movie rentals that you could preview before you buy. If you're buying for the "collection" aspect of it, I understand using Amazon but if you're just buying them to watch, check out the rental sites. (Or find a good bootleg guy!)



Excellent movie! You know, it's rooted in real events from the Great Patriotic War. (WWII) We all know the main character:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaytsev

But here's another sniper that was made reference to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko

Hero of the Soviet Union, and how about when she fought near Odessa for two-and-a-half months recording 187 kills!!!Simply amazing. This is what we were talking about in the other thread with the ladies being "tough!"



Bob Hoskins, Best Actor at Cannes. 'Nuff said. I believe there is a movie or two floating around about Kruschev but I haven't seen any.



It was the biggest-budgeted English movie up to that point.



Great "making of" scenes on the DVD as well.



That's not odd at all. Ever seen those pictures of the GIs handing out Hershey Bars during WWII and every war since? There's a reason behind that. A war fought in and amongst a civilian population is always going to have locals with access to both sides of the fight. It is imperative to utilize those people for military purposes if possible. Children are the easiest to coerce. Ever wonder why most suicide bombers are under the age of 35?

In this movie, the boy had access to both sides and was used by both sides to relay disinformation and intelligence. They're still doing that today and just like the little shoe-shine kids on the streets of Vietnam, there are little kids selling ice or offering to clean boots in Iraq as we speak.

The Germans had three full regiments of Russians during the great patriotic war (about 21 companies). They wisely did not deploy them on the Russian front, they were mostly used in the Balkans.

Stalingrad is a very interresting battle to study. The germans broke a lot of rules. One being, if there is a river, it is better to take both sides. Another being protection of your supply lines. Snipers had relatively little to do with the battle - German guns could safely level the city from 30 miles away (and did). Letting Zhukov encircle them was the deciding factor.

I almost forgot to add my movies....

"American" Russian Movies -

Red Dawn (of course! This is the one that got it all started for me.)
The Beast
Lord of War
The Bourne Supremacy
The Sum of All Fears
Snatch ("Sneaky Fu@#!n Russians." "Well, to be quite technical he's an Uzbekistanian.")
Rounders (KGB had a few "tells")
And for brief Chechnya appearances: Proof of Life and Beyond Borders
And what's a movie list without the Duke? Jet Pilot was an "old school" Russia movie

"Russian" Russian Movies -
Okhotka na Piranyu (Best Russian movie I've seen)
Siberskiy Siryolnik
Lichny Nomer (OK for an action flick.)

A few other movies that aren't Russian, but you'll be able to recognize some of the dialogue are:
Behind Enemy Lines
Savior


Hold up, Russ, did you say boobs on TV???

Here's an interview with Lyudmila Pavlichenko, from a 1942 Time Magazine.

Junior Lieut. Liudmila Pavlichenko, Russian Army girl sniper who killed 309 Germans, had to cancel a radio interview in Manhattan last week because a dentist pulled one of her front teeth and the resulting whistle would have been noticeable on the air waves. But in a non-radio interview with Commentator Alice Hughes, she gave her unvarnished opinion of the U.S. woman's angle on the war:

"I am amazed at the kind of questions put to me by the women press correspondents in Washington. Don't they know there is a war? They asked me silly questions such as do I use powder and rouge and nail polish and do I curl my hair? One reporter even criticized the length of the skirt of my uniform, saying that in America women wear shorter skirts and besides my uniform made me look fat.

"This made me angry. I wear my uniform with honor. It has the Order of Lenin on it. It has been covered with blood in battle. It is plain to see that with American women what is important is whether they wear silk underwear under their uniforms. What the uniform stands for, they have yet to learn."

In battle, Lieut. Pavlichenko commands men as well as women, wears trousers. But, she insists, she is a womanly sniper.

Before I started dating a Russian woman, I'd have been baffled by the term "womanly sniper." But now I know exactly what she means.

Awesome!

wow, most of those movies I never heard of B4.
I will have to check them out.
I do wish a rating of stars or some comment was offered so I would know which ones to start with.

Anyone know how to get a copy of the Russian miniseries of Doctor Zhivago? Came out in 2006 on Russian TV. Bonus points if it's Region encoded for the US.

And speaking of American Russian movies, I'm surprised that the perfectly awful Rocky IV hasn't made an appearance. Which I guess is a good thing I guess.

Well, you're not alone

Bittorrent, depending on how you feel about copyright violations. torrents.ru would be a good place to start.

I think "Two Brothers & A Bride" is good. Although I never, ever would arrange a social myself (I think personal meetings are the ONLY way to go.), I think they accurately portrayed one.

Shawshank Redemption
Red October
Clear and Present Danger
Patriot Games
After Hours - very strange
The Departed
Gone With the Wind
How Green Was My Valley
Casablanca

What exactly do these have to do with Russia?

There was one really good American movie about Russia, "K-19". I liked it.

"Prisoner of the Mountains" is my favorite Russian movie.

I tend to use amazon because they have *used items* for sale as well. I seldom spend more than 10 bucks on a DVD, which is why I am reluctant to rent them... if I can just buy it cheap enough.
So far I only bought one DVD with a flaw..... "Deliverance"
Yep and right on the part were that mountain guy says "This one sure got a purdy mouth".

Another time I ordered a Russian Ww2 doc and the format was not USA. I make a point to check that every time now.

In the grocery store across the street they have a DVD vending machine, a limited number of selections but at a 1$ a day, you can't beat the price.

Sorry missed the part about Russia. Its still a great movie

Seems like there was a movie about the Gulags and I think willie nelson and patrick swazey played in it.... is this a figment of my imagination?

Seems I saw a movie some years ago where a USA pilot goes down in USSR territory, I seem to recall scenes of the pilot and a Russian slugging it out in the snow while Helicopters hover.

You might this funny, but I have actually seen very few Russian movies. I am also horrible with titles and actor's names. Frankly, I find American Cinema much better. I haven't seen the majority of titles you guys have mentioned. Even at my parents house where they have NTV-America we watch mostly Russian comedy, music performances, 30 minute shows, or contemporary series movies. My wife is way better at this whole thing. Having immigrated at age 6, I just have never been into it.

I am looking for english speaking movies based on Russian themes, I suppose others who speak Russian might benefit from both Russian language and English language movies suggested here.

When I am in Russia, I actually like watching Russian movies and can pretty much follow the plot but i doubt I would be interested in buying them.

So I watched Enemy at the Gates last night. Not sure why it didn't bug me when I saw it in the theaters, but the English accents completely threw me off. Especially since Ed Hoskins was running a very passable Russian accent. Coupled with the fact that Ed Harris and the little boy were speaking to each other with no effort, I wondered if we were expected to believe that the German was speaking Russian, or if the boy was speaking German.

It's actually a much smaller nitpick than the effort I just put into the previous paragraph, but it was a little jarring. Everything else about the movie was great. The attention to detail was amazing, and I had to laugh when I saw "German Sabaka <something><something><maybe "go home?">" graffiti on the walls. Looks like my Rosetta Stone investment is starting to pay off.

Fiddler on the Roof
Dr. Zhivago (the move w/ Omar Sharif)
War and Peace (the russian 1968 version by Sergei Bondarchuk)
Burnt by the Sun
The Thief

I love Rocky IV! Just about everyone, after they ask about the mail-order thing says "oh, she's Russian.... like Ivan Drago?" And I say "uh huh." Then, without fail, they all say, in a horrible accent "I must break you."




Using an accented form of English always irks me when I'm watching a "foreign" movie. Why do they find it necessary to use an accented English when the characters would never even be speaking English in the first place? Either go for the original language or use normal English. (Bob Hoskins did a nice accent, though. I'll give him that. Harrison Ford did well in K-19, but either way, they should've been speaking just normal old ordinary English.)

I never thought about the language issue between the German officer and Russian boy. Most likely, they would've been conversing in German as children are very quick to pick up languages that benefit them. But, it's possible they were speaking Russian because Ed Harris' character could've been trained in Russian language. However.... the boy's caretaker, Tanya, was fluent in German, so maybe she taught him some. Who knows. Either way, they both spoke good English!

One thing that was nice in that movie was they didn't try to mix and match. They kept it all in English. I like movies to all be in the native language of the character (with subtitles) or all in a uniform language throughout.



A few more good Russian war movies:

Dyevit Rota (Kind of a Full Metal Jacket meets Tigerland meets Hamburger Hill)
Svolochi (a boyhood Russian Dirty Dozen)

I'd still like to know what that Movie I think I saw part of... about gulags with Willie nelson.


CATHERIN THE GREAT
I saw a movie listed for sale, staring Cathern zeta jones (I believe).
Might be interesting.

I had a friend burn me a copy of Fiddler on the roof, but for some reason the intro was all I ended up with, we will have to try that again.

I had WAR AND PEACE, looks like it was made in the 60's..... I tried to watch it several times and it was way to slow-movin for me, I might have tossed it in the trash because it was on VHS anyway.
HAd the same problem with the Original Machurian candidate, it went in the trash too.
Usually I like earlier versions of a story.... usually.

Thats one of the good things about buying VHS from amazon, they are basically 3 dollars for shipping and almost nothing for the movie, if is sucks,.... in the trash.
If it is a movie I think I will like and want in the future I prefer DVD.

You might try searching his IMDB entry.

The first movie I saw when I was in Russia was "A Driver For Vera" (Водитель для Веры). It was pretty good, but with my limited Russian Natasha had to pause the movie occasionally when something wasn't clear to me. I thought the lead actor (Igor' Petrenko), the driver, had a passing resemblance to Tom Cruise...

You guys forgot Spies Like US

Here are all the movies we have seen from Netflix and how Elena and I rated them.


A Hunting Drama 2.9 Stars
Pirates of the XXth Century 4.0 Stars
Zhmurki 2.9 Stars
Prisoner of the Mountains 3.0 Stars
I Was Stalin's Bodyguard 2.4 Stars
The Forty-First 1.0 Stars
Ballad of a Soldier 5.0 Stars
The Captivating Star of Happiness 5.0 Stars
The Lives of Others 4.0 Stars
Good Bye, Lenin! 4.0 Stars
Air Crew 2.0 Stars
The Dawns Here Are Quiet: Disc 2 3.0 Stars
The Dawns Here Are Quiet 3.0 Stars
4 1.0 Stars
Roads to Koktebel 1.0 Stars
The Irony of Fate, or "Enjoy Your Bath" 4.0 Stars
The Tunnel 5.0 Stars
Russian Ark 2.0 Stars
The Cuckoo 1.0 Stars
Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven 3.0 Stars
The Italian 4.0 Stars
Russian Empire: Vol. 2: Disc 2 4.0 Stars
Russians Deprived of Russia: Disc 1 5.0 Stars
Clear Skies 4.0 Stars
Bolshoi Ballet '67 2.0 Stars
Anna Karenina: Disc 1 (2-Disc Series) 3.0 Stars
Anna Karenina: Disc 2 (2-Disc Series)
Siberiade: Disc 2 4.0 Stars
Siberiade 4.0 Stars
The Scarlet Flower 2.0 Stars
Vaska Easoff 1.0 Stars
And Quiet Flows the Don: Disc 4 5.0 Stars
And Quiet Flows the Don: Disc 3
And Quiet Flows the Don: Disc 2
And Quiet Flows the Don: Disc 1
Masters of Russian Animation #4 3.0 Stars
Peculiarities of the National Fishing 5.0 Stars
Little Vera 3.0 Stars
Winter Evening in Gagry 4.0 Stars
Masters of Russian Animation 1 3.0 Stars
House of Fools 3.0 Stars
Marie Antoinette 2.0 Stars
Infamous 3.0 Stars
The Return 3.0 Stars
Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future 5.0 Stars
The Diamond Arm 3.0 Stars
Masters of Russian Animation #2 3.0 Stars
Burnt by the Sun 3.0 Stars
Railway Station for Two 3.0 Stars
Railway Station for Two: Disc 2 4.0 Stars
Scarlet Sails 4.0 Stars
The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers 4.0 Stars
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears 5.0 Stars
Man with the Movie Camera 2.0 Stars

There is some bias in here I did not rate these alone, Elena did it when I wasnt home but I did watch all the movies.

Wow, Thomas, quite a few flicks, and with a "stars" system to boot!

Spies Like Us was on there on page 1 I think. May have been page 2, but I saw it somewhere, that's why I didn't list it either. 4.5 stars for that one, huh?

Interesting thread, thanks for all the movie reviews.

I loved Enemy at the Gates, but my wife can't get into it. I think she has some bias tword American movies, cause we watched 9 Rota and a few other Russian made war movies and she liked them. It is just the same stuff as Enemy at the Gates, but without any production value, or any good actors. But it is Russian, so I guess that makes them better *rolls eyes*

As far as accents in movies, I think they add to the quality of the movie. If the actors are good with the accents, you believe they are Russian. On the other hand, if it were a documentry re-enactment or something, I think that is ridiculous when they use accents. But if it is something else, the accents make it easier for you to get 'immersed' into the movie. Of course, when a movie uses bad accents it has an oppisite effect where all you are thinking about is how bad that actor sounds.

========
I agree, I think the accent adds to the Character.
Some times the accent is so bad it distracts such as some of these lame Southern or NY accents actors try to pull without proper couching.

I always thought it was funny when they got an actor who had a strong accent(sean connery in Hunt for red october) to fake a different accent. Elena likes when they sing in that movie she says they emphasize the wrong syllables.


Sorry Slim didnt see the Spies like Us on the other page. Actually the review info I just cut and paste from the netflix site, they are nice enough to list all your history and I just grabbed it from there and deleted the non russian movies, I dont want you guys losing respect for my cinematic opinion if you saw the bad american movies I watch. hehehe

The absolute worst accent was Kevin Kostner in Robin Hood. Everyone else in the freaking movie had a British accent except Kostner. Granted, it would have been worse if he'd tried a British accent, but his American accent stuck out like a sore thumb.

Actually I think it might have just been Kevin Kostner in general. Really don't much care for him at all.

9 Rota is a great movie, very well done and beautiful in some scenes, but it's nowhere near the movie Enemy at the Gates is. But, I totally understand where you're coming from with the "better because it's Russian" thing, we have a little bit of that at our house too.



You have to watch bad movies in order to really respect the good ones. It's like women. If they were all perfect, then none would be perfect because you'd have none to compare them too.



Kostner is probably the worst actor in some of the greatest movies. I guess his production/direction is pretty good and his movies just happen to carry him through. Robin Hood is an excellent example, that movie ROCKS!!! Kostner, not so much. Either way though, my little brothers and I have quoted him hundreds of times from several of his movies.

Interesting when my friends and I quote movies they tend to be the Monty Python, Mel Brooks kind of stuff, I never thought that anything Costner had to say was all that quotable. My person fav to quote would be Buckaroo Banzai, the Princess Bride, or bullwinkle cartoons.

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That is a really good link.
I came to the conclusion it was a TV movie named "Gulag."
Apparently Willie nelson was not in it. I never saw the movie, I just recall it being on at my friends house "in the other room".
Perhaps a willie nelson record was playing in another room and led to the skewed memory

Half Baked was probably one of the best movies Willie Nelson was in.



Yeah, now that I think about it, it was the others we were quoting, not Costner. Costner flicks, nonetheless.

What, you didn't like him in "Waterworld"?

Damn, it's back to therapy for me!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned a funny little movie called "Two Brothers and a Bride" (also released as "A Foreign Affair"). The movie shows up on cable channels from time to time. The movie is about two American brothers who sign up for a marriage tour with a real match-maker company called "A Foreign Affair." They live on a farm and basically want to find a cook and house keeper for a few years.

Most of the movie is shot on location in St. Petersburg with some real Russian actors including some lovely Russian ladies. I find the movie charming and funny and, of course, the Russian bride theme is close to my heart.

Ahhh. I mentioned that movie back when this thread was new.

It's not a "movie" really, but it is a series called Brigada or Бригада in Russian. I rented this a long time ago from Netflix, I was glued to it and watched all 5 discs in two days ... each "episode" is an hour long ... great plot, great actors, awesome ending.

I agree with this reviewers comments ... Brigada is one of the most popular Russian TV-series ever made. The company behind the serials has time after time been forced to deny rumours about a second season. The fact is that the TV-serial is that good that it could well had been made for the screen if it wasn't for runtime of 13 hours. The Berlin Film Festival even made an exception from not showing tv productions when showing two of the episodes of this TV-series.

Like many other Russian crime movies Brigada offers a really good soundtrack, but in difference to other Russian crime movies, the sound-track is not filled with the latest Russian rock music, but with nice and placid music. This is by all means the best Russian tv-serial ever and by all means better than the best American productions too.

http://www.ryssland.net/html/film/brigada-...the-lawless.htm

~d

I've seen this too (in Russian, no subtitles - that was tough). I thought it was kind of like the Sopranos, but four friends instead of a crime family. My wife thought it romanticized crime too much, but liked it otherwise. Good recommendation!

Мастер и Маргарита was also a fantastic Russian miniseries if you can find it.

Funny you mention the *Music* in the movie. I can watch old Russian movies, even if I don't understand much more than what I can see but the newer ones with that God-awful Russian music is more than I can bear.
There must be some law where all taxi drives must play this music as well.

Are you talking about the Russian rock? I sure hope not.