Aliya's blown away by the scale of this Russian WWII movie, but feels oddly distanced from it all the same...
Is being epic a genre distinction? Even before D.W. Griffith came along there were epic films out there, either historical or biblical, with great big heroes and towering sets. And every age of cinema has had its epic presentations: The Ten Commandments gave us the plagues of Egypt with Charlton Heston to part the Red Sea, David Lean presented us with an epic desert amongst other things, and Baz Luhrmann showed off an epic Australia. It’s all to do with the sweeping music, the majestic pan of the camera, the slow motion and the grand emotions.
Stalingrad has all of these things, and I get the feeling that it set out to put itself squarely in the epic genre. I watched it in 3D and it was an enormous experience,...
Is being epic a genre distinction? Even before D.W. Griffith came along there were epic films out there, either historical or biblical, with great big heroes and towering sets. And every age of cinema has had its epic presentations: The Ten Commandments gave us the plagues of Egypt with Charlton Heston to part the Red Sea, David Lean presented us with an epic desert amongst other things, and Baz Luhrmann showed off an epic Australia. It’s all to do with the sweeping music, the majestic pan of the camera, the slow motion and the grand emotions.
Stalingrad has all of these things, and I get the feeling that it set out to put itself squarely in the epic genre. I watched it in 3D and it was an enormous experience,...
- 7/8/2014
- by sarahd
- Den of Geek
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: May 13, 2014
Price: DVD $30.99, Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D $35.99
Studio: Sony
An epic look at the battle that turned the tide of World War II, the foreign war drama Stalingrad ranks as the highest-grossing Russian film of all time and Russia’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film to the 86th Academy Awards.
In the film, a band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city of Stalingrad against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected with two Russian women who have been living there.
Stalingrad is directed by acclaimed Russian hitmaker Fedor Bondarchuk (9th Company), who was introduced to the world of cinema at an early age, as the son of the Academy Award-winning director Sergei Bondarchuk.
The film stars Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong), Petr Fedorov, Mariya Smolnikova and Yanina Studilina.
The R-rated movie opened in U.
Price: DVD $30.99, Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D $35.99
Studio: Sony
An epic look at the battle that turned the tide of World War II, the foreign war drama Stalingrad ranks as the highest-grossing Russian film of all time and Russia’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film to the 86th Academy Awards.
In the film, a band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city of Stalingrad against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected with two Russian women who have been living there.
Stalingrad is directed by acclaimed Russian hitmaker Fedor Bondarchuk (9th Company), who was introduced to the world of cinema at an early age, as the son of the Academy Award-winning director Sergei Bondarchuk.
The film stars Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong), Petr Fedorov, Mariya Smolnikova and Yanina Studilina.
The R-rated movie opened in U.
- 4/9/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
If you thought Saving Private Ryan needed to be more like 300, then Stalingrad is the movie for you. In Fedor Bondarchuk’s ginormous look at the struggle for this Russian city — one of the bloodiest, most-drawn-out battles of World War II, with nearly 2 million casualties — the human cost of war is constantly upstaged by slo-mo happy, arena-size spectacle. This is the first Russian movie shot entirely in 3-D, which makes sense — the battle for Stalingrad is practically a national creation myth. But while the imagery in this retelling is impeccable, the story is strangely lifeless.Rather than recounting the whole siege, which took nearly half a year, Bondarchuk’s film focuses on a small group of Russian soldiers who hide out in a bombed-out abandoned apartment building, with the only civilian among them Katya (Mariya Smolnikova), a teenage girl whose whole family has been killed along with all the other inhabitants.
- 2/28/2014
- by Bilge Ebiri
- Vulture
In Soviet Russia, movie review You – but since we’re here in the good ol’ Us of A, I’ll be the one determining if Stalingrad is Russia’s spiritual equivalent to Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. Credit director Fedor Bondarchuk with creating the first Russian film to be shot in 3D and IMAX 3D, as his efforts translated into the highest grossing box-office numbers in Russian history, but leave it to an American film critic to determine if Fedor actually did right by the Motherland. Come comrades, grab your sickle and your finest bottle of Popov – we’ve got a two hour Russian war epic to discuss that’s full of explosions, emotions, gunfire and heartbreak. Love and war are synonymous, no?
The battle of Stalingrad – a bloody, sacrificial battle during World War II that pitted a stubborn Adolf Hilter against a heroic Russian army refusing to budge.
The battle of Stalingrad – a bloody, sacrificial battle during World War II that pitted a stubborn Adolf Hilter against a heroic Russian army refusing to budge.
- 2/27/2014
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
Back in the U.S.S.R.: Bondarchuk’s Latest a Visual Feast and Narrative Folly
Arriving with a small coterie of distinctive firsts, actor/director Fedor Bondarchuk’s latest directorial effort happens to be the first Russian film to be presented in 3D (one would have assumed Timur Bekmambetov would have nabbed that distinction had he stayed in the motherland), as well as laying claim to number one at the Russian box office and nabbing the honor of being the Foreign Language submission for this year’s Academy Awards.
Digging deeper, Russian cineastes will recognize the famed Bondarchuk name—while Fedor has gone on to make a prolific name for himself as an actor turned director, he is the son of director Sergei Bondarchuk (War & Peace, 1966) and brother to actress Natalya Bondarchuk (star of Tarkovsky’s Solaris, 1972).
With such a rich history behind him, the decision to make...
Arriving with a small coterie of distinctive firsts, actor/director Fedor Bondarchuk’s latest directorial effort happens to be the first Russian film to be presented in 3D (one would have assumed Timur Bekmambetov would have nabbed that distinction had he stayed in the motherland), as well as laying claim to number one at the Russian box office and nabbing the honor of being the Foreign Language submission for this year’s Academy Awards.
Digging deeper, Russian cineastes will recognize the famed Bondarchuk name—while Fedor has gone on to make a prolific name for himself as an actor turned director, he is the son of director Sergei Bondarchuk (War & Peace, 1966) and brother to actress Natalya Bondarchuk (star of Tarkovsky’s Solaris, 1972).
With such a rich history behind him, the decision to make...
- 2/26/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Stranger By The Lake | Only Lovers Left Alive | Nymphomaniac | A New York Winter's Tale | A World Not Ours | Stalingrad | The Godfather: Part II | Highway
Stranger By The Lake (18)
(Alain Guiraudie, 2013, Fra) Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick D'Assumçao, Jérôme Chapatte. 100 mins
Sex and death take a synchronised swim in this bold thriller, shot at a single lakeside location. It's a popular cruising spot, and the rituals of its regular (and regularly naked) male visitors are observed with a combination of frankness, lyricism and mischievous satire. But a more mysterious tone takes hold when newcomer Franck sees his Selleck-moustachio'd crush commit a terrible crime. The riptide of desire drags him into a dangerous game.
Only Lovers Left Alive (15)
(Jim Jarmusch, 2013, UK/Ger/Fra/Cyp/Us) Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska. 123 mins
Making Twilight look like Sesame Street, Jarmusch gives us the coolest vampires imaginable – too cool to even do much vampire stuff.
Stranger By The Lake (18)
(Alain Guiraudie, 2013, Fra) Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick D'Assumçao, Jérôme Chapatte. 100 mins
Sex and death take a synchronised swim in this bold thriller, shot at a single lakeside location. It's a popular cruising spot, and the rituals of its regular (and regularly naked) male visitors are observed with a combination of frankness, lyricism and mischievous satire. But a more mysterious tone takes hold when newcomer Franck sees his Selleck-moustachio'd crush commit a terrible crime. The riptide of desire drags him into a dangerous game.
Only Lovers Left Alive (15)
(Jim Jarmusch, 2013, UK/Ger/Fra/Cyp/Us) Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska. 123 mins
Making Twilight look like Sesame Street, Jarmusch gives us the coolest vampires imaginable – too cool to even do much vampire stuff.
- 2/22/2014
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Russia’s first 3D IMAX spectacle is visually intense — it’s set during “bloodiest battle in human history,” after all — but I never warmed to a story meant to be about human resilience. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
It was Russia’s entry to the Oscars in the Foreign Language category (it wasn’t nominated). It’s the first Russian film shot in 3D IMAX. And it’s the highest-grossing Russian film ever at the Russian box office. I guess the Russians saw something in Stalingrad that eludes me.
Certainly, this is a visually intense film, from horrific combat sequences featuring things you won’t be able to unsee — in 3D IMAX! — to dismal vistas of a city ravaged by the “bloodiest battle in human history”; I was struck by one poignant moment when...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
It was Russia’s entry to the Oscars in the Foreign Language category (it wasn’t nominated). It’s the first Russian film shot in 3D IMAX. And it’s the highest-grossing Russian film ever at the Russian box office. I guess the Russians saw something in Stalingrad that eludes me.
Certainly, this is a visually intense film, from horrific combat sequences featuring things you won’t be able to unsee — in 3D IMAX! — to dismal vistas of a city ravaged by the “bloodiest battle in human history”; I was struck by one poignant moment when...
- 2/20/2014
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Director: Fyodor Bondarchuk; Screenwriters Sergey Snezhkin, Ilya Tilkin; Starring: Pyotr Fyodorov, Thomas Kretschmann, Mariya Smolnikova, Yanina Studilina; Running time: 131 mins; Certificate: 15
War. What is it good for? IMAX 3D movies that wallow in the spectacle of horrific real-life battles, judging by Stalingrad. A lavish Russian production based on the devastating World War II battle in 1942, Fyodor Bondarchuk's effort is watchable and sporadically gripping, but fails to convincingly depict the human drama lurking amidst the twisted metal and ruins.
Stalingrad follows a small group of Soviet reconnaissance soldiers who manage to take control of a building in a German occupied square in the derelict Russian city. The narrative seamlessly shifts between the opposing forces, seeking to focus on the humanising effects of women on Nazi officer Khan (Thomas Kretschmann) and rival Russian commander Gromov (Pyotr Fyodorov) as their men struggle for territorial superiority. Alas, the movie fails to resist the...
War. What is it good for? IMAX 3D movies that wallow in the spectacle of horrific real-life battles, judging by Stalingrad. A lavish Russian production based on the devastating World War II battle in 1942, Fyodor Bondarchuk's effort is watchable and sporadically gripping, but fails to convincingly depict the human drama lurking amidst the twisted metal and ruins.
Stalingrad follows a small group of Soviet reconnaissance soldiers who manage to take control of a building in a German occupied square in the derelict Russian city. The narrative seamlessly shifts between the opposing forces, seeking to focus on the humanising effects of women on Nazi officer Khan (Thomas Kretschmann) and rival Russian commander Gromov (Pyotr Fyodorov) as their men struggle for territorial superiority. Alas, the movie fails to resist the...
- 2/20/2014
- Digital Spy
More often than not, when we are treated to films from across Europe, they are minimalist art house productions, with filmmakers utilising their modest budget by focusing predominantly on the acting performances and narrative at hand. It’s therefore somewhat intriguing to see such an epic, big-budget war drama hailing from Russia – as Fedor Bondarchuk’s Stalingrad is the nation’s first ever fully 3D production, and also the first to be shot in the IMAX format.
We begin in present day Japan, as a Russian rescuer attempts to put a group of trapped German children at ease, by recounting the tale of his mother and his five fathers, which took place in Stalingrad during the Second World War. We then proceed to go back in time to the fateful set of events that occurred in the long, arduous autumn of 1942. Though renowned for being one of the bloodiest battles in history,...
We begin in present day Japan, as a Russian rescuer attempts to put a group of trapped German children at ease, by recounting the tale of his mother and his five fathers, which took place in Stalingrad during the Second World War. We then proceed to go back in time to the fateful set of events that occurred in the long, arduous autumn of 1942. Though renowned for being one of the bloodiest battles in history,...
- 2/18/2014
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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