Life is like a fairy tale: what movie premieres await us in January
The festive film program on New Year's Eve should give a sense of wonder and promote family communication, so that parents and children enjoy spending time in cinemas and coming out inspired. This season, the requirements for the New Year's film program have been fulfilled and exceeded: from January 1, three large—scale film tales will go into battle for the audience's attention at once - "Pinocchio", "Prostokvashino" and "Cheburashka-2", so there will be many opportunities to spend time with your family. Izvestia reports on the most notable film premieres in January.
Cheburashka-2
January 1st
The sequel's plot takes place a year after the events of the first film. The life of the heroes goes on as usual: the gardener Gena (Sergey Garmash) reconciled with his daughter and happily lives with Cheburashka in his new home. Cheburashka grows up and starts mischievous, which always leads to a commotion. Sonya, the granddaughter of the arrogant businesswoman Rimma (Elena Yakovleva), has become kinder and befriended Gena's grandson Grisha. And everything would be fine, but the local evil bureaucrats decide to destroy Gena's house in order to build an amusement park in its place. Cheburashka, Sonya and Grisha will have to try to stop the construction and save the house.
A shot from the movie Cheburashka 2
The first Cheburashka grossed 6.74 billion rubles, becoming the highest-grossing Russian film in history. However, he turned out to be not without sin: the audience noted problems with computer graphics, especially when Cheburashka interacted with live actors, and a clear lack of jokes, especially for a comedy film. The creators of the sequel listened carefully to the audience's wishes: the quality of the computer graphics, of course, has yet to be assessed, but the humor was thrown with a generous hand — the number of characters who slipped on a banana peel, fell face-first into the mud, received a cheerful pendulum and caught a bucket of dirty water on the floor is growing exponentially with each frame.
"Pinocchio"
January 1st
He enters the house like a good fairy tale — and of course, in the midst of the holidays, so that everyone can celebrate the new year with a family trip to the cinema with a cinnamon flavor of nostalgia. Pinocchio is a remake of the famous and beloved 1975 fairy tale film, the songs of which are known to grandparents, moms and dads, and, of course, today's children. They are performed by real stars from the screen, who were gathered into their team by director Igor Voloshin: Fyodor Bondarchuk will appear in the role of Karabas-Barabas, Anastasia Talyzina will play the role of Malvina, Mark Eidelstein will play Artemon, and Svetlana Nemolyaeva will play the tortoise Tortilla.
A shot from the movie "Pinocchio"
Igor Voloshin ("Medea", "The Wizard of Oz") is a recognized master of carnival aesthetics, and the atmosphere of theatrical action allowed him to expand to its full extent. Bright costumes, dynamic stage performances, and a corps de ballet of dozens of participants who, even during difficult dances, do not lose their rhythm and work as one person. And a fair dose of humor, which the scriptwriters have wholeheartedly seasoned with a musical fairy tale, will not let both children and parents get bored. "Woodiness is the best thing that can be in an artist of a repertory theater!", "Let's be deceived... that is, let's hug!" — these and other character cues will undoubtedly be included in the golden fund of memes of the coming year.
"Father, mother, sister, brother"
January 1st
A brother and sister, bespectacled and insecure, go to the American countryside to visit their eccentric father, who lives alone after the death of his wife. The prim writer receives two daughters in her Dublin apartment, whom she sees at best once a year. Twins from New York fly to Paris to visit their parents' empty apartment. Relatives try to have a heart-to-heart conversation, but each attempt ends in awkwardness, misunderstanding, and an increasingly obvious realization of people's inability to overcome the wall of alienation. The remoteness of loved ones, closeness, inability to find a common language becomes the leitmotif of this psychological dramedy.
A frame from the movie "Father, mother, sister, brother"
Perhaps the most famous independent director in the world, Jim Jarmusch, after six years of silence, presented his new film at the Venice Festival, receiving the Golden Lion for it. The film was shot in Jarmusch's traditional almanac style, where successive novels are united not by a cross-cutting plot, but by mood, subtext, and emotional undertones. This manner, demonstrated earlier in "Nights on Earth" and "Coffee and Cigarettes," has already become the director's trademark. Jarmusch does not burden cinema with heavy morals, giving the viewer the right to build associative chains and draw deeply personal conclusions. A brilliant ensemble cast completes the picture: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krips starred in the film. Each role is a small masterpiece.
"Marty the Magnificent"
January 15th
The film is about a talented table tennis player, Marty Mauser, who goes to his dream of becoming a champion, regardless of any obstacles, and goes from amateur to world champion titles, although initially no one believes in his abilities. The film is based on the biography of multiple world and US table tennis champion Marty Raisman, who began his career playing in tennis clubs for money and rose to the top in this sport.
A shot from the movie "Marty the Magnificent"
Timothy Chalamet suffered from the "curse of Leonardo DiCaprio": looking at the unearthly handsome man in the "Dune" that brought him fame, the audience could not believe that he was taken into the picture not only for his beautiful eyes the color of a stormy sky. It seems Chalamet has finally decided to put the dots on the I's: in the new picture, he did not hesitate to appear in front of the public in old-fashioned glasses, with a silly moustache and teenage acne-ridden skin. This, however, did not diminish his fierce energy and impenetrable charm; "Marty the Magnificent" is a great reason to take a fresh look at a really good actor. Chalamet's on-screen partner is Gwyneth Paltrow, who needs no introduction.
"Avatar: Flame and Ashes"
January 15th
James Cameron finally brings the viewer back to the planet Pandora, to its enchanting landscapes and the local natives of Na'vi. This time, Jake Sally, Neytiri and their children, who are mourning the death of Neteyam, will have to face the hostile Ash Clan led by Varang, the lords of volcanoes and the element of fire. The creators of the picture completely departed, if not from the plot of the previous parts, then certainly from their visual component, having prepared a grandiose fiery extravaganza, strikingly different from the water idyll shown in the previous film. According to Cameron himself, the third film is designed to be much darker in its atmosphere than the previous installments.
An image from the movie "Avatar: Flame and Ashes"
The third film about the Avatar universe was released worldwide in December and scored a very modest 7.5 out of 10 on IMDB in the first weeks of its release. According to the audience, Cameron really managed to bring the special effects to an extreme level. But there was a mistake with the script: the plot moves are repeated. However, Pandora and her tailed inhabitants have firmly occupied a place in the hearts of viewers, and viewers will come to Cameron's epic at least to immerse themselves in a grandiose, magnificent and extremely authentic world. The spectacle will be grandiose — not the worst way to please yourself and your children during the holidays with a family trip to the cinema. Children will definitely like the third Avatar, and adult children too.
"Lefty"
January 22
1885, St. Petersburg. Russia is on the verge of war with Great Britain. A mysterious device is discovered in the royal palace — a mechanical flea, the purpose of which is unclear neither to the king nor his entourage. One thing is clear: there is a British spy operating at the top of the Russian government, who has the most innovative espionage developments and access to state secrets. Ogarev, a young St. Petersburg policeman, enlists Lefty, a brilliant master of the Tula Arms Factory, to investigate espionage techniques. With the help of his inventions and working savvy, the police will be able to neutralize a dangerous spy, save the sovereign and the whole country.
A shot from the movie "Lefty"
Nikolai Leskov's sad fairy tale "Lefty" with its hopeless atmosphere, tragic ending and harsh morality, the creative film group easily turned into a cheerful steampunk action movie with chases, fights, shootouts, love and, of course, a happy ending in the best Hollywood traditions. However, a good knowledge of the traditions of American cinema is evident not only in the general outline of the picture. The appearance of the wonder master is painfully reminiscent of Boromir from The Lord of the Rings, his mechanical arm is clearly captured in the arsenal of Furiosa from the epic about Mad Max, and Jason Statham depicted a carriage flight from the building a few years ago in The Ferryman, though using a more modern vehicle. And only Alexander III outwardly corresponds to the national tradition, which was once outlined in the "Siberian Barber". However, a change of image does not suit the tsars.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
