'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

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rosstcorbett
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'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#1

Post by rosstcorbett » 21 Feb 2014, 12:53

Hi everybody,

Today in the UK cinema's the Russian made 'Stalingrad' is released.

I will be going to watch it tomorrow night. It looks pretty good.



Have a great weekend.

Ross
GOEBBELS HOUSE & BUNKER VIDEO → https://youtu.be/1il8IkoSuuk

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TISO
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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#2

Post by TISO » 21 Feb 2014, 19:32

IMHO a very bad movie.


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Der Alte Fritz
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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#3

Post by Der Alte Fritz » 22 Feb 2014, 10:16

See this review http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/ ... -1.1698795
It is a very 'Hollywood' view of history but has proved popular in Russia itself and Bondachuk was director of the 9th Company which was a massive success in Russia (film was about Afghanistan). Probably closer to the truth than the film "that we dare not name"

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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#4

Post by Felix C » 02 Mar 2014, 15:11

It is playing locally. In 3D!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1966566/

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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#5

Post by eisenbahn9 » 03 Mar 2014, 21:29

Went to see this last night here in the US. I give it thumbs up. The Russians speak Russian, the Germans speak German and the subtitles are comprehensible. That alone elevates it above many American-made war movies and certainly trumps "Enemy at the Gates". Yes, it does contain dueling love stories (one on the Russian side, one on the German) but they are more muted and tolerable than they would have been in the hands of Hollywood. This part of the film does become a bit overly melodramatic and predictable towards the end and goes on too long but it's integral to the story and doesn't feel tacked on like so many other war movies.

The cinematography is excellent throughout and fully immerses you in the dank, grimy and hellish atmosphere the city of Stalingrad became at the height of the battle. The air is filled with falling ash from burning buildings and the lice-infested soldiers are suitably filthy as they clamber and slither among the brick-strewn ruins.

The story focus is small-scale: an ad-hoc group of Russian soldiers, sailors and militia are tasked with holding an apartment building standing in the path of a German advance to banks of the Volga. They repulse several (relatively weak) assaults as the battle goes to and fro.

Bear in mind this is a Russian-made film so the Germans generally get a less-than-flattering turn while Russian heroics are played to the hilt. Yet most of the events portrayed certainly could have happened as shown. Still, there are two sequences that strain credulity: an attack scene where flaming Russian soldiers throw themselves at Germans defending a trench and a scene involving a Russian anti-tank gunner taking a deflection shot at a German position by ricocheting a round off the turret of a Russian T-34 tank. Maybe our ballistics doyens can weigh in on that one.

Don't be put off, as I was, by the opening sequence (set in modern-day Japan after an earthquake). For a few minutes I thought I was in the wrong theater seeing the wrong movie! It links back to the Stalingrad story but it seemed rather clunky and unnecessarily confusing. The scriptwriters should have worked harder to incorporate this narrative framework in a more naturalistic manner or simply ditched it altogether.

The only actor I recognized was Thomas Kretschmann (Valkyrie) who plays the aristocratic Capt. Peter Kahn, charged with capturing the ruined apartment building. He does a good job, as do all the other actors, both Russian and German.

If you are an historical purist and can't stand the slightest "imperfection" in how past military battles are portrayed on film, then by all means skip this epic because you will undoubtedly find plenty to grouse about. Yes, the German tanks are clearly conversions of Soviet vehicles, thinly disguised with the addition of metal side-skirts. The Stukas (seen only briefly) are CGI, though they looked pretty good to me and I wished they'd shown more of them. There's a Heinkel He 111 that crashes in the city square and plays a small part later when both sides try to scavenge its machine guns. Probably CGI there too, at least during the crash sequence. One scene in particular of an overhead view of He 111s bombing Stalingrad at night looked like poorly shot plastic models and could have easily been cut. As far as the look of the uniforms and other weaponry, I'll leave that for the experts to argue over. To me it looked acceptably realistic if not perfectly accurate.

So "Stalingrad" seems a worthy addition to the genre and I would recommend going to see it on the big screen at least once so as to form your own opinion of it.

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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#6

Post by B Hellqvist » 15 Aug 2014, 00:18

The third best Stalingrad movie since 1993! OK, there's only been three...

Absolutely dreadful. Poor script, unengaging characters, slow motion in every effing battle scene (Peckinpah, come back!), forgettable score... Only bright points were the sets and uniforms. 3/10.

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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#7

Post by wenty » 16 Aug 2014, 07:57

I haven't heard anything about it being released here in Australia yet, but will keep an ear out. Worth checking out but from what's been said on here, it doesn't have much on the previous films about Stalingrad.

Cheers,
Adam.

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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#8

Post by B Hellqvist » 16 Aug 2014, 14:49

Some silly stuff (slight spoilers ahead):

- Soviet soldiers charging German positions with their uniforms aflame
- Evil German officer sacrificing a (supposedly) Jewish mother and child before a battle
- Soviet artilleryman bouncing a 37 mm round off a tank wreck, hitting German Nebelwerfer rockets
- The usual hand-to-hand fighting prevalent in Russian war movies
- The Soviet officer upbraiding a sniper about shooting Germans fetching water
- German tank company with tanks side by side in urban area, forming big fat target for Soviet bombers

...to name but a few. I had to watch the factory attack scene in "Stalingrad" (1993) to wash away the drivel I had seen. Now there's a properly directed battle scene, with more intensity in eight minutes than the entire Russian effort. A wasted 2½ hours.

The only marginally interesting character was Thomas Kretschmann's captain, but then he's a veteran of Stalingrad (he played lieutenant von Witzleben in the 1993 movie).

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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#9

Post by Felix C » 11 Sep 2014, 15:23

I saw it over the weekend and did not like it. I thought the 1993 film Stalingrad was better and the Enemy at the Gates film story line unfolded better and the actors in that one had more on screen charisma.(Law, Harris, Fines, Peralman, Hoskins and Weiz.)

But then I am not Russian and perhaps the film stuck a chord in their culture.

I like how in IMDB someone wrote the director of this film is the Russian version of Michael Bay. Appropriate too.

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Re: 'Stalingrad' Movie Released Today in UK Cinema's

#10

Post by B Hellqvist » 12 Sep 2014, 07:16

Felix C wrote:But then I am not Russian and perhaps the film stuck a chord in their culture.
While it was a box office hit in Russia, it got a lot of flak for its portrayal of the battle and the soldiers. I've seen reviews by Russians who didn't like it pretty much for the same reasons as people in the west.

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