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Chernobyl (2019)
Scarier than ALL of the horror movies I have ever seen
Yes, it's not a horror movie, it's so factual it's basically a docudrama. But it's scarier than ALL of the horror movies I have ever seen. Another proof you don't need anything supernatural to create absolutely unnerving tension and fear.
The scene in which a hapless engineer looks down the reactor and sees the demolished, glowing, burning core with radioactive waste flying all around him will be forever imprinted on your brain as the best (meaning the worst) depiction of Hell ever seen on TV.
The Road to Guantanamo (2006)
Islamic Rambo
A group of Muslim men innocently went on a tourist trip from UK to Pakistan, but they accidentally finished in Afghanistan, where they accidentally traveled to the frontline, where they were accidentally captured. Bad Americans tortured them and then flew them over to Guantanamo where they were tortured even more, but they remained defiant to the very end, said nothing, stayed true to each other and became even more devoted Muslims in the end.
I find all that strangely similar to "Rambo: First Blood" where Stallone has also innocently traveled to that small American town where he was accidentally involved in trouble and was captured by that bad American sheriff. Then he was tortured, but he also said nothing, remained braveful and defiant and has even managed to escape and exact some revenge on his tormentors. OK, I guess we will have to wait for "The Road to Guantanamo 2" to see how these brave, innocent Muslims exacted revenge on those bad American interrogators.
Generation Kill (2008)
A masterpiece
I started to watch this series with very little expectations, disappointed by horribly naive "The Hurt Locker" and not so much better "Green Zone". Generation Kill, however, turned out to be the best war movie I have ever seen, blowing away both titles mentioned before, Band of Brothers, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Platoon... everything.
Generation Kill is so encompassing, realistic and detailed it's almost a documentary - a documentary on Iraq, invasion of Iraq, Marines and the military in general. It goes even beyond that, analyzing war itself as the "ultimate trade" - ultimate in training, cost, organization and sheer adrenaline, but ultimate also in destruction, disappointment, foolishness and sheer chaos. Nothing is left untouched and everybody is affected by it - the victors, the defeated, the liberated and the liberators, the conquered and the conquerors, landscape, nature, spirituality, popular culture, mainstream media, everything. Generation Kill demonstrates all that far better than any other movie and is a must see for everyone who is even remotely interested in military history or in the military itself.
There can be only one step above this: TV-series of the same scope and quality about the most intense armed conflict in the human history - Eastern Front 1941-45. Yet to be made.
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Ridiculous
Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal are already preparing a sequel about a young US corporal in Afghanistan. He also happens to be a highly-qualified surgeon and is roaming freely around Kabul, operating on wounded NATO soldiers. On a particularly difficult mission, he casually picks up a sniper rifle and shoots Osama Bin Laden from a distance of about 3000 yards. He is then finally promoted to sergeant, but is unable to decide between a sniper and surgeon career, so he quits from the Army altogether. One year later, frustrated with civilian life, he joins the Navy and the last scene shows him proudly wearing a white uniform.
9 (2009)
"Technology is bad, but buy this on Blu-Ray"
Call me demanding, but I have always believed movies should have well-contrived and meaningful plots, not just half-baked hints and guesses masquerading as one. And that's the main problem with 9. Sure, the visuals are impressive. Sure, the post-apocalyptic environment is depicted frightfully gloomy. Sure, the machines are very scary and stitchpunks' helplessness is really touching (at least during the first 15 minutes). But what is the meaning of all that? Why are the stitchpunks created? What is their purpose? What was the purpose of The Machine? How did it fail its creators? Why is 1 implying "dark science" and what exactly does he know about the past? Why the soul-sucking modus operandi? How did The Machine know what the stitchpunks are, if they were created after The Machine? So many questions which the script doesn't even try to answer, although the potential for an interesting story is obviously there. The only point this movie tries to shove in your face is the same, old "technology is bad" cliché - watch out for those lovely, tiny green creatures bathing in the raindrops, they will mend the world all right.
Moon (2009)
Very good, but ending is botched
I was pleasantly surprised with this movie! The story is interesting, acting is solid, plot is convincing and character development is very intriguing (old, tired clone meeting the new, enthusiastic one with conflicts arising between them before they gradually realize they have both been misled). Even GERTY (the robot-supervisor) has some positive character development - a fresh move from clichéd, evil computers which have plagued sci-fi movies since HAL 9000.
I would have given it 9, maybe even 10, but the ending was rather inferior compared to the rest of the movie. I mean, launching a human being, from Moon to Earth, in a simple canister delivery vessel, without any life support?! How are we supposed to believe he arrived to Earth alive? Check Apollo 13 to see how difficult is to bring a human from Moon's orbit to the Earth, even in a fully equipped (but malfunctioning) spaceship. And even if he actually survived the trip, would Lunar Industries let him live to see the trial? It's obvious from the story that the Lunar Industries is a totally unethical company and Sam must have arrived to their facilities on Earth (precious helium-3 wouldn't be delivered elsewhere, I suppose). Would they rescue him and let him live to testify against them and ruin their highly profitable helium-3 business? I don't think so.
If I was writing the screenplay, Sam Bell would have escaped with a moon-rover and managed to reach (or at least contact) other humans on the Moon, perhaps a small colony or a research outpost (NOT operated by Lunar Industries). They would have rescued him and sent him to Earth in a proper spaceship. The movie would be then maybe 10 minutes longer and the production a little more expensive (depicting the colony, more actors included etc), but the ending would be much more convincing. It wouldn't cast a shadow over an otherwise highly recommended movie.
Cidade de Deus (2002)
Shallow and senseless
I watched this movie with great expectations, believing that the extremely high IMDb rating is probably well deserved. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Acting is very poor, screenplay is a confused mess of violence, there is absolutely no character development or any credible story, just a shallow, senseless stream of murders and shootouts.
We are supposed to believe that the Big Boss of the Ghetto (who is supposedly controlling all the drug traffic in the area) is walking around and shooting kids who are about 7 or 8 years old? He has no better things to do, eh? No soldiers to do the dirty work for him? He wasn't even able to buy himself a car, so he goes on foot instead?! We are supposed to believe that the Big Boss has no enemies and that he has managed to establish peace in his large ghetto, although he is a psychopath and a vicious killer since he was a little kid when he supposedly killed everybody in an average sized motel and walked away, totally unharmed? We are supposed to believe that the Big Boss wants total peace in his area (because it's good for drug business) but ten minutes later he rapes a woman and kills half her family just because she didn't want to dance with him?! He isn't worried about the police investigating that massacre, eh? He is the Big Boss and the supreme drug lord, but he is in fact jealous and lonely and unable to find himself a girlfriend?
I could go on and on and fill the whole screen with dumb inconsistencies, but I think you are getting the picture by now: Stallone's action movies actually have better and more contrived plots than this crap. Avoid this movie and ignore high IMDb rating.
Aleksandra (2007)
Nothing breathtaking, but valuable in a special way
Many reviews have attempted to describe the plot in Aleksandra ("old woman faces cruel military life", "beautiful reunion gradually becomes conflicted") but I found out they are misleading and greatly stretched. This film contains no particular plot, at least when measured against Western expectations and standards in movie-making.
No, for a casual viewer, it's best to consider this movie as a little, non-pretentious insight into Russian culture and way of life which itself meets Chechnyian culture and way of life throughout the play, all wrapped up into military environment and parental chit-chat. Sure, acting is occasionally unimpressive, English subtitles seem to be rather simplified, dialogues are often unintelligible and it's plain boring sometimes but if your grandmother came to visit you in the army, I bet it wouldn't be much more spectacular either, especially to an outsider from a different culture. 7 out of 10.