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Reviews
Nochnoy dozor (2004)
Good fun
OK, so it's not film-making that's going to change the world, but Night Watch is pretty damned fun to watch. Take it as an epic, full of archetypes, big ideas and a grand scale--the sort of thing that defines mythology from the ancient era to the present--and you won't be disappointed.
It's an action/fantasy flick brimming with intriguing ideas, and even borrowing some from the avant-garde. Honestly, I think it would take multiple viewings to digest it fully. I'm not the sort of guy that eats up mindless Hollywood crap, especially repetitive actioners of the sort that come out every month, so it takes something really original and satisfying to stir my interest. Night Watch has done just that.
Brick (2005)
Clever and fun
While a touch (maybe 5-10 minutes) overlong, its clever dialogue requires absolute attention and shows how well versed in the language of noir the screenwriter is. (Terms like "yegs" and "sap" are rarely used these days but offer a direct and crtitical link to Hammett and Chandler).
It's also quite humorous, mixing David Lynch, "River's Edge", "Heathers", and any high-noir reference you care to make quite freely. And Lukas Haas' turn as an oddball kingpin is reminiscent of William Hurt's spin on the same in "A History of Violence" in that they are both highly stylized.
However, because the dialogue is so utterly complicated, discerning all the plot elements and making eventual sense of the film would probably have to be done over a period of time. The film lends itself to multiple viewings, and some people might not like that.