The little Grey Wolf is coming: what movie premieres are waiting for us in December
The closer we get to the holidays, the more frivolous the movie poster becomes. For adults tired of the autumn rains and schoolchildren looking forward to the holidays in December, it's time to take their minds off their daily routine and wander through the fabulous cinematic universes. They can choose from the swashbuckling historical action game "The Spinning Top", the ladies' comedy "The Crazy Empress", the new adventures of Shurik, who has retrained into Forrest Gump, and finally, in the format of the main New Year's tale, the third part of the grandiose "Avatar". Time to rest! Izvestia reports on the most interesting film premieres in December.
"The Spinning top"
December 4th
Thirteen-year-old noble son Vanya Ogarev, after his father's death, found himself at the mercy of a cruel guardian who seeks to profitably sell off the orphan's property. He persuades Vanya to sign the documents for the sale of the land, and then sends the murderers after him. Vanya flees to Nizhny Novgorod, to his father's old friend, but assassins attack him on the way. A fist fighter named Volchok comes to his aid, who agrees to escort Vanya to Nizhny Novgorod. At first, it is difficult for a rude brawler and an intelligent boy from a noble family to understand each other, but a journey full of deadly dangers will make them friends and change the lives of both forever.
Director Konstantin Smirnov ("Girls with Makarov") seems to have succeeded in almost everything he had in mind in terms of action and simple folk humor. The problems came out with a historical context. The basic conflict over Vanya's refusal to sign a land sale permit could not have happened initially: the young man received property management rights in the Russian Empire only at the age of 17. The Wright brothers first flew an airplane in 1903, and the first Russian flying machine appeared in 1910, when Vanya Ogarev probably joined the service. Well, fistfights in a noble mansion are absolutely a move. However, this does not prevent you from enjoying a lively adventure action with chases and fights. And also from a joke by Volchok, who considered the name of the species "homo sapiens" to be a noble title. And titles, you still have to earn them.
"The Crazy Empress"
December 4th
Lera, Olya and Valya, three friends from St. Petersburg, are losers in life. As losers should, one of them is fat, two are bespectacled, and all three are pimply. But in their unfortunate company, each of them always has someone to complain about life and there is someone with whom to indulge in simple female entertainment — for example, spiritualism. At another bachelorette party, the girlfriends accidentally pull Empress Catherine II out of history and into modern times. At first, Great Catherine is afraid of the cleaning machine and deodorant, but then she gets used to it, rejoices in transparent underwear, calls a double-decker limousine taxi with a shiny crown on the roof, beats impostor actors on Dvortsovaya, pours champagne on the club dance floor from the stage and runs "on her nails" in order to acquire frighteningly scarlet claws as long as The Palace Bridge.
Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst, who ascended the Russian throne as Catherine II, was not a beauty, but she was distinguished by majestic pride. Contemporaries noted the inquisitive look, the high forehead, "marked with the stamp of genius," and always perfect posture. Being a small woman, she seemed tall to most of the visitors — the empress was able to keep herself so straight that she seemed much taller to any petitioner. She hardly drank alcohol, preferring currant juice to other drinks. And even though a guest from the distant past helped three friends gain self-confidence, taught them to push men around and make up like a village disco, we have bad news for Lera, Olya and Vali. It looks like they got something mixed up and called Madonna Luisa Ciccone.
The "Method of exclusion"
December 4th
Yoo Man-soo has worked in the paper industry for twenty-five years and has reached heights in his career. He built a house, he has a happy family, and overall, Yoo Man-soo believes, his life was a success. A sudden dismissal comes as a real shock to a man. He has been looking for a job in his field for several months, but nothing has worked out for him: there are too few vacancies in the industry, too many applicants, and he is no longer so young to be of interest to employers. He soon faces the prospect of losing his home, so finding a job becomes a matter of survival. By submitting a resume for a job that suits him perfectly, Yoo Man-soo decides that he must clear his way to the position by eliminating competitors — the same unfortunate unemployed professionals who are stranded by fate...
Joel Schumacher was the first to embody the story of a manager who went off the rails and became a mass murderer back in 1993. The film "I've had Enough" received a nomination for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, but it did not receive the award. The director of "Method of Elimination" Park Chang-wook, unlike Schumacher, has his palm branch — his film "The Decision to Leave" was awarded in 2022 for the best director. Another of his films, Oldboy, was entered into the Cannes competition program in 2003. It seems that the Cannes award—winning directors know something ugly about honest, selfless work and career aspirations. It's time to try to figure out what it is.
"The incredible adventures of Shura"
December 11th
The team of former comedy men has been delighting with New Year's Eve movie concerts to the rhythms of "Old Songs about the Main Thing" for years. Previously, there were "Self-Irony of Fate," "Ivan Vasilyevich changes Everything," and "The Unbrilliant Hand." This New Year's Eve, creative pens have reached the "Caucasian Captive" and other adventures of Shurik. In the new sparkling comedy, Shurik turns into the Soviet Forrest Gump: sitting on a bench, he tells everyone who wants to listen to the story of his life and love for Nina, in between running from the police, then from a fighting dog, then from a crowd of fans. In short, those who lack the "Old Songs about the main thing" will have a chance to make up for the lack of cultural experience.
True, the "Old Songs about the main thing" were good for the sincerity of the message — the authenticity of memories of a rich, vast, open country where a man is a brother to a man. "The Incredible Adventures of Shura" has big problems with authenticity. Shurik looks like an elderly ballet dancer in a woman's wig and with a painful inversion of the face. Nina famously pops a champagne cork in honor of the completed session and seems to be curious about Comrade Saakhov's demarches, which very impulsively show Shurik how to plan "this bird chock-chock." To top off the carnival, Philip Kirkorov in ink tattoos plays the role of a lookout in a prison cell. A feast of the spirit, that's all.
"Catch the monster"
December 18th
Eight-year-old Aurora is convinced that there is a monster living under her bed that has devoured her parents. To get rid of him, the girl turns to a frighteningly mysterious neighbor for help, asking him to kill an unwanted guest. The neighbor suspects that Aurora's parents were shot by killers sent to his soul, and, driven by guilt, promises the little neighbor help, going with her in search of the murderer of her family.
"Catching a Monster" is the directorial debut of Bryan Fuller, creator of the TV series "Heroes" and "Hannibal". He is called the most talented screenwriter in the world of TV series, ready to do anything for the sake of the popularity of the show, including borrowing other people's ideas. There is a hint of Leon in the story of the girl and the killer, but Fuller's crazy fantasy combined with the crazy charisma of Mads Mikkelsen, perhaps the most charismatic and frightening movie villain of our time, will surely make the spectacle completely different — much more energetic, gloomy and dynamic. And the presence of the well-deserved monster hunter Sigourney Weaver seems to hint that gangster squabbles may conceal a second, much more sinister bottom.
"Avatar: Flame and Ashes"
December 25
The third part of James Cameron's massive saga about the planet Pandora and the Na'vi people inhabiting it is perhaps one of the most anticipated premieres of the season. This time, Jake Sally, Neytiri and their children, who mourn 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 film promise that visually it will be completely different from the water idyll shown in the previous film. According to Cameron himself, the third film will be much darker in its atmosphere than the previous ones, and the severity of the conflicts unfolding in it will reach a new level.
However, even if the director is lying, it doesn't matter. Pandora and her tailed inhabitants have long occupied a place in the hearts of the audience. Besides, we can count on a grandiose spectacle in any case. The film is released just before the New Year — what other reason is needed to mark the beginning of the school holidays with a family trip to the cinema? The kids will definitely like the movie. And adult children, too.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
