And what you say about her blending in is the problem for certain actors and why they are movie stars lol. They stand out compared to an average citizen which is troubling actually.
but i dont think its about her look/beauty.
A) she looks like an average slavic/Russian girl, in eastern Europe she wouldn't really stand out this much just for her looks. Every other young girl there looks like that
but more importantly
B) its not about the looks. its about her lack of facial expressions/gestures and choice of fashion. THAT is what separates her from the crowd.
And I get there were scenes where that was what she wanted/needed (the hotel bar, maybe even the pool etc). But there were many other scenes where she (as a spy) would benefit from not being so visible, and she was not able to adjust to it - by having a human expression on her face (smiling or frowning, doesn't matter but something other than the blank stare), and dressing a bit differently. thats all.
Did you feel the pacing was off as well as the writing.
Did you feel the pacing was off as well as the writing.
yes very much so. except the end, and the torture scene, i didnt really feel thrilled, which to me is usually a pacing problem (if the actors are good, and they were, here). Thats the thing this movie had a cast of pretty amazing actors, yet it didn't deliver the thrill it should have.
Did you feel the pacing was off as well as the writing.
yes very much so. except the end, and the torture scene, i didnt really feel thrilled, which to me is usually a pacing problem (if the actors are good, and they were, here). Thats the thing this movie had a cast of pretty amazing actors, yet it didn't deliver the thrill it should have.
Also not sure how i felt about the whole explanation with her setting up the uncle as well.
yes very much so. except the end, and the torture scene, i didnt really feel thrilled, which to me is usually a pacing problem (if the actors are good, and they were, here). Thats the thing this movie had a cast of pretty amazing actors, yet it didn't deliver the thrill it should have.
Also not sure how i felt about the whole explanation with her setting up the uncle as well.
thats the part i actually Really liked. You could tell what kind of (horrible) person he was, when they kissed. He was all into it (uncle, yuck) to me that was only confirming to her that her decision (to take him down) was the right one. The end was the redeeming quality of the movie. that and her stripping
I would have to dig quite a bit but yeas ago there was a newspaper article about helicopter pilots missions in Afghanistan. They talked about their expectations and missions in general and what choices they have to make in their fight. One thing that really struck me was when one pilot talked about what the civilians should expect from them and the fact they should be "understanding".
He talked about being reassigned, with his partner piloting a 2nd helicopter, to another objective while in flight but they were too heavy (or something like that) so they had to drop weight. The solution was to empty some of their fuel tanks while in flight. The thing is, as the pilot said, at times it gets really hot (even at night) in Afghanistan people sleep outside. It turned out they had to drop fuel over populated areas knowing people are out there and knowing the effects (www.interiorhealth.ca/yourenvironment/emergencypreparedness/documents/jetfuela1healthsummary.pdf).
He knew it wasn't good but he hoped those people would "understand" that it's a price to pay for the job he is doing out there.
I mean, what? Let's do that to his wife and kids while they are lounging by the pool in his backyard and let's see if he is "understanding" once the effects set in... This is madness, plain and simple.
thx for giving this story!
Now guess what an uproar this would be in case something like this would happen to an allie ...
Zivile und militärische Flugzeuge lassen über dem Bundesgebiet immer wieder Kraftstoff ab. Dies geschieht besonders häufig über der Pfalz, wo in den vergangenen sieben Jahren über 600 Tonnen Treibstoff niedergegangen sind. Nach Auskunft der Bundesregierung ist das für Mensch und Tier ungefährlich.
Kaiserslautern. Am 14. November 2013 muss es über der Pfalz einen gravierenden Notfall in einem Flugzeug gegeben haben. Möglicherweise hatten die Piloten kurz nach dem Start – vielleicht in Frankfurt – einen Defekt festgestellt, der sie zur Rückkehr zwang. Jedenfalls ließen die Kapitäne 80 Tonnen Kerosin über der Pfalz ab. Auf diese Weise erreichte der Jet sein Landegewicht, mit dem die Piloten sicher auf den Boden aufsetzen konnten.
Das ist Fall 85 auf einer 121 Fälle umfassenden Liste der Bundesregierung über das „Ablassen von Treibstoff“ durch zivile Luftfahrzeuge in den Jahren 2010 bis 2016 im gesamten Bundesgebiet. Die Grünen im Bundestag hatten eine entsprechende Anfrage gestellt und überdies Auskunft über Vorfälle bei Militärflugzeugen erbeten.
Fall 85 bleibt ebenso geheimnisvoll wie alle anderen Fälle, bei denen weder der Grund des Ablassens noch die Flughöhe oder Start und Ziel des Flugzeuges genannt werden. Gerade die Flughöhe wäre ein wichtiger Faktor für die Beurteilung der Gefährlichkeit des Kerosinregens. Vorgeschrieben sind für das Ablassen mindestens 1500 Meter bei mindestens 500 Stundenkilometern. ...
in case You're interested read the rest at the original link and put it into deepl/translator ...
I would have to dig quite a bit but yeas ago there was a newspaper article about helicopter pilots missions in Afghanistan. They talked about their expectations and missions in general and what choices they have to make in their fight. One thing that really struck me was when one pilot talked about what the civilians should expect from them and the fact they should be "understanding".
He talked about being reassigned, with his partner piloting a 2nd helicopter, to another objective while in flight but they were too heavy (or something like that) so they had to drop weight. The solution was to empty some of their fuel tanks while in flight. The thing is, as the pilot said, at times it gets really hot (even at night) in Afghanistan people sleep outside. It turned out they had to drop fuel over populated areas knowing people are out there and knowing the effects (www.interiorhealth.ca/yourenvironment/emergencypreparedness/documents/jetfuela1healthsummary.pdf).
He knew it wasn't good but he hoped those people would "understand" that it's a price to pay for the job he is doing out there.
I mean, what? Let's do that to his wife and kids while they are lounging by the pool in his backyard and let's see if he is "understanding" once the effects set in... This is madness, plain and simple.
thx for giving this story!
Now guess what an uproar this would be in case something like this would happen to an allie ...
Zivile und militärische Flugzeuge lassen über dem Bundesgebiet immer wieder Kraftstoff ab. Dies geschieht besonders häufig über der Pfalz, wo in den vergangenen sieben Jahren über 600 Tonnen Treibstoff niedergegangen sind. Nach Auskunft der Bundesregierung ist das für Mensch und Tier ungefährlich.
Kaiserslautern. Am 14. November 2013 muss es über der Pfalz einen gravierenden Notfall in einem Flugzeug gegeben haben. Möglicherweise hatten die Piloten kurz nach dem Start – vielleicht in Frankfurt – einen Defekt festgestellt, der sie zur Rückkehr zwang. Jedenfalls ließen die Kapitäne 80 Tonnen Kerosin über der Pfalz ab. Auf diese Weise erreichte der Jet sein Landegewicht, mit dem die Piloten sicher auf den Boden aufsetzen konnten.
Das ist Fall 85 auf einer 121 Fälle umfassenden Liste der Bundesregierung über das „Ablassen von Treibstoff“ durch zivile Luftfahrzeuge in den Jahren 2010 bis 2016 im gesamten Bundesgebiet. Die Grünen im Bundestag hatten eine entsprechende Anfrage gestellt und überdies Auskunft über Vorfälle bei Militärflugzeugen erbeten.
Fall 85 bleibt ebenso geheimnisvoll wie alle anderen Fälle, bei denen weder der Grund des Ablassens noch die Flughöhe oder Start und Ziel des Flugzeuges genannt werden. Gerade die Flughöhe wäre ein wichtiger Faktor für die Beurteilung der Gefährlichkeit des Kerosinregens. Vorgeschrieben sind für das Ablassen mindestens 1500 Meter bei mindestens 500 Stundenkilometern. ...
in case You're interested read the rest at the original link and put it into deepl/translator ...
My german isn't good so I had to go with a translator but I got it.
The "fun" part is when they say it's not an issue but dropping fuel over densely populated areas is forbidden... Can you smell the bs?
Still, sorry for not finding the link to what I described, it was years ago and I don't remember the newspaper name.
My german isn't good so I had to go with a translator but I got it.
The "fun" part is when they say it's not an issue but dropping fuel over densely populated areas is forbidden... Can you smell the bs?
Still, sorry for not finding the link to what I described, it was years ago and I don't remember the newspaper name.
There were letters to the newspaper "RHEINPFALZ" afterwards, in which wanderers reported about how they suddenly smelled some chemical stuff in the Palatine Forest - and now they knew why ...
My german isn't good so I had to go with a translator but I got it.
The "fun" part is when they say it's not an issue but dropping fuel over densely populated areas is forbidden... Can you smell the bs?
Still, sorry for not finding the link to what I described, it was years ago and I don't remember the newspaper name.
There were letters to the newspaper "RHEINPFALZ" afterwards, in which wanderers reported about how they suddenly smelled some chemical stuff in the Palatine Forest - and now they knew why ...
Die Saarländer wird's gefreut haben.
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
and other movies like that exist. Btw how great was Eye in the Sky, right? I really enjoyed it. (tearing up over the loss of Rickman though)
I felt that Eye in the Sky (which I viewed twice in the theater) proved respectable and perhaps a little above average, but the movie was too pedantic—it played too much like an attempt to educate viewers about all the pros and cons of using drones and the aspects that factor into such decisions. And, yes, you want such a movie to be instructive in a geopolitical, logistical, and even ethical sense, but not to the point of feeling like an instructional manual, one that saps much of the situation's spontaneity.
Yet the movie was worth seeing and respectable visually while providing some suspense and certainly quite a bit of balance. Its greatest contribution may have been its ability to convey the inherent paradoxes and tragedy of such a weapon, which transcend the typical hawk-or-dove types of debates.
Post by joekiddlouischama on Apr 20, 2018 9:04:50 GMT
I enjoyed Atomic Blonde, which I viewed twice in the theater, as a stylish entertainment piece with bits of geopolitical intrigue and irony (and swaths of unrealized potential in that regard), but I found Red Sparrow to be the better film—"pretty good/good," actually. The movie possesses its share of typical flaws, primarily the customary over-plotting that accompanies this genre, but its best sequences—which come later on, pretty much in succession—are outstanding and suggestive of the genre's potential. I am specifically referring to the sequence in the
hotel, the aftermath when the Russians torture Jennifer Lawrence's character, and the sequence where she briefly and mysteriously tortures her American liaison and love interest—in what turns out to be her ruse to save him.
In these sequences, we witness the suspense, mystery, ambiguity, and brutality that one might associate with the genre's best movies. We feel the pain of the torturous violence (I sort of gasped and flinched at one point when the Russians were beating Lawrence's character), and we see terrific attention to detail, like in the
hotel room where she bumps in a drawer under the desk to conceal her disks while copying the computer files and the Russian guy approaches to see what she is doing—as we wonder if he is going to recognize her double-crossing espionage.
Indeed, the movie's best sequences create a terrific sense of uncertainty or vulnerability and prove memorable.
I personally see the comparison between Atomic Blonde and Red Sparrow, while logical to make given the proximity of their releases, as ultimately superficial, with the relationship between the two movies being coincidental. Atomic Blonde is a highly stylized, tongue-in-cheek, postmodern action movie based on a graphic novel with a techno/New Wave score and a supremely sexy New Age heroine engaged in all manner of totally unrealistic, male-oriented violence. Red Sparrow, conversely, is much more traditional and features a classical score. Its heroine is tough and capable of violence, but of a much more muted and realistic sort. And while neither movie is exactly rich thematically (Atomic Blonde actually offers greater intrigue and potential in this regard) or brilliantly written, Red Sparrow creates a greater impact through its greater attention to character, relationships (including hints of incest), suspense, and little realistic moments such as that
No I am not Russian, nor is my observation in any way a defense of Russia, in reality the Russian government does way worse things than what's in the movie. And yes obviously Hollywood films have been spoofing and villainizing Russians for many decades; but here they went the extra mileage to be as purposefully revolting and degrading as possible. Russian people as a whole are pretty much presented either as trash, or at best as American-supporting trash. You'd expect to see a movie made like this during the Cold War, serving not as artistic expression but as one-note propaganda.
When is Hollywood going to make a movie about US drone-operators who bomb entire villages and hospitals killing women and children in their hunt for the enemy? Is that not worth exploring?
