Pasha's Film Reviews Etc.

* * * We open in Japan. It is 2011 and the country has just been rocked by a tragically known earthquake. The German backpackers are caught under the rubble and a Russian peacekeeper tells them a yarn to keep their minds occupied. The story is about his mother and five men who protected her, the men he calls his fathers. Thus we go back to 1942, STALINGRAD, where one apartment block is a final bastion between the German troopers and Volga river.  There are five desperate men in the house and they are ready to fight to the end. But there’s someone else they want to protect. Its nineteen year old girl Katya who they all had fallen in love with. A dramatic stand begins. But do we really care? STALINGRAD has a great production values. Shot on crazy by Russian standards 30 million dollar budget it had an IMAX, 3D release and is a visual and technological achievement indeed.  It is a great action film with lots of air shots, explosions, shooting and plane cra...

* * * * A woman is stubbed to death crossing the bridge on a winter night. Another woman tells her daughter that they have a secret they will keep forever. Many years later a murder occurs in a quiet Inn on the ocean side. Are two murders connected? It’s up to professor Gallileo to find out. A MIDSUMMER EQUATION is based on the fourth in the series of novels by  Keigo Higashino featuring professor of physics Manabu Yakawa (AKA GALLILEO). Unlike many mystery writers Higashino takes the focus off “who-dun-it” to “how it was done”.  All his novels a praised for an original twist that was worth to look forward while reading the book. A MIDSUMMER EQUATION has it’s twist. And the journey towards it is no less but remarkable. At the heart of the story is a friendship between a middle aged professor of Physics who cannot stand children (he even gets hives around them) and a little boy, who is surprisingly insightful into the details of a murder mystery ...

*  *  * I n future police implemented the new technology of DNA recognition. When everyone’s DNA is stored in the main database called PLATINUM DATA it becomes impossible to get away with any crime. But then a terrible murder occurs inside the headquarters of the PLATIMUM DATA institute. When the head scientist of the program, a young genius Ryuhei Kagura tests DNA of the culprit he finds that computer incriminates him. Believing that something had gone wrong deep in the system itself he becomes a fugitive. A detective named Reiji Asama, who had never approved of the program on the first place, is hot in pursuit. PLATINUM DATA is a cross between the MINORITY REPORT and THE FUGITIVE. Bring in the split personality issues and some BIG BROTHER twists and here’s is a new angle of a familiar story. PLATINUM DATA is an action film at its best with the chases, explosions and a murder mystery to compliment. With the running time of over two hours the movie is...

* * * When Kenichi’s wife dies in hit and run accident his life is broken. Five years later the man responsible for the accident, Kijima, is out of the prison. Kenichi decides his wife’s killer deserves death sentence, so he starts sending him threatening notes, promising to kill him on the day his wife’s death anniversary. Kijima knows who is sending the notes and in his own turn starts blackmailing Kenichi’s brother in law. No one believes that Kenichi can really go through with his revenge, but as final night is approaching the tension is building and the lives of both men unravel towards it in a tragic way - as senseless and spontaneous as the accident itself that scarred their lives. Will they have any future beyond this last night? SAMURAI LAST NIGHT is inhabited by little people with broken pride. Each of them deals with it in his own way, fighting loneliness, fear and loss with every mean available to them, even if it requires threats and intimidation....

* * * Tokyo is shattered with terrorist attacks. There’s a suspect in custody - a young man whose reactions and behaviour puzzle both police and medics alike. A young doctor has a task to analyse his mental state. What she uncovers she finds hard to believe and so she digs deeper into his past, while the real psychopaths slowly but carefully closing on her… BRAIN MAN is based on a best selling novel, which explores the themes of forgiveness and saviour complex. But don’t look for much depth here. It is no more than enjoyable yarn that occasionally makes you think, and this is exactly what I want from my thrillers. The main villain is quite unbelievable which ruins the film a little, but it will not stop you to hate her all the same. This young girl who blows up busses full of kids is incredibly annoying.  (no spoiler here by the way). The music is a little too melancholic for a tightly scripted thriller (bing in Marco Beltrami please), but maybe I ...