the duelist ( 2016 film )
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will be digitally supersized by imax for a giant screen engagement starting in oct. 2016 .
reviewed at toronto film festival (special presentations), sept. 13, 2016. running time: 109 min. (original language title :
duelyant
)
the genre movie from alexander rodnyansky' s non - stop productions and director aleksey mizgirev will be digitally supersized by imax for a giant screen engagement starting in oct. 2016. the duelist marks the third russian - language film to be released on imax screens .
from fox international productions and fox star, this biopic of the eponymous cricket legend became the no. 2 opener of 2016 in
the title character in “the duelist” claims, repeatedly, that he doesn’t much like dueling .
aleksey mizgirev' s film looks at the life of yakovlev (pyotr fyodorov), a professional duelist in 19th century russia. the film (shot in imax) looks great, but the story is convoluted .
eye for detail makes the duelist' s protagonists just as compelling as their setting .
review: ‘the duelist’ is a good shot. a very good shot. - the new york times
. the $ 8. 4m launch is the top industry bow of 2016. play will continue strongly with tomorrow a public holiday. disney strategically slotted
the duelist' s chinese release is scheduled for 2017, with a precise date to be determined later .
, senior executive vice president, imax corp. and ceo of imax entertainment .
imax enjoys a strong presence in the russian market and this exciting film will provide russian audiences with one of their most anticipated movies of 2016 .
a retired officer returns from exile and takes up arms as a duelist' s representative for hire .
the distributor expects that the film will set a record for the highest - grossing russian movie in china .
guardians, that film being dubbed “russia’s avengers movie, ” isn’t the only genre flick to hail from the country. sony’s international division has released a new english - dubbed trailer for the duelist, a work that garnered some buzz in 2015 after it was announced to be the third russian - language film will be digitally re - mastered for imax in 2016. the duelist is bound for imax theaters in russia and select international markets later this year, but it remains to be seen whether or not the u. s. will have that privilege. however, genre - lovers can at least get a look at the visually compelling tale about a the vengeful duelist who never loses, thanks to this new trailer .
there are no featured audience reviews yet. click the link below to see what others say about the duelist (duelyant) !
“the duelist” is rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for violence, nudity and merciless aleutians .
gorgeously empty, the duelist is more interesting as a reflection of the russian sociopolitical climate today than it is as an actual goddamn movie .
the russian pic the duelist, from the studio behind stalingrad and the oscar - nominated leviathan, is to screen on imax screens in russia and select international markets .
the russian pic the duelist, from the studio behind stalingrad and the oscar - nominated leviathan, is to screen on imax screens in russia and select international markets .
china, france and germany are among the few territories not covered by a global distribution deal between the duelist' s producers and sony pictures .
china’s sea & shell film ltd. has picked up the russian movie duelyant (the duelist) for a theatrical release in the world' s second - largest box - office market and predicted it would become the highest - grossing russian movie in china ever .
despite promising elements of mixed - genre thrills, the film is finally the underwhelming sum of too many plot devices .
one technical note: the film was shot in imax format, meant for a 40 - foot screen .
imax' s interest in the duelist follows the giant screen exhibitor' s increasing investment in non - hollywood films, especially local language pics for the chinese market .
for sony, the local - language play this week was russia entry the duelist. from super - producer alexander rodyansky, the period thriller bowed at no. 1 .
in 2016, the cast of the classic yu - gi - oh! anime would return once more, in a film called yu - gi - oh! : the dark side of dimensions. this film follows the events of the anime, with the pharaoh having recovered his memories and finally passing on into the afterlife. kaiba is mad that he never got a chance to defeat the pharaoh in battle, so he wants to rebuild the millennium puzzle, and bring him back for one more card game ...
in italy, finding dory continued to lead the box office by a considerable margin in the 3rd weekend. to boot, in local currency (13. 3m euros), dory is now the no. 1 animated title of 2016 there .
imax' s interest in? ? the duelist follows the giant screen exhibitor' s increasing investment in non - hollywood films, especially local language pics for the chinese market .
that said, the look of the movie is still the most appealing thing about it. whether you watch a film on a giant screen or an iphone, the format doesn’t untangle messy plot threads. “the duelist” looks good no matter how you watch it. just don’t take the story too seriously while you’re watching .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
it' s an impressionistic film, and most people want what they' re accustomed to; movies .
an adventure film, with dramatic and thriller elements set against the backdrop of palaces and the noble view of the russian capital, the duelist centers on yakovlev, a retired officer, who returns to st. petersburg from a long exile. while in the city, he fights as a duelist’s representative. (nineteenth - century russian duel law allowed for a duelist to be replaced by any one person .) though yakovlev fights for money, he also seeks honor and revenge against those who disgraced him, therein, challenging the russian providence. yakovlev fearlessly plays with destiny as an example of traditional romantic characters from the russian classics .
an interview with writer / director boots riley about his incendiary new film ,
sorry to bother you .
the duelist, which had its world premiere at the toronto international film festival earlier this month, opens in russia on sept. 29. it will also be released in imax theaters in russia, becoming only the third russian movie in that format after stalingrad and this year' s ekipazh (crew) .
we are sure that this bold and artfully executed picture will allow chinese viewers to enjoy russian culture and feel the touching power of one of the best russian cinema examples ,
said cheng yuhai, the founder of sea & shell film. he added that he believes the duelist has the potential to break the record for the highest - grossing russian movie in china .
right, because a lot of people compare the visuals to something you' d see in a pixar film. that' s quite the compliment !
fedor bondarchuk' s stalingrad, the first russian film imax released, went on to become the highest - grossing film of all time in russia and played on imax screens in the u. s. and china .
after the very successful russian release of stalingrad in imax, we are excited to partner again with alexander and our friends at non - stop productions on the duelist ,
said greg foster, ceo of imax entertainment, in a statement on wednesday .
a controversial thriller about a hitman forced to undergo gender reassignment surgery has been added to the lineup of next month’s toronto international film festival .
starring: pyotr fyodorov, vladimir mashkov, and yuliya khlynina the duelist official trailer 1 (2016) - pyotr fyodorov movie set in 19th century imperial russia, the story revolves around a retired army veteran who makes a good living by settling duels for aristocrats, a common practice of the era. shot in imax. cast petr fedorov, vladimir mashkov, martin wuttke, julia khlynina, yuri kolokolnikov director alexey mizgirev subscribe to indie & film festivals: urltoken subscribe to trailers: urltoken subscribe to coming soon: urltoken we' re on snapchat: urltoken like us on facebook: urltoken follow us on twitter: urltoken you' re quite the artsy one, aren' t you? fandango movieclips film festivals & indie trailers is the destination for... well, all things related to film festivals & indie films. if you want to keep up with the latest festival news, art house openings, indie movie content, film reviews, and so much more, then you have found the right channel .
m. c. escher’s brain - bending paintings are a natural port of call for visual designers, and have cropped up in endless tv shows and games. on film his often - surreal inversions of natural laws have been more difficult to use, and aside from a memorable tip of the hat in labyrinth, inception is the film that’s made best use of them. in retrospect, of course a film set “within the architecture of the mind” would reference escher, since his etchings are dream architecture brought to life and given that they can support the film’s twisting perspectives and competing gravity wells .
but here' s the thing: financial success of a film gives all the people who entertained me a better chance to win some money back for all the effort they spent on the endeavour. it also allows a better chance, for example, for that director to get his / her next film financed more quickly .
the look of the movie is still the most appealing thing about it. whether you watch a film on a giant screen or an iphone, the format doesn' t untangle messy plot threads .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
( re) assignment, formerly known as tomboy, a revenger’s tale, stars michelle rodriguez as a male assassin who undergoes a transition against his will at the hands of a rogue surgeon, played by sigourney weaver. the film, which is directed by the warriors’ walter hill, was criticised last year by the lgbt group glaad, which called the premise “sensationalistic” and said the film undermined the progress of transgender rights. the film festival’s press release makes no mention of the transgender theme, describing the story as “a trail of self - discovery and redemption against a criminal mastermind opponent” .
much like the pokémon movies before it, the first yu - gi - oh! film gave away trading cards with each showing. you would receive one of four random cards for each ticket you bought to see the film. the four cards were pyramid of light, sorcerer of dark magic, watapon, and blue - eyes shining dragon .
went on to become the highest - grossing film of all time in russia and played on imax screens in the u. s. and china .
after the very successful russian release of
from a long exile. while in the city, he fights as a duelist' s representative. (nineteenth - century russian duel law allowed for a duelist to be replaced by any one person .) though yakovlev fights for money, he also seeks honor and revenge against those who disgraced him, therein, challenging the russian providence. yakovlev fearlessly plays with destiny as an example of traditional romantic characters from the russian classics .
globally. directed by guo jingming, the live - action / cgi fantasy was the no. 2 film in china this weekend where it booked over 35% of available screenings. we do not have a confirmed figure out of china, although local reports put it at about $ 29m. of that, 325 imax plays were worth $ 2. 3m in the middle kingdom where 15 of the film’s top 20 runs were imax. the film will continue to benefit from the national day golden week holiday there. lionsgate is reporting
two of the recurring villains from the duelist kingdom arc in yu - gi - oh! were pegasus and bandit keith. pegasus forced yugi to enter his duel monsters tournament by stealing the soul of his grandfather. he also stole the souls of both mokuba and seto kaiba. this was all part of his plan for resurrecting his dead wife. bandit keith was the best duel monsters player in america. he was embarrassed by pegasus at a tournament, and he came to the duelist kingdom to seek revenge .
sushant singh rajput, kiara advani and anupam kher star in the biopic whose trailer generated some 22m views. the film was released in hindi, tamil, telugu, and marathi versions .
no sure shot:' the duelist' is a good - looking mess if you can keep up with the increasingly convoluted story, that' s a plus, but mostly it' s worth watching for the visuals. check out this story on urltoken urltoken
in india and the uk, fox international productions and fox star, released cricketer biopic m. s. dhoni: the untold story, batting $ 14. 5m. the india bow is particularly remarkable as the second biggest opening of 2016 — after salman khan’s recent smash sultan. rather than rely on marquee name bollywood stars, m. s. dhoni ‘s key attraction is its legendary subject .
insomniac games' staff has likely been living up to its name more than usual over the past month. with the announcement of two new titles for the oculus rift and release of the game and film of ratchet & clank, the veteran developer has been burning the midnight oil to say the least. therefore, it' s no wonder that it should take some respite from the daily grind and mingle with fans, and that' s exactly what the north carolina division of the studio did on the opening night for its film .
mizgirev' s script is an indigestible, soap - operatic mess of backstories, clichés, and the kind of ambiguous mystic overtones that have become an unbreakable addiction for russian film .
i still believe inherent vice is misunderstood. i have film friends whose opinions i respect that hate the film. i guess when you are an auteur like pta an 8 million return on a 20 million budget won' t hurt your future projects too much. the man translated a thomas pynchon novel to the screen and nobody was interested in seeing how he did it. plus, the soundtrack is amazing. 20th century women is my runner up. that was my favorite film from last year and completely accessible to a wide audience. should have been a huge hit .
also appearing at the festival is brain on fire, director gerard barrett’s film about a new york post journalist (chloë grace moretz) who experienced seizures, hallucinations and violent outbursts. meanwhile, in the exception offers mind games with higher stakes as rival agents wrestle over the fate of the abdicated german kaiser (christopher plummer) in the middle of the second world war. it also stars lily james, jai courtney and janet mcteer, and is the feature - film debut of the theatre director david leveaux .
stalingrad, from director fedor bondarchuk, was the first russian - language film to get its imax release, and it’s also a product of non - stop productions. the other one is more known in the mainstream thanks to its oscar nomination, the leviathan .
what we now know as the yu - gi - oh! card game did not appear until later episodes, where it was called magic and wizards, and was in a much more primitive form. the anime followed the story of the original manga, with the much darker version of the pharaoh (and his murderous antics). early versions of characters like kaiba and bakura also appeared in this series. this season of the anime had its own film, called yu - gi - oh! the movie. the character designs in the film more closely resembled the ones seen later in the duel monsters version of the anime .
the imax® release of the duelist will be digitally re - mastered into the image and sound quality of the imax experience® with proprietary imax dmr® (digital re - mastering) technology. the crystal - clear images, coupled with imax' s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie .
a tale of honor, revenge and violence in czarist russia, the imax - shot “the duelist” is a spectacular, impressively realized period drama that’s notable not only for the talents of writer - director aleksey mizgirev but also the sponsorship of producer alexander rodnyansky. the latter may be the most ambitious and savvy of current russian producers, having shepherded andrey zvyagintsev ’s “ leviathan ” to international success and an oscar nomination two years ago. with “the duelist, ” rodnyansky is taking a more commercial turn, one that depends less on art - house refinements than on plush production values, action - movie tropes and a couple of stellar lead performances .
the film’s leads are also major assets. both are stars in russia and look like they have considerable international potential. with the smoldering dark looks of the young mel gibson or colin farrell, fyodorov could well have a future as a cosmopolitan romantic lead or marvel superhero. and mashkov, who’s already appeared in “mission impossible – ghost protocol, ” would be a great candidate if james bond needs any more russian villains. with these stars and its other strengths, “the duelist” is a welcome indication of the current russian cinema’s commercial ambitions and potential .
it’s a pity that certain epochs tend to get relegated to polite, slightly stuffy “masterpiece theater” terrain in screen translation. but if the alternative is something as strained as “the duelist” — which tries to impose megaplex macho - action spectacle on the upper echelons of 19th - century czarist russian society — then sticking to the status quo [ … ]
it' s not entirely forgettable, yet in our current world where even big stars don' t sell movie tickets, the duel had to have something more in order to really be successful. the film is an unfortunate misfire .
so i dislike seeing a personal favorite underperforming at the box office, it sucks. which brings me to my question of the week: which film, in your opinion, should have become a far bigger hit than it did ?
of course films are works of art, rather than contestants in a running match. if i got to see a film and loved it, what should i care about its success with the masses, right ?
it’s interesting to contemplate the film’s appeal to contemporary russian audiences since it leapfrogs over the communist era to evoke a time when the country was ruled by a proud and wealthy aristocracy. distinctions of class, in fact, are paramount in this tale, which is solely concerned with the prerogatives of the nobility .
we took a look at the film script in its earliest stage and we outlined what we needed to do to hit the major story beats for ratchet & clank. the film tells a version of the origin story that' s streamlined and cleaned up relative to the original game. the basics are all there but it rambles a bit, almost like we made it up as we went along... which we kind of did. so now we' re able to look at it with the benefit of everything we' ve learned over the years, and craft a much sturdier beginning for the series .
mahendra singh dhoni is one of the highest paid athletes in the world and a gentleman cricketer who was captain of india’s team, leading it to world cup victory in 2011. the film, directed by neeraj pandey, recounts his life story from the dusty roads of his origins in ranchi to the sacred grounds of the wankhede stadium in mumbai .
the duelist is written and directed by indie filmmaker alexey mizgirev, is produced by alexander rodnyansky, and boasts a cast that includes pyotr fyodorov (stalingrad), vladimir mashkov (mission: impossible – ghost protocol), yuri kolokolnikov (game of thrones), and martin wuttke (inglorious basterds) .
unlike christophe gans’ 18th century martial - arts - horror hybrid the brotherhood of the wolf, which similarly tried to sex up an era usually reserved for middlebrow costume dramas, the duelist refuses to acknowledge fun. it is humorless and portentous. but can something so overwrought, so far off the deep end of macho fantasy really be called boring? bringing to mind an imperfect clone of colin farrell cruelly robbed of the ability to smile, fyodorov glowers, broods, and furrows his thick eyebrows through every scene. duels staged behind paper screens, unfeasible secret conspiracies and identities, con games based on aristocratic honor—it’s the duelist ’s inability to recognize its own ludicrousness that makes it, in spots, delectable as camp .
– that have been explicitly framed as film noir or east asian noir, or that acquire legibility as noir texts through reception discourse and other critical activity. contributors look at historical and contemporary cases to understand the terms on which national, regional and transnational cinemas conceive artistic expression. their conceptualization and articulation of an internationally situated ‘east asian film noir’ helps raise questions around the politics of representation, authorial activity, generic and modal positioning and local and cross - cultural reception .
it’s a pity that certain epochs tend to get relegated to polite, slightly stuffy “masterpiece theater” terrain in screen translation. but if the alternative is something as strained as “the duelist” — which tries to impose megaplex macho - action spectacle on the upper echelons of 19th - century czarist russian society — then sticking to the status quo will do just fine, thanks. this ludicrous costume shoot - ’em - up only inflates its whopping clichés and anachronisms by placing them in the incongruously deployed imax format. despite the alluring novelty of watching a costume narrative in that supersized mode, alexey mizgirev ’s film is unlikely to find much welcome beyond former soviet territories .
aleksey mizgirev’s film is set in 19th century russia, a time in which, we learn, duels among noblemen were frequent. and if you didn’t want to fight the duel yourself, you could get someone to do it for you .
the major markets to open were the uk, russia and mexico. while the
mizgirev orchestrates all this with steady skills in handling small moments as well as the huge canvas that an obviously ample budget has allowed him. cinematographer maksim osadchiy favors crisp, dark images that bring out expanse of luxury and squalor in andrey ponkratov’s superlative production design; by any measure, “the duelist” offers the most sumptuous evocation of czarist russia seen in any recent movie .
really hits the ground running. the time is 1860, and the location is st. petersburg, where young nobleman, yakovlev (pyotr fodorov) is a relentless and evidently professional duelist. yakovlev has a fearsome reputation as a “death machine”, notwithstanding the fact that he claims to detest duelling. his opposite number is count graf beklemishev (vladimir mashkov), an apparent cad whom we’re not supposed to like .
it was really cool and collaborative. we didn' t know at first what we were getting ourselves into. syncing up the game with the feature film brought a lot of variables that we don' t usually have, but thankfully it turned out to be a breath of fresh air. the animation teams were very willing to cooperate. they consulted with us about a whole lot of decisions because longtime series writer tj fixman co - wrote the film script, so we had a lot of different connecting points. and the animation director for the movie is oliver wade, who is a former insomniac and good friend .
despite all of the new series, cards, and characters, there are fans who long for the days of yugi and his friends. it is because of this nostalgia that a 2010 movie called yu - gi - oh! : bonds beyond time was released. the film unites the protagonists of the first three yu - gi - oh! seasons, through the aid of a time - travelling villain .
so when we finished the game we ended up with all - new bosses, a bunch of new planets, a new weapon arsenal, new clank gameplay, new ship combat – not to mention the completely reworked visuals and an hour plus of new cinematics. it felt like we needed to get back to the core and soul of ratchet & clank and redefine it for the ps4 and 2016. at this point we feel like we have a sturdy foundation to work from. maybe it goes forward from here, but we don' t know yet! we' re still basking in the warm reception to this one .
in 2016, microsoft released a development kit for a product called the hololens. it is similar to a vr headset in appearance, except that it has a clear visor over the eyes. its purpose is to show high quality augmented reality images, so that they appear to exist in real life. fans have been working on creating a yu - gi - oh! game using the hololens, which displays images of the cards and monsters in a way that makes them look real. while still early in development, the dream of one day being able to play yu - gi - oh! like they did on the show may become a reality .
and... well, when i love a film i just want as many people as possible to go see it. it' s one of the most important reasons for me why i write on this site, and why i write so many positive reviews (if i dislike a film, it must be really very newsworthy before i start to write about it). for some of my most beloved films i' ve even secretly bought a second copy just to lend out to people .
the film on this list with the deepest roots in art history is, perhaps surprisingly, alien. you already knew that h. r. giger designed the xenomorph, based on his own nightmarish and surrealistic work. but what you may not have known is that he was inspired by francis bacon’s melty - faced study of pope innocent x, itself based on the portrait of that pontiff by spanish master diego velázquez. so the genesis of this film sees two of the 20th century’s masters and one 17th century legend conspire to bring us an acid - blooded nightmare monster. in any battle between alien and predator, therefore, alien should rest assured of the full support of the art community – although it boggles the mind to imagine what velázquez would have made of the creation .
yu - gi - oh! the movie: pyramid of light was actually the second yu - gi - oh! film. there had been an earlier movie based on season zero of the anime that was only released in japan. pyramid of light was about the resurrection of anubis, the egyptian lord of the dead. as with all yu - gi - oh! villains, he only wanted to beat the main characters in a card game .
by the time the next season of the anime was released (the one that was released in america), the duel monsters card game had been fleshed out. it became the central focus of the story, and was entwined with the story of the millennium items .
after losing to joey wheeler, bandit keith threatened pegasus, and is dropped through a trapdoor, which slid him straight out of the duelist kingdom. he would later show up under the control of marik, during the battle city arc. after being beaten by yugi, pegasus had his millennium eye stolen by bakura. he later became a recurring character in several of the movies, filler seasons, and yu - gi - oh! gx .
update, writethru: the international box office got a boost this weekend, jumping 110% from last frame across the top 10 titles, and dipping just 6% versus the similar session last year. there were two major overseas openings for hollywood, with a raft of hot local movies in the mix around the globe — many with savvy studio participation. there are also a series of key milestones as finding dory finally splashed into germany and set a new bar for 2016 as well as crossing $ 500m internationally — putting the $ 1b worldwide mark within fin’s reach. and, there are no growing pains for bridget jones’s baby with a 3rd straight no. 1 in the uk as it cozies up to $ 100m overseas .
holdovers / expansions bridget jones’s baby universal, miramax and studiocanal’s presentation of this working title production is growing up nicely. with a $ 19m 3rd frame, renee zellweger and co have cumed $ 99. 9m overseas for $ 120. 9m in the worldwide buggy. by the time it reaches term, bridget should be looking at around $ 200m global — a nice bundle for a film that stumbled in the u. s. it’s getting a lot of mileage out of the uk where it is the no. 1 film for a third week in a row with a fantastic $ 6. 7m frame and a 17 - day total of $ 41. 1m .
. in the former, a 1m swiss franc bow is the biggest ever in the region .
american 20th century artist edward hopper’s paintings have an empty, desolate quality that fitted the isolated motel of psycho rather well. this particular 1925 painting, of a gothic farmhouse on a lonely plain, informed the look of the bates house in some detail, with the steps up the hill from the motel even offering a visual nod to the railroad of the painting. hopper was a keen fan of cinema and was apparently delighted that his painting had contributed to the film. hollywood has generally repaid the compliment, with this painting in particular also a huge influence on terrence malick’s days of heaven and a clear model for the homestead there .
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this is the first of several duels we see the film’s protagonist fight, and it’s soon clear that he’s at once skilled, shrewd and lucky. his intrepid and very illegal business is conducted with the help of a partner, baron staroe (martin wuttke), who arranges yakovlev’s assignments. (this character and one or two others speak german throughout the film, for reasons that one assumes are mainly commercial .) and behind staroe, there’s the shadowy figure of count beklemishev (vladimir mashkov), who has secretly masterminded yakovlev’s recent career while also attempting to woo wealthy princess martha tuchkova (yuliya khlynina), whose younger brother prince tuchkov (pavel tabakov) is soon to face yakovlev in a duel .
really? well there is a little badass film called dredd... . don' t know if anyone out there has heard of it... it' s just... . you know... . one of the unapologetic badass comic book films that also gets everything right .
it’s hard not to imagine “the duelist” as vladimir putin’s fantasy of imperial russia, in which men endlessly talk about honor while staring daggers and aiming firearms at each other, and where there’s nothing at all gay about a hero spending so much time impressively shirtless. naturally, women both virginally blonde and strumpetly red - headed tremble with yearning at the proximity of such masculine magnificence, resulting in the film’s single most howl - inducing setpiece: when not long after telling our protagonist “i hate you! ” princess martha naturally finds herself boinking him. what’s more, she does it naked, in a carriage with big exposing windows, in the middle of a busy daytime city street. how did such episodes not manage to find their way into the pages of dostoevsky and tolstoy? perhaps only because the latter lacked inspirational access to “emmanuelle” movies, not to mention the michael bay oeuvre .
the duelist, by russian director alexey mizgirev, is about a st petersburg gun - for - hire who takes on other people’s fights, while rage, directed by sang - il lee, is a grisly three - part thriller that hops between japanese cities and stars ken watanabe. the long excuse, also set in japan, is a comedy - drama about a man (masahiro motoki) who offers to care for the children of another man who is widowed by the same crash that killed his own wife .
while sporadically impressive as spectacle, particularly given its imax boost, “the duelist” often plays fast and loose with period accuracy, not just in terms of character behavior but in details of costume and production design. it is unclear whether this is because the filmmakers simply don’t care, or are going for any effect that might appeal to a modern action audience. (for instance, yakovlev’s customary black - tunic garb makes it look like he just stepped out of “the matrix. ” )
i don' t have any crazy hollywood stories about that or anything. we get together because we love making games; we' re a studio of people who are big fans of science fiction: star wars, back to the future, ghostbusters. we love brainstorming for games like this. we participated in weekly reviews, but were pretty insulated from day - to - day film production. developing the game was hard, just like it always is. we had the challenge of figuring out how to structure it, how to make it amazing with the limited time we had, just like always. we faced some new challenges in working out the macro around the film story, but that was no easier or more difficult than it ever is. just different .
last years the nice guys, i really don' t get what is not to like about that film, great throwback feel to all those pulpy / sleezy films of the 70' s / 80' s. such a shame that it didn' t catch on, seems like everyone i have talked to that did see it really enjoyed it .
if this plot’s tangle of euro - russian relations, financial debts, and fates is supposed to be a metaphor, it hasn’t been thought through. but mizgirev, who is best known for bleak exercises like tambourine, drum and the convoy, has somehow figured out how to make a visually incoherent movie without resorting to quick cuts. the duelist is being distributed in imax, and its aesthetic is all oomph: inertly acted, bombastically scored, and filmed from low and canted angles on sets so cavernous and so lavished with decay and water damage that much of the action appears to take place underground. that a movie called the duelist can’t get two shots of men pointing flintlock pistols at each other to match appears to be a secondary concern; mizgirev is more interested in his collection of fetish - wear - esque period costumes, rain machines, crumbling textures, gruesome injuries, and self - loathing sex scenes .
so why watch? because it’s so ridiculously overstuffed it’s kind of fun. that extends to, or perhaps begins with, the look of the film. it’s rich, overripe, yet still kind of seedy. lots of peeling paint and rain, rain, rain. the views of russia are fascinating, though the thought of living in such a place at such a time is not exactly appealing, unless you were a good shot .
if you were to suspect that yakovlev has big secrets in his past, that he and beklemishev have a history, and that the puppet master and the puppet will eventually face each other on the dueling floor—you would of course be correct. “the duelist” is, quite appropriately, one of those movies that resembles a russian doll: there are machinations within machinations, plots within plots, secret agendas within secret agendas. though the narrative conceits can sometimes begin to feel overly ornate, they generally adduce the kinds of pleasures such storytelling at its best entails, and occasionally touch on some genuine profundities of character and destiny .
we started with the main film locations: ratchet' s home on veldin, aleero city on planet kerwan, drek' s warbot factory on quartu, and drek and nefarious' deplanetizer space station. some of these had a basis in the original game, but some we constructed from scratch. then we chose planets from the original game to push the action between the major story scenes. we tied it all together with the progression scheme of weapon levelling that we' ve evolved over the years. at the end of it, we have in - game progression tied to the clarity of ratchet and clank' s new story .
i' m worried that his next one - annihilation - is going to tank. having read the book (which i loved), it doesn' t feel like it' s going to have a very broad appeal to mainstream audiences. not that ex machina did either, but i' m thinking that annihilation is a bigger budget film .
this was a very
feel - good
production in a lot of ways that led to all kinds of things like sharing models. we' d send a model from one of the playstation 3 games to rainmaker, and they would up - res it, get it ready for the big screen, and send it back to us for the game. then we' d change the shaders to get it ready for our proprietary engines. a lot of times the model that we see in the film is exactly the same as the model that' s in the game. this is the first hardware generation where that sort of thing is possible. it speaks to how closely interwoven these two projects are .
in 52 markets — the uk, russia and mexico being the key plays .
the duellists - - the insult. harvey keitel keith carradine early and excellent roles
slifer the sky dragon entered the possession of yugi moto, who used it the during the final tournament of battle city. in the original japanese language version of the game, slifer was called osiris. the reason for this change is because he was named after roger slifer, one of the employees at 4kids entertainment, who worked on the english dub of the yu - gi - oh! anime .
sofia coppola’s punk biopic of the doomed french queen may have included some distinctly anachronistic pairs of converse and manolo blahnik shoes, but she also took inspiration from the court portraits of the queen painted by rococo artist louise élisabeth vigée le brun. yes, a woman! overcoming the sexism of the time in part thanks to family connections and also thanks to talent, the artist left more than 30 portraits of the queen and her family, and went on to travel around europe and paint russian royalty after the french revolution made her native land a less - than - hospitable place for a court painter. vigée le brun’s sugary palette and pastel colours are clearly visible in the film, and a scene showing a woman painting the queen is even included in the final cut .
film noir has been understood as a genre exclusive to hollywood. but classical us noir’s downbeat sensibility also finds expression in later films from japan, south korea and greater china (including hong kong) and taiwan that have both participated in and been excluded from circuits of global - noir traffic, past and present. noir is a form of generic expression, an international filmic sensibility and a discourse loosely joining innumerable texts and a range of production and reception phenomena. however defined and categorized, the genre offers a compelling frame through which to view individual works, looming political and cultural contexts, film industry and reception activity, and wider circuits and frictions of global screen - media flow. this anthology looks at a range of east asian films from the 1950s to the present – including
a bit of a cheat considering that this 1956 melodrama is a formal biopic of van gogh, but the great dutchman’s work also inspired the look of vincent minnelli’s film and warrants a place on the list. for one thing, minnelli deepened the yellows of his fields to match the artist’s palette using that friend of the auteur, spray paint; for another, there’re plenty of scenes in which kirk douglas portrays the anguished van gogh at work, not least in painting his last great work, the brooding, menacing wheatfield with crows. anthony quinn steals the show with an oscar - winning turn as tough - guy ladies’ man paul gauguin, but only because there’s no award for best supporting landscape .
the film does what films do best, and that' s follow the arcs of the main characters. there are more characters and time spent establishing character traits and connections as emotional content. for the game, we have some of that, but we' re also filling in the gaps between major sequences with game mechanics and game pacing. we focus on what feels fun to do for 15 minutes at a time while doing things like upgrading ratchet' s weapon arsenal throughout the game. i see it as each of these media doing the thing they' re really good at, each tackling the same subject matter in a way that plays to their unique strengths .
the duel is an entertaining period film about keeping law in the old west. when a mexican general' s nephew is found murdered in the rio grande river texas ranger david kingston is tasked with going undercover to investigate a known vigilante called the preacher. woody harrelson, liam hemsworth, and alice braga lead the cast and deliver solid performances. and the director does an impressive job at setting an authentic tone, and at creating tension and suspense. but the storytelling is rather weak and can drag at times. also, there' s a little too much ambiguity to some of the character subplot. it can be a little slow and listless at times, but overall the duel is an interesting character drama .
the physical world of the movie teems with diverting period detail, which, along with the always interesting looking and sometimes very attractive members of the cast, are well shot by the cinematographer maksim osadchiy. not well enough to redeem the movie, however .
the game is told from qwark' s point of view. it matches the film story, but qwark adds commentary and it' s his version of events to a certain extent. at the same time, we think that the main story beats are there; the big tentpoles – like ratchet' s origin as a lombax orphan, clank' s origin as a factory defect – are still there, and none of it invalidates later games. we didn' t set out to rework the canon. in other words, the future series is still canon with everything else subsequently assuming part of the canon as well. the new game is just more of a cleaner retelling of sorts. don' t freak out !
how smooth was the process of working with rainmaker and blockade entertainment on bringing this beloved video game series to the big screen while making the game based on the movie... er, based on the game ?
chad dezern: sure, well, we know we have the feature film coming out, and to us that represented a golden opportunity to tell the ultimate version of ratchet and clank' s origins story. we knew we wanted to make the game on playstation 4 and hit a visual bar that' s a lot higher than anything we' ve been able to achieve before on previous platforms, but at the same time we never wanted to make just a
remaster
. we knew from day one that we wanted to effectively make a new game that was built on top of the foundation of the old game .
among those, we learn as the film begins, are the rules governing dueling, the standard means for an offended noble to defend his honor. the code lays down an intricate array of rituals and restrictions, but allows that one party may sometimes be replaced by another nobleman. thus do we enter the story of one yakovlev (pyotr fyodorov), a professional duel fighter. when we first see him, yakovlev is facing off against another man in an elegant room, accompanied by their seconds and those conducting the duel. yakovlev apparently has nerves of steel: after the two men choose pistols, he offers his temple to his opponent. the man pulls the trigger and his gun doesn’t fire. yakovlev then raises his pistol to the man’s forehead, fires and puts a bullet through his head .
the battle city arc of yu - gi - oh! introduced a new set of cards that had the potential to bring about the end of the world. they were called the
egyptian god cards
in the english dub, and the three of them were said to be overwhelmingly powerful. the three egyptian gods were called obelisk the tormentor, the winged dragon of ra, and slifer the sky dragon. these cards required three sacrifices in order to be summoned, and each of them had unique abilities that could swing the match in favour of the player who summoned them .
the four cards that were given away at showings of the movie are actually part of the plot. both yugi and kaiba used these cards in battle. the blue - eyes shining dragon was meant to be the most powerful variant of the blue - eyes type monsters .
while the finished film moved in a slightly edgier direction (pictoral references on the walls of the production office included the princess bride), the original look for disney’s take on the rapunzel story was built around this painting by french painter jean - honoré fragonard. known for his hedonistic themes and chocolate - box cuteness, fragonard flourished in pre - revolutionary france but was all but forgotten for the century that followed the terror. it turns out paintings of flowers are instruments of aristocratic oppression, innit. still, that didn’t stop disney and its animators using this painting, in particular, to build their rapunzel story around. the only real difference is that they replaced the swing with some really, really long hair, and dressed their leading man in rather less girly clothing than was popular in france' s ancien regime.
the duelist ( russian : дуэлянт ) is a 2016 russian adventure drama film directed by aleksey mizgirev . the film stars pyotr fyodorov , vladimir mashkov , and sergei garmash . this is the russian third feature film produced using the imax format . it was released in russia on september 29 , 2016 in full imax . an adventure film , with dramatic and thriller elements set against the backdrop of palaces and the noble view of the russian capital , the movie centers on yakovlev , a retired officer , who returns to st. petersburg from a long exile . while in the city , he fights as a duelist ’s representative . during nineteenth-century russian duel law allowed for a duelist to be replaced by any one person . though yakovlev fights for money , he also seeks honor and revenge against those who disgraced him , therein , challenging the russian providence . the duelist is written & directed by indie russian filmmaker aleksey mizgirev , made by non-stop productions and produced by alexander rodnyansky . 
the duelist (russian: дуэлянт) is a 2016 russian adventure drama film directed by aleksey mizgirev. the film stars pyotr fyodorov, vladimir mashkov, and sergei garmash. this is the russian third feature film produced using the imax format. it was released in russia on september 29, 2016 in full imax. an adventure film, with dramatic and thriller elements set against the backdrop of palaces and the noble view of the russian capital, the movie centers on yakovlev, a retired officer, who returns to st. petersburg from a long exile. while in the city, he fights as a duelist ’s representative. during nineteenth-century russian duel law allowed for a duelist to be replaced by any one person. though yakovlev fights for money, he also seeks honor and revenge against those who disgraced him, therein, challenging the russian providence. the duelist is written & directed by indie russian filmmaker aleksey mizgirev, made by non-stop productions and produced by alexander rodnyansky.
the duelist (russian: дуэлянт) is a 2016 russian adventure drama film directed by aleksey mizgirev. the film stars pyotr fyodorov, vladimir mashkov, and sergei garmash. this is the russian third feature film produced using the imax format. it was released in russia on september 29, 2016 in full imax. an adventure film, with dramatic and thriller elements set against the backdrop of palaces and the noble view of the russian capital, the movie centers on yakovlev, a retired officer, who returns to st. petersburg from a long exile. while in the city, he fights as a duelist ’s representative. during nineteenth-century russian duel law allowed for a duelist to be replaced by any one person. though yakovlev fights for money, he also seeks honor and revenge against those who disgraced him, therein, challenging the russian providence. the duelist is written & directed by indie russian filmmaker aleksey mizgirev, made by non-stop productions and produced by alexander rodnyansky.