Timur Bekmambetov
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Unfriended (2014)
Directed by Levan Gabriadze
influenced by Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), Night Watch (2004), Wanted (2008)
Perhaps unwittingly, first time director Levan Gabriadze and screenwriter Nelson Greaves, working from a high concept sprung from the inventively tasteless imagination of Timur Bekmambetov (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”), have come up with a way to distract patrons from dithering with their smartphones while watching “Unfriended.”
Based on a concept by director-producer Timur Bekmambetov (Ben-Hur, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), writer Nelson Greaves’ screenplay unfolds more like a play than a feature film, a quality that works to its credit.
The most recognizable name is Timur Bekmambetov, the cult filmmaker (“Night Watch”) turned Hollywood name (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”), who cooked up the idea of making a movie that unfolds almost entirely on computer windows.
Written by someone who worked on stunts for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and overseen by the director of "Yolki 2" and "Yolki 3" but not the original "Yolki" (surely you've seen the entire Russian trilogy), "Unfriended" unfolds entirely on the screen of good girl Blaire's (Shelley Hennig) MacBook.
The most recognizable name is Timur Bekmambetov, the cult filmmaker (“Night Watch”) turned Hollywood name (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”), who cooked up the idea of making a movie that unfolds almost entirely on computer windows.
Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (who made the kick-ass vampire film “Night Watch”) produced the film and the young filmmakers he’s selected for the project definitely show some skill and a willingness to try and be innovative in how they approach the structure of a horror film.
I like the bit about how vampires can't kill themselves, because the way that Bekmambetov illustrates it reminded me a little of how David Lynch visualized the force-field thingies in Dune.
The few scenes with subtitles are easy to read with large, colored fonts reminiscent of the lively subtitles in Timur Bekmambetov's Night Watch.
Ironically, he did play a 19-year-old Neeson in "Kinsey," but he and Neeson have a lot in common.
Benjamin Walker never overcomes his stiffness and his odd similarity to Liam Neeson (he actually played the young Kinsey to Neeson's adult one in the biopic "Kinsey").
On the side of right and might, stage actor and sometime Liam Neeson look-alike Walker (he played the 19-year-old version of Neeson in Kinsey) does a solid job as Mr. Lincoln.
He looks like a young Liam Neeson (and in fact played the younger version of Neeson’s titular character in Kinsey), and shares that actor’s generous onscreen spirit as well.
Benjamin Walker, who looks more like Liam Neeson than Lincoln (and played a younger version of Neeson's title character in "Kinsey"), stars as the Great Emancipator, who also was apparently great at driving an axe into the skull of the undead.
As Abe, Walker looks like a young Liam Neeson (and in fact played a younger version of Neeson’s character in Kinsey), but lacks intensity.
Like Searching, it was produced by Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian Kazakh director of action hits such as Night Watch and Wanted who has seemingly transitioned into the extremely specific world of computer-screen thrillers .
Like Searching, it was produced by Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian Kazakh director of action hits such as Night Watch and Wanted who has seemingly transitioned into the extremely specific world of computer-screen thrillers .
After all, Nicholas Ray was an agnostic, but that didn’t stop him from directing one of the best of the religious epics, the 1961 “King of Kings.”
Hardcore Henry (2015)
Directed by Ilya Naishuller
influenced by Night Watch (2004), Profile (2018), Wanted (2008), Day Watch (2006), Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
Visuals
The video went viral and caught the attention of producer/director Timur Bekmambetov (“Night Watch,” “Day Watch”), who produced "Hardcore Henry."
Onstage before one Toronto film festival screenig, Naishuller admitted he worried when approached by producer Timur Bekmambetov (“Night Watch”) whether expanding upon his musicvideos (esp.
The pair’s affinity is easily spotted in the finished product, which has an anything-goes energy and a foreign idiosyncrasy similar to Bekmambetov’s “Night Watch.”
Cowriter (with Britt Poulton and Olga Kharina)/director Timur Bekmambetov ("Night Watch," 2016's "Ben-Hur"), who kicked off the Russian trend of hyperactive cinema now seen in the films of Kirill Sokolov (“Why Don’t You Just Die!”) and Ilya Naishuller (“Hardcore Henry,” “Nobody”), would seem an odd choice to adapt the 2015 nonfiction bestseller " In The Skin of a Jihadist," but we can see his style all over the computer screen film.
That’s a terrifyingly immediate sensation, and one that points to a new kind of interactive storytelling in which a guy like Bekmambetov might be able to physically meld with audiences in a way that the worst of his previous work (“Wanted,” “Hardcore Henry”) has always wished that it could.
Bekmambetov – who had recently taken to producing experimental genre films like Hardcore Henry and Unfriended – was trying his own hand at directing such a feature, bringing together elements of computer screen cinematography with contemporary issues of politics and social media.
Given that it involves both accountancy and cuckoldry, he may have a point, and the twitchy Gibson is the heir of a hundred other movie mice, headed by Jack Lemmon in “The Apartment.”
Wanted is like The Killer with more car stunts, a baffling battle royale between forces that defy physics while simultaneously stoking audience appreciation.
I don't usually like to say that a movie is a hybrid of other movies, but if I were going to do that, I'd say that Wanted is a cross between The Matrix and Fight Club: The Matrix for the kind of non-stop, larger-than-life, physics-defying action it possesses, and Fight Club for the anti-establishment story about an emotionally pent-up guy who finds personal liberation in illicit activity.
The influence of “The Matrix” — a similar story of an Average Joe who learns his life is much more significant than he imagines — is apparent early on.
I’d like to think it’s all there, because otherwise, “Wanted” is just another dumbass shoot-’em-up where we’re supposed to gawk at the awesome stunts and nifty special effects work that more or less repeat stuff we’ve already seen in “The Matrix.”
The movie marries the superhero origin film with the revenge thriller, blending them with hints of the frenzied intensity embodied by 300 and the visual orchestrations of The Matrix .
The action scenes will goose people the same way The Matrix did a decade ago, when the Wachowski Bros. introduced "bullet time" to turn physics into a stunt actor.
The story of the film—based on a comic book by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones—is at bottom a kind of rethinking of the Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix (1999) with a liberal sprinkling of angst-driven echoes of David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999).
Following Wesley as he grows from “Fight Club” mouse to “Matrix” lion is a far more enchanting arc than it has any right to be, if only because Betmambetov keeps the film’s outlandishness out in front to stun the viewer, while the rest of the film breakdances like a madman to keep the pace at top speed.
Based on the graphic novel series, Wanted initially feels like an unofficial remake of Fight Club, as cubicle nobody Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy, speaking of Atonement) narrates how he's been beaten down by his mundane, miserable existence (cheating girlfriend, obnoxious boss, dead-end job).
I don't usually like to say that a movie is a hybrid of other movies, but if I were going to do that, I'd say that Wanted is a cross between The Matrix and Fight Club: The Matrix for the kind of non-stop, larger-than-life, physics-defying action it possesses, and Fight Club for the anti-establishment story about an emotionally pent-up guy who finds personal liberation in illicit activity.
The story of the film—based on a comic book by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones—is at bottom a kind of rethinking of the Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix (1999) with a liberal sprinkling of angst-driven echoes of David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999).
While it’s clear that this movie borrows liberally from the Wachowski’s action packed bullet time virtual reality revisionism, it also incorporates much of Fight Club‘s insignificant rebel in a crass corporate pond philosophizing.
And director Timur Bekmambetov manages to take the source material and turn it in to a slick action thriller that mixes gore and dark comedy with a respective ensemble cast that give absolutely fantastic performances in what could be described as a vicious hybrid of “The Matrix,” and “La Femme Nikita” with a dash of “Fight Club.”
If you’re the kind of girl, like me, who might have thought it would be sort of awesome to throw, oh, I dunno, Mr. Darcy into Die Hard, well, this is almost it.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Directed by George Lucas
influenced Ben-Hur (2016)
Visuals Plot
Even if you haven’t seen the 1959 Oscar Best Picture version of Ben-Hur , in which the chariot race was an action spectacular unlike any the big screen had ever seen before, you have definitely seen the pod race in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace , which borrows heavily from it .
The sixth filmed version (a mini-series, two silent films, an animation and the famous one), it also follows the likes of Gladiator and The Phantom Menace, which riffed on different elements of the story or the action.
The Last Witch Hunter (2015)
Directed by Breck Eisner
influenced by Night Watch (2004), Day Watch (2006), Wanted (2008)
Previously, Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, famous for the Night Watch and Day Watch films before he went to Hollywood, was attached to direct the film.
Having replaced Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Wanted) on the project, Breck does a solid journeyman job, but a nagging suspicion lingers that the Russian action auteur might have goosed up this formulaic material with more of his signature visual flair and gonzo energy.
Previously, Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, famous for the Night Watch and Day Watch films before he went to Hollywood, was attached to direct the film.
Having replaced Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Wanted) on the project, Breck does a solid journeyman job, but a nagging suspicion lingers that the Russian action auteur might have goosed up this formulaic material with more of his signature visual flair and gonzo energy.
In Ben-Hur, the story of Jesus runs parallel to that of Judah Ben-Hur, like a less-fun Life of Brian.
He's a great and unusual choice; it's like casting Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate when everyone was expecting someone like Robert Redford.
Why remake “Ben Hur” (1959), the epic sword-and-sandals adventure that set an Oscar record, sweeping 11 out of the 12 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler) and Best Actor (Charlton Heston)?
As a peek into the mind of an up-and-coming animator (who is aided in his efforts by the equally dark and quirky Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, who brought us Night Watch and Day Watch ), it’s a nimble and eye-catching success.
As a peek into the mind of an up-and-coming animator (who is aided in his efforts by the equally dark and quirky Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, who brought us Night Watch and Day Watch ), it’s a nimble and eye-catching success.
“Familiar yet strangely alien” is a phrase that also calls to mind the work of Mr. Burton, who served as a producer of “9” along with Timur Bekmambetov, the director of “Wanted.”
This post-apocalyptic tale, produced by both Tim Burton and "Wanted" filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, boasts characters that look like sack dolls that have come to life.
Speaking of that dethroner, Wanted (2008) did custom firearms and curving munitions better, not to mention constructing a more fully realized shadow world.
"Manners maketh man," he says in a stately tone, prior to pummeling a group of toughs into bloody pulp, a sequence directed with the cartoonish flair befitting the film's source material, a comic book dubbed "The Secret Service," from writer Mark Millar, who explored similar over-the-top territory with "Kick-Ass" and "Wanted," and artist Dave Gibbons ("Watchmen").
Advertisement Adapted from a comic book by popular writer Mark Millar (“Kick-Ass,” Angelina Jolie’s “Wanted”) and artist Dave Gibbons (“Watchmen”), the film casts Firth as Harry Hart, a.k.a.
"Kingsman" is based on the comics of Mark Millar, the man behind "Kick-Ass," "Wanted" and Marvel's "Civil War," among others.
“Kingsman” is loosely based on the comic book series “The Secret Service ” by Mark Millar, who also wrote the comics “Wanted” and Kick-Ass.”
Though if you've seen the movie versions of Wanted and Kick-Ass you have a good idea too - Millar, an almost stereotypical angry Scot, specializes in deconstructing tropes into giant middle fingers pointed right at his readers.
Unlike Kick-Ass or the earlier adaptation Wanted (which I really hated), Kingsman: The Secret Service doesn’t have any didactic mission statement; it’s just ultraviolent fun.