After a fairly good and promising period, especially from the commercialism of some films, tonight begins one of the most indifferent weeks.

From the new premieres, the fourth sequel of “Expendables”, Stallone’s haval-adventure, is expected to dominate.

The two reissues of the seven-day series are, however, a good alternative choice: “Nervous Lover”, by Woody Allen and “The Port of the Outcasts” by Michel Carnet, with the mythical protagonist couple Jean Gabin and Michel Morgan.

Radio Metronome

(“Metronom”) Drama film, Romanian production of 2022, directed by Alexandru Burke, with Mara Bugarin, Vlad Ivanov, Serban Lazarovici, Alina Berzudeanu and others.

Born in 1980, the talented first-time Romanian director Alexandru Burke dives into the dark history of his Ceausescu regime, through the youthful memories of his parents. He places his story in 1972, a time of cosmogony, when music, heard from illegal stations, can give a sense of freedom, create dreams, bring the first glimpses of love to teenage youth, who have not quite realized what it means ” Ceausescu’s regime”.

The Cannes award-winning film (best director in the A Certain Sight category in 2022) began as a documentary some years ago about the 70s and the illegal radio station Metronome and the producer and exiled Romanian journalist Cornell Cyriac who was murdered in Munich in 1975.

Burke’s script focuses on Anna, a 17-year-old in love with Sorin, who is preparing to leave the country with his family to immigrate to Germany. Distraught by the flight of her love, Anna and her high school classmates prepare to write to an illegal radio station, only to be arrested along with her company by the regime’s infamous secret police.

The director gives his greatest affection and love for the new generation of that time, their innocence, which is threatened by the brutality of the regime. The central heroine will be transformed into a symbol for her attitude, for her choice not to bend before the asfilites, to “give” her friends to save herself. Burke avoids the usual graphicness of the villains, and by casting Vlad Ivanov in the role of the head of the Secret Police, who interrogates Anna and her friends, he manages to effectively show the contrast of victim and perpetrator, innocence versus abuse of power, but somewhere there it loses its measure and the characters seem quite formulaic, they seem to lose their naturalness.

The film, which is watched with interest, apart from its weaknesses, also wins the bet of recreating the 70’s era, while its strengths include the young protagonist Mara Bugarin.

IN A FEW WORDS… Bucharest, 1972. Seventeen-year-old Anna dreams of love and freedom. One night, while partying with her friends, they decide to send a letter to Metronom, the music program broadcast by Radio Free Europe illegally in Romania. That’s when the Securitate, Ceausescu’s secret police, arrives on her doorstep.

Carmen

(“Carmen”) 2022 American-French romantic drama musical, directed by Benjamin Milipent, starring Paul Mescal, Melissa Barrera, Rosie de Palma, Nicole da Silva, Elsa Pataky and others.

The attractive lead couple, with Oscar nominee Paul Mescal and the temperamental Melissa Barrera, as well as some of the film’s too many choreographies, will justifiably catch the attention of the audience. Especially fans of flamenco, but also of the classic story of the opera Carmen, although the music is by Nicholas Britel and the libretto seems just the occasion for an adventurous romance, set on the border of Mexico – USA.

Here, in his first directorial effort, the well-known dancer and choreographer Benjamin Milipent, who choreographed the film “Black Swan”, adapts the famous opera of the same name, bringing Carmen to the present day. Carmen, wanting to escape from the Mexican cartel, sneaks into the US, where some Americans have made a sport of hunting the heads of illegal immigrants, she will be arrested by a border policeman, who tries to kill her. She will be saved by another policeman, who helps her escape, fascinated by her passion and free spirit. They will agree to leave for Los Angeles, to make a new start, but the obstacles are many.

Milipent, as a director rookie, will try to impress, to prove his skills in directing as well, but he doesn’t do much, he is excessively exuberant, sometimes indecisive and especially in cutting unnecessary sequences, while he also exaggerates with the many music and dance parts of the film, although there are some enjoyable moments. It also seems unprepared to handle a serious issue like immigration, touching it superficially and only as a trigger for an adventurous love story, wanting to capitalize on its jealous protagonist couple.

IN A FEW WORDS… Carmen, a seductive young gypsy, leaves her family and community behind to escape a Mexican cartel. He leaves for the USA, dreaming of safety and freedom. She is captured by a border patrol agent who tries to kill her. Shocked by this violence, another police officer, Aidan, rescues Carmen and helps her escape. He agrees to take her to Los Angeles and along the way his attraction to her grows.

Consumables 4

(“The Expendables 4”) Adventure, American production of 2023, directed by Scott Waugh, with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Megan Fox, Dolph Lundgren, Andy Garcia and others.

The swashbuckling militaristic adventure of the veteran and renegade superheroes of the 80’s era returns for a fourth sequel, looking increasingly worn out.

The “Expendables”, along with the new generation joining the company, must face a terrorist, who possesses nuclear weapons and can cause World War III.

Okay, some scenes have their fun, seeing the old commandos rival Superman or even Chuck Norris in his youth, but everything has a limit. Of course, no one takes seriously what they see on the screen – the only relief – in the incredible, untrue adventure, with the rudimentary sketchy script, while the jokes and self-mockery of the protagonists look more stale than Stallone’s face.

The battle scenes (some of them were also filmed in Thessaloniki) look like a repetition of the previous ones, the clichés bombard us and the picturesqueness tries to cover the lack of imagination.

The well-known militaristic spirit always has its place, with the group of superheroes defeating the third-world terrorists who threaten the world.

The protagonists make fun of themselves, ensure their sponge cake and Sylvester Stallone, even in his old age, treasures.

IN A FEW WORDS… The Expendables are the world’s last line of defense as it takes on a last-minute mission to save the planet from a terrorist and his nuclear weapons. This time the new generation of Consumables will have a decisive role in this effort.

Movies still showing:

After 5: All After

(“After: Everything”) The well-known sentimental melodrama comes to an end with this fifth film of the “After” franchise, directed, this time, by the young actress and director Castiel Landon. The sweet-salty romantic episodes conclude in Lisbon, with pink bubbles continuing to cloud Hardin’s love affair with Tessa. So Hardin travels to Portugal to right the wrongs of the past before he can make the ultimate commitment to Tessa. With Hiro Fiennes Tiffin, Josephine Langford and Mimi Keane.

Mavka: The Elf of the Forest

(“Mavka: The forest song”) Ukrainian animated children’s film, which was prepared for years and premiered this year. Without special animation requirements, but with excellent folk traditional melodies, which wants to convey ecological and other topical messages. The main heroine Mavka, a mythical exotic of the forest, will do everything to save it from insidious invaders, together with her lover Lukas. The film is shown dubbed in Greek.

The Nervous Lover

(“Annie Hall”) Great film, a trademark of Woody Allen and the cinema with which he gained fame and acclaim, but also the cinephiles of the world and of course the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.

It was the distant 1977 when Allen left the experimentation and fragmentary cinema, to show his maturity, through his cinematic persona, but also his idiosyncratic character. In cinema’s most disarmingly funny romantic comedy, Allen highlights the neuroses of the age, the insurmountable problems of relationships, the impasses and the power of love, with a genius script and raining lines, while not leaving social and political issues unaddressed of America.

With many masterful flashbacks, starting with the protagonist’s childhood, the film revolves around a neurotic comedian, Alvy, who is obsessed with death, falls in love with Annie Hall, has a seven-year stormy relationship with her, they break up but he “stuck” with her, he tries to make her his again. Ageless high-level humor, exemplary direction, photography by Gordon Willis and an inspired script by the director himself and Marshall Brickman. In addition to Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carroll, Christopher Walken and Shelley Duval also star.

The harbor of the Outcasts

(“Le Quai des brumes”) Classic French pre-war film (1938) by the famous Marcel Carnet, representative of poetic realism in cinema. Although it shows its age and its subject matter may be dated, the film is a dramatic standard, watchable with undiminished interest, while Eugene Suftan’s evocative black-and-white cinematography impresses.

And of course the presence of the giant Jean Gabin and the charming Michelle Morgan. The script by Jacques Préver, wants a deserter of the French colonial army trying to escape from Le Havre, where he will fall in love with a young woman, the object of the lust of the men of the port. The inevitable fate of the mythical cinematic couple is perfectly consistent with the pessimistic mood of the film, the gloomy times, the coming of another devastating Great War.