Konchalovsky, Andrei

Tango and Cash

Another action flick from an unlikely source (wildly inconsistent Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky), buddy movie Tango & Cash teams Sly Stallone and Kurt Russell as bullet-dodging cops who get on each others' nerves while uniting against a slimy French drug kingpin (Jack Palance). Violent, profane, and packed with implausibilities, this is one of those big-budget, stunt-laden affairs that gets by on the charisma of its stars, and they almost pull it off. Tango & Cash was Stallone's first attempt to share the spotlight with another hero, and he's casually laid-back in his change-of-pace role (well, OK, it's not that change-of-pace), while Russell is equally enjoyable as Sly's well-coifed sidekick. Ridiculous all the way, this one is entertaining if only as a virtual catalog of action-movie clichés.--Jeff Shannon

There are buddy cops. And then there are Ray Tango and Gabe Cash (Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell) They're rival L.A. policemen who have one thing in common: each thinks he is the best. And each has the commendations, battle scars and ready supply of hilarious one-liners to prove it. Team them and they're like oil and water. But frame them for a crime and they're like a match and kerosene. Year: 1989 Director: Andrei Konchalovsky Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance

Runaway Train

Manny (Jon Voight) is the toughest convict in a remote Alaskan prison who along with fellow inmate Buck (Eric Roberts) makes a daring breakout. Hopping a freight train they head full-steam for freedom but when the engineer dies of a heart attack they find themselves trapped alone and speeding toward certain disaster. Until that is they discover a third passenger a beautiful railroad worker (Rebecca DeMornay) who is just as desperate--and just as determined to survive--as they are!Starring: Jon Voight Eric Roberts and Rebecca DeMornayDirector: Andrei KonchalovskyProduced by Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus; written by Djordje Milicevic Paul Zindel; Running time of 112 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1985 MGM Home EntertainmentSystem Requirements:Trivia and Production Notes Original Theatrical Trailer Scene Access Screen Formats: Widescreen--Theatrical release format; Standard--Modified to fit your screen Dolby Digital Stereo Surround Languages: English & French Subtitles: English French & Spanish Interactive Menus Interactive Film Trivia Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Standard 1.33:1 (4.3) English: Dolby Digital Surround French: Dolby Digital Surround Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616701824

The Odyssey

Andrei Konchalovsky's expansive television mini-series production of Homer's epic poem gets off to clumsy start as he tries to squeeze the Trojan War into a mere half hour, but once the arrogant but honorable Odysseus (strikingly played by Armand Assante) and his loyal crew begin their doomed voyage home, this film turns into a fantastical adventure. Integrating often-stunning special effects with inventive art design, Konchalovsky achieves a beautiful look on a limited budget as he follows the 10-year ordeal of Odysseus from his battles with the Cyclops and the magical Circe (Bernadette Peters) to his secret homecoming and his confrontation with the treacherous Eurymachus (Eric Roberts). Isabella Rossellini appears as his spiritual guide, the goddess Athena, with Greta Scacchi as Odysseus's faithful wife and Vanessa Williams as the seductive Calypso. The rest of the cast includes Geraldine Chaplin, Jeroen Krabbé, Christopher Lee, and Irene Papas. The production was shot on location in and around the Mediterranean, making for a lush, lovely visual experience. --Sean Axmaker

The Lion in Winter

Schemes and double-crosses abound in The Lion in Winter, the story of England's King Henry II (Patrick Stewart, Star Trek: The Next Generation, X-Men) as he manipulates (and is counter-manipulated) by his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction), and their three ambitious sons, each of whom hopes to ascend to the throne. The ghost of the 1968 film version hangs over this 2003 miniseries; Stewart and Close can't match Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn in that classic. Nonetheless this new version is solid work, and though the witty dialogue verges into camp, the script's cunningly orchestrated machinations work like a charm, drawing the viewer in with every fiendish ploy and overturned expectation. Also featuring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (Velvet Goldmine, Bend It Like Beckham) as the King of France. --Bret Fetzer

Siberiade (Complete and Uncut Version)

This ambitious 1979 Russian film attempts no less a feat than the encapsulation of the tumultuous history of Russia in the 20th century. Written and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky (Runaway Train, Tango and Cash), the film weaves an engrossing tale of three generations of two Russian families in the remote region of Siberia, each trying in their own way to find fulfillment in their lives as they seek to reconcile themselves with the ever-changing landscape of their homeland. Sandwiched between the chaotic events of the First and Second World Wars, as well as the Russian Revolution of 1917, the people of the small village find themselves at the cusp of great changes, from communications to the expanding infrastructure and the changes that brings, to the discovery of oil and the riches and perils that come with it. Konchalovsky juxtaposes archival footage with stunning cinematography and contrasts the assaultive changes of the modern world with the timeless impulses of family and the enduring need to adapt and survive. Reminiscent of such great films as Giant and 1900, Siberiade is a visually adept and stunningly effective epic about the price of a country's history on its people. --Robert Lane

Maria's Lovers

Splicing scenes featuring his protagonist, Ivan (John Savage, The Deer Hunter), among excerpted interviews with real soldiers from John Huston's landmark World War II documentary Let There Be Light, director Andrei Konchalovsky brilliantly sets the stage for a morally ambiguous tale of a war hero's return home to a small town. Disappointingly, the opening of Maria's Lovers promises much more than it ultimately delivers. Ivan has survived the tortures of a Japanese POW camp by continually dreaming of his childhood sweetheart Maria (Nastassja Kinski). When he returns to find her with a boyfriend and a grown-up libido, Ivan can't reconcile his guardian vision with the real Maria. Even as she declares her love for him and they hastily marry, Ivan's nightmares intervene. In short, Ivan can't perform. Minor roles for Robert Mitchum and Keith Carradine (as a ridiculous wandering minstrel who seduces Maria after Ivan flees in shame) seem wasted on a melodramatic script that often sounds as if it was poorly translated into English. The nostalgic scenery of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, (rolling fog, river ferries, careening factories) is compelling, as is Kinski (who is at her most seductive and downright breathtaking), but Konchalovsky's affection for his characters and their landscape cannot surpass his stilted vision of America. --Fionn Meade

Nastassja Kinski is radiant (The New York Times) in this war-torn love story that breaks the eroticism barrier [with] an astonishing directness (L.A. Weekly). Co-starring John Savage, John Goodman, Robert Mitchum and Oscar(r) winner* Keith Carradine, Maria's Loversis a unique, compelling [and] intimate drama (L.A. Weekly). When her teenage sweetheart Ivan (Savage) returns home from WWII, Maria (Kinski) eagerly accepts his marriage proposal, looking forward to a lifetime of happiness. But her joy is short-lived when Ivan's dark past shrouds their wedding night in misery, driving a wedge between them that neither knows how to remove. Confused and depressed, Maria attempts to mend her true love's heart despite the advances of other suitors. But when a traveling musician (Carradine) hits the right note, Maria struggles to justify her unfulfillinglife. Is her passion too powerful to be contained within the sanctity of marriage? *1975: Original Song ( I m Easy ), Nashville

Cobra/Tango & Cash

He's poison to crime. Sylvester Stallone portrays Cobra's Marion Cobretti, a cop with a style all his own and a knack for taking the blood-splattered jobs no one else dares to take. George P. Cosmatos (Tombstone) guides the whirlwind action as Cobretti confronts a crime spree that may be the work of a serial killer. Punches mix with punch lines in Tango & Cash, starring Stallone and Kurt Russell as rival Los Angeles cops who form a flinty partnership as they bust out of prison and go after the powerful drug czar who set them up. Co-stars include Jack Palance as the big-shot crimelord and, in her second film, Teri Hatcher.

Lumiere & Company

Some of the world's leading directors (David Lynch, Spike Lee, Wim Wenders, Zhang Yimou, John Boorman) use the original Lumiere picture camera to create short films all over the world. Interactive Menus, Production Notes, Scene access, Trailer, Languages: French, Subtitles: English

Hallmark TV Classics Collection II (Arabian Nights/Jason and the Argonauts/The Lost Empire/Moby Dick/The Odyssey)

House of Fools

It takes place during the Russian-Chechen war, but House of Fools has the aura of the 1960s about it, specifically the anti-war picture of the King of Hearts variety. Set in a mental hospital near the front lines, the movie poses the age-old question: what happens when the inmates take over the asylum? The doctors have fled from the fighting, so the patients create their own society. Julia Vysotsky, a livewire actress, plays the central role, a blissfully unbalanced woman convinced she is the girlfriend of the singer Bryan Adams (and, game for the challenge, Adams plays himself, endlessly crooning his hit "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman"). Director Andrei Konchalovsky (Runaway Train) finds suspense here, and also absurdity, but it's hard to see what the film adds to the roster of "war is hell" movies. The conflict in Chechnya deserves attention, but Konchalovsky overstates his case. --Robert Horton