reviews of Newsmakers

From 'Fourth Row Center': Film Writings by Jason Bailey

Anders Banke’s Newsmakers is a slick, sleek, professional thriller with all the trimmings—chases, car crashes, explosions, and shoot-outs. Lots and lots of shoot-outs. It was also made in Russia. That’s worth mentioning right off the top, since it’s sturdily constructed and plenty entertaining, but I can’t help but wonder how much attention it would get if it were English.


Director Banke has got a great eye; his picture is handsomely photographed with an abundance of gloss and style. And, refreshingly, it has a sense of humor; there are all kinds of little verbal and visual jokes (my favorite was the lunchtime sequence, with the scores of cops in their riot gear, enjoying their take-out sushi)....

From Splash Magazine Worldwide

....Rounding out The Top Ten from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival are the following:

Newsmakers –Russian in Subtitles – A high body count action thriller with a twist. The film has an attention grabbing beginning that carries it through the streets of Moscow into the Ministry of the Interior and highlights the contemporary world of social media and marketing. Based on the remake of Johnny To’s “ Breaking News” Swedish director Anders Banke packs the 110 minutes with exhilaration and suspense. The all-star Russian cast make it a must see. It should be released in selective US markets and widely through Europe. See it if you get a chance! Rent it if you can.....

press reviews;

from the blogs

From I-Kino.Com; Average rating: 4.5 from 5. Number of ratings: 113

swam41 (09:04 10.05.2009)
Excellent home-made fighter. The actors are good. The plot is twisted....
"The DoP's work has to be remarked on as a plus!"

From Filmz.ru

Ambalangoda (0:26 03.05.2009)
As a movie I was set to watch an action blockbuster, it turned out that it is equally a comedy. It is high-quality, funny and violent..... As a fighter movie, incidentally, it is also quite at the level of, I would say world standard (not home-made). It was nice to see, finally, a Russian film made by professional film people: photography, design, sound - all at a rare (for domestic (Russian) films) quality.

The One
23:01 09.05.2009
....You can spend a huge amount of web space describing the merits of this film, so I'll mention only the features that I see lacking in Russian cinema....
....Such a harmony in the composition that is rarely found in our own kinosphere. They wanted to achieve beauty in every moment of the film! And I am talking not only about the visual part, but about the script and acting, and a lot more!
For me a good example is the one of the opening scene - a landscape of empty lanes, with the standard route of a city taxi.... the picture fills with extraordinary warmth, and in conjunction with the images and the musical score - a feeling that at that lanes end may be something worthy... Worthy of our eyes!

Annie
15:56 29.04.2009
The film is excellent! Visually the picture and sound are perfect