Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Maps to the Stars (2014)

11/05/2020

Maps to the Stars (2014) - Cronenberg fries Hollywood to a crisp

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Stylized, shadowy and ominous, star faces make up this smouldering poster for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars

A young woman lands in Los Angeles and befriends a driver. She becomes a personal assistant for a female star, who is hunting a role that her abusive mother once played, while the girl's local new family fears for her.

Maps to the Stars is written by Bruce Wagner (Young Lust (1984)) and directed by great Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg (Crimes of the Future (1970)).

Cronenberg's best film since Eastern Promises (2007), the film is an icy cold portrait of Hollywood, which comes across as an incestuous temple of falsity, cynicism, a vacuum of values, of shameless egocentricity, vanity and abuse. To call the film satirical or a comedy even is misleading, because it doesn't bring about laughter. But it is compelling, not least for us who are fascinated by Tinseltown.

A formidable cast helps it along: Julianne Moore (Marie & Bruce (2004)) is fearless and gives the film its integrity; Olivia Williams (Now Is Good (2012)) and John Cusack (Cell (2016)) are strong as awful parents; Mia Wasikowska (Tracks (2013)) is intriguing and flawless as their returned daughter; and Evan Bird (The Killing (2011-12)) is striking and chilling as their morally ruined 13 year-old celebrity son.

It is impossible to watch Maps to the Stars without wondering if this is how the stars behave between appearances? SPOILER The story culminates extremely, - Moore is beaten to death with a statue; Williams self-immolates, - and amorally; two youths commit suicide together while reciting poetry. The very dark Maps to the Stars is a well-made drama regardless.

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess Eastern Promises (2007) - Cronenberg invites us to meet the Russian mob in London

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
A History of Violence (2005) or, Who Is Tom Stall?
Spider (2002) - Cronenberg takes us to the tormented (and slightly dull) mind of a schizophrenic
Existenz/eXistenZ (1999) - Cronenberg's 1990s-flavored VR nonsense
Dead Ringers (1988) or, Brothers and Their Instruments

The Fly (1986) - Cronenberg's gory, entertaining treatise on sickness, decomposition - and transformation
The Dead Zone (1983) - Eerie sci-fi/horror King-adaptation
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 13 mil. $

Box office: 4.5 mil. $

= Mega-flop (returned 0.34 times its cost)

[Maps to the Stars premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 112 minutes. Wagner wrote the novel Dead Stars (2012) based on his script, while the film was stuck in development for 6 years. Viggo Mortensen and Rachel Weisz were initially meant to act in it. Shooting took place from July - August 2013 in California, including Los Angeles, and in Ontario. It was Cronenberg's first time shooting in the US. The film opened #32 to a 143k $ first weekend in 66 theaters in North America, where it never widened and only grossed 350k $ (7.8 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were France with 1.6 mil. $ (35.6 %), the UK with 599k $ (13.3 %) and Italy with 508k $ (11.3 %). The film was nominated for a Golden Globe and won 2 prizes in Cannes, among other honors. Cronenberg returned with Consumed (2014, short), a video to advertise his debut novel of the same title, but has otherwise retired from films upon finding financing them having become too difficult. Moore returned in Still Alice (2014); Wasikowska in Madame Bovary (2014); and Cusack in Drive Hard (2014). Maps to the Stars is fresh at 61 % with a 6.37/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Maps to the Stars?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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11/05/2020

Maps to the Stars (2014) - Cronenberg fries Hollywood to a crisp

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