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Earthy, bright hues color this poster for David Mackenzie's Hell or High Water
A couple of middle-aged brothers rob branches of a small Texan bank with an unknown purpose and get a soon to be retired ranger and his partner on their trail.
Hell or High Water is written by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario (2015)) and directed by David Mackenzie (The Last Great Wilderness (2002)).
It is a cool crime drama with affinity for 'the little man', - in this case the man from the country, who hasn't seen the progress of the new millennium but has instead just gotten poorer and exploited by the bank to boot. The film is rich in Texan flavor and characters and is led by four esteemed performances: Jeff Bridges (R.I.P.D. (2013)) and Gil Chesterton (Wind River (2017)) are funny as the friendly-teasing partners; Chris Pine (A Wrinkle in Time (2018)) is a torn up survivor, and Ben Foster (Inferno (2016)) goes head-first into his devil-may-care criminal character who has lost himself in the fringes and knows it, - a formidable performance.
The film is well shot (cinematography by Giles Nuttgens (Grain (2017))) with an eye for wide panoramas (that could make one expect a horse opera) and the big cars that stand out beautifully in this solid man's picture.
= Box office success (returned 3.15 times its cost)
[Hell or High Water premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard section) and runs 102 minutes. Shooting took place from May - July 2015 in New Mexico. The film opened #20 to a 621k $ first weekend in 20 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 1,505 theaters (different weeks), grossing 27 mil. $ (71.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.1 mil. $ (5.5%) and France with 1.7 mil. $ (4.5 %). The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Picture to Moonlight, Supporting Actor (Bridges) to Mahershala Ali in Moonlight, Original Screenplay to Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea and Editing to Hacksaw Ridge. It was also nominated for 3 BAFTAs, won an AFI award, won 1/3 Independent Spirit awards, was nominated for 3 Golden Globes and won 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Mackenzie returned with Outlaw King (2018). Bridges returned in The Only Living Boy in New York (2017); Pine in Star Trek Beyond (2016); and Foster in Warcraft (2016). Hell or High Water is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
The Underwoods are leaving Air Force One on a red carpet against an ominous grey sky on this poster for the third season of Beau Willimon's House of Cards
House of Cards - season 3 is created by Beau Willimon (The Ides of March (2011)), based on the BBC miniseries of the same name from 1990, which in turn was based on the same-titled 1989 novel by Michael Dobbs (Winston's War (2002)).
The following season summary contains SPOILERS:
Frank has become US President, and his wife, First Lady Claire Underwood also seeks active service as American UN ambassador. Frank's approval ratings are low, and he wants to improve them by stimulating job growth. His former Chief of Staff Doug Stamper meanwhile is trying to overcome a personal downfall.
Stamper, desperate to get back in the game, accepts helping Claire out with her candidacy. Frank faces opposition from within his own party in his road towards securing their nomination as presidential candidate 1½ years hence.
While the Underwoods' favorite personal NSA bodyguard Meechum has gone missing, the Russian President Petrov visits the White House, and Frank boldly decides against appeasing him, when he appears not to be willing to give them any concessions.
Frank's bluff of outwardly saying that he is not interested in running for president gets called by a promising opposing candidate. Claire has become UN ambassador and faces problems dealing with the Russians in the Middle East. Another shocking page is written on Frank's monstrous hidden side, when he spits at a Jesus statue and breaks it on the floor during a church visit.
Frank spends a large sum from an emergency fund to make jobs (and regain popularity), and he helps Claire with a troop deployment in Jordan. Doug courts opposing Democratic presidential candidate Dunbar.
Frank and Claire head to Russia on a visit that does not go smoothly. The release of an American gay rights activist is botched, and the man commits suicide, while they are in the country, leading to scandal and marital strife.
Realizing that the rift is unbearable for both, Frank and Claire renew their wedding vows.
The ghost writer Tom, who is working on Frank's autobiography with him, and a keen political journalist Kate, who is describing Frank as a tyrant in an opinion piece, start a relationship. A hurricane ends Frank's AmWorks cashflow, and he decides it is time to announce his candidacy for President.
Trouble brews in the Jordan valley, and Doug finally finds proof that the potentially dangerous ex-prostitute that he followed in previous seasons, has died a violent death. He gets hammered and then presents Frank with the evidence, which he instructs Meechum, back on the force, to burn.
Petrov demands withdrawal from the Jordan valley, and Frank travels there and instead secures Russian withdrawal - against a promise that Claire will give up her UN job.
Chief of Staff Remy Danton leaves the office in regret, as the Democratic Presidential race begins with an Iowa debate, in which Frank alienates opposing candidate Jackie Sharp (Danton's ex-lover) the the point where she soon after the debate bows out and offers her support for Dunbar. Doug's 60 days of sobriety are over.
Claire is a good trooper for Frank's candidacy, as Dunbar threatens to release damaging details from her old diary, which Doug attains and destroys, securing himself back the position as Chief-of-Staff. Tom loses his girlfriend over his dedication to the job of writing the autobiography.
The mysterious prostitute who was thought dead turns up alive again in rural Des Moines, where Doug murders and buries her in the wilderness. Claire's anger over their marital problems and her professional breakdown comes to a head, when she notifies Frank that she wants to leave him, and that she implicitly has presidential dreams of her own.
Likely the best season up to this point, season 3 sees House of Cards climb to the highest level of quality TV drama, as the show now more or less halfway is really about a marriage under extraordinary pressure, - a stress that Kevin Spacey (Rebel in the Rye (2017)) and Robin Wright (Wonder Woman (2017)) portray with intense vigor. His final inability to tame her anger and ambitions in their negotiation-based sham of a marriage develops to a turbulent climax. The other half of the show is a wicked good political thriller of men (and women) who either stab each other's backs or help wash each other's hands clean.
The political maneuvers, if heightened, are narratively valid, relatively realistic and insightful in their devious machinations. Lars Mikkelsen (Headhunter (2009)) is outstanding as Petrov, a character loaded with Putin connotations. The development of the Underwood partnership also mirrors recent real-world politics, the Clintons, namely. Kim Dickens (Gone Girl (2014)) is another strong new cast addition as journalist Kate; and Paul Sparks (Waco (2018, miniseries)) is excellent as ghost writer Tom, whose polemic writings on the Underwoods cause him to be cast out of their home in episode 12. Although Michael Kelly (Chronicle (2012)) is fascinating as the eerie, plagued Doug Stamper character, the storyline involving Stamper, a hacker and the potentially damaging prostitute is continually mysterious and not the show's strongest in season 3, though over-all it is a very strong season.
Best episodes:
Episode 3: Chapter 29 - Written by Frank Pugliese (Shot in the Heart (2001, TV movie)), Laura Eason (Here and Now (2018)), Willimon; directed by Tucker Gates (Ray Donovan (2013-19))
Doug is working to secure a return to Frank's inner circle. Russian president Petrov visits the Underwoods at the White House for the first time.
Episode 5: Chapter 31 - Written by Kenneth Lin (My America (2012, TV-series)), Eason, Willimon; directed by James Foley (The Corruptor (1999))
Frank regains popularity around the 4th of July with his AmericaWorks initiative. Claire as new UN ambassador faces Russian intimidation.
Episode 6: Chapter 32 - Written by Melissa James Gibson (The Americans (2013-14)), Eason, Willimon; directed by Foley
The Underwoods travel to Russia, but the visit goes anything but smoothly.
[House of Cards
- season 3 was released in full on 27 February on Netflix and runs
approximately 663 minutes (13 episodes of around 51 minutes each).
Shooting took place in from June - December 2014 in Maryland, including
in Baltimore, New Mexico and in Washington DC. The third season reportedly cost
55 mil. $ to produce. Netflix regrettably do not report viewership
numbers.
The season was won 1/7 Emmy nominations and was nominated for a Golden Globe. IMDb's users have rated the TV-series
in at #108 on the site's TV Top 250, sitting between Friday Night Lights (2006) and Berserk (1997). House of Cards returned with season 4 in 2016, also Willimon's return as writer/producer. In 2014 Kevin Spacey did not appear elsewhere prior to season 4; Wright in 2015 also starred in Everest. House of Cards - season 3 is certified fresh at 73 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Amoral behavior, sexy stars and stylish fun allure on this poster for William Wyler's How to Steal a Million
The daughter of a major art counterfeiter in Paris worries incessantly about his practices, and when a fake Venus sculpture gets donated to an art museum, where it will undergo technical scrutiny, she joins forces with a burglar to lift the fake from the museum.
How to Steal a Million is written by Harry Kurnitz (Goodbye Charlie (1964)), based on the short story Venus Rising by George Bradshaw from his anthology Practice to Deceive (1962), and directed by German-born American master filmmaker, William Wyler (Lazy Lightning (1926)), whose 43th feature it was.
Many clear colors and smart, funny lines speak in favor of this enthusiastic swindler romcom, which also runs on its star duo, who most will naturally be inclined to want to follow to see what they're up to: Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina (1954)) and Peter O'Toole (Kidnapped (1959)) look bloody good together and have a bubbly chemistry to boot.
Wyler seems to have taken a pleasurable European recess here with How to Steal a Million, a film with a liberating aloofness to the fashions and trends of the 1960s. With a neat score by John Williams (Stepmom (1998)), and Hugh Griffiths (Gone to Earth (1950)) funny as the grand forger father. How to Steal a Million is a successful, sweet and sparkly, entertaining soufflé. (Although the title is somewhat misleading.)
[How to Steal a Million premiered 13 July (Los Angeles) and runs 123 minutes. Hepburn was paid 750k $ for her performance in the film. Shooting took place from July - September in France, including in Paris. The film reportedly made 4.4 mil. $ in North-American rentals and 10.45 worldwide, according to Fox records, which list that its break-even point would have been 12 mil. $. Wyler returned with Funny Girl (1968). Hepburn returned in Two for the Road (1967); O'Toole in The Bible: In the Beginning ... (1966). How to Steal a Million is fresh at 100 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
High praise and an evocative night scene captures the imagination on this poster for Leos Carax's Holy Motors
Monsieur X works out of a limousine, which drives around Paris, to nine different meetings, he is to have. And in each meeting he plays a new character.
Holy Motors is written and directed by great French filmmaker Leos Carax (Boy Meets Girl (1984)).
A strange and eccentric story, which has fun teasing and playing with us as audiences in different ways, (for instance by leading us to believe that meetings may be over when they're not), Holy Motors appeals strongly to the imagination. It works basically as a fun, infantile fantasy over what a working day full of meetings could actually consist of; or more seriously, if you will, as a reflection over how life consists of meetings and memories, which can seem obscure in hindsight, and of a constructed self-identity, which is in reality fluid and an abstract thing that is altered through our various meetings.
Holy Motors is also quite funny and filled with lots of striking ideas, a pair of excellent musical numbers, - including an elegantly filmed sequence with Kylie Minogue (Swinging Safari (2018)) singing Who Were We? (by Carax, Neil Hannon and Andrew Skeet) and her own biggest hit as a pop singer Can't Get Your Out of My Head, - a sequence that is reminiscent of Catherine Deneuve in Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg/Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964). Minogue both acts and sings fabulously. Denis Lavant (Gagarine (2020)) is wholly invested as the fascinating, wiry protagonist, and the film's hair and makeup department have worked wonders here.
Holy Motors is a playful and artistic work of splendor.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 4 mil. $
Box office: 4.2 mil. $ - some uncertainty
= Huge flop (returned 1.05 times its cost)
[Holy Motors premiered 23 May (Cannes Film Festival, in main competition) and runs 116 minutes. Carax preceding film was Pola X (1999), and he had attempted to find funding for a big English-language film for 5 years prior to Holy Motors, which came about as an alternate construction instead of the big foreign film, which he did not find funding for. 14 companies and support bodies cooperated in its financing and production. Shooting took place from September - November 2011 in France, including in Paris. The film opened #62 to an 18k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #44 and in 29 theaters (different weekends), grossing 641k $ (15.3 % of the total gross, the film's 2nd biggest market). The film's Box Office Mojo and The-numbers.com pages differ, with the latter listing an erroneous 1.7 mil. $ gross from Denmark, which likely should have been listed as from France, most likely the film's biggest market (40.5 %). The 3rd biggest market was the UK with 373k $ (8.9 %). The film lost the Palme D'Or to Michael Haneke's Amour. It was nominated for 9 César awards, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Carax returned with Gradiva (2014, short) and theatrically with Annette (2021). Lavant returned in L'Étoile de Jour (2012); Edith Scob (Wicked Game (2016, TV movie)) in 5 shorts and one voice performance before her theatrical physical return in Les Yeux Jauned des Crocodiles (2014). Holy Motors is certified fresh at 92 % with am 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Classy credits, critical praise, a stylish, gritty comics-styled graphic and star Paul Newman's physique and name adorn this poster for Martin Ritt's Hud
Hud is a womanizing drunkard, who lives on his father's Texas ranch along with his nephew, father and a housekeeper, while a possible cattle disease is investigated, and Hud's enmity with his old man escalates.
Hud is written by co-writer/co-producer Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. (Home from the Hill (1960), both), adapting the novel Horseman, Pass By (1961) by Larry McMurtry (Leaving Cheyenne (1963)), and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker, co-producer/director Martin Ritt (Edge of the City (1957)), whose 9th feature it was.
Of the poison-laden, conflict-filled high-profile American grown-up dramas of its time (such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and others), Hud is the best. Still today it is an electric experience; intense, sexy, brave, stirring and strong. The dialog doesn't just ignite sparks, - it starts wildfires in several directions, and it is a study in suggestion and double meanings.
Elmer Bernstein (Puppies for Sale (1998, short)) is responsible for the subtle score, and James Wong Howe's (Tess of the Storm Country (1960)) phenomenal cinematography is an evocative, super-sharp B/W ride to treasure.
The cast is uniformly outstanding: Paul Newman (Exodus (1960)) is eternally on edge as the 'devil-may-care' amoral title character. Incredibly enough he gets the counterweight necessary from Melvyn Douglas' (The Americanization of Emily (1964)) performance as his straight-edged father. The complex and realistic drama extends to Patricia Neal's (Glitter (1984, TV-series)) housekeeper, SPOILER who herself flirts in the period leading up to the culmination, an attempted rape. She and the personality exploring, beautiful nephew (Brandon De Wilde (In Harm's Way (1965))) are also excellent.
Hud is directed without a false tone in it by Ritt. Ultimately it is a 'Death-of-the-West' type of generational crisis tragedy that points forward to Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971), (also a McMurtry adaptation.) The eminent ending of the film, both untraditional and brilliant, made me think that Hud might after these events develop into a man not dissimilar to the bitter magnate egotist we see in Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (2007).
Box office: Reportedly 10 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain but likely a mega-hit (projected return of 9.37 times its cost)
[Hud was released 24 May (North America) and runs 112 minutes. Shooting took place from July - September 1962 in Texas and California. The-numbers.com allege, without giving any source, that the film cost 2.5 mil. $ to produce, whereas 1.6 mil. $ is listed elsewhere, (and seems more likely in my opinion.) They also list the 10 mil. $ domestic gross. With a projected world gross of 15 mil. $, the film ranks as a mega-hit. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 3; Best Actress (Neal), Supporting Actor (Douglas) and Cinematography - Black-and-White. It lost Best Actor to Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field, Art Decoration-Set Decoration - Black-and-White to America America, Director to Tony Richardson for Tom Jones, and Adapted Screenplay to John Osborne for Tom Jones. It also won 1/3 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for 5 Golden Globes and won 3 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Ritt returned with The Outrage (1964). Newman returned in A New Kind of Love (1963). Hud is fresh at 84 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Sombre, ominously dark, the stars of Beau Willimon's House of Cards - season 2 reflect the show's ruthless power theme on this poster
House of Cards - season 2 is created by Beau Willimon (The Ides of March (2011)), based on the BBC miniseries of the same name from 1990, which in turn was based on the same-titled 1989 novel by Michael Dobbs (Winston's War (2002)).
The following season summary contains SPOILERS:
Claire Underwood threatens an ex-employee, as her husband Frank gets nearer to attain the Vice President's position and finds his candidate as House Whip in Molly Parker's (1922 (2017)) Jaqueline Sharp. Frank's Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly (Everest (2015))) works his dark magic to keep reporter Zoe Barnes' nose out of stinky matters. SPOILER When Frank realizes that the young Barnes has him found out nonetheless, he pushes her in front of a train in the episode's surprising climax.
Frank is sworn in and manipulates Secretary of State Durant into a confrontation with China, and the weak President Garrett Walker into backing her up. As VP Frank's first job is to honor a general, who turns out to be the man that raped his wife Claire many years ago. As Sharp elbows her way forward, Zoe's ex is investigating her mysterious death.
This leads him to the Dark Web and a hacker. Frank shows his true chameleon-like colors in securing support for a pension reform.
Frank, Sharp and lobbyist Remy Danton gather votes to avoid a government shutdown during a white powder scare that locks down the White House. Claire conducts an intense interview alone, wherein she admits an abortion and relays her rape story, naming the guilty general.
Zoe's ex-boyfriend's investigation is thwarted, when he gets arrested. Frank meets with a Chinese representative during a Civil War reenactment in the South, and President Walker holds him and billionaire supporter Raymond Tusk to blame when the talk ends in mutual enmity. Claire attains her deceased abortion doctor's diary, trying to hide her true number of abortions from becoming known.
Stamper harasses the prostitute he has some trouble getting rid off, and Sharp carries on an affair with Danton. Frank increases his opposition to Tusk, resulting in an energy crisis.
Stamper heads a criminal money-laundering scheme involving a Montana casino and a Chinese representative. Claire continues to create a rift between the President and the First Lady.
Claire's attempt to become an issue spokesperson (against rapes in the military) loses momentum when her case victim gets cold feet. Frank pressures the President into accepting a Chinese bridge project in exchange for quelled support for the opposing (Republican) party.
Sharp ends her problematic affair with Danton and goes against Claire's rape legislation to Frank's consternation. Frank shows appreciation for his closest Secret Service protector Meechum but fails to commend Stamper, who is embittered.
The Chinese support through a casino story breaks out, and Frank gets Garrett to hand over his calendar, hoping that the recent therapist sessions with wife Trisha will emerge to the public. Claire and Frank literally take Meechum to bed with them.
Garrett realizes that his Vice President is eying his position, confronting him. Frank denies this and lures secretary Durant to his side. Tusk is subpoenaed in the corruption case but pleads the 5th. Carrie and Frank request Sharp to gather votes for them against the President.
The presidential couple elope to Camp David as the news worsen until the point that he resigns and hands over power to Frank Underwood, the wolf in sheep's clothing.
Robin Wright (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)) gets more room to shine and assert her character, First Lady Claire Underwood in season 2, and she is phenomenal. Parker is equally eminent as season newcomer fellow Democratic politician Jacqueline Sharp, who carries on a sexy affair with Mahershala Ali's (Green Book (2018)) lobbyist Remy Danton.
Some of the show's refinement falls by the wayside in exchange for more violence in the storylines, including a surprising murder in the first episode. A long-running storyline involving Frank's Chief of Staff Douglas Stamper and a prostitute goes on with its relevance to the main plot becoming ever more murky. The casting of chilly, uncharismatic Michel Gill (Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2003, TV-series)) as President Walker comes to make sense, when his character turns out to be another unfortunate subservient for Frank Underwood to conquer.
At the show's best it portrays and inhabits modern paranoid anxiety very well. The intro credit sequence and theme is fantastic. Season 2 has several good performances and timely themes but is over-all less astonishing and successful than the first season.
Best episode:
Episode 2: Chapter 15 - Written by Willimon; directed by Carl Franklin (Ray Donovan (2017, TV-series))
Frank is sworn in as VP and immediately causes trouble for weak President Walker. Claire must face a pain from her past, and Frank's House Whip candidate Jackie Sharp maneuvers her way forward.
[House of Cards
- season 2 was released in full on 14 February on Netflix and runs
approximately 663 minutes (13 episodes of around 51 minutes each).
Shooting took place in from April - November 2013 in Maryland, including in Baltimore, and in Washington DC. The second season reportedly cost 55 mil. $ to produce. Netflix regrettably do not report viewership numbers.
The season was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmys and won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations. IMDb's users have rated the TV-series
in at #108 on the site's TV Top 250, sitting between Friday Night Lights (2006) and Berserk (1997). House of Cards returned with season 3 in 2015, also Willimon's return as writer/producer. In 2014 Kevin Spacey (Rebel in the Rye (2017)) also narrated Nature Is Speaking (TV-series) and co-starred in Horrible Bosses 2; Wright also starred in A Most Wanted Man and narrated Until We Could (short). House of Cards - season 2 is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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