Gods and Monsters (1998) or, Whale

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Ian McKellen's face in a close-up before a strip of film on this regrettably fold-marked poster for Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters

Great American filmmaker Jimmy Whale's new gardener catches his interest in 1957, when the aging master is troubled by the effects of a heart attack. While he draws, he recalls episodes and highlights from his exciting life.

 

Gods and Monsters is written and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Bill Condon (Sister, Sister (1987)), adapting Christopher Bram's (Hold Tight (1988)) Father of Frankenstein (1995), a semi-fictional account of the life of filmmaker James Whale (Frankenstein (1931)).

Condon succeeds in getting a vivid film from this setup about Whale, which could have easily become a too passive, backwards-oriented item. This is avoided with a solid base in Ian McKellen's (Stardust (2007)) brilliant performance as Whale, with competent support from Lynn Redgrave (Shine (1996)) and Brendan Fraser (Blast from the Past (1999)), who are delightful here in each their own way. 

Gods and Monsters serves a sentimental story filled with tenderness and a defense against the very sentimentality from the collapsing master's own sense of personal record. The score by Carter Burwell (Carol (2015)) is terrific, and the film is mighty entertaining. A minor reservation is that it in fleeting moments is too film and studio-like, SPOILER including in the last shot of Fraser, in which he acts as a monster in the rain.

 

Related posts:

 

Bill Condon:  The Greatest Showman (2017) - Brace for an infectious musical show (co-writer)

Dreamgirls (2006) - Rousing star turns in unreal and sentimental musical

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 10 mil. $ 

Box office: 6.4 mil. $ - North America alone

= Uncertain - but likely a big flop

[Gods and Monsters premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place in 24 days from June - July 1997 in California. The film opened #19 to a 75k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 149 theaters (different weeks), grossing 6.4 mil. $. Regrettably the international gross numbers are not released online. If we assume a likely 13 mil. $ total gross, the film would count as a big flop. It was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay. It lost Best Actor (McKellen) to Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful and in Supporting Actress (Redgrave) to Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. It also won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a BAFTA, 3/4 Independent Spirit awards, 3 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Condon returned with The Others (2000, TV-series) and theatrically with Kinsey (2004). McKellen returned in Apt Pupil (1998); Fraser in The Simpsons (1998, TV-series) and theatrically in The Mummy (1999); and Redgrave in White Lies (1998, TV movie) and theatrically in Strike! (1998). Gods and Monsters is certified fresh at 95 % with an 8.50/10 critical average.]

 

What do you think of Gods and Monsters?

The Da Vinci Code (2006) - Howard's first Brown adaptation is a popcorn thriller hoot

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+ Best Paris Movie of the Year 

QUICK REVIEW:

Renowned Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconography Robert Langdon is flown in from the States to the Louvre in Paris, where an old man has been killed with mysterious signs engraved into his chest. - About a very old secret!

Rarely has a film been surrounded by more hysterical fuss than was the huge adaptation of Dan Brown's (The Lost Symbol (2009)) bestseller The Da Vinci Code (2003). It was greeted with scorn at its Cannes premiere and protested against and banned in nearly a dozen countries because of its supposedly blasphemous content. Akiva Goldsman (A New York Winter's Tale (2014)) wrote the screenplay, and Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon (2008)) directed.
Despite all the hullabaloo, mostly terrible reviews and controversy, Da Vinci Code is an exciting and entertaining, huge, broadly appealing picture, just as it should be. The international cast is impressive, counting Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan (1998)), Audrey Tautou (Dirty Pretty Things (2002)), Jean Reno (Léon (1994)), Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind (2001)) and more, but it is especially Ian McKellen (Mr. Holmes (2015)), who spreads joy in it, playing a mad atheist.
The flash-backs can seem endless, and the film is very long (running 146 minutes in the theatrical version, (a 174 minute extended cut also exists!)) But Brown's Jesus theory is well-spun and thrilling.

Related posts:

Ron Howard: Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

A Beautiful Mind (2001) - John Nash given the Epic Treatment  
Backdraft (1991) - Howard's giant, stupid Chicago-set firefighter movie 
American Graffiti (1973) or, Cruisin' Modesto '62 (actor)

Watch the hype-fueling trailer for the film here

Cost: 125 mil. $
Box office: 758.2 mil. $
= Blockbuster
[Despite the reviews and attacks from the Catholic church, or perhaps to some degree because of the controversy, audiences flocked to the film and made it the 2nd biggest hit of the year, only bested by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It had a 77 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, the best ever for both Hanks and Howard. It grossed 217.5 mil. $ (29 % of the total gross) in North America and was a massive hit worldwide. Leonard Maltin called it "a letdown in every respect", while Roger Ebert was in line with Film Excess and gave it 3 out of 4 stars, stating "it works." Its less successful sequel Angels & Demons (2009) is also a fact, and the two will soon be followed by Inferno (2016), the 4th Langdon novel, and the 3rd to be adapted by Howard, with Hanks.]

 
What do you think of The Da Vinci Code?