Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: March 2015

3/31/2015

Stolen Spring/Det Forsømte Forår (1993) or, The Lost Days of School

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+ Best Copenhagen Movie of the Year + Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year

Frits Helmuth in formidable figure on a poster for Peter Schrøder's Stolen Spring

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Stolen Spring is a story framed around a reunion dinner held by a now aging class of men, who were once boys in the same authoritative boys school. Here their time went by, year after year. Perhaps their best time.

This adaptation of Hans Scherfig's (Idealists/Idealister (1945)) classic Danish novel of the same name from 1940 is a lovely, melancholic film. The original Danish title means 'the neglected spring'. It presents a sometimes nostalgic look back at the boys' lives at the Metropolitan School in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, partially under the reign of the relentless, sadistic Associate Professor Blomme.
Frits Helmuth (Flickering Lights/Blinkende Lygter (2000)) captures the role most convincingly, and Thomas Villum Jensen (Just a Girl/Kun en Pige (1995)) is also very good as young Edvard Ellerstrøm, perhaps his best acting performance to date.
The film is directed by Peter Schrøder (Lotto (2006)) and co-written by Schrøder, Peter Bay (Vildbassen (1994)), Dirk Brüel (Truly Human/Et Rigtigt Menneske (2001), cinematographer) and Tom Hedegaard (The Moelleby Affair/Affæren i Mølleby (1976)). The plot in the film has moved forward about 50 years compared to the novel, and the narrative has also been fixed more on a single character, whereas the novel is known as a collective novel because it presents its story through the eyes of several characters collectively.
Schrøder has not directed a film since the rather disappointing Lotto, but he is still active as an actor, at the moment in the second season of Dicte (2013-).

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Frits Helmut and Thomas Villum Jensen both reach career summits with their performances in Peter Schrøder's Stolen Spring

In lieu of a trailer, here's a scene from the film of one of Blomme's classes, unfortunately without English subtitles

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertainty
[However, Stolen Spring is counted as a box office hit in its native Denmark, where 400k paid admission to see it. Helmuth won both the Danish Robert and Bodil prizes as Best Male Actor, and Jesper Langberg (King's Game/Kongespil (2004)) won the Bodil prize for Best Supporting Actor.]

What do you think of Stolen Spring?
And Schrøder's other films as a director?

Dementia 13/The Haunted and the Hunted (1963) - Coppola's Gothic AIP castle horror

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Posters for Francis Ford Coppola's Dementia 13 seem to inform patrons that they would have to pass some kind of a psychiatric examination before seeing the film, - now that's creative marketing!

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A family in an Irish castle bicker over inheritance, as a mysterious ax murderer begins to wreck havoc.

Dementia 13 is the feature debut of master filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now (1979)), although the fact is contested, as he was heavily involved with directing a few other (dubious) films before it as well. It's a castle horror flick set and shot on location in Ireland. The film stirs up a traditional whodunit plot that is easily forgotten afterwards. Coppola wrote the script with the help of Jack Hill (Blood Bath (1966)).
But the staging of the proceedings stand out, as Coppola has directed the period plot in a modern fashion with close-ups, various quite visionary shots and actors that really act. William Campbell (Star Trek (1967), TV-series) and Luana Anders (Easy Rider (1969)), Bart Patton (THX 1138 (1971), voice) and Mary Mitchel (Panic in Year Zero! (1962)) are top-billed, and Patrick Magee (Tales from the Crypt (1972)) plays a small part.
The movie contains an ax murder that seems to have inspired The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and a deeply atmospheric opening sequence, (the SPOILER heart attack on the lake scene.)

Related review:

Francis Ford Coppola: Apocalypse Now (1979) redux version - The horror of war

Watch the hammy trailer for the film here

Cost: Between 30k-42k $
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertainty
[Coppola was one of the budding, young filmmakers attached to Roger Corman's (The Wild Angels (1966)) American International Pictures, who had provided him with 22k $ left over from The Young Racers (1963), which had wrapped under budget. Coppola himself raised another 20k from selling the European rights without Corman's knowledge. Dementia 13 was shot in 9 days and has since come to be regarded as a Gothic cult movie by some. This Indiewire article claims that it recouped its expenses at the box office.]

What do you think of Dementia 13?

Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) - McTiernan gives the third Die Hard a shot of New York-set adrenaline

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Bruce Willis is back in a dirty undershirt for John McTiernan's Die Hard with a Vengeance

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A mad bomber with a familiar foreign accent attacks New York City and plays cat-and-mouse with retired detective John McClane and a man from Harlem.

Vengeance does what Die Hard 2 (1990) couldn't: It brings something new and exciting to the franchise.
In the popular action movie series' third entry here, we get a multi-location story with significantly less shoot-em-up scenes than the previous film. - Instead, there's plenty of suspense and a buddy subplot, as Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained (2012)) and Bruce Willis (RED (2010)) partner up and show their comedic and dramatic chops in a suspensefull plot. Jeremy Irons (The Time Machine (2002)) plays the super-villain and completes the entertaining trio. - The Germanic villain portrayal works fantastically well as top grade entertainment despite its implied culturally backwards bigotry; still, in essence, viewing Germans as Nazi-like killing machines.
Die Hard with a Vengeance is a funny ride of a film, even if a few of its scenes are simply too incredible.
It is written by Jonathan Hensleigh (Jumanji (1995)) and directed by great action director John McTiernan (Predator (1987)).

Related reviews:

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) - Willis' action franchise dies an ugly death
Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 (2007) - The beloved action franchise revitalized for the new millennium
Die Hard 2 (1990) or, John McClane: Back for Seconds!
John McTiernan: Top 10: Best franchise movies

Top 10: The best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Die Hard (1988) - McTiernan's action masterpiece

Jeremy Irons makes a worthy enemy in John McTiernan's Die Hard with a Vengeance

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 90 mil. $
Box office: 366.1 mil. $
= Big hit
[Die Hard with a Vengeance was the biggest Die Hard hit, after Die Hard (1988), if you look at the return on the dollar. It was more successful than the previous film Die Hard 2 mainly outside of the US. It 'only' made 100 mil. $ (27 % of the total gross) in the US.]

What do you think of Die Hard with a Vengeance?

3/30/2015

Die Hard 2 (1990) or, John McClane: Back for Seconds!

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Bruce Willis needs to step up to a terrorist challenge once again, in Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2

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Two years after the explosive attack in Los Angeles, NYPD cop John McClane is going to Washington Dulles International Airport to pick up his wife Holly on Christmas Eve. But a band of mean terrorists have other plans!

Die Hard 2 is the effective sequel to the 1988 hit. It has a variegated story; we don't have the claustrophobia-inducing tower of the first film, but apart from this, not much has changed fundamentally. The script, by Doug Richardson (Bad Boys (1995)) and Steven E. de Souza (Die Hard (1988)), is based on the novel 58 Minutes (1987) by Walter Wager (Death Hits the Jackpot (1954)).
William Sadler (Iron Man 3 (2013)) plays the villain, and he isn't quite as slithering and unpleasant as Alan Rickman in the original. The almost non-stop shooting spree also becomes a little much at some point.
But apart from these minor inferences, Die Hard 2 is a neat action movie. - Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense (1999)) is again enthusiastic and a good hero, and Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue (1993-05)) is good as the bureaucrat.
The film is directed by the often dubious Finnish action director Renny Harlin (The Legend of Hercules (2014)).

Related reviews:

Top 10: The best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) - Willis' action franchise dies an ugly death
Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 (2007) - The beloved action franchise revitalized for the new millennium
Die Hard (1988) - McTiernan's action masterpiece
Renny Harlin: Cleaner (2008) or, Suit-Wearing Papa Cleaner-Man!

William Sadler makes a good, stern-faced villain, if not quite a match to the previous film's Hans Gruber, in Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: 70 mil. $
Box office: 240 mil. $
= Box office success
[Die Hard 2 made 100 mil. $ more than its predecessor, but its budget was also more than doubled. It made 117 mil. $ in the US (49 % of the total gross).]

What do you think of Die Hard 2?
Thoughts on Harlin's movies?

3/29/2015

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence/En Duva Satt på en Gren och Funderade på Tillvaron (2014) - Perhaps Andersson's best film yet

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+ Best Swedish Movie of the Year

The original Swedish poster for Roy Andersson's A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existense

Pigeon is the new film by great Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson (A Swedish Love Story/En Kärlekshistoria (1970)). It is an often humorous work about being human, the last part of Andersson's trilogy of films about living, which also includes Songs from the Second Floor/Sånger från Andra Våningen (2000) and You, the Living/Du Levande (2007).

Two aging men have a hard time selling their product, various joking devices. A dance teacher experiences a break-up. People die. There is cruelty. Beauty. Disappointments. Sexuality.

Andersson doesn't present a traditional plot, although Pigeon does have something resembling story and more recurring characters than, for instance, Song from the Second Floor. The visual side has grown warmer as well, more diverse and perhaps a little less depressed/depressing.
Pigeon is a nearly perfect, both poetic and highly stimulating film that should be experienced in a cinema and later on at home again. It is a rich and complex experience full of poignant, richly imaginative, often very funny, and also often sad tableau scenes. 39 in all.
Andersson is trying to describe the human condition at its fundamentals, as he sees it, and he has conjured up quite a collection here that accounts for many parts of it, at least: Our aptitude for, in different situations, complaining, for downplaying our letdowns, for reasoning away our defeats, for acting out and regretting, seeking solace and forgiveness, for seeking fundamental answers about our existence, and for wiping these concerns off the table, as our time isn't ever 'convenient' for them. Our propensities for greed, stupidity, evil, sadistic tendencies and obsessions with possessions and earthly titles also interest Andersson, who is never one to sentimentalize our species.
- He does present his ideas, - some quite realistic, others absolutely absurd, - with lots of subtle humor and warmth, and I have never had as good a time with an Andersson film as I had with the beautifully titled A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. - The title is inspired by the 1565 painting The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Religion is not a part of Andersson's world, it seems, and love is also not something that really interests or convinces him, apparently, which I do feel is a lack of sorts for the film, and it also feels a little long towards its end, especially in the rather long, harrowing scene with the 'African burning instrument.'
The film has several highlights:
Holger Andersson and Nils Westblom ((You, the Living) both) are really great as the two aging business partners, who serve as a story anchor for the film.
The film's most impressive and crowning scenes are two that play out in an apparently contemporary tavern that is suddenly visited by both our salesmen business-partners and King Karl XII of Sweden, on his horse, followed by en immense number of soldiers, mainly outside, who are going off to fight the Russians. Viktor Gyllenberg is quite moving in the part of the homosexual king in these two scenes that really stood out as truly wondrous film magic to me. - Mysterious, weird, powerful, moving and otherworldly.
Pigeon becomes the 2nd really great Swedish film of 2014 that I have seen as of yet, the other one being Ruben Östlund's marvelous couple's crisis/skiing holiday drama, Force Majeure/Turist (2014).

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] Force Majeure/Turist (2014) or, Swedes in Trouble

Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: Approximately 4 mil. €
Box office: 0.2 mil. $ (Sweden 2014 only)
= Too early to say
[Pigeon won the Gold Lion at the Venice Film Festival as Best Film. It has not opened in several important film countries yet. - Don't miss seeing this in a cinema! Acceptable attendance is vital for Andersson's possibilities concerning his next film project.]

What do you think of Roy Andersson and his films?
How did you find A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence?

3/28/2015

Doomed to Die (1940) - Karloff's last Mr. Wong movie is a good one

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Posters like this one seems to promise a film in which Boris Karloff has a deadly laser eyesight. William Nigh's Doomed to Die is not that film

QUICK REVIEW:

Doomed to Die is the last Mr. Wong movie with Boris Karloff (The Mummy (1932)) as the to-the-bone charming and unusual crime-basher James Lee Wong. This entry in the low-budget crime movie franchise is well photographed (by Harry Neumann (The Wasp Woman (1959))) and scored (by Edward J. Kay (Johnny Rocco (1958))), which elicits atmosphere, and it also stars some good actors:

An ignorant police chief (Grant Withers (The Sea Hornet (1951))) and an eager reporter (Marjorie Reynolds (Home Town Story (1951))) meet in a classical murder mystery, which Mr. Wong, true to form, solves with cunning; this time about the murder of a ship magnate.

Doomed to Die is scripted by Michael Jacoby (The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)) and Ralph Gilbert Bettison (Phantom of Chinatown (1940)), based on Hugh Wiley's magazine character, and directed by B-movie master William Nigh (Are These Our Parents? (1944)).

Related reviews:

William Nigh: Black Dragons (1942) or, The Sinister Foreigner Attacks!
The Ape (1940) or, The Costume-Crazed Doctor

Watch the first 3 minutes of the film here, in lieu of a trailer

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[Doomed to Die has fallen into public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here.]

What do you think of Doomed to Die?
If you've seen other Mr. Wong movies, how were they?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) - John Barrymore shines in Robertson's adapted horror morality tale

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Drinking with a man under four eyes seems a ludicrous sin for a proper woman on this poster for John S. Robertson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

QUICK REVIEW:

The pure, undefiled Dr. Jekyll gets introduced to lust and cravings and invent Mr. Hyde to take care of these parts of his mind. - This, however, soon devolves into murder and cruelties.

The film is an adaptation (of which there are many) of Robert Louis Stevenson's (Treasure Island (1883)) 1886 classic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Clara Beranger (Men and Women (1925)). It can be seen as a morality story that seems to conclude the still valid lesson that the human mind contains both a dark and a light side, and that the healthy human being learns how to balance the two, (and not simply compartmentalize them as our protagonist here does.)
John S. Robertson (Madonna of the Streets (1930)) directed this silent, early horror drama, which is rather dated to see today. But the theatricality of the actors, which was typical for the time, and especially the pathos, convulsiveness and weltschmerz of the impressive John Barrymore (Grand Hotel (1932)) in the dual title role keeps the film entertaining nevertheless. Here are some stills that show some of Barrymore's range in the film, as well as another old poster and a couple of new, excitingly graphical posters for the classic, which is now in the public domain and can be downloaded and seen free and legally right here:

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertainty
[But this lengthy, in-depth review claims it to have been a major hit.]

What do you think of Robertson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
Seen other versions?
If so, please tell about it/them

3/26/2015

Dead Ringers (1988) or, Brothers and Their Instruments

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One almost psychedelic poster for David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers

QUICK REVIEW:

Dead Ringers focuses on two identical twins and their lives as gynecologists.

This is a self-assured and wonderful adaptation of the novel Twins by Bari Wood (The Killing Gift (1975)) and Jack Geasland with the masterful Jeremy Irons (Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)) in a remarkable double role. He gives a performance, (two, in a sense), that makes the film. Irons is both unusually fragile and sexual in this visually taut film, held mostly in greys and strong reds, with photography by great Polish cinematographer Peter Suschitzky (Mars Attacks! (1996)).
At times the clichés in the script, by Canadian master filmmaker David Cronenberg (Scanners (1981)) and Norman Snider (Casino Jack (2010)), get a bit thick: The two pill-popping, high society brothers, their women and their gloomy, gloomy existential issues ... But then again the entire film is so morbid and bizarre that they kind of fit the bill: An example of this could be SPOILER when Irons as one of the twins performs deadly gynecological experiments in a blood-red robe! - Dead Ringers nears the absurd at times and is perhaps a bit artsy-fartsy, but it is also very entertaining.
The ending, SPOILER in which one brother murders the other in a bout of pill-induced madness in an attempt to rejoin the two into one body, is, as the film as a whole, bleak while inviting many interpretations.
- Dead Ringers is a fine film.

Related reviews:

Another film about twins: Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life
David Cronenberg: Cosmopolis (2012) - Cronenberg/DeLillo/Pattinson's speculative limo lullaby
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
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!

Jeremy Irons gets ready for some experimental gynecological maneuvering in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers

Watch the original trailer for the film here

Cost: 13 mil. $
Box office: Between 8-9.1 mil. $ ((different reports), US only)
= Uncertainty
[Dead Ringers entered the US box office at #1 ahead of Die Hard and A Fish Called Wanda according to this news item from the period. Without foreign gross numbers, it is impossible to say whether the film became a hit, although it should surprise me if it did. It has been critically recognized, though, and also won the Genie Award for Best Canadian Film of 1988.]

What do you think of Dead Ringers?
Do you know any other interesting films about twins?

Dead Men Walk (1943) - Basic but entertaining Newfield picture

♥♥♥

A rather primitive but colorful poster for Sam Newfield's Dead Men Walk

QUICK REVIEW:

A kind doctor kills his deranged magician brother and attends his funeral. But dark powers keep the magician among the living even after his death!

Dead Men Walk is an exciting and good b-movie, written by Fred Myton (Blonde for a Day (1946)) and directed by Sam Newfield (The Lady Confesses (1945)).
George Zucco (Madame Bovary (1949)) is totally amazing in the double role as the living, sympathetic, murder-accused doctor and the dead, malicious, murderous brother. The film has fine story build and basically good dialog with some exceptional lines, like, "The power is only with me during the hours of darkness." (From the evil Zucco.) It also has a fine, fiery ending.
Minor mistakes, - perhaps due to the fact that the film was shot in just 6 (!) days - and its crudeness weigh down, but this short feature (64 min.) is not at all bad.

Watch the beginning of the film here (in lieu of a trailer, which isn't to be found on Youtube)

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[Dead Men Walk is the final film of b-movie blond Mary Carlisle (Triple Trouble (1934)), and it also stars Dwight Frye (The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)) as a hunchbacked assistant named Zolarr. Newfield is credited with an astounding 277 movie and TV titles, which might be explained by the fact that he was a degenerate gambler who wound up ending his career penniless.]

What do you think of Dead Men Walk?
Seen other films by Newfield?
If so, tell us about it/them