Gulliver's Travels (2010) or, Gulliver's Travesty

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Jack Black is ready to bonk around in shorts and Converse Allstars on the poster for Rob Letterman's Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver works in the mail room of a large New York magazine, as he plucks up the courage to talk to the girl he is in love with. - Which brings him on an adventure in the Bermuda triangle!

The plot is only coherent in patches, but there's also really no base of reality at all in this shoot-and-miss catastrophe of a film. No one in the cast make total asses of themselves, but it is a laughless comedy and a film with several problems. - Particularly the overly speedy pace, which made me wonder if director Rob Letterman (Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)) is lacking in self-confidence (or talent, or perhaps has ADD?) This fault hinders any amazement over the film's many effects.
In Lilliput, Gulliver becomes part of a romantic triangle and among other things helps Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)) with a Prince song, while Chris O'Dowd (Pirate Radio (2009)) is attacking from inside a kind of Pacific Rim-like robot.
Gulliver's Travels, obviously a very free adaptation of the Jonathan Swift (A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland Being a Burden on Their Parents or the Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick (1729)) 1726 classic, doesn't have much Swift to it. Most extenuating about it, however, is its ending, when Jack Black (Goosebumps (2015)) gives a dance performance to Edwin Starr's War. Black's love for music is luckily plugged into this awful film, which is written by Nicholas Stoller (Zoolander 2 (2016))) and Joe Stillman (Shrek (2001)).

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 112 mil. $
Box office: 237.3 mil. $
= Flop
[Gulliver's Travels was released December 25 and runs 85 minutes. Filming took place in and around March 2009 in England. Swift is not mentioned in the credits in the film, which, although the film is terrible, is an added shamefulness. The film opened #8, a terrible start for a big budgeted 3D-movie, to a 6.3 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 42.7 mil. $ (18 % of the total gross). Black, Letterman and the film's producers were very lucky that the film pulled in better internationally: The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 24.7 mil. $ (10.4 %) and Japan with 18.9 mil. $ (8 %). Roger Ebert was among the few critics that liked the film, giving it 3/4 stars, equal to 4 hearts here. Gulliver's Travels is rotten at 20 % with a 3.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Gulliver's Travels?

GasLand (2010) - Fox rips fracking to shreds in intense activistic documentary

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1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Documentary (lost to Secrets of the Tribe)

An attention-grabbing poster for Josh Fox's GasLand

GasLand provides a shocking look at how gas companies drill for and exploit natural gas reserves in several US states.

Unfortunately the film is made on a minuscule budget, which means bad cameras, shaky recordings and a scrimpy look, although there are moments of beauty. But the topic of the film is highly relevant and overlooked, and the more or less ordinary Americans we get to meet in the film are wonderful. The perforation and poisoning of God's own country for natural gas just isn't acceptable. Gasland is a shocking, well-made and deeply, deeply heartbreaking activistic documentary that makes this abundantly clear.
It is made by Josh Fox (Gasland Part II (2013)).

Related posts: 


2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Fox has reported it was made for just 15k $
Box office: In excess of 49k $
= Box office success (at least)
[GasLand premiered January 24 (Sundance) and runs 104 minutes. The film came about after Fox's family received a letter from a gas company in 2008 to offer them to lease their land for gas fracking in exchange for 100k $. Filming lasted 18 months, whereupon Fox edited the 200 hours of footage down. A detailed document on the film's impact can be seen here. It became highly controversial with the oil and gas industry fighting back and a rebutting documentary, FrackNation (2013) being created to support this effort. GasLand was screened at 14 festivals and grossed 30k $ in North America and 18k $ in Australia. Its earnings in 7 other countries were it has been screened are unreported. It was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar which it lost to Inside Job. GasLand is fresh at 97 % with a 7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of GasLand?

Greenberg (2010) - Baumbach's uniquely downbeat LA-romance depressant

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+ Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year

Ben Stiller gets a change of pace as Noah Baumbach's Greenberg

Roger Greenberg is in a curious phase in his life while house-sitting for his brother's family in Hollywood and looking after their dog Mahler: Following a nervous breakdown, he attempts to do nothing.

Greenberg is the 6th feature from great New Yorker writer-director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale (2005)). He developed the story for the film with Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Anniversary Party (2001)), who also stars in it.
The film inspires quite a few laughs; it has some neat scenes and good lines, but it is also incredibly depressing. And unromantic. It works out a space for itself of a kind of hideous realism that's quite rare, which is fascinating but may also be hard to really like.

Related posts:

Noah Baumbach: While We're Young (2014) - Baumbach offers another observant, clever downer
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Frances Ha (2012) or, Growing Older Ain't Easy
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Noah Baumbach directing Ben Stiller in his Greenberg

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 6.1 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[Greenberg premiered February 14 (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 107 minutes. It was shot in and around March 2009. Ben Stiller contracted Joaquin Phoenix to play the part of Ivan, the part ultimately played by Rhys Ifans, recorded in Casey Affleck and Phoenix's weird-awful documentary I'm Still Here. The film opened in just 3 theaters to a 118k $ opening weekend (a strong 39k $ screen average), but peaking in just 186 theaters in North America, where it grossed 4.2 mil. $ (68. % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia and the UK, both with 0.4 mil. $ (6.6 %). The film's terrible performance was made catastrophic by the fact that the film was made on an overly high budget. Roger Ebert awarded the film 3½ stars, equal to 5 hearts here. It was shown in competition in Berlin and was nominated for 4 Independent Spirit awards. Greenberg is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Greenberg?

Get Him to the Greek (2010) - Brand and Hill light up Stoller's funny music biz satire

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The two stars are primed to sell Nicholas Stoller's Get Him to the Greek

Jonah Hill (Moneyball (2011)) plays a guy who works for record executive Sergio (Sean Combs (Draft Day (2014)) is surprisingly good in the part) and who gets an idea: He wants to stage a revival concert for British rock star Aldous Snow at the Greek Theatre in LA. The problem becomes how to get the unruly star from London to the gig in 72 hours.

The idea of master writer-director Nicholas Stoller's (Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)) movie here is funny. The film features a serious satire of the music business, which isn't funny enough, especially in its first half hour, which lags. 
But the tone is adroit throughout, and especially the city scenes with Hill and Russell Brand (Arthur (2011)), who returns as the character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, are amusing. Elisabeth Moss (A Buddy Story (2010)) does well in a supporting role, SPOILER especially in the threesome scene. It is a shame that Brand's rock songs just don't play well, and they shouldn't have been featured in my opinion. The sentimental ending for Hill's character is also contrived.
Still, Get Him to the Greek is an entertaining comedy.

Related review:
 
Nicholas Stoller: The Muppets (2011) or, Man or Muppet? (co-writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 91.2 mil. $
= Flop
[Get Him to the Greek was released June 4 and runs 109 minutes. The film was already announced as a spin-off to Forgetting Sarah Marshall a week after that film's release. Filming took place in London, New York, California and Las Vegas. The film opened #2, behind Shrek Forever After, to a 17.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 60.9 mil. $ (66.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10.9 mil. $ (12 %) and Australia with 8.4 mil. $ (9.2 %). Get Him to the Greek is certified fresh at 72 % with a 6.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Get Him to the Greek?

(Untitled) (2009) - Parker's clever NY art world satire

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+ Best Satire of the Year

A funny, elegant poster for Jonathan Parker's (Untitled)

(Untitled) is the fourth feature from co-writer-director Jonathan Parker (Bartleby (2001)). He has written it with Catherine DiNapoli (The Architect (2016)).

A co
ntrary avant-garde music composer gets professionally pummeled by his successful artist brother as he meets and falls for the gallery owner who sells his art and uses the proceeds to finance her experimental gallery.

Adam Goldberg (No Way Jose (2015)) is perfect as the dour protagonist, who makes compositions that involve kicking a bucket and rubbing a plastic dress. Marley Shelton (Planet Terror (2007)) is equally auspicious as the cool and ambitious but also likable gallery owner. Eion Bailey (Ray Donovan (2014), TV-series) is good as the brother whose commercial art is harmonious and colorful to look at but doesn't speak much to the characters (and me and maybe also my fellow audiences?) In smaller parts, Lucy Punch (Dinner for Schmucks (2010)) as a sweet clarinet player, Vinnie Jones (Throwdown (2014)) as an exponent of the adulated contemporary male artist and Ptolemy Slocum (Rock Jocks (2012)) as a weird minimalist are all good.
There's much good to be said of the film, whose title in Denmark and Sweden - A New York Love Affair - takes some of the edge from the film's look and also isn't a very inventive or appropriate title.

Marley Shelton in Jonathan Parker's (Untitled)

From the artful intro credit sequence to the film's end, it feels like a perfectly controlled film, not one in which any unexpected magic seems to seep in but a clever satire of the contemporary art world. It will especially appeal to audiences interested in art, artists and the art world. It poses questions of our definition of art and having some laughs at the expense of the whimsical art created by some today, while itself also seeming to be entirely for an inclusive approach to the issue.
Someone at one point in the film asks gallery owner Shelton how to distinguish between entertainment and art, and she gives a sharp answer that I'll let round off the review here:
"Entertainment never posed a problem it couldn't solve."

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 230k $ (North America)
= Unknown (likely a huge flop)
[(Untitled) was released October 23 and runs 96 minutes. Parker was inspired to the project from his own experiences as a sound artist in his youth and from his immediate family, which counts an art collector mother and an art student son. The film was shot in New York. It had a small release in the US, making 18k $ its opening weekend, and also played in Finland and the Netherlands. It was likely made for around 1 mil. $ and so theatrically looks like a huge flop. (Untitled) is fresh at 65 % at Rotten Tomatoes with a 6 critical average.]

What do you think of (Untitled)?

Fair Game (2010) or, The Intelligence War

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+ Best Political Movie of the Year

Naomi Watts and Sean Penn wind up in a CIA-mess in Doug Liman's Fair Game

Valerie Plame is a skilled CIA-agent and mother of two, whose husband gets sent to Africa to investigate a possible, suspicious uranium deal involving Iraq. After the US war on Iraq is commenced and he shares his find with the rest of the world, the family find themselves in a hellish situation.

Fair Game tells the very interesting story of the rickety foundation for the Iraq War and the brutal handling of the intelligence operatives who bravely made us all aware of this. It is well-made and has Naomi Watts (Ellie Parker (2005)) and Sean Penn (Bad Boys (1983)) both well-playing in the leads along with a line of lovely supporting cast faces.
Unfortunately the title of the film and the casting of the two outspokenly liberal stars, - of whom Penn will be especially divisive when he approaches the sanctimonious, as his character does a couple of times here, - will undoubtedly make a segment of right-leaning audiences skip the film. That is a shame and it weighs down the rating a wee bit.
Fair Game is written by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow (2014), both), based on Plame's memoir Fair Game (2007) and her husband Joseph C. Wilson's memoir The Politics of Truth (2004), and directed by Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)).

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch a few excerpts from the film here

Cost: 22 mil. $
Box office: 24.1 mil. $
= Big flop
[Fair Game premiered May 20 (Cannes) and runs 108 minutes. Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe were in talks to star in it at an earlier point. It was shot from March - June 2009 in Jordan, Egypt, Malaysia, New York and Washington, D.C.. It was shown in competition in Cannes. It opened #15 to a 651k $ first weekend, peaking in just 436 theaters in North America, where it grossed 9.5 mil.$ (39.4 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 3.4 mil. $ (14.1 %) and Australia with 2.4 mil. $ (10 %). Fair Game is certified fresh at 79 % with a 6.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Fair Game?

The Fighter (2010) - Russell's fine, gritty boxing biopic

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+ Best Boxing Movie of the Year

The elegant, simple poster for David O. Russell's The Fighter

The Fighter tells the story of boxing brothers Micky and Dicky Ward of Lowell, Massachusetts.

It is in a way the story of the other America, the one that we are rarely treated to on the silver screen: The prejudiced, crudely talking white trash-segment that is really very large. The film is a wildly unglamorous and focused boxing picture with realistic fight scenes and fine performances from Oscar-winning Melissa Leo (Treme (2010-13)), Oscar-nominated Amy Adams (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000), TV-series) and Oscar-winning Christian Bale (Henry V (1989)), whereas Mark Wahlberg (Planet of the Apes (2001)) is a bit less impressive.
The Fighter is written by Oscar-nominated Eric Johnson (The Finest Hours (2016)), Scott Silver (8 Mile (2002)) and Paul Tamasy (Air Bud (1997)) with Keith Dorrington (The Merger (2007)) contributing story elements and directed by Oscar-nominated, great New-Yorker filmmaker David O. Russell (Three Kings (1999)), whose 5th feature it is.

Related posts:

David O. Russell: Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - Tender moments, great De Niro in uneven romantic dramedy
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Christian Bale lost weight and reportedly stayed in character for the duration of the shooting of David O. Russell's The Fighter

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 129.1 mil. $
= Big hit
[The Fighter was released December 10 and runs 115 minutes. Martin Scorsese and Darren Aronofsky were contacted to direct, before Russell finally got the job. Filming lasted 33 days from July - August 2009 in Massachusetts, including in some of the facilities the real Wards had trained in. At its wide opening weekend, the film opened #4 (behind Tron Legacy, Yogi Bear and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 93.6 mil. $ (72.5 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10.1 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Australia with 6.1 mil. $ (5 %). The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning two for supporting performances (Leo and Bale), the first film to do that since Woody Allen's great Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Adams lost Supporting Actress to Leo, Best Picture was lost to The King's Speech, directing to Tom Hooper for King's Speech, original screenplay to King's Speech's David Seidler and editing to The Social Network. It was also nominated for 6 Golden Globes, winning the same two it did at the Oscars, and for 3 BAFTAs, winning none. Wahlberg has tried to develop a sequel, but that hasn't materialized yet. The Fighter is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Fighter?

Faster (2010) - Tillman Jr., the Gayton brothers and Johnson sculpt a fantastic action movie

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5 Film Excess nominations:

Best Screenplay: Joe Gayton, Tony Gayton (lost to Christopher Nolan for Inception)
Best Cinematography: Michael Grady (lost to Wally Phister for Inception)
Best Sound (lost to Insidious) 
Best Editing (lost to Somewhere) 
Best Practical Effects (lost to Inception)

+ Best Car Movie of the Year

Dwayne Johnson's impressive front adorns this poster for George Tillman Jr.'s Faster

After ten years behind bars, a vengeful bank robbery driver gets released, carrying with him a list of his accursed enemies. But a contract killer is on his heels. - And just how much vengeance is justifiable?

Faster, written by brothers Tony and Joe Gayton (The Novice (2014), TV movie) and directed by great Wisconsinite filmmaker George Tillman Jr. (The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (2013)) is a brilliant, refreshing, old school action movie. It has an original storyline and exciting characters that feel new and avoid the stereotypical as well as cool but still relatively restrained dialog. Faster has smart twists and carries a moral jacket on itself, SPOILER which works and culminates in a fine desert-set scene with the film's terrific star Dwayne Johnson (Get Smart (2008)) and a priest played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)) going toe-to-toe. This film is my personal favorite with Johnson.
Faster is beautifully shot, by Michael Grady (The Jolly Man (2001)), efficiently produced, - getting a lot out of its relatively low budget, - and it has a cool score by Clint Mansell (Black Swan (2010)). It's got exciting cars and a cast to suit it all, featuring also the great Carla Gugino (The Unborn (2009)) and Billy Bob Thornton (Dead Man (1995)). Don't miss it.

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Here's an interview promo video for the movie

Cost: 24 mil. $
Box office: 35.6 mil. $
= Big flop
[Faster was released November 24 and runs 98 minutes. Salma Hayek dropped out a week prior to filming due to "scheduling conflicts" and was replaced by Gugino. Filming took place from February - April in in LA and other places in California. The film opened #7 to an 8.5 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 23.2 mil. $ (65.2 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 1.4 mil. $ (3.9 %) and Malaysia with 1.2 mil. $ (3.4 %). Faster is rotten at 43 % with a 4.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Faster?

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) - Slade brings the popular teen franchise a thin cup of more, slightly better the same

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Kristen Stewart perfects her vampy look on the poster for David Slade's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Vampire Edward proposes to Bella, but she is also getting courted by Jacob the Indian werewolf, whom she is also fond of. Meanwhile a vampire gang are on the loose in Seattle.

Basically the story doesn't really move anywhere here in the the third Twilight movie. The plot is pretty secondary and often inscrutable, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with an eclipse.
Still, the film is handsomer than its predecessors, more romantic and has scenes with some charm, as well as Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World (2015)) as a welcome, new feature, taking over the part of Victoria from Rachelle Lefevre (The Caller (2011)).
The film is written by Melissa Rosenberg (Twilight (2008)), adapted from Eclipse (2007) by Stephenie Meyers (Twilight (2005), as the third and only Twilight feature from great English director David Slade (Hard Candy (2005)).

Related review:

David Slade: Hard Candy (2005) - A stylish and intense modern thriller classic

Five shirtless guys who are obviously werewolfs of native-American heritage ... ahem ... in David Slade's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 68 mil. $
Box office: 698.4 mil $
= Huge hit
[The Twilight Saga: Eclipse premiered June 24 (LA) and runs 123 minutes. Filming took place August - October 2009 in and around Vancouver with unspecified reshoots taking place later. An early draft of the script was leaked online in January 2010, apparently stemming from one of the cast's minor stars. The film broke many box office records and was a massive hit almost everywhere in the world. It opened #1 with a 64.8 mil. $ first weekend, (but was beat to #2 the next weekend by Despicable Me), in North America, where it grossed 300.5 mil. (43 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 45.7 mil. $ (6.5 %) and Germany with 33 mil. $ (4.7 %). It became the 4th film of the year to break 300 mil. $ domestically. Roger Ebert has given it 2/4 stars, translating to a note harder than this review. The film has made in excess of an additional 164.6 mil. $ from 9.4 mil. DVDs sold in North America alone. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is rotten at 49 % with a 5.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse?