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From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. November 2024: More reviews of titles from 1990-2024 - Upcoming review: The Idealist (2015) - Now with 2,300+ reviews!
A doll as creepy as the one featured on this poster for John R. Leonetti's Annabelle is best not brought into your home, - just a recommendation ...
A young couple in California in 1970 are expecting their first child, when they one night fall victim to a bloody feud that involves their satanic neighbors. The tragedy seems to leave a trace in the couple's new doll...
Annabelle places itself solidly in a Charles Manson-fraught context, centering on a highly sympathetic couple, well-played by Annabelle Wallis (The Brothers Grimsby (2016)) and Ward Horton (Letting Go (2012)). They provide a good core for the film, which is generally creepy without ever reaching the height of terror that is James Wan's great The Conjuring (2013), which Annabelle is a prequel/spin-off to.
Annabelle loans some elements from that film SPOILER and has a demon that is a bit like the one in Insidious (2010) (also by Wan), but it is still atmospheric and contains one especially scary sequence: SPOILER When Wallis gets followed through the building to the attic by the demon and can't get down again.
The Annabelle doll, (which is actually several dolls created for the film), is also an affecting ingredient in itself here. Annabelle is written by Gary Dauberman (Within (2016)) and directed by John R. Leonetti (The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006)).
[Annabelle premiered September 26 (Russia) and runs 100 minutes. The huge success of Conjuring prompted this film of the Annabelle doll featured in that film. Filming took place in and around January 2014 in California. The film's producer and director Leonetti have claimed the set to be haunted. Filming reportedly took place in sequence/chronologically. The film opened #2, slightly behind fellow new release Gone Girl, to a huge 37.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another week (in #4) and grossed 84.2 mil. $ (32.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 19.1 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Brazil with 16.3 mil. $ (6.3 %). A sequel is set for release May 2017 with director David F. Sandberg (Lights Out (2016)) and star Miranda Otto. Annabelle is rotten at 29 % with a 4.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Praise as well as its subject Weiwei taking a picture of us fill this poster for Alison Klayman's Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry tells the story of Chinese activist-artist Ai Weiwei; his engagement with the devastation and aftermath of the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China, his background, time spent as a young man in New York, his provocations, Twitter activism, imprisonment and more.
This documentary rolls out the story of its unique and inspiring titular subject in the most fantastic way imaginable, acquainting us with brave individualist Weiwei and some of his artworks, which in their simplicity and his ability to encompass the attacks of his opponents in them become greater than their opposition. His incorporation into his universe of the things he reacts against is his genius.
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is written and directed by Alison Klayman (The 100 Years Show (2015, documentary short) as her debut. It is a phenomenal, incredibly strong, both indignant and uplifting experience.
Here is a trailer for the film with English subtitles
Cost: Unknown
Box office: In excess of 881k $
= Unknown
[Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry premiered January 22 (Sundance) and runs 91 minutes. Funding was provided through philanthropic foundations, an American philanthropist/art patron and through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. It was shot over the course of two years in China, Germany, England, Japan and the US and edited down from some 200 hours of footage. The film opened #42 to a 41k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked the following weak at #36, later peaking in number of theaters at 37 and grossed 534k $ (60.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 173k $ (19.6 %) and Germany with 148k $ (16.8 %). The gross total above is the sum of 6 market totals made public, which means that it is missing several markets the film has been released in. The film won a special jury prize "for spirit of defiance" at Sundance. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
One of the fashionably psychedelic posters for Ben Wheatley's A Field in England, which prominently features Martin Scorsese's head-scratching endorsement of the film
A small group of men desert the civil war battles in the English countryside in the 17th century and head for a mysterious ale bar under the influence of, among other things, mushrooms, bad digestion and hatred among themselves. A Field in England begins well and is certainly merry in a gross, expletive-fraught, English manner, although after 45 minutes it feels like an exercise in vulgarity and little else. (SPOILER Among other things, we are treated to one character pissing on two others, who are in a hole, whereupon one of them is shot by accident in the subsequent quarrel.) The plot does not gain interest or thrills along the way; it just gets weirder, revolving around a symbolic black hole (death, very likely.) Some of the lengthily drawn out shots, such as one of the shooting of a foot, feels in the context of the mystery-loving Field in England as borderline (if not just plain) pretentious. The sufferings, mystery, cursing and vulgarity isn't the mere surface of anything deep or poignant, as it may give the impression of in this disappointing 4th theatrical feature from great English director Ben Wheatley (Kill List (2011)). It is written by Amy Jump (High-Rise (2015)).
One of the film's executive producers is interviewed here about the alternative release strategy of the film
Cost: 316k £, equal to approximately 390k $
Box office: 64k $
= Mega-flop
[A Field in England was released simultaneously in British cinemas, as VoD, home video and on Film4 on July 5, and it runs 91 minutes. Filming lasted just 12 days in September 2012 in England. The simultaneous release strategy for the film was reportedly the first time this was attempted in the UK with an English film. The film opened #63 in 13 theaters to a dismal 9k $ first weekend in North America, where it only went down from there and grossed 32k $. The film's other market grosses are not public, and the 64k $ total gross is what's presented on its Wikipedia. Only based on the theatrical gross, - which is what is always done on this website, - the film is a mega-flop. A Field in England is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Something seems creepily amiss on this poster for Nick Murphy's The Awakening
In 1921, England's leading supernatural debunker gets hired by a countryside orphanage, which is possibly haunted by a boy who passed away years ago ...
The Awakening slowly builds up its story with relatively few and simple scare effects. It features good acting from Rebecca Hall (The Gift (2015)), Dominic West (300 (2006)) and Imelda Staunton (Another Year (2010)) as well as deft camerawork (by cinematographer Eduard Grau (Buried (2010))) in which everything is held in cool, desaturated tones. It produces chills and goosebumps more than once, SPOILER in particular in the scenes with the dollhouse.
On the downside, The Awakening is a bit overlong, which makes our attention with it at times a bit strained. SPOILER It all culminates as one of the saddest, most tragic ghost stories that I can recall.
The film is written by Stephen Volk (Octane (2003)) and co-writer-director Nick Murphy (Blood (2012)). It is a fair ghost horror although a few steps under a film like The Orphanage/El Orfanato (2007), which it clearly aspires towards.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Reportedly 3 mil. £, equal to approximately 3.7 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly 4.4 mil. $
= Big flop
[The Awakening was released November 11 (the UK) and runs 107 minutes. Filming took place in England and Scotland from July 2010. The film opened #41 in 70 theaters to a paltry 95k $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 209k $ (4.8 % of the total gross). The film did better in its native UK, although its other country grosses are not reported online. The Awakening is fresh at 61 % with a 5.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
The handsomely designed, almost popcorn-smelling poster for Peyton Reed's Ant-Man
Hank Pym is an alienated business pioneer in the field of minimizing the human being for military purposes. He now wants to protect his company by making an ant-man out of an unsuccessful petty criminal. Michael Douglas (The China Syndrome (1979)) makes an impressive comeback in this his highest-grossing pic to date, and he works well as the person that the film's protagonist ant-man Paul Rudd (The Simpsons (2011-14)) plays up against. Rudd's three friends in the film, played by Michael Peña (Cesar Chavez (2014)), T.I. (Get Hard (2015)) and David Dastmalchian (Chronic (2015)), add to the fresh sense of fun that this self-ironic movie benefits from, - Peña especially. Ant-Man is truly a spectacular special effects film, and so watching it without the 3D element some of the point of the film evaporates, and especially in that case, some adult audiences might have to really force themselves to stick with its naturally loony plot. It is phallocentric but done with an infectious energy and a lightness to it. The film also boasts a tremendous climax. It is written by Joe Cornish (The Adventures of Tintin (2011)), Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz (2007)), Rudd and Adam McKay (The Other Guys (2010)) and directed by Peyton Reed (Yes Man (2008)).
[Ant-Man premiered June 29 (Hollywood's Dolby Theatre) and runs 117 minutes. The film had been in development since the late 1980s. Wright was hired as director and shot footage before he was replaced by Reed, reportedly because Wright's vision was too removed from the overall Marvel cinematic universe. Filming took place from August - December 2014 in Georgia and California. The film opened #1 with a 57.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed atop for another week and spent a total of 4 weeks in the top 5 and grossed 180.2 mil. $ (34.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 105.3 mil. $ (20.3 %) and the UK with 25.1 mil. $ (4.8 %). The film was nominated for a BAFTA for its visual effects. Deadline.com have calculated the film's profits to 103.9 mil. $, figuring in most all costs and profits, making it the 14th most valuable movie of the year. A sequel, with Rudd, Peña and Reed already signed on, is set for a 2018 summer release. Ant-Man is certified fresh at 81 % with a 6.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Impending danger is palpable on this poster for Michael Bay's 13 Hours
After the recent war effort of the West in Libya and the removal of dictator Gadaffi, the country breaks out in civil war. Of foreign powers, the US is subsequently just about the only country who tenaciously uphold small, fragile representations in Tripoli and Benghazi, - the latter of which gets attacked on September 11 2012 by Islamic terrorists.
13 Hours is written by Chuck Hogan (The Strain (2014-16)), based on Mitchell Zuckoff's (Robert Altman: The Oral Biography (2009)) nonfiction novel 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi (2014), and directed by Michael Bay (The Rock (1996)). Bay manages to convey the camaraderie among the tough security team, who are hired to handle the local security for the CIA. Several of the film's action sequences are fantastically exciting, full of Bay's familiar penchant for flashy camera tricks (cinematography by Dion Beebe (Into the Woods (2014))) and first-class stunt expertise.
John Krasinski (Something Borrowed (2011)), James Badge Dale (Iron Man 3 (2013)) and the rest of the cast are credible and add both humor and seriousness to the tale, which is shocking in itself, - in particular the intense silence from Washington, D.C. and the Pentagon, as shit hits the fan for hour upon hour in Benghazi.
It is in the emotionally dense episodes of 13 Hours that Bay comes up short; they are handled with the crude hands of an action director who ventures into unknown territory. Unfortunately, they are many, melodramatic and rather inelegant, which is a shame, because 13 Hours is an otherwise compelling and important story of contemporary heroism, well worth watching.
Michael Bay gives an interview about the film here
Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 69.4 mil. $
= Big flop
[13 Hours premiered January 12 (the AT&T Stadium, Texas) and runs 144 minutes. Mark Wahlberg was the initial choice for the lead, but he declined due to prior engagements. Filming took place in and around April 2015 in Malta and Morocco. The events portrayed in the film are contested but also remain politically highly controversial. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Ride Along 2 and holdover hits The Revenant and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, to a 16.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 52.8 mil. $ (76.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Taiwan with 1.3 mil. $ (9 %) and South Korea with 1 mil. $ (1.4 %). The film did especially poor abroad and is Bay's lowest-grossing film to date. In the US, Paramount targeted the release at conservatives, inviting Republican politicians to screenings, and the Texas premiere raised funds for the Shadow Warriors Project, which helps private security personnel among others. Libya's foreign minister and information and culture minister have attacked the film, - but note that Libya is recognized as a failed state. 13 Hours is rotten at 51 % with a 5.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
The original Danish poster for Mads Matthiesen's Teddy Bear has a lovely photo from a beach in Thailand
Lonely bodybuilder Dennis of age 35 leaves his mother, whom he lives with in Rødovre, Denmark, to go on a trip by himself to Thailand to find himself a girlfriend.
Kim Kold (Fast & Furious 6 (2013)) is deeply sympathetic as Dennis, and Elsebeth Steentoft (Klown/Klovn: The Movie (2010)) and Lamaiporn Sangmanee Hougaard as his mother and new-found love are also very good.
Teddy Bear is a finely observed, underplayed, pleasant film. Its more poetic and better original title translates to '10 hours till paradise'. The depiction of the tyrannical mother opposite the good Dennis is a bit one-sided but it doesn't hurt the film much overall. It is written by Martin Zandvliet (The Model (2016)) and co-writer-director Mads Matthiesen (The Model) as his auspicious feature debut, based on his short Dennis (2007), also starring Kold as Dennis.
Matthiesen and Kold give an interview about the film at Sundance here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown (but likely a huge flop)
[Teddy Bear premiered January 22 (Sundance) and runs 93 minutes. It was filmed in Denmark and Thailand. The film was released for 3 weeks in North America, where it topped at #76 in 2 theaters and grossed 16k $. Its only other publicized gross is in Poland, where it made 5k $. In its native Denmark, it sold 27,077 tickets, equal to approximately 270k $. These numbers together make it likely that the film should count as a huge flop theatrically at least. The film won the World Cinema - Drama directing award at Sundance. Teddy Bear is fresh at 93 % with a 7.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Antonio Banderas seems to be looking up in wonder at a mysterious, giant, floating number on this poster for Patricia Riggen's The 33
A greedy mine boss sends a new group of workers down into a mine, which is showing signs of imminent collapse. Soon after a part of the mine collapses, and the 33 men find themselves buried alive in a hollow space about a kilometer below the surface ... Regrettably, no good film has been dug out of the incredible true story of the 2010 Chilean mining disaster. The 33 is deeply uninspired, flat and boring, seemingly dragging itself towards its ending, which for most of its audiences is already known. Apparently the bet of the filmmakers here has been that it would somehow become compelling storytelling, if enough stars got sprinkled on it, - but great actors employed here can't change the film's deficiency. Furthermore, the only star that really stands out is Gabriel Byrne (No Pay, Nudity (2016)), but for the wrong reason: He seems to start out here with a Spanish accent, which then turns back to his natural Irish English accent shortly after. The 33 is written by Mikko Alanne (5 Days of War (2011)), Craig Borten (Dallas Buyers Club (2013)) and Michael Thomas (Welcome to Woop Woop (1997)) with Jose Rivera (Letters to Juliet (2010)) contributing story elements, based on Héctor Tobar's (The Tattooed Soldier (1998)) Deep Down Dark (2014) nonfiction novel, and directed by Patricia Riggen (Miracles from Heaven (2016)). It is a poorly handled, conventional film spun over an incredible story.
Antonio Banderas gives an interview about the film here
Cost: 26 mil. $
Box office: 27.9 mil. $
= Big flop
[The 33 was released November 6 (Chile) and runs 127 minutes. It is the first film to receive the Colombian Film Commission's incentive for shooting in the country. Jennifer Lopez had to bow out due to her work on American Idol and was replaced by Juliette Binoche. Filming took place from November 2013 - February 2014 in Colombia and Chile, including at the actual site of the event. James Horner's score is the second of two he made in 2015, just before he passed away. The film opened #5, behind behind Spectre, The Peanuts Movie, Love the Coopers (the only other new release of the 5) and The Martian, to a 5.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its second week and grossed 12.2 mil. $ (43.7 % of the total gross). The film is a US-Chilean co-production, and in Chile, it reigned #1 for 5 consecutive weeks and grossed 4.9 mil. $ (17.6 %). The 3rd biggest market was China with 3.4 mil. $ (12.2 %). The 33 is rotten at 44 % with a 5.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
This striking poster for Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge highlights how one man went against the destructive chaos of war
Desmond Doss is a Seventh-day Adventist Christian Virginian, who has grown up with an abusive father, who was himself traumatized by experiences in the first World War, when WWII arrives, and Doss feels compelled to enlist, although his convictions make it impossible for him to use violence.
Hacksaw Ridge, written by Robert Schenkkan (The Quiet American (2002)) and Andrew Knight (The Water Diviner (2014)), based on Desmond Doss' true story, is the 5th film from American-Australian master filmmaker Mel Gibson (Apocalypto (2006)). It is an intense war movie, which feels like a classic war film although it depicts the horrors of a Japanese war zone in ways that were impossible 60 years ago and also tells us a fresh story that is instantly fascinating.
Andrew Garfield (Boy A (2007)) as Doss calls to mind an actor like Anthony Perkins. His slightly effeminate demeanor might take a moment to get used to; later it is clear that the particular, unusual sensitivity he has developed here fits the character perfectly. Teresa Palmer (Lights Out (2016)) is darling sweet, and she makes it far from a mystery what makes Doss fall so suddenly for her. Garfield is backed up by an ensemble of terrific actors: Hugo Weaving (Last Ride (2009)), Sam Worthington (Macbeth (2006)), Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under (2001-05)) and Vince Vaughn (Be Cool (2005)), who works surprisingly well as the roughneck sergeant.
The film takes us on a journey from a troubled family setting and a blossoming romance, to the sharp-edged hierarchy and harshness of the army, incorporating humor and a consistent focus on Doss' convictions and how they clash with the system. As he overcomes these obstacles, it heads us into the battle for the titular Hacksaw Ridge, a hellish piece of Japanese land that is climbed up ropes on a rocky wall in awesomely mythical fashion. The war scenes are horrific, conveying the pointless destruction, waste and agony of war and the adrenaline rush it creates at the same time. Gibson is a master at work here, SPOILER and I was particularly glad that the film also responded to the waste of enemy lives, and Doss' reaction to this fact as well.
There are a few scenes in the film which are scarred by some digital image compositions which stand out. One is in the training camp with several things going on in the front, middle and back ground, SPOILER and another is towards the end when Doss is lifted down from the ridge, and the camera purports to do a sweeping movement in under his sling. Both are obviously achieved through digital compositing handiwork, which goes against the overall realism achieved in Hacksaw Ridge. - A shame.
But it is also a minor detractor from a great war epic that tells an exciting, horrifying, inspirational and humbling true story. This kind of animal rarely comes to town, so don't miss Hacksaw Ridge in a cinema!
[Hacksaw Ridge premiered September 4 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 131 minutes. The project was in 'development hell' for 14 years, before it finally took shape with Gibson as director, - who had turned down the project twice before accepting. For financing reasons, the film was set up as a US-Australian co-production with no less than 14 production companies involved, which includes some distributors. Palmer was cast following an audition she shot herself on her iPhone and managed to get to Gibson. Filming took place for 59 days from September - December 2015 in New South Wales, Australia. 500 hectares of land was cleared, including removing 80 trees, which prompted environmentalists to protest, although approvals were gathered, on conditions of replanting and rehabilitating the area after shooting. The accuracy of the film is reportedly pretty high; changes include some things concerning Doss' father and his struggles with him, Doss' prior service in two battles before Hacksaw Ridge and the length of his service in that battle, which actually ran for around 3 weeks. The film opened #3, behind fellow new releases Doctor Strange and Trolls, to a 15.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell to #5 in its current second week and has grossed 34.3 mil. $ so far. The film is getting a Chinese release later this month. It has already been nominated for 13 AACTA awards (Australia's Oscar.) Hacksaw Ridge is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
