Halloween Movie 2017: Candyman (1992) - Racial tensions inform Rose and Barker's Chicago-set horror favorite

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A mysterious and curiosity-sparking poster for Bernard Rose's Candyman

As part of her thesis project on urban legends, Helen and a student friend visit Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project, where the feared Candyman is said to have killed...

Candyman is a hugely suspenseful, heavily loaded horror favorite that treads new ground in a thought-provoking way. Virginia Madsen (Joy (2015)) is outstanding and a trooper for the genre here, and the same goes for Tony Todd (Agoraphobia (2015)), SPOILER who among other things endures having bees in his mouth for his performance in Candyman. Madsen and Kasi Lemmons (The Silence of the Lambs (1991)), who plays her friend in the film, both have the added quality here of irresistible, glamorous hairdos, and Xander Berkeley (Nikita (2010-12)) is perfect as Madsen's disloyal partner.
Candyman also has a cute boy performance (by DeJuan Guy (Make It Rain (2008))), a strong score by Philip Glass (No Reservations (2007)) and a gruesome core to it that is interpretable in several ways: There are undeniable sexual overtones in the relation between misty-eyed Madsen and Todd with his huge hook (yes, the mandingo fantasy kind), but the film could also possibly stand as a conservative warning against 'slumming' on 'the wrong side of the tracks.' SPOILER The ending also made me speculate whether the black populace of Cabrini-Green want to burn Candyman for his bloodlust or for crossing racial barriers with his ancient romance? The film taps right down into the still boiling, rich stew that is the fraught race relations in modern America and in this could be seen as a precursor of recent huge hit Get Out (2017).
Candyman a a film scoffs at the supercilious academic world in favor of the superstition and religion that is held high by the under-privileged black community. It is over-lit more than once, - perhaps so we won't miss the great production design (by Jane Ann Stewart (About Schmidt (2002))) and strong use of colors.
Candyman is written and directed by great English filmmaker Bernard Rose (Paperhouse (1988)), adapting Clive Barker's (Sacrament (1996)) short story The Forbidden from his Books of Blood: Volume 5. It is a major horror favorite in my book.

Watch the title sequence for the film here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 25.7 mil. $ - North America only
= Some uncertainty; at least a box office success and likely a big hit
[Candyman premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Although Barker's story was set in his native Liverpool, Rose changed the setting to Chicago and found shooting in the US easier than in England. Eddie Murphy was sought for the Candyman part but was too costly. For the lead, Rose cast his then wife Alexandra Pigg, but when she found out she was pregnant, the role was offered to Madsen. Sandra Bullock, who had not broken through yet as an actress, was also in contention for the part. Rose held meetings with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) before shooting to avert racial controversy, but relates that when they read the script they felt it was all "just good fun." Madsen was also worried about the race aspect and related fear that Spike Lee would not like the film. Shooting took place in Chicago, Illinois, including in the real Cabrini-Green project, and in California, including Los Angeles, from November - December 1991. The film opened #4, behind Under Siege, The Last of the Mohicans and The Mighty Ducks, to a 5.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent the next two weeks at #3 before leaving the top 5, grossing 25.7 mil. $. The foreign grosses are not reported, but if the world gross is set at a conservative 35 mil. $, the film rates as a big hit. Roger Ebert gave film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. The film inspired two lesser performing sequels; Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995) and Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999, video), both without Madsen and Rose but with Todd. Candyman is fresh at 70 % with a 6.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Candyman?

The Square (2017) - Östlund calls out hypocrisy and grabs the monkey in us with provocative, hilarious, bold masterpiece

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Societal Critique of the Year + Best Stockholm Movie of the Year + Best Swedish Movie of the Year + Best Breakthrough Actor of the Year: Claes Bang

A striking and mysterious poster for Ruben Östlund's The Square

The Square it the 5th fiction feature from Swedish master writer-director Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure/Turist (2014)).

The curator of a prestigious, central Stockholm art museum feels his life come apart by its seems, as he acts upon becoming the victim of a trick theft, while also welcoming a foreign journalist and a new art installation into his life.

Claes Bang (Anna Pihl (2006-08)) gives an impressive performance as the Danish curator Christian, his greatest role yet, which may open an international breakthrough for him. It is a complex role that he succeeds in making sympathetic for the most part, which makes the character's bad decisions so much more cringe-worthy and objectionable. Bang acts as our guy here, and he couldn't do a better job. His mistakes constitute some of the questions the film asks of us: 
How do we personally deal with the less fortunate we come across in our daily lives? The homeless? The strangers?
Are we prejudiced and in which ways?
Do we truly interact with our family members, or are we miles apart? - And is that how we prefer things, at heart?
How do we treat the people we work with, and especially those serving under us?
Östlund's stance here on his countrymen, privileged Swedes and Scandinavians, and Westerners in general, I presume we can broaden his perspective to include, is quite gloomy: SPOILER The Square pitches us against our ancestor the ape more than once, and the implication seems to be that we are slightly evolved apes, who as modern people seem to have regressed socially, from, say, 50 years ago, to a crowd that today are more egotistical and hypocritical than ever.
Thank God the film is also very very funny. It gets its piercing societal and human critique across often through absurdly humorous scenes, and it is brimming with ambitious, often lengthy scenes that are outrageous, provocative, stressful, uncomfortable - and hilarious.
In supporting parts Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale (2017-18)) is terrific as the visiting journalist, SPOILER and you can look forward to a strikingly well-made sex scene between her and Bang. Fredrik Wenzel's (The Ape/Apan (2009)) cinematography is apt here as throughout. Christopher Læssø (Scratch/Bagland (2003)) is very good in a key role as Christian's assistant, and Terry Notary (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)) is frightening and magnetic as a gorilla-imitating performance artist. While the music motif made me think of the works of another great Swedish cinema artist with a flair for both humor and societal critique, Roy Andersson, The Square has a clear connection to Östlund's own mission as also reflected in his startling, original Force Majeure, one that continually prods modern man and his institutions and exhibits hypocrisy and existential anxiety in many forms.
The Square is a rich experience that invites conversation and analysis, - besides the initial laughs and bouts of cold sweats. It even has a few things left unclear in the way that great films sometimes have, where they are not unexplained threads but conscious mysteries left in, seemingly, just to bother us and remind us that real life also can't all be explained. And The Square is probably most of all meant to do just that; bother us. It does so with rare, invigorating talent and drive.

Related post:

Ruben Östlund: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess
Force Majeure/Turist (2014) or, Swedes in Trouble

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 5.5 mil. $
Box office: 2 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[The Square premiered 20 May (Cannes) and runs 142 minutes. The film is a Swedish-German-Danish-French co-production of no less than 13 companies. Filming took place from June - October 2016 in Berlin, Germany and Sweden, including in Stockholm. Östlund for most of filming reportedly focused on one scene a day, doing each one up to 50 times. The film won the Palm d'Or in Cannes under jury president Pedro Almodóvar and is Sweden's entry for the 2018 Oscars. It opened the previous weekend in North America in 4 theaters to a 76k $ first weekend at #32. Whether Magnolia Pictures will broaden it now is unknown, (but they should.) The film opened #1 in Sweden with the biggest Swedish film's opening there of 2017 so far, selling 22k tickets. It is set to open in more European markets and Argentina in November and December with a UK release following in March 2018. The Square is certified fresh at 79 % with a 7.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Square?

A Monster Calls (2016) - Bayona forgets the sugar in overly gloomy adaptation turkey

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+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

A picturesque poster for J.A. Bayona's A Monster Calls that indicates darkness and a pledge for hopefulness

Our hero is a cowed boy, whose mother is gravely ill, who strikes up a fantastic companionship with a living, talking, walking tree that tells him three mysterious stories.

Under the guise of dealing with a serious topic for children and adults alike (acceptance of loss), A Monster Calls serves a humor-bereft, permanently sad plate of so-called family fodder. It is possibly meant to be more inviting because of its tree giant character, who functions as a kind of therapist for the boy.
Lewis MacDougall (Pan (2015)) plays the boy, who not only has an exhausted, dying mother, - another role that Felicity Jones (Albatross (2011)) has mysteriously won, - but also a grandmother (played by Sigourney Weaver (Chappie (2015))) with no warm feelings for him, a father (Toby Kebbell (Kong: Skull Island (2017))) who is a selfish bastard, no friends and in fact a school routine that seems to be made up largely of his getting bullied and beaten.
Whatever this depressing fantasy drama wants to teach us is unclear, - just as the tree's taxing parable-like stories. The darkness conjured up in A Monster Calls isn't suited for adults, youngsters or children. It is written by Patrick Ness (More Than This (2013)), adapting his own same-titled 2011 novel, based on an idea by Siobhan Dowd (A Swift Pure Cry (2006)), and directed by great Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona (The Impossible/Lo Imposible (2012)). A Monster Calls may work as a novel, but it absolutely doesn't as a film. Furthermore the previously very impressive filmmaker Bayona isn't felt in this sorry slush, which is a real disappointment.

Related posts:


J.A. Bayona: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
The Impossible/Lo Imposible (2012) - The 2004 tsunami depicted in one of the strongest disaster films ever

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 43 mil. $
Box office: 47.2 mil. $
= Huge flop
[A Monster Calls premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 108 minutes. Focus Features bought the book rights in March 2014. Filming took place from September 2014 - ? in England and Spain. The release was pushed from October 2016 to December and January for a more auspicious competition situation. The film opened #40 to a 30k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it widened to a gravely underwhelming wide premiere at #12 with 2 mil. $, its peak domestically, where it only played 5 weeks and grossed a paltry 3.7 mil. $ (7.8 %). The only market where the film was a sure hit was in Bayona's native Spain, where it grossed 28.1 mil. $ (59.5 % of the total gross). North America was the 2nd biggest market, and the UK was the 3rd biggest with 3.5 mil. $ (7.4 %). The film won 9 Goya's (Spain's Oscar) out of 12 nominations. Despite the costly flop, Bayona is directing Universal's major tentpole Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). A Monster Calls is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Monster Calls?

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - Villeneuve's speculative sci-fi sequel is fascinating but flawed

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+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year

A silver fox and a burning-hot younger protagonist share this elegant poster for Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049 is the sequel to Ridley Scott's great sci-fi classic Blade Runner (1982), both based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). It is written by Hampton Fancher (Blade Runner) and Michael Green (Logan (2017)) and directed by Canadian master filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Arrival (2016)).

In Los Angeles in 2049, a modern blade runner is retiring old replicants. But his latest job makes him remember what he expects is a false, imprinted childhood memory and discover a secret that indicates that the borders between robotic and biological life are not carved in stone.

The new Blade Runner comes highly anticipated, mostly because Villeneuve proved himself as a sci-fi filmmaker to reckon with last year with masterpiece Arrival. The new film film stays true to the cold, disturbing urban environment from the first film; the look of Scott's Californian metropolis is recreated and furthered with the latest technology very artfully, while the persistent rain, gloom and neon lights are kept.
Exciting concepts about life, identity, technology, sexuality and borders between humans and artificial intelligence are brought to vivid life. Ryan Gosling (Drive (2011)) is the blade runner hero here, and he is worshiped in countless long shots, not unlike in Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive and masterpiece Only God Forgive (2013), but somehow he is less compelling here as a very feeling machine. The film for a long while is good science-fiction with a nostalgic feel to it for those long familiar with the first film. Ana de Armas (Faraday (2013)) and Mackenzie Davis (Freaks of Nature (2015)) are good as Gosling's girlfriend, who is, in fact, a highly sophisticated program, and a prostitute, who enables their lovemaking scene, probably the film's most interesting, (although it finishes before the real action starts.)
Blade Runner 2049 is very long, and only in the last, very long act does Harrison Ford (Witness (1985)) show up. Apparently he has been holed up in an abandoned Las Vegas hotel with a possibly fake dog for some of the many years since we last saw him in this universe. The ambitious and complex story begins to crumble for me at this juncture. SPOILER There is a subtext which is that Ford may be Gosling's father, but the two seem to investigate this by beating each other up to a hologram Elvis performance that is quite unpleasant, if you are sentimental about the King. This development also brings to mind Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), (also about Ford's troubled, absent fatherhood of a powerful male), and it seems too much in some way. I exited the movie world here and began to look in at it from the outside, questioning whether it was really a good idea at all to go back to the Blade Runner universe, and also whether or not reenlisting Ford so many years after was really necessary.
SPOILER Sylvia Hoeks (The Girl and Death (2012)) is Terminator-like as a mysterious replicant power woman, who seems to like Gosling for much of the film, but who in the end wants him dead. I find the third act confusing overall, and didn't much enjoy Gosling's graphic drowning of Hoeks either.
Jared Leto (Suicide Squad (2016)) is Niander Wallace, a disturbing replicant-producing industrialist, (think nightmarish Jeff Bezos of the future), who personifies the religious aspects of Blade Runner 2049, which are uniformly negative and fixed upon humanity itself.
Blade Runner 2049 is carefully and impressively made, as cold as the first film but far from as original, good or compelling. It puts its audience in a permanent speculative position that is fascinating to some degree but didn't quite make the cut for me. A great part of it is its ethereal, diverse score by Benjamin Wallfisch (Air Bound (2015)) and Hans Zimmer (Rango (2011)).

Related posts:

Blade Runner (1982) - R. Scott's visual extravaganza, great SF
Denis Villeneuve: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess
Arrival (2016) - Villeneuve, Heisserer and Adams head sensational sci-fi wonder
Incendies (2010) - Villeneuve's dreary and depressing, wildly overrated drama

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 159.8 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Blade Runner 2049 premiered 3 October (Los Angeles) and runs 163 minutes. One development began in 1999. Ridley and brother Tony Scott started working on one in 2007, seeking Christopher Nolan to direct. Shooting took place from July - November 2016 in Hungary, including Budapest, Spain, Iceland, Mexico and in Nevada. The film opened #1 to a disappointing 32.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell to #2 in its second week. The film is opening in Japan and China on 27 October, and it will need very solid runs there and continued audiences globally to break even. - It is likely to become a flop theatrically, just like the first Blade Runner was. Blade Runner 2049 is certified fresh at 88 % with an 8.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Blade Runner 2049?

The A-Team (2010) - Carnahan and stars present a poorly made noise factory

♥

+ Worst Poster of the Year

Two major stars (Bradley Cooper and Liam Neeson), a foreign medium-level star (Sharlto Copley) and an MMA fighter (Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson) are apparently in the middle of nowhere, well-equipped with guns on this obviously photo-shopped poster for Joe Carnahan's The A-Team

Four dynamic US Army Ranger pals are the A-Team, who break out, when they are locked up, and take orders from a sneaky CIA-type to secure a money press from falling into the wrong hands.

This is convoluted into an incomprehensible story in The A-Team, served behind a demonstratively shallow and brainless plate of macho action, which is apparently supposed to succeed based on lots of noise and the tone set, which is one of permanent overgrown teenage male swagger. Any relation to the real world is almost non-existing, and no one in the cast distinguish themselves here, playing characters that seem a veritable parade of idiots. The four heroes often find themselves in scenes, where they are sweating and yelling profusely, while dubious CGI effects inform us that they are in great danger.
A couple of scenes are lightly amusing, and The A-Team is completely unpretentious, - but these are negligible mitigating circumstances, when the film is this bad. It is written by Brian Bloom (Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016, video game), Skip Woods (Swordfish (2001)) and co-writer-director Joe Carnahan (The Grey (2011)), based on the same-titled 1983-87 NBC TV-series.

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]

Watch a teaser for the film here

Cost: 100 mil. $ (110 mil. $ before tax credit)
Box office: 177.2 mil. $
= Big flop
[The A-Team premiered 3 June (Hollywood) and runs 119 minutes. Development began in the mid 1990s, and John Singleton was one point supposed to direct the film. Filming took place in Norway and in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, including in Vancouver, from September - December 2009. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release The Karate Kid, to a 25.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#3; #5) and grossed 77.2 mil. $ (43.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 15.2 mil. $ (8.6 %) and France with 9.1 mil. $ (5.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1½/4 star review, equal to its rating here. The poor box office performance killed plans for a sequel. Neeson in 2012 called the film 'confusing'. The A-Team is rotten at 47 % with a 5.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The A-Team?

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) - Unusual, surprising, gory, horrifying indie horror

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+ Best Horror Movie of the Year + Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year + Best Gore Movie of the Year + Best Witch Movie of the Year

The greyish body of a deceased young woman fills the cold poster for André Øvredal's The Autopsy of Jane Doe

A father-son coroner team receive a 'Jane Doe' [unidentified female corpse] from a house with more bodies in it along with an investigative demand for answers asap. But their autopsy reveals shocking mistreatment, and the two - three - are soon locked in by a major storm.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe is written by Ian B. Goldberg and Richard Naing (Dead of Summer (2016), TV-series, both) and directed by great Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal (Trollhunter/Trolljegeren (2010)).
Øvredal impresses in his English-language feature debut here. Made on a strong Blacklist-featured script, the film is simply skillfully directed. Although there is lots of autopsy-related gore horror, SPOILER this still feels like a bare bones (no pun intended) little horror flick, which develops in a surprising supernatural direction; the deceased was an innocent woman who was not a witch but became one from being the victim of extensive anti-witch torture!
Brian Cox (RED 2 (2013)) and Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild (2007)) are believable as father and son, and both are really good here. - The Autopsy of Jane Doe is also an unusual horror because we almost only spend time with two grown men in it. It is original and plays on several of its genre's chords and also features excellent sound design. From a semi-comical beginning, The Autopsy of Jane Doe evolves into a surprisingly horrifying ride, - a real treat for horror fans and an obvious and strong horror movie night candidate.

Related posts:

André Øvredal: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Trollhunter/Trolljegeren/Troll Hunter/The Troll Hunter (2010) - Øvredal's hilarious found footage kaiju horror comedy

Øvredal, Cox and Hirsch attend a Q&A for the film here - don't watch until after you've seen the film!

Cost: Unknown (but likely 1-2 mil. $)
Box office: At least 6.1 mil. $
= Uncertainty - but at least a box office success
[The Autopsy of Jane Doe premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 86 minutes. Øvredal was inspired by James Wan's great The Conjuring (2013) to do a similarly pure horror film. Martin Sheen was originally cast but dropped out. Shooting took place in March 2015 - ? in England in London and Kent. The Jane Doe is played by Olwen Catherine Kelly (Darkness on the Edge of Town (2014)) rather than a prosthetic corpse dummy. Forbes Magazine has estimated the film's budget at around 1-2 mil. $. The box office gross above is the total for the film's 19 international markets. Its North American gross is unlisted; perhaps it was very small as it only played a few festivals and had a limited release along with VoD roll-out domestically. Its biggest 3 markets were France with 1.2 mil. $ (19.7 %), Mexico with 1.1 mil. $ (18 %) and Brazil with 0.8 mil. $ (13.1 %). Stephen King has tweeted in favor of the film, saying that it rivals Alien (1979) and early David Cronenberg in visceral horror. Øvredal has two upcoming projects, Bright Skies and Mortal (2018), both fantasy projects anchored in Norway. The Autopsy of Jane Doe is certified fresh at 87 % with a 6.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Autopsy of Jane Doe?

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) - Bobin, Woolverton and Disney's poorly constructed sequel

♥♥

+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year + Worst Sequel of the Year

Johnny Deep as the Mad Hatter is most prominent on this packed, dizzying, highly detailed poster for James Bobin's Alice Through the Looking Glass

Alice returns home from the seven seas - and faces intransigent challenges. She walks through a mirror to Wonderland, in which the Mad Hatter has grown increasingly mad, apparently because his family's death many years ago haunts him. - Alice must travel back in time to change this!

Alice Through the Looking Glass is the sequel to Tim Burton's good big hit 3D spectacle Alice in Wonderland (2010). It is written by Linda Woolverton (Maleficent (2014)), based on Lewis Carroll's (A Tangled Tale (1885)) characters, and directed by James Bobin (The Muppets (2011)).
The film begins well with the self-assured Alice's return to patriarchal ridicule, but somewhere along the way after this, the illusion that the film tries to build falls apart, despite its radiant colors and exuberant effects.
Sacha Baron Cohen (The Brothers Grimsby (2016)) entertains a Werner Herzog-inspired accent here as the villain Time and possesses some strange, Transformers-like creatures. Johnny Depp (The Libertine (2004)) looks stranger than in the first film as the Mad Hatter and now has frog-like eyes. He does well for the most part, but there are shots in which he visibly struggles to find the right face, and this is understandable: The sappy story about Alice's having to save the Hatter's family, - of whom we only really get to know his unlovable father, - so that that same father can finally accept the Hatter wholeheartedly - is muck.
The story is the main issue here, wobbling and just plain bad. SPOILER As the past sees the future towards the end, everything turns rusty in excremental browns, but why this happens - don't ask, for the film has no answer. Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre (2011)), who was a major part of why the first film was quite a thrill, is an adult woman now and much less compelling as Alice.
Alice Through the Looking Glass is a major flop for all involved. Ouch.

Related posts:

Alice in Wonderland (2010) - Wasikowska is the perfect lead for Burton's visual wonderland
James Bobin: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Muppets (2011) or, Man or Muppet? 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 170 mil. $
Box office: 299.4 mil. $
= Big flop
[Alice Through the Looking Glass premiered 10 May (London) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place in England from August - October 2014. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release X-Men: Apocalypse, to a 26.8 mil. $ first weekend, down 70 % from the first film's 116 mil. $, in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed an abysmally low 77 mil. $ (25.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 58.7 mil. $ (19.6 %) and Japan with 26.7 mil. $ (8.9 %). The film was one of the year's costliest flops, resulting in a loss of around 125 mil. $. It was nominated for a Grammy and 3 Razzie awards. Bobin has not been hired for another project since. Alice Through the Looking Glass is rotten at 30 % with a 4.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Alice Through the Looking Glass?

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) - Whedon disappoints with less fun, huge, ugly sequel

♥♥

+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

Most of the Marvel superheros are back for action on this poster for Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers are back at it, when the artificial intelligence within Tony Stark's global defense system runs amuck in a spree of destruction.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is the sequel to The Avengers (2012), the second Avengers film, the franchise that gathers the characters for Marvel's individual superhero franchises, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and friends. It is written and directed by returning helmsman Joss Whedon (Much Ado About Nothing (2012)), based on The Avengers comics by Stan Lee (Epic Illustrated (1980)) and Jack Kirby (Sandman (1974-76)).
The plot here makes a virtue of trying to be all places at once, meaning that it wants to build some type of progress onto each of its many characters, but as a consequence it feels like it is no place really. The colorful, fun, pompous spark of the first Avengers film gets lost here in a sequel that attempts to exceed the first film's originality in every department.
Avengers: Age of Ultron does have a bit of fun, (Don Cheadle (Flight (2012)) makes an appreciated dent in this languished department), and impressively detailed CGI effects, which are guaranteed to have been impressive if seen in 3D, as they seem designed for. But when seen in 2D, which most will do when they revisit this film after its initial release, the magic of all that work is also very limited.
The few good things about this superhero mega-movie regretfully drowns in an ocean of uninteresting destruction coupled with ugly, grey locations and sets, the lovely Elizabeth Olsen (Ingrid Goes West (2017)) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Albert Nobbs (2011)) wasted in non-characters with Russian accents, a terrible villain (I dare you to locate any of James Spader's (The Watcher (2000)) charisma in the robotic bore that is Ultron), pointless dialog and - naturally - gross overlength. Avengers: Age of Ultron is a seriously disappointing sequel.

Related posts:

Joss Whedon: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
The Avengers/Avengers Assemble (2012) or, Farty Latex Suits: Gather!
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre! (writer)

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 316 mil. $ (gross)/267.4 mil. $ (net) + 180 mil. $ (marketing)
Box office: 1,405.4 mil. $
= Big hit
[Avengers: Age of Ultron premiered 13 April (Los Angeles) and runs 141 minutes. Filming took place in Bangladesh, Johannesburg, South Africa, Seoul, South Korea, Italy and in the UK, including in London, from February - August 2014. The massive 316 mil. $ cost of the film was diminished drastically by a 50.7 mil. $ UK tax cut. If the colossal marketing budget is drawn into the calculation, the film only ranks as a box office success. It opened #1 to a 191.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, the 3rd biggest ever up to that point, not beating The Avengers' 207.4 mil. $ or Jurassic World's slightly bigger 2015 opening. It enjoyed another week as #1 and a total of 5 weeks in the top 5 and grossed 459 mil. $ (32.7 % of the total gross) domestically, where it was the 3rd highest-grossing film of the year. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 240.1 mil. $ (17.1 %) and South Korea with 78.2 mil. $ (5.6 %). It became the 7th highest-grossing film to date and the 4th highest-grossing of the year worldwide. Deadline.com has calculated the film's net profits to 382 mil. $, also figuring in marketing costs, home video, VoD and TV earnings, making it the 4th most valuable film of the year. The next Avengers movie, Avengers: Infinity War, comes out in 2018, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. Avengers: Age of Ultron is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Avengers: Age of Ultron?