Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: My One and Only (2009) - Loncraine's delightful under-the-radar gemstone

11/10/2020

My One and Only (2009) - Loncraine's delightful under-the-radar gemstone

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Mega-flop Movie of the Year + Road Movie of the Year

Star Renée Zellweger, blonde and in heels, holds up a gilded frame, surrounded by men, on this uninformative poster for Richard Loncraine's My One and Only

In 1957 a glamorous mother of two has had it with her cheating husband in New York, and she packs up and leaves with her sons in a new car to find a better life. But it isn't readily available to her, and the life for a single mother on the road is not a bed of roses.

My One and Only is written by Charlie Peters (Paternity (1981)), based on anecdotes from actor George Hamilton's early life, and directed by great British filmmaker Richard Loncraine (Slade in Flame (1975)).

It is an unexpectedly great film, marvelously scored by Mark Isham (A Dog's Journey (2019)) and directed by Loncraine: The film esteems itself with several multi-dimensional characters and a compelling story, which picks some of the varnish off the 1950s, as the decade has often been presented, and stays realistic and natural.

'Delightful' seems like a word that could have been created to sum up this picture. Renée Zellweger (Love and a .45 (1994)) is unsurpassed and has never been better than she is here; and Logan Lerman (The Patriot (2000)) is devastatingly good-looking, as well as a fine actor. Also commendable are Mark Rendall (Sam Sam (2007-13)) as his older brother, Robin Weigert (Jessica Jones (2015, TV-series)) as Zellweger's sister and Kevin Bacon (The Darkness (2016)) as the let-down father.

My One and Only is a wonderful film.

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

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 3.1 mil. $

= Uncertain (but likely a mega-flop)

[My One and Only premiered 12 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 108 minutes. George Hamilton was one of the film's executive producers. Shooting took place in New Mexico, including Albuquerque and in Baltimore, Maryland from June - August 2008. The film opened #40 to a 58k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #24 and in 256 theaters (different weeks), grossing 2.4 mil. $ (77.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 366k $ (11.8 %) and Australia with 98k $ (3.2 %). If made on a realistic, low 10 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a mega-flop. The film won an award in Berlin. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Loncraine returned with The Special Relationship (2010, TV movie), Playhouse Presents (2012, TV-series) and theatrically with 5 Flights Up (2014). Zellweger returned with a voice performance in Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) and physically in Case 39 (2009). My One and Only is fresh at 68 % with a 6.24/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

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Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

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Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

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Wolfgang Petersen has died

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Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

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

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11/10/2020

My One and Only (2009) - Loncraine's delightful under-the-radar gemstone

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