G.I. Jane (1997) or, The Amazing Seal Woman!

1/26/2021

G.I. Jane (1997) or, The Amazing Seal Woman!

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Razor-shaved sex symbol star Demi Moore is a fierce eye-catcher on this poster for Ridley Scott's G.I. Jane

An ambitious female politician pushes the US military towards full integration of genders and gets the opportunity of putting the first woman to date through the army's toughest education: The Navy Seals.

G.I. Jane is written by David Twohy (Critters 2 (1988)) and Danielle Alexandra (My Two Dads (1987-90)) and directed by British master filmmaker Ridley Scott (The Duellists (1977)), whose 10th feature it is.

Anne Bancroft (Fatso (1980)) is silly and flat as the senator in question, who begins the story, and the same unfortunately goes for the film's star Demi Moore (The Juror (1996)), although she does work like a devil for this movie and certainly gives it her all.

If one is not immediately struck by the injustice of women not being 100 % equal to men in the military, (which I wasn't), then it has to be a more personal story that engages in G.I. Jane, - but it just isn't there. Moore's character remains a cipher, whom we essentially know nothing about; she simply is the woman with something to prove (about women.)

Viggo Mortensen (The Crew (1994)) sleep-walks uninspired through the film. Scott experiments with shaking and zoom camera effects towards the film's ending to highly disrupting effect. G.I. Jane is a thrill-less stinker and among Scott's worst.

Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
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

Robin Hood (2010) - R. Scott's grand film of the English legend

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Body of Lies (2008) - R. Scott's terror actioner is a fatiguing turkey

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2007 in films - according to Film Excess

American Gangster (2007) - Great American - now black - gangster picture
A Good Year (2006) - Ridley Scott likes Provence

Matchstick Men (2003) - Great Cage job highlights entertaining Scott crime dramedy

Hannibal (2001) - Grisly highlights in low-yielding Scott sequel

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Gladiator (2000) - Experience the grandeur of the Roman Empire in Scott's dramatic masterpiece

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Blade Runner (1982) director's cut - Visual extravaganza, great SF
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News

Moore guested David Letterman and promoted the film; watch a 7-minute video of the event here

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 48.1 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain, but likely a big flop (returned 0.96 times its cost domestically)

[G.I. Jane was released 22 August (USA, Lebanon) and runs 124 minutes. The story is entirely fictional. Shooting took place from April - August 1996 in England, California, including Los Angeles, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington DC. The film opened #1 to an 11 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it kept the #1 position for another 2 weekends and spent another 2 in the top 5 (#2-#2), grossing 48.1 mil. $. Regrettably the film's foreign numbers are not reported online. If it ended up with a realistic 75 mil. $ total gross, the film would rank as a big flop. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film reportedly earned further 22.1 mil. $ on home video rentals in North America. Scott returned with Gladiator (2000). Moore returned in Deconstructing Harry (1997). G.I. Jane is rotten at 51 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of G.I. Jane?

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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.

Roger Corman has passed away

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.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

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

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

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

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

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

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)

1/26/2021