Griffin and Phoenix/Today Is Forever (1976, TV movie) - Falk/Clayburgh radiate love in TV movie treasure

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Stars Jill Clayburgh and Peter Falk look like a loving couple, slouched by the surf on this TV-poster for Griffin and Phoenix

Two terminally ill people meet each other in a group that deals with relating to death, and they fall for one another. While their illnesses progress, their romance turns into love.

 

Griffin and Phoenix is written by John Hill (Little Nikita (1988)) and directed by great British Columbian filmmaker Daryl Duke (Payday (1973)).

The film really focuses on these two individual's specific story: We learn incredibly little about his wife and children, and her situation and family, just as the details of their cancers are supplanted by the connection that they allow themselves to enjoy. Instead the film is about that precious time that they share, in which they release an unrestrained, infectious lust for life and joys in their dying moments.

Peter Falk (Target: The Corruptors! (1961, TV-series)) and Jill Clayburgh (Rich in Love (1992)) carry the film formidably and are lovely to a degree in which it feels like we are falling in love with them as an audience. There are fun moments, too, in this tender portrait of a love relationship, SPOILER albeit a short one, as it ends in the inevitable, bittersweet final stop. Griffin and Phoenix is a wonderful film.

 

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain - mainly a TV movie

[Griffin and Phoenix premiered 27 February (ABC) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place in Los Angeles. The film was so well-liked that it was released theatrically in several countries. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. It was remade with the same title in 2006 by Ed Stone. Duke returned as uncredited director on Shadow of the Hawk (1976). Falk returned in Murder by Death (1976); Clayburgh in Silver Streak (1976). 365 IMDb users have give Griffin and Phoenix a 7.5/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Griffin and Phoenix? 

Top 10: Best epic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

1. Ben-Hur (1959) - William Wyler

 

 

2. The Leopard/Il Gattopardo/Le Guépard (1963) - Luchino Visconti  

 

3. Andrei Rublev/Andrey Rublev/Андрей Рублёв (1966) - Andrei Tarkovsky

 

 

4. Das Boot (1981) - Wolfgang Petersen  

5. Gone with the Wind (1939) - Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood

 

 

6. Farewell My Concubine/霸王別姬/Bàwáng Bié Jī (1993) - Chen Kaige

 

7. The Godfather (1972) - Francis Ford Coppola 

8. Apocalypse Now (1979) - Francis Ford Coppola

 

9. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - David Lean  

10. Greed (1924) - Erich von Strohiem

 

Chosen out of 62 reviewed titles labeled 'epic' or 'great epic'

 

Previous Top 10 lists:

Best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best adapted movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best 'box office success' movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best cop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date        
Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date         
Best debut movies reviewed by Film Excess to date     
Best Danish movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date     
Best documentaries reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Best dramas reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

What do you think of the list?
Which epic movies would make your personal Top 10?

Ghost Ship (2002) or, Turkey Ship

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A super-imposed human skull underlines the ominous prospects on this poster for Steve Beck's Ghost Ship

A group of daredevils, who salvage shipwrecks for money, get a tip about a large ship, which has been missing for 40 years...

 

Ghost Ship is written by Mark Hanlon (Buddy Boy (1999)) and John Pogue (The Skulls (2000)) and directed by Steve Beck (Thirteen Ghosts (2001)).

A confusion of styles and silly cardboard-like characters mar this producers' conceptualized, special effects-driven horror adventure, done with a typical credo of its time that exhausting cross-cutting will in itself magically produce excitement, (not true.)

The plot gets increasingly jumbled and strange, and not even the cast, which has several capable actors, resembles a resource in this studio-molded nightmare of a turkey.

 

Watch a 3-minute scene from the film here

 

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 68.3 mil. $ 

= Box office success (returned 3.41 times its cost)

[Ghost Ship premiered 22 October (California) and runs 90 minutes. Hanlon's 1996 spec script Chimera was the basis of the film. Shooting took place from January - April 2002 in Australia, Nova Scotia and Vancouver, British Columbia. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Jackass: The Movie and holdover hit The Ring, to an 11.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 30.1 mil. $ (44.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 6.2 mil. $ (9.1 %) and Japan with 3.8 mil. $ (5.6 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Beck left filmmaking after Ghost Ship. Gabriel Byrne (Capital (2012)) returned in Shade (2003); Julianna Margulies (The Sopranos (2006-07)) in 3 TV credits prior to her theatrical return in Slingshot (2005). Ghost Ship is rotten at 16 % with a 3.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ghost Ship?

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - Ford's Steinbeck adaptation is a cinematic crown jewel

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Henry Fonda centered in the Joad family on this grand poster for John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath

Tom Joad gets released from prison and finds his Oklahoma family home dramatically altered: Dust storms and the 1930s Depression has, along with the invention of the motorized tractor, made necessary the uprooting of the Joad family. - To a hopefully lighter future in California?

The Grapes of Wrath is written and produced by Nunnally Johnson (Baby Face Harrington (1935)), based on the same-titled 1939 novel by John Steinbeck (Sweet Thursday (1954)), and directed by Mainer master filmmaker John Ford (Cameo Kirby (1923)), whose 47th feature it was.

It is a thoroughly well-made, razor sharp adaptation, which hasn't softened the political (Socialist) sting of Steinbeck's novel: Company owners are brutal and solely oriented towards profits, while qualities such as morality, kindness and community are found in governmental programs and among workers.

Although one possibly isn't oriented towards the left, the film is still formidable. Every one in the cast give luminous performances, seemingly aware that they are acting in something very special. Henry Fonda (Battle of the Bulge (1965)), Jane Darwell (A Yank in London (1945)) as Ma Joad and Charley Grapewin (Eight Bells (1935)) as Grandpa Joad as well as the children are eminent. The scene at the gas station may well be among the most touching in the history of cinema.

The Grapes of Wrath is an extremely engrossing film, very wise on the nature of man.

 

Related post:

 

John Ford: Fort Apache (1948) - Wayne and Fonda clash in Ford's solid western of a massacre of Indians

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 800k $

Box office: 1.5 mil. $ (North-American rentals alone)

= Uncertain, but most likely at least a box office success

[The Grapes of Wrath premiered 24 January (New York) and runs 129 minutes. Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was the bestselling in America in 1939. Shooting took place in New Mexico, Arizona, California, including Los Angeles, and in Oklahoma from October - November 1939. Executive producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent an investigative team to Oklahoma to inspect whether the general Depression conditions were or had been as bad as the novel said and in order to be able to counter any attacks that the film was 'pro-Communist'. The investigation showed that they indeed were terrible. The only gross number available is regrettably a 1.5 mil. $ North-American gross. Still the film was most likely a box office success, in spite of the onslaught of WWII. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 2: For Best Supporting Actress (Darwell) and Director. It lost Best Actor (Fonda) to James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story, Editing to North West Mounted Police, Best Picture to Rebecca, Sound to Strike Up the Band and Screenplay to David Ogden Stewart for The Philadelphia Story. It also won 3 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Ford returned with The Long Voyage Home (1940). Fonda returned in Lillian Russell (1940). The Grapes of Wrath is certified fresh at 100 % with a 9.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Grapes of Wrath?

Gigantic (2008) - Aselton's idiosyncratic romcom debut

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Zooey Deschanel finds herself in an extremely short dress in a flush apartment on this yellow, everything-everywhere poster for Matt Aselton's Gigantic

A bed salesman in New York falls for a rude customer's daughter, who, however, is overwhelmed by his love.

 

Gigantic is written by Adam Nagata (Lying and Stealing (2019)) and debuting co-writer/director Matt Aselton (French Exit (2020, executive producer)). 

The film has good ingredients in Paul Dano (L.I.E. (2001)), Zooey Deschanel (Yes Man (2008)), John Goodman (The Monuments Men (2014)), Jane Alexander (The Cider House Rules (1999)) and Edward Asner (Island Prey (2001)), who all contribute more or less to its romcom stew, one that is a bit too much of a male patriarchal drivel reality for my taste. - One scene is bound to downright repulse quite a lot of female audiences (and perhaps rightly so.)

But there is also some fun and good scenes, - like the one in which Deschanel calls her substance abuse-mother in Florida, who doesn't recognize her voice. But the script doesn't answer a couple of fundamental oddities in it, which makes it appear somewhat unfair: Who is Zack Galifianakis' (Due Date (2010)) homeless attacker, whom Dano appears to kill, - and why does he attack him in the first place? - What is this supposed to mean? And why has Dano's character from childhood been obsessed with adopting a Chinese baby? No one every asks this (fairly obvious) question, and it honestly seems freaky, not least because he ends up receiving one in Gigantic.

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 165k $

= Uncertain, but almost surely a box office disaster

[Gigantic premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 98 minutes. The story is based on Aselton's childhood wish for his parents to adopt a Chinese baby for him to have a younger sibling. Shooting took place in New York and Connecticut for 23 days in March 2008. The film opened #68 to a 10k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it never attained a higher position although it widened to 11 theaters, grossing 102k $ (61.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 40k $ (24.2 %) and the UK with 22k $ (13.3 %), - the only two other markets listed on the film's Box Office Mojo site. If made on a realistic, low 3-5 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a box office disaster. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Aselton returned with Robin Banks and the Bank Robbers (2014, TV-series) and theatrically with Lying and Stealing (2019). Dano returned in Taking Woodstock (2009); Deschanel in Yes Man (2008); and Goodman in The Emperor's New Schoool (2007-08, TV-series short) and theatrically in Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009). Gigantic is rotten at 36 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Gigantic?

The Girl Can't Help It (1956) - Fabulous Mansfield and colossal rock 'n' roll push in Tashlin classic

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Sex-bomb Jayne Mansfield more than catches the eye on this colorful poster for Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It, which also allures with its countless rock 'n' roll star names in the bottom right corner

A drunken music agent gets a call from a gangster, who wants him to make his sexy blonde girlfriend a star. But that's easier said than done ...

 

The Girl Can't Help It is written by Herbert Baker (Rickles (1975, TV movie)) and co-writer/producer/director Frank Tashlin (The First Time (1952)), based on Do Re Mi (1955) by Garson Kanin (Smash (1980)).

Jayne Mansfield (The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958)) is splendid, fun, eye-popping and lovely as Jerri Jordan, the girlfriend in question, one of the all-time biggest blonde bombshells on cinema here in Tashlin's Deluxe-colored, playful, saucy movie. The plot is thin and anything but nerve-wracking, which leaves room for the film's swinging rock 'n' roll acts, and in particular Little Richard, who performs The Girl Can't Help It, Ready Teddy and She's Got It, is incredible to hear and behold. The Girl Can't Help It also has its good share of really funny bits.

The men in the film look funny enough, and they unquestionably raised more mirth in their time than they do now, but their few scenes without Mansfield lose the film some momentum. They are luckily few. The Girl Can't Help It is a cool blast of a time.

Related post:

Frank Tashlin: The Disorderly Orderly (1964) or, Lewis in a Hospital

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 1.3 mil. $

Box office: 6.25 mil. $ (likely just North America)

= Big hit (returned at least 4.80 times its cost)

[The Girl Can't Help It premiered 1 December (USA) and runs 99 minutes. Filming took place in California, including Los Angeles, around September 1956. Whether the 6.25 mil. $ gross, which stems from Twentieth Century Fox books, is just the North-American gross is unsure but entirely possible. The film won a Golden Globe and it had a profound effect on rock music history, as it inspired the later members of The Beatles to meet and pursue their dream. Tashlin returned with Hollywood or Bust (1956). Mansfield returned in Shower of Stars (1957, TV-series) and theatrically in The Wayward Bus (1957); Tom Ewell (State Fair (1962)) in A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed (1958); and Edmond O'Brien (The Love God? (1969)) in Lux Video Theatre (1951-57) and theatrically in The Big Land (1957). The Girl Can't Help It is fresh at 75 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Girl Can't Help It?

Witchfinder General/The Conqueror Worm (1968) - Excellent Vincent Price performance in Reeves' witch movie classic

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A gnawing, rot-colored and quite effective poster for Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General

During the English Civil War in 1645 a notorious, self-appointed witchfinder and his willing assistant travels around to various hamlets and executes the unpopular wretches, who are thought to be witches.

 

Witchfinder General is written by Tom Baker (The Sorcerers (1967)) and co-writer/director Michael Reeves (She Beast (1966)), based on Ronald Bassett's (The Pompeians (1965)) same-titled 1966 book.

It is an exciting story of phony knights, based on the incredible true story of England's terrible witch mass murderer, Matthew Hopkins, who was responsible for sending around 100 people to their death as pronounced witches from 1644-46. Vincent Price (The Jackals (1967)) is terrific as the wholeheartedly evil title character.

The film is well done with stand-out qualities counted in blood and a horrific witch-burning scene. Regrettably not all the actors live up to Price's example, but Witchfinder General is still a good horror.

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

 

Cost: 83k £, approximately 199k $

Box office: Uncertain, but at least 1.5 mil. $ in North-American rentals

= Uncertain, but at least a huge hit (returned 7.53 times its cost in North-American rentals alone)

[Witchfinder General premiered 15 May (Los Angeles) and runs 86 minutes. Reeves had envisioned Donald Pleasance as the film's title star, but American International Pictures, the film's US co-producing company, insisted on their star Price being used, to Reeves' detriment. The British censorship organ the BBFC read and objected strongly to at least three scripts for the film before filming began. AIP contributed Price's 12k £ salary and 20k £ for the production and thought of the investment as a tax write-off with little chance of a quality outcome. Reeves and Price disliked each other intensely and clashed several times during filming. This took place in England from September - November 1967. Louis M. Heyward directed a nude scene in a pub, which was shot for the German release of the film. The film is not historically accurate. It passed through the BBFC with 'just' 2 minutes removed, partly because Reeves had a distant cousin as one of the censors. Many British critics were appalled at the film's violence. In North America the film was released uncensored, and AIP had Price narrate an Edgar Allan Poe poem for to bookend the film in order for them to market it as part of their Poe series of horror films, which is also were the curious conqueror worm title derives from. It was played on a double bill with The Young, the Evil and the Savage (1968). Reeves biographer Benjamin Halligan claims that the film grossed 10 mil. $ in the US, which would change its status to that of a mega-hit if true. The film was reportedly also a hit in Germany, where it inspired a local wave of folk-horror films. Reeves passed away months after the film's release at age 25, suffering from insomnia and depression, from an accidental alcohol and barbiturate overdose. Witchfinder General is his last film. Price returned with a voice performance in Spirits of the Dead (1968) and physically in More Dead than Alive (1969). Witchfinder General is fresh at 88 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Witchfinder General?

Game Change (2012, TV movie) - Moore and Co. shimmer in Roach's dynamite political retelling

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Julianne Moore sparkles as Sarah Palin on this near-symmetrical poster for Jay Roach's Game Change

2008: Republican veteran John McCain is gaining in on his opponents and becomes the GOP candidate for the presidential election. But to have a better shot against the crowd-pleasing novelty of Democratic nominee Barack Obama, he  needs a game-changer for his vice presidential running mate. Attention befalls Alaska's female governor...

Game Change is written by Danny Strong (Recount (2008, TV movie)), based on the same-titled 2010 book by journalists Mark Halperin (The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008 (2006)) and John Heilemann (Pride Before the Fall: The Trials of Bill Gates and the End of the Microsoft Era (2001)), and directed by great New Mexican filmmaker Jay Roach (Zoo Radio (1990)).

It is a terrific, darn exciting TV movie for every one with an interest in America, politics and/or just great acting performances in an intense drama about family and power. Julianne Moore (Gloria Bell (2018)) is fantastic as Alaskan governor Sarah Palin: We may not get under her skin, but we get to know her a lot better, for good and bad, in Game Change. Her getting trapped inside a campaign that had not vetted her sufficiently prior to selecting her, (if they had, they wouldn't have chosen her), which ends up changing her life, is an at times heartbreaking tale.

Ed Harris (Radio (2003)) as McCain, as well as Woody Harrelson (2012 (2009)), Sarah Paulson (The Spirit (2008)) and Peter MacNicol (Recess: School's Out (2001)) are also outstanding. The film is extremely well-made. An excellent time.

 

Related posts:

Jay Roach: Bombshell (2019) - Toxic US culture laid bare in Roach's great drama 
Trumbo (2015) - Good actors and a thrilling true story make this biopic work 
Dinner for Schmucks/Dinner with Schmucks (2010) - Carell carries Roach's flawed but utterly hilarious comedy  

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

Meet the Parents (2000) - Roach, Stiller, De Niro and Co. make comedy gold 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown - mainly a TV movie

= Uncertain

[Game Change premiered 28 February (Chicago) and runs 118 minutes. Strong and Roach had also considered a film about the Democratic primary race, where Obama beat Hillary Clinton, but left that, reportedly due to the length and complexity of that story. Strong said that he interviewed 25 people related to the McCain/Palin campaign to write the script, aside from reading the book and Palin's book Going Rogue (2009). Shooting took place in New Mexico, Delaware and Baltimore, Maryland around April 2011. The film opened to 2.1 mil. in ratings in North America, HBO's highest rating for a TV movie since Something the Lord Made (2004). It won 3/5 Golden Globe nominations, 5/12 Primetime Emmy nominations, an AFI award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Real-life McCain and Palin took offense with the film but also both refused to watch it; Steven Schmidt, the McCain/Palin campaign strategist, Harrelson's character, on the other hand watched Game Change and called it "the truth of the campaign." Roach returned with The Campaign (2012). Moore returned in Being Flynn (2012); Harris in Sweetwater (2013); and Harrelson in The Hunger Games (2012). Game Change is fresh at 67 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomateos.]

What do you think of Game Change?