Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Goldfinch (2019) - Stars gleam in affected Crowley adaptation mishap

5/10/2021

The Goldfinch (2019) - Stars gleam in affected Crowley adaptation mishap

♥♥♥

+ Career-Killer of the Year: John Crowley

Young co-star Oakes Fegley in a jump in black space outlines this striking poster for John Crowley's The Goldfinch

13 year-old Theo gets taken in by a wealthy New-Yorker family, after his mother dies in a terrorist attack in an art museum. Theo goes on to have an unusual adolescence.

The Goldfinch is written by Peter Straughan (Sixty Six (2006)), adapting the same-titled 2013 novel by Donna Tartt (The Secret History (1992)), and directed by Irish master filmmaker John Crowley (Intermission (2003).

An impressive cast, - including but not limited to Nicole Kidman (Happy Feet (2006)) as the adopting mother and Jeffrey Wright (Monster (2018)) as an antique specialist/mentor to Theo, - lures, along with a plush production, into this literary universe. Theo meets us first as an incredibly depressed-looking teenage boy, (played by Oakes Fegley (Boardwalk Empire (2014, TV-series))), who is into classical literature and art (...), but Fegley later proves livelier and capable enough in scenes in Nevada. Here he has good scenes with Finn Wolfhard (It (2017)) and Luke Wilson (Henry Poole Is Here (2008)) and Sarah Paulson (Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)), the latter two good as his bad father and his unappealing girlfriend. Ansel Elgort (Allegiant (2016)) does alright as the adult Theo, when the story takes a turn and becomes odder: Kidman speaks mysteriously to her now adult Theo, who was in her care for a very short period of time, and she talks to him as if they enjoyed many years together.

Aneurin Barnard (Thirteen (2016, miniseries)) is a looker, but the story, which now circles around a stolen painting of the titular goldfinch, and their mission to steal it back, never becomes successful for the third act of the long film. The Goldfinch nevertheless still has plenty of drama and interesting performances to keep my attention perched over it.

John Crowley: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

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]

Brooklyn (2015) - Ronan captivates in Crowley's exquisite, soaring period romance drama masterpiece

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 44-49 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 9.9 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned between 0.22 - 0.20 times its cost)

[The Goldfinch premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 149 minutes. Wolfhard was paid 65k $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place in New York, New Mexico and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from January - April 2018. A test screening 6 months prior to the release gave theatrical distributor Warner Bros. fears the film might bomb, and its marketing budget was consequently cut "dramatically." It opened #8 to a 2.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 5.3 mil. $ (53.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 1.1 mil. $ (11.1 %) and the UK with 0.9 mil. $ (9.1 %). Crowley is returning with TV-series Life after Life and does not have an announced feature in the pipeline yet. Fegley returned in The War with Grandpa (2020); Elgort in Tokyo Vice (2021, TV-series) and theatrically in West Side Story (2021). The Goldfinch is rotten at 25 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Goldfinch?

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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.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

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

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

5/10/2021

The Goldfinch (2019) - Stars gleam in affected Crowley adaptation mishap

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