Deep Impact (1998) - Leder offers one of the worst disaster pics of all time

[ZERO]

 

+ Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

 

Things are looking grim for old mother Earth on this animated poster for Mimi Leder's Deep Impact

A gigantic comet is heading towards Earth with disastrous force. - Can it be stopped? 

Deep Impact is written by Michael Tolkin (The Player (1997, TV movie)) and Bruce Joel Rubin (Jacob's Ladder (1990)) and directed by Mimi Leder (The Peacemaker (1997)).

The film actually focuses on several other things than the overwhelming problem with the comet: A teenage romance, a relationship to a father that needs mending before the impending apocalypse, - and then there's the insufferably unaffected gravitas-enshrouded US president played by Morgan Freeman (Nurse Betty (2000)). The comet and a lame mission to alter the outcome enter the plot on occasion in this thoroughly horrendous film, which is mysteriously hideous to sit through.

James Horner's (The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)) score is splashed on as if it was an all-mending lacquer, while sentimentality pulsates from every scene, and everything rings so entirely false that it almost makes the thinking audience-member sick.

Leder's film is the upmost in grade zero trash; it makes its immediate competition Armageddon (1998) look like Doctor Zhivago (1965). Deep Impact's impact is rage.

 

Related post:

 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

 

 

Watch a 3-minute excerpt from the film here

 

Cost: 80 mil. $

Box office: 349.4 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.36 times its cost)

[Deep Impact premiered 7 May (Mexico) and runs 121 minutes. Development began in the late 1970s. The film meshes attempts to remake When Worlds Collide (1951) and Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Hammer of God (1993). Steven Spielberg had meant to direct the film but had to bow out due to making Amistad (1997), - and because the production was racing to not be left on the platform behind the year's other major comet-hitting-Earth disaster action adventure Armageddon. Shooting took place from June - October 1997 in Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, California, including Los Angeles, and in New York. The film opened #1 to a 41.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 5 weekends in the top 5 (#1-#2-#2-#3-#5) and grossed 140.4 mil. $ (40.2 % of the total gross). Armageddon was released later in 1998: It cost more and grossed more, but astronomers concluded that Deep Impact was more scientifically accurate. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Leder returned with Sentimental Journey (1999, short) and theatrically with Pay It Forward (2000). Freeman returned in Under Suspicion (2000); Téa Leoni (Bad Boys (1995)) in The Naked Truth (1998, TV-series) and theatrically in Life in the Fast Lane (1998); Robert Duvall (The Outer Limits (1964, TV-series)) in A Civil Action (1998). Deep Impact is rotten at 45 % with a 5.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Deep Impact?

Dangerous Beauty/A Destiny of Her Own (1998) - Yawns galore with Herskovitz's stale, hokey Venice-set period romance

♥

 

+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year

 

A partially undressed Catherine McCormack looking sensually at you from a bed of red velvet invites with a tag-line of a 'life without compromise' on this poster for Marshall Herskovitz's Dangerous Beauty

A beautiful woman in 16th century Venice falls for a nobleman and he for her, but their stand in society prevents them from marrying, so that she instead becomes his courtesan.

 

Dangerous Beauty is written by Jeannine Dominy (American Experience (1991, TV series documentary), controller), adapting the non-fiction book The Honest Courtesan (1992) by Margaret Rosenthal, and directed by Marshall Herskovitz (Jack the Bear (1993)).

The Italians are British (actors), which is symptomatic for a film in which every component tastes artificially. Rufus Sewell (Carrington (1995)) doesn't appear as a real man here as the nobleman, who beds just about half the city, but the seemingly (in its own evaluation) 'risqué' film actually has only one dry sex scene.

Dangerous Beauty is pompous and poor on nuances as it snails its way forward: It is a deadly boring, well-behaved women's magazine type of film, in which lead Catherine McCormack (A Sound of Thunder (2005)) is eventually accused of being a witch due to her promiscuous lifestyle.

 

Related post:

 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Estimated 8 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 4.5 mil. $ (North America only)

= Uncertain but likely a huge flop - better than 0.56 times its cost

[Dangerous Beauty was released 20 February (USA) and runs 112 minutes. Shooting took place around April 1996 in Italy, including Rome. The film opened #17 to a 105k $ first weekend in 10 theaters in North America, where it grossed 4.5 mil. $. The film's international gross numbers are regrettably not reported online. The film was likely less successful abroad and may have landed at a realistic 7 mil. $ gross, which would be a 0.87 return, ranking the film still a 'huge flop'. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. Herskovitz never directed another feature but did direct 3 TV credits and turned towards producing in the next two decades. McCormack returned in Dancing at Lughnasa (1998); Sewell in Dark City (1998). Dangerous Beauty is fresh at 68 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dangerous Beauty?

Black Cat, White Cat/Црна мачка, бели мачор (Crna mačka, beli mačor) (1998) - Kusturica celebrates Balkan in sprawling music comedy

♥♥♥♥

 

+ Best On-Screen Couple of the Year: Florijan Ajdini and Branka Katic + Best Yugoslavian Movie of the Year

 

Many of the vivid characters of Emir Kusturica's Black Cat, White Cat are arranged on this inviting, merry poster for the film

A hard-pressed gypsy father in a distant corner of Serbia has devised a plan of a train heist, but the plan fails, and soon his enamored son has been promised away to a small woman ...

 

Black Cat, White Cat is written by Gordon Mihic (Tango Argentino/Tango Argentino (1992)) and directed by great Bosnian filmmaker Emir Kusturica (Do You Remember Dolly Bell?/Sjecas li se, Dolly Bell (1981)). The original title translates to, 'black (female) cat, white tomcat'.

The plot in this film could hardly be presented in something not from the hand of Balkans' Spielberg, Kusturica, and his dedicated team of madmen. Full of geese, bad teeth, phony liquor and gold and comedy caused by - along with genuine love for - the musical culture and devil-may-care life philosophy and total recklessness of the people of these Eastern European nations.

The film is sometimes irresistibly funny and has charming performances, not least from the very photogenic young couple in the film: Florijan Ajdini (Icaro 2012 (2006)) and Branka Katic (Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)), who looks like a Balkan Scarlett Johansson. The wedding scene is too long, - and the movie overall may be 20 minutes overlong, - but it is pretty magical. One wonders in the present day, watching this film, if the EU, who have taken in several of these countries since the film was made, and the advent of smartphones and social media has put this sprawling mongrel culture to sleep?

 

Related post:

 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

 

Watch a 2-minute excerpt from the film here

 

Cost: 4.5 mil. $

Box office: Uncertain

= Uncertain

[Black Cat, White Cat was released 1 June (Yugoslavia) and runs 135 minutes. It was originally envisioned as a documentary on gypsy music and was financed and produced by no less than 10 companies and support bodies. Shooting took place from May - October 1997 in Serbia. Details surrounding the film's release are regrettably hard to come by: It grossed 351k $ in its North-American release, and 15,251 paid admission to it in Denmark (approximately 166k $). The film may have been a theatrical success, depending on how big it scored in Eastern 'home' markets and other big European markets. It was nominated for a European Film award and won 3 prizes in Venice, among other honors. Kusturica returned with Super 8 Stories (2001, documentary) and theatrically with Life Is a Miracle/Zivot je cudo (2004). Black Cat, White Cat is fresh at 83 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Black Cat, White Cat?

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

The Top 10 of the Year

1. Being John Malkovich - Spike Jonze + Best American Movie of the Year + Best Actress' Breakthrough of the Year: Catherine Keener + Best Dramedy of the Year + Best Fantasy Comedy of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

2. Eyes Wide Shut - Stanley Kubrick + Best Erotic Movie of the Year + Best New York Movie of the Year + Best On-Screen Couple of the Year: Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise

3. American Beauty - Sam Mendes + Best Debut of the Year + Best Drama of the Year + Best Mega-Hit Movie of the Year + Biggest Moneymaker of the Year: 127.48 mil. $ range

4. American Pie - Chris and Paul Weitz + Best High School Movie of the Year + Best Sex Comedy of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year 

 

 

5. Bleeder - Nicolas Winding Refn + Best Copenhagen Movie of the Year + Best Crime Drama of the Year + Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year 

 

 

6. Frasier - season 7 - David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee + Best Comedy of the Year + Best Returning TV-series of the Year + Best Romcom of the Year + Best Seattle Title of the Year

 

 

7. Freaks & Geeks - season 1 - Paul Feig + Best Coming-of-Age Title of the Year + Best New TV-series of the Year 

 

 

8. A Texas Funeral - William Blake Herron + Best Box Office Disaster + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Texas Movie of the Year + Most Under-Appreciated Movie of the Year 

 

 

9. The Blair Witch Project - Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez + Best Dollar Return of the Year: 1,243 Times Its Cost + Best Found Footage Movie of the Year + Best Horror Movie of the Year + Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year: 60k $ + Best Mockumentary of the Year

 

 

10. Boys Don't Cry - Kimberley Peirce + Best Rainbow Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actress of the Year: Hilary Swank + Best True-Crime Movie of the Year 

 

Other great 1999 movies (in alphabetical order):

 

 

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - Jim Jarmusch + Best New Jersey Movie of the Year + Best Samurai Movie of the Year

Girl, Interrupted - James Mangold + Best Period Movie of the Year

 

Other good, recommendable 1999 movies (in alphabetical order):

 

 

Audition/オーディション (Ōdishon) - Takashi Miike + Best Feel-Bad Movie of the Year + Best Gore Movie of the Year + Best Japanese Movie of the Year

 

 

Bowfinger - Frank Oz + Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Parody of the Year

 

 

Buena Vista Social Club, documentary - Wim Wenders 

 

 

EdTV - Ron Howard + Best Mega-Flop Movie of the Year + Best Satire of the Year

Election - Alexander Payne + Best Nebraska Movie of the Year 

The Green Mile - Frank Darabont + Best Ensemble of the Year: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sam Rockwell, David Morse, Michael Jeter, Bonnie Hunt, James Cromwell, Patricia Clarkson, Harry Dean Stanton, Doug Hutchison + Best Epic Movie of the Year + Best Prison Movie of the Year + Best Religious Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Michael Clarke Duncan

The Bottom 10 of the Year

1. At First Sight - Irwin Winkler

2. Baby Geniuses - Bob Clark + Most Undeserved Hit of the Year 

 

 

3. Analyze This (1999) - Harold Ramis + Most Overrated Movie of the Year 

4. Alice in Wonderland, TV movie - Nick Willing

 

 

5. Existenz/eXistenZ - David Cronenberg + Most Deserved Flop of the Year

 

 

6. From Fusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money - Scott Spiegel

 

 

7. The 13th Warrior - John McTiernan + Biggest Career-Killer of the Year: John McTiernan + Costliest Flop of the Year: 95.36 mil. $ range

8. Deep Blue Sea - Renny Harlin  + Best Shark Movie of the Year 

9. Any Given Sunday - Oliver Stone + Best Actor's Breakthrough of the Year: Jamie Foxx

 

 

10. End of Days - Peter Hyams

 

Other failed, poor and/or mediocre 1999 movies (in alphabetical order):

 

Criminal Lovers/Les Amants Criminels - François Ozon + Best French Movie of the Year + Worst Dollar Return of the Year: 0.18 Times Its Cost

Galaxy Quest - Dean Parisot

 

[30 titles in total]

 

Notes:

 

A slim first edition of the lists of the best and worst in movies and TV-series from 1999 contains one masterpiece and one grade zero title:

The top 10 opens with Spike Jonze's inspiring, awesome fantasy comedy masterpiece Being John Malkovich; Stanley Kubrick's awe-inspiring erotic drama-thriller Eyes Wide Shut takes silver; and Sam Mendes' suburbia-skewering major hit American Beauty takes the bronze. The list goes on with Chris and Paul Weitz's hilarious teen comedy American Pie; Nicolas Winding Refn's mysterious, violent drama Bleeder; David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee's romantic merry-maker Frasier - season 7; Paul Feig's warm, funny and nuanced teen dramedy Freaks & Geeks - season 1; William Blake Herron's unfairly under-seen Texas-set drama A Texas Funeral; Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez's sensational low-budget witch horror The Blair Witch Project; and finally Kimberley Peirce's stirring true-crime drama Boys Don't Cry.

Other noteworthy films of the year include a New Jersey-set samurai movie, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, a chuckle-worthy Hollywood parody, Bowfinger and another epic Stephen King adaptation set in a prison, The Green Mile.

On the year's bottom 10 list it is Irwin Winkler's thoroughly awful blindness melodrama At First Sight that takes the cake; followed by Bob Clark's baby monstrosity, grade zero shlock Baby Geniuses; and with Harold Ramis' cringe-worthy mob-themed comedy Analyze This taking the bronze. The list goes on with Nick Willing's TV movie ordeal Alice in Wonderland; David Cronenberg's high-minded sci-fi mumbo-jumbo Existenz; Scott Spiegel's poorly devised vampire flick From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money; John McTiernan's hugely misinformed adventure The 13th Warrior; Renny Harlin's corny shark horror Deep Blue Sea; Oliver Stone's blown-up-hard American football epic Any Given Sunday; and finally Peter Hyams' preposterous apocalyptic actioner End of Days. Another great filmmaker whose output this years registers below par is François Ozon with his hot crime-drama Criminal Lovers.

The year marked high points in the careers of stars John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich), Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) and Tom Hanks (The Green Mile). Conversely 1999 marked major defeats for stars Antonio Banderas (The 13th Warrior), Val Kilmer (At First Sight) and Eddie Murphy (Bowfinger). 

Biggest flops of the year:

[The loss is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films. Marketing spends and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other auxiliary profits) are not taken into account]  

 

1. The 13th Warrior - 95.36 mil. $ range

2. EdTV - 65.92 mil. $ range

3. At First Sight - 48 mil. $ range

4. Girl, Interrupted - 20.68 mil. $ range

5. Election - 18.08 mil. $ range

6. Bowfinger - 15.6 mil. $ range

7. Any Given Sunday - 14.92 mil. $ range

8. Existenz - 13 mil. $ range

9. Galaxy Quest - 8.76 mil. $ range

10. Criminal Lovers - 1.58 mil. $ range

= Combined losses: 301.9 mil. $

 

Biggest hits of the year:

[The gain is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films. Marketing spends and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other auxiliary profits) are not taken into account]

 

1. American Beauty - 127.48 mil. $ range

2. The Blair Witch Project - 99.38 mil. $ range

3. American Pie - 83.16 mil. $ range

4. The Green Mile - 54.72 mil. $ range

5. Analyze This - 40.72 mil. $ range

6. Buena Vista Social Club - 7.24 mil. $ range

7. Boys Don't Cry - 6.28 mil. $ range

8. Deep Blue Sea - 5.84 mil. $ range

9. Baby Geniuses - 2.56 mil. $ range

10. End of Days - 1.76 mil. $ range

= Combined profits: 429.14 mil. $

1999 titles still on the watch-list:

Kolobos, Double Jeopardy, In Dreams, The Iron Giant, Julien Donkey-Boy, Please Kill Mr. Kinski, Music of the Heart, Office Space, A Room for Romeo Brass

Previous annual lists: 

    
2020 in films - according to Film Excess 

2019 in films - according to Film Excess 
2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess  
2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2016 in films - according to Film Excess

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] 
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2013 in films - according to Film Excess    
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
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
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
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  
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
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
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   
2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

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

  

What do you think of the lists?
What 1999 titles would make it to your top and bottom lists?
What worthwhile 1999 movies and TV-series are missing on the watch-list?