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From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. December 2024: Countdown to: Lists of the best and worst of 2024 - Upcoming review: Ishtar (1987) - Now with 2,300+ reviews!
Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)
Johnny Depp's Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness (2024)
Weighty themes are teased on this superiorly crafted poster for John Boorman's Hell in the Pacific
Two men are stranded on a small island in the Pacific; one American and one Japanese. They hate each other like the plague. - But their chances of survival and escape are better if they work together.
Hell in the Pacific is written by Eric Bercovici (Shogun (1980, TV movie)) and Alexander Jacobs (Point Blank (1967)), with Shinobu Hashimoto (Hakkodasan (1977)) contributing uncredited work and story contributions by co-writer/producer Reuben Bercovitch (Bonanza (1968, TV-series)), and directed by great English filmmaker John Boorman (Having a Wild Weekend (1965)).
The two seasoned stars Lee Marvin (Pocket Money (1972)) and Toshirô Mifune (Sicilian Connection (1987)) muck around and crackle in each their own tongue, but any semblance of an exciting story is missing, making Hell in the Pacific strand thoroughly as a deadly bore. SPOILER You may wake up in the scene wherein Marvin urinates on Mifune. - Or you may not.
[Hell in the Pacific was released 18 December (North America) and runs 103 minutes. Marvin and Mifune had fought on opposite sides during WWII: Marvin as a US Marine, receiving the Purple Heart for his service and getting injured in the Battle of Saipan in 1944; Mifune in the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service. Shooting took place from January 1968 - ? in the Micronesian country of Palau in the Pacific, near the Philippines. The film earned 1.33 mil. $ (41.2 % of the total gross) in North America. Due to its strangely high cost, the film recorded a massive 4.115 mil. $ loss for the short-lived ABC Films. Boorman returned with Leo the Last (1970). Marvin returned in Paint Your Wagon (1969); Mifune in Samurai Banners/Fûrin kazan (1969). Hell in the Pacific is fresh at 67 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
An ominous horizontally slanted still of star Arielle Holmes in pink and blue makes up this poster for Benny and Josh Safdie's Heaven Knows What
A young female heroin addict gets pressured to the brink of suicide by her addict boyfriend, but she still maintains her destructive bond with him.
Heaven Knows What is written by co-writer/co-editor Ronald Bronstein (Uncut Gems (2019)), co-writer/co-star Arielle Holmes (American Honey (2016)) and co-writer/co-director Josh Safdie (The Pleasure of Being Robbed (2008)), based on Holmes' unpublished memoir Mad Love in New York City, and co-directed with co-director/co-editor Benny Safdie. It is the New-Yorker master filmmaker brothers Safdie's 5th feature.
A frighteningly authentic and unadorned portrait of the flat, restricted, deeply inhibited life of big city heroin addicts, Heaven Knows What sensationally uses Holmes and other real homeless and ex-homeless amateur actors successfully in its hard depiction of their lives. The plot, fittingly enough, is also quite flat. Caleb Landry Jones (Twin Peaks (2017, TV-series)) is impressively credible as the egocentric boyfriend Ilya.
The Safdies (and cinematographer Sean Price Williams (The Sweet East (2023))) have a sure-handed, very New York-flavored, crude aesthetic here that is already well established. The film's strong score (by Paul Grimstad (Stinking Heaven (2015)) and Ariel Pink (TFW NO GF (2020, doc.))) helps us into the addicts' lives. Heaven Knows What is an incredible work.
= Uncertain but likely a huge flop (projected return of 0.84 times the cost)
[Heaven Knows What premiered 29 August (Venice Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The film opened #52 to a 16k $ first weekend in North America, its highest chart position domestically, where it topped out in 14 theaters and grossed 80k $ (95.2 % of the total gross). Its only other registered markets are from the UK and Brazil, although it was also released in France, Germany and Japan, aside from a long list of festival screenings. If made on a tiny 100k $, the film would rank as a huge flop. It additionally made an estimated 186k $ on the North-American home video market alone. It was nominated for 2 Independent Spirit awards and an AFI award, among other honors. The Safdie brothers returned with Good Time (2017). Holmes returned in 2307: Winter's Dream (2016). Heaven Knows What is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A string of sexually charged stills of the scantily clad female stars of the film makes up most of this poster for Lorene Scafaria's Hustlers
After the 2008 financial crisis tightened the belt around New York's surviving Wall Street elite, a group of strippers who depended economically on these men decided to go to extremes to keep - and accelerate - their luxurious lifestyles...
Hustlers is written and directed by Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)), based on the 2015 New York magazine article The Hustlers at Scores by Jessica Pressler.
Can one use stripping as a means to female emancipation, or is the discipline per definition degrading? Scafaria's superficial, consumeristicly fixated bubble of a film asks that question. Hustlers attempts to work as a runaway train that one boards and becomes seduced by, - probably against one's better judgment, - just as the woman characters around Jennifer Lopez's (Out of Sight (1998)) veteran stripper leader do in the movie. Men on Wall Street screw the world over, and women strippers then screw over these men, - that's the story here. Go look in the phonebook for additional depth, if you require it. - It isn't available in Hustlers.
The plot unfolds in snappy, short, unmemorable scenes with lots of sleazy, accompanying hit songs. Hustlers doesn't teach its (presumably mostly young) audience anything; nothing edifying at least. Offensively and decidedly unedifyingly, however, it teaches its viewers that one can get away with a wealth of crime by being a smiling, laughing, over-consuming, attractive stripper, who believes that anything goes in the 'holy' name of women's liberation.
[Hustlers premiered 7 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 110 minutes. Lopez was paid 9 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from March - May 2019 in New York. The film opened #2, behind It Chapter Two, to a 33.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#5-#2-#4), grossing 104.9 mil. $ (66.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 9.4 mil. $ (6 %) and Australia with 6.5 mil. $ (4.1 %). The studio reportedly spent 38 mil. $ promoting the film. It was nominated for a Golden Globe and 3 Independent Spirit awards, among many other honors. It additionally made a reported 5.5 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Scafaria returned with Succession (2021-23) but has has yet to make her theatrical return. Lopez returned in 6 short and music video credits prior to her theatrical return in Marry Me (2022); Constance Wu (Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022)) in Fresh off the Boat (2015-20)), with a voice performance in Wish Dragon (2021) and with a physical theatrical performance in I Was a Simple Man (2021). Hustlers is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
The smooth, hairless visage of twinkie headliner Timothée Chalamet with his signature lazy-horny stare, against a colorful horizon make up this stylized poster for Elijah Bynum's Hot Summer Nights
A young man is to spend the summer with his aunt in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1991, and there he soon becomes a business partner and friend of the local pusher.
Hot Summer Nights is written and directed by debuting Elijah Bynum (One Dollar (2018, TV-series), writer)).
Right before lecturing the world on the tragic consequences of drug dependence (in Beautiful Boy (2018)), the then fumbling Timothée Chalamet (Wonka (2023)), - yet before his breakthrough in Call Me By Your Name (2017), - just wanted to entertain with drugs viewed as a product like any other. There is a vibe of braindead consumerism about this film, which is thickly sauced in hit songs and unnecessary narration (from a random other boy in the vacation spot apparently...) Another part of the vibe is the way the young stars are peddled as irresistibly sexy by Bynum and cinematographer Javier Julia (Argentina, 1985 (2022)).
The attempt hardly succeeds in a dour and unexciting story that is lacking in contemporary relevance. Despite the sexy young Chalamet this is a poor call of a film.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown, projected 3 mil. $
Box office: 246k $ (international gross only); 300k $ projected final gross
= Box office disaster (projected return of 0.1 times its cost)
[Hot Summer Nights premiered 13 March (South by South West Film Festival) and runs 107 minutes. Shooting took place in Georgia and Massachusetts. The film's North-American gross has been kept secret, - it must be tiny, - and the film only has public gross numbers from 3 markets: Russia with 141k $, South Korea with 89k $ and Lithuania with 15k $. If made on a conservatively put 3 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a box office disaster. Bynum returned with Magazine Dreams (2023). Chalamet returned in Lady Bird (2017); Maika Monroe (Villains (2019)) in The Scent of Rain & Lightning (2017); and Alex Roe (The 5th Wave (2016)) in Forever My Girl (2018)). Hot Summer Nights is rotten at 44 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A wealth of elements are teased on this chaotic poster for Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I
The history of the world, from Neanderthal man to the ardor of the Roman Empire: from the time of Christ to the French Revolution, covering the Spanish Inquisition and more!
History of the World, Part I is written, produced, starring and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Mel Brooks (The Producers (1967)), whose 7th film it is.
Everything goes through Brooks' lewd, irreverent, often risible and continuously entertaining wringer in History of the World, Part I. The film is truly 'the Mel Brooks show', as it is wholly his making, while he also portrays Moses, King Louis XVI - and three other characters in it! Surrounding him are a gang of his 'usual suspects': Dom DeLuise (Always Greener (2001)) as Emperor Nero; Gregory Hines (Will & Grace (1999-00)) as the African slave in trouble; Madeline Kahn (Mixed Nuts (1994)) as Empress Nympho (the royal comedienne delivers a line as few others can) and many more.
With a considerable budget many of Brooks' outrageous ideas are possible here. History of the World, Part I is salutary, insanely silly - and very funny!
Box office: 31.6 mil. $ (North America only); projected world gross 51.6 mil. $
= Big hit (projected return of 4.91 times its cost)
[History of the World, Part I was released 12 June (North America) and runs 92 minutes. The film was conceived as a reaction to a short studio backlot exchange between Brooks and a grip person. Orson Welles was paid 25k $ to record his narration for the film, which he did in a few hours instead of the 5 days that Brooks had thought it might take him. Richard Pryor was to play the slave part but had to bow out due to setting himself on fire while free-basing cocaine. Shooting took place from May 1980 - ? in France, England, California, including in Los Angeles, and in Las Vegas, Nevada. The film opened #4, behind Raiders of the Lost Ark, Clash of the Titans and Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams, to a 4.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 31.6 mil. $. Its foreign numbers are regrettably not public, as per studio policy at the time, but the film must have made a good deal of money internationally as well: In France it was the year's 13th highest-grossing film with more than 2.2 mil. admissions, totaling around 6.6 mil. $, and in Denmark 218k paid admission, totaling around 1.75 mil. $. With a conservative projected world gross of 25 mil. $, the world gross would be 51.6 mil. $, making the film a big hit. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to two notches under this one. A sequel series was made for Hulu as VoD, History of the World, Part II (2023), with Brooks co-writing and co-producing. Brooks returned with Spaceballs (1987); and as an actor in To Be Or Not To Be (1983). History of the World, Part I is fresh at 63 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of History of the World, Part I?
Two famous Danish actors caught in an unusual situation in the home, along with a long list of the popular ensemble, make up this poster for Annelise Hovmand's Høfeber
An aging judge is completely aware that his wife is screwing his good old doctor friend. But his surroundings are far from as cool about this as he is...
Høfeber is written by Arne Forchhammer (Klikk (1986-87)) and co-writer/director Annelise Hovmand (Hvorfor Stjæler Barnet (1955)), adapting the same-titled 1975 novel by Leif Panduro (Øgledage (1961)). The title translates to 'hay fever'.
It is an ingenious web of relationships that run more or less amuck in this pretty amusing film with good performances from especially Frits Helmuth (En Kærlig Omstigning (1994, TV movie)) and Peter Schrøder (Aching Hearts/Kærestesorger (2009)) as the sex-crazed man of wealth who winds up in trouble. SPOILER The plot line about Helmuth's adult son (Thomas Mørk (Prop and Berta/Prop og Berta (2000))), who naively loses his father's funds again and again, - and with whom the troubled judge finally decides to elope South with, claiming to have passed away, is regrettably insipid and a bit too thick. The female characters are the least faceted, and especially Lisbeth Dahl's (Men & Chicken/Mænd og Høns (2015)) character is overly mannered and hysterically overwrought.
A short video that puts spotlight on the films of Hovmand
Cost: Unknown
Box office: Around 530k $
[Høfeber was released 20 December (Denmark) and runs 84 minutes. It sold 62,686 tickets in Denmark, coming to around 3.65 mil. DKK (average 1991 ticket prize 58 DKK), around 530k $. Hovmand retired after the film's release. Helmuth returned in Det Forsømte Forår (1993). 118 IMDb users have given Høfeber a 4.7/10 average rating.]
Two stills of middle-aged men superimpose onto one of a young woman make up most of this sparse poster for Henning Carlsen's Epilogue
A Danish WWII Resistance fighter doodles around in Copenhagen almost two decades after the war, engaging in an affair with a beautiful young woman, but finds himself plagued by traumas from the war.
Epilogue is written by Leif Panduro (Rundt om Selma (1971, TV movie)) and directed by Danish master filmmaker Henning Carlsen (Dilemma (1962)), whose 2nd film it was. The original Danish title translates to 'what about us?'.
Clearly inspired by the at the time recently arrived French New Wave in cinema, which inspired new types of films across the world, Epilogue has youthful experimental aspirations and can today most aptly be catalogued as a reflection of its time that includes valuable footage of Copenhagen and Dyrehaven (the big open park with wild deer North of the city) from its day. The laziness and lack of commitment in the youth's relation to the older man and her maybe boyfriend (Morten Grunwald (The Black Madonna/Den Sorte Madonna (2007))) is tiring and a bit loathsome in its unrestrained carelessness.
The plot of Epilogue is stillborn and lacks a dramatic curve: This perceived radicalism fails to fascinate, as must have been intended, and instead becomes deadly boring. Cutaways to images of the war do not relate anything clearly. Epilogue is a failed attempt at a new cinematic language.
In lieu of anything related to this film, - which is not to be found on Youtube, - here is a lengthy video of Carlsen talking about the making of his much more interesting first film, the preceding Dilemma, shot in South Africa during apartheid
Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Epilogue was released 27 September (Denmark) and runs 93 minutes. Details concerning the film's production and release are regrettably hard to come by. It was released in Sweden and Finland in 1964 and at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1964, where it won a prize. TCM also report that it was released in San Francisco in 1967. Carlsen returned with I Rum Sø (1964, TV movie) and theatrically with The Cats/Kattorna (1965). Erno Müller returned in 13 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in Nyt Legetøj (1977); Maud Berthelsen (Sommer-Weekend (1963, TV-series)) in Case of the 44's/Ih, Du Forbarmende (1965). 29 IMDb users have given Epilogue a 5.2/10 average rating.]
Star Jason Statham looks intense while apparently dissolving into a swarm of bees on this mostly yellow poster for David Ayer's The Beekeeper
An elderly lady on a remote farm is phone-scammed out of all her savings. But the morally bankrupt crooks behind the scheme did not expect that her barn was housing a mysterious retired beekeeper.
The Beekeeper is written by Kurt Wimmer (Street Kings (2008)) and directed by David Ayer (Harsh Times (2005)).
Part of the charm of this hard-hitting escapism is that it is made without any pretense as to its nature or ambitions. Pairing one of the top action stars of our time, the slick, effective Jason Statham (Furious 7 (2015)) with one of the best testosterone-fueled macho action directors, Ayer, is a strong match, and for action fans an enjoyable one.
The story here is a thin veneer that would be suited for a cheap 1970s exploitation b-picture. And that's more or less exactly what The Beekeeper is, only it's a (not that) cheap 2020s exploitation b-picture. The setup is simple yet effective: Phone wire fraud scams are as widespread today as they are hated, and Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show (1984-92)) is ideal as the sympathetic, innocent 'old' lady that the viper's nest of scammer douchebags wring dry. Her drastic reaction justifies the finger-cutting, neck-stabbing, auto-drowning, live-incinerating train of manic vengeance that Statham's cipher character unleashes in response. Expletives and brutal violence go hand in hand, as the super-simple plot soon implicates not only local spaghetti trashMickey Garnett (David Witts (Manhunt (2021, TV-series))) and his immediate boss, young worthless tech guru Josh Hutcherson (The Disaster Artist (2017)), - linking crypto investments to drugs and robbing the elderly in a neat bit of writing, - but also retired CIA director and current rich bastard father Jeremy Irons (Lolita (1997)), - a scoop casting for the film, - and his ex-wife, now a modern two-faced President of the US (Jemma Redgrave (Demon (2021))). There's also a crazed female beekeeper and a gonzo, spit-shooting, one-legged goon performance from Taylor James (Christmas Eve (2015)). Plus Emmy Raver-Lampman (Jane the Virgin (2019, TV-series)) as the personally implicated FBI agent with a giant afro and attitude to spare, who connects the dots and sometimes has Statham's back.
If this sounds outlandish but enjoyable, that's because it is. No, there's no sense in the beekeeper identity that basically has Statham a retired secret government killer, whose life is about keeping bees, collecting honey and stashing it in massive amounts in a barn in the middle of nowhere for eternity (until this shit happens!) And there's no brilliance in the pulpy developments. But they are mostly practical, CG-free action, delivered with all the elegance and refinement that goes along with having a massive pork chop slammed to your forehead. In other words, I dug it!
[The Beekeeper was released January 8 (Philippines) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place from September - December 2022 in Massachusetts and in England, including in London. The film opened #2, behind Mean Girls, to a long 18.5 mil. $ MLK opening weekend in North America, where it has just spent its 2nd weekend still at #2. It has 6 markets still scheduled for it to open in during January and February. Likely ending up a profitable endeavor, a 150+ mil. $ gross should likely secure a sequel. Ayer is announced to direct two upcoming films, the Sylvester Stallone co-written Levon's Trade, starring Statham, and a Dirty Dozen remake, - but might Beekeeper 2 come first? Statham is announced to return in Levon's Trade, Martin Zandvliet-helmed Russian mob movie Small Dark Look and Fast X: Part 2 (2025), - but again, who knows if Beekeeper 2 could arrive first? 11+k IMDb users have given The Beekeeper a 6.7/10 average rating.]
The unfamiliar word that constitutes the title is (curiously) explained to mean three very different words on this colorful poster for Howard Hawks' Hatari!, which highlights several sensational situations from the picture
In Africa a small group of Westerners work together to catch wild life for the world's zoological gardens.
Hatari! is written by Leigh Brackett (The Long Goodbye (1973)), with Harry Kurnitz (Surprise Package (1960)) contributing story elements, and directed by Indianan master filmmaker Howard Hawks (The Road to Glory (1926)), whose 37th feature it was. The title is a Swahili (a central-African language) word that translates to 'danger'.
High-speed jeep animal chases with rhinos, zebras and other animals are the sensation (and core element) of this film, and these are quite rare to behold, perhaps reminding today's audiences of similar (but 'fake') scenes in Jurassic Park (1993), three decades later. Regrettably there's not much of a story around these chases, and the attraction of the 'social' scenes that makes up the filler is negligible.
Strange, surely, is the sight of John Wayne (Big Jake (1971)) in the African savanna, but his satisfaction at being there illuminates him and works some by sheer infectiousness. Wild animals are chased, caught, - a leopard (presumably under sedation) acts in several scenes, and baby elephants are let loose in one town, and driven around on a flatbed truck. Even still the whole affair seems pretty innocent in a film that, - despite its natural sensations, - is honestly an over-long and deadly bore. It does, however, also to its credit, have Henry Mancini's (Ain't Misbehavin' (1955)) classic tune Baby Elephant Walk, which he wrote for Hatari!.
[Hatari! was released 19 June (USA) and runs 157 minutes. Hawks began shooting the film without a finished script. Shooting took place from November 1960 - May 1961 in Tanzania and in Los Angeles, California. When the African shoot was finished, cast, crew and a planeload of wild animals were flown back to Los Angeles. Some were later also utilized for the film's elaborate PR tour before reportedly getting donated to zoos. The promotional campaign was reportedly the largest in Paramount's history. The film made 7 mil. $ in North-American rentals and reportedly 12.9 mil. $ total, becoming the year's 7th highest-grossing film. It was nominated for the Best Cinematography - Color Oscar (Russell Harlan), lost to Freddie Young for Lawrence of Arabia. Royalty checks for Mancini's Baby Elephant Walk would reportedly earn Hawks 125k $ over the following years. Hawks returned with Man's Favorite Sport? (1964). Wayne returned in The Longest Day (1962). Hatari! is fresh at 64 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
