Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)
Ali Abassi's The Apprentice (2024)

6/30/2024

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow/Ieri, Oggi, Domani (1963) - De Sica and stars triumph with sexy smash

 

Gorgeously painted and colored situations from the film are highlighted on this delightful poster for Vittorio De Sica's Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

A three-story anthology: A Neapolitan mother is to be imprisoned, if she won't stop birthing children. A rich and superficial star. And a passionate couple nearly steer a young man into decline.

 

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is written by Eduardo De Filippo (Frisky/Pane, Amore e Gelosia (1954)), Isabella Quarantotti (Kiss the Other Sheek/Oggi, Domani, Dopodomani (1965)), Billa Billa (Ragazze d'Oggi (1955, actor)) and Cesare Zavattini (Woman Times Seven (1967)), with one segment adapting a novel by Alberto Moravia (Il Disprezzo/Contempt (1954)), and directed by Italian master filmmaker Vittorio De Sica (Rose Scarlatte (1940)), whose 18th feature it was. The title is a literal translation of the original Italian title.

Giuseppe Rotunno's (Red Sonja (1985)) photography dwells on the Italian beauty in three stories that are a perfect combination of sweetness, bittersweetness and desire. Sophia Loren (Io Sono il Capataz (1951)) and Marcello Mastroianni (I Grandi Peccatori (L'Eterna Catena) (1952)) are ravishing and seem as divinely meant for each other. - The film is a far cry from the corset of neorealism that De Sica championed in his earlier masterworks such as Bicycle Thieves/Ladri di Biciclette (1948), the ultimate one.

Armando Trovajoli's (Mario, Maria e Mario (1993)) music is beautiful and flirtatious. Is the film a bit dated? Perhaps. And a non-Catholic may also object to the salvaging of the young man in the third story, through his joining the cloth and thereby (stifling, potentially dangerous) celibacy. But these are minor reservations to a glorious film.

 

Related posts:

 

Vittorio De SicaThe Garden of the Finzi-Continis/Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1970) - An exquisite, painful De Sica WWII love drama

A Farewell to Arms (1957) or, Love in Spite! (co-star)

 



 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 1.5 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 21.75 mil. $ (North America, France, Germany and Italy alone)

= Uncertain but likely a mega-hit (projected return of at least 16.66 times its cost)

[Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow was released 21 December (Italy) and runs 118 minutes. Loren was reportedly paid 500k $ for her performance. Shooting took place in Italy, including in Rome. It is listed as having sold 13.39 mil. tickets across France, Germany and Italy, coming to approximately 12.45 mil. $. Together with its impressive North-American gross of 9.3 mil. $, it should have cleared 21.75 mil. $ in these markets alone. Likely its total gross exceeds 25 and perhaps even 30 mil. $. The film won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, a BAFTA, 3 David di Donatello award, 1/2 Golden Globe nominations and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. De Sica returned with Marriage Italian Style/Matrimonio all'Italiana (1964). Loren returned first in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and then with Mastroianni in his return also, Marriage Italian Style. 10k+ IMDb users have given Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow a 7.2/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow?

6/25/2024

1991 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

The Top 8 of the Year

 


1. Zentropa/Europa - Lars Von Trier + Best B/W Movie of the Year + Best Danish Film of the Year + Best Drama-Thriller of the Year + Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year

 

 

2. The Commitments - Alan Parker + Most Deserved Hit of the Year + Best Dublin Movie of the Year + Irish Film of the Year + Best Music Film of the Year + Best Poster of the Year 

 


3. Barton Fink - Ethan and Joel Coen + Best American Film of the Year + Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Period Picture of the Year 

 


4. The Great Day on the Beach/Den Store Badedag - Stellan Olsson + Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Coming-of-Age Movie of the Year + Best Copenhagen Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

 


5. Bugsy - Barry Levinson + Best Biopic of the Year + Gangster Movie of the Year + Best Las Vegas Movie of the Year + Best Romance of the Year  

 

 

6. The Fisher King - Terry Gilliam + Best New York Movie of the Year 

 


7. Hot Shots! - Jim Abrahams + Best Action Comedy of the Year + Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year + Best Spoof of the Year 

 


8. The Adventures of Tintin - seasons 1-3  (1991-92, TV-series) - Stéphane Bernasconi + Best Adventure of the Year + Best Family Title of the Year + French Title of the Year 

 

Other good, recommendable films of the year (in alphabetical order):

 

 

Cape Fear - Martin Scorsese 

 

The Bottom 4 of the Year

 


1. Hook - Steven Spielberg + Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

 


2. Delicatessen - Jean-Pierre Jeunet + Most Overrated Movie of the Year 

 


3. Backdraft - Ron Howard + Most Deserved Flop of the Year 

 


4. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah/ゴジラvsキングギドラ (Gojira tai Kingu Gidora) - Kazuki Ohmori 

 

Other mediocre, poor and/or flawed films of the year (in alphabetical order):

 

High Heels/Tacones Lejanos - Pedro Almodóvar 

Høfeber - Annelise Hovmand

 

[15 titles in total]

 

Notes:

 

The small amount of titles currently reviewed from 1991 makes this a short post, but one which starts with one unique masterpiece in Lars Von Trier's Europa-probing cinematic trip Zentropa. The year's 2nd best is Alan Parker's effusive soul-music crowd-pleaser The Commitments, and bronze goes to Ethan and Joel Coen's writer's hell dramedy Barton Fink.

The Top 10 goes on with Stellan Olsson's great Copenhagen childhood reminiscing The Great Day on the Beach; Barry Levinson's grand, spectacular gangster biopic Bugsy; Terry Gilliam's imaginative New-Yorker fantasy drama The Fisher King; Jim Abrahams' rip-roaring spoof action comedy Hot Shots!; and with Stéphane Bernasconi's The Adventures of Tintin 3 season animated family adventure TV-series rounding off the list.

On the opposite side of things, Steven Spielberg reigns supreme with the year's most ghastly film, the dreadful Peter Pan re-imagining Hook. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's aggravating, 'whimsical' cannibalism story Delicatessen takes silver; and Ron Howard's big, loud and dumb action picture Backdraft claims the bronze. The Worst of list is rounded off with Kazuki Ohmori's nationalistic kaiju sequel Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.

Robin Williams' star shone clearly - at least commercially - in both Hook and Fisher King; and Robert De Niro enjoyed a lucrative year with Backdraft and Cape Fear. Master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar joins Spielberg (Hook) and Martin Scorsese (Cape Fear) with a less than inspiring output in 1991, his being High Heels.

 

Biggest flops of the year:

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

 

1. Backdraft - 14.08 mil. $ range

2. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah - 7 mil. $ range

3. Barton Fink - 3 mil. $ range

4. Zentropa - 3 mil. $ range

5. Bugsy - 2 mil. $ range

6. Høfeber - 1.23 mil. $ range

7. The Great Day on the Beach - 0.9 mil. $ range

= Combined losses:  31.21 mil. $


Biggest hits of the year:

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

 

1. Hook - 50.32 mil. $ range

2. Hot Shots! - 46.4 mil. $ range

3. Cape Fear - 37.88 mil. $ range

4. The Commitments - 6.5 mil. $ range

5. The Fisher King - 4.96 mil. $ range

6. High Heels - 3.2 mil. $ range

7. Delicatessen - 1.88 mil. $ range

= Combined profits: 151.14 mil. $


1991 titles currently on the watch-list:

What About Bob?, Curly Sue, Nekromantik 2, Dead Silence, The Addams Family, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, Poison, The Pit and the Pendulum, Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas, The Boy Who Cried Bitch, The Passion of Martin, Raise the Red Lantern, Only the Lonely, The Super, The Rocketeer, Samurai Cop, Once Upon a Time in China


Previous annual lists: 

    
2023 in films - according to Film Excess 

2022 in films - according to Film Excess 

2021 in films - according to Film Excess 

2020 in films - according to Film Excess 

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

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 and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI] 
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 IV] 
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 III] 

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 III] 

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

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

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

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

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

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

1995 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1992 in films - according to Film Excess


What do you think of the 1991 lists?
Which 1991 films are your favorites and the bottom of the year in your opinion? 
What important 1991 title/s is/are missing on the watch-list?

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (13-24)

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (13-24)
Jason Reitman's Saturday Night (2024)