Meet the free, proud, independent people of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w Nothing but reviews. In excess.
From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label Aline Brosh McKenna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aline Brosh McKenna. Show all posts
A pleasant-looking - and pretty packed - poster for Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo
A widower and father of two children, who are still struggling with intense grief over the loss of their mother, makes a fresh decision in quitting his job and moving them all to the countryside to a closure-threatened zoo.
We Bought a Zoo is a wholesome film that has something for the whole family as it takes a true story and glosses it up, Hollywood-style. It is elevated by a circle of fine performances from well-cast actors:
Matt Damon (The Departed (2006)) is excellent in the lead; Thomas Haden Church (Cardboard Boxer (2016)) is at times wonderful as his comic sidekick brother; John Michael Higgins (Big Miracle (2012)) as a cantankerous park inspector is a good fit for the funny-man. Both children, - Colin Ford (All Kids Count (2011)) and Maggie Elizabeth Jones (Identity Thief (2013)), - do good jobs, and Jones as Rosie Mee is unreasonably cute at the same time. Add Scarlett Johansson (A Good Woman (2004)) as a sweet zookeeper with something at stake, and you have the main players of the film.
We get lots of really neat footage with animals in the all-around handsome production, which also features several delightful songs that underpin the story's message, which is about responding 'why not' more often to the opportunities in life instead of mechanical 'whatever.' The film's original songs are by Jon Thor Birgisson (Aloha (2015)) of Icelandic band Sigur Rós, some of them co-written with great Californian co-writer/co-producer/director Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous (2000))
The film succeeds sometimes in being touching, funny and uplifting, even though it borders on feeling like a parody at times, a parody of the film it so earnestly want to be; relevant but always family-focused; a bit like a faith-based film - without the faith. It is in-step with the very sweet, almost other-worldly universe that most Crowe films take place in.
We Bought a Zoo is written by Aline Brosh McKenna (Annie (2014)) and Crowe, based on Benjamin Mee's autobiographical novel We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of A Young Family, A Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives (2008).
[We Bought a Zoo was released December 23 and runs 124 minutes. Several things are changed from Mee's true story, including moving the plot from England to California. Crowe went to see Damon on the set of True Grit (2010) to convince him to play the lead. Filming took place in California in and around January 2011. The film opened #6 to a 9.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it actually went on to do better in the three following weeks in nearly the same amount of cinemas (3,117 - 3,163), (which is quite rare), although never going above #6, indicating strong word-of-mouth. It grossed 75.6 mil. $ (63 % of the total gross) domestically. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 7.7 mil. $ (6.4 %) and Japan with 5.3 mil. $ (4.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 2½/4 stars, equal to this review. We Bought a Zoo is fresh at 66 % with a 6.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Best Supporting Actor: Harrison Ford (lost to John C. Reilly for The Extra Man)
A classy, upbeat poster for Roger Michell's Morning Glory that pushes its lovely stars
A young female workaholic loses her job in Jersey but then gains a new one as executive producer on New York's worst morning TV show. She now has to secure better ratings as well as her own romantic life. - Pheew...!
Morning Glory is a lot less of a romcom than I had expected; instead it is more a story about a young woman on the job market. The romance with Patrick Wilson (The A-Team (2010)) is tame: SPOILER Whether or not he is actually a womanizer gets dropped on the floor, and his being alternately for and against her work madness is also inopportune. But Rachel McAdams (Southpaw (2015)) is sweet and credible in the lead, and Diane Keaton (Something's Gotta Give (2003)) shimmers. The film also have talents like Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson and Morley Safer in amusing cameos. But it is Harrison Ford (The Mosquito Coast (1988)) who is the movie's crowning jewel, splendid as a pompous and quite isolated character. Morning Glory is written by Aline Brosh McKenna (We Bought a Zoo (2011)) and directed by great South-African filmmaker Roger Michell (Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)). It's a funny comedy. Related posts: 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]
Watch an official trailer for the film here
Cost: 40 mil. $ Box office: 60 mil. $ = Big flop [Morning Glory was released November 10 and runs 107 minutes. It was partially inspired by Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys. It is the first film with Keaton and Ford and the second with McAdams and Keaton, following The Family Stone (2005). Michell had to convince McAdams to star in the film, because she didn't think of herself as funny. Filming took place in New York and New Jersey from May - August 2009. The film opened #5 to a 9.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, (behind Megamind, Unstoppable, Due Date and Skyline), where it grossed 31 mil. $ (51.7 % of the total gross). It fell out of the top 5 (to #6) in its second week. The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 5.8 mil. $ (9.7 %) and Russia with 3.1 mil. $ (5.2 %). Morning Glory is rotten at 56 % with a 6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Morning Glory?
The ingenious pitchfork stiletto created for the poster for Dave Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada
QUICK REVIEW: A good-natured, young journalist gets a job as assistant for New York's leading fashion editor. The work demands sacrifices, but is she willing to accept these? Meryl Streep (Out of Africa (1985)) is fabulous as the 'devil' editor, who luckily is also a character of flesh and blood, and Anne Hathaway (The Intern (2015)) and Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games (2012)) are also good in this adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's (Revenge Wears Prada (2013)) same-titled 2003 bestseller. Prada is a very well-polished story with a moral core and an interesting look inside the world of fashion. It is a good show of craftsmanship, bereft, however, of any significant sense of artistic, directorial vision. It is written by Aline Brosh McKenna (We Bought a Zoo (2011)) and directed by master New Yorker filmmaker Dave Frankel (Hope Springs (2012)) as his second feature, following Miami Rhapsody (1995). He is next heading the Will Smith/Rachel McAdams-starring Collateral Beauty (2016). Related posts: Dave Frankel: Hope Springs (2012) - Making an old marriage work, peppered with Streep at her best and top-grade talent all-around 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Exces [UPDATED II] 2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 2012 in films - according to Film Excess
Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep in Dave Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada
Watch the trailer for the movie here
Cost: 35 mil. $ Box office: 326.5 mil. $ = Huge hit [Streep's character was based on Vogue editor, British Anna Wintour. Frankel, cinematographer Florian Ballhaus and Oscar nominated costume designer Patricia Field drew heavily on their experience from Sex and the City (Frankel directed 6 episodes between 2001-03) in getting the look for Prada. The costume design is said to have been 1 mil. $, reportedly among the highest ever for a feature, which seems destined to be a falsehood. Several huge fashion houses contributed costumes for the film free of charge. Shooting took place in New York and Paris October - December 2005. Streep was Oscar-nominated as Best Actress, which became her record-breaking 14th nomination. The film had a 27.5 mil. $ opening weekend, #2 behind Superman Returns, in North America, where it grossed 124.7 mil. $ (38.2 % of the total gross). It was a surprisingly big hit worldwide, with its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets being the UK with 26.5 mil. $ (8.1 %) and Germany with 23.1 mil. $ (7.1 %). The Devil Wears Prada is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of The Devil Wears Prada? Other good films involving the fashion industry that you'd care to highlight?
