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 American history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American history. Show all posts
A huge-sized title and James Baldwin's human stare resting atop makes up this poster for Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro
African-American activist and writer James Baldwin was a sensitive, intelligent, enormously eloquent man, whose expressions on racism in America still resound today.
I Am Not Your Negro is written, co-produced and directed by Raoul Peck (Haitian Corner (1987)). It is based on Baldwin's unfinished, 30-page novel manuscript entitled Remember This House.
Presented as a documentary essay, the film shows us three central friends of Baldwin; Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers, who were all assassinated for their racial and civil rights activism. Sharply and with a ripe sense of grief their time is portrayed, and straight lines are drawn from this era to the current police murders and Black Lives Matter movement. It is a bitter, bordering on hatefully poisonous image of the US as a morally bankrupt wonderland of the white, which is painted here.
Many aspects are missing in the personal perspective on Baldwin, due to racism being the defining trait in everything in I Am Not Your Negro.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 1 mil. $
Box office: 9.6 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 9.6 times its cost)
[I Am Not Your Negro premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. The film opened #24 to a 686k $ first weekend in 43 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #15 and in 313 theaters (different weekends), grossing 7.1 mil. $ (74 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 480k $ (5 %) and the Netherlands with 214k $ (2.2 %). The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, lost to O.J.: Made in America. It also won a BAFTA, a César award and was nominated for an Independent Spirit award, among many other honors. The-Numbers.com assert that the film additionally made in excess of 2.6 mil. $ on the domestic home video market alone. Peck returned with The Young Karl Marx (2017). I Am Not Your Negro is certified fresh at 99 % with an 8.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A-list star Jack Nicholson with filmmaker/co-star Danny DeVito chewing a cigarette behind him makes up this poster for DeVito's Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa is an untiring force, when he creates his - later very powerful and lucrative - Teamsters union for truckdrivers in post-war America. But power has a way of corrupting. Or perhaps Hoffa simply didn't shy away from any methods since the outset.
Hoffa is written by David Mamet (The Verdict (1982)) and co-produced and directed by the also co-starring great New Jerseyite filmmaker Danny DeVito (Throw Mommy from the Train (1987)).
Jack Nicholson (Wolf (1994)) is resplendent as the fascinating, faceted title character, and DeVito is also outstanding as his right hand man, (a made up character that's an amalgamation of several people in Hoffa's real-life posse.) The production is splendidly handsome, and Mamet's script is excellent, keeping us engaged as audiences throughout. Hoffa is rich with narrative, and a few stylistic flourishes, of which most of them work really well in what is arguably DeVito's best film as a director.
Hoffa is a relatively open and muscular star biopic, a big time Movie.
[Hoffa was released 25 December (USA) and runs 140 minutes. Mamet was reportedly paid 1 mil. $ to write the script, and Nicholson got 10 mil. $ for his performance. DeVito forewent his own salary and became co-guarantor for the film in order to secure a 50 mil. $ budget, of which reportedly 'just' 35 mil. $ was eventually needed. Shooting took place from February - June 1992 in Pennsylvania, Chicago, Illinois, Los Angeles, California and in Michigan. The film opened #6 to a 6.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 24.2 mil. $ (82.6 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Cinematography (Stephen H. Burum (Mission to Mars (2000))), lost to Philippe Rousselot for A River Runs Through It, and Makeup, lost to Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. DeVito returned with Matilda (1996) as a filmmaker, and in Jack the Bear (1993) as an actor. Nicholson returned in Wolf (1994). Hoffa is rotten at 52 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Star Johnny Depp looking tough in layered period clothing and a semi-automatic riffle on this poster for Michael Mann's Public Enemies
The story of the legendary John Dillinger, who escapes prisons, murders and robs banks, becoming America's public enemy #1 in the 1930s - as well as the young FBI's greatest early catch.
Public Enemies is written by Ronan Bennett (Lucky Break (2001)), Ann Biderman (Copycat (1995)) and great Illinoisan filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Michael Mann (Thief (1981)). It is based on Bryan Burrough's (Forget the Alamo (2021)) same-titled 2004 non-fiction book.
Mann gives himself free reins to experiment with digital photography, (the film was his first fully digitally shot, done by cinematographer Dante Spinotti (Black and Blue (2019))), giving the film a documentarian, minimalist distinction that can definitely (regrettably) also be experienced as; 'it looks like crap.'
The soundscape is characterized by the same minimalism; mostly only a bit of jazz and besides that totally deafening salvos of cool firearm discharges, (what remains of the film is often hard to hear at all.)
Johnny Depp (Mortdecai (2015)) is stiff and distanced as Dillinger. Christian Bale (Amsterdam (2022)) and Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises (2012)) do what they can, but Public Enemies is a strangely unengaging, unexciting 'modern' period crime thriller.
[Public Enemies premiered 18 June (Chicago, Illinois) and runs 140 minutes. Burrough had first attempted to write the story as a miniseries for HBO, failing at the discipline and instead writing it as a non-fiction book. Shooting took place from March 2008 - ? in Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Illinois and Indiana. The film is believed to be fairly historically accurate. It opened #3, behind holdover hit Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and fellow new release Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, to a 25.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#4), grossing 97.1 mil. $ (45.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 12.9 mil. $ (6 %) and the UK with 11.3 mil. $ (5.3 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Mann returned with Luck (2011, TV-series) and theatrically with Blackhat (2015). Depp returned in Alice in Wonderland (2010). Public Enemies is fresh at 68 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
An overwhelming number of stars and an incredible amount of epic sequences are teased on this yellow-toned poster for Henry Hathaway, John Ford, Richard Thorpe and George Marshall's How the West Was Won
From the frontier men and women on rafts down the river, in the American Civil War, through the Indian Wars, the revolution of the railway system and the arrival of law and order: - This is how the west was won!
How the West Was Won is written by James R. Webb (Kings of the Sun (1963)) and John Gay (Final Notice (1989, TV movie)) and directed by great Californian filmmaker Henry Hathaway (Heritage of the Desert (1932)), Mainer master filmmaker John Ford (Straight Shooting (1917)), George Marshall (Love's Lariat (1916)) and Richard Thorpe (Rough Ridin' (1924)).
Variegated and (putting it squarely) shapeless anthology type largesse western epic: Starts by treating the West more or less as an enjoyable amusement park; later becomes more thrilling, - especially in the railroad section and towards the end, featuring outlaws. Stars replace stars as if delivered to us on a conveyor belt, where none of them have time to form whole characters that develop, and some of them simply chew up the scenery.
But How the West Was Won is worth watching as a photographic spectacle due to its laborious Cinerama three-strip film process, originally theatrically projected onto a curved screen. (The only other film made this way is The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962).) Enjoy it for its enormously wide, crystal clear, beautiful images, which are incredible to look at, when for instance grand vistas, buffaloes and dramas on the river come to life in extraordinary detail, so that you nearly feel that you're there. (Cinematography by William H. Daniels (The Prize (1963)), Milton R. Krasner (The Singing Nun (1966)), Charles Lang (Hotel (1967)) and Joseph LaShelle (The Outsider (1961)).)
Outstanding stunts and production design and popping colors also work magic. The West is almost entirely kept in positive turns in this nationalistic, fly-over work, which captivates visually.
= Box office success (returned 3.45 times its cost)
[How the West Was Won premiered 1 November (London) and runs 164 minutes. The film was originally intended to be charitable for St. Johns Hospital, but the hospital later sued to get its profits. Shooting took place from May 1961 - January 1962 in Kentucky, Arizona, Illinois and Colorado. During production the budget ballooned from 8 mil. $. Hathaway later said about the making of the film: (it was) "goddam trouble. They had an idiot for a producer and Sol Siegel
was drunk most of the time. We spent so much money on the picture they
almost decided not to do the last part. We had a meeting, and I said,
'You can't quit. You've got to show how the West was won. The West was
won when the law took over'." At the London Casino Cinerama where the film premiered, it went on to play for 123 weeks, ending its impressive reign in April 1965. The film made 20.9 mil. $ in North-American rentals, becoming the year's 2nd highest-grossing in rentals. Elsewhere it is put down for a 46.5 mil. $ North-American gross. With considerable foreign numbers, there is a discrepancy concerning the alleged 50 mil. $ world gross. In any case it was a success. It was also nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 3, for Best Screenplay, Sound and Editing. It lost Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color to Cleopatra, Cinematography, Color to Leon Shamroy for Cleopatra, Costume Design, Color to Cleopatra, Score (Alfred Newman (The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)), Ken Darby (Meet Me After the Show (1951))) to John Addison for Tom Jones and Picture also to Tom Jones. It also won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Through restorative efforts, the very visible three image lines have been mostly disguised on newer home video releases of the film. Hathaway returned with Circus World (1964); Ford with Donovan's Reef (1963); Marshall with Papa's Delicate Condition (1963); and Thorpe with Follow the Boys (1963). James Stewart (Rope (1948)) returned in My Three Sons (1963, TV-series) and theatrically in Take Her, She's Mine (1963); John Wayne (The War Wagon (1967)) in Donovan's Reef (1963). How the West Was Won is fresh at 87 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
An assortment of pictures of the same man against his iconic bunny icons and a dark background make up this poster for Brigitte Berman's Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
The son in a puritanical family, Hefner early in life began stirring the limitations for publication in America, and with his Playboy magazine became a central, liberating force in the country and in the world in general.
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel is written, co-produced, directed and co-edited by Brigitte Berman (Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet (1981, documentary)).
Hefner is himself so intelligent, warm and inspiring as a person that he alone makes this mostly chronological, backwards-gazing documentary an exciting and worthwhile work. The film glorifies him, but it also underlines his controversial nature by including testimony from a series of critics; feminists and Pat Boone, among others. But it is ultimately Hefner's liberal mindset that has succeeded in the West.
Watch a short snippet from the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: Reportedly 10k $
= Uncertain but most likely a box office disaster (projected return of 0.01 times its cost)
[Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel premiered 12 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 124 minutes. Shooting took place from January - August 2008 in Ontario. The film had a 4-theatre release in Los Angeles, grossing 10k $. If made on a 1 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a box office disaster. - However, it is possible that it has been profitable as a TV rights property. Berman returned with The River of My Dreams (2016, documentary). Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel is fresh at 60 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel?
Magic and earthy colors attract on this fine poster for Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg's Pocahontas
In 1607, explorer John Smith ventures out on an adventurous trip with the Susan Constant from London to the 'New World' of North America, where natural wealth is conquered and natives slaughtered, - but instead of this, he personally falls in love with native American Pocahontas.
Pocahontas is written by Carl Binder (War of the Worlds (1990, TV-series)), Susannah Grant (28 Days (2000)) and Philip LaZebnik (Hindenburg (2013, miniseries)), with 24 (!) more individuals contributing story elements, and directed by Mike Gabriel (The Rescuers Down Under (1990)) and debuting Eric Goldberg (Aladdin (1992, character designer)). It is based on the real life Powhatan Indian American Pocahontas.
The fabled, good and fascinating story is told with vigor and formidable songs here: Colors of the Wind is simply eminent, but also The Virginia Company is a roaring hit. The score (by Alan Menken (Sausage Party (2016)) with lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996))) for Pocahontas is outstanding and the strongest element in the film overall.
On the other hand the film doesn't feature Disney's most fantastical inventions in terms of characters, and one could have wished for more insight into the real-life story behind the film. The ending may give the erroneous assumption that the relationship between the white settlers and the native Americans then became harmonious, - after the removal of one evil colonial leader. As we all know, that wasn't the case. Then again this is mainly a film for children.
Pocahontas is in any case a very lovely film due to its musicality, spirituality, - which is closely connected to the natural life that the native Americans are shown to live in the film, - and the good values about love and respect and sharing of knowledge among people, which it spreads.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 55 mil. $
Box office: 346 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.29 times its cost)
[Pocahontas premiered 15 June (New York) and runs 81 minutes. The filmmakers took enormous creative license in altering the real-life story to fit their narrative wants and needs. Shooting took place from January 1994 - May 1995 in California. The film opened first limited to 6 theaters for its first anticipation-building weekend and then wide to #1 and a 29.5 mil. $ weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#2-#4-#5), grossing 141.5 mil. $ (40.9 % of the total gross). It was the 4th highest-grossing film in North America of the year, behind Apollo 13, Toy Story and Batman Forever. Some of the native Americans involved as consultants for the filmmakers later expressed regret at the historical inaccuracy of the film. It won 2 Oscars: Best Original Song (Colors of the Wind) and Best Musical/Comedy Score. It also won 1/2 Golden Globe nominations and a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. By mid-1998 the film had garnered a further 250 mil. $ in worldwide VHS sales. A direct-to-video sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World was released in 1998. Gabriel returned with Lorenzo (2004, short) but has not returned with a feature as director since; Goldberg returned with segment and short directing work but also no feature return for him. Irene Bedard (Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994)), who voices Pocahontas, returned in 3 TV credits prior to her theatrical return in Navajo Blues (1996); Mel Gibson (Signs (2002)) in Ransom (1996). Pocahontas is rotten at 55 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Anthony Hopkins' face cut through in darkness makes up this poster for Oliver Stone's Nixon
An epic exploration of former vice president, under Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican Richard Nixon: His first presidential run against John F. Kennedy, the assassinations in the years following, his eventual presidency, marriage, the Vietnam War, corruption, the man and his fall.
Nixon is written by Stephen J. Rivele (Ali (2001)), Christian Wilkinson (Birth of the Dragon (2016)) and co-writer/co-producer/director, great New-Yorker filmmaker Oliver Stone (Seizure (1974)).
Sort of like Stone's preceding presidential biopic, JFK (1991), Nixon is too much. The filmmaker restrains himself in no ways whatsoever, (although his 212 minute director's cut version proves that, perhaps, he did actually still restrain his indulgences a bit here in the theatrical cut, even if it seems he couldn't possibly have.) Nixon is detailed in ways that might pique a historian's appreciation, but despite its dramatically speculative elements (that Nixon feared his mother and was involved in assassinations are among them), it doesn't reach Greek tragedy-like heights.
Anthony Hopkins (Desperate Hours (1990)) as Nixon is in his own way impressive, but his part here is enormously heavy, both in terms of dialog, mannerisms and length. You may infer that this is entirely appropriate, - that the film about Nixon is too much, to be clear, as this may be said was characteristic of the man himself. As a film this, however, becomes too long in the tooth, despite intriguing personal engagement from the fine cast and the fact that large parts of the film are solid and well-made. The better Nixon film is the lighter Frost/Nixon (2008) by Ron Howard.
[Nixon was released 20 December (North America) and runs 192 minutes. Stone was having trouble finding support for his Evita (eventually made by Alan Parker and released in 1996) and a film about Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, when the Nixon biopic instead gained traction. He broke his three-picture-deal with Regency Enterprises, who wouldn't give him the budget he wanted. Shooting took place from May - July 1995 in Washington D.C. and in California. Hopkins, daunted at the work and co-actor Paul Sorvino's criticizing his accent attempt and performance, according to co-actor James Woods wanted to leave the film during production but was talked out of it by Stone. The film opened #13, its highest placement, to a 2.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 13.6 mil. $ (39.3 % of the total gross). The-numbers.com allege that it made 21 mil. $ internationally, regrettably without any details. The film was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning none: Best Actor (Hopkins), lost to Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, Supporting Actress (Joan Allen), lost to Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite, Dramatic Score (John Williams), lost to Luis Bacalov for The Postman, and Original Screenplay, lost to Christopher McQuarrie for The Usual Suspects. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. Stone returned with U Turn (1997). Hopkins returned in August (1996). Nixon is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Sparkling in gold, burning red and leathery black, Austin Butler looks confident on this poster for Baz Luhrman's Elvis
Coming from a poor upbringing in a black neighborhood in Mississippi, Elvis Presley married country and rhythm and blues into an explosive sound, - explosive also due to the (right) color of his skin, his pelvic convulsions on stage, and the help of his commercially laser-focused manager 'Colonel' Tom Parker.
Elvis is written by Sam Bromell (Hard Chic (2012, short)), Jeremy Doner (The Killing (2011-12)), Craig Pearce (Romeo + Juliet (1996)) and great Australian filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom (1992)).
Luhrmann's abilities with musicals and grandly staged, glamorous, over-the-top material are perfectly matched to the life of the King of Rock 'n Roll here in what is arguably his best film to date. The pizazz and persuasive handle on the subject gets established immediately in the dizzying first 15 minutes, and the powerful grip and magnetism of the film never lets up. Without texts or much narration (we do get an intro by the 'Colonel', who is our initial host into Elvis' life) the images are so lively and vivid in their storytelling, and the style is that of a fever-dream portrait, which only implicitly vouches to us that what is shown is more or less true, - rather a condensed version of the truth. A more sober, quiet version of events wouldn't have been proper for the life of Elvis Presley. Luhrmann has his story and the audience assuredly in his grip throughout Elvis.
Austin Butler (Yoga Hosers (2016)) impresses as the lanky, sexy musician and mama's boy, who (understandably) gets hooked on the wild and intense feelings that he creates on-stage, and Tom Hanks (Punchline (1988)) makes the creepy, deceitful Parker, a fascinating and mysterious character, more palatable than he could have been if still far from sympathetic. It is a rare villain part for Hanks. Luhrmann attracts the very best talents, and everyone in the cast lift their roles commendably. New-comer Alton Mason impresses in a scene as Little Richard. The musical side of the film is astounding, making it near-impossible to stay still in one's seat, as legs, feet, hands, and one's head invariably bops and jangles around to the irresistible rhythms and undying classics that are the delicious sound-carpet for the thrilling biopic. Luhrmann, as he has done before, pushes modern music into his period movie, including rap and hiphop, which works OK in the jungle-fever segregation themed scenes, but jars and sticks out when Kacey Musgraves sings Can't Help Falling in Love.
This is but a small aside for an appropriately epic length wonder of a film with superb cinematography by Mandy Walker (Walk the Talk (2000)) and amazing costumes, hair and makeup. Elvis is a sensational piece of visual storytelling, a brash and fabulous film that needs to be seen on the big screen.
= Box office success (has returned 2.75 times its cost to date)
[Elvis premiered 25 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 159 minutes. The project was announced in 2014. Shooting took place from January 2020 - March 2021 in Australia, a shoot that was prolonged due to the China Virus pandemic. Butler reportedly himself sings Elvis' songs in the early years portrayed in the film, and later the actual Elvis vocals are used. The film opened #1 to a 31.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4-#5) and has grossed 123.1 mil. $ to date. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets to date are the UK with 19.1 mil. $ (8.2 %) and Australia with 18.7 mil. $ (8 %). The film has one announced market yet to open in: Anguilla on 23 December. Both Elvis' ex-wife Priscilla Presley, their daugther Lisa-Marie Presley and grand-daughter, filmmaker Riley Keough have given enthusiastic statements about the film. Luhrmann doesn't have his next film gig announced yet. Butler returns in Masters of the Air (miniseries) and theatrically in Dune: Part Two (2023); Hanks in Pinocchio (2022). Elvis is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Swept in cloudy skies, violence and romance are promised on this muted colored poster for Terrence Malick's The New World
As strange ships arrive from the East in 1608, Pocahontas and her tribes' lives are soon changed forever.
The New World is written and directed by Illinoisan master filmmaker Terrence Malick (Badlands (1973)), whose 4th feature it is.
It is a film that divides its audiences sharply. Those who see the light in The New World really see the light in it. There is no question that Emmanuel Lubezki's (The Harvest (1993)) photography is exceptionally beautiful and that James Horner's (Flightplan (2005)) score is commendable, (although little of the music in the film is actually Horner's, due to Malick's unconventional way of working.)
Malick's nature-romantisizing and pseudo-poetical style in a film where, for the longest stretches of it, nothing seems to happen, are deeply aggravating to me. Colin Farrell (Ondine (2009)) as Captain John Smith is mostly inexplicable in terms of the film's plot and stands back as eye-candy in a pompous, women's magazine style drama.
[The New World premiered 25 December (US) and runs 136 minutes, with the first limited release version running 150 minutes. Malick had been working on the script for the film since the late 1970s. When his planned Che Guevara film failed to materialize, he instead found support for this film. Shooting took place from July - November 2004 in England and Virginia. The film opened #44 to a 30k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 811 theaters, grossing 12.7 mil. $ (25.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 3.9 mil. $ (7.9 %) and Italy with 3.5 mil. $ (7.1 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Cinematography, lost to Dion Beebe for Memoirs of a Geisha. It also won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. Horner was deeply unsatisfied with his collaboration with Malick, who cut and edited his film right up the time of release, leaving little room for the long score Horner had devised: "I never felt so let down by a filmmaker in my life", he has said. The Pocahontas-Smith romance is usually considered to be a fictional invention, as Pocahontas would have been 12, when she first met Smith. Malick returned with The Tree of Life (2011). Farrell returned in Ask the Dust (2006); Q'orianka Kilcher (The Alienist (2018, TV-series)), who plays Pocahontas, returned in Princess Kaiulani (2009). The New World is fresh at 63 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
