Her (2013) - Jonze's disheartening hipster sci-fi romance

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Star Joaquin Phoenix's giant face with hipster mustache and a red shirt against a pink background makes up this simple poster for Spike Jonze's Her

In the near future, urbanite Theodore  works his way towards finalizing his divorce, while he falls in love with an OS (an artificial intelligence operative system) by the name Samantha.

 

Her is written, co-produced and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich (1999)), whose 4th feature it is.

Joaquin Phoenix (Signs (2002)) impresses again in a very intimate and sympathetic performance here; and Scarlett Johansson (Ghost in the Shell (2017)) is also outstanding in an unusually strong voice performance as Samantha. Chris Pratt (Passengers (2016)), Olivia Wilde (Life Itself (2018)) and Rooney Mara (Una (2016)) are fine, but it is especially Amy Adams (Lullaby (2014)) that one comes to care about here, although I enjoyed Phoenix and Adams as a couple more in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (2012).

Her relies on a distinctive and interesting story, which nevertheless has sides to it that bother me: Firstly it is, and continues to be, freaky to fall in love with a computer's voice, (even if Johansson does that voice.) The film shows friendship and romantic relationships incisively, - their weaknesses, frailties and misunderstandings especially, - which is implicitly why people in this really quite disheartening future turn away from each other. Jonze's version of the future is a well-dressed, smoothie-drinking, conflict-averse construction, - a hipster dream/nightmare, which seems incomplete to me: too slick and attractive. And the perspectives in previous Jonze films (his debut Being John Malkovich for one) simply reach farther.

 

Related posts:

 

Spike Jonze: The day after ... The Oscars 2014

Top 10: Best films about filmmaking 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life 

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

Top 10: Best fantasy movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 23 mil. $

Box office: 48.5 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.10 times its cost)

[Her premiered 12 October (New York Film Festival) and runs 126 minutes. Jonze had had the first idea for the film in the early 2000s when first encountering an early AI voice system. He later based much of the script on his divorce from Sofia Coppola in 2003. Shooting took place in 'mid 2012' in Shanghai, China and in California, including in Los Angeles. Samantha Morton voiced Samantha but was replaced with Johansson in post production. The film opened #23 to a 260k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #10 and in 1,729 theaters, grossing 25.5 mil. $ (52.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 3 mil. $ (6.2 %) and Italy with 2.7 mil. $ (5.6 %). It was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning for Best Original Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to 12 Years a Slave, Production Design to The Great Gatsby, Song (The Moon Song by Karen O and Jonze) to Let It Go from Frozen by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and Score (Will Butler, Owen Pallett) to Steven Price for Gravity. It also won an AFI award, 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a Grammy and won 2 National Board of Review awards, among many other honors. The film additionally made in excess of 4.9 mil. $ on home video copies in North America. Jonze has returned with 12 shorts, music videos, a documentary etc. but no feature since. Phoenix returned in Inherent Vice (2014); Adams in American Hustle (2013); and Johansson in Street of Dreams (2013, video) and HitRECord on TV (2014, TV-series) prior to her theatrical return in Chef (2014). Her is certified fresh at 94 % with a 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Her?

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) or, Museum Night: Sequel Time

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Lots of colorful characters and adventure elements are promised on this stuffed poster for Shawn Levy's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Daley the night guard from the first film now has a successful but unsatisfying company, but when an old Egyptian tablet threatens to awaken all of the Smithsonian in Washington, so Daley heads out - with help from sonny!

 

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Night at the Museum (2006), both) and directed by Shawn Levy (Address Unknown (1997)), who also directed the preceding, first film.

The followup to the lively family adventure is an uneven affair, which doesn't have much luck trying to occupy an abundance of positions: Giddy children's humor, adult comedy, and stabs at Indiana Jones-like excitement and action - which is never delivered.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is handsome, with an impressive cast, but deeply forgettable, poorly written, a scrap product.

 

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Shawn Levy: 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

Date Night (2010) - Carell and Fey bring out the big laugh guns 

Night at the Museum (2006) - Levy and Stiller bring the family fun 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 150 mil. $

Box office: 413.1 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.75 times its cost)

[Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian premiered 14 May (Washington, DC) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place from April 2008 - ? in Washington, DC, New York, Montreal, Quebec and in British Columbia, including in Vancouver. The film opened #1 to a 54.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4-#4), grossing 177.2 mil. $ (42.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 32.8 mil. $ (7.9 %) and Japan with 21.4 mil. $ (5.2 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1½/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. The film also made in excess of 63.1 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Levy and stars returned for the third Night at the Museum; Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014). Levy first returned with Date Night (2010). Ben Stiller (The Suburbans (1999)) returned first in The Marc Pease Experience (2009). Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is rotten at 44 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian?

Man of Steel (2013) or, Superman v Zod: Sunset of Destruction

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Superman shoots for the sky on this animated poster for Zack Snyder's Man of Steel

 

Kal has been sent to Earth by his desperate parents to protect him from the destruction of evil ruler Zod. But evil finds him nevertheless, and his Kryptonite super-powers become necessary.

Man of Steel is a Superman franchise reboot written by David S. Goyer (Blade II (2002)), with story elements by Christopher Nolan (Following (1998)), based on the DC character by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created in 1938, and directed by Wisconsinite master filmmaker Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead (2004)).

The film starts promising with grand drama on Krypton. For some reason many years then pass, before Zod attacks Superman and planet Earth. Michael Shannon (Dead Birds (2004)) gives Zod a raging edge, but the film is over-filled with exposition; story-setting dialog and uneven generalizations as well as a few jarring uses of expletives.

The CGI effects are impressive, even when product placements are obviously the driving motif for some of them, but Man of Steel worships major destruction to an unnecessary degree.

Henry Cavill (Night Hunter (2018)) is buff beyond reason, - and sexy too, - but as in the past the problem is that the empathetic and flawless Superman is simply not an exciting (or relatable) character. He is too smooth, too ... super. It doesn't help matters that Hans Zimmer's (Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)) score, - drumming and industrial, - inevitably leads one's thoughts to Nolan's similarly dark but endlessly better three Batman spectacle pictures, which are forever linked to Zimmer's musical style.

Snyder does not manage here to refurbish the to some degree simply unmanageable Superman into the sensation that was needed.

 

Related posts:

 

Zack Snyder: Wonder Woman (2017) - Jenkins' idealistic, thrilling adventure is the best earnest superhero movie in years (story elements)

300: Rise of an Empire (2014) - Murro's off-putting 3D bore sequel (co-writer)

Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Snyder's great remake of Romero's classic

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 225 - 258 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 668 mil. $

= Box office success (returned between 2.58 - 2.96 times its cost)

[Man of Steel premiered 10 June (New York) and runs 143 minutes. Development began in 2008 in direct contention with the underwhelming Superman Returns (2006) by Bryan Singer. Shooting took place from August 2011 - January 2012 in British Columbia, including Vancouver, Illinois, including Chicago and in California. The film opened #1 to a 116.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5) and grossed 291 mil. $ (43.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 63.4 mil. $ (9.5 %) and the UK with 46.1 mil. $ (6.9 %). According to Deadline.com the team behind the film had etched out 58 mil. $ in gross participation deals. The film reportedly earned 160+ mil. $ from promotional tie-in deals. And it made 119.4 mil. $ from domestic video sales. The film was nominated for a BAFTA, among other honors. Snyder returned with Cavill in even more successful sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Before this Snyder directed short TV documentary Superman 75 (2013). Cavill returned first in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Amy Adams (Serving Sara (2002)) in Her (2013); and Shannon in The Harvest (2013). Man of Steel is rotten at 56 % with a 6.22/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Man of Steel?

The Master (2012) - Anderson's stunning post-war reflection

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Reality splinters surreally on this ocean blue poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master

After World War II a drunken US navy marine heads back home from the Pacific and encounters difficulties fitting back into society, until he happens upon a charismatic 'master', Lancaster Dodd, who is leading a new religion known as 'the Cause'.

The Master is written and directed by Californian master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight (1996)), whose 5th feature it is.
It is an inspired film, and it is partly inspired by the foundation of L. Ron Hubbard's bizarre Church of Scientology. (Other interesting sources of inspiration for The Master include Thomas Pynchon's novel V. (1963), the life story of author John Steinbeck, drunken Navy stories told to Anderson by terminally ill actor Jason Robards during filming of Magnolia (1999) and more.)
The film has a beautiful, cinematic and slightly unnerving image side (remarkable, mostly 65 mm photography by Mihai Malaimare Jr. (Nina (2016))) and a typically challenging (for a P.T. Anderson movie) score (by Jonny Greenwood (We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011)), who also did the incredible score for Anderson's preceding masterpiece There Will Be Blood (2007).) It is accompanied by masterful performances from Joaquin Phoenix (Signs (2002)), whose pitch black portrayal of a particular kind of lost soul drunk is superb, and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Leap of Faith (1992)), equally superb as choleric spiritual leader/con man Dodd. Amy Adams (Sunshine Cleaning (2008)) is adorable in the most sizeable supporting part, and forces like Laura Dern (Cold Pursuit (2019)) and Rami Malek (24 (2010, TV-series)) are icing on the cake.
The Master is a thought-provoking, dashing film of a seducer of minds.

Related posts:

Paul Thomas Anderson: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Phantom Thread (2017) - Anderson's exquisite drama of an English dressmaker and his Alma 
Boogie Nights (1997) - Anderson's irresistable porn 'Casino' 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 32 mil. $
Box office: 28.2 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.88 times its cost)
[The Master premiered 1 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 137 minutes. Anderson had reportedly had the idea for the film for 12 years before writing it. He also incorporated scenes from an early draft of his There Will Be Blood script. Collaboration with Universal Pictures to finance broke down. Hoffman suggested Anderson focus more on the sailor character than Dodd. It was the first film to be shot on 65 mm since Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996). Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, Nevada and in Hawaii from June - September (2011). Anderson has said that Phoenix stayed in character for the entire three month shoot. The film opened #19 to a 736k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 864 theaters (different weeks), grossing 16.3 mil. $ (57.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.2 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Italy with 1.8 mil. $ (6.4 %). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Actor (Phoenix) to Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, Supporting Actor (Hoffman) to Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained, and Supporting Actress (Adams) to Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables. The film was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes, 4 BAFTAs, won 3 awards in Venice and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches lower than this one. Anderson has said that The Master is his favorite among his own films and expressed his pride in it. Anderson returned with Back Beyond (2013, short), Fiona Apple: Hot Knife (2013, music video) and theatrically with Inherent Vice (2014). Phoenix returned in Back Beyond (2013, short) and theatrically in The Immigrant (2013); Hoffman in A Late Quartet (2012) and Adams in Trouble with the Curve (2012). The Master is certified fresh at 85 % with an 8.11/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Master?

Nocturnal Animals (2016) - T. Ford achieves greatness with plot-driven, stylish crime drama

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+ Best Crime Drama of the Year + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Most Stylish Movie of the Year

 

Amy Adams and the shadowy contours of Jake Gyllenhaal fill out this stylish poster for Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals

Susan is a successful gallery owner in LA but also an insomniac with a cheating husband. She receives in the mail the manuscript for a coming novel sent to her by her ex-husband Tony, dedicated to her. The violent story it contains brings back the facts of their break-up and sheds new light on Susan's life.

Nocturnal Animals is the second film from fashion designer turned great filmmaker, Texan writer-director Tom Ford (A Single Man (2009)). It is an adaptation of Austin Wright's (First Persons: A Novel (1973)) novel Tony and Susan (1993).
The film opens powerfully with a memorable credit sequence that successfully establishes the alienated situation that our protagonist Susan finds herself in in her life. Amy Adams (Julie & Julia (2009)) is fascinating and full of internal life and mystery in the role, her second great work in 2016, a real Amy Adams year, following Denis Villeneuve's masterpiece Arrival. Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko (2001)) adds another superb performance to his accomplishments, playing both Tony and the fictional male lead of his book, who both struggle with the accusation of being weak. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Godzilla (2014)) is diabolic and sexy here in a psychopath part that's already earned him a Golden Globe. - Michael Shannon (Man of Steel (2013)) is at least as brilliant as a loner lawman who longs for the taste of justice. The spectacular cast includes, in smaller roles, Michael Sheen (Passengers (2016)), Karl Glusman (Love (2015)), Laura Linney (The Mothman Prophecies (2002)), Armie Hammer (J. Edgar (2011)) and Isla Fisher (Bachelorette (2012)).
Nocturnal Animals is a plot movie, dissimilar from the more mood-driven A Single Man which it beats. Besides the sophisticated story, the film is stylish, laced with sly humor and with an appealing but restrained appetite for melodrama and glamour, running on the fiction inside it, an unpleasant crime story. But Nocturnal Animals never gets too graphic in its unpleasantness and is in fact also a fairly quiet film, literally, with rare periods of scored beauty by Abel Korzeniowski (A Single Man). It is a thrilling film, an adult drama about the prize of bowing out from love, which makes me hope that it won't be another 7 years before Ford releases another film.

Related posts:

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 22.5 mil. $

Box office: 28.4 mil. $ and counting 

= Too early to say, but looks like it will end up a big flop

[Nocturnal Animals premiered September 2 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 116 minutes. Focus Features bought the North American distribution rights around 6 months before shooting started for a massive 20 mil. $. Filming took place in California from October - December 2015. The film opened limited in 37 theaters to a 492k $ first weekend at #18 and widened to #8 and 3.1 mil. $ in some 1200 theaters in North America, where it has grossed 10.6 mil. $, - which must be far below Focus Features' initial hopes for the release. The film won the Grand Jury Prize in Venice and is nominated for 9 BAFTAs. It won one Golden Globe out of three nominations. Nocturnal Animals is certified fresh at 72 % with a 6.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Nocturnal Animals?

Arrival (2016) - Villeneuve, Heisserer and Adams head sensational sci-fi wonder

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+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Science Fiction Movie of the Year

A sharp, excitement-inducing poster for Denis Villeneuve's Arrival

Peoples of the world react with curiosity and fright when twelve mysterious space ships of alien origin arrive in different countries to simply hover and present riddles for us to grapple with. At the US site, a linguistics professor works against the clock to understand the event.

Arrival is the 8th fiction feature by Canadian master filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Sicario (2015)) and is written by Eric Heisserer (The Thing (2011)), based on Ted Chiang's (Tower of Babylon (1990)) novella Story of Your Life (1998).
It is an intensely exciting ride, which feels extremely real throughout. It presents what can be described as a classic sci-fi story and the dilemmas it spurs: If an alien intelligence landed on earth and didn't make its intent known to us, - how would we react? This The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)-like premise gets heightened through the catch that there's not one or two but 12 alien vessels, which force people of different languages and cultures to try and work together to grasp the intent of the uninvited guests. Appropriately, the story centers on a linguistics professor, and her and her fellow scientists' work gets pitted against the realities of a majorly militarized command with uneasy communications with other arrival nations, and the untrustworthy nature of people in flocks. The fickleness of our unity as a race and our security gets probed effectively in the story's thrilling developments.
Amy Adams (The Ex (2006)) is nothing short of marvelous as professor Hannah, who arrives at the job with a heavy personal trauma gnawing at her soul, which gets illuminated increasingly as the film progresses. The performances of Jeremy Renner (The Bourne Legacy (2012)), Forest Whitaker (Rogue Nation: A Star Wars Story (2016)), Tzi Ma (Million Dollar Arm (2014)) and Michael Stuhlbarg (Seven Psychopaths (2012))) all add to the integrity and believability of the intelligent story, making it extra tense.
Arrival unfolds unexpectedly and is underscored by a terrific score by Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory of Everything (2014)). The visual effects, sound design, elegant, complex cinematography (by Bradford Young (Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018))) and production designs are first-rate. Maybe the conclusion is less than the ride that comes before it but that doesn't take much from the impressive work done here.

Related posts:

Denis Villeneuve: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

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
Incendies (2010) - Villeneuve's dreary and depressing, wildly overrated drama

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: 47 mil. $
Box office: 129.8 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say (but already a box office success)
[Arrival premiered September 1 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 116 minutes. Filming took place in Canada in and around June 2015. The film opened #3, behind holdover hits Doctor Strange and Trolls, with a 24 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it by now has spent 5 weeks in the top 5. The film has yet to open in big markets Italy and Japan. It looks like a shoo-in for several Oscar nominations and has already conquered the #100 spot on IMDb's user-generated Top 250, as well as two Golden Globe nominations and its place on AFI's Top 10 of the year list. Arrival is certified fresh at 93 % with a 8.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Arrival?

The Fighter (2010) - Russell's fine, gritty boxing biopic

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+ Best Boxing Movie of the Year

The elegant, simple poster for David O. Russell's The Fighter

The Fighter tells the story of boxing brothers Micky and Dicky Ward of Lowell, Massachusetts.

It is in a way the story of the other America, the one that we are rarely treated to on the silver screen: The prejudiced, crudely talking white trash-segment that is really very large. The film is a wildly unglamorous and focused boxing picture with realistic fight scenes and fine performances from Oscar-winning Melissa Leo (Treme (2010-13)), Oscar-nominated Amy Adams (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000), TV-series) and Oscar-winning Christian Bale (Henry V (1989)), whereas Mark Wahlberg (Planet of the Apes (2001)) is a bit less impressive.
The Fighter is written by Oscar-nominated Eric Johnson (The Finest Hours (2016)), Scott Silver (8 Mile (2002)) and Paul Tamasy (Air Bud (1997)) with Keith Dorrington (The Merger (2007)) contributing story elements and directed by Oscar-nominated, great New-Yorker filmmaker David O. Russell (Three Kings (1999)), whose 5th feature it is.

Related posts:

David O. Russell: Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - Tender moments, great De Niro in uneven romantic dramedy
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 

Christian Bale lost weight and reportedly stayed in character for the duration of the shooting of David O. Russell's The Fighter

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 129.1 mil. $
= Big hit
[The Fighter was released December 10 and runs 115 minutes. Martin Scorsese and Darren Aronofsky were contacted to direct, before Russell finally got the job. Filming lasted 33 days from July - August 2009 in Massachusetts, including in some of the facilities the real Wards had trained in. At its wide opening weekend, the film opened #4 (behind Tron Legacy, Yogi Bear and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 93.6 mil. $ (72.5 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10.1 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Australia with 6.1 mil. $ (5 %). The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning two for supporting performances (Leo and Bale), the first film to do that since Woody Allen's great Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Adams lost Supporting Actress to Leo, Best Picture was lost to The King's Speech, directing to Tom Hooper for King's Speech, original screenplay to King's Speech's David Seidler and editing to The Social Network. It was also nominated for 6 Golden Globes, winning the same two it did at the Oscars, and for 3 BAFTAs, winning none. Wahlberg has tried to develop a sequel, but that hasn't materialized yet. The Fighter is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Fighter?