Groundhog Day (1993) - Rubin, Ramis and Murray's irresistible comedy masterpiece

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+ Best Comedy of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year + Best Pennsylvania Movie of the Year

Star Bill Murray is literally caught inside a clock on a beautiful morning - with attractive co-star Andie MacDowell looking sweetly skeptical in the right corner, on this poster for Harold Ramis' Groundhog Day

A weather man with big city egocentric proclivities, - which is understating the fact, - is sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day phenomenon in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He hates it there. And his loathed day then mysteriously repeats itself the next day. And the next day ...

Groundhog Day is written by Danny Rubin (Stork Day (2004)) and Illinoisan master filmmaker, co-producer/co-writer/director Harold Ramis (Caddyshack (1980)).
Bill Murray (Cradle Will Rock (1999)) is wonderfully sarcastic and at the same time touchingly real as Phil Connors, on the cusp of another chapter of his career here. Andie MacDowell (Happiness Runs (2010)) adds sweetness, and Stephen Tobolowsky (Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005)) is hilarious as hearty local Ned 'Bing!' Ryerson.
Groundhog Day is a perfect film, which shows the potential height for a high-concept fantasy comedy and is both really funny and equally thought-provoking. The movie's main idea is that life is what you inject it with personally on a daily basis; a simple dictum that is nevertheless rendered highly evocative and with a depth that is normally not found in a mainstream comedy. This is also why Groundhog Day rightly ranks among the absolute best comedies of all time.

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Caddyshack (1980) - And you thought golf was boring?

Watch an original trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 14.6 mil. $
Box office: 70.9 mil. $ (North America alone)
= Big hit with domestic gross, but overall more likely a huge hit (returned 4.85 times its cost in North America alone)
[Groundhog Day premiered 4 February (California) and runs 101 minutes. Rubin and Murray attended Groundhog Day in secret to prepare for the filming. Shooting took place mainly in Woodstock, Illinois, some distance from the real Punxsutawney, as well as in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in California from March - June 1992. Murray was bitten by groundhogs twice during shooting, requiring him to get a rabies shot. He was going through marital problems at the time and continued working on the script with Rubin while alienating himself from long-time friend and director Ramis. The two broke their relationship after the movie and didn't speak again for over 20 years; not until Ramis was on his deathbed did they reconcile. Murray was reportedly paid 10 mil. $ for Groundhog Day, an overwhelming share of the film's cost. Several religions have embraced the film and claimed it for their beliefs. The length of Connors' repeated Groundhog Day has been calculated by one Internet site to last around 34 years. The film opened #1 to a 12.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another 2 weeks and then managed another 5 weeks in the top 5, grossing 70.9 mil. $. The international gross numbers are not public information, but even if the film was met with a very muted international reception (15 mil. $ for instance), it would rank the film as a huge hit. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, but later elevated it to his list of Great Movies. The film won a BAFTA but otherwise went under the major awards radar. IMDb's users have voted it in at #248 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Drishyam (2015). The film was adapted into a musical for the London stage in 2016 and later Broadway. Ramis returned with Stuart Saves His Family (1995). Murray returned in Mad Dog and Glory (1993). Groundhog Day is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.05/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Groundhog Day?

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) - Newell, Curtis and a stellar cast's romcom triumph

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+ Best British Movie of the Year + Best $ Return of the Year: 55.84 + Best Mega-hit Movie of the Year + Best On-screen Couple of the Year: Hugh Grant & Andie MacDowell + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 93.88 mil. $ range + Best Romcom of the Year

The main characters of Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral are squashed together on this bright poster for the film

At a wedding our awkward hero, an indecisive, English heartbreaker, meets the one and only, who is a warm-blooded American. But, but, but ...

Four Weddings and a Funeral is written by Richard Curtis (Trash (2014)) and directed by great British filmmaker Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco (1997)). It is an extraordinarily well-greased romcom; well-written and acted, - and directed with an enormous flair.
Hugh Grant (Restoration (1995)), Andie MacDowell (Mighty Fine (2012)), Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy (2009)), John Hannah (Overboard (2018)), Rowan Atkinson (Keeping Mum (2005)) and Simon Callow (Creditors (2015)) as the festive Garth, who passes away, are all outstanding.
There's poor sound in a few scenes, and the film maybe repeats its own conventions a bit too willingly, but these are minor asides to one of the best and most widely loved romances of the 1990s.

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Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 4.4 mil. $

Box office: 245.7 mil. $

= Blockbuster (returned 55.84 times its cost)

[Four Weddings and a Funeral premiered 20 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 117 minutes. The script was reportedly inspired by Curtis' having attended 65 weddings in 11 years and at one of them turned down a proposal, which he forever regretted. Grant was considering giving up acting before he got the part, which became his mainstream breakthrough. He was paid 40k £, with the other co-stars getting 17.5k £ per head. The tight budget meant that wedding extras wore their own garbs, and that shooting had to be completed in 36 days, taking place in England, including London, from May - July 1993. The US distributor objected to the film's profanity and tried, unsuccessfully, to have its title changed. The film opened in 5 theaters to a 138k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #1, spending a total of 6 weeks in the top 5 (#1-#2-#3-#2-#5-#5), grossing 52.7 mil. $ (21.4 % of the total gross). The US distributor, on realizing the film's popularity, spend 11 mil. $ on marketing it there. It grossed 27.8 mil. £ in the UK, and still stands as the highest-grossing UK film of all time. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: It lost Best Picture to Forrest Gump and Original Screenplay to Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary for Pulp Fiction. The film won 1/4 Golden Globe nominations, 4/11 BAFTA noms, a César award, was nominated for 2 David di Donatello awards, won a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, in line with this one. Newell returned with An Awfully Big Adventure (1995). Grant returned in Sirens (1994), MacDowell in Bad Girls (1994). Four Weddings and a Funeral is certified fresh at 96 % with a 7.64/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Four Weddings and a Funeral? 

Magic Mike XXL (2015) - Lots of fun and skin but still no gay as Mike goes to the convention

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+ Best Dance Movie of the Year
+ Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year (Donald Glover)

The five recurring stars of Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL

So this is gonna sound silly... Here's a plot outline for Magic Mike XXL:

Mike is trying to run his carpenter business, but when he hears the song he used to dance for, he decides it's time to go with the decimated 'Kings of Tampa' on a trip to make his dent at the stripper convention in Florida.

No doubt XXL is a worthy follow-up to Steven Soderbergh's stripper hit Magic Mike (2012). - Audiences love it, and it is an extremely light, good time at any cinema this overheated summer. The inferences coming are minor, - I certainly didn't miss either Matthew McConaughey or Alex Pettyfer from the previous film, - and I am in fact very close to awarding the film its fourth ♥.
Soderbergh serves only as cinematographer and editor of XXL, as he has left the director's chair for his long-time first assistant director Gregory Jacobs (Wind Chill (2007)). Reid Carolin (Magic Mike) is back as writer and producer, and the tone is similar to the first film, though the hint of seriousness in the first film, - McConaughey's douchey character, the drug issue theme, - is totally gone in XXL. This Magic Mike is pretty much all fun and games, - and some spectacular male stripping!
- What's not to love?

Young Donald Glover is my favorite added value in Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL - look out for him in the future!

A rundown of the most enjoyable actors in the new movie:
Channing Tatum (Jupiter Ascending (2015)) is back in top shape and can still move like you wouldn't believe. Joe Manganiello (Sabotage (2014)) gets a more prominent part in the new film; he is a welcome enhancement, funny and sexy. Adam Rodriguez (About Last Night (2014)) is also a looker, and his final performance is probably the best of all of them. Of fresh faces, we get Stephen 'tWitch' Boss (Step Up 4: Miami Heat (2012)), an amazing dancer giving another of the film's best dances in the club owned (in the film) by Jada Pinkett Smith (The Nutty Professor (1996)), who acts out her cool character with flair and gusto aplenty. Andie McDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)) is another stop on the way for the guys; she has a memorable role, - and still looks great, - in XXL. Finally there's Donald Glover (Community (2009-14)), my favorite addition, a very promising young actor.
OK so here are the small problems with Jacobs' male stripper romp: First of all, the team behind it have teased that the sequel would have something in it especially for the gay audiences, which, besides a short stop at a drag bar in the beginning, it really doesn't have at all. - Major disappointment.
Secondly, Matt Bomer's (The Normal Heart (2014)) character is really pissed at Tatum's for something that is never really clear. Perhaps those two should have had the gay storyline that apparently couldn't be apart of something as pristine as the sequel to a movie about male strippers... - Let me know your opinion in a comment, if you have one.
Lastly, the skimpy plot grinds around in at least two clichés: The guys visit the black strip club, which is a paradise of lush, no-holds-barred passion; then they visit a house full of middle-aged, wealthy, white women, who are (of course) sexually neglected and a bit sad.
But there's still some fun characters, game actors, many amusing scenes and crazy male stripping, which makes up a really big chunk of the film, just as it should be.

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Magic Mike (2012) - Soderbergh and Tatum score big with cheeky male stripper romp

Stephen 'tWitch' Boss lets you enjoy his formidable body and moves in Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL

Adam Rodriguez is back for Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL

Here's the awesome trailer for the movie -- now go and have an awesome time at the movies with Magic Mike XXL

Cost: 14.8 mil. $
Box office: 21.3 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[XXL only opened July 1st, and so the first weekend's gross is not even in yet, but it looks like a sure bet that it's gonna make a lot of dough, especially because it has a surprisingly low reported cost. - Probably key people in and behind it are taking profit percentages instead of salaries.]

What do you think of Magic Mike XXL?