Life (2015) - No James Dean ...

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+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

The too-early demise of star James Dean is hinted at with the torn line and B/W of Dane DeHaan's face as the star on this poster for Anton Corbijn's Life

James Dean is an up and coming star in Hollywood with his breakthrough in Elia Kazan's East of Eden (1955) soon about to open, when a freelance photographer searches him out for a photo reportage.

Life is written by Luke Davies (Lion (2016)), based on the real life friendship between James Dean and Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock, and directed by Anton Corbijn (Control (2007)).
Contrary to the case with Simon Curtis' great My Week with Marilyn (2011), - an apt comparison piece to Life, - Corbijn's film doesn't have a lead actor to fill out the towering, iconic role of its star James Dean. Life is also, ironically, brought down by a very earth-bound plot and photography (by otherwise great cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen (Fences (2016))), which often seems unsure of where the camera really ought to be.
Dane DeHaan (Life after Beth (2014)) nevertheless clearly poses the biggest problem for the film, and Corbijn should have searched farther to find a true James Dean. DeHaan isn't attractive enough, and his eyes and voice have none of the spark and intensity that defined Dean for the public. Starting out DeHaan also gives Dean some gay affectations that makes one hope that the relation to Robert Pattinson (Damsel (2018)) as the photographer might develop in such a direction, - but alas, Life merely teases us a bit. - It would be natural to expect that DeHaan's career hit the wall with this disaster but no: For some reason he continues to be booked for prestigious roles in sometimes colossal movies (which most often flop terribly.)
Life takes us and the two leads to Indiana for no obvious reason and becomes a deadly bore. Corbijn stands on the thinnest supportable ice here.

Related posts:

Anton Corbijn: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture
The American (2010) - Corbijn and Clooney's paper-thin, boring, pretentious hitman outing  
2007 in films - according to Film Excess
Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 10-15 mil. $
Box office: 1.2 mil. $
= Box office disaster (returned between 0.12-0.08 times the cost, depending on the film's final cost)
[Life premiered 9 February (Berlin International Film Festival, Germany) and runs 111 minutes. Corbijn, himself originally a photographer, has stated that he wasn't interested in the James Dean part of the story. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, and in Los Angeles, California from February - March 2014. The film only had a very limited release in North America, and its gross from it is unreported: It was issued as VoD at the same time, and the earnings from this are not made public. The film's biggest markets were France with 298k $ (24.8 % of the total gross), Germany with 167k $ (13.9 %) and Norway with 137k $ (11.4 %). Corbijn has not announced any new film since the disaster. DeHaan returned in Two Lovers and a Bear (2016); Pattinson in The Childhood of a Leader (2015). Life is fresh at 64 % with a 6.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Life?

2007 in films - according to Film Excess

The 10 Best Movies of 2007:

1. Into the Wild - Sean Penn + Best American Movie of the Year + Best Adventure Movie of the Year + Best Drama of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year + Best Road Movie of the Year

2. In the Valley of Elah - Paul Haggis + Best Political Movie of the Year + Best Crime Drama of the Year + Best True-Story Movie of the Year

3. American Gangster - Ridley Scott + Best Gangster Movie of the Year + Best Epic Movie of the Year + Best New York Movie of the Year

4. The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1/De Unge År: Erik Nietzsche Sagaen Del 1 - Jacob Thuesen + Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Mega-flop Movie of the Year + Best Autobiographical Movie of the Year (Lars Von Trier, screenplay, as Erik Nietzsche)

5. Earth, documentary - Alastair Fothergill, Mark Linfield + Best Nature Movie of the Year

6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - David Yates + Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Fantasy Movie of the Year + Best Blockbuster of the Year (939.8 mil. $ world gross) 

7. Death Proof - Quentin Tarantino + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Car Movie of the Year + Best Car Chase of the Year (final girls vs. Stuntman Mike chase) + Best Comeback Actor of the Year: Kurt Russell

8. Eastern Promises - David Cronenberg + Best London Movie of the Year + Best Mob Movie of the Year + Best Villain of the Year: Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai + Best Fight Scene of the Year (the bath house fight) + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

9. Hostel: Part II - Eli Roth + Best Horror Movie of the Year + Best Gore Movie of the Year + Best Exploitation Movie of the Year + Best Comeback Actress of the Year: Heather Matarazzo 

10. Control - Anton Corbijn + Best Music Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year: Anton Corbijn + Best B/W Movie of the Year

Other great movies of the year (in alphabetical order):

The Darjeeling Limited - Wes Anderson + Best Dramedy of the Year

Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0 - Len Wiseman + Best Action Movie of the Year

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

1408 - Mikael Håfström

Battle for Haditha - Nick Broomfield + Best War Movie of the Year + Best English Movie of the Year

The Brave One - Neil Jordan

Cecilie - Hans Fabian Wullenweber

Charlie Bartlett - Jon Poll + Best High School Movie of the Year

The Heartbreak Kid - Bobby & Peter Farrelly + Best Crazy-Comedy of the Year

Daisy Diamond - Simon Staho + Best Feel-Bad Movie of the Year

Epic Movie - Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer + Most Under-appreciated Movie of the Year + Best Low-brow Movie of the Year

Fighter - Natascha Arthy + Best Kung Fu Movie of the Year

Gone Baby Gone - Ben Affleck

He Was A Quiet Man - Frank A. Cappello + Best Box Office Disaster of the Year

Hot Rod - Akiva Schaffer + Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry - Dennis Dugan + Best Crude Comedy of the Year + Best Buddy Movie of the Year + Best LGBT Movie of the Year

The 10 Worst Movies of 2007:

1. End of the Line - Maurice Devereaux

2. Dan in Real Life - Peter Hedges + Most Tasteless Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

3. AFR - Morten Hartz Kapler

4. How to Get Rid of the Others/Hvordan Vi Slipper Af med De Andre - Anders Rønnow Klarlund

5. Halloween - Rob Zombie

6. Evan Almighty - Tom Shadyac + Biggest Flop of the Year (lost approximately 105.7 mil. $) + Worst Poster of the Year + Biggest Career Killer of the Year: Tom Shadyac 

7. I Am Legend - Francis Lawrence + Most Overrated Movie of the Year 
 

8. Disturbia - D.J. Caruso

9. Hannibal Rising - Peter Webber 

10. The Bucket List - Rob Reiner

Other poor, mediocre and/or failed movies (in alphabetical order):

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days/4 Luni, 3 Săptămâni și 2 Zile - Cristian Mungiu + Best Romanian Movie of the Year 
28 Weeks Later - Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Blades of Glory - Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Cassandra's Dream - Woody Allen
Eagle vs Shark - Taika Waititi
Hallam Foe/Mister Foe - David Mackenzie
I'm Not There - Todd Haynes 
My Blueberry Nights - Wong Kar-Wai

[43 titles in total]

Notes:

Only 1 reviewed 2007 film yet is a recognized masterpiece here at Film Excess:
Sean Penn's impactful, true-story spiritual journey and American odyssey Into the Wild. On the top 10, it is followed by Paul Haggis' excellent, troubling Iraq War aftermath crime-drama In the Valley of Elah; Ridley Scott's huge gangster epic American Gangster; Jacob Thuesen's hilarious, subversive film school tell-all The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part I; Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield's majestic nature documentary Earth; David Yates' terrific magic fantasy and best Potter film of all, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Quentin Tarantino's girl-power-fueled, just-having-fun Grindhouse homage Death Proof; David Cronenberg's brutal and thrilling Russian mob-themed Eastern Promises; Eli Roth's enthusiastically cruel horror Hostel: Part II, and finally Anton Corbijn's electric punk biopic Control.
Among the year's other noteworthy, fine films are Len Wiseman's fierce actioner Live Free or Die Hard, Nick Broomfield's harrowing Iraq War massacre story Battle for Haditha and a pair of silly American comedy offerings; Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer's spoof Epic Movie and Dennis Dugan's crude I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry: Both still funny and also both critically panned by most critics.
On the other end of the spectrum, a small Canadian horror movie, Maurice Devereaux's quality-bereft End of the Line takes the cake as the year's unquestionably poorest film. It is followed by Peter Hedges' nauseating Dan in Real Life, Morten Hartz Kapler's mockumentary rubbish AFR, Anders Rønnow Klarlund's amateurish comedy How to Get Rid of the Others, Rob Zombie's unredeemed Halloween remake, Tom Shadyac's major flop, Biblical FX bonanza Evan Almighty, Francis Lawrence's dumb apocalyptic hit I Am Legend, D.J. Caruso's also dumb teenage romance-thriller Disturbia, Peter Webber's disappointingly flat Hannibal Rising and finally Rob Reiner's altogether artificial and ruthlessly sentimental The Bucket List. Notice how Steve Carell in 2007 managed to star in two of the year's worst flicks, Dan in Real Life and Evan Almighty - and still hold his career firmly (and impressively) on its tracks. Another major star who tracked poorly this year is Morgan Freeman, who starred in Evan Almighty and The Bucket List, - both on the Worst of 2007 list.
Great and master filmmakers who gave us sub-par work this year include Woody Allen (Cassandra's Dream), Taika Waititi (Eagle vs Shark), David Mackenzie (Hallam Foe), Todd Haynes (I'm Not There) and Wong Kar-Wai (My Blueberry Nights).

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. Evan Almighty - 105.7 mil. $ range
2. The Brave One - 31.7 mil. $ range
3. Eastern Promises - 27.5 mil. $ range
4. Death Proof/Planet Terror (not reviewed yet) - 22 mil. $ range
5. Hot Rod - 19.58 mil. $ range
6. Hannibal Rising - 17.16 mil. $ range
7. I'm Not There - 15.36 mil. $ range
8. In the Valley of Elah - 11.2 mil. $ range
9. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry - 10.6 mil. $ range

2007 titles currently on the watchlist:

Kill Bulko: The Movie, Life Kills Me, You, Me and Him


Previous annual lists: 
 
2017 in films - according to Film Excess
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 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 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 - 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 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 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 I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2008 in films - according to Film Excess

What do you think of the 2008 lists?
What films of the year are your favorites and least favorites?
Is any essential title/s missing on the watchlist? 

The American (2010) - Corbijn and Clooney's paper-thin, boring, pretentious hitman outing

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The artsy, uninformative poster for Anton Corbijn's The American

QUICK REVIEW:

The American is the second feature from Dutch filmmaker Anton Corbijn (Control (2007)). It is an adaptation of Martin Booth's (Snath (1975)) novel A Very Private Gentleman (1990)) by Rowan Joffe (Before I Go to Sleep (2014)).

An American hitman is hunted in Sweden and escapes south to Rome in order to complete a last hit, while also indulging in the company of some lovely ladies.

Inept, pretentious and worst of all a frightful bore, The American snails its way ahead as sort of like a James Bond film stripped of all the fun. It has absolutely no humor, exciting action, a good villain or anything else that might make it entertaining in any meaningful way. It just has George Clooney (The Descendants (2011)) with a surly stone-face, dabbling around like some sunglass model in Corbijn's vacuous spaces. Not even a world star of his stature can make an audience member such as myself interested in this aggressively unappealing 'hero'. SPOILER He begins by shooting a beautiful, innocent women, - in the back, no less, - without ever letting us understand why, and he then continues his uncouthness in the presence of, among others, a Catholic father.
All of this apparently originates from the wish to make an homage to Clint Eastwood's character in Sergio Leone's westerns with him from the 1960s, but it is really no excuse for a film as flimsy as this.
The American's sole qualities lie in its undeniably beautiful Italian locations and consistent cinematography, by Martin Ruhe (Harry Brown (2009)).

Related review:

Anton Corbijn: A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture
Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 67.8 mil. $
= Box office success
[The American was released September 1 and runs 105 minutes. It was shot from September - November 2009 in Sweden and Italy. It opened #1 with a 13.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 35.6 mil. $ (52.4 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 4.6 mil. $ (6.8 %) and France with 3.9 mil. $ (5.8 %). Because it was made for a remarkably low budget for a mainstream star-vehicle, it emerged a commercial winner. Roger Ebert, mysteriously, awarded the film a perfect 4 out of 4 stars in his review. The American is fresh at 66 % with a 6.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The American?