Deep Impact (1998) - Leder offers one of the worst disaster pics of all time

[ZERO]

 

+ Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

 

Things are looking grim for old mother Earth on this animated poster for Mimi Leder's Deep Impact

A gigantic comet is heading towards Earth with disastrous force. - Can it be stopped? 

Deep Impact is written by Michael Tolkin (The Player (1997, TV movie)) and Bruce Joel Rubin (Jacob's Ladder (1990)) and directed by Mimi Leder (The Peacemaker (1997)).

The film actually focuses on several other things than the overwhelming problem with the comet: A teenage romance, a relationship to a father that needs mending before the impending apocalypse, - and then there's the insufferably unaffected gravitas-enshrouded US president played by Morgan Freeman (Nurse Betty (2000)). The comet and a lame mission to alter the outcome enter the plot on occasion in this thoroughly horrendous film, which is mysteriously hideous to sit through.

James Horner's (The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)) score is splashed on as if it was an all-mending lacquer, while sentimentality pulsates from every scene, and everything rings so entirely false that it almost makes the thinking audience-member sick.

Leder's film is the upmost in grade zero trash; it makes its immediate competition Armageddon (1998) look like Doctor Zhivago (1965). Deep Impact's impact is rage.

 

Related post:

 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

 

 

Watch a 3-minute excerpt from the film here

 

Cost: 80 mil. $

Box office: 349.4 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.36 times its cost)

[Deep Impact premiered 7 May (Mexico) and runs 121 minutes. Development began in the late 1970s. The film meshes attempts to remake When Worlds Collide (1951) and Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Hammer of God (1993). Steven Spielberg had meant to direct the film but had to bow out due to making Amistad (1997), - and because the production was racing to not be left on the platform behind the year's other major comet-hitting-Earth disaster action adventure Armageddon. Shooting took place from June - October 1997 in Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, California, including Los Angeles, and in New York. The film opened #1 to a 41.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 5 weekends in the top 5 (#1-#2-#2-#3-#5) and grossed 140.4 mil. $ (40.2 % of the total gross). Armageddon was released later in 1998: It cost more and grossed more, but astronomers concluded that Deep Impact was more scientifically accurate. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Leder returned with Sentimental Journey (1999, short) and theatrically with Pay It Forward (2000). Freeman returned in Under Suspicion (2000); Téa Leoni (Bad Boys (1995)) in The Naked Truth (1998, TV-series) and theatrically in Life in the Fast Lane (1998); Robert Duvall (The Outer Limits (1964, TV-series)) in A Civil Action (1998). Deep Impact is rotten at 45 % with a 5.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Deep Impact?

Ghost (1990) - Zucker's highly gratifying, cathartic movie experience

♥♥♥♥♥

This bright and persuasive poster for Jerry Zucker's Ghost promises eroticism between two of its time's hottest stars, who meet in orgiastic ecstasy under the word; BELIEVE

When the man in a young, beautiful New-Yorker couple get brutally shot to death in the city, his soul is not finished on earth: As a ghost he then fights to save his loved one from suffering the same violent fate that he did.

Ghost is written by Bruce Joel Rubin (Deep Impact (1998)) and directed by great Wisconsinite filmmaker Jerry Zucker (Airplane! (1980)).
It has a good many cheesy moments, - like the legendary clay pot-making scene in the beginning. But once it gets clear that Rubin's script seriously wants to establish a ghost movie universe, it also becomes increasingly evident that he succeeds with flying colors, and not least due to the film's terrific cast:
Demi Moore (Bunraku (2010)) is outstanding; Patrick Swayze (11:14 (2003)) radiates sincerity; Whoopi Goldberg (Homie Spumoni (2006)) is amusing as the psychic helper character, and Tony Goldwyn (Reckless (1995)) is a great villain. SPOILER The ending, in which Swayze's character lets go and ascends to heaven, is very very beautiful.
There is real movie magic in Ghost, which joins sensual romanticism with a religious crime drama with great success.

Related posts:

Jerry Zucker: Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Airplane! (1980) - The deadpan/spoof/crazy-comedy classic! 

Watch a VHS trailer for the film here

Cost: 22 mil. $
Box office: 505.8 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 22.99 times its cost)
[Ghost was released 13 July (North America) and runs 128 minutes. Zucker reportedly increased the pacing in Rubin's script. Swayze was paid 2 mil. $; Moore 750k $. Shooting took place in New York and Los Angeles from July - December 1989. The film opened #2, behind hold-over hit Die Hard 2, to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it took the #1 spot in its 2nd week, which it held for another 3 weeks; it was in the top 5 for 18 weekends in total and grossed 217.6 mil. $ (43 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 52.3 mil. $ (10.3 %) and Japan with 48.4 mil. $ (9.6 %). It was the highest-grossing film of the year and reportedly sold incredible 51.46 mil. tickets in the US. It was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning 2; for Best Supporting Actress (Goldberg) and Original Script. It lost Best Editing to Dances with Wolves, Score (Maurice Jarre) to John Barry for Dances with Wolves and Picture to Dances with Wolves. It also won 1/4 Golden Globe nominations, 1/4 BAFTA noms and several other awards. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches harder than this one. The film additionally made more than 40 mil. $ on video rentals and 25 mil. $ on video sales domestically alone. The film was remade in India in 1991 and in Japan in 2010. A musical stage adaptation was made in England in 2011. A TV-series adaptation was announced by Paramount Television in 2013 which hasn't come to fruition. Zucker returned with First Knight (1995). Swayze returned in Point Break (1991); Moore in Nothing But Trouble (1991). Ghost is certified fresh at 73 % with a 6.86/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ghost?