A Walk to Remember (2002) or, Annoying Girl and Idiotic Guy Find Each Other and Love Like the Wind, Which You Can Feel But Not Touch

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The two young stars in a loving embrace on this pleasant poster for Adam Shankman's A Walk to Remember

  
The high school's tough boy opens his eyes to its quiet outsider achiever girl after a near-fatal, stupid accident, - but the girl carries a heavy secret.

A Walk to Remember is written by Karen Janszen (Dolphin Tale (2011)), adapting the same-titled 1999 novel by Nicholas Sparks (The Choice (2007)), and directed by Adam Shankman (Cosmo's Tale (1998)).
It is a very slow (and dull) teenage romance, which appeals strongly to certain young segments, (teenage girls namely.) The story is served and acted with sincerity, and solid values like love, faith and loyalty get a push.
But these circumstances are hindered by the protagonists mostly being very aggravating (her) and braindead (him). The music video aesthetic that was popular at the time also doesn't heighten A Walk to Remember, which is banal and overly simplified.

 

Related post:

 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 11.8 mil. $
Box office: 47.4 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.02 times its cost)
[A Walk to Remember premiered 23 January (USA) and runs 102 minutes. Sparks had written the novel inspired by his sister, who succumbed to cancer in 2000. Shooting took place from April - May 2001 in North Carolina. The film opened #3, behind holdover hits Black Hawk Down and Snow Dogs, to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 41.2 mil. $ (86.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 1.4 mil. $ (3 %) and Australia with 1 mil. $ (2.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Shankman returned with Monk (2002, TV-series) and theatrically with Bringing Down the House (2003). Mandy More (This Is Us (2016-20)) returned in Elton John music video Original Sin (2002) and theatrically in Try Seventeen (2002); Shane West (Hollywood Rules (2011)) in A Time for Dancing (2002). A Walk to Remember is rotten at 27 % with a 4.11/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Walk to Remember?

Casa de los Babys (2003) - Sayles' great adoption drama

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+ Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year

The impressive all-female primary cast are highlighted on this German poster for John Sayles' Casa de los Babys

QUICK REVIEW:

In a South American hotel, a group of American and one Irish woman live, awaiting the arrival of their soon-to-be adopted children. With each their own story.

New York-born writer-director John Sayles (The Brother From Another Planet (1984)) explores the human fates with a sensitive hand and seemingly real insight into his material here. As a quiet observer, we are here witnesses to the story's idle development.
The film is both touching and shocking; it has fine montages (cinematography by Mauricio Rubinstein (New York, I Love You (2008))) and music (by Mason Daring (Honeydripper (2007))), and it provides a serious, semi-critical look at the adoption business.
It gathers an impressive all-female primary cast; especially fine performances are given by Daryl Hannah (Grumpy Old Men (1993)), Rita Moreno (West Side Story (1961)), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary (2002)) and Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River (2003)), once again as a sinful heavy.

 

Related posts:

 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Wacth the feeble trailer here

Cost: 0.8 mil. $
Box office: 0.4 mil. $ (US only)
= Huge flop
[The film opened in Venice Film Festival. Despite good reviews, it had a weak, limited run in America. The only other number is that it made just under 50k in Spain. The unsatisfying fate for this great film is disheartening.]

What do you think of Casa de los Babys?
Other Sayles films that beckon a watch?

Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1993, TV movie) - Hannah ensures giant good times in Guest's tongue-in-cheek B-movie remake

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+ Best Arizona Movie of the Year + Most Under-appreciated Title of the Year

A scantily clad Daryl Hannah holds a car as if it was a sandwich on this funny, throwback-styled poster for Christopher Guest's Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman

Nancy is the daughter of the Arizona town millionaire and is married to a stud, who cheats and only wishes to tap into her family wealth. One day Nancy sees a UFO, and nobody believes her, but then she starts to grow...

The larger part of this HBO TV-movie is a well-written (by Joseph Dougherty (Pretty Little Liars (2010-17))) melodrama with pretty funny actors like Daniel Baldwin (Ashley's Ashes (2010)), William Windom (Airwolf (1985, TV-series)) and Christi Conaway (Underworld (1996)). The Arizona vibe also brings something very special to table.
Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman may sound like a parody or a spoof of such 50s 'sci-fi' films as Tarantula (1955), but it really isn't. It is a remake of Nathan Hertz's same-titled 1958 hit movie. The new film is a tongue-in-cheek homage in love with its basis material and B-movie residence, which makes a real difference.
Daryl Hannah (Sense8 (2015-18)) is a camera's best friend, and the kitsch barometer is high throughout this little treat, also due to her game performance. SPOILER The ending sends a fine sting to the therapy-obsessed America.
50 Ft. Woman is directed by filmmaker, Christopher Guest (Almost Heroes (1998)). It is, shortly put, a good time for anyone who can appreciate a 50 ft. woman.

 

Related post:

 

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

In lieu of a trailer, not available at the moment at Youtube, here is a video of Guest's visit to Conan's talkshow in 1997

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman premiered 11 December (HBO, North America) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in California. It was released theatrically in the UK, France, Germany, Spain at at Portugal's Fantasporto Film Festival, but its theatrical performances are not made known online. Guest returned with Waiting for Guffman (1996). Hannah returned in Grumpy Old Men (1993). 2,573 IMDb users have given Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman a 3.8/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman?

Blade Runner (1982) - R. Scott's visual extravaganza

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A stylish, cool, recent, Italian poster made for a re-release of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner

Ridley Scott's (Alien (1979)) Blade Runner is a landmark film and a legendary one which most people have heard of and know to be a great film, even if they haven't actually seen it. This review is based on the 111 minute director's cut version of the film.
Let's start with the film's few minuses:
1. Philip K. Dick (Gather Yourselves Together (1950), novel) should rightly have been credited in the opening credits. He wrote the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) that is the basis of the film. Without him there wouldn't have been any Blade Runner. Hampton Fancher (The Minus Man (1999)) and David Webb Peoples (Twelve Monkeys (1995)) wrote the screenplay.
2. Harrison Ford (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)) is Deckard, no doubt about it, but some of his applied mannerisms, especially in the film's first act, feel (to me) like they belong to an adolescent instead of a 40-year-old man.
3. The pace and feel of the film is cold throughout, maybe nearing living room temperature around the sex scene, but even that scene is difficult to get heated up about. The ambience and slow, almost depressed seriousness of it all feels a little impersonal to me, but Scott has said that Blade Runner is his most personal film, so perhaps he just suffers from the notorious English body temperature, (at least ten degrees lower than regular folks'.)
Maybe the slow pacing matters less to others, because the film continues living and breathing due to its stunning visuals and the underlying, impressively original plot. The cinematography is by Jordan Cronenweth (Altered States (1980)). Its mythic power slowly evolves until the point where we gather the thematic implications of the plot:

Deckard is a police detective 'blade runner' whose mission it is to hunt and eliminate robot replicants in the metropolis of Los Angeles in 2019. But the mission leaves him with questions about his own existence.

Fiercely workaholic Dutch actor, Rutger Hauer (Hobo With a Shotgun (2011) is great with his larger-than-life style of acting that is needed to raise the mythical stakes here. SPOILER When he finally meets his maker and decides to squeeze the man's eyes out, - it's powerful stuff.
In other great roles are William Sanderson (Deadwood (2004-06)), Daryl Hannah (Casa de los Babys (2003)) and Sean Young (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)).
Blade Runner's visual side is brimming with references, and the Ford/Young-characters and their romance is obviously heavily influenced by Bogie/Bacall's (Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, that is) ditto in the old Howard Hawks noirs To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946). Young in all her beautiful gloom reminds me a lot of contemporary singer/fashion icon, Lana Del Rey. The LA sets, mysteriously rainy throughout, have distinctive Andrei Tarkovsky qualities, especially his Stalker (1979) must have been an inspiration. Lars Von Trier's The Element of Crime (1984) shares similar fancies. Great American SF and horror writer Ray Bradbury is referenced in a 'Bradbury Café' towards the film's end. And many other references and inspirations could be pointed out.
The combination of all these elements makes Blade Runner like no other film, and it is truly worth cherishing as one of those rare, unique film experiences that are not like any other at all, really.
Blade Runner looks stunningly fresh and unaged on DVD today.
I am a Dick fan and recommend anyone who gets taken in by the thought-provoking story specifics in Blade Runner to look him up. He is actually more fun to read than this movie might make you think. His works are intricate, psychedelic, weird, funny and often downright genius.
Of course, numerous films have been made based on his stories, after Blade Runner paved the way, so to speak. Best of them are Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall (1990) and Steven Spielberg's Minority Report (2002).
Ford hated the long, wet shooting of Ridley Scott's weird sci-fi tale that flopped terribly at the time of its release. - Funny how these things go; today you will have a hard time finding a single person that will contest that Blade Runner is a great film, (although many undoubtedly just nod their heads and go with the flow, and as indicated I personally find it slow going.)

Related posts:

Ridley Scott:  Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
American Gangster (2008) - Now black
A Good Year (2006) or, Ridley Scott Likes Provence
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News

Watch the 30 year anniversary release trailer here

Cost: 28 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 33.5 mil. $ - many foreign markets missing
= Big flop (returned at least 1.19 times the cost)
[Blade Runner was released 25 June (North America) and exists in several versions, - this review is based on the 111 minute director's cut version. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in the UK, including London, from March - June 1981 with one single day's reshoot in July and one in October 1981. It opened #2, behind holdover hit E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, to 6.1 mil. $ in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#5), leaving theaters after just 5 weeks with a 23.4 mil. $ original domestic gross. This has grown to 32.8 mil. $ with re-releases since then. Scott and the producers fought for the film's marketability by releasing no less than 7 different versions of it. Of the few foreign numbers available is that 2 mil. people paid admission to the film in France and 2 mil. in Germany and Spain collectively as well,- but even if the entire gross grew as high as 50 mil. $, the film would still count as a big flop. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review, at its 1982 premiere, but later gave the Blade Runner: The Final Cut version a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this review. It was Oscar-nominated for Best Visual Effects and Art Direction, losing to E.T. and Gandhi, respectively. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won 3/8 BAFTA nominations and other honors. It stands at #152 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250, between Warrior (2011) and Wild Strawberries/Smultronstället (1957). Blade Runner is certified fresh at 90 % with an 8.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Blade Runner?