Warcraft (2016) - A mildly entertaining war fantasy

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A bearded man and a brutish orc with paint-splattered faces divided by a sword make up this poster for Duncan Jones' Warcraft

Warcraft is the long-awaited computer game adaptation, based on the popular Blizzard Entertainment games and novels, which is the 3rd film for great English director, Duncan Jones (Moon (2009)).

An alarming number of brutal orcs crash into the human world through a portal, but it may be in collaboration that man and orc should have to secure the future.

The good news for WoW (World of Warcraft) fans is that Warcraft isn't as bad as some critics make it out to be, - and the critical video game adaptation ridicule seems to have become somewhat tiresome and ritualistic by now, I think, - and that many fans of the universe seem to be delighted with it.
I have never played the game, but the film only achieved status as an okay time-filler in my opinion. 
The script, by Jones and Charles Leavitt (Seventh Son (2014)), tries to create an ambitious story where we are introduced to, and supposed to care for an orc family, a steadfast, human commander, a human wizard, a human guardian, a half-human/half-orc female, and the king of the humans. Those are many characters, and also too many, I think. I still can't tell you who was the protagonist of Warcraft, a film that clearly should have elected to focus on one of its stories.

The film presents a bombastically sounding, war-crazed universe, (befitting its title, I suppose), with muscular, often ugly characters. The CGI, landscapes and orc designs are mildly interesting. The fantasy universe feels like a thin cup of The Lord and the Rings with such place names as 'Stormwind' and character names as 'Orgrim Doomhammer'. The film has to move fast to tell its wide story, which happens at the expense of scenes, which play out fast, - so fast that characters rarely get to show personality and the locations never get to sparkle or impress any charm. Backgrounds shift again and again, and nothing sticks with you.
The actors do mostly well: Travis Fimmel (Vikings (2013-16)) is intense as the commander, Ben Foster (Rampart (2011)) is engaged as guardian Medivh, (though it takes a minute to get used to his look), and Ben Schnetzer (Pride (2015)) brings a much-needed whiff of lightness and humor to the film as the guardian who might have made a good protagonist. Paula Patton (Deja Vu (2006)) looks fierce while struggling to act and look attractive with massive orc incisors, and Dominic Cooper (Need for Speed (2014)) seems conspicuously uninvolved as the king, especially if compared to Fimmel.
The voice-over in the beginning of the film states that man and orc have fought as long as anyone can remember. The king of men later claims no knowledge of orcs at all. This is another head-scratcher.
SPOILER Finally I was puzzled to see that the film eliminates so many of its characters in the end: Both likable orcs die, the guardian and the king.
Whether we shall see more Warcraft, (which is called Warcraft: The Beginning in many countries so as not to cast any doubt that the companies behind it would like it to be the first in a lucrative franchise), on the silver screen after this venture seems dubious at best, - but of course it is ultimately up to audiences across the world, and their willingness to purchase tickets, - or lack thereof.

Related post:

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

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 160 mil. $
Box office: 31.7 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Warcraft premiered May 25 and runs 123 minutes. It has been in development since 2006, with directors Uwe Boll and Sam Raimi earlier in talks to head it. Jones' involvement was marred by his wife's breast cancer in 2013 and his father, David Bowie's death due to cancer in 2016. Filming took place from January - May 2014 in and around Vancouver. Warcraft has opened in much of the world already, but will not open stateside until June 10, going up against other new titles Now You See Me 2 and The Conjuring 2, while also battling the holdover powers of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass. Warcraft is rotten at 18 % with a 4.4 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Warcraft?

My Week with Marilyn (2011) or, The Prince, the Showgirl and Me

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1 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Actress: Michelle Williams (lost to Bérénice Bejo for The Artist)

+ Best Period Movie of the Year

Michelle Williams really looks a lot like her character on the poster for Simon Curtis' My Week with Marilyn

We follow a young, well-off movie dreamer Colin Clark, who gets a job as 3rd assistant director on Laurence Olivier's light comedy The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) and falls for the film's American star, Marilyn Monroe.

Michelle Williams (Take This Waltz (2011)) is simply wonderful as Monroe, giving a truly Oscar-worthy performance, (she was nominated, but Meryl Streep won the award as The Iron Lady.) Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything (2014)) is sweet as Colin; Oscar-nominated Kenneth Branagh (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)) is solid as Olivier, who is played as something of a cold prick here; and Judi Dench (Philomena (2013)) and Dominic Cooper (Dead Man Down (2013)) give warm supporting performances.
My Week is a very beautiful film; both the romance, Monroe's profound loneliness and unhappiness and the intimidating aspect of performing are captured well in the film, which is written by Adrian Hodges (The Go-Between (2015)), based on two books by the real Colin Clark, and directed by Londoner Simon Curtis (Born in the USA (2007)) as his first theatrical feature.
The casting of Emma Watson (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)) as tiresome second banana, who doesn't exactly inspire our sympathy, is not exactly inspired, and the color use in the film, - especially in the scenes in the Prince and the Showgirl sets, - are not wild and rich enough in my opinion.
Still, these are minor detractors for a film that is both funny, sad and beautiful. - Recommended!
Curtis is currently out with his Woman in Gold (2015), in which Helen Mirren plays a Jew who lost a prestigious family painting in WWII.

Related posts:
 
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 - according to Film Excess

Watch the delightful trailer for the film here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 35 mil. $
= Big hit
[My Week, a UK/US co-production, succeeded in America with a 14.5 mil. $ gross (41 % of the total gross) and 3.1 mil. £ (around 14 %) in the UK. Williams won a Golden Globe for her performance. The DVD sale opened #6 in the US, making 2.5 mil. $.]

What do you think of My Week with Marilyn?

The Escapist (2008) or, Frank's Escape

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Character-poster for Rupert Wyatt's The Escapist

Our friend Frank Perry is in prison, has been for years. But now he gets his first letter in there, informing him that his 14 year-old daughter is dying on drugs. So he wants out. And with the help of a few friends ...
This English movie seems to really have its fans, though I am not among them. It is loosely based on the old, famous Ambrose Bierce short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and on the basic idea to write a lead for Brian Cox (L.I.E. (2001)), who had worked with the co-writer director before in the short Get the Picture (2004).
As a prison escape picture, I think The Escapist has some severe problems:
First of all, I think it ruins its own suspense by showing us flash forwards time and again from the coming escape. So we know who will be around and thereby can be certain that they'll survive any coming trials leading up to the escape. The escape in itself is also never very exciting due to these confusing flash forwards.
It is also a shame that the escape plan is so elusive. We see our escape team do a lot of specific, small things, but how it all comes together, we haven't the slightest idea. That's pretty terrible.
Another disengaging problem is the many tunnel and water scenes, which are often so dark that we can't see what's going on. The low budget lighting is not well accomplished in any scene with few or no visible light sources.
Then there's the fact that none of the characters ever even brush upon why they're in prison in the first place. We don't need them to all be wrongfully convicted to root for them, but I think we do need some kind of dialog at least about their crimes in order to accept them in any way as our heroes.
So, how does The Escapist manage to not be a complete turkey then? Some good scenes and actors that you will want to follow regardless of the film's serious impediments.
Cox has a good movie-face and does well. He's no Clint Eastwood, so the film is a far cry from the pinnacle in the genre, Escape from Alcatraz (1979). Instead it tries to be something else, weaving a more poetic, subjective angle into it, which didn't win me completely, but I don't reject it completely either. It is certainly, - along with the ambiguous title of the film, - the reason why some have hailed The Escapist as a very smart film.
Overall, though, I'd say it's a pretty overrated film.

The details:

Besides Cox, Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers, TV-miniseries (2001)) impresses in The Escapist, playing a really ugly (figuratively speaking of course) bastard.
Dominic Cooper plays eye candy and a prison sex object; Seu Jorge has a part as a khat expert, but SPOILER dies in the most clichéd manor, (killing the only black character right before salvation is such an outdated cliché, too.) Joseph Fiennes really underwhelms, and seems like he is hiding under his hoodie for most of the film.
British film critics called The Escapist all kinds of wonderful things when it came out, which just shows the prejudiced hunger for great local films that is so prevalent in critical circles everywhere. This film unfortunately isn't.
It is the feature debut of Rupert Wyatt, who got himself a swell gig after it, - impressive since The Escapist was a flop, - Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), the decent reiteration of the Apes franchise. He is now busy doing the remake The Gambler (2015) with Mark Wahlberg and Jessica Lange.

Related posts:

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
Another film based on Ambrose Bierce's An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge: The Bridge/The Spy (1929) - Time-playing fine short debut of Charles Vidor

- If this trailer looks incredibly exciting to you; don't believe the hype. But if you feel like seeing this showcase picture, then just go ahead and do it

Budget: Unknown
Box office: 0.3 mil. $
= Huge flop

What do you think of The Escapist?
Other Brian Cox-films that you like?

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) - Middle-of-the-road ahistorical nonsense

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+ Stupidest Movie of the Year

A dark, blue-tinted poster for Timur Bekmambetov's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Lincoln leaves in his wake a journal over his secret profession as a vampire hunter from young man and ahead, as the nation gets threatened by the vampires of the South.
Hunter is based on a so-called mashup novel with the same title by Seth Grahame-Smith, who also co-wrote the screenplay.
The story is historically insulting. - 'Barack Obama: Vampire Hunter' would obviously be wrong, so how can it be that national hero Lincoln is alright? (I guess time makes everything fair game to some.)
The basically (for me) unacceptable idea doesn't get any wings to fly with in the actual film; a mediocre cast, - highlights Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Die Hard 4.0 (2007)), Anthony Mackie (Pain & Gain (2013)) and Dominic Cooper (Fleming (2013), TV), - in a mediocre production. Nothing lights up Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter; there's no fun, no sense of any intelligence behind it. The only thing this action/horror/romance has going for it is its technically fair execution.
Director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch (2004)), a Kazakhstani action filmmaker, is now rumored to direct a remake of Ben-Hur (2016), which seems like an absolutely terrible idea.

Related posts:

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
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]

Watch the ludicrous movie's trailer here

Budget: 69 mil. $
Box office: 116.4 mil. $
= Unspectacular

What do you think of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?
And what do you think of letting its director tinker with Ben-Hur?