Mary Shelley (2017) - Al-Mansour stumbles badly in inauspicious second work

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Title star Elle Fanning has a strangely green-colored eye on this otherwise almost uniformly grey poster for Haifaa Al-Mansour's Mary Shelley

Young Mary Godwin falls in love with young poet Percy Shelley as she mysteriously authors her masterpiece Frankenstein (1818).

 

Mary Shelley is written by Emma Jensen (I Am Woman (2019)) and great Saudi-Arabian co-writer/director Haifaa Al-Mansour's (Wadjda (2017)), based on the true conception of Frankenstein.

Though failed in almost every way, I still give this surely well-meant (and harmless) second feature from Al-Mansour a generous 2 hearts. We don't get any the wiser on the creation of Frankenstein, and the romance between the two youths, - which is poetical rather than carnal, - never becomes interesting. - For one thing they both seem too young for the dramatic observations that fall out of their mouths.

The actors do nicely and pull the film up, though it is a weak script handled by a director with no discernable independent direction for her film.

 

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] 

Wadjda/ وجدة‎ (2012) - Bold and powerful first Saudi-Arabian film 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 2-2.7 mil. $ (different sources)

= Uncertain - but likely a huge flop

[Mary Shelley premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 121 minutes. 15 governmental support organs and production companies collaborated in the financing and making of the film. Shooting took place in France, Luxembourg and Dublin, Ireland. The film opened #58 to a 12k £ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #49 and in 30 theaters, grossing 108k $ (4 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were France with 557k $ (20.6 %), Italy with 422k $ (15.6 %) and Spain with 360k $ (13.3 %). Apparently the film was not screened in Al-Mansour's own country Saudi-Arabia. If made on a likely 5 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a huge flop or possibly even a mega-flop. Al-Mansour returned with The Wedding Singer's Daughter (2018, short) and theatrically with Nappily Ever After (2018). Elle Fanning (Super 8 (2011)) returned in I Think We're Alone Now (2018). Mary Shelley is rotten at 39 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Mary Shelley?

Maleficent (2014) - Jolie shines in effects spectacle

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An eerily horned but voluptuously red-lipped Angelina Jolie ensconces an idyllic Sleeping Beauty on this delectable poster for Robert Stromberg's Maleficent

 

In fairy land the powerful fairy Maleficent rules, but humans are wary of her, and the king covets her wings. This becomes the seed for a long drama.

Maleficent is written by Linda Woolverton (The Lion King (1994)), loosely based on Charles Perrault's The Sleeping Beauty/La Belle au bois Dormant (1330-1344) and Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959), and directed by debuting Robert Stromberg (Avatar (2009, production designer)).

Angelina Jolie (Without Evidence (1995)) is really good as the majestic anti-hero in a film with smashing effects, which makes audiences want to see it in 3D. Elle Fanning (The Nutcracker in 3D (2010)) is lovely as the princess, and the mix of colorful environments, action, darkness and cheer works out well.

The film develops into a kind of revisionist struggle, matriarchy vs patriarchy, but unfortunately the fight is too uneven and seems settled in advance; despite Jolie's gothic horns and cheekbone prosthetics she is still so much more sympathetic in all of her mega-star might than the miscast Sharlto Copley (Oldboy (2013)), who seems deeply villainous as the king, with his hideous South-African accent and ungainly exterior. (Someone like Michael Shannon would have been a much better and more thrilling match for the part.)

Maleficent is still a good alternative fairytale spectacle for (almost) the whole family.

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 180 - 263 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 758.4 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.35 times its cost; some uncertainty)

[Maleficent premiered 28 May (Los Angeles + 9 other markets) and runs 97 minutes. A reported 15 drafts were made prior to production. The film was intended to be animated, before Jolie was cast. Shooting took place in England from June - October 2012. A 37 mil. $ tax rebate was given the production from the UK authorities. John Lee Hancock was hired to help Stromberg with reshoots of the film's beginning. Jolie was paid a 15 mil. $ salary, which grew to 33 mil. $ with profit participation. The film opened #1 to a 69.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 4 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5-#5) and grossed 241.4 mil. $ (31.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 63.2 mil. $ (8.3 %) and China with 47.7 mil. $ (6.3 %). It became Jolie's highest-grossing film to date and the year's 4th highest-grossing film over-all. The film was nominated for the Best Costume Design Oscar, lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs and several other honors. A less successful sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, directed by Joachim Rønning, was released with Jolie back in the title role in 2019. Stromberg returned with 6 short and TV projects and has bio-drama Relativity in pre-production. Jolie returned in By the Sea (2015). Maleficent is rotten at 54 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Maleficent?

Twixt (2011) - Coppola's dreamlike Gothic is a late-night gem

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Elle Fanning as a seductive Goth girl on the poster for Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt

 

A decrepit horror writer stops as part of his book tour in a small town, whose sheriff introduces him to a macabre case there.

 

Val Kilmer (Alexander (2004)) and Bruce Dern (World Gone Wild (1987)) are both good as the writer and the sheriff in this weird, often quite funny gem. Ben Chaplin (Chromophobia (2005)) is also good, portraying legendary master writer Edgar Allan Poe.

Stylistically, Twixt has a Europa (1991) meets Sin City (2005)-like quality of unreality about it. It appears insignificant, - particularly if compared to the major works of its Michigander master writer-director Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now (1979)), - but it contains more than first meets the eye. This dream-like horror comedy is strange, edgy and well worth watching.

 

Related reviews:



Francis Ford Coppola: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - Coppola goes for the jugular with unsubtle, overlong adaptation

Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date

Apocalypse Now (1979) redux version - The horror of war  
Dementia 13/The Haunted and the Hunted (1963) - Coppola's gothic AIP castle horror 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 0.6 $

= Box office disaster

[Twixt premiered September 4 (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 90 minutes. Coppola did indeed write the film based on a nightmare he had had. Filming took place between November - December 2010 in California, including in Napa Valley, some of it on Coppola's vineyard estate. In North America, the film was only screened at 3 film festivals and released as VoD in 2013. The film was released in a dozen other countries, some just at a festival. Of the only 5 markets that have numbers released, the film seems to have done most business in France with 354k $, however, the gross number above is incomplete, as it only accounts for these 5 markets. Because the film is produced by Coppola's own American Zoetrope, it was most likely his own money that was lost on it. Twixt is rotten at 29% with a 4.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Twixt?

Somewhere (2010) - S. Coppola's phenomenal existential character study

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3 Film Excess wins:

Best Actor: Stephen Dorff
Best Director: Sofia Coppola
Best Editing    

7 Film Excess nominations:

Best Film (lost to The King's Speech)
Best Actor: Stephen Dorff (won)
Best Supporting Actress: Elle Fanning (lost to Dianne Wiest for Rabbit Hole)
Best Director: Sofia Coppola (won)
Best Cinematography: Harris Savides (lost to Wally Phister for Inception)
Best Editing (won)
Best Music: Phoenix (lost to Treme S1)

 

+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best American Movie of the Year 

+ Best Character Study of the Year

 

With Hollywood's Chateau Marmont hotel looming in the back, the poster for Sofia Coppola's Somewhere

 

We follow action star Johnny Marco, who lives a distanced, floating life in a fancy Los Angeles hotel. For a while he lives with his teenage daughter Cleo.

 

Stephen Dorff (The Iceman (2012)) and Elle Fanning (The Neon Demon (2016)) are indescribably good in New Yorker master writer-director Sofia Coppola's (The Virgin Suicides (1999)) masterpiece of realizing you have gotten stuck in life and setting a new course. Dorff inhabits his character physically as well as psychologically. Somewhere also has a beautiful score by French indie-pop band Phoenix, (whose front singer Thomas Mars is Coppola's husband), and bold, simple and very elegant photography by the great Harris Savides (Milk (2008)).

This is an awesomely fine film, in which the lack of formal events and action lead our focus to its existential core meditations: Can one change? And, even more to the point; can one really act in one's own life? SPOILER The sophisticated ending seems to respond a tentative yes. (And if you don't get it, watch the film again, understand its journey and look at its title.)  Somewhere is beautiful.

 

Related posts:

 

Sofia Coppola: Top 10: Best Hollywood-set movies   

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Bling Ring (2013) - Coppola misfire, boooooooring

Coppola is interviewed about the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $

Box office: 13.9 mil. $

= Flop

[Somewhere premiered September 11 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 98 minutes. Coppola drew inspiration from countless movies, acquaintances and her own upbringing as cinema royalty (as the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola.) Filming took place in Italy and LA, including the real Chateau Marmont, and Las Vegas from June - July 2009. The film opened #26 with a 119k $ first weekend in 7 theaters in North America, where it peaked in 83 theaters and grossed 1.7 mil. $ (12.2 % of the total gross). Before North America, the film's biggest 2 market were France with 3.3 mil. $ (23.7 %) and Italy with 2.7 mil. $ (19.4 %). The film won the Golden Lion in Venice. It received mixed reviews, but Roger Ebert, agreeing with me, gave it 4/4 stars. Somewhere is certified fresh at 71 % with a 6.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Somewhere?

The Neon Demon (2016) or, Jesse Goes to Hollywood

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Elle Fanning looks glamorous, sprinkled in gold on a poster for Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon

The Neon Demon is the 10th film from Danish master co-writer/co-producer/director Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher II (2004)), who has written it with Mary Laws and Polly Stenham (Eleanor (2015), short).

Jesse is a young, beautiful girl who has traveled to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a supermodel. But she meet a ferocious, cynical world there that's gonna chew her up and spit her out, if she doesn't make sure to take care of herself.

Neon Demon is a bit of a disappointment. It doesn't live up to the heights of Refn's recent spectacles like Valhalla Rising (2009), Drive (2011) or Only God Forgives (2013). For me it's his weakest since Bronson (2008), which I've never been able to really like. But as an avid Refn fan, I still liked Neon Demon, which is as appropriately vacuous (for a film about the modeling world), slow and periodically transgressive as to succeed in getting people to inevitably form opinions about it, (as Refn's movies usually do.)
There are many things to critique about it: It's first of all too slow, I think. The long periods of faces in lights and music, (Cliff Martinez (Drive) has once again created a spine-tingling, cool, electro-score), often don't contribute enough to justify their length, and this time they bog the film down. - I'm sure I'm not alone in having wished for more story and action instead. We get very little knowledge about Jesse, and the demonic aspect (illustrated by a mysterious triangle and crystals, which seem to signify the attraction of beauty and attention that gobble up our protagonist in the course of the film) is also understated to put it mildly, (underdeveloped if you want the harsher version.) The film references The Shining (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and is a slow, artsy meditation/very dark satire of different beauty standards, ideals and methods today, until it picks up a bit of pace and becomes more of a horror film.

A retro-styled poster for Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon

Elle Fanning (Somewhere (2010)) does well in the lead, who is innocence arriving to be corrupted, it seems, but perhaps also an innocence that is already tainted from home? SPOILER As Jesse's ego-centrism and megalomania begins to become grating, she gets killed off, and the film thus seems to come to a very sudden finish. SPOILER - But there is more, and especially the pool scene that finishes the film was an effective gross-out cap, I thought.
Jena Malone (10 Cent Pistol (2014)) gives an eerie performance with maximum yuck factor; Bella Heathcote (In Time (2011)) is an effectively icy über-bitch; Abbey Lee (Gods of Egypt (2016)) is chilling; Desmond Harrington (Dexter (2008-13)) is good as probably the most sympathetic character; Alessandro Nivola (The Eye (2008)) makes a fine, arrogant fashion designer, and both Keanu Reeves (Street Kings (2008)) and Christina Hendricks (Dark Places (2015)) are good as two of the city's regular scumbags, although we get precious little of them both here, regrettably.
The Neon Demon has cool photography by Natasha Braier (The Rover (2014)) and moves around in the thematic waters of narcissism, perception of beauty, youth vs. aging, dominance-subordination and abstinence vs. carnality.

Related reviews:

Nicolas Winding Refn: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
Only God Forgives (2013) - Violent beauty in Bangkok
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Drive (2011) - Refn's muscle-flexing audience favorite  
Bronson (2008) or, Violent Man
Bleeder (1999) - Refn's mysterious second film  

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: Not known yet
= Unknown
[The Neon Demon premiered May 20 (Cannes) and runs 117 minutes. The film was shot in LA from March 2015 onward. Its American distribution rights were acquired by Amazon Studios. The film was shown in competition in Cannes, where Martinez won an award for his music in it. The film will open in most of its markets in the course of the summer. The Neon Demon is rotten at 47 % with a 5.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Neon Demon?