The Pink Panther (2006) - Martin's Sellers imitation is a trial to sit through

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Co-star Steve Martin dons a classic costume as a classic character on this simple poster for Shawn Levy's The Pink Panther

An enormous diamond ring known as the Pink Panther is stolen from a soccer coach who is murdered in Paris, where the respected police chief inspector tasks his hopeless inspector Clouseau with investigating the debacle, - in order for himself to look better in comparison.

 

The Pink Panther is written by Len Blum (Feds (1988)) and co-writer/co-star Steve Martin (Baby Mama (2008)), with Michael Saltzman (The Middle (2011-13)) contributing story elements, and directed by Shawn Levy (Address Unknown (1997)). It is the 10th film in the Pink Panther franchise, which began with The Pink Panther (1963).

Even if you are game and onboard team Martin, this film comes apart. Martin plays a kind of imitation of Peter Sellers' hilarious classic turns as Clouseau throughout the film in a foolish, forgettable plot without any real highlights. Martin and Emily Mortimer (Mary Poppins Returns (2018)) seem to compete in who can look dumber in their awkward scenes, meanwhile Beyoncé (The Lion King (2019)) plays the part of a one-sided sexpot (why ever did she take on this 'role'?)

There is a bit of fun: But scenes that could be labeled 'Martin with a speech coach'; 'Martin parking his smart car into other cars' are about it, and these minor strikes of mirth drown in a veritable sea of bad jokes and bad gags, randomness that fails to make sense or be fun (such as a burning mojito cocktail) and embarrassments. Martin clearly should have invented his own Clouseau, because this imitation is a shipwreck.

 

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Shawn Levy: 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]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Date Night (2010) - Carell and Fey bring out the big laugh guns 

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) or, Museum Night: Sequel Time 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Night at the Museum (2006) - Levy and Stiller bring the family fun 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 80 mil. $

Box office: 164.1 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.05 times its cost)

[The Pink Panther premiered 19 January (France) and runs 93 minutes. Martin was paid 3 mil. £ for his script service and 28 mil. $ in total for his work on the film. Shooting took place around May 2004 in New York, California and in the Czech Republic, including in Prague. The film opened #1 to a 20.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#3), grossing 82.2 mil. $ (50.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10.5 mil. $ (6.4 %) and Spain with 8.4 mil. $ (5.1 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 1.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The film made in excess of estimated 23.2 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Despite the film's flop status, a 2009 sequel with Martin and co-stars returning was made to graver flop status. Levy returned with Beyoncé: A Woman Like Me (2006, music video), Pepper Dennis (2006, TV-series) and theatrically with Night at the Museum (2006). Martin returned in Baby Mama (2008). The Pink Panther is rotten at 21 % with a 4.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Pink Panther?

Match Point (2005) - Allen takes London with pensive thriller hit

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+ Best London Movie of the Year

The still of what appears a moment of genuine romantic feeling is contrasted eerily with the ominous tagline in the bottom of this poster for Woody Allen's Match Point; 'There are no little secrets.'

An ex-tennis pro falls for an alluring woman who is the girlfriend of his friend, who is soon to be his brother-in-law, as he is on the cusp of entering a wealthy English family.

Match Point is written and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Woody Allen (Sleeper (1973)), whose 35th feature it is. I can't but feel it as a basically rather trite concept adult picture with the core theme being, 'luck'. Still Match Point is a captivating and good film, which impresses with a well-integrated opera element, a strong ending and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Elvis (2005, miniseries)) giving an equally strong protagonist performance. 
This is a fine sidestep for Allen, both in terms of genre (drama-thriller) and location, (it is his first film shot abroad), and the ease with which he succeeds is admirable, - but I as an Allen fan miss some of his personality (not least his humor) in the film.

Related posts:
 
Woody Allen: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Café Society (2016) - The greatest living American filmmaker hands us another splendid gem

Irrational Man (2015) - Allen's pleasant morality tale divertisement

2014 in films - according to Film Excess

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)

To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  

2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowd-pleaser  

Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy 

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   

Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) - Allen's curious sex comedy is a riot
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)   

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 85.3 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 5.68 times its cost)
[Match Point premiered 12 May (Cannes Film Festival, France) and runs 124 minutes. When Allen could not find funding for the film in New York, where he had set it in The Hamptons, he found it in the UK with the BBC and rewrote to accommodate the new location. Kate Winslet was cast but dropped out, and her character had to be rewritten as an American, for Scarlett Johansson (Rough Night (2017)). Shooting took place in the UK, including London, from June - August 2004. The film opened #21 to a 398k $ first weekend in 8 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #13 and in 509 theaters (different weeks), grossing 23.1 mil. $ (27.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 10.7 mil. $ (12.5 %) and France with 10.2 mil. $ (12 %). The film was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, losing to Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco for Crash. It was also nominated for 4 Golden Globes, a César award, won a David di Donatello award, a Goya award, a National Board of Review award and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Allen has said of the film: "arguably may be the best film that I've made. This is strictly accidental, it just happened to come out right. You know, I try to make them all good, but some come out and some don't. With this one everything seemed to come out right. The actors fell in, the photography fell in and the story clicked. I caught a lot of breaks!" He returned with Scoop (2006), also starring Johansson. Meyers returned in Mission: Impossible III (2006); Johansson in The Island (2005). Match Point is certified fresh at 76 % with a 7.15/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Match Point?

Lars and the Real Girl (2007) - A great cast shine in fine and funny doll romance dramedy

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Harry Brown (2009) or, Old Man Vengeance

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Michael Caine is a determined-looking gentleman on the poster for Daniel Barber's Harry Brown

Harry is an aging ex-Marine, who lives in a crummy neighborhood and only has one friend, whom he plays chess with. When his friend gets murdered, Harry takes up killing off the young hoods responsible. Along with some other criminals.

Michael Caine (Shadow Run (1998)) does well in the semi-comical titular part as the avenging, walking-impaired vigilante here.
Harry Brown takes itself very seriously but is really one-dimensional and reactionary. It proposes that by shooting around 10 people, old man Brown makes his neighborhood safe again. The evil drug-pushing villains seem like mostly fantastic clichés.
England is (still) ugly and bleak in Harry Brown. It is written by Gary Young (Spivs (2004)) and directed by feature debuting Daniel Barber (The Keeping Ground (2014)).

Related post:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Michael Caine gives an interview to Empire Magazine about the film here

Cost: 7.3 mil. $
Box office: 10.3 mil. $
= Big flop
[Harry Brown premiered 12 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 103 minutes. Shooting took place in November 2008 in Essex, London and in the Elstree Studios in the UK. The film opened #27 in 19 theaters to a 173k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked in 67 theaters but never achieved a higher position and grossed 1.8 mil. $ (17.5 % of the total gross). The film's biggest market was its native UK with 6.6 mil. $ (64 %). North America was the 2nd biggest market, and the 3rd biggest was Australia with 1.4 mil. $ (13.6 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to one notch better than this review. Harry Brown is fresh at 64 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Harry Brown?

Our Idiot Brother (2011) - Rudd leads another very funny comedy

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+ Best Satire of the Year

Paul Rudd undeniably looks like a simpleton on the poster for Jesse Peretz's Our Idiot Brother

Our hero here is a hopelessly naive idiot, who gets incarcerated for having attempted to sell a small piece of hash to a cop. As he gets released, his girlfriend has dumped him and stolen his dog, so that he is forced to live in shifts with his family members.

Our Idiot Brother starts a bit uneasy, but it is worth staying with, (although one may first detect that it first and foremost is about awful people.) Because it really has quite a few hilarious scenes and a peculiar theme and point about how it's better to be a gullible idiot than an egotistical idiot.
Career men and women in the creative class and organic hippies get hauled over the coals by the film's satire, and it feels good. Paul Rudd's (I Love You, Man (2009)) lovability makes him feasible here despite his character's intense stupidity. Rashida Jones (A Very Murray Christmas (2015)) plays a hot lesbian; Kathryn Hahn (Bad Moms (2016)), Elizabeth Banks (Swept Away (2002)) and Zooey Deschanel (Elf (2003)) are pros as super-bitches; Emily Mortimer (Scream 3 (2000)) is funny as a frustrated housewife, and Steve Coogan (The Trip to Italy (2014)) is also a pro as a major a-hole.
The film is written by Evgenia Peretz (Theo who Lived (2016), producer) and David Schisgall (Theo who Lived (2016)) and directed by Jesse Peretz (Girls (2012-16)).

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Paul Rudd gives an interview about the movie here

Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 25.8 mil. $
= Big hit
[Our Idiot Brother premiered January 22 (Sundance) and runs 90 minutes. The film was developed fast and shot in New York in 30 days from July 2010 forward, obtaining a 30 % tax credit. The film opened #5 to a 7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell from the top 5 in its second week and grossed 24.8 mil. $ (96.1 % of the total gross). It was released in 10 other countries, with the 2nd and 3rd biggest markets being Italy with 338k $ (1.3 % ) and Germany with 157k $ (0.6 %). Our Idiot Brother is fresh at 68 % with a 6.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Our Idiot Brother?

Howl's Moving Castle/ハウルの動く城 (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) (2004) - Miyazaki's hugely successful, highly strange fantasy

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This poster for Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle teases adventure and visually fantastic vistas of epic and wondrous scope

A girl working diligently in a hat shop gets transformed into an old woman by the Witch of the West and goes on an adventure in the search for a reversal of the curse, which brings her to a moving castle and many more fantastic things and characters.

Howl's Moving Castle is an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' (Year of the Griffin (2000)) same-titled 1986 novel by Japanese master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke (1997)), who has adapted and directed the film.
Miyazaki has stated that the film was profoundly impacted by the Iraq War (!), which is not something that is in any way noticeable. The film has many funny and lovely scenes and exchanges, and the character animation is delightful. Technically the animation is also incredible, full of wonders of detail, colors and movement. - The castle itself is amazing.

The story is fascinating to watch, but perhaps becomes too aloof in its unconventional strangeness at some point, at least for an audience member such as myself. Howl's Moving Castle is nevertheless a wondrous journey and a film that it is worth watching several times for its artistry and warm and strange originality.

Related posts:

Hayao Miyazaki: Top 10: Best fantasy movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Spirited Away/千と千尋の神隠し (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) (2001) - Miyazaki's highly Japanese, enormously weird story of a girl

Watch the American trailer for the film here

Cost: 24 mil. $
Box office: 235 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Moving Castle was not supposed to be directed by Miyazaki, who had gone into early retirement at the time, but as the hired director jumped ship, he decided to step up. Upon release, it became a commercial and critical triumph as one of the highest grossing Japanese films ever made: The film made a stunning 190 mil. $ (81 % of the total gross) in its native Japan. In North America, Disney released the film in select cinemas with a star-studded American voice cast, and it grossed 4.7 mil. $ (2 %) there and got Oscar-nominated as Best Animation but lost to the great Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The film made many top 10 lists of its year, and stands at #141 on IMDb's Top 250. Roger Ebert called it one of Miyazaki's "weakest films" and gave it 2½ stars.]

What do you think of Howl's Moving Castle?

City Island (2009) - Felitta's dramedy masterpiece

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+ Best New York Movie of the Year

A neat mix of photography and drawing that gives hints to the secrets of the characters in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

QUICK REVIEW:

Outside of New York City, on City Island, lives a family of convinced liars. The father hides his secret son in a shed and secretly attends acting classes in the city. The mother flirts with infidelity. The daughter strips. And the son has a kink. - And they all secretly smoke.

City Island is a wonderfully written gem of coming clean and finding a way to come together. Importantly, it never becomes viscid in any way, but retains realism throughout. It is incredibly well-acted: Particularly by Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife (2009-15)), Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) and Andy Garcia (Rob The Mob (2014)) as the film's super-involved dream leader, who shows the way for the rest of the cast without shaking for a millisecond.
City Island is a highly engaging, funny, exciting modern dramedy classic. - Don't miss this masterpiece!
It is written and directed by New York-born filmmaker Raymond De Felitta, who debuted in 1995 with Cafe Society, after being Oscar-nominated for his short Bronx Cheers (1990). He has made other features and a couple of documentaries since, and most recently Rob the Mob, (regrettably) still to be found high on Film Excess' watch list.
Film Excess favorite Miller's turn in the long-awaited Madame Bovary (2014) has been released last year, but only very limited so far. This year he will be seen in Judd Apatow's much-anticipated Trainwreck (2015), - again  alongside Tilda Swinton, - and in the eerily sounding The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), alongside a slew of other young, happening actors. - Exciting!

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2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Andy Garcia brought down in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

The lovely Ezra Miller in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

Andy Garcia studies Brando on this character poster for Raymond De Felitta's City Island

Julianna Margulies raises her glass on this character poster for Raymod De Felitta's City Island

Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 7.8 mil. $
= Big flop
[The film won the Audience Award at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, but, unfortunately, it wasn't able to broaden its success out much. It made 6.6 mil. $ (85 % of the total gross) in the States.]

What do you think of City Island?
Have you seen other films by Raymond De Felitta? 
If so, tell about it/them