Junior (1994) - Frank fun in outrageous Reitman comedy

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A great star trio join forces for hilarity on this cheeky poster for Ivan Reitman's Junior

When scientists Arbogast and Hesse's project gets shut down, the smaller of the two get the bright idea that the bigger (they are both male) should let himself become impregnated in the lab.

 

Junior is written by Chris Conrad (Love Thy Neighbor (1984, TV movie)) and Kevin Wade (Key Exchange (1985)) and directed by Ivan Reitman (Foxy Lady (1971)).

The plot outline above explains this film, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger (Dave (1993)) gets pregnant and gives birth. The odd couple Danny DeVito (Jack the Bear (1993)) and Schwarzenegger, under the competent leadership of Reitman, once again give vivid life to a simple low-brow comedy. Junior serves gender clichés one after the other, but these are given with such spunk and innocence that one has to enjoy it. There are no shortage of weird and gross scenes in Junior, (not surprisingly given the premise), but the film could have been more fun.

 

Related posts:

Ivan Reitman: Evolution (2001) - Reitman's sci-fi crazy-comedy is thoroughly entertaining

Ghostbusters II (1989) - Reitman's unjustifiably maligned sequel 
Ghostbusters (1984) - Reitman and Co. conjure up the gleeful pomp and circumstance of the 1980s  

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 60 mil. $

Box office: 108.4 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.80 times its cost)

[Junior was released 14 November (North America) and runs 109 minutes. Schwarzenegger was paid 15 mil. $ for his performance; Emma Thompson (Last Christmas (2019)) got 1.5 mil. $. Shooting took place from April - June 1994 in California, including in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The film opened #4, behind holdover hits The Santa Clause, Star Trek: Generations and Interview with the Vampire, to a 9.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent 2 more weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5), grossing 36.7 mil. $ (33.9 % of the total gross). The film fared poorly compared to Reitman's preceding two Schwarzenegger vehicles, Twins (1988, also with DeVito) and Kindergarten Cop (1990), - both exceeded 200 mil. $ at the box office. The film was nominated for an Oscar: Best Song (Look What Love Has Done by Carole Bayer Sager, James Newton Howard, James Ingram and Patty Smyth), lost to Can You Feel the Love Tonight by Elton John and Tim Rice from The Lion King. It was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Reitman returned with Father's Day (1997). Schwarzenegger returned in T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996, short) and theatrically in Eraser (1996); DeVito in Get Shorty (1995). Junior is rotten at 55 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Junior?

Primary Colors (1998) - Nichols' bloated political caricature bomb

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Against black background and a vivid American flag, the stars (and an unnamed black co-star) are aligned on this poster for Mike Nichols' Primary Colors

A smart communications expert falls for Democratic presidential candidate Jack Stanton and becomes his campaign leader, but while others start to support his candidacy, several ugly stories about him also begin to emerge.

 

Primary Colors is written by Elaine May (Ishtar (1987)), based on Joe Klein's same-titled 1996 anonymously published novel, and directed by German-born American master filmmaker Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), whose 16th feature it was.

It is a fundamentally flawed film that is obviously built around the real-world Clinton family, (John Travolta's (Get Shorty (1995)) lead performance imitates several Bill Clinton characteristics), while at the same time upholding a fictional layer (altered names), which makes the film feel like an attempted character assassination, as it connects more sins to Bill and Hillary Clinton than the filmmakers feel comfortable attaching to anything other than caricatures of the two. But the film's errors don't end with that: We never learn where the story's black hero (Adrian Lester (Hymn (2021, TV movie))) comes from, which makes him so auspicious as the campaign leader. We don't get adequate insight into what persuades him to take the job. Another flaw is a wholly ridiculous scene in which Travolta's Stanton makes a speech in a hall full of fired workers, in which he tell them that their jobs are gone for good, which they salute him for! The emotional hysteria, which is central to the film's tactic, also gets an extra elevation several times during Primary Colors, and at times goes overboard.

Primary Colors is a capital M movie, and although it has scenes that work, most episodes of The West Wing (1999-06)) are for instance better political drama, (way better.) Kathy Bates (Misery (1990)) is the film's big ace; moving and good, it is fantastical to see her lunge forward like this into what is otherwise essentially a frustrating film.

 

Related posts:

Mike Nichols: Closer (2004) - Nichols and Marber's intelligent film of love and infidelity 
Angels in America (2003, TV-miniseries) or, Dying in the 80's, of AIDS, at L-E-N-G-T-H
Biloxi Blues (1988) or, '45 Army Camp Confidential    

Heartburn (1986) - Ephron's first-rate script attains greatness with Streep, Nicholson and Nichols 
Catch-22 (1970) - Nichols wages war on war with ensemble cast in absurdist satire  

The Graduate (1967) - Submerge yourself in Nichols' terrific classic

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 65 mil. $

Box office: 52 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.8 times its cost)

[Primary Colors was released 20 March (North America) and runs 143 minutes. Nichols paid 1 mil. $ for the book rights. 11 companies collaborated in the financing and making of the film. Travolta was paid 17 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from May - August 1997 in Louisiana, including New Orleans, New York and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Titanic, to a 12 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5), grossing 39 mil. $ (75 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Supporting Actress (Bates), lost to Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love, and Adapted Screenplay, lost to Gods and Monsters by Bill Condon. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, 2 Golden Globes and a European Film award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. Nichols returned with What Planet Are You From? (2000). Travolta returned in Welcome to Hollywood (1998); Emma Thompson (Junior (1994)) in Judas Kiss (1998). Primary Colors is certified fresh at 80 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Primary Colors? 

Henry V (1989) - Conviction hits home in Branagh's Shakespearean debut

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Several men celebrate their king before a fiery inferno on this poster for Kenneth Branagh's Henry V

In the days of King Henry V, a disdainful letter is received from the king of France, and soon the grand European powers are at the cusp of war.

 

Henry V is written and directed by Irish master filmmaker, debuting Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet (1996)), who also co-stars in it as the titular king. It is an adaptation of the same-titled 1599 play by William Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595/96)).

Henry V is not among the bard's best in my book; the king is a sleek and pompous guy, and the story is so overly dense with words. Branagh nevertheless overcomes this with enthusiasm and magnetic conviction.

So despite there being no real wisdom to be gained from Henry V, which is a chronicle of war and hardly more, there are dashing scenes, - especially during and after the battle, - and belief in the film.

 

Related posts:

Kenneth Branagh: Belfast (2021) - Fond childhood memories become a fabulous film

Tenet (2020) - Nolan blows smoke up your ass (actor)

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) - Branagh's star-studded Christie match is auspicious (director/co-star)

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Dunkirk (2017) - Nolan champions cinema with masterful war movie (actor)
My Week with Marilyn (2011) or, The Prince, the Showgirl and Me (actor)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) - Potter and Co. return for handsome if overlong first sequel (co-star)
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York (actor) 

 

 

Branagh gives a longer interview about the making of the film here

 

Cost: 9 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 10.9 mil. $ (North America and the UK only); projected 15-20 mil. $ world gross

= Uncertain but likely a big flop or a flop (projected return of 1.66 - 2.22 times its cost)

[Henry V premiered 6 October (London) and runs 137 minutes. Shooting took place from October - December 1988 in England. The film opened #19 to a 64k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it grossed 10.1 mil. $. It reportedly made 652k £, approximately 812k $, in the UK, but numbers from its many other markets are regrettably not public online. A final gross in the area of 15-20 mil. $, (which is likely setting it high), would rank the film as either a 'big flop' or a 'flop' with a return of 1.66-2.22 times its cost. The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning 1, for Best Costumes. It lost Best Director to Oliver Stone for Born of the Fourth of July and Actor (also Branagh) to Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot. It also won 1/6 BAFTA nominations, won 2 European Film awards and 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Branagh returned with Dead Again (1991) as a director and in Look Back in Anger (1989, TV movie) first as an actor, before also co-starring in Dead Again. Henry V is certified fresh at 100 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Henry V?

Late Night (2019) - Thompson is superb with Kaling's brainy script

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+ Best New York Movie of the Year

Emma Thompson has a different hairstyle than in the actual film, curiously, on the poster for Nisha Ganatra's Late Night

Katherine Newbury is a British talk show institution in American comedy, - but her show's ratings have steadily declined for years, and she is in need of a radical reinvention in order to keep her show. Into her writers' room enters her fan Molly...

Late Night is written by writer/co-producer/co-star Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project (2012-17)) and directed by Nisha Ganatra (Chutney Popcorn (1999)).
Kaling is sweet as Molly, whose hiring is a mystifying stroke of luck for her. The job to restart the talkshow and open its host more up to her possible audiences is no small task, and Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee (2005)) is terrific as the impatient, cynical, tyrannical boss, who is en route to her own career downfall. For someone with love for late night talk shows, the story's course echoes both David Letterman's infidelity scandal and admission on his show and the Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno fight for their respective shows. There is no woman late-night talkshow persona in real life like Newbury in the movie, (the great Ellen DeGeneres reigns daytime comedy with her talkshow), - but there could be.
As part of the role Thompson sports a hairdo and cool garbs and jewelry, which elevate her performance. Late Night doesn't do much cinematically, but Thompson, besides a great actress, is cinematic, and therefore even more crucial to the film. - And so is John Lithgow (Kinsey (2004)), her husband in it, and the two share a genuinely touching scene towards the end.
Late Night also benefits from a strong supporting cast with proven talents Amy Ryan (Kidnapped (2006-07)), Hugh Dancy (Evening (2007)), Reid Scott (The Veil (2016)), Dennis O'Hare (The Proposal (2009)) and Max Casella (The Sopranos (2001-07)).
The film has lines and moments that produce chuckles, although it could certainly be funnier; but it makes a thoughtful dealing with current issues of political correctness, mindless entertainment, minority representation, gender equality and hypocrisy its main priority.

Related post:

Nisha Ganatra: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2019 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 4 mil. $
Box office: 21.7 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit (has returned 5.42 times its cost)
[Late Night premiered 25 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 102 minutes. The script was first bought by Fox 2000 in 2016. Paul Feig was originally scheduled to direct but dropped out. Shooting took place in New York from April 2018 - ?. Amazon paid 13 mil. $ for the North American distribution rights at Sundance, - a record. They furthermore spent a whopping 35 mil. $ to market the film. It opened #17 to a 246k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 2,220 theaters, grossing 15.4 mil. $ (71 % of the total gross to date). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets have been the UK with 1.7 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Australia with 1.4 mil. $ (6.5 %). It has one more market announced to open in: Mexico on 18 October. Some analysts are calling the film one of the year's biggest flops due to Amazon's great expenses thrown at the film; but if the 4 mil. $ budget is accurate, the film is a big hit, and Amazon's expenses are also a part of their overall strategy, which is mainly about their streaming service, for which the film is likely an important touchstone. Ganatra returned with Black Monday (2019, TV-series) and will return theatrically with Covers (2020). Thompson returned with a voice performance in Missing Link (2019) and in the flesh in Men in Black: International (2019); Kaling does not have her next acting gig announced yet. Late Night is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Late Night?

Saving Mr. Banks (2013) - Thompson and Hanks breathe inestimable life into one of the year's real treats

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+ Best Dramedy of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year

 

An elegant, light poster for John Lee Hancock's Saving Mr. Banks, which, through the use of shades, appeals to our imagination

P. L. Travers, the English female writier behind Mary Poppins, is pressed for money and therefore gets lured reluctantly from her London residence to Hollywood in 1961, where Walt Disney, after 20 years of courting the woman, is anxious to adapt her classic work.

The dynamic between the contrary, English curmudgeon and jovial, stubborn American Walt is loaded with comic opportunities, which are exploited skillfully in this sweepingly sentimental treat of a film. Tom Hanks (Sully (2016)) and especially Emma Thompson (In the Name of the Father (1993)) deliver outstanding veterans' performances, - among the best of the year, - and they are exceptionally backed up: Wonderful Bradley Whitford (The Mentalist (2011, TV-series), B. J. Novak (The Office (2005-13)) and Jason Schwartzman (Moonrise Kingdom (2012)) are Disney writers who try to work with the exceedingly difficult Englishwoman; and Paul Giamatti (Love & Mercy (2014)) is terrific in a warm role as Travers' LA driver. In the Australian-set flashback-section, which doesn't completely match the sky-high quality of the present plane (of 1961), Rachel Griffiths (Burning Man (2011)) and Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger (2013)) are good as the heroic nanny and the troubled mother, respectively. Colin Farrell (The Lobster (2015)) is also good as Travers' father, who is disintegrating in alcoholism.
Saving Mr. Banks is written by Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)) and Sue Smith (Peaches (2004)) and directed by great Texan filmmaker John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side (2009)). It has an excellent, Oscar-nominated score by Thomas Newman (The Help (2011)). It is an extremely lovable, handsomely produced period dramedy with more to it than some may think. Although its structure is far from innovative, it hits all the right chords of the heart as sure as amen in church before the credits start rolling. It is a huge joy.

Related posts:

John Lee Hancock: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
The Blind Side (2009) or, Good Knows No Boundaries

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: 117.8 mil. $

= Box office success

[Saving Mr. Banks premiered October 20 (BFI London Film Festival) and runs 125 minutes. The script was developed mostly outside Disney, who took an interest in it and decided to produce it. Filming lasted 9 weeks from September - November 2012, entirely in Southern California, including Disneyland, the Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Boulevard. Several aspects of Travers' and Disney's relationship, her response to the finished film and the character of the driver are changed for the film or entirely made up. The film opened #18 in 15 theaters to a 413k $ first weekend, widening to 9.3 mil. $ and #5 (behind The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Frozen and American Hustle) in 2,110 theaters in North America, where it grossed 83.3 mil. $ (70.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 8.9 mil. $ (7.6 %) and the UK with 7.1 mil. $ (6 %). The film was, surprisingly, only nominated for one Oscar, for Newman's score, which it lost to Steven Price for Gravity. Thompson was nominated for a Golden Globe, and the film was also nominated for 5 BAFTAs and several other awards. It was included in the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute's top 10 lists of the year. Saving Mr. Banks is certified fresh at 78 % with a 7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Saving Mr. Banks?

Brave (2012) - Stunningly animated, vivid Scottish family fairytale

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+ Best Family Movie of the Year

Vibrant animation and colors on the poster for Steve Purcell, Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman's Brave

In Scotland, the wild, red-haired princess is courted and should get married, her mother the queen thinks. Personal choice shouldn't enter into it. But the princess thinks otherwise and looks out a witch to help her ...

Brave is a fantastic film. The sheer beauty of its animation moves you, and it is probably the most accomplished that we have yet seen in any animation movie. The amount of people who have had to worked for years on the princess' hair for instance can seem perverse, but the result is truly staggering.
Brave also features a lovely fairytale-like family plot and great music from Scottish composer Patrick Doyle (Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)).
The title bravery doesn't really come into verbal expression in the film, making its implication somewhat vague, and Brave is also a little short, (its credits begin after approximately 82 minutes.)
But it is still an immoderately funny, beautiful and delightful film.
It is directed by Brenda Chapman (The Prince of Egypt (1998)), - who also came up with the story and is the first female Pixar director, although her directing the film alone was altered due to 'creative differences', - Mark Andrews (Violet (2007), short) and Steve Purcell (Cars (2006), additional screenplay writer). 

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 trailer here

Cost: 185 mil. $
Box office: 539 mil. $
= Box office success
[Brave also won the Best Animated Film Oscar as well as the Golden Globe and BAFTA equivalent and was a critical and commercial hit worldwide, although two clearly lesser worthy animated films beat it commercially that year: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (746.9 mil. $) and Ice Age: Continental Drift (875.3 mil. $).]

What do you think of Brave?

Angels in America (2003, miniseries) or, Dying in the 80s, of AIDS, at L-E-N-G-T-H

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Emma Thompson is the visiting angel on this dramatic poster for Mike Nichols' Angels in America

Tony Kushner (Munich (2005)) wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning play set in the 1980s on AIDS, politics, religion, sex and homosexuality, which premiered in 1991. Adapting it was attempted first by master filmmaker Robert Altman, who ultimately didn't secure the necessary funding. Kushner tried adapting it into a single film but failed. He then started adapting it to miniseries format, and HBO agreed to finance the effort, directed by German master filmmaker Mike Nichols (Catch-22 (1970)) which was released in two versions: You can either see Angels as two roughly 3 hour movies, or as six episodes of around an hour. This review is based on the latter option.

New York in the 1980s: A young, Jewish gay couple are struck by tragedy, when the one part is diagnosed with AIDS. SPOILER The city's shark-like lawyer and Republican, Roy Cohn, dies equally slow from the disease at the same time. Meanwhile the healthy Jew leaves his sick sweetheart and has sex with Cohn's secretary, who has a wife. Next his Mormon mother enters the story, and later; angels.

Angels in America has a stellar cast that includes Al Pacino (The Godfather (1972)), James Cromwell (Owd Bob (1998)), Jeffrey Wright (Lady in the Water (2006)) and Emma Thompson (Beautiful Creatures (2013)). But the stars that really stand out and distinguish themselves here are Meryl Streep (The Manchurian Candidate (2004)) as the Mormon mother, a conflicted part she plays perfectly; and Patrick Wilson (Fargo (2015, TV-series)), who plays the closeted, married gay secretary coming out with lots of charm and intensity.
After the angels enter the story, the metaphysical elements get out of hand in a rainbow of pomposity and self-importance. The limit for this audience member's engagement in the tale gets crossed somewhere between the ethereal, the political, the racial politics and all the dramatic gays, but many others slurp it all up with a quivering smile.
Pacino is Cohn, the dying big-shot lawyer in denial, and he is almost so sick, feeble and skeletal here that you feel physically ill yourself by just watching him, (which you'll do at length in Angels in America).
The ending is excessively lengthy, so in spite of the series' qualities, it is far from being the gemstone that it is hailed as. Better AIDS-themed works include Philadelphia (1993), How to Survive a Plague (2012, documentary), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), The Normal Heart (2014, TV movie), BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017) and more.

Related posts:

Mike Nichols: Closer (2004) - Nichols and Marber's intelligent film of love and infidelity 

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

Biloxi Blues (1988) or, '45 Army Camp Confidential   
Catch-22 (1970) - Nichols wages war on war with ensemble cast in absurdist satire 

Watch a 4-minute clip from the miniseries here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: None (TV miniseries)
= Uncertain
[Angels in America was first broadcast from 7 December - 14 December (HBO) and runs 352 minutes. Shooting took place for 137 days in New York and in Rome, Italy from March 2002 - January 2003. It was reportedly the most-seen TV movie of 2003, - whether this made it profitable also is regrettably unreported. It won 5/7 Golden Globe nominations, 11/21 Emmy nominations, an AFI award, a National Board of Review award, was nominated for a Grammy and several other honors. Nichols returned with Closer (2004). Streep returned in Freedom: A History of Us (2003, documentary TV-series) and theatrically in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)); Thompson in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004); and Pacino in The Merchant of Venice (2004). Angels in America is certified fresh at 92 % with a 9.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Angels in America?