Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior/องค์บาก (2003) - The acrobatic martial arts breakthrough

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+ Best $ Return of the Year: 18.3 times its cost + Best Martial Arts Movie of the Year + Best Thai Movie of the Year

 

Star Tony Jaa's muscular back in warm, earthy tones makes up this poster for Prachya Pinkaew's Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

When a Thai village have the head of their protective Ong-Bak Buddha statue stolen, a young, virile man gets chosen to head out on the dangerous journey to the big city (Bangkok) to repossess the holy artifact.

 

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior is written by Suphachai Sittiaumponpan (Thai Theeb (2006)), with Panna Rittikrai (Black Goblins (1990)) and co-writer/co-producer/director Prachya Pinkaew (Rawng tah laep plaep (1992)) contributing story elements.

Young Ting (Tony Jaa (Monster Hunter (2020))), the brave young man in question, beats up and suffers beatings from a fantastic amount of people, and the fighting scenes take up most of the film's running time. And here are very cool and acrobatic choreography to admire.

Aside from this significant quality, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior is overlong and, outside of its action, amateurish.

 

Related post:

 

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

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 1.1 mil. $

Box office: 20.2 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 18.3 times its cost)

[Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior premiered 21 January (Bangkok International Film Festival) and runs 108-105 minutes (Thai version/international version). Shooting took place in Thailand, including in Bangkok. The film opened #17 to a 1.3 mil. $ first weekend in 387 theaters in North America, its 2nd biggest market, where it grossed 4.5 mil. $ (22.3 of the total gross). The biggest market was France with 6.4 mil. $ (31.7 %), and 3rd biggest was Thailand with 2.5 mil. $ (12.4 %). The success resulted in 2 sequels; Ong-Bak 2 (2008) and Ong-Bak 3 (2010), with Jaa and Pinkaew returning. Pinkaew first returned with The Protector/Tom yum goong (2005), which was also Jaa's next movie. Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior?

Colour Me Kubrick: A Tru...ish Story/Color Me Kubrick (2005) - Involved Malkovich as conman makes true-crime drama worthwhile

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Star John Malkovich looks flamboyant and ridiculous on this simple poster for Brian W. Cook's Colour Me Kubrick

The story of the deceitful Alan Conway, who in the gay circles of 1990's London consequently presumed to be master filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.

Colour Me Kubrick is written by Anthony Frewin (Anthropoid (2016)) and directed by Brian W. Cook (Barry Lyndon (1975, assistant director), whose only feature it is. Frewin was Kubrick's assistant in real life, accruing knowledge of the shameless swindler Conway over the years, and Cook was a productive assistant director for decades for, among others, Kubrick.
There is nearly no actual plot or development in Colour Me Kubrick; instead it has an endless mass of scenes of Conway conning, stealing and drinking on the expense of various gullible nincompoops. It is actually wildly depressing, dull and frustrating to witness.
John Malkovich's (Ripley's Game (2002)) performance as Conway, however, is totally whole-hearted and uncompromising, and the costumes (by Victoria Russell (The Broken (2008))) are right on-spot and often hilarious. Colour Me Kubrick is a film that never steers off its misanthropic path.

Watch a 1 minute scene from the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 497k $
= Uncertain - but most likely a box office disaster
[Colour Me Kubrick premiered 6 October (Dinard Festival of British Cinema, France) and runs 86 minutes. Frewin got the idea for the film and started work on the script during the making of Kubrick's great Eyes Wide Shut (1999), at which time Kubrick and Frewin were made aware of the prodigal conman Taylor's existence. Shooting took place in England, including London, from January - March 2004. The film opened #53 to a 37k $ first weekend in 19 theaters in North America, where it only declined from there, grossing a measly 71k $ (14.3 % of the total gross). The biggest markets were Australia with 208k $ (41.9 %), France with 190k $ (38.2 %) and North America. The film's budget is unknown, but if we set it at a very conservative 2 mil. $, the film should count as a box office disaster. Cook did not return to helm another film, - but did return as assistant director. Malkovich returned in Art School Confidential (2006). Colour Me Kubrick is rotten at 50 % with a 5.55/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Colour Me Kubrick?

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009) - Carrey/McGregor are pure magic in incredible true story romcom

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+ Best LGBT Movie of the Year + Best Romance of the Year

Love can be found in the strangest places, as one song puts it. An infectiously happy poster for Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's I Love You Phillip Morris

Con artist Steve Russell leaves his wife and child after a near-death experience, deciding against spending more years as an unhappy closeted homosexual. His cons brings him to incarceration, where he finds true love in fellow inmate Phillip Morris.

Ewan McGregor (Angels & Demons (2009)) gives a tender performance as Morris, and Jim Carrey (Me, Myself & Irene (2000)) is simply grand as Russell in this incredible romcom biopic. Carrey's authenticity does veer a bit in some of the very emotionally charged moments in the film, but this is not necessarily a fault in the performance; it may rather be a sign of the character's trickster personality. - When someone makes it a cardinal point in their lives to con and delude, they may find it difficult to be sincere - and appear sincere - even when they try to be so.
I Love You Phillip Morris is a highly unusual film based on a wild true story, which is both life-affirming and very funny.
It is the directing debut of great writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Focus (2015), both), who previously wrote and produced features and TV-series, based on Steve McVicker's non-ficion book I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Breaks.

Related posts:

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] 

Watch a panel board interview with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor in support of the film here

Cost: 13 mil. $
Box office: 21 mil. $
= Big flop
[I Love You Phillip Morris premiered 18 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 93 minutes. Filming took place from April 2008 - ? in Miami, Florida, Los Angeles, California and in Louisiana, including in New Orleans and in Louisiana State Penitentiary aka Angola. While most of the events in the film seem to be true, the timeline has been altered. The film's distribution was fraught with problems, as distributors objected to gay sexual material, there were legal troubles and downsizing of the strategy; the film didn't see general releases until 2010 and didn't begin its limited North American release until December 2010, (when it had already generated 18 mil. $ at foreign box offices.) It opened #27 to a 112k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #23 and in 100 theaters (different weeks) and grossed a paltry 2 mil. $ (9.5 % of the total gross), making it only the film's 4th biggest market, which is what slayed the film's prospects of turning profitable theatrically. The 3 biggest were the UK with 3.4 mil. $ (16.2 %), France with 2.9 mil. $ (13.8 %) and Italy with 2.7 mil. $ (12.9 %). The film was nominated for 2 Cannes awards. I Love You Phillip Morris is certified fresh at 72 % with a 6.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Love You Phillip Morris?