Meet the free, proud, independent people of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w Nothing but reviews. In excess.
From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label Forest Whitaker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forest Whitaker. Show all posts
A dramatic and dynamic mix of images and text make up this poster for Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth
Stu is a PR man in New York and relatively successful in his line of work, until a moralistic sniper gets him to come clean inside of a phone booth!
Phone Booth is written by Larry Cohen (The Ex (1996)) and directed by Joel Schumacher (The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)).
There's a confession scene and a cop character (played by Forest Whitaker (Empire (2017-18))) that are a bit naive in their design, but otherwise this minimalist, real-time thriller works. Colin Farrell (Widows (2018)) is naturally decisive as Stu, and he does well. Perhaps most impressive about Phone Booth is that it was shot in around 10 days - in Los Angeles!
[Phone Booth premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 81 minutes. Cohen pitched the idea to Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s and kept him updated over the following years on his inability to find the necessary ploy that would force the protagonist to stay inside a phone booth. The solution came to him in the late 1990s in the form of the sniper antagonist. Jim Carrey was set to star but bowed out. Shooting took place from November - December 2000 in New York and Los Angeles, California. The release was postponed from November 2002 to April 2003 due to the D.C. sniper attacks that left 17 people dead and 10 wounded over a 10 month period. The film opened #1 to a 15 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#5), grossing 46.5 mil. $ (47.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10.9 mil. $ (11.1 %) and Spain with 5.8 mil. $ (5.9 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Schumacher returned with Veronica Guerin (2003). Farrell returned in The Recruit (2003). Phone Booth is fresh at 72 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A blue-keyed still from the film centers this elegant poster for Wayne Wang's Smoke
New-Yorker fates cross: Paul, who lost his wife and his energy as a professional writer. Thomas, who saves Paul's life and gets him into trouble, when he destroys Cuban cigars worth 5k $ at Auggie's Brooklyn cigar store. And more.
Smoke is written by Paul Auster (Lulu on the Bridge (1998)) and directed by Hong Kong-born American master filmmaker Wayne Wang (A Man, a Woman, and a Killer (1975)). It is Wang's 8th feature.
Harvey Keitel (Little Nicky (2000)), Stockard Channing (The Venice Project (1999)), William Hurt (Nearest to Heaven (2002)), Forest Whitaker (Mary (2005)) and more in the ensemble give eminent performances in this gem of a film. Smoke is ripe with beautiful images, (cinematography by Adam Holender (Simon (1980))), and globules of wisdom and pain. It is a masterpiece and also a true Christmas movie.
Auster talks for 24 minutes about the film here in a BFI interview
Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 38 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 5.42 times its cost)
[Smoke premiered 10 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 112 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 1994 in New York. The film opened #15 to a 70k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it grossed 8.3 mil. $ (21.8 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for a César award, won 1/2 David di Donatello awards, won 1/2 Independent Spirit awards and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Auster, Wang, Keitel and a few others from Smoke returned with the (kind of) sequel Blue in the Face (1995), which was Wang's and Keitel's film return. Hurt returned in Secrets Shared with a Stranger (1995); Whitaker in Species (1995); Channing in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995). Smoke is fresh at 90 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A great tag-line, which starts over the freaky alien fetus image and ends underneath the title, resounds on this poster for Roger Donaldson's Species
DNA from an alien organism is combined with human DNA, and a very attractive blond alien monster, - who will do anything for sex, - results! Naturally she must be killed!
Species is written by Dennis Feldman (The Golden Child (1986)) and directed by Australian master filmmaker Roger Donaldson (Sleeping Dogs (1977)).
The film revolves around an exceedingly silly Hollywood-nurtured plot, but unfortunately the comical opportunities inherent in it are far from explored enough. Generally Feldman instead has taken his own wacky idea a bit too seriously here.
A standardized score and clichés are to be found, - but also entertainment value, secured with Michael Madsen's (The Hateful Eight (2015)) badass hitman character with all kinds of cool lines, such as; "Let's go, motherfucker!" Species also has special effects that are at times frightening and at other times hilarious.
= Box office success (returned 3.23 times its cost)
[Species was released 7 July (North America) and runs 108 minutes. Natasha Henstridge (The Christmas Switch (2014)) was paid 100k $ for her performance. Shooting took place from August - November 1994 in Puerto Rico, Utah and in California, including in Los Angeles. Creature design artist H.R. Giger paid 100k $ of his own money to shoot the 'nightmare train' sequence, which would otherwise have been cut to lower costs. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Apollo 13, to a 17.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#4-#5), grossing 60 mil. $ (53 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Sequel Species II was released in 1998, and 2 TV movie sequels followed, none by Donaldson, who returned with Dante's Peak (1997). Henstridge returned in Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996); Madsen in Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995). Species is rotten at 43 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Rebellious, perky fun is promised on this bright and youthful poster for Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High
We follow a girl, who loses her virginity, and the boys around her for a period in and around Ridgemont High School, - and not least the nearby mall.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is written by Cameron Crowe (Roadies (2016, TV-series)), based on his own same-titled 1981 book, which in turn was based on undercover work done at a San Diego high school, and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Amy Heckerling (Clueless (1995)), whose debut it is. It is a charming and enjoyable youth picture with Sean Penn (This Must Be the Place (2011)) as what must be the ultimate California surfer dude character, Jeff Spicoli. Watching the film, Penn's authenticity as Spicoli almost makes it hard to grasp that he wasn't actually this character in real life. A lot has changed in and around high school life since Fast Times at Ridgemont High, - and a lot hasn't. It is no Dazed and Confused (1993), which may have beat it in its game a decade or so later, but it is a fine, empathetic film all the same.
Watch a clip from the film here
Cost: 5 mil. $ Box office: Reportedly 50 mil. $ = Mega-hit (returned 10 times its cost) [Fast Times at Ridgemont High was released 13 August (USA) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including in Los Angeles, from November - December 1981. The film opened #7 to a 2.5 mil. $ first weekend in 498 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #3, ultimately spending 6 weeks in the top 5 (#3-#3-#5-X-#4-#5-#4) and grossing 27 mil. $ (54 % of the total gross). The 50 mil. $ final gross is asserted in Peter H. Brown's LA Times' article We're Talking Gross, Tacky and Dumb (1985). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, translating to 4 notches worse than this one. Heckerling returned with Johnny Dangerously (1984). Penn returned in Bad Boys (1983), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Road to Perdition (2002)) in The First Time (1982, TV movie), ABC Afterschool Specials (1983, TV-series) and theatrically in Easy Money (1983). The film inspired a short-lived CBS TV-series called Fast Times (1986). Fast Times at Ridgemont High is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.75/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Fast Times at Ridgemont High?
+ Best Thriller of the Year + Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year
Looming ominously above the white X and defining this poster for Kevin Macdonald's The Last King of Scotland is the interesting face of Forest Whitaker as the title character
Young Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan comes to Uganda on an idealistic mission in the early 1970s and befriends the country's new president Idi Amin, developing into a personal doctor and adviser for Amin, whose reign comes to evolve into a murderous regime.
The Last King of Scotland is written by Peter Morgan (The Queen (2006)) and Jeremy Brock (Mrs Brown (1997)), adapting the same-titled 1998 novel by Giles Foden (Ladysmith (1999)), and directed by great Scottish filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (Black Sea (2014)), whose fiction feature debut it is, and who mainly was a documentarian before it. The film serves as a very successful portrait of Uganda's late president Amin in 1970s Africa, which doesn't seem so much different from the way the continent often appears today. The Last King of Scotland distinguishes itself with a beginning that's laced with welcome humor and high spirits, only to then change over into becoming a high-octane thriller. James McAvoy (White Teeth (2002), miniseries) is cute as naive doctor Garrigan; Gillian Anderson (Crisis (2014), TV-series) dazzles in a supporting part, and Forest Whitaker (Ripple Effect (2007)) deserved his Oscar for his portrayal of the psychotic, unpredictable manipulator Amin.
Cost: 6 mil. $ Box office: 48.3 mil. $ = Huge hit (8.05 times the cost) [The Last King of Scotland premiered 1 September (Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 123 minutes. Shooting took place in Uganda from June 2005 - ?. The Garrigan character is fictional, and the film changes some details in Ugandan history and Amin's reign but was reportedly well-received in the country. It opened #37 to a terrific 142k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 517 theaters, playing a long 34 weekends, grossing 17.6 mil. $ (36.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 11.1 mil. $ (23 %) and France with 2.9 mil. $ (6 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar for Best Actor (Whitaker), which it won. It also won a Golden Globe, 3/5 BAFTA nominations, 2/6 British Independent Spirit awards, was nominated for 6 European Film awards, won a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Macdonald returned with My Enemy's Enemy (2007, documentary) and fictionally with State of Play (2009). Whitaker returned with a voice performance in Everyone's Hero (2006), ER (2006-07) and The Shield (2006-07) and theatrically in the flesh in The Air I Breathe (2007). McAvoy returned in Penelope (2006). The Last King of Scotland is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Flop of the Year
The blissful stars shine under an angelic Mary J. Blige on this poster for Kasi Lemmons' Black Nativity
A young man from Baltimore gets sent by his mother to his alienated grandparents in New York, when the two face eviction just before Christmas. Black Nativity is the 4th feature from Missourian writer-director Kasi Lemmons (The Caveman's Valentine (2001)), based on the same-titled 1961 play by Langston Hughes (The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations (1931)). The casting of the young R&B artist Jacob Latimore (The Maze Runner (2014)) as the protagonist is fatal for the generally spectacularly awful Black Nativity. Latimore, although sexy, cannot act, or at least doesn't betray any gifts in the discipline here. If you disregard the periods where he inexplicably breaks out in song, Latimore interchanges between two looks here, which he sport throughout the film: Either the 'innocent-lion-cub' expression, (which is strained greatly by his being a 16 or 17 year-old boy), or the apathetically tired/nearly zombielike, sedated look. No great musical (or acting) star is born here, I regretfully predict. Black Nativity is an embarrassing and involuntarily funny musical drama. The cringe-worthy scenes sting more when showbiz veterans like Nas (John Q (2002)), Angela Bassett (Notorious (2009)), Mary J. Blige (Rock of Ages (2012)) and Forest Whitaker (American Gun (2005)) appear in them, and Whitaker, who is the most acclaimed actor in the bunch, is particularly awful as the boy's seriously presented but strikingly phony reverend grandfather. The film's terribleness doesn't end with its lousy performances; often it is also incomprehensible, as when characters sing of things we have not been introduced to and won't be. - Or when Latimore, (also symptomatically for Black Nativity, I might add), falls asleep in church and wakes up with Jesus in Times Square. Not one second comes out right or naturally in this film; from the overly smiley, clean and healthy-looking homeless lovebirds, who also dance and sing, SPOILER to the grotesquely hammy, ham-fisted ending, which plays out the Nativity scene as a sort of Jerry Springer show (without the violence) in front of puzzled churchgoers. Black Nativity surely didn't aim for it, but it takes bad taste to new heights.
Cost: 17.5 mil. $ Box office: 7.4 mil. $ = Mega-flop [Black Nativity premiered November 27 (North America) and runs 93 minutes. Shooting took place in New York around January 2013. The film opened #9 with 3.6 mil. $ in North America and only went plummeting down from there, grossing 7 mil. $ (94.6 % of the total gross.) It had a release in Germany and France in the summer of 2014 with undisclosed, definitely low results. Its biggest foreign market was the UK with 245k $ (3.3 %). Lemmons has directed an episode of Shots Fired (2017, TV-series) since the film but has otherwise left filmmaking and acting alone. Black Nativity is rotten at 51 % with a 5.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Black Nativity?
A refined butler shows a protesting world a brave face from a window in the White House on this powerful poster for Lee Daniels' The Butler
A black boy,s whose father is murdered on the cotton farm in the South where he grows up, is later in life accepted as a butler in the White House under president Eisenhower, continuing to serve under the leadership of the seven subsequent presidents, as the country goes through great changes. The Butler is a distinguished film written by Danny Strong (Game Change (2012, TV movie), based on the Washington Post article A Butler Well Served by This Election by Wil Haygood (Two on the River (1986)), which concerned White House butler Eugene Allen, and directed as the 4th feature by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer (2005)). Although the film is only very loosely based on Eugene Allen's life, which was different in many ways from the film's butler, Daniels' film comes off as a soberly and thoroughly professionally handled historical biopic drama. It is led by Oscar-worthy performances from Forest Whitaker (Repo Men (2010)) and Oprah Winfrey (Selma (2014)), who are truly moving as the titular butler and his wife. The Butler is eminent storytelling that should heal wounds and contribute to a deeper understanding of the different experiences and circumstances of especially whites and blacks during the 20th century, - in America as in many other parts of the world. The Butler is emotionally charged without ever becoming too much. Among its fine supporting actors David Oyelowo (Nightingale (2014)) as Whitaker's rebellious son, Cuba Gooding Jr. (Life of a King (2013)) as his work-pal, Robin Williams (August Rush (2007)) as Pres. Eisenhower, Liev Schreiber (Defiance (2008)) as Pres. Johnson and Alan Rickman (David Harbor (1998)) as Pres. Reagan all give commendable, strong performances.
Cost: 30 mil. $ Box office: 176.5 mil. $ = Huge hit [The Butler premiered 5 August (New York) and runs 132 minutes. Funding for the independent production began coming together in 2011 as something of a puzzle. The title was changed to Lee Daniels' The Butler in North America, because Warner Bros. made a claim to the title due to a now-lost 1916 short of the same title ('The Butler' that is). Filming took place in Louisiana, including New Orleans, from June - October 2012, delayed from a scheduled August end due to Hurricane Isaac. Among the things in the film that were different in Allen's real life is that he wasn't from Georgia, didn't experience the trauma concerning his parents that's in the film, and that his son wasn't a radical. The film's portrayal of Pres. Reagan's stance towards South-Africa's apartheid is also contested. The film opened #1 to a 24.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another 2 weeks before spending a week as #2 and one as #4 and then leaving the top 5, grossing 116.6 mil. $ (66.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 16.9 mil. $ (9.6 %) and Italy with 7 mil. $ (4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 3/4 stars, translating to a notch less than this review. The film was nominated for 2 BAFTAs and many other awards and honors, - but not a single Oscar. Daniels went on to work on TV-series Empire (2015-17) and Star (2016-17) as director-writer-producer. He is slated to direct a remake of the 1983 drama Terms of Endearment starring Winfrey. The Butler is fresh at 72 % with a 6.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of The Butler?
A packed main poster for Gareth Edwards' multi-racial Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Note the storm troopers in the bottom, walking on water (...), which they also, very strangely, do on the other poster featured in this review
The daughter of a brilliant scientist, who was kidnapped by the evil Empire when she was a child, as a young woman faces the fact that he has been used to create the powerful weapon the Death Star, and she decides to team up with the Rebel Alliance to fight the Empire's domination.
Rogue One marks the first of the announced 3 spin-off Star Wars movies in the new Disney-owned part of the franchise's lifetime, whereof the following two are supposed to focus on Han Solo and Boba Fett's backstories. Rogue One starts well with the exciting division of father and daughter by evil Ben Mendelsohn (The New World (2005)). Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt/Jagten (2012)) is good as the reluctant scientist father. You might wonder why I don't care to use the names of these characters, but there is a clear reason, which is also the film's major problem: They're not that interesting. The expectations for a Star Wars movie, - and especially one that follow J.J. Abrams' excellent Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), - are very high indeed, and the characters have a lot to live up to. Rogue One builds up as a story about some of the rebels in the ragtag alliance army, but they just don't sweep me off my feet as they are supposed to. - I didn't feel much for them and thus their cause, which is the whole core of this dark war tale. - The film fails, although its technical merits are, as expected, above question. Felicity Jones (A Monster Calls (2016)) plays our lead, who sulkily shares that she doesn't really feel like being a rebel but suddenly becomes the leader of the rebels anyway. She isn't too interesting, but she's a young woman who's leading the film and ergo 'progressive' as the most ridiculous critics have opined. Diego Luna (Milk (2008)) is a veteran rebel soldier, who also isn't too interesting, but together, they make up the Rogue One couple, SPOILER who only seems to lean towards a romance right at the end when they die. Donnie Yen (Ip Man 2 (2010)) is the only character who really talks about the Force, the center for all the previous Star Wars movies; but his blind faith-centered character doesn't elevate the soul as he seems engineered to do. The meticulously multi-racially gathered cast also includes Wen Jiang (Lotus Lantern (2005)), (who together with Yen must be cast in order to return a hefty dollar in the lucrative Asian markets), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler (2014)) and Forest Whitaker (The Butler (2013)), who is pretty much wasted in a part that demands that he looks ridiculous in a way that calls his turn in Battlefield Earth (2000) to mind. - Surely, noStar Wars movie shouldever do that! The film is almost without romance; the humanity and heart of, for instance, The Force Awakens has vanished, and for kicks we are given a new droid that's just a poor substitute for C3PO, R2D2 or even Jar Jar Binks. We don't get to see any new planets or creatures that are very amazing, (there are exciting new aliens, but we see each of them for about a second.) Instead Rogue One focuses on this overly serious war tone until it just plain bores and starts to depress with explosion and destruction followed by more explosions and destruction. SPOILER It might be symptomatic of its sickness that the film kills off just about every half-baked character it has conjured up. It feels like a bad joke and feels about as uplifting as a slush-ice poured down your back. Rogue One is written by Tony Gilroy (The Great Wall (2016)) and Chris Weitz (About a Boy (2002)), with story by John Knoll (Deep Blue Sea, visual effects supervisor (1999) and Gary Whitta (After Earth (2013)), and directed by great English filmmaker Gareth Edwards (Godzilla (2014)), whose third theatrical feature it is. Last year at this time I couldn't wait to get to a cinema and watch The Force Awakens again. This year I have no problem waiting a decade to go back and re-watch Rogue One, without question the worst Star Wars movie to date, (which means basically the first one in the franchise that's actually a bad film.)
Cost: 200 mil. $ Box office: 305.8 mil. $ and counting = Too early to say [Rogue One: A Star Wars Story premiered December 10 (Hollywood) and runs 133 minutes. It is based on visual effects expert Knoll's 10 year-old idea. Filming took place in England, Jordan, Iceland and the Maldives from August 2015 - February 2016, with reshoots in June - July 2016. The film has opened #1 to a 155 mil. $ first weekend in North America, huge but far below The Force Awakens' 247.9 mil. $ first weekend. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story?
