The Ice Storm (1997) - Lee makes one of the year's great American films

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Elongated, eye-focused peaks at three of the film's stars make up most of this blue-toned poster for Ang Lee's The Ice Storm

The father in a nice-looking Connecticut family in the bold 1970s has an affair with the neighbor's wife, while their daughter fools around with two brothers from the same neighborhood, and their son goes to New York during an ice storm.

 

The Ice Storm is written by James Schamus (Indignation (2016)), adapting the same-titled 1994 novel by Rick Moody (Garden State (1992)), and directed by Taiwanese-American master filmmaker Ang Lee (Pushing Hands/Tui shou (1991)), whose 5th feature it is.

An intelligent, stealing meditation of family, sexual identity-making and the dangers in the modern world, The Ice Storm stands out as an excellent drama.

In the glorious cast, durable work is turned in by Kevin Kline (Ricki and the Flash (2015)), Joan Allen (Death Race (2008)), Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man 3 (2007)), Christina Ricci (Miranda (2002)), Sigourney Weaver (Madman (1978)) and Elijah Wood (The Good Son (1993)). The Ice Storm ends powerfully and is a beautiful drama.

 

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Ang Lee: 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] 
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date   

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
Life of Pi (2012) - Lee's triumphant, stunning faith-builder 

Top 10: Best erotic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Lust, Caution/色，戒/Sè, Jiè/Sik1Gaai3 (2007) - Lee's erotic spy thriller is an exquisite, complex masterpiece 

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

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Brokeback Mountain (2005) or, That Place That Weren't Possible  

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

Hulk (2003) - Lee's fantastic comics adaptation drama 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 18 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly 16 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.88 times its cost)

[The Ice Storm premiered 12 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 1996 in New York and Connecticut. The film opened #17 to a 75k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it grossed 8 mil. $ (50 % of the total gross). The foreign gross numbers are not made public, but it is ascertained at The-Numbers.com that the film made almost as much internationally, which would rank it as a huge flop. It won 1/2 BAFTA nominations, an award in Cannes, losing the Palme d'Or to Taste of Cherry, and was nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Lee returned with Ride with the Devil (1999). Kline returned in In & Out (1997); Allen in Face/Off (1997); and Weaver in Alien: Resurrection (1997). The Ice Storm is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Ice Storm?

In the Bedroom (2001) - Field debuts with refined drama

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Fervent critical praise fills up a large part of this erotica and adult themes promising poster for Todd Field's In the Bedroom

A young man in Maine carries on a 'summer flirt' with an older woman who is a mother of three. Her ex-husband is a violent prick, and one day he shoots the young man. Due to a poor witness statement, he is later released on bail.

 

In the Bedroom is written by Robert Festinger (Trust (2010)) and great Californian filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Todd Field (Tár (2022)), whose debut it is. It is an adaptation of the 1979 short story Killings by Andre Dubus (Finding a Girl in America (1980)).

Tom Wilkinson (Denial (2016)) and Sissy Spacek (The Help (2011)) turn in terrific performances as the parents of the young man, who pains and grieve in each their own way. The film's pressurized silence during the first hour is unusual in a modern American film, (or more accurately in any American film.)

The film has strong, finely choreographed domestic spat scenes. The title, which alludes to a lobster-catching contraption and not the room in a house that we will naturally think of, seems poorly selected, and the film is too brightly lit in some scenes. The ending is not as powerful as it might have been, and the film overall may have been a tad overrated at its arrival in 2001.

 

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

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

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

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 1.7 mil. $

Box office: 44.7 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 26.2 times its cost)

[In the Bedroom premiered 19 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 131 minutes. Shooting took place from June - July 2000 in Maine. The distribution rights were purchased by Miramax, and a reportedly terrified Field followed the advice of his friend Tom Cruise in how to avoid notoriously meddling executive Harvey Weinstein ruining his film: first let Weinstein recut the film, then receive poor test scores, and then remind Weinstein of the great reception the film originally got at Sundance. The strategy worked, and the film was eventually released as Field intended. It opened #37 to a 93k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 1,103 theaters, grossing 35.9 mil. $ (80.3 % of the total gross) The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 1.3 mil. $ (2.9 %; here the film was not released until 2005!) and the UK with 945k $ (2.1 %). It was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Picture to A Beautiful Mind, Actor (Wilkinson) to Denzel Washington in Training Day, Actress (Spacek) to Halle Berry in Monster's Ball, Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler (2008))) to Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind and Adapted Screenplay to Akiva Goldsman for A Beautiful Mind. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, 3/4 Independent Spirit award nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards, 1/5 AFI award nominations, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Field returned with Carnivàle (2005, TV-series) and theatrically with Little Children (2006). Wilkinson returned in Another Life (2001); Spacek in Midwives (2001, TV movie), Last Call (2002, TV movie) and theatrically in Tuck Everlasting (2002). In the Bedroom is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of In the Bedroom?

Happiness (1998) - Solondz's presentation of American dysfunction is a great if bleak work

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+ Best Feel-Bad Movie of the Year 

 

A comics-styled poster of an assortment of the film's anxiety-ridden, secretive, unhappy characters beneath a sun-colored background for Todd Solondz's Happiness

Extreme loneliness and its ramifications, unaddressed pedophilia, substance abuse and permanent identity crisis are some of the problems of modern America that are probed in Happiness.

 

Happiness is written and directed by Todd Solondz (Fear, Anxiety & Depression (1989)).

The dialog in the film, - and in fact the entire script and the handling of suspense in its mostly separate character-centered stories, - are incredibly intelligent and pregnant with meanings and subtext. The film has a bold use of compositions, music, language and issues.

There are also fantastic performances, among others from Dylan Baker (Two Days in New York (2012)) as a child-rapist father, for most people the film's most disturbing character. There appears to be no taboos for Solondz here. My only reservation towards the film is that it leaves its audiences in a radical state of hopelessness and despair about the human condition - and nothing else.

 

Related post:

 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2.2 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly 5.9 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a box office success (reportedly returned 2.68 times its cost)

[Happiness premiered 15 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of the main competition) and runs 139 minutes. Shooting took place from August - October 1997 in Florida and New Jersey. The Sundance Film Festival found the film's portrayal of pedophilia "too disagreeable" and refused to accept it. The film's original US distributor dropped the film, which was eventually released unrated, after having gotten an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. It opened #15 to a 130k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it widened to 60 theaters but didn't attain a higher ranking, grossing 2.9 mil. $ (49.2 % of the total gross). The-Numbers.com claim that the film made 3 mil. $ internationally (without any details to back it up), and if true, this makes it a box office success. It won a prize in Cannes, was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit awards and a Golden Globe, and it won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Solondz returned with Storytelling (2001), and later made the semi-sequel to Happiness, Life During Wartime (2009). Baker returned in Oz (1998, TV-series) and theatrically in Celebrity (1998). Happiness is certified fresh at 81 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Happiness?

Brokeback Mountain (2005) or, That Place That Wasn't Possible

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+ Best Western of the Year + Best LGBT Movie of the Year + Comeback Actor of the Year: Jake Gyllenhaal

Denim-dressed stars with sweetly secretive expressions stand forth against spectacular natural beauty on this poster for Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain

The summer of 1963: Two young cowboys herd sheep on Brokeback Mountain, and get a taste for each other. Both marry women and have children, but their love doesn't fade away.
Life is complicated. SPOILER For Jack and Ennis, it becomes too complicated, until one of them dies.

 

Brokeback Mountain is written by Larry McMurtry (Falling from Grace (1992)) and Diana Ossana (Joe Bell (2020)), based on the same-titled 1997 short story by Annie Proulx (Postcards (1992)), and directed by Taiwanese master filmmaker Ang Lee (Pushing Hands/Tui shou (1991)), whose 9th feature it is.
When I first saw Brokeback in 2008, I thought it a bit strange to see one of my teenage idols, Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko (2001)) make love to Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight (2008)), but in retrospect, I don't think Gyllenhaal has done anything better than or even as good as Brokeback since it came out, (although Nightcrawler (2014) may be the exception.) But really, their romance in the film is beautiful and hot.
Brokeback Mountain is a really good film about unresolved, romantic and sexual dreams all related in a no-nonsense fashion. It is obviously an issue film, because the secret, same-sex couple's love doesn't pan out due to societal prejudice and sexual taboo, but it is not a pushy issue film. - It is first of all a tragic love story, just as so many straight tragic love stories through the years. And a really fine film with no real villains it is.
Anna Farris (Observe and Report (2009)) has a wonderful supporting role in it.

Related posts:

Ang Lee: 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] 
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date   

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
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Top 10: Best erotic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Lust, Caution/色，戒/Sè, Jiè/Sik1Gaai3 (2007) - Lee's erotic spy thriller is an exquisite, complex masterpiece 

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

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

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

Hulk (2003) - Lee's fantastic comics adaptation drama 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 14 mil. $
Box office: 178 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 12.71 times its cost)

[Brokeback Mountain premiered 2 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 134 minutes. Anne Hathaway (Interstellar (2014)) was paid 800k $ for her performance in the film. Shooting took place from June - August 2004 in Wyoming, New Mexico and in Alberta. The film opened #15 to a 547k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #4 and in 2,089 theaters, grossing 83 mil. $ (46.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 17.9 mil. $ (10.1 %) and Germany with 11.1 mil. $ (6.2 %). The film was banned in most Muslim countries and in China it was denied a release, despite Lee getting hailed for his achievement as a 'Chinese', (he is Taiwanese.) The film was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 3: For Best Director, Adapted Screenplay and Score (Gustavo Santaolalla (Narcos: Mexico (2018-21))). It lost Best Picture to Crash, Actor (Ledger) to Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master (2012)) in Capote, Supporting Actor (Gyllenhaal) to George Clooney (The Descendants (2011)) in Syriana, Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine (2010))) to Rachel Weisz (The Lobster (2015)) in The Constant Gardner and Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto (Barbie (2023)) to Dion Beebe (The Little Mermaid (2023) for Memoirs of a Geisha. It also won 4/9 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a César, a David di Donatello, a European Film award, won 4/7 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a Grammy, won 2/4 Independent Spirit awards, 3 National Board of Review awards, the Golden Lion in Venice and an AFI award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Lee returned with Lust, Caution/Se, jie (2007). Ledger returned in Casanova (2005); Gyllenhaal in Proof (2005); Williams in The Hawk Is Dying (2006); and Hathaway with a voice performance in Hoodwinked! (2005) and physically in The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Brokeback Mountain is certified fresh at 88 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Brokeback Mountain?

American Splendor (2003) or, Happily Unhappy Together

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Paul Giamatti as protagonist Harvey, struggling to compose his comics on a poster for Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini's American Splendor

Meet Harvey Pekar from Cleveland, Ohio. He's a file clerk, divorced, and more or less permanently unhappy. Then he begins to make up comic book stories based on his own life.

American Splendor is a biopic drama about Harvey Pekar, comic book author of the American Splendor (1976-08) comics. It is also a docu-type adaptation of these comics, and the real life Pekar and his wife Joyce Brabner also appear shortly in the film as themselves. - They also act as narrators of their own story in what is a rare, innovative and successful mix of fiction and reality. It is the feature debut by master filmmaker marrieds, writer/directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (The Extra Man (2010)). Pulcini also edited the film, which is also adapts Pekar and Brabner's comic Our Cancer Year (1994).
Other meta-layers of Splendor go off less successfully; e.g. a scene of Paul Giamatti (Private Life (2018)) as Pekar getting lost in digitally created snow in a search of self.
But on the whole, American Splendor is funny and smart, and Judah Friedlander (Beware the Gonzo (2010)) is wonderful as a nerd in it. Watching it can be likened to watching a film and its making of documentary at the same time.

Related posts:

 

Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini: Girl Most Likely/Imogene (2012) - Wiig is great as another dysfunctional woman in Berman & Pulcini's unfocused fare
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2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

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2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

The Extra Man (2010) - One of the year's best films is this overlooked comedy gem 

Watch a 3-minute video of Pekar's appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman here

Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 7.9 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 3.95 times its cost)
[American Splendor premiered 20 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 101 minutes. The film was intended as a TV movie for HBO. Shooting took place in Ohio, including Cleveland, in the fall of 2001. HBO put up 0.5 mil. $ more for the post production finalization of the film. The film opened #37 to a 159k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it 16 and in 272 theaters, grossing 6 mil. $ (76 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 701k $ (8.9 %) and Australia with 287k $ (3.6 %). The film was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, lost to Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won an AFI award, a prize in Cannes, was nominated or 5 Independent Spirit awards, won 2 National Board of Review awards, a Sundance award and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Berman/Pulcini returned with Wanderlust (2006, TV documentary) and theatrically with The Nanny Diaries (2007). Giamatti returned in The Pentagon Papers (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in Paycheck (2003); Hope Davis (The Newsroom (2012-13)) in The Matador (2005). American Splendor is certified fresh at 94 % with an 8.29/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of American Splendor?

Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life

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+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

Nicholas Cage's head is turned into a broken pot for an orchid flower on this wonderful poster for Spike Jonze's Adaptation

This movie will especially appeal to writers and/or filmmakers, but it will most likely also delight any all all open, intelligent, creative minds.  

Famed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman finds it very difficult if not impossible to adapt Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief for the big screen, which he has been hired to do. He spars with his conversely extroverted twin brother Donald Kaufman for advice and finally decides that he has to visit Orlean. 

Adaptation is unusual and a meta-film because it is in fact written by Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa (2015)), who wrote the film like this precisely because he found the task of adapting Susan Orlean's (Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend (2011)) 1998 non-fiction novel The Orchid Thief impossible. So the story is partly autobiographical. It is also an inventive work of fiction; among other things the twin brother character Donald is a creation for the film, just as the dramatic developments involving Orlean and the orchid thief are fantasy.
Of course Adaptation is in a way a very narcissistic story, but it is written with such rare wit and writer's insight, and acted so marvelously, - with stellar performances from Nicolas Cage (8mm (1999)), Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia! (2008)) and an Oscar-winning Chris Cooper (Miami Vice (1988), TV-series) among others, - that it achieves true greatness. Marylander master filmmaker Spike Jonze's (Being John Malkovich (1999)) direction of the film, which is only his second, is creative and refreshing, and the 'evolution of life' sequence (by Digital Domain) in the beginning is something that most people who've seen Adaptation also remember from it.
Adaptation is concept-oriented, post-modernist, interested in existentialism and very funny. Brian Cox's (L.I.E. (2001)) part as real-life script guru Robert McKee is especially humorous. Adaptation is the epitome of a must-see.

Related posts:

Spike Jonze: The day after ... The Oscars 2014 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
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Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 19 mil. $
Box office: 32.8 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.72 times its cost)
[Adaptation premiered 3 December (Los Angeles, California) and runs 114 minutes. Adapting the story was an idea already in 1994, when the story Orlean's book is based on played out. Fox 2000 bought the film rights in 1997, before the book was published. Kaufman showed Jonze the script around the time of Being John Malkovich's release, 1999. Cage was paid 5 mil. $ for his performance, and Streep was very interested in playing Orleans, accepting a pay cut to make it happen. McKee suggested Cox to portray himself. Filming took place in California, including Los Angeles, from March - June 2001. The film opened #22 to a 384k $ first weekend in 7 theaters (a solid 54k $ average) in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 672 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 22.4 mil. $ (68.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 1.1 mil. $ (3.4 %) and the UK with 0.9 mil. $ (2.7 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars: winning for Best Supporting Actor (Cooper); Best Actor (Cage) was lost to Adrien Brody for The Pianist; Supporting Actress (Streep) was lost to Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago, and Adapted Screenplay was lost to Ronald Harwood for The Pianist. The film also won 2/6 Golden Globe nominations, 1/4 BAFTAs noms, won AFI's Movie of the Year award, the Berlin International Film Festival's silver prize, 3 National Board of Review awards and scores of other awards and honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Jonze returned with 18 video, TV and short projects, before he returned to cinemas with family masterpiece Where the Wild Things Are (2009). Cage returned in Matchstick Men (2003); Streep in The Hours (2002); and Cooper in My House in Umbria (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in Seabiscuit (2003). Adaptation is certified fresh at 91 % with a 8.18/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] 

What do you think of Adaptation?