The Matador (2005) or, Male Bonding & Murder

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Bright colors and the joke-implying tagline ('A hitman and a salesman walk into a bar...') indicate breezy action-comedy entertainment on this poster for Richard Shepard's The Matador

A stressed out assassin strike up an unexpected friendship on a job in Mexico. Although the two have little in common, a special masculine bond develops between them, and they commit the assassination together.

The Matador is written and directed by Richard Shepard (The Linguini Incident (1991)), based on some quirky ideas and possibly to some degree inspired by gangster TV-series masterpiece The Sopranos (1999-07), - a killer with panic attacks is also to be found here, in any case.
It entertains well, without ever knocking anyone's socks off, and is basically kept afloat by its to lead actors: Greg Kinnear (The Gift (2000)) and especially Pierce Brosnan (The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)) as assassin bastard with issues, Julian Noble. The Matador has more than a few good laughs.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 12.5 mil. $
Box office: 17.3 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.38 times its cost)
[The Matador premiered in January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place in Mexico City, Mexico from April - May 2004. The bull fights were created with CGI. Hope Davis (Wild Card (2015)) was pregnant during filming. Brosnan's character's sombrero was later sold at an auction for 22k $. The film opened #38 to a 69k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #10 and in 905 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 12.5 mil. $ (72.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.5 mil. $ (8.7 %) and Spain with 0.4 mil. $ (2.3 %). The film was nominated for a Golden Globe. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Shepard returned with Ugly Betty (2006, TV-series) and theatrically with The Hunting Party (2007). Brosnan returned in Seraphim Falls (2006); Kinnear with a voice performance in Robots (2005) and physically in Bad News Bears (2005); and Davis in Duma (2005). The Matador is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.68/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Matador?

Valentine's Day Movie #1: As Good as It Gets (1997) - Nicholson makes incredible character journey stick in great audience favorite

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+ Best Huge Hit of the Year + Best Romcom of the Year 

Jack Nicholson's giant grinning face is the whole shebang on this simple poster for James L. Brooks' As Good as It Gets

Melvin is a rich, single, OCD-suffering grouch, who doesn't attempt to curry favor with other people, as his gay neighbor suffers an attack, and he accepts looking after his little cute dog for a while. This spurs an extensive change in his life.

As Good as It Gets is written by Mark Andrus (Late for Dinner (1991)) and great New-Yorker co-writer/co-producer/director James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment (1983)). It is a Hollywood formula romantic dramedy that really works.
It is well-written, sweet and funny and elevated by wonderful performances from particularly Jack Nicholson (Psych-Out (1968)), who is a riot here in the W.C. Fields-reminiscent protagonist, whose small behavioral eccentricities are some of the film's funniest features. Helen Hunt (Ride (2014)) is also a joy, and Cuba Gooding Jr. (Shadowboxer (2005)) is good in a supporting role; Greg Kinnear (Murder of a Cat (2014)) is less credible in the part as the gay neighbor.
As Good as It Gets is a very good-looking audience favorite, which satisfies the need for laughs as well as eye puddles. The expert script is exemplary for use in screenwriting classes. 

 

Related post:

 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office:  314.1 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.28 times its cost)
[As Good as It Gets premiered 6 December (California) and runs 139 minutes. Brooks had Geoffrey Rush flown from Sydney to Los Angeles to audition for the lead part, but Rush declined it. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, New Jersey and New York from November 1996 - January 1997. The film opened #3, behind holdover hits Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies, to a 12.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 7 weeks in the top 5 (#3-#3-#4-#4-#5-X-#4-X-#5) and grossed 148.4 mil. $ (47.2 % of the total gross). It is Nicholson's 2nd highest-grossing film, behind Batman (1989). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 2; for Best Actor (Nicholson) and Actress (Hunt). It lost Supporting Actor (Kinnear) to Robin Williams for Good Will Hunting, Editing to Titanic, Music - Original Musical or Comedy Score (Hans Zimmer (Hidden Figures (2016))) to Anne Dudley for The Full Monty, Picture to Titanic and Original Screenplay to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for Good Will Hunting. It also won 3/6 Golden Globe nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. Brooks returned with Spanglish (2004). Nicholson returned in The Pledge (2001), Hunt in 6 TV and short credits before she returned to the big screen in Dr. T and the Women (2000), Kinnear in You've Got Mail (1998). As Good as It Gets is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of As Good as It Gets?

Little Men (2016) - Sachs' incisive boyhood friendship Brooklyn drama

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+ Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year + Best New York Movie of the Year

The five main characters look straight at us from a white wall background on this simple poster for Ira Sachs' Little Men, which carries the poignant tagline; 'Be on each other's side'

Jacob is a 13 year-old, artistically disposed boy from New York. When his grandfather dies, the man leaves behind the ownership of a building in Brooklyn, whereto Jacob's family moves. The boy Tony who lives on the ground floor becomes Jacob's new best friend, - but his mother can't pay the new, elevated rent.

Little Men is the 8th feature from great Tennessean co-writer/director Ira Sachs (Keep the Lights On (2012)), written with Mauricio Zacharias (Love for Sale (2006)). It is a lovely film of friendship in the formative years, a friendship which, (true to form for Sachs, who usually makes LGBT-themed works), also contains a secret grain of a crush in it for Jacob, and also about the annoying life decisions made by one's family, which often changes an underage child's life.
The boys, Theo Taplitz (Dybbuk (2017, short)) and Michael Barbieri (Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)), are well-cast as the the precocious, introverted roller-blader Jake, and Brooklyn-accented, extroverted Tony. The adult actors also are distinguished here; Greg Kinnear (Thin Ice (2011)) stands out (again), here as a weak family father, but Kinnear portrays him with brilliant honesty.
The rent dilemma is a great invention and diabolically irritating. Little Men is a tender film, which keeps to its quiet realism over Movie Drama, SPOILER and finally it denies us the reunion of the boys, which we are hoping for. It goes to show that Sachs doesn't care to follow his audiences' wishes, which he doesn't in this fine, short-story-like gift of a youth drama.

Related posts:

Ira Sachs: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Love Is Strange (2014) - Great performances in roaming, should-have-been-better movie
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]  
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Keep The Lights On (2012) or, In Love With a Drug Addict 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 2 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1 times the cost)
[Little Men premiered 25 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 85 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The film opened #43 to a 30k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it widened to 59 theaters but never attained a higher rank and grossed 702k $ (35.1 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 2nd biggest market. The biggest and 3rd biggest markets were France with 749k $ (37.5 %) and the UK with 230k $ (11.5 %). The film was nominated for 2 Independent Spirit awards. Sachs returns with Frankie (2019), again starring Kinnear. Taplitz returned in The Middle (2017, TV-series) and theatrically in Gringo (2018), Barbieri in Nunsense (2016, TV-series) and theatrically in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Kinnear in Confirmation (2016, TV movie), BoJack Horseman (2016, TV-series) and theatrically in Brigsby Bear (2017). Little Men is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Little Men?

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) - Dayton/Faris' debut is a sunny, tragicomic crowd-pleaser

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+ Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Road Movie of the Year

The sparse, sunny, wonderful poster for Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Little Miss Sunshine

A family decide to encourage and embrace their young daughter in her wish to compete in a beauty pageant in another part of the country and so hit the road with that purpose in their yellow VWT2 minibus.

Little Miss Sunshine is the debut for husband-and-wife director team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Battle of the Sexes (2017)), who had made mainly prominent music videos for more than 20 years prior to it. The script is by Michael Arndt (Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)).
It is a really sweet little movie about being a family and about life. It is driven by the well-written and well-played characters in it. Of the fine performances, Greg Kinnear (The Matador (2005)) as the father of the family, who believes in a future for himself as a life coach who pushes a philosophy of nine steps for winners; Steve Carell (Puppy (2013), short) as the fired, suicidal gay uncle and Alan Arkin (Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)) as the heroin-loving grandfather are especially good.
Arndt's fairly surprising plot is also a major reason why Little Miss Sunshine is such a lovely film.

Related posts:

Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris: Ruby Sparks (2012) - Dayton & Farris' high concept romcom failure

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 film here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 100.5 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 12.56 times the cost)
[Little Miss Sunshine premiered 20 January (Sundance Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 101 minutes. Arndt's first draft was finished in 2000. He sold the script, his first, for 250k $, and a lengthy development began. Shooting took place in Arizona, including Phoenix, and in California, including Los Angeles, from June - July 2005. Due to the long shoots inside the VW, which didn't have airbags, often while it was driving, Kinnear has described the production as "the most dangerous movie I've ever made." The competitive pageant element was inspired by an Arnold Schwarzenegger quote about hating losers. The pageant scenes were shot in 2 weeks and employed actual pageant girls and their families, mostly in their own pageant outfits. The Sundance premiere was so successful that the film's domestic distribution rights were sold for a record 10.5 mil. $ + 10 % of the gross revenue to Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film opened #20 to an incredible 370k $ first weekend in North America, where it held the highest per-theater gross across the US for 21 straight days. It peaked at #3, behind new release Invincible and fellow holdover hit Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby, spent another, subsequent week in the top 5 (#4), and in 1,602 cinemas, playing a long 35 weeks and grossing 59.8 mil. $ (59.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 8.4 mil. $ (8.4 %) and the UK with 6.4 mil. $ (6.4 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars: It won for Best Supporting Actor (Arkin) and Best Original Screenplay and lost Best Supporting Actress (Abigail Breslin (Signs (2002))) to Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls and Best Picture to The Departed. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, won 2/6 BAFTA nominations, an AFI award, a César award, a nomination for a David di Donatello award, won 4/5 Independent Spirit awards, was nominated for 2 Grammys, won a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. The film was also a major moneymaker in the home video market: In the North American market alone, it earned in excess of 55.5 mil. $ in sales and another 46.3 mil. $ in rentals. It has since been adapted into a stage musical. Dayton/Faris returned with Ruby Sparks (2012)). Kinnear returned in Fast Food Nation (2006); Carell with a voice performance in Over the Hedge (2006) and in the flesh in Evan Almighty (2007); Arkin in Firewall (2006). Little Miss Sunshine is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Little Miss Sunshine?

Anchorman: The Legend Continues (2013) - Ferrell and Co. return for mostly hilarious sequel

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Recognize this mustache? It belongs to Will Ferrell's title character in Adam McKay's Anchorman: The Legend Continues

As a big fan of the original Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), I had been excited about the sequel for a long, long time, and, luckily, Anchorman 2 or Anchorman: The Legend Continues over-all is a lot of fun, if not as ingenious or wildly hysterical as its predecessor.
Will Ferrell (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)) is back as the news anchor with salon quality hair and classiness all over, and he and everyone else do their utmost in the highly anticipated comedy. Steve Carell's (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)) character Brick has gotten much more space in The Legend Continues, where he falls for a similarly mentally backwards office mouse in the shape of Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids (2011)), and their scenes together are weird and often hilarious. Paul Rudd and David Koechner are back as the last two of the news team, - still characters with lines, but they pretty much do nothing story-wise.
The plot of Anchorman 2 is nothing spectacular: 10 years hence, Burgundy has married Veronica Corningstone and they have a kid, SPOILER when Burgundy gets fired and then hired by the first 24 hour news channel, seated in New York. (GNN, a satirical spin on CNN, naturally.)
James Marsden (X-Men 2 (2003)) is surprisingly funny, besides being terrific eye-candy, as Burgundy's younger competition at the new station.
Here also Dylan Baker (Happiness (1998)) and Meagan Good (Think Like a Man (2012)), - who is an especially good sport here, play new, big roles.
The plot is like the deranged story cooked up by a weird child, while it still fundamentally follows traditional narrative conventions. The film is very, very funny for a long while, but it strands very abruptly in the third act, SPOILER as Burgundy and his team end up in a grotesque news team battle in a New York park. We are supposed to be dazzled by the huge stars that cameo here, but the laughs dry up, and the long scene doesn't work at all.

Anchorman became a cult favorite, almost a legend movie, since its premiere in 2004, and the hyped, much marketed sequel is good, albeit without the genius of the original

Related reviews:

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) - Burgundy reigns supreme
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate in the beginning of Anchorman 2. Unfortunately, the terrific Applegate's character mostly dangles around on the side-line in the plot of Anchorman: The Legend Continues

Budget: 50 mil. $
Box office: 172.9 mil. $
= Box office success

What do you think of the Anchorman sequel?
If you disagree with my review, let me know why