Iron Man (2008) - Favreau's overrated MCU launchpad

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Carefully calculated stars and action elements inhabit this poster for Jon Favreau's Iron Man

Super weapons dealer Tony Stark is taken captive in Afghanistan and uses his engineering abilities there to create a deadly metal suit. Once he makes it back to California, he has to fight to retain control of his giant company!

 

Iron Man is written by Mark Fergus (First Snow (2006)), Matt Holloway (Uncharted (2022)), Art Marcum (Shadow of Fear (2004)) and Hawk Ostby (Childred of Men (2006)), based on the Marvel Comics character first presented in 1962, and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Jon Favreau (Made (2001)), who also plays a small part in the film. It is the first film in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as well as in the Iron Man franchise.

It is undeniably insensitive and in very poor taste to launch a new superhero franchise by setting it amid a real, active war (the US-led War on Terror in Afghanistan), as is done in Iron Man, which ages fast, - and poorly. Less than 10 years after its release, it already looked like an uninspired, jingoistic assortment, - at any rate to everyone who has passed their teenage level of maturity life period. The eternally servile Pepper Potts character, played by Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), is a backwards-leaning, weak female component in the film. Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow (2005)) is neither funny nor very good as Stark's US Air Force liaison and friend. And the action scenes are well set up but mostly consists of one CGI tin man pitted against another.

Jeff Bridges (The Fisher King (1991)) is like a totally different man than we normally know him as the corporate villain here, while Robert Downey Jr. (Due Date (2010)), - in his career's full throttle career comeback role, - is in his ace. The two make this weak franchise opener a bearable if not really worthwhile affair.

 

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Elf (2003) - Favreau and Ferrell supply belly laughs and Christmas magic 

Something's Gotta Give (2003) - Meyers, Jack & Diane are a killer combo (co-star)

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 140 mil. $

Box office: 585.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.18 times its cost)

[Iron Man premiered 14 April (Sydney, Australia) and runs 126 minutes. Development had been ongoing since 1990. The film changed hands from Universal Pictures to Fox to New Line Cinema to Marvel Studios over the course of the following years, with talents Stuart Gordon, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Quentin Tarantino, Joss Whedon, David Goyer, Nick Cassavetes and others being involved at different times. Downey Jr. was paid anywhere between 500k to 5 mil. $ for his performance (different sources; the 5 mil. $ may well have been a final sales-based compensation whereas the 500k $ was the guaranteed base pay); Howard got 3.5 mil. $. Shooting took place from March - June 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada, California, including in Los Angeles, and in India. The film opened #1 to a 98.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained at #1 for another weekend and then spent another 3 in the top 5, grossing 318.6 mil. $ (54.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 34.2 mil. $ (5.8 %) and South Korea with 25.1 mil. $ (4.3 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Sound Editing, lost to The Dark Knight, and Visual Effects, lost to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Grammy and won an AFI award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. Favreau returned with Iron Man 2 (2010), the next in the Iron Man franchise, with returning stars, minus Howard who was replaced over a pay dispute. Downey Jr. returned with an uncredited cameo in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and with an actual performance in Tropic Thunder (2008). Iron Man is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Iron Man?

Seven (1995) - Fincher triumphs with evil avenging serial killer landmark

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The Biblical deadly sins make up a twisted check list on this grimy, trendsetting poster for David Fincher's Seven

A major city is haunted by a serial killer, who chooses his victims based on the seven deadly sins as outlined in the Bible, and detective Somerset, who was otherwise well on his way towards well-deserved retirement, is put on the case together with the young idealistic detective Mills.

 

Seven is written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Brainscan (1994)) and directed by great Coloradan filmmaker David Fincher (Alien 3 (1992)). 

It is likely one of the best films of the 1990s as well as among the best serial killer thrillers of all time. The quartet of Brad Pitt (Kalifornia (1993)), Morgan Freeman (Kiss the Girls (1997)), Kevin Spacey (The Negotiator (1998)) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Infamous (2006)) are all excellent here, and Fincher's knack for balancing stylization and realism makes Seven a very convincing study of a sadist psychopath. Darius Khondji (The Interpreter (2005)) did the phenomenal cinematography.

The effects of each scene in the thrilling story are optimized, forcing us to the edges of our seats, without the brutal violence ever taking place directly on the screen. Rob Bottin's prosthetics and effects do their part, and our imagination takes us the rest of the way. 

Seven packs dazzling suspense, and it is a pioneer in the (depraved) 'genius serial killer' subgenre, where we (misanthropically) are fascinated by the jigsaw logic of a mass murderer.

 

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - Fincher's Nordic noir is technically astute but overlong and redundant

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The Game (1997) - Douglas shines in Fincher's cool mystery-thriller ride 

Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!

 

 

Watch a short TV spot for the film here

Cost: 33 mil. $

Box office: 327.3 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 9.91 times its cost)

[Seven premiered 15 September (New York) and runs 127 minutes. Pitt was paid 4 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from December 1994 - February 1995 in California, including in Los Angeles. SPOILER Pitt and Fincher fought the studio bosses to shoot and retain the 'head-in-the-box' ending scene. The film opened #1 to a 13.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another 3 weekends and spent a fourth still in the top 5 (#3), grossing 100.1 mil. $ (30.9 % of the total gross). The film was the 7th highest-grossing of the year. It was nominated for one Oscar, for Best Editing, lost to Apollo 13. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and 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. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #19 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Seven Samurai (1954). Fincher returned with a music video and a commercial before his theatrical return with The Game (1997). Pitt returned in 12 Monkeys (1995); Freeman in Moll Flanders (1996). Seven is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Seven?

Hard Eight (1996) - Anderson debuts with downbeat crime drama

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 + Best Box Office Disaster of the Year + Best Crime Drama of the Year + Best Debut of the Year + Worst $ Return of the Year: 0.13 Times the Cost + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Nevada Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

 

The iconic dark green of the dice table makes up the background on this simple poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's Hard Eight

Sydney is an oldtimer and a veteran gambler, who knows some shortcuts in the business. He now takes the younger John under his wings, who finds himself in trouble, and later also the waitress and prostitute Clementine ...

 

Hard Eight is written and directed by debuting Californian master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Punch Drunk Love (2002)).

Anderson establishes an oppressive mood across this well-acted, downbeat, short-story-like tale, which also benefits from strong photography (by Robert Elswit (Syriana (2005))) and music (score by Jon Brion (Step Brothers (2008)) and Michael Penn (Boogie Nights (1997))).

We accept and embrace spending the running time here with these hard-pressed, desperate (loser) characters, mainly because Philip Baker Hall (The Zodiac (2005)), John C. Reilly (Rubberhead (2014, TV movie)), Gwyneth Palthrow (The Good Night (2007)), Samuel L. Jackson (The Incredibles (2004)) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Culture (1997, short)) are so absolutely excellent in their character portrayals.

 

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Here is a 3-minute clip from the film

 

Cost: 3 mil. $

Box office: 222k $ (North America only)

= Box office disaster (returned 0.07 times its cost in North America; projected total return of 0.13 times the cost)

[Hard Eight premiered 20 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 102 minutes. It is based on Anderson's own short film Cigarettes & Coffee (1993). Shooting took place in 1995 in Nevada. The film opened #27 to a 69k $ first weekend in 29 theaters in North America, where it grossed 222k $. It was also released in a handful of other markets, but grosses are regrettably not reported. If the film made a final gross of 400k $ it, would still rank as a box office disaster. It was nominated for 5 Independent Spirit awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Anderson returned with Michael Penn: Try (1997, music video) and theatrically with Boogie Nights (1997). Hall returned in The Little Death (1996); Reilly in Boys (1996); and Palthrow in The Pallbearer (1996). Hard Eight is certified fresh at 81 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hard Eight? 

Great Expectations (1998) - Cuarón lacerates Dickens with redundant turkey

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+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year

 

Co-star Gwyneth Palthrow floats around nude with a catty look in her eyes on this lusty poster for Alfonso Cuarón's Great Expectations

The son of a poor fisherman in Florida, Finn, already as a boy falls for the girl he meets at a strange older woman's mansion, and his adoration is of course undiminished as he returns to her as a young man, - though the girl has become a difficult young lady.

 

Great Expectations is written by Mitch Glazer (Scrooged (1988)), adapting the same-titled 1860-1861 novel by Charles Dickens (The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)), and directed by great Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón (Sólo con Tu Pareja (1991)).

It is an unrecognizable version of Dickens' deep and funny masterpiece, which moves the story up to present-day America and changes names and story to suit its purpose. It begins with somewhat gross French-kissing between the two overly pretty children; then we meet them several years later, and Ethan Hawke (Waterland (1992)) and Gwyneth Palthrow (Iron Man (2008)) are mannered and insufferable as their adult versions. They have very little to do, and we never get near to their characters, who share a romance that is everything but enticing. The element about Hawke's dorky Finn's scribblings later becoming highly sought after art is especially laughable and gravel in the face of all actual Dickens fans caught in this film's web of nonsense. Robert De Niro (Goodfellas (1990)) is the crude escaped convict, whom the boy helps for about half a day, - and is thereby fatefully connected to for the remainder of his life ...

Great Expectations feels as though made by a filmmaker possibly more interested in the starry production and achieving something remotely similar to Richard Linklater's original, successful romance Before Sunrise (1995) (also with Hawke) than in the actual adaptation of Dickens at hand. Emmanuel Lubezki's (The Cat in the Hat (2003)) handsome photography is wasted in this awfully shapeless blunder.

 

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Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $

Box office: 55.4 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.21 times its cost)

[Great Expectations was released 30 January (North America) and runs 111 minutes. Cuarón talked Hawke into taking the part. Shooting took place from July - October 1996 in New York and Florida. Cuarón later called his time doing the film a "horrible experience" that he'd done "for the wrong reasons" and "shouldn't have done." The film opened #2 (behind Titanic) to a 9.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 26.4 mil. $ (47.7 % of the total gross. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Cuarón returned with Y Tu Mamá También (2001). Hawke returned in The Newton Boys (1998); Palthrow in A Perfect Murder (1998); De Niro in Ronin (1998); and Anne Bancroft (Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)) with a voice performance in Antz (1998), in Deep in My Heart (1999, TV movie) and theatrically in Up at the Villa (2000). Great Expectations is rotten at 37 % with a 5.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Great Expectations?

Mortdecai (2015) - Comedic wonder Depp creates mirth in divisive Koepp adaptation

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+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 41.12 mil. $ range

 

 

Johnny Depp is lounged on a chaise longue looking foolish beneath a smug Gwyneth Palthrow on this poster for David Koepp's Mortdecai

Charlie Mortdecai is an anachronistic Brit, an art expert and a bon vivant. - But he is getting to be financially seriously on his tail, and so he agrees to help the MI5 in a case concerning lost art.

 

Mortdecai is written by Eric Aronson (On the Line (2002)), adapting the novel Don't Point that Thing at Me (1972) from the Mortdecai novel series by Kyril Bonfiglioli (All the Tea in China (1978)), and directed by David Koepp (The Trigger Effect (1996)).

The plot (and to some degree the film as such) is enormously forgettable, but blast me if I wasn't entertained and had a fun time while Mortdecai was on. Johnny Depp (Rango (2011)) is the affected title character, an occasion for having ingenious fun with more or less antiquated words and idioms from the English language, - paired with slapstick and vulgar elements, which hit the mark often for this reviewer, (if for few others.)

Ewan McGregor (Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)) works well as Mortdecai's 'straight face', and Gwyneth Pathrow (Sylvia (2003)) is a sweet wife to Depp here, while Paul Bettany (Bent (1997)) is a real kick as a clenched-teeth, sex-mad man servant.

Mortdecai is elegantly directed in a laid-back style, which doesn't put the film's action elements in the foreground. Depp is a Peter Sellers-like comedic star here in my opinion.

 

Related post:

 

David Koepp: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Carlito's Way (1993) - De Palma's best gangster movie (writer)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here 

 

Cost: 60 mil. $

Box office: 47.2 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.78 times its cost)

[Mortdecai premiered 21 January (Belgium, France) and runs 107 minutes. Shooting took place in England, including London, and in California, including Los Angeles, from October 2013 - ?. The film opened #9 to a 4.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it never improved its rank and grossed 7.6 mil. $ (16.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 6.2 mil. $ (13.1 %) and China with 3.5 mil. $ (7.4 %). Koepp returned with You Should Have Left (2020). Depp returned in Black Mass (2015); Palthrow in Nightcap (2016, TV-series) and theatrically in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017); McGregor in Last Days in the Desert (2015). Mortdecai is rotten at 12 % with a 3.50/10 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Mortdecai?

Contagion (2011) - Soderbergh's global pandemic creep-out

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2 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Screenplay: Scott Z. Burns (lost to Rory Stewart Kinnear, Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin)
Best Editing: Stephen Mirrione (lost to The Artist)

+ Best Disaster Movie of the Year

The anxiety-provoking, star-studded poster for Steven Soderbergh's Contagion

A woman returns to Minneapolis from a trip to Hong Kong and dies. Symptoms and more deaths follow in rapid succession in many other places around the world. Soon it is certain: A new global pandemic is loose.

- Get ready to get goosebumps and freak out! 
Contagion is an extremely well-oiled catastrophe thriller first and foremost, telling a story that focuses on several auspicious points of impact. It showcases an impressive ensemble cast: Elliott Gould (Ocean's Thirteen (2007)), Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road (2008)), Gwyneth Palthrow (Se7en (1995)), Laurence Fishburne (Apocalypse Now (1979)), Jude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)) as a pain-in-the-ass protest blogger, and Matt Damon (Interstellar (2014)) is strong in the string that is the heart of the story.
As usual, master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Haywire (2011)) is able to serve a deeply modern and starkly realistic tale, (Contagion has received praise from several scientists that are experts in the medical disaster field.) Part of its effectiveness comes from its feeling so eerily credible.
The film is structured as a multi-character presentation of the medical catastrophe with some fine points-of-interest chosen to illuminate the processes at play in such a dire situation. It loses some air, paradoxically, once the panic spreads, but then tightens its suspense again. It is excellently written by Scott Z. Burns (The Informant! (2009)), photographed by Soderbergh himself and edited to perfection. Contagion is a great creeper of a movie.
Soderbergh is still on break as a director, serving at the moment, instead, as executive producer and cinematographer on Magic Mike XXL (2015).


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Gweneth Palthrow in a scary still from Steven Soderbergh's Contagion

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 135.4 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Soderbergh's style and storytelling seems to often be too sophisticated and serious to attract the huge crowds, and with a big-budgeted feature like Contagion, this became a commercial hindrance: The film premiered #1 in the US with 23.1 mil. $ and ended its domestic run with 75.6 mil. $ (56 % of the total gross). Contagion has made in excess of 12 mil. $ on DVD and Bluray sales.]

What do you think of Contagion?
Other movies about pandemics that are worth seeing?