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A brightly colored, exciting array of characters and colors adorn this poster for Ron Clements and John Musker's Hercules
Little Hercules is born half man half god, and he gets bullied for his over-strong clumsiness, until he meets a creature who wants to train him - and a fair lady, who ignites his hormones.
Hercules is written by Don McEnery, Bob Shaw(A Bug's Life (1998), both), Irene Mecchi (The Lion King (1994)) and master filmmakers, co-writer/directors Iowan Ron Clements and Illinoisan John Musker (Aladdin (1992), both), whose 4th film it is. 13 more individuals are credited with contributing story elements.
The film is overloaded with references and wisecracks for adults that regrettably don't add up to many laughs but certainly make Hercules seem an early study for what later came to successful fruition with Shrek (2001). Danny DeVito (When in Rome (2010)) and James Woods (Nixon (1995)) are among the fine voice performers.
Hercules is stylistically a wildly diverging, almost messy mix visually. It is enjoyable but essentially little more than a colorful children's party of a film.
= Box office success (returned 2.97 times its cost)
[Hercules was released 13 June (USA) and runs 93 minutes. Development began in 1992. Jack Nicholson was sought to voice Hades but didn't pan out due to his enormous salary demand. Production took place in California and in France. The film was opened in 1 and then 2 theaters for its first two weekends before widening to open #2, behind Face/Off, to a 21.4 mil. $ first 'real' weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4), grossing 99.1 mil. $ (39.2 % of the total gross). Though successful, the performance was disappointing in light of the preceding year's many Disney smash triumphs and Disney stock slipped 9.7%. The film was nominated for 1 Oscar, for Best Song (Go the Distance by Alan Menken and David Zippel), lost to My Heart Will Go On by Céline Dion, James Horner and Will Jennings from Titanic. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. By summer 1998, the film had reportedly already brought in additionally 165 mil. $ in VHS sales and rentals. Clements and Musker returned with Treasure Planet (2002). Hercules is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
+ Best Actor's Breakthrough of the Year: Jamie Foxx
Al Pacino's screaming, massive face among the faces of his co-stars in a background of dark-toned American football imagery makes up this poster for Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday
The Miami Sharks' football team are under scrutiny during a dramatic season: The passionate coach, the owner, the city rulers, the quarterback star, the injuries, the fights ...
Any Given Sunday is written by John Logan (Hugo (2011)) and great New-Yorker co-writer/director Oliver Stone (Seizure (1974)), with Daniel Pyne (The Hard Way (1991)) contributing story elements.
It is a an enormously turgid, macho football movie with more shower scenes than many other sports pictures put together, - but it might also be an accurate portrayal of NFL football. It gets near to parodying itself as a sports epic, where the sprawling, character-focused, plot-less structure gives an eclectic experience of the football culture, where a game can feel like a life or death event, more important than anything else in the world.
The film has big, mannered performances (Al Pacino (Bobby Deerfield (1977)) goes berserk); a sexy and well-acting new star (Jamie Foxx (The Great White Hype (1996))); and Stone's cinematic grip on techniques and pizazz, which lifts Any Given Sunday a knee cap over strict banality.
[Any Given Sunday premiered 16 December (California) and runs 162 minutes with a director's cut running 156 minutes. Stone went through several writers and books in the course of developing and refining the script. Cameron Diaz (Knight and Day (2010)) was paid 500k $ for her performance in the film. Shooting took place from January - April 1999 in Texas, including Dallas, and in Miami, Florida. The film opened #1 to a 13.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained in the top 5 for another 2 weekends (#5-#4) and grossed 75.5 mil. $ ( 75.3 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Stone returned with Commandante (2003, documentary), America Undercover (2003-04, documentary) and theatrically with Alexander (2004). Pacino returned in Chinese Coffee (2000); Foxx in Bait (2000); and Diaz in Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her (2000). Any Given Sunday is rotten at 52 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 67.88 mil. $ range
The two stars appear fairly comfortable in a vortex of fiery chaos on the White House lawn on this poster for Roland Emmerich's White House Down
An under-qualified, but highly motivated security agent goes to a job interview with the Secret Service at the White House and brings along his politically obsessed tween daughter. But this turns out not to be a regular day: The White House gets attacked, and this job applicant suddenly has the life of the President of America to protect! And world peace!!!
White House Down is written by writer/co-producer James Vanderbilt (Zodiac (2007)) and directed by Roland Emmerich (Franzmann (1979)). Channing Tatum (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)) is no Bruce Willis, and certainly no Arnold Schwarzenegger, but he does have charm and great on-screen chemistry with Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained (2012)) playing President Obama - ahem, I mean, President James Sawyer, - and that does cover for the fact that he is no real action star. And Joey King (The Conjuring (2013)) puts some real emotion and fine acting into playing his daughter, Emily. The film has two great villains in Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty (2012)) and James Woods (Once Upon a Time in America (1984)). Clarke looks like a mean son of a bitch throughout, and Woods uses his integrity and great face to full effect as the embittered, loony Secret Service boss. Other endeared actors in the movie include Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water (2017)) and Lance Reddick (The Wire (2002-2008)). White House Down takes some time to get started action-wise, which is fine; we get into the characters and are presented with some fascinating White House facts. There are some clichés in its first act, but none fatal. Then the action begins, and the movie grows sillier by the minute. You're either charmed by it and will want to be stay on the pony ride and enjoy it, or you'll pout your way through it to the end, (or turn it off.) I was charmed by White House Down. It does the new thing of having the president participate pretty extensively in the action. Foxx does an excellent effort in avoiding making an impression of Obama, and yet being Obama in most viewers' inner subtext, though of course under another name, and it is pretty funny to see him firing a rocket launcher at another vehicle from 'Ground Force One' in motion across the White House lawn. This scene was my favorite in the film, where huge, beautiful cars chase each other across the White House garden. What a thing to behold for a boy of any age. -It looks amazing, no least considering that the entire film was shot in Canada!
White House Down is cheesy and over-the-top in most every way. Tatum's character apparently can NOT die. Foxx is a fun, cool and jovial president ALL THE TIME. And Clarke is MEAN. Without the film ever being overtly political, though, chances are that you'll like it best, if you're not a die-hard Republican. Luckily, the cheesiness of White House Down does not extend to a romantic ending between Tatum and Maggie Gyllenhaal's (Secretary (2002)) weak, whimsical character. That might have broken the camel's back for me. White House Down is a really outrageous and irreverent action-party, and if you can enjoy it as such, you'll probably have fun watching it, as I certainly did. Emmerich's films are not intellectual propositions. They are popcorn movies and pure escapism. White House Down is a good example of this. It is good, fun entertainment.
Have a look at White House Down in its cool trailer here
Cost: 150 mil. $ Box office: 205.3 mil. $ = Big flop (returned 1.36 times its cost)
[White House Down premiered 21 June (Washington, D.C.) and runs 131 minutes. Vanderbilt was paid 3 mil. $ for his script by Sony Pictures. Shooting took place around August 20112 in Montreal, Quebec and in Washington, D.C.. Sony competed with Millennium Films in producing the film, as they were up against another high-profile White House attack actioner: Millennium Films' Olympus Has Fallen (2013) came about about 3 months prior to theatrical success. White House Down opened #4, behind holdover hit Monsters University, fellow new release The Heat and holdover hit World War Z, to a 24.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 73.1 mil. $ (35.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 28.4 mil. $ (13.8 %) and Germany with 12.7 mil. $ (6.2 %). Emmerich returned with Stonewall (2015). Tatum returned in a short, a TV-series and a voice performance prior to his theatrical return in Foxcatcher (2014); Foxx in a short, 2 music videos and a voice performance prior to his theatrical return in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). White House Down is rotten at 51 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
