The Martian (2015) - Scott and Damon triumph with hopeful sci-fi adventure

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+ Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year + Best Science-Fiction Movie of the Year

Star Matt Damon's well-known and adored mug in a space helmet is looking straight at us on the poster for Ridley Scott's The Martian

A group of astronauts on Mars get into an emergency and leave the planet without one man, whom they believe to be dead. But he isn't. And now he is trapped alone on Mars ...

The Martian is written by Drew Goddard (The Good Place (2016-20)), based on the same-titled 2011 novel by Andy Weir (Theft of Pride (2000)), and directed by English master filmmaker Ridley Scott (The Duellists (1977)), whose 23rd feature it is.
Scott seems to come full circle here in terms of his body of work; his career as a leader in popular mega-cinema exploded with Alien (1979), a film of the horrors of space, and here it returns to space but now to a story of the incredible nature of our ability to explore the unknown, - and (not least) return home from it again.
As a science-enthusiastic and sober major motion picture The Martian is extraordinary, and it reminds its audiences what human abilities can muster when we work together.
It is very much a film for its time, and its best sequence, which involves David Bowie's Starman (1972), makes one positively hopeful - a rare treat in today's world.
The Martian is a little over-long, and some in its handsome, eclectic star cast, (Kristen Wiig (The Simpsons (2011-13)) in particular), are wasted. Others, like Sean Bean (Legends (2014-15)), Jeff Daniels (Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)) and Donald Glover (Guava Island (2019)), get to shine, and Matt Damon (The Third Wheel (2002)) is equally credible as the indomitably up-beat human of resources Mark Watney.  
The Martian is a well-made sci-fi adventure that'll rouse your spirits. Don't miss it.

Related posts:

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

Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

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

Robin Hood (2010) - R. Scott's grand film of the English legend 

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2008 in films - according to Film Excess 

Body of Lies (2008) - R. Scott's terror actioner is a fatiguing turkey 

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2007 in films - according to Film Excess 

American Gangster (2007) - Great American - now black - gangster picture
A Good Year (2006) - Ridley Scott likes Provence

Hannibal (2001) - Grisly highlights in low-yielding Scott sequel 

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Gladiator (2000) - Experience the grandeur of the Roman Empire in Scott's dramatic masterpiece

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Blade Runner (1982) director's cut - Visual extravaganza, great SF 
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 108 mil. $
Box office: 630.1 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 5.83 times its cost)
[The Martian premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 141 minutes. Goddard was initially intended to direct but turned instead to comic adaptation Sinister Six, which is still not made. Shooting took place in Jordan, Hungary, including Budapest, in Houston, Texas and in California for about 70 days in and around March 2015. NASA was deeply involved with advising on many aspects of the film, which is estimated to be "reasonably realistic", according to James L. Green, Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA. Co-star Jessica Chastain was reportedly paid 2 mil. $ for her performance, whereas Damon is reported to have earned 18 mil. $. Disregarding that the film is a star vehicle which Damon carries, Chastain has offered her anger at the salary differences in public. The film opened #1 to a 54.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it was #1 another 4 weekends (not consecutively) and remained in the top 5 for another 3 weeks, grossing 228.4 mil. $ (36.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 94.9 mil. $ (15.1 %) and the UK with 33.9 mil. $ (5.4 %). It was Fox's highest-grossing film of the year and the 10th highest-grossing of the year overall. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Picture to Spotlight, Actor to Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, Adapted Screenplay to Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for The Big Short, Production Design to Mad Max: Fury Road, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing also to Mad Max: Fury Road, and Visual Effects to Ex Machina. It won 2/3 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for 6 BAFTAs, won an AFI award, 4 National Board of Review awards and several other honors. Scott returned with Alien: Covenant - Prologue: The Crossing (2017, short) and theatrically with Alien: Covenant (2017). Damon returned in Jason Bourne (2016). The Martian is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.85/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Martian?

Blood Work (2002) - Eastwood churns out uninspired thriller adaptation

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Star/producer/director Clint Eastwood looks determined here on a simple poster for Blood Work in black and reds

McCaleb is a locally famous homicide detective, who is retiring just as he suddenly requires a heart transplantation. A couple of years later he is contacted by a woman, whose sister's heart he now has, who comes to him with a sincere plea: Find her murderer!

Blood Work is written by Brian Helgeland (Payback (1999)), adapting Michael Connelly's (Echo Park (2006)) same-titled 1998 novel, and directed by Californian master filmmaker Clint Eastwood (Play Misty for Me (1971)), whose 23rd feature it is. Eastwood also produced and plays the protagonist McCaleb in the film.
Eastwood seems hopeful to recapture the success he enjoyed with previous cop thrillers like Richard Tuggle's great Tightrope (1984), which he starred in, but Blood Work lacks more than the sex of that fine film.
Wanda de Jesus (CSI: Miami (2002-03)) plays the young Latin-American woman who comes to McCaleb with her plea for him to help, while she falls for him despite their enormous age difference; a romance which the film doesn't make entirely credible. McCaleb also has a somewhat closer age-wise African-American ex whom he could have gone back to, but instead the filmmakers make this other reach.
Several elements in Blood Work don't come together: Jeff Daniels (Steve Jobs (2015)) is a comic sidekick 'dude' on a boat, SPOILER - who turns out to be a psychopath. His character's 180 degree turn from sympathetic to a racist madman is also not made credible.
An Eastwood fan will have patience with Blood Work due to the star's presence in it, but it is undeniably one of his poorest films, heavy on clichés, unoriginal and lacking in suspense. A big oops.

Related posts:

Clint Eastwood: Sully (2016) - Eastwood's miracle landing biopic is inert and overrated  2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
American Sniper (2014) - Eastwood conveys an American man and myth in electric masterpiece  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess   
J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic   
Gran Torino (2008) - Eastwood's actor persona comes full circle in absolute smash (co-producer/director/starring actor)
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story  
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]    
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Letters from Iwo Jima/硫黄島からの手紙 [Öjima Kara no Tegami] (2006) - The Japanese side of Eastwood's remarkable WWII two-parter   
Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  
The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (starring actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (co-starring actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (starring actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (starring actor)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (starring actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (starring actor)
The Enforcer (1976) - Eastwood teaches revolutionaries a lesson in third, less punchy Dirty Harry (starring star)
The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (starring actor)  
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (starring actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (starring actor)  
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Leone ends his poncho trilogy with certified classic (starring actor)
For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer (co-starring actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (starring actor) 

Watch a short trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 31.7 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.63 times its cost)
[Blood Work premiered 6 August (California) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting lasted 38 days in February - ? in California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release xXx, holdover hit Signs, new release Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams and holdover hit Austin Powers in Goldmember, to a 7.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 26.2 mil. $ (82.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.3 mil. $ (4.1 %) and Spain with 987k $ (3.1 %). The film won an award at the Venice International Film Festival. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches higher than this one. Eastwood returned with Mystic River (2003) as a filmmaker and in his own Million Dollar Baby (2004) as an actor. Blood Work is rotten at 53 % with a 5.54/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Blood Work?

Dumb and Dumber/Dumb & Dumber (1994) - The Farrellys brothers and Carrey/Daniels' comedy classic

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+ Best Colorado Movie of the Year + Best Road Movie of the Year 

You'd have to have a pretty cold heart not to smile or guffaw at the poster for Bobby & Peter Farrelly's Dumb and Dumber

QUICK REVIEW:

Best friends and fellow idiots Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas are fired from their jobs and share a dream of starting a worm store. But without any future prospects beyond this, they decide to return the 'forgotten' suitcase of a hot lady who Lloyd just met to Aspen, Colorado.

Dumb and Dumber is a crazy-funny movie that's coarse and has a couple of the stupidest characters the silver screen has ever produced, and yet the film manages to tell of their misadventure in an actually smart way, which is quite an accomplishment.
Jeff Daniels (101 Dalmatians (1996)) and Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)) throw themselves into their characters and the quest with great enthusiasm, and Carrey is totally fantastic. Dumb and Dumber is a generally extremely funny, memorable, well-made and chipper comedy.
It is also the hugely successful debut of great Pennsylvanian writer/director brothers Bobby & Peter Farrelly (Kingpin (1996)).

Related reviews:
 
Peter & Bobby Farrelly: Dumb and Dumber To (2014) or, Harry and Lloyd: Still Dumb and Lovin' It!  
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Hall Pass (2011) - The Farrelly brothers' probably worst film to date 

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Bobby & Peter Farrelly's Dumb and Dumber

 Watch the original trailer for the film here

Cost: 17 mil. $
Box ofice: 247.2 mil. $
=  Huge hit
[Dumb and Dumber was released December 16 and runs 107 minutes. The film's location scenes were shot in Utah, Colorado and Rhode Island. Carrey's chipped tooth is not an effect: He had his tooth chipped in a boyhood tussle and wears a crown on it normally. Carrey, fresh off the giant success of Ace Ventura, was paid 7 mil. $ to appear in Dumb and Dumber; Daniels, whom New Line Cinema didn't want and tried to scare off, was paid a measly 50k $, in what must be one of the most outrageous wage differences between starring actors in the same film. Dumb and Dumber opened #1 in North America to 16.3 mil. $ and grossed 127.1 mil. $ (51.4 % of the total gross) there. The film got mixed reviews, (Roger Ebert awarded it a measly 2 stars), and Carrey was, outrageously, Razzie-nominated as Worst New Star. The movie topped the holiday season of the year and has spun an animated series, a prequel and a 2014 sequel. Carrey developed a relationship with his love interest in the film played by Lauren Holly (After the Ball (2015)), and they were married for less than a year between 1996-97. Dumb and Dumber is fresh at 66 % with a 5.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dumb and Dumber?

Dumb and Dumber To (2014) or, Harry and Lloyd: Still Dumb and Lovin' It!

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They're back! In Peter and Bobby Farrelly's Dumb and Dumber To

20 years after the original Dumb and Dumber (1994), a modern comedy classic, its creators (and four (!) other writers) have summoned the two stars for another really dumb adventure:

Lloyd (Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)) has been in a mental institution for the last 20 years, where his pal Harry (Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale (2005)) has taken care of him. - But it was all just an elaborate (and very lengthy) joke! Harry needs a new kidney, so when they learn that he has a daughter who has been given away for adoption, they head out to find her and get him one of her kidneys.

This loony plot doesn't really lead anywhere, although there is an amusing tail to the dedicated pointlessness at hand in Dumb and Dumber To. It takes quite a while before it really gets started, and then it's not an exciting plot in any way, more just an excuse for all the goofiness that ensues. A MacGuffin pack is introduced along with a slew of other more of less confusing ideas that are wrapped around a continuous row of gags, quite a few of them funny, if you just relax and get into the redonkulous mood of the film.
I saw it in a packed theater with lots of kids, who couldn't control themselves laughing at the hilarities of Harry and Lloyd. It raised the atmosphere (as kids' laughter tends to), even if I thought to myself that the kids might have exploded with laughter, if they had run the original film instead by mistake.
Carrey is giving it his all as usually, and as does Daniels, even though the years have obviously been rougher on him. He has really red eyes through much of the film, which got me speculating if he might be high while acting here. - It's hard to tell, because the characters are so idiotic in themselves, but I definitely wouldn't rule out the possibility.

The details:

The trailer for Dumb and Dumber To seemed to dispel the relative innocence of the original with a very vulgar humor replacing it. I was glad to find that that wasn't exactly the case. - Sure To is vulgar and coarse, but not overly so, I thought. Mostly it's just incredibly silly. Some of the funniest things in the film, I thought, are the fantasy scenes.
The film has Laurie Holden (The Mist (2007)) and a refreshing, self-mocking Kathleen Turner (Romancing the Stone (1984)) in supporting roles.
It has been slaughtered by most critics, but it is far from as bad as they say. Dumb and Dumber To is far from greatness, but it is a decent goofball comedy from the modern masters of that kind of comedy, brothers Peter & Bobby Farrelly (Kingpin (1996)).

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 169.8 mil. $ and counting
= Box office success
[The success of this sequel was not at all a sure thing, the studios felt: Warner Bros. declined to make it, although they made heaps from the original. Independent company Red Granite finally financed it. And as it turned out, lots of people were ready to catch up with more Dumb and Dumber: Opening first in the US, the film was Carrey's biggest hit since Bruce Almighty (2003) and even bested the original. The film has done very well in many other countries as well.]

What do you think of Dumb and Dumber To?
What is the Farrelly Brothers' best film in your opinion and why?

Looper (2012) - Time traveling assassinations have never been hipper or more exciting!

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Cool poster for Rian Johnson's Looper

QUICK REVIEW:

30 years into the future: Assassinations for future clients are carried out by 'loopers', who in the end have to kill their own future selfs and retire. But our hero misses his own future self's execution, who does not want to be executed yet.
Confused? The movie straightens it out, (if you can keep up with it.)
Looper is an original, hard-hitting and sophisticated science fiction action thriller. With a high pace so that the few questions along the way are quickly forgotten again, it blasts itself through to its audience with a mix of visual and intellectual artistry that is a pure joy.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt leads Rian Johnson's Looper, playing a young Bruce Willis, and nails it

Bruce Willis (Die Hard (1988)) is cool as action hero (once again) with a heart, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin (2004)), Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada (2006)), Paul Dano (L.I.E. (2001)) and Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale (2005)) are each of them also very good as hard-skinned individuals.
Especially the plot-line about the little boy is cool and fascinating and very well achieved.
Looper impresses also with its cool photography by Steve Yedlin (Brick (2005)). It was a welcome surprise in 2012, a very consistent time travel movie. - Woof!
It is both written and directed by Rian Johnson, the writer-director behind Brick (2005) and The Brothers Bloom (2008). Surprisingly, considering Looper's massive success, Johnson doesn't have a new project yet. (Ed. note 08/01/14: He now does, and it is no less than Star Wars: Episode VIII and IX!)

Watch the awesome trailer for the very cool movie Looper here

Budget: 30 mil. $
Box office: 176.5 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of Looper?
Have you seen some of Rian Johnson's other films, and if so, how are they?
Are they as clever and exciting as Looper?

Away We Go (2009) or, Where Do We Start This Family?

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Still-based, hand-drawn poster graphics like this on the poster for Sam Mendes' Away We Go clearly denote tongue-in-cheek indie wittiness

A young couple are going to be parents, but when his parents move to Belgium, they no longer have a reason to stay where they are, and so they head out on a cross-country-trip to find the ideal place to start their family.

A natural funny/happy opposite to English master director Sam Mendes' (Jarhead (2005)) tense period drama masterpiece preceding it, Revolutionary Road (2008), Away We Go is a road movie and a love comedy that won me over little by little. It was mostly due to the charming lead actors, John Krasinski (Aloha (2015)) and Maya Rudolph (Forever (2018, Tv-series)), and fine supporting actors like Allison Janney (The Big C (2012, TV-series)), Jeff Daniels (Allegiant (2016)), Jim Gaffigan (The Love Guru (2008)), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Monster House (2006)) and others in parts that are, however, quite caricatured, indicating to us and our protagonist couple the various different pitfalls that other couples fall in over time.
Away We Go is written very sweetly and with some laughs by husband-and-wife writer-team Dave Eggers (The Circle (2017)) and Vendela Vida. Mendes doesn't distinguish himself much as a director here, but of course does successfully check off another genre on his list.
The music is a tiring acoustic, indie, singer/songwriter hotchpotch mostly by Scottish musician Alexi Murdoch (Fire Horse (2013, short)).

Related posts:

Sam Mendes: Spectre (2015) - Mendes' second Bond delivers
Skyfall (2012) - Overly celebrated third pout from Daniel Craig as Bond in slick production
American Beauty (1999) or, Escape by Death

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 17 mil. $
Box office: 14.8 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.87 times the cost)
[Away We Go was released 5 June (USA, limited) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in Florida, Arizona, including Phoenix, Colorado and Connecticut. The film opened #26 to a 130k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 506 theaters, grossing 9.4 mil. $ (63.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.9 mil. $ (12.8 %) and Italy with 1.3 mil. $ (8.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Mendes returned with Skyfall (2012). Krasinski returned in It's Complicated (2009), Rudolph in Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Summer Edition (2009, TV-series), Presidential Reunion (2010, short) and theatrically in MacGruber (2010). Away We Go is fresh at 67 % with a 6.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Away We Go?