The Iron Giant (1999) - Bird's heavily themed family animation debut

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A stylish and retro-cool poster for Brad Bird's The Iron Giant

1950s Maine, the United States: Boy Hogarth is mad about sci-fi magazines during the atomic scare period, when a giant robot from space lands in the forest near his home ...

 

The Iron Giant is written by Tim McCanlies (North Shore (1987)), Brent Forrester (Love (2016-18)) and great Montanan filmmaker, debuting co-writer/director Brad Bird (Ratatouille (2007)), loosely adapted from Ted Hughes' (The Hawk in the Rain (1957)) The Iron Man (1968).

Wonderful, inspired and deeply colorful and vivid animation, which is endowed with a keen comical eye and excellent voice performances from Eli Marienthal (American Pie (1999)), Jennifer Aniston (We're the Millers (2013)), Harry Connick Jr. (New in Town (2009)), and others.

The story's political angle, - weapon are evil and the state and authorities are deceitful, ignorant and hungry for wars, - is a bit too pregnant for a family film. The Iron Giant is nevertheless still a very special and delightful picture.

 

Related posts:

Brad Bird: 2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) - Cruise and Bird's phenomenal action spectacle 
The Incredibles (2004) - Unwanted animation action slam-dunk

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 31.7 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.63 times its cost)

[The Iron Giant premiered 31 July (USA) and runs 87 minutes. Bird was inspired by the murder of his sister, shot dead by her estranged husband, because Hughes' novel was a comforting tale for his children following their mother, poet Sylvia Plath's suicide. Production took place in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #9 to a 5.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, steadily declining from there to end with a 23.1 mil. $ (72.9 % of the total gross) gross. The flop was attributed to Warner Bros. lacking marketing campaign, apparently stemming from lack of faith in the film due to their failure with the preceding year's big animation Quest for Camelot (1998). The film won a BAFTA, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. IMDb's users have rated it in at the site's Top 250 at #239, sitting between Network (1976) and The Handmaiden (2016). Bird returned with The Incredibles (2004). Marienthal returned in 3 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in American Pie 2 (2001). The Iron Giant is certified fresh at 96 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Iron Giant?

Valentine's Day Movie #2: Along Came Polly (2004) - Star energy and laughs aplenty in Hamburg's underrated romcom

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+ Best New York Movie of the Year + Best Romcom of the Year

 

A nice walk in the park for two of cinema's most popular stars at its time makes up this poster for John Hamburg's Along Came Polly

Following a shocking affair between his wife and a scuba instructor on their honeymoon, wounded insurance expert Reuben Feffer meets the free-spirited Polly, whom he used to go to school with, and with her a new and more genuine kind of love forms...

 

Along Came Polly is written and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker John Hamburg (Safe Men (1998)). 

It is an outrageously cheerful comedy in the vein of Meet the Parents (2000), which Hamburg co-wrote, but it is without that film's cringe-worthy, heavy parental dimension. Along Came Polly is a lovely mix of a Farrelly Brothers-like tendency for exaggeration, irresistible stars and real sweetness. Ben Stiller (There's Something About Mary (1998)) is extremely funny here, - his salsa-dancing scenes are hysterical, - and Jennifer Aniston (Office Space (1999)) is just as A+. Debra Messing (The Women (2008)) is good as the cheating wife; Philip Seymour Hoffman (Love Liza (2002)) and Alec Baldwin (The Aviator (2004)) are hilarious in more outré supporting parts, and Bryan Brown (Newsfront (1978)) is ideal as an Australian businessman.

Along Came Polly is a kind of film that felt like a pretty normal occurrence at its arrival 17 years ago, but which certainly isn't anymore. And I miss a film like this: A great, very funny romantic comedy.

Related posts:

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

John Hamburg: I Love You, Man (2009) - Rudd, Segel and others achieve laughs aplenty in Hamburg's feel-good bromance (co-writer/director)

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Meet the Parents (2000) - Roach, Stiller, De Niro and Co. make comedy gold (co-writer)

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 42 mil. $

Box office: 178.3 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.24 times its cost)

[Along Came Polly premiered 12 January (USA) and runs 90 minutes. Aniston was paid 5 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from November 2002 - February 2003 in Hawaii, Los Angeles, California and in New York. The film opened #1 to a 27.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it retained #1 for another weekend and stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#2-#3-#4) and grossed 88 mil. $ (49.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 15 mil. $ (8.4 %) and Germany with 12.4 mil. $ (7 %). Hamburg returned with Stella (2005, TV-series), Welcome to the Captain (2008, TV-series) and theatrically with I Love You, Man (2009). Stiller returned in King of the Hill (2004, TV-series) and theatrically in Starsky & Hutch (2004); Aniston in Friends (1994-04) and theatrically in Derailed (2005). Along Came Polly is rotten at 27 % with a 4.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Along Came Polly?

Management (2008) - Great star chemistry in under-appreciated romcom

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+ Best On-Screen Couple of the Year: Jennifer Aniston & Steve Zahn

 

 

A lazily clad handsy fellow wanting to grab Jennifer Aniston's butt is the picture used to attract audiences on this questionable poster for Stephen Belber's Management

A man running his parents' Arizona motel without a life partner himself one day has a beautiful businesswoman as guest for a couple of nights, who subsequently drives off with his heart. - But can he score her for the long run?

 

Management is written and directed by debuting Stephen Belber (Tape (2001, writer)).

Steve Zahn (Night Train (2009)) is really natural and funny, which also goes for Jennifer Aniston (The Edge (1992-93)), and the two share real chemistry in this delightful and different romcom. It isn't sugar-coated but it is packed with charm. There's fine supporting performances from James Hiroyuki Liao (Prison Break (2008, TV-series)) as Zahn's Chinese friend Al, and Woody Harrelson (Ellen (1998, TV-series)) swings in a role as an aggressive punk-rocker ex to Aniston.

Management doesn't reach poetic or any unforgettable heights, but it is a damn sympathetic crowd-pleaser.

 

Related post:

 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

 

 Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 2.5 mil. $

= Uncertain (but likely a box office disaster; projected return of 0.12 times its cost)

[Management premiered 7 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in Oregon, including Portland, from October - November 2007. Aniston received 8-9 mil. $ for performances in the years around Management, and so likely received something in this neighborhood for the film, which may therefore easily have cost 20-30 mil. $. This would make it a box office disaster. The film opened #17 to a 378k $ first weekend in 212 theaters in North America, where it only diminished from there and grossed 934k $ (37.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Brazil with 483k $ (19.3 %) and Mexico with 295k $ (11.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The-Numbers asserts that the film made 3.9 mil. $ on home video sales in North America, which, if added into the equation, would change the film's status to that of 'merely' a mega-flop. Belber returned with Match (2014). Aniston returned in 30 Rock (2008, TV-series) and theatrically in Marley & Me (2008); Zahn in Monk (2009, TV-series) and theatrically in Night Train (2009). Management is rotten at 47 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Management?

Wanderlust (2012) - Wain, Marino and stars Rudd and Aniston cause bellowing laughs in frank satire

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+ Best Comedy of the Year 
+ Best Satire of the Year

Make the jump with Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston, this poster for David Wain's Wanderlust seems to beckon us

A sympathetic New-Yorker couple buy their first apartment and immediately fall into a difficult financial situation, which makes them make a radical shift in their lives, moving to a hippie commune called Elysium.

David Wain (Role Models (2008)) returns with a hilarious comedy, co-written by Wain and Ken Marino (Diggers (2006)), which gives Paul Rudd (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)) and Jennifer Aniston (Derailed (2005)) plenty of space to be the terrific and very funny stars they are. - Especially Aniston is wonderful here, coming to the film with a blessed lot of enthusiasm, which also sees her coupled onscreen with her later husband Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive (2001)). (The two had met in 2008 and reconnected on this film; they eventually got hitched in 2015 and still are.)
Wanderlust is driven by snappy comedy, filled with fun lines and with a keen eye for the absurdities of both the hippie commune and the extremely consumerist lifestyle of Rudd's character's brother's family, which it is contrasted against.
Alan Alda (Gone Are the Days! (1963)) has a stellar supporting role, and Joe Lo Truglio (Escape My Life (2012, TV-series)) and co-writer-star Marino are also both strong as the commune's nudist and Rudd's super-douche brother, respectively.
Wanderlust doesn't reinvent the wheel, and not all in it succeeds, but it is an open-minded laugh-fest only a fool would reject.

Related posts:

David Wain: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
They Came Together (2014) - Rudd and Poehler clown around in Wain's romcom spoof

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 35 mil. $
Box office: 23.8 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Wanderlust premiered 16 February (Los Angeles) and runs 98 minutes. Jessica Alba turned down the role that was eventually played by Malin Akerman. Filming took place in Georgia, including Atlanta, and in New York from September 2010 - ?. The film opened #8 to a disappointing 6.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 17.4 mil. $ (73.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.7 mil. $ (7.1 %) and Mexico with 0.9 mil. $ (3.8 %). Video sales accrued an additional 3.8 mil. $. It doesn't change the film's status, if added to its theatrical gross. For some reason audiences didn't at all turn up in the kind of numbers needed in order to make the film a success. Wanderlust is fresh at 60 % with a 5.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Wanderlust?

We're the Millers (2013) - Aniston and Co. shine in Thurber's hilarious road comedy

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+ Best Comedy of the Year + Best Road Movie of the Year

 

Four game stars pose for Rawson Marshall Thurber's We're the Millers

When a pot dealer loses his drugs and his money, he is tasked with smuggling in dope from Mexico by his douche-bag boss to make up for it. To do so successfully, he enlists three other destitute people and heads south with them as the 'Miller family'.

We're the Millers, written by Bob Fisher, Steve Faber (Wedding Crashers (2005), both), John Morris and Sean Anders (Dumb and Dumber To (2014), both), is the second film by great San Franciscan director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball (2004)). It is a surprisingly hilarious, well-paced road movie comedy.
We're the Millers is a real performers' movie: Lluis Guzmán (Rise of the Damned (2011)) has a funny cameo; Ed Helms (The Hangover Part III (2013)) is funny as super-douche bag Brad Gurdlinger; Kathryn Hahn (Wanderlust (2012)) and Nick Offerman (A Walk in the Woods (2015)) in particular are a riot as a camping enthusiast couple who the 'Millers' meet.
Will Poulter (The Revenant (2015)) enjoys a minor breakthrough being very funny as innocent 'son' Kenny. Jason Sudeikis (Drinking Buddies (2013)) has the part that would have gone to Chevy Chase if the film had been made in the 1980s, I assume, and he does okay, - although he is no Chase. Jennifer Aniston (The Switch (2010)), lastly, is in her ace as a comedienne (and still wildly enticing woman) here, and it is only adding to the all-around amusement that it's clear that everyone is having a ball doing the film.
We're the Millers breaks a few taboos in a funny way, and although it probably has a plot point too many, it is mostly unimportant, since the film hits its tone so well and is as funny as it is.

Related post:

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 37 mil. $

Box office: 269.9 mil. $

= Huge hit

[We're the Millers premiered August 3 (Traverse City Film Festival, Michigan) and runs 110 minutes. Development of the film began way back in 2002, with Steve Buscemi and Will Arnett in talks to star at different points. Filming took place from July - October 2012 in New Mexico and North Carolina. The film opened #2, behind fellow newcomer Elysium, to a 26.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for an impressive, consecutive 7 weeks and grossed 150.3 mil. $ (55.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 18 mil. $ (6.7 %) and the UK with 13.4 mil. $ (5 %). Poulter won the Best Male Newcomer BAFTA for his performance in the film. A sequel is in development, tentatively set for a 2017 release. We're the Millers is rotten at 47 % with a 5.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of We're the Millers?

She's Funny That Way (2014) - Bogdanovich's probably last film isn't that funny

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This poster for Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way appears promising enough, if maybe a bit bland

 

A New York escort confesses to her psychologist how she over a brief period of time has made the acquaintances of a group of internally tangled persons...

 

She’s Funny That Way, written by Louise Stratten (City Island (2009, actress)) and great New-Yorker co-writer-director Peter Bogdanovich (What's Up, Doc? (1972)), is an attempt at an [Woody] Allenesque comedy. Regrettably, it doesn't work, mainly because it isn't funny enough, and also because it is hard to get sufficiently interested in the story's affluent characters and their problems.

Imogen Poots (Green Room (2015)), - who is British, - is charming as the escort and utilizes a heavy New-York accent that matches Mercedes Ruhl's in The Fisher King (1991). Jennifer Aniston (Along Came Polly (2004)) as the shrink has funny-bones and the kind of energy that is lacking from the performances of Owen Wilson (The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)) and Rhys Ifans (Mr. Nice (2010)), who play a couple of fools. Kathryn Hahn (Bad Moms (2016)) tries but also isn't particularly funny here. Keep your eyes peeled for several star cameos.

The style of She's Funny That Way is a peculiar blend of intellectual, verbally oriented comedy and the screwball kind that Bogdanovich famously and hilariously reanimated with What's Up, Doc?. The blend doesn't gel. But She’s Funny That Way is a Movie, and especially a Bogdanovich fan will still find it feasibly entertaining.

 

Related posts:

 

Peter Bogdanovich: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)

What's Up, Doc? (1972) - Screwball comedy revived for a wonderful show

The Wild Angels (1966) - Young biker rebels deliver a counter-culture punch in Corman's hands (co-writer) 

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 6 mil. $

= Unknown (but likely a big flop)

[She's Funny That Way premiered August 29 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 93 minutes. The script was written in 1999-2000 by Bogdanovich and ex-wife Stratten as a comedy collaboration to keep their spirits up during financial troubles, originally intended to be starring John Ritter (who died before production) and Cybill Shepherd, (who still plays a small role.) It was shot in New York in 29 days, starting July 11 2013, with some of the roles only getting cast during shooting. The North American distribution rights were acquired by Clarius Entertainment, who then dropped the film for unknown reasons, at which time Lionsgate Premiere picked it up for a small theatrical release and as VoD, (which is not accounted for in the box office figure above.) The film ran for 3 weeks, topping in 26 theaters in North America, were it grossed just 111k $ (1.9 % of the total gross). The biggest 3 markets were Russia with 822k $ (13.7 %), Italy with 597k $ (10 %) and Poland with 585k $ (9.8 %). Without a cost figure (and the VoD performance unknown), it isn't possible to make out the film's theatrical performance for sure, but if it was made cheap, on for instance a 5 mil. $ budget, the film would likely still rate as a big flop. She's Funny That Way is rotten at 39 % with a 5.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of She’s Funny That Way?

Friends with Money (2006) - Holofcener's poignant midlife-crisis dramedy

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+ Best Dramedy of the Year

The four great actresses top this simple poster for Nicole Holofcener's Friends with Money

Friends with Money is the third feature by great New Yorker writer-director Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said (2013)).

Olivia is the black sheep in her group of friends, who have all three married and become wealthy. She is single, lonely and works as a maid. But as it turns out, she is not the only one of them who has problems.

Holofcener has established herself as a strong chronicler of modern American urbanite lives and issues, and her intelligent and warm, sardonic humor shines through in Friends, which is filled with solely realistic characters.
They, - especially the ones around Olivia, who have "made it" and are off-puttingly aware of this at times, - are sometimes unsympathetic, but through the efforts of a great cast, we still never have enough of them:
Jennifer Aniston (Cake (2014)) proves her weight as a fine dramatic actress, and Catherine Keener (Into the Wild (2007)) and Jason Isaacs (Good (20008)) share especially one piercingly written and played scene SPOILER as a man and wife whose marriage has really hit the rocks. Frances McDormand (Olive Kitteridge (2014), TV-miniseries) and Simon McBurney (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)) are also great as a married couple who are pulled in each their own problematic directions as well, and particularly McDormand shines as a menopausal woman with an anger problem.

Simon McBurney and Jennifer Aniston in Nicole Holofcener's Friends with Money

The details:

The score is composed by the great Rickie Lee Jones (Femme (2013)) with Craig Richey (A Marine Story (2010)), but unfortunately, it doesn't add very much to the film.
Friends with Money is a fine film about menopause and midlife crisis for married and unmarried people, more than a film much about the issue of money between friends. One might have wanted to stay with the characters and story a little longer. Also, the film isn't funny enough to excel as a drama-comedy, and the drama also isn't really stirring enough for it to break out as more than 'good' as a drama.
Still this is a sensitive and smart film with some lovely actors.
Since Enough Said, Holofcener has jumped back on the TV wagon, and I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that she comes out with a movie for us again some time soon. 

Related posts:

Enough Said (2013) or, The Southern California Mix-Up 
Enough Said (2013) or, There Is One For All of Us (by guest reviewer)
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

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]

 

This poster for Nicole Holofcener's Friends with Money presents the film as a happy-go-lucky, a-laugh-a-minute chick-flick, - which it isn't

 Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 6.5 mil. $
Box office: 18.2 mil. $
= Box office success
[Friends with Money premiered as the opening night film at Sundance January 19 and runs 88 min. It opened wide to 4.9 mil. $, but was mostly a limited release at less than 600 screens in North America, where it grossed 13.3 mil. $ (73.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 1.3 mil. $ (7.1 %) and the UK with 0.8 mil. $ (4.4 %). Friends with Money is fresh at 72 % with a 6.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Friends with Money?

Horrible Bosses (2011) - The stars nearly make up for this rackety Hollywood raunch vehicle

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Stars stare at you to get you to see Seth Gordon's Horrible Bosses

QUICK REVIEW:

Three friends waste their lives under three totally psychopathic bosses. They decide to kill them, but it turns out to be easier said than done.

Around once a minute throughout Seth Gordon's (Identity Thief (2013)) Horrible Bosses, we are reminded that it's an R-rated, modern, raunchy comedy by another line or action thought of as transgressive, - which becomes a bit tiring. Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley (The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), both) have written the script with Michael Markowitz (Becker (1999-2002)) and have not created one venerable character in the bunch.
Horrible Bosses gets away with it, because it is fairly amusing and very star-studded. Among the stars, Kevin Spacey (House of Cards (2013-15)) is awesomely cool here, while Charlie Day (Pacific Rim (2013)) is an obnoxious pain-in-the-ass, (although others actually think that he is brilliant here...!)

Watch the trailer here

Cost: Estimated 35-37 mil. $
Box office: 209.6 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Horrible Bosses opened stronger than expected with a 28.3 mil. $ opening weekend in the US, #2 behind Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It ended up making 117.5 mil. $ in the US (56 % of the total gross) and has surpassed The War of the Roses (1989, 86.8 mil. $) as the highest-grossing dark comedy in unadjusted dollars. Horrible Bosses 2 came out in 2014.]

What do you think of Horrible Bosses?
Seen the sequel?
How is it?