The Gift (2015) - Edgerton's impressive thriller debut

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Joel Edgerton with marked facial features and dark-colored hair looks ominous with a big present on this poster for his own The Gift

An attractive, successful married couple move into a house in the husband's childhood neighborhood in California, where an old schoolmate looks them up with gifts and disturbing behavior ...

The Gift is written and directed by great Australian filmmaker, debuting writer/co-producer/co-star/director Joel Edgerton (Jac et Bill (1996, short)).

Edgerton creates a dynamite thriller as his first venture into feature directing here: Elegantly told and shot, (by cinematographer Eduard Grau (Buried (2010))), The Gift is a whispering, creeping time, carefully dosed by what seems like the hand of an expert.

Jason Bateman (Up in the Air (2009)) is particularly terrific, but also Rebecca Hall (A Bag of Hammers (2011)) and Edgerton himself (as the blast from the past Gordo character) are excellent. It is also good to see Busy Phillips (Thrilling Adventure Hour Live (2015)) again, an underused actress, who looks lovely here.

The Gift is a complex film with many layers, which can't help but haunt one's mind for a time after it's over. An impressive feat.

Related posts:

Joel Edgerton: Loving (2016) - Edgerton and Negga own the screen in Nichols' powerful period drama (co-star)

It Comes at Night (2017) - Shults' sparse horror leaves too much unanswered (actor)

Midnight Special (2016) - Nichols' strange, cool sci-fi curveball (co-star)

The Rover (2014) - A dreary journey to Michôd's desolate, hopeless Australia (story contributor) 

The Great Gatsby (2013) - Luhrmann exuberance and great stars create thrilling adaptation (co-star)

Warrior (2011) - O'Connor's superbly acted MMA drama packs emotional fireworks (co-star)

The Thing/The Thing Awakens/The Thing: The Beginning (2011) - Career-ending, flawed monster horror prequel (actor)

 

 

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 5 mil. $

Box office: 58.9 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 11.78 times its cost)

[The Gift premiered 30 July (Los Angeles) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took 25 days from January - February 2015 in Los Angeles, California. Edgerton only began shooting his own scenes 2 weeks into the shoot, and had his older brother, director Nash Edgerton help behind the camera then. The film opened #3, behind holdover hit Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation and fellow new release Fantastic Four to an 11.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 43.7 mil. $ (74.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.2 mil. $ (3.7 %) and Australia with 1.7 mil. $ (2.9 %). Edgerton returned with Boy Erased (2018). As an actor he returned in Black Mass (2015); Bateman in The Family Fang (2015); and Hall in Christine (2016). The Gift is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Gift?

The Great Gatsby (2013) - Luhrmann exuberance and great stars create thrilling adaptation

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+ Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Joel Edgerton

 

 

An inviting collection of smartly dressed stars invite from this metallic-designed, expressionism-invoking poster for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway is a young, hopeful bond salesman, who lives in Long Island as the neighbor of one of New York's richest, most mysterious bachelors, Mr. Jay Gatsby.

The Great Gatsby is written by Craig Pearce (Romeo + Juliet (1996)) and co-writer/co-producer/director Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom (1992)), adapting the same-titled 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (This Side of Paradise (1920)).

Luhrmann experiments with using 3D, visual maneuvers and music, and some of it is cool (such as the scenes of Carraway being drunk) and succeeds, while other things don't: One thing is that the visual style lays an unreality on top of everything, which is sometimes too substantial to look past. And there are sound issues in a driving scene between Carraway and Gatsby.

But the prevailing visual impression is lush and irresistible. The cast is sumptuous, and they make this adaptation riveting: Jason Clarke (You Can't Stop the Murders (2003)) and Isla Fisher (Rango (2011)) are good in supporting roles; and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator (2004)), Tobey Maguire (Roseanne (1991, TV-series)) and Carey Mulligan (The Greatest (2009)), - and especially awards-worthy is newcomer Joel Edgerton (Kinky Boots (2005)) as Tom Buchanan, - are all strong. The Great Gatsby is a thrilling, good-looking film, which is far superior to Jack Clayton's 1974 version.

 

Related post:

 

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

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 105 mil. $

Box office: 353.6 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.36 times its cost)

[The Great Gatsby premiered 1 May (New York) and runs 142 minutes. Luhrmann moved with his family to New York in 2010 with the thought that he would shoot the film there. DiCaprio was paid 20 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from September 2011 - January 2012 in Australia, including Sydney, and in New York. The film opened #2, behind hold-over hit Iron Man 3, to a 50 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 144.8 mil. $ (41 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 25.2 mil. $ (7.1 %) and the UK with 23.9 mil. $ (6.8 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, which it both won: Best Costumes and Production Design. It also won 2/3 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for 3 Grammys, among other honors. Luhrmann returned with 2 commercials and The Get Down (2016, TV-series) but has yet to return to theaters again. DiCaprio returned in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013); Maguire in Labor Day (2013); Mulligan in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013); and Edgerton in Felony (2013). The Great Gatsby is rotten at 48 % with a 5.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Great Gatsby?

Midnight Special (2016) - Nichols' strange, cool sci-fi curveball

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A mysterious bespectacled boy reads underneath a blanket on the uninformative poster for Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special

A boy whom a Texan sect is centered around has been abducted, and the authorities send their big guns out to locate him, when among other things they learn that he has divulged some of their secrets, which he couldn't possibly have known about naturally.

Midnight Special is written and directed by great Arkansan filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories (2007)).
It is a strange story about a fantastical boy from a foreign civilization, which is elevated through handsome photography (by Adam Stone (The First (2018, TV-series))), skillful editing, an effective score (by David Wingo (Barry (2018-19))) and an excellent cast.
Jaeden Martell, formerly Lieberher, (St. Vincent (2014)) is tremendously credible as the boy; Adam Driver (Lincoln (2012)) is a delectable NASA scientist; Kirsten Dunst (Luckytown (2000)) finds herself in a very unglamorous maternal crisis in the film; and Michael Shannon (What They Had (2018)) and Joel Edgerton ($9.99 (2008)) are wooden men in the car.
Nichols doesn't miss an occasion to score a facial close-up from anyone in the fine cast, and the father-son dynamic between Shannon and Martell, - when we don't fully know the actual history between the two characters, - is a bit odd. The film remains exciting nevertheless, and it culminates forcefully with a view inside the super-evolved world of the strange boy. Midnight Special is a cool film.

Related posts:

Jeff Nichols: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Loving (2016) - Edgerton and Negga own the screen in Nichols' powerful period drama 
Top 10: Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 
2012 in films - according to Film Exces [UPDATED I]
Mud (2012) - Career-defining, electric Americana
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]    
Take Shelter (2011) or, Madness in Ohio 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 6.7 mil. $
= Mega-flop (returned 0.37 times its cost)
[Midnight Special premiered 12 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 112 minutes. Nichols wrote the script as a reflection of his becoming a father. It is Nichols first studio production, done so only when he was promised final cut. Shooting took place in Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico and in Mississippi from January - March 2014. Dunst wore no makeup in the film. The film opened #30 to a 190k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #14 and in 521 theaters (different weekends), grossing 3.7 mil. $ (55.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.4 mil. $ (20.9 % ) and the UK with 1.3 mil. $ (19.4%). Nichols returned with Loving (2016). Shannon returned in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016); Dunst in Hidden Figures (2016); and Martell in The Confirmation (2016). Midnight Special is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Midnight Special?

Loving (2016) - Edgerton and Negga own the screen in Nichols' powerful period drama

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Historical Movie of the Year + Best Virginia Movie of the Year

A warm and love-filled embrace between its two stars functions as the focus of this pleasant poster for Jeff Nichols' Loving

When Richard Loving marries his soulmate Mildred in 1958 on a trip to Washington DC, where their interracial bond is allowed, it provokes a judicial interference upon their return home, which forces them apart for years. But the couple won't stand for it, and by their example, they change things for themselves and for couples to come.

Loving is written and directed by great Arkansan filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Mud (2012)) based on the true story of the Lovings of Virginia, and Nichols has arguably made his best film to date with it. It is a thoroughly tender, humanistic and moreover enormously authentic retelling of an important break and hugely affecting chapter of US history on the wrongs of race-based marriage laws.
Both Ruth Negga (Noble (2014)) and Joel Edgerton (Warrior (2011)) give formidable performances as the Lovings, and they get strong support from Michael Shannon (Jonah Hex (2010)) as a photographer and Jon Bass (Jane Wants a Boyfriend (2015)) and Nick Kroll (Vacation (2015)) as the attorneys, who support and encourage their appeal case.
The purity and simplicity of the story stands out and is backed by a handsome score from David Wingo (Joe (2013)). Loving is a splendid work.

Related posts:


Jeff Nichols: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Exces [UPDATED I]
Mud (2012) - Career-defining, electric Americana
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]    
Take Shelter (2011) or, Madness in Ohio

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 9 mil. $
Box office: 12.9 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.43 times the cost)
[Loving premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 123 minutes. Co-producer Colin Firth stumbled upon the Loving story in 2009, and the film was later inspired by the documentary The Loving Story (2011). Shooting took place from September - November 2015 in Virginia and Washington DC. The film opened #27 to a 159k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #11 and in 572 theaters (different weeks), grossing 7.7 mil. $ (59.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 2.1 mil. $ (16.3 %) and the UK with 1.1 mil. $ (8.5 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Actress (Negga), lost to Emma Stone for La La Land. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, won 2 Independent Spirit awards and many other honors. Nichols returned with Long Way Back Home (2018, short) and hasn't made a feature since yet. Edgerton returned in It Comes at Night (2017), Negga in Warcraft: The Beginning (2016). Loving is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Loving?

It Comes at Night (2017) - Shults' sparse horror leaves too much unanswered

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+ Worst Movie of the Year

One of the sparse, ominous and very black posters for Trey Edward Shults' It Comes at Night

It Comes at Night is the second feature for writer-director Trey Edward Shults (Krisha (2015)).

A family of three live in a cabin in the woods in a future where a mysterious illness has thrown the world into chaos. As an outsider and his small family come into their lives, they keep self-preservation as their prime objective.

This is a film that has impressed critics, - who are prone to throw superlatives at low-budget indies like this, which wears its refusal to throw light on just about anything in it as an honorary crown, - and antagonized many audiences, who feel let down by a horror that doesn't have as many frightening moments or genre game as they'd thought.
The film features sound performances from Joel Edgerton (The Gift (2015)) and Christopher Abbott (James White (2015)) and a subtle, tense score by Brian McOmber (Krisha). It builds an unpleasant, paranoia-rife atmosphere but it undercuts its prospects by insisting on leaving us in the blank on too many fronts:
SPOILER Who is our protagonist? (I guess the teenage son, who seems the most innocent and sympathetic, but he never does much actively.) What is happening? (The disease is never explained or shown much.) Where do our family come from? (We are almost led to believe that they have always lived in this isolated house in the woods.) Several things concerning the developments in the third act also raise questions, and the film ends leaving us confused; one would be overly forgiving in just labeling it ambiguous.
What the point of the exercise is remains a mystery: Either the film seems to want us to ponder at why we need the spook tales that horror films are in the first place, instead of really committing to being an instance of said tradition itself; or it may also be taken to propose a rather depressing metaphor for an argument that letting anyone into one's life inevitably makes it unravel in tragedy, pain and death. With so many questions unanswered, the bleak ending of the film seems mostly just unpleasant. 
For some reason the family has a famous Pieter Brueghel the Elder painting (The Triumph of Death) hanging on one of their walls, and in the beginning we inspect this with the camera as if it contained an insight into the film itself. It Comes at Night does not live up to its hype, as it is too complacent and deprived of drive and frights, with way too much in it simply blowing in the wind.

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 12 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[It Comes at Night premiered 29 April (Overlook Film Festival, Oregon) and runs 91 minutes. Shooting took place in August 2016 in New York. It opened #6 to a 5.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America. It Comes at Night is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of It Comes at Night?

Warrior (2011) - O'Connor's superbly acted MMA drama packs emotional fireworks

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4 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Actor: Joel Edgerton (lost to Jack Black for Bernie)
Best Supporting Actor: Tom Hardy (lost to Michael Shannon for Boardwalk Empire S2)
Best Supporting Actor: Nick Nolte (lost to Michael Shannon for Boardwalk Empire S2)
Best Practical Effects (lost to Haywire)

 

 

+ Best Boxing Movie of the Year

 

Stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton flash commendable physiques on this poster for Gavin O'Connor's Warrior

 

Two alienated brothers, who are both estranged from their newly sober alcoholic father enter for each their own reasons into heavy training for a coming, big MMA tournament.

Joel Edgerton (Black Mass (2015))) is excellent as the physics teacher, who fights to keep his family's home, - with a very different strength than Tom Hardy (Child 44 (2015)), who fights on pure hate and gives a very strong and frightening performance in Warrior. In the middle is Nick Nolte (The Good Thief (2002)), who is heartbreaking as their improved father that returns to them hat-in-hand, wishing for a relationship with his now adult sons.

If you are an MMA enthusiast or like martial arts generally, the fights towards the end of Warrior are fantastic in themselves. As such, however, this is a powerfully and soberly staged film that lives on its story of brothers at odds, which reaches mythical heights. It is written by Anthony Tambakis (Jane Got a Gun (2016)), Cliff Dorfman (Entourage (2005), TV-series) and great New-Yorker co-writer-director Gavin O'Connor (The Accountant (2016)), whose 5th feature it is.

 

Related posts:

 

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Listen to the song by The National About Today here, which is featured in the film

Cost: 25 mil. $

Box office: 23.3 mil. $

= Huge flop

[Warrior was released September 9 and runs 140 minutes. Hardy went into heavy training for the part, gaining 28 pounds (13 kg), which he retained for his performance in The Dark Knight Rises. Filming took place in and around April 2009 in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. The film opened #3, behind newcomer Contagion and holdover hit The Help, to a 5.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 the following week and grossed 13.6 mil. $ (58.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.8 mil. $ (12 %) and 2.1 mil. $ (9%). Roger Ebert gave the film 3/4 stars, equal to a notch harder than this review. The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Supporting Actor (Nolte), which it lost to Christopher Plummer in Beginners. It has won more popularity over time and now rests at #149 (between Sunrise/Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)) on IMDb's user-generated Top 250. Warrior is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Warrior?

The Rover (2014) - A dreary journey to Michôd's desolate, hopeless Australia

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A poster for David Michôd's The Rover that reflects the film's gritty, often open-air setting

In a post-apocalyptic future in Australia, a hard, merciless man gets his car stolen. He teams up with a brother to one of the robbers on a killing spree to get it back.

Gritty, taciturn, violent and sprinkled with the familiar Australian trademark of hopelessness as its general tone is the universe in which The Rover drags itself through. Watching it, it is hard to accept that the Guy Pearce (Lockout (2012)) here is the same man who 20 years in the past was such a thrilling, enthusiastic presence in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), - a very different, and infinitely more lovable kind of animal.
Robert Pattinson (Little Ashes (2008)) is the strongest card on The Rover's hand: He is impressive and very credible as the somewhat retarded brother of the robber. It is hard to get engaged in The Rover, SPOILER which is essentially about a murdering bastard and his stupid 'partner', who also becomes a (child-)killer.
We are given no information about the causes of the world's decline, and I also find no satisfaction in the reveal of the ending: SPOILER Pearce apparently wanted the car back so badly throughout the film, so that he could bury his dog, which was in its trunk.
The film is written and directed by David Michôd (Animal Kingdom (2010)) with Joel Edgerton (The Gift (2015)) contributing story elements. The Rover is a technically fine but desert-like dry film. For a much better apocalyptic film, watch The Road (2009).

Related posts:

David Michôd: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Animal Kingdom (2010) - Ruthless Aussies in tight debut
Hesher (2010) - Susser's immature, rebel-centered debut (co-writer)

 

Watch a teaser trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 12 mil. AU$, equal to approximately 8.5 mil. $

Box office: 3.2 mil. $

= Box office disaster

[The Rover premiered May 18 (Cannes) and runs 102 minutes. Filming took 7 weeks in Southern Australia from January - March 2013. The film opened #33 to 69k $ in 5 theaters, widening to 418k $ and #16 in 608 theaters in North America, where it grossed 1.1 mil. $ (34 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 0.4 mil. $ (12.5 %) and the UK with 0.2 mil. $ (6.3 %). Many critics lauded the film, and Quentin Tarantino, also a vocal fan of Animal Kingdom, called The Rover "a mesmerizing, visionary achievement." The film received many nominations in its native Australia, including 7 AACTA nominations (Australia's Oscar), winning two. The Rover is fresh at 66 % with a 6.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Rover?

The Thing/The Thing Awakens/The Thing: The Beginning (2011) - Career-ending, flawed monster horror prequel

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1 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Digital Effects (lost to Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol)

One icy poster for Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s The Thing

QUICK REVIEW:

In this Thing prequel, we are to learn about the time prior to the events in John Carpenter's masterpiece The Thing (1982), that is, the catastrophe in the Norwegian company in the Antarctic, who were the first to meet the thing! There's of course a storm, and the paranoia is revisited, (this time only with teeth examinations instead of blood samples.) Most of it is seen through the eyes of the only woman up there, an uninspired and forgettable Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Kill the Messenger (2014)), who takes command over the Norwegians.

Among the Norwegians, even great Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen (Banshee (2013-16)), who varies between speaking Danish and Norwegian (...) bores. The characters are vaguely sketched and uninteresting; the suspense curve is unsophisticated and the update as a whole is unoriginal. Script by Eric Heisserer (Final Destination 5 (2011)).
Furthermore, Michel Abramowicz' (Taken (2008)) cinematography shakes in otherwise dead still dialogs, - very annoyingly.
But in the film's second half, The Thing experience brightens up some due to inventive CGI and one genuine shock. Of course a major part of what makes the '82 film so thrilling is its incredible practical effects, which this new film doesn't even try to achieve, and there's no doubt that the new Thing doesn't gain anything from simply overtaking its title from its much superior predecessor.
It is directed by Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (Zien (2004), video).

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Watch the red band trailer for the film here

Cost: 38 mil. $
Box office: 27.4 mil. $
= Huge flop
[The Thing was something of a disaster commercially; opening #3 in North America to 8.4 mil. $, it fell our of the top 10 in its second week, grossed 16.9 mil. $ (62 % of the total gross) and was even less successful abroad. The film, which was lambasted by many, effectively ended Heijningen's career: He hasn't made anything film-related at all since.]

What do you think of The Thing?