The Hitcher (1986) - Hauer is the Bad Stranger in hard-pumped debut

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A suspicious, dark figure hitchhikes on this highly ominous poster for Robert Harmon's The Hitcher

A young man driving his car through the desert towards San Diego decides to pick up a hitchhiker, against his mother's advice. - He really should have listened to his mother!

The Hitcher is written by Eric Red (Blue Steel (1990)) and directed by debuting Robert Harmon (Highwaymen (2004)).

Rutger Hauer (Il Futuro (2013)) is intense as the barbarian title character, who chases the young man around for the rest of the film. The photography (by John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road (2015))) is cool and stylish, and the action elements and car stunts are well-made, so that one hangs onto this entertaining car horror, even though it stretches its plot elements beyond credibility sometimes.

Watch a 3-minute scene of Hauer's villainous mastery in the film here

Cost: 6-7.9 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 5.8 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.26-1.66 times the cost)

[The Hitcher premiered 17 January (Victoria, Texas) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place from February - April 1985 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #8 to a 2.1 mil. $ first weekend in 794 theaters in North America, where it grossed 5.8 mil. $. It was released in many other markets, but the gross details are regrettably not available. If figuring on a 10 mil. $ final gross, the film would rank as a big flop with a cost return of 1.26-1.66, depending on the budget size. Roger Ebert gave the film a 0/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. A 2002 sequel and a 2007 same-titled remake followed. Harmon returned with Eyes of an Angel (1991). Hauer returned in Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986). The Hitcher is fresh at 62 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Hitcher?

The English Patient (1996) - Minghella's oppulent, beautifully produced and shot, but nevertheless boring classic

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+ Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 65.76 mil. $ range

Ralph Fiennes squints back at us serenely in the sandy colors that permeate much of Anthony Minghella's The English Patient

A mysterious count, who is in bad condition following a plane crash, gets treated by a kind nurse, while his own story gradually returns to him.

The English Patient is an adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's (Anil's Ghost (2000)) same-titled 1992 novel by great English, Oscar-winning writer-director Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)) It is an epic war romance that mixes airy dialog with a plot that swells in every direction. Its core romance is not unlike the kind you'd expect to meet a much briefer summation of in a women's magazine. Attractive actors and grand, Oscar-winning production values make this peculiar, overrated mega-hit worth watching. For me its most distinguishing trait is the beauty of many of its images; the remarkable, Oscar-winning cinematography is by John Seale (The Tourist (2010)).
In the end the reason I only award 3 hearts to the film is that despite these qualities, it still thoroughly bores me.

 

Related post:

 

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch 3 of the first minutes of the film here

Cost: 27 mil. $
Box office: 231.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[The English Patient premiered 6 November (LA) and runs 162 minutes. Studio Fox wanted bigger star actors in the leads, but Minghella and producer Saul Zaents were adamant about their choices, and eventually Miramax took over for Fox and allowed them their cast. Filming took place in Siena, Pisa, Tuscany, Venice and Rome, Italy, including in the Cinecittà Studios of Rome, and in Tunesia from September 1995 - January 1996. The film opened limited in 10 theaters to a 278k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,409 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 78.6 mil. $ (33.9 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert awarded it 4/4 stars. It was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 9: For Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche), Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Director, Editing, Score (Gabriel Yared) and Sound Mixing. It lost Best Lead Actor (Ralph Fiennes) to Geoffrey Rush in the great Shine; Lead Actress (Kristin Scott Thomas) to Frances McDormand in masterpiece Fargo, and Adapted Screenplay to Billy Bob Thornton for Sling Blade. The film also won 2 Golden Globes out of 7 nominations, 6 BAFTAs out of 13 nominations, a César award nomination (France's Oscar), 2 European Film Awards out of 3 nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards and many more. The English Patient is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The English Patient?

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) or, Furiosa: Desert Warrior

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+ Best Australian Movie of the Year
+ Best Comeback of the Year: George Miller

Charlize Theron loudly set on prevailing on this poster for George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road

Australian filmmaker George Miller's debut feature Mad Max (1979), which he followed with sequels in 1981 and 1985, now gets a reboot, by Miller himself, now a 70 year-old man.

In a desolate future, two fierce outcasts join forces to reach a green nirvana with the five wives of the tyrant Immortan Joe, whose small army are on their trail.

Miller has tried to get Fury Road off the ground since he got the idea for it in 1998! The film has been scrapped and pushed back due to several factors: 9/11, the second American Iraq war, Mel Gibson's personal travails, Heath Ledger's 2008 death etc. etc.
Now that it's here, it's a glorious, gasoline-pumped beast of a movie; a car chase-action-adventure with some of the most hair-raising action scenes of later years. The film, which was shot on location in the desert of Namibia, Africa, is almost 'just' one long chase, so the action had better work, and it sure does. From the outset, when Max SPOILER eats a two-headed lizard, to the end a couple of hours later, we're strapped onto a hell of a roller coaster ride here.
The film is shot by John Seale (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)) in ways that make you grab the handles of your seat time and time again, and scored by Junkie XL (300: Rise of an Empire (2014)) to enhance the experience. The stunt work is eye-popping, and the dystopia so grim that it's hard to watch the film and not think about its implicit portrayal of human nature as destructive, exploitative and brutal.
- The punchline to all of this is, of course, that Miller is also the man behind such rosy family movies as Babe: Pig in the City (1998) and Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet 2 (2011).

Many have called Fury Road feminist, which is a strange thing to call it, I think, just because it has a strong female and several good female performances in it.
One of the film's many delights is towards its end SPOILER to follow our heroes, who have now banded up with a few old ladies, attack and make their way despite being warred against by a legion of strong males. This may strike some as feminist; I relished it more because it was something I hadn't seen before, and the many people behind the scenario made it seem believable.
Tom Hardy (Bronson (2008)) plays Max, and Charlize Theron (Monster (2003)) is Furiosa, who is actually a much more particular and engaging character. This is a problem for a film that is still called Mad Max: Fury Road. Hardy doesn't have Gibson's natural likability and charm (of the previous three movies), and Max's back-story here only gets presented in some frightening but not very informative flash-backs. Miller has chosen in his script, which he has co-written with Brendan McCarthy (ReBoot (1995-96)) and Nick Lathouris, that Max shouldn't say almost anything, and so Hardy has his work cut out for him trying to form a strong hero here. The film's ending is also a little rushed, but all of Fury Road is actually somewhat rushed, so this may be appropriate.
These things aside, Theron and British Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man (2009)), who plays a drug-crazed but basically good kid, are great in Fury Road, and Hugh Keays-Burne (Kangaroo (1987)) is incredible as the despicable villain, sure to become iconic, because he is so hard to forget. - Great designs also adorn this surprising summer smash.

Related posts:

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

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Hugh Keays-Burne as Immortan Joe (the villain if you were wondering ...) in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 109.4 mil. $ and counting
= Still unsure
[But as Fury Road has only been out for three days, it seems certain that it is set to become a big hit: Although it only opened #2 in the US, behind Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), it still made 44.4 mil. $ in its opening weekend there and opened #1 in 40 other countries with critics and audiences welcoming it with the highest level of enthusiasm.]

What do you think of Mad Max: Fury Road?
And Miller's other films?
Do you think he is the mastermind that the trailers crown him?