The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) - Gilliam's rambling mess

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An celestial array of surreal elements and many stars stand ready on this poster for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

In London a traveling group of weirdos attempt to entertain ungrateful, rude drunks from a wagon that includes the ancient Parnassus' imaginarium.

 

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is written by Charles McKeown (Brazil (1985)) and American-born British master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)), whose 11th feature it is.

Despite a dragging beginning, this chaotic film flows out and becomes enormously testing to watch. This is less astonishing when considering that it is a Gilliam creation that was completed with three new stars cast in the lead, since the original suddenly passed away in real life, in a script that was already bonkers. (Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale (2001)) died at age 28 from accidental prescription medication poisoning.) All involved do what they can, in ugly hair, beards and many layers of ugly costumes, often in ugly lighting, in ugly images, with many sequences also featuring ugly 'fantastical' CGI elements.

Ledger's Tony character, as a side note, is a man who is rescued from wanting to hang himself. Gilliam's messy procession is anything but uplifting. 

 

Related posts:

Terry Gilliam:  For No Good Reason (2012, documentary) or, Ralph Steadman, Artist (interview subject)

The Brothers Grimm (2005) - Gilliam's European misadventure sort-of entertains

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - Depp's Thompson lives and breathes in Gilliam's outrageous, drug-fueled masterpiece

12 Monkeys (1995) or, What's the Time?

1991 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

The Fisher King (1991) - Gilliam and Co. win with unpredictable story with major heart and amazing Williams 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 30 mil. $

Box office: 64.3 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.14 times its cost)

[The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus premiered 22 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 123 minutes. 12 companies and support bodies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from December 2007 - April 2008, with a month-long hiatus due to the demise of Ledger, in British Columbia and in England, including in London. Gilliam engaged friends and colleagues of Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to all overtake the actor's part following his tragic death, and the three decided to donate their (unknown) salaries to Ledger's daughter Matilda. The film went about 5 mil. $ over budget. Co-producer William Vince also passed away prior to release. The sensation surrounding Ledger's death meant that the film reportedly made back its budget through presales before even getting released. It opened #20 to a 415k $ first weekend in 48 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #11 and in 607 theaters, grossing 7.6 mil. $ (11.8 % of the total gross). This was the film's 3rd biggest market. The biggest two were Italy with 11.1 mil. $ (17.3 %) and Japan with 6.5 mil. $ (10.1 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Costume Design to The Young Victoria and Art Direction to Avatar. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, a British Independent Film award and other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film reportedly additionally made in excess of 11.7 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Gilliam returned with The Legend of Hallowdega (2010, short) and The Wholly Family (2011, short) and theatrically with The Zero Theorem (2013). This was Ledger's final film; Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World (2017)) returned with voice performances in My Dog Tulip (2009) and 9 (2009) prior to his physical theatrical return in The Last Station (2009). The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is fresh at 64 % with a 6.0/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus?

The Holiday (2006) - Obvious ploys and overlength weigh down Meyers' Christmas escapade

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Four beloved stars look lovingly at one another on this simple poster for Nancy Meyers' The Holiday

Two women, one in England, the other in Los Angeles, both could use some distance to their lives for a while, and so they decide online to swap homes during Christmas for a couple of weeks.

 

The Holiday is written and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Nancy Meyers (The Parent Trap (1998)).

It often feels as if it must be the most ridiculous film ever, and at its thickest it even made me nauseous. Luckily it does grow more appetizing after a while.

Kate Winslet (Enigma (2001)), - who on the surface incites regret in a part that seems a good deal under her abilities, - and Cameron Diaz (The Invisible Circus (2001)), - who one must also pity some in a role that's so formulaic, 'it' arrives with a sleep mask, tripping around on high heels, and literally runs through the snowy landscape of Great Britain two weeks later, (so we really get her development it seems ...), - both of them play women with self-confidence problems, who also both refuse to stop yapping. Scene after scene is far longer than necessary, so that The Holiday almost feels like two romcoms slapped together to make one giant romcom whopper.

This is likely Meyers' most negligible film, which utilizes ploys and ideas that have worked before but which seems gimmicky here, but it is redeemed to some degree by its stars: Diaz and Jude Law (The Nest (2020)) are saucy and good-looking together; Jack Black (The D Train (2015)) is good and luckily even gets a chance to sing a bit; and Eli Wallach (The Pirate (1978, TV movie)) is charming and splendid as a retired screenwriter.

 

Related posts:

Nancy Meyers: It's Complicated (2009) - Meyers' delightful romcom star vehicle 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Something's Gotta Give (2003) - Meyers, Jack & Diane are a killer combo 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 85 mil. $

Box office: 205.8 mil. $

= Minor flop (returned 2.42 times its cost)

[The Holiday premiered 29 November (New York) and runs 136 minutes. Meyers reportedly wrote the screenplay with the four stars in mind for the parts. Shooting took place from January - June 2006 in England, including in London, and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Apocalypto and holdover hit Happy Feet, to a 12.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 63.2 mil. $ (30.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 23.9 mil. $ (11.6 %) and Germany with 16.1 mil. $ (7.8 %). The-numbers.com estimate that the film additionally made in excess of 82.8 mil. $ on DVD sales in North America alone. Meyers returned with It's Complicated (2009). Winslet returned with a voice performance in Le Renard et l'Enfant (2007) and physically in The Reader (2008); Diaz with voice performances in Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek the Halls (2007, TV short) and physically in What Happens in Vegas (2008); Law in My Blueberry Nights (2007); and Black in The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show (2007, TV-series), Exposure (2007, TV-series) and theatrically in Margot at the Wedding (2007). The Holiday is rotten at 51 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Holiday? 

Sherlock Holmes (2009) - Ritchie's unappealing morass

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Robert Downey Jr. is gelled up and stares out as a man who knows he is a super-star on this well-made poster for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes

Holmes, the highly gifted London detective with the heightened senses, is reluctantly in the process of losing his companion Dr. Watson to a female, all the while he fights the feared Lord Blackwood.

Sherlock Holmes is written by Michael Robert Johnson (Pompeii (2014)), Anthony Peckham (Silo 3 Jane (1995)) and Simon Kinberg (Jumper (2008)), based on a story by Johnson and Lionel Wigram (The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)), in turn based on the legendary character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the first story with Holmes was printed in 1887). The film is directed by Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)).
If you favor Ritchie's brand of postmodernist, hot-air-bloated, Quentin Tarantino-cramming style, you'll devour Sherlock Holmes raw. I don't, and I mostly see here a plot that has the refinement and depth of a weak children's movie, which gets blown up and served to fully grown adults.
Robert Downey Jr. (Lucky You (2007)) and Jude Law's (Black Sea (2014)) banter here, deliberately fashioned to bear the likeness of two old lovers quarrelling, can be diverting, - but regrettably the tension remains coy subtext. Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers (2005)) is pretty but has little to do in the film.
Holmes is now a champion boxer, and although his fistfights look cool, it is still incredible that Downey Jr. should damage one of literature's most alluring figures like this.
The sound design and mix are excellent, but Sherlock Holmes is too long and is also marred by an enormous faith in CGI, which give large parts of the film an unreal, ghastly look.

Related post:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 90 mil. $
Box office: 524 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 5.82 times its cost)
[Sherlock Holmes premiered 14 December (London, UK) and runs 129 minutes. Shooting took place in England, including London, and in New York from October 2008 - January 2009. The film opened #2, behind Avatar, to a 62.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weeks in the Top 5 (#2-#2-#5) and grossed 209 mil. $ (39.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 39.7 mil. $ (7.6 %) and Italy with 26.9 mil. $ (5.1 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Score (Hans Zimmer (The Road of Love (2017))), lost to Michael Giacchino for Up, and Art Direction, lost to Avatar. It won a Golden Globe and was nominated for a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. The film has additionally made in excess of 44.9 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Ritchie, Downey Jr., Law and McAdams returned with sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), with similar success, and Downey and Law are set to return with a fresh director for a 3rd film, set to release in 2021. Ritchie made short Un Rendez-vous (2010) before the Holmes sequel. Downey Jr. returned first in Iron Man 2 (2010); Law in Arena (2010, TV-series documentary) and theatrically in Repo Men (2010); McAdams in Morning Glory (2010), and Mark Strong (Revolver (2005)) in Kick-Ass (2010). Sherlock Holmes is fresh at 69 % with a 6.22/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Sherlock Holmes?

Existenz/eXistenZ (1999) - Cronenberg's 1990s-flavored VR nonsense

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+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

Jude Law handles a strange weapon on this rust-colored poster for David Cronenberg's Existenz

A prominent video game designer brings an inexperienced hunk with her into her virtual reality game universe, where they go through various strange things, - but what is real, and what is the game, - and is it even important to be able to differentiate?

Aficionados of the 1990s sensibilities and styles might rate this film by great Canadian writer-director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises (2007)) higher, as it is a film that feels very much of its time: Jude Law (Road to Perdition (2002)), pretty and uncharacteristically oblivious here, at one point asks game designer Jennifer Jason Leigh (Dolores Claiborne (1995)), (and I am paraphrasing), if she would like to play eXistenZ benevolently with him, or something like that, (eXistenZ is the name of the game in the film.) And the film is full of lines and plot points that are postmodernist nonsense on full steam like that. The whole film feels a bit like a tiring update of Cronenberg's earlier, much better Videodrome (1983), which charted similar territory. (Existenz is also Cronenberg's first original screenplay since Videodrome.)
Besides this, the body-related aspects of the film, which are a natural part of most of the works of body-horror maestro Cronenberg, are mostly simply curious and gross in Existenz, SPOILER as when Law licks a wound on Leigh's back, or when she loses things in his hole, (which is not what you may think.)
None of the characters in the movie stir up any considerable interest, and the film is built up like a Chinese box, which on the surface can seem fascinating. But the problem is that we are never supposed to ask questions of the preceding box, - because the construction is ultimately hogwash.

Related reviews:

David Cronenberg: Cosmopolis (2012) - Cronenberg/DeLillo/Pattinson's speculative limo lullaby
A Dangerous Method (2011) - Cronenberg's rather disappointing waltz with the fathers of modern psychology 
Eastern Promises (2007) - Cronenberg invites us to meet the Russian mob in London
A History of Violence (2005) or, Who Is Tom Stall? 
Spider (2002) - Cronenberg takes us to the tormented (and slightly dull) mind of a schizophrenic 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Dead Ringers (1988) or, Brothers and Their Instruments 
The Dead Zone (1983) - Eerie sci-fi/horror King-adaptation  
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!    

Here, Cronenberg and star Ralph Fiennes talk about Cronenberg's following film, Spider (2002)

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 2.8 mil. $ - North America only
= Box office disaster
[Existenz premiered 16 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. Cronenberg was inspired to the plot after conducting an interview with novelist Salman Rushdie for Shift magazine in 1995, centered on the Iranian fatwa imposed upon the writer due to his controversial novel The Satanic Verses. Shooting took place from April - July in Ontario, Canada. Leigh lost a part in Eyes Wide Shut by starring in Existenz. The film opened #15 to an 810k $ first weekend in 256 theaters in North America, which was its peak. It was released around the same time as another sci-fi movie about an alternate reality and existential ambiguities, which wowed the public infinitely more: The Matrix grossed 463.5 mil. $ globally. Few numbers from other markets are known, but it seems fair to project the global gross of Existenz around 5 mil. $; according to Cronenberg biographer Bart Beaty, the film was "one of the biggest bombs of the Canadian film industry." Cronenberg was eventually forced to return to matter with more popular appeal in his great A History of Violence (2005). Existenz won the silver prize in Berlin. Existenz is fresh at 71 % with a 6.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Existenz?

Spy (2015) - Feig and McCarthy score spy spoof gold!

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+ Best Action-Comedy of the Year + Best Fight Scene of the Year: McCarthy's kitchen fight scene

The stars of Paul Feig's Spy sell the film well on this funny poster

Spy is the fresh spy parody from great writer-director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids (2011)), the #1 movie in the US right now and a movie that is spreading its action-packed fun worldwide as this is being written.

Susan Cooper has been an analyst at the CIA for years, when sudden changes send her to the front as an agent in Europe, where some rich, shady characters are readying the sale of a nuke in a suitcase!

Feig may have learned from his huge 2013 hit comedy (also starring Melissa McCarthy (St. Vincent (2014))), - which was also an action comedy, - that a real action-type plot helps for such a film: Heat wasn't really going anywhere exciting plot-wise. - Spy, on the other hand, stomps around internationally with a well-defined, clear plot objective.
Spy's plot isn't very far from the plots of 'real' action spy movies. For a spy spoof, it has just the right amount of characters, comedy interplay and action. Furthermore the action of Spy is very well-staged and exciting, and the fights, - oh yes, there are fights! - are great. - Seeing McCarthy kick ass in completely unbelievable ways is pretty f-ing cool. Especially her kitchen fight in Spy is hilarious. The film has neat cinematography by Robert D. Yeoman (The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)).
The comedy is a mix of wit, physical, gross-out, crude comedy - mostly insult comedy, - implicitly playing on McCarthy's character's coming into her own at work, as a person, and as a woman. There were a bunch of kids in the cinema I saw it in, and they had a blast, (although it is decidedly not a kids movie), as did the adults. Often in Spy, one gag or zinger's resulting laughs weren't over before the next made me laugh again. I really love the spy parody sub-genre, so it was a real joy for me to see such a resourceful cast play one out in a well-written script and clear direction, loaded with an abundance of inventive, fast-paced fun.

McCarthy is an energetic powerhouse in Spy, and I was glad to see that, perhaps due to her clout with director-friend Feig, she was not only confined to God-awful outfits. She gets to dress up here and look really good, (even if Rose Byrne's (Insidious (2010)) delightfully bitchy character tries to tear it apart for her.)
Jason Statham (Crank (2006)) is very funny in a ridiculously intense braggadocio part; Jude Law (A. I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)) works as Cooper's handsome idol; Brit Miranda Hart (Miranda (2009-15)) was a new face for me, but she was awkwardly funny as McCarthy's sidekick. Bobby Cannavale (Annie (2014)) makes a fun second villain; Allison Janney (The DUFF (2015)) is solid as a tough boss, and Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)) also took several laughs as a foreign, helpful (but awfully handsy) spy.
There are a ton of favorite moments to take away from Spy, the best light-hearted fun you'll have with a movie, perhaps for all of 2015. - So don't miss it!
Feig is a very busy man these days: He's creating a new sci-fi/comedy TV series titled Other Space (2015), directing a Reese Witherspoon comedy titled Wish List and heading the new, hugely anticipated Ghostbusters reboot, with McCarthy. - Film Excess can't wait.

Related posts:

Paul Feig: 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]
The Heat (2013) or, Prissy and Offensive in Boston  
Bridesmaids (2011) - Subversive comedy with laughs a-plenty

Here's the red band trailer for the movie - enjoy!

Cost: 65 mil. $
Box office: 86.5 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[There's no doubt in my mind that Spy will become a financial hit, as well as a critical, - it might be Feig and McCarthy's best reviewed title to date. It is blazing through cinemas globally right now.]

What do you think of Spy?

Closer (2004) - Nichols and Marber's intelligent film of love and infidelity

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The elegant poster for Mike Nichols' Closer

QUICK REVIEW:

A failed writer meets a stripper in London, SPOILER and they fall in love. He also starts an affair with a photographer, who leaves her husband, but then goes back to him. And the stripper leaves the him.

That is the plot in this the penultimate film from the great, recently passed on German director Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)). It is a love-themed relationship drama that impresses with its fine performances from Jude Law (A. I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)), Natalie Portman (Black Swan (2010)), who was Oscar-nominated for her work, - along with Clive Owen (Children of Men (2006)). But for me it was especially Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman (1990)) whom I relished in the film.
It is based on an intelligent script by Patrick Marber (Notes on a Scandal (2006)), adapting his own 1997 play here. It confronts us with the complexities of love and its hard, hard conditions of sustaining itself for a longer period of time.
Closer does, unfortunately, have a strip club scene that I thought was incredibly contrived and unbelievable.

Related reviews:

Mike Nichols: Angels in America (2003, TV-miniseries) or, Dying in the 80's, of AIDS, at L-E-N-G-T-H
Biloxi Blues (1988) or, '45 Army Camp Confidential   
Catch-22 (1970) - Nichols wages war on war with ensemble cast in absurdist satire 

Natalie Portman in Mike Nichols' Closer

Julia Roberts in Mike Nichols' Closer

Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 27 mil. $
Box office: 115.5 mil. $
= Big hit
[Closer made a nice 33.9 mil. $ (29 % of the total gross) in the US, and was extremely well-received in Brazil (1.1 mil. admissions) and several European countries, especially England (where the plot takes place, and where Marber's play also had its original run) (7.9 mil. £), Italy (5.3 mil. €) and Spain (4.8 mil. €).]

What do you think of Closer?
Which of Nichols' many good movies do you treasure highest and why?

Side Effects (2013) - Modern people screw up in excellent thriller

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+ Best Thriller of the Year

Four stars with apprehensive looks are divided by a blood-red medical cross on this poster for Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects

 

Side Effects is Georgian master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh's (Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)) second film in 2013, the other one being Liberace-biopic Behind the Candelabra, which was also favorably reviewed by Film Excess here: Behind the Candelabra (2013) - Restraint and extravagance. It is his 24th feature.
This one is a psychological thriller about psychotropic drugs, their use, over-use and implications in America today. If it sounds like a university lecture for people with glasses, don't worry, it's not. Side Effects is a wildly successful suspense-movie.

 

Following a possible suicide attempt, the young wife of a convicted inside-trading perpetrator is introduced to some experimental drugs, which come with unexpected side effects.

 
Side Effects is also the kind of thriller where you don't want to give away an elaborate plot summary, because it would ruin too much of the ride of seeing the film. Suffice to say, Jude Law (Spy (2015)) is excellent as an over-worked but well-intentioned psychiatrist who finds himself in a serious jam; Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)) is his patient, Catherine Zeta-Jones (The Darling Buds of May (1991-93)) is her old psychiatrist, and Channing Tatum (22 Jump Street (2014)) is her husband.
The exciting script by Scott Z. Burns (The Laundromat (2019)) has more than one unforeseen twist, which impresses along the way. If you have misgivings that Side Effects looks more like well-intended criticism of the pharmaceutical world than an exciting watch, luckily, you're wrong. (And this is perhaps a fault in its marketing.) The film does implicitly say that our over-medicated culture comes with some sick, unwanted side effects, but it goes no further than that, keeping its eye square on the thriller ball.
All the actors are safe in Soderbergh's seasoned direction, and new-comer Mara surprised me positively with her performance in a difficult role. So look out for her.
Otherwise it's a slick and very enjoyable operation: Soderbergh's own photography is as usual über-professional; the editing is sharp, the pacing perfect. And Thomas Newman's (The Judge (2014)) score is right on.

SPOILER A couple of little things annoyed me slightly in the story: There's a scene wherein some people, including Law's doctor character, sit and talk, and they just so happen to shed light on the disagreeable grease that big pharmaceutical companies sometimes use to persuade doctors to use their drugs, (expensive tickets, dinners etc.) This is not really a necessary information for the particular story, and the lines spoken felt out of place. If Burns felt that needed to be in Side Effects, it could have been handled more smoothly elsewhere, I feel.
SPOILER The other little thing is the harsh reaction of the doctor's wife, once he starts to see a tough time. This may very well be a realistic reaction from a modern married woman today, but it is depressing, and we've seen it too much in recent fiction. How about building up relationships via fiction portrayals as well sometimes, instead of always pointing out how weak and easily collapsible the modern nuclear family is? And just to be clear, that path need not compromise the film's suspense. There are multitudes of other ways the wife could have reacted besides leaving her husband immediately.
These are, in any case, minor detractors from Side Effects, which has a top-performing and very good-looking main cast and a smart, pulsating story. Don't miss it.

 

Related posts:

Steven Soderbergh:  Logan Lucky (2017) - Soderbergh returns with amusing, slow hillbilly heist comedy
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Magic Mike XXL (2015) - Lots of fun and skin but still no gay as Mike goes to the convention (cinematographer, editor) 

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]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
Behind the Candelabra (2013) - Restraint and extravagance 
Magic Mike (2012) - Soderbergh and Tatum score big with cheeky male strip romp 
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 and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2011 in films - according to Film Excess 
Contagion (2011) - Soderbergh's global pandemic creep-out  
Haywire (2011) - Soderbergh's taut, stylish ensemble actioner is a masterpiece

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
The Informant! (2009) - Soderbergh and Damon's terrific true-crime dramedy  
Che Part One - The Argentine (2008) - Soderbergh's sober depiction of the Cuban revolution 

Ocean's Twelve (2004) - Soderbergh returns with jumbled, glossy heist comedy sequel 
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark  

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Erin Brockovich (2000) - Roberts, Soderbergh and Grant's triumphant biopic   

Check out the trailer for Side Effects here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 63.3 mil. $
= Flop (returned 2.11 times its cost)

[Side Effects premiered 31 January (New York) and runs 106 minutes. Shooting took place in New York from April - May 2012. It opened #3, behind fellow new release Identity Thief and hold-over hit Warm Bodies, to a 9.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 32.1 mil. $ (50.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.5 mil. $ (11.8 %) and France with 3.6 mil. $ (5.7 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Soderbergh returned with Behind the Candelabra (2013). Mara returned in Her (2013); Tatum in G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013); Law in Dom Hemingway (2013); and Zeta-Jones in RED 2 (2013). Side Effects is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Side Effects?