Phantoms (1998) or, Trouble in Colorado!

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A mysterious flash at night attracts the prospective audience member's curiosity on this poster for Joe Chapelle's Phantoms

Shortly after the arrival of two sisters to a small Colorado town, a ghost chaos descends over it: Lights flicker, alarms go off for no apparent reason, and people are found dead. Along with some policemen and a superstitious doctor, the sisters now fight against 'it'.

 

Phantoms is written by Dean R. Koontz (Odd Thomas (2013, novel)), based on his own same-titled 1983 novel, and directed by Joe Chappelle (Thieves Quartet (1993)).

Koontz' novel may be worth reading (or not), but this sci-fi horror film isn't scary, which is its main problem. Liev Schreiber (Mental (2012)) and Rose McGowan (The Black Dahlia (2006)) add quality, while Ben Affleck (Field of Dreams (1989)) doesn't seem credible as the sheriff, and Peter O'Toole (King Ralph (1991)) is also here - but you can't but wonder why.

 

Related post:

 

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

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 5.6 mil. $ (North America only)

= Uncertain - but likely a huge flop

[Phantoms was released 23 January (USA) and runs 91 minutes. Shooting took place from October - December 1996 in Colorado. It opened #9 to a 3 mil. $ first weekend in North America. If made on a realistic 10 mil. $ budget, and with a projected total world gross of 9 mil. $, the film would rank as a huge flop with a return of 0.9 times its cost. Chappelle returned with Takedown (2000). Affleck returned in Armageddon (1998); McGowan in Devil in the Flesh (1998, video) and theatrically in Southie (1998). Phantoms is rotten at 13 % with a 4.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Phantoms?

Salt (2010) - Engaged Jolie in Noyce's lacking actioner

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Star Angelina Jolie poses with a gun and makes 'sexy face' on this poster for Phillip Noyce's Salt

CIA agent Evelyn Salt is accused by a defected Russian spy of being a Russian agent...!

Salt is written by Kurt Wimmer (Relative Fear (1994)) and directed by Phillip Noyce (Good Afternoon (1971)).
It is a simple cat-and-mouse type action chase thriller, made with clear role-models in the James Bond and Mission: Impossible franchises. But it has neither the fun and exciting characters nor the seriously wild action of those films.
Angelina Jolie (Beyond Borders (2003)) does well in the physically demanding title role, but the plot is thin and not spectacular enough. Salt is a film that thunders away to regrettably little effect.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 110 mil. $
Box office: 293.5 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.66 times its cost)
[Salt premiered 19 July (Hollywood, California) and runs 104 minutes. The script was in the works since 2002, with Tom Cruise in mind to star since 2007. He turned down the offer, as the role was thought too similar to his M:I character Ethan Hunt. The script was rewritten to suit Jolie, who did a mass of stunts for the film shortly after having birthed twins. Shooting took place in New York, Washington DC and in Russia from March - June 2009, with reshoots from December - January 2010. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Inception, to a 36 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#3-#4) and grossed 118.3 mil. $ (40.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 23.5 mil. $ (8 %) and South Korea with 18.2 mil. $ (6.2 %). The film was nominated for the Best Sound Mixing Oscar, lost to Inception. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches better than this one. Despite the film's success, sequel plans have not come together. Noyce returned with 5 TV credits and a short before his next theatrical feature The Giver (2014). Jolie returned in Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010, short) and theatrically in The Tourist (2010). Salt is fresh at 62 % with a 5.99/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Salt?

Everything Is Illuminated (2005) - Schreiber's inauspicious debut falls flat

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+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year

Elijah Wood looks serene encapsulated in sunflowers on this poster for Liev Schreiber's Everything Is Illuminated

Everything Is Illuminated is an adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2005)) same-titled autobiographical 2002 novel, written and directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan (2014-16)).

American Jew Jonathan Safran Foer travels to Ukraine in search of illumination as to his roots and family history.

SPOILER What he finds, which is revealed after about 1½ hour, is wholly predictably a mass grave and reconciliation with the peculiar Ukrainians he meets. - They create the film's only bright moments.
It is an otherwise extremely dull time, filled with insufferably long music sequences - with lousy music - and led by Elijah Wood (Set Fire to the Stars (2014)) as the bespectacled, unendurably alienated Foer. If the film had only had a fifth of the self-complacent, pretentious air it flies contently on, it would have been plenty. 
Everything Is Illuminated seems to attempt to be a dramedy, but taken as a drama it is bad, and taken as a comedy it is even worse.

Related reviews:

Liev Schreiber: Pawn Sacrifice (2014) - Zwick, Knight and Maguire's mediocre chess genius movie (actor) 
Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (actor)

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 3.6 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Everything Is Illuminated premiered September 3 (Telluride Film Festival) and runs 104 minutes. Filming took place in Ukraine and the Czech Republic, including in Prague, from June - August 2004. The film opened #45 in 6 theaters to 66k $ in North America, where it peaked at #29 in 110 theaters and grossed 1.7 mil. $ (47.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 1 mil. $ (27.8 %) and Germany with 205k $ (5.7 %). The film won two awards at Venice Film Festival as well as 'special recognition for excellence in filmmaking' from the National Board of Review. Roger Ebert have awarded it 3/4 stars. Schreiber has only directed two episodes of Ray Donovan since the film, and continues to be acting. Everything Is Illuminated is fresh at 66 % with a 6.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Everything Is Illuminated?

Pawn Sacrifice (2014) - Zwick, Knight and Maguire's mediocre chess genius movie

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The evocative but dour poster for Edward Zwick's Pawn Sacrifice

 

Bobby Fischer became an obsessive chess master already as a boy. When, as an adult, he is to face Russian Spassky in the chessboard clash between the world's superpowers, the US and the USSR, his psyche creaks on him.

 

Fischer is not a wildly sympathetic character, and the game of chess doesn't really get opened up in Pawn Sacrifice, which for some time makes it seem somewhat grey and dull. But as it reaches its Reykjavik showdown, it grows some legs, especially through the engaged performances of Tobey Maguire (The Great Gatsby (2013)) and Liev Schreiber (Salt (2010)) as the two chess masters. We have got a complex character in Fischer to be sure, but he also remains too enigmatic until the very end. Pawn Sacrifice is not a bad film, but I don't feel we get far enough into Fischer for it to fully succeed.

It is written by Steven Knight (Amazing Grace (2006)) and directed by Edward Zwick (Glory (1989)).

 

Related review:
 

Edward Zwick: Blood Diamond (2006) - Fundamentally flawed, unsuccessful Africa-venture with important issues at its core

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 19 mil. $

Box office: 5.5 mil. $

= Box office disaster

[Pawn Sacrifice premiered September 11 (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 115 minutes. Filming took place in Reykjavik, Montreal and LA from October - December 2013. The film opened #33 to a 0.2 mil. $ first weekend in 33 theaters, widening to #12 with 1 mil. $ in 781 theaters in North America, where it grossed 2.4 mil. $ (43.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 427k $ (7.8 %) and Spain with 230k $ (4.2 %). The film is far from historically accurate, as is revealed here. Pawn Sacrifice is fresh at 72 % with a 6.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pawn Sacrifice?

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute

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The humorous, lush poster for John Turturro's Fading Gigolo

QUICK REVIEW:

In an economical fix, the aging guy Mo gets an idea for how he and his good, younger pal can make some easy bucks: He is going to rent him out as a prostitute.

Fading Gigolo is a cozy time and an enjoyable film that contains some fine reflections on sex and attraction as well as some very photogenic actresses. The Jewish element of the story became a bit heavy at some point for me, a gentile, and it is possible to zone out at times, but over-all, Fading Gigolo is a fine little film.
Woody Allen, writer-director-star John Turturro's (Barton Fink (1991)) co-star in the film, heard about the project at his barber, whom he shares with Turturro.
This is not Turturro's first film as a filmmaker: Actually he debuted way back in 1992 with the drama Mac, which he co-wrote, directed and played the lead in.

Related review:

John Turturro: Barton Fink (1991) or, The Writer's Hell (actor)
 

Sharon Stone is one of the sexy women in John Turturro's Fading Gigolo

This poster presents the film as if it was a Woody Allen movie

And this one more as a sensual, erotic film

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 13.3 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Fading Gigolo might have suffered some from its confused marketing (see posters above) and mixed reviews, but its main problem clearly is that it was made way too expensively: It isn't surprising that a sex comedy by Turturro, not a director-name that draws crowds, with heavy Jewish plot-points, doesn't make more than 13.3 mil. $ But, on the other hand, it is a wonder that someone produced that film for 30 and not 5 or 10 mil. $.]

What do you think of Fading Gigolo?
If you have seen other films directed by John Turturro, how were they?