The Nice Guys (2016) - Good fun in Black's period buddy offering

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In warm, earthy tones and ocean blue, the two stars look inviting on this poster for Shane Black's The Nice Guys

In 1970s Los Angeles, a policeman and a private detective join forces on a case they share; of a murdered porn actress and a disappeared girl named Amelia.

 

The Nice Guys is written by Anthony Bagarozzi (Big Bad John (1990, electrician)) and co-writer/director Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)).

Russell Crowe (Gladiator (2000)) and Ryan Gosling (Fracture (2007)) work impeccably as buddies, and there's no lack of fun situations and lines that spark nicely, - even if I still find it tough to link Gosling's baby face with a part as the single father of a teenage girl...

Shane obviously enjoys the moral licenses he takes by placing his plot in the grimy 70s' LA. The outcome of the gnarly, long plot is limited, but the film entertains brilliantly along the way.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 62.7 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.25 times its cost)

[The Nice Guys premiered 10 May (Los Angeles) and runs 116 minutes. Black and Bagarozzi had written the first script in 2001, and the film had been envisioned as a TV-series in the lengthy timespan before Black took it out again and secured financing, because Crowe and Gosling both signed on to play together, each for a salary of "more than 7 mil. $". Shooting took place around October 2014 in Georgia, including in Atlanta, and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release The Angry Birds Movie, holdover hit Captain America: Civil War and new release Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, to a 11.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 36.2 mil. $ (57.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4.9 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Australia with 4.3 mil. $ (6.9 %). Black returned with The Predator (2018). Crowe returned in Saturday Night Live (2016, TV-series) and theatrically in The Mummy (2017); Gosling in La La Land (2016). The Nice Guys is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Nice Guys? 

The Awakening (2011) or, Sad English Orphanage Horror!

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Something seems creepily amiss on this poster for Nick Murphy's The Awakening

 

In 1921, England's leading supernatural debunker gets hired by a countryside orphanage, which is possibly haunted by a boy who passed away years ago ...

 

The Awakening slowly builds up its story with relatively few and simple scare effects. It features good acting from Rebecca Hall (The Gift (2015)), Dominic West (300 (2006)) and Imelda Staunton (Another Year (2010)) as well as deft camerawork (by cinematographer Eduard Grau (Buried (2010))) in which everything is held in cool, desaturated tones. It produces chills and goosebumps more than once, SPOILER in particular in the scenes with the dollhouse.

On the downside, The Awakening is a bit overlong, which makes our attention with it at times a bit strained. SPOILER It all culminates as one of the saddest, most tragic ghost stories that I can recall.

The film is written by Stephen Volk (Octane (2003)) and co-writer-director Nick Murphy (Blood (2012)). It is a fair ghost horror although a few steps under a film like The Orphanage/El Orfanato (2007), which it clearly aspires towards.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 3 mil. £, equal to approximately 3.7 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly 4.4 mil. $

= Big flop

[The Awakening was released November 11 (the UK) and runs 107 minutes. Filming took place in England and Scotland from July 2010. The film opened #41 in 70 theaters to a paltry 95k $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 209k $ (4.8 % of the total gross). The film did better in its native UK, although its other country grosses are not reported online. The Awakening is fresh at 61 % with a 5.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Awakening?