Pollock (2000) - Harris prevails with artist portrait of highest integrity

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A particularly deep-felt bit of critical praise fills up almost half of this poster for Ed Harris' Pollock

The film follows American painter Jackson Pollock as a young artist from New York around the onset of the 2nd World War, his meeting Lee Krasner, their later marriage and his art and downfall.

 

Pollock is written by Barbara Turner and Susan Emshwiller (Ugandan Pollock (2016), both), adapting Jackson Pollock: An American Saga (1989) by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (Gene Davis (1982), both), and directed by great New-Jerseyite filmmaker, debuting Ed Harris (Westworld (2016-22)), who also stars in the title lead.

Harris emulates Pollock impressively; his intensity, impulsivity, gloom and creativity. And Marcia Gay Harden (Pink Skies Ahead (2020)) is just as resplendent as Krasner. The two have vibrantly strong scenes in Pollock, a completely ravishing portrait of one of the most exciting artist's of the 20th century.

Jeffrey Tambor (Trolls (2016)) and Amy Madigan (Stuck (2017)) are good in supporting roles. The film has a fine score (by Jeff Beal (The Grab (2022))) and a shocking - but authentic - ending.  It is an impressive reconstruction of an artist and his art-making. 

 

Related posts:

Ed Harris: mother! (2017) - Bring a flask with you to this one! (actor)

Gravity (2013) or, Survival in Space: The Ride (voice actor) 

Game Change (2012, TV movie) - Moore and Co. shimmer in Roach's dynamite political retelling (co-star)

Man on a Ledge (2012) - Neutered stars in insipid thriller (co-star)

Virginia/What's Wrong With Virginia? (2010) or, A Woman's Struggle (co-star)

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Appaloosa (2008) - Best traditional American western in 16 years (co-writer/co-producer/director/co-star) 

Cleaner (2008, video) or, Suit-Wearing Papa Cleaner-Man! (co-star) 

Gone Baby Gone (2007) - Difficult decisions await in Affleck's Lehane adaptation crime drama debut (co-star)

A History of Violence (2005) - Cronenberg's powerful rumination of our violence (co-star)  

National Treasure (2004) - Stars shine in Turteltaub's preposterous adventure baloney (actor) 

The Human Stain (2003) - Stellar cast drives Benton's Roth adaptation (actor)

The Hours (2002) - Everything gels in Daldry's phenomenal adaptation (actor) 

Absolute Power (1997) - Eastwood stumbles with low-caliber thriller (co-star)

The Firm (1993) - Pollack and Cruise scored big with 1993's lesser Grisham adaptation (actor)

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) - US theater's second-greatest salesman play fueled by magnetic performers (co-star)

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 6 mil. $

Box office: 10.9 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.81 times its cost)

[Pollock premiered 6 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 122 minutes. Harris had been working on the idea of making the film since his father had given him the Pollock book due to the fact that he found his soon to strongly resemble the painter. Harden was paid 1 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from April - August 1999 in New York, with a 6-week hiatus in the middle for Harris to gain 30 pounds and grow a beard. The film opened #37 to a 44k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 280 theaters (different weeks), grossing 8.5 mil. $ (78 % of the total gross). The film was nominated or 2 Oscars, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Harden) and losing Best Actor (Harris) to Russell Crow in Gladiator. It was also nominated for an Independent Spirit award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Harris returned with Appaloosa (2008); and as an actor he returned in Enemy at the Gates (2001); Harden in Thin Air (2000, TV movie) and From Where I Sit (2000, TV movie) prior to her theatrical return in Gaudi Afternoon (2001). Pollock is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pollock?

Flubber (1997) - A flop alright

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+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year

 

A not well looking Robin Williams hands us some green goo on this poster for Les Mayfield's Flubber

Professor Brainerd invents a green mass with a series of extraordinary properties, - but others soon want to own his invention, and his fiancée!

 

Flubber is written by John Hughes (Weird Science (1985)) and Bill Walsh (Mary Poppins (1964)), based on Samuel W. Taylor's short story A Situation of Gravity, as a remake of The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), and directed by Les Mayfield (Encino Man (1992)).

Hughes disappoints horribly with this surprisingly flabby turkey. Robin Williams' (RV (2006)) enthusiasm can't salvage that his absent-minded professor character is more aptly described as a complete imbecile. (His 'science' among other things consists of his getting a golf ball and a bowling ball to fly around and smash up his entire lab.)

Marcia Gay Harden (Whip It (2009)) is cold, and the romance between the two is incomprehensible, until he saves her back, and she suddenly loves him. Ted Levine (Heat (1995)) and Clancy Brown (Justice League Unlimited (2004-06)) are bad, unfunny copies of the 'wet bandits' villains from the also Hughes-scripted Home Alone movies, who go through a lot lesser ordeals. And then there's the film's green 'hero', slime-ball Flubber, who doesn't achieve any real kind of personality - and wins no-one's hearts. In one scene the fellow multiplies and dances around, - as again science is just a bullhorn for infantile antics. There's also a flying sidekick, Weebo, who suffers from the same lack of personality as Flubber; it mainly communicates through use of old Disney clips ('cleverly' done, Disney...)

Flubber may be fun for little children but is a piece of scrap for everyone else - with good special effects, mostly VFX. 

 

Related post:

 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 80 mil. $

Box office: 177.9 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.22 times its cost)

[Flubber premiered 16 November (New York) and runs 93 minutes. Shooting took place from October 1996 - February 1997 in California, including in San Francisco. The film opened #1 to a 26.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and then 2 more weekends in the top 5 (#2-#5), grossing 92.9 mil. $ (52.2 % of the total gross). The international gross numbers are not released, but the total gross was not enough to make the film profitable. Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Mayfield returned with Blue Streak (1999). Williams returned with Good Will Hunting (1997). Flubber is rotten at 24 % with a 4.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Flubber? 

Casa de los Babys (2003) - Sayles' great adoption drama

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+ Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year

The impressive all-female primary cast are highlighted on this German poster for John Sayles' Casa de los Babys

QUICK REVIEW:

In a South American hotel, a group of American and one Irish woman live, awaiting the arrival of their soon-to-be adopted children. With each their own story.

New York-born writer-director John Sayles (The Brother From Another Planet (1984)) explores the human fates with a sensitive hand and seemingly real insight into his material here. As a quiet observer, we are here witnesses to the story's idle development.
The film is both touching and shocking; it has fine montages (cinematography by Mauricio Rubinstein (New York, I Love You (2008))) and music (by Mason Daring (Honeydripper (2007))), and it provides a serious, semi-critical look at the adoption business.
It gathers an impressive all-female primary cast; especially fine performances are given by Daryl Hannah (Grumpy Old Men (1993)), Rita Moreno (West Side Story (1961)), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary (2002)) and Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River (2003)), once again as a sinful heavy.

 

Related posts:

 

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

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

Wacth the feeble trailer here

Cost: 0.8 mil. $
Box office: 0.4 mil. $ (US only)
= Huge flop
[The film opened in Venice Film Festival. Despite good reviews, it had a weak, limited run in America. The only other number is that it made just under 50k in Spain. The unsatisfying fate for this great film is disheartening.]

What do you think of Casa de los Babys?
Other Sayles films that beckon a watch?

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

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+ Best Romcom of the Year

A hard-to-resist poster for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight

Magic in the Moonlight is master filmmaker Woody Allen's (Broadway Danny Rose (1984)) 49th (!) movie.

In 1920's Southern France, a nihilistic skeptic, who is famous for his own Chinese magic act, travels to debunk a young spiritual medium, who is enchanting a wealthy family there.

Allen makes it all seem so easy in a film like Moonlight: As usual, he uses 'new' (in his oevre), great actors, who elevate themselves or present new sides of their talent in his hands. Here, kudos must go to both leads: Colin Firth (The King's Speech (2010)) is perfectly dry, sarcastic and thick-headed and makes audiences laugh and chuckle over Allen's priceless lines time and time again. Emma Stone (The Help (2011)), - more fortunate than the already highly respected Firth to be 'found' by Allen, despite the often dubious films she acts in, (The House Bunny (2008), Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Movie 43 (2013), Gangster Squad (2013) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) to name a few) is irresistible, and appears as if she was made of marble at times, seemingly glowing from within. She makes a charming and believable opponent to Firth.
Of the secondary players, Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom (2010)) is a sweet delight; SPOILER Simon McBurney (The Last King of Scotland (2006)) is good as Firth's real opponent; Eileen Atkins (The Hours (2002)) is tactful and funny as Firth's aunt Vanessa, and Hamish Linklater (The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (2014)) is funny as Stone's serenading dullard suitor.
Without spoiling much in the crisp plot, let me just say that Allen circles familiar territory in Magic in the Moonlight to say the least: Namely, whether life is abandoned of anything besides hard science; in other words, is there an afterlife and a God? Unable to answer these ever-present 'stones-in-the-shoe'-questions, Moonlight goes on to credibly indulge in the one pleasant thing that we can say for certain exists:
Romance.

Emma Stone and Colin Firth on another poster for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight

Professionally filmed by Iranian cinematographer Darius Khondji (The Immigrant (2013)), Moonlight also pleases with its marvelous locations by the French Riviera and beautiful, very well-crafted period costumes (by Sonia Grande (Midnight in Paris (2011))) and cars.
This film is a gift with its stimulating, smartly devised story. One of the year's true wonders.

Related posts:

Woody Allen: 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]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] To Rome With Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy
Broadway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart 
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship With Alvie Singer
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs 

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 26.7 mil. $ (and running)
= Uncertainty
[In all likeliness, although the cost of the film is not known, Moonlight has some way to go still before it breaks even, and therefore looks like a minor flop so far.]

What do you think of Magic in the Moonlight?