The Green Mile (1999) - Duncan and great ensemble raise Darabont's second prison epic

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+ Best Ensemble of the Year: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sam Rockwell, David Morse, Michael Jeter, Bonnie Hunt, James Cromwell, Patricia Clarkson, Harry Dean Stanton, Doug Hutchison + Best Epic Movie of the Year + Best Prison Movie of the Year + Best Religious Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Michael Clarke Duncan

 

Tom Hanks painted neatly up in retro 1930s/1940s poster style defines this fine poster for Frank Darabont's The Green Mile

On a Louisiana death row in the middle of the 1930s the deeply unusual, black giant double-murder convict John Coffey arrives, and his special abilities are to turn life as they know it upside down for the staff and other prisoners there.

The Green Mile is written and directed by French-born American master filmmaker Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption (1994)), whose 2nd feature it is. It is an adaptation of Stephen King's (The Talisman (1984)) same-titled 1996 novel.

The story is King in his metaphysical corner, which I sometimes have a hard time with; The Stand (1994, miniseries) being the worst proponent for the adaptations of these writings. The Green Mile arrives as something like a new gospel, a disguised Christ story, which is specifically American in the relation between the predominantly white society and its black minority, and in its relation to the black male specifically.

It is a forceful and enormously handsomely produced film with strong photography (by David Tattersall (The Matador (2005))) and performances; particularly Michael Clarke Duncan (Kung Fu Panda (2008)) is incredible and magical as Coffey. Tom Hanks (The Post (2017)) is good but stands in Duncan's colossal shade here, as well as formidable supporting performances from Sam Rockwell (Woman Walks Ahead (2017)) especially, but also from David Morse (16 Blocks (2006)), Michael Jeter (Dream On (2006, TV-series)), Bonnie Hunt (Stolen Summer (2002)), James Cromwell (The Queen (2006)), Patricia Clarkson (Elegy (2008)), Harry Dean Stanton (Sand (2000)) and Doug Hutchison (Moola (2007)).

The Green Mile is a long film with an incredible twist to it, which I also have some difficulty stomaching. Also here it is a bit much for my taste. It seems an attempt to match and exceed Darabont's preceding, masterful King adaptation, also prison-set Shawshank Redemption, and for all the wonderful elements in The Green Mile, this probably foolhardy ambition fails.

 

Related posts:

 

Frank Darabont: The Majestic (2001) - Soaring sentiments and production values in Darabont's under-appreciated Movie

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

 

Watch  a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 60 mil. $

Box office: 286.8 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.78 times its cost)

[The Green Mile premiered 6 December (California) and runs 189 minutes. Darabont reportedly wrote the script in less than 8 weeks. Hanks was paid 20 mil. $ for his performance, one third of its over-all coast. Shooting took place from July - December 1998 in Tennessee, North Carolina and California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind Toy Story 2, to a 18 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 8 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#5-#4-#2-#5-#5-#5-#5) and grossed 136.8 mil. $ (47.7 % of the total gross). It was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Picture to American Beauty, Supporting Actor (Duncan) to Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules, Editing to The Matrix and Adapted Screenplay to John Irving for The Cider House Rules. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #27 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Spirited Away (2001). It additionally made in excess of 17.4 mil. $ in domestic home video rentals alone. Darabont returned with The Majestic (2001). Hanks returned in Cast Away (2000); Duncan in The Whole Nine Yards (2000). The Green Mile is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Green Mile?

Armageddon (1998) or, Macho Men Save Earth From Disaster!

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+ Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 81.48 mil. $ range

Three Hollywood stars look defiant in the face of total destruction on this poster from another era, for Michael Bay's Armageddon

Armageddon is the film in which Bruce Willis (Death Wish (2018)) saves humanity from total annihilation by taking a deep core drilling gang to a meteor heading towards Earth and blowing it to pieces with an atomic bomb.

Armageddon is like an American kiss; an ecstatic mission impossible in space miraculously succeeds near the time of the millennium, when the good time 1990s were still in effect, all still relatively well in the Western world. It is written by Jonathan Hensleigh (Jumanji (1995)) and J.J. Abrams (Super 8 (2011)), with Tony Gilroy (The Great Wall (2016)), Shane Salerno (Celebrity (2000, TV movie)) and Robert Roy Pool (Outbreak (1995)) contributing, and directed by Michael Bay (The Rock (1996)).
The absurd team of unlikely worker-heroes of Armageddon include good actors like Michael Clarke Duncan (The Slammin' Salmon (2009)) and Steve Buscemi (Norman (2016)) and is led by an everyday superhero-like Willis, and they are all really cool, - on Earth. When they hit space, for maneuvers we are mostly served explosions and screaming men for a good 45 minutes, which takes it toll on a happy audience member's enthusiasm.
Armageddon is, as the trailer amply prepares you for, overly sentimental and junk in the sense that it is, strictly speaking, sheer baloney, (NASA even uses it as part of their management training program, and they have found at least 168 (!) scientific impossibilities in the film.) But it is also incredibly well-produced baloney, such as Jerry Bruckheimer-produced (Top Gun (1986)) films usually are.
So for anyone with a penchant for that unique oversimplification of the world that only a huge, American blockbuster can provide, Armageddon is a true must-see.

Related posts:

Michael Bay: 13 Hours/13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) - Bay portrays controversial recent history in generally thrilling actioner

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

Top 10: Best cop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Bad Boys (1995) - Bay's successful buddy cop debut is still fun

 

Watch the trailer for Armageddon in all its glory right here

Cost: 140 mil. $
Box office: 553.7 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.95 times its cost)
[Armageddon premiered 30 June (California) and runs 151 minutes. One story goes that a Disney production president took notes concerning Paramount's Deep Impact (1998) and devised Armageddon as a very similar counter film from Disney. Bruckheimer hired several more writers to rewrite and polish Hensleigh's original script. Shooting took place in South Dakota, Texas, including Houston, Florida, New Mexico, California, including Los Angeles, New York,  Istanbul, Turkey, India, France, including Paris, China, including Shanghai and in Mexico from August 1997 - January 1998. An extra 3 mil. $ were allotted the film's budget to create special effects to distinguish it from Deep Impact. 2.6 mil. $ were spent to advertise the film at the 1998 Super Bowl. The film opened #1 to a 36 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weeks (#2-#3-#5) and grossed 201.5 mil. $ (36.4 % of the total gross). It was the highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide. It was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Sound Effects to Saving Private Ryan, Visual Effects to What Dreams May Come, Song (Diane Warren: I Don't Want to Miss a Thing) to Stephen Schwartz for When You Believe from The Prince of Egypt, and Sound, also to Saving Private Ryan. It was also nominated for a Grammy. Roger Ebert gave it a 1/4 star review, translating to three notches harder than this review. The video release surpassed Pretty Woman (1990) to become Buena Vista Home Entertainment's top-selling live-action title. Bay returned with Pearl Harbor (2001). Willis returned in The Siege (1998). Armageddon is rotten at 38 % with a 5.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Armageddon?