Election (1999) - Payne's high school politics dramedy

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+ Best Nebraska Movie of the Year 

 

Matthew Broderick looks disgruntled, caught inside the excited mouth of Reese Witherspoon on this poster for Alexander Payne's Election

High school teacher Jim McAllister has a beef with his over-achiever student Tracy Flick, who is running for student president, so he engages an opposing candidate.

Election is an MTV-produced, fast-edited and funny movie, the third feature from Nebraskan master co-writer-director Alexander Payne (The Descendants (2011)).
Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line (2005)) glows as comedienne as young Flick, while Matthew Broderick (The Night We Never Met (1993)) accepts the role of McAllister, which, according to your temperament, serves as a tongue-in-cheek reference to his legendary turn as rebellious high school student in John Hughes' masterpiece Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), or as a part that throws sly vitriol on this glorious past. - For me, seeing one of the heroes of my youth tackle this bitter, grownup high school teacher did take some of the joy out of Election from me.
It is still a clever tragicomic movie with a gender-focused sting of societal criticism. Payne co-wrote the script with Jim Taylor (Sideways (2004)), based on Tom Perrotta's (Little Children (2004)) same-titled 1998 novel.

Related posts:
 

Alexander Payne: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]   
Nebraska (2013) or, Father and Son
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
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
The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family 
About Schmidt (2002) or, Dear Ndugu ...

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

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 14.9 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain - but looks like a big to huge flop
[Election was released April 23 and runs 102 minutes. Filming took place from July 1998 - February 1999 in Nebraska, Ohio and New York. The film was released theatrically in 16 countries in total, but only the North American gross is made public. It opened #37 in 6 theaters to 119k $ and peaked at #5 in 827 theaters. The film was Oscar-nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay, lost to John Irving's screenplay for The Cider House Rules. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won a National Board of Review award "for excellence in filmmaking" and 3 Independent Spirit Awards, out of 5 nominations. Election is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Election?

The Homesman (2014) - Revisit the harsh American West with Jones, Swank and a wagonload of crazy women

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Western of the Year

The rough and weary French poster for Tommy Lee Jones' The Homesman

In the middle of the 19th century in Nebraska territory, a small community is stuck with three women who far different reasons have lost their minds and need to go away, before tragedy ruins their homes forever. A strong, religious maiden sets out for the long voyage and soon partners up with an aging, cynical renegade.

The Homesman is an adaptation of a 1988 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout (The Shootist (1975)). It is the 4th film directed by great American actor/filmmaker Tommy Lee Jones (The Good Old Boys (1995), TV movie), who also stars in the film in the lead alongside Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry (1999)). It is nice to see her in a fleshy, good part becoming of her sizable talent here finally again, and together the two lead an ensemble as great as probably any director today could wish to work with:
John Lithgow (Obsession (1976)), James Spader (Secretary (2002)) and Tim Blake Nelson (Lincoln (2012)) play men with each their faults. Hailee Steinfeld (Begin Again (2013)) plays a small role that seems like a respectful hat-tip to her fine performance in the great True Grit (2010). Meryl Streep (The Hours (2002)) and fine character actors complete the cast.
The film offers a stark look at living conditions in the Midwest in the period: it has not a single frame of glamor or traditional western macho warmth. - And that is refreshing. It also refuses to be a suspense-picture; refuses to saw off some of its detours and knots to be a 'straighter' picture, and instead offers serious representations of its issues of insanity and survival in the rugged American country of yore. It moves along as an episodic yarn very much following the mind of its rugged filmmaker. Jones also injects moments of brevity that are testament to his humorous affinities.
Homesman opens with some marvelous landscape images, accompanied by Marco Beltrami's (The Hurt Locker (2008)) phenomenal score, which seems to manage to direct our very souls into the film like so many harps in very little time.
The Homesman serves food for thought and for discussion. - Why did that happen? - Is that right? And so on. It isn't neat nor readily digested. SPOILER Its ending becomes nearly mythological, as Jones is carried off in sorrow and devil-may-care attitude on a raft. I loved the ending. It was as if I had been on a journey with Jones for the film's 2 hours, and now he sailed onwards, singing and doing his jig to mark the parting. Jones is cinema's most endearing geezer in The Homesman.

Related posts:

Tommy Lee Jones: 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]  
Men in Black 3 (2012) - Third MiB-chapter entertains the suits and shades off of everyone! (actor) 
Hope Springs (2012) - Making an old marriage work, peppered with Streep at her best and top-grade talent all-around (actor)

Watch the film's great trailer here

Cost: 16 mil. $
Box office: 2.6 mil. $ (and counting)
= So far a huge flop
[The Homesman's prospects look exceedingly glum at the moment, since it has already enjoyed a limited American run in November-December, unless it makes a wider release soon. It has competed in Cannes and been shown in Telluride and at The AFI Film Festival. It has already been released in most markets and probably simply got out at the densest period at the American movie year and didn't make the commercial cut. It needs all the admissions it can get right now, so don't miss it.]

What do you think of The Homesman?
Other fine westerns about women in the West and/or insanity?

Children of the Corn (1984) or, Zealous Kiddie Killers!

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Creepy, great poster for Fritz Kiersch's Children of the Corn

QUICK REVIEW:

Stephen King's (Pet Cemetery (1989)) presence is felt here, - he wrote the short story that the script is based on, - in red neck, USA, (actually somewhere in Nebraska.) The film is paved with religious symbols and an atmosphere that sometimes brings The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) to mind, though this is less gruesome:
The story is staged as a simple, linear tale of travel without any hocus-pocus in George Goldsmith's (Nowhere to Hide (1987)) script, with Linda Hamilton (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)) and a bunch of well-playing children. - Particularly the inbred fanatics are creepy, with their leader Isaac (John Franklin (The Addams Family (1991))) as the worst.
The score by Jonathan Elias (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)) and the editing by Harry Keramidas (Back to the Future Part II (1989)) are effective, and the film has some nice shocks along the way. It is directed by Texan director Fritz Kiersch (Tuff Turf (1985)).
Make sure to see a restored version of this strong low-budget religious horror flick that has spun no less than 7 sequels.

John Franklin as the freaky child cult leader Isaac in Fritz Kiersch's Children of the Corn

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: 0.8 mil. $
Box office: 14.5 mil. $
= Huge hit

What do you think of Children of the Corn?
Have you seen any of the sequels, and if so, how was it/were they?

Nebraska (2013) - Payne's father-son Americana is the year's funniest film

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+ Best Alaska Movie of the Year + Best B/W Movie of the Year

A telling still from the Alexander Payne's Nebraska, in which the father-son leads visit the old father's childhood home

Nebraska is great American director Alexander Payne's (The Descendants (2011)) newest film, which is nominated for 6 Oscars at the coming award show.
It is about an old man, Woody, who has received a letter in the mail that says he has won a million dollars. Even though his wife and sons keep telling him that it's bogus, Woody keeps leaving home to try to walk to Nebraska from his home in Montana to get his prize. Finally his one son decides to drive his old man to Nebraska to end his delusion. Their trip involves visiting old friends and family and places that used to be something that they aren't anymore.
The Nebraska script is the first that has turned into a feature film for its now Oscar-nominated writer Bob Nelson. It is a marvelous piece of work with some truly divine lines and poignant explorations. Payne had been presented with it during production of the brilliant About Schmidt (2002), but didn't want to do another road movie after Sideways (2004), which he was prepping at the time, so he made The Descendants (2011) first, and then came to Nebraska. It's a really fine story filled with very real and funny characters.
Breathing life into them are Will Forte (MacGruber (2010)), previously mostly known as a comedian, June Squibb, - who was also marvelous in a smaller, yet somewhat similar role in About Schmidt, - and in the lead Bruce Dern (Coming Home (1978)). Dern gives a totally believable performance as a bewildered, aging alcoholic Woody, who's determined enough about his prize but otherwise often draws a blank.
As usual in Payne's universe, sentimentality isn't clearly on the menu, - though real emotions do swell up here, especially towards the great ending, in which the son enables his father's dream of finally owning an (almost) brand new car. The stark, generally unremarkable landscapes of the Midwest also pack a punch in themselves, and they must be part of the reason for the film's B/W photography. by Payne regular Phedon Papamichael (Walk the Line (2005)). Nebraska is a film that already seems transfused with a sadness of time passed, and the futility of most human endeavors in its widespread context. So many of the telling looks we get in Nebraska from the characters are looks of a certain resignation. The resignation over age. And Mark Orton's simple, powerful score only lends a greater beauty to these situations.
Yet this is also the year's funniest film. You'll have to see it to believe it but it really is.
Though never bad, some of the amateur performances in small parts in the film don't align perfectly, detracting a little bit from the otherwise fantastic piece of Americana that Nebraska ultimately is.

Related posts:

Alexander Payne: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

About Schmidt (2002) or, Dear Ndugu ...

 

The crummy poster for Alexander Payne's Nebraska

Watch this trailer and then go watch this movie! Or stream it or buy it on DVD. It's sound advice!

Budget: 12 mil. $
Box office: 15.1 mil. $
= Far from spectacular

What do you think of Nebraska?

About Schmidt (2002) or, Dear Ndugu...

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Movie of the Year

+ Best American Movie of the Year + Best Dramedy of the Year + Best Road Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year

Jack Nicholson under a cloud with tousled hair on this poster for Alexander Payne's About Schmidt

We meet insurance vice president Schmidt just as he is retiring to an empty existence with his wife, who annoys him fiercely, in Omaha, Nebraska. But then she dies, and what is Schmidt to do then?

 
The taboo-ridden, unsexy material of About Schmidt is handled with usual sensibility and a keen eye for the grotesque and the really, really funny by Nebraskan master filmmaker, co-writer/director Alexander Payne (The Passion of Martin (1991)), one of the best contemporary, American filmmakers, and by Jack Nicholson (Easy Rider (1969)), who gives one of the finest performances of his legendary career. Schmidt stands out as a real, rounded character, who is portrayed with delicate humanity and real spirit by grand master Nicholson. From the character's hysterically funny letters to his African sponsor boy, Ndugu, to the almost unbearable family collisions, he suffers through, Nicholson commands his part with unequaled brilliance.
Other great performances in the movie come from Hope Davis (Mumford (1999)), Kathy Bates (Have Mercy (2006)) and Dermot Mulroney (Pure Genius (2016-17)), who has never looked worse, styled as Davis' betrothed to look a perfect boob here in a very funny part.
About Schmidt is a very moving and funny film for anyone mildly interested in anything in life. Payne co-wrote the script with Jim Taylor (Citizen Ruth (1996)), and the film is loosely based on Louis Begley's (Schmidt's Steps Back (2012)) same-titled 1996 novel.

Related posts:
 
Alexander Payne: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]   
Nebraska (2013) or, Father and Son

Top 10: Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
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
The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family  

Hung - season 1 (2009) - Ray Drecker overcomes bad circumstances in mostly promising dramedy (director) 

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007) - James and Sandler marry in Dugan's crude, wrongfully maligned buddy-comedy (co-writer)

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Election (1999) - Payne's high school politics dramedy 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 105.8 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 3.52 times its cost)

[About Schmidt premiered 22 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 124 minutes. The script was based on an original script Payne had written but did not find support for in 1991, which he later combined with elements from Begley's novel. Nicholson was paid 10 mil. $ for his performance, a third of the film's budget. Shooting took place in Iowa, Colorado, including Denver, and in Nebraska from March - May 2001. The film opened #24 to a 282k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #4, behind fellow holdover hits The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Catch Me If You Can and Two Weeks Notice, and spent another week in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 65 mil. $ (61.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 6.2 mil. $ (5.9 %) and Italy with 4.6 mil. $ (4.3 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Actor (Nicholson), lost to Adrien Brody in The Pianist, and Supporting Actress (Bates) to Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago. It won 2/5 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a BAFTA, won an AFI award, and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Payne returned with Sideways (2004). Nicholson returned in Anger Management (2003). About Schmidt is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of About Schmidt?