I Am Sam (2001) - Penn and Fanning elevate flawed disability drama

♥♥♥

 

Two major stars sit across from each other against a backdrop of familial affection on this poster for Jessie Nelson's I Am Sam

Sam is a father and intellectually disabled, and therefore the authorities want to remove his daughter from his care. But isn't his big, pumping love for her the most important thing for the girl's well-being?

 

I Am Sam is written by Kristine Johnson (Imaginary Crimes (1994)) and co-writer/co-producer/director Jessie Nelson (Corrina, Corrina (1994)).

Sean Penn's (The Gunman (2005)) heartwarming performance as Sam makes this otherwise wobbly drama worthwhile, and he is supported by Dakota Fanning (Hounddog (2007)), who is impossibly sweet as his daughter Lucy, as well as from Dianne Wiest (The Humbling (2014)) as the good lady across the street, as well as two supporting actors actually living with intellectual disability. 

The direction is regrettably heavy-handed: Telling looks, which the characters should have bared for a split second during a scene are instead held through entire scenes, so that the film seems condescending in its essentially taking us for saps. Almost all the scenes in I Am Sam are chasing the wildly emotional with an at times annoyingly handheld camera. The dichotomy of the court case climax and the film's message over-all are mostly of the overly simplified Hollywood kind, here specifically the Beatles inspired wisdom of 'love solves everything'. Michelle Pfeiffer (What Lies Beneath (2000)) plays an overstrung career woman, failing in making the character seem real. 

 

 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 22 mil. $

Box office: 97.8 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.44 times its cost)

[I Am Sam premiered 3 December (Beverly Hills) and runs 132 minutes. Penn was paid 5 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from March - May 2001 in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #47 to a 41k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,450 theaters (different weekends), grossing 40.3 mil. $ (41.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 25.7 mil. $ (26.3 %) and South Korea with 9.8 mil. $ (10 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar, for Best Actor (Penn), lost to Denzel Washington in Training Day. It was also nominated for a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Nelson returned with Love the Coopers (2015). Penn returned in It's All About Love (2003); Pfeiffer in White Oleander (2002). I Am Sam is rotten at 35 % with a 4.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of I Am Sam?

In the Mouth of Madness (1994) - Carpenter in a Lovecraftian house of mirrors

♥♥

 

A fantastic tagline ('Lived any good books lately?') and a well-made, chilling composited effect image of horrific elements springing from a book's pages make up this poster for John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness

 

Our protagonist is an insurance company investigator, who gets locked up in a padded cell, seemingly insane. What made him so? He was on a mission to locate the world's best-selling horror author, but said author's disturbing fiction led to a town that doesn't exist ...

 

In the Mouth of Madness is written by Michael De Luca (Dark Justice (1991-93)) and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker John Carpenter (Dark Star (1974)), whose 13th feature it is. 

Winding, dark and strange, In the Mouth of Madness has good monster effects but also becomes involuntarily funny along the way. Julie Carmen (Killer Snake (2004, short)) is really bad as the character Linda Styles, and Sam Neill (Rams (2020)) fails to carry this post-modernist-enthused deconstructionist invention.

 

Related posts:

 

John Carpenter: Cigarette Burns (2005, TV movie) - Carpenter burns out in weird, tiresome TV movie

Dario Argento: An Eye For Horror (2000, TV documentary) - Great bio-doc of master filmmaker Dario Argento (interview subject)

Escape from L.A./John Carpenter's Escape from L.A./Escape from Los Angeles (1996) or, Snake Plissken in Crazy-World! 
Christine (1983) or, Bad Plymouth!

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) - Evil masks ravage in Wallace's under-appreciated horror (uncredited writing)

Top 10: Best future-set movies
Escape from New York (1981) - Carpenter introduces Kurt Russell as action star in dystopic dream

Top 10: Best first-of-franchise movies 

Halloween (1978) - Carpenter's haunting slasher classic 
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - Solid action guerilla film-making 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 8 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 8.9 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.87 times its cost)

[In the Mouth of Madness premiered 10 August (Fantasy FilmFest, Germany) and runs 95 minutes. De Luca wrote the script in the late 1980s. Carpenter has himself stated that it was given a 7 mil. $ budget, but as it is listed as 8 in several places, it must have gone over budget by a million. Shooting took place from August - October 1993 in Ontario, including in Toronto. The film opened #4, behind holdover hit Legends of the Fall and fellow new releases Boys on the Side and Jerky Boys, to a 3.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 8.9 mil. $. The film's international gross numbers are regrettably not reported. If it had a subdued reception internationally, a 15 mil. $ final gross is likely, which would rank the film a big flop. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Carpenter returned with Village of the Damned (1995). Neill returned in Country Life (1994). In the Mouth of Madness is fresh at 60 % with a 5.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of In the Mouth of Madness? 

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024) - Costner's glorious cinematic passion project needs your theatrical support now

♥♥♥♥

 

Star-filmmaker Kevin Costner is the lone man in the wild west on this sparse poster for his Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

Along a river in the open desert range landscape of Arizona, settlers attempt to start a new life with a town called Horizon, but the surrounding Apache natives don't welcome their advance. In Montana horse trader Hayes Ellison meets beautiful prostitute Marigold and soon have to flee the mining town with her following the murder of local hood Caleb Sykes.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is written by Jon Baird (National Parks (2022, executive producer)) and co-writer/co-producer/co-star/director Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves (1990)), with Mark Kasdan (Silverado (1985)) contributing story elements. It is the first in an epic 4-part film series devised by Costner.

If Costner succeeds in making and releasing 4 epic Horizon westerns, it is quite a feat, especially since the first one has not landed to the audience reception one would have hoped for but rather to widespread indifference, regrettably. Costner is an incredible character in the film world with both towering highs (Field of Dreams (1989), Dances with Wolves (1990)) and stupefying lows (Waterworld (1995), The Postman (1997)) in his long career. This western mega-project will be one for the history books, IF he succeeds.

Horizon moves along with what may be termed a 'luxurious' pace, somewhat akin to a fine TV-series, because it means to tell its multi-character tale over the course of not 90 minutes but rather something like 720 minutes (4 x 180 minutes). For those willing and able to appreciate fully immersing in an epic narrative, it is a luxurious treat to get into a work such as this. Horizon is a gift for every western lover out there, and one that demands to be seen on the big screen. Fabulous American landscapes are captured magnificently (by cinematographer J. Michael Muro (Parker (2013))), and the score (by John Debney (Luck (2022))) thunders appropriately up and down as suspense wanes and accelerates. 

The impressive production has a fine cast behind Costner in the ten gallon hat: Sienna Miller (Live by Night (2016)), Sam Worthington (Lansky (2021)), Danny Huston (Succession (2019, TV-series)), Abbey Lee (Caprice (2018)), Michael Rooker (Fairfax (2022, TV-series)), Elizabeth Dennehy (Hancock (2008)), Jamie Campbell Bower (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)) and Charles Halford (Joe Bell (2020)) all give full, engaged, commendable performances. A large Native American cast also lend authentic feeling and insight into the film's fabric.

There's plenty to admire and become taken in by in the first part of Costner's opus magnum, and I will surely be ready to enjoy Part II as it releases in a good month's time.

Related posts:

Kevin Costner: Molly's Game (2017) - Chastain is luminous in Sorkin's great true-crime debut (co-star)

Man of Steel (2013) or, Superman v Zod: Sunset of Destruction (co-star)

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

Open Range (2003) - Costner impresses with fabulous classic western

Thirteen Days (2000) - Electrifying Cuban Missile Crisis thriller (actor/producer)  

The Postman (1997) - Costner's colossal apocalyptic turkey 

Dances with Wolves (1990) - Costner's triumphant, simpatico western

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 100 mil. $

Box office: 17.2 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 181 minutes. Development of Horizon reportedly began in 1988. Costner has allegedly injected 38 mil. $ of his own money into the making of the film and reportedly also pays for marketing on top of this, possibly, although the details are hazy. Shooting took place from August - November 2022 in Utah. The upcoming Part II has been shot, and shooting of Part III is seemingly taking place right now. Whether all three remaining parts will see their day of release is unknown. The film opened #3, behind holdover hit Inside Out 2 and fellow new release A Quiet Place: Day One, to an 11 mil. $ first weekend in North America. The film's foreign numbers look abysmal so far. The film has one market yet to release in: Germany on 22 August. Costner returns with Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2 (2024), also as an actor. Miller also returns in that film; Worthington returned first in The Exorcism (2024). Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is rotten at 46 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1?

Hairspray (2007) - Glorious time with Shankman's inspired musical

♥♥♥♥

 

Fizzy, fun-promising poster for Adam Shankman's Hairspray, centering on the hairdos of the main cast

Tracy is the biggest fan of Collins' dance shows on television in Baltimore in 1962, and of course one day she ditches school in order to take part in an audition for the show. But her liberal mind clashes with the leader of the show ...

 

Hairspray is written by Leslie Dixon (Pay It Forward (2000)), based on the 2002 Broadway musical that in turn was based on John Waters' same-titled 1988 film, and directed by Adam Shankman (The Wedding Planner (2001)).

Outstanding shooting star Nikki Blonsky (The English Teacher (2013)) as Tracy is a trouper and imbues the film with an irresistible, happy energy throughout the simple, good story. James Marsden (The Stand (2021-21, miniseries)), Elijah Kelly (Heavens Fall (2006)), Zac Efron (17 Again (2009)), Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter (1978)) and John Travolta (Ladder 49 (2004)) in a wild and fantastic cross-dressing fat suit-draped performance that has to be seen, - are all terrific. The good songs include Good Morning Baltimore and (You're) Timeless to Me, the latter a duet between Travolta and Walken. 

The hair, makeup and prosthetics job is killer. Michelle Pfeiffer (Frankie and Johnny (1991)) is catty and looks utterly amazing but is no singer, which regrettably shows. 

Hairspray is deeply charming, if a bit overlong, and it certainly inspires one to search for Waters' original as well. 

 

Related post:

 

Adam Shankman: A Walk to Remember (2002) or, Annoying Girl and Idiotic Guy Find Each Other and Love Like the Wind, Which You Can Feel But Not Touch

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 75 mil. $

Box office: 203.6 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.71 times its cost)

[Hairspray premiered 10 July (Los Angeles) and runs 116 minutes. Travolta was paid 14 mil. $, 3 of them up-front, for his performance in the film. Efron was paid 100k $. Shooting took place from September - December 2006 in Toronto, Ontario and in Baltimore, Maryland. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and holdover hit Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, to a 27.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent 2 more weekends at the top 5 (#4-X-#5), grossing 118.8 mil. $ (58.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 25.7 mil. $ (12.6 %) and Australia with 14.4 mil. $ (7.1 %). The film was nominated for a BAFTA, 3 Golden Globes and a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Shankman returned with Prop 8: The Musical (2008, short) and theatrically with Bedtime Stories (2008). Travolta returned with a voice performance in Bolt (2008) and physically in The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009); Efron in 3 TV and short credits prior to his theatrical return in Me and Orson Welles (2008); and Blonsky in Queen Sized (2008, TV movie) and theatrically in Harold (2008). Hairspray is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hairspray?

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) - Jackson's Tolkien engagement ends on a note of cinematic ruin

♥

 

+ Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year 

 

A plethora of fantastical characters and dramatic vistas meets the eye on this poster for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The dragon Smaug is exterminated, and its enormous gold treasure leads to strife and a resulting gigantic battle.

 

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is written by Philippa Boyens (The Lovely Bones (2009)), Guillermo del Toro (Crimson Peak (2015)), co-writer/co-producer Fran Walsh (King Kong (2005)) and New Zealander master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Peter Jackson (Bad Taste (1987)), adapting The Hobbit (1937) by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Silmarillion (1977)). It is Jackson's 13th feature and the 3rd and last in his Hobbit trilogy.

The last Hobbit most of the time looks, just like its two high frame rate predecessors, like a long, dubious video sequence from a computer game rather than the immersive, 'real' adventure feel of Jackson's great The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001; 2002; 2003).

Countless hairy, ugly, British-speaking dwarfs and other characters fail to ignite one's interest here, and the surreal ultra HD CG universe mostly impels one to shut the thing off or walk away. Lots of LoTR stars return in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which only heightens its offense. It is a disaster.

 

Related posts:

Peter Jackson: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) - Jackson returns with overrated, artificial-looking turkey 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) - Jackson's megalomania gives birth to the first third of an enormous fantasy whopper

The Lovely Bones (2009) - Despite qualities, Jackson's metaphysical crime drama is a wasteful jumble 
The Frighteners (1996) - FX-driven ghost comedy madness

Top 10: Best gore movies 

1992 in films - according to Film Excess 
Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Braindead/Dead Alive (1992) - Jackson's best film ever is a gore classic!   
Bad Taste (1987) or, Peter Jackson's Hungry Aliens in New Zealand 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 250 mil. $

Box office: 962.2 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.84 times its cost)

[The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies premiered 1 December (London) and runs 144 minutes. Shooting took place from March 2011 - July 2012 and from May - July 2013 in New Zealand and the UK. The production reportedly gained a 41 mil. $ incentive in New Zealand. The film opened #1 to a 54.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained #1 for another 2 weekends and then spent another weekend in the top 5 (#4), grossing 255.1 mil. $ (26.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 121.7 mil. $ (12.6 %) and the Germany with 72.4 mil. $ (7.5 %). The film was nominated for the Best Sound Editing Oscar, lost to American Sniper. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, among other honors. The film additionally made in excess of 77.9 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Jackson returned with a small handful of documentary projects and is set to return theatrically with an unnamed Tintin sequel. Martin Freeman (Ode to Joy (2019)) returned in 7 TV and short credits prior to his theatrical return in Whisky Tango Foxtrot (2016). The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is rotten at 59 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies? 

The Nun II (2023) or, Nun 2: Second to Nun!

♥

 

The titular nun in the confession box looking less than saintly on this dark poster for Michael Chaves' The Nun II

Sister Irene leads a quiet convent life, when she is once again tasked with dealing with the lethal demon nun Valak, who seems to be sweeping across Europe, leaving behind a trail of satanic-themed deaths.

 

The Nun II is written by Ian Goldberg (Eli (2019)), Richard Naing (The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)) and Akela Cooper (M3GAN (2022)) and directed by Michael Chaves (The Curse of La Llorona (2019)). It is the 8th film in the Conjuring universe and the sequel to spin-off The Nun (2018).

Quality plummets here in a strictly commercially mandated followup that lacks the Gothic luster and gloomy fun of the first film by Corin Hardy. Chaves' modus operandi is to quickly set up characters and situations without much believability, inherent interest or audience investment, and then to attack them; either killing them in death scenes that usually last less than 10 seconds, or to menace them for longer, - mostly if they are young females, - in which case they get expanded screen time to scream, scream, - and then to scream some more.

The film may be a scary experience for young first-timer audiences in the horror genre, but for veteran fright fans, it is regrettably a quite tiring chore to sit through. The appealing Taissa Farmiga (The Long Dumb Road (2018)) is trapped in a cynical and boring contraption here. A cast of young characters with perfect skin and perfectly plucked eyebrows attempt various European accents while failing miserably at presenting any semblance of authenticity as a present day version of 1956 Europe. No story or character details are followed up. The nun doesn't get really scary scenes that stand out. She is overcome with a nonsensical story of religious magic, and her backstory remains unexplored, despite it being the obvious place to go for a Nun movie.

The first film's unconvincing but model-looking Jonas Bloquet (Par le Sang (2018)) is brought back for a bigger, central role in the new film that also fails to deliver scares or rack up interest. Basically his lamely friendly boarding school repairman becomes overtaken by a demon at times. It is unclear whether he is overtaken by Valak the nun, because she is also busy spreading frenzied terror on her own elsewhere. 

The fright scenes are fast and rely heavily on CGI, mostly to little effect besides incessant screaming from the girls on-screen. The danger scenes lack originality and directorial vision. But despite the lowly movie at hand, its impressive commercial results mean that we might as well start bracing for more nun-sense to come.

Related posts:

Conjuring franchise: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2019 in films - according to Film Excess

Annabelle Comes Home (2019) or, Annabelle: Bored to Death! 
The Nun (2018) - Hardy succeeds with old-timey Gothic horror on FX steroids
Annabelle: Creation (2017) - Sandberg's orphanage doll prequel is slow but rewarding

The Conjuring 2 (2016) - Wan's sequel is a long horror treat with terrifying periods 
Annabelle (2014) - Leonetti's creepy if derivative Conjuring spin-off

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
The Conjuring (2013) - Best horror film in 7 years  

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 38 mil. $

Box office: 205.3 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say but already a big hit (has returned 5.40 times its cost to date)

[The Nun II was released 6 September (Indonesia, Mexico, Uruguay, Philippines) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting took place around October 2022 in France. The film opened #1 to a 32.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it has currently held #1 for its first 3 straight weekends. The film has one slated market left to open in; Japan on October 13. Chaves does not have his next gig announced yet. Farmiga is slated to return in a feature titled She Taught Love. The Nun II is rotten at 52 % with a 5.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Nun II? 

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - Sandler breaks out of his routine in Anderson's delightful romcom

♥♥♥♥♥

 

+ Best Romance of the Year

 

A wonderful still image of a kiss with wavy dark, mellow colors underneath makes up this elegant poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love

Barry lives in his own socially cautious world, in which he is saving up a ton of frequent flier miles by purchasing pudding. Then he meets a woman, who knocks him off his feet and gets him to fly for the first time in his life, - to Hawaii.

 

Punch-Drunk Love is written, co-produced and directed by Californian master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight (1996)), whose 4th film it is.

It is strange to enter the anxiety-ridden world of Barry; well-achieved through feministically-diabolical sisters, led by Mary Lynn Rajskub (Hero Mode (2021)), and an untraditional, unharmonic score (by Jon Brion (Lady Bird (2017))). The film also has neat if strangely, purposely 'off' cinematography (by Robert Elswit (Inherent Vice (2014))).

SPOILER A phone sex subplot and Philip Seymour Hoffman (A Late Quartet (2012)) work exceedingly well as elements in Punch-Drunk Love and both are also some of its original parts. Adam Sandler (The Wedding Singer (1998)) and Emily Watson (Chernobyl (2019, miniseries)) are a delightful match. The film is a salute to the first, overwhelming feelings of falling in love.

 

Related posts:

Paul Thomas Anderson: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Phantom Thread (2017) - Anderson's exquisite drama of an English dressmaker and his Alma 

The Master (2012) - Anderson's stunning post-war reflection 

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

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Boogie Nights (1997) - Anderson's irresistible porn 'Casino'

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Hard Eight (1996) - Anderson debuts with downbeat crime drama 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 30 mil. $

Box office: 24.6 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.82 times its cost)

[Punch-Drunk Love premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 95 minutes. The film came about due to Anderson's fandom of Sandler and his wish to make a 90-minute romcom with him. Sandler was paid 7 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from February - March 2001 in Hawaii and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #23 to a 367k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,293 theaters (different weeks), grossing 17.8 mil. $ (72.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.6 mil. $ (6.5 %) and Australia with 840k $ (3.4 %). It was nominated for a Golden Globe and won Anderson the Best Director prize at Cannes (tied with Im Kwon-taek for Painted Fire), among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Anderson returned with Jon Brion: Here We Go (2002, music video), Couch (2003, video) and theatrically with There Will Be Blood (2007). Sandler returned in Mr. Deeds (2002); Watson in Red Dragon (2002). Punch-Drunk Love is certified fresh at 79 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Punch-Drunk Love?