Slow West (2015) - Maclean's contemporary-minded, digital, forgettable West

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Its four stars' faces against blue cloudy skies make up this untraditional poster for John Mclean's Slow West

A bounty hunter helps an enamored teenager with his young lady, who has a high prize on her head, through the perils of the deadly wild west.

Slow West is written and directed by debuting John Maclean (Man on a Motorcycle (2009, short)).
It is a kind of reconstructivist western, which conjures up a portrait of the mystical west, which doesn't conform to the established facts that the genre's past classics have taught us as moviegoers. Instead character after character here share related reflections, which more seem to come from our present day, (and surely hail directly from writer-director Maclean.)
No one really distinguishes themselves in Slow West, and I continually wondered why Michael Fassbender's (William and Mary (2005, TV-series)) character continually helps the smitten Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road (2009)) character.
In terms of style and technique, the film also doesn't lean on the genre's traditions and conventions, and its very digital texture (or in actuality a lack thereof; a crisp, modern smoothness) is profoundly hard to swallow for this western fan.
Slow West is a small, easily forgotten, and not very promising debut, - and an extremely overrated film.

 

Related post:

 

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 2 mil. $
Box office: 1.2 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.6 times its cost)
[Slow West premiered 24 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 84 minutes. Shooting took place in New Zealand and Scotland around October 2013. The film opened #36 to a 67k $ first weekend in 50 theaters in North America, where it peaked the following week at #35 and in 54 theaters and grossed 229k $ (19.1 % of the total gross). The biggest market was the main production country the UK with 559k $ (46.6 %); North America was 2nd biggest and Germany 3rd biggest with 225k $ (19 %). In North America, the film was simultaneously released as video-on-demand, which may have contributed to the low gross. Numbers from its performance on VOD are unreleased. The film won a Sundance award and was nominated for a British Independent Film award and a European Film award, among other honors. Maclean has stayed clear of directing since but made some music instead. Fassbender returned in Macbeth (2015); Smit-McPhee in Gallipolli (2015, miniseries) and theatrically in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016); Caren Pistorius (Mortal Engines (2018)) in The Light Between Oceans (2016)) and Ben Mendelsohn (Vertical Limit (2000)) in Mississippi Grind (2015). Slow West is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.47/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Slow West?

Eagle vs Shark (2007) - Waititi's witty if flawed debut

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A sort of confusing (who are the people superimposed onto the sky?) but also fresh and curiosity-sparking poster for Taika Waititi's Eagle vs Shark

A fast food worker, who is in love with an electronics salesman, impresses him with her skills in a video game, and soon thereafter love is in the air between the two.

Eagle vs Shark, written by co-writer-lead actress Loren Taylor (The Strip (2002-03)) and feature-debuting co-writer-director Taika Waititi (Boy (2010)), is a witty indie movie. It relishes and cultivates the quirks of its strange protagonists (and several side characters.) The quirky weirdness seems a bit studied, and the film lacks a straightforwardness that makes its dramatic side seem stuck in a strange unreality.
There is still enough to laugh over, or to simply find amusing, in Eagle vs Shark, so that this visit to a very awkward version of New Zealand is still worth taking.

Watch the opening scene of the film here

Cost: 1.35 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 1.2 mil. $
= Some uncertainty (but looks like a huge flop)
[Eagle vs Shark premiered in January (Sundance) and runs 88 minutes. The script was workshopped at the Sundance writers' and directors' labs in June 2005. Shooting took place in New Zealand, including in Wellington, in 25 days from October - November 2005. The film opened #53 to a 20k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #46 and in 20 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 221k $ (18.4 % of the total gross). This was the film's 3rd biggest market. The 2 biggest were its native New Zealand with 733k $ (61 %) and the UK with 299k $ (24.9 %). It was shown at festivals in more countries than are accounted for on Box Office Mojo, but doesn't seem to have made any money on this. The film was screened and nominated for the main prize in Sundance and won one out of 3 nominations at the New Zealand Film and TV Awards. Waititi has continued to grow as a filmmaker, but is now heading Thor: Ragnarok (2017), changing pace to the mega-budgeted tentpole movie business. Eagle vs Shark is rotten at 54 % with a 5.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Eagle vs Shark?

Bad Taste (1987) or, Hungry Aliens in New Zealand

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A grisly alien in a suit, flipping the bird while holding a Kalashnikov makes up this eye-popping poster for Peter Jackson's Bad Taste

Aliens land by a small town in New Zealand to harvest humans for fast food consumption, but are met with a ragtag para-military resistance.

 
Bad Taste is written by Ken Hammon (The Murder House (1998, short)), Tony Hiles (Jack Brown Genius (1996)) and debuting New Zealander master filmmaker co-writer/director/cinematographer/co-editor/co-star Peter Jackson (The Frighteners (1996)).
Bad Taste is a gory crazy-comedy: Guts, blood and brains fly right and left, while just about everyone over-act absurdly throughout, - all in pretty bad taste, some might argue. But the film is highly entertaining and seriously impressive technically for a debut, all things considered.
The amount of special effects in Bad Taste is enormous, and the film is funny, made with tons of boyish glee and enthusiasm and really out there. It points ahead to Jackson's best film, Dead Alive/Braindead (1992) for us who dare prefer it over the filmmaker's later Lord of the Rings triumphs.

 

Related posts:

Peter Jackson: 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: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Braindead/Dead Alive (1992) - Jackson's best film ever is a gore classic! 

 

 

Jackson talks about making the film in an interview here

Cost: Reportedly 260k NZ$, approximately 163k $
Box office: Uncertain but in excess of 114k $
= Uncertain but likely a huge hit (projected return of at least 6.13 times its cost)

[Bad Taste was released 25 December (New Zealand) and runs 92 minutes. Shooting took place in New Zealand from 1983-87. Jackson shot the film reportedly without a script, (so the three writer's credits are seemingly more for thinking up ideas through the long shooting process), on a 25 year-old 16 mm Bolex camera, funding it mostly himself, with friends acting in the film. All the alien masks were reportedly baked in Jackson's mother's oven! The New Zealand Film Commission invested 235k NZ$ into the completion of the film, bringing its total cost to 260k $, since 25k $ were reportedly spent besides this money. The details concerning the film's performance in New Zealand or any of the other many markets that it released in are regrettably not available online, but it is likely that the film at least grossed 1-2 mil. $ and would therefore be at least a huge hit. The only available gross number is that the film sold 29k tickets in France, which accounts for approximately 114k $. The film was temporarily banned in Queensland, Australia, and censored in other markets. Jackson returned with Meet the Feebles (1989). Bad Taste is fresh at 71 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Bad Taste?