Hidden Figures (2016) - Melfi's easily digestible ode to some unsung heroines

♥♥♥

 

+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year

 

Three women of color tower as formidable heroines on this poster for Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures

The 'space race' in 1960s America: The Soviets have succeeded in being the first to send a human into space, and NASA is under tremendous pressure to attain the upper hand on the new frontier. A group of black American women also work towards reaching this goal.

Hidden Figures is written by Allison Schroeder (Mean Girls 2 (2011, TV movie)) and co-writer/co-producer/director Theodore Melfi (Winding Roads (1999)), based on the non-fiction book Hidden Figures (2016) by Margot Lee Shetterly.

Segregation falls by the wayside in favor of reaching a common goal in the course of the work described in the plot outline above, - eyes are opened to the fact that brainpower has no skin color. But the sympathetic narrative lacks opposition; the villain here is 'the times', and that gets boring. The funky score (made with help from Pharrell Williams (Despicable Me 3 (2017))) and the honest performances from all help this polished, safe product (it feels more as such than as a film) go down without fail.

 

Related posts:

Theodore Melfi: Going in Style (2017) - Flip the bird to banks with game veteran stars (writer)

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

St. Vincent (2014) - Melfi debuts with a heartwarming dramedy (writer/director)

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 25 mil. $

Box office: 235.9 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 9.43 times its cost)

[Hidden Figures premiered 1 December (Virginia) and runs 127 minutes. Shooting took place from March - May 2016 in Georgia. Although based on real people, several aspects of the segregation and racism shown in the film are entirely fictional constructs. The film opened #18 to a 515k $ first weekend in 25 theaters in North America, where it peaked some weeks later at #1 with a 22.8 mil. $ weekend before grossing finally 169.6 mil. $ (71.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 13.3 mil. $ (5.6 %) and the UK with 7.9 mil. $ (3.3 %). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars: It lost Best Picture to Moonlight, Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer (The Witches (2020)) to Viola Davis in Fences and Adapted Screenplay to Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney for Moonlight. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, 2 Grammys, 2 Golden Globes, won 2 National Board of Review awards, among many other honors. Melfi returned with The Black Ghiandola (2017, short), Daughter (2020, short) and theatrically with The Starling (2021). Taraji P. Henson (Empire (2015-20)) returned in The Simpsons (2017, TV-series) and theatrically in Proud Mary (2018); Spencer in The Shack (2017); and Janelle Monáe (Harriet (2019)) in 8 music videos and a TV-series prior to her theatrical return in Welcome to Marwen (2018). Hidden Figures is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hidden Figures?

Ma (2019) - Spencer entertains in Taylor's uneven revenge horror

♥♥♥

 

Star Octavia Spencer's face through a shattered glass makes up this simple poster for Tate Taylor's

 Ma

A group of high school students get a woman named Sue Ann to buy them alcohol, and not long after they are even throwing parties in her basement. - But why is she interested in them doing that...?

 

Ma is written by Scotty Landes (Deadcon (2019)) and co-produced and directed by Mississippian master filmmaker Tate Taylor (Pretty Ugly People (2008)), whose 5th feature it is.

Octavia Spencer (Next of Kin (2008)) is good as the scarred, lonely Sue Ann, SPOILER but we get no answer as to why exactly now, 20 or 30 years after her own traumatic high school experiences, she goes off the rocker... Although there's some timeliness to the implication that violations can be avenged decades later by the victim!

Luckily Ma also has a good secondary cast and sexy youths, although it doesn't really compute that Allison Janney (Away We Go (2009)) is here in a non-role as a mean boss. (The reason must be that both Spencer and Janney are friends of Taylor, as they both acted in his 2008 debut.)

The bonkers ending doesn't hit bull's eye, but Ma is still very entertaining up until this.

 

Related posts:

Tate Taylor: 2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
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 Help (2011) - Taylor and an impeccable ensemble portray heart-thumping change in Jackson, Mississippi 

Watch a 1-minute clip from the movie here

 

Cost: 5 mil. $

Box office: 61.1 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 12.2 times its cost)

[Ma premiered 30 May (Germany and 12 other markets) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place around February 2018 in Mississippi. The film opened #4 to a an 18 mil. $ first weekend in North America, behind fellow new release Godzilla: King of the Monsters, holdover hit Aladdin and fellow new release Rocketman, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 45.8 mil. $ (75 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 2.3 mil. $ (3.8 %) and the UK with 2 mil. $ (3.3 %). The film made in excess of 3.1 mil. $ additionally on the North-American home video market. Taylor returned with Ava (2020). Spencer returned with 3 voice performances and a miniseries prior to her theatrical return in The Witches (2020). Ma is rotten at 56 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ma?

The Shape of Water (2017) - Toro's strange monster romance is mostly an amusing fantasy

♥♥♥♥

Strange and strangely beautiful, the dream-like poster for Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water certainly attracts the eye

In a military facility in Baltimore of 1962, a mute cleaning lady is drawn towards the prestigious, strange discovery of a US colonel, captured from the Amazon river, a humanoid amphibian creature, whom she forms a strong, secret bond with.

The Shape of Water is written by Vanessa Taylor (Hope Springs (2012)) and great Mexican co-writer-director Guillermo del Toro (Crimson Peak (2015)). It is a rather peculiar story that's based on Toro's childhood fascination with Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) and his fantasy of the Gill-Man monster of that film succeeding with his romance with the film's beautiful star Julie Adams.
The Shape of Water recalled for me another millennial Oscar phenomenon, Michel Hazavinicius' masterpiece The Artist (2011), which, as a silent B/W period romance sets comparably serious challenges for itself in front of its (modern day) audience. - But as that film caught and held me firmly in its hand as if by some cinematic magic, The Shape of Water regrettably has me sitting outside its strange monster-romance cocoon for its entirety. Toro has stated that this is his first film that he is making "speaking as an adult", dealing with "something that worries me as an adult. I speak about trust, otherness, sex, love, where we're going." That is a lot of themes, and I think that perhaps Toro's strengths as a filmmaker need some honing through application, if he is to succeed as a formidable 'adult' filmmaker. I still count his The Devil's Backbone/El Esperanza del Diablo (2001) as his greatest film, and though it is primarily about children, I think it is plenty 'adult' in content and tone.
The Shape of Water has a captivating Cold War production design: Sally Hawkins' (Blue Jasmine (2013)) passion for the monster didn't really get under my skin, but her crummy apartment on top of a struggling cinema, next to an identical one belonging to her sad but infinitely friendly neighbor (played by Richard Jenkins (Let Me In (2010)), are some wonderfully crafted and cinematic rooms. - The partly linoleum-floored military working place is another evocative setting in The Shape of Water.
Jenkins is a highlight as unsuccessful illustrator and unhappy gay man Giles, who wears a toupee and not a hairpiece, as he points out at one point, and the film has three more outstanding supporting performances that drive its story forward with such personality that we don't want to miss a minute: Octavia Spencer (Red Band Society (2014-15)) is great, especially with getting a lot out of some very funny lines; Michael Stuhlbarg (Fargo (2017), TV-series) is his usual magnificent self as a surreptitious but nevertheless likable character, - SPOILER although the fact that he doesn't suspect his own forthcoming murder is almost a hole in the plot. - And finally Michael Shannon (Freeheld (2015)) is magnetic as the villain colonel Strickland, who may be at times cruel and upsetting, but who is also humanized by the writing and performance, and he is the film's most interesting character. Whenever Strickland's capture of the monster in the Amazon was mentioned in The Shape of Water, I thought wow! - What a movie that story might make, if Toro ever wants to revisit this universe in another very exciting locale.
The outlandish material doesn't achieve monumental transcendence in The Shape of Water, but the film is still very entertaining and memorable with several terrific features.

Related posts:

Guillermo del Toro: The day after the day after ... the 2018 Oscars
Pacific Rim (2013) or, The Monster Resistance
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) - Jackson's megalomania gives birth to the first third of an enormous fantasy whopper (co-writer) 
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) or, What Creeps in the Dark (co-writer) 
Julia's Eyes/Los Ojos de Julia (2010) - Decent Spanish horror with good craftsmanship, little else (co-producer)
Blade II (2002) or, The Vampire Ass-Kicker 2 
Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Devil's Backbone/El Espinoza del Diablo (2001) - The excellent Gothic genre-mix that is Del Toro's best film so far 
Mentioned movie: The Artist (2011) - French-kissing with Old Hollywood

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly just 19.5 mil. $
Box office: 194.5 mil. $ and counting
= Mega-hit (9.97 times the cost)
[The Shape of Water premiered 31 August (Venice International Film Festival, Italy) and runs 123 minutes. Toro reportedly had the idea for the film at a breakfast meeting in 2011 with Daniel Kraus, with whom he later wrote a novelization of the film. Shooting took place in Ontario, Canada, including Toronto, from August - November 2016. The film opened #22 in 2 theaters to an impressive 166k $ (83k $ average) first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 2,341 cinemas (different weeks) and grossed 63.8 mil. $ (32.8 % of the total gross to date). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets have been China with 16.7 mil. $ (8.6 %) and Mexico with 14.9 mil. $ (7.7 %). The film was nominated for 13 Oscars, the most nominations of the year: It won for Best Picture, Director, Score (Alexandre Desplat) and Production Design. It lost Actress (Hawkins) and Supporting Actor (Jenkins) to Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Supporting Actress (Spencer) to Allison Janney for I, Tonya, Screenplay to Jordan Peele for Get Out, Cinematography (Dan Laustsen) to Roger Deakins for Blade Runner 2049, Costume Design to Phantom Thread; and Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Editing to Dunkirk. The film also won 2/7 Golden Globe noms, 3/12 BAFTAs, an AFI award, 4 Venice Film Festival awards and countless other honors. A lawsuit for plagiarism has been initiated; allegedly the film is based on a 1969 dolphin-cleaning lady film: Toro and the studio denies this. Toro has 3 scheduled upcoming projects, all only 'announced': A 'darker version' stop-motion Pinocchio, con-man action drama remake Nightmare Alley and finally a documentary about master filmmaker Michael Mann. Hawkins returned in Paddington 2 (2017). The Shape of Water is certified fresh at 92 % with an 8.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Shape of Water?

Fruitvale Station (2013) - Well-meaning issue drama heightened by stars Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer

♥♥♥♥

The brooding poster for Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station

QUICK REVIEW:

Oscar is a young Afro-American father in Oakland, California, who wants to stop selling drugs. On New Year's Eve he and his girlfriend leave his mother's birthday to go to San Francisco, as a dire situation arises.

If you know the basic skeleton of the 2009 true story that is the basis of Fruitvale Station, the feature debut of Oakland-born writer-director Ryan Coogler (The Sculptor (2011), short), a part of the film feels pretty manipulative: For us to grow a deep sense of sympathy for protagonist-lout Oscar, he is made out to be not only sweet to kids and strangers here but also just a great guy around animals, women and gay people.
This does not make the narrative awfully exciting. - Getting into the shoes of a young black man in America, who is trying to better his ways, is, however, and especially because Michael B. Jordan (The Wire (2002), TV-series) is very good in the part.
Fruitvale's other ace is Octavia Spencer (The Help (2011)), who play's Oscar's mother. Coogler has made a speedy rise to big business on top of the hugely successful release of this little independent film: His coming, second film is the 7th Rocky film, Creed (2015), coming out in December, again starring Jordan, here as the son of Apollo Creed, Rocky's opponent in the first two Rocky films.
Fruitvale Station is a good and very pertinent film that addresses a part of a tragic problem in US society. - It is not a party-starter.

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 0.9 mil. $
Box office: 17.3 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Coogler developed his script through the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and gained Forest Whitaker on board as one of the film's producers. Both Jordan and Spencer were also involved in getting the tiny budget to suffice. The film was shot in 20 days in Oakland. SPOILER The climax is shot at the actual location of Grant's death, and real amateur footage from the tragedy is, controversially, included in the film. The film premiered at Sundance, winning the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for Best US Drama. Its distribution rights were secured by The Weinstein Company in a bidding war for 2 mil. $. The film had a very successful run in the US and gained several nominations and awards, great reviews and was on many central Top 10 lists of the year. It grossed 16.1 mil. $ (93 % of the total gross) in North America.]

What do you think of Fruitvale Station?

The Help (2011) - Taylor and an impeccable ensemble portray heart-thumping change in Jackson, Mississippi

♥♥♥♥♥♥

3 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Film (lost to The Descendants)
Best Director: Tate Taylor (lost to Agnieszka Holland for In Darkness)
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (lost to Agnieszka Grochowska for In Darkness)

+ Best Mississippi Movie of the Year
+ Best Ensemble Movie of the Year

The late-summer treat of 2011, Tate Taylor's The Help

Jackson, Mississippi in 1963: An aspiring young, white female writer persuades a black housekeeper ('the help') to tell her about her life, plagued by the racism that defined the South at the time. That starts a change.

Splendid, handsomely produced, shot in Mississippi, (the biggest production there since O Brother Where Art Thou (2000)), The Help is an empowering, uplifting, marvelous film about a multitude of women.
In it plays an ensemble to be reckoned with: Emma Stone (Magic in the Moonlight (2014)), Viola Davis (Doubt (2008)), Bryce Dallas Howard (Manderlay (2005)), Octavia Spencer (Fruitvale Station (2013)), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty (2012)), Allison Janney (Mom (2013-15)), Cicely Tyson (Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)) and Sissy Spacek (The Straight Story (1999)) are all inspiring and stand out individually. - Bravo!
Social and political change for the better is a powerful thing, which we witness in The Help. Tate Taylor (Pretty Ugly People (2008)) adapted the same-titled, bestselling 2009 novel by his childhood friend Kathryn Stockett and directed the film, making a precise and edifying heartbreaker and certainly one of the year's best films.

Related posts:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess 

Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis in Tate Taylor's The Help

Watch the fantastic trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 216.6 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The Help took America by storm: Opening #2, behind Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the film took 26 mil. $ in its first weekend, but then rose to first place, which it held for impressive 25 days, the longest #1 streak for a movie in the US since The Sixth Sense (1999, 35 days #1), also an August premiere. The film ended up making a spectacular 169.7 mil. $ in the US (78 % of the total gross). At the Oscars, Spencer won her first Oscar so far as Minnie Jackson, and the film was nominated for three more statuettes.]

What do you think of The Help?
Other good films about racism and fighting it?