Henry Poole Is Here (2008) or, Faith in Sunny California

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A cluttered poster for Mark Pellington's Henry Poole Is Here that establishes that the film is set in California

Poole buys a house in Los Angeles, where he intends to drink, be lonely and die in peace from his unnamed fatal illness. But his neighbor sees Jesus on the side of his house; the other neighbor is highly interested in Poole himself; and miracles start to occur.

 

Henry Poole Is Here is written by Albert Torres (The Fugitive (2020, TV-series)) and directed by Mark Pellington (Going All the Way (1997)).

Radha Mitchell (Bird People (2014)) is too good for this film. Luke Wilson (The Skeleton Twins (2014)) as Poole pulls faces and doesn't entirely seem to believe the script, which is also quite hard-pumped with missionizing cliches. Adriana Barraza (Dark Blood (2021)) is, however, wonderful as the faithful Catholic next door.

The film has plenty of music that it doesn't seem to live up to. Henry Poole Is Here also suffers from an inordinate amount of focus shifts as well as unrealistic endings. It has its heart in the right place but is very far from convincing.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 1.9 mil. $

= Uncertain - but likely a mega-flop (projected 0.38 time cost return)

[Henry Poole Is Here premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including in Los Angeles. It opened #16 to an 805k $ first weekend in 527 theaters in North America, where it receded from then on, grossing 1.8 mil. $ (94.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 29k $ (1.5 %) and UAE with 16k $ (0.8 %). If made on a scant 5 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a mega-flop with a 0.38 time cost return. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Pellington returned with a TV movie and 2 music videos prior to his theatrical return with I Melt with You (2011). Wilson returned in Tenure (2008); Mitchell in The Children of Huang Shi (2008). Henry Poole Is Here is rotten at rotten at 40 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Henry Poole Is Here?

The Crazies (2010) - Eisner's insipid, brainless Romero-remake

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The stars of Breck Eisner's The Crazies may or may not be chased by a man with a pitchfork on this appropriately uninteresting poster for the film

In a small American city the sheriff, his pregnant wife and deputy are put to a test, when a virus breaks out, which turns the population into bloodthirsty maniacs.

The Crazies is an incredibly stupid movie, which also some time into it turns deadly boring: After about an hour I found myself thinking that the film would have to end soon, - but no, - there was a full 40 minutes left!
The film begins with some Johnny Cash, - a clear attempt to recall the success of Zack Snyder's great Dawn of the Dead (2004), also a remake of a George A. Romero horror, which begins with a cool sequence to a Cash song. The attempt is inopportune here, however, as it just brings to mind a horror film that really works.
People die left and right in The Crazies, while you'll nearly yawn you jaw off as its audience, because we never feel anything for the protagonists: Timothy Olyphant (Auggie Rose (2000)) and Radha Mitchell (Feast of Love (2007)) are incredibly dull to look at throughout this turkey. The Crazies is an awful film.
It is written by Scott Kosar (The Machinist (2004)) and Ray Wright (Case 39 (2009)), based on Romero's original 1973 movie of the same name, and directed by Breck Eisner (The Last Witch Hunter (2015)).

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Olyphant gives an interview about the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 54.8 mil. $
= Box office success
[The Crazies premiered February 26 and runs 101 minutes. Filming took place in and around March 2009 in Georgia and Iowa. It opened #3 (behind Shutter Island's 22.6 mil. $ and Cop Out's 18.2 mil. $) to a 16 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 39.1 mil. $ (71.4 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4.8 mil. $ (8.8 %) and Italy with 1.4 mil. $ (2.6 %). The Crazies is fresh at 71 % with a 6.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Crazies?