Precious (2009) - Overcoming adversity showcased in gripping drama

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+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year

 

New-comer Gabourey Sidibe in the title role wears a crown and butterfly wings on this poster for Lee Daniels' Precious

Precious doesn't have an enviable life: She's 16 years old; her weight is that of a small elephant; she's pregnant for the second time in her life; and the child is her own father's.

 

Precious is written by Geoffrey Fletcher (Violet & Daisy (2011)), based on the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire (The Kid (2011)), and co-produced and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer (2005)).

The girl's mother is one of the meanest, ugliest characters to go down in cinema history, played eminently by Mo'Nique (Blackbird (2014)). Gabourey Sidibe (Antebellum (2020)) is terrific too, as are other female actors in Precious: Paula Patton (Warcraft (2016)) is beautiful and excellent. The dream sequences make us 100 % aligned with the trialed teenager and her dreams of escape. Despite the grim realities, this is also a film with hope, even though I could have wished for that extra little oomph in the ending.

Precious is hard to forget. It puts things in perspective. It is a beautiful and fantastic film. 

 

Related posts:

Lee Daniels: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 

The Butler/Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) - Whitaker and Winfrey shine in Dainels' cathartic, insightful historic drama 
The Paperboy (2012) - Daniels' off-putting and interesting Florida-yarn huffs and puffs

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 10 mil.  $

Box office: 63.6 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 6.36 times its cost)

[Precious premiered 16 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting took place from October 2007 - January 2008 in New York. The film opened #12 to a 1.8 mil. $ first weekend in 18 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #3 and in 1,003 theaters (different weeks), grossing 47.5 mil. $ (74.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 2.7 mil. $ (4.2 %) and the UK with 1.9 mil. $ (3 %). The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique) and Adapted Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to The Hurt Locker, Actress to Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, Director to Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker and Editing also to The Hurt Locker. It also won 1/4 BAFTA nominations, 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, 5 Independent Spirit awards, an AFI award and a National Board of Review award, among countless other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. The film sold more than 1.5 mil. DVD's in its first week of release in North America. Daniels returned with The Paperboy (2012). Sidibe returned in Yelling to the Sky (2011); Mo'Nique in Steppin: The Movie (2009). Precious is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Precious?

Mirrors (2008) or, The Haunted Department Store

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Three stars put together in a composite image of a house with water damage makes up this poster for Alexandre Aja's Mirrors

A tormented former New York police officer attempts to reestablish himself with a private security job, working in a burnt-out department store, but there an evil ghost haunting its mirrors!

Mirrors is written by co-writer/co-producer Grégory Levasseur (Break of Dawn/Entre Chiens et Loups (2002)) and co-writer/director Alexandre Aja (Furia (1999)). It is a remake of the Korean horror Into the Mirror/Geoul sokeuro (2003).

The strange and not very good story is so also so fanciful that it is hard to get involved with Mirrors. No-nonsense Kiefer Sutherland (Freeway (1996)) is a poor match for the vehicle, although he does what he can here. SPOILER Amy Smart (High Voltage (1997)) dies the most gruesome death of the film by ripping her own jaw off her face.

SPOILER Mirrors ends in an action-like spectacle of nonsense. It lacks frights and tension. Overall it's a thoroughly failed serving of mumbo jumbo.

 

Related posts:

 

Alexandre Aja: Piranha 3D (2010) - Aja's gory sexploitation remake is a hoot 

The Hills Have Eyes (2006) or, My Big Fat Mutant Cannibal Family Trip 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: 78 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.22 times its cost)

[Mirrors was released 14 August (Malaysia) and runs 111 minutes. Aja disliked the original story and kept only details from the original film for his remake. Shooting took place around May 2007 in New York, Los Angeles, California and in Bucharest, Romania. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Tropic Thunder, holdover hit The Dark Knight and new release Star Wars: The Clone Wars, to an 11.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 30.6 mil. $ (39.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 5.1 mil. $ (6.3 %) and France with 5 mil. $ (6.4 %). A straight-to-video sequel was made with Mirrors 2 (2011). Aja returned with The Esseker File (2009, short) and theatrically with Piranha 3D (2010). Sutherland returned in 10 video game, TV, short and narrating credits prior to his physical theatrical return in Melancholia (2011). Mirrors is rotten at 15 % with a 3.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Mirrors?

Warcraft (2016) - A mildly entertaining war fantasy

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A bearded man and a brutish orc with paint-splattered faces divided by a sword make up this poster for Duncan Jones' Warcraft

Warcraft is the long-awaited computer game adaptation, based on the popular Blizzard Entertainment games and novels, which is the 3rd film for great English director, Duncan Jones (Moon (2009)).

An alarming number of brutal orcs crash into the human world through a portal, but it may be in collaboration that man and orc should have to secure the future.

The good news for WoW (World of Warcraft) fans is that Warcraft isn't as bad as some critics make it out to be, - and the critical video game adaptation ridicule seems to have become somewhat tiresome and ritualistic by now, I think, - and that many fans of the universe seem to be delighted with it.
I have never played the game, but the film only achieved status as an okay time-filler in my opinion. 
The script, by Jones and Charles Leavitt (Seventh Son (2014)), tries to create an ambitious story where we are introduced to, and supposed to care for an orc family, a steadfast, human commander, a human wizard, a human guardian, a half-human/half-orc female, and the king of the humans. Those are many characters, and also too many, I think. I still can't tell you who was the protagonist of Warcraft, a film that clearly should have elected to focus on one of its stories.

The film presents a bombastically sounding, war-crazed universe, (befitting its title, I suppose), with muscular, often ugly characters. The CGI, landscapes and orc designs are mildly interesting. The fantasy universe feels like a thin cup of The Lord and the Rings with such place names as 'Stormwind' and character names as 'Orgrim Doomhammer'. The film has to move fast to tell its wide story, which happens at the expense of scenes, which play out fast, - so fast that characters rarely get to show personality and the locations never get to sparkle or impress any charm. Backgrounds shift again and again, and nothing sticks with you.
The actors do mostly well: Travis Fimmel (Vikings (2013-16)) is intense as the commander, Ben Foster (Rampart (2011)) is engaged as guardian Medivh, (though it takes a minute to get used to his look), and Ben Schnetzer (Pride (2015)) brings a much-needed whiff of lightness and humor to the film as the guardian who might have made a good protagonist. Paula Patton (Deja Vu (2006)) looks fierce while struggling to act and look attractive with massive orc incisors, and Dominic Cooper (Need for Speed (2014)) seems conspicuously uninvolved as the king, especially if compared to Fimmel.
The voice-over in the beginning of the film states that man and orc have fought as long as anyone can remember. The king of men later claims no knowledge of orcs at all. This is another head-scratcher.
SPOILER Finally I was puzzled to see that the film eliminates so many of its characters in the end: Both likable orcs die, the guardian and the king.
Whether we shall see more Warcraft, (which is called Warcraft: The Beginning in many countries so as not to cast any doubt that the companies behind it would like it to be the first in a lucrative franchise), on the silver screen after this venture seems dubious at best, - but of course it is ultimately up to audiences across the world, and their willingness to purchase tickets, - or lack thereof.

Related post:

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

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

2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 160 mil. $
Box office: 31.7 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Warcraft premiered May 25 and runs 123 minutes. It has been in development since 2006, with directors Uwe Boll and Sam Raimi earlier in talks to head it. Jones' involvement was marred by his wife's breast cancer in 2013 and his father, David Bowie's death due to cancer in 2016. Filming took place from January - May 2014 in and around Vancouver. Warcraft has opened in much of the world already, but will not open stateside until June 10, going up against other new titles Now You See Me 2 and The Conjuring 2, while also battling the holdover powers of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass. Warcraft is rotten at 18 % with a 4.4 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Warcraft?

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) - Cruise and Bird's phenomenal action spectacle

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1 Time Film Excess Award Winner:

Best Digital Effects

3 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Sound (lost to Drive)
Best Practical Effects (lost to Haywire) 
Best Digital Effects (won)

+ Best Action Movie of the Year
+ Best Blockbuster of the Year

Tom Cruise on the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, for Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Ethan Hunt gets helped out of a Russian prison to infiltrate the Kremlin, which, nevertheless, gets blown up and robbed of its nuclear weapons' codes. Fired by the US government, Hunt and three colleagues will now have to save world peace!

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the 4th entry in the Tom Cruise-starring (War of the Worlds (2005)) franchise that is based on the Mission: Impossible (1966-73) TV-series, created by Bruce Geller (Have Gun - Will Travel (1958-63)).
The action sequences, in Dubai and in India in particular, are spectacular: Cruise, as usual, actually did most of his own stunts, including crawling on the Burj Khalifa (with safety wires that were erased digitally.) Fellow ass-kicker Paula Patton (Deja Vu (2006)) and Léa Seydoux (The Lobster (2015)) also did their own stunts in their intense fight scene. 
The new gadgets introduced are fresh and fun, and Cruise, who is in absolute top shape, and the rest of the cast are outstanding: Simon Pegg (Absolutely Anything (2015)) is funny; Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker (2008)) acts well, and Michael Nyqvist (John Wick (2014)) is frightening as a Breivik-reminiscent lunatic villain.
Brad Bird (Tomorrowland: A World Beyond (2015)) has directed M:I 4 as his first live-action movie after heading The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004)) and Ratatouille (2007), and it is undeniably an impressive debut for him.
Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), both) have co-written the script, and the plot simply sticks.
M:I 4 is a brilliant spy action movie, and perhaps the franchise's best, (a position that is only challenged by John Woo's great Mission: Impossible II (2000)).

Related posts:

 

Brad Bird: 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
The Incredibles (2004) - Unwanted animation action slam-dunk

Watch the awesome trailer for the movie here

Cost: 145 mil. $
Box office: 694.7 mil. $
= Big hit
[M:I 4 was a phenomenal success, the highest-grossing film of the franchise and of all Cruise's starring vehicles. It made 209.3 mil. $ (30 % of the total gross) in the US with its most important markets after that being China with a gross of 102.5 mil. $ (15 %) and Japan with a gross of 69.7 mil. $ (10 %). Cruise has thrown himself into new, hair-raising stunts for the inevitable M:I 5, including hanging onto an airplane taking off and staying underwater without oxygen for a reported 6 minutes (!) for an elaborate underwater action scene. It comes out in July/August and is called Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015).]

What do you think of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol?
Rank the M:I movies

Déjà Vu (2006) - T. Scott cuts a helluva suspense-cake!

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+ Best New Orleans Movie of the Year + Best Car Chase of the Year (chase in the past scene)

The suspense-promising poster for Tony Scott's Déjà Vu

QUICK REVIEW:

During the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, a ferry with hundreds of passengers gets blown up by a domestic terrorist. ATF agent Doug Carlin investigates and finds a way to possibly hinder the attack from ever happening in the first place!

One of English master director Tony Scott's (The Hunger (1983)) best films, Déjà Vu is an exciting and wild film, (SPOILER especially the car chase in the past is spectacular), written by Bill Marsilii (The Wind in the Willows (announced)) and Terry Rossio (Shrek (2001)), basically around one of the oldest narrative premises in the world: Can you alter you own fate?
The time travel perspectives are intriguing and sophisticated; Scott's (and cinematographer Paul Cameron's (Collateral (2004))) images and the sound universe (score by Harry Gregson-Williams (Veronica Guerin (2003)) ) are incredibly well-made.
Denzel Washington (Flight (2012)) in the lead seems to play the character he has played a thousand times before, but he still does it well. Val Kilmer's (Heat (1995)) head has grown with the years, but he also plays well here in this exciting science fiction action-thriller.
Scott tragically ended his own life in 2012. His last film was the train-set thriller Unstoppable (2010). 

Related posts:

Tony Scott: Stoker (2013) - Chan-wook Park's over-styled American debut revolts and bores in turns (producer) 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch the awesome trailer for Déjà Vu here

Cost: 75 mil. $
Box office: 180.5 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Behind the scenes of this Jerry Bruckheimer production that was mostly shot on locations in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc in the city, the screenwriters and Scott had fall-outs. The enormous real-life disaster came to influence the tightly scheduled film. Déjà Vu opened a disappointing #3 in the US, where it made 'just' 64 mil. $ (35 % of the total gross). It was a big hit elsewhere; in the UK, it made a hefty 4.9 mil. £.]

What do you think of Déjà Vu?
What are your favorite 3 Tony Scott films?
(Mine are The Hunger, True Romance (1993) and Déjà Vu)