Jarhead (2005) - Mendes flops with frustration-themed Marine drama

♥♥♥♥

 

A young soldier with no uniform on his top half marvels at a barren oilfield in a foreign land on this poster for Sam Mendes' Jarhead

A young US marine gets deployed to First Gulf War (1990), against his own ill and without much understanding of the situation. 

Jarhead is written by William Broyles Jr. (Apollo 13 (1995)), adapting the same-titled 2003 autobiographical book by Anthony Swofford (Exit (2007)), and directed by English master filmmaker Sam Mendes (American Beauty (1999)), whose 3rd feature it is. The title is a Marine slang term for themselves.

Definitely not a typical war genre movie, Jarhead is a kind of study of the anticlimax of war and frustrations that war - and life in general - entail.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Wildlife (2018)) very skillfully portrays the young protagonist marine. The images of the Iraqi desert are handsome, (cinematographer Roger Deakins (A Serious Man (2009))), and the film is underlain with music typical of its period. SPOILER The film revolves around the almost poetical dilemma that the young men think they get sent to war, but instead they wait around for 175 days in 45 degrees heat, before the war ends and they get to return home without having fired a single shot. The lack of plot is still somehow remarkable in Jarhead.

 

Related posts:

Sam Mendes: Spectre (2015) - Mendes' 2nd Bond is mostly good  

rly celebrated third pout from Daniel Craig as Bond in slick production
Away We Go (2009) or, Where Do We Start This Family?

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
American Beauty (1999) or, Escape by Death

Watch a TV spot for the film here

Cost: 72 mil. $

Box office: 97 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.34 times its cost)

[Jarhead premiered 27 October (Hollywood) and runs 123 minutes. Gyllenhaal was paid 3 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from December 2004 - ? in Arizona, New Mexico, California and in Mexico. The film opened #2, behind Chicken Little, to a 27.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 62.6 mil. $ (64.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 9.5 mil. $ (9.8 %) and Germany with 4.7 mil. $ (4.8 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Mendes returned with Revolutionary Road (2008). Gyllenhaal returned in Zodiac (2007). Jarhead is fresh at 53% at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Jarhead?

Boys Don't Cry (1999) - Swank and co-stars stand out in Peirce's gritty, empathetic true-crime debut

♥♥♥♥

 

+ Best Rainbow Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actress of the Year: Hilary Swank + Best True-Crime Movie of the Year  

 

A graphically manipulated figure of the protagonist Brandon Teena against a rust-colored road makes up this deliberately rough and unpolished-looking poster for Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry

Brandon Teena is a female-to-male transgender, who passes off as a handsome young guy, but does so in just about the worst kind of white trash environment imaginable.

 

Boys Don't Cry is written by Andy Bienen (Yellow Rose (2019)) and debuting co-writer/director Kimberly Peirce (Carrie (2013)). It is based on the real life and death of Brandon Teena of Falls City, Nebraska.

Hilary Swank (Insomnia (2002)) is fearless, and Chloë Sevigny (Hit & Miss (2012, miniseries)) falls head over heels - credibly - in love with Swank's Brandon. Peter Sarsgaard (Empire (2002)) is frighteningly believable as the blunted douche heavy of the story. The film doesn't find aesthetic or other devices to elevate it from its primitive environment, which makes it somewhat strenuous to sit through, as it builds up to its harshly realistic and fairly sickening third act.

Boys Don't Cry is like a heartbreaking scream heard in the night. It is definitely a film with its heart in the right place. 

 

Related post:

 

 Top 10: Best gay-themed titles

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2 mil. $

Box office: 20.7 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 10.35 times its cost)

[Boys Don't Cry premiered 2 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 118 minutes. Swank lied herself one year younger to get the part and immersed herself fully into the part despite getting only 3k $ for the performance in total. Shooting took place from October - November 1998 in Texas, including Austin and Dallas. The film was cut in North America to avoid an NC-17 rating and obtain the R rating it was released with. It opened #43 to a 73k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 365 theaters, grossing 11.5 mil. $ (55.6 % of the total gross). The real-life Lana Tisdel (Sevigny's character) met with Swank to inform her work prior to filming but attacked the film upon release and sued the filmmakers, a matter that was solved out of court for an undisclosed sum. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning Best Actress for Swank, and losing Supporting Actress (Sevigny) to Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, won 2/5 Independent Spirit award nominations, 1/2 Golden Globe nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Peirce returned with The L Word (2006, TV-series) and theatrically with Stop-Loss (2008). Swank returned in The Audition (2000, short) and theatrically in The Gift (2000); Sevigny in Julien Donkey-Boy (1999); and Sarsgaard in The Cell (2000). Boys Don't Cry is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Boys Don't Cry?

Garden State (2004) - Braff's hugely overrated deadweight debut

♥

+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year

Three stars wearing trash bags screaming on top of an abandoned locomotive make up this quizzical poster for Zach Braff's Garden State

A young man returns home to his mother's funeral. His father also acts as his psychiatrist, who has kept him on anti-depressants ever since he was involved in his mother's accident that left her in a wheelchair. But now he meets a lovely girl, and everything changes.

Garden State is written and directed by debuting Zach Braff (Scrubs (2001-10)), who also stars in it as protagonist Andrew. 
The fundamentally interesting story of the medicating father is what attracts about Garden State, and Ian Holm (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)) is a scoop for the film as Andrew's father.  But Braff in the lead shows no promises as a dramatic actor here, and his character never grabs our interest, perhaps because he is so painfully suppressed and wimpy at the same time, across from Natalie Portman (My Blueberry Nights (2007)) as the film's excitable Manic Pixie Dream Girl-type male fantasy stock character. 
Garden State is overly stuffed with 'mood-setting' hit songs, which doesn't keep it from deflating like a turgid piece of cutesy indie pastry puff. In fact Garden State is at its most aggravating when it is semi-sophisticated.

 

Related post:

 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2.5 mil. $
Box office: 35.8 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 14.32 times its cost)
[Garden State premiered 16 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 102 minutes. Shooting took place from April - May 2003 in New Jersey, Los Angeles, California and in New York. The film opened #30 to a 201k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #11 and in 813 theaters (different weeks), grossing 26.7 mil. $ (74.6 % of the gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK and France, each with 2 mil. $ (5.6 %). The film won 1/2 Independent Spirit award nominations, a Grammy and 1/2 National Board of Review nominations, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 3 notches higher than this one. Braff returned with 3 TV and video projects before his theatrical return, Wish I Was Here (2014). As an actor he returned with a voice performance in Chicken Little (2005) and 3 TV and video titles prior to his physical theatrical return in The Last Kiss (2006); Peter Sarsgaard (The Sound of Silence (2019)) in Kinsey (2004); Portman in True (2004, short) and theatrically in Closer (2004); and Holm in The Day After Tomorrow (2004). Garden State is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.44/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Garden State?

The Skeleton Key (2003) - Hudson and co-stars fuel suspenseful Louisiana mystery

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Louisiana Movie of the Year

Kate Hudson has seen better real estate than on this poster for Iain Softley's The Skeleton Key

A nurse working in a hospice in the Louisiana swampland discovers that something isn't as it should be at her workplace...

The Skeleton Key is written by Ehren Kruger (Scream 3 (2000)) and directed by Iain Softley (Backbeat (1994)).
The Skeleton Key is about Hoodoo magic, - a mix of African religious practices and beliefs brought to America by slaves, - and ghosts. It doesn't reinvent the spoon, but it does have good building of suspense, and Kate Hudson (You, Me and Dupree (2006)) is good as the protagonist. John Hurt (The Hunting of the Snark (1987)) and Gena Rowlands (Tempest (1982)) add substantial interest and weight with their performances.
The Skeleton Key is a good little mystery chiller with fine local musical choices but too much flickering CGI use.

 

Related posts:

 

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

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

Softley gives an interview here on the red carpet for his latest film, Curve (2015)

Cost: 43 mil. $
Box office: 91.9 mil. $
= Flop (returned 2.13 times its cost)
[The Skeleton Key premiered 29 July (Spain, UK and Ireland) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place in Louisiana, including New Orleans, and in Los Angeles, California from April - October 2004. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Four Brothers, to a 16 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 47.9 mil. $ (52.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 5.9 mil. $ (6.4 %) and Mexico with 4.7 mil. $ (5.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Softley returned with Inkheart (2008). Hudson returned in You, Me and Dupree (2006). The Skeleton Key is rotten at 37 % with a 5.26/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Skeleton Key?

Flightplan (2005) - Foster rules in well-shot, uneven plane thriller

♥♥♥

Jodie Foster looks very intense and has freakishly bright-blue eyes on this poster for Robert Schwentke's Flightplan

A woman flies from Berlin to New York with her newly deceased husband's body and their young daughter. But the girl disappears in the 400+ seat plane, and the question gets raised as to whether she was even on the plane in the first place?

Flightplan is written by Peter A. Dowling (Stag Night (2008)) and Billy Ray (Overlord (2018)) and directed by Robert Schwentke (RED (2010)). 
Jodie Foster (Kansas City Bomber (1972)) is fascinating, giving a magnetic performance as the mother who fights for her daughter, and she is the main reason to watch Flightplan. SPOILER Unfortunately Peter Sarsgaard (The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)) gives a stiff and unexciting performance as the terrorist villain, and the climax arrives rather flat.
Flightplan is a pressurized plane-set thriller, which also manages its cabin-restricted visuals very well, (cinematographer Florian Ballhaus (The Book Thief (2013))).

Related post:

Robert Schwentke: RED (2010) - Schwentke's utterly hollow comic book adaptation

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 223.3 mil. $ 
= Big hit (returned 4.46 times its cost)
[Flightplan premiered 22 September (Serbia and Montenegro, Israel and Syria) and runs 98 minutes. Dowling got the idea for the film in 1999, and Ray later influenced the script after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Filming took place in Germany, including Berlin, and in California, including Los Angeles, in and around September 2004. The interior plane cabin set was built from scratch, inspired by the Airbus A380. The film opened #1 to a 24.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another week and in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#2-#4), grossing 89.7 mil. $ (40.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 25.7 mil. $ (11.5 %) and Germany with 14.5 mil. $ (6.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to two notches higher than this one. The film also made a reported, whopping 79.2 mil. $ on DVD rentals alone, which, if added into the calculation, would change its status to that of a 'huge hit'. Schwentke returned with an episode of Lie to Me (2009, TV-series) and theatrically with The Time Traveler's Wife (2009). Foster returned in Inside Man (2006). Flightplan is rotten at 37 % with a 5.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Flightplan?

An Education (2009) - Scherfig, Hornby and Barber's tender and intelligent coming-of-age charmer

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best English Movie of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actress of the Year (Carey Mulligan)

Peter Sarsgard and Carey Mulligan - in a dreamy dress - look delicate on one of the year's best posters, for Lone Scherfig's An Education

In 1961, Jenny is a young, hopeful woman with her life ahead of her, who walks right into the arms of a thrilling, older gentleman, who introduces her to many things new - and forces her into making a fateful decision.

An Education is written by Nick Hornby (Brooklyn (2015)), based on the same-titled 2009 memoir by Lynn Barber, and directed by Danish master filmmaker Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners/Italiensk for Begyndere (2000)).
It features a stellar cast led by Carey Mulligan (Never Let Me Go (2010)), who is nothing short of a revelation as Jenny. Peter Sarsgaard (Night Moves (2013)), Dominic Cooper (Miss You Already (2015)), Rosamund Pike (A Rather English Marriage (1999), TV movie), Olivia Williams (Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)), Emma Thompson (I Am Legend (2007)) and Alfred Molina (Swelter (2014)) provide the remarkably fine backup and range from good to formidable.
The film presents a compelling story that's smartly written and handsomely staged. SPOILER Only the father's confession in the end that he has been afraid his whole life seems too much like a written occurrence rather than as an authentic one. But it doesn't change the fact that An Education is an elegant crowd-pleaser. 

Related posts:

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

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

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date
Italian for Beginners/Italiensk for Begyndere (2000) - A perfect gem of a Dogme romcom

Watch a trailer for the film here 

Cost: 7.5 mil. $
Box office: 26 mil. $
= Box office success
[An Education premiered 18 January (Sundance) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place in Paris, France and in England, including in London and in the Twickenham Film Studios in Middlesex from March - April 2008. The film opened #39 in 4 theaters to a 139k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #14 and in 761 theaters (different weeks; the screens spiked around Oscar time) and grossed 12.5 mil. $ (48 % of the total gross) during its 30 week-long engagement. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.9 mil. $ (11.2 %) and Scherfig's native Denmark with 1.8 mil. $ (6.9 %). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars: For Best Picture (lost to The Hurt Locker), Actress (lost to Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side) and Best Adapted Screenplay (lost to Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious). It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, 8 BAFTAS - winning one, 6 British Independent Film Awards - winning one, a European Film Award, an Independent Spirit Award, won two National Board of Review awards, 3 Sundance awards - winning two, among many others. An Education is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of An Education?

Knight and Day (2010) - Diaz and Cruise invigorate Mangold's action romance

♥♥♥

Stars Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise in what looks like a very uncomfortable shooting position on a poster for James Mangold's Knight and Day

A sexy mechanic babe falls for a resourceful charmer on board an airplane, but he turns out to be a rogue CIA agent, who wants to protect a newly created super battery, - and its inventor, - from some shady villains!

Tom Cruise (Jack Reacher (2012)) plays a classic Cruise hero here, who can simply do just about anything, and Cameron Diaz (The Invisible Circus (2001)) is charming and sympathetic in the other lead. Knight and Day lives on their charisma and good chemistry, coupled here for their second time, (the first one being in Vanilla Sky (2001)). Great New Yorker director James Mangold (Cop Land (1997)) creates a slick and neatly photographed (by Phedon Papamichael (The Descendants (2011))) film that holds no surprises and doesn't transcend being a pretty pedestrian time-passer. It feels like a vanity project and it is truly a trifle, looked at from any angle, but it is still a well-driving vehicle with two lovely stars. - And one spectacular car and motorbike chase through the bull run in Sevilla, Spain!
Knight and Day jumps from country to country seemingly only motivated by the fact that it adds spice to the production. The much better version of the film it tries to be would be something like True Lies (1994). The script reportedly went through a staggering 12 writers' machines, but it is Patrick O'Neill (Sun Gods (2002), TV movie) who is credited for it.

Related review:

James Mangold: Cop Land (1997) - Stallone faces corruption and turns in some good acting in fine crime drama

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: 125 mil. $
Box office: 261.9 mil. $
= Flop
[Knight and Day premiered June 16 (Sevilla) and runs 110 minutes. Many stars were in talks to star in the film before Cruise and Diaz were cast. Cruise took a pay cut, only receiving 11 mil. $ for his performance and no "first dollar gross", meaning he might not have made more on it than the 11 mil. Diaz's paycheck is undisclosed. Filming took place in Massachusetts, Jamaica, Illinois, New York, California, Spain (Sevilla and Cadiz) and Austria (Salzburg) from September - December 2009. The release attracted little interest: It opened #3 to a 20.1 mil. $, behind hold-over hit Toy Story 3 and the new comedy release Grown Ups, in North America, where it grossed 76.4 mil. $ (29.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 28.2 mil. $ (10.8 %) and France with 14.3 mil. $ (5.5 %). The film is said to be Cruise's lowest attended action movie opening since Legend (1986). It received many bad reviews, but Roger Ebert gave it 3/4 stars, a notch better than the review here. Knight and Day is rotten at 52 % with a 5.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Knight and Day?

Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presents his own woman under the influence

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best San Francisco Movie of the Year

Cate Blanchett and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge feature prominently on this poster for Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine

Jasmine arrives at her sister's in San Francisco and immediately starts to put down her mechanic fiancée. But she is on bare ground herself, SPOILER after being released from a mental hospital following her swindling husband's arrest and suicide.

An Oscar-winning Cate Blanchett, (her second Oscar; the first one was for The Aviator (2004)), glows ever so brightly in Blue Jasmine, where she gets backed up by a stellar cast that includes an Oscar-nominated Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)) as her sister, as well as Bobby Cannavale (Win Win (2011)), Peter Sarsgaard (Boys Don't Cry (1999)) and Alec Baldwin (30 Rock (2006-13)) as the bastard husband, - they are a collective treat here, all of them showing what real acting is.
The film is really, really, really well-written, from the names to the dialog to the characters themselves and the structure, - by master filmmaker Woody Allen (Broadway Danny Rose (1984)), who was also Oscar-nominated for his job. - Blue Jasmine is superiorly constructed, totally plausible, and as much of a psychological drama as it is a comedy, in fact more so. It really is a sad film, - a very good, sad film, - and very well-titled as such.
Blanchett seems, though perhaps this derives from the part itself, to be very inspired by Gena Rowlands' performance in John Cassavetes' classic A Woman Under the Influence (1974), which is a bit like this film but without most of the laughs. Both films are spectacular in their own ways.
Blue Jasmine deals with the theme of happiness vs. eternally striving for better things in one's life, the American way, even if it leads to misery,  which is interesting and wisely served here. I wonder if he was inspired to write this after meeting a woman like Jasmine somewhere, talking to herself. If so, the inspiration was divine: Blue Jasmine is absolutely among the year's best films.

Related posts:


Woody Allen: Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

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]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date 
Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy 
Celebrity (1998) or, Beautiful Celebrities Talk About Sex (guest review)
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart 
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer 
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs 
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)

Oscar-winning Cate Blanchett is an actress with formidable control of her talent, as seen in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine

Alec Baldwin is superb as the fraudulent husband in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine

Watch the fine trailer here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 97.7 mil. $
= Big hit
[With a limited opening in LA and New York, similar to that of his successful Midnight in Paris (2011)), Jasmine amazed with Allen's best per screen average ever, and it could then open very strongly both in and out of America, where his fans abound, with great reviews meeting it almost everywhere.]

What do you think of Blue Jasmine?
What is your favorite Cate Blanchett performance?