Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) - Wirkola arrives in Tinseltown with a silly turkey

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Two attractive stars in leathery garbs carrying over-sized weapons adorn this poster for Tommy Wirkola's Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

As adults, Hansel & Gretel have become professional witch hunters, who now happen upon an especially powerful witch, who has connections to their shared lost childhood and a troll by the name Edward.

 

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is written and directed by Tommy Wirkola (Kill Buljo: The Movie (2007)), inspired by the classic Grimm brothers fairytale, published in 1812.

It is a completely ludicrous film without any ambition to present us with any kind of plausible reality. Everything is kept in a wholly ridiculous tone, which might have worked, if it had been two comedians portraying the title siblings, (the film is co-produced by funny-men Adam McKay and Will Ferrell of Gary Sanchez Productions), but alas, we are not treated to such foresight here. 

Wirkola's grotesque film can be admired some for taking tackiness and bad taste to new heights. The troll is fun, but otherwise the uncharismatic attempts at acting in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters are jarring, and the film is told in an eternally droning set piece style, in which the dull score keeps informing us that the scenes we are watching are supposed to be dramatic and thrilling. Aye aye, Mr. composer, sir. - It doesn't work like that.

 

Related posts:

Tommy Wirkola: 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]  

Dead Snow/Død Snø (2009) or, Nazis Awake!

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 226.3 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.52 times its cost)

[Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters premiered 17 January (Russia) and runs 88 minutes. Wirkola sold his pitch soon after screening his Norwegian Nazi zombie horror comedy Dead Snow (2009) at the Sundance Film Festival. Shooting took place from March - June 2011 in Germany, including in Berlin, with a later additional shoot in California. The studio postponed the release, apparently to convert it to 3D and to capitalize on co-star Jeremy Renner's (The Town (2010)) rising action franchise fame. The film opened #1 to a 19.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained in the top 5 for another 2 weekends (#2-#5), grossing 55.7 mil. $ (24.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Brazil with 22.7 mil. $ (10 %) and Russia with 18.9 mil. $ (8.4 %). Though there were talks of a sequel, which Wirkola has written a script for, it has not materialized. Wirkola returned with Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014). Renner returned in The Immigrant (2013); Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe (2010)) in Runner Runner (2013). Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is rotten at 16 % with a 4.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters?

Dancer in the Dark (2000) or, Selma the Immigrant

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The French poster for Lars Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark

In Washington state in 1964, a Czechoslovakian woman named Selma fights with increasing blindness and her ambition to save up for a vital operation for her son, but SPOILER through the greed of her neighbors, she is pushed to commit a murder and be executed for it.

Icelandic singer Björk (Drawing Restraint 9 (2005)) plays the decisive role of Selma beautifully, with a childlike demeanor that is at times charming and at times disturbing. And Catherine Deneuve (Belle de Jour (1967)) and Peter Stormare (Fargo (1996)) are also outstanding here in Danish master filmmaker Lars Von Trier's (Breaking the Waves (1996)) political musical drama, which uses the musical format in a bold direction that earned Von Trier the Palme d'Or in Cannes and ended his Golden Heart trilogy, (which also comprises Breaking the Waves and The Idiots/Idioterne (1998). Political in that Von Trier here implicitly makes a very critical statement of the US.
The train scene with the song is fantastically beautiful and fairytale-like, and in general the film's breakout singing and dancing scenes are its best: Colors go from muted, depressive greys and get life and fullness, as sounds become musical, and blind Selma the musical star. Exhilarating and singular, the film's impressive cast also has Joel Grey (Cabaret (1972)). It is an exciting and creative meeting.
Later, in the courtroom scene, Von Trier's distaste for America shines though, as all of America, it seems, collectively abuse the blind woman, who refuses to defend herself. But you don't have to agree with Von Trier's anti-American sentiments to enjoy Dancer in the Dark.

Related reviews:

Lars Von Trier:  Nymphomaniac (2013) short version, vol. 1 & vol. 2, or, Lars Von Trier's Suck It
Antichrist (2009) - Trier's cabin-in-the-woods psycho-horror 
Dear Wendy (2005) - Vinterberg and Von Trier's unpopular, gun-themed megaflop (writer)

Watch the exciting trailer for the film here

Cost: 12.5 mil. $
Box office: 45.6 mil. $
= Big hit
[Dancer also won Björk the Best Actress award in Cannes, and the song I've Seen It All was Oscar-nominated. The film seems to be Von Trier's biggest commercial hit to date. It was a co-production between companies from no less than 12 countries! The film made 4.1 mil. $ (9 % of the total gross) in the US, and was a relatively big hit in a number of other countries like Denmark, France and Spain.]

What do you think of Dancer in the Dark?
Do you know other unusual, dark musicals?

Chocolat (2000) - Delicious pairing in spite of Hallström's ghastly taste

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Eating you, eating me ... the poster for Lasse Hallström's Chocolat

QUICK REVIEW:

Vianne and her daughter are traveling chocolate-sellers in post-war Europe, as they decide to settle in a little French town that savor tranquility above all else. And as an apostle of life's sensuousness, Vianne now slowly salvages their rigidly pinned down Catholic society.

Juliette Binoche (Three Colours: Blue/Trois Coleurs: Bleu (1993)) and Johnny Depp (The Rum Diary (2011)) are irresistible in Chocolat, a film which, if ingested with lavish amounts of succulent hot cocoa, may seem erotic, despite its almost complete lack of carnality.
Most of Chocolat is as predictable as a ride to the bus station, and what's left is criminally banal and silly bleeding heart liberalism. - Frankly, most Disney movies are more complex than Chocolat.
It is (of course...) directed by Swedish champ of twaddle Lasse Hallström (What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)), who does sometimes, - fair is fair, - hit the mark. - Chocolat, unfortunately, isn't even on the board.

 Watch the sugary trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 152.6 mil. $
= Big hit
[Chocolat was, incredibly, very popular among many audiences, (women particularly), and even critics stood up for it. The guilty pleasure even got so far as 5 Oscar-nominations, including Best Film. - Unbelievable...]

What do you think of Chocolat?
If you are one of the film's defenders, - please, defend it!

The Last Stand (2013) - Arnold's entertaining action comeback

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+ Best Comeback of the Year: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger defends the home front with Johnny Knoxville at his side on this humorous poster for Kim Jee-Woon's The Last Stand

The boss of a Mexican drug cartel escapes during a prison transfer in the US and heads South through the country in a modified sports car, leaving behind him a trail of death and destruction. But to cross the border, he will have to go through the small town Sommerton Junction...

 
The Last Stand is written by Andrew Knauer (Castle Falls (2021)) and directed by great South-Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim (Choyonghan kajok (1998)).

Despite a weak FBI-centered sub-plot led by the talented Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland (2006)), The Last Stand works outstandingly as Arnold Schwarzenegger's  (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)) return to the big screen after his years as governor of California in his first lead since the good Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).
The film offers lots of fun as puns on western movie mythology and the lone gunman-cliché abound. It has all the self-irony that the comeback of the now 66 year-old action hero has to have. And which has been a trademark throughout his long, unique career.
The ending of the film has a visual effect, which looks a bit grotesque, but it doesn't change the fact that The Last Stand is a pretty excellent comeback for Arnold and a solid action comedy filled with fun and excitement and a good supporting cast of whom especially Luis Guzmán (Carlito's Way (1993)) and Peter Stormare (The Big Lebowski (1998)) are amusing and effective.

 

Related posts:

Kim Jee-Woon: 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]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess  

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

I Saw the Devil/악마를 보았다/惡魔를 보았다 (Agmareul boatda) (2010) or, Cat and Mouse - Korean Style 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Budget: 45 mil. $
Box office: 48.3 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1.07 times its cost)

[The Last Stand was released 12 January (Hong Kong, USA) and runs 105 minutes. Schwarzenegger was reportedly paid 5 mil. $ + 25 % of first dollar gross, which, if it pertains to the film's world gross, would mean that it netted him just over 17 mil. $, despite flopping badly. Shooting took place from October 2011 - February 2012 in New Mexico. General Motors reportedly supplied 14 vehicles for the film, getting two of them back in good shape after the shoot. The film opened #9 to a 6.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America where it stalled from then, grossing 12 mil. $ (24.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 7.7 mil. $ (15.9 %) and Japan with 2.8 mil. $ (5.8 %). Kim returned with One Perfect Day (2013, video), The X (2013, short) and theatrically with The Age of Shadows/Mil-jeong (2016). Schwarzenegger returned in Escape Plan (2013); Johnny Knoxville (Nature Calls (2012)) in Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013). The Last Stand is fresh at 61 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Last Stand?

Get the Gringo/How I Spent My Summer Vacation (2012) - Mexico is just a little merrier with Mel Gibson...

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+ Best Comeback of the Year: Mel Gibson

Super-star Mel Gibson looks dangerous and game on the gritty and very orange poster for Adrian Grunberg's Get the Gringo

An American man, who crosses the border into Mexico with 2 million stolen dollars is immediately arrested and put in Tijuana's feared El Pueblito prison. Here he hustles his way upwards and befriends a 10 year-old boy, who's important in there for a special reason. But 2 mil. $ don't go missing without being missed...

 

Get the Gringo is written by co-writer/co-producer Stacy Perskie (Bel Canto (2018, co-producer)), co-writer/co-producer/star Mel Gibson (Apocalypto (2006)) and debuting co-writer/director Adrian Grunberg (The Black Demon (2023)), with Scotty Atkins (Gotti (2018, executive producer)) contributing story elements.
Gibson leads the film in more ways than one. Watching it, you can feel his engagement in the story, and that is a great asset here. The New-Yorker's pariah status in Hollywood on the back of his Passion of the Christ (2004) DUI scandal should at least begin its ending with this comeback.
Here Gibson's scheming character bonds with a boy (Kevin Hernandez (The Sitter (2011))) and his mother. Some of the dialogue scenes between Hernandez and Gibson have really bad continuity between the shots, which is a shame. Peter Gerety (Flight (2012)) is a dubious US consulate attaché, who wants a piece of the stolen money, and Peter Stormare (The Last Stand (2013)) is the enraged mobster who was robbed.
The movie provides an interesting look inside a big, Mexican prison. One production team member, Alejandro Cuervo, did extensive research about El Pueblito, interviewing ex-inmates etc. The prison works like a village; a really crummy village full of criminals and dirt. Mexico looks like shit in Gringo, - but the scenes from America and the Americans in the film aren't much better. Just different.
Gringo starts out with an action-packed car chase that succeeded in hooking me, and then it slows down action-wise, almost to a complete stop, as prison life is introduced. The dialogue becomes too dense, and you get to wonder, if you are watching a modern Midnight Express (1978) or a fun-filled action picture. But then comes a major shoot-out in slow motion so insane that it brings to mind old Sam Peckinpah films like the shoot-out in the beginning of The Wild Bunch (1969). And Gringo picks up its pace and dares go into some dark developments in later scenes.
The film is at times very funny and serious at other times, though mostly by its implications. Gibson is great throughout and totally believable as the resourceful, likeable gringo crook. Remembering his past career in films like the Lethal Weapon films (1987; 1989; 19992; 1998), it seems like the world has changed since then and that that change is reflected in Get the Gringo. Those once common major action films without superheroes or vampires or attractive teenagers all over the place aren't really done much anymore. But Gibson keeps going. And that deserves respect.

Mel Gibson: 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

Hacksaw Ridge (2016) - Gibson's intense, humbling WWII epic 

The Expendables 3 (2014) - Unique, bizarre, largely entertaining third action fireball (co-star)

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

The Beaver (2011) - Odd depression-dramedy with great stars - for the open-minded (co-star) 

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

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

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date

Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Apocalypto (2006) - or, Journey to an Extinct World  

The Passion of the Christ (2004) - Gibson's breathtaking, fierce religious masterpiece (co-writer/co-producer/director)

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) - Pretty good last show for Donner's buddy-cop franchise (co-star) 

Hamlet (1990) - Stars shine in Zeffirelli's compelling adaptation (co-star)

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 8.8 mil. $
= Mega-flop (returned 0.44 times its cost)

[Get the Gringo was released 15 March (Israel) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place from March - April 2010 in Mexico, Texas and San Diego, California. In North America the film was released as VoD and with screenings in ten cities followed by a satellite feed of a Q&A with Gibson and Hernandez, with the gross from the event going unreported. The film's biggest markets were Mexico with 1.6 mil. $ ( 18.2 %), Brazil with 1 mil. $ (11.4 %) and Russia with 839k $ (9.5 %). Grunberg returned with Here on Earth (2018, TV-series) and theatrically with Rambo: Last Blood (2019). Gibson returned in Machete Kills (2013). Get the Gringo is certified fresh at 81 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Get the Gringo?

The Brothers Grimm (2005) - Gilliam's European fairytale misadventure sort-of entertains

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+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 45.88 mil. $ range)

The two sexy young male stars look piercingly at you with their female co-star reduced to pintsize between them on this dark and adventure-promising poster for Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm

The Grimm brothers are con artists in French-occupied Germany in the beginning of the 19th century, where they become involved in a fairy tale similar to the fantastical tales they wrote in actuality. 

 

The Brothers Grimm is written by Ehren Kruger (The Ring (2002)) and directed by Minnesotan master filmmaker Terry Gilliam (Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)), whose 9th feature it is. It is based very loosely on the actual German fairytale writers, the Grimm brothers.

The film comes off as an adventure action comedy packed with effects, gags and Monty Python-style crazy comedy. Regrettably, it is not very funny, but it has a high pace and fantastic sets, (with almost everything filmed in Prague), so by and by it still becomes a mostly entertaining movie. The film is wanting a John Williams-league composer, which it doesn't have, and Gilliam refrains from the really big shots that we enjoy in similar adventure films from Peter Jackson or Steven Spielberg. Instead, what Gilliam goes for are the wacky, inventive and psychedelic elements, and these are certainly here. The man's very production-minded and visually striking style arguably gets out of hand here
The actors do what they can without being decidedly good or bad. Memorable nevertheless are Peter Stormare (The Big Lebowski (1998)) in a theatrical, gaga torturer part and Monica Bellucci (Malèna (2000)), who is well-cast as the irresistible, evil witch.

 

Related posts:

Terry Gilliam: For No Good Reason (2012, documentary) or, Ralph Steadman, Artist (interview subject)

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - Depp's Thompson lives and breathes in Gilliam's outrageous, drug-fueled masterpiece

12 Monkeys (1995) or, What's the Time?

The Fisher King (1991) - Gilliam and Co. win with unpredictable story with major heart and amazing Williams 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 88 mil. $

Box office: 105.3 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.19 times its cost)

[The Brothers Grimm was released 26 August (North America) and runs 118 minutes. Matt Damon (The Martian (2015)) was paid 10 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from June - November 2003 in the Czech Republic, including in Prague. Gilliam waged war with the Weinstein brothers, who as executive producers caused him endless trouble during shooting and post-production. Gilliam shut down the shoot for 2 weeks due to this conflict, and distanced himself from the finished film. The extended post production period also gave him enough time to make another movie (Tideland (2005), before the release of The Brothers Grimm. The film opened #2, behind The 40-Year-Old Virgin, to a 15 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 37.9 mil. $ (36 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 9.8 mil. $ (9.3 %) and Japan with 9 mil. $ (8.5 %). Miramax reportedly spent 30 mil. $ marketing the film. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Gilliam returned with Tideland (2005). Damon returned in Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon (2005, short) and theatrically in Syriana (2005); Heath Ledger (Ned Kelly (2003)) in Brokeback Mountain (2005). The Brothers Grimm is rotten at 38 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Brothers Grimm?