Hate/La Haine (1995) - Fired up radical drama involuntarily bares Europe's immigration, crime problems

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The Game (1997) - Douglas shines in Fincher's cool mystery-thriller ride

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Thriller of the Year + Costliest Flop of the Year: 26.24 mil. $ range

 

Star Michael Douglas disintegrates in the shape of a puzzle on this enticing poster for David Fincher's The Game

An arrogant investment banker has his 48th birthday, and he gets a very special gift from his convalescing younger brother; a gift certificate for a mysterious game. One that will change his life.

 

The Game is written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris (Primeval (2007), both) and directed by great Coloradoan filmmaker David Fincher (Alien 3 (1992))

Michael Douglas (Animal World (2018)) is terribly good (again) in this super-charged mystery thriller, which does rest on a rather fantastical premise, one that may be hard to buy for some, but which shouldn't hold things up, because here is a formidable suspense picture, a ride in the best sense of the word.

Fincher has staged it with extreme command of style and look, (including rocking cinematography by Harris Savides (Illuminata (1998))). From the cast James Rebhorn (Carlito's Way (1993)) is also worth picking out as a great hoax artist here. The Game is a dark major picture, which makes you wonder; can all of your actions actually be anticipated?

 

Related posts:

 

David Fincher: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - Fincher's Nordic noir is technically astute but overlong and redundant

The Social Network (2010) - Fincher's a-hole biopic leaves me cold (and more anti-Facebook than ever) 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 70 mil. $

Box office: 109.4 mil. $

= Big flop (1.56 times its cost)

[The Game premiered 3 September (New York) and runs 128 minutes. The screenplay was a spec script acquisition, which was offered to Fincher on the backside of his success with Se7en (1995). Fincher has described what the film is about as "loss of control." Douglas was paid 20 mil. $ for his performance. Jodie Foster sued production company Polygram for 45 mil. $ for betraying a promise for her to act in the film (for 4.5 mil. $), but the case was settled out of court in 1996, with Foster's Egg Pictures continuing collaboration with Polygram. Shooting took place in Mexico, California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, from August 1996 - January 1997. It opened #1 to a 14.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#5) and grossed 48.3 mil. $ (44.1 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Fincher has later stated that he should have listened to his wife, (who advised him against making the film), because he didn't "figure out the third act". Fincher returned with Fight Club (1999). Douglas returned in A Perfect Murder (1998). The Game is certified fresh at 75 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Game?

Fargo (1996) - The Coen brothers make movie magic with dark-humored crime thriller

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+ Best Movie of the Year

+ Best American Movie of the Year + Best Breakthrough Actress of the Year: Frances McDormand + Best Cop Movie of the Year + Best Dark Comedy of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year + Best $ Return of the Year: 8.65 Times the Cost + Best Mega-hit of the Year + Best North Dakota Movie of the Year + Best Poster of the Year

A homespun, fantastic, ominous poster for the 'homespun murder story' that is Ethan and Joel Coen's Fargo

Pathetic car salesman Jerry Lundegaard of Minneapolis hires a couple of goons to kidnap his wife, so that his father-in-law will pay a hefty ransom, (of which he will receive half, - enough to help him against the creditors that are at his throat.) - But nothing goes as planned in Fargo, North Dakota.

Fargo is written and directed by Minnesotan master filmmakers and brothers Ethan and Joel Coen (Miller's Crossing (1990), both). The film claims to be based on a true story, but the Coen brothers have since been pressed to divulge that it is essentially only true that it is a story.
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)) as Brainerd police chief Marge Gunderson and William H. Macy (Cellular (2004)) as Jerry Lundegaard both give outstanding performances in Fargo: McDormand is hilarious, Macy is exceptional, making us actually like his morally inadmissible character. Steve Buscemi (The Boss Baby (2017)) and Peter Stormare (Graceland (2015), TV-series) are also just swell as the pair of really ugly guys that Macy employs.
The Coens elegantly weave humor with suspense and a particular, snowy kind of poetry in Fargo, where life is lived right alongside pointless violence, (much as in real life.)
Fargo is a precious gem and a true masterpiece.

Related posts:

Ethan and Joel Coen: Hail, Caesar! (2016) - The Coen brothers serve a whimsical, flashy letdown
Unbroken (2014) - Despite good elements, Jolie's Grand WWII Biopic is mostly distant and weak (co-writers)
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]
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) or, The Man Who Wasn't Dylan  
True Grit (2010) - The Coens' grand western present
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
A Serious Man (2009) - One of the Coens' best; a philo-religious serio-comedy
Burn After Reading (2008) or, Idiocy 2008
Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
The Big Lebowski (1998) - The stoner comedy to reign over all

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Barton Fink (1991) or, The Writer's Hell

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 60.6 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[Fargo was released 8 March (USA) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in North Dakota and Minneapolis, including in Fargo and Brainerd, from January - March 1995. The film opened to a 730k $ first weekend in 36 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #6 and in 716 cinemas (different weeks) and grossed 24.6 mil. $ (40.6 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 7 Oscars: It won for Best Screenplay and Best Actress (McDormand). It lost Supporting Actor (Macy) to Cuba Gooding Jr. for Jerry Maguire, Cinematography (Roger Deakins) to John Seale for The English Patient, Director to Anthony Minghella for The English Patient, Editing to The English Patient, - and Best Picture also to the much inferior epic, The English Patient. The film was also nominated for 4 Golden Globes, won 1/6 BAFTA noms, won Joel Coen the Best Director Prize in Cannes, was nominated for a César award (France's Oscar), won 6 Independent Spirit awards, 3 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. Kathy Bates directed a pilot for a Fargo-based TV-series with Edie Falco in 1997, which only aired in 2003. A successful TV-series executive produced by the Coens called Fargo, set in the same locale but in a different decade and with other characters, have been successful for 3 seasons (2014-17). IMDb-users have voted Fargo the original movie in to #161 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between The Sixth Sense (1999) and The Deer Hunter (1978). The Coens returned with The Big Lebowski (1998), another masterpiece. McDormand returned in Primal Fear (1996). Fargo is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Fargo?

Halloween Movie 2017: Candyman (1992) - Racial tensions inform Rose and Barker's Chicago-set horror favorite

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A mysterious and curiosity-sparking poster for Bernard Rose's Candyman

As part of her thesis project on urban legends, Helen and a student friend visit Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project, where the feared Candyman is said to have killed...

Candyman is a hugely suspenseful, heavily loaded horror favorite that treads new ground in a thought-provoking way. Virginia Madsen (Joy (2015)) is outstanding and a trooper for the genre here, and the same goes for Tony Todd (Agoraphobia (2015)), SPOILER who among other things endures having bees in his mouth for his performance in Candyman. Madsen and Kasi Lemmons (The Silence of the Lambs (1991)), who plays her friend in the film, both have the added quality here of irresistible, glamorous hairdos, and Xander Berkeley (Nikita (2010-12)) is perfect as Madsen's disloyal partner.
Candyman also has a cute boy performance (by DeJuan Guy (Make It Rain (2008))), a strong score by Philip Glass (No Reservations (2007)) and a gruesome core to it that is interpretable in several ways: There are undeniable sexual overtones in the relation between misty-eyed Madsen and Todd with his huge hook (yes, the mandingo fantasy kind), but the film could also possibly stand as a conservative warning against 'slumming' on 'the wrong side of the tracks.' SPOILER The ending also made me speculate whether the black populace of Cabrini-Green want to burn Candyman for his bloodlust or for crossing racial barriers with his ancient romance? The film taps right down into the still boiling, rich stew that is the fraught race relations in modern America and in this could be seen as a precursor of recent huge hit Get Out (2017).
Candyman a a film scoffs at the supercilious academic world in favor of the superstition and religion that is held high by the under-privileged black community. It is over-lit more than once, - perhaps so we won't miss the great production design (by Jane Ann Stewart (About Schmidt (2002))) and strong use of colors.
Candyman is written and directed by great English filmmaker Bernard Rose (Paperhouse (1988)), adapting Clive Barker's (Sacrament (1996)) short story The Forbidden from his Books of Blood: Volume 5. It is a major horror favorite in my book.

Watch the title sequence for the film here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 25.7 mil. $ - North America only
= Some uncertainty; at least a box office success and likely a big hit
[Candyman premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Although Barker's story was set in his native Liverpool, Rose changed the setting to Chicago and found shooting in the US easier than in England. Eddie Murphy was sought for the Candyman part but was too costly. For the lead, Rose cast his then wife Alexandra Pigg, but when she found out she was pregnant, the role was offered to Madsen. Sandra Bullock, who had not broken through yet as an actress, was also in contention for the part. Rose held meetings with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) before shooting to avert racial controversy, but relates that when they read the script they felt it was all "just good fun." Madsen was also worried about the race aspect and related fear that Spike Lee would not like the film. Shooting took place in Chicago, Illinois, including in the real Cabrini-Green project, and in California, including Los Angeles, from November - December 1991. The film opened #4, behind Under Siege, The Last of the Mohicans and The Mighty Ducks, to a 5.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent the next two weeks at #3 before leaving the top 5, grossing 25.7 mil. $. The foreign grosses are not reported, but if the world gross is set at a conservative 35 mil. $, the film rates as a big hit. Roger Ebert gave film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. The film inspired two lesser performing sequels; Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995) and Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999, video), both without Madsen and Rose but with Todd. Candyman is fresh at 70 % with a 6.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Candyman?

Bean (1997) or, A Bean in America

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

+ Breakthrough Actor of the Year: Rowan Atkinson + Best Comedy of the Year + Best Family Movie of the Year + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Mega-Hit Movie of the Year 

If this poster doesn't amuse you at all, Mel Smith's Bean movie probably isn't for you

Mr. Bean of the UK flies to Los Angeles, America, where - through a case of mistaken credentials - he is being sent to function as an English art expert at the return of the famous painting Whistler's Mother to a fancy art gallery, staying with the curator's family for the duration of the stay.

 

Bean is written by Richard Curtis (Yesterday (2019)) and Robin Driscoll (Dramarama (1987, TV-series)) and directed by great English filmmaker Mel Smith (The Tall Guy (1989)). It is the first of two movies based on the Bean character of the same-titled 1991-95 sitcom.

Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English Reborn (2011)), the only man who can play Bean, is a great comedian! This is reaffirmed here. And Peter MacNicol (Ally McBeal (1997-2002)), who so often bounced around projects that were not really good enough for him, finally is in a good film here, and he is rock solid as Bean's well-meaning, increasingly desperate American ward.

Bean is a gaga laugh fest for silly people of all ages everywhere. If you can count yourself among this group, you will surely love every minute of it. Despite criticisms that it is too long, (it only runs 90 minutes), I find it tightly edited and enjoyable throughout, with a real warmth and irreverence to it that is uplifting and joyous.
Howard Goodall (The Black Adder (1982-83)) has made an appropriate disaster movie-like score for the film, which is also packed with big music hits from its time. Bean is a really good time and holds many, many laughs. 

Related posts:

 

Mel Smith: Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess



Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 251.2 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 13.9 times its cost)

[Bean was released 3 July (Australia) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place from September - December 1996 in England, including in London and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #10 to a 2.2 mil. $ first weekend in 242 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #2 and in 2,015 theaters (different weeks), grossing 45.3 mil. $ (18 % of the total gross). It was the 4th highest-grossing film of the year in the UK. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Bean returned in sequel Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007). Smith returned with High Heels and Low Lifes (2001). Atkinson returned in 10 video and short appearances prior to his theatrical return in Maybe Baby (2000). Bean is rotten at 43 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Bean?

The Big Lebowski (1998) - The stoner comedy to reign supreme

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+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Comedy of the Year 

Star Jeff Bridges with humorously spaced-out shades and a very funny tag-line adorn this poster for Ethan and Joel Coen's The Big Lebowski

 

LA-residing stoner/bowling man, the unemployed Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski gets involved in a kidnapping case through a case of mistaken identity  (SPOILER and his own provocation that someone has pissed on his beloved carpet rug.) A really important bowling tournament is also coming up, so the timing for these problems is really just off. His good bowling pals help him out but also heavily convolute things.

 

The Big Lebowski may be one of the funniest comedies ever made, and it is certainly on my Top 3 of favorite movie by Minnesotan master filmmaker, brothers co-writer/producer Ethan and co-writer/director Joel Coen (Barton Fink (1991)). It is their 7th feature.

The film is narrated by a mysterious cowboy character (Sam Elliott (The Legacy (1978))), and its LA-set subculture crime plot is fashioned over the legacy of Raymond Chandler's noir structure of detective novels. Joel Coen has said eloquently about the point: "We wanted to do a Chandler kind of story – how it moves episodically, and deals with the characters trying to unravel a mystery, as well as having a hopelessly complex plot that's ultimately unimportant." This turned out to be an ingenious decision for the best stoner comedy of all time, The Big Lebowski.
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart (2009)) is The Dude, a role he was lucky to get and which more than any other defined his career since. Each of the supporting actors are also great in each their own way as well: John Goodman (The Artist (2011)) is hysterical as a gun-crazed Vietnam veteran (inspired on John Milius!), and Julianne Moore (The Hours (2002)) shines as a  presumptuous feminist performance artist. All the characters and dialog are totally outrageous and hysterically funny. The film works as contemporary satire and a developing crime/stoner comedy at the same time.
The music of Lebowski is awesome, as arranged by 'music archivist' Carter Burwell (The Rookie (2002)), its dream and drug-fueled sequences are extravagant, stylish and fantastic, and the film's ending is so tar-black in its humor, - it's just plain killer!
The movie has understandably inspired considerable cult, (mostly, I suppose, in the ever-existing stoner stratum of society), and even a 'religion' called Dudeism.

 

Related posts:

Ethan and Joel Coen: Hail, Caesar! (2016) - The Coen brothers serve a whimsical, flashy letdown
Unbroken (2014) - Despite good elements, Jolie's Grand WWII Biopic is mostly distant and weak (co-writers)

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]
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) or, The Man Who Wasn't Dylan  
True Grit (2010) - The Coens' grand western present

Top 10: Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

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] 
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
A Serious Man (2009) - One of the Coens' best; a philo-religious serio-comedy
Burn After Reading (2008) or, Idiocy 2008

No Country for Old Men (2007) - Undigestible McCarthy adaptation lets you hang in midair 

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - Much to love in fabulous Coen music yarn 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
The Big Lebowski (1998) - The stoner comedy to reign over all

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Fargo (1996) - The Coen brothers make movie magic with dark-humored crime thriller 

Top 10: Best films about filmmaking 
Barton Fink (1991) or, The Writer's Hell 

 

Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi give an interview about the film many years later here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 46.9 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.12 times its cost)

[The Big Lebowski premiered 18 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 117 minutes. Shooting took place from January - April 1997 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #6 to a 5.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, its peak position there, where it grossed 17.4 mil. $ (37.1 % of the total gross). The film continues to add to its gross through re-releases. It was nominated for a European Film award, among other honors. Roger Ebert originally gave it a 3/4 star review but since changed it to a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #203 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and Monsters, Inc. (2001). Ethan and Joel Coen returned with O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Bridges returned in Arlington Road (1999); Goodman in The Blues Brothers 2000 (1998); Moore in Welcome to Hollywood (1998); Steve Buscemi (Big Fish (2003)) in The Drew Carey Show (1998, TV-series)) and theatrically in The Wedding Singer (1998); and John Turturro (Transformers (2007)) in Animals with the Tollkeeper (1998)). The Big Lebowski is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Big Lebowski?

An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Landis' great, funny, scary werewolf favorite

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This poster for John Landis' An American Werewolf in London trusts its product (the movie) and the general public enough to let them know in advance that its ambition is to be both frightening and funny

Two young, American men begin their European journey in wet Northern England, - where they are soon attacked by a werewolf! Only one survives, but an unfortunate repercussion of the attack is that he transforms into a beast and starts killing under the full moon in the clammy London streets.

Illinoisan master writer-director John Landis (The Blues Brothers (1980)) made with An American Werewolf one of the three best werewolf movies of all time in my opinion. With a relatively unknown but brilliantly cast acting troupe, Landis' own enthusiasm and love for old werewolf and horror movies in general shines through in his playful, youthful and creative script, which delivers an original angle, - the werewolf as a boy-to-adult-male transformation metaphor, - taken out in a number of highly memorable, sometimes funny and sometimes nightmarish scenes. The central transformation scene, arguably the film's highlight, is a scene that every one familiar with the film will look forward to, and Rick Baker's (Missing Link (1988)) incredible make-up effects are a vital part of the film's lasting power.
An American Werewolf in London is a horror classic that gushes with the vivid energy that its brilliant young creator Landis enriched it with. - Don't miss it!

Related posts:

John Landis: Top 10: Best cop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Deer Woman (2005) - Landis and son's solid Masters of Horror entry
Coming to America (1988) - Landis and Murphy's second amusing but less well-constructed collaboration The Twilight Zone (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology
Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
The Blues Brothers (1980) - Try to sit still to this one!

In this video from the 1982 Oscars, Johnny Carson introduces Kim Hunter and Vincent Price, who present the nominees for the first Best Makeup Oscar, which was won by Rick Baker for An American Werewolf in London

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly 61.9 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.19 times its cost)
[An American Werewolf in London was released 21 August (North America) and runs 97 minutes. Landis got the idea for the film, when he witnessed a gypsy burial ritual during production of Kelly's Heroes (1970) (on which he acted as assistant director and production assistant) in Yugoslavia in 1969. His script was shelved for a decade, while he built up a solid hit reputation in Hollywood, and financiers grew a willingness to bet on his wild ideas. Shooting took place in Wales and England, including London, from February - April 1981. The film opened #1 with a 3.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 30.5 mil. $ (49.2 % of the total gross), or possibly 31.9 mil. $ (different reports). Its international gross (30 mil. $), if accurate, indicates that it was a global hit. David Lynch's great The Elephant Man (1980) was not premiered for its makeup excellence at the 1981 Oscars, causing criticisms, and so a Best Makeup category was instated for the 1982 Oscars. An American Werewolf in London was nominated against Heartbeeps, and Rick Baker won the first statuette in the category. An unrelated sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris (1997) was made and flopped. Landis' son, filmmaker Max Landis (Me Him Her (2015)) is working on a remake of An American Werewolf in London at the moment (6/3/18, ed.). Landis returned with video documentary Coming Soon (1982) and theatrically with comedy Trading Places (1983), before his career was derailed by the three tragic deaths which happened as a result of a helicopter crash on his set of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). David Naughton (Cool as Hell (2013)) returned with 3 TV credits before returning to big screens in Hot Dog... The Movie (1984); Jenny Agutter (Child's Play 2 (1990)) returned in a 1982 TV movie, a video and a bit part before she had her next theatrical role in Secret Places (1984); Griffin Dunne (Straight Talk (1992)) returned in The Wall (1982, TV movie) and theatrically in Cold Feet (1983). An American Werewolf in London is certified fresh at 88 % with a 7.75/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of An American Werewolf in London?