Inherent Vice (2014) - Anderson turns in his career's first dud

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A psychedelic reproduction of star Joaquin Phoenix with a characteristic stoner look in rainbow colors make up most of this poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice

A hairy, uncool private investigator in 1970s Los Angeles gets a new, bewildering case, when his ex-girlfriend appears and sets his attention on the story of a disappeared real estate broker.

 

Inherent Vice is written, co-produced and directed by Californian master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight (1996)), whose 7th feature it is. It is an adaptation of the same-titled 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon (V. (1963)).

The driving narrative of the missing realtor never hooks us, and Inherent Vice looks and feels like an auteur who is verliebt in a time and a place, (1970s LA, where Anderson also set his Boogie Nights (1997)), but the result is never as fun, dramatic nor anything approaching exciting as it was supposed to be. Technically the film is beautiful, with a cool back alley cat attitude, which clashes with Joaquin Phoenix (Her (2013)) booby performance in the lead role, providing moments of measured mirth. This while a parade of stars come and go before the master's camera. Anderson with Inherent Vice is beating on an empty drum in an overlong running time to boot. It is a deadly bore.

 

Related posts:

Paul Thomas Anderson: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Phantom Thread (2017) - Anderson's exquisite drama of an English dressmaker and his Alma 

The Master (2012) - Anderson's stunning post-war reflection 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) - Sandler breaks out of his routine in Anderson's delightful romcom

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Boogie Nights (1997) - Anderson's irresistible porn 'Casino'

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

Hard Eight (1996) - Anderson debuts with downbeat crime drama

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 14.8 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.74 times its cost)

[Inherent Vice premiered 4 October (New York Film Festival) and runs 149 minutes. Shooting took place from May - August 2013 in California, including in Los Angeles, and in Las Vegas, Nevada. The film opened #20 to a 328k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #11 and in 653 theaters (different weeks), grossing 8.1 mil. $ (54.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.1 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Italy with 707k $ (4.8 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, lost to Graham Moore for The Imitation Game, and Costume Design, lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won an Independent Spirit award and 2 National Board of Review awards, among many others. Anderson returned with 8 music videos and a documentary prior to his theatrical return with Phantom Thread (2017). Phoenix returned in Irrational Man (2015). Inherent Vice is fresh at 74 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Inherent Vice? 

Annabelle (2014) - Leonetti's creepy if derivative Conjuring spin-off

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+ Best Mega-Hit Movie of the Year

 

A doll as creepy as the one featured on this poster for John R. Leonetti's Annabelle is best not brought into your home, - just a recommendation ...

 

A young couple in California in 1970 are expecting their first child, when they one night fall victim to a bloody feud that involves their satanic neighbors. The tragedy seems to leave a trace in the couple's new doll...

 

Annabelle places itself solidly in a Charles Manson-fraught context, centering on a highly sympathetic couple, well-played by Annabelle Wallis (The Brothers Grimsby (2016)) and Ward Horton (Letting Go (2012)). They provide a good core for the film, which is generally creepy without ever reaching the height of terror that is James Wan's great The Conjuring (2013), which Annabelle is a prequel/spin-off to.

Annabelle loans some elements from that film SPOILER and has a demon that is a bit like the one in Insidious (2010) (also by Wan), but it is still atmospheric and contains one especially scary sequence: SPOILER When Wallis gets followed through the building to the attic by the demon and can't get down again.

The Annabelle doll, (which is actually several dolls created for the film), is also an affecting ingredient in itself here. Annabelle is written by Gary Dauberman (Within (2016)) and directed by John R. Leonetti (The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006)).

 

Related posts:

 

John R. Leonetti: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

The Conjuring (2013) - Best horror film in 7 years (cinematographer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 6.5 mil. $

Box office: 256.8 mil. $

= Mega-hit

[Annabelle premiered September 26 (Russia) and runs 100 minutes. The huge success of Conjuring prompted this film of the Annabelle doll featured in that film. Filming took place in and around January 2014 in California. The film's producer and director Leonetti have claimed the set to be haunted. Filming reportedly took place in sequence/chronologically. The film opened #2, slightly behind fellow new release Gone Girl, to a huge 37.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another week (in #4) and grossed 84.2 mil. $ (32.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 19.1 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Brazil with 16.3 mil. $ (6.3 %). A sequel is set for release May 2017 with director David F. Sandberg (Lights Out (2016)) and star Miranda Otto. Annabelle is rotten at 29 % with a 4.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Annabelle?

The Conjuring 2 (2016) - Wan's sequel is a long horror treat with terrifying periods

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Vera Farmiga looks terrified on this poster for James Wan's The Conjuring 2

The Conjuring 2 is the sequel to great Malaysian co-writer/director James Wan's (Insidious (2010)) excellent 2013 horror hit The Conjuring. He has co-written the script with Carey Hayes, Chad Hayes (The Conjuring, both) and David Leslie Johnson (Red Riding Hood (2011)).

In 1977, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren are taking a time-out from hauntings, when a desperate cry for help reaches them from a family in Enfield, London, England, whose house is under attack by a malicious demon.

Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air (2009)) and Patrick Wilson (Prometheus (2012)) are back as the Warrens, and the two add a crucial ingredient to the films, which is their intense likability, but also a refreshing note of romance here in the successful second Conjuring. The film also manages to squeeze in a couple of humorous moments that don't affect the general tone, which is admirable. - That is a general tone of menace and otherworldly evil, which makes the film periodically quite scary. SPOILER It opens with a pre-story, the Amityville Horror, (a famous US haunting that has already inspired several horror films), which I found more chilling than the Annabelle pre-story in the first film.

Some of the 'tricks' of the film are very similar to the goings-on in the first film, (a lot of walking around the house at night and so on), and so we know what to expect this time, which makes it harder to surprise us. The story also has some weak corners that are best overlooked while watching it, but which are hard not to wonder about after: SPOILER First of all, what does it take for the seemingly 'all-powerful' Catholic Church to become convinced and show up and help? (The police seem convinced of the truthfulness of the haunting.) SPOILER Also the solution to the struggle seems to come almost out of the sky from two tapes crossing before Wilson's eyes... (but what the heck.)
Because Conjuring 2 is still solid filmmaking: The production design of the house is outstanding, - it seems unhealthy to the core, marred by the poverty that defines the mother who tries to raise her young there. SPOILER and the basement flooding is a cool addition. The film has effective jump scares, but also takes more than 20 minutes longer (and double the budget) of the terrific original. Some undoubtedly used on the crooked man CGI effects, which nevertheless don't register as scary. The nun sequences, on the other hand, are among the film's best, which has a primary ghost in old dead man Bill Wilkins.
Simon McBurney (The Last King of Scotland (2006)) is good as a British paranormal investigator, who contributes a touching moment, and Madison Wolfe (Joy (2015)) and Frances O'Connor (Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012)) are both good as the demonized girl and her stressed-out mother.
The Conjuring 2 is an unapologetically Christian horror movie, - which its posters also don't hide, and which I like. Horror fans are sure to enjoy it voraciously.

Related posts:

James Wan: 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
The Conjuring (2013) - Best horror film in 7 years 

This promotional video lets you explore the Enfield house in 360 degree fashion

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 104.6 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say (but already a box office success)
[The Conjuring 2 premiered June 7 (TCL Chinese Theatre, LA) and runs 134 minutes. The real basis of the movie can be read about here. Filming took place from September - December 2015 in California and on location for 10 days in London. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe was brought in to bless the US set before filming due to a series of unexplainable events during production of the first film. The film was granted a 5.6 mil. $ tax credit from the California Film Commission for shooting in the state. It opened #1 to a 40.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, (just under the first film's 41.8 mil. $ first weekend). The Conjuring 2 is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Conjuring 2?