Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Renée Zellweger

Showing posts with label Renée Zellweger. Show all posts

9/03/2022

Nurse Betty (2000) - Zellweger's star rises in so-so crime comedy

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Bright colors and big stars attract on this poster for Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty

Betty is a waitress and is married to a rotten used car salesman. When she witnesses his violent murder, the shock messes with her brain, making her believe that she is having a relationship with her soap opera idol!

Nurse Betty is written by John C. Richards (Sahara (2005)) and James Flamberg (Midnight Heat (1983, composer)) and directed by Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men (1997)).

Betty travels to California with the two killers at her heels in this off-center story, which holds a warm and lovably performance by Renée Zellweger (8 Seconds (1994)) as well as fun supporting performances from Aaron Eckhart (Double Jeopardy (1992, TV movie)), Pruitt Taylor Vince (True Blood (2013, TV-series)) and Crispin Glover (My Tutor (1983)). Greg Kinnear (Feast of Love (2007)) is especially good in his soap opera scenes. Morgan Freeman (RED (2010)) is also good, but his scenes nevertheless become annoying, since it is hard to comprehend why his character puts up with Chris Rock's (The Longest Yard (2005)) character's filthy and insulting mouth. (SPOILER It turns out in the end that he is his father.)

Nurse Betty is a bit overlong, SPOILER and I also had a hard time buying that Kinnear's character even manages to get his psycho-fan Betty cast as an actress in his soap. Something is lacking for this Coen brothers reminiscent amusement to fully score, but its playtime with reality, dreams and soap reality is fine.

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: 29.3 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.83 times its cost)

[Nurse Betty premiered 11 May (Cannes Film Festival, in the main competition) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place from December 1998 - March 1999 in Rome, Italy, Arizona, Colorado and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release The Watcher, to a 7.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#4), grossing 25.1 mil. $ (85.7 % of the total gross). The film later made more than 33 mil. $ on the US rental video market. It won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes, a Golden Globe and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. LaBute returned with 4 short and TV credits prior to his theatrical return with Possession (2002). Zellweger returned in Me, Myself & Irene (2000); Freeman with narration in American Masters (TV documentary) and theatrically in Along Came a Spider (2001); Rock in DAG (2000, TV-series), Disappearing Acts (2000, TV movie) and theatrically in Down to Earth (2001); Kinnear in Loser (2000). Nurse Betty is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Nurse Betty?

7/07/2022

Jerry Maguire (1996) - Crowe's wildly overrated sports agent vehicle

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+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

Tom Cruise looks happy on this pleasant poster for Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire

Jerry is a successful sports agent, - but suddenly he attains an insight: Fewer clients, more care, - that will be his new motto. He establishes his own company, - with only one client, - and falls in love with his only employee.

Jerry Maguire is written and directed by Cameron Crowe (Say Anything (1989)).

It is a consistently false and unnatural Major Movie Star Vehicle, which uses ploys that are so obvious and primitive so as to make the film just about insufferable, not to speak of enormously overlong. - When Jerry Maguire seems to be over, it packs another full 45 minute act for us!

Tom Cruise (Legend (1985)) is the winning success type here, as we know him from so many other previous films, but the charm seems to wear thin here, - the charm of seeing him portray another go-getter professional type. Crowe slaps more or less superfluous music onto most angles of the film, which encapsulate the carefree 1990s that Jerry Maguire arrives from, an era that also seems far in the past due to the gender and race dynamics in it.

Renée Zellweger (Nurse Betty (2000)) is the romantic interest, who has a son who is cute with perfectly gelled hair 100 % of the time he's in the film, giving one unnatural line after another. Cuba Gooding Jr. (Norbit (2007)) yells himself through large portions of the film as Maguire's only client and is fetishized shamelessly for his envious physique, half-naked very often.

Jerry Maguire may be among the most widely overrated films of all time. It is awful.

We Bought a Zoo (2011) - Crowe's terrific family film

Elizabethtown (2005) - A cute piece of Crowe's world; just roll with it!

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

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) - Heckerling's popular high school portrayal debut (writer; based on his book)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 273.5 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.47 times its cost)

[Jerry Maguire premiered 6 December (New York) and runs 139 minutes. The script was inspired by sports agent Leigh Steinberg and a 28-page memo written by Disney's Jeffrey Katzenberg. Cruise was paid 20 mil. $ and 15% of the film's profits for his performance; Gooding Jr. was paid 600k $. Shooting took place from March - July 1996 in New York, Arizona, including in Phoenix and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 17 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 10 weekends in the top 5, one of them again back at #1, grossing 153.9 mil. $ (56.3 % of the total gross). The foreign market gross numbers have not been made public. It was the 9th highest-grossing film worldwide of the year. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning one, for Best Supporting Actor (Gooding Jr.). It lost Best Actor (Cruise) to Geoffrey Rush in Shine, Editing to The English Patient, Picture also to The English Patient and Original Screenplay to Fargo. It was also nominated for a European Film award, won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film was also a big hit as a home video release, selling 3 mil. copies in North America in its first day of release alone. Crowe returned with Almost Famous (2000). Cruise returned in Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Jerry Maguire is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Jerry Maguire?

11/10/2020

My One and Only (2009) - Loncraine's delightful under-the-radar gemstone

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+ Best Mega-flop Movie of the Year + Road Movie of the Year

Star Renée Zellweger, blonde and in heels, holds up a gilded frame, surrounded by men, on this uninformative poster for Richard Loncraine's My One and Only

In 1957 a glamorous mother of two has had it with her cheating husband in New York, and she packs up and leaves with her sons in a new car to find a better life. But it isn't readily available to her, and the life for a single mother on the road is not a bed of roses.

My One and Only is written by Charlie Peters (Paternity (1981)), based on anecdotes from actor George Hamilton's early life, and directed by great British filmmaker Richard Loncraine (Slade in Flame (1975)).

It is an unexpectedly great film, marvelously scored by Mark Isham (A Dog's Journey (2019)) and directed by Loncraine: The film esteems itself with several multi-dimensional characters and a compelling story, which picks some of the varnish off the 1950s, as the decade has often been presented, and stays realistic and natural.

'Delightful' seems like a word that could have been created to sum up this picture. Renée Zellweger (Love and a .45 (1994)) is unsurpassed and has never been better than she is here; and Logan Lerman (The Patriot (2000)) is devastatingly good-looking, as well as a fine actor. Also commendable are Mark Rendall (Sam Sam (2007-13)) as his older brother, Robin Weigert (Jessica Jones (2015, TV-series)) as Zellweger's sister and Kevin Bacon (The Darkness (2016)) as the let-down father.

My One and Only is a wonderful film.

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

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 3.1 mil. $

= Uncertain (but likely a mega-flop)

[My One and Only premiered 12 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 108 minutes. George Hamilton was one of the film's executive producers. Shooting took place in New Mexico, including Albuquerque and in Baltimore, Maryland from June - August 2008. The film opened #40 to a 58k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #24 and in 256 theaters (different weeks), grossing 2.4 mil. $ (77.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 366k $ (11.8 %) and Australia with 98k $ (3.2 %). If made on a realistic, low 10 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a mega-flop. The film won an award in Berlin. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Loncraine returned with The Special Relationship (2010, TV movie), Playhouse Presents (2012, TV-series) and theatrically with 5 Flights Up (2014). Zellweger returned with a voice performance in Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) and physically in Case 39 (2009). My One and Only is fresh at 68 % with a 6.24/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of My One and Only?

10/29/2020

Me, Myself & Irene (2000) - The Farrelly brothers falter

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Star Jim Carrey's face is split in half as two radically different personalities on this poster for Bobby and Peter Farrelly's Me, Myself & Irene

In the Rhode Island State Police works a doormat of a man, who lives with his ex-wife's triplets. But now he suffers a mental breakdown, which makes him split in two opposite personalities, just as he is about to transport hit-and-run driver Irene to New York.

Me, Myself & Irene is written by Mike Cerrone (Homie Spumoni (2006)) and great co-writer/director filmmaker brothers, Rhode-Islander Bobby Farrelly and Pennsylvanian Peter Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber (1994)). Peter Farrelly also produced the film.

Although Me, Myself & Irene begins with some promising signs, what follows is an often unfunny and actually tedious film. Jim Carrey's (The Majestic (2001)) performance is labored, and neither he nor Renée Zellweger (The Low Life (1995)), who plays Irene, have particularly interesting or well-shaped characters here in a story that is frankly an ungainly patchwork. That so many gags and jokes in this darkly humorous crude comedy fall through, - there are bright moments, but they are precious few, - actually make periods of Me, Myself & Irene a bit embarrassing on sexist and racial planes. You may remember this film as fun and zany but chances are you'll be sorely disappointed, if you revisit it, as it is truly a bummer.

Watch a clip from the film here

Cost: 51 mil. $

Box office: 149.2 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.92 times its cost)

[Me, Myself & Irene premiered 15 June (USA) and runs 116 minutes. Shooting took place in Vermont and Rhode Island from May - July 1999. The film opened #1 to a 24.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weekends (#3-#3) and grossed 90.5 mil. $ (60.7 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The Farrelly brothers returned with Osmosis Jones (2001). Carrey returned in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). Me, Myself & Irene is rotten at 47 % with a 5.44/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Me, Myself & Irene?

2/10/2020

The day after ... the 2020 Oscars

The show got off to a terrible start: Janelle Monae opened the ball with a new rendition of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood in which she had little luck getting the startled stars to sing along and belted untimely self-praise for being a women, black and queer. She wasn't nominated for anything but set a tiring tone right off the bat, which continued into the next joy-squashing segment: Past hosts Steve Martin and Chris Rock took the stage as 'non-hosts', who picked at the show's sores of having no women director nominees and only one non-white actor nominated this year. Was this funny? No, not really. And it was a strange way to open a show; by throwing verbally stigmatic acid all over the stage and thereby belittling every one who would win statuettes for their hard work in the following hours. This opening certainly argues in favor of ending the no-host reign and giving us a strong host for the show next year.
Luckily the show came underway with many strong winner speeches, a montage about songs in movies and a surprise performance by Eminem, rapping his Lose Yourself major hit from 8 Mile (2002), ending the segment with the night's best musical performance. Chrissy Metz was made to perform her I'm Standing With You haphazardly fast; Randy Newman was terrific; Cynthia Erivo had the room standing up for one of the night's most predictable moments for her slave drama song Stand Up, but Elton John's (I'm Gonna) Love Me Again was a great highlight.
My predictions held up uncommonly strong, and there were few surprises, (Ford v Ferrari taking Best Editing; Taika Waititi winning Best Adapted Screenplay; 1917 winning Best Visual Effects), - right up until the major surprise and historic turn that makes the 92nd Academy Awards truly film history: South-Korean Parasite's complete triumph. Regrettably still not having seen it, I wasn't expecting this, and my predictions actually expected this to be Quentin Tarantino's big night. A foreign language film had never won Best Picture until last night, and a Korean film had never even been nominated for an Oscar before this year. Now Bong Joon Ho's Parasite won 4 Oscars, and not 'small' Oscars: Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature, Best Director and Best Picture. A big break in Hollywood tradition and an incredible feat. The acceptance speeches from Ho and his team were wonderful, and they sealed an Oscar night that went down the books for something amazing despite all the self-righteous nonsense of a lot of the talent chose to showcase.

My Oscars prediction record from the past now 7 years:

2014: 7 correct / 33 % - worst prediction
2015: 13 correct / 62 %
2016: 16 correct / 76 % - best prediction
2017: 11 correct / 52 %
2018: 14 correct / 66 %
2019: 11 correct / 52 %
2020: 13 correct / 62 %

Here follows a full list of the predictions, favorites and winners of the night:

Red marks the person/s or film I predicted would win the Oscar
Film Excess favorite marks the person/s or film I hoped would win the Oscar
Winner marks the person or film that actually won the Oscar

Best Visual Effects

1917 Winner
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
The Lion King
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Film Excess favorite

Best Film Editing

Ford v Ferrari Winner
The Irishman Film Excess favorite
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Parasite

Best Costume Design

The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women Film Excess favorite Winner
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

1917
Bombshell Film Excess favorite Winner
Joker
Judy
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Best Cinematography

1917, Roger Deakins Winner
The Irishman, Rodrigo Prieto
Joker, Lawrence Sher
The Lighthouse, Jarin Blaschke Film Excess favorite
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Robin Richardson

Best Production Design

1917
The Irishman Film Excess favorite
Jojo Rabbit
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Winner
Parasite

Best Sound Mixing

1917 Winner
Ad Astra
Ford v Ferrari Film Excess favorite
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Sound Editing

1917
Ford v Ferrari Winner
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Film Excess favorite

Best Original Song

I Can't Let You Through Yourself Away, Toy Story 4
(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again, Rocketman Film Excess favorite Winner
I'm Standing With You, Breakthrough
Into the Unknown, Frozen II
Stand Up, Harriet

Best Original Score

1917, Thomas Newman
Joker, Hildur Guðnadóttir Winner
Little Women, Alexander Desplat Film Excess favorite
Marriage Story, Randy Newman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, John Williams

Best Documentary Feature

American Factory Winner
The Cave Film Excess favorite
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Best International Feature

Corpus Christi, Poland, Jan Komasa
Honeyland, North Macedonia, Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov
Les Misérables, France, Ladj Ly
Pain and Glory, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar
Parasite, South Korea, Bong Joon-ho Film Excess favorite Winner

Best Animated Feature

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link Film Excess favorite
Toy Story 4 Winner

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Irishman, Steve Zaillian Film Excess favorite
Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi Winner
Joker, Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
Little Women, Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes, Antony McCarten

Best Original Screenplay

1917, Sam Mendes
Knives Out, Rian Johnson
Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino
Parasite, Bong Joon-ho Film Excess favorite Winner

Best Supporting Actress

Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Laura Dern, Marriage Story Film Excess favorite Winner
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Best Supporting Actor

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman Film Excess favorite
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Winner

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women Film Excess favorite
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Renée Zellweger, Judy Winner

Best Actor

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story Film Excess favorite
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker Winner
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Best Director

Sam Mendes, 1917
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Todd Phillips, Joker
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Bong Joon-ho, Parasite Film Excess favorite Winner

Best Picture

1917
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women Film Excess favorite
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite Winner