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

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A long, loony tagline and a wonderfully intense photo of the two stars make up this beloved poster for Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King

A New York radio host, who is smarter than his own good, becomes implicitly guilty of a massacre and descends into depression, until he one day meets one of the relatives of a victim of the massacre.

The Fisher King is written by Richard LaGravanese (The Comedian (2016)) and directed by Minnesotan master filmmaker Terry Gilliam (Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)), whose 6th feature it is.
Robin Williams (The Best of Times (1986)) gives one of his all-time most touching and intense performances here in Gilliams' lively, extraordinary, incredible film. Mercedes Ruhl (Bad Apple (2004, TV movie)) is also formidable in The Fisher King; her couple's scenes with Jeff Bridges (R.I.P.D. (2013)) are beautifully observed. Furthermore Michael Jeeter (Bank Robber (1993)) is memorable in a supporting part.
The Fisher King is an emotional ride that one remembers!

Related posts:

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

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?

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 24 mil. $
Box office: 41.8 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain
[The Fisher King premiered 10 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy) and runs 137 minutes. Shooting took place in New York and Los Angeles, California from May - August 1990. Gilliam devised the Grand Central Station waltz scene himself. The film opened in 10 theaters to a 311k$ first weekend in North America, peaking at #1 the following week, which it retained for another 2 weeks, before spending one week as #3 and one as #4, before leaving the top 5, grossing 41.8 mil. $ domestically. The film would have to gross 60 mil. $ to break even, which it likely did, but this is strictly speculation. It was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning one, for Best Supporting Actress (Ruhl, her only ever nomination). It lost Actor (Williams) to Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, Art/Set Decoration to Bugsy, Score (George Fenton) to Alan Menken for Beauty and the Beast and Original Screenplay to Callie Khouri for Thelma & Louise. It won 2/5 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for 2 BAFTAs, won 3 awards in Venice and a bunch of other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches harder than this one. Gilliam returned with Twelve Monkeys (1995). Williams returned in Hook (1991), Bridges in American Heart (1992). The Fisher King is certified fresh at 83 % with a 6.96/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Fisher King?

Unbroken (2014) - Despite good elements, Jolie's Grand WWII Biopic is mostly distant and weak

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Jack O'Connell (Starred Up (2013)) as Louis Zamperini on a poster for Angelina Jolie's Unbroken

Olympic champion runner Louis Zamperini gets shot down as a US Air Force pilot during World War II, and after a long time on a raft in the Pacific Ocean gets interned in a Japanese POW camp, where he and other prisoners endure great sufferings.

Unbroken begins with some incredible aerial warfare scenes. Another thing about it that deserves praise is popular Japanese rock star Miyavi's (Oresama (2004, video)) impressive performance as Mutsuhiro 'The Bird' Watanabe. Zamperini and many others are unfortunately portrayed by distractingly handsome actors, and the film's polished look also doesn't help get us involved in a character and a story that feels distant, - and which has a smack of better, preceding films.
Unbroken is written by Richard LaGravanese (Beautiful Creatures (2013)), William Nicholson (Gladiator (2000)) and Ethan and Joel Coen (Burn After Reading (2008), both), based on Laura Hillenbrand's (Seabisquit: An American Legend (2001)) biography Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010), and directed by Angelina Jolie (In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)) as her second fiction feature. The film becomes boring, and Jolie's own relation to this almost exclusively male-filled story seems thin; we don't feel the creator behind the work. There is also something clichéd about the grand treatment Zamperini gets here. The development in his life, which is related in the end, is moving, - but it can't save a fundamentally weak film.

Related posts:

Angelina Jolie: 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 Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story (actress)

 

Watch an official trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 65 mil. $

Box office: 163.4 mil. $

=  Minor hit

[Unbroken premiered November 17 (Sydney) and runs 137 minutes. Universal purchased the book rights in 2011, while having owned the movie rights to Zamperini's story from the late 1950s. Jolie was reportedly paid 1 mil. $ to direct the film. Filming took place in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia from October 2013 - February 2014. The film opened #3, behind The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Into the Woods, to a 30.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for a total of 3 weeks and grossed an impressive 115.6 mil. $ (70.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 5.4 mil. $ (3.3 %) and France with 4.9 mil. $ (3 %). A Japanese change.org petition for a ban on the film in Japan by Japanese nationalists was successful in disrupting the Japanese release of the film to a much smaller scale. A Dutch-Indonesian group started another petition in response, voicing their support for the film and its portrayal of the harsh prisoner abuse and torture committed by the Japanese during WWII. The film got nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins), lost to Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman, Best Sound Mixing, lost to Whiplash, and Best Sound Editing, lost to American Sniper. It was also chosen as one of AFI's Top 10 movies of the year. Unbroken is rotten at 52 % with a 6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Unbroken?

Behind the Candelabra (2013, TV movie) - Soderbergh's commanding exercise in restraint and extravagance

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It's hard not to break into a smile at least, when you look at Matt Damon and Michael Douglas on the glitzy poster for Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra

Behind the Candelabra dramatizes the last ten years of the unique piano-playing entertainer's life, as seen from the perspective of Liberace's 40 year younger lover Scott Thorson, while the star publicly denied his obvious homosexuality. 

The film is written with great ability by Richard LaGravenese (The Comedian (2016)), based on Scott Thorsen's memoir, Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace (1988) (written with Alex Thorleifson), and directed by Georgian master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Traffic (2000)). It is a story of pomposity, excess, narcissism, love and betrayal. If Liberace has any family left, - or fanatic fans perhaps, - it cannot be much fun for them to watch this unflattering portrait of their capricious Lee. In any case, the man's material success, if not his private, is astounding. And both of them are displayed here.
Michael Douglas (Ant-Man (2015)) as Liberace shies away from nothing in another great turn of his, achieved some time after the months when we all thought that we were going to lose one of the screen's best to cancer, - this marks a triumphant comeback. And as Scott Thorson we get Matt Damon (Syriana (2005)), an actor who is always professional, but rarely as engaging and liberated in his acting as he appears here. - They together make the movie soar high.
Soderbergh continues the restrained directing style apparent in his latest projects like the Che films (both from 2008) and Haywire (2011); a very sober and contained tone and portrayal, though far from bereft of style. The music in Candelabra is withheld mostly to a few concert performances, and the cinematic expression is far from the extravagant biopic approach one might have expected. Soderbergh, as often before, acted as his own cinematographer.
In supporting roles, Rob Lowe (A Perfect Day (2006), TV movie) and Dan Aykroyd (Whitecoats (2004)) do well as Lee's crazy plastic surgeon and his deft manager, and Debbie Rheynolds (Singin' in the Rain (1952)) makes a great dignified Polish mother to Liberace. If you are the type who gets excited about costumes and extravagant decor, you can also enjoy the movie for these qualities alone; Howard Cummings (Magic Mike XXL (2015)) - production design, - Barbara Munch (Milk (2008)), - set decoration, -  and Ellen Mirojnick (Cloverfield (2008)) - costume design, - are to thank for this considerable job.

Related posts:
 
Steven Soderbergh: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] Magic Mike XXL (2015) - Lots of fun and skin but still no gay as Mike goes to the convention (cinematographer, editor)   
2013 in films - according to Film Excess 
Side Effects (2013) - Modern people screw up in excellent thriller
Magic Mike (2012) - Soderbergh and Tatum score big with cheeky male strip romp 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2011 in films - according to Film Excess 
Contagion (2011) - Soderbergh's global pandemic creep-out    
Haywire (2011) - Soderbergh's taut, stylish ensemble actioner is a masterpiece
Che Part One - The Argentine (2008) - Soderbergh's sober depiction of the Cuban revolution 
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark 
Erin Brockovich (2000) - Roberts, Soderbergh and Grant's triumphant biopic 

For a look at the movie, watch this trailer, although it gives away a little much in my opinion

Cost: 23 mil. $
Box office: 13.3 mil. $
= Small theatrical performance + good TV movie performance (North America); should likely count as a success
[Behind the Candelabra premiered 21 May (Cannes, in competition) and runs 118 minutes. Soderbergh wanted to make a Liberace film, and talked to Douglas about it during Traffic in 2000. In 2009 he and Damon signed on to star in the film, which took further 3 years to finance, as Hollywood studios thought it "too gay". Shooting took 30 days in California and Las Vegas in 2012. As an HBO TV movie in North America, it premiered there on 26 May, 5 days after its Cannes debut. It was initially viewed by 3.5 mil. on its first two runs, HBO's highest rating for a TV movie sine 2004. It was released theatrically in several foreign markets. The 3 biggest were the UK with 5.2 mil. $ (39.1 % of the total gross), Australia with 2.3 mil. $ (17.3 %) and Germany with 2 mil. $ (15 %). Overall, the movie should certainly count as a hit. It was nominated for and won a slew of awards: 2 wins out of 4 Golden Globe nominations, 11 out of 15 Emmy nominations, 5 BAFTA nominations and many more. Soderbergh announced his retirement from directing following the film, but then directed The Knick (2014-15) and returned theatrically with Logan Lucky (2017). Douglas returned in Last Vegas (2013), Damon in Elysium (2013). Behind the Candelabra is certified fresh at 95 % with a 8.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Behind the Candelabra?