The Nice Guys (2016) - Good fun in Black's period buddy offering

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In warm, earthy tones and ocean blue, the two stars look inviting on this poster for Shane Black's The Nice Guys

In 1970s Los Angeles, a policeman and a private detective join forces on a case they share; of a murdered porn actress and a disappeared girl named Amelia.

 

The Nice Guys is written by Anthony Bagarozzi (Big Bad John (1990, electrician)) and co-writer/director Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)).

Russell Crowe (Gladiator (2000)) and Ryan Gosling (Fracture (2007)) work impeccably as buddies, and there's no lack of fun situations and lines that spark nicely, - even if I still find it tough to link Gosling's baby face with a part as the single father of a teenage girl...

Shane obviously enjoys the moral licenses he takes by placing his plot in the grimy 70s' LA. The outcome of the gnarly, long plot is limited, but the film entertains brilliantly along the way.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 62.7 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.25 times its cost)

[The Nice Guys premiered 10 May (Los Angeles) and runs 116 minutes. Black and Bagarozzi had written the first script in 2001, and the film had been envisioned as a TV-series in the lengthy timespan before Black took it out again and secured financing, because Crowe and Gosling both signed on to play together, each for a salary of "more than 7 mil. $". Shooting took place around October 2014 in Georgia, including in Atlanta, and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release The Angry Birds Movie, holdover hit Captain America: Civil War and new release Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, to a 11.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 36.2 mil. $ (57.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4.9 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Australia with 4.3 mil. $ (6.9 %). Black returned with The Predator (2018). Crowe returned in Saturday Night Live (2016, TV-series) and theatrically in The Mummy (2017); Gosling in La La Land (2016). The Nice Guys is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Nice Guys? 

Fracture (2007) - Gosling and Hopkins have it out in Hoblit's solid thriller

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The prestigious star faces look deviously (Anthony Hopkins) and intelligently (Ryan Gosling) out of the shadows on this simple poster for Gregory Hoblit's Fracture

Young lawyer comet Willy Beachum is about to leave public defending for a hefty private pay, but he still lets himself be assigned to what appears to be a straightforward attempted murder case, - but which turns out to be, in fact, frustratingly complex.

Fracture is written by Daniel Pyne (The People (1997)) and Glenn Gers (The Accountant (2000)) and directed by Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear (1996)).
Ryan Gosling (Remember the Titans (2000)), - aged 27 at the film's release, - seems a bit young for his part here, but he acts well up to Anthony Hopkins (Desperate Hours (1990)), who sets his plastic face in its sadistic grooves as the accused husband.
Fracture is a very solid thriller with a couple of minor surprises; it is well-made and quickly digested. Its title bears no relevance for the story whatsoever.

Related post:

Gregory Hoblit: Primal Fear (1996) - Hoblit's law thriller works due to a strong plot and great performances

Watch a clip from the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 91.3 mil. $
= Uncertain - but likely a minor flop 
[Fracture premiered 11 April (Los Angeles, California) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, in and around February 2006. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Disturbia, to an 11 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#4-#3) and grossed 39 mil. $ (42.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 8.3 mil. $ (9.1 %) and the UK with 6.6 mil. $ (7.2 %). If the film was made on a likely 40 mil. $ budget, it returned 2.28 times its cost, making it a minor flop. Hoblit returned with Untraceable (2008). Hopkins returned in Slipstream (2007), Gosling in Lars and the Real Girl (2007). Fracture is certified fresh at 71 % with a 6.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Fracture?

Lars and the Real Girl (2007) - A great cast shine in fine and funny doll romance dramedy

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Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - Villeneuve's speculative sci-fi sequel is fascinating but flawed

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+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year

A silver fox and a burning-hot younger protagonist share this elegant poster for Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049 is the sequel to Ridley Scott's great sci-fi classic Blade Runner (1982), both based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). It is written by Hampton Fancher (Blade Runner) and Michael Green (Logan (2017)) and directed by Canadian master filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Arrival (2016)).

In Los Angeles in 2049, a modern blade runner is retiring old replicants. But his latest job makes him remember what he expects is a false, imprinted childhood memory and discover a secret that indicates that the borders between robotic and biological life are not carved in stone.

The new Blade Runner comes highly anticipated, mostly because Villeneuve proved himself as a sci-fi filmmaker to reckon with last year with masterpiece Arrival. The new film film stays true to the cold, disturbing urban environment from the first film; the look of Scott's Californian metropolis is recreated and furthered with the latest technology very artfully, while the persistent rain, gloom and neon lights are kept.
Exciting concepts about life, identity, technology, sexuality and borders between humans and artificial intelligence are brought to vivid life. Ryan Gosling (Drive (2011)) is the blade runner hero here, and he is worshiped in countless long shots, not unlike in Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive and masterpiece Only God Forgive (2013), but somehow he is less compelling here as a very feeling machine. The film for a long while is good science-fiction with a nostalgic feel to it for those long familiar with the first film. Ana de Armas (Faraday (2013)) and Mackenzie Davis (Freaks of Nature (2015)) are good as Gosling's girlfriend, who is, in fact, a highly sophisticated program, and a prostitute, who enables their lovemaking scene, probably the film's most interesting, (although it finishes before the real action starts.)
Blade Runner 2049 is very long, and only in the last, very long act does Harrison Ford (Witness (1985)) show up. Apparently he has been holed up in an abandoned Las Vegas hotel with a possibly fake dog for some of the many years since we last saw him in this universe. The ambitious and complex story begins to crumble for me at this juncture. SPOILER There is a subtext which is that Ford may be Gosling's father, but the two seem to investigate this by beating each other up to a hologram Elvis performance that is quite unpleasant, if you are sentimental about the King. This development also brings to mind Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), (also about Ford's troubled, absent fatherhood of a powerful male), and it seems too much in some way. I exited the movie world here and began to look in at it from the outside, questioning whether it was really a good idea at all to go back to the Blade Runner universe, and also whether or not reenlisting Ford so many years after was really necessary.
SPOILER Sylvia Hoeks (The Girl and Death (2012)) is Terminator-like as a mysterious replicant power woman, who seems to like Gosling for much of the film, but who in the end wants him dead. I find the third act confusing overall, and didn't much enjoy Gosling's graphic drowning of Hoeks either.
Jared Leto (Suicide Squad (2016)) is Niander Wallace, a disturbing replicant-producing industrialist, (think nightmarish Jeff Bezos of the future), who personifies the religious aspects of Blade Runner 2049, which are uniformly negative and fixed upon humanity itself.
Blade Runner 2049 is carefully and impressively made, as cold as the first film but far from as original, good or compelling. It puts its audience in a permanent speculative position that is fascinating to some degree but didn't quite make the cut for me. A great part of it is its ethereal, diverse score by Benjamin Wallfisch (Air Bound (2015)) and Hans Zimmer (Rango (2011)).

Related posts:

Blade Runner (1982) - R. Scott's visual extravaganza, great SF
Denis Villeneuve: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess
Arrival (2016) - Villeneuve, Heisserer and Adams head sensational sci-fi wonder
Incendies (2010) - Villeneuve's dreary and depressing, wildly overrated drama

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 159.8 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Blade Runner 2049 premiered 3 October (Los Angeles) and runs 163 minutes. One development began in 1999. Ridley and brother Tony Scott started working on one in 2007, seeking Christopher Nolan to direct. Shooting took place from July - November 2016 in Hungary, including Budapest, Spain, Iceland, Mexico and in Nevada. The film opened #1 to a disappointing 32.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell to #2 in its second week. The film is opening in Japan and China on 27 October, and it will need very solid runs there and continued audiences globally to break even. - It is likely to become a flop theatrically, just like the first Blade Runner was. Blade Runner 2049 is certified fresh at 88 % with an 8.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Blade Runner 2049?

La La Land (2016) - Chazelle's irresistible throwback musical treat

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+ Best Musical of the Year

A supremely romantic and beautiful poster for Damien Chazelle's La La Land

A hopeful young actress meets a down-on-his-luck jazz pianist with big dreams of his own, and they fall in love in the city of dreams ... 

La La Land is the 3rd feature from great Long Island-born writer-director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash (2014)), who has focused on jazz musicians in his films to date, along with the struggle to break through and arrive creatively.
La La Land begins with a song-and-dance number (Another Day of Sun) on an LA freeway that is a breath of fresh air and a perfect opener for a film that has already become a modern musical classic. The film continues to be a brightly colored (with gorgeous, Oscar-nominated costumes by Mary Zophres (Inside Llewyn Davis (2013))), impressively shot (on film, by Oscar-winning Linus Sandgren (American Hustle (2013))) ode to the dreamers that make up LA in particular and the world in general. It conveys the same kind of sentimental attachment to the good old days (of traditional jazz, old-style movie theaters etc.) also found in films like Midnight in Paris (2011), although it ultimately chooses to argue that these fine things still have their place in the modern world.
La La Land is especially enjoyable for those familiar with classic musicals and classic movies in general. It is especially molded over Jacques Demy's musical masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg/Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964), both, to a degree, in terms of style, and in terms of its story, which is very similar in structure here. - But where the older film manages to build to a melodramatic pitch of emotional resonance in just 91 minutes, La La Land diverts to a more realism-bound and less forceful third act (SPOILER with a fight, a breakup, and a creative failure) and sports a hefty 128 minute running time. The construction of the film makes it Chazelle's own responsibility that it be judged against this timeless piece of cinema, and it diminishes it a bit.
Oscar-nominated Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine (2010)) plays the piano convincingly (he reportedly learned this for his performance), and is terrific as the passionate Seb, and Oscar-winning Emma Stone (Magic in the Moonlight (2014)) is a peach as lovely Mia, although she looks in some pain during my least favorite song in the film, Audition/The Fools Who Dream, wherein the film breaks from its intimate, character-bound story and dishes up a more Les Misérables-type, overly eloquent salute. In contrast, my favorite song, next to the opening winner, must be the one in the walk-to-the cars scene (A Lovely Night), in which the two stars tap-dance magnificently. The film also contains John Legend (Soul Men (2008)), playing an old friend of Seb and lending his voice to another cool song (Start a Fire), and Rosemarie DeWitt (Poltergeist (2015)) as Seb's sister. Justin Hurwitz's (Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009)) Oscar-winning music is generally a joy.
La La Land is terrific, a rare treat. Don't miss it.

Related posts:

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowdpleaser
Damien Chazelle: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The day after ... the Oscars 2017 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 396.9 mil. $ and counting
= Huge hit
[La La Land premiered 31 August (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 128 minutes. Chazelle wanted to make the film for years but could not find funding until his highly successful Whiplash opened the doors for him. Emma Watson and Miles Teller were initially in talks to star. Rehearsals took 3-4 months with piano, dancing, singing, acting and movie screenings, arranged by Chazelle. Although the film's beginning proclaims its being in CinemaScope, in fact it is not, since the technology for the old format isn't available anymore. Shooting took place in LA from August - September 2015, lasting just 40 days. The opening scene was filmed first and took two days and more than 100 dancers on the actual freeway. Other notable locations include the Griffith Observatory and the Angels Flight trolly, which was actually closed down in 2013, but which the crew got operated for a single day's shoot. The film opened #15 in 5 theaters with 0.8 mil. $ to a spectacular 176k $ theater average in North America, the year's highest average, widening to peak at #2 (behind Hidden Figures) and later at 3,236 theaters in the home market, where it has grossed 145.9 mil. $ to date. The film was nominated for 14 Oscars, tying the record number with All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997): It won 6: Best Director, Actress, Score, Song (City of Stars), Cinematography and Production Design. It lost Best Picture to Moonlight, Best Actor to Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea, Screenplay to Manchester by the Sea, Costumes to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Sound Mixing and Editing to Hacksaw Ridge and Sound Editing to Arrival (the film had two song nominations, so it comes to 14.) It also won a record 7 Golden Globes, 5 BAFTAs out of 11 nominations, AFI's Movie of the Year award, its place on the National Board of Review's Top 10 of the year, an actress award in Venice and many many more awards and nominations. It has taken the #65 spot on IMDb's user-generated Top 250, between The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Princess Mononoke/Mononoke-Hime (1997). La La Land is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of La La Land?

The Big Short (2015) or, Something Rotten in America

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+ Best Political Movie of the Year
+ Best New York Movie of the Year

Four of the top leading men in films today are broad together for Adam McKay's The Big Short

A few individuals connected to the Wall Street stock market connect the dots of a US economy based on an unviable loaning structure and decide to go against what everyone  else thinks is common sense in predicting the financial crisis of 2007/08.

The Big Short is based on Michael Lewis' (The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (2006)) The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (2010), adapted by Charles Randolph (The Interpreter (2005)) and Philadelphian master filmmaker Adam McKay (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)), who has created his second masterpiece here, the first being, of course, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).
Big Short tackles the enigmatic material of housing market fraud, subprime loans, credit default swaps and 'CDOs' with unflinching determination. All the economy hardware that seems like it is made simply to throw the average person off gets digested and thrown at us from a superior point of understanding here. We might not grasp it all, but the story will at least make most if not all audiences attain a greater understanding of what the hell went so wrong just under a decade ago.
McKay manages to serve it all with an electric energy and a penchant for character and reality-based comedy that lifts the film to something refreshing and highly original. Making it all rain down on us with thunderous impact is also due to the fine ensemble put together here: Steve Carell (Despicable Me (2010)) gives what is probably his best dramatic performance to date, (and we can without pause talk of an Oscar snub in his case here), and he is partnered with an energetic Ryan Gosling (Drive (2011)), eccentric, Oscar-nominated Christian Bale (American Psycho (2000)) and co-producing, starring Brad Pitt (Moneyball (2011)) in a sideline part similar to the one he played in the also Plan B-produced (his production company) masterpiece 12 Years a Slave (2013). In smaller parts, Marisa Tomei (Christmas with the Coopers (2015)), Rafe Spall (Life of Pi (2012)), Hamish Linklater (Magic in the Moonlight (2014)), Jeremy Strong (Selma (2014)), Melissa Leo (Flight (2012)) and Finn Wittrock (Unbroken (2014)) are all delightful.
Big Short is a heroic feat and unique in the way it blends infectious comedy with pulsating indignation. An exciting and unmissable film.

Related posts:

Adam McKay: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) - Burgundy reigns supreme

Steve Carrell is magnificent in Adam McKay's The Big Short

Christian Bale gives a great characterization in Adam McKay's The Big Short

Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling face off in Adam McKay's The Big Short

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 28 mil. $
Box office: 112.7 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit
[Paramount acquired the rights to Lewis' book in 2013, and production lasted from March - May 2015 in New Orleans and New York. The fairly effective production was also done at an admirably low budget, making the film a hit fast. It was McKay's invention to have Margot Robbie (Focus (2015)), Anthony Bourdain (Far Cry (2008)) and Selena Gomez (Spring Breakers (2012)) do surprise cameos, describing difficult economical concepts for us audiences, something that some see as the film's main ingenuity, (- it's good, but it isn't the main thing, in my opinion.) The film opened to the third-biggest theater average of 2015 in the US, behind Steve Jobs and The Revenant. It has so far grossed 64.1 mil. $ (56.9 % if the total gross) in North America. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets are the UK with 5.9 mil. $ (5.2 %) and France with 5.4 mil. $ (4.8 %). It is nominated for 5 Oscars in the end of this month: Picture, director, adapted screenplay, supporting actor (Bale) and editing. The Big Short is certified fresh at 88 % with a 7.8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Big Short?

The Ides of March (2011) - Clooney's political thriller looks at the cynical downside of modern politics

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+ Best Political Movie of the Year
+ Sexiest Screen Couple of the Year (Ryan Gosling & Evan Rachel Wood)

The well-crafted poster for George Clooney's The Ides of March

Around the primary election to find the Democratic presidential nominee in Ohio, an idealistic campaign manager for the governor struggles, as unforeseen problems present themselves.

George Clooney's (Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)) perhaps best film as a director yet is this luxuriously casted political thriller adaptation of Beau Willimon's (House of Cards (2013-15)) 2008 play Farragut North by Willimon, Clooney and his writing partner Grant Heslov (The Monuments Men (2014)).
Clooney himself, portraying the governor, Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master (2012)), Ryan Gosling (The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)), Paul Giamatti (Sideways (2004)), Evan Rachel Wood (The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman (2013)) and Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler (2008)) all give fine performances.
Ides of March is handsomely photographed by Phedon Papamichael (The Descendants (2011)); and the plot is exciting and well-structured, but probably most so for the already politically interested. There is a potential lull in its middle section, as the suspense of the film seems to hang on two meetings that look pretty harmless to the outsider until a bit longer into the film. SPOILER The Gosling-Wood plot string reveals itself as a pure Monica Lewinsky-type issue, and what it lacks in raciness and contemporary freshness, it gains back in the very sexy performances and chemistry of the two stars. SPOILER The only really obvious plot problem comes, as she, the resourceful daughter of a wealthy father, and Gosling's campaign manager seem to have trouble raising measly 900-1800 $ for a procedure...
The title refers to something a soothsayer said to warn Julius Caesar before he was stabbed to death in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. 
The Ides of March is a fine film about the icy-cold world of top politics.

Related posts:
 
George Clooney:  The Monuments Men (2014) or, George Clooney's The Lecture (co-writer/director/actor) 
Gravity (2013) or, Survival in Space: The Ride (actor)
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess 
The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family (actor) 
Burn After Reading (2008) or, Idiocy 2008 (actor) 
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) or, The Gong Show Killer (director-actor) 
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark (actor)

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 12.5 mil. $
Box office: 76 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The Ides of March was made very smartly, in that Clooney and the financiers managed to hold the costs very low considering the talent involved. The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and got 4 Globe nominations and generally good reviews. After a 10.4 mil. $ opening weekend in the US, it went on to gross 40.9 mil. $ (54 % of the total gross) there.]

What do you think of The Ides of March?