Synecdoche, New York (2008) - Kaufman's depressing, pretentious debut, eerily tied to Hoffman's tragic real-life end

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A bizarre, manipulated version of a Manhattan cityscape - with a Zeppelin floating through its overcrowded sky, - makes up this interest-building poster for Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York

New York theater director Caden experiences that his wife leaves him to go to Berlin with their daughter. He ventures on new relationships and a mammoth play set in a warehouse, which he works on for 40 years!

Synecdoche, New York is written and directed by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich (1999, screenwriter)) in his directorial debut.
The debacle of Synecdoche, New York starts with Philip Seymour Hoffman's (Red Dragon (2002)) insufferably anguished performance as Caden, which in an uncanny way presages the great actor's own real-life drug-fueled death in 2014: Caden is staging Death of a Salesman, which is the devastating play that Hoffman was actually acting in, when he let his demons get the best of him, resulting is his drug-fueled death in 2014. Furthermore Caden's therapist in Synecdoche, New York asks him, why he killed himself: "I don't know", he answers. Hoffman's lead character is also a hypochondriac, highly involved in his own bowel movements and seemingly incapable of experiencing joy.
Synecdoche, New York is a long row of absurdist scenes, (Samantha Morton (Sweet and Lowdown (1999)) lives in a burning house, for instance), where actors overtake each others' roles, - which is understandably confusing, - while audiences like me will find themselves either zoning out or downright falling asleep.
An impressive amount of work has been done to erect this blown-up pile of ideas, which never becomes a satisfying whole. It is a film about death and death anxiety, essentially, but Kaufman breaks his nose on Synecdoche, New York and looks pretentious.

Related posts:

Charlie Kaufman: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Anomalisa (2015) or, Depressed Adult Male

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life (writer)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) or, The Gong Show Killer (writer)
Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 4.3 mil. $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.21 times its cost)
[Synecdoche, New York premiered 23 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 123 minutes. Kaufman started the project with past collaborator Spike Jonze as an untraditional horror film project, which drew on the things that scare the two artists. The title is a play on Schenectady, New York, where much of the film is set. Shooting took place in New York from May - August 2007. The film opened #30 to a 172k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #21 and in 119 theaters, grossing 3 mil. $ (69.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 875k $ (20.3 %) and Italy with 187k $ (4.3 %). The film won 2/3 Independent Spirit nominations among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 5 notches higher than this one. He later made it his #1 film of the 00's, and even said it was a strong contender for his all-time Top 10 list. Kaufman returned with How and Why (2014, TV movie) and theatrically with Anomalisa (2015). Hoffman returned in Doubt (2008); Morton in The Daisy Chain (2008); Michelle Williams (Suite Francaise (2014)) in Mammut (2009); Catherine Keener (The Real Blonde (1997)) in A Summer in Genoa (2008). Synecdoche, New York is fresh at 68 % with a 6.75/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Synecdoche, New York?

Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

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+ Best Music Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year: Anton Corbijn + Best B/W Movie of the Year

The stylish poster with Sam Riley cigarette-in-mouth for Anton Corbijn's Control

QUICK REVIEW:

Control is a music drama biopic based on Joy Division front singer Ian Curtis' life from 1973-'80, when he took his own life. 
The movie covers him from the assembly of his first band Warsaw, to his early marriage and child, the building of Joy Division, perhaps the most important post punk band of all, the music, the success, the mistress, his epilepsy and finally, his suicide. His struggles with love most of all, perhaps, is the center here.
I love the music of Joy Division, though being a fan is not a prerequisite for watching or enjoying Control, which is very well-produced; especially the cinematography (by Martin Ruhe (The American (2010)) is excellent and at its best moments poetic like Curtis' lyrics. 
The English reality portrayed in Control is incredibly crude and dreary, - similar to Hamburg in the film's Dutch director Anton Corbijn's (The American (2010)) newest film, A Most Wanted Man. (2014). The script is also rather stiff and hard, at times tragicomic. It deals with hard topics.
Control was Corbijn's debut feature. He comes from a background in photography and music videos and has had a long history with Joy Division in this role. He is now in post with his next movie, Life (2015), about a photo-shoot with James Dean for Life Magazine.

Related posts:

Anton Corbijn: 2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 4.5 mil. euros
Box office: 8.1 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Corbijn put up half of the budget himself and won considerable critical praise and prizes for Control, including a BAFTA for the film's writer. His next film was the low-budgeted George Clooney-starring The American, which had a better commercial result, making 67.8 mil. $ on a 20 mil. $ budget.]

What do you think of Control?
Other good movies about punk bands?

John Carter (2012) - Bloated Mars-nonsense yawner

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+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year

Huge Mars-monsters trying to sell Andrew Stanton's John Carter

John Carter starts well:
From the mythic West, with bravado-filmed landscapes, Mr. Carter, who really doesn't want to fight Apache Indians (!), is thrown very mystically to Mars, where another, mythic narrative begins ...
- No, unfortunately it does not.

Taylor Kitsch looking at ... no-one knows. In Andrew Stanton's John Carter

Instead on Mars, a silly mash-up of Star Wars, Planet of the Apes and Transformers awaits, with overly powdered 'stars': Taylor Kitsch (Lone Survivor (2013)) and Lynn Collins (The Number 23 (2007)), who plays even less charmingly than he. And the plot is as bad; it seems like a film cut out of a target group template made to forcibly include everyone, but it instead comes out tiring, incredibly boring and about as dumb as corrugated cardboard.
Mark Strong (Zero Dark Thirty (2012)) and Dominic West (The Wire (2002-08)) play deadly boring, weirdly costumed, henna-tattooed villains. The good planet in Carter is idiotically named Helium, and the film wallows in violence, but has no sex and is supposed to be family entertainment, but is so boring it is more likely family punishment.
After the first hour, the most likable character in John Carter is the monster CGI-dog seen below, and so continues the over-long, romantic western/sci-fi action adventure:

The most likable character of Andrew Stanton's John Carter

Carter is an adaptation project that had lived in Hollywood for decades with different studios and talent involved, before it was finally made into Andrew Stanton's (Finding Nemo (2003)) debacle of a movie, his first live-action feature.
The then head of Disney, Rich Ross resigned following the movie which lost a great deal more than 100 mil. $, thus making it spectacular in one, definite way: As a flop.
Stanton is getting back to his (much more successful) roots with his next movie, the much anticipated sequel Finding Dory (2016).

Related posts:

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess 

Watch the terrible trailer for John Carter here

Budget: 250 mil. $ (+ 100 mil. $ in marketing)
Box office: 284.1 mil. $
= Big flop

What do you think of John Carter?

Cosmopolis (2012) - Cronenberg/DeLillo/Pattinson's speculative limo lullaby

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Robert Pattinson, look up! You're on the poster for David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis

A billionaire currency speculator drives around New  York in his Lincoln limo and bangs women and talks about money, markets, reality and his prostate, while anarchists protest outside. 
Cosmopolis, - the first novel by US writer Don DeLillo (Mao II (1992)) to be adapted onto the big screen, - is like listening to a group of philosophically inclined commerce students on drugs for almost two hours ...
One learns fast that plot is the last goal of the movie, which mostly takes place in the stretched vehicle and consists of a long row of prolonged conversations of speculative kinds. Big stars like Juliette Binoche enter the film shortly, - in her case mostly just to screw the uninteresting lead Robert Pattinson, which seems bizarre.
The gallery of characters is fundamentally very alienated and cerebrally concentrated, and no real emotions are engaged by watching Cosmopolis. Mostly, it seems ridiculous that all the characters wish to discuss philosophy - all the time.
The film instead seems like an invitation to read DeLillo's book, (which it is said to have adapted very loyally), - or to fall asleep.
Cosmopolis might very well be the worst film great Canadian director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises (2007)) has ever done. It is extremely tiring.

Related posts:

David Cronenberg: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
A History of Violence (2005) or, Who Is Tom Stall?
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!

Watch the trailer that makes Cosmopolis seem interesting

Budget: 20.5 mil. $
Box office: 6 mil. $
= Huge flop

What do you think of Cosmopolis?
Is Robert Pattinson an actor worthy of the attention and roles he gets? 
Why/why not?

The Libertine (2004) - Just your old-fashioned wigs-and-cunts drama

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+ Best English Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year 

Carnal lust, in the guise of Johnny Depp, looks you in the eyes on this poster for Laurence Dunmore's The Libertine

The film revolves around the Earl Rochester in the late 17th century England: A man dedicated to plenty of copulation and drinking, often followed by creating spontaneous poetry, who was not always in his King Charles II's favor. 

The Libertine is written by Stephen Jeffreys (Diana (2013)), based on his own play, and directed by debuting great English filmmaker Laurence Dunmore (The Parting Glass (2013), short). It is an undervalued period drama somewhat reminiscent of Milos Forman's universally lauded masterpiece Amadeus (1984) that holds stellar acting performances, led by an invigorating Johnny Depp (Black Mass (2015)), who has rarely been better on the silver screen than as the title libertine.  Balancing love, desire and philosophy in spoken lines that continue to top each other in rhetorical and intellectual brilliance, it is particularly the writing that makes the film very worth watching.
Apart from a flourishing Depp, it is a distinct pleasure to see equally fine performances from some great supporting actors: John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire (1993)), who co-produced on top of playing the part of the pressured but cool-headed king; Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl (2014)) and Samantha Morton (The Messenger (2009)), who plays the whore actress that Earl Rochester falls for, is impressive here as so often before.
The photography is impeccably handled in a very organic fashion with lots of focus shifts by Alexander Melman (Downhill (2014)), and the picturesque style is very much ruled by a lighting concept of candlelight that seems as fleeting as the life portrayed in the pic. However, in terms of the color scheme, one could have wished for a bit more evolution as the story progressed. The whole film is held in mostly brown-green-bluish tones that seem to be testaments to the film's underlying theme of life's basic travesty. At other times the look of the film brings forth the feel of a very private bedchamber, and this, on the other hand, is noteworthy. 
Michael Nyman (The Piano (1993)) has made the fine score, the last of his career, and Dien Van Straalen (Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003)) the befitting costumes.
The mystery of The Libertine is its director, , who debuted with the film. How a commercial and music video director gets to make a first film with world star Depp that gets to be as good as this is (at least to me) intriguing indeed. At the end of the day, however, The Libertine is also quite the old-fashioned wigs-and-face-powder period film. Despite its ceaseless preoccupation with cunts and cocks (not my words but the film's), - not a one is spotted. It is hedonism with a theatrical dignity that must be given a grade zero for graphic wildness. But this doesn't detract from it being nonetheless an outstanding film.

 

Related post:

 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 10.8 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.54 times the cost)

[The Libertine premiered 16 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 114 minutes (UK), 130 minutes (US), - and this review is based on a 109 minute version. Shooting took place in Wales in the UK. The film opened #55 in 2 theaters to a 13k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 819 cinemas (different weeks) and grossed 4.8 mil. $ (44.4 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 1.9 mil. $ (17.6 %) and the UK with 1.1 mil. $ (10.2 %). The film went unreleased in many countries. At the British Independent Film Awards, the film was nominated in eight categories, winning one for Pike as Best Supporting Actor/Actress in a British Independent Film. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star rating, translating to a notch harder than this review. Dunmore has not made another feature, but has made the short The Parting Glass (2013). Depp returned in the great Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005); Morton in River Queen (2005), and Malkovich in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). The Libertine is rotten at 33 % and a 4.7/10 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Libertine?