127 Hours (2010) - Boyle and Franco get stuck with an inconsequential true story

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The pretty poster for Danny Boyle's 127 Hours shows us a daredevil fumbling around in a dangerous crevice

In 127 Hours we follow adrenaline junkie Aron Ralston, who goes on a canyoning adventure in Southeast Utah by himself, filled with the zest of immortality, until he trips down a deep crevice, where he gets stuck.

If you already know the outcome of Ralston's story, - the film is based on his novel of the ordeal, Between a Rock and a Hard Place (2004), - the film is pretty boring, because Oscar-nominated James Franco (King Cobra (2016)), who plays Ralston, just sits there in the crevice for almost the whole film. The inherently uncinematic story opens up an over-indulgent interest in watching Franco there as well as dream and hallucination scenes that aren't anywhere near as exciting as some folks claim them to be.
127 Hours is the 9th theatrical feature from great English co-writer-director-producer Danny Boyle (Trainspotting (1996)), and it might well be his worst. It does succeed with its fast-edited montages and its theme of masses as contrast to the individual. But it isn't enough to make it a good film.
127 Hours is co-written with Oscar-nominated Simon Beaufoy (Blow Dry (2001)).

Related reviews:

Danny Boyle: 28 Days Later (2002) or, Fast Zombies in England 
The Beach (2000) or, Paradise Never Lasts

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 60.7 mil. $
= Box office success
[127 Hours premiered September 4 (Telluride Film Festival) and runs 93 minutes. Boyle was interested in making a film of the story for 4 years, and after Slumdog Millionaire (2008) he wanted to make a smaller film in the vein of The Wrestler. Cillian Murphy was in talks to head the film, but Franco got the part. Boyle used two cinematographers on the film so as to be able to work longer days. Filming took place from March - June 2010 in Utah. Franco has testified to the toughness of playing the part. The film is reportedly a fairly accurate account of the true story. It opened wide (916 theaters) #14 to a 2.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 18.3 mil. $ (30.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets for the film were Boyle's native UK with 12.5 mil. $ (20.6 %) and Australia with 3.5 mil. $ (5.8 %). Amazingly, the film was nominated for no less than 6 Oscars: For Best Picture, Actor (Franco), - both of which it lost to The King's Speech, - Adapted Screenplay (Beaufoy and Boyle), - lost to The Social Network, - Cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak), - lost to Inception, - Editing, Score (A. R. Rahman) - both lost to Social Network, - and Song (If I Rise), - lost to Toy Story 3. It won none. It was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes and 9 (!) BAFTAs. 127 Hours is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.3 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 127 Hours?
What critical and commercial hit film/s do you dislike?

The Full Monty (1997) - Unzip some English delight

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+ Best Dance Movie of the Year + Best English Movie of the Year + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 99.66 mil. $ range

The festive poster for Peter Cattaneo's The Full Monty

An ex-steel worker in Sheffield, England has grown tired of being unemployed and also needs to start earning in order to keep part-custody of his son, so he thinks outside the box by getting some other unemployed mates together to do a strip show in which they'll go for 'the full monty'.

Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire (2008)) wrote, and Peter Cattaneo (The Rocker (2008)) directed this crowd-pleasing, wildly amusing smash hit.
Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting (1996)) leads well, and Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton (2007)) is also great as the former boss. So is Mark Addy (Game of Thrones (2011), TV-series) as the mate struggling with his overweight and Lesley Sharp (Afterlife (2005-06)) as his wife. The two share the film's moving moment.
William Snape (Lost a Girl (2015)) is good as Carlyle's understanding son, although SPOILER I did feel it was the wrong move to have the son be the thing that pushes Carlyle to go out and strip in the end.

The guys dust off their routine in front of a select audience in Peter Cattaneo's The Full Monty

The details:

The Full Monty is a wonderfully blended cocktail: It has real local color, not least in the slang incorporated into the dialog. It manages to stick some real issues into a light comedy plot, and the way it deals with its characters and each of their characteristics has a real humanity to it.
There's something inherently funny in watching these awkward men try to make an erotically stimulating show, and their getting to that goal has many options attached, which Beaufoy and Cattaneo have explored deftly.
No wonder Full Monty took the world by storm: It is a delightful film.

 

Related post: 

 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch the funny teaser trailer for the film here

Cost: 3.5 mil. $
Box office: 257.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[Channel 4 Films paid to develop the script but did not want to pay for production. - Which they probably regretted later! The documentary reel in the beginning of the film is real, made in 1972 with the title, City on the Move, retitled for a 2008 DVD release as The Reel Monty. SPOILER The actors agreed to strip fully for the final scene in the film in front of 400 extras, provided that it would be a one-take, so the choreographer was hidden in front of the stage, screaming directions to the actors during shooting. The film grossed 45.9 mil. $ in North America (17.8 % of the total gross). It became the highest-grossing film in the UK, where it grossed 84.6 mil. $ (32.8 %), but was overtaken the same year by Titanic. The 3rd biggest market was France with 20.7 mil. $ (8%). Monty won the BAFTAS for Best Film and Best Actor (Carlyle), and it was nominated for 4 Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and Score (Musical or Comedy), winning just the latter for Anne Dudley (American History X (1998)). Two New Zealand playwrights made a giant lawsuit against Monty over infringement, which settled out of court.  The film has been adapted into a Broadway musical and a play. The Full Monty is certified fresh at 95 % with a 7.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Full Monty?