The Insider (1999) - Mann rips apart big tobacco and media giant in fiery corporate thriller

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The faces of its two A-list stars in black and white is the whole poster here for Michael Mann's The Insider

A top scientist with one of America's largest tobacco companies is willing to go to great lengths to reveal his knowledge of the addictive-creating properties in the cigarettes.

 

The Insider is written by Eric Roth (A Star Is Born (2018)) and great Illinoisan filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Michael Mann (Thief (1981)). It is based on the 1996 Vanity Fair article The Man Who Knew Too Much by Marie Brenner (American Tragedy: The Ballad of Richard Jewell (1997)).

It's another Mann picture about two contradictory men, whose paths cross. In this case we are treated to two of the world's greatest actors, Russell Crowe (The Nice Guys (2016)) and Al Pacino (The Irishman (2019)), giving it their all in a gripping, intelligently told and thrilling story of commercial deceit.

The last 45 minutes of the film seem a bit long, - Mann might have skated through the internal CBS debacle a bit speedier. Christopher Plummer (Starcrash (1978)) portrays 60 Minutes anchorman Mike Wallace in this part of the film, and it's hard to imagine that the real-life Wallace was overly pleased with the portrait.

 

Related posts:

Michael Mann: Public Enemies (2009) - Mann heads to the 1930s 

Top 10: Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 

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

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Collateral (2004) - Great, urban, digital age thriller from Mann in his right element

Top 10: Best heist movies 

1995 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Heat (1995) - Mann's superb masculine thriller showstopper 

Manhunter (1986) - Perhaps the best criminal profiling picture ever 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 68-90 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 60.2 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.66-0.88 times its cost)

[The Insider premiered 28 October (Los Angeles) and runs 158 minutes. Shooting took place from May - October 1998 in Israel, California, including in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Mississippi, Alabama, New York, Indiana, Bahamas and Kentucky. The film's allotted budget was 68 mil. $, but it is listed some places as 90 mil. $, indicating that perhaps Mann went way over-budget. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release The Bone Collector, holdover hit House on Haunted Hill and new release The Bachelor, to a 6.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 29 mil. $ (48.2 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning none. It lost Best Actor (Crowe) to Kevin Spacey in American Beauty, Cinematography (Dante Spinotti (Traffik (2018)) to Conrad L. Hall for American Beauty, Director to Sam Mendes for American Beauty, Editing to The Matrix, Picture to American Beauty, Sound to The Matrix and Adapted Screenplay to John Irving for The Cider House Rules. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and 5 Golden Globes and won 3 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Mann returned with Ali (2001). Crowe returned in Gladiator (2000); Pacino in Any Given Sunday (1999). The Insider is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Insider?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) - Jennings' odd Brit adaptation space romcom adventure

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A man and a robot have their thumbs out on a spaceship runway on this poster for Garth Jennings' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

A Brit (Martin Freeman (Carnage (2017))) named Arthur Dent flies around space looking for the meaning of life (it seems?), as he falls in love (with a very blue-eyed Zooey Deschanel (Eulogy (2004))) and gets planet-builder Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy (Stormbreaker (2006))) to recreate earth, which he accidentally destroyed.

 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is written by Douglas Adams (Doctor Who (1979-83)) and Karey Kilpatrick (Chicken Run (2000)), based on Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise, which began in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy, and directed by debuting music video artist Garth Jennings (Sing (2016)).

It starts fantastically with a sequence about the superior, planetary knowledge of dolphins and a warning to us about the impending end of the earth. Freeman is fun as the cautious über-Brit protagonist, who for some reason flies around in space.

There are good-looking Vogon suits (the alien villains of the piece) and an impressive but mostly wasted cast. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is enormously strange; an impressive, big bowl of twaddle.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 104.4 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.08 times its cost)

[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy premiered 20 April (London) and runs 109 minutes. A theatrical adaptation had been in the works since the franchise's beginning in the 1970s and continued after Adams' death in 2001, with the script taking its basis in his already created ideas and characters. Shooting took place from April - August 2004 in Spain and the UK, including London and Wales. The film opened #1 to a 21.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 51 mil. $ (48.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 20.3 mil. $ (19.4 %) and Germany with 8.1 mil. $ (7.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, corresponding with this one. Jennings returned with Supergrass: Low C (2005, music video), Beck: Hell Yes (2005, music video) and theatrically with Son of Rambow (2007). Freeman returned in The Robinsons (2005, TV-series), Round About Five (2005, short) and theatrically in Confetti (2006). The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is fresh at 60 % with a 6.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? 

The Recruit (2003) - Farrell and other factors buoy Donaldson's uninspired CIA thriller

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Al Pacino and Colin Farrell look mysterious in black in a cold hallway on this dark poster for Roger Donaldson's The Recruit

James Clayton is a young man who gets recruited by the CIA; he is trained at their facility 'the Farm' and his recruiter enlists him to look for a mole there.

The Recruit is written by Roger Towne (The Natural (1984)), Kurt Wimmer (The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)) and Mitch Glazer (A Very Murray Christmas (2015, TV special)) and directed by Australian master filmmaker Roger Donaldson (Sleeping Dogs (1977)), whose 14th feature it is.
SPOILER Al Pacino (Bobby Deerfield (1977)) stars as the fairly predictable wolf in sheep's clothing, giving a routine performance that frankly feels a bit burnt out.
The Recruit gambles on a monotonous ploy of 'dynamic' photography, (nearly no shot is horizontally balanced), and dialog that seems like taglines; everything is a test, and so on and so forth.
What works in the film still are its interrogation scenes, a car chase and Colin Farrell (Fright Night (2011)), who is very watchable as the young recruit. The film is fast forgotten.

Related posts:

Roger Donaldson: 2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Thirteen Days (2000) - Electrifying Cuban Missile Crisis thriller 
Cocktail (1988) - Cruise an iconic stand-out in Donaldson's masterful drama

Pacino and Farrell dine at a crab restaurant in this clip from the film

Cost: 46 mil. $
Box office: 101.1 mil. $
= Flop (returned 2.19 times its cost)
[The Recruit premiered 25 January (Febio Film Festival, the Czech Republic) and runs 115 minutes. Shooting took place in Virginia, Washington DC, and in Ontario, including Toronto, from December 2001 - March 2002. The film opened #1 to a 16.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 52.8 mil. $ (52.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7 mil. $ (6.9 %) and Spain with 4.3 mil. $ (4.3 %). Due to its big stars and spy pedigree, the film likely turned profitable with home video sales and TV sales later on. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. CIA employees reviewed the film in 2009, finding it 'entertaining' but 'ridiculous'. Donaldson returned with The World's Fastest Indian (2005). Pacino returned in Gigli (2003); Farrell in Daredevil (2003). The Recruit is rotten at 43 % with a 5.55/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Recruit?

The Love Guru (2008) - Schnabel and Myers' vulgar belly flop is actually hilarious

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+ Silliest Movie of the Year + Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year + Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 45.68 mil. $ range + Most Under-appreciated Movie of the Year

Colorful, kooky antics from five beloved stars are promised on this chuckle-inducing poster for Marco Schnabel's The Love Guru

Guru Sitka is the world's second greatest guru. A Canadian hockey team now wants to use his wisdom to win the Stanley Cup, all the while the guru falls in love.

The Love Guru is written by Graham Gordy (Rectify (2013, TV-series) and co-writer/co-producer/star Mike Myers (Wayne's World 2 (1993)) and directed by debuting Marco Schnabel (Brain Trust (2011, TV movie), writer). It is an outrageously silly film, which can be enjoyed (or not) according to personal humor and taste. If you are a Myers fan, you should be able to jump headlong into the embrace of this comedy, one of the nuttiest film to date.
The tomfoolery reaches previously unknown heights, (some would argue, lows), and although there are repetitive and uncool jokes and gags, I for one still find them fairly irresistible.
Ben Kingsley (Hugo (2011)) is funny as another guru, a part that also makes fun of his demure legacy as Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's masterpiece Gandhi (1982). Justin Timberlake (Black Snake Moan (2006)) is energetic and funny; Jessica Alba (Machete Kills (2013)) is sweet and lovely; the late Verne Troyer (Here Lies Lonely (1999)) is incredibly funny as the hockey team leader; and Romany Malco (The Duff (2015)) is charismatic and funny. Myers heads the pack and is incredible, infectious, fearless and visibly in love with performing here. A consistently happy, daffy energy runs through The Love Guru, which I personally favor over Myers' infinitely more successful Austin Powers sequels, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

Related post:

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

 2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 62 mil. $
Box office: 40.8 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.65 times the cost)
[The Love Guru was released 20 June (USA, Croatia) and runs 87 minutes. Shooting took place in Canada, including Toronto, and in Los Angeles from September - November 2007. The film opened #4, behind fellow new major comedy release Get Smart and holdover hits The Incredible Hulk and Kung Fu Panda, to a 13.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 32.2 mil. $ (78.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.5 mil. $ (6.1 %) and Australia with 2.1 mil. $ (5.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, translating to 3 notches harder than this one. IMDb's users have currently placed the film at #74 on IMDb's Bottom 100 list, sitting between 2001: A Space Travesty (2000) and Turkish youtuber comedy Enes Batur Hayal mi Gerçek mi? (2018). Schnabel never returned to directing; instead he has slowly returned to writing and producing for TV. Myers returned in Inglorious Basterds (2009) but has not led a movie since The Love Guru, (an announced Austin Powers 4 could change that fact.) The Love Guru is rotten at 14 % with a 3.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Love Guru?