10,000 BC (2008) - Emmerich's mammoth turkey

♥

+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

A man perched on a cliff against a sabre-toothed tiger near a couple of pyramids under construction makes up this dramatic poster for Roland Emmerich's 10,000 BC

A nomadic tribe centered around hunting mammoths head out on a perilous journey.

10,000 BC is written by Harald Kloser (2012 (2009)) and Roland Emmerich (Universal Soldier (1992)) as one of the relatively few films that take place long before historic time, (historic time being defined as the period that we have written historic records from.)
The film first tries to capture us with a mammoth hunt, which only succeeds partially: It is often evident that the actors play in front of a green screen and are only in post production pitched against grand landscapes. Similarly the prehistoric animals, - and in particular the enormous sabre-toothed tiger that comes along later on, - are not convincing enough.
10,000 BC made me long for Mel Gibson's pre-Columbus' North-American arrival masterpiece Apocalypto (2006) and the lesser but still much better neanderthal adventure The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), because Emmerich's action adventure in contrast lacks even the shade of an exciting story. None of the characters really spring to life either, and boredom allows us as audiences time to reflect on their eclectic racial mix and how they rapidly move from mammoth-strewn ice country to bamboo jungle to what we must take to be Egypt, mostly by foot...
Meanwhile Kloser and Thomas Wanker's (Dresden (2006, TV movie)) grandiose score pounds away and clearly tells us that we are meant to take the improbable, humor-bereft junk that is 10,000 BC seriously. This is one mammoth stinker.

Related posts:

Roland Emmerich: White House Down (2013) or, Duck, Mr. President!
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]    
2012 (2009) or, Giant Mega-Stupid Movie!

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]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess 
Mentioned movie: Apocalypto (2006) or, Journey to An Extinct World

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 105 mil. $
Box office: 269.8 mil. $
= Box office success
[10,000 BC premiered 22 February (Tokyo, Japan) and runs 109 minutes. Columbia Pictures and Sony dropped the project due to a "busy release calender", and Warner Bros. picked it up. Star actors, visual effects details and using ancient languages were skipped for budget reasons, and to make the production easier. Shooting took place in New Zealand, Namibia, South Africa and Thailand from April 2006 - ?. The film opened #1 to a strong 35.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent two more weeks in the top 5 (#2-#5) and grossed 94.7 mil. $ (35.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 17.2 mil. $ (6.4 %) and Spain with 13.1 mil. $ (4.9 %). Emmerich returned with another bona fide tentpole turkey, disaster epic 2012 (2009). 10,000 BC is rotten at 8 % with a 3.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 10,000 BC?

City Island (2009) - Felitta's dramedy masterpiece

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best New York Movie of the Year

A neat mix of photography and drawing that gives hints to the secrets of the characters in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

QUICK REVIEW:

Outside of New York City, on City Island, lives a family of convinced liars. The father hides his secret son in a shed and secretly attends acting classes in the city. The mother flirts with infidelity. The daughter strips. And the son has a kink. - And they all secretly smoke.

City Island is a wonderfully written gem of coming clean and finding a way to come together. Importantly, it never becomes viscid in any way, but retains realism throughout. It is incredibly well-acted: Particularly by Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife (2009-15)), Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) and Andy Garcia (Rob The Mob (2014)) as the film's super-involved dream leader, who shows the way for the rest of the cast without shaking for a millisecond.
City Island is a highly engaging, funny, exciting modern dramedy classic. - Don't miss this masterpiece!
It is written and directed by New York-born filmmaker Raymond De Felitta, who debuted in 1995 with Cafe Society, after being Oscar-nominated for his short Bronx Cheers (1990). He has made other features and a couple of documentaries since, and most recently Rob the Mob, (regrettably) still to be found high on Film Excess' watch list.
Film Excess favorite Miller's turn in the long-awaited Madame Bovary (2014) has been released last year, but only very limited so far. This year he will be seen in Judd Apatow's much-anticipated Trainwreck (2015), - again  alongside Tilda Swinton, - and in the eerily sounding The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), alongside a slew of other young, happening actors. - Exciting!

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Andy Garcia brought down in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

The lovely Ezra Miller in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

Andy Garcia studies Brando on this character poster for Raymond De Felitta's City Island

Julianna Margulies raises her glass on this character poster for Raymod De Felitta's City Island

Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 7.8 mil. $
= Big flop
[The film won the Audience Award at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, but, unfortunately, it wasn't able to broaden its success out much. It made 6.6 mil. $ (85 % of the total gross) in the States.]

What do you think of City Island?
Have you seen other films by Raymond De Felitta? 
If so, tell about it/them