Isle of Dogs (2018) - Anderson goes to the dogs in overrated folly

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Probably the largest ever canine cast assembled on a single poster, here for Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs

The nephew of the Japanese dictatorial mayor Kobayashi loses his beloved dog Spots, when all canines are placed in exile with their dog flu virus on a garbage island, and so the boy ventures out to find him.

 

Isle of Dogs is written, co-produced and directed by Texan master filmmaker Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket (1996)), whose 9th feature it is. Roman Coppola (Asteroid City (2023)), Kunichi Nomura (Lost in Translation (2003, actor)) and Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Limited (2007)) contributed story elements.

With incredible-looking animation, mostly stop-motion and doll-based, Isle of Dogs is nevertheless still even less engaging and even more vexing than Anderson's first animated venture, Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). It is weird and without sweeping characters, as they are cerebrally oriented, alienated dogs or strange humans with few expressions, respectively. 

Accompanied by a droning, "witty" score (by Alexandre Desplat (Lee (2023))), which makes Isle of Dogs even more tooth-pulling. Without laughter, and with a starry voice ensemble that don't elevate matters but only increases the bewilderment at this doggone picture.

 

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Wes Anderson: 2023 in films - according to Film Excess 

Asteroid City (2023) - Enjoy Anderson's crisp star parade desert adventure from the comfort of a theater seat 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Top 10: The best adventure films reviewed by Film Excess to date
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - A very very good dream 
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - A 1960s island youth romance present 

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - Anderson's technically, visually admirable but a bit tiring animation 
The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - Anderson beautifies but still wins with India-journey favorite  

 

  

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 35 mil. $

Box office: 64.6 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.84 times its cost)

[Isle of Dogs premiered 15 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 101 minutes. The film opened #15 to a 1.6 mil. $ first weekend in 27 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,947 theaters (different weeks), grossing 32 mil. $ (49.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 8.3 mil. $ (12.8 %) and China with 6.8 mil. $ (10.5 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, losing both: It lost Best Score to Ludwig Göransson for Black Panther and Animation to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs and 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. The film additionally grossed an estimated 4.7 mil. $ on the domestic home video market alone, according to The-Numbers.com. Anderson returned with The French Dispatch (2021). Bryan Cranston (Better Call Saul (2022, TV-series)) returned in 3 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in El Camino (2019). Isle of Dogs is certified fresh at 90 % with an 8.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Isle of Dogs? 

The Pianist (2002) - Polanski's devastating Holocaust story

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+ Best French Movie of the Year + Best Music Movie of the Year + True Story Movie of the Year + Best War Movie of the Year 

 

The Star of David armband imposed by the Nazis on the Jews hover ominously atop two hands creating music on this poster for Roman Polanski's The Pianist

Wladyslaw Spielman was a Polish Jew, but foremost a pianist, whose family was deported from Warsaw during the Nazi horrors of World War II. He himself managed, with the help of a German army captain, thanks to his musical talent, luck and an incredible drive to survive, to live through the destruction of the city.

The Pianist is written by Ronald Harwood (The Dresser (1983)), based on the same-titled 1946 autobiography by Wladyslaw Spielman, and directed by French-born Polish master filmmaker Roman Polanski (Knife in the Water/Nóz w wodzie (1962)), whose 16th feature it is.

It is a good and hard film, which nevertheless avoids becoming unbearable in the depicted general degradation and cruelty of the war by clinging to this one man's tragic fate. Polanski leads us surely through the atrocities with beautiful piano music.

Adrien Brody (Peaky Blinders (2017, TV-series)) acts skillfully as Spielman, with Thomas Kretschmann (Westworld (2020, TV-series)) as the German. The production design commendably recreates the staggering decline of Warsaw. As often before the inability of the Jews to stand up to and overpower the mighty Nazis is frustrating.

 

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Roman Polanski: An Officer and a Spy/J'Accuse (2019) - Polanski's sober historical drama of scandal and principles  

2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Carnage (2011) - Polanski castigates modern parents in great play adaptation
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
The Ghost Writer/The Ghost (2010) - A master at work 

Oliver Twist (2005) - Polanski flops bigtime with respectable adaptation 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

The Ninth Gate (1999) - Class and atmosphere galore in underrated Polanski thriller 
Chinatown (1974) - Polanski's masterpiece 

Top 10: Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Film Excess' 7th birthday movie masterpiece: The Fearless Vampire Killers/Dance of the Vampires (1967) - Witness Polanski's incredible, underrated Gothic horror comedy 
Cul-de-Sac (1966) - Edge-of-the-world island tale meanders at times, but is ultimately a winner  
Two Men and a Wardrobe/Dwaj Ludzie z Szafą (1958, short) - Polanski's remarkable, surreal short

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: 120 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.42 times its cost)

[The Pianist premiered 24 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 150 minutes. Polanski reportedly wanted Joseph Fiennes for Spielman, who turned it down in favor of a theater job. He then auditioned 1,400 actors before settling on Brody. 16 production companies and support bodies cooperated in the financing and making of the film. Shooting took place from February - July 2001 in Germany and Poland, including in Warsaw. The film opened #44 to a 111k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #11 and in 842 theaters (different weeks), grossing 32.5 mil. $ (27.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 24.5 mil. $ (20.4 %) and France with 9.3 mil. $ (7.8 %). The film was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 3: For Best Director, Actor (Brody) and Adapted Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to Chicago, Cinematography (Pawel Edelman (Afterimage (2016)) to Conrad L. Hall for Road to Perdition, Costume Design to Chicago and Editing also to Chicago. It also won 2/7 BAFTA nominations, was nominated to 2 Golden Globes, won a David di Donatello award, 7/10 César awards, 1/4 European Film award nominations, the Palme D'Or at Cannes, a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #33 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between Spirited Away (2001) and Psycho (1960). Polanski returned with Oliver Twist (2005). Brody returned in The Singing Detective (2003); Kretschmann in 24 (2003, TV-series) and theatrically in My Father/My Father, Rua Alguem 5555 (2003). The Pianist is certified fresh at 95 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Pianist?

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) - Wirkola arrives in Tinseltown with a silly turkey

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Two attractive stars in leathery garbs carrying over-sized weapons adorn this poster for Tommy Wirkola's Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

As adults, Hansel & Gretel have become professional witch hunters, who now happen upon an especially powerful witch, who has connections to their shared lost childhood and a troll by the name Edward.

 

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is written and directed by Tommy Wirkola (Kill Buljo: The Movie (2007)), inspired by the classic Grimm brothers fairytale, published in 1812.

It is a completely ludicrous film without any ambition to present us with any kind of plausible reality. Everything is kept in a wholly ridiculous tone, which might have worked, if it had been two comedians portraying the title siblings, (the film is co-produced by funny-men Adam McKay and Will Ferrell of Gary Sanchez Productions), but alas, we are not treated to such foresight here. 

Wirkola's grotesque film can be admired some for taking tackiness and bad taste to new heights. The troll is fun, but otherwise the uncharismatic attempts at acting in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters are jarring, and the film is told in an eternally droning set piece style, in which the dull score keeps informing us that the scenes we are watching are supposed to be dramatic and thrilling. Aye aye, Mr. composer, sir. - It doesn't work like that.

 

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Tommy Wirkola: 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]  

Dead Snow/Død Snø (2009) or, Nazis Awake!

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 226.3 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.52 times its cost)

[Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters premiered 17 January (Russia) and runs 88 minutes. Wirkola sold his pitch soon after screening his Norwegian Nazi zombie horror comedy Dead Snow (2009) at the Sundance Film Festival. Shooting took place from March - June 2011 in Germany, including in Berlin, with a later additional shoot in California. The studio postponed the release, apparently to convert it to 3D and to capitalize on co-star Jeremy Renner's (The Town (2010)) rising action franchise fame. The film opened #1 to a 19.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained in the top 5 for another 2 weekends (#2-#5), grossing 55.7 mil. $ (24.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Brazil with 22.7 mil. $ (10 %) and Russia with 18.9 mil. $ (8.4 %). Though there were talks of a sequel, which Wirkola has written a script for, it has not materialized. Wirkola returned with Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014). Renner returned in The Immigrant (2013); Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe (2010)) in Runner Runner (2013). Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is rotten at 16 % with a 4.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters?

The Counterfeiters/Die Fälscher (2007) - German-Austrian film relates an incredible true WWII story with depth

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+ Best Austrian Movie of the Year + Best War Movie of the Year

A man sits on a beach with a box and some unknown thoughts, staring at the sea, on this appealing poster for Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters

Nazis capture one of the world's best counterfeiters in Berlin, and during the horrors of WWII they see opportunities in him; his artistic talent and later knack for counterfeiting is put to use.

The Counterfeiters is written and directed by great Austrian filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky (Cold Hell/Die Hölle (2017)), based on the memoir by Adolf Burger, The Devils Workshop (1983). The film tells an incredible true story, which shows another side to Holocaust, the concentration camps and the Nazis: The hero (Karl Markovics (The Crown Prince/Kronprinz Rudolf (2006, TV movie))) is a Jew as we have often been conditioned to regard them: He is criminal, an opportunist, and good with money.
Good, layered characters raise the film's evocative moral question of idealism and martyrdom vs. one's right or possibly even obligation to do everything to preserve one's life in the face of war. There is good acting in the leads, even with German representation of Nazis, which isn't one-sided but has depth.
The Counterfeiters is shot on sometimes a bit grainy film, and at my screening there was a bit of confusion about a woman who appears in the beginning and ending of the film. It also has camp prisoners that sometimes don't look like 'the real deal'. SPOILER And what happened to those many millions of pounds that were created? The film left me curious as to their effect.
Still these are minor sidenotes to a terrific film. 

Related post:

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 6.25 mil. $
Box office: 18.8 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.00 times its cost)
[The Counterfeiters premiered 10 February (Berlin International Film Festival, Germany) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in France, Germany, Monaco and in Vienna, Austria from March - May 2006. Ruzowitzky reportedly consulted closely with Burger to attain authenticity for the film. It opened #46 to an 87k $ first weekend in 8 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #21 and in 170 theaters (different weeks), grossing 5.4 mil. $ (28.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 3.8 mil. $ (20.2 %) and main production country Austria with 1.8 mil. $ (9.6 %). The film won the Best Foreign Film Oscar for Austria. It also won 1/7 nominations for German Film awards, a National Board of Review award and other honors. Ruzowitzky returned with Arabic action TV movie Almahabba Awards Festival TV Commercial (2008) and theatrically with Lilly the Witch: The Dragon and the Magic Book/Hexe Lilli: Der Drache und das Magische Buch (2009). Markovics returned in 3 TV movies and a short film anthology before he returned in a conventional film, which also was Lilly the Witch: The Dragon and the Magic Book. The Counterfeiters is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.76/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Counterfeiters?

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010) - Herzog and Vasyukov invite us to meet a remote, tough Siberian people

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1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Documentary (lost to Secrets of the Tribe)

The wild nature of Siberia looks captivating on this neat poster for Werner Herzog and Dmitry Vasyukov's Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

From the small Siberian village of around 300 people, Bakhta, the trappers head out into the wilderness for several months of the year to fix and check their traps and huts, hunt and live only with their dogs.

Happy People is a film brimming with natural beauty, full of wow-moments often caused by what might appear to be small things such as the craftsmanship that is involved in making skies and a boat from a chopped down tree, the fierceness of the dogs etc. The film offers a lovely look in at an unusual way of life and also a fascinating and sad meeting with an indigenous people, the Ket people, who are going extinct.
Apart from this, it is generally life-affirming to meet this bunch of Russians that one can hardly but like. Directed by great German filmmaker Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo (1982)) and Dmitry Vasyukov (Pomori (2013)), Herzog's narration is as usual an added, wonderful quality of Happy People. One senses clearly that the Taiga-people here are idealized to some extent, but that seems okay in the context of this great documentary.

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2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 338k $ (North America only)
= Unknown
[Happy People: A Year in the Taiga premiered in September (Telluride Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. It was edited together from Vasyukov's Russian mini-series of around 3½ hours, Schastlivyye Lyudi (2007). The film was shown at some festivals and in a few countries. It opened to a 10k $ first weekend in just one theater in North America, where it peaked in 23 theaters and grossed the above figure. It isn't possible to label its theatrical performance on so little intelligence. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga is certified fresh at 87 % with a 6.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Happy People: A Year in the Taiga?

Alien vs. Predator/AVP (2004) - No one wins with Anderson's fundamentally bad monster clash

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+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

The titular movie monsters of Paul W.S. Anderson's Alien vs. Predator come together on the poster with the film's seemingly accidentally honest tagline, - which makes it clear that audiences are in for a loss

Alien vs. Predator is an uninteresting spin-off, based on a 1989 comic book, which merges the two great alien-centered franchises, Alien and Predator.

Far below the Antarctica lies a pyramid, which some scientist types somehow awaken to life, and an intergalactic war between two extraterrestrial monster species takes form.

Whatever Lance Henriksen (Dark Awakening (2014)) is doing in this movie, I don't know; he played the robot Bishop in Aliens (1986) beautifully, - here he's another character in the plot set some 150 years before that movie takes place, who then supposedly later becomes the model for the future robot...
Building suspense, or creating engaging, full characters and/or scenes have either not been a priority for the three-person script team behind Alien vs. Predator, or they have just totally failed in their attempts. The responsible are Dan O'Bannon (Alien (1979)), Ronald Shusett (Total Recall (1990)), who both supplied story elements, and writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson (Resident Evil (2002)). Why the first two writers have felt obligated or enticed to do this to their fine, initial work in the Alien franchise is beyond me. Anderson, on the other hand, is a juggernaut of pointless action shlock such as this and seems permanently out of reach.
Alien vs. Predator is big and noisy, and that's about all you will remember from it just a few hours after having seen it. Take my advice: Try and avoid it.

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2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Alien franchise: Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre! 
Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!
Aliens (1986) or, Alien War
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News!   
The Predator franchise: Predators (2010) - Antal, Rodriguez and Brody successfully take the sci-fi-action franchise back

Watch a short 'chest-burster' scene from the film here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 172.5 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.87 times its cost)
[Alien vs. Predator premiered 12 August (Puerto Rico and Thailand) and runs 101 minutes. The two central Alien master filmmakers, Ridley Scott (Alien) and James Cameron (Aliens (1986)) were both opposed to the film, however Cameron has later stated that he "liked it a lot." The story was set about 150 years before the first Alien (1979) and after Predator (1987), designed not to clash with anything already established in the franchises. Shooting took place in Italy, France and in Prague, the Czech Republic from October 2003 - ?. No less than 10 production companies were involved in the production. The film opened #1 to a 38.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed a handsome 80.2 mil. $ (46.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 16.1 mil. $ (9.3 %) and the UK with 9.3 mil. $ (5.4 %). An even worse sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) was made. The Predator franchise was rebooted with Predators (2010), and the Alien franchise had its next real chapter in Prometheus (2012). Anderson returned with Drift (2006, TV movie) and theatrically with Death Race (2008). Sanaa Lathan (Repentance (2013)) returned in The Golden Blaze (2005, video) and theatrically in Something New (2006); Raoul Bova (Ever Been to the Moon?/Sei Mai Stata Sulla Luna? (2015)) in Giovani Talenti Italiani (2004, video), Karol: A Man Who Became Pope/Karol, un Uomo Diventato Papa (2005, TV movie) and theatrically in I'll Do It Tonight/Stasera lo Faccio (2005); Henriksen in Keep Right (2004, short) and theatrically in Modigliani (2004). Alien vs. Predator is rotten at 21 % with a 4.06/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Alien vs. Predator?