Midway (2019) - Emmerich's big WWII turkey

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+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year  

 

Glossy stars and huge explosions outline this good-looking poster for Roland Emmerich's Midway

The relationship with the increasingly hostile Japanese had gradually deteriorated ahead of the devastating Pearl Harbor attacks on the US Navy in Hawaii in December 1940. The Pacific Theater gets a decisive battle in Midway.

 

Midway is written by Wes Tooke (Jean-Claude Van Johnson (2017, TV-series)) and directed by Roland Emmerich (Franzmann (1979)).

Variegated and uninteresting, Emmerich here gives us his version of the famous Battle of Midway, which feels at least as phony and super-glossed as Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor (2001). Filled with wide-angled effects shots, which impress, but their feeling subsides fast, and then it doesn't help Midway that most will have Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Dunkirk (2017) still in fresh memory.

The whole starry cast of Midway are wasted in respectful, historical parts: Foremost stands Ed Skrein (The Model (2016)) in an awful, scenery-chewing performance with a horrible New York accent as the film's hero, who is named Dick Best, (no kidding!) Credit titles ascertain that he was real enough, but it just, regrettably, doesn't seem like it during the elapsed movie.

 

Related posts:

Roland Emmerich: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

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

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

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 100 mil. $

Box office: 127.4 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.27 times its cost)

[Midway premiered 24 October (Germany) and runs 138 minutes. Emmerich had attempted to get the film green-lit by a major studio since the 1990s, without luck. His assembling the budget of 100 mil. $ makes it one of the costliest independent movies of all time. 15 companies and governmental support bodies were involved in the financing and making of the film. Shooting took place from September - December 2018 in Hawaii and in Montreal, Québec. It opened #1 to a 17.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another two weekends in the top 5 (#2-#5), grossing 56.8 mil. $ (44.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 42 mil. $ (33 %) and South Korea with 7.3 mil. $ (5.7 %). Lionsgate reportedly spent 40 mil. $ promoting the film. Emmerich returns with Moonfall (2022). Skrein returned in Naked Singularity (2021). Midway is rotten at 42 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Midway?

Molly's Game (2017) - Chastain is luminous in Sorkin's great true-crime debut

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Star Jessica Chastain in an extreme close-up in B/W and shades looks cool AF on the poster for Aaron Sorkin's Molly's Game

 

Molly Bloom's career as an Olympic skier collapses with an accident, and a few years later she gets arrested by a small army of FBI agents, now as the leader the country's highest stakes illegal poker game.

Molly's Game is written and directed by debuting great New-Yorker filmmaker Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men (1992, writer)), adapting the same-titled 2014 memoir by the real-life Molly Bloom.

Jessica Chastain (The Color of Time (2012)) is out of this world in the complex, riveting part as the extremely driven and intelligent Bloom, SPOILER who eventually finds herself in over her head in pursuit of a goal that begins to fade in the horizon. She is radiant here as the tough survivor. Idris Elba (Thor (2011)) is good as the sexy attorney who takes her case despite its legally dubious elements.

Sorkin relates the story with dense dialog and a high pace. Molly's Game is grand in width, comparable to a down-played style-wise recent film in the Martin Scorsese tradition, though with a female protagonist, which Sorkin's great script and Chastain's flawless performance never makes a sensational point in and of itself.

There is fun (Chris O'Dowd! (The Program (2015))), dramatically satisfying moments, - Kevin Costner (Dragonfly (2002)) is good as Bloom's psychologist father, - excellent lighting, editing and more. Molly's Game is a splendid piece of work that is more than it may appear.

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Aaron Sorkin: The day after the day after ... the 2018 Oscars

Oscars 2018: Predictions and Film Excess' favorites

Moneyball (2011) - Miller makes compelling baseball movie history (co-writer) 

The Social Network (2010) - Fincher's a-hole biopic leaves me cold (and more anti-Facebook than ever) (writer)

A Few Good Men (1992) or, You Can't Handle the Truth! (writer)

 Watch a trailer for the film here 

 

Cost: 30 mil.$

Box office: 59.2 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.97 times its cost)

[Molly's Game premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 141 minutes. Bloom approached Sorkin with her book on her own, as he was her favorite writer. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, and in New York from November 2016 - January 2017. The film opened #19 to a 1.1 mil. $ first weekend in 271 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,708 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 28.7 mil. $ (48.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.8 mil. $ (9.8 %) and France with 4.3 mil. $ (7.3 %). The film was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, lost to James Ivory for Call Me By Your Name. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and several other honors. Sorkin returned with The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020, VOD). Chastain returned in Woman Walks Ahead (2017); Elba in The Mountain Between Us (2017); Costner in The Highwaymen (2019). Molly's Game is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Molly's Game?

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) - Branagh's star-studded Christie match is auspicious

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+ Best Detective Movie of the Year

A beautifully crafted poster for Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express that pitches bloody scarlet-red locomotive smoke against the title's neon blue to fine effect

Murder on the Orient Express is a new adaptation of Agatha Christie's (Endless Night (1967)) same-titled 1934 'whodunit' classic crime novel, written by Michael Green (Green Lantern (2011)) and directed by Kenneth Branagh (Thor (2011)).

Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot is in Istanbul with the intent to take some vacation, beginning with a travel on the famous Orient Express. But as a mysterious murder takes place on the train, he is forced to utilize all of his detective's skills to find the perp.

This is the second ambitious big-screen adaptation of the novel, following Sidney Lumet's underwhelming 1974 film of the same title. While Albert Finney came off as a didactic Poirot in a rather sleep-inducing film that build up to a hard-to-believe climax in the for some reason better regarded 1970s movie, Branagh's version of Poirot here, whom he plays while also directing the piece, is easier to take. The character is dead sure of himself, and his detective's abilities are almost too good to be true at times, but he is also a likable and a bit odd man in Branagh's lively rendition, wearing what must be this year's movie mustache. SPOILER The crux of the story here, in character terms, forces Poirot to recognize that in the pursuit of justice, there does exist a grey area between the light that is right and the darkness that is wrong.
This film is a lavish production and an indulgence, whether searched out for its train-bound plot, Christie material, new presentation of a beloved leading character or surplus of stars. I have no particular fondness for the British crime tradition and no relationship with Christie's authorship, - but I do love trains in films, and movie stars.
How much of the film here has an actual train in it is hard to say, - much is crafted with capable CGI, - but there certainly is a marvelously designed interior set of the sumptuous express, which is in itself quite fantastical. 
The adaptation and literarily minded Branagh the filmmaker is a great match with Poirot, and he attacks the part and film with enthusiastic verve and intricate, long camera flights; perhaps realizing the great opportunity this is for him, his first real, both leading and directing possible franchise.
Several in the starry cast douse their competent magic on Murder on the Orient Express: Judi Dench (J. Edgar (2011)) is as delightful as ever, Derek Jacobi (Hereafter (2010)) brings a subtle integrity to his part; Penélope Cruz (Nine (2009)), Willem Dafoe (The Dust of Time (2008)) and Johnny Depp (The Libertine (2004)) are all enjoyable veterans, and among the fresher faces, Josh Gad (Crossing Over (2009)) and Daisy Ridley (Scrawl (2015)) esteem themselves here.
If this thoroughly handsome and highly entertaining murder mystery resorts a bit to speechifying towards the end, it is forgivable: Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express is a winner.

Related posts:

Kenneth Branagh: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Dunkirk (2017) - Nolan champions cinema with masterful war movie (actor)
My Week with Marilyn (2011) or, The Prince, the Showgirl and Me (actor)
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York (actor)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 55 mil. $
Box office: 274.6 mil. $ and counting
= Uncertainty - but already a big hit
[Murder on the Orient Express premiered 3 November (UK and Ireland) and runs 114 minutes. Fox announced the project in December 2013 with Branagh entering development in June 2015. Filming took place on 65 mm film, - a rare choice today, which Branagh had witnessed used recently in Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Dunkirk, which he had a role in, - from November 2016 - May 2017 in Italy, Malta, New Zealand, England, including in London, in France, Switzerland and in Istanbul, Turkey. The film opened #3, behind holdover hit Thor: Ragnarok and fellow new release Daddy's Home 2, to a 28.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent its second week at #5 before leaving the top 5 and has grossed 92.7 mil. $ to date. It has so far also hauled home 34.3 mil. $ from China and 28.7 mil. $ from the UK. Its last big opening as far as the schedule looks at the moment is in France today 12/13. The sequel teased in the film' end, Murder on the Nile, is likely to materialize, since the film is such a hit, - however, the 55 mil. $ budget seems quite cheap considering the international, multi-star, luxurious production, and it may have actually been higher. Branagh is set to return as director-star with Murder on the Nile and as director on YA adaptation Artemis Fowl (2019) for Disney. Murder on the Orient Express is rotten at 58 % with a 6.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Murder on the Orient Express?

2012 (2009) or, Giant Mega-Stupid Movie!

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+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year

A Tibetan monk looks on as an ocean suddenly engorges the Himalayan mountain peaks on this poster for Roland Emmerich's 2012

The Mayan Indians had figured it out centuries ago: Atypical solar activity makes 2012 a fateful year for planet Earth, which reacts with earthquakes, volcano eruptions and monstrous floods.

2012 has one thing going for it and one thing only: Insane CGI effects, SPOILER as when lead John Cusack's (The Paperboy (2012)) limo drives through a disintegrating Los Angeles... As incredible as this is to stare at is the ridiculous, trite and just plain stupid plot around it, which consists of inordinate amounts of screaming, wailing and obscurities.
Danny Glover (Dirty Grandpa (2016)) is the US president who wants to die. Oliver Platt (Chicago P.D. (2015-16)) is a villain because he wants to live... Chiwetel Ejifor (The Martian (2015)) has the film's perhaps dumbest role as an idealistic geologist. 2012 is just too asinine.
It is written by Harald Kloser (White House Down (2013)) and co-writer-director Roland Emmerich (Stargate (1994)).

Related posts:

Roland Emmerich: White House Down (2013) or, Duck, Mr. President!

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]  

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 200 mil. $
Box office: 769.6 mil. $
= Big hit
[2012 premiered 11 November (9 countries) and runs 158 minutes. Emmerich has said about it that he "always wanted to do a Biblical flood movie." The 2012 doomsday theory that the film propagates is a Western concept, which draws from the Mayans and their talent for astronomy. The Mayans did not actually think the world would end in 2012. Filming took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, Los Angeles, California and in British Columbia, Canada, including in Vancouver, from July - October 2008. The film's marketing made use of a polemic Internet campaign that made people think that the world was actually going to end soon. The film opened #1 to a 65.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another two weeks (both at #3) and grossed 166.2 mil. $ (21.6 % of the total gross). Luckily for the filmmakers, the rest of the world were more thrilled; the film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 68.6 mil. $ (8.9 %) and France with 44 mil. $ (5.7 %). It was the 5th highest-grossing film of the year and Emmerich's second highest-grossing film, after Independence Day (1996). Roger Ebert gave it 3½/4 stars, completely opposite this review. The film was banned in North Korea, where 2012 was going to be an anniversary for the nation's founder, and several people were arrested for possessing or viewing the film there. Plans for a TV spin-off were eventually canceled. Emmerich returned with the William Shakespeare conspiracy theory movie Anonymous (2011). 2012 is rotten at 39% with a 5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 2012?