Max (2015) - Marine hero dog makes Yakin's drama worthwhile

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+ Best Dog Movie of the Year

The Malinois star looks attentive and calm in a scene of unrest on this poster for Boaz Yakin's Max

When teenager Justin's marine big brother gets killed on duty in Afghanistan, his war-traumatized Malinois service dog Max comes home and gets taken in by Justin, who learns the truth about his brother from the steadfast Max.

Max is written by Sheldon Lettich (Rambo III (1988)) and co-writer/director Boaz Yakin (Fresh (1994)).
The film runs with a good story and a noble mission of honoring the over-looked, four-legged heroes of war, which is what propels Max upwards. The dog Carlos who plays Max is fantastic, and dog-lovers everywhere are bound to fall for this modern Lassie-type hero dog. The human stars, on the other hand, are so-so:
The mother character isn't up to much, and Thomas Haden Church (Ned and Stacey (1995-17)) is sometimes wooden in his acting as the father. Justin's two Mexican-American friends are acted with charm. And Justin is also acted well by Josh Wiggins (The Bachelors (2017)), but he regrettably botches the final scene by the gravestone.
Overall there's still more to like than dislike about this edifying, fine dog movie.

Related posts:

Boaz Yakin: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) - Newell straddles too much in fair action-adventure (co-writer)
From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) - Spiegel's vampire heist disappoints (story elements)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 43.9 mil. $
= Flop (returned 2.19 times its cost)
[Max was released 25 June (Philippines) and runs 111 minutes. Shooting took place in North Caroline, including Charlotte. The film opened #4, behind holdover hits Jurassic World and Inside Out and fellow new release Ted 2, to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 42.6 mil. $ (97 % of the total gross). The tiny international gross of around 1.3 mil. $ is not fully illuminated at the film's Box Office Mojo site. Yakin returned with Boarding School (2018). Carlos the dog returned in the film's sequel Max 2: White House Hero (2017). Max is rotten at 38 % with a 4.82/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Max?

We Bought a Zoo (2011) - Crowe's terrific family film

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+ Best Animal Movie of the Year

+ Best True Story Movie of the Year

 

A pleasant-looking - and pretty packed - poster for Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo

 

A widower and father of two children, who are still struggling with intense grief over the loss of their mother, makes a fresh decision in quitting his job and moving them all to the countryside to a closure-threatened zoo.

We Bought a Zoo is a wholesome film that has something for the whole family as it takes a true story and glosses it up, Hollywood-style. It is elevated by a circle of fine performances from well-cast actors:

Matt Damon (The Departed (2006)) is excellent in the lead; Thomas Haden Church (Cardboard Boxer (2016)) is at times wonderful as his comic sidekick brother; John Michael Higgins (Big Miracle (2012)) as a cantankerous park inspector is a good fit for the funny-man. Both children, - Colin Ford (All Kids Count (2011)) and Maggie Elizabeth Jones (Identity Thief (2013)), - do good jobs,  and Jones as Rosie Mee is unreasonably cute at the same time. Add Scarlett Johansson (A Good Woman (2004)) as a sweet zookeeper with something at stake, and you have the main players of the film.

We get lots of really neat footage with animals in the all-around handsome production, which also features several delightful songs that underpin the story's message, which is about responding 'why not' more often to the opportunities in life instead of mechanical 'whatever.' The film's original songs are by Jon Thor Birgisson (Aloha (2015)) of Icelandic band Sigur Rós, some of them co-written with great Californian co-writer/co-producer/director Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous (2000))

The film succeeds sometimes in being touching, funny and uplifting, even though it borders on feeling like a parody at times, a parody of the film it so earnestly want to be; relevant but always family-focused; a bit like a faith-based film - without the faith. It is in-step with the very sweet, almost other-worldly universe that most Crowe films take place in.

We Bought a Zoo is written by Aline Brosh McKenna (Annie (2014)) and Crowe, based on Benjamin Mee's autobiographical novel We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of A Young Family, A Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives (2008).

 

Related posts:

 

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 120 mil. $

= Minor flop

[We Bought a Zoo was released December 23 and runs 124 minutes. Several things are changed from Mee's true story, including moving the plot from England to California. Crowe went to see Damon on the set of True Grit (2010) to convince him to play the lead. Filming took place in California in and around January 2011. The film opened #6 to a 9.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it actually went on to do better in the three following weeks in nearly the same amount of cinemas (3,117 - 3,163), (which is quite rare), although never going above #6, indicating strong word-of-mouth. It grossed 75.6 mil. $ (63 % of the total gross) domestically. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 7.7 mil. $ (6.4 %) and Japan with 5.3 mil. $ (4.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 2½/4 stars, equal to this review. We Bought a Zoo is fresh at 66 % with a 6.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of We Bought a Zoo?

Killer Joe (2011) - Friedkin's dark, intense maybe last cinematic package

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3 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Screenplay: Tracy Letts (lost to Rory Stewart Kinnear, Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin)
Best Director: William Friedkin (lost to Agnieszka Holland for In Darkness)
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey (lost to Jack Black for Bernie)

+ Best Poster of the Year 

Blood-spattered deep-fried chicken never looked as good as on the poster for William Friedkin's Killer Joe

QUICK REVIEW:

An underclass thug accuses his mother of cocaine theft and plans her death for the insurance sum along with his father and his family and with the help of a mysterious hitman. But the untraditional retainer for the payment (his younger sister) gets him to change his mind...

The Joe character, played with diabolic mastery by Matthew McConaughey (Mud (2012)), is symbolic, it seems to me, as he is the incarnated consequence that this inconsequential family had not calculated on. Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild (2007)), Thomas Haden Church (Heaven Is for Real (2014)), Gina Gershon (Bound (1996)) and Juno Temple (Maleficent (2014)) are all rough diamonds under the solid direction of master filmmaker William Friedkin (The Exorcist (1973)).
Tracy Letts (Bug (2006)) has adapted his own play, (just as he did for Friedkin's much inferior Bug), and his script is really good. The film seems a little bit like Friedkin's answer to the challenge that is Drive (2011), - though Killer Joe is less stylized, - but since the two came out around the same time, that interpretation wouldn't hold up in court.
The violence of Joe is gruesome, once it explodes in the film's finale. The film has plenty of dark humor and could be termed misanthropic. - It certainly shows a deeply callous, stupid, unhelpful underbelly of society without pity. The film's smart ending may make you feel a (very politically incorrect) cry howl out inside of you, objecting to the fact that these abominable people actually procreate.
Killer Joe is Friedkin's last film to date, and perhaps it will be the last of his career. If so, it is a strong end, a cool, hard, ideal for late-night adult pleasure (strictly for those with strong stomachs) a' la Bound.

Related review:

William Friedkin: 2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
The Boys in the Band (1970) - Friedkin and Crowley's groundbreaking gay birthday party movie

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 3.7 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Friedkin was a box office champion once, namely with The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist, but his career seems to come to an end with two smaller films that have flopped commercially. Killer Joe made a disappointing 1.9 mil. $ (51 % of the total gross) in the US, where it was only shown on 75 screens, its release hindered by its NC-17 rating. But also abroad, Joe, despite good reviews, suffered from poor distribution and audience reception.]

What do you think of Killer Joe?