Homer and Eddie (1989) - Konchalovskiy's under-appreciated road dramedy

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Two endearing star sweethearts invite us on a journey from an autumnal landscape on this pleasant poster for Andrey Konchalovskiy's Homer and Eddie

Homer is not the brightest man, (in fact he is a little backwards), and when he heads to Oregon to see his cancer-sick father, he is robbed of all his belongings. He meets Eddie, an escaped mental patient, and the two become friends on the lam together.

 

Homer and Eddie is written by Patrick Cirillo (The Surgeon (1995)) and directed by great Russian filmmaker Andrey Konchalovskiy (The First Teacher/Pervyy uchitel (1965)).

The stakes are truly high in this buddy dramedy road movie, in which the lower classes of America are portrayed with an enormous, beating heart. Jim Belushi (Underdog (2007)) and Whoopi Goldberg (If I Had Known I Was a Genius (2007)) roll out as two class actors, making Homer and Eddie a pleasure, with lots of Americana music in the speakers along the journey, as beautiful America passes by outside their car windows. Belushi does verge on the overly silly at times in some of the uneasy scenes, but I am still a big fan of this under-appreciated gem.

 

Related post:

 

Andrey Konchalovskiy: Andrei Rublev/Andrey Rublev/Андрей Рублёв (1966) - Tarkovsky's undying epic of faith in Russia (co-writer)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain - but certainly a flop

[Homer and Eddie was released 17 August (West Germany) and runs 100 minutes. Shooting took place from January - March 1988 in Oregon and California. The AFI catalog reports that following a troubled road towards the big screens, the film was axed by critics and did poorly at the box office. There are regrettably no public numbers of its budget or gross available. Konchalovsky returned with Tango & Cash (1989). Belushi returned in Wedding Band (1989); Goldberg in Beverly Hills Brats (1989). 1.9k+ IMDb users have given Homer and Eddie a 5.3/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Homer and Eddie?

Monkeybone (2001) - Selick's catastrophic fantasy romcom

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Star Brendan Fraser encircled in a virtual vortex of craziness on a poster for Henry Selick's Monkeybone

A cartoonist who has created a vulgar monkey character which is about to premiere as a major animation feature, goes into a coma after an incredible accident. He winds up in a pre-death world created by his nightmares.

Monkeybone is written by Sam Hamm (Masters of Horror (2005-06)), based on the graphic novel Dark Town (1995) by Kaja Blackley, and directed by New Jerseyite master filmmaker Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)), whose 3rd feature it is.
It is a very lopsided film, clearly inspired by Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988). Unfortunately it doesn't come together as a satisfying whole.
Brendan Fraser (Still Breathing (1997)) gives it his all in the very demanding lead role that's also reminiscent of the Nutty Professor/Buddy Love dynamic (in the guise of Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor (1996)), as he plays the zany, vulgar monkey that's inhabited his cartoonist self in parts of the film, which can't but make one wonder what the !%#!! the financiers of Monkeybone were thinking. Audiences unsurprisingly didn't board this enormously budgeted, interesting visually and FX-wise, lavish serving of uncontrolled WTF.
Much of Monkeybone looks like something for children, - and Fraser's appeal at the time also leads one to imagine so, - but Monkeybone is decidedly not suitable for children; it is a unique kind of head-scratching box office disaster.

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Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 75 mil. $
Box office: 7.6 mil. $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.10 times its cost)
[Monkeybone was released 23 February (USA) and runs 92 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, from June - October 1999. Selick is rumored to have been fired as director some time towards the end of making the film by studio Fox in an attempt to make it more mainstream, possibly replaced by executive producer Chris Columbus. The film opened #11 to a 2.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, its peak there, where it grossed 5.4 mil. $ (71.1 % of the total gross). The foreign gross numbers have not been made public at Box Office Mojo. Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Selick returned with Moongirl (2005, short) and theatrically with masterpiece Coraline (2009). Fraser returned in The Mummy Returns (2001); Bridget Fonda (Camilla (1994)) in Kiss of the Dragon (2001). Monkeybone is rotten at 19 % with a 3.96/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Monkeybone?

Ghost (1990) - Zucker's highly gratifying, cathartic movie experience

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This bright and persuasive poster for Jerry Zucker's Ghost promises eroticism between two of its time's hottest stars, who meet in orgiastic ecstasy under the word; BELIEVE

When the man in a young, beautiful New-Yorker couple get brutally shot to death in the city, his soul is not finished on earth: As a ghost he then fights to save his loved one from suffering the same violent fate that he did.

Ghost is written by Bruce Joel Rubin (Deep Impact (1998)) and directed by great Wisconsinite filmmaker Jerry Zucker (Airplane! (1980)).
It has a good many cheesy moments, - like the legendary clay pot-making scene in the beginning. But once it gets clear that Rubin's script seriously wants to establish a ghost movie universe, it also becomes increasingly evident that he succeeds with flying colors, and not least due to the film's terrific cast:
Demi Moore (Bunraku (2010)) is outstanding; Patrick Swayze (11:14 (2003)) radiates sincerity; Whoopi Goldberg (Homie Spumoni (2006)) is amusing as the psychic helper character, and Tony Goldwyn (Reckless (1995)) is a great villain. SPOILER The ending, in which Swayze's character lets go and ascends to heaven, is very very beautiful.
There is real movie magic in Ghost, which joins sensual romanticism with a religious crime drama with great success.

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Watch a VHS trailer for the film here

Cost: 22 mil. $
Box office: 505.8 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 22.99 times its cost)
[Ghost was released 13 July (North America) and runs 128 minutes. Zucker reportedly increased the pacing in Rubin's script. Swayze was paid 2 mil. $; Moore 750k $. Shooting took place in New York and Los Angeles from July - December 1989. The film opened #2, behind hold-over hit Die Hard 2, to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it took the #1 spot in its 2nd week, which it held for another 3 weeks; it was in the top 5 for 18 weekends in total and grossed 217.6 mil. $ (43 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 52.3 mil. $ (10.3 %) and Japan with 48.4 mil. $ (9.6 %). It was the highest-grossing film of the year and reportedly sold incredible 51.46 mil. tickets in the US. It was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning 2; for Best Supporting Actress (Goldberg) and Original Script. It lost Best Editing to Dances with Wolves, Score (Maurice Jarre) to John Barry for Dances with Wolves and Picture to Dances with Wolves. It also won 1/4 Golden Globe nominations, 1/4 BAFTA noms and several other awards. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches harder than this one. The film additionally made more than 40 mil. $ on video rentals and 25 mil. $ on video sales domestically alone. The film was remade in India in 1991 and in Japan in 2010. A musical stage adaptation was made in England in 2011. A TV-series adaptation was announced by Paramount Television in 2013 which hasn't come to fruition. Zucker returned with First Knight (1995). Swayze returned in Point Break (1991); Moore in Nothing But Trouble (1991). Ghost is certified fresh at 73 % with a 6.86/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ghost?

Alice in Wonderland (1999, TV movie) - Adults may want to locate the exit for this one

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A star-flashing poster for Nick Willing's star-studded TV movie, Alice in Wonderland

Adolescent Alice gets lost in her large garden and falls down a rabbit hole, encountering several incredible creatures.

 

Nick Willing's (Jason and the Argonauts (2000), TV movie) UK/German/US co-production of Lewis Carroll's (A Tangled Tale (1885)) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871) is possibly a very successful children's movie, - but for an adult person, it is more like a two and a half hour desert walk. It is written by Peter Barnes (Breakout (1959))
Particularly the sequences with Miranda Richardson (Southland Tales (2006)) as the screaming queen are headache-inflicting. Among many other oddities is a long scene in which Gene Wilder (The Producers (1967)) is dressed as a turtle.
The effects are, - although the film won four Primetime Emmys for them, - uneven and often old-fashioned to look at now.
This version of Carroll's classic novels is a weird film that I don't really understand. I was attracted to it by its impressive ensemble cast, which also includes Peter Ustinov (Death on the Nile (1978)), Christopher Lloyd (InSight (2011)), Martin Short (Clifford (1994)), Ben Kingsley (Three Cards (2010)) and Whoopi Goldberg (Showboy (2002)), but they ultimately cannot pull up this stale adaptation.
Carroll's underlying story of performance anxiety is, however, still a great one, but perhaps we had better read the novel, especially if the alternative is to watch this film.
Alice is played by Tina Majorino (Veronica Mars (2014)), who subsequently left acting on screens for five years.

 

Related post:

 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
 

 

Watch  a 13-minutes behind the scenes feature here

Cost: 21 mil. $

Box office: None (TV movie)

= Uncertain

[Alice in Wonderland premiered 28 February (NBC) and runs 129 minutes. Shooting took place in England and Los Angeles from August - October 1998. In the US the film reached 25.34 mil. viewers at its first airing, becoming the week's most-viewed item. It won 4/6 Primetime Emmy nominations. Willing returned with 2 episodes of Jason and the Argonauts (2000, miniseries). Majorino returned in Napoleon Dynamite (2004). 10,000+ Rotten Tomatoes users have given Alice in Wonderland a 3.6/5 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Alice in Wonderland?