Jarhead (2005) - Mendes flops with frustration-themed Marine drama

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A young soldier with no uniform on his top half marvels at a barren oilfield in a foreign land on this poster for Sam Mendes' Jarhead

A young US marine gets deployed to First Gulf War (1990), against his own ill and without much understanding of the situation. 

Jarhead is written by William Broyles Jr. (Apollo 13 (1995)), adapting the same-titled 2003 autobiographical book by Anthony Swofford (Exit (2007)), and directed by English master filmmaker Sam Mendes (American Beauty (1999)), whose 3rd feature it is. The title is a Marine slang term for themselves.

Definitely not a typical war genre movie, Jarhead is a kind of study of the anticlimax of war and frustrations that war - and life in general - entail.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Wildlife (2018)) very skillfully portrays the young protagonist marine. The images of the Iraqi desert are handsome, (cinematographer Roger Deakins (A Serious Man (2009))), and the film is underlain with music typical of its period. SPOILER The film revolves around the almost poetical dilemma that the young men think they get sent to war, but instead they wait around for 175 days in 45 degrees heat, before the war ends and they get to return home without having fired a single shot. The lack of plot is still somehow remarkable in Jarhead.

 

Related posts:

Sam Mendes: Spectre (2015) - Mendes' 2nd Bond is mostly good  

rly celebrated third pout from Daniel Craig as Bond in slick production
Away We Go (2009) or, Where Do We Start This Family?

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
American Beauty (1999) or, Escape by Death

Watch a TV spot for the film here

Cost: 72 mil. $

Box office: 97 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.34 times its cost)

[Jarhead premiered 27 October (Hollywood) and runs 123 minutes. Gyllenhaal was paid 3 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from December 2004 - ? in Arizona, New Mexico, California and in Mexico. The film opened #2, behind Chicken Little, to a 27.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 62.6 mil. $ (64.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 9.5 mil. $ (9.8 %) and Germany with 4.7 mil. $ (4.8 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Mendes returned with Revolutionary Road (2008). Gyllenhaal returned in Zodiac (2007). Jarhead is fresh at 53% at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Jarhead?

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) - Systemic injustice bared in LeRoy's crackerjack crime drama

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A dangerous holdup in what appears a criminal underworld environment is presented on this murky poster for Mervyn LeRoy's I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

After having served military duty in WWI, James Allen returns to civilian status but does not want factory work; he wants to build something new up as an engineer! But following an unfortunate arrest, he is sentenced to 10 years in a chain gang. - He manages to escape! - But his past finds him ...

 

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is written by Howard J. Green (The Millionaire (1957, TV-series)) and Brown Holmes (Castle on the Hudson (1940)), with Sheridan Gibney (The Locket (1946)) contributing uncredited work, adapting the autobiographical I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! (1932) by Robert Elliott Burns, and directed by great Californian filmmaker Mervyn LeRoy (No Place to Go (1927)).

Thoroughly suspenseful, fast-paced, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang relies on a thrilling story for its success. The woman, who forces a lucrative marriage through by blackmailing our protagonist, is one of the film's exciting, credibly played (by Glenda Farrell (Bonanza (1964, TV-series))), memorable characters. All of it rings 100 % true. 

SPOILER A very exciting climax ends up in a shockingly tragic, stirring ending: 'The system can crush a good man' is the icy lesson here. Paul Muni (Hudson's Bay (1940)) is beautiful and outstanding as the hero in this electrical, indignant film.

 

Related post:

 

Mervyn LeRoy: The Green Berets (1968) - Wayne's gung ho pretty picture of the Vietnam War clashes with reality (co-director)

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 228k $

Box office: 1.599 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 7.01 times the cost)

[I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang premiered 9 November (Washington D.C.) and runs 93 minutes. LeRoy was paid 13.2k $ for his direction of the film. Shooting took place from July - September 1932 in California, including in Los Angeles, with stock footage of Chicago, Illinois also used. The film grossed 650k $ in North America, 40.7 % of the total gross. It was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Actor (Muni) to Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII, Picture to Cavalcade and Sound to A Farewell to Arms. The film also won 2 National Board of Review awards. It was instrumental in the appeal and release of Burns and "several other chain gang prisoners nationwide in the U.S." in 1933. LeRoy returned with Hard to Handle (1933). Muni returned in The World Changes (1933). I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is fresh at 96 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang?

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.

 

Related posts:

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?

Heaven & Earth (1993) - Stone's 3rd Vietnam pic proves an overreach

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+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 28.6 mil. $ range + Worst $ Return of the Year: 0.33 times the cost  

 

A woman caught in a red sea of apparent internal conflict and strong emotions make up this fine poster for Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth

An idyllic country life in Vietnam is ruined first by Frenchmen and later by the American invasion, so that the woman Le becomes a prostitute. She later moves with her American soldier husband to the US to raise a family, but he suffers from PTSD.

 

Heaven & Earth is written, co-produced and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Oliver Stone (Seizure (1974)). It is based on the auto-biographical books When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (1989) and Child of War, Woman of Peace by Le Huy Hayslip, Jay Wurts and James Hayslip.

Stone wants to complete his Vietnam War portrayal on film, following Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989) with a female, Vietnamese perspective on the war, but the width between the filmmaker and his subject here is too broad for the outcome to seem credible. Stone simply can't portray this meaningfully. 

The film has powerful scenes, not least due Tommy Lee Jones' (Hope Springs (2012)) natural and devastating performance as a wrecked veteran, but it is over-all unfocused and over-loaded with narration. Unfortunately it belongs on the list of the weaker films by Stone.

 

Related posts:

 

Oliver Stone: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2016 in films - according to Film Excess 

Snowden (2016) - Stone's inflammatory political thriller is a powerful must-see

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]

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps/Wall Street 2/Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (2010) - Stone's sequel is an entertaining spectacle 

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

Any Given Sunday (1999) - Stone's bloated sports epic is mostly for football fans 

Nixon (1995) - Stone takes another president for a long run 

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Born on the Fourth of July (1989) or, Beautiful Struggle

 

 

Watch a 5-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 33 mil. $

Box office: 5.8 mil. $ (North America only)

= Uncertain but likely a mega-flop (projected return of 0.33 times its cost)

[Heaven & Earth premiered 25 December (USA, Japan) and runs 140 minutes. Shooting took place from October 1992 - January 1993 in Vietnam, Bangkok, Thailand and in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #17 to a 379k $ first weekend in 63 theaters in North America, where it peaked a couple of weeks later at #12 with a 1.7 mil. $ weekend, grossing 5.8 mil. $ domestically. The foreign market numbers are regrettably kept under wraps. The film sold 14k tickets in Denmark, coming to approximately 124k $. A tentative projected world gross of 11 mil. $ isn't unlikely. It would make the film a mega-flop. It won a Golden Globe. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Stone returned with Natural Born Killers (1994). Jones returned in Blown Away (1994); Hiep Thi Le (Julia (2008)) in Bugis Street (1995); and Joan Chen (Wonderland (2017)) in On Deadly Ground (1994). Heaven & Earth is rotten at 43 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Heaven & Earth?

Le Temps des Secrets (2022) - Barratier misses with period drama with an acute case of the cutes

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Three happy children roam the wild hills of Provence on this pleasant poster for Christophe Barratier's Le Temps des Secrets

Marcel goes away with his family for Summer vacation in Provence and reaffirms his friendship with the local peasant's son there. But this year, a girl comes between the two.

Le Temps des Secrets is written by Laurent Turner (La Chance de Ma Vie (2010)) and co-writer/director, French master filmmaker Christophe Barratier (The Chorus/Les Choristes (2004)). It is an adaptation of French writer/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol's autobiographical Souvenirs D'Enfance novels (1957-60). The title translates to 'the time of secrets'.

Barratier lavishes expensive camera work and production values but regrettably comes to present a film that feels too much like window dressing and prettying up of its period, France anno 1905, than an authentic travel back in time. The costumes are too neat, the actors too well-groomed, and the kids, though not bad performers, lack blemishes. It strains the naturalism that they look like they were tricked away from a soap commercial in this case anyway. The grand and 'storytelling' score is also too much and often only further alienates.

One comes to look at the story, which is a yarn of various boyhood experiences, including a dangerous grotto and snake capture, the strange and dubious family of the snooty girl that Marcel falls for, his own father's infidelity and mother's women's lib engagement and a few other entanglements. SPOILER The ending gives us a major reveal (the girl is actually a boy), but no more knowledge or insight into the curious fact, nor into the fate of her or her peculiar swindling family.

Despite sweet moments, beautiful landscapes and tolerable craftsmanship, Le Temps des Secrets is an unsatisfying experience, where one wonders what Barratier was aiming for. It is a bit here, a bit there, and generally too sentimental and pat. The Pagnol novel series have been adapted before, in the undoubtedly more worthwhile My Father's Glory (1990) and My Mother's Castle (1990) by Yves Robert, - lauded films that are on my watchlist now.

Related posts:

Christophe Barratier: Top 10: Best French movies

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date

The Chorus/Les Choristes (2004) - The inspiring-teacher masterpiece 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 9.27 mil. €, approximately 9.5 mil. $

Box office: 3 mil. $ and counting

= Mega-flop (has returned 0.31 times its cost to date)

[Le Temps des Secrets premiered 21 January (Alpe d'Huez Festival, France) and runs 108 minutes. 12 companies and support bodies collaborated in making the film. It opened #2 in France, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and has grossed 3 mil. $. Other markets are Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Sweden, with grosses from there not reported online yet and likely negligible. Barratier does not have his next movie announced yet. 161 IMDb users have given Le Temps des Secrets a 6.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Le Temps des Secrets?

Kun en Pige (1995) - Schrøder's lavish Lise Nørgaard biopic

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A uniformed young woman caught in a sea of bright dilemmas (or so it appears) on this poster for Peter Schrøder's Kun en Pige

The childhood and early adult life of Danish cultural icon Lise Nørgaard as the daughter of a wholesaler in province town Roskilde is laid out: Her passion for writing and being free to make her own decisions, her rebellion against the time and the consequences it had for her.

 

Kun en Pige is written by Peter Bay (Kaj's Fødselsdag (1990)) and Jørgen Kastrup (Vi Er Både Rigtige og Kloge (1975)), adapting Lise Nørgaard's (Stjernevej (1981)) same-titled 1992 autobiography and her follow-up De Sendte en Dame (1993), and directed by Peter Schrøder (Det Forsømte Forår (1993)). The Danish title translates to, 'just a girl'.

For a Danish film, Kun en Pige is an enormous production, - think The Godfather (1972) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984), - but Nørgaard's story has trouble supporting that weight. The film is incredibly long and first and foremost of local-national interest. Furthermore there are loose ends to the plot (the polyps; the chilling dream of Germany), but Kun en Pige is nevertheless a worthwhile picture.

Periods of it recall Nørgaard's Roskilde chronicle, Danish cultural cornerstone Matador (1978-82), (which may tire some Matador fans), but it is handsomely and cinematically done; the crew deserve acknowledgment for the skilled lighting and many fine images, (cinematography by Dirk Brüel (Flugten (1973)).)

Waage Sandøe (Krøniken (2004-07)), Kristian Halken (Speed Walking/Kapgang (2014)), Amalie Dollerup (Badehotellet (2013-)), Inge Sofie Skovbo (Sunes Familie (1997)) and Puk Sharbau (Terribly Happy/Frygtelig Lykkelig (2008)) all give good performances. The protagonist's persistent bouts of rage and her angry contrariness may wear on one's patience, but the film still has a lot of good to offer.

 

Related post:

Peter Schrøder: Stolen Spring/Det Forsømte Forår (1993) or, The Lost Days of School 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 28 mil. DKK, approximately 3.85 mil. $

Box office: Approximately 2.57 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.66 times its cost)

[Kun en Pige was released 15 December (Denmark) and runs 170 minutes. The budget was reportedly the biggest ever for a Danish film at the time. Shooting took place in Denmark. It sold impressive 456,718 tickets in Denmark, the film's only recorded release market, where it was the highest-grossing film of the year, which was nevertheless far from enough to recoup the big cost of production. (The average ticket prize in Denmark was 41 DKK in 1995.) The film won 4/4 Robert nominations (Denmark's Oscar). Schrøder returned with Nikolaj og Julie (2003, TV-series) and theatrically with Lotto (2006). Scharbau returned in Bryggeren (1997, TV-series) and theatrically in Afmagt (1998). 387 IMDb users have given Kun en Pige a 6.4/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Kun en Pige?

Girl, Interrupted (1999) - Girls with mental problems explored in compassionate, strong film

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 + Best Period Movie of the Year

 

Co-star Winona Ryder's wide-eyed face makes up this poster for James Mangold's Girl, Interrupted

A college-age girl from a nice middle-class family suffers a mental breakdown and gets sent to a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt. Here she finds other disturbed girls ... - and herself.

 

Girl, Interrupted is written by Lisa Loomer (Room for Two (1992, TV-series)), Anna Hamilton Phelan (Mask (1985)) and New-Yorker master filmmaker, co-writer/director James Mangold (Heavy (1995)), whose 3rd film it is. It adapts the autobiographical, same-titled 1993 book by Susanna Kaysen (Cambridge (2014)).

It is an outstanding, assured and subdued, compassionate piece of storytelling that delivers with a wealth of good forces: Winona Ryder (Mr. Deeds (2002)), - who also co-produced the film, - Angelina Jolie (Shark Tale (2004)), Brittany Murphy (Don't Say a Word (2001)), Elisabeth Moss (Darling Companion (2012)), Whoopi Goldberg (Top Five (2014)) and Vanessa Redgrave (Miral (2010)) as the smart and wise doctor.

Girl, Interrupted is moving and, despite the darkness it probes, ultimately uplifting, dealing with important issues. It is a commendable work for all involved.

 

Related posts:

James Mangold:  The day after the day after ... the 2018 Oscars

Oscars 2018: Predictions and Film Excess' favorites

The Greatest Showman (2017) - Brace for an infectious musical show (executive producer/director (reshoots))

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

The Wolverine (2013) - Many good elements in Mangold's Japan-set superhero adventure actioner 
Knight and Day (2010) - Diaz and Cruise invigorate Mangold's action romance

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

Top 10: Best cop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Cop Land (1997) - Stallone faces corruption and turns in some good acting in fine crime drama 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 40 mil. $

Box office: 48.3 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.20 times its cost)

[Girl, Interrupted premiered 8 December (USA) and runs 127 minutes. The film spent 5 years in development hell, before production commenced. Jolie was paid 200k $ for her performance. Shooting took place from January - April 1999 in Pennsylvania. The film opened #37 to a 95k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #4, behind new release Next Friday and holdover hits Stuart Little and The Hurricane, spending one more week in the top 5 (#4) and grossing 28.9 mil. $ (59.8 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for an Oscar, which it won: Best Supporting Actress (Jolie). It also won a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches lower than this one. Mangold returned with Kate & Leopold (2001). Ryder returned in Autumn in New York (2000); Jolie in Gone in 60 Seconds (2000). Girl, Interrupted is rotten at 53 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Girl, Interrupted?

Sully (2016) - Eastwood's miracle landing biopic is inert and overrated

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Star Tom Hanks seen from an airplane window in pilot's uniform on this stark poster for Clint Eastwood's Sully

A cold January day captain Sullenberger, a pilot with more than 40 years of experience, flies a passenger carrier, when, shortly after take-off, birds cause the engines to malfunction, and Sullenberger manages to land the plane safely on New York's Hudson River. - But was this the safest option available?

Sully is written by Todd Komarnicki (Perfect Stranger (2007)), based on the autobiography Highest Duty (2009) by Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow (The Last Lecture (2008)), and directed by Californian master filmmaker Clint Eastwood (Play Misty for Me (1971)).
Sully stands permanently in the shadows of another recent film of an unusual landing of a defect plane, Robert Zemeckis' fictitious and masterful drama Flight (2012). It appears that a riled up miracle atmosphere at the time of the blessed Hudson landing determined that the sensational event must also result in a good film, - but things are just not that simple.
Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger is a good man, who suffers some qualms after the landing, but of course he pulls through, although Tom Hanks (Ithaca (2015)) sculpts his face in so many wrinkled, worried folds that one could almost doubt it at times. Laura Linney (Maze (2000)) is the wife, who is exclusively shown in the Sullenberger home, and mostly worried, on the phone.
That Sully doesn't contain that much dramatically, except for the landing itself, of course, (which is anxiety-provoking), is only underscored by the film's continually returning to its portrayal of that formidable event, so that we experience it not only from the cockpit but from the passenger seat and the control tower as well.
The end credit roll is laced with pictures and video from reality, which are shown in great haste, as if Eastwood himself is also aware and doesn't want to give the wrongful impression that Sully can compare to the quality of his preceding bio-drama, masterpiece American Sniper (2014). 
Technically and in terms of special effects, Sully is naturally top shelf, which is the best thing about this generally misjudged contraption.

Related posts:

Clint Eastwood: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
American Sniper (2014) - Eastwood conveys an American man and myth in electric masterpiece  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess   
J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic   
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story 2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]   2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Letters from Iwo Jima/硫黄島からの手紙 [Öjima Kara no Tegami] (2006) - The Japanese side of Eastwood's remarkable WWII two-parter  Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving
The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (actor)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (actor)
The Enforcer (1976) - Eastwood teaches revolutionaries a lesson in third, less punchy Dirty Harry (star)
The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (actor)  
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (actor) For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer (actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (actor)    

Watch a 4-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 240.7 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.01 times its cost)
[Sully premiered 2 September (Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 96 minutes. Producers Frank Marshall and Allyn Stewart optioned the rights in 2010. Shooting took place in New York, Charlotte, North Carolina, Georgia, including Atlanta, New Mexico and in California from September 2015 - April 2016. The film opened #1 to a 35 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week at #1 and 2 more in the top 5 (#3-#5) and grossed 125 mil. $ (51.9 % of the total gross). It set a new global IMAX 2D opening record with 5.1 mil. $. A US comScore audience survey showed that 39 % of the film's audience saw it due to Hanks. The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 12 mil. $ (5 %) and Australia with 9.8 mil. (4.1 %). The National Transportation Safety Board objected strongly to its portrayal in the film, which was called 'mean-spirited dishonesty' and 'detrimental to aviation safety' as well as 'unfair'. Real-life Sullenberger agreed and asked that the NTSB investigators' names were changed for the film's characters representing them. The film was nominated for the Best Sound Editing Oscar, lost to Arrival. It won an AFI award, a National Board of Review award and several other honors. Eastwood returned with The 15:17 to Paris (2018). Hanks returned in Inferno (2016). Sully is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.21/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Sully?