Hereafter (2010) - A movie so bad it might kill you

[ZERO]

 

Star Matt Damon blocks most of his unnamed female co-star (Cécile de France (The French Dispatch (2021))) on this mysterious, greyish blue poster for Clint Eastwood's Hereafter

A French woman passes away in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Two brothers have a neglectful parent in London. And in the States George is having a tough time, since he is a clairvoyant.

 

Hereafter is written by Peter Morgan (The Queen (2006)) and co-produced, directed and scored by Californian master filmmaker Clint Eastwood (Play Misty for Me (1971)), whose 31st film it is.

Eastwood attempts to make a metaphysical 'fates-intertwine' type of film here, (he has seen Babel (2006), it seems), but the result is the worst film of his career. Hereafter wallows in pointless roughness and saccharine sentimentality. 

Matt Damon (Ocean's Eleven (2001)) as a clairvoyant is teeth-grindingly god-awful. His predictable romance with Bryce Dallas Howard (Rocketman (2019)) at Steven Schirripa's (Jersey Boys (2014)) cooking class is simultaneously colossally uninteresting and the movie's most watchable scenes, which says something.

Hereafter is a film that depends entirely on a connection with its audience in order to work. But here is no connection, and its serving of phony mumbo-jumbo as thoughtfulness is enough to drive good people into their graves.

 

Related posts:

Clint Eastwood: The Mule (2018) - Drug-runner true story proves another fine fit for screen legend Eastwood 

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

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Gran Torino (2008) - Eastwood's actor persona comes full circle in absolute smash (co-producer/director/starring actor)
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story  

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
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 

Blood Work (2002) - Eastwood churns out uninspired thriller adaptation (producer/director/starring actor)

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Absolute Power (1997) - Eastwood stumbles with low-caliber thriller (director/co-producer/co-starring)

The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (starring actor) 

Heartbreak Ridge (1986) - Lots of deficiencies in Eastwood's weak Marine movie (producer/director/starring actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (co-starring actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (starring actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (starring actor)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (starring actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (starring actor)

The Gauntlet (1977) - Locke/Eastwood cast sparks in corny shoot-em-up (director/starring actor)
The Enforcer (1976) - Eastwood teaches revolutionaries a lesson in third, less punchy Dirty Harry (starring actor)
The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud (director/star)

High Plains Drifter (1973) - Eastwood cleans up red town in great western (director/star)
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (starring actor)  
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (starring actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (starring actor)  

Hang 'Em High (1968) - Post and Eastwood make spaghetti in the West (starring actor)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Leone ends his poncho trilogy with certified classic (starring actor)
For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer (co-starring actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (starring actor)

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 106.9 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.12 times its cost)

[Hereafter premiered 12 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 129 minutes. Eastwood was paid 6 mil. $ to make the film. De France received 300k € for her performance in it, approximately 327k $. Shooting took place from October 2009 - February 2010 in London, England, France, including in Paris, California, including in San Francisco, and in Hawaii. The film opened #28 to a 220k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked the next weekend at #4, behind new release Paranormal Activity 2 and holdover hits Jackass 3D and RED, staying in the top 5 for one more weekend (#5), grossing 32.7 mil. $ (30.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 16.7 mil. $ (15.6 %) and Spain with 14 mil. $ (13.1 %). The film was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, lost to Inception. It won a David di Donatello award and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 6 notches over this one. Eastwood returned with J. Edgar (2011). Damon returned in True Grit (2010). Hereafter is rotten at 47 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hereafter?

The Boy and the Heron/君たちはどう生きるか (Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) (2023) - Magic dissipates in Miyazaki's universe

♥♥

 

A strange, animated image of a boy who may be flying makes up this poster for Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron

 

Mahito is a big boy when, during WWII, a major hospital blaze takes his mother from him. A new life in the countryside with his father and new stepmother follows, where Mahito goes exploring in a mysterious tower and befriends a bizarre heron.

 

The Boy and the Heron is written and directed by Japanese master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Mirai shônen Konan (1979)), whose 14th feature it is. The original Japanese title translates to, 'how do you live?'.

The film is a departure from the whimsical, fantastical, gripping animation classics of Miyazaki's past, and the master's old age seems apparent in it and regrettably not as a good thing. Miyazaki is one of the greats whose films plummet in quality in his last years as a filmmaker. Despite the overwhelming praise for the film, - seemingly an automatic reaction to anything released by Miyazaki, - The Boy and the Heron is an unsatisfying film. It revels in its maker's childhood memories and idiosyncrasies in a free-form adventure that is too preoccupied to make the narrative sensible and meaningful for the viewer.

War, death, self-harm, hatred and universal destruction are some of the gloomy themes that this almost fun-free and often quiet film mulls over. The boy is hard to understand; the story, - which sees him searching for a lost stepmother in the tower with the big-nosed, heron-caped male companion, seemingly fall in love with a girl, and meet a kind of god figure, - is obscure and generally uninvolving.

The sound design is terrific, and the animation is striking but lacking in warmth, depth, sweetness and personality, - qualities that make Miyazaki's best films transcendent. The Boy and the Heron mostly leaves you cold and puzzled.

 

Related posts:

Hayao Miyazaki: The Wind Rises/風立ちぬ [Kaze Tachinu] (2013) - Miyazaki's beautiful but languid last film 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Ponyo/崖の上のポニョ (Gake no Ue no Ponyo) (2008) - Magical animation masterpiece from master Miyazaki

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

Howl's Moving Castle/ハウルの動く城 [Hauru no Ugoku Shiro] (2004) - Miyazaki's hugely successful, gibberish fantasy
Spirited Away/千と千尋の神隠し [Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi] (2001) - Miyazaki's highly Japanese, enormously weird story of a girl 

Princess Mononoke/もののけ姫 (Mononoke-hime) (1997) - Miyazaki's grand, magical adventure masterpiece

1992 in films - according to Film Excess 

Porco Rosso/紅の豚 (Kurenai no Buta) (1992) - Childlike qualities help propel strange Miyazaki adventure 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 167.2 mil. $ and counting

= Uncertain

[The Boy and the Heron was released 14 July (Japan) and runs 124 minutes. Miyazaki began working on it after he had announced his retirement in 2013. The production dragged out for years due to his slow working pace, making producer Toshio Suzuki claim that it is the most expensive film ever produced in Japan, - but failing to back the boast up with a specific cost figure. It was released without any marketing campaign in Japan besides a single poster. The film opened #1 to a 13 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 45.8 mil. $ (27.4 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 2nd biggest market. Its biggest was Japan with 56.1 mil. $ (33.6 %), where more than 5.5 mil. paid admission, and South Korea was 3rd biggest with 14.9 mil. $ (8.9 %). It is nominated for the Best Animation Oscar. It has won a BAFTA, 1/2 Golden Globe nominations and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Despite this being lauded as his career's last film, Miyazaki is reportedly working on another, yet to be announced film. The Boy and the Heron is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Boy and the Heron?

How to Survive a Plague (2012, documentary) - The HIV/AIDS film you must see

♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

A simple but powerful graphic of people standing together against an overwhelming darkness makes up this poster for David France's How to Survive a Plague

The AIDS epidemic begins to eradicate especially homosexuals in the 1980s, and in the US Greenwich Village, New York is an epicenter. Against the foot-dragging of the authorities and the apathy of the surrounding society, activist groups ACT UP and TAG rebel and become experts on the field.

How to Survive a Plague is written by Woody Richman (This American Journey (2013)), Tyler H. Walk (Great Photo, Lovely Life (2023)) and debuting co-writer/director, American master filmmaker David France (How to Survive a Pandemic (2022).

One might presume to know a great deal about HIV/AIDS, - and perhaps one really does so, - but France's documentary still makes this critical, long period, the key actors and those who lost their lives acute reality and so perceptible that it surpasses all other attempts to portray the HIV/AIDS tragedy on screen that I know of. The anger, the protest, - both the seriously eloquent and the polemical and despairing, - and the groups' actions are overwhelming, and especially one event in front of the White House captured here is overpowering. 

How to Survive a Plague is a colossally good and important film, definitely among the year's best.

 

Watch an hour-long video in which France talks about the book follow-up to the documentary that he published in 2016

 

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 132k $ (North America only)

= Uncertain

[How to Survive a Plague premiered 22 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 109 minutes. France reportedly went through 700 hours of footage to compile the film. It opened #62 to a 28k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it never attained a higher position despite broadening to 14 theaters, grossing 132k $. The film was also released in the UK, Ireland and in Argentina, but the gross numbers are regrettably not available online. The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, lost to Searching for Sugar Man. It was also nominated for an Independent Spirit award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. France returned with Independent Lens (2013, TV-series) and theatrically with The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017, documentary). How to Survive a Plague is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of How to Survive a Plague?

Chinese Box (1997) or, Death in Hong Kong

♥♥♥♥

 

+ Best Hong Kong Movie of the Year

 

Exotic Eastern passion is promised on this colorful poster for Wayne Wang's Chinese Box

John is from the West but has lived the last two decades in Hong Kong, which he loves as a city and as an opportunistic paradise, as he one day discovers that he is, in fact, dying from leukemia.

 

Chinese Box is written by Jean-Claude Carrière (Sommersbye (1993)), with Larry Gross (Gunshy (1998)), Paul Theroux (Saint Jack (1979)), Rachel Ingalls (A Question of Faith (2000)) and great Hong Kong-born American filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Wayne Wang (A Man, A Woman, and A Killer (1975)) contributing elements.

At times a heavy film, Chinese Box is nevertheless ultimately a moving drama, which binds Hong Kong's British heritage poignantly together with the story of a terminal expat, who also suffers from heartache.

Jeremy Irons (And Now Ladies & Gentlemen (2002)) and Gong Li (The Banquet (1991)) as his chosen, but rejecting barmaid lover are both good in this film about death, in which the ideal circumstances are out of reach. Chinese Box is sensitive and melancholy.

 

Related post:

 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 2.1 mil. $ -  North America only

= Uncertain

[Chinese Box premiered 4 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place in Hong Kong. The film opened #22 to a 97k $ first weekend in 12 theaters in North America, where it grossed 2.1 mil. $. Regrettably the gross numbers from the film's many international markets, including Hong Kong (but not China) are not made public. Without a cost figure and other gross figures a theatrical status cannot be projected for this film. It won a prize in Venice. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Wang returned with Anywhere But Here (1999). Irons returned in Lolita (1997); Li in The Emperor and the Assassin/Jing Ke ci Qin Wang (1998). Chinese Box is fresh at 64 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Chinese Box? 

Summer of 85/Été 85 (2020) or, Seaside Love Story

♥♥♥♥

 

A wonderfully evocative still from the film of a deep sense of freedom and love is used on this fabulous Japanese poster for François Ozon's Summer of 85

Alex is a young lad one summer in Normandy in 1985, where his capsizing his friend's boat leads him to be saved by the able, impressive David, whom he falls in love with for a tempestuous few weeks. 

 

Summer of 85 is written and directed by great French filmmaker François Ozon (See the Sea/Regarde la Mer (1997)), adapting the 1982 novel Dance on My Grave by Aidan Chambers (The Toll Bridge (1992)).

It is a colorful and vivacious piece with a light touch to it, though its plot and themes are serious enough: David dies in a dramatic accident at the end of the summer, and David's explanations and Alex's experience of the complications of their relationship are quite grown-up. SPOILER Basically David gets bored with his plaything fast and is not a monogamous person, whereas Alex had thought they had a serious, exclusive love thing going. 

Félix Lefebvre (Une Nuit à Travers Champs (2020, short)) as Alex and Benjamin Voisin (Man Up!/Un Vrai Bonhomme (2019)) as David are both very good, the former in using his boyish face cleverly to appear to really fall in love for the first time, and the latter in skillfully seducing his new friend. They are also both gorgeous to look at and compliment each other exquisitely. The sweet taste of youthful love and erotic firsts proves once again an auspicious cinematic territory here.

The guilty-pleasure feel of the film, naturally also heightened by some hip period music, makes it reminiscent of Luca Guadagnino's great Call Me By Your Name (2020), but the story's course and its performers here makes Summer of 85 its own.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's (La Vita come Viene (2003)) affectionate mother to David is a bit of a dark horse in the story: SPOILER At the outset she bares Alex's genitals for her appraisal in her house, (strangely), and towards the end she blames him for everything. SPOILER Alex's own actions after the death peak in his strange dancing on David's fresh grave, fulfilling an oath David had made him swear to, thereby getting him arrested. (In the scene Alex dances wildly, seemingly to another piece of music than the one we are treated to.) This culmination, though delivered with passion, is still a bit difficult to get fully involved in. Nevertheless Summer of 85 is a very fine, expertly paced youth romance from one of contemporary cinema's greatest, Ozon.

 

Related posts:

 

François Ozon: Swimming Pool (2003) - Rampling and Sagnier stand out in Ozon's suggestive, sensual thriller 

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

Criminal Lovers/Les Amants Criminels (1999) - Ozon impresses with carnal crime drama 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 6.1 mil. €, approximately 7.22 mil. $

Box office: 3.6 mil. $ and counting

= Some uncertainty, looks to become a huge flop (has returned 0.49 times its cost presently)

[Summer of 85 premiered 2 July (France) and runs 100 minutes. 17 companies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from May 2019-? in France. The film opened #25 to a 9k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it only grossed 70k $ (1.9 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were France with 3 mil. $ (83.3 % of the total gross), Netherlands with 162k $ (4.5 %) and Russia with 115k $ (3.2 %). The release was heavily ruined by the China Virus pandemic. It was nominated for 12 César awards and a European Film award, among other honors. Ozon returned with Everything Went Fine/Tout s'Est Bien Passé (2021). Lefebvre returned in Suprêmes (2021); Voisin in Lost Illusions/Illusions Perdues (2021). Summer of 85 is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Summer of 85?

Girls - season 3 (2014) - Life-troubled bunch start to give grey hairs

♥♥♥

 

The recurring cast members of the third season of Lena Dunham's Girls in a messy hotel room arrangement makes up its poster

Creator/co-director/co-star Lena Dunham's (Camping (2018, TV-series)) amusing New York-set youth comedy returns with regulars Hannah (Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams (American Dreams (2004, TV-series)), Jessa (Jemima Kirke (Wild Honey Pie! (2018)) and Shoshana (Zozia Mamet (The Boy Downstairs (2017)) as the girls, and regular boyfriends Adam (Adam Driver (Frances Ha (2012)) and Ray (Alex Karpovsky (Happy Baby (2016)).

The following contains SPOILERS:

 

Jessa has been to rehab, and three of her friends drive up to take her home from there, but all four are caught in teenage-like behavior systems (ep. 2: Truth or Dare). Hannah's crazy magazine editor boss (John Cameron Mitchell) gets found dead in the Hudson River, and Hannah's response doesn't compute as the proper amount of grief according to her surroundings (ep. 4: Dead Inside). Hannah escalates her blunted reaction by using his funeral as a venue for her getting a good book deal. Marnie begins an illicit affair with Shoshana's first real boyfriend Ray. Hannah somehow lands a job at GQ magazine and worries about her creative writing, and whether boyfriend Adam will cheat on her, as he has landed his first Broadway acting job.

A rather extreme episode (ep. 9: Flo) has us meeting Hannah's mother (whom we knew), but also her aunts and cousin - and the group of women seem to compete in being the most unbearable, hysterical, ridiculous and bothersome. This, of course (?), around the passing of Hannah's grandmother (June Squibb). Luckily not a relatable episode on my part.

Jessa relapses to her drug problem, as Marnie explores her singing talent, and Adam breaks up with Hannah for a spell. She quits her magazine job and trashes everyone there on the way out, and later discovers Ray and Marnie's affair. (Quite funny ep. 11: I Saw You).

Shoshana discovers Ray's infidelity and is infuriated, but her attempts at winning him back are unsuccessful. Jessa helps a handicapped artist she works for with euthanasia, then thinks twice and calls 911. For Hannah, the series ends on a high note, with a promise of something new.

 

The child-like young adult characters sometimes are more pathetic and irritating than funny, as the season kicks off, and their very short perspective on reality also wearies considerably, especially in the first half of the season.This puts a depressant weight on the show, which only in its best episodes feels fresh still in season 3, which ends with a promise of a new start for Hannah, still a good hook to return to Girls.

 

Best episodes:

 

Episode 7: Beach House - Written by Dunham, Jenni Konner (Undeclared (2001, TV-series)), Judd Apatow (This Is 40 (2012)), Sarah Heyward (SKAM Austin (2018, TV-series)); directed by Jesse Peretz (New Girl (2011-12))

The four girls take a weekend trip to Marnie's parents' swanky Hamptons house, where Marnie's meticulous activities and 'healing' program gets scrapped, as Hannah instead invites Marnie's gay ex and his three gay friends to party and spend the night with them. Steam is let out in this maybe one of the best episodes of the series overall.  

 

Episode 12: Two Plane Rides - Written by Dunham, Heyward; directed by Dunham

Hannah is accepted to writers' grad school in Iowa. Adam is sulking after his Broadway premiere and pushes her away from him. The Marnie-Ray-Shosh situation culminates. Jessa has a life/death dramatic experience.

 

Related posts:

Lena Dunham: Girls - season 2 (2013) - Hannah Horvath and Co. still make for fun TV chums 

Girls - season 1 (2012) - Dunham arrives with refreshing, idiosyncratic NY youth howler

 

 

Watch a 4-minute scene from the season here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: None - TV-series

= Uncertain

[Girls - season 3 premiered 12 January - 23 March on HBO and runs 12 episodes averaging 28 minutes, totaling approximately 336 minutes. Shooting took place in New York. The season had ratings from 278k to 1.11 mil. viewers in North America, an improvement from the previous season. The cast returned in season 4 in 2015. The season was nominated for 2 Golden Globes and 2 Emmys. Dunham also wrote Cover Girl (2014, short) and acted in Happy Christmas (2014) during the year of season 3. Kirke did not get more credits before season 3; Mamet gave a voice performance in Back to Backspace (2014, TV short) and acted in High School USA! (2013-15); and Williams returned in College Musical (2014) and Peter Pan Live! (2014, TV movie). Girls - season 3 is certified fresh at 91 % with an 7.85/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Girls - season 3?

Griffin and Phoenix/Today Is Forever (1976, TV movie) - Falk/Clayburgh radiate love in TV movie treasure

♥♥♥♥♥

 

Stars Jill Clayburgh and Peter Falk look like a loving couple, slouched by the surf on this TV-poster for Griffin and Phoenix

Two terminally ill people meet each other in a group that deals with relating to death, and they fall for one another. While their illnesses progress, their romance turns into love.

 

Griffin and Phoenix is written by John Hill (Little Nikita (1988)) and directed by great British Columbian filmmaker Daryl Duke (Payday (1973)).

The film really focuses on these two individual's specific story: We learn incredibly little about his wife and children, and her situation and family, just as the details of their cancers are supplanted by the connection that they allow themselves to enjoy. Instead the film is about that precious time that they share, in which they release an unrestrained, infectious lust for life and joys in their dying moments.

Peter Falk (Target: The Corruptors! (1961, TV-series)) and Jill Clayburgh (Rich in Love (1992)) carry the film formidably and are lovely to a degree in which it feels like we are falling in love with them as an audience. There are fun moments, too, in this tender portrait of a love relationship, SPOILER albeit a short one, as it ends in the inevitable, bittersweet final stop. Griffin and Phoenix is a wonderful film.

 

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain - mainly a TV movie

[Griffin and Phoenix premiered 27 February (ABC) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place in Los Angeles. The film was so well-liked that it was released theatrically in several countries. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. It was remade with the same title in 2006 by Ed Stone. Duke returned as uncredited director on Shadow of the Hawk (1976). Falk returned in Murder by Death (1976); Clayburgh in Silver Streak (1976). 365 IMDb users have give Griffin and Phoenix a 7.5/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Griffin and Phoenix?