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A colorful, simply animated poster for Pedro Almodóvar's I'm So Excited! that spells fun and debauchery
A flight with a series of colorful characters on it and a crew that work on a mix of sleeping pills, tequila and drugs takes off but experiences problems in the air and has to embark on a risky emergency landing.
I'm So Excited! is written and directed by Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Folle... Folle... Fólleme Tim! (1978)) whose 20th feature it is. The original Spanish title translates to 'the fleeting lovers' or 'the passenger lovers'.
Almodóvar, who at this late point in his career had turned more permanently towards drama, it seemed, here presents a tequila-chucking, (the amounts one of the characters drinks is just ridiculous), lip-sync-dancing round of light doodling mid-air, as if the master attempts to transport himself back in time, back to his wacky, drug-enamored, anarchistic early pictures. The attempt is pathetic and unfunny.
It is neither risque, sexy nor fun that the stewards drink like louts, do drugs or are vulgar in today's world. At least it isn't in this film. I'm So Excited!, with its light-hearted tone, is up against a time that is not light-hearted anymore, and it loses. But it is also a horny picture, a trait that deserves salute, although this generally is a failed recess for Almodóvar.
[I'm So Excited! was released 8 March (Spain) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place from July - September 2012 in Spain, including in Madrid. The film opened #33 to a 97k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #32 and in 99 theaters (different weeks), grossing 1.3 mil. $ (6.1 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were Spain with 6.5 mil. $ (30.7 %), France with 3.7 mil. $ (17.5 %) and Italy with 2.4 mil. $ (11.3 %). The film was nominated for 2 European Film awards, among other honors. Almodóvar returned with Julieta (2016). Javier Cámara (Madrid, int. (2020)) returned in Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed/Vivir Es Fácil con los Ojos Cerrados(2013); Pepa Charro (Mai Neva a Ciutat (2019, TV-series)) in Esposados (2013, TV-series) and theatrically in Presentimientos (2013). I'm So Excited! is rotten at 48 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A wonderful still image of a kiss with wavy dark, mellow colors underneath makes up this elegant poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love
Barry lives in his own socially cautious world, in which he is saving up a ton of frequent flier miles by purchasing pudding. Then he meets a woman, who knocks him off his feet and gets him to fly for the first time in his life, - to Hawaii.
Punch-Drunk Love is written, co-produced and directed by Californian master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight (1996)), whose 4th film it is.
It is strange to enter the anxiety-ridden world of Barry; well-achieved through feministically-diabolical sisters, led by Mary Lynn Rajskub (Hero Mode (2021)), and an untraditional, unharmonic score (by Jon Brion (Lady Bird (2017))). The film also has neat if strangely, purposely 'off' cinematography (by Robert Elswit (Inherent Vice (2014))).
SPOILER A phone sex subplot and Philip Seymour Hoffman (A Late Quartet (2012)) work exceedingly well as elements in Punch-Drunk Love and both are also some of its original parts. Adam Sandler (The Wedding Singer (1998)) and Emily Watson (Chernobyl (2019, miniseries)) are a delightful match. The film is a salute to the first, overwhelming feelings of falling in love.
[Punch-Drunk Love premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 95 minutes. The film came about due to Anderson's fandom of Sandler and his wish to make a 90-minute romcom with him. Sandler was paid 7 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from February - March 2001 in Hawaii and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #23 to a 367k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,293 theaters (different weeks), grossing 17.8 mil. $ (72.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.6 mil. $ (6.5 %) and Australia with 840k $ (3.4 %). It was nominated for a Golden Globe and won Anderson the Best Director prize at Cannes (tied with Im Kwon-taek for Painted Fire), among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Anderson returned with Jon Brion: Here We Go (2002, music video), Couch (2003, video) and theatrically with There Will Be Blood (2007). Sandler returned in Mr. Deeds (2002); Watson in Red Dragon (2002). Punch-Drunk Love is certified fresh at 79 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A sensual romance between two very photogenic young specimens of the human race and a dramatic war-plane situation attracts attention on this poster for Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor
Two brothers in the US Air Force: SPOILER One crashes, - and everyone expects him dead, - so his younger brother takes over his lady. But big brother returns alive, - Oahu's Pearl Harbor air base gets bombed by the Japanese, - and the younger brother dies in the attack!
Pearl Harbor is written by Randall Wallace (Braveheart (1995)) and directed by Michael Bay (Bad Boys (1995)).
Handsome flight sequences stand out in Bay's otherwise horrid and history-distorting film that's both grotesquely overlong and filled with tawdry romance.
= Box office success (returned 3.20 times its cost)
[Pearl Harbor premiered 21 May (Pearl Harbor, Hawaii) and runs 184 minutes. Wallace was paid 2 mil. $ for his script. Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer requested a 208 mil. $ budget from Disney, who turned that down and also demanded the film have a PG-13 rating. Ben Affleck (Reindeer Games (2000)) made approximately 10 mil. $ from his performance, coming from a 250k $ salary and a 7 % back-end participation deal. Kate Beckinsale (Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)) was paid a flat 50k $ fee. Shooting took place from April - September 2000 in Mexico, Indiana, Texas, including in Houston, California, including in Los Angeles, in Nevada, Hawaii, including at the actual Pearl Harbor, and in England. Disney lavished a 5 mil. $ premiere for almost 2,000 patrons at Pearl Harbor. The film opened #1 to a 59 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and then 2 more in the top 5 (#3-#5), grossing 198.5 mil. $ (44.2 % of the total gross). It was the 6th highest-grossing film of the year. It reportedly later made more than 130 mil. $ on domestic home video sales in its first week of release alone. Bay's gross earnings pay reportedly eventually added up to 25 mil. $. The film has been lambasted for its countless historical inaccuracies. It was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning one, for Best Sound Editing. It lost Best Sound to Black Hawk Down, Visual Effects to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Song (There You'll Be by Diane Warren) to If I Didn't Have You by Randy Newman from Monsters, Inc.. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes and a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 1.5/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Bay returned with Faith Hill: There You'll Be (2001, music video) and theatrically with Bad Boys II (2003). Affleck returned in Daddy and Them (2001). Pearl Harbor is rotten at 24 % with a 4.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A smiling pilot pig in a red airplane against a sweltering sky makes up this upbeat poster for Hayao Miyazaki's Porco Rosso
Rosso is a master pilot, who hunts 'air pirates', and gets help from a 17 year-old girl to repair his plane, so that he can get back home to Milan, Italy. - Oh, and a curse has turned him into a pig.
Porco Rosso is written and directed by Japanese master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro/Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979)), whose 7th film it is. It is based on the three-part 1989 watercolor mangaHikōtei Jidai by Miyazaki. The English title is in Italian, because the character is Italian, and it means 'red pig', a literal translation of the film's original Japanese title.
Almost everything about Porco Rosso seems truly peculiar, but never absurd or grotesque, because Miyazaki's often beautiful compositions and exciting scenarios are accompanied by a warmth and a childlike matter of course. This makes the mostly strictly realistic (believe it or not), fantastic and deeply childish story very inviting and enjoyable. The strange norms and foreign values make the film even more worthwhile.
Something that's never quite cleared up bothers me though: Why exactly is the protagonist a pig?
[Porco Rosso was released 18 July (Japan) and runs 94 minutes. Japan Airlines was a major investor behind the film, which was to be a 30-45 minute long in-flight animation. But Miyazaki made the film longer and secured a theatrical release, although the airline reportedly showed it in-flight long before the premiere. Nevertheless the film was the highest-grossing on the Japanese market of 1992, making 43 mil. $ (94.9 % of the total gross). Disney created an English dub version for their home video release of the film in 2005. The film has been re-released on several occasions. Miyazaki returned with Nandarou (1992, TV short), Chage & Aska: On Your Mark (1995, music video) and theatrically with Princess Mononoke/Mononoke-hime (1997). Porco Rosso is fresh at 95 % with an 8.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Big stars and high adventure is promised on this craftily done poster for Steven Spielberg's Hook
Peter Pan has grown up and is a lawyer and a family father, and on his family's Christmas trip to his childhood home in England his kids get kidnapped, and Peter realizes that he also belongs in a fantastical land ...
Hook is written by James V. Hart (Contact (1997)) and Malia Scotch Marmo (Once Around (1991)), with Nick Castle (Escape from New York (1981)) contributing story elements, based on Peter and Wendy (1911) by J.M. Barrie (Better Dead (1887)), and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Steven Spielberg (The Sugarland Express (1974)), whose 12th feature it is.
Just about everything is wrong here, where, Spielberg paradoxically, - a decade after having made arguably the best family picture of all time (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)), - makes arguably the worst family picture of all time also, - at least one of the worst major budget Hollywood pictures for a very long time. - Infamous turkeys like Waterworld (1995) and Heaven's Gate (1980) are awesome pictures compared to the thoroughly artificial, fake feel of Hook:
Peter Pan has been molded unto an unsympathetic lawyer (as a fan since childhood of Disney's 1953 Peter Pan this just about makes me growl with enmity and lack of understanding), and using cliché #1 straight from the handbook it seems, he is a neglectful father due to his missing his son's soccer game, (according to Hollywood this particular action seems to be the original sin for the modern father.) This all makes me (for the first time) actively dislike Robin Williams (Old Dogs (2009)) here for his participation in this phoney-baloney. Later the same befalls Dustin Hoffman (Chef (2014)), (the dope!), SPOILER who actually murders a child towards the end of the film here as Captain Hook, - a dark ploy that is wholly unnecessary and forgotten immediately after, only making one even more vitriolic towards the ugly, over-produced, fundamentally poorly conceptualized Hook.
Williams' wife in the film, for no discernible reason, loses her composure at being in his childhood home (...). Later he kisses Maggie Smith (Quartet (2012)) (...) and Julia Roberts (The Normal Heart (2014, TV movie)), (who plays Tinker Bell and gets nothing to do), before he returns to family life, changed to his core. Ridiculous, overlong and continually nauseating, the film also boasts two unconvincing child performances from Williams' Peter Pan's offspring, plus a strange detail in that while the children's real life is white only, the fantasy group of children in Neverland are in full Benetton colors. The only mitigating quality about Hook? - Peter Pan flies dreamily.
[Hook premiered 8 December (Hollywood) and runs 142 minutes. Spielberg developed the film in the 1980s and then left the project. Castle was eventually paid 500k $ to abandon the director's chair for Spielberg'sreturn to it. Spielberg, Williams and Hoffman had a pay deal with no salary but instead they got 20 mil. $ from the first 50 mil. $ in gross rentals, then nothing for the following 70 mil. $ and then 40 % again thereafter. It is unclear if the deal also pertains to the foreign gross numbers. Roberts reportedly was paid 7 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from February - August 1991 in London, England, California, including in Los Angeles, and in Hawaii. The shoot went 40 days over schedule, which Spielberg later stated was "his fault", consequently ballooning the cost from 48 mil. $ to approximately 70 mil. $. Spielberg and Roberts had a falling out during production, and she has stated that he hesitated "to come to my defense" and labeled him a "turncoat". The film opened #1 to a 13.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends at #1 and then another 3 in the top 5, grossing 119.6 mil. $ (39.8 % of the total gross). The foreign gross numbers have regrettably not been public. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none. It lost Best Set Decoration-Art Direction to Bugsy, Costume Design to Bugsy, Visual Effects to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Makeup to Terminator 2 as well and Song (When You're Alone by John Williams and Leslie Bricusse) to Beauty and the Beast by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken from Beauty and the Beast. It was also nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Spielberg told Empire magazine in 2018 about the film: "I felt like a fish out of water making Hook... I didn't have
confidence in the script. I had confidence in the first act and I had
confidence in the epilogue. I didn't have confidence in the body of it. I didn't quite know what I was doing and I tried to paint
over my insecurity with production value. The more insecure I
felt about it, the bigger and more colorful the sets became." Spielberg returned with Jurassic Park (1993). Williams returned in 4 TV, short and voicing roles prior to his theatrical physical return in Toys (1992); Hoffman in A Wish for Wings that Work (1991, TV movie) and theatrically in Hero (1992); Roberts in The Player (1992); and Bob Hoskins (Doomsday (2008)) in The Inner Circle (1991). Hook is rotten at 29 % with a 4.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
The world's greatest movie star is ready to deliver something rare and special on this excitement-building poster for Joseph Kosinski's Top Gun: Maverick
Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell hasn't progressed from being a navy captain, because he belongs in fast airplanes and not behind a desk. Because he is still an extraordinary capacity, he is now tasked with heading a team of young Top Gun pilots on a dangerous mission of great importance.
Top Gun: Maverick is written by Ehren Kruger (Scream 3 (2000)), Eric Warren Singer (The International (2009)) and Christopher McQuarrie (Valkyrie (2008)), with Peter Craig (12 Strong (2018)) and Justin Marks (The Jungle Book (2016)) contributing story elements, and directed by Iowan master filmmaker Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy (2010)), whose 4th feature it is. It is the long-awaited sequel to Tony Scott's Top Gun (1986).
Personally I had not long awaited Top Gun: Maverick, because Top Gun never was a cornerstone film for me, although it is admittedly a great watch. (My early Tom Cruise (Legend (1985)) favorite is Cocktail (1988).) But that doesn't hinder Maverick, which has been in the can and ready to release since June 2020, but has been pushed out until now by the China Virus pandemic - and Cruise's insistence that it should have a wide theatrical release.
That certainly makes sense, when you see it on a big screen, because huge, thrilling flying pictures are simply best seen on a big screen, with all the might of modern sound technology backing up the extraordinary flying scenes.
Top Gun: Maverick will bring goosebumps to many (especially male) audiences just seconds into beginning, just at the sight of the 'Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' credit, set in that old-timey font, to some very recognizable tones, given a terrific new spin. Yes, this is a nostalgia trip, - and that's wonderful. It's also a rare breed of circus animal star vehicle with its share of cheesy moments. But that's as it should be when the film is Top Gun: Maverick. - Most importantly, the film works on all levels:
Cruise is arguably doing some of the best work of his career these years, - in Mission: Impossible films that continue to top each other, and now in Maverick. He is on fire here, and you sense the raw willpower and awesome ambition that lies behind this strong action drama. He has allied himself with some very reliable supporting actors in Ed Harris (Touching Home (2008)), Miles Teller (Get a Job (2016)) and Jennifer Connelly (Ballet (1989)). Teller works great as Rooster, whose father's demise in Top Gun is the source of the dramatic conflict between him and mentor/substitute father figure Maverick here. And Connelly is a very classy, sexy and graceful lady - who has great chemistry with Cruise. Val Kilmer (Standing Up (2013)) makes a powerful appearance as Iceman, who has now become an ailing US admiral. There's a strong team of young bucks (and one cool young woman) on the team of young pilots, each of them looking sharper than the previous one, and giving Cruise, Connelly and Teller competition. The very macho and ambition-driven film looks great from all angles. - But perhaps the supporting actor here who is most wonderful is Jon Hamm (Million Dollar Arm (2014)) as the vice admiral directly responsible for overseeing Maverick's teaching: Hamm's face puckers in so many priceless ways here, as he offers opposition to Cruise's predictable wildness as the man who wants his pilots to complete the dangerous mission - and get back in one piece.
Top Gun: Maverick has warmth, fun, romance - and suspense that jolts you back in your seat and make you grab the armrests, as you sense the G powers ripping through your body, (or rather, those on screen.) It is better than a wild roller coaster. Stupendous shots follow each other as pearls on a string, and you'll be right to bet that a lot of people worked tremendously hard to put this all together on screen. (The cinematography by Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi (2012)) is a blast.) The score, - by Lorne Balfe (Songbird (2020)), Harold Faltermeyer (Fletch Lives (1989)), Lady Gaga - in her first composing credit, singing the film's solid hit Hold My Hand, - and Hans Zimmer (Chappie (2015)), - is a wonderful, strong sound carpet for the film.
Top Gun: Maverick is a blast from the past, in strapping new threads, with top-charged talents in every department. An irresistible ode to brotherhood, teamwork, love, hard work, discipline, America and - more than anything - human excellence. Top Gun: Maverick will likely show to be impossible for Cruise to top in the years to come - and for others, for that matter. It is a pure, high-flying, inspirational masterpiece.
= Big hit (has returned 5.22 times its cost to date)
[Top Gun: Maverick premiered 18 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 131 minutes. Cruise in 1990 called a Top Gun sequel 'irresponsible'. But the sequel was gathering momentum 20 years later, until director Tony Scott's suicide in 2012. The project changed hands, and Kosinski was hired to direct instead. Cruise was paid 13 mil. $ and an undisclosed back-end percentage for his work on the film. Shooting took place from September 2018 - July 2019 in California, including San Diego, Nevada and Washington. China's Tencent production company were delivering 12.5 % of the film's budget but then pulled out over fears that it would anger the Chinese Communist Party. The release was pushed from Summer 2019 to Summer 2020 over difficult action scenes that needed a re-shoot, but then due to the China Virus pandemic, the release was pushed out another 2 years, while offers from streaming services were shot down by Cruise and co. in favor of a traditional, big theatrical release. The film opened #1 to a 126.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, the biggest opening of Cruise's career by far. It has spent another weekend at #1, and then continues to be in the top 5 with a #2 and #3 weekend currently, and a 466.1 mil. $ still-ticking domestic gross. It is the 2nd highest-grossing film of the year so far, behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and does not have a Chinese release green-lit by the country's ever-restrictive Communist Party rule. IMDb's users have rated the film in at the site's Top 250 at #43, sitting between Casablanca (1942) and Whiplash (2014). Kosinski returns with Spiderhead (2022, VoD). Cruise returns in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part 1 (2023). Top Gun: Maverick is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
