Pleasantville (1998) - Ross lays out Hollywood liberal ideas in original classic

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A fabulous rainbow drives through this classy and supremely elegant poster for Gary Ross' Pleasantville

A quarrel over a remote control gets two teenagers sucked into the boy's favorite 1950s sitcom Pleasantville, where everything is black and white, and neither fire, sex, toilets, art nor death exists.

Pleasantville is written, co-produced and directed by great Californian filmmaker, debuting Gary Ross (Ocean's Eight (2018)).

It is a really good film based on an exciting and original idea. The plot moves fast, seemingly because Ross wants to cover many points. The conservative proprieties have no qualities; the advent of sins and unrest after the fall of the residents of Pleasantville are also casually leaped over: The present time (and colors) are simply preferable to repression (whatever the costs, apparently.) Liberal emancipation is for the good in absolute terms in this anti-conservative, liberal fantasy that's also interesting as an ideological time machine. Ross' somewhat complacent point is also carried through with the preachy lines from Tobey Maguire (Labor Day (2013)) at the film's end. Before this, however, Pleasantville is fantastically sweet, funny, attractively photographed (by John Lindley (Castle Rock (2019, TV-series))) and produced in a staggering scheme of black and white and colors. 

The turns from especially William H. Macy (Sahara (2005)) and Joan Allen (Room (2015)) have moving high points, but the performances are good all over. Pleasantville has cinematic qualities, thought-provoking themes - and great hair and makeup work! It is a modern Hollywood classic, an inventive and original work from Tinseltown. 

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The Hunger Games (2012) - A global, teen-centered sci-fi smash

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 60 mil. $

Box office: 49.8 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.83 times its cost)

[Pleasantville premiered 17 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 124 minutes. Shooting took place from March - July 1997 in California. The laborious camera work on the film cost the life of camera operator Brent Hershman, who fell asleep behind the wheel driving home one night after a 19-hour work day on the film. The film opened #1 to an 8.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3), grossing 40.5 mil. $ (81.3 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, lost to Shakespeare in Love, Costumes, also lost to Shakespeare in Love, and Score (Randy Newman (Toy Story 4 (2019))), lost to Nicola Piovani for Life Is Beautiful. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Ross returned with Seabiscuit (2003). Maguire returned in The Cider House Rules (1999); Reese Witherspoon (Just Like Heaven (2005)) in Cruel Intentions (1999). Pleasantville is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pleasantville?

Horton Hears a Who! (2008) - Belly-laughs and fantastic imagination in great family animation

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+ Best Fantasy Movie of the Year

 

Amusing animal characters and two giant comedian voice stars are teased on this poster for Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino's Horton Hears a Who!

In the Jungle of Nool the nice elephant Horton finds a speck of dust on a clover, which screams! He learns that a minuscule society live in the speck! But his travails to get them into safety are mighty hard!

 

Horton Hears a Who! is written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul (Despicable Me (2010), both), adapting the same-titled 1954 children's novel by Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat (1957)), and directed by debuting Jimmy Hayward (Free Birds (2013)) and also debuting Steve Martino (The Peanuts Movie (2015)).

Dr. Seuss' enormously strange and imaginative story is utilized to make an incredibly funny and thought-provoking, handsome animated family picture here. Pack mentality, showing care and the layout of the universe are on the agenda in Horton Hears a Who!.

Jim Carrey (The Mask (1994)) and Steve Carell (Café Society (2016)) are perfectly cast; the former as the manically positive, physically funny Horton and the latter as the paranoid-fearful Mayor Ned McDodd of Whoville, the town that exists inside the speck. Carol Burnett (Annie (1982)) as the villainous kangaroo and Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express (2008)) as Morton the mouse are also a lot of fun. Horton Hears a Who! is a very quaint and successfully hilarious film.

 

Related post:
 

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

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 85 mil. $

Box office: 298.5 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.51 times its cost)

[Horton Hears a Who! premiered 3 March (Hollywood) and runs 86 minutes. A "seven-figure" amount was paid to Dr. Seuss' widow for the rights to the story. The film opened #1 to a 45 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and then another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4), grossing 154.5 mil. $ (51.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 17.2 mil. $ (5.8 %) and France with 15.4 mil. $ (5.2 %). The film also made in excess of 77.8 mil. $ on home video sales in North America alone. Hayward returned with Jonah Hex (2010); Martino with Scrat's Continental Crack-Up (2010, short), Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 (2011, short) and theatrically with Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012). Carrey returned in Yes Man (2008); Carell in Get Smart (2008). Horton Hears a Who! is certified fresh at 80 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Horton Hears a Who!?