Off Screen (2005) - Dutch paranoid bus driver drama proves less than compelling

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Sinister looks and shadows and darkness lurk on this poster for Pieter Kuijpers' Off Screen

A mad bus driver takes a couple of men as hostages in a skyscraper in Amsterdam. He wants to talk to the CEO of Philips... 

 

Off Screen is written by Hugo Heinen (Stroomopwaarts (1991)) and directed by Pieter Kuijpers (Godforsaken/Van God Los (2003)). 

The strange story doesn't succeed in hooking our interest due to the depressing focus on the thankless life of the bus driver. Abused and spat upon, he becomes paranoid. Voilà. This seems apparent and not worth an hour and a half of our precious time in a film that uses numerical graphics to seem to give us the uncertainty: Could the bus driver with his paranoia be onto something real?

SPOILER No he isn't and it's a dull ugh time to watch Off Screen.

 

Related post:

 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

 

Someone made a video of their favorite 5 films by Kuijpers here, enjoy

 

Cost: 1.5 mil. €, approximately 1.48 mil. $

Box office: 998k $

= Huge flop (returned 0.67 times its cost)

[Off Screen was released 3 February (Netherlands) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The film opened #9 in Netherlands, where it peaked at #6 and grossed 998k $ as the only recorded market, though the film was also released in Belgium. Kuijpers returned with Dennis P. (2007). Jeroen Krabbé (Farinelli (1994)) returned in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005); Jan Decleir (Loft (2008)) in Matroesjka (2008, TV-series) and theatrically in Someone Else's Happiness/Een Ander Zijn Geluk (2005). 1.3k+ IMDb users have given Off Screen a 6.6/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Off Screen?

Hostage (2005) - Siri's solid action-thriller

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Bruce Willis looks tough with a gun in the dark during a heavy downpour on this poster for Florent-Emilio Siri's Hostage

A rich family is taken hostage in an high security LA mansion, but LAPD hostage negotiator Jeff Talley finds himself in a horrific dilemma when his own family also gets taken hostage.

 

Hostage is written by Doug Richardson (Die Hard 2 (1990)), adapting the same-titled 2001 novel by Robert Crais (The Watchman (2007)), and directed by Florent-Emilio Siri (A Minute of Silence/Un Minute de Silence (1998)).

Very well conceptualized and entertaining actioner plays well with an impressive pace and cool photography (by Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci (Figurine (1997))). Also a score by Alexandre Desplat (Carnage (2011)) and a game cast help: Bruce Willis (The Jackal (1997)) and Jonathan Tucker (Westworld (2018-20)) and Ben Foster (Here (2011)) as young criminals from hell do well. - Foster especially goes the distance as a disgusting thug and is quite scary.

Siri has seen his Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher's Panic Room (2002) (and much more) as inspiration for this to be sure, and he keeps us engaged for most of Hostage, before the yelling gets tiring, and we look in vain for something concretely meaningful in the film's second hostage drama. The ending is also a bit confusing.

 

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 50-75 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 77.6 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.19 times the cost)

[Hostage was released 9 March (Philippines) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from January 2004 - ? in California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Robots and holdover hits The Pacifier and Be Cool, to a 9.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 34.6 mil. $ (44.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.7 mil. $ (9.9 %) and France with 5 mil. $ (6.4 %). The big flop status and return listed above is based on a 65 mil. $ cost, which seems likely (and is the one listed by Bombreport.com). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Siri returned with Intimate Enemies/L'ennemi Intime (2007). Willis returned in Sin City (2005). Hostage is rotten at 35 % with a 5.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hostage?

16 Blocks (2006) or, Heavy Traffic!

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This tall-lettered poster for Richard Donner's 16 Blocks presents the almost real-time cop action-thriller effectively but without much color

A police witness needs to be moved 16 blocks to a court house in New York City. The cop in charge faces serious resistance working against his completing the seemingly simple job.

Bruce Willis (Die Hard (1988)) is excellent as a troubled NYC cop, who for some unknown reason is also a burned-out alcoholic. David Morse (The Hurt Locker (2008)) is equally great as his opponent. 16 Blocks has a good anti-hero/anti-villain quality to it, which is refreshing in the superhero-age of the 00s (which still continues today.) The film also has an exciting hostage scene in a bus.
Though praised elsewhere, Mos Def (The Italian Job (2003)), who now goes by the name Yasiin Bey, plays the central witness in the film as a stereotype of a retarded African-American criminal in my opinion. This stereotype drags the film down immensely, as he is in almost the entire movie. SPOILER Another problem is that the ending of 16 Blocks is cheesy.
Master filmmaker Richard Donner (The Omen (1976)) has made the somewhat similar Lethal Weapon films (1987, '89, '92 and '98) with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover that are in some of the cases better than this, which seems to be his last film. 16 Blocks is written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer (2014)).

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 55 mil. $
Box office: 65.6 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.19 times the cost)
[16 Blocks premiered 27 February (New York) and runs 110 minutes. It was shot in New York, Los Angeles and in Toronto, Ontario from April - June 2005 with re-shoots in July 2005. It opened #2, behind holdover hit Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, to an 11.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 36.8 mil. $ (56.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4.2 mil. $ (6.4 %) and Mexico with 2.6 mil. $ (4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. 16 Blocks reportedly heaved in an impressive 51.5 mil. $ on DVD and Blu-ray sales, which would change its status to merely a flop if figured in. It is Donner's last film. Willis returned with a voice performance in Over the Hedge (2006), That '70s Show Special: The Final Goodbye (2006, TV special) and theatrically in the flesh in Fast Food Nation (2006); Def in Journey to the End of the Night (2006); and Morse in A.W.O.L (2006, short), House (2006-07) and theatrically in Hounddog (2007). 16 Blocks is rotten at 56 % with a 5.9/10 critical averate at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 16 Blocks?