Jamón Jamón (1992) - Lunas' delicious and lively erotic melodrama

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Under the (mighty) ballsack of a mighty monument of a mighty bull, a woman lustily flaunts her stuff on this poster for Bigas Luna's Jamón Jamón

The son of the owners of a large Spanish underwear factory has impregnated one of the workers. His mother sends local 'bull' Raúl after the girl, but she winds up with him herself.

 

Jamón Jamón is written by Cuca Canals (Diary of a Nymphomaniac/Diario de una Ninfómana (2008) and great Spanish co-writer/director Bigas Luna (Bilbao (1978)), with Quim Monzó (Pa d'Àngel (1984)) contributing dialog. The Spanish title translates to 'ham ham'. It is the first in Luna's Ibérica trilogy, with Golden Balls/Huevos de Oro (1993) and The Tit and the Moon/La Teta y la Luna (1994) being the other films.

The affairs are many, SPOILER and in the end Raúl beats protagonist José Luis to death with a ham as his weapon. Why is Spain apparently so filled with passion, one may wonder when watching such a vivid Luna film as this. The film pulsates with sex, has speedy, thrilling editing, delicious performances and enough symbolism to satisfy a classroom full of secondary school teachers. It is a treat of a film.

 

 

Watch a very short clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 13-23.5 mil. $ (different reports)

= Uncertain but surely a mega-hit

[Jamón Jamón premiered 2 September (Barcelona) and runs 95 minutes. The film marks Penélope Cruz's (The Brothers Grimsby (2016)) film debut, filmed when she was 17 years old. Shooting took place from September - December 1991 in Spain including in Barcelona. The film reportedly grossed 6 mil. $ in Spain and Italy and had rentals of 7 mil. $ internationally. If the latter number really is a rental and not a gross, then the final gross would be in the neighborhood of the 23.5 mil. $ noted above; otherwise the final gross is in the 13 mil. $ area, still impressive. With a probably budget of 1-2 mil. $, the film was definitely a mega-hit. It was nominated for 6 Goyas. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Luna returned with a commercial and theatrically with Golden Balls (1993). Cruz returned in Belle Epoque (1992); Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos (2021)) in Crónicas del Mal (1992, TV-series) and theatrically in El Amante Bilingüe (1993); and Jordi Mollà (Ibiza (2018)) in Shooting Eliazabeth (1992). Jamón Jamón is fresh at 60 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Jamón Jamón? 

Juno (2007) - Reitman's massively sweet indie favorite

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Two overwhelmed teenage stars are placed on the freshly colored poster for Jason Reitman's Juno

16 year-old Juno finds herself pregnant and faces some big decisions. SPOILER Her choice of adoption in turn gives a new situation for an immature adopting couple. 

 

Juno is written by Diablo Cody (Paradise (2013)) and directed by great Quebecois filmmaker Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking (2005)).

A sweet 'hyper indie' film, Juno is sweetly written, sweetly acted, warm and has several laugh-induing moments. Ellen Page (Into the Forest (2015)) is sweet. But the amount of 'sweet' is also the film's weak point. This is the honey-glazed teenage pregnancy movie.

 

Related posts:

 

Jason Reitman: Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) - Bust out some popcorn 

2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess 

Tully (2018) - Theron delivers in Reitman/Cody's candid motherhood dramedy  

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 7.5 mil. $

Box office: 232.3 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 30.97 times its cost)

[Juno premiered 1 September (Telluride Film Festival) and runs 96 minutes. Rainn Wilson was reportedly paid 750$ for his performance in the film; while Jennifer Garner accepted a reduced salary in exchange for an undisclosed backend %, which may have been a very lucrative deal for her in the end. Shooting took place from February - March 2007 in British Columbia. The film opened #17 to a 413k $ first weekend in 7 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #2, behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets, spending 4 weekends in the top 5, grossing 143.4 mil. $ (61.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 19.2 mil. $ (8.3 %) and Australia with 10.9 mil. $ (4.7 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning for Best Original Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to No Country for Old Men, Actress (Page) to Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose; and Director to Ethan and Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men. It also won 1/2 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for 3 Golden Globes, won a Grammy, 3/4 Independent Spirit award nominations, an AFI award and 3 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Reitman returned with Saturday Night Live (2008, TV-series), The Office (2007-08) and theatrically with Up in the Air (2009). Page returned in The Stone Angel (2007); Michael Cera (Barbie (2023)) in Drunk History (2007, TV-series), Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis (2008, TV-series) and theatrically in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008). Juno is certified fresh at 98 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Juno? 

Insidious: The Last Key (2018) - Demon franchise lost in the shadows

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A creepy hand with keys for nails is the motif on this poster for Adam Robitel's Insidious: The Last Key

Demonic medium Elise gets called back to her haunted childhood home and must relive traumatic memories in order to understand the disturbance in the house.

 

Insidious: The Last Key is written by writer/co-producer/actor Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man (2020)) and directed by Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)). It is the 4th film in the Insidious franchise (2010; 2013; 2015).

Elise's bad memories never become truly lucid for us in this yawn-worthy entry in the horror series, which feels about ready to be put in its grave here. Lin Shaye (Darkness Falls (2020)) does her best, returning as Elise, but the material is preposterous and superficial. - And not terribly frightening.

 

Related posts:

Insidious franchise: Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) - Whannell debuts with solid creeper sequel

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) - Whannell and Wan's deflated tormented family sequel

Insidious (2010) - Wan's thrilling, scary ghost horror

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 10 mil. $

Box office: 167.8 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 16.78 times its cost)

[Insidious: The Last Key was released 3 January (France) and runs 103 minutes. Shooting took place from August - September 2016 in California. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, to a 29.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 67.7 mil. $ (40.3 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Indonesia with 9 mil. $ (5.4 %) and Mexico with 8.5 mil. $ (5 %). The franchise returned with Insidious: The Red Door (2023). Robitel returned with Escape Room (2019). Shaye returned in Los Angeles Overnight (2018). Insidious: The Last Key is rotten at 28 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Insidious: The Last Key?

I Am Not Your Negro (2016, documentary) or, America's Race Problems

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A huge-sized title and James Baldwin's human stare resting atop makes up this poster for Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro

African-American activist and writer James Baldwin was a sensitive, intelligent, enormously eloquent man, whose expressions on racism in America still resound today.

 

I Am Not Your Negro is written, co-produced and directed by Raoul Peck (Haitian Corner (1987)). It is based on Baldwin's unfinished, 30-page novel manuscript entitled Remember This House.

Presented as a documentary essay, the film shows us three central friends of Baldwin; Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers, who were all assassinated for their racial and civil rights activism. Sharply and with a ripe sense of grief their time is portrayed, and straight lines are drawn from this era to the current police murders and Black Lives Matter movement. It is a bitter, bordering on hatefully poisonous image of the US as a morally bankrupt wonderland of the white, which is painted here. 

Many aspects are missing in the personal perspective on Baldwin, due to racism being the defining trait in everything in I Am Not Your Negro. 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 1 mil. $

Box office: 9.6 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 9.6 times its cost)

[I Am Not Your Negro premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. The film opened #24 to a 686k $ first weekend in 43 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #15 and in 313 theaters (different weekends), grossing 7.1 mil. $ (74 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 480k $ (5 %) and the Netherlands with 214k $ (2.2 %). The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, lost to O.J.: Made in America. It also won a BAFTA, a César award and was nominated for an Independent Spirit award, among many other honors. The-Numbers.com assert that the film additionally made in excess of 2.6 mil. $ on the domestic home video market alone. Peck returned with The Young Karl Marx (2017). I Am Not Your Negro is certified fresh at 99 % with an 8.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of I Am Not Your Negro? 

Come and See/Ідзі і глядзі/Иди и смотри (Idi i smotri) (1985) - Klimov's soul-searing war film

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A frightening, zombie-like appearance in the weather-beaten, catatonic face of a young man makes up this intense poster for Elem Klimov's Come and See

During World War II the Nazis march into Belarus to exterminate Communists. Here the big lad Flyora has his life unrooted permanently. 

 

Come and See is written by Ales Adamovich (Synovya ukhodyat v boy (1971)) and Russian master filmmaker, co-writer/director Elem Klimov (Welcome, or Nor Trespassing/Dobro pozhalovat, ili Postoronnim vkhod vospreshchen (1964)), whose 6th feature it was. It is based on the true story of the Nazi's burning down of more than 600 villages in Belarus during the war, as well as the books Khatyn and I Am from the Fiery Village by Adamovich. The title is a quote from Chapter 6 in the Bible's Book of Revelation.

Perhaps the greatest anti-war film of all time, Come and See is a deeply transfixing experience, related with a towering authority: A voluminous, 'forgotten' chapter of horror from WWII: How the Nazis exterminated and burnt down 628 Belarusian villages.

Aleksey Kravchenko (Jacked$ (2004)) is unforgettable as Flyora; he utilizes his face muscles to deliver some of the most intense and frightening expressions of human terror and despair in cinema history. Photographed (by Aleksey Rodionov (The Party (2017))) incredibly beautifully and inventively, with camera travelings that precurse work which Emmanuel Lubezki and other fine cinematographers would later be heralded for (such as found in The Revenant (2015)).

Some of the most unpleasant sequences in cinema history are here combined with surreal images (the stork, the burnt man) and an expressive portrait of the crimes of the Nazis. The evil is unfathomable. SPOILER The scene in which the building full of people gets burned down is horrifying as few others before or after it. 

Come and See, for most who dare, is a film you watch once and never forget.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Reportedly 20.9 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a mega-hit (projected return of 20.9 times its cost)

[Come and See premiered 9 July (Moscow Film Festival) and runs 142 minutes. It took Klimov 8 years to make it, most of them spent in pre-production since the Soviet authorities would not allow the production for years. When at last they did, all he had to change was the work title Kill Hitler. Shooting took place chronologically for 9 months in the Soviet Union. All of the portrayed events did reportedly occur. Klimov utilized hypnosis and autogenic training to shape the performance of Kravchenko, who was also put on a minimal diet. Live bullets were fired, at times just 10 centimeters from Kravchenko's head, he has alleged, and security measures were generally few and primitive. 28.9 mil. reportedly paid admission to the film, an incredible number that is impossible to verify. It was reportedly #6 at the annual USSR box office in 1986. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It has additionally made in excess of 1.2 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #91 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Singin' in the Rain (1952) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). Klimov retired from directing after the film. Kravchenko returned in Melkiy bes (1995). Come and See is certified fresh at 89 % with an 8.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Come and See? 

Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) - Whannell debuts with solid creeper sequel

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A girl frightened terribly, seated in her bed, makes up this effective poster for Leigh Whannell's Insidious: Chapter 3

A father and his teenage daughter and son are recovering from their loss of their wife and mother to cancer. But the girl's attempts at contacting their lost kin in the afterlife invites a demon close to them.

 

Insidious: Chapter 3 is written and directed by debuting Leigh Whannell (Wolf Man (2025)), who also co-stars in his returning role as one of the demon hunters. It is the 3rd film in the Insidious franchise (2010; 2013), a prequel to the two first films.

A meticulously told story with a good performance by Stefanie Scott (Beautiful Boy (2018)) as the main character girl once again succeeds in making an Insidious movie that carves out a place of creeping fright and scary moments. Lin Shaye (Waffle Hut (2021, TV movie)) as a psychic demon hunter is again a major asset for the series. 

Whannell makes a simple, well-made horror here.

 

Related posts:

Insidious franchise: Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) - Whannell and Wan's deflated tormented family sequel

Insidious (2010) - Wan's thrilling, scary ghost horror

Leigh Whannell: The Invisible Man (2020) - Whannell's cold and disheartening modern version (writer/director)

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) - Whannell and Wan's deflated tormented family sequel (co-writer, actor)

Insidious (2010) - Wan's thrilling, scary ghost horror (writer, actor)

Saw III (2006) - Good performances in Bousman's grisly third trappings (writer)

Saw II (2005) - Bousman's effective reality show-like horror sequel (co-writer)

Saw (2004) - Wan and Whannell's landmark horror beast (writer, actor)

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 11 mil. $

Box office: 112.9 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 10.26 times its cost)

[Insidious: Chapter 3 was released 28 May (Denmark, Slovakia) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place from July - August 2014 in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Spy and holdover hit San Andreas, to a 22.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 4 (#4), grossing 52.2 mil. $ (46.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 6.1 mil. $ (5.4 %) and Russia with 5.8 mil. $ (5.1 %). The franchise returned with Insidious: The Last Key (2018). Whannell returned with Upgrade (2018). Dermot Mulroney (August: Osage County (2013)) returned in Extant (2015, TV-series)) and theatrically in Truth (2015); Scott in Hayley Kioko: Girls Like Girls (2015, music video) and theatrically in Jem and the Holograms (2015). Insidious: Chapter 3 is rotten at 56 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Insidious: Chapter 3?

The Invisible Man (2020) - Whannell's cold and disheartening modern version

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An invisible stranger lurks behind star Elisabeth Moss in the shower on this poster for Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man

Cecilia gets out of a violent relationship full of fear, but soon she can breathe freely again, as her ex commits suicide. But somehow he doesn't feel like he is really deceased ...

 

The Invisible Man is written and directed by Leigh Whannell (Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)), loosely based on H.G. Well's (The Red Room (1894, short story)) same-titled 1897 novel.

Cold and photographically fixed on distances between us, the characters and the action, this update of James Whale's same-titled 1933 classic with Claude Rains builds suspense and has its moments but is too long and builds up to an unsatisfying, depressing ending: SPOILER Elisabeth Moss' (Her Smell (2018)) Cecilia dresses in the sociopath's cloak to murder him in a modern, female "empowering" spin, which is actually unsympathetic. 

Aldis Hodge (Black Adam (2022)) is distractingly handsome and muscular as a friend in whose house Cecilia just sleeps over without their relation ever being elaborated beyond this. 

Related posts:

Leigh Whannell: Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) - Whannell and Wan's deflated tormented family sequel (co-writer, actor)

Insidious (2010) - Wan's thrilling, scary ghost horror (writer, actor)

Saw III (2006) - Good performances in Bousman's grisly third trappings (writer)

Saw II (2005) - Bousman's effective reality show-like horror sequel (co-writer)

Saw (2004) - Wan and Whannell's landmark horror beast (writer, actor)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $

Box office: 144.4 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 20.62 times its cost)

[The Invisible Man premiered 24 February (Hollywood) and runs 124 minutes. The film began development in 2006 with David Goyer involved, later involving Johnny Depp and intended as an entry in Universal's Dark Universe, which was started and ended prematurely with the dismal The Mummy (2017), a major flop. Shooting took place in Australia, including in Sydney, in London, England, Toronto, Ontario and in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #1 to an 28.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent two more weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4), before moving to digital channels, sped up by the ongoing China Virus pandemic. It grossed 70.4 mil. $ (48.8 % of the total gross) domestically. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 8.8 mil. $ (6.1 %) and France with 6 mil. $ (4.2 %). The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit award, among other honors. A sequel is in the making. Whannell returned with Deftones: Ceremony (2021, music video) and theatrically with Wolf Man (2025). Moss returned in The French Dispatch (2021). The Invisible Man is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Invisible Man?

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) or, Ice Age 3: Add Dinosaurs!

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Our ancient friends caught in a glaring pickle on this funny poster for Michael Thurmeier and Carlos Saldanha's Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Ellie the mammoth is pregnant, as her little family discover a lost dinosaur world, where Sid the ground sloth gets lost, carrying 3 dinosaur eggs...

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is written by Peter Ackerman (The Diplomat (2024, TV-series)), Yoni Brenner (Rio 2 (2014)), Michael Berg (Ice Age (2002)) and Mike Reiss (My Life in Ruins (2009)), with Jason Carter Eaton (Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011, TV movie)) contributing story elements, and directed by Michael Thurmeier (The Scratist (2012, short)) and Carlos Saldanha (Ice Age (2002)). It is the 3rd film in the Ice Age franchise (2002; 2006).

A dragging story that is also very tied up to Simon Pegg's (Luck (2022)) new pirate, dino-hunting weasel character who goes bonkers and is a weirdly unfunny companion.

Wow-ing animation and fun moments and sequences, often being those with Scrat, the non-speaking squirrel character, and one female flying squirrel distraction, elevate an otherwise disappointing film.

 

Related posts:

 

Ice Age franchise: Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) - Lots of fun in 4th IA chapter

Michael Thurmeier: Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) - Lots of fun in 4th IA chapter

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 90 mil. $

Box office: 886.6 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 9.85 times its cost)

[Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was released 26 June (Uruguay) and runs 94 minutes. It opened #2, behind holdover hit Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, to a 41.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#2-#5), grossing 196.5 mil. $ (22.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 82.1 mil. $ (9.3 %) and France with 69.2 mil. $ (7.8 %). It was the year's highest-grossing animation and the 3rd highest-grossing film of the year over-all. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The franchise returned with Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012). Thurmeier returned with 3 shorts prior to Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012); Saldanha with Rio (2011). Ray Romano (Paddleton (2019)) returned in Funny People (2009); John Leguizamo (Spawn (1997)) in Gamer (2009). Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is rotten at 46 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs?

Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) - Lots of fun in 4th IA chapter

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An action-packed adventure at sea is promised on this splashy poster for Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier's Ice Age: Continental Drift

A rift is taking place in our mammoth family, where Peaches has become a teenager. Now the continental plates start moving and breaking up, literally breaking up our friends. The larger group of them gets into trouble with an evil pirate ape on an iceberg ship.

 

Ice Age: Continental Drift is written by Michael Berg (Ice Age (2002)) and Jason Fuchs (Argylle (2024)) and directed by great Ohioan filmmaker Steve Martino (Horton Hears a Who! (2008)) and Michael Thurmeier (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)). It is the 4th film in the Ice Age franchise (2002; 06; 09).

The plot is simple and manageable, but the film scores on lots of funny gags and jokes: Ray Romano (Made for Love (2021-22)), franchise newcomer Wanda Sykes (Chivalry (2022, TV-series)) and others shine in the impressive voice cast, - and the filmmakers strike a good balance between the story line and episodes featuring the series' popular squirrel Scrat, whose obsessive hunt for an acorn of course is what causes the continental plate movements! This is fun and feels like a throwback to the classic Looney Tunes (1930-69) short animations. 

The animation is fantastic to boot here, colorful and vivid to the eyes. Ice Age: Continental Drift is a fun-filled family treat.

 

Related post:

 

Steve Martino: Horton Hears a Who! (2008) - Belly-laughs and fantastic imagination in great family animation (co-director)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 95 mil. $

Box office: 877.2 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 9.23 times its cost)

[Ice Age: Continental Drift premiered 26 June (Buenos Aires) and runs 88 minutes. Production took place in Connecticut. The film opened #1 to a 46.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#2-#4), grossing 161.3 mil. $ (18.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 67.8 mil. $ (7.7 %) and Germany with 67 mil. $ (7.6 %). It was the year's highest-grossing animation and the 5th highest-grossing film of the year over-all. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. The franchise returned with Ice Age: Collision Course (2016). Martino returned with The Peanuts Movie (2015); Thurmeier with Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe (2015, short), Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade (2016, TV movie) and theatrically with Ice Age: Collision Course (2016). Romano returned in Ted (2012). Ice Age: Continental Drift is rotten at 37 % with a 5.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ice Age: Continental Drift?

If.... (1968) - Anderson's landmark provocative youth revolt picture

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Militant-looking but spiffily dressed young men against dramatic scenes inserted into the alarming nexus of a hand grenade makes up this effective poster for Lindsay Anderson's If....

We follow the strictly disciplined, odd life in a English public boarding school, where three older students resist the teachings of the institution, led by the rebel Travis.

 

If.... is written by David Sherwin (Wet Gold (1984, TV movie)), with John Howlett (Touch and Die (1992, TV movie)) contributing story elements, and co-produced and directed by great Indian-born British filmmaker Lindsay Anderson (This Sporting Life (1963)). 

The film sparkles with freshness to this day in lovely images (cinematography by Miroslav Ondrícek (Amadeus (1984))), with an abundance of funny and striking scenes. It is a powerful and provocative and violently revolutionary, subversive film. It idolizes Mick Travis, the leading character which Malcolm McDowell (Moving On (2022)) portrays with an awards-worthy turn.

SPOILER Despite the temptation to mostly shake one's head at the perverse school traditions of the English, this film presents contradicting 'heroes' that are just as, - if not a lot more, - terrible, because they finally arrive to the dubious conclusion that the systems faults are sufficient grounds to justify shooting every one in it!

If.... may be the strongest youth revolt film of all, which however also clearly shows the wave's unsympathetic, anarchisticly violent backside. It is odd that Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver mass murderer nearly a decade later, in another pivotal cinematic examination of violence in young males, is also named Travis. Perhaps the lack of a heroic glow around the later Travis character reflects a development towards a more critical stance in the general perception of the societal revolt, led by the young, in the intermediate years. 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 500k $

Box office: In excess of 5.75 mil. $

= Uncertain but surely a mega-hit (projected return of 14 times its cost)

[If.... was released 19 December (UK) and runs 111 minutes. McDowell was paid 90 £ a week for his performance. Shooting took place from January - March 1968 in England, including in London. For the North American release, male nudity was cut out in order for the film to receive an R rating. Variety reported in January 1970 that the film had earned rentals of 2.3 mil. $, likely from North America alone, which suggests a gross of 5.75 mil. $. The film is described as a hit in the UK, but its actual gross and numbers from other markets are not recorded online regrettably: It didn't attract audiences in Denmark (just 825 tickets sold). A cautious projected total gross of 7 mil. $ is not unlikely. The film was nominated for 2 BAFTAs, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes and was nominated for a Golden Globe. Anderson brought McDowell's Travis character back in two later films, again portrayed by McDowell: O Lucky Man! (1973), - he only directed an episode of Play for Today (1972) in the years between, - and Britannia Hospital (1982). McDowell first returned in The Wednesday Play (1969, TV-series) and theatrically in Figures in a Landscape (1970). If.... is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of If....?

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - Siegel's paranoia sci-fi horror classic

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A multifaceted and highly exciting poster for Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers

A little California town's treasured doctor comes to the neighboring town, apparently psychotic. In his town aliens have overtaken everyone's bodies and made unfeeling pod people out of them!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is written by Daniel Mainwaring (Convict Stage (1965)), with uncredited contributions by Richard Collins (Spanish Affair (1957)), adapting Jack Finney's (The Night People (1977)) 1955 novel The Body Snatchers, and directed by Illinoisan master filmmaker Don Siegel (The Verdict (1946)), whose 11th feature it was.

A strangely effective and intensely frightening film, masterfully scored (by Carmen Dragon (The Strange Woman (1946))) and with good effects and acting. Is it deliberately (anti-Communist) political? Academic debate about this has persisted. The filmmakers denied for decades, but poignant political meanings have been read into the film for even longer. In any case Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a blood-curdling classic. Paranoia lives in this chiller.

 

Related posts:

Don Siegel: Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller 

Top 10: Best heist movies 

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

Charley Varrick (1973) or, The Last of the Independents

Top 10: Best first-of-franchise movies 

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

Top 10: Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It!   

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 416k $

Box office: In excess of 3 mil. $ (North America and the UK alone)

= Mega-hit (projected return of 9.61 times its cost)

[Invasion of the Body Snatchers was released 5 February (North America) and runs 80 minutes. Shooting took place from March - April 1955 in California, including in Los Angeles. The filmmakers fought with the studio over the budget, narration, ending, humor in the film and its aspect ratio. The film made "more than 2.5 mil. $" in North America and 500k $ in the UK. The world gross is not known, but a guess could be that the film made at least 4 mil. $. Siegel returned with Crime in the Streets (1956). Kevin McCarthy (The Misfits (1961)) returned in Star Stage (1956, TV-series), Front Row Center (1956, TV-series) and theatrically in Nightmare (1956); Dana Wynter (Fantasy Island (1979, TV-series)) in Colonel March of Scotland Yard (1956, TV-series) and theatrically in D-Day the Sixth of June (1956). Invasion of the Body Snatchers is certified fresh at 97 % with a 9.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers?