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Colorful levity and hijinks are promised on this poster for Billy Wilder's Irma la Douce
In Paris' sinful Rue Casanova, a new copper roams, indignant and active in upsetting the obvious prostitution going on there, but only until he falls head over heels for the charming Irma.
Irma la Douce is written by I.A.L. Diamond (One, Two, Three (1961)) and Austrian-Hungarian/American master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Billy Wilder (Bad Seed (1934)), whose 19th feature it was. It is an adaptation of the same-titled 1956 French stage musical. The title is French and translates to 'Irma the sweet'.
This poorly aged Wilder adaptation beckons you to accept prostitution a an easy and comfortable life, one that is also natural and without any negative sides to it. That proposition is a hard one to swallow, and fatiguing as well. The same can be said of Jack Lemmon's (Some Like It Hot (1959)) policeman character's unexplained 180 turn in the story from a by-the-book stickler to a completely embracing participant in the monkey business goings on of the Rue Casanova. His plan involves him keeping Shirley MacLaine's (Around the World in 80 Days (1956)) Irma from her sidewalk 'career' by dressing up as an English professor with very deep pockets.
Jokes are repeated ad infinitum. Irma la Douce is overlong. Handsome sets and costumes weigh up; and Lemmon's caricature of an Englishman is funny. But Irma la Douce overall is taxing.
[Irma la Douce premiered 5 June (New York) and runs 147 minutes. The film was envisioned as a repairing of Lemmon with Wilder and Marilyn Monroe as Irma, but the latter's overdose death in 1962 meant the hiring of MacLaine. It seems that Wilder, Lemmon and MacLaine negotiated the same pay deal of 350k $ plus 7.5 % of the profits, a very lucrative deal as it turned out, which reportedly also meant that United Artists only profited 440k $ from the film's stellar theatrical run. Shooting took place from October 1962 - February 1963 in California and Paris, France. The film was a huge hit in North America, where it was the year's 5th highest-grossing with rentals of 12 mil. $/25.2 mil. $ (80 % of the total gross). It also struck huge in Netherlands with 3.6 mil. admissions, becoming the biggest hit in the country for many years. The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning for Best Score - Adaptation/Treatment (André Previn (Dead Ringer (1963))). It lost Best Actress (MacLaine) to Patricia Neal in Hud and Cinematography - Color (Joseph LaShelle (A Child Is Waiting (1963))) to Leon Shamroy for Cleopatra. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, won a David di Donatello award and 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, among other honors. Wilder returned with Kiss Me, Stupid (1964). Lemmon returned in Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963); MacLaine in What a Way to Go! (1964). Irma la Douce is fresh at 75 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Two grown men in underpants wave white cloth in the air as UN soldiers look on in this poster for Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land
During the Bosnian War (1992-95) a soldier trips and lands on top of a landmine. Can he now cooperate with an enemy about this matter, and how do the media and UN play a role in the war?
No Man's Land is written and directed by feature-debuting Danis Tanovic (Budjenje (1999, documentary)), who also composed the score. The English title is a literal translation of the original Serbian one.
Become a bit more knowing about the Bosnia War by watching this Oscar-intended feature that has brutality and high ambitions but no promising core or any greater cinematic qualities. There are no surprises and little insight to gain from this film about unthinking killing in a beautiful landscape by people that the surrounding world take little interest in. The news media need their stories; and the UN are without balls. Spend an hour and a half to learn this here in Tanovic's unremarkable film.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 2 mil. €, approximately 1.8 mil. $
Box office: 4.8 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.66 times its cost)
[No Man's Land premiered 12 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 98 minutes. 19 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in Slovenia. The film opened #53 to a 22k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #39 and in 38 theaters (different weekends), grossing 1 mil. $ (20.8 % of the total gross). The film won the Best Foreign Language Oscar and the Best Screenplay award at Cannes as well as 1/2 César award nominations. It was also nominated for 2 David di Donatello awards, won 1/2 European Film award nominations, a Golden Globe, 2/3 AFI award nominations, a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Tanovic returned with a segment of September 11 (2002) and with a proper feature with L'Enfer (2005). Branko Djuric (Teater Paradiznik (1994, TV-series), director) returned in Kajmak i marmelada (2003); Rene Bitorajac (Minions (2015)) with a voice performance in Cats & Dogs (2001) and a physical performance in 24 sata (2002). No Man's Land is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
An celestial array of surreal elements and many stars stand ready on this poster for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
In London a traveling group of weirdos attempt to entertain ungrateful, rude drunks from a wagon that includes the ancient Parnassus' imaginarium.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is written by Charles McKeown (Brazil (1985)) and American-born British master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)), whose 11th feature it is.
Despite a dragging beginning, this chaotic film flows out and becomes enormously testing to watch. This is less astonishing when considering that it is a Gilliam creation that was completed with three new stars cast in the lead, since the original suddenly passed away in real life, in a script that was already bonkers. (Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale (2001)) died at age 28 from accidental prescription medication poisoning.) All involved do what they can, in ugly hair, beards and many layers of ugly costumes, often in ugly lighting, in ugly images, with many sequences also featuring ugly 'fantastical' CGI elements.
Ledger's Tony character, as a side note, is a man who is rescued from wanting to hang himself. Gilliam's messy procession is anything but uplifting.
[The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus premiered 22 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 123 minutes. 12 companies and support bodies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from December 2007 - April 2008, with a month-long hiatus due to the demise of Ledger, in British Columbia and in England, including in London. Gilliam engaged friends and colleagues of Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to all overtake the actor's part following his tragic death, and the three decided to donate their (unknown) salaries to Ledger's daughter Matilda. The film went about 5 mil. $ over budget. Co-producer William Vince also passed away prior to release. The sensation surrounding Ledger's death meant that the film reportedly made back its budget through presales before even getting released. It opened #20 to a 415k $ first weekend in 48 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #11 and in 607 theaters, grossing 7.6 mil. $ (11.8 % of the total gross). This was the film's 3rd biggest market. The biggest two were Italy with 11.1 mil. $ (17.3 %) and Japan with 6.5 mil. $ (10.1 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Costume Design to The Young Victoria and Art Direction to Avatar. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, a British Independent Film award and other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film reportedly additionally made in excess of 11.7 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Gilliam returned with The Legend of Hallowdega (2010, short) and The Wholly Family (2011, short) and theatrically with The Zero Theorem (2013). This was Ledger's final film; Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World (2017)) returned with voice performances in My Dog Tulip (2009) and 9 (2009) prior to his physical theatrical return in The Last Station (2009). The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is fresh at 64 % with a 6.0/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus?
Probably the largest ever canine cast assembled on a single poster, here for Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs
The nephew of the Japanese dictatorial mayor Kobayashi loses his beloved dog Spots, when all canines are placed in exile with their dog flu virus on a garbage island, and so the boy ventures out to find him.
Isle of Dogs is written, co-produced and directed by Texan master filmmaker Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket (1996)), whose 9th feature it is. Roman Coppola (Asteroid City (2023)), Kunichi Nomura (Lost in Translation (2003, actor)) and Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Limited (2007)) contributed story elements.
With incredible-looking animation, mostly stop-motion and doll-based, Isle of Dogs is nevertheless still even less engaging and even more vexing than Anderson's first animated venture, Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). It is weird and without sweeping characters, as they are cerebrally oriented, alienated dogs or strange humans with few expressions, respectively.
Accompanied by a droning, "witty" score (by Alexandre Desplat (Lee (2023))), which makes Isle of Dogs even more tooth-pulling. Without laughter, and with a starry voice ensemble that don't elevate matters but only increases the bewilderment at this doggone picture.
[Isle of Dogs premiered 15 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 101 minutes. The film opened #15 to a 1.6 mil. $ first weekend in 27 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,947 theaters (different weeks), grossing 32 mil. $ (49.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 8.3 mil. $ (12.8 %) and China with 6.8 mil. $ (10.5 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, losing both: It lost Best Score to Ludwig Göransson for Black Panther and Animation to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs and 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. The film additionally grossed an estimated 4.7 mil. $ on the domestic home video market alone, according to The-Numbers.com. Anderson returned with The French Dispatch (2021). Bryan Cranston (Better Call Saul (2022, TV-series)) returned in 3 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in El Camino (2019). Isle of Dogs is certified fresh at 90 % with an 8.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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.
[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.]
Beloved characters, some new ones and a wealth of exciting situations and elements are teased on this classical poster for Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Archeological doctor Jones is in trouble with the vexatious Russians in the 1950s, when he gets a whiff of an ancient crystal skull in South America, SPOILER which turns out to stem from an alien.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is written by David Koepp (Inferno (2016)), with George Lucas (Radioland Murders (1994)) and Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour 2 (2001)) contributing story elements, and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Steven Spielberg (Firelight (1964)), whose 25th feature it is. It is the 4th film in the Indiana Jones franchise (1981-).
As a boyhood fan of the Indiana Jones movies, I so wanted to see one last great Indiana Jones film that the production of the 4th film made me genuinely excited. And so it was with great sorrow that I had to face the fact that my dream would not come to fruition. Crystal Skull should have never been made. Despite inordinate testaments to the opposite (promotional interviews stressing the live stunt work and old-time honoring crafts involved in the production), the adventure here obviously now mostly takes place in front of green screens with more or less fantastical animations later conjured up as backgrounds. The feelings of wonder and awe at the physical sets, props, special effects and stunts of the original three films here vanish along with any sense of cinema magic.
With what remains, it is hard not to think that Harrison Ford (Firewall (2006)) has aged too much, although he tries tenaciously to appear sprightly, along with his recommissioned love bird Karen Allen (Bad Hurt (2015)), - and that Shia LaBeouf (Bobby (2006)), despite sometimes looking quite cute with his 1950s duck rump hairdo, doesn't really liven up his big adventure scenes. Cate Blanchett (Borderlands (2024)) embellishes her Ukrainian, power-mad Communist villain. But however way you turn things, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should have remained an idea game between old friends, or a script in a dusty drawer somewhere.
[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull premiered 18 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 122 minutes. Lucas' ideas and wishes for a 4th film were brushed off by Spielberg and Ford for many years, allegedly until Spielberg's children demanded another Indy movie, when development began more seriously. Shooting took place from June - October 2007 in New Mexico, California, including in Los Angeles, Connecticut, Hawaii, Brazil and Argentina. The film was shrouded in heavily guarded secrecy, and a 37 year-old who was found to be in possession of stolen photos and budget papers from the production was sentenced to 2 years and 4 months prison time for the offense. Paramount reportedly spent 150 mil. $ promoting the film. Ford, Spielberg and Lucas forewent salaries in favor of a profit participation payment, reportedly beginning their payment once the film crossed 400 mil. $. - Ford eventually had made 65 mil. $ from the film. It opened #1 to a 100.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5), grossing 317.1 mil. $ (40.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 53 mil. $ (6.7 %) and the UK with 50.7 mil. $ (6.4 %). It was the year's 2nd highest-grossing over-all, behind The Dark Knight, and the 3rd highest-grossing in North America, behind The Dark Knight and Iron Man. The film was nominated for a BAFTA and a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film made in excess of 117.2 mil. $ on its home video releases in North America. LaBeouf stopped defending the film at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and was criticized publicly by Ford for it. He later said he regretted this, but probably only made things worse when he elaborated about Spielberg; "He told me there's a time to be a human being and have an opinion, and
there's a time to sell cars. It brought me freedom, but it also killed
my spirits because this was a dude I looked up to like a sensei." Ford returned as Jones in James Mangold's massive flop Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Spielberg returned with A Timeless Call (2008, short) and theatrically with The Adventures of Tintin (2011). Ford first returned in Crossing Over (2009). Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is certified fresh at 77 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?
Carefully calculated stars and action elements inhabit this poster for Jon Favreau's Iron Man
Super weapons dealer Tony Stark is taken captive in Afghanistan and uses his engineering abilities there to create a deadly metal suit. Once he makes it back to California, he has to fight to retain control of his giant company!
Iron Man is written by Mark Fergus (First Snow (2006)), Matt Holloway (Uncharted (2022)), Art Marcum (Shadow of Fear (2004)) and Hawk Ostby (Childred of Men (2006)), based on the Marvel Comics character first presented in 1962, and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Jon Favreau (Made (2001)), who also plays a small part in the film. It is the first film in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as well as in the Iron Man franchise.
It is undeniably insensitive and in very poor taste to launch a new superhero franchise by setting it amid a real, active war (the US-led War on Terror in Afghanistan), as is done in Iron Man, which ages fast, - and poorly. Less than 10 years after its release, it already looked like an uninspired, jingoistic assortment, - at any rate to everyone who has passed their teenage level of maturity life period. The eternally servile Pepper Potts character, played by Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), is a backwards-leaning, weak female component in the film. Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow (2005)) is neither funny nor very good as Stark's US Air Force liaison and friend. And the action scenes are well set up but mostly consists of one CGI tin man pitted against another.
Jeff Bridges (The Fisher King (1991)) is like a totally different man than we normally know him as the corporate villain here, while Robert Downey Jr. (Due Date (2010)), - in his career's full throttle career comeback role, - is in his ace. The two make this weak franchise opener a bearable if not really worthwhile affair.
[Iron Man premiered 14 April (Sydney, Australia) and runs 126 minutes. Development had been ongoing since 1990. The film changed hands from Universal Pictures to Fox to New Line Cinema to Marvel Studios over the course of the following years, with talents Stuart Gordon, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Quentin Tarantino, Joss Whedon, David Goyer, Nick Cassavetes and others being involved at different times. Downey Jr. was paid anywhere between 500k to 5 mil. $ for his performance (different sources; the 5 mil. $ may well have been a final sales-based compensation whereas the 500k $ was the guaranteed base pay); Howard got 3.5 mil. $. Shooting took place from March - June 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada, California, including in Los Angeles, and in India. The film opened #1 to a 98.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained at #1 for another weekend and then spent another 3 in the top 5, grossing 318.6 mil. $ (54.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 34.2 mil. $ (5.8 %) and South Korea with 25.1 mil. $ (4.3 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Sound Editing, lost to The Dark Knight, and Visual Effects, lost to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Grammy and won an AFI award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. Favreau returned with Iron Man 2 (2010), the next in the Iron Man franchise, with returning stars, minus Howard who was replaced over a pay dispute. Downey Jr. returned with an uncredited cameo in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and with an actual performance in Tropic Thunder (2008). Iron Man is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
