Hell in the Pacific (1968) - Boorman's boring two-man turkey

♥

 

Weighty themes are teased on this superiorly crafted poster for John Boorman's Hell in the Pacific

Two men are stranded on a small island in the Pacific; one American and one Japanese. They hate each other like the plague. - But their chances of survival and escape are better if they work together.

 

Hell in the Pacific is written by Eric Bercovici (Shogun (1980, TV movie)) and Alexander Jacobs (Point Blank (1967)), with Shinobu Hashimoto (Hakkodasan (1977)) contributing uncredited work and story contributions by co-writer/producer Reuben Bercovitch (Bonanza (1968, TV-series)), and directed by great English filmmaker John Boorman (Having a Wild Weekend (1965)).

The two seasoned stars Lee Marvin (Pocket Money (1972)) and Toshirô Mifune (Sicilian Connection (1987)) muck around and crackle in each their own tongue, but any semblance of an exciting story is missing, making Hell in the Pacific strand thoroughly as a deadly bore. SPOILER You may wake up in the scene wherein Marvin urinates on Mifune. - Or you may not.

 

Related post:

 

John Boorman: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) - Boorman stuns with truly abysmal sequel

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 4.15 mil. $

Box office: 3.23 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.77 times its cost)

[Hell in the Pacific was released 18 December (North America) and runs 103 minutes. Marvin and Mifune had fought on opposite sides during WWII: Marvin as a US Marine, receiving the Purple Heart for his service and getting injured in the Battle of Saipan in 1944; Mifune in the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service. Shooting took place from January 1968 - ? in the Micronesian country of Palau in the Pacific, near the Philippines. The film earned 1.33 mil. $ (41.2 % of the total gross) in North America. Due to its strangely high cost, the film recorded a massive 4.115 mil. $ loss for the short-lived ABC Films. Boorman returned with Leo the Last (1970). Marvin returned in Paint Your Wagon (1969); Mifune in Samurai Banners/Fûrin kazan (1969). Hell in the Pacific is fresh at 67 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hell in the Pacific?  

Letters from Iwo Jima/硫黄島からの手紙 [Öjima Kara no Tegami] (2006) - The Japanese side of Eastwood's remarkable WWII two-parter

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Big Hit Movie of the Year

Sundown provides the sharp light on this interesting poster for Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima

The WWII battle for Japanese isle Iwo Jima in the Pacific is portrayed from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and military leaders.

Letters from Iwo Jima is written by Iris Yamashita, with Paul Haggis (Crash (2004)) contributing story elements, based on Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Japanese general Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed by Ken Watanabe (Zawa-zawa Shimo-Kitazawa (2000)) in the movie) and Tsuyuko Yoshida, and directed by Californian master filmmaker Clint Eastwood (A Perfect World (1993)). It is the second part of Eastwood's double feature project of the Battle for Iwo Jima, which also includes the great Flags of Our Fathers (2006), which shows the American side of the story.
Letters appears less riveting than Flags to me, maybe partially because its structure is looser: Who we precisely are following, and what they aim for is not always obvious. - The character's reasoning and decisions are especially hard to follow, - their cultural persuasion of the merits of suicide are among the ludicrous elements that make them hard to grasp, - and Eastwood has chosen to have little in the way of narrative assistance here for us. There are no opening credits, time assertions or text to get us seated in the right frame of mind.
But Letters doesn't shy away from history, and the film has several memorable scenes. It is a handsome and hard war film, which, together with Flags of Our Fathers, are a unique addition to cinema's depiction of war. Together they underline the duality of truth in a most majestic manner.

Related posts:

Clint Eastwood: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
American Sniper (2014) - Eastwood conveys an American man and myth in electric masterpiece  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess   
J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic   
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving
The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (actor)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (actor)
The Enforcer (1976) - Eastwood teaches revolutionaries a lesson in third, less punchy Dirty Harry (star)
The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (actor)  
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (actor)
For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer (actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (actor)   

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 19 mil. $
Box office: 68.6 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 3.61 times the cost)
[Letters from Iwo Jima premiered 15 November (Budokan, Japan) and runs 140 minutes. Shooting took place in Japan, including on Iwo Jima, in Iceland and in California, including Los Angeles from March 2006 - 'late 2006'. The USS Texas battleship which is in both Letters and Flags actually participated in the Battle for Iwo Jima for 5 days. The film opened #30 to an 89k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #14 and in 781 theaters and grossed 13.7 mil. $ (20 % of the total gross), being the film's 2nd biggest market. It was hugely successful in Japan, its biggest market, where it was #1 for 5 weeks and grossed 42.9 mil. $ (62.5 %). Japanese audiences and critics praised the film for its authentic Japanese details, use of the language, mostly Japanese actors and a variety of character types. The 3rd biggest market was France with 1.7 mil. $ (2.5 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars: It won for Best Sound Editing and lost Best Picture and Best Director to Martin Scorsese's great The Departed, and Best Original Screenplay to Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine. It also won 1/2 Golden Globe noms, an AFI award, was nominated for a David di Donatello award, won 2 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. Eastwood returned with Changeling (2008). Watanabe returned in Hoshi Hitotsu no Yoru (2007, TV movie), Keiji Ichidai: Hiratsuka Hachibei no Shôwa Jiken Shi (2009, TV-series) and theatrically in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009). Letters from Iwo Jima is certified fresh at 91 % with an 8.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Letters from Iwo Jima?

Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best War Movie of the Year + Best True-Story Movie of the Year + Best Big Flop Movie of the Year

This powerful, simple poster for Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers evokes the power of the iconic Iwo Jima photograph of the American flag-raising

Flags of Our Fathers presents the incredible story of the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, the taking of the Japanese Mount Suribachi, a sulfurous, volcanic island, but mostly about the sensational photograph of a flag-raising there, which effectively kept the US war effort afloat for the last months of WWII and immortalized the names of 3 ordinary, young men.

Flags of Our Fathers is written by William Broyles Jr. (China Beach (1988-91)) and Paul Haggis (EZ Streets (1996-97)), based on the same-titled 2000 book by James Bradley (Flyboys: A True Story of Courage (2003)) and Ron Powers (Face Value (1979)), and directed by Californian master filmmaker Clint Eastwood (The Rookie (1990)) as his 26th feature.
Eastwood handles the extraordinary story with an elevated integrity and arranges an epic circle around the narrative, which is about sacrifice and our need for heroes. It is structured in an advanced and highly affecting order with lots of flashbacks.
The cast, especially Ryan Phillippe (MacGruber (2010)) and Adam Beach (Crook (2013)), who plays the phenomenally tragic character of native American Ira Hayes, are outstanding, and several supporting characters also come to vivid life by the strong ensemble.
Some of the large-scale, CGI-heavy composite shots in the film sometimes have an artificial quality to them. It doesn't change the general effect of Flags of Our Fathers, which is a film primarily for and by men, a truly Great Manly Film.

Related posts:

Clint Eastwood: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
American Sniper (2014) - Eastwood conveys an American man and myth in electric masterpiece  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess   
J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic   
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story  

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (actor)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (actor)
The Enforcer (1976) - Eastwood teaches revolutionaries a lesson in third, less punchy Dirty Harry (star)
The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (actor)  
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (actor)  

Listen here to the film's theme suite here from its score by Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens

Cost: Reportedly around 55 mil. $
Box office: 65.9 mil. $
= Big flop (1.19 times the cost)
[Flags of Our Fathers premiered 9 October (Los Angeles) and runs 131 minutes. It was Eastwood's idea to make two Iwo Jima films; one about the American side (Flags of Our Fathers) and one about the Japanese soldiers' experiences (Letters from Iwo Jima (2006). Shooting took place in Illinois, including Chicago, California, including Los Angeles, in Texas, Washington, DC, in Iceland and Iwo Jima, Japan for about 60 days from August 2005 - 'early 2006'. The budget was set high at 80 mil. $, but Eastwood wrapped shooting way ahead of time, thus seemingly saving a whopping 25 mil. $. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release The Prestige and holdover hit The Departed, to a weak 10.2 mil. $ in North America, where it spent one more week in the top 5 (#4) an grossed just 33.6 mil. $ (51 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 13.1 mil. $ (19.9 %) and France with 3.9 mil. $ (5.9 %). Spike Lee caused controversy by criticizing Eastwood for not showing more black Marines in the two films, which turned out to be factually based; Eastwood stated that Lee should "shut his face." The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Sound Mixing, lost to Dreamgirls, and Best Sound Editing, lost to Letters from Iwo Jima. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won a National Board of Review award, several other honors and high placement on countless critics' annual top 10 lists. The film has reportedly made in excess of 45 mil. $ on home video sales in North America alone, which would change its status to just 'flop' if figured into its gross. It has since (in 2016) come to light that John 'Doc' Bradley was not, in fact, one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers. Eastwood returned with Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) and after that with Changeling (2008). Flags of Our Fathers is certified fresh at 73 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Flags of Our Fathers?

Life of Pi (2012) - Lee's triumphant, stunning faith-builder

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Animal Movie of the Year

Richard Parker the Bengal tiger looks at us in all his stunning beauty on the poster for Ang Lee's Life of Pi

Piscine Patel is telling the story of his life to a writer: Of how he got named after a Parisian swimming pool, which made him a victim of bullying in his school days in India. And of how his father's decision to sell their zoo and move all the animals to Canada led him on an terrible, - and amazing, - perilous journey.

Life of Pi is an adaptation of Spanish Yann Martel's (Self (1996)) same-titled 2001 novel by Oscar-nominated David Magee (Finding Neverland (2004)) and directed by Oscar-winning Taiwanese master filmmaker Ang Lee (The Ice Storm (1997)). The adventurous story lives on some great themes: Loss, survival, sacrifice, loneliness and not least belief in God.
Life of Pi won me totally over the second time I saw it, as its unusual ending required that I saw it twice to really appreciate it. The film is in fact a complex near-parable. - Not your average 3D mega-movie!
Suraj Sharma (Million Dollar Arm (2014)), (who reportedly won the part after auditions of 3,000 young men!), gives a strong, Oscar-worthy lead performance. Pi is a visual cornucopia of colors and wild nature-impressions from first frame to last.
Life of Pi seems like a gift to humanity, an invitation to believe and to see the beauty and the wonders of God's creation everywhere around us. A truly inspiring masterpiece, not to be missed!
And Lee's best film yet, in my opinion, although I have only seen 6 of his 12 features. He is now working on the eagerly anticipated war comedy Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016).

Related posts:



Ang Lee: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
Brokeback Mountain (2005) or, That Place That Weren't Possible

Watch the amazing trailer for the film here

Cost: 120 mil. $
Box office: 609 mil. $
= Big hit
[Pi had a long development, dating back to 2003, and both M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuarón and Jean-Pierre Jeunet were attached to direct at different stages. (Shyamalan left to direct Lady in the Water (2006) instead, a big mistake on his part.) Shooting took months in 2011 in India, Taiwan, (including 2½ months in the world's largest self-generating wave-tank there), and Canada. Lee shot scenes with Tobey Maguire as the writer but scrapped them and reshot with a less familiar face in the role, (Rafe Spall.) The majority of the incredible visual effects for the film were created by Oscar-winning Rhythm & Hues Studios, who went bankrupt in February 2013, sparking protests by enraged VFX people outside the Oscar ceremony that did not tolerate mention of the industry debacle. Audiences braved Hurricane Sandy that put large parts of New York and the East coast under water and went to see Pi, a film without major stars, but marketed as the next Avatar (2009), giving it a 30.5 mil. $ North-American first, extended Thanksgiving weekend. It grossed 124.7 mil. $ in North America (20.5 % of the total gross.) Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China (90.8 mil. $/14.9 %) and the UK (45.4 mil. $/7.5 %). It was #1 for 3 weeks in China, Australia and Chile and the biggest Hollywood hit of the year in India. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning 4, making it the top-winning movie of the year: Best Director, Cinematography, Score and Visual Effects. It made many a Top 10 list of the year, including Roger Ebert's #2 movie of the year, behind Argo (2012). Life of Pi is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Life of Pi?
Do you agree that it's Lee's best film yet?

The Cove (2009) - Psihoyos' dolphin doc is a stouthearted, important piece of magnificent filmmaking

♥♥♥♥♥♥

The scary poster for Louie Psihoyos' The Cove

QUICK REVIEW:

In The Cove, we are taken on a suspenseful mission to Taiji, a Japanese fishing town which is the center of the world's worst, systematic, annual dolphin-slaugther. Due to effective cover-up by the authorities, the film's team has to construct an Ocean's Eleven-like plan to document the mass killing. The scandal further develops, as the dolphin meat, which has alarmingly high mercury levels, is planned to be used as food for school children.

The Cove is beautiful, shocking, eminent and exciting. It leaves the possibility for going from it with some hope, - which seems necessary after witnessing the deeply upsetting atrocities of the Japanese 'fishermen'.
The Oscar-winning documentary is directed by Louie Psihoyos, who's next, second feature will come out later this year and almost certainly become a big event. It is titled Racing Extinction and is about saving endangered species.
The Cove is written by Mark Monroe (Chasing Ice (2012)) and edited by Geoffrey Richman (Sicko (2007)).
It is uncommonly fantastic; brilliantly orchestrated - an almost unbearable tear-jerker and heroic work. It was, - unsurprisingly, - wildly controversial, especially in Japan. You can read about its controversy here.
- Watch this movie! 

Related posts:


2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch the great trailer here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 1.1 mil. $
= Unknown
[Although almost certainly financially a flop. The Cove is financed by wonderful Participant Media. It won a long string of awards and honors besides its Best Documentary Oscar. 0.8 mil. $ or 76 % of its total gross came from the US.]

What do you think of The Cove?

Kon-Tiki (2012) - Heyerdahl's great adventure retold wonderfully

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Adventure Movie of the Year
+ Best Norwegian Film of the Year

The fantastic poster for Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg's Kon-Tiki

Most unusually (for a film of today), Kon-Tiki was shot simultaneously in Norwegian and English with the same cast, so the English version could be screened in English-speaking countries. This review is based on the Norwegian version, (which I recommend, simply because it is more naturalistic.)

Thor Heyerdahl can neither swim, sail or use a sextant, but he's got a bold theory about where the Polynesians originated from and a body full of daring and lust for adventure, which is going to help him prove his theory in practicality.

Kon-Tiki is a fantastically handsome film, which quickly grips its audience with the natural beauty of its sets and locations and injects us into its relatively simple, true story about having a wild idea and the crazy will of steel to make it happen.

There's good acting across the board here: Particularly Pål Sverre Hagen (Ragnarok (2013)) as Heyerdahl and Agnes Kittelsen (Happy Happy/Sykt Lykkelig (2010)) as his beautiful, home-bound wife, as well as Anders Baasmo Christiansen (North/Nord (2009)) as the co-sailor, who fears for the mission and for his life. - He is the only one of the sailor-characters who is totally recreated fictionally for the film, and the way his character has come to be is an important and good addition to the gallery.

Kon-Tiki is adventurous, at times nail-bitingly suspenseful and visually stunning. It was Oscar-nominated as Best Foreign Film, but lost to Michael Haneke's Amour (2012). This aside, it is still one of the best Norwegian movies ever made. Period.

It is directed by the two big stars of Norwegian film-making in the new millennium, Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, who directed the great, impressive WWII-resistance movie Max Manus: Man of War/Max Manus (2008). They also directed French producer magnate Luc Besson's curious, unsuccessful Bandidas (2006), but have since Kon-Tiki been a hot ticket in Hollywood again and have now been hired to direct the next Pirates-movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).

Related posts:

Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  

- There's sharks in Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg's Kon-Tiki? The anwer: Yes, there's awesome shark scenes in the film

Watch the great trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: 15.5 mil. $

Box office: 22.8 mil. $

= Flop

[Kon-Tiki is the most expensive Norwegian film ever made, a huge endeavor filmed over 3 months in 6 different countries. It made 14.1 mil. $ of its total gross in Norway, which is absolutely incredible in a country with only 5.1 mil. people. Its American gross was 1.5 mil. $. Although financially a flop, the film is still very ballsy and successful in many other respects, namely critically and quality-wise.]

What do you think of Kon-Tiki?

Other great sailing-adventures you think are recommendable?