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From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
One of the few posters for Nicolas Roeg's Eureka is this hideous concoction
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Jack McCann's (Gene Hackman (The Royal Tenenbaums (2001))) passion is the hunt for gold. But when he in 1925, after a 15 years long search, finally hit a big ore, he metaphorically dies. SPOILER He later dies literally: After getting beaten vehemently, his head is burned with a blow torch, he is covered in feathers and then decapitated in what may be one of cinema's ugliest death scenes. Eureka, written by Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)), based on Marshall Houts' non-fiction book Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?, and directed by Nicolas Roeg (Walkabout (1971)), is a film which is carried out in a demonstratively expressive, loud, Freudian palette with excessive use of zoom and a trite orgy scene. What Roeg tried to do here seems very old-fashioned today in the shadows of such much superior, related films as Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (2007).
In lieu of a trailer for the movie, which isn't on Youtube, here's an interview with Roeg about his David Bowie-starring The Man Who Fell to Earth
Cost: Unknown Box office: 123k $ (North America only) = Mega-flop [Eureka was released May 20 (UK) and runs 130 minutes. It is loosely based on the life and death of Sir Harry Oakes, who was murdered in the Bahamas in 1943. The film was shot in England, Florida, Jamaica and Canada. As of 1986, it was only released theatrically in 4 countries. It was produced during troubled times for its American distributor MGM/UA, who "dumped it" in a few theaters in the fall of 1984. Millions of dollars were lost on Eureka, which, nevertheless, didn't end Roeg's career. 1,948 IMDb-users have given Eureka a 6/10 average rating.] What do you think of Eureka?
+Best Canadian Movie of the Year + Best Sex Drama of the Year
Mia Kirshner sends us an intense, deep stare from the poster for Atom Egoyan's Exotica
QUICK REVIEW:
Thomas smuggles eggs into Canada to resell and goes to the opera with unknown men. Christina dances at the Exotica strip club for Francis, who has lost his daughter.
Exotica is a fine film that nevertheless seemed to force its way into my head without reaching my heart. - It's definitely a film I'll want to revisit. It seems to propose the theory that what each of us find 'exotic' has a much more poignant influence on us than we mostly admit to ourselves and others. It also deals with loss and nonlinear relationships. Some great actors play in the film: Particularly Bruce Greenwood (Flight (2012)) as disillusioned accountant Francis and Mia Kirshner (Cadillac Girls (1993)) as the 'jailbait' stripper with emotions. The film is heightened by strong photography by Paul Sarossy (The Captive (2014)) and score by Mychael Danna (Life of Pi (2012)). Exotica is the 6th theatrical feature by great Cairo-born Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter (1997)).
Cost: 2 mil. CAD (today equal to 1.53 mil. $) Box office: 4.2 mil. $ (North America only) = Box office success (at least) [Exotica premiered May 16 (Cannes) and runs 103 minutes. The film was shot in Toronto, Canada. Egoyan's wife Arsinée Khanjian (Adoration (2008)) plays a part in the film while being seven months pregnant. Without a world gross known, I can't say whether Exotica was only a box office success or should, in fact, count as a big hit. It won the FIPRESCI (critics') prize in Cannes , 8 awards at the Canadian Genie Awards, Best Canadian Feature Film Award at Toronto International Film Festival as well as a Adult Video News' Best Alternative Adult Movie Award of 1996, a porn industry honor, which amused Egoyan, since Exotica is a serious sex drama. Exotica is fresh at 97 % on Rotten Tomatoes.]
One of the more curious 1970s phenomenons, James Fargo's Every Which Way but Loose
QUICK REVIEW: Philo Beddoe is a truck driver, who is good at fist-fighting and lives with his orangutan Clive. He falls in love with a country singer, (Sondra Locke (Death Game (1977))), whom he pursues with bikers and the police at his heels! Every Which Way but Loose is something of a crazy hillbilly comedy. It has something in the neighborhood of 400 fights in its, including Clint Eastwood (A Fistful of Dollars (1964)) beating a man with a fish. Our hero also hitches Clive up with a lady orangutan. In a way this film is deeply speculative, cashing in on our fondness of our Simian friends, - but on the other hand, - why the hell not?!? It is also original and charming as few other films. Ruth Gordon (Jimmy the Kid (1982)) is a hoot in one of the film's many funny supporting parts as Ma, who takes her driver's license again and again. Clive is, by the way, played by orangutan Manis, who probably had the time of his life on the movie, after which he returned to life as a show monkey in Las Vegas. The ending of the film is as untraditional as the rest of it: SPOILER Eastwood loses his grand fight and also doesn't get the girl. Every Which Way but Loose is written by Jeremy Joe Kronsberg (Going Ape! (1981)) and directed by James Fargo (The Enforcer (1976)).
Cost: Estimated 5.2 mil. $ Box office: Reportedly 106 mil. $ = Blockbuster [Every Which Way but Loose was released December 20 and runs 114 minutes. Eastwood went against numerous advice from his production and agent teams in doing the film, which was shot from April 1978 in California, Colorado and New Mexico. The film was panned by critics but became Eastwood's biggest hit at the time and the second highest-grossing film of the year. It is reportedly still among the 200 highest grossing films of all time (adjusted for inflation.) The film opened to a 10.2 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 85 mil. $ (80.2 % of the total gross). It got a sequel in Any Which Way You Can (1980). 28,071 users have rated Every Which Way but Loose 3.1/5 on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Every Which Way but Loose?
The cool, tunnel-like poster for Jeremy Saulnier's Green Room
Green Room is the 3rd feature from writer-director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin (2013)), who debuted with the low-budgeted horror-comedy Murder Party (2007).
A passionate but unsuccessful punk band of youths get an offer to finish their ailed tour with a concert that will turn in a wad of cash. Their acceptance is soon regretted when they witness something they shouldn't at the neo-Nazi venue.
Anton Yelchin (Broken Horses (2015)) has grown quite a bit, - from the cute kid of Fierce People (2005)) to the hard-edged, balding guy that meets us in Green Room, in which he acts well yet again. Patrick Stewart (The Game of Their Lives (2005)) is convincing as the inhumane heavy of the pic, though his garbled intonation made me wish I'd had subtitles. Green Room sets up an interesting premise and turns fast into a survival horror with some effective gross-out moments and awesome effects work. SPOILER The arm chopping scene early on is probably its best.
Real terror didn't creep up on me via the film, simply because the punk band's situation seemed too far removed from any situation I might ever find myself in. What could have been another stupid-youths-caught-in-the-woods-to-die-screaming-one-by-one is lifted here due to the fact that the kids aren't stupid at all, and that the truly rotten predicament seems realistic enough. SPOILER The film features some neat details like the fire extinguisher turning bad guys into something resembling zombies, and the band, - in true punk kid fashion, - fixing even mutilated limbs with duct tape. Green Room, while a good ride for fans of the brutal, isn't a perfect film, though. It upholds a solemnity that is a little much, and some of the lines that best represent this don't really stick. It injects a self-ironic touch, but only in the last shot of the film. Some of the characterizations that might have been deepened seem to have been replaced with much talk of cartridges, bullets and guns, which at some point become something less than interesting. SPOILER Also, the Werm character, intensely portrayed by Brent Werzner (Blue Ruin), who plays an eerie, intense function in the first part of the film, and whom we later feel curious about, has nothing more to do in the film.
Cost: 5 mil. $ Box office: 3 mil. $ and counting = Too early to say [Green Room was released May 17 (Cannes) and runs 95 minutes. The film was shot from October 2014 in Oregon. It was shown in the Directors' Fortnight section in Cannes and later shown at the opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival. The film opened wide #16, in 777 theaters, to a 0.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America where it has so far grossed 2.7 mil. $ (90 % of the total gross). It has been shown at a wealth of film festivals, and the gross reported above must rise in time to come. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets reported yet are France with 0.2 mil. $ (6.7 %) and United Arab Emirates with 66k $ (2.2 %). Green Room is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Green Room?
The slick, a bit dull poster for D. J. Caruso's Eagle Eye
The US Defense Department has launched an enormous computer database, but when it makes a recommendation in relation to a terrorist liquidation in the Middle East, which gets ignored, it 'activates' two citizens in an autonomous effort to coup the government with a super-bomb! Surveillance grievances and state paranoia is dusted off and fed into a plot of running, worried glances and action spectacles that are mostly fast forgotten here. Eagle Eye wants to be adrenaline-pumped suspense throughout. Shia LaBeouf (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)) speed-talking declarations, brillo hair and moist baby-face is utilized but often annoying and/or laughable. Other stars do their best, but this is a paycheck job for them all. Billy Bob Thornton (U Turn (1997)) contributes some dry humor and is watchable as usual, - and the film is generally wittily written by John Glenn (The Lazarus Project (2008)), Travis Wright (The Lazarus Project, producer), Hillary Seitz (Insomnia (2002)) and Dan McDermott (Human Target (2011), TV-series). D. J. Caruso (I Am Number Four (2011)) directed it. Eagle Eye is a package deal that isn't all that.
Shia LaBeouf does some serious running in D. J. Caruso's Eagle Eye
In lieu of a trailer for, not currently on Youtube, here's an interview with Shia LaBeouf for the movie
Cost: 80 mil. $ Box office: 178.9 mil. $ = Flop [Eagle Eye was released September 26 and runs 118 minutes. The screenplay was written on behest of executive producer Steven Spielberg, who had an idea based on the Isaac Asimov short story All the Troubles of the World. Spielberg hired Caruso to helm the film, because he himself was busy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, also with LaBeouf. The conveyor belt scene in the film was shot for real, without any use of CGI, and both Michelle Monaghan (Machine Gun Preacher (2011)) and Caruso were injured during its filming. The score for the film was recorded with the 88-piece Hollywood Studio Symphony. Eagle Eye was released to poor reviews, - Roger Ebert gave it a measly 2 stars, - but also a #1 opening weekend of 29.1 mil. $ in North America, where it grossed 101.4 mil. $ (56.7 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 13.2 mil. $ (7.4 %) and South Korea with 10.6 mil. $ (5.9 %). The film made in excess of 38 mil. $ on DVD sales alone, which, if added to the gross, makes it a success. Eagle Eye is rotten at 26 % with a 4.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Eagle Eye?
One of the deliciously colored, neat posters for John Sturges' The Eagle Has Landed
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In 1943 in small town Norfolk, England, German colonel Michael Caine (The Swarm (1978)) and joyous adventurer Donald Sutherland (Virus (1999)) land with a group of Polish paratroopers on a secret mission: To kidnap British PM Churchill. But things get complicated ...
The Eagle Has Landed is an adaptation of Jack Higgins' (The Iron Tiger (1966)) same-titled 1975 bestseller by Tom Mankiewicz (Diamonds Are Forever (1971)) and directed by John Sturges (Ice Station Zebra (1968)). It is a very exciting film of a fictitious high-risk kidnapping attempt by the Germans in WWII. Eagle is elementary, male-eschewed suspense of the type that Sturges was often successful with, a real boyish adventure yarn and a well-made one. Lalo Schifrin (The Mean Season (1985)) has made a fine, militaristic score, and the film has fine performances, apart from the stars already mentioned also from Treat Williams (Chicago Fire (2013-15)) as a very American soldier, Donald Pleasence(Phenomena (1985)) as Nazi Himmler and Robert Duvall (The Apostle (1997)), also as a Nazi, and actually seeming like one.
Robert Duvall is credible as a Nazi in John Sturges' The Eagle Has Landed
In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, listen here to Schifrin's theme for the film
Cost: 6 mil. $ Box office: Unknown = Uncertainty (but likely a big hit) [The Eagle Has Landed was released December 25 (Sweden and Finland) and runs 130 minutes. The film was shot on location in England and Finland from May - August 1976. Caine has later related how Sturges confided to him that he only accepted the job, which became his last film, so he could get money to go fishing after. He has also written that Sturges never appeared for any post production duties on Eagle. The film was released in North America in a slightly shorter (124 min.) version, but the film is mostly seen in its longer version on DVD and Blu-ray today. It was well-received by public and press alike and is said to have made a tidy profit, although without numbers, I can't say for sure how much. 13,917 IMDb users have given The Eagle Has Landed a 6.9 average rating.]
The classy, painted poster for Howard Hawks' El Dorado
QUICK REVIEW: A gunfighter for hire and a drunken sheriff, who are old friends, help each other through heartaches and drinking bouts while rescuing the town of El Dorado from a malicious rancher. El Dorado is written by Leigh Brackett (Rio Lobo (1970)), loosely based on Harry Brown's novel The Stars in Their Courses (1960) and directed and produced by Indianian master filmmaker Howard Hawks (His Girl Friday (1940)). John Wayne (Rio Bravo (1959)) and Robert Mitchum (The Last Tycoon (1976)) are both delightful, and they are accompanied by a young, fresh-faced James Caan (Silent Movie (1976)) in this marvelous, classic horse opera. It's very simple: El Dorado is a joy of a western.
Cost: 4.6 mil. $ Box office: 12 mil. $ (North America only) = Uncertainty (but at least a box office success) [El Dorado was released December 17 (Japan) and runs 126 minutes. The film was shot in Arizona and Utah in October 1965 - January 1966. The release was delayed, so the film wouldn't clash with the Steve McQueen-staring western Nevada Smith (1966). The poem recited in the film, (mispronounced by Caan), is Edgar Allan Poe's Eldorado (1849). The film was cheered by audiences and critics, even though its plot is very similar to Hawks' also John Wayne-starring Rio Bravo. The plot is also very similar to the plot of the pair's Rio Lobo (1970), which is Hawks' last film. Roger Ebert has given the film a 3½ star rating, equal to Film Excess' 5 hearts. The international box office isn't known for the film, but it was popular in important markets like France and Spain, wherein more than 2 mil. paid admission in each country, so the film might rightfully rank as a big hit. El Dorado is fresh at 100 % with a 7.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of El Dorado?
The packed, apocalyptic poster for Peter Hyams' End of Days
QUICK REVIEW:
A New York ex-cop gets his work cut out from him, as Satan comes to the city in search of a bride.
With End of Days, it's easiest to sum up the film's good parts first: For a fan, Arnold Schwarzenegger (Maggie (2015)) exchanging lines such as these: [Bad guy]: "I'm not afraid to die!" [Arnold]: "Good! - 'Cus I'm not afraid to kill you!" - That's good fun. The film also has Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night (1967)) adorning a supporting role, - and some fair action. But the story is a semi-religious bungle of millennial paranoia and satanism that doesn't really levitate, and some of the elements of the film are simply too kitsch: SPOILER Like Schwarzenegger getting beaten up by an old lady, or Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment (2008-10)) playing Satan, pissing fuel. Also Robin Tunney (Supernova (2000)), the main actress in the film, shows pretty much just one facial expression throughout the film. - And the ending lasts over 40 minutes! End of Days is written by Andrew W. Marlowe (Hollow Man (2000)) and directed by Peter Hyams (Timecop (1994)).
Watch a teaser for the film, taken from a VHS tape, here
Cost: Estimated 83 mil. $ Box office: 211.9 mil. $ = Minor hit [End of Days premiered November 16 and runs 123 minutes. Sam Raimi, Guillermo Del Toro and Marcus Nispel were in talks for the director's seat for the film before it came down to Hyams, who had a good time directing it. Schwarzenegger hadn't been in a film for two years, since Batman & Robin (1997), reportedly due to a health issue, and was ready to mix it up. He received a hefty 25 mil. $ paycheck for it. The film opened #3 to a 20.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, behind Toy Story 2 (57.3 mil. $) and The World Is Not Enough (23.2 mil. $), and grossed 66.8 mil. $ domestically (31.5 % of the total gross). End of Days is rotten at 11 % with a 3.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of End of Days?
The truly irresistible poster for Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book is a new adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's (Soldiers Three (1888)) same-titled 1894 book, written by Justin Marks (Rewind (2013), TV movie) and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Jon Favreau (Elf (2003)). Mowgli is a 'man cub', who has been raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, but the brutal tiger Shere Khan has now run out of patience and will no longer accept his presence as a non-animal in the jungle. Should Mowgli return to the humans, whom he doesn't know? Against my initial doubts, Jungle Book proves to be an excellent retelling of the familiar, great story. The 3D animation and many wonderful animal characters are executed in a highly immersive, strikingly beautiful way that moved me quite a lot, especially in the film's beginning. The sound design also does its ample part here. The dramatic emotionality of the film stays strong throughout and peaks more than once, which is the definitive mark of success for the film. SPOILER My personal favorite moment is the scene in which Mowgli uses his 'tricks' to save the elephant baby from a pit.
What adds to the excitement of watching Jungle Book, - especially for adults, - is that an unusually strong voice cast is assembled in it: Idris Elba (Zootopia (2016)) is fierce as Shere Khan, Christopher Walken (Gigli (2003)) as King Louie and Scarlett Johansson (The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)) as Kaa, (though her performance is restricted to a single, but very good scene), are especially excellent. Bill Murray (Lost in Translation (2003)) is, perhaps, the ensemble's biggest ace as the jovial bear Baloo. Neel Sethi (Diwali (2013), short) makes his feature debut as a nimble, jangly Mowgli and is very cute, hitting all the right notes. The film is a big step away from the original, beloved Disney animation, The Jungle Book (1967), which is more of a jazzy, completely upbeat favorite and perhaps Disney's most subversive film really, (and, as I understand, also very far removed from Kipling's original stories.) The new Jungle Book is a more serious adventure, - a true adventure story, - which nevertheless retains two of the former film's famous, beloved songs: The Bare Necessities and I Wan'na Be Like You. They are musical treasures and small highlights, but it is the orchestral score that drives the film musically.
Cost: 175 mil. $ Box office: 393.7 mil. $ and counting = Too early to say [The Jungle Book was released April 4 (El Capitan theater, Hollywood) and runs 105 minutes. It began development in 2013, with Favreau and Co. early on looking to Avatar (2009) and Life of Pi (2012) for inspiration as to the film's visual concept. It was shot entirely in LA. The animals are entirely key frame animation, assisted by loads of footage of their real counterparts in nature. Approximately 70 species are depicted in the film. Jim Henson's Creature Shop created puppets for Sethi to act against. The Jungle Book opened #1 to a 103.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it has grossed 147 mil. $ to date. It is the second PG-rated release ever (following Alice in Wonderland (2010)) to open to over 100 mil. $ domestically. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets are China with 68.3 mil. $ and India with 25.5 mil. $ so far. The film has become the highest-grossing Hollywood film in India ever already. The Jungle Book is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of The Jungle Book?
The iconic poster for William Friedkin's The Exorcist
QUICK REVIEW:
In Georgetown, Washington, D.C., a famous actress' preteen daughter Regan is possessed by an ancient Iraqi demon so strong that an official Catholic exorcist gets involved.
The Exorcist is an adaptation of William Peter Blatty's (Legion (1983)) same-titled 1971 novel, - which was based on an actual 1949 exorcism of a young boy in Maryland, one of three exorcisms authorized by the Catholic Church in the US at the time, - written by Blatty himself, winning an Oscar for his job, and directed by Oscar-nominated master Chicagoan filmmaker William Friedkin (The French Connection (1971)). It is a notorious film and still diabolically scary. It is beautifully photographed by Oscar-nominated Owen Roizman (Wyatt Earp (1994)) with lots of vertical angles and symbolism. The extraordinary, Oscar-nominated Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) is phenomenal as Regan's mother, and so is Max von Sydow (Truck Stop (1996)) as the titular exorcist, Father Merrin. Especially for Christians, The Exorcist is and will probably always remain one of the scariest movies of all time.
Linda Blair (Sorceress (1995)) as Regan in William Friedkin's The Exorcist
In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, here's a scene from it
Cost: 12 mil. $ Box office: 402.7 - 441.3 mil. $ = Blockbuster [The Exorcist was released December 26 and runs 121/131 (director's cut) minutes. The adaptation of Blatty's New York Times bestselling novel was difficult in many ways. Directors Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Penn, Peter Bogdanovich, Mike Nichols, John Boorman (who eventually made the God-awful sequel) and Mark Rydell were all contacted but turned down or otherwise fell out of the project, before Friedkin was hired based on his incredible job with French Connection. The fabled production, which began August 1972 and lasted not the already long, scheduled 85 days but an astounding 224 days, concluding in July 1973. It included Friedkin using unconventional methods to get the best performances out of everybody, including giving Burstyn and Blair back injuries due to harnesses pulling them, Friedkin slapping a reverend across the face before his scene, firing blanks from a gun on set, affecting the cast and crew with eerie music and sounds playing between takes and constructing a giant freezer around the exorcism set, so that everyone had to work in freezing temperatures for long durations of time, (Blair mostly just in a night dress.) It was shot on location in Iraq in a blistering heat (!), in a Manhattan studio, in New York locations and in Georgetown, D.C. Several versions of the film have been devised since its release, cutting and changing different parts and reinserting material, such as the famous spider-walk scene, which has been reinserted after digital technology has made possible its improvement, so that the wires visible in it could be erased. The Exorcist opened to mixed reactions from critics, some lambasting it while others sang it praise: Roger Ebert awarded it a perfect 4 star rating but also called it a "painful experience." It opened very tentatively in just 26 theaters but the sensational response of the public, (just try typing 'the exorcist 1973 reactions' on Youtube!) soon made it available all over North America, where it grossed 66.3 mil. $ in rentals in its first run, becoming the second-biggest movie of 1974 domestically, behind The Sting. With reissues, it has grossed 232.9 mil. $ (ca. 57.8 % of the total gross) in North America. It was nominated for 10 Oscars, becoming the first ever horror to be nominated for Best Picture. It lost editing, director (George Roy Hill), picture and art direction to Sting, cinematography to Cries & Whispers, supporting actress (Blair) to Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon), supporting actor (Jason Miller (Rudy (1993))) to John Houseman (The Paper Chase), actress (Burstyn) to Glenda Jackson (A Touch of Glass), but it won for Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay (Blatty). It was also nominated for 7 Golden Globes, winning 4, for Best Drama (!), Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress (Blair) and Director. The film has spun two sequels and a prequel, a Turkish remake and inspired tons of other films. The Exorcist is certified fresh at 87 % with an 8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Exorcist? What is the scariest film of all time in your opinion?
