I Killed My Mother/J'ai Tué Ma Mère (2009) - Dolan's debut is a striking teen rebel siege for the ages

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+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year 
+ Best Canadian Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year (Xavier Dolan) + Sexiest Movie of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year

A wild head of adolescent hair sits in a sea of panicky yellow under the ominous title for Xavier Dolan's I Killed My Mother

Mommy Chantale lives with her 16 year-old son Hubert alone in a Montreal suburb, but the boy's intense protests against her make the rift between them grow and grow.

20 year-old Canadian writer-director-star Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats/Les Amours Imaginaires (2010)) makes one of the strongest and most persuasive debuts to date with I Killed My Mother, entering the cinema annals as a crystal clear shooting star. And for those who may have doubts about watching this based on its title, let me make it clear that this youth romance drama isn't about actual criminal matricide.
I Killed My Mother is rich on ideas, poetic and visual treats and an undeniable aesthetic sense for beauty. The film has good cinematography by Stéphanie Anne Weber Biron (Blackbird (2012)), and Dolan and Anne Dorval (Mommy (2014)) are powerful as the (putting it mildly) tension-fraught mother-son couple. Dolan's engagement in the film's meaty theme has a personal intensity to it, (the story is semi-autobiographical), dealing with rebelling against and separating from one's mother as well as the difficulties of being a homosexual teenager.
I fell head over heels in love with I Killed My Mother and had to watch it again. I've since reaffirmed that it stands the test of time and revisits. It hits the bull's eye in a way only extremely few debut films manage to do. A both very tender and very volatile work of deep meaning.

Related posts:

Xavier Dolan: Top 10: Best 'box office success' 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]   
Mommy (2014) - Dolan has outdone himself and orchestrated the (probably) best film of the year
Tom at the Farm/Tom à la Ferme (2013) - Intense, eerie sub/dom-themed sex thriller (without sex)
Laurence Anyways (2012) - Dolan serves a stylish, jumbled, massive transsexualism tale 
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
Heartbeats/Les Amours Imaginaires (2010) - Dolan's second is the year's guilty pleasure #1

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 a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 0.8 CAD, or approximately 0.636 mil. $
Box office: 394k CAD (Canada only), or approximately 0.313 mil. $
= Uncertain
[I Killed My Mother premiered 18 May (Cannes) and runs 96 minutes. Dolan wrote the script when he was 16. Financing was supported with 0.4 mil. CAD from SODEC, which Dolan later called "an obsolete financing mechanism". Filming took place in Dolan's native Québec, Canada, including in Montreal. The film premiered to an 8-minute standing ovation in Cannes, where it won 3 side competition prizes. The film was mostly screened at a long row of festivals, but also enjoyed small releases in countries like Russia and Turkey. It was released in 12 cinemas in Québec and 60 in France, but its grosses from countries besides Canada are regrettably not released. The film was also nominated for a César Award (France's Oscar), and was Canada's official Oscar entry of the year, although it was not nominated. I Killed My Mother is fresh at 81 % with a 7.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Killed My Mother?

In the Loop (2009) or, Modern Warfare

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+ Best Political Movie of the Year

The cross-Atlantic political communication is at the heart of this poster for Armando Iannucci's In the Loop

When the British minister of international development messes up in a live radio interview by referring to an imminent war in the Middle East as "unforeseeable", he becomes cannon fodder for war-mongering American allies.

Despite shaky photography that is all but pleasant and a gallery of almost entirely unendearing characters (mainly gutter-mouthed spin doctors), In the Loop is a political satire that wins because of its mix of well-written verbal jokes, crude tongue-in-cheek gags and absurd comedy, which proves irresistible and provokes numerous good laughs for the not-easily-offended audience.
The swearing is a bit much at times, as is the wall-to-wall dialog, but good acting performances and an original and disillusioned vision of modern politics hold one's engagement throughout despite these misgivings.
In the Loop is written by Jesse Armstrong (Veep (2012), TV-series), Simon Blackwell (The Thick of It (2005-12)), Tony Roche (Veep (2012-15)) and co-writer-director Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It (2005-12)), with Ian Martin (The Death of Stalin (2017)) contributing dialog.

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 a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 612k £, or approximately 788k $
Box office: 7.7 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[In the Loop premiered 22 January (Sundance) and runs 105 minutes. The film was made in a lengthy hiatus between the filmmakers' 2nd and 3rd season of their related political satire TV-series The Thick of It. Shooting took place in England, mostly in London, and in Washington, DC and in New York from May - June 2008. The first cut of the film was 4.5 hours long. The film opened #27 in 8 theaters to a 191k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #24 and in 90 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 2.3 mil. $ (28.9 % of the total gross), becoming the film's 2nd largest market. The largest was the UK with 3.5 mil. $ (45.5 %), and the 3rd largest was Spain with 611k $ (7.9 %). The film was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar (due to the film being perceived as directly based on The Thick of It), lost to Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, 6 British Independent Spirit Awards, winning one, a National Board of Review award and many more honors. In the Loop is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of In the Loop?

I Love You, Man (2009) - Rudd, Segel and others achieve laughs aplenty in Hamburg's feel-good bromance

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The sweet mugs of the three endearing stars of John Hamburg's I Love You, Man sell the film all on their own

Peter is a middle-aged, engaged man, whose fiancée thinks it's a problem that he doesn't have any real friends of his own or a best man. This makes him seek out 'man-dates' for a friend and best man, until he meets the eccentric Sydney Fife, a cougar-chasing bachelor, who owns a 'man-cave'.

I Love You, Man is the 3rd feature from great New-Yorker co-writer-director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly (2004)), based on a script by Larry Levin (Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)). Rashida Jones (Cuban Fury (2014)) as Peter's fiancée and her girlfriends are a bit taxing at first, (but it is purposeful), and the film has a vomiting scene with Jon Favreau (Chef (2014)) as the sprayed victim that is incredibly (overly) gross.
But you should disregard these minor drawbacks, because I Love You, Man is also perhaps 2009's funniest film: Paul Rudd (Knocked Up (2007)) and Jason Segel (New Jersey Turnpikes (1999)) as the two budding friends develop a relationship that involves much hilarity, and in particular Rudd is funnier and dopier here than he has ever been before.
I Love You, Man also has a substantial list of funny side characters (Thomas Lennon (Lethal Weapon (2017), TV-series) and Lou Ferrigno (Ping! (2000)) stand out) and is also commendable for its total acceptance of homosexuals, (Andy Samberg (Take the 10 (2017)) plays Peter's gay brother), which is just an added, extra quality of this feel-good comedy, which is a bit of a laugh riot and is also a love-letter to Los Angeles.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 91.6 mil. $
= Minor flop
[I Love You, Man premiered 13 March (Austin, Texas' South by Southwest Film Festival) and runs 104 minutes. Hamburg based his script on Levin's which was a broader and less adult in tone and written 11 years before the film went into production. Shooting took place in California, almost entirely in Los Angeles, from April - May 2008. Rock band Rush appears in a live show performance in the film and were pleased with their inclusion in the film. The film opened #2, behind Knowing, to a 17.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#4; #5) and grossed 71.4 mil. $ (77.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 6.8 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Australia with 3.4 mil. $ (3.7 %). The film had a home video sale of more than 22 mil. $, which, if counted into the equation, would make it count as a box office success. I Love You, Man is certified fresh at 84 % with a critical average of 6.9/10 at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Love You, Man?

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009) - Carrey/McGregor are pure magic in incredible true story romcom

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+ Best LGBT Movie of the Year + Best Romance of the Year

Love can be found in the strangest places, as one song puts it. An infectiously happy poster for Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's I Love You Phillip Morris

Con artist Steve Russell leaves his wife and child after a near-death experience, deciding against spending more years as an unhappy closeted homosexual. His cons brings him to incarceration, where he finds true love in fellow inmate Phillip Morris.

Ewan McGregor (Angels & Demons (2009)) gives a tender performance as Morris, and Jim Carrey (Me, Myself & Irene (2000)) is simply grand as Russell in this incredible romcom biopic. Carrey's authenticity does veer a bit in some of the very emotionally charged moments in the film, but this is not necessarily a fault in the performance; it may rather be a sign of the character's trickster personality. - When someone makes it a cardinal point in their lives to con and delude, they may find it difficult to be sincere - and appear sincere - even when they try to be so.
I Love You Phillip Morris is a highly unusual film based on a wild true story, which is both life-affirming and very funny.
It is the directing debut of great writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Focus (2015), both), who previously wrote and produced features and TV-series, based on Steve McVicker's non-ficion book I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Breaks.

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 a panel board interview with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor in support of the film here

Cost: 13 mil. $
Box office: 21 mil. $
= Big flop
[I Love You Phillip Morris premiered 18 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 93 minutes. Filming took place from April 2008 - ? in Miami, Florida, Los Angeles, California and in Louisiana, including in New Orleans and in Louisiana State Penitentiary aka Angola. While most of the events in the film seem to be true, the timeline has been altered. The film's distribution was fraught with problems, as distributors objected to gay sexual material, there were legal troubles and downsizing of the strategy; the film didn't see general releases until 2010 and didn't begin its limited North American release until December 2010, (when it had already generated 18 mil. $ at foreign box offices.) It opened #27 to a 112k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #23 and in 100 theaters (different weeks) and grossed a paltry 2 mil. $ (9.5 % of the total gross), making it only the film's 4th biggest market, which is what slayed the film's prospects of turning profitable theatrically. The 3 biggest were the UK with 3.4 mil. $ (16.2 %), France with 2.9 mil. $ (13.8 %) and Italy with 2.7 mil. $ (12.9 %). The film was nominated for 2 Cannes awards. I Love You Phillip Morris is certified fresh at 72 % with a 6.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Love You Phillip Morris?

The Lost City of Z (2016) - Gray's grand, adventurous Amazonia epic

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+ Most Undeserved Flop of the Year + Best Adventure of the Year + Best Jungle Movie of the Year + Best Ensemble of the Year

One of the tantalizing, beautifully realized posters for James Gray's The Lost City of Z

The Lost City of Z is written and directed by James Gray (The Immigrant (2013)) and based on the non-fiction book by David Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Mayhem and Obsession (2010)).

Ambitious, adventure-seeking British officer Percy Fawcett is contracted by London's Royal Geographical Society early in the 20th century for a mission to the Amazon jungle of Bolivia to make surveys for mapping the area. This leads him on a quest for the mythical, ancient city of Z, which swallows up his life.

For every exploration and jungle-fascinated person out there, The Lost City of Z is an offering that should not be passed up. It is a grand work, an epic and a mighty good film.
Centrally stands Charlie Hunnam (Queer as Folk (1999-00)) as Fawcett. An inspiration both for Gray's visual direction and for Hunnam's performance may have been Luchino Visconti's masterpiece Death in Venice/Morte a Venezia (1971)) and Dirk Bogarde's supreme performance in it. Hunnam's incredibly well-shaped body moves with a calm grace, and his character is withheld in a remarkably composed state for most of the film. The story veers off to Fawcett's duty during WWI for a time, and in these scenes, I found myself struggling to believe in the cool composure of the man, coupled with the relatively well-looking company of soldiers he serves with in the trenches, which simply doesn't align with my understanding of the war.
Sienna Miller (High-Rise (2015)) is good as Fawcett's strong wife; Tom Holland (In the Heart of the Sea (2015)) is good and appropriately well-cut himself to be believable as their oldest son; Robert Pattinson (How to Be (2008)) is well cast as Fawcett's exploratory companion, and Angus MacFadyen (Assassins Run (2013)) brings a chill down one's spine as a wolf in sheep's clothing. The impressive cast also has Murray Melvin (Barry Lyndon (1975)) and Franco Nero (Bad Inclination/Cattive Inclinazioni (2003)) in tiny parts, and Ian McDiarmid (Sleepy Hollow (1999)) as a leader in the RGS.
Darius Khondji (Funny Games (2007)) is behind the absorbing photography. There are thrilling jungle scenes that quench the hunger for exoticism and Indians, but I found that the best scenes of the film are those taking place in the RGS in London, where Fawcett's ideas of a civilization among the South-American 'savages', which may well predate Western civilization, raises ridicule, outrage but eventually also makes for a reevaluation of the world and human beings. The epic, incredible story doesn't follow the usual three act structure, as Fawcett travels out and comes home more than once, but especially for fans of epics, this will simply be part of the treat that is The Lost City of Z. 
Gray's film stands in the territory of films such as Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece Apocalypse Now (1980) and Werner Herzog's Cobra Verde (1987), which was also the scene for Ciro Guerra's recent masterpiece Embrace of the Serpent/El Abrazo de la Serpiente (2015). It does not achieve the great or masterful, but it is still very worth seeing and a huge undertaking impressively well done.

Related posts:

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 17 mil. $ and counting
= Not certain yet, but looks like a huge flop
[The Lost City of Z premiered 15 October (New York Film Festival) and runs 141 minutes. Plan B Entertainment sent Gray a copy of Grann's book before it was published. Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch were considered for the lead but both dropped out for other commitments, though Pitt remained onboard with his Plan B Entertainment company, acting as an executive producer. Filming took place in Colombia and in Northern Ireland, UK, including in Belfast, starting in August 2015. The film opened #28 in 4 theaters to a 110k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #10 and in 866 theaters (different weeks), grossing a disappointing 8.5 mil. $ (50 % of the total gross). The international performance was similarly underwhelming; the 2nd and 3rd biggest markets where France with 2.5 mil. $ (14.7 %) and Spain with 1.8 mil. $ (10.6 %). The film enjoyed the luxury of a release in China, its 4th biggest market at 1 mil. $ (5.9 %), a highly unimpressive turnout. The film has yet to open in Australia (24 August), South Korea (21 September) and Argentina (28 September). It looks like it is continuing Gray's long history of flops (none of his 7 films have been theatrical hits), which makes it quite a gamble that Pitt has chosen Gray to direct his coming starring sci-fi movie Ad Astra. The Lost City of Z is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Lost City of Z?

It's Complicated (2009) - Meyers' delightful romcom star vehicle

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+ Best Poster of the Year

Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin make a terrific bed couple on this luxurious, instantly likable poster for Nancy Meyers' It's Complicated

After having been divorced from each other for 20 years, Jane (Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia! (2008))) begins an affair with her newly remarried ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin (The Cooler (2003))), which she balances with a budding romance with a sweet architect (Steve Martin (Cheaper by the Dozen (2003))) and her relationship with her three grown children.

It's Complicated is the wonderful 5th film from great Pennsylvanian writer-director Nancy Meyers (The Parent Trap (1998)). It is a super-funny all around good experience with all three abovementioned stars giving terrific performances in each their own way. John Krasinski (Leatherheads (2008)) is good in a supporting role as a son in law, and Hunter Parrish (All Nighter (2017)) makes for first class eye candy, although the film maybe overdoes its lust for eye candy a bit in other instances. Meyers goes in for the lush Santa Barbara high-style of living that her well-off Jane character enjoys, where everything seems beautiful, large, clean, well-functioning and new.
It's Complicated is polished alright, but it is also a great, fun film.

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 a trailer for the film here

Cost: 85 mil. $
Box office: 219.1 mil. $
= Box office success
[It's Complicated premiered 10 December (Westwood, Los Angeles) and runs 120 minutes. It was shot in New York and California from April - August 2009. The film opened #4, behind hold-over hit Avatar and fellow new releases Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, to a 22.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#4; #5) and grossed 112.7 mil. $ (51.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 14.1 mil. $ (6.4 %) and the UK with 13.8 mil. $ (6.3 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/5 star review, translating to two notches harder than this review. The film was nominated for 3 Golden Globes, a BAFTA and won a National Board of Review award for Best Acting by an Ensemble. It's Complicated is rotten at 57 % with a 5.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of It's Complicated?

In the Electric Mist (2009) - Tavernier's great Louisiana detective adaptation

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+ Best Detective Movie of the Year + Best Louisiana Movie of the Year

A sparse, not too auspicious poster for Bertrand Tavernier's In the Electric Mist, which does, at least, reveal its star and Louisiana setting

We follow sheriff detective Dave Robicheaux as he works for justice in New Iberia and New Orleans, Louisiana. Prostitutes are found dead, and a murder from the olden days of segregation seems to inform the recent misdeeds.

In the Electric Mist is an adaptation of James Lee Burke's (Dixie City Jam (1994)) In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (1993) from his 20-novel long Dave Robicheaux book series, written by Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski (The Pledge (2001), both) and directed by great French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier (Daddy Nostalgia/Daddy Nostalgie (1990)).
I really liked this film, which is brimming with local lore and local linguistics so thick that it is often difficult to understand what exactly is being conveyed from character to character.
Tommy Lee Jones (U.S. Marshals (1998)) is eminent and shares especially good interplay with Justina Machado (Body of Proof (2011), TV-series), who plays a nuanced FBI agent role, who also ends up incurring some guilt in the swampy - both literally and figuratively speaking - reality that is portrayed here.

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 3 minutes of the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 7.9 mil. $
= Unknown (but should likely count as at least a big flop)
[In the Electric Mist premiered 7 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 117 minutes. It is the second Robicheaux novel to be adapted, following mega-flop Heaven's Prisoners (1996) starring Alec Baldwin. Shooting took place entirely on location in Louisiana. Something went wrong on the film, leading to its not getting an American release; it was only shown twice one evening in Burke's hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana and was then released straight-to-DVD in North America. Tavernier released a book accounting making the film; Pas à Pas dans la Brume Électrique [Step by Step into The Electric Mist] (2009). The film made the vast majority of its gross in his native France; 7.2 mil. $ (91.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 355k $ (4.5 %) and Belgium with 249k $ (3.2 %). If the budget was around a modest 5 mil. $, which seems likely, (though it would be far less than the budget for the first Burke adaptation's 25 mil. $ budget), the theatrical performance would rank the film as a big flop. It made in excess of 1.9 mil. $ on home video sales in North America. Be aware that the North American DVD release is a 102 minute studio cut of the film, whereas we in the rest of the world have gotten the 112 minute director's cut, which is what this review is based on. In the Electric Mist is fresh at 64 % with a 6.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of In the Electric Mist?