Splice (2009) - A poor script bogs down good performances, effects

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The evocative creature design of the first spliced human creates chills on this poster for Vincenzo Natali's Splice

Two of the world's most eminent scientists in the field of genetical splicing are also a couple who are tired of making ugly animal clones, and so now they are mixing some human DNA into their latest attempt ...

Splice is written by Antoinette Terry Bryant (I Can See You (2014, short)), Doug Taylor (The Carpenter (1988)) and co-writer/director Vincenzo Natali (Cube (1997)).
Sarah Polley (Guinevere (1999)) and Adrien Brody (Love the Hard Way (2001)) are both capable and each do their best here. Splice has its root in The Fly (mostly David Cronenberg's 1986 version) and its kind of sci-fi-horror; but its stars cannot act their way out of a story that gets too obscure and unlikely. The script is not particularly inventive, and that is the main problem for the gross Splice, which has terrific practical and digital effects.
The relationship between the two scientist leads never becomes important or exciting enough for us to really jump on the film's wagon.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 26.8 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.89 times its cost)
[Splice premiered 6 October (Sitges International Festival of Fantastic and Horror Cinema, Spain) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, from December 2007 - February 2008. The film opened #8 to a 7.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, its peak there, where it grossed 17 mil. $ (63.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.4 mil. $ (5.2 %) and Russia with 1.3 mil. $ (4.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Natali returned with Haunter (2013). Brody returned with a voice performance in Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and physically in High School (2010); Polley in Trigger (2010), her last film to date as actress, before she turned to writing and directing instead. Splice is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.62/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Splice?

Sicko (2007) - Moore beats the US health care insurance system to a bloody pulp

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A less than desirable health care system gets an unflattering characterization on this satirical poster for Michael Moore's Sicko

The USA has the world's most expensive health care system, but 50 mil. of its populace do not benefit from it, since they are uninsured; and the majority who are insured can easily end up getting catastrophically bad or no treatment at all.

Sicko is a documentary from great Michigander documentarian Michael Moore (Roger & Me (1989)).
As usual, Moore acts as insistent man-of-the-people himself in the film, and he is in top shape intellectually here with a topic that has his full interest, namely the comparison between the US insurance health care system and the universal health care systems that he portrays in Canada, Cuba and France.
Sicko is an - especially for Americans - exceedingly depressing watch, because it exhibits how atrociously awful the state of affairs are for such a central area of every American's life. SPOILER Emotionally the film peaks with the section of how the weakest US patients are dumped on sidewalks. Another strong segment shows sick 9/11 heroes finding treatment in Cuba.
Luckily Sicko also has loads of welcome humor, especially coming from Moore himself, who plays his assumed naive Moore-American role to perfection. The filmmaker is thorough, passionate and a bit didactic, - but he has a hell of a strong case in Sicko, which may be his best film. It is role-model activist documentary filmmaking.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 9 mil. $
Box office: 36.1 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.01 times its cost)
[Sicko premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 123 minutes. Shooting took place in Havana, Cuba, Ontario, Detroit, Michigan, New Jersey, Los Angeles, California, London, England, New Mexico, New York, Paris, France and Kansas City, Missouri. The film reportedly received a 17-minute standing ovation after its Cannes premiere. It opened #31 to a 68k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 1,117 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 24.5 mil. $ (67.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy and France, each with 2 mil. $ (5.5 %). The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, lost to Taxi to the Dark Side. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, in line with its rating here. Moore returned with Slacker Uprising (2007, documentary). Sicko is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.71/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Sicko?

One Child Nation (2019, documentary) - Wang and Zhang illuminate the Chinese mass infanticide

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A recreation of China's bountiful one-child policy propaganda that shows one of the hidden effects of its implementation screams loud on this poster for Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang's One Child Nation

In an effort to avoid mass hunger and provoke better life circumstances, China's effective 1979-2015 one-child policy was unique, but came with very tall human costs.

One Child Nation is a documentary by Chinese Americans Nanfu Wang (Hooligan Sparrow (2016, documentary) and Jialing Zhang (Complicit (2017, documentary)). Both were born in China during the one-child policy, and Wang is able to search out family members in her quest for answers. The film's strength is very attached to its personal relevance for the filmmakers. 
What is uncovered in One Child Nation is not completely shocking for those with prior insight into China's evil Communist system, but hearing the stories and seeing images and contemplating the massive scale of the effects, - at one point the forced abortions and baby killings are counted in the hundreds of millions, - is shocking nevertheless. Forced sterilizations of women, destruction of homes and arrests of those who violated the policy, as well as babies left to die - especially baby girls - as a normalized practice for decades, the one-child policy comes to stand as another pitch black era of inhumane evil in the already packed annals of death and horror in the 20th century.
One Child Nation follows its story to the adopted Chinese children in the US, who may not want to know about the truth of their heritage, and one person working for these connections regrets this towards the film's end. - But can you blame these individuals for not wanting to know about this unfathomable mass of abuse, terror, inhumanity and disempowerment that is China? People are only cogs in a machine in that most distasteful of countries.

Related post:

Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2019 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 271k $
= Uncertain
[One Child Nation premiered 26 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 89 minutes. Shooting took place in China and in Utah. The film opened #54 to a 20k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #40 and in 36 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 270k $. The only other market reported is the UK with 1k $. The film has screened at numerous festivals around the world, winning the documentary prize at Sundance, among other honors, with 3 more scheduled festivals for 2019, and it is a hot contender for the Best Documentary Oscar. Wang and Zhang have not announced their next project. One Child Nation is certified fresh at 99 % with an 8.44/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of One Child Nation?

Salt (2010) - Engaged Jolie in Noyce's lacking actioner

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Star Angelina Jolie poses with a gun and makes 'sexy face' on this poster for Phillip Noyce's Salt

CIA agent Evelyn Salt is accused by a defected Russian spy of being a Russian agent...!

Salt is written by Kurt Wimmer (Relative Fear (1994)) and directed by Phillip Noyce (Good Afternoon (1971)).
It is a simple cat-and-mouse type action chase thriller, made with clear role-models in the James Bond and Mission: Impossible franchises. But it has neither the fun and exciting characters nor the seriously wild action of those films.
Angelina Jolie (Beyond Borders (2003)) does well in the physically demanding title role, but the plot is thin and not spectacular enough. Salt is a film that thunders away to regrettably little effect.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 110 mil. $
Box office: 293.5 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.66 times its cost)
[Salt premiered 19 July (Hollywood, California) and runs 104 minutes. The script was in the works since 2002, with Tom Cruise in mind to star since 2007. He turned down the offer, as the role was thought too similar to his M:I character Ethan Hunt. The script was rewritten to suit Jolie, who did a mass of stunts for the film shortly after having birthed twins. Shooting took place in New York, Washington DC and in Russia from March - June 2009, with reshoots from December - January 2010. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Inception, to a 36 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#3-#4) and grossed 118.3 mil. $ (40.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 23.5 mil. $ (8 %) and South Korea with 18.2 mil. $ (6.2 %). The film was nominated for the Best Sound Mixing Oscar, lost to Inception. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches better than this one. Despite the film's success, sequel plans have not come together. Noyce returned with 5 TV credits and a short before his next theatrical feature The Giver (2014). Jolie returned in Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010, short) and theatrically in The Tourist (2010). Salt is fresh at 62 % with a 5.99/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Salt?

Shrink (2009) or, Rotten Hollywood

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Kevin Spacey lies passed out on a lounge chair by a Hollywood Hills pool on this mellow-colored poster for Jonas Pate's Shrink

A celebrity shrink in Los Angeles isn't worth much himself lately, addicted to pot after his wife's suicide, as he meets an African-America teenage girl, whose mother also offed herself.

Shrink is written by Thomas Moffett (The Last International Playboy (2008)), with Henry Reardon contributing story elements, and directed by Jonas Pate (The Grave (1996)).
Although there are things that connects the many characters we are introduced to in Shrink, it remains unclear why we are to meet and follow them all, - except for the fact that the film attempts to paint a collective portrait of Tinseltown. And a repulsive, cold and severely unloving portrait it is. But also one that is neither particularly amusing or seriously relevant. - Besides, who says that we even want to know about it, if the LA entertainment business is really as rotten as Shrink proposes?
The film co-stars Robin Williams (Being Human (1994)), and in light of his illness-provoked suicide in 2014, Shrink is even less pleasant to watch; his scenes are almost painful to behold, so far are they from the past greatness of his career.
Kevin Spacey (Margin Call (2011)) does a good job of playing the alienated, depressive title character, but Shrink fails to get at the core of its issues - the suicides - although it is them, and their consequences, which it seems should have been the film's main occupation.
Keke Palmer (Scream Queens (2015-16)) is also good as the teenage girl. Jack Huston's (The Yellow Birds (2017)) character Shamus seems likely based on Irish movie-star/ladykiller Colin Farrell. A couple of his scenes with Williams are out of tone with the rest of the film and too exaggerated to seem realistic.

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]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 5.1 mil. $
Box office: 303k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.05 times its cost)
[Shrink premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #59 to a 16k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #40 and in 27 theaters the following week and grossed 189k $ (62.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Romania and Latvia, each with 31k $ (10.2 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Pate has gone back to directing for TV after the film and has stayed away from features since. Spacey returned with a voice performance in Moon (2009) and a physical performance in The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009). Shrink is rotten at 27 % with a 4.57/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Shrink?

The Savages (2007) - Three great actors shine in T. Jenkins' terrific drama

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Drama of the Year

The star leads look dead-on at us from a wintry landscape in this carefully drawn and designed poster for Tamara Jenkins' The Savages

When their old father offends his home care worker and turns out to be beginning to suffer from dementia, sister and brother Savage are forced to see their father and try to create a dignified final period for him.

The Savages is written and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)).
It is socially critical and poignant, led by a rich script that seems pitch black over a long stretch but which actually contains humanity and warmth, - and the will to broach difficult topics in a meaningful way. The Savages is in fact almost too well-written.
Laura Linney (Frasier (2003-04)) has the abilities that make us want to follow her very imperfect character, and the same goes for Philip Seymour Hoffman (Mission: Impossible III (2006)), - they are both formidable here. Philip Bosco (Wonder Boys (2000)) is additionally very credible and moving as their father.
The Savages is directed with great command and extremely well edited. It is a true gem of a picture.

Related post:

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Hoffman talks about his work with the character in the film in a video here

Cost: 9 mil. $
Box office: 10.6 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.17 times its cost)
[The Savages premiered 19 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place in New York and Arizona, including Phoenix. It opened #30 to a 151k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #18 and in 201 theaters (different weeks), grossing 6.6 mil. $ (62.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 0.9 mil. $ (8.5 %) and Australia with 0.6 mil. $ (5.7 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Actress (Linney), lost to Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose, and Original Screenplay, lost to Diablo Cody for Juno. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won an AFI award, 2/4 Independent Spirit awards, a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Jenkins returned with Private Life (2018). Linney returned in Breach (2007); Hoffman in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007). The Savages is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.46/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Savages?

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

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A version of the poster with two cut-off fingers that the MPAA banned, for Darren Lynn Bousman's Saw II

A temperamental police officer searches out Jigsaw, the sadistic mastermind of the horrors of Saw (2004), but he then finds that the hooded psychopath has his own disobedient teenage son locked in in a gaseous hell with a group of ex-cons...

Saw II is written by Leigh Whannell (Saw) and co-writer/director Darren Lynn Bousman (Identity Lost (2001)).
The scenario of Saw II feels like the crazy life-or-death reality show that cannot be produced in real life. The new death traps draw inventively on claustrophobia, fear of needles, the inherent reluctance against cutting in one's own eyes, the fear of burning alive and more. The film achieves a high level of suspense due in part to the committed performances of Donnie Wahlberg (Dead Silence (2007)), who is good as the officer in question, and Tobin Bell (Buried Alive (2007)) as the diabolical lunatic Jigsaw.
But the script has some weaknesses: It seems incredible that Wahlberg smuggles mass-murderer Jigsaw out from confinement past all of his colleagues to locate his trapped son's whereabouts. The film's ending is too reminiscent of the first film's; it lacks closure and is unsatisfying. The smart thing about it from a franchise point of view is that it leaves the viewer in the condition of wanting more.
The mania of editing violently is intensified from Saw and annoys to some degree. Still, Saw II is a fair sequel.

Related posts:

Darren Lynn Bousman: Saw III (2006) - Good performances in Bousman's grisly third trappings
Saw franchise: Saw (2004) - Wan and Whannell's landmark horror beast 

Tobin Bell gives an interview about the movie here

Cost: 4 mil. $
Box office: 147.7 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 36.92 times the cost)
[Saw II was released 28 October (North America and 4 other markets) and runs 93 minutes. Wishing to fast-track production after the first film's major success to have a first sequel by next Halloween, the producers bought Bousman's unrelated The Desperate horror script and developed it into Saw II. With a budget 4 times the size of the first film's, shooting took 25 days from May - June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film opened #1 to a 31.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 87 mil. $ (58.9 % of the total gross). The MPAA banned the film's 'severed fingers' poster but only after it was already released. More than 10k pints of blood were donated at the film's annual Red Cross-partnered 'Give Til It Hurts' blood drive. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 13.7 mil. $ (9.3 %) and Germany with 7.5 mil. $ (5.1 %). It is the highest-grossing Saw film in North America and the 2nd highest-grossing worldwide so far, after Saw III (2006). The film debuted #1 on the home video market, selling 3.9 mil. units in its first week in North America, accruing extra tens of millions of dollars. The franchise returned with Saw III (2006), also Bousman's and Bell's next gig. Saw II is rotten at 37 % with a 4.63/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Saw II?

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

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+ Best Horror Movie of the Year

A terrified woman wearing a contraption that doesn't appear benign around her head, encompassed in darkness, and the curt title in screaming red color makes up this striking poster for James Wan's Saw

Two men wake up in a large, dilapidated bathroom, accompanied by a corpse. They are chained but learn through clues that the one responsible for their situation want them to fight each other. - But there is more to it than meets the eye in this sadistic puzzle...

Saw is written by writer/star Leigh Whannell (Insidious (2010)), with great Malaysian director James Wan (Furious 7 (2015)) contributing story elements.
An outstanding, brutal horror, Saw was also a game-changer for the modern horror genre. Despite the common conception, Saw actually doesn't have enough gore to qualify as a gore movie; but it did inspire a wave of other torture-filled gore movies that tried to copy its rapid-fire, flickering editing style. That style isn't my cup of tea, but Wan and editor Kevin Greutert (The Strangers (2008)) get the technique - along with many of the other ploys of Saw, - to work in their own right here in a plot that's rich on horror ideas and enthusiasm about the genre.
As the two central men in the bathroom, Cary Elwes (Indiscretion (2016)) is nearly unrecognizable, and Whannell is intense.
The lies run thick in Saw, and the film doesn't inspire feelings of great human warmth, but as horror it is excellent. The reveal in the film's end is fantastic, and the theme from Charlie Clouser's (The Collection (2012)) score is exemplary and helps elevate the entire film. Saw is a solid horror-thriller ride.

Related posts:

James Wan:  Aquaman (2018) - Wan delivers a majorly satisfying, gung ho action-adventure splash
The Conjuring 2 (2016) - Wan's sequel is a long horror treat with terrifying periods
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
The Conjuring (2013) - Best horror film in 7 years   
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
Insidious (2010) - Wan's thrilling, scary ghost horror
Saw III (2006) - Good performances in Bousman's grisly third trappings (story contributor)

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Listen to Clouser's phenomenal theme Hello Zep from the film in this video

Cost: 1.2 mil. $
Box office: 103.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 86.58 times its cost)
[Saw premiered 19 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 103 minutes. Inspired by Pi (1998) and The Blair Witch Project (1999), Wan and Whannell set out after completing film school in Australia to make a low-budget feature primarily set in a single location. Not securing finance in Australia, they traveled to Los Angeles and shot a 7-minute short for 5k $ around the 'jaw trap scene' from the script, with Whannell in the part wearing the trap, which helped hook talents and financiers to the movie. The two went ahead with a little independent company who promised creative control and 25 % of the net profits. Shooting took place in Los Angeles for 18 days from September - October 2003. Some of the film's style, incorporating still images for instance, was developed to cover for shortage of footage and other issues due to the short shoot and low budget. Lionsgate's initial plan to release the film direct-to-video was altered after great screening responses, and the film was edited from an NC-17 rating to get an R. It opened #3, behind holdover hit The Grudge and fellow new release Ray to an 18.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 56 mil. $, including a 800k $ gross from a domestic 10th anniversary re-release (53.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 12.6 mil. $ (12.1 %) and Italy with 6.4 mil. $ (6.2 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches harder than this one. The film made in excess of 89.1 mil. $ on domestic home video sales and rentals. It spurred a franchise of 7 sequels (2005-2017) and an 8th, a reboot, in the making currently for a 2020 release date. - All of the films have been wildly commercially successful, with only Saw VI (2009) making less than the first film (68.2 mil. $). Wan returned with Dead Silence (2007). Elwes returned in American Crime (2004, video) and theatrically in Ella Enchanted (2004); Danny Glover (Toxin (2015)) in The Cookout (2004); and Monica Potter (Parenthood (2010-15)) in 4 TV credits before her theatrical return in Lower Learning (2008). Saw is rotten at 49 % with a 5.53/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Saw?

Halloween Movie 2019: Altered States (1980) or, Reversed Darwinism

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The at the time unknown star (William Hurt) is upside down on this mysterious, text-heavy poster for Ken Russell's Altered States

Edward Jessup is an experimental psychology professor, who gambles with his own mental constitution to investigate the human consciousness using an isolation tank and Mexican mushrooms!

Altered States is written by Paddy Chayefsky (Mati (1958, TV movie)), based on his own same-titled 1978 novel, and directed by English master filmmaker Ken Russell (Valentino (1977).
Feature-debuting William Hurt (Mr. Wonderful (1993)) is unique in maybe his career's best performance: In Altered States he expresses madness in galloping speed, while he spouts coherent, complex dialog, which seems to conflict troublingly with his madness.
Bob Balaban (Thin Ice (2011)) and Charles Haid (The Rescue (1988)) are good as his experimental mates, and Blair Brown (Fringe (2008-12)) is strong and sexy in the good part as Hurt's increasingly broken romantic companion.
Chayevsky and Russell keep the film stringent and and anything but flaky plot-wise, although we get into something really strange and bizarre here!
An American Werewolf in London (1981) has a predecessor in the special effects department in Altered States, which also recalls the body horror excess of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986), a film that Altered States transcends intellectually.
The psychedelic sensual bombardment created by Russell and Co. is more out there and hypnotic - as well as upsetting - than any such sequence I have seen anywhere else before; and I haven't seen anything to rival it until Gaspar Noé's nightmarish Enter the Void (2009).
Altered States is a completely wild, intense and attention-demanding picture; it stands as the ultimate horror movie for atheist science freaks: SPOILER Human degeneration back into the simian stage, in this perspective, is the logical, horrific descent to hell.

Related posts:

Ken Russell: Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Past Halloween Movies: Halloween Movie 2018: Misery (1990) - Bates ignites an iconic villain in Reiner's rock-solid King adaptation
Halloween Movie 2017: Candyman (1992) - Racial tensions inform Rose and Barker's Chicago-set horror favorite 

Watch a 1-minute clip from one of the film's psychedelic scenes here

Cost: 14.9 mil. $
Box office: 19.8 mil. $ (North America alone)
= Some uncertainty; most likely a big flop or flop (returned 1.32 times its cost domestically)
[Altered States was released 25 December (USA) and runs 103 minutes. Chayefsky had formed the idea after a gathering of "disgruntled" friends in 1975. Columbia Pictures producer Daniel Melnick suggested that he turn the treatment into a novel first. Arthur Penn was director through pre-production but resigned after a disagreement with Chayefsky. Russell was allegedly director #27 asked to take up the film, following numerous big filmmakers who had passed. The budget ballooned from 9 to 12 to the final 14.9 mil. $ during production - with 4 mil. $ alone going to special effects. Shooting took place in Mexico, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, Kentucky and California, including Los Angeles, from March 1979 - ?. Chayefsky budded into production too much, causing a conflict with Russell, which led to Chayefsky demanding his usual pen name be removed from the film; instead his birth first name and middle name are used (Sidney Aaron). The film opened to a 174k $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 19.8 mil. $, - impressive for such an unusual and wild movie. The foreign grosses are regrettably not made public online, but if the film made 25 mil. $ total, it would still rank as a big flop. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Score (John Corigliano (Revolution (1985))), lost to Michael Gore for Fame, and Best Sound, lost to Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Russell returned with The Planets (1983, TV documentary), The South Bank Show (1984, documentary TV-series) and theatrically with Crimes of Passion (1984). Hurt returned in Eyewitness (1981); Balaban in Prince of the City (1981); Haid in Pray TV (1981) and Brown in Continental Divide (1981). Altered States is certified fresh at 84 % with a 6.81/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Altered States?