Top Gun: Maverick (2022) - Magnificent; a soaring vehicle

♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

The world's greatest movie star is ready to deliver something rare and special on this excitement-building poster for Joseph Kosinski's Top Gun: Maverick

Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell hasn't progressed from being a navy captain, because he belongs in fast airplanes and not behind a desk. Because he is still an extraordinary capacity, he is now tasked with heading a team of young Top Gun pilots on a dangerous mission of great importance.

 

Top Gun: Maverick is written by Ehren Kruger (Scream 3 (2000)), Eric Warren Singer (The International (2009)) and Christopher McQuarrie (Valkyrie (2008)), with Peter Craig (12 Strong (2018)) and Justin Marks (The Jungle Book (2016)) contributing story elements, and directed by Iowan master filmmaker Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy (2010)), whose 4th feature it is. It is the long-awaited sequel to Tony Scott's Top Gun (1986).

Personally I had not long awaited Top Gun: Maverick, because Top Gun never was a cornerstone film for me, although it is admittedly a great watch. (My early Tom Cruise (Legend (1985)) favorite is Cocktail (1988).) But that doesn't hinder Maverick, which has been in the can and ready to release since June 2020, but has been pushed out until now by the China Virus pandemic - and Cruise's insistence that it should have a wide theatrical release.

That certainly makes sense, when you see it on a big screen, because huge, thrilling flying pictures are simply best seen on a big screen, with all the might of modern sound technology backing up the extraordinary flying scenes.

Top Gun: Maverick will bring goosebumps to many (especially male) audiences just seconds into beginning, just at the sight of the 'Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' credit, set in that old-timey font, to some very recognizable tones, given a terrific new spin. Yes, this is a nostalgia trip, - and that's wonderful. It's also a rare breed of circus animal star vehicle with its share of cheesy moments. But that's as it should be when the film is Top Gun: Maverick. - Most importantly, the film works on all levels:

Cruise is arguably doing some of the best work of his career these years, - in Mission: Impossible films that continue to top each other, and now in Maverick. He is on fire here, and you sense the raw willpower and awesome ambition that lies behind this strong action drama. He has allied himself with some very reliable supporting actors in Ed Harris (Touching Home (2008)), Miles Teller (Get a Job (2016)) and Jennifer Connelly (Ballet (1989)). Teller works great as Rooster, whose father's demise in Top Gun is the source of the dramatic conflict between him and mentor/substitute father figure Maverick here. And Connelly is a very classy, sexy and graceful lady - who has great chemistry with Cruise. Val Kilmer (Standing Up (2013)) makes a powerful appearance as Iceman, who has now become an ailing US admiral. There's a strong team of young bucks (and one cool young woman) on the team of young pilots, each of them looking sharper than the previous one, and giving Cruise, Connelly and Teller competition. The very macho and ambition-driven film looks great from all angles. - But perhaps the supporting actor here who is most wonderful is Jon Hamm (Million Dollar Arm (2014)) as the vice admiral directly responsible for overseeing Maverick's teaching: Hamm's face puckers in so many priceless ways here, as he offers opposition to Cruise's predictable wildness as the man who wants his pilots to complete the dangerous mission - and get back in one piece.

Top Gun: Maverick has warmth, fun, romance - and suspense that jolts you back in your seat and make you grab the armrests, as you sense the G powers ripping through your body, (or rather, those on screen.) It is better than a wild roller coaster. Stupendous shots follow each other as pearls on a string, and you'll be right to bet that a lot of people worked tremendously hard to put this all together on screen. (The cinematography by Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi (2012)) is a blast.) The score, - by Lorne Balfe (Songbird (2020)), Harold Faltermeyer (Fletch Lives (1989)), Lady Gaga - in her first composing credit, singing the film's solid hit Hold My Hand, - and Hans Zimmer (Chappie (2015)), - is a wonderful, strong sound carpet for the film.

Top Gun: Maverick is a blast from the past, in strapping new threads, with top-charged talents in every department. An irresistible ode to brotherhood, teamwork, love, hard work, discipline, America and - more than anything - human excellence. Top Gun: Maverick will likely show to be impossible for Cruise to top in the years to come - and for others, for that matter. It is a pure, high-flying, inspirational masterpiece.

Related posts:

 

Joseph Kosinski: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Tron: Legacy (2010) - Feast your eyes on Garrett Hedlund in dazzling sci-fi sequel 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 170 mil. $

Box office: 887.5 mil. $ and counting

= Big hit (has returned 5.22 times its cost to date)

[Top Gun: Maverick premiered 18 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 131 minutes. Cruise in 1990 called a Top Gun sequel 'irresponsible'. But the sequel was gathering momentum 20 years later, until director Tony Scott's suicide in 2012. The project changed hands, and Kosinski was hired to direct instead. Cruise was paid 13 mil. $ and an undisclosed back-end percentage for his work on the film. Shooting took place from September 2018 - July 2019 in California, including San Diego, Nevada and Washington. China's Tencent production company were delivering 12.5 % of the film's budget but then pulled out over fears that it would anger the Chinese Communist Party. The release was pushed from Summer 2019 to Summer 2020 over difficult action scenes that needed a re-shoot, but then due to the China Virus pandemic, the release was pushed out another 2 years, while offers from streaming services were shot down by Cruise and co. in favor of a traditional, big theatrical release. The film opened #1 to a 126.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, the biggest opening of Cruise's career by far. It has spent another weekend at #1, and then continues to be in the top 5 with a #2 and #3 weekend currently, and a 466.1 mil. $ still-ticking domestic gross. It is the 2nd highest-grossing film of the year so far, behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and does not have a Chinese release green-lit by the country's ever-restrictive Communist Party rule. IMDb's users have rated the film in at the site's Top 250 at #43, sitting between Casablanca (1942) and Whiplash (2014). Kosinski returns with Spiderhead (2022, VoD). Cruise returns in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part 1 (2023). Top Gun: Maverick is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Top Gun: Maverick?

Flubber (1997) - A flop alright

♥

 

+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year

 

A not well looking Robin Williams hands us some green goo on this poster for Les Mayfield's Flubber

Professor Brainerd invents a green mass with a series of extraordinary properties, - but others soon want to own his invention, and his fiancée!

 

Flubber is written by John Hughes (Weird Science (1985)) and Bill Walsh (Mary Poppins (1964)), based on Samuel W. Taylor's short story A Situation of Gravity, as a remake of The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), and directed by Les Mayfield (Encino Man (1992)).

Hughes disappoints horribly with this surprisingly flabby turkey. Robin Williams' (RV (2006)) enthusiasm can't salvage that his absent-minded professor character is more aptly described as a complete imbecile. (His 'science' among other things consists of his getting a golf ball and a bowling ball to fly around and smash up his entire lab.)

Marcia Gay Harden (Whip It (2009)) is cold, and the romance between the two is incomprehensible, until he saves her back, and she suddenly loves him. Ted Levine (Heat (1995)) and Clancy Brown (Justice League Unlimited (2004-06)) are bad, unfunny copies of the 'wet bandits' villains from the also Hughes-scripted Home Alone movies, who go through a lot lesser ordeals. And then there's the film's green 'hero', slime-ball Flubber, who doesn't achieve any real kind of personality - and wins no-one's hearts. In one scene the fellow multiplies and dances around, - as again science is just a bullhorn for infantile antics. There's also a flying sidekick, Weebo, who suffers from the same lack of personality as Flubber; it mainly communicates through use of old Disney clips ('cleverly' done, Disney...)

Flubber may be fun for little children but is a piece of scrap for everyone else - with good special effects, mostly VFX. 

 

Related post:

 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 80 mil. $

Box office: 177.9 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.22 times its cost)

[Flubber premiered 16 November (New York) and runs 93 minutes. Shooting took place from October 1996 - February 1997 in California, including in San Francisco. The film opened #1 to a 26.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and then 2 more weekends in the top 5 (#2-#5), grossing 92.9 mil. $ (52.2 % of the total gross). The international gross numbers are not released, but the total gross was not enough to make the film profitable. Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Mayfield returned with Blue Streak (1999). Williams returned with Good Will Hunting (1997). Flubber is rotten at 24 % with a 4.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Flubber? 

Chinese Box (1997) or, Death in Hong Kong

♥♥♥♥

 

+ Best Hong Kong Movie of the Year

 

Exotic Eastern passion is promised on this colorful poster for Wayne Wang's Chinese Box

John is from the West but has lived the last two decades in Hong Kong, which he loves as a city and as an opportunistic paradise, as he one day discovers that he is, in fact, dying from leukemia.

 

Chinese Box is written by Jean-Claude Carrière (Sommersbye (1993)), with Larry Gross (Gunshy (1998)), Paul Theroux (Saint Jack (1979)), Rachel Ingalls (A Question of Faith (2000)) and great Hong Kong-born American filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Wayne Wang (A Man, A Woman, and A Killer (1975)) contributing elements.

At times a heavy film, Chinese Box is nevertheless ultimately a moving drama, which binds Hong Kong's British heritage poignantly together with the story of a terminal expat, who also suffers from heartache.

Jeremy Irons (And Now Ladies & Gentlemen (2002)) and Gong Li (The Banquet (1991)) as his chosen, but rejecting barmaid lover are both good in this film about death, in which the ideal circumstances are out of reach. Chinese Box is sensitive and melancholy.

 

Related post:

 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 2.1 mil. $ -  North America only

= Uncertain

[Chinese Box premiered 4 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place in Hong Kong. The film opened #22 to a 97k $ first weekend in 12 theaters in North America, where it grossed 2.1 mil. $. Regrettably the gross numbers from the film's many international markets, including Hong Kong (but not China) are not made public. Without a cost figure and other gross figures a theatrical status cannot be projected for this film. It won a prize in Venice. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Wang returned with Anywhere But Here (1999). Irons returned in Lolita (1997); Li in The Emperor and the Assassin/Jing Ke ci Qin Wang (1998). Chinese Box is fresh at 64 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Chinese Box? 

Contact (1997) - Zemeckis helms one of the all-time worst sci-fi pics

[ZERO]

 

+ Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year + Most Overrated Movie of the Year 

 

Two Hollywood stars line up in front of a row of giant satellites on this poster for Robert Zemeckis' Contact

 

Dr. Ellie Arroway has always been preoccupied with the possibility of life in space, so that when the day comes when strange sounds arrive to earth from somewhere out there, she becomes central for the US response to the news.

Contact is written by James V. Hart (Hook (1991)) and Michael Goldenberg (Bed of Roses (1996)), adapting the same-titled 1985 novel by Carl Sagan, and directed by Illinoisan master filmmaker Robert Zemeckis (I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)), whose 11th feature it is.

After a very long space intro using CGI, - the film also later has fair CGI effects, - the absolute nightmare that is Contact begins. Harmlessly at first, but soon it becomes clear that Jodie Foster (Flight Plan (2005)) is here trapped in an insufferable abomination of a film in a non-character, who gets a bit of nonsense to spout to mark that she represents 'science', whereupon she has to confront apathy, stupidity, lack of curiosity and braindead 'religious' examinations throughout the film.

Contact is enormously tiring in every aspect: Among them are Matthew McConaughey (Sahara (2005)), who here looks like a surfer and talks like a Texan farmhand, - but is a Christian philosopher (!!), who waxes on. 

We never get to the aliens or anything eye-opening, provocative or exciting. Rarely has a big-budget studio epic been this modest, empty and insufferable. Contact is terrible on every level.

 

Related posts:

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The 2010s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

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] 

2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2012 in films - according to Film Excess

Flight (2012) - Character study masterpiece from Zemeckis and Washington 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Back to the Future Part III (1990) or, The DeLorean Time Traveler's Last Adventure 

Top 10: Best future-set movies

Top 10: The best adventure films reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Back to the Future Part II (1989) or, The DeLorean Time Traveler Returns 

Top 10: Best first-of-franchise movies 

Top 10: Best fantasy movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Back to the Future (1985) or, The DeLorean Time Traveler

1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock (co-writer) 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 90 mil. $

Box office: 171.1 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.90 times its cost)

[Contact was released 11 July (North America) and runs 150 minutes. Contact was first envisioned as a film by Sagan and his then girlfriend Ann Druyan but then written as a novel first instead. It was developed as a movie with Roland Joffé and then George Miller attached as director: The former quit, and the latter was fired, before the project landed with Zemeckis. Foster was paid 9 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from September 1996 - February 1997 in Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, California, including in Los Angeles, Virginia, Washington DC, Fiji, Canada and in Puerto Rico. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Men in Black, to a 20.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4), grossing 100.9 mil. $ (59 % of the total gross). The film's international gross numbers are regrettably not made public. The film was nominated for the Best Sound Oscar, lost to Titanic. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 5 notches over this one. The White House were unhappy with the film's use of Bill Clinton quotes (about other matters) as part of its narrative; CNN were unhappy with their participation in the film; and George Miller and Francis Ford Coppola both unsuccessfully sued Warner Bros. over the film. Zemeckis returned with Robert Zemeckis on Smoking, Drinking and Drugging in the 20th Century: In Pursuit of Happiness (1999, TV documentary) and theatrically with What Lies Beneath (2000). Foster returned in Anna and the King (1999); McConaughey in Amistad (1997). Contact is fresh at 67 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Contact?

Chasing Amy (1997) or, How to Lay the Hot Lesbian

♥♥

 

+ Best $ Return of the Year: 60.4 times the cost

 

Attractive blond Joey Lauren Adams is used to sell on this poster for Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy

Two young male friends, who make comic books together for a living, have their friendship tested, when one of them falls for a lesbian blond.

 

Chasing Amy is written and directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks (1994)).

The 1990s are ugly in a foul way; self-centered and overly talkative in this 100 % sexually fixated flick, a film that has a lot of fun with itself. It had me amused one time, I think , but annoyed me for most of the time. For instance, the titular Amy, (played by Smith's real-life girlfriend at the time and inspiration for the film, Joey Lauren Adams (Trucker (2008))), is also a comic book artist, and the protagonist processes their whole history together as a couple by immortalizing it in a comic book... But the worst thing is that Smith wants Chasing Amy to be an open-minded and frank sex romcom, while actually it is clumsy as it bumps around as essentially a very simple young hetero male's fantasy more than anything else. (The hot lesbian is suddenly not a lesbian anymore and so on and so on.)

Ben Affleck (200 Cigarettes (1999)) is good and is invested in Chasing Amy, and Dwight Ewell (On the Run (1999)), who plays a black friend that's (also) a comic book artist, is funny and charming. But Chasing Amy is still a fairly horrible film. 

 

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Kevin Smith: Tusk (2014) - Smith goes all-out wack
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Red State (2011) or, End of Days II 
Cop Out (2010) or, A Couple of Dicks   

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 250k $

Box office: 15.1 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 60.4 times its cost)

[Chasing Amy premiered 23 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 113 minutes. Affleck was paid 7k $ for his performance. Shooting took place in New Jersey and New York. The film opened #21 to a 53k $ opening weekend in 3 theaters, peaking at #10 and in 553 theaters, grossing 12 mil. $ (79.5 % of the total gross) in North America. Regrettably gross numbers for the film's long list of international release markets are not made public online. The film won 2/3 Independent Spirit award nominations, was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Smith returned with Dogma (1999). Affleck returned in Good Will Hunting (1997); Adams in Oddville, MTV (1997, TV-series) and theatrically in A Cool, Dry Place (1998); and Jason Lee (Columbus Circle (2012)) in Weapons of Mass Destruction (1997, TV movie), Perversions of Science (1997, TV-series) and theatrically in A Better Place (1997). Chasing Amy is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Chasing Amy? 

Con Air (1997) - Loud, dumb actioner coming in hot

♥

 

Fiery action and tough-posing male stars attract attention on this poster for Simon West's Con Air

A sympathetic prisoner (Nicolas Cage (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022))) is going on a prisoner air transport, which almost immediately goes completely wrong. Our hero just wants to get home to his family, but the maniacs around him are making that very hard!

 

Con Air is written by Scott Rosenberg (Air Time (1992, TV movie)) and directed by debuting Simon West (The Expendables 2 (2012)).

One may admire how in a Jerry Bruckheimer production such as this, an entire backstory is explained in a matter of minutes even before the intro credits end, so that the film can then proceed to play out without pause: From then on it is just hung up on a lot of idiotic scenes, stereotypes and general tastelessness. (Among much else, notorious real-life serial killers are in Con Air mere content for tacky one-liners.)

The entire star cast work as so many beams of hardwood squeezed into a wood-chipper here in an insanely dumb movie, which makes manipulative stabs into thin air. 

 

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Simon West: The Expendables 2 (2012) - An over-packed action hot-air balloon
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess    

The Mechanic (2011) - West's dull, flawed action remake 

 

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 75 mil. $

Box office: 224 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.98 times its cost)

[Con Air premiered 2 June (Las Vegas) and runs 115 minutes. Shooting took place from July - September 1996 in Utah, Indiana, Las Vegas, Nevada and in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #1 to a 24.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 4 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5-8X-#4), grossing 101.1 mil. $ (45.1 % of the total gross). It was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Sound, lost to Titanic, and Best Song (Diane Warren's How Do I Live), lost to My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, James Horner and Will Jennings from Titanic. It was also nominated for a Grammy. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. West returned with The General's Daughter (1999). Nicolas Cage (Time to Kill (1989)) returned in Face/Off (1997); John Cusack (2012 (2009)) in Chicago Cab (1997); and John Malkovich (RED 2 (2013)) in Cannes Man (1997). Con Air is rotten at 55 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Con Air? 

The Brave (1997) - Depp's directorial train wreck

♥

 

+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year

+ Worst $ Return of the Year: 0.16 times the cost 

 

Johnny Depp's massive face and a scene of passion (involving himself) makes up this dark poster for Johnny Depp's own The Brave

A formerly imprisoned native American with a drinking problem heads to a job interview, and he mysteriously obtains the very strange and well-paid job ...

 

The Brave is written Paul McCudden (In the Name of the Father (1992, short)), D.P. Depp and co-writer/director/co-star, debuting Johnny Depp (The Every Cake, Neil (1988, short)). It is an adaptation of the same-titled 1991 novel by Gregory Mcdonald (Safekeeping (1985)).

The strange job that Depp's character in the film obtains is to be the person killed in a snuff film 7 days after taking it on; a fact that is informed on the DVD backside if not very clearly in the actual film itself.

The Brave moves so slowly that it feels as if it has stalled or is in fact moving backwards. Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront (1954)) is the wheelchair-bound 'employer', who rambles about death in a single scene. Depp seems despondent and walks around in torment as a useless layabout in a vacuum-like corner of the US, which never feels like a real place. His wife, - yes, he has a wife, (and children, too!), - is furious.

Initial interest soon drops to zero with The Brave, and the attraction of the project is unclear. It is a catastrophic directorial attempt from Depp.

 

Related posts:

 

Johnny Depp: Murder on the Orient Express (2017) - Branagh's star-studded Christie match is auspicious (co-star)

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) - Bobin, Woolverton and Disney's poorly constructed sequel (co-star) 

Mortdecai (2015) - Comedic wonder Depp creates mirth in divisive Koepp adaptation (co-star)

Tusk (2014) - Smith goes all-out wack (actor)

Dark Shadows (2012) - Fun, flamboyant vampire romp is a celebration of culture (star) 

For No Good Reason (2012, documentary) or, Ralph Steadman, Artist (interview co-star)

Rango (2011) - Verbinski's amusing family western animation (voice star) 

The Rum Diary (2011) or, The Puerto Rican Adventure of Mr. Kemp (star)

Alice in Wonderland (2010) - Wasikowska is the perfect lead for Burton's visual wonderland (co-star)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) or, Tim Burton's Bloody Theatrics (star)

Corpse Bride (2005) - Impressive, loud, hollow, dark doll fairytale (voice co-star)

Finding Neverland (2004) - Forster and an inspired cast strike gold with story of Peter Pan's creation (co-star)

The Libertine (2004) - Just your old-fashioned wigs-and-cunts drama (star) 

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Verbinski's sprawling Disney swashbuckler is a prime summer spectacle (co-star)

Blow (2001) or, Cocaine Comes to America (co-star)

From Hell (2001) - The Hughes Brothers' persuasive up-tempo Ripper slasher (co-star)

Chocolat (2000) - Delicious pairing in spite of Hallström's ghastly taste (co-star)

The Man Who Cried (2000) - Potter's forlorn war drama is a clonker for the ages (co-star) 

The Ninth Gate (1999) - Class and atmosphere galore in underrated Polanski thriller (star)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - Depp's Thompson lives and breathes in Gilliam's outrageous, drug-fueled masterpiece (co-star) 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Donnie Brasco (1997) - Newell's fantastic, authentic gangster tale (co-star)

Dead Man (1995) - Jarmusch's bold, poetic, rich Americana masterpiece (star)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) or, Don't Fall Asleep! (actor, debut)

 

 

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

Cost: Reportedly 5-7 mil. $

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain but likely a box office disaster (projected return of 0.16 times its cost)

[The Brave premiered 10 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 123 minutes. Touchstone Pictures were meaning to start production in 1994, when the project's then director Aziz Ghazal murdered his wife and daughter and committed suicide. The Disney-owned company withdrew, but McCudden and producer Charles Evans worked on and got the script to Depp, who reportedly disliked it, - but not so much that he didn't pick it up for his directorial debut, after a re-write with his brother. Brando reportedly signed on for no salary, bonding with Depp over their shared strong sympathy for native Americans. - Especially in light of this, it is hard to understand how the cost of the film could have run as high as 5-7 mil. $, which is nevertheless what is reported. Shooting took place in California, including in Los Angeles. Depp reportedly promised backers that he'd personally pay, if the budget went over its reported allotment of 5 mil. $, and it is reported that he injected upwards of 2 mil. $ of his own money into it. Upset at US critics' lampooning it at its Cannes premiere, Depp decided against releasing it theatrically or on video in North America. There are no numbers out on its performance in the 7 international markets where it was released, but it is most likely that it made no more than perhaps 1 mil. $ or less theatrically, making it a box office disaster. Depp only returned as director with music videos, mainly for his then-wife Vanessa Paradis. On screen he returned in Cannes Man (1997). 10k+ IMDb users have given The Brave a 6.1/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of The Brave?