Puss in Boots (2011) - Catty spin-off has issues

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The titular cat and a wealth of other fantastical elements attract on this poster for Chris Miller's Puss in Boots

Puss is a feared, sword-carrying cat who meets a thrilling female cat and reunites with his old friend Humpty Dumpty for an adventure for the magic beans that lead to the golden goose!

 

Puss in Boots is written by Tom Wheeler (Empire (2005, miniseries)), with William Davies (Flushed Away (2006)) and Brian Lynch (Hop (2011)) contributing story elements, and directed by Chris Miller (Shrek the Third (2007)). It is a spin-off of the Shrek franchise (2001; 2004; 2007; 2010). It has its basis in the same-titled, 16th century European folk fairytale.

The film begins with energy and fun for a time, with cat characters and adult concepts intermingling in a colorful family package (not unlike in the Shrek movies), but later the film runs out of juice, as the Puss/Dumpty relationship that's meant to carry the film, simply isn't strong enough or exciting enough to do so. That leaves one sighing for other characters, - or, even worse, reminiscing about how much fun those first two Shrek movies were. 

The animation here is handsome; there's lots of action, but Puss doesn't impress one as a great character in Puss in Boots. 

 

Related posts:

Shrek franchise: Shrek the Third (2007) - Declined quality but still loads of fun to be had with third Shrek (also by Miller)

Shrek 2 (2004) - Fun and adventure reign in tremendous family animation romp 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 130 mil. $

Box office: 554.9 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.26 times its cost)

[Puss in Boots premiered 23 October (Austin Film Festival) and runs 90 minutes. Originally envisioned as a video release, the film was elevated to a theatrical release. Production took place in the US and India. It opened #1 to a 34 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend at #1 and then 2 more in the top 5 (#3-#5), grossing 149.2 mil. $ (26.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 50.5 mil. $ (9.1 %) and Germany with 34 mil. $ (6.1 %). It was the year's 3rd highest-grossing animated film, behind Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2. The film was nominated for the Best Animation Oscar, lost to Rango. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. The film additionally made in excess of 70.4 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. The character returned in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022). Miller has not returned as a director since. Antonio Banderas (The Body (2001)) returned in Day of the Falcon/Black Gold (2011) and also returned to voice Puss in the 2022 sequel. Puss in Boots is certified fresh at 86 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Puss in Boots?

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011, documentary) - Horrific West Memphis crime saga concludes

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An investigation-like collage of images and tagline text covers this dark poster for Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

 

In 1994, three eight-year old boys are found murdered near their home in West Memphis, Arkansas. Weeks later three outcast young men are tried and found guilty of the crime. Many years later their innocence is realized by the judicial system.

 

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is directed by Joe Berlinger (The Longest Wave (2019, documentary)) and Bruce Sinofsky (Hollywood High (2003, TV movie)). It is the third and final film in the pair's Paradise Lost trilogy, coming after Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996, documentary) and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000, TV documentary).

Especially for those unfamiliar with the widely publicized story of the West Memphis Three, this film is a serious round, which is already clear from the visuals of the murdered, naked bodies at the crime scene during the opening titles. The story is a jaw-dropping crime that turns into a legal tragedy, which reaches absolutely horrifying heights, when we are dealt clear indications of the identity of the true child triple killer, - and the law system acts indifferently. This may very well destroy your night's sleep.

The excellent documentary could be critiqued for its religiously loaded title, - and what it precisely refers to is unclear. In the context the thoroughly sympathetic treatment of Damian Echols (one of the imprisoned three), who later moves, of all places, to Salem, Massachusetts, may cause some to wonder. The wrongfully convicted lament an insensitive legal system in the film's end, but the filmmakers' treatment of the crime scene photos in its opening montage is also insensitive.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 121 minutes. Shooting took place in Arkansas. The film was screened at several festivals and seemingly enjoyed a general release in just one market (Brazil of all places) before screening at HBO. It was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, lost to Undefeated. It was also nominated for 2 Emmys and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Berlinger returned with Under African Skies (2012, documentary); Sinofsky with 4 TV credits, starting with Oprah's Master Class: Special Edition (2012, TV movie). Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is fresh at 100 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory?

Poseidon (2006) - Petersen's disastrous disaster flick

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+ Career Killer of the Year: Wolfgang Petersen + Costliest Flop of the Year: 87.36 mil. $ range

 

An upside-down cruise ship underwater makes up this disaster-teasing poster for Wolfgang Petersen's Poseidon

 

The giant cruise ship the Poseidon gets hit on new year's night by a 'rogue wave', which turns it upside down. Chaos ensues inside, as a group of survivors fight their way to the surface!

 

Poseidon is written by Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend (2007)), adapting The Poseidon Adventure (1969) by Paul Gallico (Miracle in the Wilderness (1975)), and co-produced and directed by German-born American master filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen (Ich Werde Dich Töten, Wolf (1971)). The novel has previously been adapted as The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

Really handsome visual effects, especially in the beginning of the film and around the impact of the freak wave, keeps Poseidon above water for a while as a more good-looking, appropriately silly update of the well-known, silly, tiring 1970s movie. We are introduced to plentiful characters, but the encounters become very superficial one and all, and more than once outright laughable in their corniness. Popstar Fergie (Nine (2009)), the black and the latino characters all die relatively quickly, and so the film lives up to the old Hollywood race-profile cliché of letting the white characters outlive other races.

Despite controlled length the film develops sort of like the original Poseidon movie with many long, thrill-less scenes with wet stars, flames and screaming. Petersen fails to elevate this shipwreck.

 

Related posts:

 

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

Top 10: Best epic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

The Boat/Das Boot (1981) - Petersen's awe-inspiring WWII epic 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 160 mil. $

Box office: 181.6 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.13 times its cost)

[Poseidon was released May 10 (Philippines, Thailand) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place from June - October 2005 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind Mission: Impossible III, to a 22.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#4-#5), grossing 60.6 mil. $ (33.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 14 mil. $ (7.7 %) and Japan with 9.9 mil. $ (5.5 %). The film was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, lost to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The film additionally made in excess of 27.1 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. Petersen returned with Vier Gegen die Bank (2016). Kurt Russell (Vanilla Sky (2001)) returned in Death Proof (2007). Poseidon is rotten at 33 % with a 4.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Poseidon?

The Player (1992) - Altman's overrated Hollywood satire

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Film strip is fashioned in a noose across a glitzy Hollywood background on this neat poster for Robert Altman's The Player

A famed Hollywood studio executive receives death threats from an incensed screenwriter and meets him one night, but the meeting goes horrible wrong, - and then the question gnaws, if the writer at the meeting was indeed the person behind the threats?

 

The Player is written by Michael Tolkin (Deep Impact (1998)), adapting his own same-titled 1988 novel, and directed by Missourian master filmmaker Robert Altman (The Delinquents (1957)), whose 26th feature it was.

It is a cleverly constructed tongue-in-cheek satirical, cinephile's treat, which both loves cinema and Hollywood and hates it and displays the disconnect, cynicism and hollowness that's so rampant in Tinseltown. 

Tim Robbins (Portlandia (2012, TV-series)) is good, but best here is Greta Scacchi (Palm Beach (2019)), Peter Gallagher (Palm Springs (2020)) as Robbins' studio opponent and Cynthia Stevenson (Scandal (2013, TV-series)) as his assistant, among a sea of celebrity cameos. The film is mildly entertaining, - and mostly for the Hollywood interested audience, - for others it may prove less fun or thrilling than one might hope. The Player is elegantly staged but, as the environment it portrays, a bit distant and safe, or perhaps simply overly well-behaved and padded.

 

Related posts:

Robert Altman: The Company (2003) - Campbell, Turner and Altman's fine ballet picture  

Gosford Park (2001) - Smith triumphs in Altman & Fellowes' exquisite whodunit

Ready to Wear/Prêt-à-Porter (1994) - Paris fashion week through the Altman lens 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 8 mil. $

Box office: 28.8 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.6 times its cost)

[The Player premiered 3 April (Cleveland International Film Festival) and runs 124 minutes. Shooting took place from June - August 1991 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #16 to a 302k $ first weekend in 23 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #4 and in 452 theaters (different weeks), grossing 21.7 mil. $ (75.3 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, losing all. It lost Best Director to Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven, Editing also to Unforgiven, and Adapted Screenplay to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala for Howards End. It also won 2/5 BAFTA nominations, 2 awards in Cannes, losing the Palme d'Or to The Best Intentions, was nominated for a César award, won 2/4 Golden Globe nominations, an Independent Spirit award, a National Board of Review award. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Altman returned with Short Cuts (1993). Robbins returned in Bob Roberts (1992); Scacchi in Desire (1992). The Player is certified fresh at 97 % with a 8.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Player?

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) - Lerman and Jackson return in improved sequel

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Three young stars in a veritable sea of CGI on the poster for Thor Freudenthal's Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Demi-god and high school student Percy Jackson finds out that he has a half-brother, who is a cyclops, and heads out on a new adventure with his friends, - against the evil Kyle and his father Kronos the titan.

 

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is written by Marc Guggenheim (Supergirl (2017-19)), adapting the same-titled 2006 novel by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods (2023)), and directed by Thor Freudenthal (Hotel for Dogs (2009)).

The film opens with a rather dubious and confusing backstory about a character we only meet a lot later, but Sea of Monsters nevertheless is a clear improvement from the insufferably silly first Percy Jackson from 2010. It is freed from the countless, ungodly bit parts played by older stars, and instead we are here treated to more fun with the young cast, including a sweet plot-line about Percy and his new brother, and lots of 3D-minded action, monsters and a cute 'seahorse'. This is very safe entertainment, essentially not really about anything, but it is affable enough, not least due to the charming Brandon T. Jackson (Deadbeat (2014-15)) and Logan Lerman (Indignation (2016)), who incredibly enough actually plays Percy with his little boy's face. The female actors are anonymous and unexciting in comparison. 

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is still silly, but in more acceptable lengths, - as when , for instance, Percy's dyslexia is explained as a reason for him to suddenly see a map in the ocean... It may be the 3D film of the year.

 

Related post:

 

First Percy Jackson movie: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief/Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief (2010) - Columbus' uinteresting YA fantasy

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 90 mil. $

Box office: 200.9 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.23 times its cost)

[Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters was released 7 August (USA and 4 other markets) and runs 106 minutes. Shooting took place from April - July 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana and in British Columbia, including in Vancouver. The film opened #4, behind fellow new releases Elysium, We're the Millers and Planes, to a 14.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend, grossing 68.5 mil. $ (34.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 13.4 mil. $ (6.7 %) and Russia with 12.6 mil. $ (6.3 %). The film additionally made an estimated 49.2 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. No more Percy Jackson films were made, but the character returns in a younger version in a new 2023 Disney+ TV-series. Freudenthal returned with 8 TV credits and one short prior to his theatrical return with Words on Bathroom Walls (2020). Lerman returned in Noah (2014). Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is rotten at 42 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters?

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief/Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief (2010) - Columbus' uinteresting YA fantasy

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A teenage boy seems to be making the ocean go crazy on this special effects-focused poster for Chris Columbus' Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Percy is a dyslexic teenager with ADHD who learns that he is also a Greek demi-god.

 

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is written by Craig Titley (Scooby-Doo (2002, story)), adapting the same-titled 2005 novel by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Last Olympian (2009)), and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker, co-producer/director Chris Columbus (Adventures in Babysitting (1987)).

From Columbus, a master of family fare in the early 1990s (Home Alone (1990); Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)) comes this disappointing bid for a new fantasy-based family adventure. As fodder for the Young Adult segment it is harmless and thank God has some humor (albeit mostly without being outright funny.) But it is a terrible bore and without attraction for audiences older than the slim target (teenage) demographic.

26 year-old actor Brandon T. Jackson (Get a Job (2016)) plays a high school student (!), and although Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)) is charismatic enough in the title lead beneath his helmet of soft, cherubic hair, there is no chemistry to elevate matters. Pierce Brosnan (The Misfits (2021)) and others in the impressive adult star line-up are obviously here for a paycheck. 

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a really silly light-weight fantasy with sketchy visual effects and widespread green-screen solutions chosen. 

 

Related posts:

 

Chris Columbus: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) - Potter and Co. return for handsome if overlong first sequel

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Top 10: Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) - Columbus and Robin Williams score with a truly great family jewel

1992 in films - according to Film Excess 

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - The coolest kid in the world incites kiddie bellylaughs once again 

Top 10: Best Twentieth Century Fox titles 

Home Alone (1990) - Columbus, Hughes, Culkin and co. take Christmas and home defense to the next level 

The Goonies (1985) - Sweet child performances drive Donner's beloved, uneven adventure (writer)
Gremlins (1984) - Dante's 1980s puppetry classic (writer)

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 95 mil. $

Box office: 226.4 mil. $

= Minor flop (returned 2.38 times its cost)

[Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was released 10 February (France and 4 other markets) and runs 119 minutes. Shooting took place from April - July 2009 in British Columbia, including in Vancouver, in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Tennessee. The film opened #3, behind fellow new releases Valentine's Day and The Wolfman, to a 31.2 mil. $ first weekend, where it spent 2 more weekends in the top 5 (#4-#5), grossing 88.7 mil. $ (39.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 14.7 mil. $ (6.5 %) and South Korea with 11.5 mil. $ (5.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. The film additionally made in excess of 37 mil. $ on home video sales in North America alone. The young stars returned with a new director for sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013). Riordan was unhappy with both films and has become screenwriter for the new Percy Jackson adaptation series for Disney+, arriving in 2023. Columbus returned with Applebaum (2012, TV movie) and theatrically with Pixels (2015). Lerman returned in The Three Musketeers (2011). Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is rotten at 48 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief?

Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Wright's marriage drama makes the mind wander off

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Star Keira Knightley and co-star Matthew Macfadyen in beautiful sunset light on a field makes up most of this pretty poster for Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice

Late 18th century England: The Bennet family have more than one daughter who are ready to get married off. A young soldier, a priest and the mysterious Mr. Darcy are among the suitors.

 

Pride & Prejudice is written by Deborah Moggach (Final Demand (2003, TV movie)), with Emma Thompson (Effie Gray (2014)) contributing uncredited work, adapting the same-titled 1813 novel by Jane Austen (Mansfield Park (2014)), and directed by debuting Joe Wright (The Soloist (2009)).

Overwrought over-acting characterizes more than one of the performances in this plush adaptation that is essentially a coming-of-age romance. The young women are extraordinarily giggly and excited, and I for one could not attach myself to them to the required degree, despite lead Keira Knightley's (Domino (2005)) at times charming nature. There are none other to seriously cling onto, and the archaic family story, which solely concerns getting the 'girls' married in a suitable fashion, thus becomes terribly distant and unappealing.

Darcy is played with almost humorous sulk and lack of positivity by Matthew Macfadyen (Ripper Street (2012-16)), and it sure is a mystery here why Knightley's Lizzy falls for him. Donald Sutherland's (Ad Astra (2019)) soft patriarch performance nevertheless stands out as moving. Wright's possible qualities as a director remain hidden here.

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 28 mil. $

Box office: 121.6 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.34 times its cost)

[Pride & Prejudice premiered 25 July (Hamburg, Germany) and runs 127 minutes. Shooting took place from July - October 2004 in England. The film opened #10 to a 2.8 mil. $ first weekend in 215 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #6 and in 1,335 theaters (different weeks), grossing 38.4 mil. $ (31.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 26.5 mil. $ (21.8 %) and Germany with 7.1 mil. $ (5.8 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning none: Best Actress (Knightley), lost to Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line, Art Direction, lost to Memoirs of a Geisha, Costume Design, also lost to Memoirs of a Geisha, and Score (Dario Marianelli), lost to Gustavo Santaolalla for Brokeback Mountain. It also won 1/6 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for 3 European Film awards and 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. Wright returned with Atonement (2007). Knightley returned in Domino (2005). Pride & Prejudice is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pride & Prejudice?

Paradise: Love/Paradies: Liebe (2012) - Woman's love safari proves fertile ground for Seidl drama

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European women enjoy drinks, the ocean and local male attention on this poster for Ulrich Seidl's Paradise: Love

Our plus-sized, love-starved heroine leaves her teenage daughter back in their home in Austria to go on a solo vacation to Africa, where the local men simply adore the middle-aged European woman "as they are!" - Or do they now also...?

 

Paradise: Love is written by Veronika Franz (Import Export (2007)) and great Austrian filmmaker, co-writer/producer/director Ulrich Seidl (Models (1999)). It it the first film in his Paradise trilogy, also comprised by Paradise: Faith/Paradies: Glaube (2012) and Paradise: Hope/Paradies: Hoffnung (2013). The title is a literal translation of the original German title.

Seidl's film about female sex tourism ultimately becomes a reflection of the fundamentally unjust layout of the world, - both as it has become arranged by man but also how it is handed to each one of us from God's or nature's hands. Watching Paradise: Love, I also couldn't help but wonder what might have been different if the film had looked into male sex tourism instead of female. 

Margarete Tiesel (Sargnagel - Der Film (2021)) is without vanity and fear in her lead performance, and Seidl (and cinematographers Edward Lachman (Carol (2015)) and Wolfgang Thaler (Toulouse (2018, TV movie))) capture a lot of absurd comedy with their visual mastering and eye for images, so that the film in periods is also pretty funny. It is also tender, sad, though-provoking and remarkably empathetic. If any of the individuals in the story are to be judged, that job is obviously left up to us.

Paradise: Love is an outstanding film with a couple of scenes that last a really long time, but which in doing so reveal something about the relations between the people involved, which is only possible due to their length. Something about the flux of exploitation in unnatural romantic relations.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 3.6 mil. €, approximately 3.8 mil. $

Box office: 1.7 mil. $

= Mega-flop (returned 0.44 times its cost)

[Paradise: Love premiered 18 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 120 minutes. Shooting took place from October 2009 - September 2010 in Austria and Kenya, back-to-back with the other two films in the trilogy. They were initially planned to be one film but the length and other factors made Seidl realize that they should be released as three films. The film opened #84 to a 6k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #78 and in 4 theaters, grossing 24k $ (1.4 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were Germany with 698k $ (41.1 %), Austria with 448k $ (26.4 %) and Spain with 165k $ (9.7 %). The film lost the Palme d'Or to Amour. It was also nominated for a European Film award, among other honors. Seidl returned with Paradise: Faith/Paradies: Glaube (2012). Tiesel returned in 2 TV and a short credit prior to her theatrical return in Das Pferd auf dem Balkon (2012). Paradise: Love is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Paradise: Love?