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The Malinois star looks attentive and calm in a scene of unrest on this poster for Boaz Yakin's Max
When teenager Justin's marine big brother gets killed on duty in Afghanistan, his war-traumatized Malinois service dog Max comes home and gets taken in by Justin, who learns the truth about his brother from the steadfast Max. Max is written by Sheldon Lettich (Rambo III (1988)) and co-writer/director Boaz Yakin (Fresh (1994)). The film runs with a good story and a noble mission of honoring the over-looked, four-legged heroes of war, which is what propels Max upwards. The dog Carlos who plays Max is fantastic, and dog-lovers everywhere are bound to fall for this modern Lassie-type hero dog. The human stars, on the other hand, are so-so: The mother character isn't up to much, and Thomas Haden Church (Ned and Stacey (1995-17)) is sometimes wooden in his acting as the father. Justin's two Mexican-American friends are acted with charm. And Justin is also acted well by Josh Wiggins (The Bachelors (2017)), but he regrettably botches the final scene by the gravestone. Overall there's still more to like than dislike about this edifying, fine dog movie.
Cost: 20 mil. $ Box office: 43.9 mil. $ = Flop (returned 2.19 times its cost) [Max was released 25 June (Philippines) and runs 111 minutes. Shooting took place in North Caroline, including Charlotte. The film opened #4, behind holdover hits Jurassic World and Inside Out and fellow new release Ted 2, to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 42.6 mil. $ (97 % of the total gross). The tiny international gross of around 1.3 mil. $ is not fully illuminated at the film's Box Office Mojo site. Yakin returned with Boarding School (2018). Carlos the dog returned in the film's sequel Max 2: White House Hero (2017). Max is rotten at 38 % with a 4.82/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Max?
Reality splinters surreally on this ocean blue poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master
After World War II a drunken US navy marine heads back home from the Pacific and encounters difficulties fitting back into society, until he happens upon a charismatic 'master', Lancaster Dodd, who is leading a new religion known as 'the Cause'.
The Master is written and directed by Californian master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight (1996)), whose 5th feature it is. It is an inspired film, and it is partly inspired by the foundation of L. Ron Hubbard's bizarre Church of Scientology. (Other interesting sources of inspiration for The Master include Thomas Pynchon's novel V. (1963), the life story of author John Steinbeck, drunken Navy stories told to Anderson by terminally ill actor Jason Robards during filming of Magnolia (1999) and more.) The film has a beautiful, cinematic and slightly unnerving image side (remarkable, mostly 65 mm photography by Mihai Malaimare Jr. (Nina (2016))) and a typically challenging (for a P.T. Anderson movie) score (by Jonny Greenwood (We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011)), who also did the incredible score for Anderson's preceding masterpiece There Will Be Blood (2007).) It is accompanied by masterful performances from Joaquin Phoenix (Signs (2002)), whose pitch black portrayal of a particular kind of lost soul drunk is superb, and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Leap of Faith (1992)), equally superb as choleric spiritual leader/con man Dodd. Amy Adams (Sunshine Cleaning (2008)) is adorable in the most sizeable supporting part, and forces like Laura Dern (Cold Pursuit (2019)) and Rami Malek (24 (2010, TV-series)) are icing on the cake. The Master is a thought-provoking, dashing film of a seducer of minds.
Cost: 32 mil. $ Box office: 28.2 mil. $ = Huge flop (returned 0.88 times its cost) [The Master premiered 1 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 137 minutes. Anderson had reportedly had the idea for the film for 12 years before writing it. He also incorporated scenes from an early draft of his There Will Be Blood script. Collaboration with Universal Pictures to finance broke down. Hoffman suggested Anderson focus more on the sailor character than Dodd. It was the first film to be shot on 65 mm since Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996). Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, Nevada and in Hawaii from June - September (2011). Anderson has said that Phoenix stayed in character for the entire three month shoot. The film opened #19 to a 736k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 864 theaters (different weeks), grossing 16.3 mil. $ (57.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.2 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Italy with 1.8 mil. $ (6.4 %). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Actor (Phoenix) to Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, Supporting Actor (Hoffman) to Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained, and Supporting Actress (Adams) to Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables. The film was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes, 4 BAFTAs, won 3 awards in Venice and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches lower than this one. Anderson has said that The Master is his favorite among his own films and expressed his pride in it. Anderson returned with Back Beyond (2013, short), Fiona Apple: Hot Knife (2013, music video) and theatrically with Inherent Vice (2014). Phoenix returned in Back Beyond (2013, short) and theatrically in The Immigrant (2013); Hoffman in A Late Quartet (2012) and Adams in Trouble with the Curve (2012). The Master is certified fresh at 85 % with an 8.11/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of The Master?
Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried, obviously styled to be mother and daughter, in a heavily manipulated Greek landscape on a poster for Phyllida Lloyd's Mamma Mia!
A beautiful young woman who has never known her father is getting married and invites the three men, who all may be her father, to come to her wedding in her mother's decrepit hotel on a Greek island. Mamma Mia! is written by Catherine Johnson (Love Hurts (1993-94)), based on her own 1999 same-titled hit stage musical, built around the hits of Swedish pop quartet ABBA, and directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Gloriana (2000, TV movie)), whose theatrical debut it is. The inevitable film version of the colossally popular London and Broadway smash 'jukebox musical' hit is a cheerful, energetic film that especially rouses joy in its lively musical numbers. - And as a consequence of the lovely cast, of whom Meryl Streep (The River Wild (1994)), Julie Walters (Billy Elliott (2000)) and Christine Baranski (Relative Strangers (2006)) are best. Dominic Cooper (My Week with Marilyn (2011)) is miscast and looks like an only cute but not very bright or genuine husband-to-be. And below the colorful shenanigans the film wears on the nerves with its story: In part its gender-based, cliche-heavy stringency, - men and women who seem to come from different planets the whole way through, - and in part the problems with Streep's character: Though she seems like an intelligent woman, it is not until the end, - in a wedding scene that in a bizarre way is suddenly no longer the daughter's but instead her mother's, - that she realizes that it was her father-seeking daughter who had invited the three 'ghosts' of her romantic past to the island, (of course.) It is also hard to reconcile that this same charming, attractive mother character has spent her entire adult life on a Greek island without developing any meaningful relationships there, (all the locals are extras only.) To put it mildly; preposterous. Related post: Phyllida Lloyd: The Iron Lady (2011) - Meryl Streep's global triumph as Lady Thatcher
Cost: 52 mil. $ Box office: 609.9 mil. $ = Mega-hit (returned 11.72 times its cost) [Mamma Mia! premiered 30 June (London) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took place in Marrakech, Morocco, Greece, the UK and in California. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release The Dark Knight, to a 27.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another two weeks in the top 5 (#3-#4) and grossed 144.1 mil. $ (23.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 94.3 mil. $ (15.5 %) and Germany with 39 mil. $ (6.4 %). It was the highest-grossing live-action musical until Beauty and the Beast (2017), the highest-grossing film directed by a woman until Wonder Woman (2017), and the 5th highest-grossing film of the year, (3rd highest-grossing 'internationally', that is without North America.) It was nominated for 2 Golden Globes, 3 BAFTAs, a Grammy and some other awards. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. The film became the fastest-selling DVD release ever in the UK, selling 1.6 mil. units in its first day, ending with more than 5 mil. sales there. It fared similarly in Sweden, where ABBA are from, both in cinemas and on DVD. The-Numbers estimate the home video sales at more than 147.3 mil. $. The stars returned for Ol Parker's sequel Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018), which was successful if not a mega-hit as its predecessor. Lloyd returned with The Iron Lady (2011), again with Streep. Streep returned first in Doubt (2008); Pierce Brosnan (Seraphim Falls (2006)) with a voice performance in Thomas & Friends: The Great Discovery - The Movie (2008) and physically in The Greatest (2009). Mamma Mia! is rotten at 54 % with a 5.53/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Mamma Mia!?
+ Best Biopic of the Year + Best Historical Drama of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year + Worst $ Return of the Year: 0.33 times
Several war planes back Ulrich Thomsen with a steadfast look in his face, - and women poolside on his chest, - on this eclectic poster for Christina Rosendahl's The Good Traitor
Henrik Kauffmann was Denmark's ambassador to the US in 1940, when German Nazi troops occupied the small Scandinavian country, and Kauffmann professed himself the independent representative of the free, democratic Denmark in the US, pushing for American involvement in the escalating WWII.
The Good Traitor is written by Kristian Bang Foss, Dunja Gry Jensen (Terribly Happy/Frygtelig Lykkelig (2008)) and its Danish master filmmaker, co-writer/director Christina Rosendahl (Supervoksen (2006)), whose 3rd feature it is. It is a war drama about politics and diplomacy, as Kauffmann's smart maneuvers to stay in function as a formally estimated renegade ambassador during wartime SPOILER come to include a deal for a permanent US army presence in Greenland (part of the Danish kingdom) in exchange for US recognition of him as the de facto Danish government. You'll look far for a war plane, gunplay or boots on the ground in The Good Traitor, as it sticks firmly to its story with Kauffmann as the diplomat creating policy in the peaceful US. Historically inclined audiences will immediately recognize the high stakes; others will be guided to understand the make-or-break context for the free world through effective matchings of a Washington pool party or the harmonic garden nature around the ambassador's swank compound with the frightful sounds of war and original radio broadcasts of the menacing developments at the time in Europe. Kauffmann's career gamble is helped along by his American wife Charlotte's personal relationship with US president Roosevelt, and the high politics are countered with a domestic drama about Kauffmann's adulterous indiscretions with Charlotte's sister. This could have felt in the way of the main narrative, but the domestic drama is so well-made, with teeth of its own, that it raises the film and reminds us that at any given historical period for an important figure, other important things may also be going on. Ulrich Thomsen (Mortdecai (2015)) is phenomenal as the bold, transgressive Kauffmann, and Denise Gough (Juliet, Naked (2018)) is equally great as his loving wife, whose betrayed hurt and jealousy turn to poisonous hatred for a period of time. Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (Rosita (2015)) is good as Kauffmann's idealistic lawyer partner; and Henry Goodman (The Damned United (2009)) is terrific as Roosevelt. The Good Traitor's narrative isn't straight, neat, cut-and-dry but no-nonsense historic and dramatically powerful through its cutting tenderness, a fine film with only few minor drawbacks. The very handsome production has elegant photography by Louise McLaughlin (Out of Tune/De Frivillige (2019)).
Cost: Unknown Box office: Unknown = Uncertain [The Good Traitor premiered 29 January (Göteborg Film Festival, Sweden) and runs 110 minutes. The film's release has been highly damaged by the China Virus pandemic. It has so far sold 127,045 tickets in production country Denmark, a far cry from the needed level in order to be considered a success theatrically here. The film's plush production values indicate the sale of at least 500,000 tickets should render the film a success, something it is unlikely to reach. In Denmark the film is also part of Biografklub Danmark, meaning that many audiences only pay 50 % to watch it. The film regrettably does not have announced releases in other markets yet at this time.Rosendahl does not have her next project announced yet. Thomsen returns in The New Pope (2019-20)) and theatrically in Erna i Krig (2020). 178 IMDb users have given The Good Traitor a 6.8/10 average rating.] What do you think of The Good Traitor?
+ Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year + Best Science-Fiction Movie of the Year
Star Matt Damon's well-known and adored mug in a space helmet is looking straight at us on the poster for Ridley Scott's The Martian
A group of astronauts on Mars get into an emergency and leave the planet without one man, whom they believe to be dead. But he isn't. And now he is trapped alone on Mars ... The Martian is written by Drew Goddard (The Good Place (2016-20)), based on the same-titled 2011 novel by Andy Weir (Theft of Pride (2000)), and directed by English master filmmaker Ridley Scott (The Duellists (1977)), whose 23rd feature it is. Scott seems to come full circle here in terms of his body of work; his career as a leader in popular mega-cinema exploded with Alien (1979), a film of the horrors of space, and here it returns to space but now to a story of the incredible nature of our ability to explore the unknown, - and (not least) return home from it again. As a science-enthusiastic and sober major motion picture The Martian is extraordinary, and it reminds its audiences what human abilities can muster when we work together. It is very much a film for its time, and its best sequence, which involves David Bowie's Starman (1972), makes one positively hopeful - a rare treat in today's world. The Martian is a little over-long, and some in its handsome, eclectic star cast, (Kristen Wiig (The Simpsons (2011-13)) in particular), are wasted. Others, like Sean Bean (Legends (2014-15)), Jeff Daniels (Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)) and Donald Glover (Guava Island (2019)), get to shine, and Matt Damon (The Third Wheel (2002)) is equally credible as the indomitably up-beat human of resources Mark Watney. The Martian is a well-made sci-fi adventure that'll rouse your spirits. Don't miss it.
Cost: 108 mil. $ Box office: 630.1 mil. $ = Huge hit (returned 5.83 times its cost) [The Martian premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 141 minutes. Goddard was initially intended to direct but turned instead to comic adaptation Sinister Six, which is still not made. Shooting took place in Jordan, Hungary, including Budapest, in Houston, Texas and in California for about 70 days in and around March 2015. NASA was deeply involved with advising on many aspects of the film, which is estimated to be "reasonably realistic", according to James L. Green, Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA. Co-star Jessica Chastain was reportedly paid 2 mil. $ for her performance, whereas Damon is reported to have earned 18 mil. $. Disregarding that the film is a star vehicle which Damon carries, Chastain has offered her anger at the salary differences in public. The film opened #1 to a 54.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it was #1 another 4 weekends (not consecutively) and remained in the top 5 for another 3 weeks, grossing 228.4 mil. $ (36.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 94.9 mil. $ (15.1 %) and the UK with 33.9 mil. $ (5.4 %). It was Fox's highest-grossing film of the year and the 10th highest-grossing of the year overall. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Picture to Spotlight, Actor to Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, Adapted Screenplay to Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for The Big Short, Production Design to Mad Max: Fury Road, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing also to Mad Max: Fury Road, and Visual Effects to Ex Machina. It won 2/3 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for 6 BAFTAs, won an AFI award, 4 National Board of Review awards and several other honors. Scott returned with Alien: Covenant - Prologue: The Crossing (2017, short) and theatrically with Alien: Covenant (2017). Damon returned in Jason Bourne (2016). The Martian is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.85/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of The Martian?
Tom Cruise's name, the title in short form and a matchstick getting lid are the few elements on this franchise-reliant poster for J.J. Abrams' Mission: Impossible III
IMF agent Ethan Hunt's wife gets shot in the head, as he winds up in a new debacle, but how did it get to that? Hunt was withdrawn from early retiring and put back into the field to stop an arm's dealer who had kidnapped a colleague ...
Mission: Impossible III is written by Alex Kurtzman (Hawai Five-O (2010-20)), Roberto Orci (Xena: Warrior Princess (2000, TV-series)) and great New-Yorker filmmaker, co-writer/director J.J. Abrams (Alias (2001-05)). The opening scene is not really suspense-building in the way it should be, and over-all the whoa-moments that the M:I franchise is famous for aren't as strong as they should be in M:I 3. The plot revolves around a MacGuffin, - a hunted-for object that's never really explained, - in this case an object referred to as the 'rabbit foot', and it comes off a bit as a tongue-in-cheek tease; something which Simon Pegg's (Cuban Fury (2014)) not yet fully situated Benji IMF helper character attempts to concretize a bit. But the action thunders away in handsome, international locations, and Tom Cruise (Minority Report (2002)) leads the film without hesitation, making Mission: Impossible III still a good jolt of entertainment. SPOILER The worst flaw of the film, though, is its ending, which takes the franchise into a dead-end of blatant sentimentality, as Hunt's wife spills all the secret beans and clowns around with colleagues. Michelle Monaghan (Saint Judy (2018)) is good in the part, but this is the wrong part of the store for a Mission: Impossible film to wind up in.
Cost: 150 mil. $ Box office: 398.4 mil. $ = Box office success (returned 2.65 times its cost) [Mission: Impossible III premiered 24 April (Rome) and runs 126 minutes. Development of the film was troubled, with directors David Fincher and Joe Carnahan having creative differences that made them leave the film, as well as stars Kenneth Branagh, Scarlett Johansson and Carrie-Anne Moss departing due to delays. Cruise hired Abrams after binge-watching the first two seasons of Alias and took a pay cut to get production going: His gross participation deal of 30 % for Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) was decreased to 22.5 %. This would come to 89.64 mil. $, but his pay is listed on IMDb as 75 mil. $, - in any case still a fortune. Shooting took place in Berlin, Germany, China, including Shanghai, Virginia, Italy, including Rome, the Vatican, California including Los Angeles, and in Washington D.C. from July - November 2005. The film opened #1 to a 47.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, slightly over the 2000 M:I 2 but less than the first film's 57.8 mil. $ opening. It remained #1 the next weekend and in the top 5 for another 4 weeks, grossing 134 mil. $ (33.6 % of the total gross), significantly less than the two preceding films. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 44.3 mil. $ (11.1 %) and the UK with 29 mil. $ (7.3 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, in line with this one. Cruise returned as Hunt in Brad Bird's great Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) and another two sequels, with two more currently in production. Abrams returned with The Office (2007, TV-series) and theatrically with Star Trek (2009). Cruise returned first in Lions for Lambs (2007). Mission: Impossible III is fresh at 71 % with a 6.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Mission: Impossible III?
Star John David Washington split in half, upside down, askew, on the coolly restrained poster for Christopher Nolan's Tenet
An unidentified spy gets recruited to a case that involves finding out the truth of ammunition and other objects that are seemingly inverted, sent from the future, moving backwards in time, a revolution that could be the end of the world. Tenet is written and directed by British master filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Following (1998)), whose 11th film it is. Hyped as the film to resurrect the cinematic experience on the (hopefully) breaking point of the China virus pandemic, Tenet is as hyped as any in the filmmaker's illustrious career, and cinephiles everywhere are bursting with excitement to embrace it. Praise from many others should be seen in this light, as the well-meant wish to be patriotic to films more than the sober assessment of the work as it is. Because Tenet is Nolan's poorest film since his tiny mystery B/W debut Following. It opens with an elaborate philharmonic concert terrorist attack scene that we seemingly deliberately don't get to comprehend really, before we are flung on to what is the film's real deal: The time inversion objects and their consequences. An early dialog scene between John David Washington's (All Rise (2018)) protagonist hero, ominously only named 'Protagonist', and a scientist introducing him to inverted ammunition has her advising him; "Don't try to understand it. Just feel it." That feels like direct directorial advice from Nolan to us the audience, already disoriented from the opening action set-piece. As a well-schooled movie-lover you will be trained to want to follow the film's direction, especially when it comes from one of the world's greatest living filmmakers, but the premise of just 'feeling' Tenet isn't possible, or perhaps just doesn't result in the right reward: The film is overly stuffed with exposition throughout its lengthy running time, and most of it is hard to understand if not completely incomprehensible for those who are not physicists or cold-blooded nerds. Tenet is as cerebral and mumbo-jumbo as they come. On top of that, the action is strange to behold, as one character fights another, who is moving backwards in time (or something), a bit like watching the violence occur underwater. It doesn't register as exciting, but you wonder for a moment how it was all accomplished and the no doubt monumental effort involved in getting it from page to screen. For a spy action thriller the way they are supposed to thrill and excite, try watching the last two or three Mission: Impossible movies instead. Tenet also got me to really look forward to the coming Bond movie even more, which should be big-budget action that's understandable. But don't take this as a recommendation of the film at hand. Washington is handsome if bland as Protagonist, not a character that will go down in the books as one of the memorable ones, to put it mildly, and Robert Pattinson (Queen of the Desert (2015)) is equally handsome. Elizabeth Debicki (7 from Etheria (2017)) is sexy and good as the woman-in-peril, but only Kenneth Branagh (Dead Again (1991)) makes a real dent acting-wise as the film's stern and vicious villain Andrei Sator. Ludwig Göransson's (Creed II (2018)) score mimicks the iconic Hans Zimmer scores we have come to expect in Nolan's films, (Zimmer was unavailable this time), and it goes well with the many locations and big mechanical wonders in motion in grand images in Tenet, which are impressive to behold. Shame the film is perfectly incomprehensible.
Cost: 200-225 mil. $ Box office: 53.6 mil. $ and counting = Too early to say [Tenet premiered 22 August (Australia) and runs 150 minutes. Nolan claims to have developed the idea for the film for 20 years and spent 6-7 writing the script. Shooting took place in Tallinn, Estonia, Italy, Mumbai, India, Denmark, Oslo, Norway, London, the UK and California, including Los Angeles, from May - November 2019. The release has been delayed 3 times due to the China virus pandemic. The film opened to 53 mil. $ from 41 markets, not including several major markets still closed down. It opens in a handful of markets, including the US, Russia and China, on Sep. 3, with more following later in September and in October. Nolan reportedly has a 20 % gross deal, meaning that he has already made 10.72 mil. $ from the film and could make a much bigger fortune, if the film reaches the enormous gross needed for it to become successful. Nolan does not have an announced next feature yet. Washington returns in Born to Be Murdered (2021). Tenet is fresh at 78 % with a 7.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Tenet?
