City Island (2009) - Felitta's dramedy masterpiece

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+ Best New York Movie of the Year

A neat mix of photography and drawing that gives hints to the secrets of the characters in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

QUICK REVIEW:

Outside of New York City, on City Island, lives a family of convinced liars. The father hides his secret son in a shed and secretly attends acting classes in the city. The mother flirts with infidelity. The daughter strips. And the son has a kink. - And they all secretly smoke.

City Island is a wonderfully written gem of coming clean and finding a way to come together. Importantly, it never becomes viscid in any way, but retains realism throughout. It is incredibly well-acted: Particularly by Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife (2009-15)), Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) and Andy Garcia (Rob The Mob (2014)) as the film's super-involved dream leader, who shows the way for the rest of the cast without shaking for a millisecond.
City Island is a highly engaging, funny, exciting modern dramedy classic. - Don't miss this masterpiece!
It is written and directed by New York-born filmmaker Raymond De Felitta, who debuted in 1995 with Cafe Society, after being Oscar-nominated for his short Bronx Cheers (1990). He has made other features and a couple of documentaries since, and most recently Rob the Mob, (regrettably) still to be found high on Film Excess' watch list.
Film Excess favorite Miller's turn in the long-awaited Madame Bovary (2014) has been released last year, but only very limited so far. This year he will be seen in Judd Apatow's much-anticipated Trainwreck (2015), - again  alongside Tilda Swinton, - and in the eerily sounding The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), alongside a slew of other young, happening actors. - Exciting!

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Andy Garcia brought down in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

The lovely Ezra Miller in Raymond De Felitta's City Island

Andy Garcia studies Brando on this character poster for Raymond De Felitta's City Island

Julianna Margulies raises her glass on this character poster for Raymod De Felitta's City Island

Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 7.8 mil. $
= Big flop
[The film won the Audience Award at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, but, unfortunately, it wasn't able to broaden its success out much. It made 6.6 mil. $ (85 % of the total gross) in the States.]

What do you think of City Island?
Have you seen other films by Raymond De Felitta? 
If so, tell about it/them

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) - A sincere romcom favorite with infectious gusto

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The inspired poster for Joel Zwick's My Big Fat Greek Wedding

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is the romcom sensation of 2002. Its Oscar-nominated script by star Nia Vardalos (I Hate Valentine's Day (2009), writer-director-star) was based on her one-woman Los Angeles play about her own Greek family and marriage to a non-Greek, which inspired producer-couple Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks (with their company Playtone) to make a movie out of it. - It turned out Vardalos already had a script!

Our heroine Toula is the depressed, still unmarried daughter of age 30, who hides around the family restaurant, as she meets a charming man, and they immediately fall in love. The only problem: He's not Greek!

Some have termed Greek Wedding a feel-GREAT movie, and it's not far from the truth: Its plot is rather breezy, and you're never in doubt that the two lovers will eventually have each other and that everything will work out. - Which is nice for a change, especially in such an engaging, lively and funny dish as this.
The production is immaculate, and the direction, (although one early meeting-scene should have had more of a context), is solid. The director is TV-specialist Joel Zwick (Full House (1987-95)).
Some critics have complained that the film is predictable and sitcom-ish, both of which are labels I didn't find really apply to the film, which is inspired, boisterous and up-beat, in its conclusion both a celebration of love, traditions and, not least, family.

The details:

What perhaps distinguishes Greek Wedding more than anything else, is that the sincerity behind it can be felt: Sure some elements are exaggerated for comic effect, but its core is real and personal, and that comes across and connects us to the story and its characters.
What also solidifies the film is its several auspicious and game cast members: Vardalos is great as her own alter ego, and she can really deliver lines and give a resonating performance; Michael Constantine (The Hustler (1961)) and Lainie Kazan (Bigfoot and the Hendersons (1987)) as her parents are indispensable; Andrea Martin (Wag the Dog (1997)) is fun as her aunt, and Louis Mandylor (The Set Up (1995)) is sincere and good as her brother. John Corbett (The Burning Plain (2008)) as the lover-husband feels a bit slight, probably because the character is a bit slim. But his parents, played by Bruce Gray (Water for Elephants (2011)) and Fiona Reid  (The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)) are fun as his stiff WASP parents.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a happy time you shouldn't deprive yourself of. It has a sequel in development, also spearheaded by Vardalos.

A still of Michael Constantine, Lainie Kazan and the unknown actress that plays the grandmother from Joel Zwick's My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 368.7 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The film was a highly surprising sleeper hit, as it has no real stars and might be expected to mostly play to Greeks: It spent 17 weeks in top 10 in America and racked up 241.1 mil. $ (65 % of the total gross) in North America, making it the 5th highest grossing film of the year there and one of the most profitable romcoms ever made. - And the highest grossing film ever in North America to never make the # 1 spot. It was also a big hit abroad, especially in Europe.]

What do you think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding?
Are any of Nia Vardalos' other works worth checking out?

The Cannonball Run (1981) - Needham's major buck race bonanza

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Excitement and star parade on the high-spirited poster for Hal Needham's The Cannonball Run

QUICK REVIEW:

A row of charismatic groups in different cars each wants to win the outlawed Cannonball Run that races across the States.

This silly, nearly plotless crazy comedy/car movie was able to gather a surprising cast, which causes some laughs and entertainment value and in the process salvages the boundlessly pointless film from sinking as dead weight.
Roger Moore (A View to a Kill (1985)), worn out Dean Martin (Rio Bravo (1959)) and Sammy Davis Jr. (Ocean's 11 (1960)), Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights (1997)) and Dom Deluise (Blazing Saddles (1974)) along with Farrah Fawcett (Logan's Run (1976)) and Jackie Chan (The Legend of Drunken Master (1994)) help to make Cannonball Run, - despite its obvious idiocy, - an enjoyable lowbrow comedy.
It is directed by stunt man legend/director Hal Needham (Cannonball Run II (1984)), produced by the Hong Kong-based Golden Harvest company, and it's based on an actual outlawed race, which was held twice in the 70s.

Related review:

Hal Needham: The Villain/Cactus Jack (1979) or, The Wackadoodle West!

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 16-18 mil. $
Box office: 89.8 mil. $ (USA and Germany only)
= Huge hit
[Despite bad reviews, audiences loved this film: It made 72.1 mil. $ in the US and 17.6 mil. $ in Germany alone. It was the 6th biggest box office hit in America that year.]

What do you think of The Cannonball Run?

Casa de los Babys (2003) - Sayles' great adoption drama

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+ Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year

The impressive all-female primary cast are highlighted on this German poster for John Sayles' Casa de los Babys

QUICK REVIEW:

In a South American hotel, a group of American and one Irish woman live, awaiting the arrival of their soon-to-be adopted children. With each their own story.

New York-born writer-director John Sayles (The Brother From Another Planet (1984)) explores the human fates with a sensitive hand and seemingly real insight into his material here. As a quiet observer, we are here witnesses to the story's idle development.
The film is both touching and shocking; it has fine montages (cinematography by Mauricio Rubinstein (New York, I Love You (2008))) and music (by Mason Daring (Honeydripper (2007))), and it provides a serious, semi-critical look at the adoption business.
It gathers an impressive all-female primary cast; especially fine performances are given by Daryl Hannah (Grumpy Old Men (1993)), Rita Moreno (West Side Story (1961)), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary (2002)) and Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River (2003)), once again as a sinful heavy.

 

Related posts:

 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Wacth the feeble trailer here

Cost: 0.8 mil. $
Box office: 0.4 mil. $ (US only)
= Huge flop
[The film opened in Venice Film Festival. Despite good reviews, it had a weak, limited run in America. The only other number is that it made just under 50k in Spain. The unsatisfying fate for this great film is disheartening.]

What do you think of Casa de los Babys?
Other Sayles films that beckon a watch?

Che: Part One - The Argentine (2008) - Soderbergh's sober depiction of the Cuban revolution

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+ Best Political Movie of the Year

A tense moment from the film on a poster for Steven Soderbergh's Che: Part One - The Argentine

QUICK REVIEW:

When 'Che' Guevara in the late 1950s decides to go for a coup d'etat of the American-supported president Bautista's Cuban government, he starts a spreading, violent revolution.

Master film-maker Steven Soderbergh (Haywire (2011)) here gives an external portrait of the legendary man and his Marxist-Communist politics. He remains, in my view of the film, an unreasonable, - albeit fascinating, - commander.
The film, which continues in a Part Two, is not awfully engaging, but it is technically second to none: Soderbergh's command of the digital formats, colors and the music (by Alberto Iglesias (The Constant Gardener (2005))), - together with Benicio Del Toro's (21 Grams (2003)) performance as the title lead, - are outstanding.
Soderbergh is taking a break from directing after completing 20 episodes of the hospital show with Clive Owen, The Knick (2014-15), and I for one really hope he'll return to the feature director's chair sooner rather than later.

Related reviews:

Steven Soderbergh: Side Effects (2013) - Modern people screw up in excellent thriller 
Behind the Candelabra (2013) - Restraint and extravagance 
Magic Mike (2012) - Soderbergh and Tatum score big with cheeky male strip romp 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark 

Watch the trailer for the two films here

Cost: Estimated 35 mil. $
Box office: 40.9 mil. $ (Che: Part 1 and Che: Part 2 together)
= Huge flop
[The joint budget of the films were 58 mil. $, which were gathered with much difficulty. Theatrically, the films have been a flop, doing best in Spanish-speaking countries (controversially, Soderbergh maintained that the films had to be shot in Spanish). Che: Part 1 only made 1.7 mil. $ in the States.]

What do you think of Soderbergh's Che-films, individually and as a whole?
What image of Che did you get from it/them?

Charlie Bartlett (2007) - Charmer Yelchin leads an enjoyable high school movie

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+ Best High School Movie of the Year

One very red poster for Jon Poll's Charlie Bartlett

QUICK REVIEW:

Bartlett is a rich kid, who after several private schools finally ends up in a public high school. Being the entrepreneur that he is, he starts offering psycho-pharmaceutical drugs and guidance to the fellow students and falls for the principal's daughter.

Without ever becoming anything spectacular, Charlie Bartlett is a charming film that reminded me of some of the better 80's youth fare. The film has its heart in the right place and a brimming Anton Yelchin (Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)) in the title lead. Robert Downey Jr. (Zodiac (2007)), Hope Davis (About Schmidt (2002)) and newcomer Kat Dennings (Thor (2011)) also do well.
The movie may strike you as a bit annoying at first, but it soon wins the heart of the romantically disposed. Russian-born Yelchin looks like an actor with a bright future ahead of him here, which has certainly proven to be the case thus far.
The film is directed by editor Jon Poll (Meet the Parents (2000), editor), who is trying to get his next feature off the ground, the romcom Responsible Adults.

Related posts:

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

Watch the film's trailer here

Cost: 12 mil. $
Box office: 5.2 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Despite mostly decent reviews, the film fared very poorly in cinemas, perhaps scaring some film-makers away from making traditional youth-films, (youth films today are often eschewed towards other genres like sci-fi or horror, which is perceived to be more popular these days.) Bartlett made 3.9 mil. $ (75 % of its total gross) in the US.]

What do you think of Charlie Bartlett?

Birdman (2014) - Iñárritu's clever, but cold showbusiness dramedy

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Michael Keaton hovers over a side-street to Broadway in Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's Birdman

Birdman is the 5th feature by Mexican master director Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu (Babel (2006)). With it, he has taken a leap out of his usual niche, globalization-themed, fateful, powerful dramas, into something described as a dark comedy, but is more accurately a satirical dramedy (drama-comedy.)

Riggan is a Hollywood actor, who is trying to make a professional come-back by adapting, starring in and directing a Raymond Carver play on Broadway.

Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice (1988)) is a very hot ticket for his first Oscar for his performance as Riggan, (the title Birdman, who appears several times as the actor's alter ego/personified illusions of grandeur, is played by Benjamin Kanes (Piranha Sharks (2014)).) Although I personally like some of Keaton's other performances and films more, he gives it his all here. It just didn't get to me much, but I don't think it's his fault at all.
Zach Galifianakis (Due Date (2010)) has an unusually serious role here and does well with it. Emma Stone (The Help (2011)), who also, as a definite result of a streak of over-applause by the Academy, is nominated for her work in Birdman, plays Riggan's aggravating daughter. Finally, Edward Norton (Fight Club (1999)) riffs on his own image as a difficult primadonna as Riggan's new, difficult co-star.

Michael Keaton and Edward Norton in one of the funniest scenes in Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's Birdman

The details:

- There's quite a few laughs in the film, though they are, like the film as a whole, mostly cerebral, society-bashing, show-business-riffing cleverness, which never reached me at a gut level. That was a general problem for Birdman. Normally, this isn't for a comedy, because most comedies don't need you dramatically involved on a gut-level, but Iñárritu's fierce, dramatic ambitions of almost endless intensity throughout does beckon that we are transferred into Riggan's world on a gut-level. - Which he has accomplished better previously, most accomplished in Babel, but also in the great films 21 Grams (2003) and Biutiful (2010).
Birdman is accompanied by an experimental jazz score, and the film is presented as one uninterrupted long take, (the work of Mexican sorcerer/cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity (2013)), - also likely to win his then second Oscar for his work in Birdman. It is clear that Iñárritu was going for an eclectic, New York-pulsating, vivid, wild, urban feel with these choices, as with the slightly pompous opening titles and quote. It all made me and many other audiences have sweaty hand palms and arm pits for large portions of the film. Its style almost denies you being comfortable.
I, personally, had some difficulty with some of the other female characters in Riggan's life, (minus also Naomi Watts (21 Grams): Telling them apart and remembering their places in his life seemed to me to have been made unnecessarily convoluted.
Birdman is undeniably clever, - maybe a bit too much so for my taste. Although I did enjoy it, it left my system quickly afterwards, unlike the director's better films, and I must say that I am hoping for something more from Iñárritu's coming western The Revenant (2015).
Just about everyone are raving about 9 time (!) Oscar-nominated Birdman right now, - not few of them, I suspect, because they feel obligated to follow the crowds and do so.

Related reviews:

Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu:  Biutiful (2010) - Sad globalization stories from Iñárritu
Babel (2006) or, Everyone's Connnected  
21 Grams (2003) or, Hardcore Life
Amores Perros/Love Is a Bitch (2000) or, People = Bad, Dogs = Good

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 18-22 mil. $
Box office: 42.4 mil. $ (and counting)
= Too early to say (still in cinemas in many countries, and many premieres still pending)

What do you think of Birdman?

Cloverfield (2008) or, It Tore Her Head Off!

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+ Best Poster of the Year + Best Found Footage Movie of the Year

The scary poster for Matt Reeves' Cloverfield

QUICK REVIEW:

During a going-away party in New York City, an affair between two old friends gets revealed, as a giant monster suddenly attacks the city and leaves everything in utter chaos.

The kernel in the drama of this genre mixer (monster/found footage/horror/romance/sci-fi/catastrophe) is love and survival. The effects of the film and the hand-held camera work (by cinematographer Michael Bonvillain  (Zombieland (2009)), with large portions of the film allegedly shot by the actual cast members!) is technically impressive and highly effective.
Cloverfield, written by Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods (2012)), doesn't give its audience any pauses, which is exhausting. - On the other hand, the 'ride' only lasts 84 minutes.
It is the second feature by Matt Reeves, (he debuted with the romcom flop The Pallbearer (1996)), who subsequently has directed the horror remake Let Me In (2010) and last year's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014).

Related posts:

 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 170.7 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Cloverfield has become a marketing case study, as it spearheaded a bold new approach with title-free teasers and online mystery, successfully so, leaving many movie-goers panting to get to know what the f*** was up with the mysteriously titled coming film. It made a huge splash in the US with the best January opening ever at the time, a 40.1 mil. $ opening weekend, and struck gold internationally as well. A sequel may be a future date, providing that Reeves, Goddard and producer J. J. Abrams can wrap themselves around it amicably.]

What do you think of Cloverfield?

Charlie's Angels (2000) - McG's saucy Hollywood Entertainment winner

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The fiery poster for McG's Charlie's Angels

QUICK REVIEW:

Charlie's Angels is an update of a late-70s TV-series of three exquisite, young women, who work as spy agents for a millionaire named Charlie, who only speaks to them through an intercom.

In retrospect, this is a pretty bizarre film, and for a long stretch of the way it mostly looks like a grotesque sales exercise in all its rah-rah bling, colors, multiple music hits and star parade.
The three main stars, Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary (1998)), Drew Barrymore (Donnie Darko (2001)) and Lucy Liu (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)), are beautiful and giggling yet strong as the cool heroines. There are several neat, handsome scenes and good ideas, and the first class supporting cast elevates the film, especially Tim Curry (It (1990)), Bill Murray, (Groundhog Day (1993)), Crispin Glover (Back to the Future (1985)) and Tom Green (Freddy Got Fingered (2001)).
Charlie's Angels is a crisp and fun spy action-comedy from director McG (This Means War (2012)), who is doing a tiny TV comedy right now, entitled Kevin From Work (2015). He also directed the less successful sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003).

Stars Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz from McG's Charlie's Angels

It's not hard to see why audiences everywhere flocked to see Charlie's Angels. - It looks awesome! See its trailer here

Cost: 93 mil. $
Box office: 264.1 mil. $
= Box office success
[With the film's large budget, a slighter result than this might not have prompted a sequel, (although with booming DVD sales and TV, the film must have racked in plenty of dough.) ABC launched a new Charlie's Angels TV-series in 2011, which was canceled after its first season.]

What do you think of Charlie's Angels?
If you've seen the original series, or the newest attempt, please, tell us about it/them

Carnivàle - 1st season (2003, TV-series) - Grand but oft clotted-up period mystery show

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Beautifully designed poster for Daniel Knauf's Carnivàle

QUICK REVIEW:

This huge and impressive 1930s period production begins outstandingly in Milfay (1), in which the main characters are introduced:

Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)), who SPOILER buries his mother and father and leaves a dessert storm to join the carnival; its leader Samson (Michael J. Anderson (Twin Peaks (1990-91)), and the mysterious Brother Justin (Clancy Brown (Homefront (2013)), who can get coins to flow from a woman's mouth.
Later other characters are presented, like the confounding 'executive' leader 'Management', the bearded lady and Professor Lodz, Rita Sue, the girl (Clea DuVall (Girl, Interrupted (1999)) and the mother who communicate telepathically etc. etc.

The structure of the series leaves something to be wished for: It appears that a final goal has been set up, (it indeed had by series creator Daniel Knauf (Dracula (2013-14), who had mapped out 6 (!) seasons for the show) and that each episode is to serve the overall story. The problem is that each episode becomes thinner and thinner, plot- and theme-wise, although there's no shortage of blood and sex, (in-line with HBO's general crops.) Carnivàle at some point reaches a place where it feels totally without direction, simply wallowing in its own mysticism.
Brown is good as the Methodist preacher, who goes through so much: SPOILER His church (with 6 kids in it) gets burned down by his sister; his escape, suicide attempt; his visions of his own derelict childhood as a Russian refugee, his getting placed in a mental hospital and, finally, his exposure as a demon!
The Hawkins drifter character, on the other hand, stands for good. At the end, SPOILER he saves the dead snake-woman by killing the unpopular Lodz.
The Carnivàle-production is handsome and highly unusual. The product in itself is problematic.
It got a second season, before its benefactor-financier HBO canceled it due to high production costs and dwindling ratings, to the outcries of many thousands of fans. 
The first season's 12 episodes (averaging 54 minutes each) are directed by 8 talented directors behind shows like The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Hannibal, LOST and True Blood. Columbian Rodrigo Garcia (Six Feet Under (2001-05), the most used of them, directed 4 episodes of the first season.
Knauf has been active in several TV-series since Carnivàle, both as writer and producer.

Best episode:

1. Milfay
Story, universe and character introductions

 

 

Watch the season 1 trailer here

Cost: Reportedly 4 mil. $ per episode, totaling a whopping 36 mil. $
Box office: None
= Unknown

What do you think of Carnivàle?
Stories about the production or your experience of the show are welcomed