Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Sex and the City 2 (2010)

10/01/2016

Sex and the City 2 (2010) - F the haters, love the fantasy

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1 Film Excess win:

Best Costumes: Pat Field

1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Costumes: Pat Field (won)

Financial crisis, what...? One of the delightfully escapist posters for Michael Patrick King's Sex and the City 2

Two years have passed since the events of Sex and the City (2008): Carrie and Big are married, but they are still getting used to the new situation, when Samantha gets an offer she can't refuse from a sheik from Abu Dhabi.

Sex and the City 2 is the sequel to the 2008 film, both based on the successful Sex and the City TV-series (1998-04)), which was based on the same-titled 1996 novel by Candace Bushnell, written and directed by great Pennsylvanian writer-director Michael Patrick King (The Comeback (2005-14)).

It is in many ways a totally ridiculous film; it runs an astounding 146 minutes, and any of the crises of the real world are light-years away from the on-screen portrayal. Liza Minnelli (Cabaret (1972)) performs (and wed) at the film's big gay wedding. The costumes, headed by Pat Field (Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)), are once again Oscar-worthy and delicious to behold. They are a major part of the film's spectacle but are also so over-the-top that they inhibit any attachment with reality. For a fan, however, this matters little, because the film is packed to the brim with frivolous (albeit extremely materialistically minded) fun and the four returning stars, who once again show their undeniable qualities and charm. Kim Cattrall (The Ghost Writer (2010)) has the film's best moment when she goes crazy in rebellion in an Arabian bazar. - It is a positive surprise that in spite of the film's swooning over the palaces of the desert city, (made possible, no doubt, through modern slavery which we never see), it ultimately hasn't got much positive to say of this proclaimed "New Middle East." Many ridiculous critics attacked the film vehemently and unfairly, calling it both racist, misogynistic and anti-Muslim, when it is in fact more accurately pro-Western, feministic pro-capitalism.

SPOILER Of course, the women's lib sup-plot has its own laughable exaggerations, (the burka-dressed women reading the same book as their liberated New-Yorker peers would be one), but these are also part of the infectious, honest and optimistic blow the film strikes for Western liberalism.

Sex and the City 2, while not being as affecting or similar to the show as the first film, is still great fun. So break open a bottle of wine with friends or alone, blow a raspberry to the grumpy critics and just enjoy this enormously happy fantasy.

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]

Watch a video about the fashion trends in the film here

Cost: Reportedly between 95-100 mil. $

Box office: 294.6 mil. $

= Box office success

[Sex and the City 2 was released May 27 and runs 146 minutes. The Abu Dhabi-centered plot was chosen due to the place's conceived high-fashion position and recession-free environment, however, the emirate withdrew its shooting permission, and shooting thus had to take place in Marrakech, Morocco instead. Filming took place in New York and Morocco from September - December 2009. The Moroccan shoot was supposed to take 13 days but ran for almost 6 weeks. Sarah Jessica Parker was paid an astounding 45 mil. $ (nearly half the total budget) for her work as producer and lead actress. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Shrek Forever After, with a 31 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for two more weeks and grossed 95.3 mil. $ (32.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 33.3 mil. $ (11.3 %) and Germany with 25.3 mil. $ (8.6 %). The film was nominated for 7 Raspberry Awards, 'winning' 3. The DVD/Blu-ray release of the film went #1 in North America and the UK with sales numbers not made public. Sex and the City 2 is rotten at 15 % with a 3.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Sex and the City 2?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)