2020年12月21日 星期一

Some Other Movies From 1995 (2)


For further background on the year in film, please refer to the Some Other Movies From 1995 entry.

The following things happened in 1995:
  • The World Trade Organization was established.  Excuse me for getting political, but FUCK those guys.
  • Mexico borrowed $20 billion from the U.S. after their "peso crisis."
  • Bosnian Serb commanders were charged with crimes against humanity after the Wars in the Balkans concluded.
  • A religious cult attacked commuters with sarin gas inside the Tokyo subway system.
  • The Oklahoma City bombing occurred, killing 168 people.
  • Microsoft released Windows 95.
  • Sony released the first PlayStation.
  • The Indian government changed "Bombay" back to "Mumbai."

Excellent

1. La Haine (Hate)

Three young men from a Parisian slum go looking for trouble.  In this era of Black Lives Matter this movie is even more timely, and the ending packs quite a punch.  I'll watch Vincent Cassel in anything, but his costars in this film are equally good.

Fun Fact: This was Cassel's third movie.  He appeared in his first the year before.

2. Braveheart

Dances With Wolves or Braveheart?  The stars of both movies also directed their respective films, and both films won Best Picture, Best Director and many other awards at the Oscars.  I'd pick Dances With Wolves, but there's not doubt that Braveheart is still a powerful film.

What's more, it hasn't aged a day.  The battle scenes are still great, the story's still involving, and you can't help but agree with the praise it received at the time.  It's a gripping tale of a Scottish uprising in the 13th century.

Fun Fact 1: Historically inaccurate?  Braveheart is almost completely so.

Fun Fact 2: A sequel to this movie, Robert the Bruce, was released this year.


Some Good Ones

1. Memories

Animated trilogy concerning three dystopian futures.  The first short is about the discovery of an opera singer's tomb.  The second short is about a man unintentionally transformed into a living weapon.  The third short is about a warlike society in which a young boy dreams of glory.  Overall the trilogy is good, but I think I would have found more depth in it as a younger person.

Fun Fact: If you enjoyed Akira you'll want to check this one out.  Katsuhiro Otomo served as executive producer, all three shorts were based on his manga stories, and he directed the last of the three shorts.

2. Outbreak

Gotta love that scene where Dustin Hoffman is sitting in a hut full of dead, infected bodies, some random guy walks in and says "It's not airborne," and Dustin Hoffman just believes him.

And remember when we thought all the killer viruses came from tropical Africa?  Those were the days.  In 2020 certain parts of this movie ring false... as anyone wearing a face mask can tell you.

Oh, and that government conspiracy?  If you can't see that coming within the first ten minutes you just haven't seen enough pandemic movies.  Fucking OF COURSE it's a government conspiracy.  How could it not be?

In Outbreak Dustin Hoffman stars as a virologist trying to stop a virus from killing Americans and/or eroding American freedoms.  Rene Russo costars as his wife and fellow virologist, with Cuba Gooding Jr. as an army man new to the world of superflus.  Director Wolfgang Peterson amps up the suspense thoughout, and I'd have to say this is one of his better movies.

Fun Fact: Marlon Wayans' character in 1998's Senseless references this movie when he says: "I'll be your little Outbreak monkey."

3. A Little Princess

An imaginative young girl struggles with a domineering headmistress after her father's death.  There's a whole lot of coincidence at work in this movie, compounded by a heaping helping of implausibility.  Even so it was well done.

Fun Fact 1: Eleanor Bron, the actress who played the headmistress in this film, has a LONG history in movies.  She appeared in The Beatles' Help in 1965, and her name was inspiration for the song "Eleanor Rigby."

4. Fallen Angels

I love the way this movie was filmed, if not the actual story that was filmed.  The characters in it are so deliberately eccentric that they alienated me from the story they were trying to tell.  Karen Mok gives a brief but memorable performance here, but I think in this instance director Wong Kar-wai's vision of Hong Kong's seedy underbelly could be seen as overreaching itself.  I liked it a lot more than Chungking Express, but it wasn't blowing me away.

Michelle Reis, the Portuguese-Chinese actress who plays the hitman's girlfriend, is insanely hot though.


Some Bad Ones

1. Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh

A sequel that adds almost nothing to the original, aside from a yawn-inducing subplot about Candyman having a daughter.  I will say that it's better than I thought it would be, but that's not saying much.

Like the Hellraiser franchise - another Clive Barker property - the Candyman mythos as presented in this movie could have been thought through in more detail.  He could be a good metaphor for white fear of black men, and also of guilt over historical wrongs.  All of this could be potent fuel for a much more powerful horror film that isn't afraid to expose some uncomfortable truths.  Unfortunately Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh isn't that film.

Fun Fact: The 1999 sequel to this movie, Candyman 3: Day of the Dead, was set in the year 2020.

2. Billy Madison

The one where Adam Sandler has to go back and repeat grades 1-12.  When you think about it, the plot of this movie is in some ways very similar to Tommy Boy, which came out the same year, and Chris Farley appears in both movies.  Billy Madison was Sandler's second starring role after 1989's Going Overboard.

3. Major Payne

I get that this movie was made for kids (even more so than Billy Madison above), but even compared to similar fare like Kicking and Screaming it's just not very good.  I thought the bits where Damon Wayans shares anecdotes about combat fatalities were genuinely funny, but he's never convincing in the role and gags involving laxatives just weren't cutting it.

One can't help but wonder how Damon Wayans feels about Jim Carrey.  Both were arguably the stars of TV's surprise hit In Living Color, though Wayans left his big brother's show earlier than Carrey.  Both scored hits in Hollywood early on (Wayans with The Last Boy Scout, Carrey with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective), but decades later only Carrey has sustained the same level of fame.  Racial politics at work, or just different career choices?

Fun Fact: Damon Wayons almost played The Riddler in Batman Forever.  He lost out to - you guessed it - Jim Carrey.

4. Land and Freedom

A young woman learns about her father's time spent fighting the fascists in Spain.  None of the characters in this movie are interesting.  None of them are introduced properly.  It was a real struggle to get through.

5. Aeon Flux: The Complete Series

The third and final season of Aeon Flux was aired on MTV in 1995.  I can remember being mildly intrigued by it during high school, but its mixture of adolescent sexuality and unscientific science fiction hasn't aged well.

6. Now and Then

Four childhood friends reunite in small town U.S.A. years after an eventful summer.  And no, Pennywise isn't in it.

The script for this movie could have used some work.  It's never sure what story it's trying to tell.  Is this a movie about an unsolved murder?  The value of friendship?  About finding an individual identity?  It tries (and fails) to tell all three stories at the expense of coherence.  At times it feels like a girl-centric Stand by Me, but it's not nearly that good.

The chronology also seems a bit off.  Sure, it's rural Indiana, but "All Right Now" on the radio while everyone's dressing like the British Invasion just happened?  Love Story playing at the local drive-in while the Vietnam War seems to have just erupted?  Really not sure if they were going for early 60s, late 60s or early 70s.  One of the characters says 1970, but the historical details don't seem to add up.

7. Total Eclipse

Leonardo DiCaprio in that weird place between What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Titanic.  In Total Eclipse he stars as the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, with David Thewlis as his conflicted lover and fellow poet Paul Verlaine.  There is ZERO chemistry between the two leads, and we're never given much reason to care about either of them.

8. Assassins

Better than I remembered, but still not great.  Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas star as two hitmen trying to kill each other, with Julianne Moore as a tech-savvy Seattleite with little regard for her own personal safety.  I was surprised to learn that Richard Donner directed this, and also that the script was written by the Wachowskis.  As it is you can see glimpses of a much better movie in this one, but it's a dud nevertheless.

Fun Fact: Both of the Wachowski brothers are sisters now.  Assassins and The Matrix were the first of their scripts purchased by a studio, though Assassins was almost completely rewritten by another writer after purchase.


Not Just Bad.  REALLY Bad.

1. Tank Girl

NOW I know why I hadn't seen this movie.  Lori Petty stars as the titular Tank Girl, with Malcolm McDowell playing a villain who reminded me a lot of Shredder.  Tank Girl makes you feel sorry for Lori Petty, who is consistently upstaged by animated sequences that are better than the actual movie.  It also makes you feel sorry for Ice-T and whoever else is buried under all those prosthetics.

Fun (?) Fact: This movie has a dedicated cult following.  I have no idea why.  Are we in such need of onscreen examples of "feminism" that we need resort to Tank Girl?


So Bad It's Good

1. Species

This movie asks you to believe two impossible things: 1) that Natasha Henstridge would have trouble getting laid in L.A. and 2) that Ben Kingsley's elite team of alien hunters are halfway competent.  Oh, and the CGI in this movie looks even more terrible in 2020.

In this movie's defense, Henstridge looked great naked and the Giger-designed dream sequences still look creepy.

2. Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter?  The first Street Fighter arcade game came out a lot earlier, and I maintained a certain loyalty to that series.  This, and even in high school the violence in Mortal Kombat seemed gratuitous to me.

The movies?  I think Jean-Claude Van Damme's Street Fighter was more genuinely bad than Mortal Kombat, but this might not be to Mortal Kombat's credit.  I can watch Street Fighter today and truly enjoy its badness, while Mortal Kombat's relative goodness makes it harder for me to get into.

Director Paul Anderson built quite a career on this movie.  Event Horizon, Resident Evil, and several other movies were all made possible by the success of this film.  Is it good?  Definitely not, but it is representative of the time period.

Fun Fact 1: Cameron Diaz was originally cast as Sonya Blade in this movie, but had to drop out due to a wrist injury.

Fun Fact 2: Jean-Claude Van Damme turned down the role of Johnny Cage to play Guile in Street Fighter.

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2020年12月20日 星期日

Superhero Movies From October 2018 Onward (12: The Last One)

For reviews of older superhero movies click here and here.  It felt like it was time to get rid of the "baggage" those older entries carried, so I started again from October 2018's Venom.

Of course the coronavirus has disrupted the film industry between the last entry and this one, but it's 2020 nevertheless and I still feel that superhero movies have lost a lot of their novelty.  I'm not saying they've gotten worse, I'm not saying they're going to decline in popularity, but I am saying that from this point onward I'll be more inclined to view them as just films, and judge them on their own merits.

Superhero Movies On The Way

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023 in the States)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (June 2023 in the States)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2022 in the States)

Aquaman 2 (December 2022 in the States)

Captain Marvel 2 (November 2022 in the States)

The Flash (November 2022 in the States)

Black Panther II (July 2022 in the States)

Thor: Love and Thunder (May 2022 in the States)

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (March 2022)

The Batman (March 2022 in the States)

Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel (December 2021 in the States)

Eternals (November 2021 in the States)

The Suicide Squad (August 2021 in the States)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (July 2021 in the States)

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Taiwan Release Date Unknown, June 2021 in the States)

Black Widow (April 30, 2020 in Taiwan, May 2021 in the States)

Morbius, the Living Vampire (March 2021 in both Taiwan and the States)


Wonder Woman 1984

What I Liked: The movie makes a lot of emotional if not logical sense.  It's a lot like Avengers: Endgame that way.  Gal Gadot is making great strides as an actress, and Kristen Wiig (one of my favorite actresses) was an excellent choice for Cheetah.  The fight at the end was well done, and the movie feels conclusive in a way that the first didn't.

What I Didn't Like: I felt like Maxwell Lord's character could have been realized better.  He never seemed to have enough motivation to do what he was doing.  The subplot involving his son hits all the right notes, but impoverished beginnings wasn't enough to explain his great ambition.

A couple other things bothered me, namely: why was a fighter jet parked with a full tank of fuel in the Smithsonian parking lot?  And what was the deal with her suddenly being able to turn things invisible?  At a certain point in the movie you have to throw physics out the window, but those two details really bothered me.

Future/Sequels: The next DC film will be James Gunn's The Suicide Squad in August.  After that it's a LONG wait before we finally (hopefully) see The Flash.  As far as Wonder Woman goes, there's an Amazons movie planned, and sometime after that Wonder Woman 3 will appear.


The New Mutants

What I Liked: It was better than I thought it would be.  The general atmosphere and the way in which the characters relate to each other is in line with what writer Chris Claremont did in the comics.  Anya Taylor-Joy is good as Magick, even though her one-liners near the end made me cringe.

What I Didn't Like: This movie just doesn't give itself enough time to get going.  A good horror movie is all about building up tension, and there's precious little tension in this movie.  As it is the "bad guys" (who are obviously not the real bad guys) just appear out of nowhere, there's a giant bear, and then the movie just ends.  Do we blame director Josh Boone for that?  Or Fox?  Or Marvel?  I have no idea.

Future/Sequels: Nope.  Marvel owns this property now, and the best anyone could hope for is an offhand reference in the next, Marvel-produced Deadpool.  IF that movie ever happens.


Bloodshot

What I Liked: A guy movie if there ever was one.  If you liked any of The Fast and the Furious franchise you'll probably like this one too.  It's a solid action film.  Oh, and the actress that co-stars alongside Vin Diesel is achingly beautiful.

What I Didn't Like: That "underwater kata" scene is unintentionally hilarious.  It doesn't quite derail the entire movie, but it seemed like an odd choice.  Why was that necessary for Guy Pearce's plot to work?

Future/Sequels: A Valiant Cinematic Universe?  There were plans for Bloodshot 2, two Harbinger movies, and then a movie featuring both Bloodshot and Harbinger.  As of now Harbinger has moved to Paramount Pictures, so all of that's uncertain.



Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

What I Liked: The fight scenes are cool.  Ewan McGregor - in what little screen time this movie can afford him - makes a great villain.

What I Didn't Like: Everything else.  As a character Harley Quinn is a complete enigma - and not in an interesting way.  Huntress and Black Canary are far easier to relate to, but again, Harley Quinn's endless monologues push them into the background.  To top it off this movie is terribly, existentially boring.

Future/Sequels: Lord I hope not.  Wonder Woman 1984 is due this summer, and James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is due next year, but if the directors of those movies have any sense they'll distance their films from this one.


Joker

What I Liked: This movie is brilliant.  Joaquin Phoenix doesn't disappoint, and director Todd Philips more than rises to the occasion.  Just the way the title pops up in the beginning is masterful.  This is the kind of movie that sparks debates, avoids safe choices, and gets people riled up.  It's also a harrowing portrait of both one man's struggle with mental illness and the uncaring nature of the society he lives in.

What I Didn't Like: This is a small complaint, but I think this movie tried a bit too hard to tie the Joker into the larger Batman mythos.  Having Thomas Wayne in the movie was enough; there was no need to include other members of the Wayne family.

Future/Sequels: Please Joaquin Phoenix, DON'T do another one.  And don't appear in anything else Batman-related.  This one was just about perfect the way it was.  Just leave it there and it'll age like wine.


Spider-Man: Far From Home

What I Liked: Zendaya.  She was my favorite thing about this movie.  Her character holds the whole thing together.  Without MJ this movie wouldn't make a lot of sense.

Also Mysterio's illusions.  I don't think I'm giving any plot points away when I mention them.  His illusions are some of the more visually impressive things in the MCU.

And speaking Mysterio's illusions, the battle at the end is great.  Setting this battle in London was a good choice.

What I Didn't Like: You can see the plot twist coming from a mile away.  Maybe not calling him "Mysterio" right of the bat would have helped.

Future/Sequels: A third one seems likely.  Still no word as to whether this take on Spider-man will tie into Sony's other Spiderverse films.


X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Got bored and saw it the other day.  It was blazing hot outside, and there wasn't much else to do.

What I Liked: For one thing it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the reviews would lead you to believe.  It's definitely NOT great, but if you were able to sit through Apocalypse you'll be able to sit through this one.  It's actually not bad up until Jean visits the house, though after that point...

What I Didn't Like: At times this movie just doesn't make sense.  WHY do the cops show up after Jean visits that house?  And WHY do the two mutant factions fight in New York?  And WHY do the aliens insist on boarding the train from the other end, when they're clearly walking all along its length, thus making it incredibly easy for the X-Men to fight them off?  

To make things worse, Sophie Turner really can't carry a movie.  Watching her interact with some of the other, more talented cast members is truly cringeworthy.  As bad as this movie is, it's still better than X3and yet I found myself missing Famke Janssen throughout the film.

Most inexplicable of all is Magneto.  First he says revenge is wrong and that he's given up on it.  Then someone gets killed and he's all about revenge again.  Then he learns about the Phoenix Force and he's all about saving Jean.  This, and that magnetism/telekinesis battle between him and Jean is the most unintentionally hilarious thing I've seen in a long time.

Future/Sequels: As far as anyone knows, The New Mutants is still coming out next year.  After that it'll be a long wait before we see Marvel Studios' take on the same set of characters.


Avengers: Endgame

What I Liked: Everything.  This movie is awesome from beginning to end.

What I Didn't Like: Only two (very small) complaints: 1) Bruce and Nebula's explanation for their "heist" probably isn't going to satisfy anyone who bothers to think it through, and 2) the part at the end where all the "Marvel superheroines" line up and go into battle seems a bit too much like checking off an item on a checklist.

Future/Sequels: The next MCU offering is Spider-Man: Far From Home later this summer.  No other films have been given a release date as yet.  I think it's fair to say that Marvel will make a big announcement soon.


Hellboy

What I Liked: Uh... it's more... British than the original?  That's good, right?  More interesting?

And uh... the fight with the giants is kind of cool.  Brief but cool.

This movie has the quirkiness that made the Mignola comics good.  Upping the gore was also a good idea.  Not sure about the humor though.  Seems like they should have doubled down on that part.  Making this movie funnier would have also differentiated it from the original.  As it is it strays too close to the Del Toro version.

What I Didn't Like: It's pretty bad right from the beginning.  For me the worst thing was the sequence explaining Hellboy's origins.  This part of the movie ventures so close to Del Toro's version that you can't help but compare this one to that one, and this one is always going to suffer by comparison.  They should have avoided that altogether.

Future/Sequels: Ha ha not likely.


Shazam!

What I Liked: Zachary Levi and Asher Angel are both examples of great casting, the story is well thought out, and the battle at the end takes some interesting twists and turns.  I consider Shazam! a vast improvement over Aquaman, which was trying to do too much in too short a time, and also Captain Marvel, which was in my opinion one hot mess of a movie.  Shazam! is much smaller-scale compared to those other two films, but its smallness works to its advantage.  It's very focused and to the point.

Mark Strong, who was wasted on Martin Campbell's Green Lantern, has much more to do in Shazam!  Even if his reasons for being "evil" aren't that well thought out, he's still a good (bad) villain.

What I Didn't Like: The battle at the end goes on a bit too long.  I think shortening it would have made for a better movie.  The introduction of the rest of the Marvel Family feels a bit rushed, even if it was gratifying to see them onscreen together.

Future/Sequels: No definite plans for any sequels as yet, but one of Shazam's other villains is introduced in a post-credits scene.  It's early to say, but I think this movie will be well received and I'd be surprised if a sequel isn't announced soon.


Captain Marvel

What I Liked: There's a part about halfway through, when Carol Danvers is reunited with an old friend.  In that part you can see Brie Larson's skill as an actress.

The fight on the spaceship near the end is oddly satisfying, but some of my satisfaction may have to do with 90s soundtrack, and the fact that I was a much younger guy when those songs were everywhere.  Nostalgia, in other words.

What I Didn't Like: Going back to the comic books, I never found Carol Danvers especially interesting, and this movie did nothing to change my mind.  Really, what is her reason for doing anything in this film?  At what point does her character change or make any real kind of discovery?

She's also so much more powerful than anyone she comes up against in this movie.  There's no sense of threat when "danger" strikes.  Jude Law?  Nope.  The Skrulls?  Not really.  Ronan the Accuser?  Their confrontation is a non-event.

I've also got to say, the explanation given for Nick Fury losing his eye really bothered me.  It's always seemed like this event should be of crucial importance, but in the movie it's explained in such an offhand manner.  The randomness of this explanation diminished the entire film.

Future/Sequels: Strap yourself in because Avengers: Endgame is less than two months away.  After Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home Marvel has announced no other films, though if Captain Marvel does well I'm sure we'll see a sequel.  I've heard a lot of talk about an Eternals movie, but we'll see.

I think what's going to make or break a Captain Marvel sequel is the Asian market, especially China.  If it goes over big in Beijing and Shanghai (as Aquaman did) you can be sure there will be another one.  If, however, this movie fails to find an audience in such places, I imagine Kevin Feige will start vaguely alluding to "future adventures" without making any real commitment.




Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Does this one count?  Batman and the Justice League are in it.  It also features the newer and older versions of Aquaman.

What I Liked: It's a funny movie, though not as good as the first.  This said, it's not nearly as hyper as the first one, which might be a relief for those who found the first film slightly overwhelming.

What I Didn't Like: It does drag a bit toward the end.  It's weird to say, but I found myself having to really concentrate on Lego Movie 2.  There are SO many references, to so many things, that after the first hour my brain got tired.  

Future/Sequels: There might be a sequel to the Lego Batman movie, though there's no release date as yet.  There might also be The Billion Brick Race.




Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

What I Liked: Everything.  In my opinion this movie's awesome from start to finish.  The characters, the plot, the animation, the soundtrack, all of it's great.  I suppose it depends on how it does financially, but Spider-Verse could be a real game-changer for CBMs.

For me the best part of the film was the Bill Sienkiewicz-inspired sequence halfway through.  I've been a huge fan of that guy for years, and seeing his art animated almost brought tears to my eyes.  That version of the Kingpin?  That's all Bill Sienkiewicz.

What I Didn't Like: Small complaint: no Spider-Woman.  I've always liked Spider-Woman more than Spider-Man, and it would've been wonderful to see Jessica Drew (finally) show up in this movie.

Future/Sequels: There's talk that Spider-Woman could feature in the sequel alongside Spider-Gwen and Silk, but such plans are tentative of course.  It's entirely possible that a sequel would feature Spider-Man 2099 instead.




Aquaman

What I Liked: Atlantis looks cool.  Amber Heard is easy on the eyes.  The battle in the end - aside from a ridiculous pause in the action for a predictably romantic moment - looks amazing.

What I Didn't Like: Weird moments of exposition.  Instead of showing the audience what's happening/has happened, the characters in this movie often feel the need to stop whatever they're doing and explain things.  The only part of this movie where the action flows seamlessly is when Aquaman and Black Manta have their big showdown halfway through.

The part in the beginning about Aquaman's parents could have been removed entirely.  It adds absolutely nothing to the story, and starting the movie from the adult Aquaman's first appearance would have made a lot more sense.

This movie gets dumber as it goes along.  By the end I was laughing at certain scenes and bits of dialogue, and I wasn't the only one.  And before someone chimes in with "at least it doesn't take itself so seriously," let's remember there's a difference between laughing WITH a movie and laughing AT a movie.

The small ray of hope being that it's not as terrible as Justice League.  Not that this is saying much.

Future/SequelsShazam!, also set in the DCEU, will be out in a few months.  After that it's a long wait until Wonder Woman 1984.  Aquaman 2?  It's kind of early to tell, but the movie's been doing well in China, and those wanting a completely brainless superhero romp will be all over this one.




Venom

What I Liked: After a really clunky beginning there are some great action sequences.  Everything after Venom shows up is much better than the 15 minutes that try (and fail) to set up the story.  The fight between Venom and Riot near the end is very good.

What I Didn't Like: That beginning part.  It feels like they weren't sure what kind of movie they were making.  Horror?  Action?  Science fiction?  Going more for the "body horror" elements would have improved the film, and the spaceship/alien invasion subplot could have been dispensed with altogether.

As clunky as the beginning is, the dialogue throughout the movie is by far the worst part.  None of the actors seem at ease with what they're saying, and a couple of lines are unintentionally hilarious.

Future/Sequels: There are plans for a sequel with Woody Harrelson's Carnage in a bigger role.  I think that after setting up the general premise, a sequel is bound to be better.  Harrelson would also make a great villain.  Last I heard, Sony's next comic-based movie will be Morbius the Living Vampire, with Jared Leto as Morbius.  There may be some crossover between Venom and Morbius.

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2020年11月27日 星期五

Movies of the Early 1990s, Ranked in the Order I Enjoyed Them


Some are good, some are bad, some are so bad they're good, but none are so good they're bad.  The movies at the top of the list put a smile on my face, or gave me something to think about.  The movies at the bottom made me wonder why I don't read more.

Dances With Wolves (90)
The Age of Innocence (93)
Presumed Innocent (90)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (93)
Farewell My Concubine (93)
Once Were Warriors (94)
Reservoir Dogs (92)
Our Twisted Hero (91)
The Player (92)
Other People's Money (91)
Deep Cover (92)
High Heels (91)
Wild at Heart (90)
Muriel's Wedding (94)
Black Robe (91)
Cool Runnings (93)
Man Bites Dog (92)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (91)
Cool as Ice (91)
A Brighter Summer Day (91)
Jacob's Ladder (90)
To Live (94)
The Double Life of Veronique (91)
Postcards from the Edge (90)
Fear in the Dark (91)
Fire in the Sky (93)
Death and the Maiden (94)
The Last Boy Scout (91)
Back to the Future Part III (90)
School Daze (90)
Navy SEALs (90)
Dead Alive (92)
Guarding Tess (94)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (90)
Sniper (93)
The Client (94)
The Ambulance (90)
Iron Monkey (93)
Edward Scissorhands (90)
It Could Happen to You (94)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (94)
Cobb (94)
No Escape (94)
The Hunt for Red October (90)
Philadelphia (93)
True Lies (94)
Rebels of the Neon God (92)
Miami Blues (90)
Back in Action (93)
Renaissance Man (94)
Blown Away (94)
The Crow (94)
Bitter Moon (92)
Dazed and Confused (93)
Chaplin (92)
Hard to Kill (90)
Leprechaun (93)
Sarafina! (92)
The Mambo Kings (92)
Brainscan (94)
The Doctor (91)
Porco Rosso (92)
La Belle Noiseuse (91)
State of Grace (90)
Maverick (94)
Stone Cold (91)
Hard Target (93)
1492: The Conquest of Paradise (92)
The Perfect Weapon (91)
Darkman (90)
Deadfall (93)
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (93)
Aspen Extreme (93)
Delicatessen (91)
Hoop Dreams (94)
Eton College: Class of '91 (91)
Robocop 2 (90)
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (92)
Night of the Demons 2 (94)
Stargate (94)
Iron Will (94)
Free Willy (93)
Juice (92)
Rocky V (90)
Brain Dead (90)
The Power of One (92)
The Forbidden Dance (90)
Heavenly Creatures (94)
Shallow Grave (94)
Chungking Express (94)
Days of Thunder (90)
Air America (90)
Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (92)
Fast Getaway (91)
Europa (91)
Shola Aur Shabnam (92)
Edge of Honor (91)
Reversal of Fortune (90)
Enchanted April (92)
Universal Soldier (92)
The Godfather Part III (90)
Paris is Burning (90)
Double Dragon (94)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (92)
Green Card (90)
Hudson Hawk (91)
Out of the Rain (91)
My Own Private Idaho (91)
Drop Zone (94)
Light Sleeper (92)
The River Wild (94)
Mississippi Masala (91)
Sleeping with the Enemy (91)
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (90)
Diggstown (92)
Frank Zappa: BBC Documentary (93)
Meteor Man (93)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (90)
Baby's Day Out (94)
Howard's End (92)
The Next Karate Kid (94)
Lower Level (91)
Above the Rim (94)
Hocus Pocus (93)
Career Opportunities (91)
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Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (92)
Stephen King's The Stand (94)
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (92)
The Guardian (90)
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Street Soldiers (91)
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Indecent Proposal (93)
The Sandlot (93)
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Ring of Fire (91)
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Les Visiteurs (93)
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Bird on a Wire (90)
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2020年11月24日 星期二

Some Other Movies From 1994 (2)

 For further background on the year in film, please refer to the Some Other Movies From 1994 entry.


The following things happened in 1994:
  • Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked at the U.S. Figure Skating Championship.  Refer to the movie I, Tonya for details.
  • Schindler's List won the Oscar for Best Picture.
  • The Rwandan genocide took place.
  • Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first democratically elected President of South Africa.
  • The Channel Tunnel between England and France opened.
  • The O.J. Simpson trial took place.
  • Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.
  • Construction of the Three Gorges Dam began in China.
  • America Online went... online.
  • Kurt Cobain committed suicide.


Some Good Ones

1. Night of the Demons 2

Boobies and demons and more boobies and demons melting into puddles.  The red-haired actress is FINE, and the script is humorous enough to keep the story interesting.  Sure, it rips off Sam Raimi's Evil Dead franchise at times, but so do a lot of other horror movies.

Fun Fact 1: The actress who plays the demonic presence in this movie is now a "professional psychic pet communicator."  What qualifications and/or experience would make one a professional psychic pet communicator?  I have no idea.

Fun Fact 2: If the blonde schoolgirl looks familiar, it's because that's Christine Taylor, who would go on to appear in Zoolander and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.  She was also married to Ben Stiller for several years.

2. To Live

"We're two bullets short of liberating Taiwan!"

70 years later, and those "two bullets" seem farther away than ever.

Zhang Yimou directed this look at life in communist China in the decades following the expulsion of the KMT.  It's a movie full of great scenes - especially that shot of the communist troops charging down the hill in the snow - but it felt a bit disjointed to me, and the ending wasn't satisfying.

Due to its controversial portrayal of communist policies, this movie was never shown theatrically in China.

3. Muriel's Wedding

Hold up - Toni Collette is Australian?  I had no idea!

In Muriel's Wedding two friends desperately try to escape the town they were born into.  It sounds corny - and this movie definitely ventures into rom-com territory - but this movie's about loving yourself no matter what others tell you.  In other words it's fucking adorable, and even though the second half is too convoluted it's still one of the better movies I've seen lately.

4. Hoop Dreams

Documentary about two boys who receive basketball scholarships to a private school.  My biggest complaint about this movie is that it's way, way too long.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Editing, and the struggles of its two protagonists are indeed compelling, but cutting an hour out of this film would have made it much better.

5. Shallow Grave

After one of their roommates (read: flatmates) dies, three people come into some money they didn't earn.  This was Danny Boyle's first movie, and also his first collaboration with Ewan McGregor.  The characters in Shallow Grave are unlikable, but they become more interesting after the first body's disposed of.

6. Heavenly Creatures

Two girls form an unhealthy bond in a New Zealand Catholic school.  It's not perfect, but Heavenly Creatures is a glance at the Peter Jackson yet to be.  The fantasy elements, the unconventional storytelling, the use of lesser known actors and actresses, New Zealand as a set piece - it's all there.  This was also Kate Winslet's first movie.  She'd go on to widespread acclaim in Titanic three years later.

Fun Fact: Jackson wrote a script for a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel.  Unfortunately this movie was never made.

7. It Could Happen to You

The Brighter Take: A cop (Nicolas Cage) decides to share his lottery winnings with a waitress (Bridget Fonda).  The Darker Take: A millionaire who enjoys the company of young boys cheats on his wife with a failed actress.  In its celebration of New York it reminded me of Ghostbusters, though of course it's not nearly that good.

8. Maverick

This movie doesn't have much of a plot.  The card scene at the end is great though, and Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner are as charming as you'd expect.  Is it a work of cinematic art?  No, but it's fun and never wears out its welcome.

9. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Two drag queens and a transgender woman travel into the Australian Outback.  Its message of acceptance is still timely, even if that ping pong ball scene trades in certain stereotypes.  This movie introduced Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce to worldwide audiences, and Terence Stamp steals the show as their transgender companion.

10. Chungking Express

From the standpoint of images on film this movie is brilliant.  On the other hand the characters in it are so hopelessly romantic (and occasionally creepy) that it's hard to sympathize with them.  It was interesting seeing Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung and Faye Wong so early in their careers, and Wong Kar-wai is an indisputably good director, but I just didn't love this one as much as I thought I would.

11. Stargate

When you think about it, this movie could bridge every biblical movie ever made, the Indiana Jones movies, and the Dune universe.  What if the "slave race" Kurt Russell and James Spader encounter on the other side of the gate are actually the Fremen?  What if a lot of the mythology surrounding Paul Atreides stretches back to ancient Egypt?  Anyway, it's fun to think about.

In Stargate a portal to the other side of the universe is discovered, and a group of Terran explorers learn some unpleasant truths about the origin of our species.  This movie doesn't make a lot of sense if you consider it more carefully, but it's a fun action movie regardless.  It's also my favorite of director Roland Emmerich's films.

Fun Fact: Whatever happened to Jaye Davidson?  He grew tired of the attention he was receiving as a movie star and retired from acting.

12. Once Were Warriors

Definitely the best movie listed here.  I want to put it in the "Excellent" category but it's a bit heavy-handed.  Just the same, it's a gripping story of a Maori woman's struggles with an abusive husband, and the performances are all about as good as you can get.  Rena Owen, the star of this film, deserved an Oscar, but of course Once Were Warriors wasn't high profile enough to earn that kind of accolade.

Fun Fact 1: Lee Tamahori, the director of this movie, would go on to direct the Bond film Die Another Day.

Fun Fact 2: Temuera Morrison, the actor who played the abusive husband in this movie, would go on to play Jason Momoa's father in Aquaman.


Some Bad Ones

1. Baby's Day Out

You could have a lot of fun inserting scenes from this movie into 1996's Ransom.  On the one hand a lighthearted attempt to cash in on the popularity of the Home Alone franchise, on the other a dark, brooding study of how a family deals with a kidnapping.

In Baby's Day Out producer John Hughes de-ages Kevin McAllister by about eight years, has a trio of mentally challenged (if superhumanly resilient) kidnappers show up, and it all grows increasingly improbable from there.  Thing is, I always found Mcaulay Culkin's character in Home Alone extremely annoying, and substituting him with a baby worked better for me.  I'm not saying I loved it, I'm not even saying I liked it, but I get why this movie is so strangely popular in India.

2. Above the Rim

Hoop Dreams it ain't, but it is a lot shorter.  Some guy who's name I'm forgetting stars as a high school student with college basketball dreams, with Leon as his mentor and Tupac as the local drug dealer.  The weirdest thing about this movie is the fact that the basketball scenes are the least interesting part.

Fun Fact: This movie is the final film in screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper's "Harlem Trilogy," which includes New Jack City, Sugar Hill and this film.

3. Drop Zone

"Always bet on black!"  Oh, sorry.  Wrong movie.

Wesley Snipes stars as a U.S. Marshal infiltrating the world of skydiving.  The skydiving scenes look super fake, and it's obvious which characters are going to die from the beginning.

4. Junior

After Kindergarten Cop and Twins this movie made a certain kind of sense, but impregnating Arnold Schwarzenegger was a cringe too far.  More damning still is the fact that this movie just isn't funny.  Director Ivan Reitman, Schwarzenegger and DeVito were game enough, but the script hits emotional beats at the expense of laughs.

5. Stephen King's The Stand

I remember reading the novel in high school and finding it boring.  This TV miniseries is even worse in that it gives little sense of scale, choosing instead to focus on smaller, interior sets that make the low budget more obvious.  Even if they'd had the money to make it look better, there are much better movies exploring similar themes.  For the most part critics loved it, but I just wasn't feeling this one.

Fun Fact: In the late 70s and early 80s Stephen King and George Romero worked together on another film adaptation of The Stand.  The project was abandoned after films adapted from King's stories declined in popularity toward the end of the 80s.

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