Amph Film Releases & Trends of a Decade Retrospective: The Nineties A-Z. Now Disc: 1993 D-G

September & October 2001

Notable releases: (listed in release order)

September:
-The Musketeer
-Rock Star
-Soul Survivors
-The Glass House
-Hardball
-Don't Say A Word
-Hearts in Atlantis
-Zoolander

October:
-Joyride
-Serendipity
-Training Day
-Bandits
-Corky Romano
-Iron Monkey
-Knockaround Guys
-From Hell
-The Last Castle
-Riding in Cars With Boys
-K-PAX
-Thirteen Ghosts


T2Q Comments:

-The Musketeer: Sort of a martial arts take on the story. It's not a complete success but I found it enjoyable.

-Hearts in Atlantis: Anthony Hopkins was good in this, but was my main reason for wathcing it to begin with. Decent drama, though not particularly noteworthy.

-Zoolander: I didn't love this as much as others did, but while it's not my favorite Stiller comedy, it's damn quirky enough to be really fun.

-Joyride: We spoke of Duel with Jeepers Creepers, well, here's a more directly inspired film of that concept. I really liked this one. It was surprisingly effective.

-Training Day: Very cool flick. Also made me track down the lyric-less version of "Rock Star" used in it's trailer

-Iron Monkey: I saw this on video years after the fact. Liked it but I couldn't rave about it.

-Knockaround Guys: Another Vin Diesel flick that was lingering on the shelf until he became a huge star. Good cast and a pretty decent movie.

-From Hell: Coulda been good but ended up being a dull misfire.

-The Last Castle: This one I dug. It's a really good movie, even if Tony Soprano is made out to be too much of a villain.

-K-PAX: Kevin Spacey was fun here. It wasn't quite as perfect overall as I would have liked but I had no regrets seeing it.


Overall Trends:

Keanu was probably following up The Replacements with Hardball. Vin Diesel's success is dragging out smaller films into bigger releases. Spacey is still riding high from American Beauty. Stiller is sill in an upswing of hits since "Mary". Gandolfini is first making a sizeable theatrical appearance in the wake of his success with The Sopranos.

And September wasn't a very good month. Quite a few films from this point on would be delayed due to their subject matter or content (the same subject material having elements that would be avoided for years in other films).

 

November & December 2001

Notable releases: (listed in release order)

November:
-The Affair of the Necklace
-Domestic Disturbance
-Monsters, Inc
-The One
-Heist
-Life as a House
-Shallow Hal
-Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone
-Black Knight
-Out Cold
-Spy Game
-Behind Enemy Lines

December:
-Ocean's Eleven
-Not Another Teen Movie
-The Royal Tenenbaums
-Vanilla Sky
-In the Bedroom
-Jimmy neutron: Boy Genius
-Joe Somebody
-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
-The Majestic
-Ali
-Kate & Leopold



T2Q Comments:

-Monsters, Inc: One of Pixar's better and more inventive efforts. The factory sequence with the doors is incredible.

-The One: This could have been Jet Li's best American film, but it sadly falls short of the mark, despite Jason Statham's presence. It does have a cool Highlander-esque element to it, though, and a great ending.

-Life as a House: Proof that Hayden can act, though not necessarily when playing Anakin Movie overall isn't bad.

-Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone: Never read the books, but this one was so-so. The series has grown much better over time, but this first movie in particular setup two things that bothered me: 1) the evil slapstick foster family antics (which feel like they belong is an awful Disney movie) and 2) how most of the "magical" moments in the film feel like we're supposed to assume they are magical, even though they never truly earn that feeling like truly magical films have done in the past.

-Black Knight: I just remember the trailer. "Yer daughhhters a freeeeak..."

-Spy Game: I can't honestly recall if I actually saw this one or not.

-Behind Enemy Lines: Quite enjoyable, though it's ending tries to make it out to be much more serious than it should have been taken- their attempt to give it a "real world gravity" fails due to the fact that the events and characters are entirely fictional.

-Ocean's Eleven: Ignoring the sequels, this was a fun caper flick- despite Julia Roberts' presence.

-Not Another Teen Movie: While not a classic spoof, this is much better than subsequent spoof attempts ("Meet the Spartans", etc) since it's focused primarily on a single genre still ala Scary Movie- and on one that deserves being spoofed (those awful "She's All That" cliched type flicks in particular). The naked foreign exchange student and the American beauty kid whose always followed around by a floating plastic bag did crack me up, though.

-The Royal Tenenbaums: I liked this one, better than Rushmoore. Bill Murray is great in it. "I left a suicide note." "Was it dark?" "Of course it was dark- it was a suicide note."

-Vanilla Sky: I liked what they tried to do here, and the film has some great visuals and moments, but it ends up just being too long and dull. Cruise is excellent though.

-In the Bedroom: Really good drama, great cast. Definitely worth seeing.

-Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: I never saw this and I never will, but I have to comment on how god-awful, even for kids fare, this movie looked in every single trailer. Ho-lee craaap.

-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Having never read the books, I was nevertheless looking forward to the film to see what the hype was about and, also, from it's great trailers (the teaser, in particular, where Mr Movie Voice is almost singing "One ring to rule them all- one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness, bind them." was stuck in my head for a very long time, and the gothic midnight track of the full trailer was damn catchy and subsequently over-used in many other trailers). The film itself was good, though it didn't make me a die-hard fan or crazily await the next film (though Two Towers would win me over). The extended edition did help it quite a bit, though.

-The Majestic: Never got to see this one, but always wanted to- I really enjoy Jim Carrey in dramatic roles like this and Truman Show.

-Kate & Leopold: Pretty decent rom-com with a time travel angle.


Overall Trends:

Pizar continues to excel, Ocean's 11 would spawn a couple sequels, Th

 

That would have been almost impossible, i think- the whole "I return you now, at the turn of ht etide" or "how can this be? you fell!" bit was in almost every trailer and TV spot, right alongside "a new power is rising!", etc.

 

Monsters, Inc - I saw this in the autumn, so it might have been released around the same time in Ireland. Great film, haven't seen it since then though.

Shallow Hal - released around February/March. I hated it, in fact this is one of the few films that have made me feel sick, and the other girl I went with totally agreed on that.

Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone - November. Good film, didn't mind seeing the rest of the films and what would happen with Harry. ( I didn't read the books until just a couple of months ago)

Spy Game - Februari. This is a truly brilliant film, I think I actually saw it twice, even though the second time was because me and my friends couldn't agree on anything else, and I agree on seeing it again. The second time I was really annoyed by all the shots of "east Berlin" missing several of the real significant buildings in the skyline, and not using east German cars.


Ocean's Eleven - Don't know when I saw this one, some time in the spring though. I really like it, even if it wasn't necessary to turn it into a trilogy.

Vanilla Sky - can't remember when I saw it, thought it was spring/summer but it was released in January here. Anyway, I couldn't understand the film and found it pretty boring.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Probably one of the first with a global release date. It is a good film. Viggo Mortensen won me over to be able to see the film several times, and the sequels. I'm not a LOTR-fan, can't stand the books, but I admit that this film is a masterpiece.

Kate & Leopold - I avoided for a very long time since I was tired of Meg Ryan, and I think time travel in films is a silly thing. When I finally saw it I realised that I really like the film, and Hugh Jackman is probably looking his best, at least until a certain scene in Australia.

 

Time again for the year in review... all the way back to the Year 2000...and one.

(in the year 2000... (and one)..in the YEAR TWO-THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAND...(...and one..))

What's worth seeing (once or several times?), what's worth keeping?

Skimming back through the lists I posted, IMO:


Worth Keeping: (aka: get the DVD!)
-Atlantis: The Lost Empire
-The Fast and the Furious
-Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (though opinions will vary)
-Joyride
-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
-Monsters, Inc
-Moulin Rouge!
-The Mummy Returns (though some misguided people here may suggest the opposite in favor of the first movie )
-Rush Hour 2
-Shrek

Worth Seeing a Few Times: (aka: maybe get the DVD)
-A Knight's Tale
-American Pie 2
-Behind Enemy Lines
-Black Hawk Down
-Enemy at the Gates
-Frailty (from what I've heard/read)
-Hannibal
-The Last Castle
-Rat Race
-The Royal Tenenbaums
-Scary Movie 2
-Spy Game (going by comments here)
-Training Day

Worth Seeing Once: (aka: rent it or get it in the $5 bin at Best Buy or Walmart)
-3000 Miles to Graceland
-A Beautiful Mind
-AI: Artificial Intelligence
-Antitrust (though for me personally, I'd rank it as a "maybe get the DVD")
-Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone
-In the Bedroom
-Jurassic Park III
-Kate & Leopold
-Knockaround Guys
-K-PAX
-Legally Blonde
-Not Another Teen Movie
-Ocean's Eleven
-The One
-Spy Kids
-Swordfish
-Super Troopers
-Zoolander

If It's on Cable: (aka: not completely awful, but no need to intentionally seek it out)
-Blow
-Evolution
-Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
-Iron Monkey
-Joe Dirt
-Life as a House
-The Musketeer
-Original Sin
-Pearl Harbor
-Planet of the Apes
-Say It Isn't So

 

So here's my judgement, bear in mind that I'm not really a big DVD-buyer, but I'll keep the categories anyway. I've also removed the films that are either too bad, or that I don't have any opinion on .

Worth Keeping: (aka: get the DVD!)
-Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (though opinions will vary)
-Monsters, Inc
-Moulin Rouge!
-Shrek
-A Knight's Tale
-Ocean's Eleven

Worth Seeing a Few Times: (aka: maybe get the DVD)
-Atlantis: The Lost Empire
-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (I'm not a LOTR fan)
-Enemy at the Gates
-Rat Race
-The Royal Tenenbaums
-Spy Game
-A Beautiful Mind
-Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone (but only if you plan on getting the rest of the films)
-Kate & Leopold

Worth Seeing Once: (aka: rent it or get it in the $5 bin at Best Buy or Walmart)
-Training Day
-Jurassic Park III
-K-PAX
-Legally Blonde

If It's on Cable: (aka: not completely awful, but no need to intentionally seek it out)
-Zoolander
-Evolution
-Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
-Life as a House
-The Musketeer
-Pearl Harbor

 

Also bear in mind that my list there doesn't represent every movie from the year- just the ones I've seen or could gather an impression of. You can skim back through the last page or so for the full lists from each monthly pairing to find movies I've not seen that you might want to add to your own list.

 

I know that wasn't all the films, but I was simply too lazy to dig through the whole list. I'll try to do it better for the years that are coming up.

 

Not criticizing your list- just wanted to make sure mine wasn't being misleading.

 

Thanks Eric- glad you're digging the thread


And I think for the next year in review, I'll include a complete reference list for folks to use.

 

Rented Spy Game and Frailty this week- haven't had the chance to watch the latter yet but the former was a very solid movie. I was initially turned off by the way-cliche "last day before retirement" bit, but they actually worked it to be important to the plot and not just a cheap shortcut to empathize with Redford's character.


January & February 2002

Notable releases: (listed in release order)

January:
-Impostor
-Orange County
-Snow Dogs
-The Count of Monte Crisco
-Kung Pow! Enter the Fist
-The Mothman Prophecies
-A Walk to Remember

February:
-Birthday Girl
-Slackers
-Big Fat Liar
-Collateral Damage
-Rollerball
-Crossroads
-Hart's War
-John Q
-Return to Neverland
-Super Troopers
-Dragonfly
-Queen of the Damned


T2Q Comments:

-Impostor: One of those "how long did they delay this movie cause trailers played forever" films. Apparently it was menat to be one of 3 segments in an anthology film but was the only one ever filmed before it fell apart, and was then expanded into a feature-length film (the other two were Asimov's The Last Question (to be filmed by Bryan Singer) and Mimic- a different script from the eventual feature film of the same name, though same origin). Never saw it, though

-Orange County: Had meant to see this but never did. Colin Hanks and Jack Black looked to make an amusing duo.

-Snow Dogs: It was at this point we realized Cuba Gooding Jr's Oscar was either a fluke, or he has the worst management in the history of an Oscar winner.

-The Count of Monte Crisco: I dug this quite a bit. Shelby and Jesus make for good rivals. Though I'll admit I've never seen any of the, apparently, nine other films based on this story, so I'm not comparing the adaptation of the material. But I love me a good revenge story. I get the impression it was trying to cash in on the same audience as The Mask of Zorro from 4 years prior.

-Kung Pow! Enter the Fist: A ridiculously stupid and hilarious mash of bluescreen footage and MST3K-as-done-by-Steve Oedekerk. Dumber than Thumb Wars, but I'll be damned if that pause-then-continue baby rolling bit at the start didn't kill me in doubled-over pain in theaters. Also, great, over the top, trailer music. Seems a sequel has been slowly coming together over the course of the decade.

-The Mothman Prophecies: I remember the poster and a vague sense of the true events it's based on.

-Slackers: Another comedy I wanted to see but didn;t get the chance. I don't have high expectations for it, but I think I'd like it.

-Big Fat Liar: Frankie Muniz cashing in on Malcolm in the Middle. Paul Giamatti seemingly (haven't seen the movie) still serving the mainly manic bad guy comedy role he became famous for as Pig Vomit in Private Parts.

-Collateral Damage: "No one can stop a killer- except the man who knows his face."

The last true "Arnold Movie" in the traditional sense (I don't really count T3 in that regard). It sort of caps off the last phase of Arnold's acting career, pre-Governator, that kicked off with End of Days, where he was trying to bring some more serious weight to his films on the acting side while still bringing the Arnie action and oneliners he was known for.

The film doesn't really work that well, but neither is it his worst film.

"What's the difference between you and I?" "The difference is- I'm just going to kill you."

This is also notable for being a really major release that was delayed due to 9/11 and the film's terrorist content. Originally scheduled for 10/5/01, it was pushed back to 2/8/02 and had a plane hijacking scene cut from it. It probably hurt the film- not just the Feb release being a poorer time than Oct for this type of film, but I recall it still feeling a bit too soon when it came out.

-Rollerball: Didn't see it, heard it was not as good as the original, which I also haven't seen.

-Crossroads: A Britney Spears movie. Moving on.

-Hart's War: I recall this being the point where I finally started to get bored with the notion of war movies coming out. I know this wasn't a top tier example of the genre, but ever

 

And to finish up the '01 comments- I watched Frailty tonight and it is a very good low budget psychological horror flick. I sorta expected part of the twist (hl=black]Adam[/hl]), but the rest was quite good (though I think the thing with Fennton's "trophies" wasn't well explained- i don't see that transition happening for the character as told- he could have easily been left the fall guy, er, demon without him becoming a serial killer after his years long struggle against a serial killer).

 

March & April 2002

Notable releases: (listed in release order)

March:
-40 Days and 40 Nights
-We Were Soldiers
-All About the Benjamins
-The Time Machine
-Ice Age
-Resident Evil
-Showtime
-Blade II
-E.T.: Special Edition
-Sorority Boys
-Clockstoppers
-Death to Smoochy
-Panic Room
-The Rookie


April:
-Big Trouble
-High Crimes
-National Lampoon's Van Wilder
-Changing Lanes
-(Frailty hit wide release here- my bad)
-The Sweetest Thing
-Murder By Numbers
-My Big Fat Greek Wedding
-The Scorpion King
-Jason X
-Life or Something Like It


T2Q Comments:

-40 Days and 40 Nights: Josh Harnett goes through the hardships of avoiding sex for 1.25 months. I think I know why people hate Josh Harnett.

-We Were Soldiers: Even though I talked about tiring of war films, I still found this one interesting and a pretty decent war movie.

-The Time Machine: A not entirely successful remake, though it's mainly the last portion of the film where it falls apart, IMO. The early portions are quite good, though.

-Ice Age: Holy crap on a stick! Has it been 7+ years since this came out? Sheesh... it seems like only yesterday we were greeted by those great Scrat shorts that evoked the greatness of classic Looney Tunes, and then met by a not-bad-but-not-great film featuring them. I haven't seen the sequels yet but this was obviously successful.

-Resident Evil: Some people will hate this, but for what it is (a B-movie inspired by Aliens) I rather liked it (except for the terrible Licker CGI). It may not be a great zombie movie or even a good adaptation of the RE games themselves, but it's fun.

-Blade II: Best of the series, IMO. Managed to keep things fresh and continued the rise of Marvel.

-E.T.: Special Edition: This was the first time I had seen the whole movie. I really didn't like it as a kid but was totally won over seeing it as an adult- the finale is a tour de force by Williams and by the end if you're not left with eyes full of tears you have no soul. The walkie talkie thing was dumb though.

-Clockstoppers: Fun concept kids movie directed by Jonathan Frakes. Not outright great but not he worst kids movie you could watch. Though, I admit a certain affinity for the concept that harkens back to an episode of Duck Tales (woohoo!).

-Death to Smoochy: Never saw this, but I have the feeling I'd love it.

-Panic Room: I usually dig Fincher's films a lot, and while this is by no means a terrible movie, it does feel like it's lacking and is his weaker work.

-The Rookie: Dennis Quaid surprised a lot of people with this movie, and I think the movie surprised a lot of people- afterall, how on earth could a G-rated live action Disney movie be anywhere close to good in this day and age?

-Big Trouble: A film that got mostly swept under the carpet due to 9/11 and the nuclear bomb plot thread in the film. Regardless, this movie was fantastic- one of my favorite comedies and the second best thing Tim Allen has done for film in live action. Rest of the cast is great too.

-National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Not a classic teen comedy but a middle of the road one that launched Ryan Reynold's greatness.

-Changing Lanes: Good thriller, with both Sam Jackson and Affleck doing a good job here.

-My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Never watched it all but obviously was a massive indie success

-The Scorpion King: I had hopes for this. The Rock has a good presence and I felt The Mummy Returns was the best of that series. Sadly they focused on an uninteresting part of his story, essentially only validating the film if a sequel was made that actually told the interesting story (of how he went evil and tried to conquer the world, etc), but that sequel was never made. In fact they made a direct-to-video prequel instead, going in the wrong direction for the character's story, thus telling an even more uninteresting story about the character and avoiding the only thing audiences would ever care to actually see.

That said, the movie has a couple decent moments, mostly at the end. The comic relief is worse than that in The Mumm