main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

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

Discussion in 'Community' started by The2ndQuest , Apr 15, 2009.

  1. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    Worth keeping (aka get the DVD)
    -Fanboys
    -The Young Victoria

    Worth seeing a few times (aka maybe get the DVD)
    -The Princess and the Frog
    -The Hangover
    -Taken
    -Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
    -Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
    -Sherlock Holmes

    Worth seeing once (aka rent it or get it in the $5 bin)
    -Pirate Radio (The Boat That Rocked)
    -Avatar

    If it's on cable
    -X-Men Origins: Wolverine
    -Public Enemies

    Film I still want to see
    -Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
    -Up
    -Inglourious Basterds
    -Coco Before Chanel
    -Capitalism: A Love Story
    -The Men Who Stare at Goats


    The year overall was pretty weak. I've seen most of films I'm ineterested in, and there was only one film that I really felt was outstanding and that was Young Victoria.
     
  2. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Ok, so this is our final recap for the decade- this time of this decade as a whole. Here, I'm looking back at all the films from the top tiers of my year-end recaps and filtering them down to the best and most influential (though the latter may include some additional entries that fit the "Defined" category).

    (and before we begin, yes, the Twilight series has certainly influenced other crappy tween horror films as well as other genres trying to cash in on the same market, but I will be damned if I put any of those movies on any "best of" list of my own creation :p)

    Defined The Decade:
    The films that are either among the most notable, most influential or simply among it's biggest hits. These are th movies people will think of when they think of the film releases of the naughties (obvious, IMO, but I think this is a pretty fair assessment)

    Series: (since many would dominate single-releases, I'm just grouping these together)
    -Batman Begins/The Dark Knight
    -The Bourne Trilogy
    -The Fast & Furious
    -Harry Potter Series
    -Lord of the Rings Trilogy
    -Marvel Studios (Iron Man, Hulk, etc)
    -Pirates of the Caribbean (Trilogy)
    -Pixar (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Up, WALL*E)
    -Saw (series)
    -Shrek (series)
    -Spider-Man
    -Star Wars
    -X-Men (and it's sequels, though X2 being the only truly notable one of those)

    Individual Films:
    -300
    -Avatar
    -Blade II
    -Casino Royale
    -Cloverfield
    -Collateral
    -The Departed
    -District 9
    -Gladiator
    -Inglourious Basterds
    -Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2
    -Old School
    -Signs
    -The Simpsons Movie
    -Sin City
    -Star Trek
    -Superbad
    -Taken
    -Zombieland

    Memorable:
    Good-to-great movies that may not have necessarily defined the decade, but are certainly some of the gems or, at the very least, some of the most fun releases.

    -The Aviator
    -Big Trouble
    -The Butterfly Effect
    -Changeling
    -The Chronicles of Riddick
    -Coraline
    -Crank 2: High Voltage
    -Daredevil (Director's Cut)
    -Death Sentence
    -The Descent
    -Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
    -Frailty
    -Gran Torino
    -Grindhouse
    -Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
    -Joyride
    -The Last Samurai
    -The Matrix Reloaded
    -The Men Who Stare At Goats
    -The Mummy Returns
    -Munich
    -Once Upon a Time in Mexico
    -Pitch Black
    -The Punisher
    -The Prestige
    -Rat Race
    -The Replacements
    -Serenity
    -Shoot 'Em Up
    -Smokin' Aces
    -Speed Racer
    -Spy Game
    -Sunshine
    -Tropic Thunder
    -Troy
    -Unbreakable
    -Wanted
    -Watchmen
    -xXx

    Notable Nuggets:
    You may not want to watch these more than once (but, then again, maybe you will) but these are the ones you'll probably want to see at least once, as they're quite enjoyable. Even if they're not the best of the best, they're above par for the course.

    -3:10 to Yuma
    -9
    -A Knight's Tale
    -Atlantis: The Lost Empire
    -Bad Boys II
    -Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
    -DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story
    -The Devil's Rejects
    -The Island
    -The Italian Job
    -Live Free or Die Hard
    -Minority Report
    -Mission: Impossible III
    -Pan's Labyrinth
    -The Patriot
    -Rush Hour 2
    -Snatch
    -S.W.A.T.
    -Team America: World Police
    -Titan A.E.
    -Training Day
    -V for Vendetta

    And that's about all I left to say on the movies for this decade. Everyone's opinions have been interesting, and led to some great recommendations. I now ave a list of over 200 movies from this decade that I'll try to catch over the next few years (though that total will probably get whittled down a bit as I filter out some entries that were more impulsive than anything else).

    It's also been interesting reliving the decade's releases and seeing how things have changed with time and what has likely influenced whom.


    Next: We travel back in time to Arnold being back, the rise of CGI, the White House going BOOM!, Greedo shooting first, the sinking of a really big ship, the fall of Batman, Keanu making other people go "Woah!" and general audiences learning just what the hell the word "prequel" means.
     
  3. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    I think the decade will be remembered as a decade of epic! series. Digital effects opened up the doors to all kinds of worlds, and that led to a surge of superheroes, fantasy and sci-fi films. Also more than earlier every succesful film inevitable got a sequel, and even more commonly was turned into a trilogy.
     
  4. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I wonder if trilogies were more common in this decade than the prior. We certainly got more planned-to-be trilogies and sequels-shot-back-to-back trilogies, but "trilogy talk" was still pretty high in the 90's, from what I can recall- well, that'll be something to keep an eye on for the 90's discussion, I suppose. :)
     
  5. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Ok, we're going to be taking a slight format change for this next decade for one simple reason: the wikipedia listings I've been referencing previously aren't as detailed for years prior to 2000 (1990 literally has just 7 movies listed for the months of Jan, Feb & Mar combined!!), at least as far as listing films by release date go. Those years do, however, have a a more comprehensive A-Z listing (including some notable DTV releases).

    So, we'll be shifting to an A-Z format as we progress forward, as otherwise we'll be skipping over too many films to be of any use. It may make it harder to analyze progressing trends within a particular year, but we can still look at the year overall.



    The Nineties: 1990-1999

    Notable Trends: Action films begin to transition from the Schwarzenegger/Stallone style to both everyman/Bruce Willis-style flicks and more stylized action (often combined with an remerging interest in martial arts work) as well as Michael Bay. Indie/mid-indie films explode in popularity with Miramax/Smith/Tarintino/Rodriguez.

    Graphic novels and anime bein to have a heavier influence on genre films. Star Wars returns as a dominant force unlikely to be seen again in theaters and Titanic blows away all expectations.

    Laserdisc would provide a niche market for film fans that would eventually transition to the launch of the DVD format which would help (alongside limited VHS releses) steer mainstream audiences towards widescreen letterbox releases of films in their original aspect ratio and fight the "i hate the black bars" mentality.

    Prelude: Well, we're coming out of 1989, which had one of the biggest summers ever (Batman, Last Crusade, Abyss, Ghostbusters 2, Lethal Weapon 2, a 007 flick and Star Trek V (still a big release, despite quality), with other films like BTTF2 & Field of Dreams padding out the rest of the year.

    So, big shoes to follow.

    This is also an interesting decade for me, personally, as this is the decade where my interest in film exploded and would start to actually get hyped for films, enjoy trailers in of themself and generally start attending films regularly (I've kept all my ticket stubs since 1995/1996 or so- although the ink has rubbed off on many of the older entries, alas :p).


    1990

    Notable releases:

    A
    -The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
    -After Dark, My Sweet
    -Air America
    -Alice
    -The Ambulance
    -American Ninja 4: The Annihilation
    -Angel Town
    -Another 48 Hrs.
    -Arachnophobia
    -Avalon
    -Awakenings

    B
    -Back to the Future Part III
    -Bad Influence
    -Betsy's Wedding
    -Bird on a Wire
    -Black Republic
    -Blind Fury
    -Blue Steel
    -Boiling Point
    -The Bonfire of the Vanities
    -Bride of Re-Animator



    T2Q Comments:

    -Arachnophobia & Bird on a Wire: Two flicks that I know I saw at least parts of when I was younger, but I can't really recall any specifics.

    -Another 48 Hrs.: Similar to the above, though I believe I saw the film in it's entirety. Can't say I'm certain about the original film, though.

    -Back to the Future Part III: It's a little odd talking about this one without it's predecessors. As a kid, I always enjoyed BTT2 the most (probably still do- the best flying cars mixed with a dark alternate timeline plot? I'm in!), but part of that comes from Westerns generally not doing much for me. Still, BTTF3 has certainly grown on me over the years, even if it remains firmly in 3rd place for the series.

    (which is not to say I ever actively disliked BTTF3- it's still a fun adventure regardless!)



    Movies I (probably) Want See
    -Awakenings
    -Bad Influence
    -Blind Fury
    -The Bonfire of the Vanities (more out of morbid curiosity of watching a train wreck, or the result of one)
    -Bride of Re-Animator


    Overall Trends:

    Not much to say yet- I think Bonfire, combined with the following year's Hudson hawk certainly did some damage to Bruce Willis's ego, but he eventually recovered a couple years later with some big hits.

    BTTF3 also is one of the first major back-to-back sequels made, something that would event
     
  6. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    The 90's, well due to my age this was the decade when I really started to watch films, other than kid's films and Bond films. I didn't go much to the cinema though, until the last years, so most of the films are films that I've only seen on tv. I did have a tendency to do a lot of VHS recordings though, so the films I've liked I watched a lot. On the other hand I probably haven't seen most of the films since I moved out from my parents, and got a DVD-player instead of a video, so I think my recollections are blurred by nostalgia and misconceptions about the films.

    Anyway

    Air America
    For some time this was one of my favorite comedies. If I watched it today I would probably be more on my watch for political or historical subtexts and contexts. Still it had some hilarious scenes and I'd like to watch it again.

    Back to the Future Part III
    I'm not a big fan of the BTTF, I think they are ok, but not more. I quite like traditional westerns though, and from what I remember I actually preferred this one to part II.

    Movies I'm not going to search for, but I wouldn't mind watching them
    Awakenings

    Bonfire of the Vanities - I also want to see the trainwreck.
     
  7. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    Awakenings is not a subtle movie, but it's undeniably moving. Neither Williams or De Niro do anything new here, but the story is a powerful one and it always makes me cry.
     
  8. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    1990

    Notable releases:

    C
    -Cadence
    -Cadillac Man
    -Captain America
    -Childhood Days
    -Child's Play 2
    -China Cry
    -The Chosen One (Ishanou)
    -City Hunter: Bay City Wars
    -Class of 1999
    -Close-Up
    -Coins in the Fountain
    -Come See the Paradise
    -The Comfort of Strangers
    -Crash and Burn (Robot Jox 2)
    -Crazy People
    -Cry-Baby
    -Cyrano de Bergerac

    D
    -Dances with Wolves
    -Darkman
    -Days of Being Wild
    -Days of Thunder
    -Death Warrant
    -Dei tau lung (Dragon Fighter)
    -Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection
    -Denial
    -Desperate Hours
    -Dick Tracy
    -Die Hard 2
    -Downtown
    -Dreams (Akira Kurosawa's Dreams/I Saw a Dream Like This/Such Dreams I Have Dreamed)
    -DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp




    T2Q Comments:

    -Cadillac Man: I may have seen parts of this as a kid, but more through accidental exposure by havibg to fastforward through my parents' recording to get to whatever was recorded next on the tape ;).

    -Captain America: I definitely saw this on TV a couple times, and though I recall a few moments, I think I'm glad to not recall the rest :p.

    -Dances with Wolves: Not sure if it should have been Best Picture, but it's certainly an excellent one, and obviously one whose success Costner tried to (unsuccessfully) recapture several times down the road.

    -Darkman: An awesome little superhero flick by Raimi featuring Liam Neeson. I definitely gotta pick that one up some day.

    -Days of Thunder: Watching this movie always made me want to like NASCAR, though no matter how hard I tried, the real deal is just dull as crap to watch (outside of the crashes, obviously). Still, interesting to note that this film's camerawork inspired TV coverage of NASCAR to completely change to mimic the film's camera angles and such. Good theme too. :)

    -Dick Tracy: I liked this as a kid, but I haven't seen it recently enough to fairly assess it.

    -Die Hard 2: I've seen most of this one, several times over, though I'm not sure I've watched it (or even the original) in their entirety yet (the third film was the first one I watched). I'll probably correct that before DH5 comes out.

    -DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp: (Woo-hoo!) I forget my exact reaction ti the film itself, as it kinda blurs together in memory to the actual show. I have to imagine it's pretty decent, at the very least. I think this was also the first animated Disney movie to be based on one of their TV shows (as it's usually vice-versa).




    Movies I (probably) Want See
    -Child's Play 2 (just to get some exposure to the series)
    -Class of 1999 (actually sounds kinda fun, even if it ends up being cheesy)
    -Come See the Paradise (if only to see the film that the infamous trailer music originated from)
    -Crash and Burn (Robot Jox 2)
    -Cry-Baby (Depp)
    -Death Warrant (probably cheesy action but I'm curious to see it since it was David Goyer's first sold screenplay)
    -Desperate Hours (cast seems really interesting)
    -Dreams (Akira Kurosawa's Dreams/I Saw a Dream Like This/Such Dreams I Have Dreamed) (just sounds kinda neat)



    Overall Trends:

    Costner, Cruise & Willis are the big winners in this batch. Darkman is almost a test run for Raimi's later superhero efforts. JCVD and Norris are kinda doing their thing too. Captain America would be another terrible early Marvel adaptation effort, although would thankfully be remade with the infinitely superior 2011 film.
     
  9. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    These are some films that I have seen, but I don't really recal anything about them.

    Cadillac Man
    Darkman
    Dick Tracy

    Dances with Wolves
    The best of the bunch. It's a splendid film and I wouldn't mind getting the DVD.

    Die Hard 2
    Decent action flick
     
  10. Champion of the Force

    Champion of the Force Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 27, 1999
    Dances With Wolves - good film (if very long), haven't seen it since high school back in the 90s.

    Dick Tracy - like T2Q I saw this as a kid and enjoyed it but have no idea how it would held up today.

    DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp - fun film based off the series. This was actually a first attempt by Disney to try and launch films spun from their animated series, however the poor performance of this one ended that idea pretty quick (a pity - I believe there were plans for a Rescue Rangers film. The Goof Troop got a film (A Goofy Movie) though ).
     
  11. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I wonder if Duck Tales suffered from fallout from the Transformers/GI Joe movie backlash? It's several years after those movies, but it seems people hadn't yet really warmed to the idea of kid shows making the jump to the big screen (Masters of the Universe being a more recent example to DT)?

    And, yeah, it still pains me that Goof Troop got a film but not Rescue Rangers or even Darkwing Duck.
     
  12. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    1990

    Notable releases:

    E
    -Edward Scissorhands
    -The End of Innocence
    -Ernest Goes To Jail
    -Europa Europa
    -The Exorcist III

    F
    -La Femme Nikita
    -The Field
    -Fire Birds
    -The First Power
    -Flashback
    -Flatliners
    -The Fourth War
    -Frankenstein Unbound
    -The Freshman
    -Funny About Love

    G
    -Ghost
    -The Godfather, Part III
    -Goodfellas
    -Graffiti Bridge
    -Green Card
    -Gremlins 2: The New Batch
    -The Grifters
    -The Guardian
    -The Guyver

    H
    -The Hairdresser's Husband
    -Hamlet
    -The Handmaiden's Tale
    -Hard to Kill
    -Havana
    -Heart Condition
    -Heaven and Earth
    -Henry & June
    -Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
    -Hidden Agenda
    -Home Alone
    -The Hot Spot
    -House Party
    -The Hunt For Red October


    T2Q Comments:

    -Edward Scissorhands: What a crazy idea for what is essentially s kooky fairy tale? It wasn't a film I really got as a kid, but seeing it more recently I loved it. And Vincent Price's presence is a perfect touch to the movie (something I did appreciate as a kid).

    -Ernest Goes To Jail: I like the Ernest movies. Not much else one can say. "I came, I saw, I got blowed up.".

    -Fire Birds: One of those films i saw playing on cable constantly. Essentially Top Gun's spirit on a Nicholas Cage budget, only with "let's make F-14's look as awesome a s possible" changed to "let's make Apache helicopters look as awesome as possible".

    -The Freshman: Been a long time since I last saw this but I recall enjoying it- and still getting the Godfather parody elements despite not having seen the Godfather.

    -Goodfellas: Not a bad movie, but not my kind of movie. Mob stories just don't draw me in- it takes something special like The Departed for me to really like a mob movie (and, even then, it's usually because it's not so much a mob movie as simply using the mob as a background for something else- in The Departed's case, it was more about the dual-mole hunting than typical Mob mistrusts and senseless deaths). Ray Liotta's energy makes it easier to watch this one, though.

    -Green Card: I vaguely recall my parenst renting this when I was a kid, but I didn't care much then, nor do I now. Those reading this, probably even less so ;).

    -Gremlins 2: The New Batch: Love this movie. Takes the concept in a different direction yet also makes it a natural evolution with the Gremlin variants. "Check it out, one time, won't you?"

    -The Guyver: I saw this once, I think- but it may have been ths equel. Hampered by DTV budget but having decebnt creature FX, as I recall.

    -Hamlet: Seen this a few times (it's hard to go through high school without watching this in English class at least once). A pretty good version, I felt. But, then, it's generally hard to make Hamlet outright bad, even in flawed adaptations.

    -Heart Condition: Never saw it, looks like a terrible idea (and it seems the box office agreed) but in looking it up, it's noteworthy to mention that Denzel did this movie because his agent told him to, and that he fired said agent after it came out, and is probably one of the reasons Denzel has never done an outright comedy since.

    -Henry & June: Never saw it, just noteworthy for being the first NC-17 movie.

    -Home Alone: Great holiday movie/comedy. I laughed so hard at this as a kid in thetaers, and I laugh almost as much now as an adult, as it eventually dawns to you with age on how fatal most of these "traps" would be in real life. [face_laugh] .

    -The Hunt For Red October: Awesome flick. Always trust a Russian with a scottish accent ;). The sub battles are great, the cast is great (Baldwin makes an excellent, if different, Jack Ryan; plus Connery, Niel, Jones, etc).


    Movies I (probably) Want See
    -The Exorcist III
    -Flatliners
    -The Fourth War
    -The Godfather, Part III
    -Green Card
    -The Grifters
    -The Guyver (rewatch)
    -Hard to Kill


    Overall Trends:

    It's hard not to think that Gibson's presence in Hamlet didn't have some part in the eventual development of Braveheart and Gibson's other "historical" epics. Hunt would lead to furthe
     
  13. Jabbadabbado

    Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 1999
    How wrong you are. This isn't a great film by any means, but it's notable for having started my wife down the tragic lifelong path of feeling compelled from that moment on to see every romantic comedy released in theaters. And her tragedy is mine since, as I've explained many times in the past, one of the foundational rules of our marriage is that I have to go see romantic comedies with her and in return I can see any movie I like whenever I want by myself.
     
  14. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    That...doesn't seem fair [face_peace]. At least you can always say "I blame the Green Card" ;).
     
  15. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    There's one really hilarious scene where Depardieu is expected to perform a piano piece, since he's supposed to be a great classically trained pianist; of course, he actually can't play at all. It's a great bit.
     
  16. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    That sounds familiar, actually. Was the movie that bad as a romcom as I'm remembering?
     
  17. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    I seem to recall that it's actually considered something of a minor classic, at least for the genre. I think it's generally thought to be very good, for a romcom. It's a Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, Master & Commander), which I had actually forgotten, and Weir is very good at taking hackneyed genres and reinvigorating them (see: Dead Poets Society). Ebert gave it three stars and had this to say:

    A movie like "Green Card" can supply two kinds of pleasures: those caused when it observes its formula, and those created when it violates it. The movie was written and directed by Peter Weir ("Dead Poets Society," "Witness"), who constructs it lovingly according to sturdy old principles: The couple is at first indifferent to one another, then hostile, then in love, then in denial, and then of course they break up - right before they get together. All of these stops are observed, but at the same time Weir has added some nice touches, including the unconventional characters themselves.

    My memory of it is pretty hazy, but that sounds right to me. I'll have to watch it again sometime, but as memory serves, it's surprisingly good and watchable even if you're not a big fan of romcoms.
     
  18. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Hmm, perhaps I'll add it to my list of "break in case of emergency" romcoms to watch then.
     
  19. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    1990

    Notable releases:

    I
    -I Come in Peace
    -I Love You to Death
    -Internal Affairs
    -It

    J
    -Jacob's Ladder
    -Jetsons: The Movie
    -Joe Versus the Volcano
    -John & Brandy
    -Journey of Hope
    -Ju Dou

    K
    -Kindergarten Cop
    -King of New York
    -The Krays

    L
    -Larks on a String (Skrivánci na niti)
    -The Last of the Finest
    -Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
    -The Lemon Sisters
    -Life Is Sweet
    -Limit Up
    -Lionheart
    -Longtime Companion
    -The Long Walk Home
    -Look Who's Talking Too
    -Loose Cannons
    -Lord of the Flies
    -Love at Large

    M
    -Mack the Knife
    -A Man Called Sarge
    -Marked for Death
    -The Match Factory Girl
    -Memories of a River
    -Memphis Belle
    -Men at Work
    -Mermaids
    -Metropolitan
    -Miami Blues
    -Midnight Ride
    -Miller's Crossing
    -Milou in May
    -Misery
    -Mo' Better Blues
    -Mountains of the Moon
    -Movie... In Your Face
    -Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
    -Mr. Destiny
    -My Blue Heaven,
    -My Mother's Castle (Le Château de ma mère)


    T2Q Comments:

    -I Come in Peace: I'm sure I saw this aired on some saturday afternoon on a pre-WB/UPN channel. Don't remember much though. Apparently you can get this ordered-on-demand under it's original title, Dark Angel.

    -It: I've seen the clown scenes, but that's about it.

    -Jetsons: The Movie: I'm surprised this is so "recent". Final performances by the voice actor who played George Jetson, as well as the great Mel Blanc (who played his boss); both of whom died during production. Don't remember anything fondly about the movie itself though.

    -Joe Versus the Volcano: I remember watching this a lot on video and cable. I think I'm gonna have to check it out again. Gotta love the running luggage gag.

    -Kindergarten Cop: It's notta tooma!! Schwartzenegger's best comedy, IMO.

    -Look Who's Talking Too: Watched the first two films a lot as a kid. Don't recall specifics from the sequel though (beyond I think the romantic conflict resolution taking place in a snowy cabin).

    -Lord of the Flies: Watched this in english class. Never liked the book but I appreciate the ideas it conveys.

    -Men at Work: I've seen this but don't remember much.

    -Mermaids: Might have seen part of this.

    -Midnight Ride: Never saw it, but 1985* Mark Hamill as a serial killer? Gonna have to look for this one.
    *The film was shelved for a long time, it seems. Doesn't bode well, but could still be an interesting curiosity.

    -Mr. Destiny: May have seen parts of this at some point.

    -My Blue Heaven: Have seen this on cable tons of times for decades. Kinda funny that I've seen this one so often but took me so long to watch Goodfellas once, as they're apparently both based on the same real life figure. Apparently Schwartzenegger was originally going to play Martin's role, with Martin playing the role Moranis has. Arnold then left the project to do Kindergarten Cop, and so martin stepped in and Moranis became available.




    Movies I (probably) Want See
    -I Come in Peace
    -I Love You to Death
    -It
    -Jacob's Ladder
    -Joe Versus the Volcano (rewatch)
    -King of New York
    -Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
    -Lionheart
    -Marked for Death
    -Memphis Belle
    -Miami Blues
    -Midnight Ride
    -Miller's Crossing
    -Misery

    Overall Trends:

    More Van Damme, more Segal. Jetsons seems like a partial trend with theatrical movies based on TV cartoons.
     
  20. The_Four_Dot_Elipsis

    The_Four_Dot_Elipsis Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2005
    Kindergarten Cop: One of the most horrid, unpleasant things ever.

    Life Is Sweet: Mid to lower-tier Leigh, but still worthwhile, with the usual set of strong performances.

    Memphis Belle: You know when Matthew Modine is your captain, you've got a pretty bland crew. And it is, with the likes of Billy Zane, Sean Astin populating this extremely boring Flying Fortress that goes on a mission of maximum drama without any authenticity whatsoever. What is awesome, however, are the scenes between David Strathairn and John Lithgow, which almost make the film worthwhile.

    Miller's Crossing: A beautiful Coen film, one of their absolute best. Gabriel Byrne's performance is just about perfect.

    Misery: A departure for Rob Reiner, but it works like gangbusters. I know that Kathy Bates is the star and the one that everyone talks about, but Caan gets to tap into a comic side that is really very effective. Also, Richard Farnsworth makes things awesome.

    Mo' Better Blues: Interesting work from Spike Lee, not entirely successful, but I must admit that it's entertaining for its duration. It was a quality of Denzel Washington back then that he could make anything watchable and elevate it somehow with his level of commitment. Now... he still makes things watchable, but he doesn't seem to care all that much.
     
  21. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    -Green Card This is a great film. Definitely not your standard romcom, in fact I wouldn't have put it in that genre at all. It's definitely not something I would see Meg Ryan or Hugh Grant in. I really recommend it, even if I haven't seen it for 15 years or so by now.

    Gremlins 2: The New Batch As a kid I liked this one better than the first one, I thought the first one was a bit too scary, this one was funnier. I really should watch both of the films again some time.

    Home Alone It's a classic by now

    The Hunt for Red October This is the film that made me read all the Clancy books for a while, and I still think this is the best adaption so far. Baldwin was perfect as Ryan. Only bad thing with it was that it fooled me to think that submarine films are generally interesting, but so far I haven't found anyone as good as THFRO

    Kindergarten Cop This is pure fun comedy, and I agree on that it's Schwarzenegger's best comedy.

    Look who's talking too. Is this the one with the girl or the one with the dog? I liked the two first, the boy and the girl, but realised that it was going downhill when they involved the animals.

    Memphis Belle I like WW2 films, I like old airplanes. I remember seeing this one, but don't remember anything about the film itself.

     
  22. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    "Too" was the girl (who was teased at being voiced by Joan Rivers at the end of the first film, but whom declined to return when they made the second, thus voiced by Roseanne), "Now" was the animals (which, I agree, isn't that good).


    As far as submarine movies go... I don't know too many that have the feel or pacing of Hunt For Red October.

    Das Boot is a great submarine movie, but it has a very different approach. It's less about action and more about the claustrophobia and feel of being down there (consequently, if you ever do see Das Boot, make sure you've got it on a surround sound system, as the sound mix is just flat out amazing).

    U-571 is more of an action flick but doesn't have the depth (no pun intended) of Red October. Plus it has some significant historical inaccuracies.

    The pilot episode to seaQuest DSV has a bit of the "hunting a rogue sub captain" angle to it (and is also directed by Irvin Kershner, produced by Spielberg) but it's been a 3 or 4 years since I've last seen that so I forget how good it was overall (plus, being the first episode of a TV series, it's introducing a lot of stuff for the series that may not be used fully in the actual episode).

    Wrath of Khan also has something of a sci-fi take on a submarine movie- and the early TOS Trek episode "Balance of Terror" is also a sub-style story.
     
  23. The_Four_Dot_Elipsis

    The_Four_Dot_Elipsis Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2005
    Das Boot is the indisputable king of submarine movies. Hunt for Red October is all fine and dandy, but it's like child's play compared to Petersen's film.

    An interesting one I saw recently was Kathryn Bigelow's K-19: The Widowmaker. It's not an entirely successful film, but there are some ideas in there, some concepts that are very interesting. And Harrison Ford is really good in it, despite of the silly accent.

    Also, Crimson Tide is worth a shout-out. Because it's kinda awesome, that's why. Silly, yeah, but awesome.

    The best film about hunting a sub would have to be The Bedford Incident, which is a sort of quasi-Moby Dick re-imagining with a profoundly shocking ending.

    Also, Atlantis: The Lost Empire is the best animated film about a sub. Mmhmm.
     
  24. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I forgot about Crimson Tide, yeah, that was pretty good. Probably the closest to October on the scale of sub movie ranges.

    K-19 had some ideas, I agree, but I couldn't recommend it overall.

    And Atlantis is quite good (great score too), though I wouldn't call it a sub movie (only the first quarter/half is related to the sub, really), more a movie with sub sequences (another animated example would be the asteroid hunt sequence in Titan A.E.).

    That Bedford one sounds like it has promise. When we eventually get to the 60's, I'll have to remember to add it to my list.
     
  25. The_Four_Dot_Elipsis

    The_Four_Dot_Elipsis Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2005
    There's a whole back-catalogue of sub films that have been rendered kinda obsolete by Das Boot, and are kinda chintzy now. The only two that come to mind are Asquith's We Dive at Dawn and Fuller's Hell and High Water. I'd really like to see Bob Wise's Run Silent Run Deep though, which is namechecked in Crimson Tide (due to the fact that Tarantino doctored the script, it's not overly surprising).

    On the horizon for upcoming films, if it actually gets made, would David Fincher's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea count? ;)

    Back to the topic, though, McTiernan was really on a roll there, with Predator, Die Hard, and then Red October. Solid, robust action films in the mold of John Sturges and the like. Which makes his fall from grace all the more disappointing. Within a few years he was returning to the well with crap like Die Hard with a Vengeance and remaking Norman Jewison films. Twice!