Here's a cool list of 90s film faves from Erik Anderson!
Beau Travail (1999)
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
The Ice Storm (1997)
The Last Seduction (1994)
The Limey (1999)
Lone Star (1996)
The Long Day Closes (1992)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Romeo is Bleeding (1993)
Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion (1997)
Safe (1995)
Titus (1999)
Waiting for Guffman (1996)
Wild at Heart (1990)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
some fun, some silly and some dramatic 90s picks: a guest post by karen g.
Here's a fun list of 90s film favorites from Karen G.!
Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Directed and co-written by Baz Luhrmann, the story centers around an
Australian ballroom dancer Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) and his desire to
dance in his own style to win a big Dancing Contest that is riddled with
archaic rules and traditions. After
losing a competition, Scott, who is dumped by his regular dance partner,
ventures out and finds a disheveled girl, Fran (Tara Morice) who he teaches to
dance, in secret, at his parents studio.
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
One of the most visually intriguing and disturbing movies I’ve seen,
Peter Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures” tells the gritty true story of an
obsessive relationship between two friends Juliet Hulme (a then unknown Kate
Winslet) and Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey), who in the 1950’s, murdered
Parker’s mother while on a picnic. The
strong and passionate performances by the young actresses carry this
thought-provoking and difficult story to new heights. The unraveling of these young girls is
beautifully and tragically portrayed in the film.
Muriel's Wedding (1995)
Looking over my movie list, I realize I
have quite a thing for movies about women who have lost touch with
reality. Muriel’s Wedding is a romantic comedy
about an awkward and overweight young woman who has a mild obsession with ABBA,
pathological lies and getting married (in no particular order). Muriel’s belief is that by having a glamorous
wedding, her life will miraculously change.
This movie has delightful performances by Toni Collette and Rachel
Griffiths before their big breaks in Hollywood.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
This movie made
me realize that I HAD to get out of my home town. Depp stars as Gilbert, the “man of the
house," caring for a mentally challenged brother, a morbidly obese mother and a
needy mistress in a small town in Iowa.
When a young woman named Becky (Juliette Lewis) gets stuck in town with
her aunt in their motor home, Depp starts to realize the urgency of his desire
to leave the responsibilities that have befallen him and the want to live a
“normal” life. A touching story about
how guilt and fear can stop us all from following our dreams.
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
A coming-of-age indie about an unattractive, extremely unpopular high
school girl, Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo).
Dawn’s brother is a nerdy musician who tries to start a band while her
little sister is the family’s little “princess”. Scenes of baby sister, Missy, doing ballet in
the background as their mother dotes and Dawn skulks is particularly funny, and
at times, unsettling. Dawn is ignored by
her parents, bullied at school and her brother has little patience with her even
though he is an outcast as well. When
handsome teenager, Steve Rodgers, (Eric Mabius) joins Dawn’s brother’s band,
Dawn falls deeply and pathetically in love.
This is a dark, but extremely enjoyable and relatable comedy about that
“awkward phase” in our lives. Sadly a
phase that some of us never grow out of.
Léon (The Professional)
(1994)
Directed by Luc Besson, Léon tells the story of a quiet hit man
living in Little Italy, who takes in a young girl Mathilda (played by 12
year-old Natalie Portman) after her family is murdered by the mob. Portman plays the young “Lolita-type”
Mathilda, who smokes cigarettes and is hardened and wise beyond her years. Mathilda’s abusive father does wrong by some
corrupted DEA agents and he and the rest of his family is murdered, leaving
Mathilda at the mercy of a reluctant and solitary Léon. Mathilda is drawn to Léon in an attempt to
learn his skills as “a cleaner” to take revenge on the people who killed her
family. The unlikely friendship that
forms between the hitman and the young girl is the basis of this stunning and
original story.
The Fifth Element (1997)
This visually fascinating film by Luc
Besson, can only be described by me as a science fiction fashion feast. The survival of humanity takes the form of a
young girl (Milla Jovovich) that is known as the “Fifth Element” and is
protected by Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) a cab driver who is a former special
forces Major. Earth’s impending attack
is surrounded by electrifying music, a beautiful opera performance by a blue
alien diva and over 950 costumes designed by Jean Paul-Gaultier. A hilarious performance by an unstable Gary
Oldman with a terribly bad hair day gives the movie part of it’s comedic
“element”.
Dazed and Confused (1993)
I don’t know if I love this movie because it’s so easy to watch or
because of the incredible soundtrack, but Dazed and Confused is probably one of
my favorite movies, centering around a day in the life of some Texas teens
during the last day of school in 1976. The
movie has a particularly enjoyable performance by a stoned and idealistic Matthew McConaughey as a high school grad
that refuses to grow up.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The movie that redefined marketing!
The legend of the Blair Witch crept through the world before the film
was released and the anticipation of seeing the “recovered footage of the
students that went missing in the Black Hills” was what drew millions to the
box office when it was released in 1999.
One of the first of what has now become an annoyingly familiar genre, "recovered
real life footage of things gone terribly wrong." I have to say at the time, the movie had the
world of horror buffs like myself buzzing with excitement and peering into the
dark corners of our homes at night. While
so many people hate this film I have to say I have always found it intriguing,
original for the time, extremely fun and enjoyable. Watch it one day and then go camping. I dare
you.
Clerks (1994)
Kevin Smith in 1994, when I was a young, hope-filled teenager, put the
idea in my head that I could shoot a movie in my local convenience store with
just enough money to cover a few Alice in Chains songs. Then I grew up and realized that Hollywood
does not work that way and luck has EVERYTHING to do with it. Still, one of the movies I quote and laugh
out loud at to this day. A quirky black
and white picture about two disgruntled Clerks who rant about the future, the
state of their lives, ex-girlfriends who are getting engaged and a riveting
conversation about The Death Star. The
perfect movie for comic book nerds who lived and breathed during the grunge-era
of the 90s.
The Craft (1996)
If you were a teenager in the 90s, dabbling in all sorts of
curiosities, you’d be a liar to say you’ve never seen this movie (and liked
it). It’s silly, on every level, but oh
so fun! I find it on cable even now and
find myself unable to look away. The
story centers around three teenage girls who use witchcraft to get what they
want. When new girl Sarah (Robin Tunney)
moves to town, the three teenage girls quickly befriend her and invite her into
their “circle." When head witch Nancy
(Fairuza Balk) decides during one of their rituals to “invoke the spirit” all
hell breaks loose in L.A. and the power-hungry witch quickly starts turning on
the people around her. Being the only
one with real powers, Sarah starts to fight back. Witches gone Wild!
Boogie Nights (1997)
Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Fear of a Black Hat (1994)
Kids (1995)
A League of their Own (1992)
Tank Girl (1995)
Clueless (1995) - Make over!!!
Blast from the Past (1999)
Benny & Joon (1993)
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
a tale of springtime
I haven't seen many of Eric Rohmer's films but his A Tale of Springtime (the first of his "Tales of Four Seasons") made me want to see more. Two women, one, Jeanne (Anne Teyssèdre) a philosophy professor, the other, Natacha (Florence Darel), a somewhat precocious young pianist, meet at a party. Eventually, out of some sense of shared loneliness, Jeanne ends up staying at Natacha's apartment. Natacha's father is distant and cold and dating a much younger woman Ève (Eloïse Bennett) whom Natacha dislikes. Soon Jeanne becomes between all of them.
The movie is impressively acted with naturalism by the principals and their supporting counterparts. Bennett, in particular, is subtly unnerving. When Ève first appears at a dinner scene, she's probing of Jeanne in a way I found irritating. The story quietly pulls you into Natacha's disdain for Ève but also Jeanne's defense of her. Stripped of accouterments, the core of Rohmer's piece is dialogue and the actions of the characters. Minute tics or comments become larger ramifications for everyone involved. In that sense it behaves more like a play sometimes than a film though glimpses of the quiet, laconic interiors and exteriors (of a gorgeous Fontainebleau in bloom) help create the movie's tension. ***
-Jeffery Berg
The movie is impressively acted with naturalism by the principals and their supporting counterparts. Bennett, in particular, is subtly unnerving. When Ève first appears at a dinner scene, she's probing of Jeanne in a way I found irritating. The story quietly pulls you into Natacha's disdain for Ève but also Jeanne's defense of her. Stripped of accouterments, the core of Rohmer's piece is dialogue and the actions of the characters. Minute tics or comments become larger ramifications for everyone involved. In that sense it behaves more like a play sometimes than a film though glimpses of the quiet, laconic interiors and exteriors (of a gorgeous Fontainebleau in bloom) help create the movie's tension. ***
-Jeffery Berg
Friday, March 23, 2012
looking back at the films of 1990
It's hard to imagine a historical epic movie like Dances With Wolves scoring well at the box-office today, but in 1990, it was a smash and swept the Oscars. It does have some problematic issues but the movie is sensitively and handsomely made by Kevin Costner and gorgeously-scored by John Barry. In Robert Baird's essay "Going Indian," he notes: "... Dances With Wolves is a cinematic myth that addresses still unresolved traumas and contradictions of American History." Perhaps there was a desire to attempt to heal past wrongs of cinematic depictions and look back at (and romanticize) previous centuries as one was about to close. Because of its success and appeal, Dances With Wolves would be a harbinger of Western-tinged historical male action dramas that were popular in the 90s, like Last of the Mohicans, Braveheart, and Legends of the Fall.
Two of the year's biggest hits were Flatliners and Ghost. Both had relatively small budgets for studio pics and yet, somehow, struck a nerve with audiences. It's interesting to see the parallels in the storylines of these two films. Both are interested in pursuing the idea of what the afterlife is. The Jerry Zucker film is a treacly romance while Flatliners is the somewhat preposterous tale of medical students who experiment with near-death experiences by going under themselves. Rita Kempley, of the Washington Post, noted in her review of Flatliners that "Movies about dying, grief and life after death are cropping up like corn in the Field of Dreams as a response to on-screen violence, a reaction to AIDS, a desire for something beyond materialism. And we're grateful for their reassurances even when they overreach themselves. Though it's got its excesses, Flatliners does brings a certain warmth to the chill of the decade." Whether these films were intentionally responding to a cultural mood is uncertain but audiences certainly responded to them with enthusiasm.
Total Recall is another film that plays with the "other life" concept. It's cheesy, entertaining sci-fi (Paul Verhoeven is known for movies that toe the line between camp and tony seriousness), with a twisty, boom-bam Flash Gordon style that seems to be inspired by video games of the era. Loosely based upon Philip K. Dick's "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," it takes place somewhere in 2084, although the costumes (Arnold Schwarzenegger's dark green barn jacket and Sharon Stone's spandex workout outfits) are distinctly 1990, where Schwarzenegger plays a man on Earth, plagued by nightmarish memories of a past life on Mars. How Schwarzenegger gets back to Mars, a planet taken over by a fascism, and why his memory was tampered with are the film's sources of adventure. I really liked Total Recall and I am no fan of Schwarzenegger or action pics, but this one had energy and a tongue-in-cheek vibe to it. Arnold doesn't say much, which helps, but he's believable and he reels through the picture mostly on his amazing physicality. The Oscar-winning special effects are quite corny by today's standards, but I can appreciate the work that went into them, and some of the sets are dazzling. Total Recall 2 was never made until Steven Spielberg's much slicker Minority Report in 2002.
Die Hard 2: Die Harder was another success story in Hollywood's blockbuster sequel formula. It takes place in at snowy Dulles airport and is merely nothing but a visceral plane crash and Bruce Willis shooting terrorists. It's sort of a throwback to the doom-and-gloom shtick of 1970's Airport without the cheeky soap opera subplots. Despite some good action sequences and a nice, brisk opening, it's pretty dumb, and lacks tension, mainly because of its predictability. If the stagnant, dated feel of The Hunt for Red October signaled the end of the Cold War thriller, for better or worse, mostly worse, the box-office successes of Total Recall and Die Hard 2: Die Harder, would usher in a new era of action pictures with unbelievable plots, full of bombastic effects, explosions, guns, and overly-buff male heroes delivering one-liners.
While there were big action flicks that year, Hollywood reaped a lot of success with sleepers. Based upon Carrie Fisher's memoirs, Postcards from the Edge features a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship and is one of the few, but successful studio movies of that era with two women as the main protagonists (Thelma & Louise would become the ultimate feminist blockbuster of that time). 1990 was a year of some unusual tales. Edward Scissorhands is the Tim Burton and Johnny Depp I miss and no longer recognize, then at their most creative, poignant and quirky. Today, hit movies are often sequels or reboots bloated with expense and effects, but in 1990, many smaller-budgeted projects like Pretty Woman (and aforementioned Home Alone and Ghost) had original stories that were appealing to wide mainstream audiences. Even though the merits of these movies are debatable, I sort of long for that era of smaller, quality studio pics.
Meanwhile The Awl fondly remembers the films of 1995.