90s

Schindler’s List

temporalparadoxLeave a comment
Schindler’s List. Amblin Entertainment 1993.

Before watching the movie:

There are probably other films that I’ll remember later that are at least comparable as movies I’ve felt like I had to review at some point, but this one has always been basically the most “must-review” movie since the beginning.

I understand that this is a dramatization of a real story of a factory owner using his privilege to get Jews out of the Holocaust. It is also definitely going to be a Hollywood “The Holocaust was Bad” movie. Every movie condemning the Holocaust is to its own degree earnest and moving, but the lesson has been taught over and over and at this point it’s become a “Best Picture Oscar please” button while the West is becoming more enamored with racism and fascism anyway.

Continue reading →

Casper

temporalparadoxLeave a comment
Casper. Amblin Entertainment 1995.

Before watching the movie:

To be completely transparent, I do recall wanting to watch this movie and being in the room trying to watch it shortly after it came out. But it was a very large room with a lot of other things to do and I was very young and had a short attention span, and I don’t remember much beyond the fact that it was on the screen. I have much clearer, more recent memories, of a tie-in Pepsi commercial than I do of the movie itself. So I consider it more fair to review this as a “first time” watch than as a rewatch.

That said, this was probably my introduction to the world of Casper, though I may have seen some of the tie-in TV series. It looked so current and yet I’m sure I was also aware it was a property that had already been around.

Continue reading →

Waterworld

temporalparadoxLeave a comment
Waterworld. Universal Pictures 1995.

Before watching the movie:

Kevin Costner’s boondoggle passion project on the water. A post-apocalyptic bomb. That’s all you hear about this movie. An expensive project nobody asked for, nobody saw, and nobody talks about except for secondhand derision. I don’t really know enough to say any more. But especially in a culture of superlatives, hardly any reviled movie is as bad as they say.

Continue reading →

Hudson Hawk

temporalparadox1 Comment
Hudson Hawk. Silver Pictures 1991.

Before watching the movie:

I don’t know much more about this than that it’s an infamous, ill-advised flop. I think it’s some kind of throwback to noir or heist movies, but it (the movie) went wrong. All I know for sure is that this is really not what people wanted to see from Bruce Willis.

Continue reading →

Twister

temporalparadoxLeave a comment
Twister. Amblin Entertainment 1996.

Before watching the movie:

I very keenly remember the teaser publicity for this movie. It may be the first movie I remember being aware of the advertising for as it was happening. Everyone was talking about the flying cow. Some time later, I realized I didn’t actually know what the story was about, because all I’d seen was a scary tornado. The only answer I ever got was “stormchasers”. Even for people who run toward the tornado, I can’t really think how you’d get drama out of that beyond “here we go into the storm again”.

Continue reading →

Volcano

temporalparadoxLeave a comment
Volcano. 20th Century Fox 1997.

Before watching the movie:

I didn’t know this movie existed before I decided I wanted to collect some disaster movies. It’s about a volcano erupting under Los Angeles. Tommy Lee Jones is in it. I don’t really know anything else, so I have nothing to say and I’m basically going in cold. Saying anything else would be padding out this section to try to get it closer to the height of the movie poster, which is just not going to happen this week because I have nothing else to say.

Continue reading →

The Shawshank Redemption

temporalparadoxLeave a comment
The Shawshank Redemption. Castle Rock Entertainment 1994.

Before watching the movie:

There are two things this movie is famous for: the tunnel escape from the end of the movie, and Morgan Freeman’s distinctive narration. I want to say this is the movie that cemented Freeman’s reputation as an actor but I’d have to study his filmography more to say for sure.

Freeman’s role is so large in the popular consciousness that I couldn’t even tell you who the guy he’s narrating about is played by.

Continue reading →

Thelma and Louise

temporalparadoxLeave a comment
Thelma and Louise. Pathé 1991.

Before watching the movie:

Well here it is, the one that was always going to be in this theme. Possibly the first one I thought of for title duos. And once again, what references are there other than the finale? How do they get there? I think they’re on a road trip and probably a crime spree, but I think they never intended for any of this to happen. I’m surprised this is a 90s movie, and I didn’t realize how many men I’ve heard of are in it as supporting characters to the two women who are the only ones anyone talks about. But the biggest curveball is that it’s directed by Ridley Scott.

Continue reading →

Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion

temporalparadoxLeave a comment
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Touchstone Pictures 1997.

Before watching the movie:

This is probably a surprise entry for the month. I always wanted to include Romy and Michele and I’m not sure why they came to mind with the others. Possibly because one of the most notable images associated with the movie is the two women in a convertible, something also strongly associated with another iconic title duo.

I first learned of this movie’s existence from a podcast interview with Kudrow, who discussed how she’d done a pilot based on a play she’d been in that didn’t get picked up right before she got cast in Friends, and if that pilot had sold, then Friends wouldn’t have happened for her, but without the success of Friends, this movie based on the same characters from the play wouldn’t have gotten made. I have the vague idea that it’s about the pair realizing on the occasion of their ten-year reunion that they haven’t made much of themselves, but I don’t know much more and I’m mainly drawn to it because of how much it seems to mean to the actors and to the cult fanbase.

Continue reading →

The Frighteners

temporalparadox1 Comment
The Frighteners. WingNut Films 1996.

Before watching the movie:

When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with watching Michael J. Fox’s whole filmography for a while and I missed this somehow. I first remember learning it existed by finding it in a roommate’s DVD collection, and I never got around to it. I also got it confused with Fright Night a few times.

Eventually I found out it was a Michael J. Fox comedy and I still never got around to it. I’ve read the summary at least once and completely forgotten it every time I read it. At least twice, I got as far as saying, “yes, I will watch this movie” and then I saw this poster and thought maybe it was a more serious horror movie than I’d thought, and decided to pass.

Continue reading →