90s – Page 14 – Yesterday's Movies

Toys

January 10, 2014temporalparadox2 Comments

Before watching the movie:

Yet another that’s been sitting on my list forever, continuing what will hopefully be a trend for the next few weeks.

I first saw this on a library shelf what seems like millennia ago. It probably was last millennium, actually. I recall it was during my period shortly after connecting the Robin Williams from Flubber to the voice of the Genie in Aladdin and deciding I wanted to see everything he’d ever done. That came to a halt long before I came close to doing that, though, which is why I can review this now.

Why didn’t I take it from the shelf then? I think the idea of building toys to go to war gave me a sense it was darker than I wanted, and also I was probably under the age of 13. We took “Parental Guidance, possibly inappropriate for children under 13” very seriously in our house. I did sneak Jakob the Liar once sometime when I was twelve. I probably would have been better off with Toys.

I’m kind of glad I didn’t see it then, though. Not only is it going to provide me with review fodder now, but I’ve also lately been revisiting some things I saw at a very young age and musing on how I wasted my First Watch of them when I wasn’t capable of appreciating the subtleties of storytelling and acting. And I wouldn’t have known who Michael Gambon was then.

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Good Will Hunting

August 29, 2013August 30, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

This movie is one I’ve been only vaguely aware of. I don’t know much more about the plot than “brilliant janitor”, and until I saw it categorized, I wasn’t fully sure it was a drama (I was just going by the rule I think was proposed by Family Guy: if Robin Williams is wearing a beard, he thinks it’s a serious role.

This has been sitting around my digital shelf for a while, but its pending expiration has pushed me to go ahead with it. Also it’s been on sale where I work for weeks, whispering to me.

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Bad Boys

July 19, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Action movie, probably some laughs but not exceptionally comical, though I think Will Smith and Martin Lawrence both have a comedy background. The main thing I know about this is that its sequel is widely considered the best action movie ever made, or something to that effect. But I’m not watching Bad Boys II right now.

There’s something in the summary about the two guys having to switch lives for some reason? Not sure how that works, but that should make things interesting. There’s a lot of room for comedy in them criticizing each other’s impressions. Otherwise, it looks like a pretty standard bit of fun with explosions.

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The Wedding Singer

June 20, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

So, romantic comedy? Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore? Doesn’t sound like anything special. On the surface, I don’t understand why this is something of a cult favorite. I find the tagline (various turns on “he’ll party like it’s 1985”) more annoying than anything. I’m not clear on if the story is actually set in the 80s or if it’s just the aesthetic Sandler’s character and band go for. It doesn’t seem to have any reason to be set in the 80s (again, from the outside looking in).

This has the potential to be a less annoying Adam Sandler character than I usually think of. A romantic lead who performs at weddings doesn’t sound like a character that would lend himself to being particularly weird or manchildish. Drew Barrymore is always welcome on my screen.

I think I won this in a random draw at work on a big retail day last year. I considered reselling it since I wasn’t very interested in it, but then I realized I could blog about it, and here we are.

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What about Bob?

June 13, 2013June 13, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Neurotic characters are a staple of comedy. So is the Double Act. Offhand, I’m not sure how a neurotic man butting in on his therapist’s vacation could go far wrong. It occurs to me though that while I’ve seen Bill Murray play several odd characters, I’m not sure I’ve seen him do neurotic and dependent.

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Armageddon

May 23, 2013May 24, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

As I recall, Armageddon and Deep Impact both came out at about the same time and both concerned averting an asteroid collision with Earth. Likely neither one of them takes precedence over the other, but in my mind, this one is the original and Deep Impact is the imitator.

I only just now learned this film is directed by Michael Bay. I knew he had Hollywood films before Transformers, but I didn’t think it was anything I’d heard of. It only reaffirms my expectations though, since I was already expecting great spectacle without much depth. However, I worry it might drag somewhat, since it’s an hour longer than most movies of the caliber I’m expecting. Unless there are flighty songs or weighty angst, movies don’t tend to have more than 90-100 minutes of content.

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Tommy Boy

May 2, 2013May 3, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

I know this is a big cult favorite, but I was never very into Chris Farley. Maybe if he’d lived longer, he’d have done something that specifically interested me, but the main thing I think of for him is the “I live in a van down by the river” guy, which is not a character I find funny.

On the other hand, his costar is David Spade, whom I do like, and don’t see enough of. While I think I had my fill of Just Shoot Me, some slightly less abrasive Spade is a lot of fun. I’m not really sure that gets the idea a cross, since “abrasive” is what he does, but he was just too much there.

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Stop! or my mom will shoot!

April 11, 2013April 12, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

This has a reputation of being a terrible misstep in Sylvester Stallone’s career. For a career built on major action spectaculars, maybe so. As a movie, we’ll see. I think Stallone could be good in the role, I think the premise is good, but maybe it doesn’t add up to a good whole. Maybe Stallone phones it in. Maybe he has no chemistry with his costar. But I’m optimistic right now.

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Down Periscope

February 28, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

I first heard of this movie when I saw pieces of it on TV. Not enough to get more idea of what it was than a trailer could have told me, but Kelsey Grammer caught my attention. It’s been years, so I’ve forgotten much more than “Kelsey Grammer, submarine, ragtag misfits, wargame”, but this finally rose to the top of my list.

On the other hand, that limits what I can say about my expectations. It’s clearly an underdog submarine comedy, and I’m not sure what else I can expect. What little I’ve heard about it otherwise suggests it’s not very good, but I’d hardly call it infamous.

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Happy Gilmore

February 21, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

The main thing I can think of to describe my impression of this movie is… normal. Adam Sandler in the 90s playing a hockey player turned golfer sounds pretty normal next to Adam Sandler as a failure of a demon or Adam Sandler as a rich manchild going through elementary school, or even, to go later, Adam Sandler as an Israeli superspy turned fabulous hairdresser. I think he might actually be a fairly normal human being in this movie. I know he’s more serious now, but he did complete oddball roles back when he was “you know, that weirdo from SNL”.

I seem to recall the reason he gets into golf is the idea of hockey players having good golf drives, which reminds me of Jamaican sprinters being good bobsledders. I wonder if there are many other movies built on sports having overlapping skillsets. When I was young, I got his powerful drive confused with the kid with the superhumanly tensioned arm from Rookie of the Year.

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