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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 8, 2016 11:33:13 GMT -5
Given that it's 1996 Week at the old country, I thought I'd take the opportunity to discuss one of the odder quirks of that year's movie lineup--the almost complete lack of sequels. By my count, only five sequels came out all year long that weren't cheap family comedies (D3: The Mighty Ducks, Homeward Bound II), or cheap horror films (Hellraiser 4, The Crow: City of Angels). The were Star Trek: First Contact (the only one of the five that was a hit), The Muppet Treasure Island (which could probably be slotted into "cheap family comedy"), A Very Brady Sequel, Escape From LA, and The Evening Star, the last two many-years-later follow-ups to early 80s films back in a time when the idea of making a sequel more than a decade after the last installment was almost unheard of (isn't that right, Finding Dory, Independence Day: Resurgence, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Barbershop: The Next Cut, Zoolander 2, and the upcoming Blair Witch, Rings, and Bad Santa 2?).
To be sure, 1996 wasn't exactly filled with originality at the multiplex. The year's top two films were special effect extravaganzas with ridiculously cliched plots and dialogue occupying the few minutes when aliens weren't blowing up national monuments or tornadoes weren't destroying the Oklahoma countryside. Three of the top 25 domestic grossers were based on TV shows, 5 were remakes (assuming you consider Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame one), and one recycled classic cartoon characters into a new story. But outside of Star Trek, none of them were sequels. Also, it's hard to imagine that a talky romantic comedy/drama would end up as the fourth highest film of the year these days, nor a talky, twisty, somewhat downbeat thriller ending up at #5 (yes, both Jerry Maguire and Ransom had huge stars in the lead roles, but compare that to last year's top film list, where you have to go to The Martian at #8 or maybe even The Revenant at #13 to find a film where the lead actor could be considered a significant driver of the film's gross).
Another thing that has changed is just how much is invested in a film's opening weekend these days. The films with the worst legs in the Top 10 of 1996 were Mission: Impossible and Ransom, both of which grossed just over a quarter of their final grosses in the first three days. Today, the film with the best legs in the Top 10, Zootopia, grossed 22% of its final gross opening weekend. Finding Dory is at 28.5%. The Jungle Book, which played strongly for weeks, is also at 28.5%. Deadpool is at 36.5%, and that spent three weeks topping to box office. The Secret Life of Pets has yet to drop under 30%. Batman vs. Superman had already blown more than half its wad by the end of its opening weekend.
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Post by Superb Owl š¦ on Aug 8, 2016 12:05:49 GMT -5
Given that it's 1996 Week at the old country, I thought I'd take the opportunity to discuss one of the odder quirks of that year's movie lineup--the almost complete lack of sequels. By my count, only five sequels came out all year long that weren't cheap family comedies (D3: The Mighty Ducks, Homeward Bound II), or cheap horror films (Hellraiser 4, The Crow: City of Angels). The were Star Trek: First Contact (the only one of the five that was a hit), The Muppet Treasure Island (which could probably be slotted into "cheap family comedy"), A Very Brady Sequel, Escape From LA, and The Evening Star, the last two many-years-later follow-ups to early 80s films back in a time when the idea of making a sequel more than a decade after the last installment was almost unheard of (isn't that right, Finding Dory, Independence Day: Resurgence, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Barbershop: The Next Cut, Zoolander 2, and the upcoming Blair Witch, Rings, and Bad Santa 2?). To be sure, 1996 wasn't exactly filled with originality at the multiplex. The year's top two films were special effect extravaganzas with ridiculously cliched plots and dialogue occupying the few minutes when aliens weren't blowing up national monuments or tornadoes weren't destroying the Oklahoma countryside. Three of the top 25 domestic grossers were based on TV shows, 5 were remakes (assuming you consider Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame one), and one recycled classic cartoon characters into a new story. But outside of Star Trek, none of them were sequels. Also, it's hard to imagine that a talky romantic comedy/drama would end up as the fourth highest film of the year these days, nor a talky, twisty, somewhat downbeat thriller ending up at #5 (yes, both Jerry Maguire and Ransom had huge stars in the lead roles, but compare that to last year's top film list, where you have to go to The Martian at #8 or maybe even The Revenant at #13 to find a film where the lead actor could be considered a significant driver of the film's gross). Another thing that has changed is just how much is invested in a film's opening weekend these days. The films with the worst legs in the Top 10 of 1996 were Mission: Impossible and Ransom, both of which grossed just over a quarter of their final grosses in the first three days. Today, the film with the best legs in the Top 10, Zootopia, grossed 22% of its final gross opening weekend. Finding Dory is at 28.5%. The Jungle Book, which played strongly for weeks, is also at 28.5%. Deadpool is at 36.5%, and that spent three weeks topping to box office. The Secret Life of Pets has yet to drop under 30%. Batman vs. Superman had already blown more than half its wad by the end of its opening weekend. Jerry Maguire would 100% be a critically acclaimed 12-episode Netflix series with a much lower-profile start if it were pitched today. |
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 8, 2016 13:26:45 GMT -5
Would this then be a forum to discuss films from 1996, and if so, which ones?
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 8, 2016 15:48:58 GMT -5
Would this then be a forum to discuss films from 1996, and if so, which ones? Sure, and whatever you want to discuss. |
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 8, 2016 17:44:19 GMT -5
Montypark Extemporaneously Reviews 28 Movies From Memory, in Chronological Order
Bio-Dome
My high school biology teacher had this film on file for some reason. I'm relieved to discover that it failed to make back even its modest $15M budget, but that only deepens the mystery of how it developed kind of a cult within our class. Pauly Shore really is dreadful, though everything I've heard about him since is worse than this (except A Goofy Movie). Another teacher once claimed that The Usual Suspects had the greatest cast ever assembled, and even though I'd never seen it, I disagreed purely on the principle that Shore's co-star Stephen Baldwin was part of that cast. Also, did you know Patty Hearst is in this!?
Big Bully
Saw it on TV, a couple years after it was in theaters. It's where I learned that the teachers' lounge was meant for smoking. This movie has a 0% on RottenTomatoes, and while I'm not going to defend it, I don't remember it being that bad, just kinda shitty and rote. This was Rick Moranis' last live-action role, and I suspect the critical and commercial failure (it made back less than 20% of its budget) of this film had something to do with his retirement.
Happy Gilmore
Saw it in high school. It seemed to hold up then, but then again I owned Anger Management on DVD, so who the hell knows? It's not for nothing that this movie is more fondly remembered than any others from Adam Sandler's house brand. The price is wrong, bitch!
Muppet Treasure Island
Believe it or not, this was my proper introduction to the Muppets, which is pretty fucked up. I barely remember it, except that Tim Curry is in it, which at least livens things up, and that there's a man named Mr. Bimbo who lives in Fozzie's finger.
Trainspotting
I just watched this, so this should be pretty easy. It was the breakout film for director Danny Boyle and star Ewan McGregor, and for good reason. Though I've never seen McGregor in a truly great film, he's always been great in whatever he did, going above and beyond what most people are capable of (except for animation). Much like Beetlejuice, I felt like I had already seen it in a sense just through how much it influenced the look and feel of movies in the late '90s. Altogether, it was funny, terrifying, arousing, and nauseating. And holy shit, Kelly MacDonald in a school uniform...
Bottle Rocket
Although Wes Anderson could be said to disprove the theory that a comedy film's budget is inverse to its humor, it must be said that Anderson's first film is also his funniest, albeit not his best. Owen Wilson fucking owns this movie.
Fargo
It's weird to think that at the time Fargo came out, the Coen Brothers were already being called has-beens. This film not only reinvigorated their critical and commercial viability, it brought them into the mainstream of American film, where they defiantly kept doing their own thing and still do. What can I even say about this? I don't know if it would even make my top five Coen films, but it's nevertheless a classic.
Flirting With Disaster
This was the first David O. Russell movie I saw, and how I wish he would make something, anything like this again, because it's hilarious. "Who the fuck are the Shitkings?"
James and the Giant Peach
A lot of people give this movie a pass because it's Roald Dahl and it's Henry Selick, but it's all over the place too.
The Cable Guy
I watched it the first time alone and didn't get it. I watched it the second time in class and totally got it.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Those fucking gargoyles, man. You can tell they almost made the movie without them, and then Katzenberg was like "fuck you, we need another Genie!" Otherwise, this movie is hardcore. I'd probably enjoy it a lot more as an adult than as a kid.
The Nutty Professor
My mom gave me the VHS of this to watch while she was doing a school thing in the living room. It was the first movie I ever gave up watching halfway through. And this is supposed to be the watchable one!
Independence Day
What can I even say about this movie that hasn't already been said? It's stupid, but stupid in a kinda dynamic way. And at least it made Will Smith viable enough to be in Men in Black.
Phenomenon
This fucking movie. For those not in the know, this is a movie where John Travolta gets hit by a brain tumor from space that makes him superintelligent as well as telekinetic (?). And what does he do with these amazing powers? He teaches a divorced Robin Wright to love again!? The fuck is this shit!? Nobody would ever think to make a movie like this today, and yet it was a big hit. I guess there were a lot more housewives in 1996 than today, though the workforce statistics suggest otherwise. It's very reminiscent of Scientology, and in a just world would've been banned just for its overuse of shitty '90s-era Eric Clapton.
The Frighteners
This was a lot of fun. Directed by Peter Jackson, the film nevertheless bears the trademarks and style of producer Robert Zemeckis. Not that that's a bad thing; it's just some darkly comic enjoyment with a light sprinkling of '90s cheese.
Kingpin
I probably need to rewatch this. I know Woody Harrelson is allegedly bald from having his head shoved in a shoe-buffer, and that Randy Quaid is Amish. Is it any good?
Matilda
I distinctly get the feeling that this wasn't very good. First of all, it feels very slight. The book Matilda was pretty hardcore, but the movie comes off kinda cheap and unambitious. Danny Devito's narration is totally unwarranted, especially as he also plays the villain.
Jack
WHAT THE FUCK COPPOLA!? WHAT THE FUCK ON SO MANY LEVELS!
Alaska
All I remember from this movie is that the dad's plane takes a further tumble because he reached for a picture of his kids. Let that be a lesson to you to never love.
First Kid
While I appreciate the sentiment, using your position as a secret service agent to help a kid get revenge on his bullies is professionally and ethically questionable. Would the president's son even have bullies? Would the bullies be too scared of getting nuked to do anything? We should ask the Obama girl who's working down at the crab shack or whatever.
The Stupids
This movie was trying to be Dumb and Dumber. It fucking failed.
That Thing You Do!
Not only is this an enjoyably movie in its own right, it cleverly imitates the rock and roll exploitation films of the '60s. The titular song is pretty good, too. Having the central conflict be the love triangle was admittedly perfunctory and anticlimactic, though.
The Grass Harp
My Bubby made me watch this for some reason. She loves middlebrow movies. It was boring as fuck and I basically don't remember it.
Swingers
I don't care what anybody says (who's probably missing the point anyway), Swingers is a fun little movie.
Romeo+Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is probably most kids' introduction to Shakespeare, and Baz Luhrmann's film definitely feels like it's trying to get kids interested in Shakespeare, albeit in the most superficial way possible. I have yet to see a version of this play that's faithful to the text that successfully grabbed my interest.
The English Patient
This movie won Best Picture. Today it is best remembered for being boring, and for Seinfeld making jokes about it being boring. For good reason.
Jingle All the Way
CHAIME!
101 Dalmatians
Believe it or not, this was the only movie of 1996 that I saw in theaters. I remember Glenn Close at the time being praised for her performance (in contrast to everything else the movie; it's certainly the only thing I remember), though now her Cruella De Vil seems to be regarded as her obligatory "batshit post-Oscar performance."
Still Need to See: From Dusk 'Till Dawn, The Birdcage, The Craft, Mission: Impossible, The Rock, A Time to Kill, Bound, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Sling Blade, Jerry Maguire, Mars Attacks!, Beavis and Butthead Do America, The People vs. Larry Flynt. Three of those are on Netflix right now, so I'll probably watch them for this very thread.
EDIT: And son of a vondruke if not one film listed is a sequel!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2016 19:03:39 GMT -5
You really do not need to see mission impossible. Just skip straight to 3 if you haven't seen any of the series.
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Post by ganews on Aug 8, 2016 19:23:14 GMT -5
The Birdcage is the funniest movie of the 90s.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2016 19:35:51 GMT -5
Whoa, you really misspelled my cousin Vinny.
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Post by ganews on Aug 8, 2016 22:19:13 GMT -5
Whoa, you really misspelled my cousin Vinny. I said funniest, not Best. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Aug 9, 2016 7:55:22 GMT -5
The Birdcage is the funniest movie of the 90s. That John Wayne line at the restaurant might be my favorite one-line gag of all time. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Aug 9, 2016 8:07:49 GMT -5
PhenomenonThis fucking movie. For those not in the know, this is a movie where John Travolta gets hit by a brain tumor from space that makes him superintelligent as well as telekinetic (?). And what does he do with these amazing powers? He teaches a divorced Robin Wright to love again!? The fuck is this shit!? Nobody would ever think to make a movie like this today, and yet it was a big hit. I guess there were a lot more housewives in 1996 than today, though the workforce statistics suggest otherwise. It's very reminiscent of Scientology, and in a just world would've been banned just for its overuse of shitty '90s-era Eric Clapton. stands with such ignoble company as Pay It Forward and Seven Pounds. All great ideas for movies brought down by a dull and plodding romantic subplot. I do like it a bit more than you, though. In fact, if you simply fast forward through every scene with Robin Wright, it's a fun little sci-fi tale well-acted by Travolta and Whitaker. |
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Post by Superb Owl š¦ on Aug 9, 2016 8:23:08 GMT -5
You really do not need to see mission impossible. Just skip straight to 3 if you haven't seen any of the series. It's worth watching the first one just to understand how strange it is that such a talky, kind-of-dull action movie mutated into America's second favorite CRAZY STUNT SET-PIECES!!! franchise (after the Fast and Furious movies). |
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Post by pairesta on Aug 9, 2016 8:48:39 GMT -5
Another thing that has changed is just how much is invested in a film's opening weekend these days. The films with the worst legs in the Top 10 of 1996 were Mission: Impossible and Ransom, both of which grossed just over a quarter of their final grosses in the first three days. Today, the film with the best legs in the Top 10, Zootopia, grossed 22% of its final gross opening weekend. Finding Dory is at 28.5%. The Jungle Book, which played strongly for weeks, is also at 28.5%. Deadpool is at 36.5%, and that spent three weeks topping to box office. The Secret Life of Pets has yet to drop under 30%. Batman vs. Superman had already blown more than half its wad by the end of its opening weekend. I think that trend definitely has its seeds in the mid to late 90s, though. You'd see movies hyped to shit before they open, have a huge opening, then drop like 50% the next weekend, and I always thought it was weird that that was left out of box office reports when it seems to be more standard now. Then not too much later--maybe the early aughts--you had studio deals where they started taking progressively more of the opening weekend take and then give more and more to the theaters with each weekend after opening. |
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Post by pairesta on Aug 9, 2016 9:00:58 GMT -5
On a personal note, 1996 also gave us Big Night, easily my favorite movie of that year. That it got almost completely shut out for Oscar nominations that year (maybe an original screenplay nod?) was kind of the beginning of my wakeup call that maybe, just maaaayyybe, the Oscars are bullshit.
Big Night is the movie that got me cooking. I mean, yeah, there was the "Making da Sauce" scene in The Godfather that had me try to cook something for the first time ever, but Big Night really woke something up in me. It was like being hugged for two hours. I saw it with a bunch of work friends, and afterwards we had to get to an Italian restaurant afterwards and eat as much of everything there as we could. (Once it took off, there was a little blurb in my local paper where they actually called restaurants to see if there was a spike in business that could be linked to showtimes at the nearest theater).
The next day I was talking to my Mom about the movie, going on and on about it. This was the first time I had ever seen or even heard of risotto, or timpano. I had no idea Italian cooking could be like that. She went upstairs and brought back down her copy of Marcella Hazan's The Classic Italian Cookbook, the Italian analogue of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I read that cookbook like an actual book, cover to cover, several times over, then started cooking in earnest that summer and didn't look back. I can look up from writing this right now and see that book on my cookbook shelf.
That makes me realize, we're probably right at the 20 year anniversary of Big Night's release. I need to watch that. You all should too.
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Post by Superb Owl š¦ on Aug 9, 2016 9:05:22 GMT -5
Another thing that has changed is just how much is invested in a film's opening weekend these days. The films with the worst legs in the Top 10 of 1996 were Mission: Impossible and Ransom, both of which grossed just over a quarter of their final grosses in the first three days. Today, the film with the best legs in the Top 10, Zootopia, grossed 22% of its final gross opening weekend. Finding Dory is at 28.5%. The Jungle Book, which played strongly for weeks, is also at 28.5%. Deadpool is at 36.5%, and that spent three weeks topping to box office. The Secret Life of Pets has yet to drop under 30%. Batman vs. Superman had already blown more than half its wad by the end of its opening weekend. I think that trend definitely has its seeds in the mid to late 90s, though. You'd see movies hyped to shit before they open, have a huge opening, then drop like 50% the next weekend, and I always thought it was weird that that was left out of box office reports when it seems to be more standard now. Then not too much later--maybe the early aughts--you had studio deals where they started taking progressively more of the opening weekend take and then give more and more to the theaters with each weekend after opening. One thing that seems to have changed is the expectation that you'll be able to see every big movie immediately. My mid-size hometown got a big multiplex when I was in late junior high, but in 1996 we only had a 2-3 screen downtown theater. It was far from a guarantee that you'd be able to see every summer movie opening weekend without driving to another town. Word of mouth and long legs were way more important. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Aug 9, 2016 9:08:35 GMT -5
On a personal note, 1996 also gave us Big Night, easily my favorite movie of that year. That it got almost completely shut out for Oscar nominations that year (maybe an original screenplay nod?) was kind of the beginning of my wakeup call that maybe, just maaaayyybe, the Oscars are bullshit. Big Night is the movie that got me cooking. I mean, yeah, there was the "Making da Sauce" scene in The Godfather that had me try to cook something for the first time ever, but Big Night really woke something up in me. It was like being hugged for two hours. I saw it with a bunch of work friends, and afterwards we had to get to an Italian restaurant afterwards and eat as much of everything there as we could. (Once it took off, there was a little blurb in my local paper where they actually called restaurants to see if there was a spike in business that could be linked to showtimes at the nearest theater). The next day I was talking to my Mom about the movie, going on and on about it. This was the first time I had ever seen or even heard of risotto, or timpano. I had no idea Italian cooking could be like that. She went upstairs and brought back down her copy of Marcella Hazan's The Classic Italian Cookbook, the Italian analogue of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I read that cookbook like an actual book, cover to cover, several times over, then started cooking in earnest that summer and didn't look back. I can look up from writing this right now and see that book on my cookbook shelf. That makes me realize, we're probably right at the 20 year anniversary of Big Night's release. I need to watch that. You all should too. I'm definitely due for a re-watch. Such a good movie. I don't think I've ever met a single person who didn't like it. |
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Post by ganews on Aug 9, 2016 9:16:38 GMT -5
The Birdcage is the funniest movie of the 90s. That John Wayne line at the restaurant might be my favorite one-line gag of all time. I dug the ol' locking leg brace out of my closet yesterday, and it does make walking a little easier. But it also had me thinking about that scene. |
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 9, 2016 9:51:38 GMT -5
I was 19 in 1996, and was a movie freak. Besides working at a theater over the summer, my college town had a decent amount of screens, enough so that every major movie opened on its national release date. In addition, there was an old twin theater downtown that had decided to revamp as an art house (though it still ran some mainstream films as well, usually ones several weeks old that the bigger theaters in town had dropped), so I had a lot of variety to choose from. Looking at Mojo's list of 1996 domestic grosses, I have to go all the way down to Jingle All the Way at #22 for a movie I've never seen. Indeed, I've seen 66 of that year's top 100 grossers, though to be fair, I haven't seen most of them since 1996/1997.
Here, to the best of my ability, is all the films I saw in the theater that came out in 1996:
Independence Day, Twister, Mission: Impossible, Jerry Maguire, Ransom, 101 Dalmatians, The Rock, The Nutty Professor, The Birdcage, A Time to Kill, The First Wives Club, Phenomenon, Scream, Eraser, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Michael, Space Jam, The English Patient, Broken Arrow, The Cable Guy, Courage Under Fire, Jack, Tin Cup, Up Close and Personal, Evita, One Fine Day, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Muppet Treasure Island, Striptease, Sgt. Bilko, James and the Giant Peach, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Spy Hard, That Thing You Do!, Kingpin, Fargo, Sling Blade, My Fellow Americans, Emma, A Very Brady Sequel, Chain Reaction, Multiplicity, Flipper, Diabolique, Trainspotting, Supercop, Flirting With Disaster, The Chamber, In Love and War, Secrets & Lies, Lone Star, Big Night, Two if By Sea, A Family Thing, She's the One, Cold Comfort Farm, Hamlet, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Breaking the Waves, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
Now that you've skimmed over the list, or just jumped directly down to this sentence, feel free to ask what I thought about any of the above films, and I'll be happy to share my opinion, assuming that I still have one on that particular movie.
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Post by repulsionist on Aug 10, 2016 17:33:54 GMT -5
23 Current short-circuit. I too was a youngun in 1996, in the middle of my 24th year of life - labeled as age 23. I was living in UK. John Major was PM. I was a severely distressed kid who didn't want his coder job in UK (I worked for NorthernTelecom, for you 'nucks out there, in Maidenhead, Berks.). I saw Fargo sometime in the early summer that year at a cinema in Slough; release date was May 31, 1996 in UK. As a brash idiot who'd lived through almost a year of British middle class hazing, I was well on my way to turning from gregarious lunkhead to beleaguering gadfly. I saw Fargo with two of my dearest pals who went on the marry each other. Oh, I don't keep up with them now, these 20 years later. As it turned out, they hated it. I enjoyed it thoroughly. This was the year that really made The Home Counties a big villain in my life. What with starting the new year by accepting a ride to the office from a senior manager and having him explain to me that all Americans were lazy tossers who weren't worth a single pile of scat. He assumed I was Canadian, as were most ex-pats working for NorthernTelecom in that UK office. I meekly told him my true origin at the end of the ride. I saw Trainspotting in theatres on the weekend of February 23, only weeks after reading the Welsh book and some related short stories. I loved that film dearly. I went to The Cyclades that summer too. This is where I met an Urquhart. She was super-toff. Read Classics at Christ College. Worked at a bank in Bank. And, get this: She called me, some 3 weeks after that holiday. Which, if I'm orientated correctly in the etiquette of The Upper Class, is akin to a supernatural event. And this was through my pal Henry that she contacted me via the medium of her younger sister. Suffice it to say I screwed it up. Going to Little Italy for smokes and espressos then for an art show in Whitechapel doesn't class you up in the eyes of the elite. So too does a bad, bad attitude dim prospects. I went to Phoenix Festival 1996 with my Luxembourgian pal, Tom. Also, friends from my recently departed Raleigh, NC came to visit me in late August/early September. We went to Dover. Had clotted cream. Slipped down to the sea. Drank sherry. Drank cider. Drank chartreuse. They noticed I was changing, mostly saliently by my transforming mid-Atlantic accent I used to hide my Yank origins. This was also the year I managed to experience my first and only New Year's Eve/Day in NYC. That was tip-top. Whoo-boy, was GHB a big drug in the SoHo and East Village bars then. I'm very glad I didn't try it. The closest I had to a summer sequel respective to the dense activity and general emotional tumult the year 1996 provided was 2005 when I drove across US for the second time [Seattle -> Dallas -> Jacksonville; with a longish stop in Jackson, MS for temporary work reasons]. Climbed two mountains (Katahdin [Maine] and Three Fingers[Washington]). Worked on my tan. Then moved to Boca Raton in late August. |
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Post by Albert Fish Taco on Aug 10, 2016 22:37:52 GMT -5
I was 19 in 1996, and was a movie freak. Besides working at a theater over the summer, my college town had a decent amount of screens, enough so that every major movie opened on its national release date. In addition, there was an old twin theater downtown that had decided to revamp as an art house (though it still ran some mainstream films as well, usually ones several weeks old that the bigger theaters in town had dropped), so I had a lot of variety to choose from. Looking at Mojo's list of 1996 domestic grosses, I have to go all the way down to Jingle All the Way at #22 for a movie I've never seen. Indeed, I've seen 66 of that year's top 100 grossers, though to be fair, I haven't seen most of them since 1996/1997. Here, to the best of my ability, is all the films I saw in the theater that came out in 1996: Independence Day, Twister, Mission: Impossible, Jerry Maguire, Ransom, 101 Dalmatians, The Rock, The Nutty Professor, The Birdcage, A Time to Kill, The First Wives Club, Phenomenon, Scream, Eraser, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Michael, Space Jam, The English Patient, Broken Arrow, The Cable Guy, Courage Under Fire, Jack, Tin Cup, Up Close and Personal, Evita, One Fine Day, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Muppet Treasure Island, Striptease, Sgt. Bilko, James and the Giant Peach, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Spy Hard, That Thing You Do!, Kingpin, Fargo, Sling Blade, My Fellow Americans, Emma, A Very Brady Sequel, Chain Reaction, Multiplicity, Flipper, Diabolique, Trainspotting, Supercop, Flirting With Disaster, The Chamber, In Love and War, Secrets & Lies, Lone Star, Big Night, Two if By Sea, A Family Thing, She's the One, Cold Comfort Farm, Hamlet, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Breaking the Waves, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie Now that you've skimmed over the list, or just jumped directly down to this sentence, feel free to ask what I thought about any of the above films, and I'll be happy to share my opinion, assuming that I still have one on that particular movie. I'm mildly curious how well She's The One has held up. I recall liking it more than The Brothers McMullen, but it's a film I probably haven't thought about in umpteen years. |
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 11, 2016 10:08:05 GMT -5
I'm mildly curious how well She's The One has held up. I recall liking it more than The Brothers McMullen, but it's a film I probably haven't thought about in umpteen years. To be honest, She's the One is the one film on the list I had to really think about whether or not I saw it in the theater, and to be honest, I'm still not 100% certain. I think I saw it at my college town's 8-screen multiplex, which probably picked it up because of its multiplex-friendly cast, and probably over Labor Day weekend. And, to be honest, it's the one movie on that list I remember almost nothing about. So it actually might be worth a rewatch, since I have no idea if I even liked it or not. |
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Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Aug 11, 2016 16:08:53 GMT -5
My favourite fact about Trainspotting (other than the detail that I lived in exactly the parts of Edinburgh Welsh describes right when the book came out):
On its release the Tory Minister For Culture, Virginia Bottomley, described the film with no irony at all as "a shot in the arm for the British Film Industry"
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Post by pairesta on Aug 12, 2016 6:06:36 GMT -5
That makes me realize, we're probably right at the 20 year anniversary of Big Night's release. I need to watch that. You all should too. Done. Oh how I love this movie. I was hoping it'd get a Watch This this week but I guess not. Realization I had with this viewing: by today's shitty suburban Italian restaurant standards, Pasquale's is probably a great restaurant in its own right. |
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