Cinematic Throwbacks: February 1991/2001/2011

1991:

Okay, everybody knows about this movie. It was a big hit. It won a whole bunch of Oscars. I believe it's one of the very few to win Best Picture, Director, Actor and Actress. It spawned a ton of imitators (90s movies were big on serial killers).

I don't know when I first saw it. Strangely it's a film I always forget a lot about when I haven't watched it in a while. I'm sure the thing that I liked the most originally was Hopkins, who I was not aware of until this movie. Basically every scene of his and every line of dialogue is iconic. You forget that he doesn't actually have THAT much screentime. 

It's Jodie Foster's movie. She won her 2nd Oscsr for this and it's very well deserved. This is her best performance and most memorable character.

This is such a forgotten gem of a movie.

Steve Martin was definitely one of my favorite actors back then. (My favorites were all the big comedy stars of the era: Martin, John Candy, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray) But this was a little different from his usual stuff. This was my birthday party movie that year, and looking at it now it's a weird movie to have a bunch of 7th graders watch. (Although I'm guessing this movie did provide many of us with our first in-theater boob shot. You're welcome)

This is very much a Woody Allen type movie based in Los Angeles. It has a lot of that same location-specific silliness. The movie has some of the trademark Martin wackiness, mixed with a lot of surrealism and sentiment. Occasionally the tone gets screwy, but it's so consistently funny.

The romance subplot needed a better actress than Martin's then wife. The much more vibrant actress here is, yep, Sarah Jessica Parker, who at this point was still super cute.

2011:

Okay, The Roommate is not a good movie. It's a brazen ripoff of Single White Female, only made as a PG13 flick so the real sleazy stuff never happens. It is one of the most poorly lit major releases of all time. And some of the acting, particularly by Minka Kelly (never to be seen again, basically) and Cam Gigandet (who Hollywood really seemed desperate to make a thing in the early 2010s) is bad. 

But damn it, I kinda like this movie, or at least enough to have bought a used DVD for a few bucks at Blockbuster back in the day. And that is almost entirely due to the gorgeous Leighton Meester, who acts her ass off as the psycho roommate. She gives a legitimately great performance here, managing to be sweet and vulnerable and crazy and threatening all at once. If I made a list of actresses who I think should have become a bigger deal, she'd be near the top.  

Easily the most obscure great Natalie performance. This movie had kind of a long road to release. It was shot a couple years earlier then just couldn't get a release, until it kind of got dumped onto VOD during Black Swan awards mania. I feel like if a film like this were made today it easily would have just found a streaming deal. 

It deserved better. The film is a little soapy in places, and Lisa Kudrow gives a wretched shrew performance, but it's very good overall. Largely that is due to Natalie, who gives a fantastic performance. She really carries this thing. And she says the line "Harvard sucks" which is very funny. 

In 2011 the Y.A. movie had yet to become ubiquitous. This movie predates Hunger Games, but Twilight had already become a huge thing so studios inevitably began chasing the next franchise.

I think this one deserved to be more than a one and done. Yeah, Alex Pettyfer is a bland lead (Hollywood tried to make him a thing for a while then gave up) but the movie had a solid build up for its aliens on earth premise. It was well cast, with Timothy Olyphant as the pseudo father figure, and the very cute Dianna Agron as the obligatory love interest.

And then Teresa Palmer shows up in the 3rd act as.another of the superpowered aliens, and completely fucking owns.all the big climactic action. It's one of the all time scene stealings. Throw her onto that list too of actresses who should have become a bigger deal. Maybe if there had been a sequel that would have happened. 

This month's notable movies that didn't get a rewatch....

1991:

King Ralph: I saw this in theaters. John Goodman is a slobby American who becomes the king of England. 

Nothing But Trouble: Literally one of the worst movies I have ever seen. And almost unquestionably the worst collective waste of talent in a comedy (Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, John Candy, Demi Moore). 

2001:

Hannibal: One of the more heavily hyped sequels of that era. I actually read the book prior to release, and frankly preferred the book as I recall. Hopkins was great again, but Julianne Moore was just no Jodie Foster. 

Sweet November: I know I saw this at the time. It was kind of a drippy romance, but a decent enough version of one. And Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves were a good pair. 

2011:

Unknown: A pretty solid Liam Neeson thriller. 

Just Go With It: This was slightly more tolerable than a lot of the awful comedies Adam Sandler did around this time. Slightly.