Cinematic Throwbacks: March 1991/2001/2011

1991:

Okay, this is simply one of the straight up coolest movies of all time.

This film gets a lot of the credit for kickstarting the wave of "black" films in the 90s. That's debatable, considering Spike Lee's career was already well underway and we had other films like House Party. But the 1-2 punch of this and Boyz N The Hood (see you in July) definitely upped the ante as far as box office.

I would have been 13 when I first saw this. Definitely not a movie a 13 year old should watch. I was always into it though. I think part of it was that I really was new to crime movies at all.

This flick is just massively entertaining. Wesley Snipes is at his absolute peak here as Nino Brown. Ice T is pretty much the coolest guy to ever live here. Chris Rock is kind of amazing in his 1st and still probably best major role. The whole cast is super memorable. Even Judd Nelson is great in this.

It's a great time capsule kind of movie. It also had one of the all time great soundtracks...which I still have the cassette for. I'm old. 

2001:

One of the best films of 2001 and one of the decade's most important, cause it put Christopher Nolan on the map. It was not his first ever film, but the first that got him wide exposure.

I imagine it would be strange for someone who only knows the giant blockbuster Nolan to see this. This film is small, super low budget, only a few major characters, and no huge stars.

So how does this rank favorably with Nolan's best film to this day? The screenplay. Seriously this is one of the most brilliant screenplays ever, easily one of the best non-linear structures, and at every step enhances the story and characters. Somehow this did not win an Oscar. Instead a bad Altman film called Gosford Park won. I mean that's an outrage on par with the 2000 Gramny for Best New Artist (#NeverForget). 

Even though the film is largely presented in reverse order, it is never confusing to watch at all. Nolan has always shown a gift for making complicated stories clear (well, until Tenet).

Guy Pearce was phenomenal. I'm still baffled how his career never really took off in a bigger way. He's always showing up in things, but he's never had another L.A. Confidential or Memento.

I love what Nolan has done since this film, but I would love to see him go small like this again. 

2011:

Nobody remembers this one. This comedy sat on the shelf for a while before it got released, which is why in 2011 Anna Faris was playing second fiddle to Topher Grace in a movie.

I liked this though. It's dated in good ways. For no particular reason it takes place in the 80s, but it means lots of good period pop hits on the soundtrack, and the lead character works at Suncoast (a frequent stop of mine through much of my youth).

It's never hugely funny, and it has one of those central romances based on a lie, but it has some heart to it, and the cast is very good. Again we have Teresa Palmer as the dream girl. Why was she not huge?

The movie's lasting legacy is probably just that Anna Faris and Chris Pratt met on set. I think they had at least 1 kid and that kid owes their existence to this movie. 

One of the few movies where Matt Damon just let his movie star charm fly. 

This film was a high concept sci-fi romance about men in hats (including Anthony Mackie) who essentially control the world. And part of that is them working to keep Damon apart from Emily Blunt. 

Pretty sure this was the movie that really locked me in on Blunt as a star. I really enjoyed the more romantic parts of this movie, cause the Damon-Blunt chemistry is really top of the line. This movie was a modest hit iirc but I feel like it's been forgotten. 

Thus began the McConassaince.

Matthew McConaughey was squandering his talents throughout the 2000s in a slew of bad romcoms and bad action flicks. We all wondered what happened to the guy from A Time To Kill. 

Turns out he just needed to play another lawyer. And this film began his great run of the early 2010s. I think this may have been his best performance though, just some top notch movie star acting. I'm surprised that this didn't kick off a bit of a franchise for him, since there are a series of books with this character. This film was just a great pulpy throwback to a kind of film that just doesn't get made anymore. 

One of the all time loaded supporting casts too. Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Michael Pena, John Leguizamo, Bryan Cranston, and a well cast Ryan Phillippe as the bad guy. 

Others:

1991:

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze: This was probably the 1st movie I ever had like months long anticipation for. And I know at the time I loved it. I still think it holds up pretty well in its own cheesy way. And we got the immortal Ninja Rap out of it. 

-Defending Your Life: Okay.I have no clue why I don't own this movie (I only do the deep dives on those). This is a fantastic movie, where Albert Brooks dies and goes to a place between earth and heaven where his life is evaluated to see if he is worthy of moving on. And while there he falls for Meryl Streep, who is just super charming. Wonderful Rip Torn too (when he died this was the 1st thing I thought of). It's such a funny movie, really one of the best romcoms ever. I loved the creation of this between world where all the food is delicious and you can eat all you want and explore past lives. I've also worried that this would be what the afterlife is like, cause I'd be doomed. 

-The Doors: Oliver Stone's biopic. I honestly haven't seen this film in decades. Might be worth a rewatch.

-Career Opportunities: Not exactly a classic, but it's about a guy working at Target and I worked at Target and so that was always funny to me. I never got locked in overnight with a lucious young Jennifer Connelly though. 🤨

2001:

-The Caveman's Valentine: Forgotten movie with Sam Jackson as a homeless man. I know at the time I really liked it. 

-Get Over It: A teen movie bomb. Once in a while I spot it while channel surfing though and marvel at how weird the cast is. Kirsten Dunst, Mila Kunis and Zoe Saldana. Sisqo has a big part. Shane West and Colin Hanks (not many actors scream early 2000s like them). And weirdest of all is seeing Ben Foster in a silly teen movie, considering where his career went after this. 

-Enemy At The Gates: Pretty good war movie with Jude Law and Rachel Weisz. 

-Exit Wounds: Talk about time capsules. Steven Seagal and DMX teaming up in an action flick. I was hyped at the time cause it was from the same director as Romeo Must Die and brought over a bunch of the same cast. 

-Heartbreakers: This was probably the last movie that gave me hope that Jennifer Love Hewitt really could be a sustained movie star. It was also, I think, the last movie she did that I liked at all. 

-Say It Isn't So: Oh god the horrors of the 2001 wave of grossout comedies. 

-Tomcats: OH GOD THE HORRORS OF THE 2001 WAVE OF GROSSOUT COMEDIES!!!

-Spy Kids: This franchise got run into the ground, but the first couple of these were pretty clever and fun. 

2011:

-Battle: Los Angeles: This had me hyped at the time with one of the coolest trailers I had seen. Then it turned out to be just a pretty dumb action movie. 

-Sucker Punch: You know why I can never buy into Zack Snyder? Because he made a movie all about hot girls (including Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish and Emily Browning) shooting people and kicking ass...and it was dull.

Next month: 10 year anniversaries to a pair of really good sequels (Fast Five and Scream 4). 20 years since Josie and the Pussycats, an all time time capsule movie.