Cinematic Throwbacks: August 1982/1992/2002/2012

1982:

I was very late to this movie. Not sure why. Sure it is older, even predating the 1980s John Hughes oeuvre, and some of those movies I was late too as well, but some of my favorite movies are high school movies. It got a 35th anniversary screening and I went to see it. And I liked it a lot.

Like a lot of these movies, they exist years later as a time capsule, and as an origin for a bunch of budding stars.

It's certainly a 1982 time capsule. I mean, I guess it is. I was an infant then. But the fashion and music are of its time. I'm sure Cameron Crowe's involvement had something to do with the aces soundtrack. 

And yes, this movie launched a lot of careers. Most iconically is Sean Penn, whose Spicoli is even more weird and memorable considering where Penn's career and persona went. It's like if Daniel Day-Lewis had starred in Porky's.

Nicolas Cage (then Nicolas Coppola) had his 1st appearance. Eric Stoltz and Anthony Edwards pop up. Forest Whitaker is a football star.

Bigger roles for 80s relic Judge Reinhold, and the ridiculously cute pair of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Phoebe Cates. Yeah I'm sure if I had been of that age I'd have worn out the VCR rewinding certain scenes(😛). But it's not a T&A flick. It's a meandering movie, but it has substance.

Between Crowe (his 1st screenplay) and director Amy Heckerling (Clueless) this film has its teen movie bonafides set. I personally don't have it as one of my favorites in the genre. Those late 90s ones have it beat. But it definitely gets a lot of credit as one of the films that created the genre itself. 

2002:

One of the best films of 2002, this marked kind of the last time that M. Night Shyamalan was a no doubt star director, and the last time Mel Gibson was a movie star.

I still think that Unbreakable is the best Shyamalan film, but Signs is a pretty close second. This film is just a master class of tense pacing.

This is the movie about crop circles, which portend an alien invasion. We spend nearly the entire runtime at this farmhouse in which widower ex-priest Gibson lives with his family, including Joaquin Phoenix and tiny little Abigail Breslin. 

After some early scenes of weird occurrences that the characters are not sure what they mean, the film makes it clear that, yes, these are aliens, and no, they probably aren't friendly.

When it comes to films taking place at one location, this is one of the best. The tension of knowing a little bit but wondering what is happening beyond the farm never falters. We don't see that much of the aliens, but all it takes is a glimpse. That pantry scene elicited actual screams from the audience when I saw it in theaters.

Gibson, man, it's a shame he had to go nuts cause he is so good here. Phoenix is great too, going much more for the comedy of it all. Shyamalan comedy can go very wrong but most of his stuff here worked.

The film got a a lot of shit for its climax, involving a bunch of coincidences that are set up throughout the film. But the fact that they are coincidences is set up throughout the film. It's kind of the whole point. I do still prefer the first 2 acts. 

This was kind of it for the Shyamalan peak. His next movie was the ludicrous The Village and most of his output for the next decade-plus was crap. 

Robin Williams got nominated for a couple Oscars, and won for Good Will Hunting, but I think his peak as a dramatic actor was 2002. He was amazing in Insomnia, but I think his best performance was in One Hour Photo.

Williams is a genial guy, kind of a sad sack, who works as a photo tech at a one hour photo lab inside a generic Walmart-type store. He's the kind of person who will remember you if you are a regular customer. I've been in that spot sometimes over the years.

But anyway, Williams's Sy certainly seems familiar with and friendly with one customer in particular, a woman (Olivia Williams) with a husband and a young son. And that's where the main plot kicks in. Sy is not just friendly with them, he very much wants to be a part of their life, to be "Uncle Sy." And the movie unfolds in some increassing dark and disturbing ways to show this. 

So yes, Sy could have been a Travis Bickle type, but Williams never overplays it. He's very subtle, and most of the way is very harmless, until a couple things happen that set him on a darker path. Even then he never loses our sympathies. The scenes with his boss (Gary Cole, a bigger asshole here than in Office Space) keep him sympathetic. 

Williams's performance is flawless, and he certainly should have had at least an Oscar nomination off of this. Sadly this was kind of his last success dramatically. He took a few more stabs at it but never found much more success. 

2012:

One of the best and smartest romantic comedies of the last 20 years. It follows a different path within the genre. Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg are a divorcing couple, but they are still best friends and hang out all the time. And live together. 

The film is full of stock romcom scenes and situations that are given a fresh twist. There is a wedding scene in particular that could have gone horribly wrong but takes a novel approach. Even some of the supporting cast feels familiar to the genre but all play against their characters usual role.

Jones is an actress who has usually rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. But she is terrific in this movie, which she also co-wrote. Samberg is also excellent in what is the closest he has ever come to doing drama. It's primarily a comedy but there are some serious moments and those work. 

Compliance is one of those "based on a true story" movies, which generally fudge history at least a little bit. I remember when I first saw this movie I thought for sure it had gone way past the real story into simply making shit up. No way could some of what happens in this movie have happened for real. But it did. Truth is stranger than fiction. 

There were a series of prank calls in which a man would call up a restaurant or store, pretending to be a cop and convincing employees to perform strip searches of alleged suspects under the guise of them helping the police. And sometimes more than just strip searches. 

In the film it's a fast food restaurant, and the manager is told to perform a search of an employee, and she just....does it. Things escalate with different people and it gets very dark and creepy. But it happened. 

The film is a really interesting reflection now of how police, even perceived police, are just submit to so much. Characters think that it's a cop telling them to do things, and so rarely do they even question anything, no matter how weird the request. The pranker is written very well, always having a quick answer or excuse to keep the ruse going. But with how much cop deification is out there these days it is probably more timely now than 10 years ago. Cops can do no wrong, you know. 🙄

And as a film it is just tremendously compelling, with some excellent performances, and an ever-increasing sense of dread. It's practically a horror movie by the end. 

Other non-deep dive flicks:

1972:

-The Last House On The Left: I've never actually seen this movie, but it is notable because it was the debut of director Wes Craven. 

1982: 

-An Officer and a Gentleman: Also never seen this one, but this Richard Gere film was a big deal. 

-Friday The 13th Part 3: I think this was the one where Jason killed some people. 

1992: 

-Single White Female: I'm kind of surprised that I don't own this one. Very good thriller with peak Bridget Fonda (where did she go?) and a spectacular Jennifer Jason Leigh (there she is again, and still cute). 

-Unforgiven: This Clint Eastwood western won Best Picture, director, and Gene Hackman won supporting actor. I saw it many years ago and didn't like it at all, but I decided to give it a rewatch and this time thought it was pretty good, mostly due to the performances. 

-Honeymoon In Vegas: I watched this one a fair amount on cable back in the day. The one with Nic Cage, James Caan (RIP) and a not yet revolting Sarah Jessica Parker. 

-Raising Cain: My first DePalma film, probably. John Lithgow in the middle of his great bad guy run. 

-Stay Tuned: A John Ritter comedy where he got stuck in a TV or something. 

-Pet Sematary 2: Edward Furlong and dead animals. 

-That Night: Kind of just a routine coming of age movie set in the 50s, but very notable due to it being the debuts of Katherine Heigl and Eliza Dushku, who is kind of adorable in the main role. If I had originally seen this at 13 I'd have been crushing hard. 

2002:

-Blue Crush: Was kind of a big deal going in as it had the first post-Fast and the Furious role for Michelle Rodriguez. But this is much more of a Kate Bosworth movie in her first big role. It's a good late summer trifle. 

-XXX: One of the big disappointments of that year. Vin Diesel and director Rob Cohen reteaming for a more modern spy movie. I figured this would work wonders, but man did it suck. I also recall it being simply one of the loudest movies I ever sat through. 

-Spy Kids 2: The last good one of these. 

-Full Frontal: A pretty forgettable Soderbergh flick. 

-The Master Of Disguise: A rather infamous Dana Carvey bomb. 

-The Adventures of Pluto Nash: A rather infamous Eddie Murphy bomb. 

-Runteldat: A Martin Lawrence stand-up movie. I remember going to see it and the ticket cashier didn't know what movie I was even talking about. 

-The Good Girl: Jennifer Aniston in a dramatic role. She got some good reviews but went back to doing dreck after this. 

-Blood Work: I recall this Clint Eastwood movie being decent but never saw it again.  

-Undisputed: Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames boxing in prison. 

-Simone: Something with Al Pacino as a movie producer turning an A.I. actress into a star. Seems like a remake idea, actually.

2012:

-Total Recall: Speaking of remakes, for some reason they decided to take one of the best action/sci-fi films of all time and remake it into a very technically sound but dramatically bland Minority Report riff. It's not a bad movie, just unnecessary. Colin Farrell is no match for Arnold. Jessica Biel is no Rachel Ticotin. Only the preposterously hot Kate Beckinsale (in the Sharon Stone role) tops the original. 

-The Bourne Legacy: They tried to keep the Bourne franchise going with this Jeremy Renner spinoff. I actually thought this was pretty good. And Rachel Weisz was in it, which is always a win. 

-The Campaign: A pretty bland political comedy with Will Ferrell. 

-The Odd Life of Timothy Green: A weird family movie fable with Jennifer Garner. I think she and her husband wish for a kid and then one shows up or something. 

-The Expendables 2: More tough guy action movie grunting. 

-Sparkle: Whitney Houston's last movie. 

-Hit and Run: A kidnapping comedy with Kristen Bell and her husband who doesn't have nearly as much talent. 

-Premium Rush: A nice economical action movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike messenger who gets his hands on something that a dirty cop (Michael Shannon) wants. The kind of breezy, low stakes action movie that never gets made anymore. And it got me a tweet back from the super hot Dania Ramirez when I asked if she did her own stunts. 

Coming in September...

Well it's September, so the pickings are slim (I won't be doing a 30 year retrospective on Captain Ron). Except for 2012, which actually has quite a few great ones turning 10.