Cinematic Throwbacks: April 1993/2003/2013

1993:

I saw The Sandlot on April 11th, 1993. I know this because it's the first movie ticket stub I saved. (It cost $3.75)

But that was pretty much it for me with this movie. I liked it fine at the time, but it didn't join the ranks of great sports movies. I think sentimental kids movies had no chance to stay front of mind for me at that age.

But I kept hearing about this movie over the years. So I decided to actually watch it again for the first time since 4/11/93. And it's good. I probably like it more now. It has a real nostalgic pull to it. It's unabashedly sappy for sure, and is pretty clearly a mash-up of A Christmas Story and Stand By Me. Even the narrator seems to have been chosen to sound as much like those films narrators as possible. 

I still wouldn't place it among my favorite baseball movies, but I'm glad I watched it again. 

Speaking of being glad I watched it again, there is Who's The Man, which happened to be on Tubi. 

This movie I watched a lot back in the 90s, but probably had not watched since. Still, I instantly remembered a lot of scenes and lines from it. 

This is the movie where Ed Lover and Doctor Dre of Yo MTV Raps, become cops. It's basically Police Academy, but with a trace of grit to it. It's an incredibly MTV movie. Lover, Dre, Karen Duffy, Fab 5 Freddy, Bill Bellamy, Colin Quinn, Denis Leary (over the top hilarious). I guess John Norris was busy. Tons of rappers show up too. You even get an early Bernie Mac appearance.

The movie was the directing debut of Ted Demme, who went on to make Beautiful Girls and other good flicks. And the soundtrack (which I definitely owned once) had the first released song by Notorious B.I.G. (billed just as BIG).

2003:

Remember phone booths? Yeah they were pretty much phased out even by 2003 but we still got this movie about Colin Farrell being trapped in a booth by a sniper. 

It was going to be a Michael Bay movie, who famously said his first plan was to get the movie out of the booth. It ended up being helmed by Joel Schumacher. 

This thing is a dandy, tidy 80 minutes. It sustains the tension for just as long as it possibly could. 

Excellent cast, led by Farrell, who was in everything in 2003. This was his best work though. Still might be one of his best. Kiefer Sutherland oozes icy menace as the sniper. Katie Holmes pops up briefly. Forest Whitaker is the cop trying to figure it all out. 

2013:

42 was not the first movie about Jackie Robinson. He starred as himself in a biopic way back when he was still playing. It wasn't that good.

42 however is a very worthy biopic and one of the very best baseball movies of all time. It's done very straightforward and old fashioned but that serves the film. 

Obviously the film stands out as the big  breakthrough for Chadwick Boseman. When he died this film got briefly re-released into theaters. Boseman is perfect in the role, conveying both Jackie's toughness and class. He even kind of looks like him. 

The other great casting was Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey. Ford's gruffness has rarely been used so well. I frankly think both performances should have been awards contenders. 

The beautiful Nicole Beharie is wonderful as Jackie's wife. Lucas Black has some great moments as Pee Wee Reese. The rest of the cast is excellent too.

The film has very well done baseball scenes. It also manages to stick fairly close to what actually happened too. It does right by one of the greatest sports stories of all time. 

In between Mission Impossibles, Tom Cruise struggled to find hits in the 2010s. 

Oblivion kind of just came and went with minimal fanfare. It did okay but wasn't that big of a hit. I think it's an underrated sci-fi gem.

The film takes place some years after an alien attack on earth. We won but the planet was left uninhabitable. Humans are in the process of moving to the moons of Saturn, but Cruise is one of the guys left on earth to harvest energy to help with the move. 

But then complications happen, secrets are revealed. Morgan Freeman shows up as a mysterious earth dweller. Olga Kurylenko shows up as someone who may have a past with Cruise. 

The film has a great look to it. Cruise obviously liked the director, Joseph Kosinski, cause that's who made Top Gun: Maverick. Cruise himself is very good in this, with a part that calls for him to do a little more acting than his franchises. 

A key part of the McConaissance. Mud is about a pair of kids who meet a mysterious man in the woods, played by Matthew McConaughey.

This film is much more about characters than plot. And it has a rich ensemble. The name stars like McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard and Michael Shannon (who teamed up with director Jeff Nichols previously for the amazing Take Shelter) are all excellent. But the true lead is Tye Sheridan, who gives one of the best child performances of the century here. He has gone on to do some other stuff (he was Cyclops in the newer X-Mens) but hasn't quite lived up to what I thought was hinted at here. 

Other non-deep dive flicks:

1993:

-The Crush: Oh boy did I watch this a lot. Alicia Silverstone, man. Was anyone hotter back then? 😍

-Indecent Proposal: The big hit where Robert Redford pays $1 million to bang Demi Moore. And considering how hot she was here, I can't blame him. 

-Benny and Joon: you know that annoying song about "I would walk a thousand miles"? Blame this movie for it. 

-Cop and a Half: Burt Reynolds and a little kid team up to stop crime. Inspired an all time great Siskel and Ebert argument. 

-This Boy's Life: Leonardo DiCaprio's first breakthrough, as a kid with an abusive step-dad (Robert Deniro). Oh and hey, little Eliza Dushku too. 

-Sidekicks: The kids karate movie with Chuck Norris. 90s, man. 

-Boiling Point: A dull thriller with Wesley Snipes. 

2003:

-Anger Management: Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson teamed up for one of the former's more forgettable comedies to that point.

-A Mighty Wind: Christopher Guest comedy about folk singers. 

-Bulletproof Monk: Comic book flop with the "sure why not" pairing of Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott. The early 2000s were weird. 

-Malibu's Most Wanted: A truly unbearable Jamie Kennedy comedy. 

-A Man Apart: This Vin Diesel action drama had a fantastic trailer but was not good. 

-What A Girl Wants: Amanda Bynes comedy. I honestly don't remember a thing about it. 

-Identity: Mystery thriller with John Cusack. Iirc it had a really horrible ending. 

2013:

-Pain and Gain: Michael Bay set aside the action for a while to make this sordid true crime dark comedy with Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson. It is gleefully depraved, but only works about half the time. 

-Scary Movie 5: I liked this franchise, until this one, which was absolutely atrocious.

-Evil Dead: Horror remake that wasn't good. Not to be confused with the remake that just came out and also looks not good. 

-Trance: Danny Boyle movie that I honestly remember nothing about. Well, maybe one scene. 😏

Coming in May...

Okay, things are getting serious now. May is LOADED.

Return of the Jedi turns 40!

Two of my favorites of 1993, Menace II Society and Cliffhanger, hit 30. 

X2 (my favorite X-Men) and Finding Nemo (my favorite Pixar) turn 20. 

A few biggies turn 10.

And there are even a couple pretty big 25th anniversaries.