Cinematic Throwbacks: March 1994/2004/2014

1994:

In 1994, man was I in the bag for Above The Rim. It was one of those perfect movies at the perfect time for me.

A hood movie. A basketball movie (released right around tournament time). A Tupac movie. A movie with one of the all time classic soundtracks. There was no way this movie wasn't going to be one of my favorites at the time.

I saw this in theaters. I believe it was the last movie I ever saw at this cheap ass little run down theater that closed shortly after. And yeah, I was totally into it. Amongst all the greats of 1994, this one was up near the top of my best-of list at the time.

No, it's not at that level. It's noticeably cheap looking and in a few cases it seems like they only had one take for certain scenes that needed more. But hey, it's still a very entertaining watch.

The basketball scenes have a lot of energy, and are backed by some of that great soundtrack. Tupac's role seems like a little bit of slumming coming off Poetic Justice, but he's magnetic. This was actually his last movie released before he died. Leon's character is kind of weird, but well played, and it's always cool when he steps into the game at the end. Marlon Wayans is here for some of the comic relief, and he mostly delivers it. Bernie Mac pops up for a few scenes. 

Duane Martin is the lead, and he's solid, but considering the wealth of talented young black actors floating around at the time one does wonder what a better actor could have done with the role. Oddly, the movie does not have a girlfriend character.

This film's legacy is largely musical. Death Row Records did the soundtrack at the peak of their powers. "Regulate" by Warren G has never left regular rotation. Tupac's "Pain" was so great they had to put out a 2nd soundtrack CD just to get it out there. 

The final installment in the Naked Gun series, 33 1/3 arrived with a new director, and a little less involvement from from the original ZAZ team. 

This one involves Frank Drebin going undercover in prison to catch a bomber, then ending up at the Academy Awards to foil the big plan. 

Obviously it's rare enough for comedy sequels to be good, but threequels almost never happens. 33 1/3 is the weakest of the series, but it's still really funny and packed with good bits. And that Oscars finale is just one banger joke after another. I don't know if a newcomer to the series even would get a lot of the jokes here. But I'm old, so I do.

They certainly could have done more of these if they wanted to. Leslie Nielsen kept doing spoof movies for a while longer, though with drastically diminishing returns.

The movie has always had this weird history to it, since this series co-starred OJ Simpson, and this movie came out just a few months before he became a murderer. It's also a little awkward that much is made in the movie about Anna Nicole Smith, given what her life became. Odd stuff for such a silly movie. 

In the era before movies became a major component of my life, one of my absolute favorite movies was the original Major League. Arguably to this day my favorite baseball movie, and back then baseball was probably my absolute favorite thing period. A perfect match.

5 long years later came the sequel, and this one I got to see in theaters, which was exciting. And it opened just as that fateful 1994 season was about to begin. It was the last time baseball was king.

As was usually the case in those days, most sequels arrived without a ton of care given. The same director, and most of the cast (save for Wesley Snipes) came back (whether there was a reason to or not). And the plot did too, as ML2 is a rehash for sure. Much work is done to get the Cleveland Indians back into the depths of ineptitude, so they can again make a run into the playoffs. 

A key change to this movie is that, while the original is R, this one went all the way down to PG. So yeah, it has nothing too edgy in there.

It's not one of the great comedy sequels of all time, but despite much of the movie being a retread, it's still pretty enjoyable, and has some very funny stuff in it. The bits with Randy Quaid as a die hard fan are hilarious (and a go-to whenever the Twins stink). Cerrano becoming a pacifist is amusing. The Japanese outfielder is fun. 

2004:

When Kevin Smith made Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, that was meant to be the end of that period of his filmmaking career. No more Askewniverse, and on to different things.

Jersey Girl was Smith's 1st stand-alone film. All original characters, a new story. Hell, even a PG13 rating (I believe still his only non-R). 

And it was a notorious flop, a career-altering one. But it was so not Smith's fault. The film stars Ben Affleck, and features Jennifer Lopez in a brief extended cameo. The previous year, they starred together in the infamous bomb Gigli. They were the #1 non-Britney target of the stalkerazzi and tabloid media at that time. 

So it didn't matter that Jersey Girl had Lopez in a minor role. The film got delayed to escape Gigli's shadow, but it didn't matter. They weren't even a couple anymore by the time it got released. It didn't matter. The critics savaged it just because, and poor box office followed. Smith's plans to move beyond the Askewniverse were doomed. He seemed to take it extra hard, and while he has done a few standalone movies since, he immediately went back to the well with Clerks 2 (which I did like a lot).

There is a whole other track his career could have gone on had Jersey Girl been the hit it deserved to be. It's an unabashedly sweet and sentimental movie, with Affleck as a single dad trying to raise his young daughter (Raquel Castro in one of my favorite child performances ever). I absolutely loved the vibe between those two. I always felt that if I ever had a kid I'd be just like Affleck in this. This is movie star Affleck at his very best. If people didn't have the knives out for him, this could have been his Jerry Maguire. 

Affleck's love interest is Liv Tyler as the prettiest girl to ever work at a video store, and just as in Armageddon their chemistry is effortless. George Carlin (in his last role, sadly) is wonderfully warm as Affleck's dad. There is a terrific Will Smith cameo scene near the end. And yeah, even Lopez is fine in her couple scenes.

This is such a sweet movie. Maybe there just wasn't going to be a place for nice comedies, with the Sandler/Farrell stuff still going and the Apatow era coming. But Smith really fits this. He's a big heart on his sleeve guy and that really comes across in this, better than anything he has ever done. There are some great dramatic scenes and it gets quite emotional. That "Landslide" needle drop wrecks me every time.

So it is what it is. Circumstances ruined what should have been a hit movie and caused a pretty great film to be labeled a flop. But I will always defend this one. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the kind of film where the people who love it LOOOOOVE it. Lots of people not only list it among their favorites of 2004, but of all time. It is a beloved film.

Directed by Michel Gondry, a man from the Charlie Kaufman school, it spins the high concept of there being a company that can erase people from your memory. Unbeknownst to Jim Carrey, his ex Kate Winslet has had him erased from her memory. So he decides to undergo the same procedure, only to change his mind too late. Much of the film takes place within Carrey's mind, as he desperately tries to hold onto those remaining memories.

I think the reason that, despite my admiration for the film, it never quite elevated to that elite level for me is that the whole film is not just Carrey and Winslet. A lot of time is spent with a few of the employees of the memory-erasing company (Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson) and a few of their own subplots. I always have found those scenes intrusive to the good stuff.

And that good stuff is so damn good. The visualization of Carrey's memories is boundlessly creative. I'm not sure if this is Carrey's absolute best performance, but it's close, and Winslet is right there. The film can be very funny, but it's that melancholic streak that really sinks in. 

Not to get all maudlin or personal, but that idea of both wishing you could erase a relationship from your memory, cause maybe it ended badly, but also clinging to the memories of it like they are the most valuable thing in the world to you...I get it. I have been there. As Carrey realizes he can't stop this, and he and the Winslet in his mind get closer to the end, the film is deeply sad. 

But the two characters find each other again at the end, and even knowing what happened, they still want to try again. And I get that too. I'd kill for a second chance at a few relationships that ended in rubble. So a film that runs the gamut of emotions ends on an optimistic, hopeful note. 

2014:

Not sure if the trend really began with Twilight or The Hunger Games, but by the early 2010s everybody wanted their own YA franchise. Most of them were one and done. The only ones that managed a full series were The Maze Runner, and the Divergent series. (Well, Divergent ALMOST got a full series)

Divergent got a lot of hype heading in. It had a lot of the same elements: YA novel source material, dystopian future, fast rising star of a lead actress. In this case that was Shailene Woodley, who was most recently coming off the superb The Spectacular Now. I certainly would have had her at the top of my list to lead a franchise.

I know it's a hot take (scalding even) but I think I liked this 1st Divergent movie more than any Hunger Games flick. I just really enjoyed the world building here. Everybody has to choose a faction of people to live amongst one they reach adulthood. Those who don't fit a category are divergent and are considered dangerous, and so when Woodley finds out that's what she is, she has to hide her true self. She ends up choosing "Dauntless", the group that acts as sort of a police force in future Chicago.

The film is largely comprised of Woodley's Tris undergoing training, and I liked most of this stuff. It actually takes quite a while for the actual villain plot to kick in, courtesy of a somewhat stiff Kate Winslet. 

I liked most of the cast. Woodley is fantastic. She was very high on my favorite actress list after this one. I usually reject the boy toy love interest on general principle, but Theo James is pretty good in that role here. Zoe Kravitz pops up for a handful of scenes. Miles Teller does good asshole. We get some Maggie Q.

The film was a big hit. The sequels that we did get were not as good, but I still think this first one was really well done and a great example of how to do this stuff right. 

Other non-deep dive flicks:

1984:

-Police Academy: They made a lot of these, and I spent a lot of time as a kid watching them. 

-Splash: Tom Hanks falls for a mermaid. The 80s were so weird. 

-This Is Spinal Tap: The granddaddy of the mockumentary. I've actually never seen it. 

1994:

-The Paper: Ron Howard's film about a frantic day in the life at a New York City newspaper is one of the most underrated films of the decade. Hugely entertaining, with a great cast led by probably my favorite Michael Keaton performance, and some great stuff by Randy Quaid, Marisa Tomei and even Glenn Close, who I never like. I just love that mid-90s NYC setting. Must be the Seinfeld effect. 

-The Ref: I did my anniversary viewing of this back in December, cause this is a Christmas movie, and a very good one. Denis Leary is a burglar who kidnaps a bickering couple, and then has to pretend to be their therapist to avoid being caught. Very funny movie. Leary is great. Kevin Spacey, sorry, is also really good. This was Ted Demme's last film before he made Beautiful Girls (he carried over a couple actors)

-D2: The Mighty Ducks: I saw this twice in the theater. I recall this being the best of the series. 

-Greedy: I really liked this one back in the day, where Michael J. Fox is part of a family.all trying to get in on an inheritance. I think I saw this on my birthday. 

-The Chase: Saw this in theaters too. Charlie Sheen kidnaps Kristy Swanson and goes on a high speed chase. Odd flick, with a weird supporting cast. 

-The Hudsucker Proxy: Lesser Coen Brothers movie. I saw it a long time ago. 

2004:

-Starsky and Hutch: Kind of lame TV adaptation. 

-Spartan: Another one I liked at the time but haven't seen in a long time. Some early Kristen Bell. 

-Dawn of the Dead: The film that started Zack Snyder. I was hugely excited for this and was massively disappointed by it. 

-Taking Lives: Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke slumming it in a serial killer thriller. 

-The Ladykillers: Another lesser Coen Brothers movie, this one with Tom Hanks as the bad guy. 

-Scooby-Doo 2: Pretty sure I never saw this one. 

-Never Die Alone: Only in 2004 could a film be released theatrically that starred DMX and David Arquette. I recall it being quite terrible. 

2014:

-Veronica Mars: Famously bankrolled by Kickstarter. I was a big fan of the show early on, but tapped out during the bad final season. The film is a lot more season 3 than season 1. It's not bad, just I have no idea why they bothered. I think they did another season of this show on Hulu, but I never tapped back in. 

-300: Rise of an Empire: This sequel swapped out bare-chested dudes for a, well, occasionally bare-chested Eva Green. I didn't like either film. 

-Need For Speed: Pretty lame video game adaptation. 

-Noah: Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic. Haven't seen it since theaters but recall it being pretty solid. 

-Sabotage: Tough guy action flick starring, among others, Arnold Schwarzenegger. I recall kind of liking this. 

Coming in April...

The 25th anniversary of one of my absolute favorites, Go. 

In the round number anniversaries, Kill Bill Vol. 2, and the good Mean Girls turn 20. 

And The Winter Soldier turns 10.