1996: Movies Sorted By Tier
Submitted by jim on Mon, 06/14/2004 - 04:52
Tags:
Loved
Emma
... My wife, who voluntarily read just about everything 19th century English literature has to offer, loves this movie. I, who read as little 19th century English literature as I could get away with and still snag the degree, also love this movie. The story, the cast, the pacing, the scenery - all wonderful.Sling Blade
... Billy Bob Thornton's transformational powers are impressive. A marvelous performance here, and a great movie. Shamefully under-nominated come Oscar time.Trainspotting
... As good a drug movie as I've ever seen. At times comic, at times horrific, it treads a thin line: our protagonists are interesting enough that the movie is in constant danger of glamorizing the Edinburgh drug scene. But it never succumbs, and the horrible moments really are horrible. A great movie about bad influences, both chemical and social.Really Liked
Bound
... An excellent debut movie for the Wachowski Bros. Tightly plotted with great overall and scene-specific tension. There's one trouble scene for the violence-squeamish and one other trouble scene for the lesbian-sex-squeamish. Personally, my only complaint is that some of the dialog didn't quite work for me, but that was mostly in the first 30 minutes before things really got rolling.Fargo
Hamlet
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
... This was quite a bit better than I remember it. It reunites the Beauty and the Beast directors, and I could at times sense some of the feel of that wonderful movie here. Also, it features a good Disney heroine, and one of Disney's most complex villians. You try explaining to a six-year-old that the most dangerous and evil men are the ones that really *believe* they're doing the right thing. And the subtlety of Frollo's cruelty to Quasimodo can be hard to pick up on for youngsters, so then there's *that* to explain too. Then again, I think she got it because she positively cackled when he gets what's coming to him. Not sure how I feel about that, come to think of it, but we're supposed to like it when the villain gets his just desserts, right? Anyway, between all that, the God stuff, the sexual repression stuff, I realized there's actually a fair amount in this movie, most of which thankfully (for now) went over Amelia's head.Jerry Maguire
Lone Star
Scream
... I'm a sucker for self-referential satire, and this does slasher movies (a genre I hate) perfectly.Glad I Saw
A Time to Kill
The Birdcage
Big Night
... Despite being a bit slow, I really liked this movie for the gentle comedy, nice family touches, and the glorification of good food.Bottle Rocket
Brassed Off
... Blockbuster should start a new section that they shelve between "Drama" and "Comedy". I propose naming this section "Movies Falsely Advertised as Rolicking and/or Romantic Comedies That Really Protest the Plight of the British Coal Miner." Fortunately I tend to enjoy that genre, and this movie was a fine representative. Like it's slightly superior sibling Billy Elliot, it's slow to build but with a nice payoff. My only complaint would be that Pete Postlethwaite's big speech was jarring, as he positively leaps out of character and onto the soapbox.The Cable Guy
The English Patient
Fly Away Home
... Good performances and a good story (even if it's much more fictional that you're led to believe). I'm a bit of a sucker for the "wounded kid bonds with animals and helps them" storyline. But only a bit. A pretty good example of the genre.The Frighteners
The Ghost and the Darkness
Matilda
... Between The Borrowers last week and Matilda this week, we have a good streak going for family movie night. A worthy Roald Dahl adaptation, ably directed by Danny Devito. If you're looking for some live-action family fare, this'll do ya good.The Pallbearer
... An unfairly maligned movie. I don't recall the marketing of The Pallbearer, but with David Schwimmer in the starring role I'd bet dollars to donuts the PR flunkies trailered it as a comedy, setting it up for failure. The filmmakers cannot be accused of cheating the audience with promises of a laugh-a-minute though, as the opening scene pretty much puts that notion to rest. I suppose technically this a comedy, but it's a dark and surprisingly thoughtful one, and centers around characters that make you cringe more often than make you laugh. I generally don't enjoy cringe humor, but that's because I don't find it funny. Here I don't think the cringing is designed to evoke guffaws, it's designed evoke an uneasy chuckle, and is quite effective. I must have cared for these characters on some level if I watched some scenes through by fingers, my hands pressed to my face in vicarious mortification (ha! no pun intended). Schwimmer is surprisingly good, although is perhaps a bit undermined by expectations (much like Jim Carrey in The Cable Guy, another unfairly maligned dark comedy).The People Vs. Larry Flynt
... Excellent performances all around. A over the top in lionizing Flynt, but it does succeed in de-stereotyping his life. Whether or not that's a good thing, I don't know. Nonetheless, interesting and well-done.Ransom
Shall We Dance?
Shine
Star Trek: First Contact
Swingers
Waiting for Guffman
Walking and Talking
... Since I just started the practice of waiting a bit before writing up reviews, this movie conveniently provides an example of why it's a good idea for me to work that way. Had I reviewed this the next day, I probably would have listed it here, on what has become the lowest-caliber list of my "recommended" series (which I'll have to prune a bit some day). This was mildly entertaining, and not nearly as annoying as I often find movies of this genre. But beyond that, I'm finding the impression it left me is written in sand: I struggle to recall who was in it, who was or wasn't in love and why, etc. I do like Catherine Keener (and just realized she had a bit part in a favorite of mine, Out of Sight), and I find myself enjoying Liev Schreiber (although more in the "seems likeable" department rather than the "great actor" department (note to self: coin term "Bruce Willis Syndrome") - I just wish I didn't always have to refer to the IMDb whenever I want to write his name so I get the "ie" and "ei"). Anyway, go ahead and rent it. You might like it, but it won't rock your world (that's my prediction, anyway).The Whole Wide World
... A touching and unconventional romance, played well by Renee Zellweger and even better by Vincent D'Onofrio. We really feel the peaks and valleys of their rollercoaster relationship as it develops and deepens over the course of years, which is an impressive feat given the sub-two-hour runtime (this is not to say it drags; quite the opposite). We root for the happy ending, but have no idea if we'll be given it or not. A little-seen movie that deserves a wider audience.Guilty Pleasures
Daylight
... Watched this three times in 24 hours as I was walking the floors with my colicky newborn (was the only rental on hand). It's amazing I'm still sane.From Dusk Till Dawn
Happy Gilmore
The Long Kiss Goodnight
... Lotsa fun, in a trashy La Femme Nikita kind of way. Our heroine is nicely summed up in this quote from Samuel L. Jackson's character: "You know, back when we first met, you were all like "Oh phooey, I burned the darn muffins." Now, you go into a bar and ten minutes later sailors come runnin' up. What up with that?"Mars Attacks!
The Rock
... The best of the Bruckheimer actioners. Not that that's saying much, but this one does deliver on the action and hammed-up characters. Fun stuff, in a lazy brain-dead days of summer kind of way.Could Have Missed
101 Dalmatians
Beautiful Girls
... Not a bad movie about a bunch of semi-likable jerks and the women they mess up. Somewhat undermines itself by saying men are fixated on beautiful women and not the more average-looking women around them while having the latter class portrayed by Mira Sorvino, Uma Thurman, Lauren Holly, Natalie Portman, etc. (okay, Thurman basically plays someone from the latter class, but close enough) but I didn't mind too much. Most everybody was fair, the dialog was good enough (with moments of brilliance), and I was interested in seeing it through to the end. Not a ringing endorsement, but not a bad way to spend an evening by any means. I will say this, it will be nice when Natalie Portman finishes with the Star Wars debacle and gets back to acting. She was clearly the standout here. This performance alone made me want to see more of her.Harriet the Spy
... Surprisingly sophisticated in its ambiguities regarding friendship, honesty, and sticking up for yourself. The actress that played Harriet was good, but the other child performances were a bit flat.Kingpin
Mission: Impossible
Multiplicity
The Nutty Professor
Phenomenon
Tin Cup
The Truth About Cats & Dogs
Twister
Should Have Missed
Black Sheep
Broken Arrow
Independance Day
... My expectations weren't very high, so I guess this technically wasn't very disappointing, but it was still a letdown.Michael
Pusher
... Gritty, violent, and well-acted, yet somehow totally not my thing. It kept me just interested enough to watch to the end, which kinda pisses me off. Had it truly sucked I could have saved some time.Space Jam
The Trigger Effect
... If people were as rude, selfish, and stupid as they are portrayed here then the veil of civilization would certainly be so fragile. While I don't have a particularly high opinion of humanity, it's still not so low that I think we'd sink into chaos after only a few days of no phones or electricity. I probably would have liked this movie better if the characters weren't so annoying. I was just interested enough to watch through to the end, but I did fast-forward a bit in the final 30 minutes.El Sucko Grande
Barb Wire
Dragonheart
Cloned From:
yay! you like bottle rocket and Cable guy.
im a huge wes anderrson fan and am glad to see rocket on the list and in a pretty 'good' :) place. i loved bottle rocket, very cool movie with a heart to it aswell.
well bb, take care from RUSHMORE
I think Bottle Rocket got critical love when it was released, but Cable Guy is definitely unfairly maligned. Flawed, sure, but not awful by any means. Glad you agree.
hey mate!
May I Recommend this great 1996 movie The Pallbearer you may have seen it but it came to my mind, no worries if you have.
ah, if you have, what did you think?
i remember stooky made the comment that it was a heck of alot like "The Graduate" and at that point i had not seen "The Graduate" but now i have, i agree it is alot like the graduate but "The pallbearer" is still a great movie! in my top10.
It is extremely rare that I find a movie that scores under 5.0 on IMDb that I like. Same for scoring in the 30s on Rotten Tomatoes. I think I'm going to need at least a group of three Listologists to band together and unanimously sing its praises before I brave those waters.
I still have unseen Kurosawa movies to watch, and life is too short. :-)
lol valid point but dont let the low score put you off mate, its a rewarding ,cool movie to watch.
but if you still need 3 listologists to vouch for it, i know for a fact that Ibangs likes it, lol all i need its one more! wait! i'll make a poll!
hehe now you'll see, "who here likes The pallbearer" Yes! hehe!
hi jim, as the poll idea kind of fell short (only one more listology user needed mind you)to try and get you to watch "The Pallbearer"
i thought i'd show you this, a view of the movie by...Roger Ebert!! (i actually dont know who he is) but he gives it 3 stars and says some great things about it..HERE
Roger Ebert is probably the best-known movie critic over here in the US. That doesn't make him good, but he certainly has his moments. I tend to feel he's past his prime, but he can still write well, and every now and then a movie gets under his bonnet and he lets it rip to great effect.
That said, he also likes his fair share of dogs. See Red Planet, which I hated, for example.
I actually did pull The Pallbearer up in Netflix and had my mouse poised over the "Rent" button, but couldn't quite pull the trigger (felt like it was pointing dangerously close to my foot). Sorry, close but no cigar!
lol I'm Proud you got that Far :) maybe in a few months time you'll go one step further and hit the "Rent" button...You know you should..you know its right.. :() haha
bb mate.. (mmmmuuaaahhh!!)
Yes! i see you liked the pallbearer. you make some great points here. i too thought it was lie "The Cable Guy". well thankyou for watching it and i'm glad you semi-enjoyed it.
one question, was it better than you expected? i gather it was from the comments. again glad you liked it and thx for watching.
Ps- what was your favourite scene? highlights for me are the funeral speech and the moment where julie teels him that scott made a pass at her but he already knows, class!
I liked it quite a bit better than I was expecting. I was expecting it to suck, frankly, and instead I enjoyed it (even better than "semi-enjoyed").
I liked the scene at the restaurant where his buddy is supposed to be helping him win over Julie, but instead ends up doing the opposite of help. Uncomfortable to watch, but handled well.
And I liked all the scenes with Carol Kane, even if Schwimmer's abuse of her got a bit tiresome. C'mon man, she's your Mom! 24 is old enough to be over the whole teenager schtick.