1990: Arachnophobia:
Directed by Frank Marshall
Triller/Horror
Rated PG-13
Jeff Daniels as a spider fearing dad
John Goodman as the "yah I'm bad" exterminator
Big ass fake spiders with attitude and theme songs...
The rest of the cast made less of an impression
Tagline: Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude.
Before Thoughts: Okay so the last time I saw this movie was probably sometime in High School when it was on TV or something I can't imagine having seen this moving within the last 12 years. I remember someone goes to South American and brings back fruit that a scary dangerous spider hitches a ride in. This spider then comes to some small town (it's always a small town) and breeds with the biggest spider there to create super spider. Super spider's children go out and kill people in a web like pattern away from Jeff Daniel's house. Jeff Daniel just moved in I think and they have a wine cellar that's important in the end and a barn- nothing good ever comes from barns- and he has a hot teenage daughter who takes a shower and almost gets bit by a spider but John Goodman comes to the semi-rescue and squashes a bug on the porch. He also had like a super serum to kill spiders. A football player dies, an old couple dies while eating popcorn...does a doctor die? Anyways the spider likes Jeff Daniel's wine cellar and there's a show down in the end with flames and a dancing spider. Then they move?
I have pretty positive memories of this movie. I always found it very entertaining and sure it was a bit predictable but it was fun. I don't remember it being too terribly cheesy but I can't wait to see how wrong I was about that...I smell a delightfully A+ B movie!
After Thoughts: This movie made me jumpy! I'm not afraid of spiders or bugs or really any sort of creepy crawler thing, but I still found myself jumping lots and shrieking at this movie. But it was all just fun stuff. I really enjoy this movie. It's just fun and silly and takes itself a little too seriously. But John Goodman for the win! OMG he's just the best part of it! I had the summary pretty accurate although the "hot" daughter was the Football Coach's daughter- whateves. And at the end when they move they have earthquakes to deal with. The spiders are the end were super cheesy and poor production, but the littler spiders throughout looked really really life like- kinda like wolf-spiders.
Half way through the movie my friend Linda dropped by and she was mostly shocked about by how young Jeff Daniels as and commented on the clothing. We both jumped and shrieked when the spiders were dropping from the ceiling. But it was so laughable when the house was just covered in spiders, so not believable. But it was fun. Good Thursday night entertainment.
Tyler's Ranking: A grade B Movie. Not A+ but pretty darn good.
1991: City Slickers
Movie Facts:
Directed by Ron Underwood
Rated PG-13
Tagline: Yesterday they were businessmen, today they're cowboys, tomorrow they'll be walking funny.
Billy Crystal
That guy from When Harry Met Sally
That guy from Home Alone
Before Thoughts: Probably haven't seen this movie since the 90s. I remember it being about a group of friends having mid-life crisis-es and going on a Cattle Drive. Every year for their birthdays they do some stupid trip together and this year it's a Cattle Drive. They are all from the city so it's rough for some of them, but in the end they do it because of "friendship". I don't really remember the moral of this story actually. I remember Billy Crystal birth's a cow and on the trail ride there's like one woman. The Ben and Jerry guys are there and they have a challenge over what ice cream goes best with what food. They have to cross a river in a crazy storm, someone falls into some cactus and they all live happily ever after....yah that's all I got. Let's see how much I forgot :)
After Thoughts: Ehhh. This one didn't stand up to the test of time to me as much. I just wasn't too impressed. I thought parts were still funny. I remembered some but forgot a lot. So the cattle drive guy dies! And Billy Crystal and his friends end up leading the cattle to the ranch they were headed to. They get abandoned by the douchey cowboys and just drive them all themselves. In the end all the guys figure out their lives and are no longer in their crisis moods and go home to better lives. The cow Billy Crystal helps birth goes home with him too. His name is Norman. It was a very pretty cow. Maybe this movie is why I've always liked cows so much. But I also forgot that the guy from Home Alone was upset because he was stupid and had an affair with a young girl and got her pregnant. They just kinda forgot about that part for the rest of the movie even though it was kinda a major part in the beginning. The point of the whole movie and the cattle drive in general is you have to find that one thing that makes you happy that can sustain you...and that's the secret of life.
Tyler's Ranking: B solid, B. Good, not great.
1992: Reservoir Dogs
Movie Facts:
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Rated R
Tagline: Every "dog" has its day.
Besides Steven Buscemi and Harvey Keitel I never really recognize the actor's name unless I have my phone handy. But I recognize Tim Roth when I see him...
Before Thoughts: I own this movie so it's sad I haven't watched it in probably 10 years...I own a lot of DVDs it happens. So what I remember is there are a bunch of guys brought together by a 'boss' to hold a heist. Something in the heist goes wrong, lots of people die or are arrested, but 3 guys make it back to the hide out or the safe house thing. The guy who's name I can't remember cuts off some guys ear cause he thinks he's the undercover cop. All the guys have color names, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange, Mr. White. And the undercover cop is the one that gets shot and Harvey Keitel's character tries to help him. I think Tim Roth's character lives even though he's the undercover and he was shot but I'm not too sure. I can't remember if everyone gets away in the end or if the cops raid the safe house. Who knows... so let's see!
After Thoughts: So I fell asleep...I may never know how it ends! Also Mr. Blonde is the guy I can never recognize. I stayed awake for about 30 minutes. Just enough to notice how young Steve Buscemi looks and Harvey Keitel! So weird seeing them younger. So since I fell asleep I guess I can talk about why I picked this movie. I probably saw this movie for the first time in High School after seeing Pulp Fiction, I did not like Pulp Fiction. Then I saw Four Rooms around the same time and really enjoyed some of it but not all. So then I watched Reservoir Dogs and have no idea why I liked it so much more. I still like it more...I think. So sorry I fell asleep, I don't think I have time to watch it again, but that's okay. I'm ready to move onto the next phase of the 90s. Also something I noticed in the first 30 minutes was that it doesn't matter that this movie took place in the 90s, there wasn't a lot of stuff that made you think oooh that's a 90s film...so kinda timeless. I like that.
Tyler's Ranking:
1993: Falling Down
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Movie Facts:
Directed by Joel Schumacher
Rated R
Drama; Action/Suspense
Michael Douglas- playing a nerdy guy who's been pushed too far, with a predisposition towards anger...yah I buy it
Robert Duval- playing a cop retiring because his annoying wife wants him too...yah I buy it
Barbara Hershey- playing the ex-wife to Michael Douglas' nerdy guy who's been pushed too far with a predisposition towards anger...I don't buy it
Movie Thoughts: I had a friend over for dinner and let him pick the movie. Out of my list and this is what he chose. So I didn't get to do my usual before thoughts and after thoughts, but here are some of my general thoughts. When describing the movie before we started watching it I said, "Michael Douglas was a cubicle worker who's had enough. He walks out of his car in traffic and is trying to get home for his daughter's birthday". I mentioned something about the ex-wife and then that he basically goes on a downward spree breaking shit all over LA. He was sold!
This movie was on my list because I remember when my dad first showed it to my sister and I. He thought it was hilarious and talked about how at some point lots of people feel this way, they just don't go on a terror spree throughout town. But my dad used to do this impression of the fed up angry guy but in a really comedic way that always made us laugh and so this movie was kinda the embodiment of that character to me. I hadn't seen this movie probably in about 5-7 years. I've watched in in my 20s at some point but can't really remember when.
Love Robert Duval in everything but in this movie I really enjoyed him. There's also this female cop in this movie who plays "the' female cop in LA in all the movies with cops in LA in the early 90s, she's also on Lost as you guessed it a female cop! My whole female cop issue is kinda addressed in the movie which is funny, with the neo-nazi guy who asks why female cops aren't called officer-ess like actress. She says because they just thought police officer covered it all.
One thing I'm noticing about all these movies right now is that I'm not missing technology in them. Sometimes you'll see a movie from the past and can't get over how much easier it would be with the internet or cell phones, but this and Arachnophobia I didn't really miss it. I think while they look dated because of costumes and well history I guess they don't feel as dated as say some of todays movies will when 15 years from now we aren't all obsessed with iPhone and Social Media as we are today. I feel like some movies just stand up better.
My dinner guest really enjoyed the movie too he thought it was a dark comedy. Which is kinda accurate as well. He was able to figure out the ending after about thirty minutes into the film. Overall good movie. 93 was a hard year to pick from. I think I'd seen a lot of 93 movies recently.
Tyler's Ranking: A-
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Next up watching Leon with some friends for 1994. I'm super excited.
Previous 30 day movie project posts
Overview of the Project
My thoughts on Legend
1986-1989 Movies
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