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 Pre
Oscar Top Ten
Think
about this: Shakespeare In Love vs. Saving Private Ryan.
Which one was a better film? I’m willing to guess
about 80% of you said Saving Private Ryan. Why then, did
Shakespeare In Love win the Oscar for best picture? Not
unlike the real estate business, the movie industry is
all about location, location, location. Saving Private
Ryan came out during the summer. Shakespeare in Love was
released in December. People tend to love good movies
immediately after viewing then only “like” them
after a few months. It’s the same with Critics. The
truth is there are more Fall movies on top ten lists than
Spring movies not only because they are generally better
films, but that they are more resonant in the Critic’s
minds than the Spring movies which they’ve all but
forgotten about.
This is why I think it’s unfair to wait all the way
till December to write a top ten list. I’ve decided
to create one made up ONLY of movies released up until
this point of the year. When my complete Best of 99 list
comes out in December we’ll see how many of these
movies are still on it.
Best Movies of the Winter, Spring and Summer of 99
10. Tarzan -
An excellent Animated feature. Please note I have yet to
see the Iron Giant which may end up taking it’s spot
as the Animated movie of the year.
9. Austin
Powers 2 -
It was funnier than the original Austin (which placed
high on my list in ’97) but didn’t seem as
fresh. Oh well, I still loved it!
8. American
Pie -
This infused some heart and soul into the dying teen
flick genre. The best date flick of the year.
7. Election - A
razor-sharp black comedy that makes you cringe with
laughter at Mid-American life. One of the smartest movies
ever to take place in a high school.
6. The
Sixth Sense -
Admit it! That girl in the tent made you scream! A very
well done thriller/comedy/drama/romance (I guess you
could just call it unclassifiable). It deserved all that
moolah.
5. Lock
Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - A
tight, hilarious, and very British comedy about the usual
Tarantino-like Shenanigans. It would have been a
shameless rip-off of Pulp Fiction if it wasn’t for
the movie’s mad-cap zanyness.
4. Go -
This was also similar to Pulp Fiction but it offered up a
completely different scene and a fresh, energetic style.
The script speeds along like a bullet creating everything
from laugh-out-loud hilarity, to impressive action and
taught suspense.
3. South
Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut -
The funniest film of the year. The funniest film IN
years. Even if you hate the show, nothing, and I mean
nothing, could stop you from laughing your ass off.
Whether you crave sharp, witty jokes or poo-poo toilet
humor, South Park has it all!
2. The
Matrix -
One of the best action films of the decade, perhaps of
all time. The Matrix has a captivating plot, an immerse
universe, amazing effects and adrenaline pumping action.
A top notch movie all around.
1. Run
Lola Run -
All I can say is WOW! I can’t imagine seeing a much
better film this year. While not exactly the stuff Oscars
are made of, if this doesn’t win best foreign film
something is terribly wrong. An amazing cinematic
achievement out of Germany. If you haven’t seen in…
well… you better.
Honorable Mention
The
Mummy - A
refreshing blast of pure entertainment. I loved it, but
few others did.
Dick -
Clever, cute and very funny. This was a sugary treat that
really surprised me.
A
Midsummer Night’s Dream -
After Shakespeare In Love showed us the bard could be
funny, this came along and proved it without a doubt.
Star
Wars: The Phantom Mention - I
liked it. But only because it was Star Wars. And that’s
truly sad.
Deep
Blue Sea -
The best monster movie since Jurassic Park. Ya gotta love
those smart sharks!
The
Blair Witch Project - I
liked it. Enough to crack my top 20. But it wasn’t
the mind-blowing, life altering experience the media made
it out to be.
Bowfinger - A
hilarious Hollywood comedy that reminded me how great
both Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy can be.
I’m not here to talk about bad movies but let me
just say there were some raging disappointments (namely
Wild Wild West, Eyes Wide Shut, Big Daddy). But the
overall number of terrible movies were down from the
previous year and I can never frown at improvement. Way
to go Hollywood! You're getting better!
Tell me what you think is missing from my Top Ten of
January-August films. E-mail me
and give me your picks.
Where's the Audience?
Why
is it that messy, dull, brain-dead movies like Big Daddy,
She’s All That and The Haunting have people flocking
to see them while much, much, much better movies like Go,
Election, and Iron Giant are left struggling to reach 20
million.
It’s not fair.
Go is the perfect example. It had a well-known, and
respected cast and crew, good advertisements, a
best-selling soundtrack, and plenty of awesome buzz. Yet,
it was a still-born at the box-office. Why? Teenagers
(the target audience) instead went to see the mediocre
Ten Things I Hate About You. Was it because of Go’s
R-rating? Probably not, because in January teens rushed
out to see the R-rated Varsity Blues. Varsity Blues
remains one of the worst films I’ve seen all year,
while Go ranks as one of the best. The reason for its
failure will always remain a mystery to me.
Iron Giant was one of the best reviewed films all year
but hardly anyone saw it. Why? Animation is more popular
than it has ever been before. Tarzan attracted families
up the wazoo! But still, Iron Giant got the shaft. I’m
putting the blame squarely on Warner Bros. Their ads for
the well-reviewed cartoon were lackluster and there just
wasn’t enough promotion. They chose to promote
Wild-Fucking-West instead of poor, poor Iron Giant.
Another good example was the weekend of September 10th.
Both Stigmata and Stir Of Echoes were released and
attacked the same audience. Audiences chose the blah
Stigmata over the impressive Stir of Echoes despite the
fact that the former had zero big stars and the latter
had Kevin Bacon. Was it because of marketing? I don’t
know many who wanted to see Stigmata because of it’s
trailer. Most people who went to it told me they actually
don’t know what made them see it. Perhaps there’s
black magic involved!
Basically it’s just a classic case of consumers not
listening to critics. How else can you explain Inspector
Gadget’s staggering 90 million gross. It used to be
that audiences respected the critics opinions and would
shy away from a badly reviewed movie but now they just
let the studios jerk them around.
What do you think? Why do you think no-one saw Go, Iron
Giant, or any other well-reviewed flop? E-mail me
your opinions.
Reader Yak-Bak
In
this section I print and respond to some of the e-mail I
receive.
Here’s a letter from Cory Prudent-
Hey Jeff,
How can you say anything bad about Blue Streak? Martin
Lawrence is so absolutely funny in this movie that he
supports the whole movie. Martin Lawrence is a gifted
comedian and anyone who doesn’t think he’s
funny probably has no sense of humor. How old are you..
50? Oh, and what is with you saying Blue Streak is
cashing in on the success of Rush Hour? It’s not at
all like it!
-Cory Prudent
PS- and Elmo DOES NOT suck!
Woah, how am I going to respond to that? Well, let me
just say you are way off. You have made several
statements that wrong, pure and simple.
Wrong Statement #1- Martin Lawrence is a gifted
comedian.- No, no he’s not. He CAN be funny, but he
is far from gifted. Personally I find his movie roles
unbearable. Chris Rock is funny. Chris Tucker is funny.
But Lawrence is just annoying. He’s not horrible in
movies like Bad Boys and Life, but that’s when he’s
playing straight man to much funnier comedians. Sorry to
all you Lawrence fans out there but I just can’t
stand him.
Wrong Statement #2- Anyone who doesn’t think (Martin
Lawrence is) funny probably has no sense of humor- Wrong.
I have a sense of humor. Ask anyone who knows me and the
first thing they’ll say is “man, he sure has a
good sense of humor”. How else can you explain my
love for movies like BASEketball and Mousehunt.
Wrong Statement #3- How old are you.. 50?- No, Actually I’m
much less that half that number. I’m probably
younger than you, my confused reader friend.
Wrong Statement #4- Blue Streak is not trying to cash in
on the success of Rush Hour- Hmm… I sure think it
is. Rush Hour opened exactly one year ago to the day that
Blue Streak opened to. They’re both mid-budget
action comedies with black leads. I’ll bet you
dollars to doughnuts that a mid-budget action comedy will
be released next year, this time.
I’ve certainly proved you wrong, Corey. Anybody else
want a piece of me? E-mail me.
In the next edition I’ll give you some video picks
and answer more Yak-Bak.
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