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| Some fantasy, some horror, some feel-good stuff - a decent array of different genres in this batch |
Boogie Nights (1997): – Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights is one of the most daring and intriguing movies of the 90’s and is often overlooked 25 years after its release. Many people do not give this movie a chance due to the graphic nature of the film’s premise, but the real story of this amazing film is dealing with the people behind this sordid industry. It offers a slice of multiple lives during the late 70’s and early 80’s pornography boom. Wahlberg does a phenomenal job playing the star Dirk Diggler (a John Holmes type of character), conveying the wide eyed kid turned into a “star” who falls due to drug addiction, but with a degree of redemption that fits the appropriate mold for the character. Though the true stars of this movie are the supporting cast. This is the movie that made Julianne Moore, John C Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Don Cheadle true stars. Reilly’s innocent imbecile plays perfect in tandem with Dirk’s star power, while Cheadle and Hoffman nail their characters. Cheadle is a man dealing with trying to make a name for himself outside of the industry while Hoffman is coming to terms with his true nature, forming a friendship which turns askew. Both characters - despite their good or bad actions - are amazing, nuanced, and engaging. Julianne Moore absolutely steals the show as the maternal Amber Waves and bears it all - including her soul - with her raw, fully committed performance. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Burt Reynold’s Golden Globe winning performance as Jack Horner, the producer and defacto father figure for so many of these wayward souls. This movie was the vehicle that brought back a Hollywood icon after nearly 2 decades of irrelevance. I highly recommend everyone give this movie a chance if you had passed on it originally, or just have not caught up with this 90’s gem recently.
Available on Netflix
The World's Fastest Indian (2005): Many people like me probably missed this hidden gem back in the early 2000’s. The name is very confusing, but once you watch the first 5 minutes it makes complete sense. Anthony Hopkins gives a touching performance as a New Zealand man on a mission, rebuilding his 1920’s Indian Motorcycle and treks to the Bonneville Salt Flats to test his work. The movie is about his trek from New Zealand to the US where he meets a diverse cast of characters led by Chris Williams as the transvestite Tina forming friendships on his quest to Bonneville. This is an under the radar low budget feel good movie in the vein of October Sky and honestly one of the few movies to bring tears of happiness to my eyes. Hopkins completely disappears into the role of the eccentric Kiwi and you’ll find yourself cheering along as he races for his dream. A phenomenal movie that is appropriate for most of the family excluding younger children.
Available on Dox, Magnolia Selects (holy guacamole, I've never heard of either of those)
Stardust (2007): This is the movie I have nominated about 100 times trying to get into the tournament and anyone who has seen it agrees with me that it is the best fantasy movie of the last 20 years. Based on and IMO surpassing a Neil Gaiman short novel, the film is much like the Princess Bride where we follow along on a quirky fairytale. The movie follows the story of Tristan (Charlie Cox – Dare Devil) a boy from an English village starts an adventure tracking down a fallen star Yvaine (Claire Danes – Homeland) in hopes that once he retrieves the star, he can marry the town beauty (Sienna Miller – Layer Cake). He begins a trek which takes him all over the fantasy world filled with magic, evil witches, and dangerous sky pirates, all while being tracked by a villainous prince trying to take his father’s throne. Outside of Cox and Dane’s performances, we see some enthralling turns from the supporting cast. Pfeiffer nails it as the beautiful witch set on collecting the star to restore her and her sister’s youth and beauty, but the real star of the show is Robert Deniro as the infamous pirate Shakespeare giving a truly touching performance and adding quite a bit of humor to this non stop fantasy adventure. We also see a brief turn by Superman Henry Cavill in the role of Humphrey who is also vying for the hand of the town beauty. What starts as an innocent display of adoration turns into an epic quest for Tristan and Yvaine and delves into the true mystery surrounding Tristan’s life. I highly recommend this movie to all people and is appropriate for everyone. I have probably watched this movie 20 times, introducing it to dozens of people and will probably watch 100 more times.
Available on Netflix
The Manchurian Candidate (1962): Frankenheimer’s tale of brainwashing, intrigue, and assassination is a true 60’s gem. Much like Old Boy, please ignore the remake and let us never speak of it again. It is utterly worthless. This was a movie my film loving mother had begged me to watch for nearly 6 years before I finally relented and sat down to watch, and it quickly became one of the top 10 movies I have ever seen. The film itself is so far ahead of its time and was truly groundbreaking, even being censored and prohibited shortly after its release. The film focuses on Korean war veteran Raymond Shaw’s (Laurence Harvey) return home after receiving a medal of honor for his actions rescuing POWs. Maj. Bennet Marco (Frank Sinatra) keeps having recurring dreams of brainwashing and murder after his team's rescue by Shaw and is convinced something is wrong with Shaw. The story delves into the cat and mouse between Shaw and Marco and has great turns from the supporting cast led by everyone’s novelist and sleuth (Angela Lansbury) in a truly terrifying turn as Shaw’s mother. I do not want to add much more to the description of the movie as to not ruin the story, but events in this book eerily mirror some aspects of the real life tragedy of President Kennedy’s assassination just a year after the film’s release. For those who watch for the first time, you will notice some details that pop up in pop culture even now 60 years after its release. The only bad thing I can say about this film is that the romance between Marco and Chaney (Janet Leigh) is a bit ridiculous and love at first sight garbage that 60’s movies were fond of, but if you overlook that bit of cheesiness, you will find this is one of the most remarkable films ever made.
Available to rent in some places
Dawn of the Dead (2004): Going against what I just stated with the last movie, this is a remake that takes a great original film and improves on it in every way. Zombies were introduced to the world through the iconic George Romero back in the late 60’s, but had always been a minor subgenre in the horror movie world. But 28 Days Later (yeah I know it’s not a zombie movie, but a disease, blah blah blah, it’s a zombie movie) followed by a DoTD remake (Zack Snyder) kicked of a resurgence and started the push that led to zombies taking over the entertainment world, followed by the World War Z novel and movie and truly thrust into the limelight with the Walking Dead comic adaptation in 2010. This is a bit of a sore spot with me, and I understand how true comic book aficionados feel when their nerdy true love goes mainstream and they feel like something has been taken from them. That is how I feel with the zombie genre. On the night of release in mid-March 2004, my brother and I eagerly sat down with a theater full of a whole 20 people to watch the much-anticipated remake of our childhood favorite Dawn of the Dead (1978). My siblings and cousins have always been super nerds around the world of zombies and have had discussions as young children about our plans if the zombie outbreak ever occurred decades before the rest of the world caught on. The movie starts in a generic suburb showing nurse Ana (Sarah Polley) going through her daily life with her husband following her shift at the hospital where some odd things were occurring and culminates in a truly terrifying scene where she wakes up to the worst imaginable nightmare and barely escapes with her life. Now this is the one point I will say the remake did not follow up well. Where the original DoTD was a commentary on Americans consumerism, this movie offered a very weak explanation for why people were seeking refuge at the mall. Outside of that, this movie did everything right. We follow a rag tag group of survivors seeking refuge in the mall and are introduced to everyman Michael (Jake Weber), tough guy trying to protect his family (Mekhi Phifer), rugged police officer (Ving Rhames), and IMO the star performance and breakout role by the security guard (Michael Kelly). We also see amazing divergence of his typical role from Ty Burell of Modern Family fame playing the despicable self-centered asshole Steve. The film ranges from terrifying to hilarity while the group initially seeks refuge, tries to make a go of survival and the ultimate decision to search for another safe haven. It is a really fun ride and I highly recommend to any fans of horror. This movie continually lands as my favorite horror movie of all time and has amazing rewatchability.
Available to rent in even more places
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