The Resident Bitch Prepares for... the Most Recent MoFo Countdown

The Mission
(Johnnie To, 1999)

Gangster movies are not my cup of tea. It's very rare for me to enjoy one, mostly because they tend to fall into that subset of movies about shitty people doing shitty things to each other - which usually makes me just not care. Unfortunately, The Mission was not an exception to that. Which is not to say that there's anything wrong with the movie. It looked good, the performances were fine, and I did like the shootout that started on the escalator as well as the final sequence, so I'll give it credit for that. But that's just not enough to earn any consideration from me for the countdown.

__________________

I loved this movie

Demoliton Man
(Marco Brambilla, 1993)

There's just nothing quite like a dumbass 90s actioner when I'm in the mood for some mindless fun and Demolition Man is the perfect choice for that. The premise, the performances, and the dialogue are all over the top and ridiculous, but also just so damn charming and memorable. This is just one of those flicks that I never grow tired of and it is absolute pure, solid entertainment and will no doubt make it somewhere on my ballot.

Heavenly Creatures
(Peter Jackson, 1994)

I'm a bit torn on how to rate this movie. On one hand, pretty much everything about this movie is done well. The performances, the story, the representation of obsession and with losing touch with reality - I have no complaints, at least from as close to an objective perspective as I am capable of getting.

But I'd be lying if I said I actually liked it. I realize that it is based on a real life case, but I found everyone in the story to be really off-putting and so when the girls commit their crime, I didn't really feel anything. Also, while I thought the Plasticine characters coming to life worked well in terms of what they represented, I became more and more disengaged from the movie every time they appeared. I think the simple reality of it is - with Lord of the Rings, Meet the Feebles, and now this movie - Peter Jackson simply isn't a director for me.

The Last Boy Scout
(Tony Scott, 1991)

I've seen this movie before, at least a couple of times, but not since the 90s. It's precisely the sort of violent, smart aleck-y, not at all PC type of thing my older brother enjoyed watching back then and since he often had control of the family TV, I got stuck watching that sort of thing too. And back then I didn't really mind. But now that several decades have passed and I have developed my own tastes, this just didn't work for me. Now there's nothing wrong with it. The story was fine. The look of it was fine. Willis and Wayans had decent chemistry, but I just wasn't really into their characters. Willis's character especially just kind of felt like he was trying too hard to pass off that "I don't give a f***" kind of cool, which is a little odd since I think he does just fine with that sort of portrayal in other movies like Die Hard and The Fifth Element (but maybe it's just that I have too much nostalgic appreciation for those other movies that I don't have for this one). Whatever the reason, I found myself a little bit bored with this at times.

As an aside, I had unknowingly been thinking about this movie recently when one its scenes (with the football player and the woman in the hot tub) randomly popped into my head. I couldn't for the life of me place where the scene was from and it had been kind of driving me nuts. So it was a little odd and relieving to have seen that here, though I've no idea why I had thought of it in the first place.

Sommersby
(Jon Amiel, 1993)

Sommersby is one of those movies that I watch once in a blue moon, thoroughly enjoy, and then forget about until that blue moon comes again. Well I guess the moon was blue again because here we are. From an objective standpoint, this post Civil War drama is probably not a great movie. Not really bad, but not remarkable either. But I give no shits about objectivity. I’m a sucker for a good redemption story and this tale of deceit, jealousy, love, and sacrifice fits the bill quite nicely for me. I’m also a sucker for an attractive guy and 90s Richard Gere fits that as well. So again, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I’ll probably forget about it soon and not think about it again for another decade or so but when I do I’m sure to be in for a good time once more.

Hide and Seek
(Su Friedrich, 1996)

At just over an hour in length, this should have been an easy watch even for my attention span deficient brain. It was not. I really disliked the structure of the film and I think I would've had a better time had this been either a straight forward documentary film or a narrative film, but this tried to be both (though the narrative elements had very little in the way of a story to tell) and that mish mash just didn't work for me. I'll give it some credit because I did enjoy some of the anecdotes from the people being interviewed, but overall I was pretty bored by this.

The Negotiator
(F Gary Gray, 1998)

It has been a very long time since I last watched this movie and I'm really not sure why. Although stories of police corruption are not exactly unusual in movies, I've always thought this one had a really interesting twist on that. It's also loaded with a really talented cast who are all on their A game - Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Paul Giamatti, and David Morse are all among the familiar faces. The action scenes are exciting. It's got a lot of tension. And it gives us enough insight into its characters and their motivations that I can get invested in them. It's just overall a really solid movie and an enjoyable watch. Unfortunately there probably are too many 90s movies that I like better than this for it to make my ballot, but it's not out of the running just yet.

The Negotiator is one of those guilty pleasure movies that I watch anytime I'm flipping channels and I find it's on. I'm not sure yet if it's going to make my list, but it's definitely in the running.

__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

Romper Stomper
(Geoffrey Wright, 1992)

I've seen a fair number of movies that deal with racism and several that specifically depict Neo-Nazi skinheads, but - outside of holocaust movies - none stand out to me the way that Romper Stomper does. It is unrelentingly, realistically brutal. It is gritty, it is chaotic, it is bloody, and it feels authentic. I also really appreciate the way that it never comes across as preachy or even particularly critical of its characters - it merely allows us to observe them in all their monstrosity as the natural consequences of their actions unfold and none of them are ever truly redeemed.

But of course what stands out the most to me are its performances and none moreso than Russell Crowe - who all but disappears into the role of the mesmerizing, terrifying, and charismatic skinhead leader Hando. He is absolutely chilling and this has always stood out to me as one of his greatest performances.

This movie has also long stood out to me as one of the best that the decade has to offer and it will no doubt earn itself a spot on my ballot.

Not sure why it would be a guilty pleasure, I guess because action's not really your genre? I think it's a genuinely good movie.

I think it's a very good movie too. But like you said, I guess in my mind, it's a "guilty pleasure" because that's not a genre that I usually like that much. I don't mind watching those types of movies every once in a while, but I rarely rewatch them, especially if they have a lot of violence. But for some reason, I rewatch The Negotiator often.

Encino Man
(Les Mayfield, 1992)

Encino Man is stupid, juvenile, ridiculous, and rather dated... but it's also sweet, funny, and I have always loved it - and not even in a guilty pleasure kind of way. I just genuinely love it. Brendan Fraser was really hot in the 90s and as much as I love him as a dramatic actor, this silly role as a teenaged caveman thawed out in modern day will forever be my favorite from him. He's absolutely adorable and infuses Link with curiosity, sadness, and love. But he's not the only performance that I enjoy here. Pauly Shore's normally irritating "weasel" schtick actually works well here in the context of a dorky high schooler whose motive is only to befriend Link, unlike Sean Astin's Dave, who is out to use the naive caveman to boost his own popularity. Michael DeLuise is also hilarious as the douchey Matt, the popular bully who loses his girl to Link's charms.

I know there's no real hope for this movie to make the countdown proper, but there's no way it misses out on my ballot at least.

Election
(Alexander Payne, 1999)

I can't quite decide if I liked this weird little political satire about ambition, desire, and bad choices. On the one hand, the performances were all excellent, the story feels unique, and I did laugh a few times. On the other hand, I found pretty much every character to be pretty off-putting, including the ones that were portrayed as being good people, like Paul. I was never bored with the movie, but I also never felt fully engaged with it.

Ultimately, I think this is a movie that I need to revisit and that has the potential to grow on me. It's unlikely that a rewatch will happen before the deadline though and even if it did I doubt it would gain enough of my appreciation to make the cut for my ballot. But I do think I like this the best of the first time watches I've seen for the countdown so far.

Misery
(Rob Reiner, 1990)

It's been so long since I last watched this movie that I'd pretty much forgotten everything about it so tonight might as well have been a first time watch. And yeah, holy shit did Kathy Bates deserve the Oscar for this performance. She was terrifying. James Caan was excellent as well but Annie Wilkes has got to be one of the greatest female villains in all of movie history. The story itself is really great and the movie is full of tension, but is lightened with just enough levity to keep it from being too much. There really wasn't anything about the movie that I didn't like, but it remains to be seen if this will get my vote. I'm definitely not writing it off yet though.

Just watched Misery finally, as well, this past week. Was ok, but Caan seemed almost….indifferent perhaps? Didn’t buy his performance during certain scenes.