Ten movies we get into today, all released between November 7 and December 10, 1997. December 5th, though, saw the release of our next Best Picture nominee: Good Will Hunting.
Peter Biskind’s Down and Dirty Pictures does a good job of placing us in Matt Damon’s and Ben Affleck’s shoes, two good-looking young actors who haven’t quite hit yet and are waiting for that One Great Part that will showcase their talents. Together, they collaborate on an expansion of a short script Damon wrote in college, a thriller about a Southie math genius recruited by the government. Castle Rock Entertainment buys the script, Rob Reiner and William Goldman make some suggestions about what to take out (the thriller aspect) and what to build up (these therapist scenes…), but the movie doesn’t get made. There’s interest from studios, but no one wants to buy the script due to the writers’ requirement: that they be cast in the roles they wrote for themselves. Fortunately, by this time, they’re friendly with indie success Kevin Smith, who convinces Miramax to make the film and cast the guys…and you know the rest. Movie’s made, released, and is a huge hit, ending up on Top Ten lists, grossing $225.9M on a $10M budget, winning Oscars for Damon & Affleck’s screenplay and for Robin Williams’ against-type performance as the therapist, and cementing the young men’s status as Stars.
And this is what was out in theaters as it started it’s run:
release: November 7
nominations: Best Actress (Helena Bonham-Carter), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography , Best Costume Design (Sandy Powell)
dir: Iain Softley
pr: Stephen Evans / David Parfitt
scr: Hossein Amini
cin: Eduardo Serra
The second Henry James adaptation of 1997 (Washington Square was the first, just under a month earlier). Helena Bonham-Carter is a social climber who befriends a wealthy American girl and gets her socialist boyfriend to court her, hoping the dying girl weds him, croaks, and leaves the two of them with her fortune. Not angry, not exactly resigned, but nevertheless gloomy about what people do for financial security...not even merely that, for once Bonham-Carter's character is reminded of the better things she could have, the less she settles for. We'll talk more about her performance next week. The rest of the movie? A good one.
The Man Who Knew Too Little
release: November 14
dir: Jon Amiel
pr: Arnon Milchan / Michael G. Nathanson / Mark Tarlov
scr: Robert Farrar and Howard Franklin
cin: Robert M. Stevens
A rewatch for me, we used to rent and watch this one often. The dumbest story imaginable, where an American tourist in London joins a "living theatre" show that puts real people in over-the-top situations in a controlled environment; unfortunately, he picks up the wrong phone, enters the wrong flat, and is now part of real-life international intrigue...though he still thinks it's fake. Clunky, high concept. Two things it covers: Americans wreaking havoc in foreign countries without a care in the world, it's all a game, they'll be home soon anyway, la-di-da; and, international espionage as a business, its economy disrupted by peace treaties, the need for unrest the only thing two warring spy agencies can agree upon. It's a Cold War comedy for the 1990s, Bill Murray's committed buffoonery a filter for the political commentary. Yeah, yeah, but is it funny? Riotously so.
Anastasia
release: November 21
nominations: Best Musical/Comedy Score (Stephen Flaherty / Lynn Ahrens / David Newman), Best Original Song ("Journey to the Past")
dir: Don Bluth / Gary Goldman
pr: Don Bluth / Gary Goldman
scr: Susan Gauthier & Bruce Graham and Bob Tzudiker & Noni White, adaptation by Eric Tuchman
A rewatch for me, I first saw it in cinemas on opening night and later had the VHS. I think I even wrote an essay in school extolling its virtues as a funny, beautifully made film that perfectly integrated new and old animation styles. It's still strikingly gorgeous, its songs still hit. Believe it or not, it's a remake of the 1956 film for which Ingrid Bergman won her second Oscar - it is far superior to that live-action non-musical melodrama. I think it's one of the best-crafted, most engaging animated movie musicals ever, I'm in awe of it most of the time, even the fact that Rasputin is a zombie wizard is worth it for his song and the genuinely disgusting body horror gags they pull with him. But the history! Here, the Revolution not only interrupted a glittering age of glamour bestowed upon the nation by Tsar Nicholas and the Romanovs but was partially encouraged by sorcery from an excommunicated (?!) Rasputin.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
release: November 21
dir: Clint Eastwood
pr: Clint Eastwood / Arnold Stiefel
scr: John Lee Hancock
cin: Jack N. Green
Waited a long time to finally see this movie, never read the book, probably should've. Better and also about equal to what I've heard, depending on the scene. What's clear is the desire to make a film about Savannah's unique culture and how, only here, could this trial for this murder take place in this way. It doesn't quite manage that. It charmingly meanders in the first half, but suddenly we're in a trial where revelations just kind of drop with nary a gasp to be had, strictly functional, this is the story we may as well get through it. The scenes with Lady Chablis (as herself) gum up the works, frankly, a case of both her doing her own thing and John Cusack not quite being able to keep up with her and refocus the scenes. Yet it's hard to deny that there is a genuine fascination with this city, a magic realism captured by Eastwood, Green, and performers like Kevin Spacey and Irma P. Hall. Not a total misfire, not a total triumph.
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
release: November 21
dir: John R. Leonetti
pr: Lawrence Kasanoff
scr: Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel, story by Lawrence Kasanoff & Joshua Wexler & John Tobias
cin: Matthew F. Leonetti
A rewatch for me, I actually saw this one in cinemas for a birthday party. Somehow makes less sense than I remembered.
The Sweet Hereafter
release: November 21
nominations: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay
dir/scr: Atom Egoyan
pr: Atom Egoyan / Camelia Frieberg
cin: Paul Sarossy
Ian Holm plays a lawyer who arrives in a small town that just experienced a horrific tragedy, trying to convince the survivors to pursue a multi-million-dollar settlement suit against somebody. He has his own personal demons to come to terms with, of course, while his interviews with locals take us into the lives and secrets of those affected by the tragedy. Haunting movie. There's grief, there's opportunism, there's justification for horrible behavior, there's abuse (tastefully handled, I'd say), there's a very nice town seeking someone or something to blame even if the tragedy may, after all, just be one of those awful, freak accidents. Something that just happens. We look for reasons, we find a scapegoat, anything to feel something other than grief and the hopeless hole it digs within us. Bruce Greenwood's great as the one with integrity. Only thing is this weird insistence on drawing parallels to the Pied Piper story, which doesn't quite fit.
Alien Resurrection
release: November 26
dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
pr: Bill Badalato / Gordon Carroll / David Giler / Walter Hill
scr: Joss Whedon
cin: Darius Khondji
Fourth Alien film, this one has a Ripley clone up against the iconic xenomorphs and, worse, scientists that are besotted by the alien creatures. I had always heard this was the bad one, at the very least the "eh" one. Not for me! Incredible set pieces, from the underwater chase (terrifying) to the final showdown with the monstrosity spawned by the Alien Queen and science; fun design work from the sets to the weapons to the sounds; and a great ensemble, starting, of course, with Sigourney Weaver giving one of her greatest performances as a being that's a little alien, a little Ripley, learning how to be even as she has some memories, some instincts, floating in her head: she feels dangerous, unpredictable, torn between worlds. Exciting to watch!
Flubber
release: November 26
dir: Les Mayfield
pr: John Hughes / Ricardo Mestres
scr: John Hughes and Bill Walsh
cin: Dean Cundey
A rewatch for me, first saw it in cinemas, then on VHS and DVD over the years (school, cousins, etc.). Remake of The Absent-Minded Professor anchored by a game performance from Robin Williams.
Good Will Hunting
release: December 5
wins: Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams), Best Original Screenplay
nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Matt Damon), Best Supporting Actress (Minnie Driver), Best Score (Danny Elfman), Best Original Song ("Miss Misery"), Best Film Editing (Pietro Scalia)
dir: Gus Van Sant
pr: Lawrence Bender
scr: Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
cin: Jean-Yves Escoffier
I'll discuss my feelings next week.
Amistad
release: December 10
nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Score (John Williams), Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter)
dir: Steven Spielberg
pr: Debbie Allen / Steven Spielberg / Colin Wilson
scr: David Franzoni
cin: Janusz Kaminski
One of Spielberg's history lessons, an underrated gem about the multiple trials to which a group of would-be slaves were subjected after they revolted against their captors and took over the slaveship. The story starts just as the revolt begins, immediately identify with the desperation of these men and women as they beat back against their attackers. The subsequent hearings illustrate oddities of the time: while slavery was still practiced, the international slave trade was legally abolished; “real” slaves had to be born into it. Djimon Hounsou delivers an astonishing "star is born" performance as Cinqué, the man who (as this film would have it) led the revolt. As a movie, masterful.
Next time, the final two Best Picture nominees...and The Postman!
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