I was almost 11 when Batman Forever came out and I had been reading the hype in the pages of Disney Adventures magazine so I was ready for a new Batman movie.
I didn’t like it because I had come up on the grimdark Burton films and the serious-but-not-too-serious stylings of the Animated Series. I appreciate it now, of course. It’s a fine movie and it was a brave move to take the character back in a campy direction (and then double down even harder in the sequel after people lamented it wasn’t another Tim Burton job). The man had big, giant balls and that has to be respected.
While I didn’t know it at the time I had already enjoyed other movies he’d directed like The Incredible Shrinking Woman, The Lost Boys and Falling Down. The John Grisham movies he made in-between the Batmans (The Client and A Time to Kill) are okay as well.
He also directed Flatliners! If you haven’t seen that one yet check it out. It’s fun. St. Elmo’s Fire was a coming of age movie he did during a period when John Hughes was the coming of age movie guy. I haven’t seen that one but I hear it’s good.
The only other of his movies I’ve seen since then were 8mm, Phone Booth and The Number 23, none of which were great but all of which were memorable in some way. That’s a good word for his movies. Memorable. He had a way of shooting things that made the imagery stay with you long after it was over. He was a good filmmaker and I’m glad he made movies while he was here.
Watched The Vast of Night on J-Prime. If you ever wanted to see Rudie’s Dad’s hometown and completely accurate Hill Country Texan accent there is now a film. The first 40 minutes or so are real good. Then it seems to become a more traditional less confident film with after a long monologue they give a second longer less good monologue and then the film kind of just ends.
Still like you could watch the first 40 minutes and have a real good time with it. Not sure why it is classified as “horror” either.
i turned off the vast of night when they zoomed in on the tv at the beginning and were like “by the way this is a twilight zone type deal” as if it wasnt abundantly obvious to begin with. i have no patience for new movies sometimes lol
finished malcom x i really love spike lees take on BIG OLD HOLLYWOOD (thinking about the swing dancing scene, the bustling street sets, the venetian shade lighting and the gunfight at the end) and its like, hell yeah if they gave me the budget id go nuts with big ass three hour hollywood movie too
its fucking heartbreaking and i never hear anyone talk about his actual life, like ever
yeah on this rewatch i’m basically convinced this is the most important american film ever made and that spike lee is one of our greatest directors. like between this and do the right thing he more than earned his place in the pantheon. no other director wouldve been brave enough to use the rodney king footage like that in 1992 lol. i read the autobiography of malcolm x in high school and it was super important to me. you can tell he knows he’s going to die by the end of that but jesus christ spike lee twists the knife for literally a third of the runtime. malcolm x is 3hrs21mins and earns every fuckin second of it and more. the last 30 minutes are so viscerally horrible and upsetting if you don’t understand what the fuckin problem is in this rotten fucking country afterwards nobody is ever gonna be able to reach you
yeah it’s funny you mention it feeling like an epic cuz none of those old hollywood guys got shit on spike lee with this one, but also have you seen all that heaven allows? spike lee uses color like douglas sirk does. every fucking shot of this movie is beautiful. for almost three and a half hours every single frame and angle chosen is meticulous. thinking about the overhead shot of his dead body at the end, martyred, deliberately framed to be absolutely overflowing with grief. spike lee wants you to feel the way he does, and you always do. malcolm x is fucking art. it’s perfect.
in the book he does later say he regrets not engaging that student in better faith, but i still think it’s a great line.
yeah, Malcolm X is a phenomenal movie and i genuinely believe the book is one of the greatest American books ever written in the entirety of this country’s history. it should be required reading at school imo
Yeah the SMB movie is a delightful film with incredible visuals and a surprising number of really memorable scenes.
Batman & Robin is a gorgeous movie with some great moments, but it really pales in comparison to Forever, which manages to combine the camp with a weirdly functional emotional core about gay relationships, IMO.
im watching basic instinct for the first time and this movie about nightcourt looking motherfuckers getting goofy over the smell of pussy is my favorite erotic comedy of the nineties
michael douglas is wearing a cockcage and his dick is throbbing against the bars in every scene
i didnt even know erotic thriller was a genre until about two hours ago but now i know that michael douglas had a phase where he was just in movies where women shame him and fuck him. live the dream buddy
michael douglas is so good at being the worst fucking scum shit ever and he gets worse and worse through the movie. its like every time i think they’ve established that hes a total shithead he just digs himself deeper
edit to add: SHARON STONES EYEBROWWWWS!!! AHHH
NO THE BEST IS THE CONSTANT AEROBICS IN THE BACKGROUND OF THERAPISTS APARTMENT
