One of the quickest ways for me to get to an even point in my reviews is to acknowledge a handful of releases that I’ve seen recently that are celebrating an Anniversary this year.
So, first up is the only one in this group that was my first viewing, the 70th Anniversary of Disneys live action adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Starring a few Hollywood legends, notably Kirk Douglas (who has to serenade a seal at one point), this film isn’t that far removed from a film I watched last year, The black hole. Though, those two films have leagues apart in terms of release years. It goes to show how innovative this was for its time, and also how the Black hole was slightly behind the time. Both films have similar themes, one basically being the version of this in space. If I remind myself the perspective of what they are achieving in terms of visual effects from 70 years ago, then this film is really easy to appreciate, even if I can’t deeply connect with it. I remember the ride at Disney World from being a kid, but I only ever got to ride it once, because it broke down seemingly frequently, and then was removed altogether.
25 years ago, Frank Oz took some major former SNL cast members in Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, and Robert Downey Jr, and added some flavors of the month in Scream star Jamie Kennedy, and 1999 it girl Heather Graham, and made Bowfinger. It’s a hilarious comedy that still works today, especially if you are someone who always appreciates movies about filmmaking. Martin plays a director bound and determined to get a known actor in his film, so he has his cast shoot around this actor (Murphy) and tells them not to bother him because he’s a method actor. It’s so silly, but the energy here is infectious. Murphy also plays double duty as a nerdy body double who resembles, well, himself. This one surprisingly had audio description on Amazon, even if it was TTS.
So, kinda sorta celebrating its 25th Aniversary is A Civil Action, which is one of those weird late-stage Oscar releases. It technically had its qualifying run in 1998, but I didn’t catch it, as the official release date shows as being January 3rd 1999. So, I watched this in celebration of nothing really, but I’m leaning on that release date, even if it was nominated for a different block of Oscar’s. Robert Duvall is terrific here, in a role that earned him a lot of praise, but really John travolta gives the underrated performance as Erin brockovich before there was Erin Brockovich. he’s a wealthy attorney who risks it all to do the right thing for once, and we see him lose so much just to make things right for a small town that lost a bunch of little kids to cancers caused by runoff pollution in a “based on a true story” drama. I actually own a digital copy, and the supporting cast is deep, wit William H Macy, Kathleen Quinlan, and james Gandolfini as standouts.
And finally, I’m breaking the first and second rules of Fight Club, but this is also in its 25th Anniversary. I own this one, like on that old fangled physical media thing, and this is one that I used to be a lot more obsessed about. 25 years later, i still appreciate the film, but I don’t know if I need it on my desert island anymore. it is endlessly quotable, with some great performances, but it isn’t Fincher’s best, nor any of the cast. It is iconic, but for entertainment and cult purposes, not because it is celluloid platinum. The audio description also leans too much into spoilers early on regarding Tyler Durden, and I wasn’t here for that.
Grades:
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea- B+
Bowfinger- A-
A Civil Action- A-
Fight Club- A
