Movies I've Seen Lately: Dave's Bargain Basement

Movie I've Seen Lately

WARNING: I maintain these pages in order to have a record of my impressions of movies I've seen or books/articles I've read in case I want to go back and reference something later on. Therefore, these reviews give away all or most of the plot. I know I hate it when someone tells me too much about a movie before I go, so I don't want to do the same to you.

American Beauty (1999)

This movie is probably my pick as best film of 1999. I like movies with character development, and this one shines on three or four counts. The three main characters are the husband, wife, and daughter of the Burnham family. Each of them is lacking something, and each of them takes drastic steps toward getting it. I found myself identifying with the daughter most, and then with the husband. The wife was hard to identify with, because her life, and that of the real-estate mogul with whom she has an affair, are centered on achieving success through the appearance of success.

The neighbor kid seems to have a camcorder glued to his hand. He's a strange kid, but once you get acquainted with his father, you can see why. One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is when he shows Jane Burnham (the daughter of the 'protagonist' family) footage of a plastic bag he filmed as it blew around in the wind. Accompanied by his philosophical banter and a hypnotic instrumental piece, the film clip has you feeling like you are soaring up and down on the wind along with the plastic bag.

Here's another review on Blockbuster's website.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

This movie was pretty disappointing, in my opinion. It certainly didn't live up to all the hype that preceded it, including the intriguing advertising (much better than most film previews!) and the fact that it was Kubrick's final film. However, it was beautifully filmed. (I was, however, disappointed that Kubrick felt he had to film a story set in New York in London. But he was quite a recluse, I know, and I know a lot of films which purport to take place in New York are filmed elsewhere, too, so maybe that's not such a big deal.

I don't remember much about the music, but I do recall that the eerie one-note piano playing did a lot to add to the tension during scenes where Cruise is being followed by a mysterious and menacing character. The organ music during the bizarre religious ritual was quite good, too, even if there wasn't much to it.

Another observation that I am not alone in making is that Cruise did a much better job in the film than Kidman. Which was kind of surprising considering that Kidman generally does much better work. Of course, Kidman's role was very minor while Cruise had the main part, so it may be that she didn't have enough time and space to really develop the character in a believable way.
Election (1999)

I said above that I thought American Beauty was the best film of 1999. If anything else comes close, though, it is this. While watching American Beauty, I kept thinking back on this movie. They aren't very similar on the surface, but they are both good films that feature a lot of interesting character development. I couldn't help but hate the main character (Tracy?) who is running for student body class president at her suburban Nebraska high school and is determined to force herself on the world whether the world likes it or not. And I have to admit that I would have been very tempted to do exactly what her teacher did to try and stop her.

In my opinion, the most likeable person in the movie is Paul's sister, Tammy. She is the only one who sees through all the nonsense and knows what she really wants. And she knows how to get it without stepping on anyone else's toes.

Here's a Blockbuster review of the movie.
The Matrix (1999)

Let me say at the outset that I'm not much of a Keanu Reeves fan. Still, he did a pretty decent job in this film. Despite some interesting special effects, this film felt like a low-budget flick to me. Which worked to its advantage because it wasn't like the typical over-hyped Hollywood flick. (Meaning it wasn't sappy and melodramatic à la Titanic or overly bombastic like Speed or Independence Day).

Like "The Truman Show", another recent American film, The Matrix is strikingly original -- quite a feat in today's movie-making climat. You can read the mostly accurate details in the Blockbuster review which I've linked directly below.

Here's a more thorough review of this film.
Go (1999)

This follow-up to Swingers is not quite as good but fairly entertaining, anyway. It rips off a couple of things from Pulp Fiction, but it's still worth watching. I enjoyed the various and sundry quirky characters who made this movie work.

Check out this review on Blockbuster's website.
Cruel Intentions (1999)

Pretty dumb. I wouldn't bother. Check out this review, though, if you want to know more.
Keiner Liebt Mich (Nobody Loves Me) (1996)

This is a great flick and I highly recommend it. It's about a German woman who works at the Cologne airport and is looking for love. Sounds trite, perhaps, but it wasn't. The quirky characters and off-the-wall plot made it quite entertaining. It's by the same director (or writer, I forget) that made Männer (Men) in the mid '80s. That was also pretty good as I recall, but I don't remember much about it anymore.
Clerks (1994)

A miserably boring film. I watched about a half hour's worth before I gave up on it. There were a couple of amusing scenes relating to a customer in a convenience store who encourages the other customers to revolt against the clerk who willingly sells them cigarettes which, all know, are killing them. But otherwise, it seemed like it was pretty much a waste of time.

This is the same guy who made Chasing Amy and Mallrats. I haven't see the latter, but the former was fairly decent even if the female lead did a very poor job playing a convincing role.

Again, the Blockbuster review of Clerks was kind.
Lisbon Story (1994)

This Wim Wenders film is a flop in my opinion. (Most WW films are. One notable exception is "Paris, Texas" which, though it's weird, I highly recommend). Reading the blip on the cover in the video store is enough to tell you not to bother with this film. Still, we wanted to see a German film, and we were intrigued with the idea of seeing glimpses of Lisbon, a city we've never visited. As it turned out, some of the Lisbon scenes were, indeed, nice. But there were no more than three German sentences uttered throughout the entire movie which was mostly in English and partially in Portuguese.

The opening is intriguing as the protagonist drives from Germany through France and Spain to Portugal, holding a strange but semi-interesting monologue with himself along the way. But once he arrives, the film settles into a boring routine which continues throughout with the pleasant exception of a musical diversion about a half hour into it. The musicians are a band called Madredeus and they are superb. Discovering their music made it worthwhile to have rented what was otherwise a pretty boring film.

The main character half-heartedly flirts with the vocalist. She responds weakly, and you assume this will blossom into a romance later on. But it never does despite the woman's appearing once more again toward the end of the film. One more disappointment, I guess. In any case, my advice is not to bother with this one.

Alice in den Städten/Alice in the Cities (made in the '70s) is another WW film with intriguing scenery (New York City and Wuppertal among others) but not much in the way of a plot.

Here's a neutral (ie. kind) review of Lisbon Story on Blockbuster's website.
Stand and Deliver (1987?)

Stand and Deliver is the true story of a teacher in a barrio high school in LA who works his guts out evenings and all summer to get his students ready to pass the AP exam for calculus. In the end, every one of them, poor Hispanic kids who were barely passing their classes before, passes this test which fewer than 2% of high-school students nationwide even attempt.

As I mentioned, it is a true story, and at the end, they show statistics on the screen which demonstrate that this high school went from 18 students in 1982 who passed the exam to something like 85 in 1988, presumably when the movie was made. I can only imagine what those kids are doing today. They probably had their pick of colleges and are scientists, professors, and math teachers.

Coincidentally I happened to see this movie right while I was reading Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences by John Allen Paulos. Click on the link to find out more about this book.
Oskar und Leni (1999?)

Disappointing for so many reasons. First of all, it was in black and white, which there seemed to me to be no good reason for. It had the makings of a good story, but the main character was so boring and robot-like that it was hard to really care too much about him one way or the other.

It was about a man and woman who meet in the Berliner U-Bahn (subway train) and kiss and then never see each other again. The women thinks he's the one for her, so she pastes up notices all over town that she is looking for him. In the one scene I really enjoyed, he is sitting facing the camera while an airplane flies by in the background with a trailer reading "LENI SUCHT OSKAR". I think they ought to take that scene and build a totally different movie around it. The idea does have some potential, I think.
Pünktchen und Anton (Anneluise and Anton) (1999?)

One of the best German movies I've ever seen. If you like kids, and if you don't mind a happy ending once in awhile, then rent this one.

It didn't hurt that it took place in Munich, a town I lived in in the early 1980s. It was fun to hear a familiar accent and see some familiar scenes around town.

Movies I still want to see:

Nachtgestalen (set in Berlin -- from 1999, I believe)

I want to rent Seven Samurai and the Fantastic Seven and watch them back to back some time just for fun. (The latter was based on the former, which was made by a famous Japanese director).

My brother Steve recently recommended Waiting for Guffman and Spinal Tap. After all these years, you'd think I would have seen ST by now, but I haven't even though I'm familiar with much of the dialogue from years of having heard people repeat it. "This one goes to eleven", for example.

My oldest brother recommended Drop Dead Gorgeous, so we may check that out soon.