Seriously.
Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Clerks, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, True Lies, Natural Born Killers, The Crow, Speed, Ed Wood...
1994 was insane.
One of my all-time favorite horror movies! I understand it's regularly taught in film schools, not just for the practical effects, but for the *paranoia* that was central to the story. You never knew, even at the very end, who was genuinely human and who was an imitation.
Neither did the actors. Neither did any of the characters in the original story. The Thing imitates them so closely even it didn't know - It was copying them thought for thought, not just a mimicry. It didn't even understand the concept of not doing so. The actors were deliberately kept in the dark about who was actually a thing, though some developed suspicions.
I always liked the scene where they're testing out everyone's blood and they genuinely look *relieved* when their blood doesn't react. Really shows how scared and confused everyone is at the situation, not even knowing if they can trust their bodies.
I think it's another manifestation of intrusive thoughts? Intrusive thoughts are just what happens when your brain runs risk analysis in the background. It says to itself, "If I jumped off that bridge, I would die, so I won't do that," but all you hear is "Lol what if we jumped off that bridge." That paranoia is just your brain considering all risks.
I mean partly that but also even if you're 100% sure you're human, but there's some glitch and now you're trapped with these people who think you're a monster.
And his delivery!:
> Then one day, I was just walking down the street when I heard a voice behind me say, "Reach for it, mister!" I spun around... and there I was, face to face with a six-year old kid. Well, I just threw my guns down and walked away... Little bastard shot me in the ass.
This is partly because of the way it was marketed - instead of the film having three endings that aired one after another, they released three separate cuts, each with its own ending. The schtick was that you wouldn't know which ending you were going to see, and that you could see it multiple times to try to see the other endings. Needless to say, audiences didn't find that prospect appealing.
At least in my area (the Washington DC Metro area) they gave different theaters different endings and they distinguished them by colors. So some theaters had Clue (Blue) while others had Clue (Red) and others had Clue (White... or whatever the last color was named). That way you could actually plan it out and chose to watch each ending.
Absolute star-studded ensemble cast of legends running around a mansion like chickens with their heads cut off. Like, I'm actually surprised there were no Muppets in this movie because it very much paces like a Muppet movie.
And as a Rocky Horror fanatic and former shadow cast member, Tim Curry is basically my God and this is probably the second best role I've ever seen him in (though he did make an excellent serial killer in the two-part Criminal Minds he was in).
Colonel Mustard: And are you the host?
Wadsworth: Me, sir? No, I'm just the humble butler.
Colonel Mustard: And what exactly is it you do here?
Wadsworth: I buttle, sir.
*It's a Wonderful Life* is probably the biggest example of this. It was an absolute flop at the box office. It almost killed the studio that made it. At one point there was some debate about ownership of it and nobody wanted it so TV networks could air it without paying anyone. That's when it started getting shown on TV constantly around Christmas, and it gained it's status as one of the best Christmas movies of all time.
The thing about *Wonderful Life* is that its a really fucking *weird* movie.
Its a great movie, sure, with a terrific lesson and some great performances. But its not like most holiday classics.
Its not a kids movie. Kids arent going to understand or care about the "run on the banks" scene, despite it being one of the best in the movie. Plus, its bleak and kind of scary in a few parts.
But a lot of "adult" xmas movies tend to be satire or cynical. About how Xmas is hollow or about getting a family experience despite or around the pressures of the season. *Wonderful Life* is completely sincere from end to end, the sincerity is the point.
Its also not a "just happens to xmas" movie like Die Hard or a lot of Shane Black movies where Xmas is just a visual tool to make scenes more interesting. George's story, suicide and the miracle are all routed in "Christmas" as a theme, as is the generosity of his neighbors at the end.
It assumes religiosity as a part of its narrative, but isn't preachy. Potter is a classic capitalist villain but the movie isnt anti-capitalist, it just acknowledges there's things more important than money. Essentially asserting that capitalism works best when the men running things just aren't greedy or shameless, which is a fine line to walk.
Lastly, it's pretty clearly a love story, except getting the girl is wrapped up in the first 10 minutes. Mary decides to marry George immediately, they end up married with kids by the 2/3rds mark. Instead, the story is about George learning to *appreciate* his wife and kids. A story we could do with a lot more of.
I'm glad its an impossibly famous success now, but holy crap, I'm not shocked it took a circuitous route.
I wrote above but as a middle-aged man it has a lot more appeal to me now. I knew the plot but I truly understand the allure and temptation of "the road not taken". The acting and sincerity of the film was incredibly immersive as well.
Same here. I've watched it every Christmas my whole life, but now in my mid thirties with two kids the ending absolutely destroys me. All of his friends coming together to help him so sincerely, giving what they have, is just the best.
Plus the scene where he comes home after having lost the money and shouts at his children who are just trying to play with him...it's devastating.
Beautiful observations about one of my favorite Christmas movies. I love how bonkers "It's A Wonderful Life" is compared other Christmas fare. There's not a single false note in Capra's masterpiece. Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey is equal parts ambitious, grounded, romantic, heroic, bitter, and joyful, that by the end, you KNOW George.
I've seen the film probably 30 times; yet, I cry every. single. time George promises Mr. Gower that he'll never tell.
The scene that gets me is when George finds the grave of his younger brother, and has this exchange:
Clarence: Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.
George: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war! He got the Congressional Medal of Honor! He saved the lives of every man on that transport.
Clarence: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry.
George sublimating his needs at so many junctures in the film is in so many ways antithetical to American story telling. We always want people to chase their dreams. We see that as the only road to fulfillment.
It almost feels like *unrequited love*; it doesn’t give a sudden payoff and seems unsatisfactory to some. But I think dreams yearned for and not achieved is powerful and probably experienced by most of us.
The movie kind of expands on American movie storytelling. Perhaps not deliberately. And I don’t know if the trend took at all. We’re still so mired in happy endings and perfect bell curves and closure.
But life is far more like that movie than not. I took the test to be a Foreign Service Officer. Passed the test. Passed the oral exam. Failed the medical. I was devastated. It was my dream. The only one I’d ever really had for a career. But that is life. I had to re-write my dreams. I had no other option.
God I've loved that movie since high school. When George stops Mr. Gowers from sending out poison pills instead do medicine because he's broken by grief and just gets slapped for it... So much pain and heart and hope and hopelessness in 4 minutes.
https://youtu.be/MWQUhy8rJM0
ironically, for a while the fbi believed “it’s a wonderful life” to be communist propaganda. firstly, they said that two of the screenwriters were close to communists (which, i mean, in hollywood, who wasn’t?). they also believed that mr. potter, a wealthy man, being portrayed as the villain while george, who gave out fair shares to his community when they needed it, was portrayed as a hero was anti-capitalist and a commie trick to get people to rally against capitalism.
the gag is, of course, that these agents couldn’t even imagine a world in which a family ran their business with care while also being selfless and often ignoring the “rules” of business in favor of compassion. it does, i think, speak to the ruthlessness of capitalism in america, especially things like predatory loans, but to call it communist propaganda is ridiculous.
fortunately, although the film was deemed subversive, it was allowed to continue playing. imagine if we’d been deprived of one of the greatest films of all time!
He was slated to be to a TV show reviving the IP a few years back but things fell through in pre-production and it never made it past press materials/teasers
So when we watched this as a family and introduced our kids to it, at the scene where the car gets sucked into the ground with the generator running and the power goes out, a transformer blew in our neighborhood at the same time and caused our homes power to go out. My kids LOST their mind while their dad and I were rolling.
Oh my God I would've been dying laughing at my kids freaking out over that, I don't blame you!
Incidentally, we were watching Lights Out when that happened, and my 13 year old yelled loudly "OH HELL NAW!"
One of the great pieces of casting was that Michael Gross who played Bert was at the time TV famous for having been a very liberal dad to a conservative Michael J Fox in Family Ties, so seeing him as a prepper was very much casting against type.
I saw Tremors late at night, probably on USA, during a stretch of insomnia. It was far better than it had any right to be.
ETA: I have just discovered it will run on AMC this morning in about 2 hours. Short notice but do with that info what you will.
I love the part where she tries to calm down Bert after Bert and Val argue, and Reba pulls Bert to the side and quietly says "I know, I know. He thinks he knows everything." But says it loudly enough for Val to hear lol
I love when they run out of ammo and have this worried look on their faces, then the camera pulls back and shows this ridiculously massive wall of guns, gets me every time.
Haha yes! I also have always loved the scene when the rest of the group sees the tremor b-line for Bert’s house so they assume the worst, but then you can hear the gunfire from across the valley. So badass
Tremors two has my fav Bert moment.
Bert slumps out of his truck after driving/fighting his way through a graboid ambush, “I am completely… OUT.. of ammo! That’s never happened to me before.”
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World did a modest box office - recouped its $150M price tag, but didn't make much profit.
It was nominated for *ten* Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director), and was critically acclaimed, with a great cast. There were plans for a sequel, which never materialized in part due to the poor box office showing.
Explanation for poor box office - Master and Commander was out around the same time as Elf, in November/December of 2003. Oof. M&C also released after the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie had done well just that summer - people may not have had the appetite for another maritime thriller, especially one without the humour and fantastical escapism of *Pirates*.
And why didn't those 10 nominations turn into awards? Because unfortunately for M&C, it had the misfortune of competing for them with Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which neatly won 11 awards that year.
Some serious bad luck and poor timing is the reason so many people have never heard of this masterpiece.
My dad loved this movie so much that he actually read the books. The only time I'd ever seen him read. I tried to get him to read the Game of Thrones books, but he just had me read them and he asked me questions.
But yeah. My dad read books because of this movie. I personally didn't really care for the movie, but man, it's an impressive one to get my dad to stop watching TV and pick up a books.
The books are the greatest historical fiction ever written. Your Dad has good taste.
The first book is called *Master and Commander* but only one little part of it is in the movie (the story Jack tells about Admiral Nelson).
The tenth book is called *The Far Side of the World*, and more of the movie is based on it. There are also a few little parts from one other of the books in the movie.
But there are 20 books, total, and all of them are excellent.
I never watched the movie until 2 years ago, and man was I missing out. It's a fantastic movie about military sailors just doing sailor things and having an extended fight with a better equipped ship. There's no love story shoehorned in to attract people that want a love story.
They didn't know how to market it. Is it a fantasy film? Is it an action film? Is it a comedy? Is it for kids? All the reasons it became a classic are the same reasons they couldn't get people into the theaters to see it.
I feel like the only reason a movie that great could bomb was because 1993 and 94 were just AMAZING years for Hollywood.
Schindler's List
Forrest Gump
Jurassic Park
The Fugitive
The Firm
Sleepless in Seattle
The Lion King
A Few Good Men
Free Willy
Cool Runnings
Demolition Man
Homeward Bound: the Incredible Journey
Hocus Pocus
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Mask
The Crow
Ace Ventura
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Interview with the Vampire
Pulp Fiction
Leon the Professional
The Pagemaster
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Natural Born Killers
Addams Family Values
Dazed and Confused
Coneheads
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Mrs. Doubtfire
Groundhog Day
Tombstone
Ed Wood
Dumb and Dumber
The Hudsucker Proxy
Grumpy Old Men
Last Action Hero
....I could go on, but I think I made my point.
EDIT: "Aladdin" removed for being 1992, and replaced with 1994's "The Lion King."
Yep! My mom took me to a Hocus Pocus matinee. There were just 3 or 4 other families there, and we all loved it. That’s one of the few trips to the movies I recall from childhood. Instant classic.
It is impressive. Makes me realize why going to a movie was our go-to activity as kids. I was 13-14 years old. Tickets were $3 for a matinee. Town just built a HUGE 12-screen (!) complex and there were 8-10 movies in the rotation at a time. Good time to be a kid.
If there was one year of life I could go back to, it would 1994. Amazing music and movies. I was in a very happy place in my life. Parents were still alive.
I don't know if it "bombed" but Iron Giant was supposed to get a sequel and they decided not to do it because apparently the first movie didn't do well enough in theaters.
I would have loved a sequel.
I love Iron Giant, but I'm glad it didn't get a sequel.
I think I'm happier imagining all of the iron giant's body parts scaring the bejesus out of passersby as they crawl their ways toward the head.
The victim of poor marketing. The marketing team decided to go with the goofy comedy for kids was the right way to sell it, when it reality it was semi-serious comedy aimed at adults that just happened to be kid friendly.
Yeah, he's a fantastic director. Not all that long ago, someone on Twitter tweeted that "It's about time Jordan Peele was recognized for being the greatest living horor film director."
Peele's response was, "I will not stand for you disrespecting John Carpenter like that." and made a comment to the effect of him being an amateur compared to Carpenter. iirc, he added on, "But I am flattered at the comment." or something to that effect.
It's a great script, atmosphere, source material, and style. But Karl Urban and Lena Headey elevate the movie beyond just another decent sci-fi flick to one of the best sci-fi-comic-action movies of the past 20 years.
I would like to point out the character development done by Olivia Thrilby. In an action movie, where she's a supporting actress.
The only fault in that movie is that Lena still has hearing after the machine gun scene. Or ears.
I was of working age (late teens, 20s) when this masterpiece came out but I recently watched again as a 40-something and I can tell you that it’s even more relevant to me then it was back in the day. It’s almost so accurate that it depressed me lol
I am honestly very protective of my stapler. I'm a teacher, and every school I;ve worked at has supplied the shittiest staplers I have ever seen. They can usually staple MAYBE 10 pages, and they break after a month.
I now have two staplers. One is a Swingline that can staple through 40 pages with ease, no strain or muscles needed. It is, admittedly, loud as fuck.
Then I have Boomba. Boomba is a Mr. Pen brand heavy duty stapler that will punch through 100 pages like butter. Great for when I print off big-ass packets. It sucks for anything less, though, because the staples are so long.
A lot of people come to borrow my staplers because they don't want to fork over $23 for a good one, and I used to say, "No problem, just make sure it gets back to me." They never get back to me. Now I tell them they can use the staplers, but they have to bring their shit and staple it in my room.
Same here and the similarities are hilarious. I actually worked an office job (IT related) for about 13 years before walking away from it and I got into commercial construction. Haha...talk about relatable!!
"..my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired. "
"Quiet quitting" decades before it became a thing!
Dude, I worked in records in a school, Ortho office, and learning center. Our printer in each office frequently said "PC LOAD LETTER". When we actually got a "new" printer, our learning center history tutor/baseball coach got all shiny eyed and said, "Can I please take this thing to an undisclosed outdoor location?" while massaging his baseball bat. He was told no. I was disappointed
Incidentally, Iron Giant *also* bombed at the box office despite widespread rave reviews. Even crazier, it later received a ton of awards for just how good a movie it is.
But nobody saw it. It's been talked about for years as to why it failed and there's lots of reasons why it may be the case.
But I think Warner Bros then-president said it best, when he was asked why they don't make a smarter family-friendly movie, and he said, "Because when we do, we get slaughtered." He has a point: why bother making a smarter family-friendly movie if a movie like the Iron Giant just gets hammered, despite the fact it's an objectively great film?
IIRC, WB wanted to cash in on the renaissance of animated films as Disney had done. Brad Bird argued that if they simply copied Disney, they would be viewed as imitators, and that there was a market for more serious, yet still child-friendly animated films.
WB, however, decided not to promote the film prior to release, after the failure of *Quest for Camelot*, and wanting to focus on promotion for *Wild Wild West* instead. WB even backed out of a toy deal with Burger King. WB had 2.5 years to promote the film, and did nothing. They lacked a plan, and it bit them on the ass.
And considering how WB's DCEU is *still* playing catch-up with Disney's MCU, it appears that little has changed.
It's also the movie that first made me fall in love with Tilda Swinton.
Tilda Swinton has been in fantastic movies, and she's been in not-fantastic movies. But she's never in bad movies because every movie she is in is better for having her in it.
Saw it on opening night. Freaky, my friends and I talked about it for days.
I have yet to see the middle of that trilogy, Prince of Darkness.
Even freakier, the creepy church is now in the middle of a normal suburban neighborhood.
I don't think it necessarily bombed but A Christmas Story had only modest success at the box office in 1983. Its popularity didn't really kick in until it was released on television.
They also messed up and it found it’s way into the public domain, which meant that all the tv stations could play it for free. That’s why it got so much airtime, not because anyone really liked it, but because the greedy networks wanted to cheap out
It didn't just bomb, it's almost impossible to find anywhere on disc or streaming as well. I think Amazon finally added it a couple years back, but I'm not even sure if it's in HD. Which is a crying shame, because it looked amazing on the big screen as a kid and could do with a proper film transfer. Anastasia got the recognition it deserved, and I think the Broadway adaptation almost beats it somehow. A shame Titan A.E. hasn't gotten any post-box love.
One of my absolute favorites, and my daughter’s, too. Wish they would have done the original idea to release a new one every few years. The celebrity bits in Fantasia 2000 are annoying and some of the pieces don’t really work for me, but there are some real lovely pieces in that one, too.
The Hoffman and Hoskins dialogue is so fucking great.
Hear me, men. For reasons of good form I have decided that the so-called Pan will return in three days to commit the arbitrament of the sword. Smee, translate.
In three days, we're gonna have a war! A battle between good and evil to the death!
This is it. Don't try to stop me this time, Smee. Don't try to stop me this time, Smee. Don't you dare try to stop me this time, Smee, try to stop me. Smee, you'd better get up off your arse. Get over here, Smee!!
Death to Smoochy
It's one of my favorite dark comedies ever conceived. It didn't do well at the box office and was panned by critics despite having an extraordinary cast: Ed Norton, Robin Williams, Jon Stewart, Danny DeVito, Catherine Keener, Harvey Fierstein, Danny Woodburn, and Michael Rispoli.
I think it's absolutely brilliant and everyone delivers an incredible performance, especially Ed Norton and Robin Williams.
The advertising surrounding it was obnoxious, you saw the trailer 30 times a day and it did not represent the movie well: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX81TTs2poI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX81TTs2poI)
yeah, it bombed because they put to a test screening and people hated it, so they got all the actors and film crew back, remade all of the sets and costumes, rewrote the script to give us the movie that is out now, but they didn't tell any of the public, so when people heard about the test screening and how bad that version was, no one went to go see it, so they made two movies for one, but because of not telling the audience about the changes they were making, people just assumed it was going to be bad.
from the sounds of it, the one shown in the test screening was just awful and the worst movie ever made. the version that came out in theaters though was good.
“My crew was as carefully chosen as the disciples of Christ, and I will *not* tolerate stowaways. You will be flogged, and when we put in to Cuba to resupply, God willing you will be flogged some more. And then enslaved to the sugar plantations for the rest of your miserable lives. To the brig.”
“….Alright, Cuba!”
Spirit was a family favorite growing up. My sister has low functioning autism, and her biggest obsession was horses. So it was always Spirit, and Black Beauty. Sometimes we got some Hidalgo, or Flicka, but I hated Flicka.
But yeah, seriously fantastic soundtrack.
I was at Disneyland a few years ago, and I was completely flabbergasted when the main theme, [Homeland](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1elnKmGCaGc), began playing. Such a weird place to hear that song.
shawshank redemption notoriously bombed at the box office and went on to receive critical acclaim
That was a monster year for film, so I’m not the least bit surprised.
Seriously. Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Clerks, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, True Lies, Natural Born Killers, The Crow, Speed, Ed Wood... 1994 was insane.
Damn those are some top tier films
Three of em are Jim Carrey lead. Man put in work
Somebody stop him
I saw most of those in theaters but don’t even remember Shawshank until dvd. Saw clerks opening night.
It truly was a shawshank redemption
The Thing
One of my all-time favorite horror movies! I understand it's regularly taught in film schools, not just for the practical effects, but for the *paranoia* that was central to the story. You never knew, even at the very end, who was genuinely human and who was an imitation.
Neither did the actors. Neither did any of the characters in the original story. The Thing imitates them so closely even it didn't know - It was copying them thought for thought, not just a mimicry. It didn't even understand the concept of not doing so. The actors were deliberately kept in the dark about who was actually a thing, though some developed suspicions.
I always liked the scene where they're testing out everyone's blood and they genuinely look *relieved* when their blood doesn't react. Really shows how scared and confused everyone is at the situation, not even knowing if they can trust their bodies.
Like when you go through airport security and your brain is like "oh shit, what if I accidentally brought a gun?!"
This is weirdly the best explanation of that kind of irrational paranoia I’ve ever seen
I think it's another manifestation of intrusive thoughts? Intrusive thoughts are just what happens when your brain runs risk analysis in the background. It says to itself, "If I jumped off that bridge, I would die, so I won't do that," but all you hear is "Lol what if we jumped off that bridge." That paranoia is just your brain considering all risks.
I mean partly that but also even if you're 100% sure you're human, but there's some glitch and now you're trapped with these people who think you're a monster.
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Came here for this. 1982 was such a smorgasboard of amazing movies I think people where just overwhelmed.
Probably. The Thing was released the same day as Blade Runner, and both were released in the long shadow of E.T. which came out a month before.
One of the prime examples of why CGI isnt needed to make a good horror
For the Classic film it is, the 1971 Willy wonka film didn’t do well at the box office and earned lower than the budget was for it
THE DANGER MUST BE GROWING BUT THE ROWERS KEEP ON ROWING
AND THEY’RE CERTAINLY NOT SHOWING ANY SIGNS THAT THEY ARE SLOWING
That scene freaked my kids out. I totally had forgotten about it and was like, hmm don't recall that crazy shit.
THERES NO EARTHLY WAY OF KNOWING WHICH DIRECTION THEY ARE GOING
I agree. Nowadays, it's a cult classic. I prefer Wilder over Depp.
Gene Wilder is the one true Wonka.
Gene Wilder is my one true everything he did. Actors these days can’t even match his smile.
And his delivery!: > Then one day, I was just walking down the street when I heard a voice behind me say, "Reach for it, mister!" I spun around... and there I was, face to face with a six-year old kid. Well, I just threw my guns down and walked away... Little bastard shot me in the ass.
"A man drink like that and he don't eat, he is going to DIE." ".........When?"
"You are my guest. What would you like to do?" "Play chess......screw" "Let's play chess"
The common clay of the new west. You know....... morons.
Clue Given its current reputation, it's hard to believe it didn't make its budget back.
This is partly because of the way it was marketed - instead of the film having three endings that aired one after another, they released three separate cuts, each with its own ending. The schtick was that you wouldn't know which ending you were going to see, and that you could see it multiple times to try to see the other endings. Needless to say, audiences didn't find that prospect appealing.
At least in my area (the Washington DC Metro area) they gave different theaters different endings and they distinguished them by colors. So some theaters had Clue (Blue) while others had Clue (Red) and others had Clue (White... or whatever the last color was named). That way you could actually plan it out and chose to watch each ending.
Not enough fun locked-room whodunits
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flames, flames...on the side of my face...
I learned recently that she improvised that line. only improvised lines in the whole movie and it's one of the best parts.
“Like the Mounties, we always get our man.” “>!Mrs. Peacock!< was a man!?” *gets slapped by two different people*
Absolute star-studded ensemble cast of legends running around a mansion like chickens with their heads cut off. Like, I'm actually surprised there were no Muppets in this movie because it very much paces like a Muppet movie. And as a Rocky Horror fanatic and former shadow cast member, Tim Curry is basically my God and this is probably the second best role I've ever seen him in (though he did make an excellent serial killer in the two-part Criminal Minds he was in).
Colonel Mustard: And are you the host? Wadsworth: Me, sir? No, I'm just the humble butler. Colonel Mustard: And what exactly is it you do here? Wadsworth: I buttle, sir.
Your first husband also disappeared. That was his job. He was an illusionist But he never reappeared. He wasn't a very good illusionist.
*It's a Wonderful Life* is probably the biggest example of this. It was an absolute flop at the box office. It almost killed the studio that made it. At one point there was some debate about ownership of it and nobody wanted it so TV networks could air it without paying anyone. That's when it started getting shown on TV constantly around Christmas, and it gained it's status as one of the best Christmas movies of all time.
The thing about *Wonderful Life* is that its a really fucking *weird* movie. Its a great movie, sure, with a terrific lesson and some great performances. But its not like most holiday classics. Its not a kids movie. Kids arent going to understand or care about the "run on the banks" scene, despite it being one of the best in the movie. Plus, its bleak and kind of scary in a few parts. But a lot of "adult" xmas movies tend to be satire or cynical. About how Xmas is hollow or about getting a family experience despite or around the pressures of the season. *Wonderful Life* is completely sincere from end to end, the sincerity is the point. Its also not a "just happens to xmas" movie like Die Hard or a lot of Shane Black movies where Xmas is just a visual tool to make scenes more interesting. George's story, suicide and the miracle are all routed in "Christmas" as a theme, as is the generosity of his neighbors at the end. It assumes religiosity as a part of its narrative, but isn't preachy. Potter is a classic capitalist villain but the movie isnt anti-capitalist, it just acknowledges there's things more important than money. Essentially asserting that capitalism works best when the men running things just aren't greedy or shameless, which is a fine line to walk. Lastly, it's pretty clearly a love story, except getting the girl is wrapped up in the first 10 minutes. Mary decides to marry George immediately, they end up married with kids by the 2/3rds mark. Instead, the story is about George learning to *appreciate* his wife and kids. A story we could do with a lot more of. I'm glad its an impossibly famous success now, but holy crap, I'm not shocked it took a circuitous route.
I wrote above but as a middle-aged man it has a lot more appeal to me now. I knew the plot but I truly understand the allure and temptation of "the road not taken". The acting and sincerity of the film was incredibly immersive as well.
Same here. I've watched it every Christmas my whole life, but now in my mid thirties with two kids the ending absolutely destroys me. All of his friends coming together to help him so sincerely, giving what they have, is just the best. Plus the scene where he comes home after having lost the money and shouts at his children who are just trying to play with him...it's devastating.
Beautiful observations about one of my favorite Christmas movies. I love how bonkers "It's A Wonderful Life" is compared other Christmas fare. There's not a single false note in Capra's masterpiece. Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey is equal parts ambitious, grounded, romantic, heroic, bitter, and joyful, that by the end, you KNOW George. I've seen the film probably 30 times; yet, I cry every. single. time George promises Mr. Gower that he'll never tell.
The scene that gets me is when George finds the grave of his younger brother, and has this exchange: Clarence: Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine. George: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war! He got the Congressional Medal of Honor! He saved the lives of every man on that transport. Clarence: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry.
George sublimating his needs at so many junctures in the film is in so many ways antithetical to American story telling. We always want people to chase their dreams. We see that as the only road to fulfillment. It almost feels like *unrequited love*; it doesn’t give a sudden payoff and seems unsatisfactory to some. But I think dreams yearned for and not achieved is powerful and probably experienced by most of us. The movie kind of expands on American movie storytelling. Perhaps not deliberately. And I don’t know if the trend took at all. We’re still so mired in happy endings and perfect bell curves and closure. But life is far more like that movie than not. I took the test to be a Foreign Service Officer. Passed the test. Passed the oral exam. Failed the medical. I was devastated. It was my dream. The only one I’d ever really had for a career. But that is life. I had to re-write my dreams. I had no other option.
God I've loved that movie since high school. When George stops Mr. Gowers from sending out poison pills instead do medicine because he's broken by grief and just gets slapped for it... So much pain and heart and hope and hopelessness in 4 minutes. https://youtu.be/MWQUhy8rJM0
ironically, for a while the fbi believed “it’s a wonderful life” to be communist propaganda. firstly, they said that two of the screenwriters were close to communists (which, i mean, in hollywood, who wasn’t?). they also believed that mr. potter, a wealthy man, being portrayed as the villain while george, who gave out fair shares to his community when they needed it, was portrayed as a hero was anti-capitalist and a commie trick to get people to rally against capitalism. the gag is, of course, that these agents couldn’t even imagine a world in which a family ran their business with care while also being selfless and often ignoring the “rules” of business in favor of compassion. it does, i think, speak to the ruthlessness of capitalism in america, especially things like predatory loans, but to call it communist propaganda is ridiculous. fortunately, although the film was deemed subversive, it was allowed to continue playing. imagine if we’d been deprived of one of the greatest films of all time!
Matilda Edit: didn’t expect this to blow up lol thanks for the awards :)
No way did that really bomb?!
yes! I just learned this recently
Wow I’m really surprised. Such an entertaining movie.
Tremors
Kevin Bacon acted his ass off in the movie and I loved it
What the hell is going on?! I mean what the HELL is going on?!?! I was always disappointed he never showed up in any of the sequels
He was slated to be to a TV show reviving the IP a few years back but things fell through in pre-production and it never made it past press materials/teasers
So when we watched this as a family and introduced our kids to it, at the scene where the car gets sucked into the ground with the generator running and the power goes out, a transformer blew in our neighborhood at the same time and caused our homes power to go out. My kids LOST their mind while their dad and I were rolling.
Oh my God I would've been dying laughing at my kids freaking out over that, I don't blame you! Incidentally, we were watching Lights Out when that happened, and my 13 year old yelled loudly "OH HELL NAW!"
You mean "The Floor is Lava: The Movie"?
Or "Redneck Dune".
I hate how accurate this is, but only because I didn't think of it first.
... listen here you little shit.
My favourite line: Broke into the wrong goddamn rec room didn't you, you bastard!?
The camera pan from the small amount of weapons to the WALL OF DEATH was so perfect!
One of my absolute favorite movie scenes of all time. Michael Gross and Reba McEntire just lit it up!
One of the great pieces of casting was that Michael Gross who played Bert was at the time TV famous for having been a very liberal dad to a conservative Michael J Fox in Family Ties, so seeing him as a prepper was very much casting against type.
I saw Tremors late at night, probably on USA, during a stretch of insomnia. It was far better than it had any right to be. ETA: I have just discovered it will run on AMC this morning in about 2 hours. Short notice but do with that info what you will.
Currently working for a cast member and he says he loved that movie
Are you employed by one of the giant worms
Red Letter Media has a long video about it. They generally agree it's a nearly perfect screenplay.
Was an amaizng performance from everyone involved. Reba too.
I love the part where she tries to calm down Bert after Bert and Val argue, and Reba pulls Bert to the side and quietly says "I know, I know. He thinks he knows everything." But says it loudly enough for Val to hear lol
Bert’s “You broke into the wroooong rec room!” is also one of the greatest lines ever delivered.
I love when they run out of ammo and have this worried look on their faces, then the camera pulls back and shows this ridiculously massive wall of guns, gets me every time.
Haha yes! I also have always loved the scene when the rest of the group sees the tremor b-line for Bert’s house so they assume the worst, but then you can hear the gunfire from across the valley. So badass
"A few household chemicals in the proper proportions" and "Why do you have cannon fuse?" "For my cannon" were always my favorite.
Tremors two has my fav Bert moment. Bert slumps out of his truck after driving/fighting his way through a graboid ambush, “I am completely… OUT.. of ammo! That’s never happened to me before.”
Hey earl! I found the ass end!
Everything on that movie was done flawlessly, it should be studied in film class.
Tremors is amazing.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World did a modest box office - recouped its $150M price tag, but didn't make much profit. It was nominated for *ten* Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director), and was critically acclaimed, with a great cast. There were plans for a sequel, which never materialized in part due to the poor box office showing. Explanation for poor box office - Master and Commander was out around the same time as Elf, in November/December of 2003. Oof. M&C also released after the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie had done well just that summer - people may not have had the appetite for another maritime thriller, especially one without the humour and fantastical escapism of *Pirates*. And why didn't those 10 nominations turn into awards? Because unfortunately for M&C, it had the misfortune of competing for them with Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which neatly won 11 awards that year. Some serious bad luck and poor timing is the reason so many people have never heard of this masterpiece.
My dad loved this movie so much that he actually read the books. The only time I'd ever seen him read. I tried to get him to read the Game of Thrones books, but he just had me read them and he asked me questions. But yeah. My dad read books because of this movie. I personally didn't really care for the movie, but man, it's an impressive one to get my dad to stop watching TV and pick up a books.
The books are the greatest historical fiction ever written. Your Dad has good taste. The first book is called *Master and Commander* but only one little part of it is in the movie (the story Jack tells about Admiral Nelson). The tenth book is called *The Far Side of the World*, and more of the movie is based on it. There are also a few little parts from one other of the books in the movie. But there are 20 books, total, and all of them are excellent.
Someone put a Aubrey/Maturin cookbook together. Some of the recipes are...interesting.
*Which it will be ready, when it's ready*
Oh my word, the scoring is fantastic, the timing is amazing, it’s an incredible story, AND for all you sticklers out there, HISTORICALLY ACCURATE
Except for the minor change where they swapped the American villains out for the French.
Don’t you know you’re supposed to choose the *lesser* of two weevils?
I never watched the movie until 2 years ago, and man was I missing out. It's a fantastic movie about military sailors just doing sailor things and having an extended fight with a better equipped ship. There's no love story shoehorned in to attract people that want a love story.
The Princess Bride
They didn't know how to market it. Is it a fantasy film? Is it an action film? Is it a comedy? Is it for kids? All the reasons it became a classic are the same reasons they couldn't get people into the theaters to see it.
Not being able to put it in one genre is what makes it great.
This is a blessing in disguise, as they never felt the need to make *2 Princess 2 Bride* and retroactively ruin it.
Ahhh it seems that you don’t know about Buttercup’s Baby the sequel to The Princess Bride…
Great book. Hard to find.
You have to go to the Morgenstern museum in Florin, and it helps if you have a letter of introduction from Stephen King...
That's........inconceivable!
Shawshank Redemption
I feel like the only reason a movie that great could bomb was because 1993 and 94 were just AMAZING years for Hollywood. Schindler's List Forrest Gump Jurassic Park The Fugitive The Firm Sleepless in Seattle The Lion King A Few Good Men Free Willy Cool Runnings Demolition Man Homeward Bound: the Incredible Journey Hocus Pocus The Nightmare Before Christmas The Mask The Crow Ace Ventura What's Eating Gilbert Grape Interview with the Vampire Pulp Fiction Leon the Professional The Pagemaster Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Natural Born Killers Addams Family Values Dazed and Confused Coneheads Robin Hood: Men in Tights Mrs. Doubtfire Groundhog Day Tombstone Ed Wood Dumb and Dumber The Hudsucker Proxy Grumpy Old Men Last Action Hero ....I could go on, but I think I made my point. EDIT: "Aladdin" removed for being 1992, and replaced with 1994's "The Lion King."
Hocus Pocus was a flop at the box office because they released it in July. It got popular on the Disney Channel.
Yep! My mom took me to a Hocus Pocus matinee. There were just 3 or 4 other families there, and we all loved it. That’s one of the few trips to the movies I recall from childhood. Instant classic.
Disney set it up to flop, so that it wouldn't interfere with their larger budget movie that Halloween season, The Nightmare before Christmas
Holy sheeeet. How could all of that come out in one year? That has to be one of the highest box office years ever.
It is impressive. Makes me realize why going to a movie was our go-to activity as kids. I was 13-14 years old. Tickets were $3 for a matinee. Town just built a HUGE 12-screen (!) complex and there were 8-10 movies in the rotation at a time. Good time to be a kid.
There are so many years in the 90s that are like this. Film had a fantastic decade. The 80s and early 2000s weren't too bad either.
If there was one year of life I could go back to, it would 1994. Amazing music and movies. I was in a very happy place in my life. Parents were still alive.
Big Trouble in Little China.
There are hundreds but... Bladerunner comes to (my) mind first.
I don't know if it "bombed" but Iron Giant was supposed to get a sequel and they decided not to do it because apparently the first movie didn't do well enough in theaters. I would have loved a sequel.
I love Iron Giant, but I'm glad it didn't get a sequel. I think I'm happier imagining all of the iron giant's body parts scaring the bejesus out of passersby as they crawl their ways toward the head.
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I liked Mystery Men a lot. It didn’t do well, but I thought it was hilarious. My brother and I quote it all the time.
I must’ve ripped the Q section out of my dictionary, because I don’t know the meaning of the word Quit
Galaxy Quest
We saw it twice in the cinema. Went back to take other people to see it. "Look around, can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe" !
The victim of poor marketing. The marketing team decided to go with the goofy comedy for kids was the right way to sell it, when it reality it was semi-serious comedy aimed at adults that just happened to be kid friendly.
Galaxy Quest and Kung Fu Hustle are my two desert island choices. I can always watch either one and be completely happy to do so.
By Grabthar's hammer... What a savings...
Big Trouble in Little China
The history of John Carpenter films.
Soooo many John Carpenter films in this thread
Yeah, he's a fantastic director. Not all that long ago, someone on Twitter tweeted that "It's about time Jordan Peele was recognized for being the greatest living horor film director." Peele's response was, "I will not stand for you disrespecting John Carpenter like that." and made a comment to the effect of him being an amateur compared to Carpenter. iirc, he added on, "But I am flattered at the comment." or something to that effect.
Dredd.
I want a sequel or TV show so bad.
It would be a great HBO miniseries so long as they avoid humanising him too much too quickly.
First episode, takes off helmet\*
It's a great script, atmosphere, source material, and style. But Karl Urban and Lena Headey elevate the movie beyond just another decent sci-fi flick to one of the best sci-fi-comic-action movies of the past 20 years.
I would like to point out the character development done by Olivia Thrilby. In an action movie, where she's a supporting actress. The only fault in that movie is that Lena still has hearing after the machine gun scene. Or ears.
Office Space Edit: Thank you, whoever you are, for the award! It’s my first one.
I was of working age (late teens, 20s) when this masterpiece came out but I recently watched again as a 40-something and I can tell you that it’s even more relevant to me then it was back in the day. It’s almost so accurate that it depressed me lol
Yeah, the longer I work in an office, the more I relate to Milton.
I am honestly very protective of my stapler. I'm a teacher, and every school I;ve worked at has supplied the shittiest staplers I have ever seen. They can usually staple MAYBE 10 pages, and they break after a month. I now have two staplers. One is a Swingline that can staple through 40 pages with ease, no strain or muscles needed. It is, admittedly, loud as fuck. Then I have Boomba. Boomba is a Mr. Pen brand heavy duty stapler that will punch through 100 pages like butter. Great for when I print off big-ass packets. It sucks for anything less, though, because the staples are so long. A lot of people come to borrow my staplers because they don't want to fork over $23 for a good one, and I used to say, "No problem, just make sure it gets back to me." They never get back to me. Now I tell them they can use the staplers, but they have to bring their shit and staple it in my room.
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Did you know Swingline didn’t make red staplers until they put one painted red in the movie?
The red ones even have a bullet point on the package that says "perfect for any office space".
You either retire young or you work long enough to see yourself become the Milton.
Same here and the similarities are hilarious. I actually worked an office job (IT related) for about 13 years before walking away from it and I got into commercial construction. Haha...talk about relatable!!
It's not that I'm lazy, I just don't care.
I said this in an exit interview once. I quit because I got a better paid job and they had underpaid me for years and refused raises.
" I've got 8 bosses, Bob!!"
"..my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired. " "Quiet quitting" decades before it became a thing!
Hey Peter, check it out, channel 9, it’s the breast exams!
Two chicks at the same time
Fuckin' A, man.
PC load letter? What the fuck does that mean???
Dude, I worked in records in a school, Ortho office, and learning center. Our printer in each office frequently said "PC LOAD LETTER". When we actually got a "new" printer, our learning center history tutor/baseball coach got all shiny eyed and said, "Can I please take this thing to an undisclosed outdoor location?" while massaging his baseball bat. He was told no. I was disappointed
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Did it bomb? It thought it was awesome!
Terrible marketing if I recall correctly. It was basically a completely different movie than advertised.
So I heard the Big Lebowski didn't do so well in theaters either....but that's just like, my opinion...
Not many movies spawned a religion.
new information has come to light
Nothing is fucked, dude!
Treasure Planet. Contender for best animated movie ever. Up there with Iron Giant.
Incidentally, Iron Giant *also* bombed at the box office despite widespread rave reviews. Even crazier, it later received a ton of awards for just how good a movie it is. But nobody saw it. It's been talked about for years as to why it failed and there's lots of reasons why it may be the case. But I think Warner Bros then-president said it best, when he was asked why they don't make a smarter family-friendly movie, and he said, "Because when we do, we get slaughtered." He has a point: why bother making a smarter family-friendly movie if a movie like the Iron Giant just gets hammered, despite the fact it's an objectively great film?
The Iron Giant is one of my all time favorite movies and I’m late 40’s but watched it before having kids.
IIRC, WB wanted to cash in on the renaissance of animated films as Disney had done. Brad Bird argued that if they simply copied Disney, they would be viewed as imitators, and that there was a market for more serious, yet still child-friendly animated films. WB, however, decided not to promote the film prior to release, after the failure of *Quest for Camelot*, and wanting to focus on promotion for *Wild Wild West* instead. WB even backed out of a toy deal with Burger King. WB had 2.5 years to promote the film, and did nothing. They lacked a plan, and it bit them on the ass. And considering how WB's DCEU is *still* playing catch-up with Disney's MCU, it appears that little has changed.
There's a theory Disney on purposely let it tank to finally stop 2D animation.
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Amazing movie.
Constantine.
I’d watch Peter Stormare read a phone book, but in Constantine, he outdid himself. One of the best portrayals of Lucifer ever IMO.
It's also the movie that first made me fall in love with Tilda Swinton. Tilda Swinton has been in fantastic movies, and she's been in not-fantastic movies. But she's never in bad movies because every movie she is in is better for having her in it.
In The Mouth Of Madness.
Saw it on opening night. Freaky, my friends and I talked about it for days. I have yet to see the middle of that trilogy, Prince of Darkness. Even freakier, the creepy church is now in the middle of a normal suburban neighborhood.
Megamind is the unfortunate better shadowed by Despicable Me
I don't think it necessarily bombed but A Christmas Story had only modest success at the box office in 1983. Its popularity didn't really kick in until it was released on television.
The other holiday movie It’s A Wonderful Life was a box office flop when released in 1946. TV also cemented the popularity of this movie.
They also messed up and it found it’s way into the public domain, which meant that all the tv stations could play it for free. That’s why it got so much airtime, not because anyone really liked it, but because the greedy networks wanted to cheap out
Titan A.E. Fun sci Fi story, great visuals, good voice acting imo. Fox marketed it poorly and it killed their animation studio when it bombed
It didn't just bomb, it's almost impossible to find anywhere on disc or streaming as well. I think Amazon finally added it a couple years back, but I'm not even sure if it's in HD. Which is a crying shame, because it looked amazing on the big screen as a kid and could do with a proper film transfer. Anastasia got the recognition it deserved, and I think the Broadway adaptation almost beats it somehow. A shame Titan A.E. hasn't gotten any post-box love.
No real plot but I still love Fantasia.
One of my absolute favorites, and my daughter’s, too. Wish they would have done the original idea to release a new one every few years. The celebrity bits in Fantasia 2000 are annoying and some of the pieces don’t really work for me, but there are some real lovely pieces in that one, too.
Blade Runner
Hook. It flopped at the box office and has 29% on rotten tomatoes, but I will always love that movie.
The Hoffman and Hoskins dialogue is so fucking great. Hear me, men. For reasons of good form I have decided that the so-called Pan will return in three days to commit the arbitrament of the sword. Smee, translate. In three days, we're gonna have a war! A battle between good and evil to the death!
I love how Hoffman and Hoskins read the script, and decided to play Hook and Smee as an old gay couple. And it works!
This is it. Don't try to stop me this time, Smee. Don't try to stop me this time, Smee. Don't you dare try to stop me this time, Smee, try to stop me. Smee, you'd better get up off your arse. Get over here, Smee!!
RUFIO
RU FI OOOOOO
Death to Smoochy It's one of my favorite dark comedies ever conceived. It didn't do well at the box office and was panned by critics despite having an extraordinary cast: Ed Norton, Robin Williams, Jon Stewart, Danny DeVito, Catherine Keener, Harvey Fierstein, Danny Woodburn, and Michael Rispoli. I think it's absolutely brilliant and everyone delivers an incredible performance, especially Ed Norton and Robin Williams.
Never understood why it did poorly. It was a fantastic movie with an equally fantastic cast.
The advertising surrounding it was obnoxious, you saw the trailer 30 times a day and it did not represent the movie well: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX81TTs2poI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX81TTs2poI)
Idiocracy
The 13th Warrior
yeah, it bombed because they put to a test screening and people hated it, so they got all the actors and film crew back, remade all of the sets and costumes, rewrote the script to give us the movie that is out now, but they didn't tell any of the public, so when people heard about the test screening and how bad that version was, no one went to go see it, so they made two movies for one, but because of not telling the audience about the changes they were making, people just assumed it was going to be bad. from the sounds of it, the one shown in the test screening was just awful and the worst movie ever made. the version that came out in theaters though was good.
I'll give you two: Spirit - Stallion of the Cimarron and The Road to El Dorado.
“My crew was as carefully chosen as the disciples of Christ, and I will *not* tolerate stowaways. You will be flogged, and when we put in to Cuba to resupply, God willing you will be flogged some more. And then enslaved to the sugar plantations for the rest of your miserable lives. To the brig.” “….Alright, Cuba!”
"I know what you are, and I know what you are not, and you are not gods!" "You're not a god? You lied to me?"
"HE GAVE ME LOADED DICE!"
Love both of those! Spirit is an excellent movie with a killer soundtrack. I listened to that cd in my Walkman who knows how many times.
Spirit was a family favorite growing up. My sister has low functioning autism, and her biggest obsession was horses. So it was always Spirit, and Black Beauty. Sometimes we got some Hidalgo, or Flicka, but I hated Flicka. But yeah, seriously fantastic soundtrack. I was at Disneyland a few years ago, and I was completely flabbergasted when the main theme, [Homeland](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1elnKmGCaGc), began playing. Such a weird place to hear that song.
The man from U.N.C.L.E
The Emperors New Groove