Sleepless in Seattle

Summer of 1993 Movies-Sleepless in Seattle

Sleepless in Seattle being summer movie is interesting because it is not what one would consider a summer movie. There's no action, through its funny it wouldn't be consider a comedy, and its genre (romantic comedy)  is all but extinct. Sleepless in Seattle being a summer movie is an example of what is called counter programming in Hollywood. That is when a tv show/movie is released and it is the opposite of what is on that night or this case the opposite of the type of movie that comes in a movie season. Sleepless in Seattle is really two movies in one with one movie being really good and the other movie being ok. Surprisingly its the movie with Meg Ryan that's really strong and the one with Tom Hanks that is ok. In 1993 Tom Hanks wasn't what is he now which is a 2 time Oscar winning actor whose really respected and his movies can be expected to have a strong opening weekend which will make money. His career up to that point had been really up and down. He got his start in the tv show Bosom Buddies but it his role on an episode of Happy Days (in which he played a guy who learned karate so he could get his revenge on the Foz) that lead to his big break on the big screen. Former Happy Days star Ron Howard (now a director) heard about Hanks performance and after seeing it decided to give Hanks a starring role in the film Splash. It was hit and lead to him getting starring parts in movies. He was a few years removed from a notorious flop-The Bonfire of the Vanities. The film he had done before this had been a hit (League of Their Own-1992) so his career was in an uptick. The plot of the film is "Sam Baldwin, a Chicago architect, loses his wife Maggie to cancer. He and his young son Jonah start anew in Seattle, Washington, but Sam continues to grieve. A year and a half later, on Christmas Eve 1992, Jonah—who wants his father to find a new wife—calls in to a radio talk show. Jonah persuades Sam to go on the air to talk about how much he misses Maggie. Hundreds of women from around the country who hear the program and are touched by the story, write to Sam." One of the women who listens to the program is Anne Wilson a reporter for the Baltimore Sun and she is the woman that audiences get to know as she falls for Sam and tries to figure out to meet him.  How 90's is using talk radio as major plot point? Also why someone who is grieving the loss of a spouse would move to Seattle  (the suicide capital of the U.S.) is beyond me. As I mentioned earlier this storyline is ok and that's because almost everyone in it is trying so hard. There's a really touching scene when a co-worker of Sam's gives him the business card for his shriek so Sam can call the shriek. Sam gets angry and shows the co-worker that he has lots of these types of cards. There are two characters in this part of the movie that are really good. One is Rob Reiner who is really amusing as a friend of Tom Hanks character who tries to help his character get used to what its like to date in the 90's. The other is Gaby Hoffman as Jessica the friend of Jonah (the son of Tom Hanks character). She is very believable as this character and is the best character in this part of the movie.  This problem with the Tom Hanks part of the movie really amplifies just how superior the Meg Ryan part of the movie is. Everyone in this section of the movie is believable. Meg Ryan comes across as a likeable person who has gotten their dream job (she's a reporter for the Baltimore Sun) who wants more out of her personal life. She is engaged but its to that stock character in romantic movies of the person who is allergic to everything. Considering how annoying these characters usually are its surprising that Bill Pullman who plays the part really isn't. Fortunately for him better times were around the corner as he would later get the girl in While You were Sleeping (1995) and he would help save the world in the monster hit Independence Day (1996). Also in a bit of good times are ahead foreshadowing is David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) who plays the brother of Meg Ryan who gives her advice on life! A real standout as far as likeable character in this part of the movie is Rosie O'Donnell who has the best line the movie. She works with Meg Ryan at the newspaper and the 2 of them along with 2 male co-workers are talking. One of the male co-workers says " It's easier to be killed by a terrorist than it is to find a husband over the age of 40!" Meg Ryan says that its not true and that there was a book written on how that wasn't true and asks the the male co-workers had read that book. One of then ask had anyone read that book. Rosie O'Donnell character then says "That's right it's not true, but it feels true." Rosie O'Donnell if she had stuck on this track probably would have a very good career as a character actress and it would have been interesting to see if the controversy that has surrounded her would be as big as it is if she had stayed an actress. This movie was one of the first to really embrace pop culture. The pop culture item it really embraced was the Cary Grant film "An Affair to Remember." Both Meg Ryan and Rosie O'Donnell characters are seen crying over the movie in their section of the movie and in the Tom Hanks section of the movie a friend of his wife (Rita Wilson-Mrs. Tom Hanks in real life) is seen crying over the movie. There's comparison between women liking this movie and men liking the Dirty Dozen that at the time seemed like big deal but isn't now. "An Affair to Remember" would go onto to hurt the film because its climax (2 people agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building) would be how this movie would end but with a twist. The twist is that Jonah (Tom Hanks character's son) receives a letter from Anne in which she mentions meeting there. He sends her letter (which Anne believes is from his Dad) agreeing to this. Thanks to his friend Jessica (whose Mom works at a Travel Agency) he goes there.This could never happen now and it was a problem then. When Sam and Anne do meet at the top of the Empire State Building (with Jonah in attendance) it is pretty magical.  This movie do good with the critics (71% per Rotten Tomatoes) and with the general public (it grossed $227 million).  The film has a great soundtrack that was a wonderful collection of pop standards that was a mixture of singers from the 40's to the 90's. It was beautifully shot by one of the great cinematographers of all-time (Sven Nykvist) who was a multiple Oscar winner best known for the films he did with Ingmar Bergman. This film was a real highlight for its director Nora Ephron who had one of the most interesting lives of anyone who has ever worked in film. "Sleepless in Seattle" is one of the best examples of why its genre-romantic comedies-should still be one of the more popular film genres. Perhaps it will become popular again.

Cliffhanger

Ah the summer movie! The movies that are style over substance, mindless entertainment, the movie equivalent of fast food, while this is often the case; its not always the case. The summer movie even through it seems like it has been around for awhile is relatively young. The summer movie can be traced back to one seminal film-Jaws (1975). I'm not going to get into the history of Jaws because that is well documented in a large number of books, dvds, etc., but I will explain how Jaws set the stage for the summer movie. Jaws like a lot of summer movies was based on a well-known property a novel written by Peter Benchley. It went wildly over schedule and over budget. The primary reason for this was because the movie was shot on the ocean with a mechanical shark that had been built for fresh water and not salt water. In 1975 there was only season to release a potential blockbuster movie and that was the fall. Summer back then was considered the dumping ground for movies like winter is now. The studio releasing Jaws (Universal) decided to see if they could change that in order to make a profit on Jaws. In order to do this they instituted two practices that are now commonplace with summer movies-a wide release (440 theaters) and heavy adverting on tv. Both of these practices played a big hand in Jaws becoming a blockbuster. In fact Jaws was the first film to gross a $100 million dollars and was for a brief time the highest grossing movie of all-time. When Star Wars come out a few years later and over took Jaws as the highest grossing film the summer movie season was officially born. The summer of 1993 is the year that the summer movie hit it stride as 7 films all well known and well received by both the public and the critics were released.  I believe 1993 is best year of summer movies and is the summer movie equivalent of 1939. If you are a movie fan than it common knowledge that 1939 is considered to be the greatest year for film. This makes sense because that year had a lot of films that are considered classics (Gone with the Wind, The Wizard Of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach) that also had some of the greatest movies star ever in them (Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne).  I know it seems that I'm doing the inverse of 1939 but like the ballyhooed 1939 movies the summer films of 1993 films has some striking similarities. In both cases these movies have actors/actresses who are well known to the average person along with the movies that they appeared in in those years are well known to the average person. The most obvious parallel is that both years were dominated by a single film that were each based on a best selling novel. These films tend to overshadow the other films because of the level of success each film enjoyed but a closer examination will show that were still other compelling enjoyable films that deservedly commanded the spotlight. Sit back, relax as I take you back to the best year of summer films-1993.  

The first of the impressive films that come out in summer of 1993 was Cliffhanger. This is a summer movie at its finest. This is one the most enjoyable movies I have seen.  I love this film. A key reason why this film was so successful and why I like it so much/remember it fondly is that it has one of the greatest trailers in film history. In 1993 there was no internet so it was harder to promote a film on national/global scale. About the best way to do that back then was the to air an ad during a major sporting event like the Super Bowl which this film did. After that trailer aired it turned Cliffhanger into a must see. The trailer also did something that is really hard for a trailer to do it effectively sold the film without giving too much of the film's plot away. This trailer should be required viewing for anyone who putting a film's trailer together. Cliffhanger has a relatively simple plot that is expertly told. The plot is a group of thieves "attempt to steal $100 million dollars in uncirculated $1,000 bills belonging to the U.S. Treasury Department which are in three suitcases via a daring air-to-air transfer but the transfer is foiled by an undercover FBI agent and the three suitcases are lost among the mountains. The suitcases holding the money have beacon locators  but the thieves need expert help locating them in the mountainous terrain." This movie is jam packed with some of the most remarkable action sequences ever seen. The good thing about these action sequences is that they advance the plot they're not just done to distract the audience or for the sake of action.The most intense of these sequences is the opening one which is reminiscent of the opening sequence of a Bond film in that it has little direct bearing to the plot but in this case does provide an interesting back story to the main plot. The sequence is HalTucker (Michael Rooker) who is a mountain climber and rescue ranger is stranded on a narrow peak in the Rockey Mountains, called "The Tower" with a knee injury. He has brought along his girlfriend Sarah who is an inexperienced mountain climber. Along come 2 other climbers and rescue rangers Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) and Jessie Deighan (Janine Turner) to rescue them. Hal and Sarah are to be rescued by getting into a helicopter via  a steel wire. Hal does this with no problem. Sarah harness breaks and she is left dangling over a deep chasm. Jessie can't save her because she flying the helicopter & Hal can't because of his injury. So Gabe goes out to save Sarah, but is unsuccessful; her gloved hand slips through Gabe's and she falls to her death.
This description does no justice to how harrowing this sequence is. Other strengths of this film are beautiful cinematography (it was shot in the Italian Alps even through it set in the Rockies) and really good pacing courtesy of director Renny Harlin. Another of the film's strengths is the acting. Say what you will about the film's star,  Sylvester Stallone, you have to respect the fact that he's been really successful in really cutthroat business (Hollywood) for four decades. He's really good in this film and a key reason why it was so successful. This film is an anomaly among Stallone's films in that it was it was hit and didn't get a sequel/start a franchise.  This film should have lead Janine Turner become a bigger deal because she was really good and she has really chemistry with Stallone. Rooker as always was really good and so were most the villains.The exception being the lead villain played John Lithgow. A big reason why he wasn't very good as the villain is that he has a very bad British accent. It is surprising that he was asked/decided to do a British accent and its equally surprising that he's so bad at it.   The film was hit at the box office grossing $255 million and did goodish with the critics (69% per Rotten Tomatoes-I think it should have been much higher). There has been talk of remake but I hope that it never happens because remake more than likely would suck and its highly doubtful that a remake could as good.

 

Jurassic Park

 Summer of 1993 Movies-Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is one of the best known and loved summer films. Its really not hard to understand why because it has a great concept as it plot-dinosaurs are brought back to life and are put in a theme park for people's enjoyment. It has probably has the most important technological breakthrough to ever hit films as its biggest selling point-cgi-which allows just about anything to be brought to life. The film was based on a novel by Michael Crichton who is one of the most interesting people to have worked in film. He was an MD who got his MD from Harvard. He wrote novels so he could pay for school. His first novels were written under a pseudonym because as he explained in the making of "The Andromeda Strain" (the first novel of his to be turned into a film and the first novel published under his real name) that a key component of grades in Medical School is peer evaluation. And he thought that if his classmates knew he was writer they would think less of him, thus their evaluations would be lower. Even after attaining success and fame under his real name he continued to write books under a pseudonym. Eventually he would write books under his real name. He also became a writer/director. Because he was doing this he didn't write as many novels. By 1989 his writing/directing career was over with because for the most part his films weren't very successful. The Jurassic Park novel came out in 1990 and the film success (he co-wrote the script) allowed him to get back into film-making but mainly as writer/producer. The film grossed $1.03 billion which made it for awhile the most successful film ever made. This was one of the first films that relied heavily on the foreign box office to become a hit.  In fact it was the film's foreign grosses that allowed it to become the highest grossing film. The film also do well with the critics 93% per Rotten Tomatoes. So with this kind of success at both the box office and with critics it has to be good? Depends on what you want from a film. If your looking for a film that is a spectacle than this is the film for you. When the dinosaurs are first seen it is pretty magical. It also has a memorable score by probably the greatest film composer of all-time: John Williams. If on the other hand you want a film that you have an emotional attachment to or a great plot that carries you away than its not. I fall into this camp. The human characters in this film are given no room to breathe. They really serve no purpose except to be killed by the dinosaurs or to give exposition. A real shame considering that 2 of characters when give time are memorable. Those are John Hammond and Dr. Ian Malcolm. John Hammond is the creator of Jurassic Park and he has two of the most famous lines in the film "Spared on expense" and "This park was not built to cater only for the super-rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals." As portrayed by Sir Richard Attenborough he comes across as the kindest grandfather with a real twinkle in his eyes who happens to be a billionaire. But as the film goes on his part diminishes and he is kinda of cast as the villain which also hurts him. Jeff Goldblum has an absolute field day with the part Dr. Ian Malcolm. He serves as the conscience of the film and the Greek chorus. He also has the funniest line in the film via this exchange with John Hammond-
"All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!"
 "Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."
What prevents him from dominating the film is he gets hurt (a broken leg) and is given morphine to help with pain. This makes him passive for much of the movie. So positive was the response to this character that when Michael Crichton wrote a sequel called "The Lost World" he made Dr. Ian Malcolm the main character. There was just one small problem he had appeared to killed him off in the original novel. This was explained away by saying that it was untrue. The fact that the acting is weak in this film is surprising given that the film's director Steven Spielberg is well-known for being able to successfully combine strong characters with spectacle. I think the reason the acting is weak is because Spielberg mind wasn't totally on the film when he was making it and because he wasn't physically present when the film was being edited. He was prepping Schindler's List when Jurassic Park was being shot and he was shooting Schindler's List when it was being edited. He edited Jurassic Park via satellite and he left the primary editing up to his friend George Lucas. As many a film lover will tell you and George Lucas will admit strong characters/acting aren't a forte of George Lucas this may explain why the film is heavy on spectacle and light on strong characters/acting. At the end of the day this film was a huge success at the box office, is fondly remembered by many people, was a watershed for special effects, and spawned a successful franchise. The latest entry Jurassic World released in June of this year is already in the top 5 of the highest grossing films of all time and the main theme from the this film recently top the Billboard Classical Digital Songs. An impressive feat that just adds to the legacy this film has attained.