16 Comments

So much unmemorable pap, but I will *never* forget my reaction to the end of Rat Race, which relies on the audience having a very different reaction than I to the words "it's Smashmouth!!!"

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SCARY MOVIE 2 is the first movie I ever walked out of! (Alas, I had to walk back in after ten or fifteen minutes because I was with family and had no way home.)

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Surprised to see Jurassic Park III so high, until I saw the rest of the list.

But there were two things I really liked about the film:

(1) It dispenses with the "Ooo" and "Aaah" element. It knows we've seen the first two films, so we've already marvelled at the dinosaurs' majesty, so it can get straight into dinosaurs eating people.

(2) One of my favourite parts of the Jurassic Park novel was the scene where they found themselves in the aviary, so it was a genuine thrill when JP3 finally adapted it.

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As someone in the 8-12 demo during this summer, the two biggest deals here were OSMOSIS JONES and RAT RACE. Rowan Atkinson dumbly yelling "It's a race it's a race! I'm winning!" is still a regularly proffered quotation.

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Ah, the early days of college before... the later days of college. Nobody's mentioned how much things changed and I won't be the first, but this is an interesting list because between catching some of these in theaters and some on video in the fall, it's strange to remember they came out at roughly the same time. Hard to argue with any point on the list - I saw Moulin Rouge! no less than three times in the theater (different groups of friends going) and again as one of the only DVDs my roommates owned. Has made rewatching it unnecessary the last twenty years.

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No arguments with this list (one of the things I remember appreciating most about JURASSIC PARK III was that its brief running time did not outstay its welcome), but RAT RACE was one of the more enjoyable movies I saw that summer. I went to see it with a coworker, kind of by default since we couldn't find a convenient place to see WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER, and I had nothing in the way of expectations. I remember laughing a lot at and, out of that whole cast, being especially impressed with Amy Smart, who I had never really stood out for me before.

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Wow, what a terrible summer. As such, toppermost of my poppermost would be KISS OF THE DRAGON, from the EuropaCorp conveyor belt. In the first 15 minutes or so, Jet Li boots a snooker ball into someone's face, and a grenade blows a goon literally in half. It can't maintain such lofty heights of magnificence of course, but satisfying enough junk. One of Bridget Fonda's last films, as it turned out.

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I saw a few of these later on, but I only caught five when they were in theaters. That was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, and I was back in my hometown, which was very small and only had a two-cinema theatre.

My reactions at the time:

A.I. Artificial Intelligence: I remember liking the first two acts, but really hated the sentimentality of everything after the kid robot died. I had gotten into Kubrick in the year leading up to this so I'm sure I was bringing some silly "Corny Spielberg ruining Serious Kubrick" ideas to it.

Jurassic Park III: I remember not liking it and thinking "Why was last year's Godzilla movie a Jurassic Park movie and this year's Jurassic Park movie a Godzilla movie?"

The Fast and the Furious: Enjoyed it at the time as dumb fun. My younger brother who was 17 immediately wanted to put neon on his truck which made my dad absolutely furious. My brother never modified his truck, but boy did we enjoy getting my dad mad about the idea! I rewatched this earlier this year and enjoyed the hell out of it, largely because of the time capsule aspects (physical effects, pounding techno soundtrack, gaudy 90s outfits).

Planet of the Apes: Saw this with my dad, as we were both huge fans of the original. Absolute travesty; we were in a nearly empty theatre and just rolled our eyes and riffed on it.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: Saw this with a friend and all I remember is telling him that while the movie was funny today, it probably would feel dated already if we watched it next week.

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I might offer up a mild defense for EVOLUTION. It was definitely trying to operate on the wavelength of Ghostbusters, which is probably why I have fond memories of it. At the time, I recall thinking that comedies like this no longer got made. EVOLUTION felt like a gift of a warm bath.

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Me not in hurry to revisit Pootie Tang because of director, but Chris Rock once insisted it got butchered in editing room by studio, and there was much more coherent version of movie out there, and me will admit that version probably worth seeing.

Other remarkable thing about list is how little of it me remember outside of top five. And even Jurassic III me barely remember. Was that one where they brought Sam Neill back after he sat out II? And maybe there Australian guy who want to hunt dinosaurs? Anyway, me not that interested in these movies past first one, unless they finally make one that gives America what we want — Chris Pratt being horribly mauled by something.

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You said you were taking requests so my request is filma adapted from Haruki Murakami films. Yeah… I watched Drive My Car today.

https://boxd.it/izr5

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it's weird how much of my cultural memory about this year vanished after 9/11 -- really the only movies I remember coming out that summer were LEGALLY BLONDE (worked in a below-Canal St. NYC office bldg that also housed the east coast Artisan Entertainment offices; those guys were dyspeptic that it beat out MADE at the box office; you can piece together what happened to me/my job after 9/11 given the location), RAT RACE (due to WFMU involvement), and BUBBLE BOY (too close to the fire I guess).

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