It’s Laser Age 2.0! Great piece, even if the only one of these I’ve seen (in theaters, no less) is Johnny Mnemonic. I even bought Gibson’s published screenplay for the college friend who convinced us all it was going to be the coolest thing ever.
I first saw this at a drive-in that had a feature I’ve never seen anywhere else: an apartment attached to the concession stand. Sadly, that theater is no longer with us.
I missed every one of these so there's a chance I was too busy working at a bookstore and sneering about how this Internet thing wasn't going to catch on. I would like to see a movie where they combine the personalities of Gacy, Manson, and Bundy but something goes wrong and they just end up with a businessman who likes VW bugs and keeps hitting up everybody he sees about getting a record contract.
It’s hard to overstate how excited I was for JOHNNY MNEMONIC when it came out. I’d been following Gibson’s career for more than a decade at that point, and he was one of my idols in the science fiction world. I’d been selling my own short stories for a couple of years at that point, and colleagues at SF conventions often told me how much I looked like a young William Gibson, which only made my sense of kinship more intense.
Of course the movie was a huge disappointment, and I feel like it put a final nail in the coffin of the idea that any SF novelist but Phil Dick was worth adapting for the movies. (Does anyone remember 1989’s MILLENNIUM with Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd and Daniel J. Travanti? Another case of a hero of mine, John Varley, adapting his own excellent novel to disastrous results.)
As compelling as Gibson’s visions are on the page (as you point out, Keith), I think it was extremely difficult to convey the chilling, isolating otherness of cyberspace on the screen without veering into cheese. Dick’s what-is-real? aesthetic was much more cinematic, so it’s no surprise that when the Wachowskis finally got cyberpunk right (once), the result bore the DNA of both Gibson and Dick.
Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I was sure science fiction was poised to take over the world, because it would increasingly become the only was to understand the world. Unfortunately that was correct. More and more reality is morphing into a nightmare collision of Gibson and Dick.
I never saw Millennium, but I remember it thanks to the Kids in the Hall monologue by Scott Thompson as Buddy where he talks about being in it and says, “It won’t make a dime.”
That's one I wouldn't argue too hard. I love both films dearly and they're both ****, all time greats for me. Chinatown's ending undeniably packs a greater punch though
LA Confidential, The Insider, Gladiator... It's so true. He's doing some schlock now, but he definitely had many days in the sun. I remember reading something in The New Yorker many years ago where he threw a telephone at a hotel concierge for uttering the word, "Whatever." 😁
If I remember correctly, none of these movies opened to critical acclaim (which for me mostly meant two thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert). So the only one I ended up seeing was The Net with Sandra Bullock. I was deep into the bulletin board system scene back then, enjoying the community built by messages left (like a comment board!) and watching the baby steps of the World Wide Web. So the premise of a loner Sandy Bullock getting in over her head seemed to have some grounding in reality. The movie was a disappointment, and the shaky cam pans of computer text set to highly dramatic music were disorientating. I think that The Net was going for something like what Enemy of the State got right a few years later.
I've never actually watched HACKERS but for some reason that is a HUGE movie with my fellow geriatric Millennials.
I think the only one I've seen is THE NET which I've definitely seen more than once. How many of these have a character saying "I'm in" when they have finally hacked inside something?
I have the biggest of soft spots for Johnny Mnemonic, in part because it's just so wild. If one scene isn't working for you, just wait five minutes and you'll be in a completely different place. Is Henry Rollins wearing on you? Just wait until you meet Dolph Lundgren. Or Ice-T and the dolphin. It's just always running to a new, kind of fun/cool place. I also really like that Gibson tried to fold other ideas from other stories and novels into this one, like the dolphin from the Bridge trilogy (I think?).
The other three are varying degrees of silly fun, and I at least appreciate Virtuosity for trying something new, even if it doesn't always work. You do get Crowe chewing up all the scenery (sometimes literally) and Denzel always shows up ready to deliver, and it does have That Ending that I love. Maybe it's time for a reappreciation!
I rewatched GOLDENEYE recently, which came out that fall, and the techno fears are all over that one as well (EMPs, data spikes, weird visual imaginations of what the internet would look like)
does anyone else remember the Providence, RI video store that had a cardboard display of Johnny Mnemonic on which someone wrote "KEANU WEARS HIS GOOD ACTING HELMET!"
It’s Laser Age 2.0! Great piece, even if the only one of these I’ve seen (in theaters, no less) is Johnny Mnemonic. I even bought Gibson’s published screenplay for the college friend who convinced us all it was going to be the coolest thing ever.
I first saw this at a drive-in that had a feature I’ve never seen anywhere else: an apartment attached to the concession stand. Sadly, that theater is no longer with us.
A quick note about STRANGE DAYS: Obviously that's a big one from 1995 and there's more going on in that one than in any of these so I narrowed the focus. Scott, Genevieve Koski, Tasha Robinson and I covered it in a Next Picture Show bonus episode a while back: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing-movies-strange-days-1995/id1057714949?i=1000536104118
I missed every one of these so there's a chance I was too busy working at a bookstore and sneering about how this Internet thing wasn't going to catch on. I would like to see a movie where they combine the personalities of Gacy, Manson, and Bundy but something goes wrong and they just end up with a businessman who likes VW bugs and keeps hitting up everybody he sees about getting a record contract.
It’s hard to overstate how excited I was for JOHNNY MNEMONIC when it came out. I’d been following Gibson’s career for more than a decade at that point, and he was one of my idols in the science fiction world. I’d been selling my own short stories for a couple of years at that point, and colleagues at SF conventions often told me how much I looked like a young William Gibson, which only made my sense of kinship more intense.
Of course the movie was a huge disappointment, and I feel like it put a final nail in the coffin of the idea that any SF novelist but Phil Dick was worth adapting for the movies. (Does anyone remember 1989’s MILLENNIUM with Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd and Daniel J. Travanti? Another case of a hero of mine, John Varley, adapting his own excellent novel to disastrous results.)
As compelling as Gibson’s visions are on the page (as you point out, Keith), I think it was extremely difficult to convey the chilling, isolating otherness of cyberspace on the screen without veering into cheese. Dick’s what-is-real? aesthetic was much more cinematic, so it’s no surprise that when the Wachowskis finally got cyberpunk right (once), the result bore the DNA of both Gibson and Dick.
Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I was sure science fiction was poised to take over the world, because it would increasingly become the only was to understand the world. Unfortunately that was correct. More and more reality is morphing into a nightmare collision of Gibson and Dick.
I never saw Millennium, but I remember it thanks to the Kids in the Hall monologue by Scott Thompson as Buddy where he talks about being in it and says, “It won’t make a dime.”
Ha! I didn't remember that bit, but I had no trouble finding it on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqQCyAQBgXY#t=139s
Only 90s kids will remember when Russel Crowe seemed like the most promising actor in 20 years.
I mean, he's has a pretty terrific career:
L.A. Confidential
The Insider
Gladiator
A Beautiful Mind
Master and Commander
Cinderella Man
3:10 to Yuma
Les Miserables (just kidding)
Not sure he's a first ballot Hall of Famer but he's hardly a failed prospect
Master and Commander, the film that spawned an entire cinematic universe in the best timeline. 12 movies! 5 TV series!
I recently watched LA Confidential for the first time in years and MAN does that movie hold up. Crowe and Pearce are both on fire!
Yeah LAC is a fantastic movie. Perfect neo-noir and, I think, a masterpiece
Manohla Dargis's BFI Classics book on LAC champions puts it above Chinatown. A great read, whether or not she convinces you.
That's one I wouldn't argue too hard. I love both films dearly and they're both ****, all time greats for me. Chinatown's ending undeniably packs a greater punch though
LA Confidential, The Insider, Gladiator... It's so true. He's doing some schlock now, but he definitely had many days in the sun. I remember reading something in The New Yorker many years ago where he threw a telephone at a hotel concierge for uttering the word, "Whatever." 😁
If I remember correctly, none of these movies opened to critical acclaim (which for me mostly meant two thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert). So the only one I ended up seeing was The Net with Sandra Bullock. I was deep into the bulletin board system scene back then, enjoying the community built by messages left (like a comment board!) and watching the baby steps of the World Wide Web. So the premise of a loner Sandy Bullock getting in over her head seemed to have some grounding in reality. The movie was a disappointment, and the shaky cam pans of computer text set to highly dramatic music were disorientating. I think that The Net was going for something like what Enemy of the State got right a few years later.
I've never actually watched HACKERS but for some reason that is a HUGE movie with my fellow geriatric Millennials.
I think the only one I've seen is THE NET which I've definitely seen more than once. How many of these have a character saying "I'm in" when they have finally hacked inside something?
I hadn’t seen that one either in spite of its cult. And, to answer your question, I think all of them?
I have the biggest of soft spots for Johnny Mnemonic, in part because it's just so wild. If one scene isn't working for you, just wait five minutes and you'll be in a completely different place. Is Henry Rollins wearing on you? Just wait until you meet Dolph Lundgren. Or Ice-T and the dolphin. It's just always running to a new, kind of fun/cool place. I also really like that Gibson tried to fold other ideas from other stories and novels into this one, like the dolphin from the Bridge trilogy (I think?).
The other three are varying degrees of silly fun, and I at least appreciate Virtuosity for trying something new, even if it doesn't always work. You do get Crowe chewing up all the scenery (sometimes literally) and Denzel always shows up ready to deliver, and it does have That Ending that I love. Maybe it's time for a reappreciation!
I rewatched GOLDENEYE recently, which came out that fall, and the techno fears are all over that one as well (EMPs, data spikes, weird visual imaginations of what the internet would look like)
does anyone else remember the Providence, RI video store that had a cardboard display of Johnny Mnemonic on which someone wrote "KEANU WEARS HIS GOOD ACTING HELMET!"