Stories
OFF TOPIC: FILM FIGHT – AND THE WINNERS ARE…
The results are in (from the May 13-20 survey on the favorite films of the late 90s). But rather than pontificate on what these results say about our modern culture or something equally snoozeworthy, I’ll simply give you the results and a trivia tidbit about each of the category victors.
Like Funny Ha-Ha |
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…Something About Mary |
20% |
Tommy Boy |
23% |
Office Space |
57% |
Star-Crossed Lovers |
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Before Sunrise |
11% |
Shakespeare in Love |
21% |
Romeo + Juliet |
68% |
Guys N’ Guns |
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Heat |
28% |
L.A. Confidential |
28% |
The Usual Suspects |
44% |
Dark Comedy |
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Election |
18% |
Grosse Point Blank |
23% |
Fargo |
59% |
Cheesy Sci-Fi |
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Starship Troopers |
21% |
Armageddon |
27% |
Independence Day |
52% |
Monster Mash |
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Blade |
21% |
The Mummy |
32% |
From Dusk Till Dawn |
47% |
Sub-Genius Comedy |
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Half Baked |
20% |
Friday |
31% |
Mallrats |
49% |
Sprawling Epic |
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Casino |
32% |
Saving Private Ryan |
33% |
Boogie Nights |
35% |
(Nicolas) Cage Fight |
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The Rock |
22% |
Con Air |
28% |
Face/Off |
52% |
Creeps Me Out |
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Scream |
16% |
The Sixth Sense |
19% |
Seven |
65% |
Teen Comedy |
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American Pie |
13% |
10 Things I Hate About You |
27% |
Clueless |
60% |
Smooth Criminals |
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Out of Sight |
10% |
Lock, Stock… |
29% |
The Boondock Saints |
61% |
Veering Into Weirdness |
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Lost Highway |
7% |
Pi |
19% |
Fear and Loathing… |
74% |
Dynamic Duos |
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Bad Boys |
13% |
Rush Hour |
21% |
Men in Black |
66% |
When Adam Sandler Was Still Kinda Funny |
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The Waterboy |
8% |
Happy Gilmore |
32% |
The Wedding Singer |
60% |
One Part Sci, One Part Fi |
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Twelve Monkeys |
24% |
The Matrix |
29% |
The Fifth Element |
47% |
Guilty Pleasure |
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The Faculty |
14% |
Cruel Intentions |
42% |
The Craft |
44% |
I’d Like to Thank the Academy… |
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Braveheart |
21% |
Titanic |
26% |
American Beauty |
53% |
Off-Center Comedy |
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Dogma |
25% |
Being John Malkovich |
37% |
Rushmore |
38% |
All-Time Faves |
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Trainspotting |
19% |
The Big Lebowski |
40% |
Fight Club |
41% |
Movie Trivia:
Office Space – The large statue in front of the Initech company building is a square peg in a round hole
Romeo + Juliet – Leo’s version of the speech at Juliet’s bier moved the supposed-to-be-comatose Claire Danes to tears, nearly ruining the scene
The Usual Suspects –When he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Kevin Spacey said “Well, whoever Keyzer Soze is, I can tell you he’s gonna get gloriously drunk tonight”
Fargo – Frances McDormand, who won Best Actress for her role, doesn’t appear onscreen until 33 minutes into the film. (Oh, and if you haven’t caught up with the Coen Bros. produced TV show “Fargo”, it’s excellent)
Independence Day – ID4 used more than twice as many miniatures as any movie ever made (and, with advances in computer graphics replacing most miniatures, will likely remain that way)
From Dusk Till Dawn – Special effects technician Robert Kurtzman had Taratino adapt his story into this screenplay in return for providing the ear-slicing scene in Quentin’s “Reservoir Dogs”
Mallrats – That weird face on the tee shirt Jason Lee wears throughout the film is actually the digitally merged faces of the three actors who didn’t get his role of Brodie
Boogie Nights – After seeing the film, Burt Reynolds regretted making it and fired his agent for recommending the role. Reynolds ended up winning a Golden Globe and being nominated for an Academy Award for the performance
Face/Off – In the movie, brothers Castor and Pollux are opposed by Agent Archer. In the astrology cycle, Sagittarius (“the archer”) is directly opposite of Gemini (“the twins”, named for stars Castor & Pollux)
* Bonus tidbit: Enshrined amongst the prestigious Criterion Collection films are the “who let those guys in?” inclusions of “The Rock” and “Armageddon”
Seven – Before Brad Pitt was cast, his role was turned down by a since-regretful Denzel Washington
Clueless – Actress Stacy Dash, who plays Cher’s best friend Dionne, is 9 years older than Alicia Silverstone
The Boondock Saints – The prison that Il Duce (Billy Connelly) is held in (Boston’s real-life Suffolk County Jail) is now the 4-star Liberty Hotel
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Bill Murray also played Hunter S. Thompson in the 1980 film “Where the Buffalo Roam”
Men in Black – After the film’s release, sales of the Ray-Ban sunglasses featured in the film (the “predator 2” model) more than tripled
The Wedding Singer – The song playing at Robbie’s aborted wedding to Linda is a string quartet arrangement of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”
The Fifth Element – The hero (Bruce Willis) and villain (Gary Oldman) never meet, or even communicate, in the film
The Craft – Actress Robin Tunney wore an orange-blonde wig for the film because she had shaved her head for the just-wrapped “Empire Records”
American Beauty – The title of the film refers to a breed of roses that, while pretty in appearance, is often prone to rot underneath at the root and branches of the plant
Rushmore – Lead actor Jason Schwartzman came to his audition wearing a prep-school blazer which sported a Rushmore patch he made himself
Fight Club – After the dvd’s copyright warning, a separate warning from Tyler Durdin appears onscreen… for one second
– Thanks to everyone who voted!