Independence Day (1996)
Hollywood need never produce another popcorn flick, for the pinnacle of modern big budget, action a’splosion filmmaking has already been achieved by Roland Emmerich. Its origin is legendary: on a press junket for their film Stargate, Emmerich and partner Dean Devlin were asked by a reporter about their belief in intelligent life and what might happen if such creatures visited Earth. Their answer was 1996’s Independence Day, where intelligent creatures visited Earth and pretty much made the planet their bitch. On July 2, giant saucers descend over the major cities of the world, and cable repairman Jeff Goldblum figures out that, alas, they’re sending a degrading signal that must mean total catastrophe for mankind. President Bill Pullman agrees, but not in time to evacuate New York, L.A. and Washington D.C., all of which are turned into giant parking lots post haste. Meanwhile, Will Smith is in the Air Force battling aliens and bitching about barbecues, and someone has the balls to kill off Harry Connick, Jr. Emmerich’s casting is perfect; forget 1995’s Bad Boys, this is the Fresh Prince’s coming out party, where he moved from being "that guy with the show on NBC" to "Will Smith." Pullman makes a believable Commander in Chief, Goldblum channels Ian Malcolm with surgical precision, and Robert Loggia’s crusty old general makes a perfect sidekick for the Leader of the Free World. Forget any complaints about the stupidity of the ending; the Mac virus is simply an homage to The War of the Worlds, and, besides, the scene is hilarious. Clocking in at almost two-and-a-half-hours, the film seems to flow much faster than that, ‘cause it’s just a lot of FUN as Houston gets nuked and Smith shouts his catchphrases. The fact that this film was released in the middle of a blockbuster summer made the film an even more perfect fit; one could leave the theatre, drive home and watch the Independence Day fireworks, reveling in the fact that they just saw the United States kick the shit out of a vastly superior foe while Will Smith cracked the wise.
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Joel and Ethan Coen don’t always get it right, but when they do…back the fuck up. Fargo is a good example; only these two men could make that film. Better testimony to their genius is The Hudsucker Proxy, which prefers style over substance but delivers enough of the former to power a fleet of a thousand ships. Set in the late 1950s (though the sets are 1930’s New York art deco,) Tim Robbins is a dull-witted employee of the massive Hudsucker Corporation tapped by Paul Newman and the Board of Directors to be President by proxy, a loser who will allow the Board to buy up most of the remaining shares of the company as the "timid elements" sell their stock and run for cover. The problem is, Robbins has ideas, or at least one, and the sequence that details its release is one of the best you’ll ever see on film. Jennifer Jason Leigh co-stars as Amy Archer, a fast-talking, hard-edged newspaper reporter reminiscent of many of the attractive tomboys of 1940’s cinema. She should have taken home an Academy Award for her performance; I’ll stake my Pulitzer on that. The Coen script (written with future Spider-Man writer/director Sam Raimi, thus the cameo by Bruce Campbell) is tight and engaging, with original, fascinating dialogue and an interesting if somewhat average plot. Robbins and Leigh’s performances, good support from a variety of players (including John Mahoney and Steve Buscemi) and the eye-catching set design carries the film, and leaves The Hudsucker Proxy as one of the Coen Brothers’ best.
Noises Off 1992
I could never act on stage. I’d forget my lines, laugh at anything funny, and derail my infinitely more talented castmates. I would fit right in with the performers in Noises Off, stage comedy adapted for the screen by Peter Bogdanovich that shows us just how bad a competent group of thespians can be given the right circumstances. Lloyd Fellowes (Michael Caine) is the director of a play starring characters performed by Carol Burnett, Christopher Reeve, John Ritter, Marilu Henner and others, a traveling show that begins in Iowa on a six month journey that ends on Broadway. We see the first act about three times; the first is a dress rehearsal that stops and starts as the actors debate the fine points with their frustrated director, the second we see from backstage as fighting castmates exact revenge upon each other in the middle of the workday, and the third lets us only imagine the atrocities occurring behind the curtain, as thespians emerge tattered and torn from the wars and play falls completely apart, with as many as three people (including the director) performing one role at once. The film rewards our patience; the first run-through is mildly humorous, as we see Lloyd becoming more and more flustered by his talented but slightly insane actors. By the time the third performance rolls around, we know the material and are rolling on the floor as the players screw up grandly, including a gut-busting line delivery of the simple line, "Oh my God!" by Christopher Reeve as all hell breaks loose on set. Noises Off is wildly original, a play-within-a-play that reveals just how easy it is for talented people to go off the deep end, and thank God they do because the film, filled with jokes that pay off our attention, is utterly hilarious.