90s Movie Review - The First Wives Club

Director: Hugh Wilson
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 103 minutes
Year: 1996
Starring: Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Dan Hedaya, Victor Garber, Stephen Collins, Sarah Jessica Parker, Stockard Channing, Elizabeth Berkley, Marcia Gay Harden, Maggie Smith, Bronson Pinchot

Description: Reunited by the death of a college friend, three divorced women seek revenge on the husbands who left them for younger women.

Review: “The First Wives Club” is a revenge comedy, that is mostly fun because of their three leads Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler. They play three women who reunite after a college friend suddenly passed away. All three are recently divorced and their husbands left them for a younger woman. Together they seek justice.

The film has many funny moments Not very realistic, but enjoyable. Especially Hawn and Midler are really funny. The film does lack depth and the characters are all a bit superficial because of it.

A fun no-nonsense comedy, about gender struggles and independent women. Nothing spectacular.

Rating: 3/ 5

90s Movie Review - The Usual Suspects

Director: Bryan Singer
Genre: Crime/ Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 102 minutes
Year: 1995
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Dan Hedaya, Giancarlo Esposito

Description: A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup.

Review: There is one scene in “The Usual Suspects” that was considered failed by director Brian Singer. The actors couldn’t concentrate and constantly laughed. Eventually Singer decided to use the footage, the scene could be more interesting because of it. And he was right: one of the most characteristic scenes from the movie was born.

Off course we’re talking about that famous line-up. This ‘failed’ scene managed to give us an impression of the five different criminals. We see their frigid, defiant and anarchistic attitude.
Any form of identification is important in a movie like this, where the characters are criminals and their activities and social environment are so different from ours. All the characters have their quirks.
Kevin Spacey is the one that catches our eye, this was the movie that put him on the map. His insecure portrayal of Verbal Kint is completely credible and he is the one that connects the audience with the story.     

The cunning script by Christopher McQuarrie is the main reason you keep watching. We want to know what’s going on and who Keyser Söze is. This villain is so on point, like a devil, who is mainly in the background but a constant threat.

“The Usual Suspects” needs your attention at all times, but it’s inevitable that you eventually get on the wrong track. It’s a great crime story, with beautiful music, good acting and film noir like camerawork. And that amazing twist at the end makes it to the classic it is.

Rating: 5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Fair Game

Director: Andrew Sipes
Genre: Action/ Thriller
Runtime: 91 minutes
Year: 1995
Starring: William Baldwin, Cindy Crawford, Steven Berkoff, Christopher McDonald, Miguel Sandoval, Salma Hayek, Dan Hedaya

Description: Max Kirkpatrick (William Baldwin) is a cop who protects Kate McQueen (Cindy Crawford), a civil law attorney, from a renegade KGB team out to terminate her.

Review: On her morning run, attorney Kate witnesses a shooting. While at the police office, being interviewed by detective Max Kirkpatrick, she doesn’t even think much of what happened and doubts it was even a shooting. Not much later, Kate is attacked by an assassin. Max make it his job to protect her and get the people targeting Kate.
“Fair Game” is a fast-paced and loud action film, by debut director Andrew Sipes, but also acting debut for Cindy Crawford.
The film is somewhat entertaining, but overall very illogical and messy. And extremely sexist too. Crawford was nominated for three Razzie-awards for her role in this film. Which is quite understandable. She isn’t a good actress. And this movie isn’t good either.

Rating: 2 / 5

90s Movie Review - Clueless

Director: Amy Heckerling

Genre: Comedy/ Romance

Runtime: 97 minutes

Year: 1995

Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Donald Faison, Wallace Shawn, Breckin Meyer, Jeremy Sisto, Dan Hedaya

Description: Rich high school student Cher (Alicia Silverstone) tries to boost a new pupil's popularity, but reckons without affairs of the heart getting in the way.

Review: “Clueless” is a teen comedy directed by Amy Heckerling, who was also responsible for “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”. You could see “Clueless” as a satire, that is loosely based on Jane Austen’s novel “Emma”.

If there is someone that belongs in the ‘in-crowd’, it’s Cher Horowitz. She is almost sixteen, rich and very popular. Some might think she is shallow, but selfish… Anyone can go to her for advice about the more important things in life, like dating, shopping and looks. Cher and her best friend Dionne decide to give new girl Tai a make-over, because Tai is totally clueless. But that causes for a lot of unwanted change in Cher’s life.

Cher is played by Alicia Silverstone, who broke through with this role. She is perfect for the role. You could say it’s all very over the top, but that’s what suits this film.

“Clueless” is a fun film and a favorite with the girls who were teens themselves when the movie came out. The dialogues are catchy and some of the teen problems are pretty recognizable.

“Clueless” has it all: charm, intelligence, humor and romance. It’s a shallow film with layers and a healthy dose teen humor. No matter how many times you see it, “Clueless” entertains me every time.

Rating: 5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 36: The Addams Family

Director: Barry Sonnefeld
Genre: Comedy/ Fantasy/ Horror
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 1991
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, Dan Hedaya, Carel Struycken

Description: Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.

Review: In this satirical film, we meet the Addams family, an eccentric family with an extraordinary lifestyle and interested in death and destruction. Most people find them weird, but they are a surprisingly loving family. Father Gomez has been looking for his long lost brother Fester for years. Con artists see this as an opportunity to get money out of them.
Actor Raul Julia plays the role of Gomez formidable. He is a decadent gentleman who loves his wife to death. Angelica Huston plays his wife Morticia. Calm and collected, with perfection. Christoper Lloyd plays Uncle Fester, and it shows that he had a lot of fun doing it. A very young Christina Ricci portrays daughter Wednesday, a very down and morbid girl with intelligence. She is probably my favorite character of the family.
The story isn’t complicated, but the execution is done very well. The cast rbings the family to life and the décor and costumes are amazing. “The Addams Family” is a timeless comedy that is now just ast entertaining as it was in the nineties.

Rating: 5/ 5