90s Movie

Days of Thunder (1990)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Days of Thunder (1990)

Director:

Tony Scott

Writers:

Robert Towne

Tom Cruise

Starring:

Tom Cruise

Robert Duvall

Nicole Kidman

Randy Quaid

Michael Rooker

Cary Elwes

Blurb:

A young hot-shot stock car driver gets his chance to compete at the top level.

Thoughts:

I am not a NASCAR fan. I always hated Sundays when my dad would watch it because it was so boring. I didn’t like football either, but something about cars driving around in circles was so much worse. I hated it. When I met my now husband, he was a big NASCAR fan. He loved to talk about it, and initially, because I wanted in his pants, I listened. Eventually, I listened because I loved him, and seeing him so excited about something was fun. I unwillingly learned more than I ever wanted to know about the sport. I now know it’s more than just driving in circles, along with a myriad of other facts. (In case anyone was wondering, he pays attention when I talk about topics I love and probably knows more than he’d ever want to know about romance books)

I never grew to like NASCAR, and in case it wasn’t clear, Days of Thunder is not my movie. In fact, I could have easily skipped it and felt no remorse over it, but my husband wanted to watch it, so I didn’t.

Alright, so Tom Cruise is a racer that can drive anything better than anyone ever, except he knows nothing about cars. Robert Duvall is old, even then, and he knows everything there is about making cars. Together, if they can get past their differences, they’ll be unstoppable. Enter Nicole Kidman, a super professional doctor, but after Tom Cruise puts her hand on his junk, she can’t seem to control herself. They hang out, and then seconds after she’s cleared him to drive again, they make out and become a thing. Also, Michael Rooker is the best driver until Tom Cruise comes along, and they have multiple dick-measuring contests. Oh, and Cary Elwes totally wants to fuck Tom Cruise.

That is Days of Thunder.

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writers:

Robert Zemeckis

Bob Gale

Starring:

Michael J. Fox

Christopher Lloyd

 Mary Steenburgen

Thomas F. Wilson

Lea Thompson

Blurb:

Stranded in 1955, Marty McFly learns about the death of Doc Brown in 1885 and must travel back in time to save him. With no fuel readily available for the DeLorean, the two must figure how to escape the Old West before Emmett is murdered.

Thoughts:

What would have happened if Marty killed Mad Dog? I’m sure Doc Brown would say the universe would cease to exist, but maybe it wouldn’t. No Biff would be a positive for everyone. Would Marty’s parents still get together, though? Maybe Mad Dog already had his kid, and it didn’t matter. Perhaps the loss of Marty and his siblings is worth the loss of the Tannen line. I guess we’ll never know.

Marty continues to be stupid in this movie, but I didn’t feel like it was more than the other movies. It might have been less, actually. He did learn a lesson, in the end, taught by his ginger ancestor. It took me a second to wrap my head around his great-whatever-grandparents. Seeing his mom married to him was weird for a bit until I worked out the genetics of it all.

Many of the set pieces and story in Back to the Future Part III are callbacks to the previous movies. Some of that is using what you’ve learned about Marty to show how he could live in the old west. Too much of it, though, was lazy storytelling. I like the previous movies, and I don’t dislike the third. I just wish the story had been something different. Getting stuck back in time, again, and dealing with changing their personal history, again, along with all the other little things, was too much fan service for me.

Doc’s relationship with Clara is one of the few new things, and I thought it was sweet. She wasn’t set aside and ignored. She was a big part of the story. Another change from previous movies. Her role mattered. I liked that. Plus, Mary Steenburgen is a great actress and beautiful woman. There’s a fifteen-year difference between the actors, but at the time, she was thirty-seven, so that’s old enough not to bother me.

I’d say Back to the Future Part III is my second favorite of the franchise. I like the first movie because it set up this great franchise, but I prefer the future setting of the second one. So my order would go two, three, one.

They aren’t going to remake this series, Zemeckis has basically said over his dead body. I’m fine with that, but I wish there could be something like it made. Maybe with a minority in the lead because that would certainly make travel to the past more interesting. Also, more women, please.

Kindergarten Cop (1990)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Kindergarten Cop (1990)

Director:

Ivan Reitman

Writers:

Murray Salem

Herschel Weingrod

Timothy Harris

Starring:

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Penelope Ann Miller

Pamela Reed

Linda Hunt

Richard Tyson

Carroll Baker

Blurb:

A tough cop must pose as a kindergarten teacher in order to locate a dangerous criminal’s ex-wife, who may hold the key to putting him behind bars.

Thoughts:

Kindergarten Cop is too dark to be considered a straight comedy. There are comedic scenes, but there are too many people killed for that category. It’s kind of interesting. It never goes full comedy. There’s always this menacing undertone. Schwarzenegger nails his funny lines, though, definitely a better comedy actor than Stallone.

What really shines in the film are the kids. Whoever wrote the dialogue for them nailed it. The one kid obsessed with death, the other that likes saying penis and vagina, and of course the twins that say something their parents would never want them to share.

There’s technically a romance subplot, but it’s not worth mentioning. The bad guy and his mother are terrifying, not like zombie scary but leaning Umbrage scary. They’re not quite over the top, which adds to the menacing undertone.

I wouldn’t say Kindergarten Cop is a good movie, but it’s definitely entertaining and worth a watch, even if it’s just to experience Schwarzenegger’s one-liners.