Blast Off Weekend Rewind '99: Blast From the Past

Was just watching Police Academy the other day, which was directed by Hugh Wilson. Then we randomly turned on Blast From the Past Saturday night, also directed by Hugh Wilson. Surprisingly, Renny Harlin produced the time spanning, romantic comedy PG affair, maybe he was lined up to direct at one point to do something without guns? I saw this in theaters back in '99 and found it funny and cute. We meet neurotic inventor Calvin (Christopher Walken), his loving wife Helen (Sissy Spacek) and the fallout shelter he builds underground during the Cuban missile crisis. When a plane crashes on their house, locks are set for 35 years and their son Adam (Brendan Fraser) is born and goes out into the world to gather supplies and check out the would be radioactive wasteland. Adam runs into Eve (Alicia Silverstone) as he naively navigates the 90's while looking for love.

The film is still sweet and I was impressed by the fallout shelter set. Walken is kooky likeable while Fraser is fresh faced and funny. 90's queen Silverstone is her usual mix of awkward and cute while you get a pre-fame Nathan Fillon as a douche bag ex-boyfriend. The 90's-ness isn't too retro or laughable as Wilson and Bill Kelly's script is pretty straightforward and not too broad or slapsticky. Reportedly budgeted at a healthy $35 million bucks, Blast From the Past took in just under $30 million at the box office, not doing much for anyone involved. Fraser had already made a splash with Encino Man and headlined ensembles School Ties and With Honors to mixed box office results. Mega hits George of the Jungle, The Mummy films and Journey to the Center of the Earth would be evened out by big budget non-starters like Looney Toons: Back in Action, Dudley Do-Right and Inkheart.

After breaking into pop culture co-starring with Liv Tyler in multiple Aerosmith videos, Silverstone headlined seminal 90's hit Clueless but was a weak link in Batman & Robin and producing effort Excess Baggage didn't go far. Fraser and Silverstone have found regular work in television lately while Wilson hasn't directed a feature since 2004.

Rewind '99: The Matrix

Back in 1999 I saw The Matrix at the same second run theater as I viewed Fight Club in, only The Matrix did not have much of an impact on me. In fact, it kind of bored me. The techno soundtrack, the overuse of slow motion, quasi-philosophical ramblings, borrowed Hong Kong wire work and bullet time, lurchy and impact-less fight scenes, I just didn't get the brouhaha of appreciation and never checked out the sequels. But it was a huge hit, raking in $470 million worldwide on a budget of $63 million. Cementing the status of an unlikely movie icon in Keanu Reeves, new outsider voices of The Wachowki's, black leather and sunglasses galore in future films (hello X-Men costumes) and dudes thinking black trenchcoats and boots was good fashion.

Cut to this month when we watched the flick again on DVD and plan to check out the rest of the sequels. My opinion has mellowed and I can appreciate some of the visual nuances The Wachowski's brought to the film along with blending genres and giving the film a very specific look. There's some great visuals for the sake of being visual but hey, it was the 90's. It's too bad Red Pill'ers has taken on a sad and negative connotation but at least Keanu Reeves is back in the mix after John Wick.

Rewind '99: Fight Club

Back in 1999, I saw Fight Club in my hometown's second run theater and it immediately had an impact on my life. I went out and bought the book (movie is better), devoured articles about the film (it's an allegory for Calvin and Hobbes? Mind blowing!) and went through many of the special features when a loaded DVD edition dropped (Brad Pitt and Edward Norton make fun of a Jean-Claude Van Damme action sequence involving doing the splits to avoid a projectile). After all the negative press (Columbine-era, violence) the $60 million experimental flick brought in a tepid $37 million in theaters but became one of Fox's most sold DVD's, moving 6 million copies and grossing an additional $55 million. Legions of college kids would be inspired by Tyler Durden's aloof yet cool guy style for better or for worse and the dark sense of humor, twist ending along with computer enhanced visuals made it a title that was unique for it's time in a year that saw additional titles challenge mainstream cinema with arthouse sensibilities like The Matrix, Being John Malkovich or Three Kings.

Watching it all these years later, the film still holds up. Sure the visual f/x shots moving through a trash can look sleek but weak in the modern age but Pitt and Norton's performance as weirdos who challenge social norms in a dark search for self and love through soap, mayhem and violence are as effective as ever. David Fincher is at his nuanced, atmospheric best with the stark yet dark look and feel, the Dust Brothers soundtrack and twisted sense of humor from Chuck Palahniuk's novel and Jim Uhl's script. And of course, Brad Pitt as the scuzzy yet funny yet statuesque Durden would become and still is a highlight in his filmography.