Sometimes the people are, quite simply, wrong. They definitely missed out by not going to see these movies when they were in theaters, because they're a blast.
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00:00Sometimes, the people are, quite simply, wrong.
00:03They definitely missed out by not going to see these movies when they were in theaters
00:06because they were a blast.
00:09DreamWorks didn't know what they had in Galaxy Quest.
00:12Upon its release in December 1999, the sci-fi comedy about the cast of a Star Trek-type
00:17TV series getting whisked away on a real space adventure opened at an embarrassing number
00:21seven for its weekend at the U.S. box office.
00:24As DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg would later admit to director Dean Pariseau,
00:28the studio bungled the promotion of the quirky, whip-smart comedy as a kid-targeted adventure
00:33and, by and large, failed to sell the movie to mass audiences.
00:36Nevertheless, the film picked up momentum over the course of its theatrical run, eventually
00:41recouping twice its production budget over the course of five months.
00:44Maybe it's an exaggeration to call it a box office bomb, but considering a legacy with
00:49almost no promotion, it's clear that it could have performed so much better if given the
00:53proper support.
00:55Galaxy Quest is now a highly-regarded film in the sci-fi canon, boasting career-high
01:02performances from Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen, and the late Alan Rickman.
01:07In addition to being a charming work in its own right, Galaxy Quest also has a special
01:11place in the hearts of Star Trek fans who have adopted it into their own uneven film
01:15canon.
01:16It's a film in part about fandom itself, and its devotees honored it with the retrospective
01:21film Never Surrender, a Galaxy Quest documentary, for its 20th anniversary in 2019.
01:27In his prime, Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven was such an effective satirist of American
01:31culture and cinema that American filmgoers and critics had trouble knowing when he was
01:36joking.
01:37This happened most famously upon the release of his 1997 sci-fi epic Starship Troopers,
01:42a broad, over-the-top send-up of pro-war propaganda that went over the heads of an audience to
01:47whom patriotic violence was so common that it became a vision worth embracing.
01:52A similar problem arose with Verhoeven's previous film, Showgirls, a ridiculous, exploitative
01:57NC-17-rated drama about a young woman trying to make it as an exotic dancer in Las Vegas.
02:04Broadly panned upon its release for its intense acting and gratuitous sex scenes, Showgirls
02:08only grossed about $20 million domestically on a $45 million budget.
02:14"...it's worse than dog food."
02:16In the years since, however, Showgirls has become an iconic film of the 1990s.
02:21Some fans see it as a riotous parody, and have mined it for inspiration in drag shows,
02:26stage reenactments, and other gleefully garish rituals.
02:29Still, others feel that there's nothing funny about Showgirls at all, and that its superficial
02:33hyperbole is the only way to truly capture the cruel, misogynist meat grinder of the
02:38entertainment industry.
02:40Either way, Showgirls has been rescued from the dustbin of infamy and frequently appears
02:44on cable, streaming services, and at arthouse theaters, typically around midnight.
02:50The first two rules of Fight Club are that you don't talk about it.
02:53In hindsight, that might explain why Fight Club failed to find a theatrical audience
02:57in 1999.
02:58Despite starring Edward Norton, fresh off American History X, and Brad Pitt, fresh off
03:03being Brad Pitt, the now-iconic thriller only pulled in $37 million domestically, though
03:08a further $63 million overseas helped it reach $100 million worldwide.
03:13While that may seem like a decent performance, the problem is its $65 million price tag meant
03:18that if Fight Club made anything less than $130 million, it'd be a technical knockout.
03:23So why did Fight Club bomb at the box office?
03:26The simple explanation is that the filmmakers just spent too much money on the movie, so
03:30Fight Club had to punch above its weight to earn back its budget.
03:33That's a real shame, because director David Fincher gives author Chuck Palahniuk's words
03:37weight in this adaptation of his novel, giving the story a visceral style that hits harder
03:41than a bloody fist and a twist ending that kicks harder than a roundhouse.
03:45Meanwhile, Norton creates an everyman protagonist for our times who still resonates more than
03:49a quarter of a century later, while Pitt gives arguably the standout performance of his career.
03:54You may not be able to talk about Fight Club, but you won't stop thinking about it after
03:58the credits have rolled.
04:00The late 90s were a time of rapid change in the animation industry.
04:03The Disney renaissance had revived mass interest in animated films, but Disney alone seemed
04:08capable of turning one into a massive hit.
04:11After the continued success of Pixar proved that computer-driven animation was here to
04:15stay, studios across Hollywood and beyond were scrambling for a direction.
04:19It was during this time that Warner Bros. recruited animator Brad Bird to overhaul their
04:23process with an ambitious new feature called The Iron Giant.
04:27The Iron Giant is a masterful film on both a technical and story level, showcasing the
04:32potential of blending traditional and digital animation in service of spinning a heartwarming
04:36sci-fi twist on a classic boy-and-his-dog narrative.
04:40Accessible to kids but textured enough for adults, The Iron Giant is just about everything
04:44you could want from an all-ages animated adventure film.
04:48Except by the time it was finished, Warner Bros. had already given up on its feature
04:51animation department.
04:53The financial failure of their previous release, Quest for Camelot, convinced them to get out
04:57of the business, so The Iron Giant was released with minimal promotion and recouped a mere
05:02$23 million from its $70 million budget.
05:05A twist ending was yet to come, however, as critical acclaim and frequent replays on Cable's
05:10Cartoon Network helped the film find a cult following.
05:12Today, The Iron Giant is a recognizable pop culture touchstone, making cameos in Ready
05:17Player One and Space Jam A New Legacy, and is considered one of the best animated movies
05:22— perhaps even one of the best science fiction movies — of all time.
05:26The Halloween classic Hocus Pocus has a passionate coven of converts who adore its mix of Disney
05:32vibes and black magic.
05:33However, there's no denying that it crashed worse than a tipsy witch on a broomstick when
05:37it dropped in 1993.
05:39Veteran film critic Roger Ebert may have summed up the viewing experience most aptly when
05:43he wrote,
05:44"...watching the movie is like attending a party you weren't invited to, and where you
05:48don't know anybody, and they're all in on a joke but won't explain it to you."
05:52The film brought in around $40 million during its original run, on a budget of $28 million.
05:58When you factor in all the other costs of making and promoting a movie, Hocus Pocus
06:02was a big flop for the mouse house.
06:04So how could Disney miss with such a surefire Halloween hit?
06:07Well, the simple answer is that they didn't release it during the Halloween season.
06:11Instead, execs inexplicably thought it was a bright idea to unveil Hocus Pocus in July,
06:16while Jurassic Park was still stomping to a record-breaking run in the theaters.
06:20As a result, Hocus Pocus flew well under the radar.
06:23Thankfully, the film built up the following it deserved over time, and even earned a sequel
06:28in 2022.
06:29To this day, Hocus Pocus remains a delightful romp with its three leads.
06:34Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy play the Sanderson sisters with such
06:38gleeful gusto, you almost find yourself rooting for them over the kids.
06:43The Keanu Reeves renaissance continues, largely via his John Wick movie franchise about a
06:49beleaguered former assassin.
06:50But he has already appeared in a whole host of great movies starring beleaguered guys
06:54named John, from Johnny Utah to John Constantine to Don John.
06:59But easily one of the best and weirdest Johns that Reeves has played is the titular role
07:04in Johnny Mnemonic, a much-derided movie in spite of its all-star cast.
07:08It almost single-handedly set back the cyberpunk movement while earning Reeves a Razzy nod
07:12for Worst Actor.
07:14Reeves Johnny is trapped by his circumstances.
07:20He's traded in his memories to be a data courier.
07:23His brain is wired to receive uploads.
07:25He wants to do one big job in order to make money and buy back the memories he's lost.
07:30But yesterday's technobabble is today's modern age.
07:33It's honestly a wonder that millennials haven't gravitated more toward this movie.
07:43While a fairly low budget is no help, the flick's biggest flaw is perhaps that it came
07:46out about twenty years too early for your average moviegoers to relate to its cyberpunk
07:50subject matter.
07:52Whereas Captain America is box office gold today, in the early 90s, a superhero period
07:57piece about a handsome, patriotic hero in World War II could barely cover its own budget.
08:01The Rocketeer follows mechanic Cliff as he becomes a hero by donning a stylish jacket
08:06and rocket pack to uncover a hidden Nazi plot in Hollywood.
08:09The Rocketeer has got a refreshing ease to the pacing and style, plus stylish design
08:14and earnest execution.
08:18It's easy to see why director Joe Johnston got the chance to reinvent another superhero
08:22decades later with Captain America the First Avenger.
08:25His Rocketeer is a strong, criminally underrated film that just didn't really connect with
08:29audiences.
08:30It may be that the film was released too early to tap into the now-current superhero zeitgeist,
08:35or maybe it was ignored in favor of other family fare.
08:38Either way, the film is absolutely worth revisiting, especially with Timothy Dalton's performance
08:43as an over-the-top Errol Flynn-esque actor.
08:46If you spend a lot of time on the internet, you've probably seen more than one think piece
08:50about how this or that generation just doesn't want to work.
08:53Writer-director Mike Judge was well aware of this trend way back in 1999, and decided
08:57to capitalize on the unwelcoming nature of most workplaces by making Office Space.
09:02It was a message way ahead of its time, as evidenced by the box office receipts.
09:09Judge's first foray into live-action filmmaking made just $12 million worldwide, on a $10
09:15million budget.
09:16And so, the many comedy fans who missed Office Space in multiplexes fell in love with Judge's
09:20brilliantly dry send-up of America's corporate culture on cable and home video.
09:25Office Space has become a cult classic in the years since it dropped to underwhelming
09:29figures, and fans often claim that it has inspired other creators.
09:33Some say that there are clear parallels between Office Space and both the British and American
09:37versions of The Office, while others have pointed out that the film seemingly shaped
09:41the idea for Severance.
09:43Office Space feels very 90s in the best way possible.
09:46The film shone a light on America's increasingly toxic relationship with work in a brutally
09:50hilarious fashion, and is directly responsible for many memes lampooning work culture in
09:55the modern day.
09:57Disney is no stranger to live-action box office bombs, but before the likes of The Lone Ranger
10:02and John Carter, one of the Mouse House's biggest turkeys was 1992's Newsies.
10:07While Disney was essentially printing money with animated musicals in the 1990s, this
10:12Christian Bale-led live-action depiction of the 1899 Newsboys strike banked an abysmal
10:18$2.7 million.
10:19Of course, live-action movie musicals have been hit or miss at the box office for decades,
10:24which is why 2023's Wonka wasn't even marketed as one.
10:27So if the elevator pitch for Newsies doesn't sound particularly appealing to you, it didn't
10:32excite moviegoers in 1992, either.
10:35The thing is, it's the music that makes a musical, and longtime Disney maestro Alan
10:39Menken managed to craft some infectious melodies out of labor relations.
10:44Newsies boasts a peppy and upbeat soundtrack, featuring such memorable tunes as "'Seize
10:49the Day' and "'The World Will Know.'"
10:51Actor and writer Harvey Fierstein knew that Disney had something, so he retooled Newsies
10:56as a successful stage production that became a hit after moving to Broadway in 2012.
11:01We wouldn't be surprised if the musical based on the movie becomes a movie again, and would
11:05be even less surprised if marketing took the Wonka route and didn't even advertise it as
11:09a musical.
11:10In the meantime, why not give this flawed but undeniably charming flick a try?
11:15One year before appearing as the smarmy villain in Titanic, Billy Zane tried to slam evil
11:20in a skin-tight Morph suit in one of the biggest busts of the 90s, 1996's The Phantom.
11:26Based on Lee Falk's pop comic from the 1930s, Zane plays Kit Walker, the titular Phantom.
11:31He is the latest in a familial line of purple-clad superheroes who have sworn to fight evil from
11:36their fictional African Island hideout since the 16th century.
11:40Now Kit must work with his ex-girlfriend to stop the dastardly Xander Drax from wielding
11:45the power of three magic skulls.
11:47The Phantom delivers exactly what it promises, and thanks to Zane's earnestness, the villain's
11:51mustache-twirling zaniness, and especially David Newman's rousing score, it feels akin
11:56to a low-rent version of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
11:59Alas, The Phantom could only ever dream of making the money Raiders did, as its $17 million
12:04haul on a $45 million budget crashed this potential franchise right out of the runway.
12:10Despite the numbers saying otherwise, the film really isn't as bad as you might expect.
12:14In fact, it's actually a pretty entertaining movie, with a review from Variety featuring
12:18the praise.
12:19While it hardly stands to vanquish the celluloid incarnations of Superman and Batman, this
12:23version of an older cartoon crusader's exploits does have a pleasingly astute sense of its
12:28place in the great scheme of things pulp.
12:31While Alien might be the most well-known horror movie that takes place in space, it's
12:35far from the only one.
12:37Paul W.S. Anderson's Event Horizon is a slow-simmering film that taps into that uniquely human fear
12:42of space as an endless, empty void.
12:45The movie follows a crew investigating a distress signal coming from the titular spaceship,
12:49which had disappeared seven years prior.
12:51What follows is a kaleidoscope of horrifying images, spooky Latin phrases, and the creeping
12:56realization that flying millions of miles through space doesn't put you any farther
13:00away from hell.
13:01What happened to your eyes?
13:02Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see.
13:07Horizon is pretty handily Anderson's best movie, combining the bloody genre thrills
13:11that pervade his other work with an able cast that is able to inject the necessary gravitas.
13:16Sam Neill in particular is absolutely terrifying as the member of the space crew most susceptible
13:21to the dark whispers of the otherworldly horror on the ship.
13:24If the Alien movies didn't completely turn you away from space travel, then Event Horizon
13:28certainly will.
13:30As frustrating as it must be for any artist to be years ahead of their time, it must be
13:34agony to precede their moment by mere months.
13:37Such was the case for writer-director Alex Proyas.
13:40His 1998 film Dark City is a rain-soaked, leather-clad sci-fi thriller about a man who
13:45learns his reality is not what it seems, and that he and everyone he knows is being manipulated
13:50by an invisible, malevolent force.
13:52They mix and match our memories as they see fit, trying to divine what makes us unique.
13:58If you think that sounds sort of like 1999's The Matrix, you're not the only one.
14:02The ten people who saw Dark City in theaters also thought so, as did critic Roger Ebert.
14:07Dark City was dropped into theaters in February 1998, debuting at number four at the domestic
14:12box office and sliding ever downward from there, barely winning back its $27 million
14:17budget.
14:18Just a year later, The Matrix would become a massive pop-cultural phenomenon and Hollywood
14:22action cinema would never again be the same.
14:25Dark City would have to settle for status as a cult classic, albeit one that Ebert recorded
14:29a rare commentary track for its DVD.
14:32Perhaps in no universe does Dark City receive the same love and attention as the Wachowski
14:37masterpiece.
14:38Nonetheless, Dark City still deserves better than languishing in obscurity.
14:41Weird, moody, and distinctively 90s, Dark City is like a missing tonal link between
14:46The Matrix and Blade Runner, and is worth a watch for any science-fiction devotee.
14:55Today, filmmaker Catherine Bigelow is best known as the first woman to win the Academy
14:59Award for Best Director, as well as the director of the 1991 classic Point Break, starring
15:04Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.
15:06In between these two triumphs, however, Bigelow's career was nearly tanked by the colossal box
15:10office failure of her 1995 cyberpunk noir Strange Days.
15:15Written by Bigelow's ex-husband, James Cameron, and occasional Martin Scorsese collaborator
15:19Jay Cox, Strange Days is a stylish, visceral thriller set in a near future in which memories
15:24can be recorded, relived, and exchanged on the black market.
15:28When a scummy memory dealer happens across a recorded memory of a heinous crime, he teams
15:32up with a lovelorn badass to solve a case that the police don't seem to care about.
15:37Strange Days harshly divided critics upon its release, and was a commercial disaster,
15:41winning back just short of $8 million on a $42 million budget.
15:46In the decades since, however, the film has been rediscovered and re-evaluated as a lost
15:50treasure of genre cinema and an example of some of Bigelow's finest work as a director.
15:55With an unflinching eye and style to spare, Strange Days touches on themes of police brutality,
16:00sexual violence, and the voyeuristic spectacle of suffering, all of which are as relevant
16:04today as they were in 1995.
16:07It also features one of the great unsung heroines of science fiction in Angela Bassett's Mace
16:12Mason.
16:13Notoriously hard to find but occasionally reappearing on major streaming services, Strange
16:17Days is worth going out of your way to find.
16:20One of the great injustices in cinematic history is that not nearly enough people went to see
16:25Joel and Ethan Coen's 1998 masterpiece, The Big Lebowski, when it opened in theaters.
16:30Perhaps moviegoers at the time just didn't know what to make of a psychedelic pseudo-spoof
16:34of film noir with Jeff Bridges' Slacker Stoner in place of the sleuth.
16:39With almost $90 million domestic on a $15 million budget, The Big Lebowski was a bomb
16:44in North America.
16:46Though its $47 million worldwide managed to save it from the gutter.
16:50Besides being one of the most quotable movies of all time, The Big Lebowski is a showcase
16:54for some of the most memorable performances from the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman,
16:59Julianne Moore, Sam Elliott, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, John Goodman, and, of course,
17:04Jeff Bridges.
17:05What makes the film so special is that you can tell every single one of them is having
17:08a blast with the Coens' signature dialogue.
17:11The Los Angeles-set film is an absurd existential hybrid that almost defies categorization besides
17:16being funny in a non-traditional way.
17:19Over the decade since its release, The Big Lebowski has gone from a box office flop to
17:23a bonafide cult classic.
17:24But even with its latent life acclaim, some folks still might not see the appeal.
17:28Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion, man.
17:35A debonair billionaire who spends his evenings fighting the forces of evil is often a recipe
17:39for a blockbuster.
17:41For example, when that billionaire is named Bruce Wayne and his alter ego is Batman, people
17:45usually come flocking.
17:47When it's Lamont Cranston parading around as the Shadow, however, it's a different story.
17:51Despite being a big inspiration for Batman, the Shadow has never come close to reaching
17:56the same heights as the Dark Knight.
17:58Debuting in 1930, nearly a decade before Bob Kane with Bill Finger debuted Batman, the
18:03Shadow was a mainstay on radio and B-movie serials throughout the 30s and 40s.
18:09But it would be 64 years before he got the big-budget tentpole treatment with 1994's
18:14The Shadow.
18:15Starring Alec Baldwin as the eponymous Avenger, The Shadow cost $40 million but only swooped
18:21up $31 million domestically, less than Tim Burton's Batman made in one weekend in 1989.
18:28Despite its poor performance in theaters, The Shadow is certainly not a bad film and
18:32deserved more than its mediocre reviews.
18:35Anchored well by Baldwin and bolstered by an all-star supporting cast including John
18:39Lone, Ian McKellen, and Peter Boyle, it's a fun, pulpy popcorn flick.
18:44It's also scored with grim grandeur by Jerry Goldsmith.
18:47To this day, the reason The Shadow fared so poorly at the box office remains as mysterious
18:52as the titular figure himself.
18:55Superhero movies might not have been all that popular in the 90s, but they were at least
18:58more popular than superhero parodies.
19:01With that in mind, mystery men never really had a chance.
19:04Still, people who slept on the film missed an endearing superhero story with one of the
19:08strangest casts ever assembled.
19:10Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Tom Waits, Eddie Izzard, Paul Reubens, Hank Azaria, and a Michael
19:16Bay cameo.
19:17It's a quintessentially 90s movie, complete with a Dane Cook sighting and a music video
19:21tie-in to Smash Mouth's All-Star.
19:24With the current glut of superhero movies, it's a delight watching the misfits of mystery
19:27men fumble around with their mostly useless superpowers.
19:30You can't throw a knife sometimes.
19:32No, I can't.
19:33You can't use a rake sometimes.
19:35No, I'm the chef.
19:36Well, I'm the boulanger.
19:37I'm not a stab man.
19:39In fact, many of the jokes in the film have actually improved with age.
19:43Last Action Hero has the perfect recipe for a hit movie in the 2020s.
19:47It stars Hollywood's preeminent muscle man playing a parody of his own stock character
19:51in a marathon of cute cameos and gags about the tropes of action cinema.
19:55I'll be back.
19:58Ha!
19:59You did not go to say that, did you?
20:01That's what you always say.
20:03The movie starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, was directed by John Diehard McTiernan, and arrived
20:07in theaters about 30 years too early.
20:10For modern audiences who love nothing more than when movies shamelessly riff on other,
20:14more familiar movies, it'd likely have been both a critical darling and a box office hit.
20:19In 1993, however, Last Action Hero was seen as a career-threatening dud for all involved.
20:24It barely stood a chance to begin with, opening against The Second Weekend of Jurassic Park,
20:28which would soon unseat E.T. as the highest-grossing film in U.S. history.
20:33Critical reception didn't do it any favors, either.
20:36Variety's review dismissed it as a joyless, soulless machine of a movie, and they weren't
20:40its only haters.
20:41Though it would recoup its budget internationally, it seriously underperformed at the domestic
20:45box office and would be Schwarzenegger's only outright flop of the 1990s.
20:50In hindsight, Last Action Hero is one of the actor's better comedies.
20:54One part Terminator 2, one part Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and one part Robert Altman's
20:58The Player, it's an absolute treat for fans of 80s and 90s Hollywood excess.
21:03It's joke-dense, action-packed, and littered with Easter eggs for the eagle-eyed cinephile.
21:08The Coen brothers had made a successful career for themselves with a slew of distinctive
21:12scripts.
21:13While they found plenty of success and cult status, that doesn't mean they're immune
21:16to failure, even for one of their best movies.
21:19The Hudsucker Proxy is a biting satire of big business and, although filled with characters
21:23who talk fast and wear sharp clothes, is a loving homage to classic feel-good movies
21:27like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and It's a Wonderful Life.
21:30The film follows Norville Barnes as he moves to New York from Indiana and accidentally
21:34becomes head of a massive company as the unknowing patsy for a complicated scheme to depress
21:39stock prices.
21:42As with any Coen brothers movie, the film is packed to the brim with memorable dialogue
21:46and likable characters, but the look of Hudsucker was so striking that more than a few critics
21:51and audiences felt put off and confused.
21:54In his review, Roger Ebert called the film all surface and no substance, but argued that
21:59it was a pleasure to regard and well worth the trip to the theater.
22:03If nothing else, there's never been a better explanation for why hula hoops exist.
22:08Samuel L. Jackson surprised the audience on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon when he
22:12said that his favorite role from his filmography is Mitch Hennessey from 1996's The Long Kiss
22:17Goodnight.
22:18And while those who are familiar with the character would probably agree the performance
22:22is on par with Jackson's more iconic parts, it's not surprising that much of his audience
22:26may not have heard of it.
22:27On a $65 million budget, The Long Kiss Goodnight barely made $33 million.
22:32It was a colossal dirt that lead Gina Davis and director Rennie Harlin most definitely
22:37did not need just one year after Cutthroat Island.
22:41It's a little sad that moviegoers didn't vibe with The Long Kiss Goodnight, because it really
22:44is a criminally underseen action movie.
22:47Davis plays a highly trained, amnesia-stricken government assassin who is roused from her
22:51cozy suburban life as a schoolteacher and single mother after an accident.
22:55She hires Jackson's private detective to discover her past, only for former adversaries to come
23:00after her and her daughter.
23:02The bickering co-leads are great, Harlin's direction is tight, and Shane Black's script
23:06is whip-smart.
23:07It's a shame nobody saw The Long Kiss Goodnight at the time, but you should definitely check
23:11it out now for some incredible line delivery on Jackson's part, if nothing else.
23:15You're always this stupid, I didn't you take lessons?
23:18I took lessons!
23:20One year after Quentin Tarantino arrived on the scene with Reservoir Dogs, and one year
23:24before he established himself as one of America's brightest filmmakers with Pulp Fiction, there
23:29was true romance.
23:30The 1993 film isn't usually brought up when discussing Tarantino's body of work because
23:35it's one of the few films he wrote but didn't direct.
23:38Instead, those duties fell to a very different kind of filmmaker, the late Top Gun director
23:43Tony Scott.
23:44Unsurprisingly, this distinction creates a pretty large juxtaposition between true romance
23:49and other Tarantino films.
23:50Christian Slater plays an Elvis-worshiping, grindhouse, movie-loving loner called Clarence
23:55who falls in love with a sex worker named Alabama.
23:58The lovebirds end up going on the run from the mob after Clarence kills Alabama's pimp
24:02and accidentally steals a suitcase of cocaine.
24:05In many ways, this plot is the epitome of a Tarantino movie, which makes the fact it
24:09wasn't directed by him all the more wild.
24:11Sadly, the film failed to make a profit, only just managing to claw back its $12.5 million
24:16production budget.
24:17Moviegoers eventually fell in love with true romance, however, making it a cult classic.
24:22Funny enough, one of the movie's biggest fans was Tarantino.
24:25Tarantino has also written the original script for Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, and
24:29famously refused to watch the final product because he hated what was done to it.
24:33But he loved Scott's interpretation of true romance, and so do we.
24:38The original Tank Girl comics are an energetic, frenetic, counterculture blast to the eyeballs
24:42with a unique art style by Jamie Hewlett.
24:45But it was the character of Tank Girl herself that endeared the comic to fans.
24:49She was rude, hyper-violent, and so utterly unconcerned with other people's opinions that
24:53she became a 90s embodiment of Riot Grrrl-adjacent punk.
24:57Depicting a comic with such a specific visual voice and character might have been a tall
25:02But the film adaptation of Tank Girl does about as good a job as it's possible to do
25:05with the backing of a major film studio.
25:14To start with, Lori Petty is a picture-perfect Tank Girl, nailing the irreverence and punk
25:18attitude of the character.
25:20The movie itself is a mishmash tonally and is almost impossible to defend or recommend.
25:25You either get it or walk away shaking your head.
25:28The movie is defiantly visually abrasive, but loaded with a dynamite soundtrack and
25:32a charismatic lead.
25:34Ravenous is a brilliant subversion of audience expectations, a horror movie as funny as it
25:39is scary.
25:40The film follows a mid-19th century war hero exiled in the Sierra Nevada, investigating
25:45stories of a Wendigo, a human given otherworldly strength after eating the flesh of another
25:49man.
25:51Guy Pearce shines as the ousted captain, struggling with survivor's guilt and the consequences
25:55of the actions which brought him into exile.
25:58The entire cast is able to tap into the film's tone, pushing for laughs and humorous scenes
26:02and giving weight to the dramatic ones.
26:04Ultimately, the film's abiding satire of American exceptionalism, capitalism, and manifest destiny.
26:10It's a rare film that's able to make such subject matter work within a horror movie
26:14structure, and doubly so within a film that's funny as well.
26:18Audiences likely missed out on this cannibalistic creme de la creme due mostly to a trailer
26:22that misrepresented the tone of the movie, selling it as an awkward, comedic period piece.
26:27Don't be fooled, though, Ravenous has a lot of meat on its bones.
26:31After debuting as a feature director with five consecutive hits, Tim Burton pivoted
26:35away from his usual flights of fancy towards a quirky, black-and-white biopic saluting
26:39one of the most famously inept filmmakers of all time, Edward D. Wood Jr.
26:44Starring Johnny Depp as the titular auteur of Schlock, Ed Wood is a terrific showbiz
26:49comedy with tremendous heart.
26:51Wood's story, or at least this version of it, fits the Tim Burton mold perfectly, painting
26:55a portrait of a man whose quirks make him an outsider until he seizes the opportunity
26:59to share his uniqueness with the world.
27:02Unlike the talented Edward Scissorhands, however, what makes Wood unique is a total blindness
27:06to how terrible his art really is.
27:08Ed Wood is Tim Burton's most critically celebrated film, winning Martin Landau an Academy Award
27:13for his supporting role as washed-up horror icon Bela Lugosi.
27:17After all its acclaim, however, it was a clunker at the box office, recouping only
27:20about a third of its production budget.
27:23It remains Burton's lowest-grossing film by far, and he has rarely strayed from his signature
27:27blood-and-pinstripes aesthetic since.
27:30Making a sequel to an iconic movie isn't usually a good idea.
27:33However, if Jack Nicholson's involved, that tune might change.
27:36Even if The Two Jakes, his 1990 sequel to 1974's Chinatown, doesn't come close to its
27:42predecessor, it's still pretty solid.
27:45Nicholson is back as private investigator J.J.
27:47Jake Gittes, who is hired by the other titular Jake for routine work.
27:51Unfortunately for Jake Number One, Jake Number Two decides to kill his business partner,
27:56who is also his wife's lover, which sucks Gittes into a web of conspiracy.
28:00The plot is a lot, especially when the movie contrives a connection to Chinatown.
28:05You'll be forgiven for being a little confused at some points, but we don't watch retro detective
28:10stories for coherence, we watch them for their coolness factor.
28:13This film does not disappoint.
28:15Sadly, after The Two Jakes tanked with only $10 million in box office receipts, the film
28:20was practically forgotten about, though many critics feel this is a shame.
28:24As the Los Angeles Times wrote,
28:25"...The Two Jakes may not be a masterpiece, and it certainly never approaches the Greek
28:30tragic grandeur of Chinatown, but it's also a richer, more resonant movie than its non-existent
28:35reputation suggests."
28:38Robert Downey Jr.'s Oscar win for Oppenheimer was a long time coming, capping off what is
28:42perhaps the greatest comeback story in Hollywood history.
28:45While nobody could have predicted that he would become a blockbuster movie star as Tony
28:48Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he had long been respected as one of the greatest
28:53screen actors of a generation.
28:55One key reason for this accolade was his Oscar-nominated performance in 1992's Chaplin.
29:00Directed by the late Richard Attenborough, the biopic tells the tale of Charlie Chaplin,
29:04who recounts his life from poverty to silent film star to global icon.
29:09Downey Jr. leads an all-star supporting cast that includes Dan Aykroyd, Anthony Hopkins,
29:13Mila Jovovich, Kevin Kline, Diane Lane, Marissa Tomei, and James Woods.
29:18Yet, despite the stellar talent in front of and behind the camera, Chaplin failed to find
29:22an audience, banking only $9.2 million at the box office.
29:25"...I mean, couldn't you just enjoy it?"
29:28"...Mm, I can now, but I couldn't then, it meant too much."
29:33Performances like these earned Downey Jr. the dreaded box office poison label, which
29:37stuck with him for most of his pre-Iron Man career.
29:40When it comes to Chaplin, this criticism is wholly unfair, as Downey Jr. elevates what
29:45might have otherwise been a formulaic biopic to one we can't stay silent about.
29:49If you're a fan of Robert Downey Jr. or Charlie Chaplin, it's definitely a must-watch movie.
29:55Some might think the concept of Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin fighting a psycho bear would
29:59be enough to sell a movie, and maybe it would have been if that were the title.
30:03Instead, the filmmakers went with The Edge, which is a decision they probably still regret.
30:08Written by acclaimed playwright David Mamet, 1997's The Edge stars Hopkins as a wealthy
30:13businessman whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness.
30:17He is forced to survive with the photographer, played by Baldwin, who also happens to be
30:21sleeping with his wife.
30:22And if that's not bad enough, they're both being stalked by the aforementioned psychotic
30:27Kodiak bear.
30:28The Edge is anything but a relaxing and rejuvenating tour through the beautiful Alaskan landscape.
30:33Instead, it gives you a front-row seat to surviving one of the most harrowing wildernesses
30:37in the world.
30:38While Hopkins still had plenty of clout following the success of Silence of the Lambs, it wasn't
30:42enough to take The Edge to the heights producers may have hoped.
30:45"...but it never comes in the form or at the point we would prefer, does it?"
30:54The film only received lukewarm reviews, and when the dust settled, it did not make back
30:59its budget at the domestic box office.
31:01It's hard to say why The Edge never found an audience, as it packs plenty of brain and
31:05brawn, and the A-list talent certainly elevates the B-list premise.
31:09In our opinion, it's about time this overlooked film came out of hibernation.
31:14With a total haul of $4.5 billion worldwide, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean is one of
31:19the most successful franchises of all time.
31:22However, the first film probably felt like a gamble at the time, considering how spectacularly
31:27the 1995 pirate-pic Cutthroat Island failed a few years before.
31:31This infamous movie remains one of the biggest bombs in Hollywood history.
31:35On a mega-budget of $92 million, Cutthroat Island walked the plank with just $80 million
31:41worldwide.
31:42It put a big dent in Geena Davis' already faltering career as a leading woman, and director
31:47Rennie Harlin's reputation also took a big hit.
31:50Cutthroat Island became synonymous with box office bombs in the years that followed, and
31:54it's taken some people years to accept the fact that, all things considered, it's really
31:58not that bad.
31:59Forbes argued that the film deserves to be rediscovered after re-evaluating it on the
32:0325th anniversary of its release.
32:06The publication even called it, quote, a huge, scaled, impressively practical, and unpretentious
32:11bit of over-the-top Hollywood junk food.
32:14Davis soars as a swashbuckler who enlists the aid of a con man as she races against
32:18her evil buccaneer uncle to recover treasure buried on the titular landmass.
32:22If you're looking to sail the seven seas without drowning in CGI, you may want to chart a course
32:27for Cutthroat Island.
32:29Before the decade was through, the cast of the 90s film School Ties would find box office
32:33glory.
32:34Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O'Donnell all feature in the 1992 drama,
32:40but they were a long way away from the limelight at the time.
32:43Unfortunately for the up-and-comers, School Ties failed Movie Economics 101 with a $14.7
32:49million take from a reported budget of $18 million.
32:53That's not exactly a passing grade, but thankfully the results weren't bad enough to sink these
32:57would-be movie stars' careers before they got started.
33:00Set in the 1950s, Fraser plays a Jewish student with a football scholarship and a prestigious
33:05prep school who feels he has to hide his background from his classmates.
33:09It's a bit heavy-handed at times, and comparisons to the generally superior Dead Poets Society
33:14didn't help.
33:15But School Ties is elevated by its cast of future A-listers.
33:18Fraser is especially watchable, embodying the movie star charisma he'd bring to the
33:22mummy just before the turn of the millennium.
33:25School Ties isn't an amazing movie, but it's a good one, and it's especially entertaining
33:29as a time capsule of industry giants before they hit it big.
33:32Revisiting the film in 2012, Time Out sang its praises, writing,
33:36"...the script effectively dramatizes the school's competitive, hothouse atmosphere and is sensitive
33:41to the situations of all the pupils, as well as to the pressure of expectation and tradition."
33:47One of the biggest low-budget success stories of all time, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead made
33:52$29 million in 1983, a whopping return on investment for a movie that cost just $375,000
33:59to make.
34:00By 1987's Evil Dead 2, the budget had ballooned to $3.5 million, which the film's $5.9 million
34:07worldwide gross sadly didn't justify.
34:09Still, both Evil Dead pictures went down in history thanks to home video, so the filmmakers
34:14figured there was enough fan demand for an epic conclusion to the saga.
34:18Released in 1993, Army of Darkness takes Bruce Campbell's Ash to the Middle Ages.
34:22The dark fantasy comedy made $11.5 million domestically, just $500,000 more than it cost
34:29to film.
34:30Thankfully, it wound up making approximately the same amount again overseas, but it still
34:33went down as a box office flop.
34:35It was enough to kill the franchise for 20 years until 2013's Evil Dead remake, which
34:40was shortly followed by Ash vs. Evil Dead's premiere on Starz in 2015.
34:45Despite the lull it may have caused, ask any cult movie fan and they will tell you
34:48that Army of Darkness finds Raimi and Campbell at the peak of their powers.
34:52Their sense of humor might not be for everyone, but those who get Army of Darkness absolutely
34:57adore it.
34:58As one Rotten Tomatoes user even gushed,
35:00"...this is the best fantasy movie ever.
35:02If you have never watched it, you don't know what you're missing."
35:04"...say hello to the 21st century."
35:10The Dark Half is based on the novel of the same name by the spooky king of horror prose
35:14Stephen King.
35:16Definitely one of the stranger concepts, it's the story of a writer who has abandoned his
35:19pen name only to find his phony persona has come to life, with murder on its mind.
35:25While the novel had a concept seemingly, or solely, perfect for the written word, the
35:29movie has one excellent attribute that makes it a standout, the late cinematic king of
35:33horror director George Romero.
35:36The Dark Half delivers some gruesome images up there with Romero's best.
35:40One scene in particular features a brain tumor reacting to its removal, a scene that will
35:44make you anxious the next time you get a headache.
35:47Unfortunately, the movie failed to click with audiences.
35:50It made just over $10 million.
35:52Still, the movie's worth a watch, especially with an adept Timothy Hutton in a double role
35:56playing both the writer and his evil pseudonym counterpart.
36:00Dead Alive was one of the most surprising horror films of the 90s.
36:04Filmed on a shoestring budget of only $3 million by Peter Jackson, Dead Alive is a gory, inventive
36:10romp about a teenager fighting off a horde of zombies, and dealing with some nasty mother
36:14issues too.
36:16Although its low budget should have made it an easy success, the film only made $240,000
36:21stateside, and it would be unjustly ignored by American audiences until Jackson's later
36:25success prompted a reevaluation.
36:28It might not have connected with American audiences, but across the pond, the film had
36:31a profound influence on another young horror buff, Edgar Wright, who would pay homage to
36:36the film in his own movie, Shaun of the Dead.
36:39Even setting its influence on other movies aside, Dead Alive is electrifying, with some
36:43of the best practical effects seen in a horror movie, and a truly innovative use of a lawnmower.
36:48You might think you've seen bloody horror movies, but you've almost certainly never
36:58seen anything quite like Dead Alive.
37:01Ralph Bakshi, the man that made the infamous Fritz the Cat, the first animated film to
37:05ever receive an X rating from the MPAA, combined sex and cartoons one more time with Cool World.
37:11In it, a cartoonist has to resist the sexual advances of his own creation, a doodle named
37:16Holly Wood, as in, would do anything, while a detective works to prevent her from breaking
37:20down the boundaries of reality.
37:23It can be a strange movie, with a juxtaposition of live-action and animation that looks like
37:27a bizarro porn parody of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but it's a fascinating experiment.
37:32Critics weren't exactly drawn to the film, and it ended up only recouping half of its
37:36$30 million budget, which isn't exactly surprising.
37:40While it likely won't turn up on anyone's Best of the 90s list anytime soon, the film
37:44is so singular in its conception that it's worth seeing at least once.
37:48Michael Keaton owes a lot to Tim Burton's record-breaking Batman movies, but it's worth
37:52remembering that he got his start in comedies like 1982's Night Shift and 1983's Mr. Mom.
37:58Keaton returned to his roots in 1996's Multiplicity, directed by Harold Ramis.
38:03He plays a construction worker who is torn between family time and his demanding job,
38:08so he decides to clone himself.
38:10Things work out so well with his clone that Keaton's character clones another version
38:14of himself, then another.
38:15Before long, he's struggling to manage his multiple clones without his wife finding out.
38:19Yes, it's a contrived sitcom setup that fails to capitalize on the potential of the premise,
38:24which is especially frustrating considering it comes from the same person who directed
38:28Groundhog Day.
38:29But while Groundhog Day trades existential philosophizing for heartwarming humor, Multiplicity
38:34seems satisfied with just being silly.
38:36So that leaves viewers the choice to bemoan what Multiplicity isn't or to celebrate what
38:41it is, a fun flick that gives Keaton the chance to shine playing multiple versions of the
38:45same character.
38:46Despite being a ready-made crowd-pleaser, the crowds didn't show up, and Multiplicity
38:50made an underwhelming $20 million from a budget of $45 million.
38:55The film split critics at the time, but many have come to enjoy it in the years since.
38:59As Empire magazine wrote after revisiting the movie,
39:02"...both are surely funny without being forced, and smart without being smug.
39:06This is one comedy that deserves to go forth, and indeed, multiply."
39:10South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been gleefully corrupting viewers' minds
39:14for more than a quarter of a century.
39:17But while South Park has long been the cornerstone of Comedy Central and a leading satirical
39:21voice in our culture, another one of the duo's notable 90's ventures wasn't nearly
39:25as successful.
39:26Parker and Stone starred in 1998's Basketball as two slackers who invent a sport that combines
39:31baseball and basketball.
39:33Neil Sporr's promoter Seeds & Play, he takes the pseudo-sport that started in their driveway
39:38and transforms it into America's new favorite pastime.
39:41However, when a corrupt promoter tries to change the rules to maximize profits, their
39:45loyalty to the game and each other is tested.
39:48Basketball only starred Parker and Stone, as it was the creative vision of co-writer
39:52and director David Zucker, one of the masterminds behind the Madcap masterpieces Airplane and
39:58The Naked Gun.
39:59Basketball manages to meld Zucker's zaniness with Parker and Stone's irreverence, making
40:03for an absolutely hilarious flick that will have you doubled over laughing.
40:07As to why the film didn't do great at the box office, it may have something to do with
40:10Parker and Stone lacking star power at the time.
40:13"...dude, does it just suck being you?"
40:16Either way, something led the film to strike out with a foul $7 million against a reported
40:21$25 million budget.
40:23But for fans of sophomoric satire, basketball will always be a home run.