10 Off My Head: Siri Says 1995

.

There's been a tweet going around on Twitter for the past week where the Twitterati were asked to name their favorite movie for the year they turned 18, and in a weird happenstance of serendipity this week's edition of my "Siri Says" series will be doing just that. That is to say that today I asked Siri, the person who lives inside of my telephone, for a random number between 1 and 100 and she gave me 95, so we will be listing our favorite Movies of 1995. Which was the year I turned 18. (Go ahead, do your math, I'm ancient.) And as long as you've got your calculators out you can agree on this as well -- all of these movies are turning 25 this year to boot! 

Amazing! I was seeing an actual literal ton of movies in 1995, as I both worked in a video-store -- this was a year after Pulp Fiction came out and all of us Film Nerds had to work at video-stores, it was a rule -- and I began my tumultuous trek through Film School that fall. When I started this I was ready to say I saw everything that came out that year but then I began making this list and there are weird random ones that fell through the cracks and seem to've remained there -- I think you'll be surprised by some of the titles I've never seen, yonder down below. But first, my faves...

My 10 Favorite Movies of 1995

To Die For

(dir. Gus Van Sant)

-- released on October 6th 1995 --

Leaving Las Vegas

(dir. Mike Figgis)

-- released on October 27th 1995 -- 

Se7en

(dir. David Fincher)

-- released on September 22nd 1995 --

Babe

(dir. Chris Noonan)

-- released on August 4th 1995 --

The Doom Generation

(dir. Gregg Araki)

-- released on October 27th 1995 --

Showgirls

(dir. Paul Verhoeven)

-- released on September 22nd 1995 --

Safe

(dir. Todd Haynes)

-- released on June 30th 1995 --

Clueless

(dir. Amy Heckerling)

-- released on July 19th 1995 --

12 Monkeys

(dir. Terry Gilliam)

-- released on December 8th 1995 --

Sense & Sensibility

(dir. Ang Lee)

-- released on December 4th 1995 --

-----------------------------------

Runners-up: Before Sunrise (dir. Linklater); Shallow Grave (dir. Danny Boyle); Living in Oblivion (dir. Tom DeCillo); The City of Lost Children (dir. Jeunet & Caro); Dolores Claiborne (dir. Taylor Hackford); Crumb (dir. Terry Zwigoff); Party Girl (dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer); To Wong Foo... Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar (dir. Beeban Kidron)...

... Unzipped (dir. Douglas Keeve); Strange Days (dir. Bigelow); Kicking & Screaming (dir. Noah Baumbach); The Usual Suspects (dir. Bryan Singer); Copycat (dir. John Amiel); Mighty Aphrodite (dir. Woody Allen); The Brady Bunch Movie (dir. Betty Thomas); Home For the Holidays (dir. Jodie Foster); Toy Story (dir. John Lasseter)...

... Casino (dir. Scorsese); The Passion of Darkly Noon (dir. Philip Ridley); The Celluloid Closet (dir. Aldo Fabrizi); The Day of the Beast (dir. Alex de la Iglesia); Dead Man Walking (dir. Gregory Dark); La Haine (dir. Kassovitz); Jeffrey (dir. Christopher Ahsley); Waiting To Exhale (dir. Forest Whitaker); Flower of My Secret (dir. Almodovar)
.

Never seen: Billy Madison (dir. Tamra Davis); Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (dir. Bill Condon); The Quick and the Dead (dir. Raimi); Tank Girl (dir. Rachel Talalay); Friday (dir. F. Gary Gray); Vampire in Brooklyn (dir. Wes Craven); Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead (dir. Gary Fleder); The Prophecy (dir. Gregory Widen); Bad Boys (dir. Michael Bay)...

... Pocahontas (dir. Mike Gabriel); The Bridges of Madison County (dir. Clint Eastwood); Hackers (dir. Iain Softley); Empire Records (dir. Allan Moyle); Goldeneye (dir. Martin Campbell); The Crossing Guard (dir. Sean Penn);  Clockers (dir. Spike Lee); Othello (dir. Oliver Parker); Fallen Angels (dir. Wong Kar-wai); Braveheart (dir. Mel Gibson)

-----------------------------------

What are your favorite movies of 1995?

.

11 Off My Head: RIP Joel Schumacher

.

Joel Schumacher, the oft critically reviled director who slapped nipples on the Batman suit and probably did enough blow in the 1970s with his pal Halston to keep every drug dealer in the continental United States flush for a lifetime, has died at the age of 80. Honestly I kinda loved Joel, even though his movies often deserved their shit rep. I briefly met him at a party once and he was very nice! (But then I was 20 years old and, judging by his interest, probably his type.) Anyway I considered doing a list of my five favorite films of his -- and I could, because critically reviled or not he made some terrific movies (and yes, as I just recently mentioned I include Batman & Robin on that list of terrific movies.) But my first and best thought was of the most important gift he gifted us with, which was an obscene amount of cinematic male beauty over the years. Just astonishing amounts. Bless him.

11 of My Favorite Joel Schumacher Gratuities

Henry Cavill in Blood Creek

Jason Patric in The Lost Boys (more here)

Chris O'Donnell in Batman & Robin 

Colin Farrell in Tigerland (more here)

Matthew Davis in Tigerland (more here)

Rob Lowe in St Elmo's Fire

Billy Baldwin in Flatliners

Patrick Wilson in Phantom of the Opera

Cam Gigandet in Trespass

Billy Magnussen in Twelve (See more here)

Matthew McConaughey in A Time To Kill
.

------------------------------

What are thoughts on Joel Schumacher?

.

Too Old To Wait For This Show

.

Not sure how I missed this but the first trailer (it's more of a teaser... actually it's more of a psychotic break via single frames flashing in your face) for Nicolas Winding Refn's upcoming series for Amazon titled Too Old To Die Young (previous post here) that stars Miles Teller, Billy Baldwin, Neon Demon stand-out Jena Malone...

... not to mention the ever awesome John Hawkes, among others, arrived recently -- you can watch it down below, if you'd like. Surprisingly the show, which is supposed to be like NWR's Pusher films, just set in LA - isn't set to debut until next year; come on, Nicolas, you dilly-dallyer. We might all be dead by then.

.

.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Sliver (1993)

Carly: You've been spending too
much time with your vibrator.
Judy: I certainly have - I've been
getting a plastic yeast infection!

Phillip Noyce's anti-erotic thrill-ride Sliver came out 25 years ago today! Sharon Stone was hot hot hot thanks to Paul Verhoeven's trash-masterpiece Basic Instinct coming out the previous year and showing us Sharon's all, so to speak, and this movie showed us what would happen if you put two stars who hated each other's fucking guts into the same sort of trashy movie but not directed by Paul Verhoeven. It didn't work!

That said Billy Baldwin is at peak hotness in this movie so I've always had a soft spot for it. (Although perhaps "soft" isn't the right word.) And, as I've spoken of before, the movie's weirdly knotted up with my birth as a cinemaniac. So basically this marks 25 years I've been a psycho movie buff, too. Let's all throw ourselves into a volcano...

.

It was supposed to end with Sharon & Billy flying into a volcano! Really!!! But test audiences hated it

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 5, 2018

Jake Puts The Finest in Finest Kind

.

Over the weekend news broke about Jake's next project - it's called Finest Kind and... it will have Jake playing brothers with Ansel Elgort? I guess I can sort of see them as brothers. Finest Kind was written and will be directed by Brian Helgeland, whose last movie was Legend, the disappointing "Tom Hardy plays twin gangsters" flick from 2015. Here's how Finest Kind is described:

"... a crime thriller about two brothers who strike a dangerous deal with a crime syndicate that draws them into the Boston underworld. As pressures mount, sacrifices must be made and bonds — between brother and brother and between father and sons — put to the test."

Yes we have all seen that movie a hundred times before, as described there - let's hope this has something to stir the pot. The title's use of "Finest" makes me think they could possibly be playing firefighters? Oh I would love to see Jake in a firefighter uniform. Maybe Jake & Ansel can recreate the shower scene from Backdraft!

Oh any day I can bring up the shower scene from Backdraft is a good, good day. Anyway the movie will also star Zendaya, which means that Jake's totally going to be the old dude on set. Ha! Old man opposite Baby Face Elgort...

In My Dreams I Touch James Norton Too

.

I was sad for a minute that we don't get to see James Norton's butt in the just-released trailer for the remake of Flatliners, but then I remembered that we actually see a lot less of Billy Baldwin's butt in the 1990 version of Flatliners than I always remember seeing - basically just a hint of top cheek. I have apparently conflated Billy's Flatliners Butt with his Backdraft Butt, while it's the Backdraft Butt where it's really at.

I mean Billy Baldwin's Butt is where it's at no matter where it's at, but some Baldwin Butts must be judged above others, it must be said. Anyway we do see Norton showering and changing...

... so perhaps there's New Butt Hope after all.

Here's the trailer:

.

.

The Flatliners remake is out on September 29th.
.

Rock Hard Granite

.

We're overdue a 21st Century version of Backdraft -- and by "a 21st Century version of Backdraft" I mean "a movie where fetishized hunky firefighters take long communal showers and have sex on top of their fire-engines, you know, the meaningful stuff" -- so today's news of the movie titled Granite Mountain is hitting me in the right spot. The film, directed by Tron's Joseph Kosinski, already had such stalwartly hunky names as Josh Brolin and Taylor Kitsch and James Badge Dale attached, but today it adds a pair of sweet-cheeked fresh-faces to its roster - seen above that's Alex Russell (once of Chronicle, more recently of "making out with Sullivan Stapleton" fame) and down below that's Ben Hardy (he was Angel in the new X-Men movie but more importantly he got sweaty on a pummel-horse for a photo-shoot). Shouldn't they be hiring people who puts fires out, not start them?

I Am Link

.

--- Top Bureau - A thriller called Imperium which stars Daniel Radcliffe as an FBI agent is gathering up a nice little supporting cast - Variety reports it's just added Toni Collette, Tracy Letts and Sam Trammell to its roster. Doesn't "Imperium" sound like a wand curse from Harry Potter? Anyway what I most hope is I hope that Daniel gets to motorboat Trammell on-screene. Those jugs of his should never go to waste.

--- Dead Things - I'm sad to see that Freeheld, the lesbian drama with Ellen Page and Julianne Moore, has done poorly box-office-wise; I too have been too busy to see it. Any of you recommend making time for it? Anyway Ellen's lining up her next thing and it's apparently a remake of Flatliners of all things? I said all I have to say about that on Twitter. I wish Prime Billy had done more stuff.

--- Matt Bomer's Butt Boy - Yesterday after I posted all of them gifs of Matt Bomer's Buttocks in the season premiere of American Horror Story: Hotel, I tweeted out a query asking who the actor was that joined Matt in the fourgy, and I was told his name is Nathan Peterson. Turns out I wasn't the only person wondering -- here's a morning-after interview with the actor, including a few choice beefcake shots for good measure. He's goin' places!

--- House of Horrors - We just wished Guillermo Del Toro a happy birthday but we missed this (thanks Mac) -- his home, which we knew already to be full of amazing horror movie props, was profiled in the New York Times and they've got a great gallery of his cabinets of wonders. I am so fuckin' jealous of him for the lot of it. Bastard!

--- Uniformed Frenzy - Reading that both Henry Cavill and Luke Evans have signed on to star in an Army action-drama opposite Nicholas Hoult kinda makes me wanna pull Nicholas Hoult close (as if I didn't already wanna pull Nicholas Hoult close) and protect him... and part of me wants to grab Nicky by the shoulders and throw him to the sexy noted homosexual wolves -- as long as there are cameras pointed at it all. Devour him, boys! Anyway I am not surprised that Henry & Luke are working together again, they have so much in common.

--- Top Bird - There's a lovely long chat with Tippi Hedren in The Detroit News (thanks Mac) -- no I don't know why, but it's lovely. She talks about her friendship with her Birds co-star Rod Taylo (who just passed away recently) and like any sane person would she seems to light up when mentioning she got to work opposite Marlon Brando. And she tells the Hitch stories o' woe again, which she must be sick to death of by now.

--- Cary's Song - This was apparently first talked about several years ago so forgive me if I have forgotten it completely (if I bothered to do a search I'd probably find a mention here on the blog) but I guess Cary Fukunaga's been working on making a musical with Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy and a member of Arcade Fire) and Zack Condon (aka Beirut, who I just saw perform at Radio City several days ago!) for ages, and he says he thinks it will be on stage first, before being a movie. But it all sounds still rather fetal. In related news, just a week to go for Beasts of No Nation!

--- Big Bite - I can't remember if I mentioned that the great Anne-Marie over at The Film Experience is devoting her "Woman's Pictures" series about female directors to horror movies all month long -- here's her take on the great (and only) Civil War Cannibal Movie Ravenous, directed by Priest director Antonia Bird. I love this movie like a third leg.

.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Flatliners (1990)

Joe: I don't know. Not thinking about the past or the future. 

I don't know it's difficult to explain, maybe impossible. 

David: Yeah, dying is quite that way. 

 This movie came out 25 years ago today and the only

reason I remember it is the top of Billy Baldwin's butt. 

Classic, though!

.

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Fair Game (1995)

Kate: You know what they call a Florida cop 

in a three-piece suit? 

Max: No. What? 

Kate: The defendant! 

It's Cindy Crawford's birthday today so in her honor I'm assigning you all homework - you must watch Fair Game in the next 24 hours, and manage to not kill yourself with pills or jumping out a window in the process. First person to make it wins not being dead!

OK OK I'm not that cruel, you don't have to watch Fair Game. Just watch the part where Billy Baldwin's ass is on-screen, that's plenty.