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1993 Films, Best Feature- Independent Spirit Award Winners, Comedy, Drama, Favorite Film of the Year, Independent, Independent Comedy, Independent Drama, Los Angeles, Top 250 Films

Short Cuts-1993

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Short Cuts-1993

Director Robert Altman

Starring AndieMacDowell, Julianne Moore, Bruce Davison

Top 250 Films #123

Scott’s Review #1,400

Reviewed September 20, 2023

Grade: A

I am such a fan of acclaimed director Robert Altman because he typically features an enormous cast of richly drawn characters, all serving a story’s purpose.

Frequently, there is much character development and investment.

Short Cuts (1993) is a later-day Altman offering set in Los Angeles, California, the City of Angels, and it’s nearly as good as my all-time favorite, Nashville (1975).

Similarities burst onto the screen with twenty-two principal characters to Nashville’s twenty-four.

Their lives frequently intersect, and the fun is peeling back the layers to discover who is connected to whom.

Comparisons to 1992’s The Player (also Altman) and 1999’s Magnolia, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, also make sense for obvious reasons related to the Los Angeles setting.

But Magnolia is much weirder than Short Cuts.

The irony is that most characters are anything but angels as they suffer from insecurities, deaths, infidelity, and various shenanigans as they attempt to get through California life amid an earthquake and a fleet of helicopters spraying for medflies.

Altman based the film on the nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver.

Some of the tales include a waitress, Doreen (Lily), who is married to an alcoholic limo driver (Tom Waits) who accidentally runs into a boy with her car.

Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy’s grandfather (Jack Lemmon) tells his son, Howard (Bruce Davison), about his past affairs.

Meanwhile, a baker (Lyle Lovett) harasses the family after they fail to pick up the boy’s birthday cake.

Dr. Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine) and his wife, Marian (Moore), meet Stuart Kane (Fred Ward), an unemployed salesman, and Claire Kane (Anne Archer), a party clown, at a cello concert.

They impulsively decide to have a Sunday dinner date. seemingly have nothing in common.

Meanwhile, Marian’s sister, Sherri (Madeleine Stowe), is married to a cheating cop named Gene (Tim Robbins), who is having an affair with Betty Weathers (Frances McDormand), while Betty is divorcing one of the helicopter pilots, Stormy (Peter Gallagher).

Other stories and connections round out the fabulous cast.

The juicy, dramatic storylines play out like a terrific arc on Days of Our Lives or As the World Turns, with some needed comedic elements to balance things out.

Anyone who knows Altman will salivate at the cast’s name recognition, most notably Tomlin and Robbins. Actors frequently chomped at the bit to appear, knowing that he was an actor’s director.

This means he gave his cast the freedom to create dialogue that fit their characters.

There’s no better example than when Jack Lemmon tells a story in the film. His improv and free dialogue are a dream to watch and a lesson in natural, good acting.

Despite the enormous cast, everyone has something of quality to do. Nobody is languishing on the back burner with throwaway scenes or unimportant activities.

All characters connect to others in some way.

Fans who fancy Los Angeles, both on film and in real life, with its bursting sunshine and cheery vibe, will revel in the down-and-dirty subtext of Short Cuts.

The fun is getting there.

Some characters are wealthy, but most struggle with day-to-day routine, so the film contains a harsh realism. They try to find any shred of happiness wherever they can.

Like real life, that is part of Short Cuts’ brilliance. The audience can relate to the characters because we all know people like them, which makes the film a beautiful and treasured experience.

Or some may even be like us. The writing is brilliant, and the characters are true to form.

One day, I’ll create a list of my Top Ten Robert Altman films, and I bet Short Cuts (1993) lands in the Top Five.

Oscar Nominations: Best Director-Robert Altman

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Screenplay

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 3 wins-Best Feature (won), Best Director-Robert Altman (won), Best Screenplay (won), Best Supporting Actress-Julianne Moore

1992 Films, Best Feature- Independent Spirit Award Winners, Best Picture-Comedy or Musical Golden Globe Winners, Comedy, Dark Comedy, Drama, Independent, Independent Drama, Los Angeles, Satire, Top 250 Films

The Player-1992

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The Player-1992

Director Robert Altman

Starring Tim Robbins

Top 250 Films #181

Scott’s Review #601

Reviewed January 11, 2017

Grade: A

The Player (1992) ranks alongside other Robert Altman classics such as Gosford Park (2001), Nashville (1975), and Short Cuts (1993).

The film is an excellent piece of Hollywood satire and centers on a jaded movie executive, played by Tim Robbins, who does an incredible job.

Robbins plays Griffin Mill, a man with no scruples. Feeling usurped by a younger executive, played by Peter Gallagher, as well as receiving death threats, he goes on the hunt for the person he feels responsible for, which leads to murder.

Thanks to Robbin’s performance, the audience is unsure whether to love or hate Mill. He is snarky, but also vulnerable and a tad sympathetic.

The film contains a slew of real Hollywood celebrities (Cher, Malcolm McDowell, Bruce Willis) playing themselves and is largely improvised (as many of Altman’s films are).

Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett star as odd police detectives.

The plot is nothing new, but it’s the realism and direction that make this movie a must-see, especially for Robert Altman fans.

The Player (1992) is a hidden gem.

Oscar Nominations: Best Director-Robert Altman, Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, Best Film Editing

Golden Globe Nominations: 2 wins-Best Picture-Musical or Comedy (won), Best Director-Robert Altman, Best Actor-Musical or Comedy-Tim Robbins (won), Best Screenplay

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 1 win-Best Feature (won)

1994 Films, British, Comedy, Romantic Comedy

Four Weddings and a Funeral-1994

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Four Weddings and a Funeral-1994

Director Mike Newell

Starring Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell

Scott’s Review #1,444

Reviewed October 8, 2024

Grade: A-

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) is a surprisingly fresh, delightful romantic comedy and one of the best offerings of the 1990s.

It likely inspired Love, Actually (2003), which I saw recently, and the two would pair well.

Both are British or set in the London area and have an English sophistication often lacking in American rom-coms.

The key to Four Weddings and a Funeral’s success is the writing. Real-life storylines emerge, and relatable, awkward, flawed characters grace the page.

Lovelorn audience members who may have lost love or suffered from loneliness may relate most.

This is a huge win for a genre that often plays it safe or revels in predictability. Crisp writing goes a long way.

Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell play the main couple, making them household names and propelling them to a successful decade of similar films, especially Grant.

Lovable Englishman Charles (Grant) and his group of friends seem to be unlucky in love. They frequently gather at parties or weddings, never finding what they truly want, and end up linked for life.

When Charles meets a beautiful American named Carrie (Andie MacDowell) at a wedding, he thinks his luck may have changed. But after one magical night, Carrie, deemed ‘slutty’ returns to the States, ending what might have been a wonderful long-term relationship.

As Charles and Carrie’s paths continue to cross, usually at someone’s wedding and one funeral, Charles believes they are meant to be together, even if their timing always seems to be off.

Grant shines in his role despite believing his performance was hideous, at least before the film received many accolades.

Mike Newell, the director, provided conflicting direction, making it hard for Grant to play the role in a particular way.

His stuttering and confusion, though, make his character endearing.

MacDowell is good, too. It’s not clear why she doesn’t drop everything and date Charles right away, or why she chooses to marry an older Scottish guy, but the story-driven situations only make the characters shine brighter.

Once the first wedding happened, I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to find out what three nuptials were coming and whose funeral it was.

Could it be a main character or even Charles or Carrie?

That makes Four Weddings and a Funeral compelling, especially as the supporting characters are fleshed out.

We meet Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas), a bitchy friend who seems to judge everyone she meets. Her snobbery slowly gives way to vulnerability when we learn she’s always loved Charles.

Other characters like Tom (James Fleet) and Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman) provide comic relief, while a same-sex couple, Gareth and Matthew (Simon Callow and John Hannah), and Charles’s deaf brother David (David Bower) are part of the group, with no judgment of their sexuality or disability.

In 1994, this was a searing victory, and a feeling of inclusion is apparent.

The icing on the cake is a spectacular soap opera moment in which a bride and groom are about to take their vows, only for one of them to admit their love for another character.

Hysteria, a meltdown, and good old-fashioned drama commence, making the scene satisfying.

I didn’t expect to enjoy Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) as much as I did. Audiences agreed, and the film earned two surprising Oscar nominations.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay

Golden Globe Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture-Musical or Comedy, Best Actor-Musical or Comedy-Hugh Grant (won), Best Actress-Musical or Comedy-Andie MacDowell, Best Screenplay

2019 Films, Comedy, Dark Comedy, Horror, Horror-Comedy

Ready or Not-2019

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Ready or Not-2019

Director Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

Starring Samara Weaving, Adam Brody

Scott’s Review #1,040

Reviewed July 16, 2020

Grade: B+

A hybrid of dark comedy, horror, and whodunit, Ready or Not (2019) is a splatter of a good time.

Witty and macabre, the film is patterned after Knives Out (2019), Clue (1985), and the television series Riverdale, with a dash of Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2 (2003-2004) peppered in for good measure.

The results are fantastic, gory, and fun, and the pacing is on point. The best aspect is the unpredictability factor, as the conclusion cannot be drawn, and the audience willingly plunges along for a thrilling ride, eager to see what happens next.

The film begins with a mysterious flashback.

A young boy living in a vast mansion is confronted by an injured man begging for help. The boy cries out for his family, who shoots the man dead.

Decades later, happier events transpire as Alex (Mark O’Brien) and Grace (Samara Weaving) enjoy a lavish wedding at the Le Domas family estate.

Alex’s family is extremely wealthy, and he asks Grace if she is certain she wants to join the family. Why wouldn’t she welcome a life of pampering and all the money she can imagine? She readily tells Alex that, yes, she is sure she wants to marry him.

After the wedding, Alex and Grace are summoned by the family to partake in a game, a family tradition. Grace will choose a card, and everyone will play that game.

When Grace chooses the Hide-and-Seek card, the reactions are morose. When she gleefully trots off at midnight to hide, she assumes it is an innocent game.

She quickly realizes that the family is determined to kill her as part of an ancient legend involving a deal to keep the family money secure. Grace spends the night being pursued by members of the family while the household staff is accidentally killed off.

Being a horror film, the rosy start to the movie (the wedding) is delicious and short-lived, as any fan of the horror genre knows that dreary events are soon in store. The fun is waiting for the other shoe to drop and the body count to begin rising.

Ready or Not succeeds most when Grace is being pursued, and when she emerges from the dumb waiter, thinking she will give up the game and enjoy a good night’s sleep, the scenes are spectacular. A house-nanny is shot by a doltish family member who mistakes her for Grace, cowering behind a bed.

At that moment the bride realizes she is screwed.

The final thirty minutes of Ready or Not take a different turn as victimized Grace turns into revenge-seeking Grace. Think Carrie White at the prom after being soaked with pig blood.

As Grace lumbers through the mansion in her blood-streaked white gown, happy to kill any one of the filthy rich family members, she has the most fun pummeling Alex’s mother, Becky Le Domas (Andie MacDowell), to death with a box, which he gets to witness.

Revenge Grace is like Uma Thurman’s The Bride in the Kill Bill double-feature.

Released the same year as Knives Out (2019), both films portray the wealthy characters similarly, rendering them as shallow and unlikable as humanly possible. Insipid, money-hungry, and impolite, they treat each other as badly as those considered beneath them.

Daniel (Adam Brody), may turn out to be Grace’s knight in shining armor but can he be trusted? Can Alex?

Snippets of the 1985 comedy Clue emerge as secret passageways are revealed, and one death is reminiscent of the singing telegram girl’s death, as the character leaps into the room only to be instantly killed. It’s a fun scene and not too seriously intended, which makes it enjoyable.

The gothic nature of the series Riverdale also comes into play with the modern trimmings and dark ambiance.

Ready or Not (2019) successfully produces what it intends to—an entertaining, cleverly written horror yarn. With a clear feminist stance and oozing with wealth and glamour, the rich people are horrible and ultimately get what they deserve.

This is satisfying to the viewer despite the silly motivations of the family.

Played for laughs, the film doesn’t take itself too seriously despite a subdued lesson in overindulgence and entitlement—a crackling, fun late-night offering.

2015 Films, Comedy, Drama

Magic Mike XXL-2015

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Magic Mike XXL-2015

Director Gregory Jacobs

Starring Channing Tatum

Scott’s Review #290

80031499

Reviewed November 27, 2015

Grade: F

Magic Mike XXL might be the worst film of 2015.

As a follow-up to 2012’s Magic Mike (a predictable yet decent flick), this version has neither novelty nor the basic storyline the original had.

Instead, audiences are treated to a lame mess of nonsense, a lack of a story that makes sense or is realistic, plot holes galore, and, to nitpick a bit given the subject matter at hand, scarcely any skin!

A road-trip kind of movie, I can’t quite decide whether the film was targeting frat guys looking for a buddy movie or teen girls and soccer moms looking for escapism.

Even in a less-than-adequate film, I always try to find something positive to mention, whether the characters, the story, or the cinematic elements; I cannot find any redeeming value in Magic Mike XXL.

Fortunately, Matthew McConaughey had the good sense not to sign on to appear in this drivel.

The same is not the case with Channing Tatum, as he is the star of this installment.

Poor guy. I hope the paycheck was worth it.

The premise is as follows: Mike (Tatum), out of the stripper business and now running a furniture business, gets a call that his former boss is “gone.”

Mistaking this to mean he has died, Mike returns to Florida to see his old buddies, who convince him to join a stripper convention in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to end their careers on a high note.

On the road to the convention, problems, secrets, and past faces resurface and add to the drama.

Mike’s love interest from the first film is barely mentioned and dismissed in a weak, story-dictated explanation.

This is an attempt to give Mike a new love interest in Zoe, a photographer headed to New York, played by Amber Heard.

The film is messy from start to finish, but here are highlights (or low-lights). The silliness in the conflict over coming up with a new routine fails miserably.

The character of Richie (Joe Manganiello) slinks into a convenience store and razzle-dazzles a brooding cashier, making her burst with delight because she thinks he is dancing for her.

This scene is completely juvenile, watered down,  and unrealistic.

The stereotypes flow from Magic Mike XXL. En route to Myrtle Beach, the fellas make two stops that are the most ridiculous parts of the film and feature name actresses in silly roles.

When their van breaks down after an accident, a plot device that leaves the group without a vehicle, Mike looks up an ex named Rome (a severely miscast and unappealing Jada Pinkett Smith) who runs a weird male stripper house for bachelorette parties in the middle of nowhere.

After a lame strip scene (PG-rated at best) to impress Rome, the boys are on their way again.

What was the point of introducing Rome to the story at all? And there is zero chemistry between Tatum and Smith. It seems like complete filler, and the dancing scene is endless.

As if the film wasn’t bad enough already, one of the dancers spots his love interest, and the group ends up at her mother’s house.

Andie MacDowell plays a boozy, fifty-something sophisticate who is Nancy’s mother. With her group of cougar friends in tow, they flirt with the boys, conjuring up every negative female stereotype imaginable.

Their husbands misunderstand them, and they feel needy and desperate.

And of course, they are all horny and drooling over the guys.

And what is with the lack of nudity or much skin? Is Magic Mike XXL not a stripper film?  Besides  Manganiello’s bare bum in one brief pool scene, there is nothing else and barely any stripping going on.

This truly makes the film weak.

Magic Mike XXL is a complete dud, and I hope, against hope, there will not be a third installment.

If the target audience is giggly teen girls, the horrific bad writing says little about society these days.