For as big of an event Titanic was in 1997, the movie year as a whole is pretty ho hum. There’s no great documentary. Even the world must have seen Titanic coming, and just gave up. There are some great entries from wonderful directors, new fresh faces on Hollywood, thought provoking sci-fi, and Flubber (just kidding). Thankfully, the year is more than just the star crossed James Cameron vehicle…at least in America.
Selena is a hero to the Mexican community: an exciting beautiful pop star with limitless potential until that horrible day where her limits were tragically set. This movie portrays that hero and her loving interesting family on Selena’s way to superstardom, with Jennifer Lopez proving she can also pull off that special factor needed to become a legend.
Up until this movie, Tarantino was seen as the guy who made violence cool, with people sleeping on his dialogue. I’m in the camp who think Tarantino screenplays are what make him special, and this one is a showcase of how the dude can write an awesome blaxsploitation film without much in the way of action, and still keep you interested.
Robert Zemeckis isn’t interested in the Independence Day version of a sci-fi movie. He’s interested in seeing what happens to the human race when we find out we’re not alone. There are some stunning visuals, but what’s more interesting is the philosophical discussions and Jodie Foster’s arc as a scientist with a complex religious past…
There’s a layer of strange magic on top of this Kasi Lemmons film, using its Southern setting to max effect. Like her name implies, Jurnee Smollett-Bell really does go on a big one, as she peels away the onion of life on her family, learning those hard lessons only growing up can teach you.
Andrew Niccol is a pretty apt sci-fi writer. The world Gattaca takes place in isn’t going to be far off from our own soon, aside from the planet hopping. Ethan Hawke stars as a baby born of man and woman, not perfectly genetically modified in a lab, trying to fake it till he makes it in a world that uses superior genetic makeup to define its societal structure, taking humanity out of the human race.
An absurd premise…until it sadly wasn’t. Robert De Niro plays a spin doctor in Washington DC. In order to distract the press from a presidential sex scandal, he gets a bunch of people to conjure up a fake war to dominate the news cycle instead. This movie’s so prescient that premise merges 2 US administrations worth of scandals into one movie.
One of the more original screenplays of the year is also one of the most entertaining comedies of the year. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith make for a potent pair as they traverse New York protecting the planet from extraterrestrials, mocking secretive bureaucracies and each other along the way.
In a year with a Tarantino movie, Paul Thomas Anderson can boast the story with the most interesting characters. The intimidating cast elevates an already strong script into the rarified air only the great films can live in. Sadly, Jack Horner was not the producer of this film.
This movie’s just a joy from beginning to end. Launching Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s careers and winning Robin Williams an Oscar, this delightful movie is about a broken young man with one of the most brilliant minds on the planet, but he has to learn about who he is before he can help anybody. Boston Accents also don’t get much better than Damon’s here, probably because he grew up there.
James Cameron merged two things he’s great at into one great epic movie. He found a simple but powerful story perfect for the ill fated ship: star crossed lovers from different social classes. He then combined it with the intimidatingly awesome visuals of a giant ship slowly sinking into the ocean. The result? The highest grossing film of all time, and young girls’s eternal love for Leonardo DiCaprio.
