Jackie Brown has been on my '90s' and 'Heist' favs lists since it came out. Great song choices.
Seen Trainspotting only once and liked it. Other Danny Boyle films I enjoyed are; 28 Days Later, 127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire and The Beach. No votes today.
Jackie Brown was pretty good. A toast to the career of Pam Grier and Robert Forster as well as solid roles for Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro. Not on the list.
Hadn't Seen Trainspotting. Seemed a bit too bleak back then. Maybe it'll click now?
48. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Never seen it all the way through but looks fun
Oh, please do. It's lovely. The songs are incredible and funny and catchy and occasionally beautiful and I know almost all of them by heart decades later.
It would be totally fair to call Jackie Brown Tarantino's best. If you don't think QT can do 'heart' or pay service to any kind of real emotions at all....this one is your baby.
And Trainspotting is definitely one of Boyles best. I think there have been comparisons to him with Lester here, with this kinda bring his Hard Days Night with junkies. Maybe some find that to be in bad taste to play addiction in such cartoonish and irresponsible ways, but I was definitely there for it at the time, and it still plays pretty well. A lot of fun, with a great cast and soundtrack
Jackie Brown - for whatever reason, I never saw it until some time in the past 10 years. Solid film. I do hear these days that many consider it Tarantino's best, though sometimes it's phrased as, particularly amongst people who don't usually like Tarantino's films (because it has the the heart that crumbs referenced).
Trainspotting - I enjoyed it a lot when it came out. It was a very, "college dorm room poster" type of movie. I haven't really given it much thought in a couple of decades though. I suspect I'd probably still it's at least fun to watch.
Neither made nor were in consideration for my ballot.
Jackie Brown made my list. It’s one that grows on me every time I watch it and I dying to nab that new 4k that’s out.
Trainspotting is excellent as well and I wish I had room on my list for it. But I had to choose. I had to choose action, choose comedies, choose Tarantino, choose Coens, I had to choose scary movies, choose sad movies, choose among the best the ‘90s had to offer. I had to choose film.
I definitely should revisit Jackie Brown. I remember seeing it first with a friend back in the day and not really clicking with it; probably because it lacked the somewhat "frenetic" energy of Pulp Fiction, which we loved. This was a bit more contemplative and slow. So I went back to it a few weeks/months later and it did so much better. However, I haven't seen it since. I'm sure another rewatch will be good for it.
Trainspotting is one I saw "late". My first watch was back in 2014, and I liked it quite a bit. However, I haven't seen it since and it's not a film that I'd consider a favorite.
So, obviously, no votes from me.
SEEN: 40/58 MY BALLOT:5/25
My ballot
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. The Blair Witch Project (1999, #78)
10.
11. Interview with the Vampire (1994, #92)
12.
13. Election (1999, #74)
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19. A Few Good Men (1992, #84)
20. Starship Troopers (1997, #46)
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22.
23.
24.
25.
Trainspotting is definitely one of Boyles best. I think there have been comparisons to him with Lester here, with this kinda bring his Hard Days Night with junkies. Maybe some find that to be in bad taste to play addiction in such cartoonish and irresponsible ways, but I was definitely there for it at the time, and it still plays pretty well. A lot of fun, with a great cast and soundtrack
And for the record, Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge were adapting Irvine Welsh's novel, which is the origin of all of those characters and attitudes. I don't see anything irresponsible in any of the depictions of drug use, in the novel or in the film.
__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
Yep, I score three hits in a row... #44. Jackie Brown (1997) was my #9.
Can't stop watching this film over and over again, ever since its release. A real textbook for cinema. Robert Forster and Pam Grier are outstanding here. All characters are so interesting in this flawless screenplay, presented with beautiful photography and music.
I put it outside my top 5 because I thought other titles will need more points but now I see that most of them probably not going to make the list.
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My Ballot
▽
1. The Remains of the Day (1993) [#75]
...
8. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) [#100]
9. Jackie Brown (1997) [#44]
10. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) [#47]
...
13. American Beauty (1999) [#45]
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20.
...
25. The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill... (1995) [one pointer]
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On My Extended List
▽
__________________ "Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.
I can't stand Tarantino films at least the one's I've seen. I get the love for them. Just not for me.
The thing to remember with Jackie Brown is, yes, Tarantino for sure, but it is also an Elmore Leonard adaptation (of his novel Rum Punch), Quentin's only non-original screenplay of his career. It has plenty of Tarantino's style and dialogue, for sure, but it is also not pure, unfiltered Tarantino. So if you've liked Get Shorty (1995), Out of Sight (1998), and/or the TV series "Justified", it is probably worth a shot. Of those major cinematic Elmore Leonard pieces I like Soderbergh's Out of Sight and Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty more than Jackie Brown, but all are very good. And for fun, Michael Keaton plays the same character in both Jackie Brown and Out of Sight. His Agent Ray Nicolette is one of the main characters in Tarantino's film and he reprised his role as a fun cameo in Soderbergh's.
And for the record, Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge were adapting Irvine Welsh's novel, which is the origin of all of those characters and attitudes. I don't see anything irresponsible in any of the depictions of drug use, in the novel or in the film.
Not in the book, which I've also read (and which, paradoxically, I don't think is as good as the movie, I guess I like my drug movies with a dash or cest la vie)
As for the movie treating the matter irresponsibly, first of all, that isn't my complaint, only one that gets bandied around by others when criticising it. But it's not entirely off base. The movie plays into the joy of heroin intoxication, and the excitement of the outlaw life that surrounds it. It leans into the romance of it, how good it feels, how great the camraderie is between junkies, how much fun can be had. Yes, it also shows the pitfalls, but even those are exaggerated to lengths that make it seem cartoonish and at least exciting (climbing into toilets and swimming around to ethereal music, nightmare babies crawling on the ceiling, committing crimes and getting caught but still mostly having a laugh)
Now this gets to the heart of what the book gets at. People wouldn't do these things to themselves unless good times and great feelings were attached. But it neglects entirely the fact of what life is actually like for the drug addict. How it is mostly insufferable boring, and your friends aren't fun to hang around with, and the drugs stop working fairly early on and detox isn't something you just need a nice clean lavatory to deal with. It presents the lifestyle with its rough edges sanded off. It absolutely glorifies drug us, even as it nudges you and gives your head a rub and reminds you it can sometimes kill you.
Which, I will be clear, I actually don't have a problem with per se. Because this is one element of drug life. It's just an extremely distorted picture of it. Iggy Pop doesn't sing along to your exciting escapes from the law in the true story.
The thing to remember with Jackie Brown is, yes, Tarantino for sure, but it is also an Elmore Leonard adaptation (of his novel Rum Punch), Quentin's only non-original screenplay of his career. It has plenty of Tarantino's style and dialogue, for sure, but it is also not pure, unfiltered Tarantino. So if you've liked Get Shorty (1995), Out of Sight (1998), and/or the TV series "Justified", it is probably worth a shot. Of those major cinematic Elmore Leonard pieces I like Soderbergh's Out of Sight and Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty more than Jackie Brown, but all are very good. And for fun, Michael Keaton plays the same character in both Jackie Brown and Out of Sight. His Agent Ray Nicolette is one of the main characters in Tarantino's film and he reprised his role as a fun cameo in Soderbergh's.
That sounds better than I had imaged Jackie Brown would be like. But there's one big selling point for that movie that catches my attention...Any guesses anyone?
This is a version of criticism Kubrick got with A Clockwork Orange. Things that were repellent on the page are stylized and cool on the big screen, leading to some calling it glorification. I understand the argument, I just disagree with it. In the case of Trainspotting in particular, I don't think that because some of the consequences are stylized makes them any less awful. But, yes, "some people" do.
That sounds better than I had imaged Jackie Brown would be like. But there's one big selling point for that movie that catches my attention...Any guesses anyone?
Not in the book, which I've also read (and which, paradoxically, I don't think is as good as the movie, I guess I like my drug movies with a dash or cest la vie)
As for the movie treating the matter irresponsibly, first of all, that isn't my complaint, only one that gets bandied around by others when criticising it. But it's not entirely off base. The movie plays into the joy of heroin intoxication, and the excitement of the outlaw life that surrounds it. It leans into the romance of it, how good it feels, how great the camraderie is between junkies, how much fun can be had. Yes, it also shows the pitfalls, but even those are exaggerated to lengths that make it seem cartoonish and at least exciting (climbing into toilets and swimming around to ethereal music, nightmare babies crawling on the ceiling, committing crimes and getting caught but still mostly having a laugh)
Now this gets to the heart of what the book gets at. People wouldn't do these things to themselves unless good times and great feelings were attached. But it neglects entirely the fact of what life is actually like for the drug addict. How it is mostly insufferable boring, and your friends aren't fun to hang around with, and the drugs stop working fairly early on and detox isn't something you just need a nice clean lavatory to deal with. It presents the lifestyle with its rough edges sanded off. It absolutely glorifies drug us, even as it nudges you and gives your head a rub and reminds you it can sometimes kill you.
Which, I will be clear, I actually don't have a problem with per se. Because this is one element of drug life. It's just an extremely distorted picture of it. Iggy Pop doesn't sing along to your exciting escapes from the law in the true story.
Also, I'd like to add when talking about Iggy Pop, that there is something telling about the two songs of his that are used in the film
One is Lust For Life with its barnstorming beat and it's lyrics set in ecstatic defiance of societal norms.
The other is Nightclubbing, which is the aural equivalent of a body that has grown tired and weary of the reckless nightlife it is endlessly in pursuit of, and just wants to sleep it all off.
It should be noted that one of these songs became the films anthem and the other wasn't even included on some versions of the official soundtrack.
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