Blast from the Past (March 2019)

Yeah, the Box Office is rockin’ today with a whole lot of movies. But there are some from prior years that you may (or may not) remember. These older movies came out 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago, maybe even longer back. Some were instant classics, while others were not. So let’s jump into the DeLorean and travel backwards in time to revisit a few of these forgotten gems…

March 2014 (5 years ago)   — The Grand Budapest Hotel  – Wes Anderson checks you into a magnificently quirky movie that was so artsy and fun

The bellhop will take your bags now, and get you to relax in this movie’s perfectly portrayed display of nuance and nattiness. Ralph Fiennes is the Hotel’s Heart and Soul – a wonderful, slightly off-kilter concierge named Gustave H. and a new Lobby Boy named Zero (Tony Revolri). Together they deal with difficult guests and some false accusations of murder. But always in a gloriously color-coordinated, quirky way…

March 2009 (10 years ago)  — Watchmen – once a major cult Graphic Novel that was never able to be made into a movie, and here we can see why

The DC Comics limited series about some underground Superheroes was turned into a Graphic Novel. It was not adapted into a movie for decades. The themes were very dark and disturbing, and there were difficult special effects hurdles to be crossed. But when Zach Syder took it over and pushed it into the theaters, the fans had mixed reactions. But it was made, but the muted response seemed to keep the box office receipts from jumping over a skyscraper in a single bound.

March 2004 (15 years ago)  — Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet create a ‘memorable’ movie about removing memories

Erasing memories to forget a ruined love affair is what can create the ‘Spotless Mind’. But the effect that it has on the mind can lead to sadness and madness. A slightly Sci-Fi vision of Roto-Rotor for the Brain, writer Chalie Kaufman and director Michael Gondry made a jigsaw puzzle of a movie. Oddball characters and out-of-sequence scenes also give the audience a twisty puzzle box to work with…

March 1999 (20 years ago)  — The Matrix – This brought in a totally new dimension into mind-bending movies, by mixing heavy philosophy with ‘bullet-time’ special effects

Keanu Reeves stars in this twisty tale of questioning every aspect of your existence and seeing if you’re just plugged into some very elaborate virtual reality. The Wachowski siblings had created an original science fiction universe that turned pumping ‘lead’ into box office gold. But then they ruined their own reality with the awful sequels…

March 1995 (25 years ago)  — Outbreak – Very fictionalized version of a potential Ebola strain virus that comes to a small city in California

The true-life Centers for Disease Control were put up as a front-line defense against a potent strain of deadly virus that finds its way to the US, when it was first located in Africa. The CDC doctors are struggling with some military commanders who would want to fry the virus, along with all the people in that small town. Dustin Hoffman plays the main doctor who puts his life on the line to save the people and cure the sick.

March 1989 (30 years ago)  — Chances Are – A Dull Romantic Comedy for the Spring doldrums

This is an early effort by Robert Downey Jr. to star in a comedy with the likes of Cybill Shepard and Ryan O’Neil. With some convoluted plot of a man with the memories of a man who had died 23 years earlier, and then is attracted to the dead man’s daughter – but then later to the dead man’s wife – and he figures out that he is a somewhat reincarnated version of the man who died…  You catch all of that so far? Perhaps that is why this movie did not quite break even at the box office…

tmc.io contributor: JMcNaughton tmc

I think movies need to be shared and enjoyed by as many people as possible! Going to a movie theater is a group experience, even if you go in there alone. When the lights go dark and movie begins, you can participate in a special kind of magic. You can be entertained, or enlightened. But you are never bored. Or at least, let's hope not. Try reading the reviews first.. maybe that will help!

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