Word: almost
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...been told that some women find a certain degree of delicacy highly attractive in a man. But in Hugh Grant this delicacy is taken to an almost absurd level, and it quickly becomes a defining motif of almost all of his films. Notting Hill, Grant's first feature of the summer, is no exception. As bookstore owner William Thacker, Grant revels in his characters inability to get anything in order, whether it's his business, his love life or his housing situation. Enter Julia Roberts as the hopelessly flaky and confused American superstar Anna Scott, and you have a match...
...magic of Artisan Entertainment, the small studio that suddenly isn't so small anymore. (I also think that Dramamine could have made a fortune by handing out samples at movie theatres to solve the rampant nausea.) But the movie itself was trifling --even though that wickedly clever little ending almost redeems the whole exercise (I like the word "exercise" to describe Blair Witch; it gives it that whole unpolished film-school-final-project kind of feel). The most important lesson of Blair Witch, of course, is not that hundreds of millions can be made by making unnecessary noises...
...pleasant surprise. Pierce Brosnan has no intention of demonstrating any range over his career, but that's fine with me as long as he continues to find intriguing costars like Rene Russo to play off of. Russo is one of Hollywood's best kept secrets. Almost every movie she's in (save that monkey mess Buddy) is a bonafide hit. But Russo tends to hide her beauty (even though, ironically enough, she once was a supermodel) by taking goofy roles--she's usually a clumsy, awkward underdog. In Thomas Crown, she leads with her sexuality, and the chemistry she ignites...
...create a truly spooky moviegoing experience. It's movies like these, the ones that open out of nowhere and slowly build a following sans hype, that restore our faith in the public--especially in a summer where The Haunting and Wild Wild West both manage to rack up almost $100 million despite being universally loathed...
...never quite certain what to do with films like American Beauty--the ones that strive to reach beyond the grasp of understanding, the ones that confound. They are difficult and impressive but almost always flawed. Genre movies and silly Hollywood "products" are easy: you always know what you are going to get when you hand over your two bits and your two hours. There is a deep satisfaction in getting exactly what you pay for: a quick roller-coaster, or a good cry, or the fantasy of another life. Often, these pleasures don't even have to be shallow; some...