Word: batmans
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Calley's plan worked. Mars Attacks and Preacher's Wife tanked; Jerry Maguire grossed $154 million in the U.S. and an additional $120 million overseas. During the summer, thanks to distribution chief Jeff Blake, Sony dared to open My Best Friend's Wedding against Batman & Robin. Once again Sony triumphed, with a film that grossed $123 million domestically and is performing well abroad...
...idea of fighting an alien race of insects isn't even an original one. The movie is based on the Robert Heinlein book of the same name, although one might claim with equal credibility, and affront to the author, that Batman Forever was based on Crime and Punishment. Heinlein, a masterful and highly respected science fiction author, created a futuristic republic in which people had to join the military to be deemed citizens, and the concept of civil responsibility was a matter of great importance and controversy. This, juxtaposed with the fact that the race was at war with insects...
...little tangle of American silicon on everybody's desk. Take the 80s (please). Bushido was all the rage, Detroit was in the tank ? the Japanese were better at everything, and the American century was over. Take Gung Ho, a culture-clash Ron Howard heart-warmer starring a young Batman (Keaton) and an older Long Duk Dong (Gedde Watanabe). And Norm. And globally, a happy ending (hey, the Nikkei's in the toilet...
DIED. BURGESS MEREDITH, 89, chameleon-like actor who performed the highbrow and lowbrow with equal enthusiasm and success; in Malibu, Calif. His Mio in Winterset (1936) simmered with earnest indignation; his Penguin in TV's Batman was gloriously over the top. He played the gentle George in Of Mice and Men, the careworn coach in Rocky and even did a gravelly voice-over for Skippy peanut butter. Meredith defended his quirky choices, saying, "I'm a man moved by the rhythms of his time, so I'll just take amusement at being a paradox...
...delicate beauty, Pfeiffer's acting has long been unappreciated for its sheer muscularity. As in her best work (probably "The Fabulous Baker Boys" and "Batman Returns") she executes an intensely physical performance, and her eye movements alone have more verve than Robards' entire performance. Rose sees herself as the most aggrieved party in the plot, but she is also one of its surest agents, a sort of director figure-note how many shots of other characters include Pfeiffer's arm or shoulder in the side of the frame, as if she is literally steering the action...