#1990Films

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A Wind Named Amnesia (1990)

A Wind Named Amnesia gets real nutty, even laughable during its conclusion. This misstep isn't enough to detract from its great premise and interesting characters.

In the near future of 1999, a wave of amnesia has swept the globe. All humans have forgotten their names, how to drive, write, communicate… everything but their most basic survival instincts. In this post-apocalyptic world, Wataru (voiced by Adam Henderson) has re-learned how to speak. Accompanied by a mysterious woman named Sophia, he searches for any inkling of re-emerging civilization.

It's refreshing to see a post-apocalyptic setting free from Mad Max wannabees. In this world, civilization disappeared overnight. There’s plenty of stuff to scavenge and even a decent amount of people around, but they’re cavemen-like brutes. Common knowledge and being able to recognize something as a machine and not as a god makes Wataru the most intelligent man on Earth. Despite his advantages, there are dangers on all sides: the many barbarians he encounters, as well as remnants of the futuristic civilization fallen into disrepair. One of the best scenes introduces a large, armored, semi-intelligent law enforcement robot (kind of like ED-209). It asks people to drop their weapons and get down on the ground. Of course, nobody understands, so it attacks. There’s a nice bit of irony as the peace-keeping machine becomes a danger to everyone.

Wataru's episodic adventures have him meet multiple characters, each of which makes you wonder what will come next. My one issue with the movie is the character of Sophia. She is only in the film to give a ludicrous explanation for the titular “Wind Named Amnesia” and to spew some pseudo-philosophical jargon. It's yet another example of a film that explains too much. What does it matter if Wataru finds out what caused the memory loss? What is he going to do, travel back in time, and prevent it from happening? Sometimes things are better left to the unknown.

The explanation is bad, but not nearly as much as the “deep” message Sophia asks us to contemplate. She asks Wataru whether or not mankind is not better off, or more comfortable with its ignorance. On the surface, you see why Sophia might think so. People aren’t tied to jobs they hate all day making money to pay their debts, corrupt government officials are all gone and humanity has reverted to its roots, living off the land and enjoying freedoms we'd forgotten about. Well, in theory anyway. The further into the plot we get, the more you realize her argument is nothing more than a shallow teenage mentality. Humans obviously are not better off. How many people died on the very first day because they suddenly couldn’t remember how to fly a plane or drive a car? How many died of starvation because they couldn’t figure out how to open their front door? How many have become sick from easily treatable diseases since? Let’s not forget the numerous amounts of people who have been killed in tribal warfare. And what about all of the good things that civilized society has brought us, like music, art, or… anime?

The film concludes on a note that hardly makes any sense and for good measure, there’s a sex scene thrown in that tries way too hard to convince you that there might be some merit to abandoning civilization. It’s too bad because for the most part, it's solid.

Although it morphs into the ridiculous and flat-out dumb, the film - complete with its ending - did get a reaction out of me. A Wind Named Amnesia is surprisingly good until it isn't but the idea is there and what it does well make it worth checking out. I’d like to see this one re-made with Sophia omitted, or turned into a villain! Now that would be something. In the meantime, “A Wind Named Amnesia” is an entertaining, but flawed anime. (On VHS, March March 17, 2016)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Home Alone (1990)

If all movies are either about confronting reality or escaping from it, then Home Alone is firmly and unapologetically about wish-fulfillment. This film by Chris Columbus is several childhood fantasies packaged together and best appreciated by those who grew up with it but it has appeal beyond children of the '90s. There's a reason it's now considered a “Christmas Classic”.

Following a power outage and a scramble to the airport, eight-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is left behind, home alone. Believing his Christmas wish to see his parents disappear has come true, he proceeds to defend his home from two bumbling cat burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) who are taking advantage of the holiday season to steal from the empty houses on the block.

What child hasn’t dreamed of being the man (or woman) of the house, free of rules and responsibilities? It isn’t long before Kevin gets over the shock of being home alone and begins checking off his list of things he’s always wanted to do. Riffling through his older brothers’ stuff, watching violent movies, indulging in bathroom products reserved for the adults, eating nothing but candy, jumping on the bed, riding his toboggan indoors… he’s having the best time. He expected a miserable vacation in Paris with his parents who don’t remember what it’s like being a kid (John Heard and Catherine O’Hara), obnoxious brother (Devin Ratray), grumpy uncle (Gerry Bamman), and annoying sisters and cousins. Instead, he got a perpetual snow day!

As the parents panic and desperately try to return home to their son, Kevin gradually begins seeing the people he “wished away” differently. He grows up and becomes responsible, gets a newfound appreciation for the holiday, and even reaches out to the street’s “Boo Radley” (Robert Blossom). With the memorable score by John Williams playing, you're filled with holiday warmth. You never forget the premise’s absurdity but Macaulay Culkin is cute and actually pretty good considering.

But everyone remembers Home Alone for the last act in which Kevin decides to defend his home against the “Wet Bandits”. Prepare to see a lot of crotch shots and grimaces from Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as they suffer all sorts of inhumane punishments that would have anyone with a grain of sense in their heads running for the hills. It’s low brow but admit it, there’s a part deep inside you that doesn’t mind seeing this kind of thing just… once a year?

What seals the deal are the memorable scenes and moments. Writer John Hughes delivers one quotable line after another (my favorites come from the violent gangster movie Kevin watches repeatedly, a film-within-the-film titled Angels with Filthy Souls). You get a good mix of bonks on the head and sweetness thanks to the characters and Christmas setting. It’s contrived and those who didn't grow up with it will probably wonder what the hubbub is about but then again, maybe not. There’s a lot to like in Home Alone. (On Blu-ray, December 21, 2019)

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Rocky V (1990)

After Rocky V, the series continued with another sequel in 2006 and two spinoffs, Creed (2015) and Creed II (2018). Thank goodness, as a final chapter, this is a massive letdown.

Set immediately after his fight with Ivan Drago (see Rocky IV), Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, who also writes) officially retires from boxing. Once home, he receives dire news: his brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young) unknowingly signed the “power of attorney” over to Rocky’s accountant and now, the family's lost everything. Rocky, his wife Adrian (Talia Shire) and their son, Robert (Sage Stallone) settle in a simpler life but are endlessly pestered by big shot promoter George Washington Duke (Richard Gant) who wants a comeback. Their family life is further strained when Robert feels neglected by his father, who spends all his days training a new boxing protege, Tommy Gunn (Tommy Morrison).

After the impossibly high stakes of the previous film, it was the right move to bring Rocky and the family back to their home turf. Gone are the endorsement deals, the mansion, and stupid robot. Now it’s just this guy who may not have the brains necessary to know what’s right every time but is compelled to try. There are nice reflective moments as Rocky and Adrian begin their lives anew, and since the Italian Stallion was supposed to retire after the second movie, doing any more fighting would’ve been unrealistic. Unfortunately, the way we're brought back to that familiar Philadelphia street is pretty weak. What’s follows is worse.

The drama between Rocky, Tommy and his son is so predictable it feels out of place in a theatrical release. Everything about it feels phony, obvious or melodramatic. Every problem could be fixed in 15 minutes if people sat down and talked. Admittedly this isn’t Rocky's strength, so you’d think Adrian would step in but she’s absent for large chunks of the story. They kind of paint the former boxer as an idiot for not seeing what everyone else does and some of the fault lies in the director. Rocky V doesn’t have any of the energy found in the previous films.

By the time we get to the ludicrous ending - which is made worse by being a flat “what just happened” kinda conclusion - you're left dumbfounded. Rocky V isn’t good but it’s such a letdown you don’t want the series to be over. Then again, what more is there to say about Rocky? We’ve already started borrowing numerous elements from the earlier films, the new stuff isn’t interesting. 

Although attempts are made to make this feel like the final keystone in a great legacy with numerous callbacks to the other Rocky films during the end credits, all they end up doing is reminding you of better times past. Rocky V is easily the worst and most forgettable of them all. (On Blu-ray, January 15, 2019)

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The Dark Side of the Moon (1990)

In the year 2022, the crew of the salvage/repair vessel Spacecore 1 is orbiting Earth to repair nuclear-armed satellites. When a sudden power failure maroons the crew, they encounter a NASA shuttle that has been inoperational for 30 years. Inside, they discover a horrifying secret.

The reason for the power outage, the NASA shuttle, what caused it to "disappear" years ago are what make this film truly terrible but I can't tell you what's going on there without giving away too much (we'll get to it in a bit). Setting aside the premise, certain story-telling choices are nothing short of terrible. The Spacecore 1’s computer is not a traditional computer, but a gynoid, who, of course, is dressed in an outfit whose plunging neckline leaves little to the imagination. Why? Because it would be sexy, that’s why! I expected all sorts of different things from this computer lady. Maybe she would be unaffected by the threat plaguing the rest of the crew and we’d get something similar to Bishop's role in Aliens. Perhaps the phenomenon affects her extra hard and she turns into a slasher villain. Why else have the computer in the shape of a human being unless it’s to have her move around or talk?

The only thing that kept me watching this trainwreck was curiosity. How clumsy would it get? Once you know what's happening, it's so obviously the product of a hack writer you want to see how bad it will get. Unfortunately, The Dark Side of the Moon is much more interesting to talk about than watch. Most of the time, it bores you. You'll be mostly left to your thoughts, which does this picture no favors. For instance, I’m unsure what to make of the way the female actresses are treated. Alex MacDonald as Alex doesn’t really have a role to play in this story or a character. She’s just there to be sexually harassed/seductive, and only briefly. She's the only woman aboard the Spacecore 1. It's weird. Maybe it would have made more sense if it was an all-male crew or a 50/50 mix. As is, it raises unintentional questions.

Alright, so what is the big secret? Why is that NASA shuttle drifting in space? What does it have to do with our heroes? Well, it’s all part of a sinister plot by Satan himself. He’s trapping ships in the Bermuda triangle to steal the souls of humans and increase his power. With enough souls, he’ll be able to take on God himself. Got that? Good, because we're just getting started. You see, the Bermuda Triangle isn’t a triangle. It’s a polyhedron: one triangle face on Earth, another on the dark side of the Moon. Ships caught in this geometric shape are teleported to the surface of the Moon and their souls harvested. The Discovery is the 666th ship that’s gone missing. That doesn’t really mean anything because there are 5 crew members in peril here, and I can assure you that none of the marooned vessels we see were piloted by a single crew member, so it's just an amusing coincidence. Throughout, this revelation has been foreshadowed by the overuse of triangular shapes. Large triangular chunks of people’s stomachs go missing, on computer screens we see data arranged in triangles, etc. The funniest part of the film has to be when Paxton (Joe Turkel) looks at the coordinates that form the points of the Bermuda triangle and asks the computer to remove each number that isn’t a 6. What does he get? 666!!!! Might have been spooky, but what did he expect to see? 532?

You can’t make a movie as dull and as consistently puzzling as The Dark Side of the Moon on purpose. This picture is a train wreck, utter non-sense that would need to be completely re-written to resemble coherence and quality. It's a shame I can’t even really recommend it as a guilty pleasure. The only time to watch The Dark Side of the Moon is in a double-feature whose goal is to make Event Horizon look like a masterpiece - rather than entertain. (On VHS, September 22, 2015)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Darkman (1990)

As a nutty, comic book popcorn movie, Darkman is fun. Made way before Spider-Man, this is Sam Raimi’s first attempt at a superhero picture and plays somewhat like a cross between Robocop and Batman.

Scientist Dr. Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) was just minding his own business when vicious thugs attack and leave him horribly disfigured. Driven mad by the pain, he swears revenge. Using the synthetic skin he developed to create masks and sneak around unseen, he settles his score one by one while also attempting to get back with his girlfriend, Julie (Frances McDormand)

I like Darkman, the story, and the way it borrows from The Phantom of the Opera and other horror and superhero films. There are just a few too many strange elements here for me to love it. Let’s begin with what works. Darkman is a cool avening angel. His shredded visage means he wears bandages everywhere he goes, and his costume otherwise consists of a dark overcoat and fedora - nice and simple. He’s a brilliant scientist, his nerve endings have been severed so he’s more resistant to injury than your typical doctor and lastly, he frequently goes full-on crazy. He throws wild tantrums, screams out loud, gets needlessly violent. What better way to channel this rage than to destroy the very people who created him? When he does, he’s as cold as ice. Sometimes he doesn't even reveal to his victims why they're about to die!

An interesting aspect of the character is his ability to blend in. The film uses it in several creative ways. Another aspect of the picture to look forward to are the villains. They’re so senselessly cruel and sadistic you can’t wait to see them pulverized under the fists of justice. The head mobster, Robert Durant (Larry Drake) is a standout. The makeup and special effects hold up surprisingly well for something made in the early nineties that uses computer graphics extensively. The action scenes are great. All this good stuff makes me fully endorse the movie. I see why people have come to think of it as an underappreciated gem.

And then there are times where it gets a little bit too crazy. Darkman's psychotic episodes are fine but the visuals which accompany them are excessive. There are points of unintentional hilarity because Liam Neeson is way over-the-top in his performance of Darkman. He’s pretty good overall but probably wasn’t right for the role. While overall the action is solid, the action sequences towards the end are badly written. Darkman is either being able to prepare way too much for his attacks against the baddies, or the villains make moves that simply make no sense. Perhaps the unpolished aspects will endear you to Darkman but they also make it feel like more of a prototype than a fully-realized breakthrough.

I like Darkman, but I don’t love it and thought that frequently, it was simply bad. That’s just me though, the average viewer is likely to enjoy it more than I did and ignore my nitpicks. Even with my problems, they only add up to knocking the film down to a 3,5/5 rating, which is solid. (Theatrical version on the big screen, February 2, 2015)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Ghost (1990)

Ghost is a great date movie. Whether you’re trying to impress a girl with your Swayze-like charms, or your feminine side wants to test your date's ability to respond to emotions.

After Sam (Patrick Swayze) is murdered, he stays on Earth as a ghost but is unable to interact with his lover, Molly (Demi Moore). When he realizes his death was no random event, he enlists the help of Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), a reluctant psychic.

Ghost isn’t just a romance. It isn't just a comedy. You begin and essentially end with a romance. Two people, in love, torn apart by a tragedy. The most famous scenes in this film are from right at the beginning where see Sam and Molly make some sexy pottery together (not a metaphor) and there's a lot to enjoy from there. It has one of the most romantic and tastefully done love-making scenes I've seen. Your interest in the couple is greatly amplified by the actors' chemistry. This is what you use to rope in your partner. They’ll be hooked by the romance and will eagerly await what's next (you will too). Consider it a bit of a test. If your date thinks the scenes where that juke box is singing ballads to our couple are hoaky, give them the boot right there. Don’t waste any more time of your time.

Then, we get to the body. Here, we get a good balance of big laughs courtesy of our straight man Swayze and our funny lady, Whoopi Goldberg. Often, comedians are cast in comedies as a way to boost a lousy script. Director Jerry Zucker and writer Bruce Joel Rubin play to the actresses’ strength. She’s got snappy lines and excellent timing. Sam and Oda Mae are placed in a series of hilarious situations, the best of which have the two of them working together to protect Molly from a threat she has no idea is coming.

There’s a third part to this film that a lot of people probably haven’t thought of or noticed but that’s what I’m here for. This movie has a lot of romantic scenes, and many funny ones as well. It also contains is a villain you'll love to hate. Not only because they’ve offed our dear Swayze, but because of what they do afterward. You just know they're going to get what's coming to them, and that it's going to be a deliciously ironic fate like you would in an episode of Tales from the Crypt.

As for criticisms, I must point to two scenes that establish both Molly and Oda Mae as dumber than the audience. I understand seeing a ghost or believing in the supernatural is a pretty big revelation that might get you upset. The issue is that anyone who has seen any movie ever knows better than to try to convince other people that ghosts are real. Imagine your house was suddenly under siege by werewolves. You wouldn't tell that to the 9-11 operator. You would say some scary-looking thugs in animal masks are trying to break in, and that they have guns. Not in this world. It’s nowhere near enough to sink the movie, but worth mentioning as a weakness.

There’s a little bit of something for everyone in Ghost. It’s not just a chick-flick that will have you teary-eyed and weepy. It’s got heart, comedy, and great performances. Whoopi Goldberg, in particular. It even has a few dark laughs to offer and an original take on a ghost story. You can tell why it has endured. (On DVD, July 31, 2015)