RANDOM RATINGS #10
90s movies with NYC in a supporting role + Anthony Bourdain.
Over the weekend I had a very specific movie marathon. It started with Netflix recommending a Whoopie Goldberg movie that my curiosity couldn’t pass. I remember reading My Year of Rest and Relaxation, the narrator had an obsession with Whoopie Goldberg, her movies were the only thing keeping her alive and I was like mm I don’t get it. So now that I got to watch her, I got into a 3 movie rabbit-hole that shared the same criteria: any plot, set in the 90s/early aughts and NYC as a background from Wall Street to Central Park, all the way to Queens, an almost complete NYC tour.
The Associate (1996) dir. Donald Petrie
Whoopie Goldberg appears as a very smart and prolific investment banker, her apprentice gets a promotion over her and she quits her job. She then starts her own investment company and makes everything so she can prove that a black woman can thrive in finance amongst the limitations, prejudice and sexist and racial discrimination against her in the field.
Eventhough it touches very important and impactful subjects, the movie is very light hearted and has a good comedy pace and sense of humor.
Rating: 8.0/10
Have you watched it? What’s your rating?
Vanilla Sky (2001) dir. Cameron Crowe
This is a classic to some people, I think it was very popular at the time, yet I don’t recall watching it before. I remember I heard about it and I finally got to watch it. It starts with Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz having a meet cute at his birthday party, he is a communications heir in his 30s and she is a immigrant dancer who was a “friend” of a friend. It is very cute and romantic at the beginning, he then has a nearly fatal accident and his face gets disfigured, then things happen and it gets all twisted and untangles at the end.
I enjoyed the movie, the thing that I didn’t like was that it was like a sci-fi for dummies, if they would’ve made the initial story clearer the end wouldn’t have to be so explanatory, I hated that they told me everything instead of showing me throughout the movie.
Rating: 7.8/10 the vibes are ok, the soundtrack is 2000s heaven.
Have you watched it? What’s your rating?
It Could Happen To You (1994) dir. Andrew Bergman
Suuuper cheesy movie, very Hallmark, easy to watch. This one is set in Queens, it’s about a super nice policeman (Nicolas Cage) who owed this broke waitress (Bridget Fonda) her tip for a coffee. He offers her half of a lotto ticket he just bought, he actually wins and he’s like “Oh, I gotta keep my word, I made you a promise” so he splits the money with her in spite of his wife saying he shouldn’t pay her 2 million dlls.
The three stories evolve, the policeman’s, the waitress’s and the wife’s and it gets to a very predictable point with a moral of the story being about kindness and community over money. It is a nice sunday movie for sure but I wouldn’t say you HAVE to watch it.
Rating: 7.3/10
Have you watched it? What’s your rating?
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021) dir. Morgan Neville
I love Anthony Bourdain, my fandom began very late, almost after he died. This documentary is a very harsh one, it almost feels offensive at some point to portray his last days and edit them as if the reasons why he decided to take his own life were visible. Besides this, it is a very insightful film about his life since he started his career as a writer and how it transformed into a whole nother thing as a TV icon.
What I love about him in particular is his voice and his way of narrating a story while showing incredible places, watching him stroll around the world as if he knows always where he’s at but still having a curious spirit. So if you’re going to watch this I would start first with watching some of his shows, I’m sure there’s some episodes from his different series somewhere in streaming services.
Rating: 8.6/10
Have you watched it? What’s your rating?
Epic list. Going to have to watch these!