Dissolve's Forgotbusters: Movie Hits That Audiences Forgot

"10" is a real movie, guys, it doesn't matter that you were three when it came out.

say what you will about that original av club crew but at least they've got ideas for features. beats 'watch this'. anyhow morbs is right, this is "10" pretty easily. four seasons is interesting in a 'wow movies like this were hits once' but you couldn't pay me to watch it. most of these lack any charm, there are lulz to be had w/ hannibal and disclosure i guess, maybe tango & cash. was amused/amazed to find out tango & cash was directed by the coscreenwriter of andrei rublev (or at least he got the credit, he was fired before it wrapped and they brought in the director of purple rain to finish it). the toy is one jaw droppingly toxic movie. will be RUSHING to vote for congo in the next poll.

tango and cash is kind of amazing (not the same as good) as a late '80s action artifact. i saw a double feature of that with 'cobra' a year ago and those two together was something else. nothing in T&C as the killer from 'cobra', who is like the killer from 'cruising' crossed with Scorpio from 'dirty harry'.

I think this is pretty easily 'dragnet' though I haven't seen '10'.

lol tango & cash director also directed homer & eddie. they should've gotten him to do oscar & lucinda.

A retarded man get help from a sociopathic woman when tries to reunite with his dying father, who years earlier disowned him.

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTg3MzUzMTgxNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzQwOTgxMQ@@._V1_SX214_AL_.jpg

then of course after jim belushi died whoopi made this sequel

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Eddie_poster.jpg

I am kinda amazed Jack did so well, my memory was that that bombed.

Ditto. I remember it being in theaters for all of 10 days.

"receded culturally" is a moving target, but Eraser seems like the definitive forgotbuster.

So forgettable, in fact, that when it popped up on TV a few months back, I watched a half hour or so of it because I honestly couldn't remember if I'd seen it before or not. Seemed really boring, ugly and humourless; say what you will about the dreckiest 80s action flicks (Cobra, for instance), but they usually had a personality.

A good idea for a feature, but some of these maybe require less "explaining" - Eraser was basically the New Jersey momentum picture off of True Lies, and its mediocre "ordinary 90s blockbuster" look and feel is probably why nobody gave a shit about anything Arnold did after that. Haven't seen most of the flicks here but might vote Tango and Cash as the one that seems the most appealing, mainly for the presence of Russell, who usually cheers me up (though he can't save everything, see Tequila Sunrise).

I think Jingle All the Way and Batman and Robin were the bigger debits in Arnold's Q score, but Eraser as his New Jersey is basically right.

My main memory of Eraser is that I had to take summer school that year, and every morning in assembly I'd see this loser kid reading the novelization of Eraser.

THE NOVELIZATION OF ERASER.

true lies was the new jersey momentum picture off of t2!

It's a little fuzzy because Last Action Hero totally is what first took the bloom off the rose, but after True Lies - noxious, awful super-blockbuster that it is - it maybe seemed like LAH was just going to be the one misstep that you could forget about later. But from Eraser on he just didn't have anything that connected with audiences or became iconic or anything, they were just star vehicles with nothing else going on. Same kinda thing was happening to Harrison Ford post-Fugitive (Air Force One struck a chord but that was way more to do with Gary Oldman IMO), and Bruce Willis too (god that dude has a lot of movies I can't recall at all, for being a huge star whose good shit I love to death). Costner kind of a different deal but definitely it was over around the same time. The late 90s blockbuster landscape is this graveyard of late 80s/early 90s stars, but the real story is everything looking like Congo: post-JP, pre-Phantom Menace, movies still largely made out of stuff and thus relatively limited in locations and scope compared to what would follow, but lacking the obsession or the craft of a Spielburg or a Cameron and just ending up feeling more like people in dress-up in front of the Action Playset from Kenner. Batman and Robin is like this, Sphere is like this, Twister is like this.

xpost i'd accept that, mainly because i think it's a sickening and gross film and would prefer to think america didn't really give a shit about it in the end.

true lies was HUGE with everyone I knew but in retrospect it's just terrible. great action scenes but so stupid and horrible w everything else.

Yeah it's one of those things where the premise sounds like a good idea for an awesome movie at first glance, but then when you start thinking about it, there's almost no way to write it where the protagonist isn't just a horrible asshole. And then the actual film True Lies manages to find all these additional, unnecessary ways to make him an asshole and to just be kind of a horrid thing generally. Honestly I haven't seen it since it was new and I really shudder to think what else there might be there beyond Arnold's long, drawn-out assault on Jamie Lee Curtis, and the Muslim terrorist stuff with Art Malik and Grant Heslov (also of Congo!.. and Dante's Peak). Also apparently Charlton Heston is in it, which I've forgotten completely and doesn't bode well either.

remember thinking it was mean-spirited, misogyinst bullshit at the time. awful fucking movie, amazed it was a hit then, that it still has fans now.

christ the acting in that Hannibal clip! no wonder Foster gave it the swerve.

Ebert raved about The Golden Child iirc.

'don't deny the golden child' - roger ebert, chicago sun times

lil ilm humour for the beanie set. true lies having this rep as some kinda classic is pretty wtf to me as well - some nice set pieces maybe but otherwise it's creepy beyond fucked up misogyny, racism that felt weirdly out of date at the time even, and tom arnold. prime arnold ends w/ t2 at the latest, everything after (and to an extent this includes t2 but the movie overcomes it) is him playing a dull hero or dully playing against that type. before he'd just been a hilarious killing machine.

congo otoh is just such a wonderful little piece of shit. *taps chest* 'amy - good - gorilla'.

what the heck is New Jersey momentum?

true lies so awes fuiud

prime arnold ends w/ t2 at the latest, everything after (and to an extent this includes t2 but the movie overcomes it) is him playing a dull hero or dully playing against that type. before he'd just been a hilarious killing machine.

yeah I think T2 is pretty great but it was filled with warning signs for the rest of arnie's career. for pure undiluted Schwarzenegger you've got to stick to his conan thru total recall era and no further. Even watching something like raw deal or red heat is a nice palette cleanser.

Dragnet and it's not even close.

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, July 1, 2014 1:23 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Voted Hannibal - have always liked its baroque black comedy, the only way to treat the source material

Have any of these other than Tango & Cash been lethal brands of heroin?

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/04/nyregion/toxic-heroin-has-killed-12-officials-say.html

Rising Sun is fairly regularly shown on Film4/C4 for some reason.

Sean Connery as cultural liaison officer has a lot of (realised) comedic potential.

true lies was the new jersey momentum picture off of t2!

― balls,

Yeah, that's the way I look at it too. I saw True Lies in college w/my parents and cousins during one of our last hey-it's-summer-let's-all-hang-out things -- one of the most depressing experiences of my life. I was very much alone while the audience yelled and clapped and hooted through every one of Tom Arnold's terrible one-liners (lol remember momentary Supporting Actor buzz??) and the glee with which the movie and Arnold took revenge on Jamie Lee Curtis for the script's risible notion of imagining an affair b/w her and the car salesman (!). The striptease routine is still one of the most embarrassing and grotesque spectacles I've ever seen; it justifies the extinction of the human race.

Let's not even get into the Arab stereotypes either. They're worse than "Carbombia" in the original Transformers cartoons.

It's a little fuzzy because Last Action Hero totally is what first took the bloom off the rose, but after True Lies - noxious, awful super-blockbuster that it is - it maybe seemed like LAH was just going to be the one misstep that you could forget about later.

True Lies was such a monster hit that LAH really felt like the kind of bomb studio execs can forgive because it's humbling and the star learns his limits or something; it's the Days of Thunder Clause (although DOT apparently made a bit of money so forget the theory)

what the heck is New Jersey momentum?

― Nhex,

Every huge artist has their "New Jersey" - a huge event album that ultimately feels a bit hollow & signals a career decline

yeah until his fall from grace the only real flop cruise had after becoming tom cruise was legend. dot and far and away may have underperformed but they still did well.

ah, thanks Alfred

tom arnold in 'true lies' was one of the worst roles i've ever seen in an action film, never mind the performance itself. i can't think of anyone who came out of that movie looking good. it was a particularly degrading role for JLC. and i mean iirc arnold's recurring one-liner in the film was him saying 'sorry!' to innocent bystanders during action scenes.

Everything is so misconceived. It should have been somebody you wouldn't expect to be a super-spy as their day job, not this cold-blooded powerhouse. Michael Keaton or somebody. Billy Crystal. You could get some laughs, still do some cool action - I'm thinking, like, a Date Night vibe. His wife should be in on it, because wtf. It's the kid who doesn't know, because they don't think/realize he/she is ready yet. I mean how hard is this shit?

Didn't read the article about that one yet. Wasn't it based on a French movie and if so did the original have the flaws you are pointing out?

I think the film could have gotten away with JLC not knowing if it had been done a lot better. the whole second act where she's fumbling around w paxton and Arnold is stalking her is stupid, creepy, and a total momentum killer. racism and misogyny and bad humor aside (which means 35% of it aside) acts 1 and 2 contain elements of a good action movie. and I like jimmy cams a lot, I think even titanic is really solid and avatar was kinda shockingly great.

And why do I always get it mixed up with Turner & Hooch?

One has a big brown dog. The other has Stallone.

everybody otm abt true lies but i will confess an enduring love for "yes, but they were all bad!"

And why do I always get it mixed up with Turner & Hooch?

One has a big brown dog. The other has Stallone.

One is Kurt Russell. The other is a big brown dog named Stallone.

True Lies is certainly appalling for all of the reasons listed above, but I'm about half in agreement with al on the film. As pure ridiculous action spectacle, it has its moments and, if I were being honest with myself, I'd rather sit through it again than Avatar any day.

As I’ve written before, Disclosure’s possibly my favourite junky ‘90s movie. I’ve seen it four or five times. Michael Douglas is at the apex of his I’ll-screw-around-so-you’ll-feel-sorry-for-me stardom (technically, he’s less guilty than in Fatal Attraction--technically), and Donald Sutherland is still in peak JFK form.

I really like the idea for the piece, but did all of the films listed have cultural impact? (To “recede culturally,” there must have been some to begin with.) I’ve only seen five of them, but some just look like generic concoctions that made a lot of movie. I went through the ‘70s lists (Listal...no idea if they’re accurate: http://www.listal.com/list/top-grossing-films-1970) and found four that would be more my idea of films that a) were argued about/controversial at the time, and b) hardly ever get written about anymore. (Sometimes with good reason--Midnight Express is pretty heavy-handed.)

Joe (1970--#13)
The Hospital (1971--#13)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977--#23)
Midnight Express (1978--#17)

The Michael Crighton-based films were a definitely a big deal culturally around Jurassic Park times, hence Rising Sun and Disclosure doing so well

Looking for Mr. Goodbar doesn't really get shown much anymore but it still comes up often in discussions reflecting the sexism/feminism of the period

Midnight Express gets rerun on TV all the time, foreign prison fear always sells

voted secret of my success because i loved it when i was a kid and i like to wind morbs up.

i really want to see joe

Looking For Mr. Goodbar strikes me as a good choice: cultural phenom based on best-seller, Diane Keaton riding the Annie Hall acclaim.

Are all these essays by Rabin? He's not a very good writer, is he?

I like his asides.

xp he has a schtick which can be effective when skewering the ludicrous but can also get a bit wearing, I think

Also apparently Charlton Heston is in it, which I've forgotten completely and doesn't bode well either.

http://cinemasights.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/truelies-dialogue.png

rabin's a bad, disorganized writer

re: non-awful movie podcasts - - - the defunct Bonnie and Maude was good, as is Loose Canon (which I discovered from their links). also in that category, people rave about You Must Remember This, which looks informed and informative, but I've always been too intimidated to listen.

oh - and this is in the "plugging my friends' stuff" category, but the movies-with-animals-themed Pet Cinematary has been a real hoot, recommended.

I am listening to you must remember this and absolutely love it, it's beguiling: easy chatty style but well researched and insightful. Some of the production choices are a bit baffling (corny sound effects and actors) but at least it is produced, as opposed to a couple of jerks in a room squawking about their initial impressions of Jurassic world

I will check out the others, thanks!

rabin's a bad, disorganized writer

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson)

he writes shaggy dog stories. i like shaggy dog stories.

I've heard Script Notes & Filmspotting are good

for art-cinema stuff, i like the film comment podcast, and the cinephiliacs. For the latter, i'd recommend skipping his opening movie review to get right to the interview sections.

I read (poss in the same link that repped the awful dissolve) that the projection booth is good, I listened to some of the wake in fright one and it seemed promising but the other couple I tried I wasn't that into and they are longer than films! They have a batman returns show that is over four hours long

I like the film comment one too

the auteur museum was good too, but it stopped after 3 episodes

another defunct one i've heard good things about but not listened to myself is "they shot pictures"

oh, and one more, the film society of lincoln center one has some good interviews

Listened to casino's mates' podcast during my watering shift today, it's a fine example of the type of show that you can zone out and miss a few minutes of without feeling the need to rewind (I mean that in a good way). My BiL and I listen to how did this get made but I can only take so much of the shouty funny guy. Dr C are they always drunk when they do it? I swear I can hear noticeable slurring at times!

Thanks for the tips, y'all!

Hahah dunno about the drunkenness. Seems plausible. It's definitely in the "old film friends getting together" genre but thankfully not (imho) of the painful-nerds-trying-too-hard genre. The Super Buddies one gave me that vibe a bit, especially how they keep calling it "Space Buddies." I think my favorites so far have been the really weird-sounding movies (Roar, Max Mon Amour, and the Boon the Baboon films).

I've complained about How Did This Get Made on other threads (the MST3k one I think) - the whole thing is people trying to be the biggest shouty funny person! Combine that with my initial sense of betrayal upon realizing that they were not in fact going to reveal how anything got made, and it's a recipe for irritation. As far as that KIND of podcast goes, I can take Read It And Weep in doses while doing the dishes (though it would be better if shorter, with less recap and less shtick).

doc, a couple of my own recommendations if it's not too late

The Flophouse - like HDTGM without the shouting. and it's more, idk, friendly. hosts are elliott kalan, former daily show writer now mst3k reboot head writer & dan mccoy current daily show writer, and their friend stu who runs a bar in brooklyn.
it's very fun & silly & a nice time imo

Secret History Of Hollywood - like You Must Remember this but longer & more detailed. Beautifully produced & really, really great.
Old movies mainly - Hitchock, Universal Horror, Warner Brothers

This is turning into a very useful thread! Thanks VG. Yeah, I've enjoyed some Flophouse episodes. I have to be in the right move to groove along with them but a few bits have stuck with me. Secret History of Hollywood sounds great! Bookmarking.

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage is an upcoming 2017 action film directed by D. J. Caruso and starring Vin Diesel, Deepika Padukone, Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Rory McCann and Samuel L. Jackson. It is a sequel to the 2002 film xXx and 2005 film xXx: State of the Union, though more in line with the former one. The film will be released by Paramount Pictures on January 20, 2017.

the new Hollywood podcast on headgum is more of a straight interview 'cast but usually directly related to movies and he gets good guests somehow

the host does def know his stuff, and in a nicely not authoritative or nerdy kind of way, tho hes a bit too self-deprecating sometimes