Tag: 1996

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Movie Review

Vince Vaughn Weekend – Swingers (1996) Movie Review

Director: Doug Liman

Writer: Jon Favreau (Screenplay)

Starring: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn, Alex Desert, Heather Graham, Deena Martin

Plot: Wannabe actors become regulars in the stylish neo-lounge scene; Trent teaches his friend Mike the unwritten rules of the scene.


Tagline – This movie plays reality.

Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Reality Check Comedy

Story: Swingers starts when two friends Trent (Vaughn) and Mike (Favreau) head from LA to Las Vegas for a night to try and help Mike shake off his breakup with his girlfriend. Trent does have a way with women, which he is trying to teach Mike for their return to LA. Joined with Rob (Livingston) the three struggling actors talk shop about how they haven’t gotten their big break yet.

We continue to follow the friends around the town as they try to help Mike rebound from his breakup, pushing him to take risks, despite the group of aspiring actors just going through the same routine, not partying till late and Mike wanting to get back together with his ex.

Thoughts on Swingers

Characters – Mike is one of the aspiring actors, he has had the most gigs of the rest of the friends, he is struggling with a break up which has been holding him back for 6 months and now, the friends are trying to help him break out of his shell, as he always ends up getting nervous about everything whenever he is put on the spot. Trent is the confident ladies man, he is always trying to teach Mike about how to pick up women, showing his confidence through any chatting up situation. Rob is the friend that followed Mike, he looks up to him and wants to follow in his footsteps despite the constant job rejections. Sue is another one of the group, he has a different attitude which could see them getting into trouble. Between the three of them of the friends they all want to help Mike in their own way.

Performances – Jon Favreau as the down on his luck actor is great to watch in this role, he makes us understand why he feels life isn’t going his way. Vince Vaughn brings all the energy to his role, showing that he was always going to be great to watch in the fast-talking roles. Ron Livingston bring gravity to his role, showing a man with his feet on the ground, while Patrick Van Horn brings a mix of the three while not knowing his own motivation.

Story – The story here follows four struggling actors as they look for women every night which sees them trying to help one of them get over their blues of a breakup, each has their own style which they try to imprint on the others. This story mixes up the styles of helping a friend with a breakup and highlights how difficult it is to make it as an actor in Hollywood. We might spend a lot of time just watching the guys party, which is mean to highlight their struggles and watching them all give advice to Mike shows that friends will always be there for you, but you will need to make the biggest step in changing your future.

Comedy – The comedy in the film comes from the mishaps that happen to the guys on their adventures through the night showing how not every plan is as well exercised as the next.

Settings – The film is mostly set in LA, it shows the bars that people would go to hoping for a late night party, the ones that only the locals would truly know about.


Scene of the Movie – The awkward phone, mainly because it is and can be so real for people.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It doesn’t show any of their acting lives.

Final Thoughts – This is a comedy that shows the struggles being an actor really are, while also trying to highlight the party lifestyle people in LA like.

Overall: Strong Look at Hollywood Lifestyle.

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Movie Review

Hard Eight (1996) Movie Review

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson (Screenplay)

Starring: Philip Baker Hall, John C Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L Jackson, F William Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Plot: Professional gambler Sydney teaches John the tricks of the trade. John does well until he falls for cocktail waitress Clementine.


Tagline – If you stay in the game long enough, you’ll see everything, win everything, and lose everything.

Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Slick, but Not Glossy

Story: Hard Eight starts when Sydney (Hall) sees John (Reilly) looking dejected outside of a diner leaving Vegas, Sydney offers to give him 50 bucks to return and learn of him how to make the fortune he always wanted.

Two-years later John works with Sydney with connections including Jimmy (Jackson) that know how to work the casinos, with Sydney always making himself presented in a proper way, while John falls for a cocktail waitress Clementine (Paltrow) which sees the partnership start to hit a couple of stumbling blocks.

Thoughts on Hard Eight

Characters – Sydney has been around the casino scene for years now, he knows how to pick out the people that could help make him more money and in John, he sees his latest target. He does have a good thing going, he makes sure he knows the staff and knows how to clean up any messes that come his direction. John is a dejected young man that is on his way out of Vegas needing to make enough money for his mother’s funeral, he gets a helping hand from Sydney are learns getting himself into a comfortable life, until he meets Clementine, where he starts to make mistakes which put the whole operation in doubt. Clementine is a cocktail waitress that is desperately trying to get enough money to clear her problems, she is willing to go to extreme levels for this, which sees her putting partnership between Sydney and John in the air. Jimmy the reckless man that has worked with John before, Sydney doesn’t like him and his behaviour doesn’t help his case.

Performances – Philip Baker Hall is fantastic in the leading role, he is either in or narrating nearly every scene and does manage to dominate every time he is on camera. John C Reilly plays everything he needs to well, showing his naïve nature at times and how he got to the right position, keeping the nervous nature coming through. Gwyneth Paltrow great too, while Samuel L Jackson brings the character that does seem like he is on edge to life too.

Story – The story here follows an veteran of the casino scene that knows how to pick out the best people to get money without being caught cheating or using the casino for work, that is until things start to get out of hand. This story focuses on people rather than the way the two make money, which shows that not everybody is as clean as you think with secrets always being up people’s sleeves. This is an interesting story, though it never truly gets going on the levels other films might well have when it comes to dealing with the same subject matter.

Crime – The crime side of this film shows us just how the people operate on the other side of the law, which shows their own weaknesses to the world, while showing how they keep everything together.

Settings – The film uses the casino settings to show us how the shady people would be operating to make sure they stay on top of everything.


Scene of the Movie – Late night visit.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t really learn enough about what the bigger plan would be in the casinos.

Final Thoughts – This is an interesting story even if it doesn’t reach the top potential, it tries to be slick and apart from the standout performance from Philip Baker Hall, we don’t get enough from the deeper story involved.

Overall: Interesting.

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Movie Review

Independence Day (1996)

Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Robert Loggia, Randy Quiad, Margaret Colin, Vivica A. Fox, James Rebhorn, Adam Baldwin, Brent Spiner, James Duval, Lisa Jakub, Giuseppe Andrews, Harvey Fierstein

First of lets go through the characters starting with David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) a separated cable repair guy in a television company, David has a very religions father Julius (Judd Hirsch) who is a long suffering chess loser to David who simple keep a few steps ahead of everything based in New York. President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) a young ex fighter pilot who critics slam because of his age. His wife First Lady Marilyn Whitmore (Mary McDonnell) who is on a visit elsewhere in America. On the President’s staff are Constance Spano (Margaret Colin) David’s separated wife, General William Grey (Robert Loggia) a general who believes in peace and Albert Nimzicki (James Rebhorn). We have a small travelling family the Casse’s father Russell (Randy Quaid) who believes he was abducted and a war veteran and his children Migeul (James Duval), Alicia (Lisa Jakub) and Troy (Giuseppe Andrews). Finally we have Captain Steve Hiller (Will Smith) an wanna be astronaut and top fighter pilot who girlfriend is exotic dancer Jasmine (Vivica A. Fox) she also has a son Dylan.

On July 2ND alien spaceships enter the Earth’s atmosphere locating themselves in the world biggest cities. President Whitmore sets up an operation to communicate with the spaceship. While in New York David finds a code in the satellites that shows that in fact the spaceship are lining up like chess pieces for an attack on these cities. David rushes down to Washington to convince the President what is happening. David convinces the President and along with his staff escape seconds before the alien attack.

After the first attack the President relocates to Area 51 learning about a previous alien crash. Major Mitchell (Adam Baldwin) is the man in charge with Dr Brackish Okun (Brent Spiner) leading the research projects on the aliens. President Whitmore arranges to a counter strike a lead pilot Captain Hiller leads his team in battle with little effect. Captain Hiller has a race through a canyon crashing one the the small space crafts and kidnapping one of the aliens.

We are not left to wonder how humanity will survive this attack? Will this mix bunch of characters be able to unite to defeat Earth new common enemy?

Roland Emmerich gives us his first major action picture with plenty of destruction too. With Will Smith doing one of his first lead role as Captain Hiller shines giving one of his best non dramatic performances. The Americas get a chance to be a heroes again in a true action blockbuster that all should see.

The Story is always going to be predictable but it is also very easy to follow, you can also pick up the movie from most points and not feel like you missed too much. This was the top grossing film of 1996 with $306million. With talk of two potential sequels you are left wondering how those could come about tho.

My rating 92%

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Movie Review

Scream (1996)

Director: Wes Craven
Starring: Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, Skeet Ulrich, Courteney Cox, W. Earl Brown, Rose McGowen, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy, Liev Schreiber,

Starting with Casey (Drew Barrymore) home with her boyfriend Steve, Thinking their are alone Casey starts making popcorn when she gets a phone call. The voices on the other end starts asking film related questions being told if she is wrong she will die. She got the question wrong and Ghost Face starts trying to chase and kill her after already disposing of Steve.

The Next day we meet out heroine Sidney (Neve Campbell) a school friend of Casey and her group of friends. The friends are her sex deprived boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich) best friend Tatum (Rose McGowen) and her boyfriend Stuart (Matthew Lillard) and horror fan Randy (Jamie Kennedy). The group learn about the murders the night before and as Sidney is home alone she arranges for Tatum to stay with her.

While waiting for Tatum Sidney gets her first visit from Ghost Face escaping once Billy sneaks in her window and drops a phone. Sidney thinks Billy is the killer and runs into the Ghost Face mask being held by Deputy Dewey (David Arquette) who is also Tatum brother.

Add into the mix a hungry report who already cashed in on the death of Sidney’s mother a year early. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and her cameraman Kenny (W.Earl Brown) try to keep onto of all which is going on and defending the man found guilty of Sidney’s mother murder Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber). We are now left to figure out who the killer is?

This is Wes Cravens version of a tongue in cheek look at horror slasher movies. Never taking itself too serious but keeping tension high through out the story. With endless movie references from Friday the 13Th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and many other horror movies.

The story has twists keeping you guessing on who the killer is giving very few clues to who is actually is and question every characters motives. this is a must watch for any fans of the slasher genre giving a fresh take on what we have seen before.

My rating 83%