Disney Movie Challenge: Hercules (1997)

Disney Movie Challenge

Hercules (1997)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

After facing criticism for themes of racism in Pocahontas and murder, lust, and discrimination in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Disney decided to go back to making family friendly lighthearted comedies with Hercules.  The story of Zeus’ son isn’t quite like how the Greeks told it (they took out the part that Hera is Zeus’ sister and that Zeus tricked a mortal into having sex with him and Hercules is the result of their tryst) but it’s what you expect from a Disney film.  

The movie starts with Zeus and Hera having a birthday party for their baby Hercules.  But uninvited guest Hades shows up and makes a scene. Hades is determined to take over Mount Olympus and after consulting the Fates decides the only way to have that happen is to kill Hercules as a baby.  Hades has his two sidekicks, Pain and Panic, kidnap Hercules and give him a poison that will kill him.  But due to their incompetence they don’t give him all of the poison and it takes away his immortality but leaves him with his god-like strength.  Not being immortal gets him kicked out of Mount Olympus because apparently you have to be immortal to live there.  Abandoned to Earth an elderly human couple adopts him.  Feeling like he doesn’t fit in he eventually learns that he is a descendent of the Gods and to regain his place on Mount Olympus he must prove he is a true hero.  He heads out  to find Philoctetes who can train him to be a hero.  After a training montage they set out to Thebes to put all his training to the test.  It’s there he meets Megara who he saves but really foiled her con.  It turns out Meg is working for Hades and when Hades finds out Hercules is not really dead he sets out to use Meg as a trap for Hercules.  While Hercules does a lot of hero work he is not considered a true hero till he risks his own life to save Meg.  

For a fairly simple movie that recap seemed to go on really long and I left out a lot of detail.  But what it boils down to is a love story between Meg and Hercules. Meg initially was used by Hades to trick Hercules but of course she falls in love with him and must prove she isn’t really evil (oddly enough The Hunchback of Notre Dame II steals the exact same plot).  Most  of the set up goes by pretty fast and is entertaining.  Actually the whole movie feels breezy, light, and short.  The standout in the film is James Woods as Hades.  He seems to be having the most fun.  If I would have to categorize the film I would say it’s an action comedy with more emphasis on the comedy.  You got the antics of Pain and Panic (Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer), Danny Devito provides great comedy as Phil, and Susan Egan plays a fun Meg.  The action scenes are ok but besides the fight with a hydra there not really memorable.  

When developing the film the writers looked to combine screwball comedies of the 30’s and 40’s with modern pop culture references.   Screwball comedies were known for their witty dialogue and strong headed females.  Directors Musker and Clements cited movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Lady Eve, and Meet John Doe(1941) as influences for the film.  As odd as that sounds it worked really well and you can see that as part of the DNA of the film.

Overall: If you had to split Disney films into categories of Great, Good, Fine, and Bad this would be at the lower end of good.  It’s a fun movie but also predictable and unoriginal.  Best part of the film is James Wood having a blast as Hades.  Also be warned you might get "Go the Distance" stuck in your head. It's not a great song but it's catchy and couldn't get it out of my head for 3 days.

Random Facts

The Spice Girls were originally thought of to play the Muses 

Ricky Martin does the voice and singing of Hercules for the Latin American dub. 

The last Disney Film that composer Alan Menken worked on till Home on the Range (2004)

Jack Nicholson was offered the role of Hades but because he wanted too much money and a cut from the merchandising Disney went with James Woods.  

90 Greatest Movies of the 90's

As everyone knows by now I love lists, so when Paste Magazine made a list of the best movies from the 90’s that really got my attention. 

Number 1 was an easy pick and not a big surprise.  There are lots of surprises though.  The biggest surprise for me was that I have only seen about 2/3 of the movies on the list.  Feel like I am slacking.

The list does confirm what I have always said and that was 1999 was a great year for movies with 19 movies from ‘99 on the list, and 1994 was another great year for movies with 14 movies on the list.

I have listed all the movies but if you want the reason certain movies were selected you can go to the website   http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/07/the-90-best-movies-of-the-1990s.html

Without further ado here is the list with Best Picture winners highlighted in red.

More thoughts at the bottom.

1.      Pulp Fiction (1994)

2.      Schindler’s List (1993)

3.      Magnolia (1999)

4.      Three Colors Trilogy (1993,94,94)

5.      The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

6.      Fargo (1996)

7.      Goodfellas (1990)

8.      Hoop Dreams (1994)

9.      Rushmore (1998)

10.  The Apostle  (1997)

11.  Fight Club (1999)

12.  The Big Lebowski (1998)

13.  Dead Man Walking (1995)

14.  The Usual Suspects (1995)

15.  Toy Story 2 (1999)

16.  Sling Blade (1996)

17.  Being John Malkovich (1999)

18.  Crumb (1994)

19.  Jackie Brown (1997)

20.  Boogie Nights (1997)

21.  Bottle Rocket (1996)

22.  Chungking Express (1994)

23.  Unforgiven (1992)

24.  Reservoir Dogs (1992)

25.  Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control (1997)

26.  Before Sunrise (1995)

27.  Saving Private Ryan (1998)

28.  The Thin Red Line (1998)

29.  The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

30.  Toy Story (1995)

31.  The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

32.  Trainspotting (1996)

33.  Malcolm X  (1992)

34.  Out of Sight (1998)

35.  Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

36.  The Double Life of Veronique (1991)

37.  Boyz N Da Hood (1991)

38.  Office Space (1999)

39.  The Matrix (1999)

40.  Short Cuts (1993)

41.  L.A. Confidential (1997)

42.  Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

43.  The Player  (1992)

44.  Se7en (1997)

45.  The Ice Storm (1997)

46.  Three Kings (1999)

47.  Heat (1995)

48.  Metropolitan (1990)

49.  Miller’s Crossing (1990)

50.  Casino (1995)

51.  The Lion King (1994)

52.  The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

53.  The Remains of the Day (1993)

54.  Exotica (1994)

55.  Groundhog Day (1995)

56.  Heavenly Creatures (1994)

57.  Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

58.  JFK (1991)

59.  Good Will Hunting (1997)

60.  The Professional (1994)

61.  Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

62.  Beauty and the Beast (1991)

63.  Election (1999)

64.  Clueless (1995)

65.  The Iron Giant (1999)

66.  After Life (1998)

67.  American History X (1998)

68.  Princess Mononoke (1997)

69.  The Game (1997)

70.  The Sixth Sense (1999)

71.  Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

72.  A Taste of Cherry (1997)

73.  Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

74.  As Good as it Gets (1997)

75.  Thelma and Louise (1991)

76.  Apollo 13 (1995)

77.  The Wrong Trousers (1993)

78.  Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

79.  The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996)

80.  Bound (1996)

81.  Braveheart (1995)

82.  Quiz Show (1994)

83.  Burnt By the Sun (1994)

84.  A Bronx Tale (1993)

85.  Waking Ned Devine (1998)

86.  The Truman Show (1998)

87.  Barton Fink (1991)

88.  Forrest Gump (1994)

89.  American Beauty (1999)

90.  True Romance (1993)

A few thoughts on the list. 

First thing that stands out is Eyes Wide Shut and Bringing out the Dead.  Two movies that do not deserve to be on the list.  Eyes Wide Shut was an awful movie and Bringing Out the Dead was so-so at best.

Saving Private Ryan should be higher on the list then 27. 

There is no way Jackie Brown should be higher than Reservoir Dogs and probably shouldn’t even be on the list

1997 is well represented on the list also with 13 movies. Interestingly enough the Best Picture Winner of that year and the highest grossing movie of the decade Titanic is not on the list.

Speaking of Best Picture winners 6 out of the 10 winners of the decade made the list. (Dances With Wolves-1990, The English Patient-1996, Titanic-1997, and Shakespeare in Love-1998 did not make it)

The Coen Brothers are the most represented directors with 4 movies on the list (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Miller’s Crossing, and Barton Fink) Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, and David Fincher each have 3 movies on the list. 

There are three documentaries on the list (Hoop Dreams, Fast Cheap and Out of Control, and The Battle Over Citizen Kane).

There is one short The Wrong Trousers

There are 7 animated films (Toy Story 2, Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, The Iron Giant, Princess Mononoke, and The Wrong Trousers).

Oddly Austin Powers 2 made the list but not the first one.

They admit in the article that there was probably more foreign movies that should have made the list. The one that stands out to me is Life is Beautiful (1997)

Missing from the list in my opinion

10 Things I Hate about You (1999)

A Few Good Men (1992)

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Pleasantville (1998)

There’s Something about Mary (the funniest movie of the decade)

And what about big budget Michael Bay action movies

Armageddon (1998)

The Rock  (1996)

Let me know what your thoughts are on this.

Titanic

When I first started my Best Picture Quest one of the first things people always said to me was "your going to have to watch Titanic again". Well I finally got up to Titanic. It is the 70th movie to win Best Picture and the movie broke and tied all kinds of records. Not only was it the highest grossing movie of all time but also tied All About Eve with 14 Oscar Nominations and tied Ben-Hur with 11 Oscar wins.  It also was the first time two people were nominated for playing the same character in the same movie when Kate Winslet and Gloria Stewart were nominated for playing young Rose and Old Rose. 

A brief synopsis for the few people who have not actually seen this movie.  Titanic is a love story set aboard the doomed ship.  Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a young painter (from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin) who wins tickets on the ship in a poker game. Having very little money he stays with lower class folks on the lower decks.  Rose (Kate Winslet) comes from a wealthy family and is engaged to a well off business man is on the ship with her fiancee and mother.  Since they have money they get to stay in all the best accommodations on the ship.  Jack and Rose meet one night when Rose contemplates suicide and Jack talks her out of it.  Rose's fiancees gets extremely jealous and Rose's mom does not like Jack because he is lower class.  But despite all that Rose and Jack form a bond and fall in love.  After the ship hits the iceberg and begins to sink Rose and Jack stay together till the end while her fiancee tries to bribe his way on to one of the life boats. 

I remember not liking this movie when it first came out but I was a 19 year old guy and this was more of a chick flick. So, I was curious how I would feel about this movie now.  Well it turns out that I still don't like it, and for some of the same reasons.  Not because it is a chick flick but because I think it is poorly written. The dialogue is pretty bad and some of it is just silly.  I think this is reflected in the fact that out of the 13 nominations it did not receive one for Best Screenplay.  Making it one of the few Best Picture winners that didn't even have a Screenplay nomination.  While writer/director James Cameron can't write love stories his direction of the action sequences during the last hour are pretty exciting. Also, the stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio have gone on to become multiple Oscar Nominees and very popular stars so it was interesting to see them in one of their earlier movies (both had one previous nomination before this DiCaprio for Whats Eating Gilbert Grape and Winslet for Sense and Sensibility).  But while Winslet gives a good performance DiCaprio is not very good in this one which is surprising since he has turned out to be a great actor.  But Winslet did get her second nomination while DiCaprio would have to wait a few more years for another nomination (Winslet eventually won Best Actress in 2008 for The Reader while DiCaprio has still not won an Oscar). 

Of course the other big win that year for Titanic was Best Music and Best Song for My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, which if you were alive that year made you heard thousands of times. The win for Best Song marks the first time that a non-musical winner of Best Picture also won Best Song.  Also, the last time a popular song won.  Lately there has not been any song to win Best Song that has been in heavy rotation on the radio. Not sure the reason for that but the Academy has changed the rules for the nomination of Best Song but still seem odd that a popular song hasn't won. 

Besides Titanic pretty much sweeping the technical awards (Editing, Sound, Art Direction, and Cinematography) there were other winners that year.  My favorite movie of the year and the movie I think should have won Best Picture was Good Will Hunting.  Nominated for 9 awards and winning 2. It's win for Best Screenplay was a bit of a surprise because Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were two relatively unknown actors and this was their first screenplay.  But it was smart and funny something that Titanic didn't have.  It also won Best Supporting Actor for Robin Williams in one of his best performances.  The other big movie that year was As Good As it Gets.  Nominated for 7 awards and winning 2.  The movie had some of the best acting in it with great performances by Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, and Greg Kinnear.  All three were nominated and Nicholson and Hunt both won becoming only the seventh time that a movie won for both Best Actor and Best Actress.  The movie was also nominated for Best Screenplay and just missing being nominated for the Top 5 awards by one Best Director nomination which is should have received also.  Today most people will pick L.A. Confidential as the movie that should have won best picture.  A complex crime drama with lots of great acting it was nominated for Best Picture and did win Best Supporting Actress for Kim Bassinger and Best Adapted Screenplay but was one of the least seen movies nominated.  The only other movie nominated for Best Picture that was smaller was The Full Monty which was one of the funniest movies of the year but not necessarily Best Picture material. 

The other interesting fact about this movie is that it is one of the reasons that I have become so obsessed with the Academy Awards. It was 1997 and I couldn't believe that this was the best movie of the year so I made it a point to see all the movies nominated for Best Picture. Making this year the first year I had seen all movies nominated for Best Picture before the awards were announced. Also, I remember watching the box office records fall and it is when I started paying more attention to the box office. So, while I might not have liked the movie a whole lot it is one of those movies that changed my life.