Movies date for various reasons.
Sometimes things that seemed great to us as kids seem silly to adults. Other times, the reasons are more complicated—think Rambo III and The Living Daylights became heroes for the Mujahideen because they were fighting the Soviets at the time. Standards are changing, too, often for the better—we no longer view the overt racism in Gone with the Wind as much as we once did, and we no longer celebrate the rape culture that crept into 1980s comedies. . Way (at least, we say we don't). Or maybe the language of filmmaking has changed, or the special effects that used to be great distract our more evolved modern eyes.
In my experience, looking back at the past with a more critical eye is usually a positive thing. The cost of growing up, as individuals and as a culture, requires us to look back with a little shame and strive to do better. It's not necessarily that the movies are bad (although some of them are, let's be honest, absolute shit); time complicates the legacy of most movies, but these are more complicated than most.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1953)
Even allowing for the change in attitudes, it's hard to ignore the core idea of this ostensibly charming classic musical: It's about kidnapping a large number of women, bringing them back to your remote cabin, and holding them hostage until they fall in love you. The abductees already had boyfriends and partners, which was a significant reason for their initial rejection of any such arrangement. Lest we misunderstand the intentions of the creators behind the show and film, a central production piece titled Sobbin' Women deals with the mythical and possible historical rape of Sabine women - a time when men in early Rome decided They built their civilization by capturing women from nearby areas and forcibly impregnating them. The song has a silly old-timey feel to it, thinking that their "booties" (as women are called) may spend a lot of time crying - but don't worry: "We'll make the women they cry smile at!"
Or, that's about it.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1963)
There's really no need for Blake Edwards' film adaptation of Truman Capote's novella to dwell on white actor Mickey Rooney's over-the-top, unquestionably racist portrayal of Holly Golightly's Asian landlady IY Yunioshi . Reminiscent of the most horrific stereotypes of the WWII propaganda era, Yunisi is portrayed as a squinting, bumbling, buck-toothed Orientalist stereotype whose sole purpose is comic relief - "comedy" must be entirely Something to do with the seeming inherent stupidity. Generally speaking, Japanese people especially like interesting dentures. The characters in the novella are far less caricatured, and Rooney's slapstick style feels at odds with the otherwise subdued tone of the film. Even contemporary reviews point out how jarring and offensive the character is, and every time I watch it, every scene with him ruins an otherwise enjoyable experience. (If you have similar struggles, good news: Mickey Rooney has forgiven you.)
Where to stream (if you prefer): Paramount+
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Franco Zeffirelli's rendition of Shakespeare's play was both daring and problematic, and has been controversial for decades. This gorgeous production dared to cast real teenagers in the lead roles, an innovation not surprising... except that it had rarely been done before (the 1936 screen version cast actors in their 30s). By intensifying his emphasis on emergent nature, Zeffirelli treads a dangerous path. There's something to be said for the clear treatment of the subject, but the film's nudity has been controversial for decades. Just recently, stars Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting filed lawsuits claiming they were coerced and tricked into appearing nude in the film, accusations that have cast a pall over a once-revered production. Cloudy.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Paramount+
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Bernardo Bertolucci's erotic drama follows the relationship between middle-aged widower Marlon Brando and a young Parisian woman played by Maria Schneider. The film, whose most memorable scenes involve forced sex and a stick of butter, was once seen as a piece of 1970s sexual libertinism but later tarnished its reputation. Snyder has spoken publicly about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Bertolucci and Brando, particularly during the filming of that scene.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Animal House (1978)
During an entire era of teen comedies between slovenly slobs and snobs (think Revenge of the Nerds , Police Academy , Porky's ), Animal House is hard to revisit. There are hilarious moments, but there are also plenty of scenes that draw attention to the culture of sexual assault we still live in. Pinto (Tom Husk), the clingiest good guy in the movie, has a serious debate about whether or not to rape someone. The unconscious girl, who we later learn is 13 years old (he didn't do it, but still). Bluto, played by John Belushi, stalks unsuspecting sorority girls naked, while on a trip to a roadside hotel, the film's only black character threatens our protagonists because they want Steal their white dates. Enlightened stuff.
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Netflix
Blue Lagoon (1980)
The late 1970s was a great period for American cinema as a whole, but it also gave rise to a subgenre of film that is increasingly uncomfortable for modern audiences. This is Woody Allen's world, one in which a movie like "Manhattan," about a man in his 40s dating a 17-year-old girl, feels completely legitimate, at least to all the other people facing It makes perfect sense for men who are having a mid-life crisis and daydreaming about their future. Sexual correlation. "The Blue Lagoon" is a bit different in that the two main actors (Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins) are at least of the same age, but its story of sexual awakening on an island feels too salacious — as if we're meant to admire them Youthful innocence while gazing at their soft, almost naked bodies. Shields herself recently said she was dissatisfied with the film's marketing and the way it placed too much emphasis on her youth (she was 14 at the time).
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Arthur (1981)
I love Arthur (and its greatest theme song ever), but it's hard not to find the film's flippant attitude toward alcoholism distasteful, circa 2023. Dudley Moore plays the title character as a respectable, lovable drunk, a character type that dates back to Shakespeare's play Falstaff, so it's not the '80s mores that are particularly to blame. Still, Arthur drives drunk, and if only he wasn't so heartbroken he'd have a good old time, and the plot's prescription for him is the love of a good woman (the extraordinary Liza Minelli), and Not traveling along the road to heaven. recover.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Like much of John Hughes' '80s work, Sixteen Candles combines charming and funny elements with plot points that almost immediately become dated. Most obviously, Gedde Watanabe's Chinese exchange student Long Duk Dong is a rare example of a person of color walking into a writer/director's film, and he's a head-to-toe Asian stereotype that accompanies every entry he makes. With a damn gong . At least Hughes hired an Asian-American actor to play the role, although no distinction was made between the Chinese Dong and Japanese-American Watanabe. The film's relationship with consent is less overt but equally disturbing: Ted (Anthony Michael Hall) pursues the verbally uninterested Sam (Molly Ringwald) to the point where she gives He had a pair of underwear in exchange for being alone. Later, he changes the drawer to another person so that he can be alone with the unconscious Caroline (Haviland Morris). It's not entirely clear what happens after that, but it's unsettling regardless.
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Netflix
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Temple of Doom was always the least important entry in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark trilogy, but it still has enough joyful adventure (and a memorable performance from Ke Huiquan) to be generally recommended. The problem lies in its depiction of Hindus and broader Indian culture. Unfortunately, while trying to recapture the spirit of the 1930s adventure serials, the film also comes with a lot of associated racist baggage. The Indian characters are either victims saved by Indy or sinister cultists/organ extraction wizards. It's all too stereotypical. A work that was controversial at the time of its release looks even worse 40 years later.
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Paramount+ or Disney+
Short Circuit (1986)
A generally enjoyable children's sci-fi comedy about a robot born for war who decides he'd rather hang out with Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg (there's a twist about personal identity and A good message about autonomy), but muddled by silly comic relief. The supporting character Ben Jabituya is played by white actor Fisher Stevens, wearing brownface makeup. , with an exaggerated Apu accent from The Simpsons , and all sorts of annoying misnomers. worse? The character stars in the sequel.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Rambo III (1988)
The Rambo series began by dealing with post-traumatic stress from the Vietnam War era, while the second one took on the theme of forgotten prisoners of war. Number Three sent him to Afghanistan to rescue an old friend, and in doing so, he stood firmly on the side of the Soviet Union in the long-running conflict with Afghan mujahedeen rebels, killing Soviet troops with machine guns and rocket launchers and creating destruction. Record death toll (literally! Guinness World Records named it the most violent movie ever made in 1990). This isn't just a fantasy - support for Afghan militant groups has been a core element of America's anti-Soviet program for more than a decade; in a sense, Stallone is bringing boring government policies into the lives of children who U.S. imperialism is represented through toys, comic books, and video games based on the movie.
In the 1980s, there was no greater threat than the Soviet Union, so anyone who opposed it automatically became one of the good ones. It's complicated, of course, but many Afghan militants later became the core of the Taliban - so that element hasn't aged well. To the film's advantage, it eschews some of the Islamophobic tropes seen in American films, but speaks more to America's habit of providing unwavering support to a particular faction in a region without regard to the long-term consequences there or here .
Where to stream (if you prefer): Paramount+
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
"Driving Miss Daisy" will forever rank among the acclaimed, well-intentioned Oscar winners who wowed Academy members by addressing issues of race through the experiences and perspectives of white Americans at the forefront. Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman's performances are fantastic, and there's an undeniable charm to the whole thing - but that's really the point. Very cute, pat "can't we just get along?" and achieve racial harmony. "Do the Right Thing ," an undeniable classic that tells a more complex and nuanced story, was released the same year and didn't even receive a nomination.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Dances with Wolves (1990)
A year later, we jump from Driving Miss Daisy to 1990's Dances with Wolves , another well-intentioned but awkward attempt by a white filmmaker to deal with race relations. The show distorts history while also including problematic depictions of Native Americans: the Sioux characters are mostly in "noble savage" mode, while the Pawnee characters are outright evil. The biggest problem is the tired white savior narrative, in which the white character is not only our guide to the Native American world, but the hero of the story. Because, as we know from history, white people were definitely on the side of Native North America.
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Amazon Prime
Chasing Amy (1997)
Chasing Amy feels like a movie that might have worked if there were any weird noises behind the scenes. The story of Holden (Ben Affleck) pursuing lesbian Alyssa (Joy Lauren Adams) could have been an exploration of sexual fluidity or bisexuality, but instead it plays a straight Male Fantasy - Spend enough time with a sexy lesbian and you'll eventually find her. It has good intentions and comes pretty close to working, but the emphasis on heterosexual men's desire for unreachable women means it ultimately feels less groundbreaking than it could have imagined.
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Amazon Prime or Paramount+
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
For some reason, this compelling thriller starring Mel Gibson/Julia Roberts and directed by Richard Donner, in which a paranoid loner takes on a massive global The drivel that deceived the internet turned out to be completely true, eliciting mixed reactions on the post. -simple. 6. In the middle of the epidemic, the era of anti-vaccination. Strange. (And Mel Gibson, oh.)
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Spawn (1997)
Don’t spend too much time on stuttering effects here… Times change, standards change, and what’s trendy to us now might be cool today. Not so with Spawn , a movie that blended some impressively dark superhero action with some seriously stupid crap... and combined it with some CGI that seemed silly even at the time. Spawn 's journey into hell, in particular, was shot in a way that didn't look any better than in video games of the era. The cartoon adaptation does a better job on the source material.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Never Been Kissed (1999)
On the surface, it's a cute movie, starring the always delightful Drew Barrymore as a 25-year-old copy editor who takes an undercover assignment in high school and finds herself The teacher, Michael Vartan, developed a crush. The two begin a flirtatious relationship that (luckily) goes nowhere until Barrymore's character reveals himself... at which point the teacher becomes deeply disturbed by her lies. Maybe because she's not really a teenager? The film, while not completely crossing the line, is full of creepy subtext. The high school student you think is hot probably won't turn out to be secretly older than they are, so don't flirt with them.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
American Beauty (1999)
We could spend all day talking about American Beauty 's fall from a beloved Best Picture winner to a film that's largely forgotten, if not overtly mocked. Some of this is a bit unfair: suburban ennui was more in tune with the zeitgeist in the 1990s than it is now, and there are people (mostly white) who genuinely feel that life has become too stable, too boring, and that the appeal of conformity is the biggest threat . In the wake of 9/11, the Iraq War and Donald Trump, these concerns seem overblown.
But there are more specific reasons why "American Beauty" underperformed: The first involves Frank Fitz (Chris Cooper), a violent conservative who turns out to be a closeted gay man , and became so mad with contradictions that he turned to murder. Even the film's gay writer and gay director couldn't quite capitalize on this age-old trope. However, there's more to Kevin Spacey's lead role than just that. He is obsessed with 16-year-old neighbor Angela Hayes (Mina Suvari), and we are meant to see his leering at her as some kind of metaphor, as well as his eventual decision to accept her as a human child and accept him as Decide. Not an acceptable object of desire because it is somehow redemptive. If it was difficult to do before, it's almost impossible given the actor's fall from grace.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Shallow Hal (2001)
"Shallow Hal" stars Jack Black, who is hypnotized into seeing only people's inner beauty, causing the shallow character to ignore the weight of his new love, Rosie, played by then-Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow plays, wearing a baggy suit. All he sees is a scrawny Rosie, and it all ultimately ties into the idea that we shouldn't care so much about appearance. The problem (and this is not uncommon in films of this type) is that the feel-good message is completely overshadowed by an almost constant barrage of fat jokes (never mind the fact that "inner beauty" is represented by conforming to conventional standards of beauty in different way is superficial). Even the sweet ending, in which Hal sees and accepts Rosie for who she really is, includes a final push when Hal tries to pick her up, but discovers that of course he can't.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
The Mummy Returns (2001)
The second The Mummy movie is a remake of the original 1999 adventure, although it's also quite entertaining in its own right. But man, the visual effects are so dated. It would be a disservice to video games to say that the Scorpion King in this game (motion-captured by Dwayne Johnson in his first feature film) looks like something from a video game, even if it's 22 Games from years ago. Brendan Fraser argued that the effect was interesting. I'm more or less willing to go down that road with him, but the fact is that what looked less than ideal in 2001 is really troubling in 2023.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
The Notebook (2004)
"The Notebook" is one of many love stories that to modern eyes seem less romantic and more creepy, including a scene in which the hero (Ryan Gosling) is suspended from a Ferris wheel on top, threatening to fall to his death if he didn't. Ellie, played by Rachel McAdams, continues to clearly and loudly refuse to date him. Lovely!
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Amazon Prime
Collapse (2005)
"Maybe we're all a little racist?" That's the convoluted point, I suppose, that Best Picture winner "Crash" was trying to make while pretending it was some kind of revelation. It's overly satirical and filled with redemptive arcs for white characters, and it presents a sad idea of racial harmony that so far has been too bland and simplistic, especially in 2023. It won because some Academy members weren't going to vote for a gay cowboy movie, and I can't imagine how many people have bothered to watch it since. (At least Don Cheadle is great.)
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Amazon Prime
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
We talk about Hollywood's history of whitewashing in casting, but casting white people to play non-white characters isn't the only potential problem: Here, director Rob Marshall and company assembled a talented Asian cast but didn't bother distinguishing the rest of the cast. Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh, Chinese and Malaysian actresses respectively, play the Japanese protagonists in this story set in Japan. Japanese audiences (or, for that matter, anyone willing to bother making the distinction) were disappointed by non-Japanese performers playing geishas, while Chinese audiences were disturbed by the uncomfortable historical connection between geisha culture and sexual slavery.
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Amazon Prime
World Trade Center (2006)
Oliver Stone's take on the events of September 11 received middling ratings, which would have been good, but its reputation was tarnished by several things: First, Oliver Stone's increasing madness The conspiracy theories, some of which relate to September 11, make it increasingly difficult to treat his films objectively. The movie doesn't touch on any of that, but it does make a smaller, but uglier, casting choice: 9/11 rescuer Jason Thomas was a U.S. Marine who was also a black American . Oliver Stone and company cast white actor William Mapother for the role, but when pressed they claimed it was just a mistake. Not buying.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
2012 (2009)
This Roland Emmerich disaster movie has a very good cast: Thandivine Newton, John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover and others. But other than that, it's pretty average. Beyond that, it was created to exploit the bizarre idea of the end of the world in 2012 (thanks to a deliberate misreading of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican calendars), and there's really no reason to revisit the film . Now, if the world did end...
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Netflix
Weakness (2009)
Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her performance in The Underbelly ; it's hard to deny her charisma, and her performance is stellar, but her star power only exacerbates the story's fundamental problems . While largely fact-based, the focus is not on rising star Mike Orr, who spent years bouncing between foster homes and his substance-dependent biological mother, but on the people who "adopted" him On a wealthy white family. It's all quite watchable, but the film can't overcome the problems with the white savior narrative. Recently, Michael Orr claimed that this was complete bullshit - that his family never officially adopted him, but instead convinced him to make them his business conservators. The Tooheys and their two children received huge royalties from the film, while Oher himself received nothing. If this is indeed the case, it illustrates quite dramatically the problem with white savior narratives that center the wrong people.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Help (2011)
While "The Help" is relatively new and packed with great Oscar-nominated performances, it feels like a step backwards in the framework of the civil rights movement. On the surface, this feels like a charming, feel-good movie about people coming together, but the experience of black domestic workers in the 1960s is told from an almost exclusively white perspective (perhaps not surprisingly, Because there were very few non-white (non-white) filmmakers with significant roles behind the scenes at the time; the same goes for the original novel). Despite her Oscar nomination, Viola Davis expressed her disappointment in very strong terms, saying she "betrayed myself and my people" by appearing here. More than a decade later, we might (maybe) be more sensitive to the fact that this era was about the challenges and triumphs of black Americans rather than a white suburban lady named "Skeeter" learning curve.
Where to play: Hulu
Passenger (2016)
In "Passengers ," interstellar traveler Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) wakes up 90 years early in his hibernation capsule; the ship is on its way to a new Earth, and he is now awake and alone. No more sleep for the rest of my life. Of course, it's a sad situation until he notices a pretty face among the other sleepers (Jennifer Lawrence) and decides to stalk the details of her life via the web (she's a journalist) before waking her up And pretend it's a glitch. She eventually discovered his deception - which destroyed her dreams and plans and forced her to spend the rest of her life with no one but Chris Pratt by her side - and, of course, she was angry at first. But she overcame it all and they lived happily ever after. As you might find, this is a great metaphor for destructive and toxic masculinity, except the self-justifying weirdo here isn't just our point of view character, he's portrayed as an empathetic hero.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Amazon
Justice League (2017)
Part of me appreciates the chaotic era of DC superhero movies - a time when a movie's plot could be based on the existence of a jar of urine (thanks , Batman v Superman ), but Warner Bros.'s first wave of attempts It was the cinematic universe that fell apart midway through the first team-up movie. Still, the all-out DC style is fun compared to the airless, meticulous self-management of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Justice League was originally intended to be a massive two-movie tentpole, but ended up being whittled down and cobbled together by two very different directors (Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon), and it just feels like Frankenstein's monster. Snyder's later, longer cut still isn't particularly great, but it at least feels like the product of a single (misguided) vision. And the special effects look like they cost over $15.
Where to watch streaming (if you prefer): Hulu, Amazon or Max
The Flash (2023)
Similarly, though this feels like a lower blow: The Flash was already outdated before it was released. The film has been delayed in part due to the coronavirus pandemic, making it another casualty of star Ezra Miller's increasingly problematic behavior and legal troubles. It's difficult to market a superhero-focused movie when you mainly want people to forget who the main character is. Meanwhile, the general decline in returns for DC films meant this attempt at a soft reboot was already doomed: By the time it hit theaters, Warner Bros. and the company had made it clear they had no interest in continuing the Zack Snyder-era character adventure. The attempt to create a DC multiverse here is more horrifying than anything else, and the CGI rendition of a beloved actor like Christopher Reeve feels cheesy rather than touching — I guess, given the recent comments about the actor's artificial intelligence resemblance discussion, this might feel like a sign of things to come - but for now, it feels like there's more reason to let the dead rest in peace.
Where to stream (if you prefer): Max or Amazon
