Hackers (1995)

Image by United Artists/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via IMDB

Hey there! Welcome to the next review! Happy May the 4th! I was going to do something special for Star Wars Day, but I wasn’t able to, so tune back in next year for that! In the meantime, enjoy the following love letter to one of my favorite movies of all time, Hackers!

What's true of today is also true of the past and true of the future. People are not only afraid of what they don't fully understand, but Hollywood will exploit those fears and make movies based on them. Case in point: Computers. Home computing has technically since 1969, with the Honeywell Kitchen Computer being the first sold to consumers, even though none were sold. It wasn't until 1977 when the first successful computers were being sold, among them the Radio Shack TRS-80, Commodore PET, and Apple II. But honestly, in the late 70s to the very early 90s, the home computer was still kind of a niche thing. The systems were expensive and not very user friendly. The people who had computers were either rich or were very into tech and didn’t mind working with code to get Zork to run properly.

 

And then came the hard part. Trying to figure out how to PLAY Zork!

Image via Flickr

There was no Internet like we know it today, but there were networks of interconnected computers and you could access them over phone lines. Usenet networks and very early versions of Internet Service Providers (ISP). But again, the people who were using it were either professionals or people who were already into tech. The mainstream public may have been aware of computers and the “Interwebz” but they didn’t know much. So of course, Hollywood takes advantage of that, making movies that show the dangers that computers bring, like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Demon Seed (1977), Tron (1982), The Terminator (1984), Hide and Seek (1984), and of course… 1983’s War Games. Where a young kid almost accidentally triggers World War III by using his home computer and hacking into a military computer system. While computer Artificial Intelligence is scary, I think most people knew we were decades away from that being an issue. But the real problem of the day? Hacking.  Because hackers were real, and they were out to get you.

 

They gonna steal yo credit cards and then smash yo computer

Image via Flickr

The hacking subculture started in the 1980s and continues to this day. If you went to a hacker convention, some of which started in the early 90s, you’d find a mix of people. Government conspiracy theorists, people wanting to steal premium cable channels, computer nerds who liked being able to access restricted servers and computers because “they can,” and you might find some malicious individuals as well. Evil Hackers do exist, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say they make up the majority of “hackers” even back in the 80s and 90s.

By the mid-90s, more and more households were adopting computers and the World Wide Web. Prices had gone down on systems, user interfaces had gotten far easier to use, marketing had gotten better. You could not get real-time stock updates and news, do your finances, get recipes, look up any piece of information you desire to know about! All this information is right at the tip of your fingers. Computer gaming existed even in the old mainframe systems back at NASA, but games were now more powerful and realistic than ever. And you can play Doom and Quake with other people? Say what? Over a local network OR EVEN ONLINE?! Colleges and businesses had to implement rules and restrictions on that game because people were crashing networks and/or not doing their job or schoolwork on the computers.

 

It would only take 5 minutes for this baby to download a single porn picture from the bbs.irc service

Photo via WikiCommons

So of course, will all this, Hollywood follows suit. The second half of the 90s featured a lot of movies about Evil Technology. Johnny Mnemonic, Ghost in the Shell, Virtuosity, Strange Days. Many of them used technology and concepts that, while they might not exist in the real world, were certainly capable of being a thing in the future due to the “speed at which new technology is created.” And if we’re not morally responsible, if we don’t take our vitamins and say our prayers, we could easily end up in one of these dystopian societies. A lot of those kinds of movies are still produced today, but not so much the “Internet is Evil” kind of movie, like The Net or Hackers. As more and more people got connected to the Internet and started owning home computers and, later on, smartphones… of course, people know that hacking and identity theft and stealing of information is a real thing that happens, the odds that it’ll happen to you are slim. You just gotta be careful. But it was “unknown” enough in the 90s, that a lot of people had unnecessary fears of the internet. So movies like Hackers were made to capitalize on those fears. If only the rest of these movies were as amazing as Hackers.

 

You could roller blade everywhere you needed to go, but you aren't cool enough for that

Image by United Artists/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via IMDB

In this movie, you have a team of “good guy” anti-hero hackers, consisting of 90s heartthrob Jonny Lee Miller (who goes by the hacker names Zero Cool and Crash Override), future global mega-star Angelina Jolie (Acid Burn), MY BOY Mathew Lillard (Cereal Killer), Renoly Santiago (The Phantom Phreak), Laurence Mason (Lord Nikon, who totally didn't get the name because Nikon was a sponsor for the movie), and Jesse Bradford (Joey, not “elite” enough for a hacker name). The team battles an evil hacker, who works for a major corporation, played wonderfully by Fisher Stevens (aka The Plague). Penn Jillette plays Hal, a hapless lower-level IT security guard thing. Sadly, Teller does not pop out of a hat somewhere, that being one of this movie’s few faults. Wendell Pierce, Marc Anthony, and Michael Gaston are US Secret Service agents, who are a nuisance to the Hackers. Also, Felicity Huffman makes a small role as an attorney. Maybe researching her later legal troubles?

The premise of this movie is… honestly hard to explain, kinda. I rewatched it with my brother recently, who had never seen it, and 40 minutes into the movie, he had no idea what the story of the movie was. The pacing is slow and weird, taking a while to get going. Basically, when Zero Cool was eleven years old, he hacked the New York Stock Exchange, got caught, and put on probation until he was 18. Well, now he’s 18, has a computer again, and is ready to hack! By the way, all the Hackers in this movie are supposed to be high school students… yeah, this is one of those movies, where all the main “high school students” are clearly in their 20s. Apparently, most of the extras were actual students? But not the leads. There is some playful back-and-forth hacking battling going on, between Acid Burn and Zero Cool, now going by Crash Override. There is a brilliant scene where they are hacking the output of a TV station at 4 am, going back and forth controlling the programs. They send taunting messages to each other like “You’re on my turf!” and “Mess with the best, DIE LIKE THE REST!” Crash Override and Acid Burn clash at school, not knowing that the other person is their Hacker Rival. She tricks him onto the roof and locks him outside, while it rains. He hacks the sprinkler system to make it go off at a certain time of day, so she'll get wet. He then hacks his way into being in her classes, because he wants to hack her vagina.

Fun fact: Jolie and Miller ended up getting married for real in 1996, divorcing in 2000, making their real-life sort of a sequel to the movie. It was the first marriage for them both.

Image by United Artists/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via IMDB

I gotta talk about the outfits too. Wow. These are the kinds of things that Hollywood executives thought kids wore back then. Do you want to know what 90s kids wore? Look at what people aged 35-45 wear today. That’s what we wore back then. My favorite bit about the entire movie is when Phantom Phreak, who is wearing two different and clashing leopard prints, taunts Bradford’s character with “Does your mom dress you?”

 

 Look at those clothes! So awesome!

Image by United Artists/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via IMDB

The crux of the plot revolves around The Plague planting a virus into his companies computer system, which will allow him to siphon off millions of dollars. It's explained kinda like the virus in Office Space. Bradford breaks into the computer’s computer system, to show how Elite he is, and gets a small fragment of the virus file. So Plague then frames him for the whole thing and then ups the ante. He programs 22 automated tankers to spill their oil into the oceans, devastating the environment, in exchange for a ransom. Why can't they just, ya know... contact the ships and warn them? Well because, in the future of 1995, there are no sailors on those ships. They are 100% automated, have not a single failsafe, and absolutely no way to shut them down. Ahh, The Future!

In the meantime, Acid Burn and Crash Override figure out who each other is and engage in hacker duels to win a contest. Crash Override wants a date with Acid Burn, but she won’t let him have it. And she has to wear a dress if he wins! She normally wears typical hacker/punk outfits. But in a twist, if she wins, he has to wear one also! Oooooo!

There are a bunch of wonderful scenes of them plugging their laptops into public phone booths in Chinatown or connecting directly to a phone line on top of a skyscraper. They look so cool, in sunglasses, typing furiously at their keyboards while random images constantly flash on the screen, and binary code scrolls by at 100 miles an hour. It’s wonderful. Their duel is entirely made up of them hacking their way into Pierce’s life, torturing the US Secret Service Agent. They cancel his credit cards, make a posting on a gay BDSM website in his name, declare him dead, etc.

But all their fun and games come to a stop after The Plague realizes that Bradford hid the virus code he stole somewhere, and so the evil hacker decides to go after the rest of the anti-hero Hackers. And it’s up to them to put a stop to The Plague and his nefarious deeds! He blackmails Crash Override, planting false charges against his mom in an FBI computer because that would never go unnoticed. Another one of my favorite scenes is when Crash, with the code on a 3.5” floppy disk, is standing outside in the fog. A car comes up, with The Plague on a skateboard, ghost riding the whip. They drive past Crash and Plague snags the floppy disk. I’m serious, you can’t make this stuff up.

 

And why this movie is so good

Image via Flickr

This movie is absolutely ridiculous, which is why I love it so much. In more than one scene, there will be a SWAT team waiting to arrest someone, but they wait for the right cinematic moment to do so… like waiting for someone to open up the curtains in the room, so they can storm in. Acid Burn has a wet dream of Crash, who is wearing a tight, latex dress in the dream. The Hackers rollerblade around, everything, dressed like rejects from a William Gibson novel. One of the Secret Service guys compares the hacking culture to Communism, for the sole reason that they both hack famous documents that are a “Manifesto.” Bradford’s high school character is constantly smoking cigarettes, sometimes more than one at the same time. Things like that just make me go “Wow, this is amazing.” It’s awful. And genius at the same time.

The movie ends with a huge showdown, as the Hackers get this “Hack the Planet” TV show to convince all the hackers in the world to hack the corporation at the same time, so they can get in and get the rest of the virus file and clear their names. The Final Battle is one of the greatest things ever made, it’s all on this giant 3D rendered display in the server room at the corporation and each virus that a hacker puts in his some kind of animated attack. Think of Dennis Nedry’s virus in the computers in Jurassic Park (“You didn’t say the magic word!”) but on acid. Cinematic brilliance.

 

A lying, cheating, swindling, con artist sits next to Penn Jillette and the doctor from The Sopranos

Image by United Artists/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via IMDB

I know what some of you will say. “Ah, I thought he hated it when movies get silly and cartoonish! Everything has to be 100% serious!” No. What I hate is inconsistency and lack of understanding presentation. If your movie is a serious look at viruses and a condemnation of how the US government lacks proper biodefense, but you have a stupid helicopter duel out of nowhere and end on a “Yay America! Yay democracy!” speech, that’s crap. If the object of a movie is to terrify me, but all of a sudden you have a silly scene that doesn’t fit the story or the flow, that’s bad. If your characters suddenly do something that is either unrealistic or goes against what you’ve already established for them, that’s lazy writing. Hackers never pretends to be anything other than a really silly movie, and it’s so over-the-top with it, that it’s wonderful.

 

Basically in love with his hair and sunglasses combo

Image by United Artists/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via IMDB

Hackers was released on September 15, 1995. It sadly flopped, bringing in only $7.5 million against a budget of $20 million. But it has gained a cult following over the years, getting a lease on life with home video and streaming services today. I first saw it in 1998, while I was in Tennessee, following my grandmother’s passing. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, I’m not even sure if I knew what to make of it. It was silly and over-the-top, and I kinda liked it. Subsequent viewings over the years have only increased my love of this movie. I will say, this is a movie that is even better drunk. I am pretty sure I’ve only seen it sober twice. The first time I watched it and the most recent time. I purchased it on Google Play, because I got tired of wanting to watch it but being unable to because it wasn’t currently streaming for free anywhere.

Johnny Lee Miller was one of those hot, young actors that Hollywood tried to push to be the Next Big Thing. He’s done well for himself, he still acts, recently finishing up a six-year run on the show Elementry as Sherlock Holmes. But he isn’t Leonardo DiCaprio or Johnny Depp. Of course, this movie also has one of my favorite actors from the decade. The wonderfully underrated Matthew Lillard. Scream. SLC Punk. Scooby-Doo. Hackers. An amazing track record. Here's a contemporary clip with Lillard talking about the movie. Also found an interview with Ethan Browne, who played a small role as Jolie's boyfriend in a couple of scenes.

One of the big surprises from this movie is the existence of Angelina Jolie as one of the stars, you would be correct in wondering why she would be in a movie like this. Well, it’s easy. She wasn’t a huge star yet. This wasn’t her first movie (1982’s Lookin’ to Get Out) or her first starring role (1993’s Cyborg 2) but it was her first “big” role. There was a lot of hype and marketing behind this movie. It would be a few years before she broke through with Girl, Interrupted in 1999. But she started getting a lot more work after this.

 

Just a couple of more years, and she would never have to dress like a nurse in a Phillip K. Dick novel

Image by United Artists/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via IMDB

Rafael Moreu wrote the screenplay, inspired by the hacker and cyberpunk subcultures of the 80s. There were apparently real hackers who consulted for this movie and some aspects, such as using laptops at payphones, were based on real things. Some of the terminologies were also based on real hacker terminology. One of the consulters, Nicholas Jarecki, became so interested in the filmmaking process that he became a scriptwriter and director in his own right. He wrote and directed 2012’s Arbitrage and is working on releasing another movie called Dreamland later this year. I found a clip of Jareski, as well as "The Plague" Fisher Stevens talking about working with Penn Jillette.

Strangely enough, none of the cyberspace sequences used CGI. They were all done with animation, models, rotoscoping, etc. It still has a unique look and works well today. Speaking of CGI, the arcade game that Acid Burn and Crash Override play in that cool skatepunk club is an early version of Wipeout, which was developed by Psygnosis for the PlayStation and Windows in 1995, later porting to the Sega Saturn and much later as a downloadable title for the PlayStation 3.

There are no less than three soundtracks for this movie. Hackers: Their Only Crime was Curiosity, Hackers2, and Hackers3. The soundtrack CDs are full of mostly period appropriate urban techno tracks, featuring Underworld, The Prodigy, David Bowie, Moby, BT, Oribital, and the like.

  

Listening to the soundtrack is like getting smashed in the face by infinite 1's and 0's

Image via Pixabay

Final Thoughts

Was there any question as to what I was going to rate this movie as? This is one of my favorite films of all time, and it was a joy to watch it again. It’s both awful and brilliant at the same time. A stylistic, over-the-top, silly, ridiculous tour de force. A dumb movie that always manages to put a smile on my face and makes me wish I was as cool as these guys back in the 90s. I loved it and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who likes dumb things.

Society at large was scared of hackers in the 90s, and with the rise of cybercrime and identity theft and cyber scamming, maybe they were right. I will say that most of the people in the hacking subculture in the 80s and 90s wouldn’t be directly responsible for the majority of cybercrime today. They were too busy getting stoned and stealing HBO to cause any real trouble. But it is funny to look back at these old computer and internet themed movies, to see what the impression of the public was on this culture shift, and seeing how they thought people dressed. Turns out you need two different leopard prints and rollerblade everywhere you go.

These are all just my opinions though. Log into my favorite “where is it streaming” website Just Watch to find out… well, where it’s streaming. You can also rent or buy it from various places as I did! Bought it on Google Play. When you watch it, or if you've seen it already, be sure to let me know in the comments section.

Okay, no more delays. Next time, get ready for the movie I promised you back in February. We’re going to watch one of the most enigmatic actors of the 90s, Pauly Shore, fail his way around 1996’s Bio-Dome. Will this be a forgotten classic? Or, spoiler, did it take me a whole afternoon to watch it because I could ’t handle it all in one go. Find out next time!

Music Retrospective: Sixpence None the Richer

Young and ready to take on the world. Look at that hair on Nash!

Image by Tequil4BoomBoom via Last.FM

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is staying safe and sane out there in the world. We're going to start expanding the blog today like I said I wanted to and talk about a musical act.

We’re going to start it off with what is, in my opinion, the band who produced one of the most iconic songs of the decade. To me, there are three songs that, if you were going to make a movie set in the 90s, you absolutely have to include. Nothing by Nirvana or Tupac or Biggie or Garth Brooks. Not Milli Vanilli or the Macarena or Spice Girls. I’m talking about “Song 2” by Blur, “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve, and “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer. While I know this isn’t true, but in my mind, those songs were in every movie trailer and all over the radio stations that I didn’t listen to. They didn’t have the cultural relevance of Ice Cube or change society like “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” or have the sticking power of Oasis’ “Wonderwall” which right now is being played on some beach somewhere by a drunken guy on his guitar. But those three songs are the most 90s songs of all 90s songs, for me. So let’s talk about Sixpence None the Richer.

The band is mostly made up of Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum, with other members coming and going over the years. They met in church in New Braunfels, Texas, in the early 90s and decided to form a band. Yes, that’s right, they’re a Christian rock group. Something I didn’t know when I started to listen to them for this post. The band name comes from a line from the C.S. Lewis book Mere Christianity. You can watch this interview that Nash gives with David Letterman on June 7, 1999, explaining the origins of the band name.

  

I was going to make a joke here, but I couldn't think of any, and honestly... I think CS Lewis would have liked Sixpence None the Richer

Image by Flickr

Sixpence None the Richer released a couple of albums, then signed with Squint Entertainment and put out a self-titled album. That album included the single “Kiss Me” which blew up in 1998/99 and became an international smash single. This was followed up in 1999 by a cover of “There She Goes” originally by The La’s. The song is traditionally supposed to be about heroin, but according to the original band, it isn’t. Apparently, the writer didn’t even try heroin for years after he wrote the song. And I can’t imagine such a clean-cut Christian group like Sixpence doing a song about drug addiction. They were literally doing songs about Jesus. After those two hits, they kind of fizzled out? I don’t want to say that though, that’s mean. They are still around today, doing what they love, making music, and talking about God. They disbanded from 2004-2007, but that was their only real hiatus. They still tour to this day. They have other albums. I haven’t listened to yet, but I can imagine they sound about like their earlier material.

I listened to their three albums: The Fatherless and the Widow (1994), This Beautiful Mess (1995), and Sixpence None the Richer (1997). They also have an EP called Tickets for a Prayer Wheel (1995). And here are a slew of non-album singles in addition to some solo cuts by Leigh Nash throughout the decade. The music isn’t bad, by any means, even their earlier albums. The first two albums don’t have any big hits on them, so you could skip them if you’re in a hurry, but I enjoyed my time with them. Their best album though is their self-titled from 1997. It was nominated for a Grammy for “Best Rock Gospel Album” in 1999. (they lost to someone named Ashley Cleveland). But their whole catalog at this time is great. The melodies are lovely and crafted. Lyrically, they can be a little on the fluffy or religious side, but Nash is a wonderful singer. A great fusion of music and singing, and it’s all non-offensive stuff. I gotta say, I liked it.

 

The band was absolutely not a "One Hit Wonder." They had two hits!

Image via Wikipedia

I’m only really going to nitpick some of their covers. They do a bunch of covers of other Christian artists, which is fine. But they have some non-album covers of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Dancing Queen,” the later which was recorded for the 1999 movie Dick. Both of these versions do nothing to make me want to hear their version over the original. But that’s the highest negative I can say to their output at this time.

So, how about those videos. They have five videos for three songs in the 90s.

Angeltread - 1995

An interesting little video. The song starts off with a soft melody, before getting into a pretty strong harder bit for the chorus, and then back to soft. The softer parts have a lot of black and white images of the band, sitting, and a little girl walking around the city. I think it’s set in Paris? The video has French text blobs. The louder bits show the band destroying the art they made. Like throwing paint around and riding bikes over it. Smashing cardboard scriptures they created. It's about as destructive as you can get when you’re good Christian kids. The videos ends with a “Fin” text against a black screen, just so in case you didn’t know how pretentious the director is. But the song is nice and the video is a nice visual to the music. This is also the only video with several of the original band members, including Tess Wiley. Tess is pretty cute. If you see this, Tess, drop me a line.

Sorry about the poor quality of the video, it was the best version I could find online.

Kiss Me (Paris version) - 1998

This is it. This is why we’re all here today, reading this. This song spent 33 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts and 16 weeks in the top ten, peaking at #2 on April 30, 1999. I was shocked to see it wasn’t #1, but I guess even “Kiss Me” couldn’t stop the juggernaut that was TLC’s “No Scrubs.” But it was still the 6th best selling single of 1999.  It was also nominated for a Grammy in 2000 for “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” losing to the amazing “Maria Maria” by Santana. Damn, now I gotta listen to that. Hold on.

Okay, I’m back. Sorry. I heart Santana. There are three different music video versions of this song. Or well… 2.5 more like it. I’ll get to the others in a moment.

This original version is known today as the “Paris Version.” It was directed by the single’s producer, fellow Christian music star Steve Taylor. The video is a tribute to legendary French filmmaker François Truffaut, specifically his 1962 film Jules et Jim. The video is in black and white and shows Nash, Slocom, and band member Dale Baker in Paris, recreating scenes from the film and having a good time. There is an incredible amount of playfulness with the trio and it really comes across like they’re enjoying themselves and having the time of their lives. Youth and fun. Which fits the vibe of the song extremely well. The video ends with Nash leaving flower pedals on Truffaut’s gravestone. I loved it, this is my favorite version of the videos for this song, and my favorite video of the band overall from the decade.

Kiss Me (She’s All That version) - 1999

“Kiss Me” really blew up after it was used prominently in the movie She’s All That, which was released in January of 1999. So they reshot the video to have the band all sitting on a bench together, watching clips from the movie on a small portable TV and on a projection screen. Honestly, this version is probably more famous, but I didn’t like it nearly as much. There’s a sense of youthful, teenage/young adult comradery with them all sitting on the bench together. Who didn’t do that when you were that age? You squeeze way more people onto the bench or couch or truck bed than it was designed to hold. Guys and girls, all mushed together. Throw in a few flying hormones. Most of us have done that at least once in our teenage or young adult lives. And that also fits the vibe of the song, which is lovely.

The problem is, except for Nash, the rest of the band seems kinda bored. Like, why are they there, sitting, when they could be playing music? Or running around Paris. Even Slocum seems just, blah. I mean, he smiles. But I don’t believe he’s having a good time. Nash is the only one who seems really into what’s going on. And maybe that’s on purpose, to highlight her and her performance, she stands out more since she’s the only one smiling and really doing anything.

The bigger issue is a huge pet peeve of mine in this video. I love music being used in movies. I can enjoy the music video taking inspiration from the movie. But this video is literally just the band sitting and watching clips from the movie their song is used it. It exists as a clip show to get you interested in watching the movie. The movie stars, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook, appear briefly in the video. But it’s a blink-and-you-missed-it cameo. I just think it’s average, at best.

Kiss Me (Dawson’s Creek version) - 1999

The song was also used to great success in the hit TV show, Dawson’s Creek, which only helped the run at the top of the charts. Now here’s the reason why I said there are 2.5 different video versions of this song. The Dawson’s Creek version is identical to the She’s All That version. Only they’re watching Dawson’s Creek instead of She’s All That. And also they cut out the Prinze and Cook cameo. They instead edit in an additional shot of them watching the show on the projection screen. The only positive I’ll say about this version is that it spent all of May 1999 as the #1 video on VH1. So there’s that.

Sorry again about the low quality of the YouTube clip, there’s no quality version of this version that I could find online.

The last thing to say, before we move on to the next song and video, is that in addition to being used in She’s All That and Dawson’s Creek, “Kiss Me” was also used in June 1999 as the closing theme to the BBC broadcast of the wedding between Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones.

 There She Goes - 1999

“There She Goes” was originally recorded in 1988 by British band The La’s, and is considered today to be one of the founding bricks for the huge Britpop movement of the 90s. It wasn’t a giant hit at the time and, in fact, the Sixpence version charted higher on the Billboard charts, peaking at #32 as opposed to The La’s version at #49. It spent 20 weeks on the charts, with its peak date as November 5, 1999. Unfortunately for Sixpence, this would be their second and last Top 40 single.

The video features the band playing in some underground art gallery. Some locations seem more traditional art gallery while others are more visually inspired by more of an “artist space” aesthetic. The video features actor Adam Goldberg wandering around this art party at the gallery, clearly looking for someone. The band performance parts are great, it’s nice to see the band play, for once. And Nash is glowing, she loves singing and being happy, you can tell. The video ends with them getting crushed under an earthquake.

And again, this song is supposed to be about heroin, but… I just don’t see it. I’m gonna have to disagree with WatchMojo on this one, sorry guys. This is a pretty song, a cute song, and Nash is wonderful singing it and in this video.

I encourage you to check out this band. You can visit their YouTube and stream them on Spotify, Google Play Music, and Last.FM. Also here,s a couple of live videos. You can watch them on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on February 9, 1999, performing "Kiss Me." I also found a clip of them on that Letterman appearance on June 7, 1999, where they perform "There She Goes." The live clip isn’t amazing, but they look like they’re having fun. Their official website is here (not updated since 2000) and Tess Wiley's is here.

I don’t know what I expected going back to revisit this band and talk about these videos. I guess I expected more of the Lilith Fair type of teen pop like “Kiss Me." But what I got was a band that loves God, loves life, loves the world, and puts that into their music. The songs are not dark and brooding, they’re full of life and happiness. And it doesn’t come off as being fake, I genuinely believe they are as happy as the music they produce. And that’s wonderful. I’m all for dark and brooding. But you can’t live in that world all the time. Sixpence None the Richer, thank you for opening me up to your world. And Tess, call me.

She's still pretty today, I would totally grab a coffee with her in downtown Portland

Image via Wikipedia

Next time, we’re going to take a look at a band that was a cornerstone of the 90s alternative rock movement, one of the biggest and most successful and popular acts of the era, The Smashing Pumpkins! Until next time, I’ll be out by the bearded barley, beneath the milky twilight, lifting up my open hand and striking up the band.

Outbreak (1995)

Image by Warner Bros via IMDB

I know that in my last review, back in February, I said I would do Bio-Dome next. Guess I'm a liar, because that's coming soon, but not right now, I’m going to put it on hold for a minute. I have a couple of others I want to share with you, first. Since my last post and today, May 1st, 2020, COVID-19 (aka Coronavirus) has spread throughout most of the world. Over 65K Americans have died from this disease. So I thought, what perfect way to introduce the blog than with Wolfgang Peterson’s 1995 thriller, Outbreak! It doesn’t get more timely than this.

 Actual photo of Los Angeles, California, March 10, 2020.

Image by Wikipedia

Outbreak stars Dustin Hoffman as a biological disease researcher for the US military. His team consists of Kevin Spacey and Cuba Gooding, Jr. Morgan Freeman plays their supervisor. Rene Russo is an ex-team member as well as Hoffman’s ex-wife. Donald Sutherland plays a different General in the army. An all-star cast, to be sure.

The movie starts in 1967, while the Kisangani Mutinies are going on in Africa. The US Military is sent in to investigate a viral outbreak in a base in the middle of a hot zone. The military takes some blood samples and then destroys the camp. Fast forward to 1995. The Army is once again sent to Africa, this time Ziare, to investigate a viral outbreak. It seems controlled, but hark! Some monkies escape into the jungle! They end up caught and brought to America, on a cargo ship and then stolen by Patrick Dempsey to sell to an exotic pet dealer. He only buys one of the monkeys, after getting bitten by one. Dempsey takes the unsold monkey and lets it go in the woods. The monkey spits on him, though. The store owner and Dempsey are now both infected. McDreamy then flies home to Boston, sick, and starts a mini outbreak.

McDreamy? More like... McSicky!

Image by Warner Bros via IMDB

Meanwhile, Hoffman is dealing with the emotional distress of his divorce and his ex-wife leaving his military team of researchers to go work for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). There are some scenes of them talking and dealing with that. And some scenes showing how Gooding is pretty green to fieldwork. And they’re okay. Spacey is snarky and sarcastic, surprise surprise. There is arguing back-and-forth between Hoffman and Freeman about this virus, called Motaba, and how it’s going to kill everyone. Freeman has no reason to think this disease will ever get to the US. Hoffman tries to tell Russo about it, to get her to have the CDC warn everyone, but she also accuses him of being paranoid. He has a history of freaking out about every disease coming to the USA and killing everyone. Kind of like the news media. Anyway, because of the information Hoffman gives Russo, she can respond when the outbreak begins in Boston. Success! She contains the disease. Movie over, roll credits!

Sutterland's easiest paycheck of all time!

Image by Warner Bros via IMDB

Wait, nevermind, the movie continues. One of the big plot points in this film is that they make it clear in Zaire that the disease is not airborne contagious. To the extent of foolishness. See, Hoffman and his team wear full-body hazmat suits for most of the film. And they are fully suited up in Zaire, until some random villager shows up and tells them it isn’t airborne. “Well, guess that means we can take the masks off now” is what they think and do. Sounds legit for a military science team.

Africa is full of "Hazmat Suit Optional" beaches

Image by Warner Bros via IMDB

But now, the disease has mutated, and it now spreads through the air! They show a pretty cool scene where they have someone sneeze in a crowded movie theater. They show the particles fly through the air and into other people’s noses and mouths. A good reminder of how we need a hotline we can call, so if we see someone sneezing in public, we can call it and have them taken away. The sneezer goes to the lobby to get a drink and starts putting his hands all over everyone to get them out of the way, so he can get some water.

This is in Cedar Creek, California, where McDreamy sold the infected monkey. The owner of the pet shop is sick also! He collapses and breaks furniture. The military moves in and closes off the town from the outside world, declaring Marshall Law and #socialdistancing. Hoffman wants to go there initially but is instead ordered to go to New Mexico. Why? Could this possibly be a Government Conspiracy?

Hoffman disobeys and goes to Ceder Creek to team up with his team and Russo, who is also there. They finally begin to raise the stakes, halfway through the movie, by infecting Spacey with the virus. Good. If they’re going to kill off one of the main characters, it should be Kevin Spacey.

 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States!

Image by Warner Bros via IMDB

The good guys then race to find a cure, they find out about the monkies and track down the one that Dempsey let escape. They hope they can develop a cure based on their bloodwork. They also find out that the military discovered this virus… in 1967! And they have a cure for it! But it doesn’t work, since this a different, mutated strain.

Sutherland starts showing up about halfway through the movie. He’s an army general who wants to cover up this whole thing because otherwise, it could get out that the government has weaponized this virus. As Hoffman gets closer to the truth and a cure, he tries to have him arrested or killed. The usual Evil General kind of stuff. Near the climax of the movie, Russo also gets infected, prompting Hoffman to work extra hard to find a cure. Sutherland wants to bomb Cider Creek, like the Umbrella Corporation, and put a whole stop to the disease, but Hoffman saves the day by delivering a "Huhraw! Go America!" Speech to the pilots of the plane with the bomb. Meanwhile, Gooding, by himself, has an antidote within a couple of hours, using the cure for the old strain and the monkey blood. Hurray! The day is saved! Diseases are cured by the power of the United States of America! Democracy!

America wins again!

Image by Public Domain Pictures

So before I get into the negatives about this movie, let me talk about what I did like. Everything is very clean and smooth, visually. Props to Michael Ballhaus for some really good cinematography. Not much to ultimately to write home about, but the shots looked good and they moved well. There was a great scene at the opening, where they go to the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Ft. Detrick, Maryland. They have a really awesome long shot where they tour the facility through Biosafety Levels 1-4, showing the increase in safety and precautions for each kind of disease. It’s cool to see them treating Salmonella different from Influenza, which is different from Anthrax, and finally way different for Hanta Virus. I love long shots, especially when they’re moving around, which I think we’ve established. But I won’t stop bringing it up. I did like the sneezing in the theater scene as well, how that was shot. Like they moved a tiny little camera around, following the sneeze particles around the theater. Sutherland delivered his role with gusto, as did Spacey. If Spacey wasn’t such a piece of garbage, I would probably have liked him more in this. But his character died, so that made me happy. Interesting side note for him, this was one of three movies he did in 1995 and was sandwiched between the much better movies The Usual Suspects and Se7en.

Outside of that, honestly, the movie was pretty average. I wouldn’t say anything in it was bad, per se, but it was just kinda… blah. Hoffman isn’t bad, Russo isn’t bad, Freeman isn’t bad, Gooding isn’t bad, but none of them light the screen on fire. The script isn’t great. The biggest thing, to me, is how little stakes there are. Twice in the movie, they tease a kid getting infected, only to pull back and not do it. No main characters get infected until halfway through the movie. When Russo’s character gets sick, Hoffman is already well on his way to a cure, so you know she’ll be alright. It’s things like that, ya know… why should I care that McDreamy got sick? Or these random old people in Cedar Creek? Also, some of the almost cartoon-like unrealism with the military is distracting. They have a helicopter chase scene/duel while trying to rush the infected monkey back to Cedar Creek. And Hoffman’s “This is what it means to be an American” speech at the end if hokey and cringy. Everything else was very average. Very typical of the disaster/thriller subgenera that were all the rage around in the mid-90s. “Oh no! This random disease is gonna KiLL Us aLL!”

 

Don't worry, little girl. Only adults are susceptible to this virus.

Image by Warner Bros via IMDB

Outbreak was released on March 10, 1995. It had a budget of $50 and made almost $200 in the box office, making it a financial hit. There’s a neat video from ScreenRant about the movie. It’’s pretty recent, meaning they took my idea to talk about Outbreak during this global pandemic crisis. How dare they take my idea before I have it! A small interesting tidbit, much of Outbreak takes place in Ceder Creek, California. There is no town called that in California. But there is a river (technically tributary) in Mendocino County called Cedar Creek. Also, at the time of the movie’s release, there was an outbreak of Ebola in Zaire, making this a very topical film in 1995. Here’s a video from the Canadian Broadcasting Company talking about the situation. I honestly couldn’t find many vintage clips about it.

The movie is based on a 1994 book called The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston. The Hot Zone is a nonfiction account of Biosafety Level 4 agents, like Ebola and Marburg. Very infectious viruses that have a high mortality rate and that there is no cure for. Part of the book describes the Reston Virus, which is related to Ebola. Named after Reston, Virginia, wherein 1989, imported monkeys were dying and found to have this biological agent. The book was instrumental in helping the CDC, exposing the dangers of these diseases, and connecting the need for disease prevention to national security. It also helped the World Health Organization (WHO) take the Zaire Ebola crisis more seriously. So it did its job on that front. Though it does allegedly contain inaccurate scientific information. For example, supposedly, the book says that Ebola causes origins too dissolve. But they don’t do that. I mean, you’ll die… but at least your organs won’t be fluid.

Interestingly enough, this movie was produced by Warner Bros. But there was also an adaptation at the same time attempted by 20th Century Fox. Producer Lynda Obst tried to get it going with Robert Redford as the lead, but eventually, it fell to Warner, and Hoffman was cast. Obst would eventually take that script and produce a miniseries for National Geographic. The Hot Zone, as the miniseries was called, aired in May of 2019.

 

 Keep in mind, in real life, Hoffman is like... 5' tall

Image by Warner Bros via IMDB

Final Verdict

When the movie was over, I was glad it was done. I was ready for it to be finished. Again, there is nothing much wrong with this movie, but not much incredible either. A great opening long shot, a terrific performance by Sutherland… and that’s really about it. I think I would have liked it more at the time if I had seen it in 1995, but today the movie is average, which is the nicest thing I can think to say about it. Which is fine. It’s fine. Watch it if you want a Killer Disease movie. Or just watch the news.

Here’s an interesting video from E! at the time about how Outbreak could happen in real life. And there’s a pretty interesting video by The Take, Outbreak Movies, Explained, on pandemic movies and their impact on society at large. They talk about Outbreak, as well as 1971’s The Andromeda Strain and 2011’s Contagion. They also talk about movies like 28 Days Later, 1973’s The Crazies, Bird Box, The Omega Man, 12 Monkeys, and 2008’s The Happening; disease movies that are more unrealistic and relay more on horror or a post-apocalyptic setting. The video is mostly about all the different types of “pandemic” movies. But also, it explores the idea of… do these kinds of movies make us more paranoid and fearful or are they cathartic and allow us to live through our emotions on the screen? The video doesn’t even begin to answer that question, but just raising it is an interesting point. But what is the answer? I dunno. I think that depends on the individual. But I think everyone should remember that movies, even ones that seem realistic like Outbreak, are just that. Movies. Coronavirus is a real disease. Motaba isn’t. Corona has a very low mortality rate when compared to this movie disease, less than 1% compared to 100%. Motaba is quick, with death occurring 48 hours after exposure. Corona is a lot longer. Motaba killed Kevin Spacy’s character. Tom Hanks beat Corona.

In 2050, when I begin my “Nate's Lit Fam 20s Blog,” I’ll probably talk more about the Coronavirus. But until then, I’m not going to make more than a passing reference to it on here, after today. Much like how I won’t get into the pros and cons of contemporary politics. This blog is an escape for me. A chance to think about my past and talk about movies and music and other things I love. That’s all this is. I something that I need to do in my life and it's something that, I hope, is entertaining and informative for you. If you want to know how bad the world is today, go to Facebook and read the stuff your friends and family post. If you want to talk about movies and video games from the 90s movies.

 I'll see you again in 30 years, Coronavirus!

Image by LifeScience.com

And of course, like always, my opinion on this movie is my opinion, which is just my opinion. Go to JustWatch if you want to know where it is currently streaming. Let me know what you think! I’d love to hear if you liked or disliked this movie.

Next time, before we get to Bio-Dome, we will be looking at one of my favorite movies of all time. The 1995 Angelina Jolie thriller, Hackers! Does Hackers successfully break down the firewalls of your heart? Or is it just a hack job today? Find out next time!

The Return of the Blog

 

Image by Wiki Commons

Guess who's back, back again
Blog is back, tell a friend
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back, guess who's back?
Guess who's back?

That’s right dudes, I’m back! I have had a few setbacks since February. Some alarming events in my personal life took place. There's also a lot that's been going on outside of my little personal world as well. Life sucks. The world sucks right now. But I’m happy and anxious to get back into writing these blogs again and watching the movies from my childhood that go along with them. I may not have been posting blogs, but I sure as heck have been watching stuff and writing about it over the past few months. Now you get to read it, again! Oh also, I made the move from Los Angeles to Portland.

I haven't actually had the chance to venture into downtown Portland yet, the lock-down went into effect days after I got here, but I hear that this kind of coordinated singing and dancing is a thing that happens.

Image from Genius.com

That said, there have been some changes. I want to expand this blog from being more than just a cinema blog, I want to turn it more into a 90s pop culture blog. So let me take some time and talk about some of the things I will be trying to incorporate into this retro thing I have going on here.

Television

This is how we used to watch TV back in the 90s. Sitting at a 90 degree angle. Also, we had no eyes.

Image from Flicker

So, when I originally started this blog, I said I was going to do some TV shows, and I meant it. I just never got around to it. But you will, going forward. You’ll probably get 1-2 of those a month. The selection criteria, however, is going to be a little different than the movies. See, for a movie to be eligible for the blog, it needed to be released between January 1st, 1990 through December 31, 1999. But that doesn’t work for TV. Certain iconic TV shows from the 90s started running in the 80s. You can’t talk about television in the 90s without talking about The Simpsons, Seinfeld, or Baywatch. Likewise, programs like The Sopranos, Spongebob Squarepants, Family Guy, and The West Wing technically started in 1999, but I think we all associate those with the 00s. So pretty much, if a show seems to fit, and I want to watch it, I’ll try to get around to it.

The “want to watch it” part is also important. I’m up for doing any movie from the 90s because most are really only a couple of hours long. But a TV show that lasts more than a season? That’s a time commitment. And there are plenty of shows that I don’t want to spend dozens of hours watching, even important ones like Friends and Home Improvement. With shows like that, I’ll probably do a retrospective at some point, watch a handful of the famous episodes, but I’m not doing all of Law & Order, sorry.

Each show will get a 0-5 star rating for the whole run and I’ll try to include my top 10 favorite episodes or segments if it was a shorter run show.

Music

 

Every time I hear a Millennial talk about how they prefer cassette tapes, I want to strangle them with this.

Image from WallPaperFlare.com

Music is one I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Music is so ingrained in society and culture, especially in movies and TV shows. Think about the last time you saw a trailer for something and got all excited based on the one killer tune they picked to play in the background. Remember all those incredible scenes with just the perfect song playing to accompany them. So for this blog, I’ll start talking about various bands and performers in the 90s. Popular groups mostly, but also underground artists, some groups that had started in the decade but might not break through until the 00s, and older, vintage groups that were in their twilight, but still produced content in the decade.

The format will consist of briefly talking about the band’s history and origins, followed by a quick rundown of the music produced during the decade, and then a look at all their music videos. We’ll follow it up with a short rundown on their post 90s career. And like the movies, any music, and video released from 1/1/90 to 12/31/99 is up for discussion. I’ll try to do a band every week, but I might miss a week or so here and there. All genres are up for grabs, I’ll be going back and forth between grunge, alternative, the “Lilith Fair” scene, Britpop, Pop, Metal, Hip-Hop, Country, R&B, Swing, Punk, SKA, and maybe even a splattering of “classic” rock and blues. Perhaps some jazz. Whatever strikes my fancy!

I’ll give a 0-5 star rating for each video, as well as the band as a whole. And probably do my favorite album and Top 5-10 songs.

Pro Wrestling

 

 Did you take your vitamins and say your prayers and believe in yourself in the 90s? No? Oh, well, neither did I...

Image from Flicker

A highly significant part of 90s pop culture and television, especially from around 1996 to the end of the decade, was pro wrestling. I also love and adore pro wrestling, so writing about it is more for me than it would be for anyone else. But I guess you could say that about the blog as a whole.

I’ll be doing this a little differently. I’ll be talking about pro wrestling events in chronological order. So every month, you’ll get a post for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as well as various other promotions when they come around, like Smokey Mountain Wrestling (SMW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). But the posts will be in order as of 30 years ago. So in October 2020, you’ll get “WWF: October 1990” and “WCW: October 1990” and talk about the shows from that month.

90% of what I’ll be using is from the WWE Network, which I know is not all-inclusive, but I don’t want to look online for every episode of every wrestling show. For one, they’re not all out there. It's impossible to find every show from the 90s on the internet, believe me, I've tried. For two, I want to try to keep whatever I review as legal as possible. I don't want to use pirate websites and torrents to download movies and TV shows, I want to use streaming services and, in some cases, track down actual physical video copies.

For the wrestling shows, I’ll be reviewing each match and major segment on a 0-5 scale, as well as each show 0-5 overall.

If you’re wondering if I’ll have time to do this one, in addition to everything else, well… eventually, it’ll get hard. But there are only 35 individual shows from 1990 on the WWE Network, I’m pretty sure I’ll have time to get through this year. By 1995, there will be multiple weekly shows and monthly Pay-Per-View events, so that might be a little harder to keep up on. But we'll cross those bridges when we come to them. I'd be watching these anyway, some of them I haven't seen, and others are from my favorite era of wrestling. So I might as well write about it as well. Oh, and since this is May 2020 and January 2020 has come and gone, I’ll be doubling up the months until we get caught up. So this month, expect January and February 1990 content, and it'll be like that for a while.

Other Things

 

Let us never forget... Sega does what Nintendon't!

Image from IMGUR via BlasterG

With all this, how will I ever find the time to talk about anything else! I don't know. But I will probably, occasionally, talk about other things from the decade. Video games, comic books, board games, toys, commercials, snacks. Fads like POGs and Beanie Babies. News and sports. Fashion trends like bowl cuts and the dominance of overalls in teenage girl fashion. Did you know that Dunkaroos are making a return and you can still get Tamagotchi? I might even talk about more personal stuff like I did in my football post.

This kind of stuff will pop up sporadically here and on my Instagram account.

Final Thoughts

This will still be primarily a 90s Cinema Blog. Movie reviews and discussions are still the priority. Other topics will be done as I get them done, depending on my time. Maybe I’m being ambitious, but I love writing and talking about this era. And the fact is… I’m already consuming stuff from this time period. I'm watching movies and television shows, listening to music, watching wrestling, playing video games, reading comics, etc. So I might as well take some extra time to write about them. I hope you enjoy it and stick around for the ride.

 

You can make fun of Justin Timberlake's Top Ramen hair here, but he sold a lot of records and scored with a lot of girls with that look, back in the day.

Image from Getty Images via Men's Health

Check back in a bit, later today I’ll be posting my first review coming back. Now, I said it would be Bio-Dome originally, back in February, but I’m going to put that on hold for now. My return review will be a movie that has some relevance to events today. The 1995 pandemic thriller, Outbreak. Does this Dustin Hoffman drama deliver the antidote to boredom? Or is it as dull the common cold? Find out later today!