Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting
January 9, 1998
Miramax
Drama, Comedy, Romance
VHS
B

This is generally well-written and well-acted by real-life best friends Matt Damon (as the title character) and Ben Affleck (as Chuckie Sullivan).  They are ably supported by Minnie Driver as love interest Skylar, Ben's brother Casey as Morgan O'Mally (providing much of the comic relief), Stellan Skarsgård as Prof. Gerald Lambeau, and of course Robin Williams as Sean Maguire, the tough but kind therapist.  This film got much acclaim (including awards) on first release and it holds up well.  But there's just something missing that keeps it from crossing over into greatness.  Maybe it's the way that the therapy is presented as an act of both friendship and rescue.  Maybe it's that we're never actually shown the reunion between Will and Skylar.  Or maybe it's that awful title.  No, really, even at the time, I thought it was dumb, like it's about the hunt for goodwill, or Goodwill.  And do we need to be told that Will is good?  I guess if it was just Will Hunting, we'd think it was about an inheritance.

Daniel Olsen was a Wounded Soldier in Little Women and is an MIT Student here.  Steven Kozlowski is Carmine Friend #1 here and would be Lump in Holes.

Two guys from Southie

Aladdin

Aladdin
November 25, 1992
Disney
Children's, Comedy, Romance, Musical
VHS
B

I had fallen off the Disney bandwagon by the time their late '80s/ early '90s comeback came along.  Seeing most of these movies years later, I was not overly impressed.  But this one stood out.  It's funny, sweet, action-packed, and has strong voice performances, with Robin Williams's genie of course the stand-out, although I'm fond of Gilbert Gottfried as the evil parrot Iago.  The movie is also borderline racist and there are parts where things start to drag out.  The main characters aren't terribly sympathetic, although they do have much more personality than your average Disney "prince" and princess.  But for the most part it's a fun ride.

When Williams killed himself, this was one of the movies people thought of most.  Although we don't see him, we hear him, that very versatile voice playing so many roles within one.  His two show-stopping numbers remain amazing (and more worthy of an Oscar than "I Can Show You the World"), but it's not all laughs.  There's pathos, too, which was always there inside Williams, although we tried not to see it.  But, yes, it's still possible to watch this as a kids' movie that adults will delight in, too.  And, yes, the anachronisms and Disney references are very '90s.

Linda Larkin (Joanne in Zapped Again!) voices Princess Jasmine.  Hal Smith does the voice of Jafar's Horse.  Frank Welker, who specializes in animal voices, here does Abu (the monkey) Rajah (the tiger), and the cat-like Cave of Wonders.  Ron Clements and John Musker would also collaborate on The Princess and the Frog.

Popeye

Popeye
December 12, 1980
Paramount
Comedy, Musical, Action, Romance, Fantasy
DVD
B-

When Robin Williams died last month, one of my first thoughts was of this movie.  Although this was not a full-out critical and commercial flop as some think, it didn't live up to expectations, and yet it's grown a fandom in the intervening three decades.  I find it simultaneously comforting, funny, and symbolic that the "Popeye Village" that was built from scratch on a Maltese island has become a tourist attraction, with all the drab Depression-era houses now brightly colored.

The movie is still an oddity though.  As I mentioned in my review of the behind-the-scenes pre-movie-release tie-in book, http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-popeye-story.html, the film is odd and off-putting.  There are some genuinely heart-warming moments, especially with Popeye and the unquestionably adorable but quirky Swee'Pea, but there is a dark, depressing undertone, as exemplified in the "Sweet Haven Anthem."  Additionally, you've got circus performers and other physical comedians acting like cartoon/comic-strip characters but there's also the Robert-Altman quasi-documentary touch in the look of the film and the way things keep happening in the margins.  Williams adds ad-libs on top of the Jules Feiffer script, from the brilliant reply to Swee'Pea's "I'm a baby" to his muttered line about catching "a venerable disease."  Some of this I got at 12 (not the "you expects a cervix" one though), and some I've figured out later.

It's not just Williams's death that made me appreciate his performance here.  It really is great, mixing humor, wistfulness, and of course toughness.  Duvall, as everyone notes, is perfectly cast as Olive Oyl.  Some of the others, like Paul Dooley as Wimpy, don't seem quite right but they're giving it their best shot anyway.  Ray Walston shows up late in the movie and has to do a quick turn-around from villain to good guy and succeeds less than Gary Oldman would as Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but he has some funny exchanges with his film son.  Mostly though, I'd recommend this movie for Williams, as I'd recommend Little Darlings for Kristy McNichol.

This film doesn't quite come together (it really does fit all those genres I've listed and maybe Western and Sci-Fi for all I know), and I can see why it has gotten such extreme reactions, then and now, but I've enjoyed it every time I've seen it and it certainly hasn't gotten stale.

Williams's then wife, Valerie Velardi, has her only movie role, as Swee'pea's mother, Cindy the Drudge.  MacIntyre Dixon, who's Cole Oyl, was the bartender in Thank God It's Friday.  Donovan Scott, who plays Castor Oyl, would be the Sancho-Panza-like sidekick Paco in Zorro the Gay Blade.  Geoff Hoyle, Scoop the Reporter, would have a more substantial role in The Spirit of '76, as Heinz-57.  Allan Nicholls, who's Rough House here, would be "Cutting Edge Director" in Bob Roberts.

Then and now, my favorite visual gag, Bluto seeing red when his fiancee shows up with a stranger and a baby.