The Best Cast Ever - Day 13

Within this movie you will find the best cast ever. 

Title: The Faculty

Year: 1998

Synopsis: Students suspect that their teachers are aliens after bizarre occurrences.

Tagline: Take me to your teacher.

Truth be told, I hadn't actually seen The Faculty since 1998 when it first came out. I didn't remember much of it, except Josh Hartnett played a staring role and something weird was going on with the teachers at Herrington High. Of course, all of that can be guessed by simply looking at the cover of the DVD.

This movie delivered surprise after surprise for me. Not with the plot, I had that figured out fairly early on, but with the ensemble cast. Jon Stewart, Clea Duvall, Famke Janssen, Salma Hayek, Jordana Brewster, Usher, Danny Masterson, Robert Patrick. I mean, the movie was so crammed packed with familiar faces I was beside myself with merriment. And so many of them are still acting today. I mean, I just watched Robert Patrick in an episode of Sons Of Anarchy!

My mind was blown. 

But it went into overdrive when I saw the final credits and learned the movie was done by Robert Rodriguze. Not sure how I missed that little factoid. This man is one of the masters of cinema and his list of hits are long and impressive with such blockbusters as Planet Terror, Desperado, Sin City, Machete, and From Dusk Till Dawn. Unfortunately, the dude also has some misses, like Spy Kids and The Faculty. 

The idea isn't bad, but like Disturbing Behaviour, we've been here before with better movies. And with Disturbing Behaviour. Looks as though 1998 proved to be the year MGM and Dimension films were battling it out to have the best Invasion Of The Body Snatchers inspired adolescent Sci-Fi/Horror movie! Honestly, I can't tell you which one won. 

Have you ever noticed this happening? Two major distributors releasing similar movies in the same year. Think about it. Snow White and the Huntsman came out around the same time Mirror Mirror did. The Prestige battled The Illusionist, Friends With Benefits fought No Strings Attached, The Cave went head-to-head with The Descent. And the list goes on and on. Actually, to prove my point, take a look at this blog right here. (Someone did the work for me and actually put the posters next to each other and everything.) 

This was keeping me awake last night. I kept thinking, why does this happen? Is it because these powerhouses in film want to beat the other out? Or are they simply trying to monopolize on the other's idea? Maybe this is all a coincidence.

Regardless, both The Faculty and Disturbing Behaviour ended up being misses, in my book. They weren't entirely disappointing. Both had attractive leads. And surprisingly robust casts. But I just can't tell you to go an watch them. You aren't missing out on anything if you don't see them, and that my friends is how you can tell if a movie is good or bad. 

Though I will give props to the alien aspect of this. Most movies shy away from showing the 'monster'. This one didn't. And Famke's head crawling around on the ground with tentacles was priceless. 

With this review the nineties weekend comes to an end. Needless to say, it's been a slice. 

 Priceless.

That James Marsden - Day 12

This little expedition into the 90s has proven only one thing so far. I had a lot of crushes in my youth! Yesterday's picks brought James Marsden across my radar and, I do declare, that boy has excellent cheekbones.

Title: Disturbing Behaviour

Year: 1998

Synopsis: The new kid in town stumbles across something sinister about the town's method of transforming its unruly teens into upstanding citizens.

Tagline: It doesn't matter if you're not perfect ... you will be. 

This movie isn't original and not very well done, but I enjoyed it. Mostly because James Marsden is the main character and he has such pretty eyes. Le swoon. 

The nineties had an influx of horror movies and sadly, some of them weren't very good. Okay, a lot of them weren't very good, but we like them because they remind us of our youth. The thing about Disturbing Behaviour is the plot isn't bad but we've seen it before with movies like The Stepford Wives and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And those movies happen to explain it better. Granted, this did take it to a high school level, so I guess that could be considered a new twist. Maybe. If you cock your head to the side and squint, it's a whole new movie! 

There is a significant lack of information in this thinly stitched together eighty-four minute flick. If I was on the production team, I would have suggested beefing the movie up to ninety minutes and adding in six full minutes of answering questions. I mean, why was Dr. Edgar Caldicott so invested in adjusting the behaviour of the delinquent kids in town? How did he create this attitude adjustment chip? Also, a little more information pertaining to the suicide of Steve's brother would have been nice and why did none of the parents think it odd that their burnout, I-hate-school kids suddenly pulled a 180 and started behaving appropriately? Talk about red flag warnings. 

I might have suggested cutting the whole scene where they breakdown the stereotypes in the cafeteria as well. It felt really cheesy and not a single teenager on this planet has ever broken their student body into these class systems.  

Besides, we've seen this before in 1995 in a little movie called Clueless. And before that in The Breakfast Club.

This whole movie takes the idea of jocks and nerds to a ridiculous level. Even Steve Clark's new friends in Cradle Bay are extremes of what they should have been. White trash burnouts who don't care about school and are next on the list to be 'readjusted' or 'fixed', however you look at it. It seems weird that Steve even fell in with this crowd. I would have chalked him up as a natural Blue Ribbon dude with his handsome face, broad shoulders and tousled hair. Granted, he is tortured a bit what with his brother's suicide. 

At the end of the film, I thought to myself, 'Hey, that wasn't so bad', even though Katie Holmes was in it and she has the emotional range of a mop. Thinking back on it, actually, it was terrible. This doesn't change the fact James Marsden is one handsome devil! I might actually watch this again one day. Just for him. I have a feeling I should be ashamed of that fact. 

For anyone keeping track, there is a full boob shot in this! Nipple included. 

That said, I'm watching Jeepers Creepers right now, and it's far more freaky than I remembered it to be.

Tell me those lips aren't kissable!