The mid-90s starts off strong, but this period breaks away from regular sci fi and unusual superhero films that barely fit the category. We start off with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III which ended the franchise with New Line Cinema. It featured a story tied to feudal Japan with the Turtles brought back in time. In June, we had Steven Spielberg adapting Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. It of course featured CG rendered dinosaurs that pointed the way to the next generation of effects. The film spawned a franchise with two sequels and the Jurassic World films including this year’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It won the Academy Awards for Best Sound, Sound Effects Editing, and Visual Effects. Spielberg’s year also won him Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Editing for Schindler’s List. So Spielberg’s two films swept artistic and technical awards, a feat that is only matched by James Cameron’s Titanic, one film, with the same number of awards,10.
In October, we had the Demolition Man starring Sylvester Stallone as a rogue police officer, John Spartan, taking on the dangerous criminal, Simon Phoenix, played by Wesley Snipes. They are cryogenically frozen and wake up in San Angeles, a future with no crime. It had all of the over-the-top action of the 80’s with a sci fi twist. 1994 started with the dark vision of James O’Barr’s comic book, The Crow. Eric Draven, played by Brandon Lee who died during filming, is supernaturally brought back to life to take vengeance on a street gang. There were three sequels and a 1998 television series. Another favorite is The Shadow based on the radio show created by Walter B. Gibson in 1930 and turned into pulp novels. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” Alec Baldwin knows playing Lamont Cranston who is opposed by Shiwan Khan (John Lone). The writing is clever, David Koep, wrote the script especially The Shadow’s background and the villain’s plot. It had a weak box office probably compared to the Batman franchise, but really is the Shadow that inspired Batman.
The Mask came out later that month. It was based on the Dark Horse comic and took his popular form by John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke. The film solidified Jim Carrey as a major film star along with the two other comedies he had that year. The film also showcased Cameron Diaz. It spun off into a cartoon and a poorly received sequel. The Mask was nommed for best visual effects, but lost to Forrest Gump. September brought us another Dark Horse Comics adaptation in Timecop. The film was dully directed by Peter Hyams. Stargate was a sci film from Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. The story focuses on a military team with a scientist travel through the Stargate and face the god-like Ra. This is similar to the Doctor Who episode “Pyramids of Mars” (1975). The Stargate story was wildly popular with the Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007) that had a tv movie, a cartoon, and two other series, Stargate Atlantis (2004-2009) and Stargate Universe (2009-2011). Towards the end of the year, the Star Trek films were re-launched with the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew with Star Trek:Generations. It also bridged the two series with William Shatner’s Captain Kirk.
1995 had seven genre films starting with Tank Girl based on the British comic book created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin. The post-apocalypse sci fi film was directed by Rachel Talalay. It featured Lori Petty’s Tank Girl surviving in a drought-ravaged Australia fighting for water. May brought the cinematic vision of Cyberpunk author William Gibson with Johnny Mneumonic. Keanu Reeves stars as the lead character who is a mnemonic courier and given a dangerous implant that could save the future. I love the cyber dolphin and the near future world. A film that was slightly before it’s time with another sci fi film with Keanu Reeves four years later. The Batman films continued under director Joel Schumacher with Batman Forever. Val Kilmer wore the Batman cowl facing the duo of the Riddler and Two-Face with his sidekick Robin played by Chris O’Donnell. The movie adopted some of the 60’s silliness with a modern gloss. It was one of the top box office films and was nommed for Best Sound, Sound Effects, and Cinematography at the Academy Awards, but lost to Braveheart and Apollo 13.
In June was the release of Judge Dredd which was the adaptation of the brilliant British comic book created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. Still, the film starring Sylvester Stallone missed the point of satirizing America with the Mega-City One patrolled by street judges. Instead, it was a flat sci fi action movie, so we would have to wait seventeen years for a more gritty take on the iconic comics character. We also had in the summer the infamous Waterworld. The film had Kevin Costner as the Mariner in a world covered by the sea with the melting ice caps. The budget swelled out of proportion and set disasters troubled the production until it was finally released to a less than stellar box office. Strange Days directed by Kathryn Bigelow and featuring a screenplay by James Cameron. It features Ralph Fiennes as a man finding a dangerous recording on a SQUID, a device that holds memories. It was weak at the box office. In December was one of the few fantasy movies in the mid-90s, Jumanji, directed by Joe Johnston. It involves two kids who get caught in the world of the board game Jumanji which releases it’s creatures into their neighborhood. Robin Williams played Alan Parrish, whom as a young kid was trapped in the game, it led to an animated series (1996-1999), and a sequel 22 years later. We have gotten the hints of our current films with CG effects and influential sci fi movies. Superhero movies were coming on strong, but not the wave that came later on. Still, there was only one magical fantasy movie.
#JurassicPark, #TheShadow, #JohnnyMneumonic, #Jumanji
#JurassicPark, #TheShadow, #JohnnyMneumonic, #Jumanji
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