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Reviews
Bottle Rocket (1996)
What an interesting, yet hilarious quirky comedy!
I was watching the Roger Ebert movie show when he was giving his best films of the decade of the 1990's with movie director Martin Scorsese. Scorsese picked Bottle Rocket as his seventh favorite movie of the decade. From that point forward, I had to search out and find this movie. Boy, am I glad that I did.
The movie Bottle Rocket is a joy. It is a caper comedy in one respect, but also an interesting look at how the bad brother can talk the good brother into doing the wrong thing. The second idea sets up some great comedy bits. Owen Wilson as the bad brother, Dignan, is absolutely hilarious. From this point forward, I will always be interested in seeing him in a movie. His brother Luke Wilson as the good, yet naive brother, is also very charming. James Caan shows up in the second half of the movie and is fantastic. The writer/director, Wes Anderson (Rushmore), does a great job of telling an off-beat story and gives his characters great lines to say.
All in all, Bottle Rocket was a pleasant surprise that I had never heard of. Thank you Martin Scorsese.
Heathers (1988)
I loved this satirical look at high school.
Heathers is a great satirical look at high school life in the late 1980's.
It focuses at first on the popular girls, the "Heathers", who are also mean to everybody, but turns when an interesting new kid enters school played by Christian Slater. This is my favorite work of his as he plays the creepy, yet seductive Jason Dean. Winona Ryder is also great as Veronica one of the popular girls who is starting to question how mean the "Heathers" can be to other kids in school. Jason helps Veronica to question the "Heathers" attitudes. When a practical joke of Jason and Veronica's takes an unexpected turn is when this film really gets rolling and leads to some unexpected scenes which are both frightening and hilarious.
For all of the high school movies that come along every year this is definitely one of the best of all time which I would include in the company of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Risky Business, The Breakfast Club and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Daniel Waters screenplay is wonderful and the dialogue between the characters is very interesting. Michael Lehmann's direction is also very good as he chooses some interesting camera angles at times, but is not overbearing in his direction.
Heathers is a rare movie in that you both feel sympathetic for the characters while also disliking them sometimes. It shows how easy it is to become involved in something wrong in high school without really trying to. Christian Slater and Winona Ryder have never been better and I wish they would get together on screen again. Heather is a movie that should be enjoyed and provoking thought for a long time.