It would seem Nightmare on Elm Street made some money despite being one of the worst reviewed films of the year.
It kind of make sense. I was talking to the Beefcake about this just the other day. Eraser came on, and I remember watching it as a teenager and thinking that movie was awesome. Explosions, conspiracies, Arnold saying cool stuff and using an X-ray gun that goes "BEEPBEEPBEEP!" while it focuses its X-ray laser lens and James Caan getting erased by a big shipping container that explodes on his head. AWESOME.
But when I watched it the other day as an adult, and it turns out that movie is terrible. Like really really terrible.
I don't know if it's because I'm getting older so my taste is getting more sophisticated or because I know what a story should be like and can see all the flaws before me. But then I remember how much I enjoy explosions and I'm thinking it has nothing to do with taste.
So if we used to like a movie before we knew it was supposed to suck, was ignorance truly bliss? Was I a happier girl back when I thought that movie was cool? I don't know. I do know that I officially consider Kindergarten Cop my second favorite Arnold film. If I watch it again, will I hate it now? Will that line about the tumor no longer be funny? Do I want to ruin films I used to adore by watching them with my critical eye? So many questions, so much crushed youthful bliss.
I've seen Kindergarten Cop as a writing adult and it holds together fine. It's not perfect, but I don't think you'll feel like you're betraying younger-Emily.
ReplyDeletemakes sense. haha I loved Kindergarten Cop as a kid, but now I think the movie is dumb as hell.
ReplyDeleteI will always love Terminator and T2, though. and I'LL ALWAYS LOVE THE GOONIES! Loved it as a kid and I still love it as an adult!
Yeah i can see Eraser not being as cool watching it again now. But it was never a favorite growing up. Now 'Last Action Hero' oh man... that has to be my favorite, super cheesy and childish, but I can still enjoy it to this day. I just wish they didn't end the movie in the 'real world'. And Bridgette Wilson as the daughter... so fine... Living in a movie is just too awesome, I think all the Avatar nerds can connect with that hehe.
ReplyDeleteWhat killed if for me in Eraser was the super CGI huge alligators. And his finishing line "You're luggage".. Boooooo, there's got to be something more witty than that.
I've always had a sort of fondness for ERASER, maybe partly because it opened on my birthday and I saw it that night at Grauman's Chinese. That said, I wouldn't single it out as a shining example of, well, anything. It was also interesting that the movie came out the same summer as MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and some of the plotting is practically identical.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Arnold is walking through his office near the beginning some of his colleagues ask him to pick the fake ID out of a few in front of him...so he does! He can spot a fake ID! That's what makes him such a great agent! To quote Paul Gleason in DIE HARD, "He could be a f----- bartender!"
Aesthetically it probably plays like something out of the 50s compared with the hyped up action we get today. Maybe that old-school vibe is partly what I kind of like about it. Plus I can't entirely hate anything that has both James Caan and James Coburn.
Never liked KINDERGARTEN COP at all, though.
Thomas Wolfe said it best "You can't go home again". It's always a painful experience to watch treasured childhood movies/tv shows. Most of the time they don't hold up too well.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience a few yeas ago when I watched "Somewhere in Time"
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw it as a kid, probably around 7th grade, I thought it was very clever and oh so romantic. Turns out it's just really dumb. Of course, this was the age when I thought I should use the nom de plume "Misty Knight" for my poetry. Shortly before I wrote the poem that has since won a "bad poetry" contest (it started "O the woe of the misunderstood")
So yeah, my taste at that age mostly sucked.