1997 Movie Year in Review
If 1998 was the year my lists started, it follows that 1997 was recreated after the fact from a combination of ticket stubs and memory. I don't remember exactly when I started recreating it, but I know that my deep dive into my ticket stubs mostly just filled in dates. There are a few that I believe I saw in the theaters where the date is kind of guess based on the release date, but as best as I can tell I saw 32 movies this year, the vast majority of them at CWRUFilm.
Beavis & Butthead Do America - Midco 10, 1/2
Strange Brew - CF, S 1/25
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (SE) - SS, F 1/31
Clerks - CF, S 2/01
Romeo and Juliet - CF, F 2/14
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (SE) - Sev, F 2/21
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (SE) - Sev, F 3/22
Grosse Pointe Blank - CF, W 4/02 (sneak)
Star Trek: First Contact - CF, F 4/04
The Silence of the Lambs - CF, F 4/11
The Godfather - CL, S 4/12
Batman & Robin - ?? (Grand Forks), ??/??
Men In Black - Midco 10, 7/03
Air Force One - Midco 10, 7/30
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery - Midco 10, 8/02
The Fifth Element - Midco 10, F 8/05
Air Force One - drive through - ??
The Fifth Element - CF, F 9/05
Full Metal Jacket - CF, S 9/13
Con Air - CF, F 9/19
The Game - ?? (Cleveland), ??/??
The People vs. Larry Flynt - CF, F 10/03
Men in Black - CF, F 10/24
Hercules - CF, F 11/07
Pale Rider - CF, S 11/08
Face/Off - CF, F 11/14
Beetlejuice - CF, S 11/15
Batman - CF, S 11/22
Starship Troopers - Sev, T 11/25
Good Will Hunting - Centrum , 12/??
Tomorrow Never Dies - Midco 10, 12/20
Jackie Brown - Midco 10, 12/30
by Theater:
CF - CWRUFilm - 16
Midco10 - Grand Forks - 7
Sev - Severance - 3
?? - Unknown - 2
SS - Shaker Square - 1
CL - Cedar Lee - 1
Centrum - Coventry - 1
Some east side drive through - 1
1997 was the year that the special edition versions of the original Star Wars movies were re-released, no doubt priming the pump for the release of Episode I in 1999. For the first one, a huge group of people from my dorm went. On opening night, one of us (Steve Z, I think) collected cash from everybody in advance and took a bus to Shaker Square to buy tickets at the box office when they opened that morning. Then, the rest of (easily 20 people) took the bus to the theater to see the movie. This was the first time I took the bus in Cleveland, and it was also before Severance Square was remodeled by the Cleveland Cinemas, so it was a real dump. We had fun, but it bears mentioning that I saw Empire with a much smaller group from the fraternity at Severance, and for Return of the Jedi it was me, Kipton and his girlfriend at Severance several weeks after it opened. As with many of us, I prefer the originals, but there's no denying it was THE film event of 1999, and arguably the first major film event of my life.
Another film event was the very first time I saw The Godfather. They did a 25th reunion reissue. This year would be a fiftieth anniversary edition. I may be old. This was the first movie I ever saw at the Cedar Lee, and still one of the best.
A different kind of film event was Air Force One, which filmed some of its opening scenes on campus at the very start of my freshman year. I saw it new in the theater while I was home in Grand Forks for the summer between freshman and sophomore year of college. Then I saw it again early in the fall semester when my fraternity took people to a drive-in movie to see it again as a rush event. We watched from the back of Phil's big red Suburban. As best as I can recall, this was my first drive-in movie.
While I was home that summer, I saw a bunch of other movies with my sister, including Men in Black, Austin Powers, The Fifth Element, and apparently Batman & Robin. Well, they can't all be winners. I say "apparently" because I know I saw it in the theater, and it came out that summer, and I didn't see it at CWRUFilm, so it must have been in Grand Forks.
Speaking of movies I know I saw but can't place on a calendar, I definitely saw The Game, and I'm 99.99% certain I saw it in a theater. It apparently wasn't at CWRUFilm, so given the release date it would have had to be at a commercial theater during the school year. Why I saw it in a commercial theater I can't recall this far past. Maybe because it was David Fincher's first film since Seven? Maybe I really saw it on VHS? I can't say, but I've definitely seen it.
I also saw a bunch of movies in Grand Forks on both of the Christmas Breaks that book-ended the year. I saw Beavis & Butthead Do America with Ryan and (Aaron?) in January. It briefly was the highest grossing non-Disney animated film of all time, so apparently a lot of people loved Beavis & Butthead. The next Christmas break I saw the second Pierce Brosnan Bond outing, Tomorrow Never Dies, with Michelle Yeoh as the greatest Bond girl ever. I also saw Jackie Brown, which remains one of my favorite Tarantino films.
Other films at the one-off theaters:
- Starship Troopers was one of my favorite books in high school, so I was excited for the movie, which I saw on my birthday with a bunch of PhiKaps and the girl who I briefly dated the next semester (in retrospect, she was probably flirting with me that night, but I'm oblivious). It was a movie I found flawed, but because I'd read the book I could understand a lot of what Paul Verhoeven was trying to do. To this day, I'm honestly not sure if Verhoeven misunderstood the book, or was making fun of it.
- Good Will Hunting was the first film, and one of the very few ever, that I saw at the movie theater in Coventry. Back then it was called the Centrum. I saw it with Frank, his then girlfriend Mani and (I think) Schemmel) just before I went home for Christmas break. I remember really enjoying it. Minnie Driver was briefly a major crush for me.
Beyond those, I spent a lot of time at CWRUFilm. I'm pretty sure this was when I got in the habit of buying a packet of chewy Sprees at each film and absorbing the sugar throughout the film. I saw a lot of movies hyped up on sugar, which may or may not have helped my enjoyment of the film. My usual practice was to go to the early showing and then head off to whatever party or event was that night after, with the sugar coursing through my veins. I was mostly seeing second runs of recent movies. My interest in older movies that point was mostly only in famous films like The Silence of the Lambs or famous actors like Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider. Art house films are non-existent.
Among the CWRUFilm highlights that year:
- Clerks - which was my first Kevin Smith movie and the source of endless quotes throughout college.
- Grosse Point Blank was a sneak preview at CWRUFilm. Of all the sneaks I saw over the years, it was by far the best movie and most enjoyable time out. John Cusack has never been this good since, not even in High Fidelity.
- Baz Luhrman's take on Romeo + Juliet was good enough (or at least made enough of an impression) that when the poster vendor came around at the start of the fall semester I bought the main movie poster and had it on my wall for four years of college.
- I got to see Face/Off and Con Air in the same semester for peak Nic Cage enjoyment.
Interestingly, there were 28 movies on my official lists in 1998 (and 40 total) and that was enough to make me start building lists, but the 32 this year weren't enough. I must have needed the time alone in Kentucky on co-op in 1998 to give me something to focus on.
Beavis & Butthead Do America - Midco 10, 1/2
Strange Brew - CF, S 1/25
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (SE) - SS, F 1/31
Clerks - CF, S 2/01
Romeo and Juliet - CF, F 2/14
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (SE) - Sev, F 2/21
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (SE) - Sev, F 3/22
Grosse Pointe Blank - CF, W 4/02 (sneak)
Star Trek: First Contact - CF, F 4/04
The Silence of the Lambs - CF, F 4/11
The Godfather - CL, S 4/12
Batman & Robin - ?? (Grand Forks), ??/??
Men In Black - Midco 10, 7/03
Air Force One - Midco 10, 7/30
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery - Midco 10, 8/02
The Fifth Element - Midco 10, F 8/05
Air Force One - drive through - ??
The Fifth Element - CF, F 9/05
Full Metal Jacket - CF, S 9/13
Con Air - CF, F 9/19
The Game - ?? (Cleveland), ??/??
The People vs. Larry Flynt - CF, F 10/03
Men in Black - CF, F 10/24
Hercules - CF, F 11/07
Pale Rider - CF, S 11/08
Face/Off - CF, F 11/14
Beetlejuice - CF, S 11/15
Batman - CF, S 11/22
Starship Troopers - Sev, T 11/25
Good Will Hunting - Centrum , 12/??
Tomorrow Never Dies - Midco 10, 12/20
Jackie Brown - Midco 10, 12/30
by Theater:
CF - CWRUFilm - 16
Midco10 - Grand Forks - 7
Sev - Severance - 3
?? - Unknown - 2
SS - Shaker Square - 1
CL - Cedar Lee - 1
Centrum - Coventry - 1
Some east side drive through - 1
1997 was the year that the special edition versions of the original Star Wars movies were re-released, no doubt priming the pump for the release of Episode I in 1999. For the first one, a huge group of people from my dorm went. On opening night, one of us (Steve Z, I think) collected cash from everybody in advance and took a bus to Shaker Square to buy tickets at the box office when they opened that morning. Then, the rest of (easily 20 people) took the bus to the theater to see the movie. This was the first time I took the bus in Cleveland, and it was also before Severance Square was remodeled by the Cleveland Cinemas, so it was a real dump. We had fun, but it bears mentioning that I saw Empire with a much smaller group from the fraternity at Severance, and for Return of the Jedi it was me, Kipton and his girlfriend at Severance several weeks after it opened. As with many of us, I prefer the originals, but there's no denying it was THE film event of 1999, and arguably the first major film event of my life.
Another film event was the very first time I saw The Godfather. They did a 25th reunion reissue. This year would be a fiftieth anniversary edition. I may be old. This was the first movie I ever saw at the Cedar Lee, and still one of the best.
A different kind of film event was Air Force One, which filmed some of its opening scenes on campus at the very start of my freshman year. I saw it new in the theater while I was home in Grand Forks for the summer between freshman and sophomore year of college. Then I saw it again early in the fall semester when my fraternity took people to a drive-in movie to see it again as a rush event. We watched from the back of Phil's big red Suburban. As best as I can recall, this was my first drive-in movie.
While I was home that summer, I saw a bunch of other movies with my sister, including Men in Black, Austin Powers, The Fifth Element, and apparently Batman & Robin. Well, they can't all be winners. I say "apparently" because I know I saw it in the theater, and it came out that summer, and I didn't see it at CWRUFilm, so it must have been in Grand Forks.
Speaking of movies I know I saw but can't place on a calendar, I definitely saw The Game, and I'm 99.99% certain I saw it in a theater. It apparently wasn't at CWRUFilm, so given the release date it would have had to be at a commercial theater during the school year. Why I saw it in a commercial theater I can't recall this far past. Maybe because it was David Fincher's first film since Seven? Maybe I really saw it on VHS? I can't say, but I've definitely seen it.
I also saw a bunch of movies in Grand Forks on both of the Christmas Breaks that book-ended the year. I saw Beavis & Butthead Do America with Ryan and (Aaron?) in January. It briefly was the highest grossing non-Disney animated film of all time, so apparently a lot of people loved Beavis & Butthead. The next Christmas break I saw the second Pierce Brosnan Bond outing, Tomorrow Never Dies, with Michelle Yeoh as the greatest Bond girl ever. I also saw Jackie Brown, which remains one of my favorite Tarantino films.
Other films at the one-off theaters:
- Starship Troopers was one of my favorite books in high school, so I was excited for the movie, which I saw on my birthday with a bunch of PhiKaps and the girl who I briefly dated the next semester (in retrospect, she was probably flirting with me that night, but I'm oblivious). It was a movie I found flawed, but because I'd read the book I could understand a lot of what Paul Verhoeven was trying to do. To this day, I'm honestly not sure if Verhoeven misunderstood the book, or was making fun of it.
- Good Will Hunting was the first film, and one of the very few ever, that I saw at the movie theater in Coventry. Back then it was called the Centrum. I saw it with Frank, his then girlfriend Mani and (I think) Schemmel) just before I went home for Christmas break. I remember really enjoying it. Minnie Driver was briefly a major crush for me.
Beyond those, I spent a lot of time at CWRUFilm. I'm pretty sure this was when I got in the habit of buying a packet of chewy Sprees at each film and absorbing the sugar throughout the film. I saw a lot of movies hyped up on sugar, which may or may not have helped my enjoyment of the film. My usual practice was to go to the early showing and then head off to whatever party or event was that night after, with the sugar coursing through my veins. I was mostly seeing second runs of recent movies. My interest in older movies that point was mostly only in famous films like The Silence of the Lambs or famous actors like Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider. Art house films are non-existent.
Among the CWRUFilm highlights that year:
- Clerks - which was my first Kevin Smith movie and the source of endless quotes throughout college.
- Grosse Point Blank was a sneak preview at CWRUFilm. Of all the sneaks I saw over the years, it was by far the best movie and most enjoyable time out. John Cusack has never been this good since, not even in High Fidelity.
- Baz Luhrman's take on Romeo + Juliet was good enough (or at least made enough of an impression) that when the poster vendor came around at the start of the fall semester I bought the main movie poster and had it on my wall for four years of college.
- I got to see Face/Off and Con Air in the same semester for peak Nic Cage enjoyment.
Interestingly, there were 28 movies on my official lists in 1998 (and 40 total) and that was enough to make me start building lists, but the 32 this year weren't enough. I must have needed the time alone in Kentucky on co-op in 1998 to give me something to focus on.