7 Reasons Why 'Back to the Future' is the Perfect Hollywood Blockbuster

Back to the Future is, for me, the most quintessential Hollywood blockbuster ever made. No movie is more Hollywood blockbuster than this and no movie can be more Hollywood blockbuster than this. There is no more Hollywood blockbuster to be had for this movie, for this movie is all of it. It is perfectly Hollywood blockbuster. 

What does that even mean? 

Here's 7 reasons why Back to the Future is the ultimate Hollywood blockbuster.

1. A Perfectly Structured Script
The script is about as perfect a distillation of 3 act structure as you can find anywhere. Every book written about screenplay structure has to come to Back to the Future and bow in reverence. Every emotional beat, every character arc, every object that gets introduced and later fulfilled, every scene that moves forward both plot and character, every event that raises the stakes and complicates the happy outcome. It effortlessly reveals character and plot information while our narrative focus is looking elsewhere. It is a magic act but even if I know the trick I see the beauty in the execution. 

That's not even mentioning the witty dialogue. 
"Where's my pants?" 
"Over there...on my hope chest."

Judging Oscar: 1994

I have recently watched or re-watched all the films nominated for Best Picture and Best Director from 1994.  I have placed a value judgment on what I saw cinematically.  I may one day have breakdowns for every year of the Oscars, but I have not gotten very far into this journey yet.  You can follow up on the years I have completed so far: 1973, 1975, 1980 and 1996.

BEST PICTURE

WINNER: Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)

If you grew up during the 90’s, you could not escape Forrest Gump.  It was inevitable.  In my world, it was universally loved and I confess I have been systematically predisposed to like this movie ever since I saw it in the theater at age 11.  Maybe it is the desire to “get to my roots” through popular cinema (boomer parents, small southern hometown), maybe its because the soundtrack was on repeat for years in my room, maybe its because I related to Gump in a way I related to few other movie characters.  Whatever the case, I have loved this film since childhood and when I watch it today, I find I still love it and that it only deepens as I examine the movie closer.  Whatever the major effect the film had on American culture at large, I see in the film a unique skewering of American exceptionalism through the narrative of a guileless individual who is shamelessly exploited by a variety of individuals and social institutions yet maintains a loyalty to the handful of people who have ever shown him interest, in spite of his low IQ and naïveté.  The character of Forrest Gump is essentially a blank slate that viewers project their own feelings and nostalgia upon.  To me, it is a glorious picaresque that succeeds thanks to the charismatic humanism of Tom Hanks and the over-arching relatability of Zemeckis’ cinematic techniques.  Forrest is not without agency but he is without cynicism.  It is his guileless loyalty and lack of cynicism that has made the film seem sentimentalized when it fairly earns its emotional climaxes; likewise, Gump’s accidental wealth and fame countered by Jenny’s failed endeavors have made liberal critics spurn the movie for not being an ode to the 60’s counterculture.  It seems people are still projecting their own objectives upon the life of Forrest Gump and the fact that the film lets you do so is testament to its endearing greatness.

The Refusal of Culpability in 'Flight' (2012)

Flight (Robert Zemeckis, 2012)
No one likes to take responsibility for the bad things that happen.  It is easiest to blame someone else.  We accept accolades for success but always shift the blame for the failures.  If that is true of individuals it is just as true of the institutions we build.  Families, governments, corporations, schools, even churches.  It is the root of social diseases ranging from extraneous litigation to alcoholism.  In that way, Flight is pertinent and hard-hitting.  Not just because it deals with alcohol addiction, but because it deals with the root of addiction: the refusal of culpability.  And, even though it paints a far-reaching societal portrait, it is also bold enough to admit that there is a way beyond it.  

Forrest Gump (1994) and the Subversion of American Exceptionalism

Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
Forrest Gump is the story of a blank slate of a man who finds himself passing through many essential and non-essential moments in 1960’s and 70’s America.  I describe him as a blank slate because he is very simply motivated and a character that the audience will cast their own meaning upon because of his simplicity.  Though Forrest has a low IQ and is generally thought to be stupid, he is guileless and loyal, naïve and, in many ways, innocent.  His innocence is not born from his ignorance, however: it is born from his loyalty.  He takes people at their word. 

October 21, 2015

Social media is insistent, the date Marty McFly went to in Back to the Future II is today, whatever date today happens to be....

 

Here is the actual date: October 21, 2015.  The good news: there's still time to develop hover boards.

2000 Cii Movie Awards

This list and awards compiled March 5, 2013

                      For the criteria of choosing the awards, click here.

Top 10 Films of 2000

1. Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
2. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr)
3. Best in Show (Christopher Guest)
4. Traffic (Steven Soderbergh)
5. Mission to Mars (Brian De Palma)
6. High Fidelity (Stephen Frears)
7. The Gleaners and I (Agnés Varda)
8. Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson)
9. Unbreakable (M. Night Shymalan)
10. You Can Count On Me (Kenneth Lonergan)

Honorable Mentions: Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis), Erin Brokovich (Steven Soderbergh), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel Coen), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee), Gladiator (Ridley Scott)

Best Actor

Christian Bale – American Psycho

* Benicio Del Toro – Traffic

Michael Douglas – Wonder Boys

Tom Hanks – Cast Away

Mark Ruffalo – You Can Count On Me

Best Actress

Joan Allen – The Contender

* Ellen Burstyn – Requiem for a Dream

Cameron Diaz – Charlie’s Angels

Laura Linney – You Can Count On Me

Julie Roberts – Erin Brokovich

Best Supporting Actor

Jack Black – High Fidelity

Ben Kingsley – Sexy Beast

Tim Blake Nelson – O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Gary Oldman – The Contender

Brad Pitt – Snatch.

* Fred Willard – Best in Show

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Connelly – Requiem for a Dream

* Jennifer Coolidge – Best in Show

Kate Hudson – Almost Famous

Kelly Lee – Yi Yi

Jane Lynch – Best in Show

Ziyi Zhang – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Best Director

Brian De Palma – Mission to Mars

Steven Soderbergh – Traffic

Béla Tarr – Werckmeister Harmonies

* Edward Yang – Yi Yi

Robert Zemeckis – Cast Away

Best Screenplay

Best in Show (Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy)

High Fidelity (D.V. DeVencentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack & Scott Rosenberg)

Traffic (Stephen Gaghan)

Wonder Boys (Steve Kloves)

* Yi Yi (Edward Yang)

Best Cinematography

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Peter Pau)

George Washington (Tim Orr)

Requiem for a Dream (Matthew Libatique)

Traffic (Steven Soderbergh)

* Yi Yi (Yang Wei-han)

Best Editing

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tim Squyres)

Requiem for a Dream (Jay Rabinowitz)

Traffic (Stephen Mirrione)

Wonder Boys (Dede Allen)

* Yi Yi (Chen Bo-Wen)

Best Film Score

Chocolat (Rachel Portman)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tan Dun)

* Gladiator (Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard)

Requiem for a Dream (Clint Mansell)

Traffic (Cliff Martinez)

Best Production Design

American Psycho

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

* O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Traffic

Werckmeister Harmonies

Best Ensemble Cast Performance

* Best in Show

George Washington

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Sexy Beast

Yi Yi

2000 Films Seen (56 features as of 03.06.2013)

Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)

American Psycho (Mary Herron, 2000)

Best in Show (Christopher Guest, 2000)

Big Momma’s House (Raja Gosnell, 2000)

Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000)

Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis, 2000)

Charlie’s Angels (McG, 2000)

Chocolat (Lasse Hallström, 2000)

The Contender (Rod Lurie, 2000)

Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (Rob Schmidt, 2000)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)

Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Ron Howard, 2000)

Dude, Where’s My Car? (Danny Leiner, 2000)

Erin Brokovich (Steven Soderbergh, 2000)

The Family Man (Brett Ratner, 2000)

George Washington (David Gordon Green, 2000)

Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)

The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)

High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)

Keeping the Faith (Edward Norton, 2000)

Me, Myself & Irene (Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly, 2000)

Mission: Impossible II (John Woo, 2000)

Mission to Mars (Brian De Palma, 2000)

Nurse Betty (Neil LaBute, 2000)

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (Peter Segal, 2000)

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel Coen, 2000)

The Patriot (Roland Emmerich, 2000)

The Perfect Storm (Wolfgang Petersen, 2000)

Pitch Black (David Twohy, 2000)

Pollock (Ed Harris, 2000)

Quills (Philip Kaufman, 2000)

Red Planet (Anthony Hoffman, 2000)

Remember the Titans (Boaz Yakin, 2000)

Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)

Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2000)

Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2000)

Shadow of the Vampire (E. Elias Merhige, 2000)

Snatch. (Guy Ritchie, 2000)

Space Cowboys (Clint Eastwood, 2000)

State & Main (David Mamet, 2000)

Tears of the Black Tiger (Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000)

Thirteen Days (Roger Donaldson, 2000)

Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2000)

U-571 (Jonathan Mostow, 2000)

Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan, 2000)

Vertical Ray of the Sun (Anh Hung Tran, 2000)

Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors (Hong Sang-soo, 2000)

Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, 2000)

What Lies Beneath (Robert Zemeckis, 2000)

What Women Want (Nancy Meyers, 2000)

The Widow of Saint Pierre (Patrice Leconte, 2000)

With a Friend Like Harry (Dominik Moll, 2000)

Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson, 2000)

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)

Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)

You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan, 2000)