Friday Night Double Features Vol. 37

 by Adam Riske and Patrick Bromley

10 double features to help get you through the winter. 

Double Feature 1:

Adam: #1: Freeway (1996)

Patrick: #2: Overnight Delivery (1998)

Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Pleasantville, Twilight, S.F.W. 

Patrick: Theme: Naughty Reese

Patrick: Reese Witherspoon had such an interesting and exciting ‘90s. I feel like Legally Blonde (a movie she’s great in) ruined her. We’re so used to her being prissy America’s sweetheart that we forget she was great at playing girls who were trouble or girls who were trashy early on in her career. I think this would be a really cool double feature but it would also make me sad for the Reese Witherspoon we lost to prestige projects and romcoms.

Adam: I’m glad you programmed this because I often forget that I really liked Reese Witherspoon in movies for a long time. I like some of her performances here and there since the '90s (Walk the Line and Wild come to mind), but I do miss the chances she took when she was getting started and seemed like she had less of a career plan. I’d definitely go to this double feature since I’m not sure I’ve seen either Freeway or Overnight Delivery in their entirety. 

Double Feature 2:

Patrick: #1: The Cell (2000)

Adam: #2: U-571 (2000)

Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Meet Joe Black, Pushing Tin, In Too Deep

Adam: Theme: Jake Weber Circa Y2K

Adam: For some reason I thought Jake Weber was going to be around forever and then he wasn’t. Such is life for a character actor. I’m not sure if these two movies would pair together well but they both have a Friday Night Double Feature energy. I like that you’re dedicating much of this month to Jennifer Lopez.

Patrick: I really like Jake Weber! He played Patricia Arquette’s husband on Medium (a show I have watched in hospital waiting rooms) and he was good. He’s so great in Dawn of the Dead 2004 too! I went a little J. Lo crazy this month. Sorry. I know you’re not a big Cell guy.

Double Feature 3:

Adam: #1: Win a Date with Tad Hamilton (2004)

Patrick: #2: Monster-in-Law (2005)

Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: The Ugly Truth, Legally Blonde, Paranoia

Patrick: Theme: Luketic Love

Patrick: I’m not a Robert Luketic fan, so I have no idea why I decided to devote a night to him at the Cinemarink. His movies are kind of hacky. Win a Date and Legally Blonde have some major strengths, but everything else is various shades of bland. And while Paranoia doesn’t fit at all with the romcom theme, I couldn’t resist programming a trailer for your favorite Luketic joint. I just found out he’s Australian! No wonder he cast Liam Hemsworth.

Adam: I picked Win a Date with Tad Hamilton because I’m going through 2004 movies this year and it was one of my unseen ‘04s. I usually don’t want to watch it but then I remember the Liz Phair song in the trailer and I get all wistful. I haven’t seen Monster-in-Law or The Ugly Truth either so I don’t know for sure how I feel about Luketic’s work, but I enjoy Legally Blonde and Paranoia despite not ever thinking about the direction.

Double Feature 4:

Patrick: #1: Enough (2002)

Adam: #2: The Good Girl (2002)

Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Possession, Lovely & Amazing, Pumpkin

Adam: Theme: Unseen Summer 2002s

Adam: This was a satisfying double feature to program because I realized I’ve seen almost all the prominent Summer 2002 movies. I never saw Enough because I didn’t want to watch the domestic abuse scenes (even though I know the point is she fights back) and I’ve owned a used copy of The Good Girl for a couple of years so this is a good excuse to finally see both movies. I programmed the double feature and the trailers to showcase movies from Summer 2002 with female leads. Do you recommend any of them?

Patrick: Funny enough, Erika and I saw every one of these theatrically in 2002 except Enough, which I literally just watched for the first time on Tubi today. It’s got real Sleeping with the Enemy energy. It’s probably the weakest of all the movies in the lineup, though. I’d recommend Lovely & Amazing first (because Nicole Holofcener) and probably Pumpkin second. I weirdly haven’t thought of most of these movies in a long time, so I’d be super excited for this night.

Double Feature 5:

Adam: #1: The Favourite (2018)

Patrick: #2: Hustlers (2019)

Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Arrival, Gone Baby Gone, Casino, Boogie Nights

Patrick: Theme: She Should Have Won the Oscar

Patrick: This theme falls apart as soon as someone reminds me that Olivia Coleman won the Oscar for The Favourite, but I was thinking either (or both) Emma Stone and/or Rachel Weisz should have taken home an award. Same goes for Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers, in which she does career-best work as a dancer who starts drugging clients and robbing them. I don’t know how many Oscar chances J. Lo is going to get, so it was super disappointing to see her totally overlooked for Supporting Actress the year Hustlers came out. I know you don’t love the movie, but am I on to something here?

Adam: I think Jennifer Lopez is really good in Hustlers even if I don’t really like the movie very much. It’s a sort of “elder states(wo)man” performance where a star moves into cool supporting character territory. Costner has been dunking non-stop with this approach for years. She was overlooked for an Oscar nomination for this performance. I wonder if she’s in Burt Reynolds-Eddie Murphy-Sylvester Stallone territory where people in the industry just don’t want to give her an acting Oscar even though the work justifies it. That’s just me speculating.

Double Feature 6:

Patrick: #1: Anaconda (1997)

Adam: #2: The Relic (1997)

Adam: Trailers/Shorts: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Mimic, Alien: Resurrection 

Adam: Theme: 1997 Creature Features 

Adam: The late ‘90s were a good time for movies where you could debate if they’d make more sense being covered in Fangoria or Starlog. I really like Anaconda, but I haven’t seen it in a while. I remember the movie being enjoyable enough that the dodgy CGI didn’t even bother me. I thought it would be good to pair with The Relic since it’s also a fun creature feature but doesn’t feel too similar to Anaconda. The Relic gets better for me each time I revisit it. I love the Tom Sizemore performance. 

Patrick: This is an amazing night at the movies. I’ve only seen Anaconda once and don’t remember loving it but I’m obviously due for a rewatch on this current J. Lo kick. I’ve been beating the drum for The Relic since 1997. I love that movie and, like you, I love Tom Sizemore in leading man mode. This might be the double I do first.

Double Feature 7:

Adam: #1: Just Cause (1995)

Patrick: #2: Out of Sight (1998)

Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Miami Vice, Blue City, Spring Breakers

Patrick: Theme: Florida Crime

Patrick: I’ve never seen Just Cause, but I read that it takes place in Florida so of course I had to program one of my top 3 J. Los in Out of Sight. Even if Just Cause doesn’t play for me, I know I’ve got that Soderbergh goodness waiting for me.

Adam: Good call. Out of Sight is my favorite Jennifer Lopez movie and performance so I’m in. I haven’t seen Just Cause since the ‘90s and I remember it being not great and sleazy which appeals to me much more now in 2024 than it did back then. Florida’s intimidating. 

Double Feature 8:

Patrick: #1: Money Train (1995)

Adam: #2: Four Rooms (1995)

Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Mermaids, Highball, 200 Cigarettes

Adam: Theme: New Year’s Eve 

Adam: With New Year’s Eve just happening weeks ago this was a no-brainer since Money Train has a great capper with our two leads ringing in the new year. I paired it with Four Rooms since it’s a movie I don’t really like but always feel like watching for some reason regardless of the time of year. I always think the next one will be the magic rewatch where it all works. The trailers are a list of '90s movies with New Year's Eve scenes including 200 Cigarettes, which is one of the most disappointing movies I’ve ever seen but has a good trailer.

Patrick: I could not have been more excited for 200 Cigarettes when it came out. I think I saw it twice opening day because I couldn’t wait until I was seeing it with my friends opening night. It’s not great. Four Rooms is not great either, but Money Train is good enough to carry us through the second movie. There’s still enough good stuff in Four Rooms to make it a worthwhile watch. Also, I applaud you for programming a New Year’s Eve double and not running the trailer for New Year’s Eve. Robert De Niro just wanted to see the ball drop!

Double Feature 9:

Adam: #1: The Little Mermaid (1989)

Patrick: #2: Malice (1993)

Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Batman & Robin, Gilda

Patrick: Theme: Can You Ever Really Trust a Redhead

Patrick: I was stuck here so I decided to call out Ariel the Mermaid for being a liar, which led to programming one of our favorites in the second slot. This double would be for no one else.

Adam: This is a really funny theme and pairing. Welcome to the game, Prince Eric! I’m not this type of guy but I have a sudden urge to take PTO this afternoon and fan art Malice Kidman as a cartoon mermaid.

Double Feature 10:

Patrick: #1: Gigli (2003)

Adam: #2: Sanctuary (2023)

Adam: Trailers/Shorts: The Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide, Down Periscope 

Adam: Theme: Subs

Adam: It was a good joke on the 2023 Favorite Movies podcast so let’s keep it going. I watched Gigli for the first-time last year and didn’t love it but think it’s nowhere near as bad as its reputation would have you believe. The most interesting aspect of the movie is the relationship dynamic between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck where he comes to terms with the fact he’s happier not being the alpha. It’s become sort of a joke to say a performance is “brave” but Affleck’s is especially for a leading man in 2003. He probably benefited from the fact that many people: a) chose the whole movie to be a joke and b) didn’t see it.

Patrick: I have such complicated feelings about Gigli. It’s a hard movie to genuinely love, but I have wanted to stick up for it since seeing it with Erika on opening day in 2003. There’s stuff to like in there, and most of the criticisms, as you point out, are lazy and uninformed. It also makes me so sad that this movie essentially ended Martin Brest’s directing career, because I like his movies and wish we had more of them. Justice for Larry Gigli! Gobble gobble!