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20 years ago - August 11, 1995

Dangerous Minds
Another notable inspiring-teacher drama (after Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me in the late '80s),
Michelle Pfeiffer portrays a teacher based on the autobiography by LouAnne Johnson. Reviews were poor, but it received MTV Movie Award nominations for Best Picture, Pfeiffer, and Song ("Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, which won two Grammy awards). The box office success led to a TV series based on the movie that ran for the 1996-1997 season. Dangerous Minds opened at #1, taking down Waterworld, with $14 million and went on to gross $84 million.

A Walk in the Clouds
Keanu Reeves stars in this romance set post-WWII based on the 1942 Italian film Four Steps in the Clouds, with Aitana Sánchez-Gijón and Anthony Quinn. Critics seemed to love it or hate it. Maurice Jarre won the Golden Globe for the movie's musical score, but Reeves was nominated for a Worst Actor Razzie Award. A Walk in the Clouds opened at #2 with $9.5 million, eventually earning $50 million.

A Kid in King Arthur's Court
Thomas Ian Nicholas stars in this Disney time-travel adventure, based on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Joss Ackland costars as King Arthur, while Kate Winslet has a supporting role. Reviews and box office were poor. Opening in moderate release, it earned $4.3 million at #9.

The Brothers McMullen
Writer/Director/Actor Edward Burns's debut won the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year and was picked up to be Fox Searchlight's first release, opening in seven theaters. Sarah McLachlan's song "I Will Remember You" is featured in the soundtrack (a 2000 live version of the song won a Grammy award). Made for only $28,000, The Brothers McMullen would eventually earn $10 million and is still Burns's highest rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes.

25 years ago - August 10, 1990

Flatliners
Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon star in this sci-fi thriller from Joel Schumacher. Pretty Woman, released five months earlier, was still in theaters earning a million dollars a weekend when Flatliners was released. Reviews were mixed but the movie unseated Ghost at #1 with a $10 million opening. It eventually earned $61 million domestically.

Air America
Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. star in this Vietnam War era action comedy. This was Gibson's second movie of the summer and was not as successful as his rom-com with Goldie Hawn, Bird on a Wire. Reviews were poor. The movie opened at #3 with $8 million and failed to earn back its $35 million budget.

The Two Jakes
Jack Nicholson stars (with Harvey Keitel) in the sequel to 1974's Chinatown. Nicholson also directed, the third and final time he directed a movie. Reviews were decent, but nowhere near the first movie's praise. With a moderate release it opened at #7 with $3.7 million.

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