august MOVIE MEME, day 16: first double feature I pulled

Forgive me all of you (2 or 3) devoted readers - I'm back to play catch-up on my self-imposed meme devotional.  We're returning with my first-ever experience doing a double feature way back in the year 1998...

The Parent Trap (1998, dir. Nancy Meyers) - Ah, Lindsay.  Remember the days when she was the cutest kid actor ever and had a whole career ahead of her?  Yeah... but I digress.  Let's look at just this snapshot from 1998.  In what turned out to be a wholly effective remake, in my opinion, Lohan heads up the cast as a pair of twins pulling a fast one on their estranged parents.  Add to the already genial mix a pair of stellar performers in the parental roles - the often misused but secretly great Dennis Quaid and the late and breathtaking Natasha Richardson.  And lest I forget my favorite element of the film, the hilarious Lisa Ann Walter as wisecracking housekeeper Chessy.  Great fun and still a joy more than a decade later.  But, after the credits rolled, I stuck around my local movieplex to see...

The Mask of Zorro (1998, dir. Martin Campbell) - Say what you will about the swashbuckling 90s flick, but you have to admit it was great fun.  At the time, I thought it was pure genius.  I've of course since softened to its mastery, but I still think it's a terrific romp.  And lest we forget it basically singlehandedly introduced the United States to Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Now if we could only convince her to come back to movies...  Antonio Banderas is such an ideal choice for the lead, and though Anthony Hopkins may come off a little dry, he's a great mentor presence in the film.  And I'd be remiss in not mentioning James Horner's rousing, if a bit predictable, score - I'm kind of surprised he managed to avoid an Oscar nomination for this one.