Mask of Zorro is easily the best superhero film of the 1990's and one the best superhero films, period. Up there Iron Man, the first Batman, The Incredibles, and the first two Superman films.

Well I wouldn’t say that about thomas crown since pierce’s version is a remake of the 1968 version with McQueen. I’m sure you know this but I just wanted to point it out

It seems like it was very much her decision to slow down as she decided to focus on her family in the mid 2000's [as well as doing stage work] before making a comeback in the 2010's although mostly in supporting parts/lower profile stuff [more recently working on streaming shows like 'Wednesday'].

She's had health problems and caring for Michael Douglas when he did. But yeah back to acting now.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was a pretty big name in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She was probably the most beautiful and stunning actress in Hollywood at the time.

She even said so in an interview for Mask of Zorro.

I wonder if she tried it with Tony Hopkins.

A perfect metaphor for the film's legacy.

Interestingly Sean Connery was the first choice for the lead in that, before Steve McQueen.

@@davidjames579 that's right! I forgot about that! 💯

He turned it down as he thought it was too simular to Bond, a role he'd literally just escaped from. He later said he regretted not doing it.

@@davidjames579 Probably explains why he did the heist film 'The Anderson Tapes' [with a young Christopher Walken] in 1971 [just before Diamonds are forever].

@@jamesatkinsonja I loved The Anderson Tapes, great heist movie.

That was a great deviation from Connery's typical persona. I think Rose, the first three films he did under Sidney Lumet, The Man Who Would Be King, The Last Crusade, and Finding Forester were all terrific examples of Connery's acting skills. He was definitely not limited to James Bond.

It's well worth a review. Connery won the BAFTA for best actor for 'Rose' prior to his Oscar win for Untouchables the following year.

@@ricardocantoral7672 'Finding Forester' [which he did between Entrapment and 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'] was a fine example of Connery showing his acting skill late in his career.

And for pub quiz points, The Name Of The Rose is the only film in which Connery announces he's a virgin.

I'd like to see that too. Maybe even also re-do of the first two films as they are quite old videos now.

Interesting that Daniel Kaluuya, Rowan Atkinson's Co Star in Reborn, who Calvin gave praise for his sympathetic turn and chemistry with Atkinson, has gone on to be a star since the review, being Oscar winning and nominated and becoming a director with the recent The Kitchen.

I'm always interested in roles Connery did that remind of Bond. Also The Rock, and Rising Sun, where I like to think he's playing Bond if he'd retired to Japan as he promised Tiger in You Only Live Twice.

@@davidjames579 Amusingly, Connery's character in 'Rising Sun' is called John Connor! But I like the Bond link.

I once remember seeing a van that had a homemade illustration of Ford and Connery from Last Crusade on. Sure that wasn’t Lucasfilm approved.

It's funny how old 1999 feels.

@@ricardocantoral7672 It's a quarter of a century ago this year!

TWINE of course referenced The Millenium with R's reference to a "premature version of The Millenium Bug". Bond has Christmas in Turkey but I'm assuming it's actually New Year as there's fireworks going off. R's comment makes it 1999 into 2000.

@@davidjames579 The trailer also plays up 'the new millennium'-it was such a bit cultural event I suppose it would be strange not to reference it. I agree it's probably New Year but the Christmas pun was too good to miss!

The scene is of course a reference to Tom Cruise in the first Mission Impossible movie, only He wasn't sexualized as heavily as CZJ was in this film.

And then you saw the appeal.

Besides the main cast, I love the hilarious performance of the basement dweller that assists DeNiro's character.

Perfic!!! I mean that book by M edlitz just debunked everything and no way was Catherine that high up of an actress to be in a Bond movie in the early 90's.

To be fair, even though she was playing a farmer's daughter in Darling Buds she was meant to be and was a knockout, both looks and personality wise. But although the show did make her talked about in the papers as a national sweetheart, she wasn't been talked up for movies. In fact after the series ended she had a few empty years. Seemingly overexposed in the press because of her love life, she couldn't get much notable work in the UK and so moved to L.A. There a part in a Titanic mini series caught the attention of Spielberg who suggested her for the female lead in The Mask Of Zorro to it's director, none other than Martin Campbell. And the rest is history. Interesting comparison with the Gin character to Connie Webb though.

@@davidjames579 Agreed-she was very much an It girl [by UK standards] but had a bit of a fallow period after the 'Darling buds' finished before Zorro [I didn't know Spielberg recommend her for it!-that's cool]. I've heard Campbell wanted Goldeneye's Izabella Scorupco for the Zorro part but she turned it down [she does show up in Campbell's 'Vertical Limit'] It's interesting that when the 'Bond 17' script pretty much became the basis of TND, the Webb character was dropped and the supporting character of the Asian agent was beefed up to become Wai Lin.

@@jamesatkinsonja Yeah Spielberg produced The Mask Of Zorro. And selected Campbell based on GoldenEye. Yeah I'd heard he wanted to work with Izabella again. I believe the beefing up of the character Mi Wai (groan) into a main character was down to Roger Spottiswoode who really wanted to make a film with Michelle Yeoh and showcase her martial arts. You can see that her infiltration of Carver's Hamburg HQ seems like something Connie would do.

No he's gotta review the 1967 Casino Royale first so that I'll finally have a reason to watch that mess haha. It's still the one and only Bond movie I've never seen the full way through. I tried to watch it in 2018 and I gave up after like a half hour, it's that bad.

​@@spencerkindra8822 He did review Casino Royale 1967 a long time ago [about 8 years back]. I also hate it!

@@spencerkindra8822 Calvin did review Casino Royale 67 a while ago if you haven't seen it.

In real life there's only a 9 year age gap between Catherine Zeta Jones and Justin Bartha

Interestingly, Catherine Zeta-Jones did a 'older woman dating a younger man' film 'The Rebound' when she was 40 [where character is 15 years older than the boyfriend].

Given how 'in joke' that whole film is [including the infamous 'Julia Roberts character poses as the real Julia Roberts' bit, it was probably very much intentional

I wasn't exactly in love with Anderson Tapes but the movie had a good cast. I like Connery's world weary performance.

Probably as often scrips were subject to 'bidding wars' by the studio and the loser would want to make something similar with a new script [as well as general cash ins]. A more recent example was 2013 having two films [Olympus has Fallen and White House Down] both being 'Die Hard in the white house' and released fairly close to each other. Spectre and Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation were noted as having similarities when they both came out in 2015.

@@jamesatkinsonja I was expecting more of that but it happened a lot in the 90’s

More creatively bankrupt executives then? Ridley Scott spent a long time developing an adaptation of best selling Ebola in America novel Crisis In The Hot Zone, only for Outbreak, not based on an existing work, but clearly taking its inspiration from Hot Zone, getting made and Scott's film being cancelled.

@@jamesatkinsonja Same thing happened with The Prestige and The Illusionist in 2006 and Friends With Benefits and No Strings Attached in 2011. And while I can't name any specific movies I guarantee it happened multiple times from the 40s-60s.

I wouldn't be surprised if Connery's salary played a part as Zeta-Jones would certainly be cheaper than especially Nicole Kidman at the time.

@@jamesatkinsonja It possible i believe she was paid about 2 million for the picture and Kidman and Bassett salaries per movie were about 6 mil and 4 mil respectively

I am glad he didn't stay on that long. He would go on to do much better movies.

Of course it was Connery's own decision to leave Bond behind and do other roles [even if he did return to the part periodically] which, while a struggle at times, eventually lead to great success.

Another one to go with Ed TV and The Truman Show is Pleasantville from the same time.

I recall vaguely that Brosnan was under no contract stipilations to not wear a tux while playing Bond, apparently the scene was just seen to be better with him with an undone tie.

Connery was asked to do the Lasers scene, but he couldn’t be arsed.

Absolutely. I love that film and Connery is great in it. There's a fascinating chapter in writer/director Michael Crichton's book 'Travels' about the filming.

Connery does a 'Tom Cruise' for the end train sequence and did a lot of his own stunts.

Crichton (who also wrote the novel the film is based on) said that Connery's character was someone who could convincingly fit into Low and High Class worlds, and Connery was the only actor he could imagine pulling that off.

@@davidjames579 There is a great anecdote that Wayne Sleep was told he had to do his own stunts as they couldn't find a stunt double to match his 5' 2'' height!

I agree on both those films getting a review. 'Sunset' also has the novelty of featuring Naomi Harris with Brosnan [and allegedly Salma Hayek was in the running for Jinx before Hallie Berry was cast].

This is it @Calvin Dyson , really interesting and well thought out and researched theory…. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b6yUocinvdDVlJc.htmlsi=V2vLuFwIpxhfjqvk

Calvin mentioned it in his review of 'The Rock' and said he didn't feel the characters were that linked [he couldn't imagine Connery's Bond saying 'F-K the prom queen' for example]. The Rock resembles 'Die Hard'/Hostage Rescue [and Nick Cage is co-lead] much more than a Bond plot.

It's similar to how-because of there being a lot of cross over in crew-some people suggest Connery's 'Outland' is set in the Alien universe-it's not but it's a harmless fan theory [the rock more from probably Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais adding some in jokes like some of the references in 'November Man' for Brosnan].

​@@jamesatkinsonja in fairness this Bond had been locked up in an American prison for decades, so may have adopted some of the American prison lingo. I certainly think some of his refinement may have chipped away by then. That aside I don't want to think of Mason as Bond as I don't want to think of Bond spending his best years, not doing and getting the things he loves.

Probably as few people saw Russia House at the time [it only made $23 million on a $21.8 million budget] and was swiftly forgotten outside fans of Le Carre and the actors.

Connery was one of those rare actors who even at pension age, women in their 20's would say is sexy. It was the same thing with Roger. David Walliams mentions it in his interview with David Zaritski where he says that his then wife said Roger really is still sexy after meeting him, despite him being old enough to be her Grandad. So I think less chance of criticism as they could get why, even when the aged male star, young hot female star pairing was a trope.

@@davidjames579 He won 'sexist man alive' in 1989 when he was 59 so he still had it!