The Hot Blog

JFK
Gattaca
The Thin Red Line
Pulp Fiction
The Usual Suspects
Goodfellas
The Truman Show
Unforgiven
Leaving Las Vegas
L.A. Confidential
and yes...Dumb and Dumber

Schindler's List and Ed Wood are must-includes for me.

And every part of Titanic that doesn't involve Billy Zane.

I'm too young to remember the 90s.

As far as the 2000s go... for my money...

1)CAST AWAY (Zemeckis)
2)MULHOLLAND DRIVE (Lynch)
3)THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (Jackson)
4)ADAPTATION (Jonze)
5)AI: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (Spielberg)
6)BEFORE SUNSET (Linklater)
7)UNITED 93 (Greengrass)
8)IN AMERICA (Sheriden)
9) THE QUEEN (Frears)
10) THIS IS ENGLAND (Meadows)

Runners up... The Bourne Identity (Liman), Spider-Man 2 (Raimi), The Aviator (Scorsese), About a Boy (Weitz), Insomnia (Nolan), The Lives of Others (von Donnersmarck), Collateral (Mann), School of Rock (Linklater), Wedding Crashers (Dobkin)

Boogie Nights, Heat, Unforgiven, GoodFellas, Lost Highway, Pulp Fiction, JFK, Silence of the Lambs, Eyes Wide Shut...

I'd be curious what people think of the 1996 film year, either now in retrospect or even at the time. Personally, I've always remembered that as the weakest year of the decade. I remember scrambling to come up with some sort of bogus top 10 list at the time, and not coming up with much. As opposed to most other years from the decade, where at least two or three masterpieces or close-to-it dropped.

I remember '96 as being a hyped "indie" year, and the Oscars were overrun with the likes of Sling Blade, Secrets & Lies, Shine, Breaking the Waves, and of course, English Patient. Hell, I remember even something as niche as The Substance of Fire running tons of ads in the trades come Oscar season.

A lot of fine films in there-- and many will consider Breaking the Waves a genuine classic-- but with the exception of maybe it and definitely Fargo, doesn't seem that Scrappy Indie Oscar Slate of '96 produced a lot of beloved flicks that get rewatched to this day.

The closest we got that year to a big, sprawling, gritty Lex-type opus was People vs. Larry Flynt... At the time, it was my #1 of the year but again, not something that's stood the test of time as a beloved favorite for me or anyone else. Anyone seen it recently? Does it hold up? The op-ed pieces seemed to halt its momentum almost before it got started... I'm wondering if the early raves (and my own) were just overeagerness to christen a new GoodFellas/Pulp Fiction/(pre-cursor to Boogie Nights) type tawdry-but-kinetic epic.

I guess Swingers (though the swing dance shit dates it BADLY and the catchphrases are played) and definitely Trainspotting are the two other movies from that year that have attained classic status... Is Scream uncool now?

I liked all the big, dumb FX movies that summer, even some of the weird Augusts flicks... but that Oscar slate was pretty glum.

Perhaps an overreaction, going too far into the edgy/indie forest after going so lightweight the previous year 'cause of the Dole criticism?

Hard Boiled (the last great Woo film)
Drunken Master II (Chan's last masterpiece)
L.A. Confidential
Dumb and Dumber
Schindler's List
Goodfellas
JFK
Bad Lieutanent
Unforgiven
Pulp Fiction
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Boogie Nights
Dark City
Pleasantville
La Haine
Gattaca
Toy Story 2
The Matrix
Trainspotting
Se7en
Leon

I agree that 1996 was probably the worst year of the bunch; "Independence Day" was the big moneymaker that year, and is, unfortunately, the one I've seen the most! So obviously, it wasn't a strong year. "The English Patient" is about as irrelevant a best-picture winner as you can think of, and I can't say I have much of desire to ever again watch "Secrets & Lies" or "Jerry Maguire." The best movies that year were easily "Fargo" and "The People Vs. Larry Flynt."

1995 and 1999 were easily the best years of the decade. The former was a fabulous year for crime films -- "Seven," "Get Shorty," "The Usual Suspects," "Casino" -- and the latter was full of groundbreaking, daring entertainments, from "The Matrix" to "Magnolia." It's a year that makes its best-picture winner, "American Beauty," seem tame by comparison. Even the blockbusters were wildly different; how did a slow, quiet character study like "The Sixth Sense" make almost $300 million? I will always cherish 1999.

Lists are always fun, here's my top ten of the '90's:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Swingers
3. J.F.K.
4. Schindler's List
5. The Crying Game
6. Reversal of Fortune
7. Goodfellas
8. The Usual Suspects
9. Quiz Show
10. Magnolia

Runners Up (and very close): Fight Club, In the Name of the Father, Heat, Silence of the Lambs, Breaking the Waves, Dead Man Walking, Hunt for Red October, Malcolm X, L.A. Confidential, Boogie Nights, Flirting with Disaster, Trainspotting, Go, Rounders, Beauty and the Beast, Dead Again, The Truman Show, American History X

This would be an opportune time to mention that out of nowhere, and almost randomly, I rewatched "Jungle Fever" on DVD recently.

Man, that is the 1991est movie to ever 1991. Except maybe for "New Jack City." Snipes' wardrobe, every background extra, the graffiti in the background, the production design, the camera angles, the soundtrack-- not in 17 years have I had such a strong desire to peg my Bugle Boys, curl the back of my mullet, crank some "Motownphilly," rest a crooked backwards hat on the very top of my head, and button my electric-blue tucked in dress shirt all the way to the top. What a time machine, man.

Anyway, what a mixed bag; Jackson is still electric and amazing, that setpiece at the end where Snipes tracks him down has to be among the decade's best. But for every gem like any Jackson scene or the stuff between Turturro and the friendly African-American gal who comes into his newsstand, we get something like that shrill, stops-the-movie-dead woman's roundtable discussion. Still a pretty great movie though -- really alive and overpacked with interesting stuff, even if it's awfully didactic and sometimes over-the-top.

LexG - I actually might have included Jungle Fever on my list, too. You are dead-on about it.

Just some fantastic scenes and performances - Jackson does an amazing job and that scene at the "Taj Mahal" to the Stevie Wonders "Living in the City" is one of the best set pieces of the decade. But like many a Spike Lee joint, the film doesn't know when to quite and is overstuffed - the Gator storyline eventually overwhelms the main Snipes/Sciorra storyline, though they are good, too.

I am a big fan of Spike Lee, but most of his films are more like collections of memorable scense than straight-line narratives - see 25th Hour and Summer of Sam, too. The guy loves to go off on tangents and in my opinion, he has done only three truly cohesive films: Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, and strangely enough, Inside Man. Still, sub-par Spike Lee is still better filmmaking that the best of most of other directors.

Larry Flynt made the top of my '96 list, too, but I haven't seen it in a good while. I did see Sling Blade again recently and loved it just as much if not more. The measured pace may keep it from catching on with the ADD generation, but it really draws you in if you stay with it.

Some other fine '96 titles, which may or may not be rewatched much these days:

Big Night
Flirting with Disaster
Bottle Rocket
Citizen Ruth
Waiting for Guffman
Manny & Lo
A Family Thing
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Love Serenade
Ridicule
La Promesse
Les Voleurs
Ponette
Hamsun

The great Shall We Dance? was made in Japan that year, released stateside in '97.

Re Jungle Fever: What possessed Mr. and Mrs. Purify to name their sons Gator and Flipper?

GoodFellas
Miller's Crossing
Reversal of Fortune
Avalon
JFK
Bad Lieutenant
Malcolm X
Unforgiven
Short Cuts
Schindler's List
Naked
In The Name of the Father
Ed Wood
Heavenly Creatures
The Shawshank Redemption
Seven
Heat
Babe
Nixon
The Usual Suspects
Twelve Monkeys
Smoke
Fargo
Secrets & Lies
Breaking The Waves
Jackie Brown
Kundun
Boogie Nights
L.A. Confidential
Underground
Dark City
Saving Private Ryan
The Thin Red Line
Fight Club
Three Kings
Being John Malkovich
Eyes Wide Shut
The Insider
Titus
The Straight Story

Forgot about:

Hard-Boiled
Bullet in the Head

Why no '70s thread, Dave???
OK, this is strictly for LexG because it's all about OWNAGE.
Lex, have you seen Marco Ferreri's "The Grand Bouffe" and "The Last Woman" (1973 and '76 respectively)? Amazing, balls-to-the-walls masterpieces, and Gerard Depardieu's performance in the latter is possibly the most audacious, let-it-all-hang-out (literally, since he's stark naked throughout most of the film) male perf I've ever seen.
"Bouffe" is finally available domestically on dvd, but "Woman" has been out of circulation seemingly forever. The last time I saw it was on a double-bill with Rohmer's "Claire's Knee" at the old New Yorker on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Fuck, does that age me!
Really, Lex, no discussion of OWNING, OWNAGE or OWNERSHIP would be complete without mention of those 2 Ferreri classics. Both, coincidentally, rated "X" at the time of their original release.
Also, have you checked out "Machine Girl" yet? Hand's down, it's the most outlandishly, absurdly, delightfully violent (and entertaining) movie I've seen in ages: a real Tarantino wet dream writ large. If there were such a thing as "midnight movies" anymore, "MG" would be the Japanese "El Topo."

In no particular order:
-Beauty and the Beast (I notice that no one has mentioned classic)
-Terminator 2
-The Lion King
-The Silence of the Lambs
-To Die For
-Jurassic Park

And since I'm a hopelessly hopeless romantic,
-Sleepless in Seattle
-Ever After
-While You Were Sleeping
-Pretty Woman

...and how could I forget the greatest Lex selling feature of "The Last Woman"?
Ornella Muti: TOTAL OWNAGE. And, yes, like Depardieu, she's starkers for virtually the entire film. 'Nuff said.

A couple I haven't seen mentioned:

Rushmore
Out of Sight

How could I have forgotten Clueless!!

How could I have forgotten Clueless and William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.

Completely off the top of my head:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Fargo
3. Magnolia
4. Toy Story 2
5. Schindler's List
6. Trainspotting
7. 12 Monkeys
8. The Truman Show
9. Rushmore
10. Wayne's World
11. Out of Sight
12. Chasing Amy
13. Dark City
14. Being John Malkovich
15. Heat
16. Batman Returns
17. Natural Born Killers
18. Fight Club
19. American Beauty
20. Titanic

I remember '95 being a weak year. I probably just missed a bunch of stuff because I was only 15 at the time, but I remember struggling to come up with a decent top 10. Actually, I had a great top 5 (including 12 Monkeys, Heat, Toy Story, and Clockers) and had to fill out the list with some movies I personally loved but wouldn't normally make a top ten list (Desperado, Mallrats). I had a similar problem in 2001: great top five, but by #10 could barely hold it together.

I'll still stand up for American Beauty -- I haven't seen it in awhile, but it held up well to multiple viewings, even though its rep has soured a bit over the years.

Wag the Dog.

Also, I know everyone has been praising '99 so this isn't an original sentiment, but can I just get another WOW for, in no particular order: Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, Toy Story 2, Fight Club, American Beauty, Iron Giant, Election, Go, The Matrix, Three Kings, Run Lola Run, Bringing Out the Dead, Mystery Men, Blair Witch Project, The Sixth Sense, The Insider, Eyes Wide Shut, Dogma, Bowfinger, Cradle Will Rock, Sleepy Hollow, Episode I (I still like it), The Talented Mr. Ripley... you could find a decent top-10-of-decade list right there. (Yet somehow Cider House Rules made it into the final five at the Oscars. Yikes.)

Great pix everyone is picking. But riddle me this. Why such a happy number of non-English language pictures from the 60s and when you reference the 80s and 90s thread, there is nary a title by comparison. The list by yancyskancy is the biggest exception.

20/20 perspective? Or better filmmakers? Or is it that those of us who have been around that bit longer can remember them as first editions?

P.S. I have double posted this on to the 60s thread if anyone is interested in enlightening me.

Forrest Gump
Pulp Fiction
Magnolia
The Truman Show
Fargo
The Big Lebowski
Schindler's List
12 Monkeys
Groundhog Day
GoodFellas

Uh, Jess, I hate picking on young 'uns, but how in the **** could you leave "Babe" off your list of worthwhile 1995 titles? Not only do I happen to think that it was the best film of its respective year (although "Wild Reeds" and "Heat" did give it some stiff competition), but it's easily one of my top picks for the entire decade. Was it because a 15-year-old wouldn't have been caught dead watching a "kid's movie" perhaps? If so, I'd suggest giving it a spin. You may be surprised at whata perfect work of art it is.
Also, I'm sick and tired of people--including, I'm sure, many who have never even seen it--dumping on Lasse Hallstrom's "The Cider House Rules" as though it was, well, Lasse Hallstrom's "The Shipping News" or Lasse Hallstrom's "Casanova" (starring everyone's favorite love child du jour, Mr. Method Ledger).
Hallstrom--who was still making terrific movies back then ("Gilbert Grape," "Once Around," "My Life as a Dog," "Something to Talk About")--created a piitch-perfect rendering of a John Irving novel that many people (myself included) considered well nigh unfilmable. I can still remember the "movie high" it gave me at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival--sandwiched in between Ang Lee's also terrific "Ride With the Devil" (Tobey Maguire X 2!) and Bruno Dumont's beyond-brilliant "Humanite."
While I was a fan of both the "Garp" and "Hotel New Hampshire" Irving adaptations (the less said about "Simon Birch" the better), Hallstrom's Irving was the best of the lot.
Do you actually prefer the cute-idea-but-tepidly-executed "Mystery Men" to "Cider House," Jess? Yikes; gulp. Say it isn't so!
And was Oliver Stone's smash-tastic "Any Given Sunday" just an oversight, or do you like "Mystery Men" better than it, too?
How about Neil Jordan's exquisite "The End of the Affair"?
Or "The Straight Story," David Lynch's humanist masterpiece aberration?

Just to bring some Canadian flavour (that's right, flavoUr!):

The Sweet Hereafter

Mad props for my boy Denzel:

Devil In A Blue Dress

I'm drawing a... blank:

Grosse Pointe Blank

Linda who...:

The Last Seduction

My three favourites of the 90s:

Out of Sight, JFK, The Shawshank Redemption

For what it's worth... Keep in mind, these are favorites, not necessarily best... in general order of release year...

Dick Tracy - Still one of the darkest and saddest comic book films ever made - Pacino and especially Madonna both do some of their best work and everyone else is in top form. Behind the colors and gee-whiz violence, this is a sad, mournful character study of several people (Tracy, Breathless, Big Boy, 88 Keys) stuck in places they don't want to be, excelling in roles they have little interest in playing, with no plausible way to get out.

Awakenings - haven't seen in it years, but I loved it back when it was new. One of Robin Williams' very best performances (along with his guest spot on Homicide back in 1994).

Dances With Wolves - It was a giant smash and a multi-Oscar winner, yet now it is genuinely underrated. Forgive Costner for some of the crap that came after and forgive him for defeating Scorsese and Goodfellas. All that aside, this is a beautiful western epic.

Goodfellas - No explanation needed.

Silence Of The Lambs - still holds up as the definitive adult dark fairy tale for our age. Hopkins' work is cliche by now, but Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, and Ted Levine make up for it in spades. Still an incredibly rich, character-driven thriller.

JFK - passes the non-fiction test - so completely involving and entertaining that it would be a near-masterpiece even if it were complete fiction (which it may be).

Malcolm X - the best biopic of all time. Period.

Batman Returns - the best Batman film of all time. Period.

Dead Alive/Brain Dead - the goriest film ever made and the finest horror comedy I've ever seen.

Schindler's List - Take away all of the staggering Holocaust footage and you still have a peerless character study of two opposing figures (Neeson and Feinnes).

In The Line Of Fire - It has aged much better than The Fugitive (which ages poorly since Kimble finds his wife's killer in literally two easy steps that any private eye or lawyer should have been able to do). It's one of my favorite white-knuckle thrillers.

Pulp Fiction - Still holds up.

Ed Wood - still Tim Burton's best film.

Forrest Gump - no matter your political stripe, I've always taken this as a dark comedy dealing both with the concept of America being a place where you can fall into success while the more ambitious and worthy fail, or the idea that the good luck of Forrest Gump rubs off inversely towards everyone he meets, bringing death, destruction and misery to everyone in his path. It's ok to still love this film AND love Pulp Fiction, Tarantino does too.

Speed - one of the best action films of the decade. It still holds up because of the acting and quirky dialogue.

Babe - Still my all-time favorite live-action family film. I can't wait to show this one to my daughter. If she doesn't like it, there may be grounds for adoption.

Toy Story - Just because the sequel one of the best sequels ever doesn't mean the original wasn't a masterpiece. Still one of the best Pixar films, behind only Toy Story 2 and The Incredibles.

Goldeneye - Still my favorite James Bond film. Why, oh why, didn't they bring Martin Campell back for Quantum Of Solace?

Twelve Monkeys - The only time travel movie that actually makes a token amount of sense, and it's emotionally gripping to boot.

Seven/Copy Cat - both peerless thrillers in their own unique way. One rewrote the book on the genre (it's still Morgan Freeman's finest moment), the other was a last gaps of the old way, with Holly Hunter's best performance and delightfully human dialogue for every character.

Dead Man Walking - Ironically, despite losing four or five times, Susan Sarandon won the Oscar for her very best performance.

Fargo - Duh.

LA Confidential - probably my favorite film of the decade.

Face/Off - Woo's best film period, one of Cage's best performances, and one of the best action films ever written. It's so rich that it works as an emotional drama even without the shootouts.

Titanic - It needs no defense at this point. Either you love it or you don't. The key is that Cameron makes sure that the death of every single person on that ship every bit as tragic as what happens to our leads.

Wag The Dog - contrary to popular belief, it actually came out a month before the Lewinsky mess broke. If ever a film were to predict the future...

The Mask Of Zorro - My favorite action adventure film of the 1990s, perhaps my favorite superhero film of all time. Banderas is terrific, and Hopkins does better, more alive work here than anything since Silence Of The Lambs. The stunt work and sword play are grand, the music is sweeping, and the villains are both devious and sympathetic (and surprisingly intelligent - the master plan is genuinely brilliant). I used to show this one to new girlfriends as a litmus test. Knowing this, my wife refused to watch it until after we were married (she still is afraid to watch Almost Famous, which is the only other 'must like' movie). This is one of those movies that I probably enjoy more than anyone else on the planet.

A Simple Plan - Sam Raimi's best film, Billy Bob Thornton's best work, and one of the more nerve-wracking thrillers of the decade.

Dark City - I loved it when I saw it in theaters and time has only improved its sad, mournful power. The director's cut is better, but that's no strike against the original version. Was, is, and always shall be better than The Matrix.

The Sixth Sense - Still holds up as an incredibly moving character study about a troubled son and an overburdened single mother. It still works as a slow-build thriller too. Take away the twist, and the climactic car conversation is still a stunningly effective, emotionally bruising climax to a terrific film.

Toy Story 2 - Probably the best cartoon ever made.

Other worthies of the decade - Total Recall (Arnold's best film), LA Story (Steve Martin's best film), City Slickers, Dead Again, Star Trek VI, Candyman, The Fugitive, Searching For Bobby Fischer, Jurassic Park, Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm, Braveheart, The Usual Suspects, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders of Robin Hood Hill, Independence Day (especially the director's cut), Big Night, Contact, Donnie Brasco (Pacino's best performance of the 1990s), The Truman Show, The Siege (another 'predict the future' movie), Being John Malkovich, Election, Magnolia, Sleepy Hollow, The Iron Giant, The Matrix, and yes, sorry, Star Wars: Episode One: The Phantom Menace (judges evenly, it's as good as New Hope but it's nearly as good as Empire or Sith).

Three Colors trilogy? Anyone?

1. GOODFELLAS (enough said elsewhere probably).
2. THE FUGITIVE.(as perfectly executed as a studio action thriller can be - there's scarcely a single shot or line that isn't needed. It's a huge mystery as to why Andrew Davis has never shown anything like this form again).
3. JURASSIC PARK (with each passing year this looks more and more like Spielberg's latterday masterpiece, minus the sentimental touches that fleck Schindler and Private Ryan. To this day i have never felt such excitement amongst a packed audience on opening weekend. An endlessly rewatchable ride).
4. TOY STORY 2 (a richer, more polished film than the first, for me Pixar still haven't topped it).
5. DANCES WITH WOLVES (yes, Goodfellas is better. No, it shouldn't have won the Oscar. Now let's move on....)
6. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (despite what i mentioned above, this movie as an experience is still utterly pulverising, if you can track down the now-deleted DVD with DTS sound and get a decent quality home-theater system, then you're set).
7. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION - time for the backlash backlash, it's still okay to love this one.
8. SCHINDLER'S LIST.
9. THE USUAL SUSPECTS - whatever happened to Christopher Mcquarrie?
10. TRAINSPOTTING.

"Red" more than "White" or "Blue," Lazarus, but KK's Trilogy will always hold a special place atop my list of the '90s greatest films.

Crud... I completely forgot Hoop Dreams. And I suppose Shawshank should be in the 'other worthies' but I didn't want to include every movie I really liked over the decade.

Not yet mentioned: THE LONG WALK HOME, FUNNY BONES, NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN, MARS ATTACKS!, CRADLE WILL ROCK (well, it was, but I thought it needed reaffirmation) and--no, I swear I'm not kidding--THE SHADOW. It did a remarkable job of recreating the period, the script was crackling, and the cast was terrific, with Alec Baldwin displaying just the right mixture of mystery, toughness and humor.

Feel free to start throwing vegetables, but I stand by this.

Some favorites that I don't think have been mentioned yet:

To Sleep with Anger
Life is Sweet
The Oak
Black Robe
A Woman's Tale
La Belle noiseuse
Raise the Red Lantern
One False Move
Stolen Children
Un coeur en hiver
Household Saints
Burnt by the Sun
Crumb
Safe
A Little Princess
Hana-Bi
The Apostle
The Dreamlife of Angels
Ratcatcher
Shower
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut

Mars Attacks - I loved it as a teenager but I have a terrible feeling it won't hold up, so I haven't watched it recently.

The Shadow - hated it when I saw it in theaters, now I like it. I especially like the three scenes where Baldwin and Jon Lone (hero and villain) simply meet for brunch and chit-chat about evil plans, righteous intentions, and their eventual confrontation ('besides... you KNOW I'm gonna stop ya').

Pope: I see no one has taken up your question yet ("Why such a happy number of non-English language pictures from the 60s and when you reference the 80s and 90s thread, there is nary a title by comparison"). I'll take a stab at it.

Surely it's related to differences in distribution and demographics. Foreign language films used to have widespread cultural cachet. Directors like Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini, Bresson, etc., stretched the form and influenced other filmmakers all over the world. In the '60s and '70s, we saw a lot of that influence spread to American film. But the blockbuster mass-appeal success of genre films since the mid-70s has made the studios even more averse than usual to commercial risk. New generations of filmmakers have grown up influenced by popular American directors. Foreign language films rarely get more than token LA and NY art house releases in the U.S., unless they have genre elements that appeal to a larger crowd (Hong Kong action, Japanese anime, the occasional French thriller).

Therefore, I would almost be willing to wager that few cinephiles under, say, 25, expend any effort on catching foreign language films, despite the DVD availability of a wide variety of noteworthy titles, both classic and recent. And if you haven't seen it, you can't put it on your list.

I can't believe I forgot Goodfellas; I guess I still think of 1990 as part of the eighties, in no small part because I wasn't going to as many movies back then.

Movieman, I never backed away from watching a "kid" movie -- not only do I have a younger sister (which means I saw The Babysitters Club movie in the theaters), but a lot of them, I actively wanted to see. I definitely saw Toy Story in theaters at the same age -- and Pocahontas, for that matter; I've seen every new Disney cartoon (well, not counting the DisneyToon stuff -- bastardized sequels and the like) theatrically since I was a kid.

That said, I do remember not feeling particularly excited about Babe because the then-nascent talking-animal sub-genre kinda creeped me out, as it still does. I didn't catch up with it until a plane ride, and had an OK time with it... but didn't love it. I probably owe it another viewing (and I feel like I should see that Pig in the City movie; that looked a little more up my alley), but as I posted in another thread some time ago, I'm often surprised by how often my initial reaction holds up even years later.

Looking over my records of what I saw in '99, I did notice Any Given Sunday and think, hey, I remember that movie! That one was pretty good! But no, it wasn't one of big movies of that year (though I do like most '90s Oliver Stone; Nixon was one of the few other top-tier '95 movies). But yes, I absolutely prefer Mystery Men to that and especially Cider House. Mystery Men just works really well on a joke-for-joke level, with some surprisingly good characterization, too.

As for Cider House, maybe it's because I haven't read the book yet, but to me it played exactly like one of those countless movies where a complex novel is compressed into a Cliffs' Notes movie. I kept finding myself thinking, "I bet this is much better-explored in the book." I really enjoyed the first half-hour or so, but it took a dive after that.

And I freaking hated Casanova, actually. I thought it looked amusing and light and all of that, but it came off as the poor (poor, poor) man's Shakespeare in Love at every turn. Oliver Platt was funny in it, though.

So while it's easy to pick on Hallstrom, I can't say I can get worked up to defend him... though The Hoax was okay.

You definitely need to take a (second and first respectively) look at "Babe" and "Pig in the City," Jess.
I understand--and respect--certain prejudices. I've got a terrible fear and loating of rats which is probably why "Ratatouille" didn't rock my boat the way it did most critics last summer. (The 1971 "Willard" is still a favorite guilty pleasure, however: I loved how it freaked me out as a rat-phobic kid.)
Yes, Hallstrom fell onto some hard times post-"Cider House," but "CH" still holds a cherished place in my heart. My only retrospective quibble is a (minor) casting one: one of the film's cute little orphans went on to play annoying Dewey on "Malcolm in the Middle."
And for my money, the kiss between Tobey and Charlize is the greatest automotive movie kiss scene since the one between Tim Bottoms and Cybill Shepherd in "TLPs" with "Blue Velvet" playing on the car radio.
"Casanova" fell flatter than a pancake, "Chocolat" is too decorous by half and "The Shipping News" is a catastrophe in every conceivable way (beginning with the perversely wrong-headed, what-were-they-thinking-of casting).
But an "Unfinished Life" is as good as a non-"Out of Sight" J-Lo movie can be, and "The Hoax" was a mighty strong Hallstrom comeback. Hope that means he's on a rebound.
If Hallstrom had only made "My Life as a Dog," "Gilbert Grape" and, yes, "Cider House," his spot in my personal pantheon would be secure.
Your affection for "Mystery Men" still rattles me, though, lol.

I have to do 15:

1. "The Thin Red Line"
2. "Fargo"
3. "Goodfellas"
4. "Pulp Fiction"
5. "Chasing Amy"
6. "Boogie Nights"
7. "Schindler's List"
8. "Out of Sight"
9. "Before Sunrise"
10. "Magnolia"
11. "Jerry Maguire"
12. "Three Kings
13. "The Sweet Hereafter"
14. "Clueless"
15. "Flirting With Disaster"

1996 was a highlight year of the decade.

You had:

Heidi Fleiss, Nico Icon, Young Poisoner's Handbook, Beautiful Girls, I shot Andy Warhol, Trees Lounge, Paradise Lost, Looking for Richard, Twister, The Rock, Harriet the Spy, Hunback of Notre Dame, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Grace of My Heart, Get on the Bus, Long Kiss Goodnight, Tin Cup, Butterfly's Kiss, Basquiat, Trainspotting, Ransom, Star Trek: First Contact, Mirror Has Two Faces, Mother, Surviving Picasso, Kansas City, Dadetown, Swingers, Mission: Impossibe, One Fine Day, 12th Night, Big Night, Eraser, Scream, Mary Reilly, Marvin's Room, Everyone Says I Love You, Great White Hype, and The Nutty Professor.

Jimmy, I remember '96 as being a strong year, too, and Welcome to the Dollhouse, Trees Lounge, Trainspotting, Swingers, and Everyone Says I Love You, to name a few, make a good case. Trees Lounge is one of the most masterfully depressing movies about bars (or about anything, really) I've ever seen. Mission: Impossible, First Contact, Tin Cup, and Scream are all strong mainstream entertainment, too.

But: Twister?! Ransom?! No way, and The Rock is overrated even in the action-trash category (Con Air is far less schizo and more enjoyable; the fact that a far less talented director made a better Michael Bay movie than anything actually directed by Bay is very telling).

Eraser is pretty crap too, but it is worth noting as the last Arnold movie to make over $100 million (isn't that right? Discounting Batman & Robin, I mean, as that wasn't really his vehicle). And I have to give it up for "you're luggage." (OK, fine, if that movie was on cable right now, I'd probably DVR it.)

The sonic EXPERIENCE of Twister in movie theaters was undeniable. Helen Hunt is the only weak link in the movie. She comes off as an actress who knows she's being forced to appear in a Summer Action Movie in order to up her credit at the box office. (It's actually quite insulting to audiences to think if you show up in a no-brainer action epic nobody will notice.) Paxton, Hoffmann, Elwes and even Lois Smith showed more conviction. Teey sold the AWE, not Hunt.

I forgot to mention Lone Star, Primal Fear, Fear, Freeway, Normal Life, and the flawed but underrated City Hall.

I also liked Tony Scott's trash remake of Taxi Driver, The Fan.

I'll throw in a few great 90's movies I don't think I've seen on any of the lists yet.

Leolo
Raise the Red Lantern
Underground
All about my mother
The double life of Veronique
Age of Innocence
Man Bites Dog
Remains of the Day
Sonatine
Lone Star
Jackie Brown

My personal top 10 list for the decade would be:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. The Sweet Hereafter
3. The Nightmare Before Christmas
4. Dark City
5. The Iron Giant
6. Gattaca
7. Beauty and the Beast
8. Goodfellas
9. Princess Mononoke
10. Lost Highway

Better late than never. Here is my list in no particular order (that would take a long time):

Heat
Pulp Fiction
Goodfellas
Boys Don't Cry
Twelve Monkeys
Jackie Brown
Bound
Wag the Dog
Schneidler's List
Hoop Dreams
Shawshank Redemption
Titanic
Wag the Dog
Groundhog Day
Ed Wood
Hard Boiled
Seven
Leon the Professional
Karakter
One False Move
T2
Insider
Magnolia
American Beauty
Being John Malkovich

I am sure I miss many others. Especially earlier in the decade, but I would probably need some time to organize my thought.

What is wrong with you people?! 1994!

At least we had a Last Seduction mention
Death and the Maiden
Romeo is Bleeding (for Lena Ollin)
Also on the acting tip: Blue Sky & Ed Wood
Once Were Warriors
True Lies
Speed
Bullets Over Broadway and Dumb & Dumber (yes, same sentence!)
Shawshank Redemption
Hoop Dreams
Though not my personal favorites they deserve mention: Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings & a Funeral
Many people would mention Priscilla Queen of the Dessert, Interview w/a Vampire & Heavenly Creatures for costume/set design

Prolly my 3 favorites would be
Red (from Three Colors Trilogy)
Clear & Present Danger
Quiz Show

Another of my favorite movies from the decade that did hit Cannes in '94 but I guess it's really a 1995 film was...
Shallow Grave

Some of my favorites (screw "best," I never liked that label) not mentioned:

The Rocketeer
Point Break
Grand Canyon
The Hard Way
Aladdin
Scent of a Woman
Dave
The Sandlot
The Fifth Element

Mendelson - Hmmm, will have to go back and watch Ed Wood. Was thinking Edward Scissorhands was Burton's best, mainly because I thought Wood was too long.

Sorry if this is a double-post, but movable type is screwing with me again.
Speaking of buried 1994 treasures, what about Polanski's "Bitter Moon"? I've always thought that was one of his minor masterpieces.
And, despite the inevitable backlash that tarnished its rep, "4 Weddings and a Funeral" really is a nonpareil rom-com.
Or Ted Demme's bust-a-gut-funny Xmas comedy "The Ref" (w/ the divine Judy Davis, Kevin Spacey at his vitriolic best and Denis Leary just being Denis Leary); Mike Nichols' gleeefully misanthropic "Wolf," if only for the classic urinal scene where Nicholson pisses on James Spader (this opened the same day as the O.J./Bronco freeway chase: I remember coming home from the theater, seeing it on TV and thinking, "What the ****?!"); and,
talk about a movie that got zero love at the time of its holiday release!, Altman's impishly insouciant "Ready to Wear" with its nuttier-than-a-box-of-Cracker-Jacks all-star cast and lush European locations.

Movieman - My boss back at the time recommended Bitter Moon to me, although it might've been '95 at the time when I saw it on video. She said one thing to me, "Whatever you do, do NOT, DO NOT, see this with someone of the opposite sex, especially not a girlfriend or someone you've just started dating."

I saw it by myself and while I'm not a self serving horndog like the lead, holy crap, did that film scare the life outta me. What a knife to the heart.

I def gotta see that again. I barely remember any of it, only feeling that no one could be trusted. Not even myself. Maybe now, I'll have a much clearer perspective on everything but there was some brutal emotion there.

I've always thought less of Edward Scissorhands purely for the ending. Even Tim Burton admits in 'Burton On Burton' that he was just blowing off steam from his high school days. Really... having Edward literally commit cold-blooded murder of a punk who was nothing more than an obnoxious bully? And to have him standing there afterward looking tough and righteous (which suggested that it wasn't just panicked self-defense)? Always struck me as exactly the wrong way to end an otherwise good movie. But, again, I haven't seen it in years.

Kind of enjoying the posts where people elaborate on a particular cool movie rather than just list things (though that's cool, too)...

Since it's on topic and jesse, Mendolson, and KCamel (and no doubt many others) think very highly of BATMAN RETURNS, I'd like to discuss it for a sec.

I watched this just yesterday for the first time in many years, and with all due respect to its fans and as an admitted TDK super-fan, I have to say that RETURNS is, as it was then, a bit of a dud.

Don't get me wrong; Pfieffer is absolutely terrific in it... sexy and fun and completely awesome. Keaton was a great, great Bruce Wayne and a fine Batman. Walken walks away with the whole movie. And DeVito's work as the Penguin is very underrated. Maybe sensing that he couldn't out-ham Nicholson's Joker, he went a different way and created a thoroughly loathsome, sinister Batvillain.

But the screenplay really is kind of a mess; Schreck and The Penguin seem to change their grand schemes and motivations from one scene to the next. As late as 90 MINUTES into the movie, Penguin concocts some scheme to kill Gotham's first-born sons, then just kinda scraps that and sends rocket-strapped penguins into town square? The hell?

And the Batman/Catwoman byplay, the movie's best element, is kind of contrived since they have no real beef with each other, at least not one that isn't fully contrived via, again, a very uneven kitchen sink screenplay. Watch it again... everyone's motives are illogical and tentative.

And Burton's visual sense is always heralded, but BR looks more backlot than a '70s cop show. The entire thing seems to take place in one fake-looking block, the action just not epic at all because everything seems to take place within the same 20 square feet. It's like Burton went to a Santa mock-up at a local department store and tossed around some obviously fake snow, and shot the entire movie there.

Again, I respect that the film has many fans and I'm not trying to stir anything up... just seemed like an opportune time and place to get others' opinions, since I like that we're knocking some of these back and forth.

By the way, speaking of whole years we liked or didn't like, here's one for discussion.

1993. My minority opinion? 1993 blew.

Yeah, it has the obvious masterpiece and all-time classic in "Schindler's List." No arguments there. It has a huge blockbuster-classic in "Jurassic Park." Not my favorite Spielberg, but still, pretty great and one for the ages.

"The Fugitive" and "In the Line of Fire"? Terrific pop entertainments. "True Romance"? Flop at the time, found its audience, a favorite to this day.

But then... then... what? What were the great films of '93? I'm always kinda stumped; I liked "Carlito's Way" fine, and think "Falling Down" is pretty underrated. "Gilbert Grape" is one of those fine films you NEVER want to watch... Just seems like a lot of "big" directors either sat out that year or were off their game. I could be wrong and would welcome the opinions of some 1993 defenders.

I did like Clint's widely neglected "Perfect World," liked some of the big summer movies, but still, other than "Schindler" and "True Romance," definitely drawing a blank trying to christen some 1993 classics.

Lex, I can't disagree with what you say about Batman Returns, except that for the most part, your accurate criticisms don't bother me. Screenplay is a mess, check, all shot on a big stage, check, but those are the minuses against Burton's visual imagination, which is stronger on a stage than on location - I don't expect a Burton movie to be 'epic', I expect it to be neurotic and twisted, insular, cramped. Also, Pfeiffer's mousy/ferocious catwoman performance, probably the best female performance by an American actress that year; and the sheer psychological weirdness of it all.

Basically, it's a movie made by someone with a specific sensibility and perspective, which is more than you can say about Batman '89 or either of the Schumachers beyond the neon and nipples.

The '93 movies I have in my video collection:

Groundhog Day
The Fugitive
The Age of Innocence
Schindler's List
Army of Darkness
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Short Cuts
Cronos
Iron Monkey

Damn, forgot about Short Cuts. Good call, there-- definitely classic, epic, and has stood the test of time.

Jeff, it's my extreeeeeme minority opinion, but I actually don't think "Returns" and "& Robin" are all THAT far removed.

"Forever" is just kind of generic, handsome, somewhat enjoyable mainstream filmmaking, but "B&R," clunky as it is, seems a little bit of a piece with Schumacher's other, strangely reactionary revenge films, and the infamously kinky undercurrent, however lame, at least hints at something going on under the surface.

I'm not arguing it's a very good movie and that "Returns" isn't considerably better, but they both to some degree reflect their director's indulgences and make some attempt to thwart the blockbuster template... and they both go off the rails a bit.

'89 Batman is maybe more uneven in terms of intent and execution, but Nicholson is a force of nature, the production design is "Blade Runner"-esque in terms of scope and complexity, and it benefits from the (then) newness of its (slightly compromised) vision. It feels epic and sometimes rousing, unlike the more personalized, carny-flavored "Returns."

That aside, it again should be said that Keaton was a really awesome Batman, and I understand the arguments for the Burton flicks... I can certainly respect "Returns" on an auteurist level, but for me it ultimately underwhelms.

Perhaps I simply enjoy Burton going off the rails more than Schumacher going off the rails.

For '93, I'd throw in Household Saints, Dazed and Confused, Naked, Sonatine, The Remains of the Day (Merchant/Ivory don't normally OWN, but I liked that one), maybe In the Name of the Father. And how about Tombstone? Maybe a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.

Household Saints?

More like Boondock Saints, son. Owns your ass.

(Good call on Dazed and Confused.)

holy shit, i finally waded through all that...

the one that made me laugh with a single mention: 'brain dead' (pj's unknown masterwork, but probably better known than the seriously twisted 'meet the feebles'). scott mendelson, you're a legend

I guess I can see the script complaints about Batman Returns, but frankly, I never found it all that jarring. It certainly isn't a plotty movie -- this isn't the Batman-as-detective model -- but Burton's take gets certain aspects of the character right. Gotham-as-freak-show, the dark humor of the villains, and Batman's peculiar psychology... that's obviously what interests Burton about the character and he does right by those aspects.

His first Batman movie feels less like straight Burton and more like a visually distinctive Hollywood movie with some great Burton touches. I don't care much for the Nicholson performance because it's so thoroughly JACK; Penguin and Catwoman aren't really akin to their comics counterparts either, but you can see the interpretation there, and it's sound. Nicholson didn't interpret much beyond "villain = act like CRAZY JACK!"

So Batman Returns may not be definitive, but it'll always be a favorite of mine because it's an interesting take on the character. That's why I don't dislike Forever as much as & Robin -- I can accept it as Schumacher's take on the material, even though there are tons of flaws (mainly the treatment of Two-Face). & Robin is just a regression to the camp '60s version and I don't really see the point of doing that on a huge-budget level with a (mostly) decent cast, following three more respectable movies. AT the time, though, I remember thinking that if B&R was basically the same movie but not about Batman (and maybe a touch less garishly expensive), I could appreciate its camp ridiculousness a little more. But as an interpretation of Batman, it's mostly pointless.

Lex, you actually made a really good case for '93 even as you shrugged; I had forgotten about Perfect World, which is hugely underrated, and Carlito's Way, which is also solid. Jeff's additions of Short Cuts plus Army of Darkness, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Groundhog Day -- terrific entertainment those three -- solidifies it: damn good year.

I know this discussion has been had before, if not here than certainly other movie blogs, but I'll put '99, '93, '98, and maybe '94 out there as the best overall movie years of the '90s.

Not sure whether anyone has mentioned it or not, but I'd like to put in a plug for Joe Dante's "Matinee," an absolutely perfect gem of a movie that virtually nobody saw during its early-1993 release.
"Household Saints" is another Savoca treasure ("Boondock Saints" isn't worthy of kissing its hem line, Lex: sorry, bud!), and I personally have no problem with revisiting "Gilbert Grape" on a regular basis.
The performances, especially by DiCaprio and Darlene Cates as Ma Grape, are truly awe-inspiring, and it always gives me a good cathartic cry.
I've never really loved "Carlito's Way." I had the same problem with "CW" that I did with Scorsese's "Casino" two years later. Although both films are beautifully made, they felt like quasi-desperate attempts by legendary directors to recapture mojo from earlier hits ("Scarface" and "Good Fellas" respectively).
And while I'm a card-carrying Sean Penn Fan Club member, his twitchy, itchy performance didn't sit well with me at the time.
And speaking of "not feeling the love," I can't say that either "Jurassic Park" (impersonal and lacking the sheer, rapturous joy of filmmaking that his earlier popcorn keepers like "Jaws" and "Raiders" had in spades) or "Schindler's List" (such an ostentatious Oscar move for me that the whole thing just felt grimly over-determined somehow) ever did much for me. Of course, I pretty much shrugged off everything Spielberg did between "E.T." and "Private Ryan."
"Iron Monkey" (which I didn't see until its "official" 2001 release) and "True Romance" totally rock, however; which reminds me of what an underrated director Tony Scott has always been.
How about Fred Schepisi's "Six Degrees of Separation" for another '93 golden nugget? It features some of the best acting Will Smith has ever done; Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing both give Oscar-caliber performances; and Schepisi again proves (after 1985's "Plenty") that he has few contemporary peers in adapting plays to film.
"Farewell My Concubine" anyone??? Give it up for the fab Gong Li!

I see your point on Casino/Carlito's Way, movieman, but I'd actually much rather watch Carlito's Way than Scarface. I felt deadened by Scarface after awhile, and this is coming from someone who generally enjoys De Palma's stylings. Plus, CW is a nice mix of virtuosic De Palma and disciplined Hollywood De Palma.

Matinee is quite good, yes. I totally saw that in the theaters, somehow.

1993 had:

Matinee, Sniper, Strictly Ballroom, Mad Dog andGlory, El Mariachi, Who's the Man?, Benny & Joon, The Abyss: Director's Cut, American Heart, Menace II Society, Much Adu About NOthing, Dave, The Long Day Closes, This Boy's Life, Rich in Love, The Firm, Man Without A Face, King of the Hill, Hard Target, The Good Son, A Bronx Tale, Into the West, The Piano, Shadowlands, Kalifornia, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, A Home of Our Own, Ruby in Paradise, What's Love Got to Do With It?, Visions of Light, Map of the Human Heart.

Jesus, yes, how could I have forgotten MATINEE? Probably Joe's best all-around film and one that was prescient on so many levels.

re - Batman Returns' plot.

The Penguin ALWAYS planned to kidnap and murder the first born children of Gotham, he simply got distracted by the whole running for mayor bit. We see him doing research on the children early in the film, and Shrek finds the list later on questions what it is. And, when Penguin is humiliated, he demands that his old lists be found so his original plan can be put into action. Granted, I'm not sure how he got his plan-B rocket attack off the ground so quickly, and there are a few minor plot issues, but the whole of Batman Returns' narrative makes more sense than it's given credit for.

Basically Shreck can't get the mayor to fund his new power plant, and The Penguin wants to become public so he can have access to libraries to compile his list of first-born kids. Penguin blackmails and uses Shreck to set-up his coming out and Shreck uses Penguin to get a new mayor who will do his evil bidding and allow his power-sucking power plant. Bruce Wayne figures this out and is thus instantly suspicious of The Penguin, and Catwoman is simply the fly in the ointment.

In a weird way, it's story of a completely substance-less freak riding a wave of sympathy and naivety to political power was ahead of its time (insert Bush joke if you're a Democrat, Obama joke if you're a Republican). Next time you watch it, pay attention to the speech The Penguin gives as Wayne and Alfred are preparing to mess with his sound system. It's absolute gibberish, full of political cliches and empty rhetoric... I've always found it hysterical.

Dead Alive - I saw it on Cinemax back in 94/95 having read a brief review of it in Entertainment Weekly when it came out around the same time as Army Of Darkness, and I of course had no idea who Peter Jackson was. I've loved it ever since.

Matinee is terrific, but I haven't seen in in literally 15 years. Boy did I not know what I was dragging my mom into all those years ago during a sneak preview back in Winter, 1993. I loved it, she did not.

My big problem with The Fugitive, and it's still wonderful entertainment, is that Kimble finds his wife's killer by accessing one building, logging into one computer, doing a quick list of men with certain variables, and printing out a list of six would-be suspects. Sure enough, the last name turns out to be the killer. I'm not sure why any private eye or super-fancy lawyer couldn't have done this for Kimble when he was first arrested. And when they confront Sykes, he mentions that the cops talked to him before, which begs the question of why there wasn't a file or name for him in the case file for Kimble's lawyer to look into. If I'm missing something, please let me know so I can love this movie again.

The other odd thing about The Fugitive is that it takes a shift around the 2/3 mark from being Harrison Ford's movie to being Tommy Lee Jones's movie, rendering Ford a supporting player in his own film.

I'm pretty sure Jurassic Park is as sentimental as anything Spielberg has done since it; and compared to The Lost World, which has more bad stuff (the daughter escaping via gymnastics is Hook-level stupid) but also more good stuff (Kaminski's cinematography, more dynamic dinosaur attacks, cleverer humor like the cut to Goldblum at the beginning) it's a little prosaic.

Paul Brickman's long-awaited "Risky Business" follow-up, "Men Don't Leave." An absolutely pitch-perfect comedy-drama (emphasis on drama) with one of Jessica Lange's all-time greatest performances. I can't believe that Brickman hasn't made another film...and "MDL" was released nearly 20 years ago! Plus, an utterly charming debut by Chris O'Donnell, someone who never quite delivered on his early promise.
Another virtually forgotten 1990 movie I love is James Ivory's "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. It's as stellar a literary adaptation--and just as splendidly acted--as "Howards End," "A Room With a View" and "The Remains of the Day." The only explanation I have for its dismayingly low profile is the dearth of British accents.
Not sure whether anyone has beaten the drum yet for "Gremlins 2," "Postcards from the Edge" or "Dick Tracy," but huzzahs all around.
And Clint Eastwood's "White Hunter, Black Heart" is an impressive piece of work that rises in stature every time I've seen it. And John Schlesinger's "Pacific Heights" was a tidy little fall thriller with great Frisco location work and a terrific villainous turn by Michael Keaton in (I believe) his first post-"Batman" rol. It's also Schlesinger's last remotely watchable film.
Speaking of a formerly vital director's last watchable film: John Waters' "Cry Baby" may have seemed like "Hairspray"'s sloppy seconds in 1990, but it's a damn sight better than anything he's done since. (Kathleen Turner's performance in the otherwise disappointingly one-note "Serial Mom" excepted.)

...."first post-'Batman' role"....not "rol."
that sticky "e" key is a real pain in the ass....

Good call on "Men Don't Leave," movieman. That made my top ten for that year (really interesting Thomas Newman score, too). Ditto "White Hunter, Black Heart." I don't recall being much impressed by "Pacific Heights," but even if I were, I'd disagree that it was Schlesinger's last watchable film. I thought "Cold Comfort Farm" was quite good (made for TV but got a theatrical release).

Continuing on the Spike tap, watched MO' BETTER BLUES for the first time in 18 years the other day.

Anyone got a fresh take on that? Totally minor Spike, but interesting that it's shot, cut and structured in the exact same way as Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever. I love the grainier, grittier, messier look he's since adopted, but that early run of Dickerson-shot flicks certainly was handsome. Really good performances by Denzel and Snipes...

But had a little bit of that thing where a newly christened genius director suddenly wants to put his every whim and personal obsession up on screen... of course "Crooklyn" being the later logical extension, aka the film where a star director needs to tell his childhood/adolescent story, to minimal audience enthusiasm.

Yancy- I guess I deliberately blocked out "Cold Comfort Home" since it brings back so many unpleasant memories for me (Kate- ick, ugh--Beckinsale!).
"An Eye for an Eye" and "The Next Best Thing," though, are possibly the worst films ever made by an Oscar-winning director...any agreements/disagreements, gang?

I would like to add the City of Lost Children and Shanghai Triad to the list (I would think the secret question to identify any real movie fan would be 'when did Gong Li first break your heart?').

and the most overlooked movie of the nineties has to be 'The Boxer'. Daniel Day Lewis, Emily Watson, and Brian Cox in one of the most thoughtful looks at revolution based politics I have ever seen. Jim Sheidan brings his low key direction along and really gets amazing performances out of two leads who are best known for more showy bat-shit crazy roles than for playing everyday people. For as much as I like My left Foot and In the Name of the Father I think this is the masterpiece of their collaborations.

'When did Gong Li first break your heart?' -- When I saw her in "Ju Dou." Drove from film school in Southern Illinois over to St. Louis to see it, 1990 I think. Loved her ever since.

Didn't know Southern had a film school, I started at ISU in '91. Always wanted to make it down there for your Halloweens but I think they declared Martial Law for the years that I was able to go.

I always wondered if the American critics who tripped all over themselves rhapsodizing over Gong Li would've felt the same way if they'd seen her doing things like falling face first into horse dung in the Steven Chow movies she was doing in between the Zhang Yimou arthouse stuff.

(Not a knock on Ms. Gong--merely an observation.)

hcat: yeah, SIU had a rather well respected film program for a while there. Not sure what it's rep is these days. Our star alums include the producer of The Naked Gun films, a writer/producer for Walker Texas Ranger and the screenwriter of Wes Craven's Red Eye. Not exactly USC, but hey, it's Carbondale, Illinois.

Re Halloween: Before "martial law" was declared, I'd spend Halloweens there huddled in a corner of my dorm room, clutching a tire iron.

Gong Li was in Stephen Chow movies???
The question would be if she was any good, I would only have more respect for her if she turned out to have a knack for broad comedy as well as the dramatic turns she did in the nineties.
Its like Streep appearing in the god-awful 'She-Devil" after being heralded as the greatest actress of her generation. Thank god she followed that with 'Postcards from the Edge' and proved she could do comedy.

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