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Best Films of the 1990s
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on October 15, 2009 at 11:10 pm | ReplyBob Clark
I’ve written up a paragraph for each film on my list, so I’m going to do this 10 at a time, just to avoid the post being too short, or crashing the site, whatnot. Anyway:
50: The Double Life of Veronique– Kieslowski, 1991
“The Decalogue” was his masterpiece of the 80’s, perhaps his career. His “Three Colors” trilogy is often held as his masterpiece of the 90’s, and the last great work he completed before his premature death. But for my money, Kieslowski shines far brighter in this strong, single feature that offered as inventive and experiment in multi-part storytelling and character work as either one of his more famous long-form cinematic efforts. Irene Jacob is mesmerizing as both the passionate Polish singer and the more remote French photography student who shares her face and name, and the strange relationship that Kieslowski spins between the two characters, who never even meet face to face, remains one of the most haunting explorations of self in all cinema, and certainly his body of work. I might’ve placed it higher if it had an actual plot that hinged upon more than just the vagaries of mere coincidence.
49: Johnny Stecchino– Begnini, 1991
After his later global hit “Life is Beautiful”, which somehow combined the Holocaust and humor in a way that offended many, yet not quite enough to get canned entirely like Jerry Lewis’ “The Clown That Cried”, Begnini has slowly but surely become a dreaded punchline to a lot of people, an annoying commedia-del-arte figure who’s long outstayed his cultural welcome. But some of his earlier stuff is still a joy to watch, especially this 1991 comedy, which spins a surprising amount of laughs from the rather rote identity-switcheroo cliche of its plot. As both a dreaded Sicilian crime-lord and the ambling, well-meaning fool who’s lured into impersonating him, Begnini is fun to watch, and the long-term interlocking jokes he stitched throughout the movie pay off pretty well.
48: The Silence of the Lambs– Demme, 1991
One of those rare triple-crown threats of critical acclaim, mainstream success and award-winning sweep, Jonathan Demme’s suspenseful yet sensitive adaptation of Thomas Harris’ thriller made for a hit that was both artful and authentic. Ted Tally’s script was a big help, as was Jodie Foster’s award-winning performance. But this was Anthony Hopkin’s show to steal all along, and it’s largely thanks to him that Dr. Hannibal Lector is as big a movie-bogeyman as Dracula or Frankenstein’s creature– a modern monster for more sophisticated tastes.
47: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas– Gilliam, 1998
The 90’s were a productive era for Terry Gilliam– or at least as productive as he ever can manage, waging a one-man war of attrition against the Hollywood system. “The Fisher King” was a mostly fine use of both Arthurian myth and Robin William’s manic tendencies in New York City. “Twelve Monkeys” did the unlikely and made a big, twisty but logical sci-fi flick out of Chris Marker’s “La Jetee” with a little help from David & Janet Peoples and big-name stars like Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis. But his strongest effort of the decade, maybe even the last twenty years, was his period-perfect adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s classic piece of Gonzo Journalism to the big screen. Featuring Johnny Depp, Benecio Del Toro and a bevy of pharmacutically enhanced visions of 70’s-era Las Vegas, Gilliam’s film just about perfectly captures both Thompson’s drug-fueled imagery, passionate voice and melancholy view of an America that had lost the fire and drive of the 60’s. It’s also the first film the director helmed in the more expansive 2.35:1 aspect-ratio, and with one-eyed cinematographer Nicolla Pecorini at his side, he doesn’t waste one milimeter of the scope. A film that lives up to the book.
46: Fiorile– Paulo & Vitorrio Taviani, 1993
There are a fair amount of multi-generational dramas like this, where the same actors play various ancestors and descendents in different time periods, helping to trace the history of a nation through that of a single family– Istvan Szabo’s 1999 “Sunshine”, starring Ralph Fiennes, comes to mind. This film by the Tavianis focuses on Italy’s storied past with the Wagnerian MacGuffin of a seemingly cursed treasure that is passed down from generation to generation, with a pair of young children in the 90’s curious to both hear the tale of their bloodline and discover the whereabouts of the gold. A familiar, seemingly sentimental tale that works marvels thanks to its superb direction and talented actors.
45: The Ninth Gate– Polanski, 1999
When it first came out, most audiences and critics voiced profound disappointment at Roman Polanski’s film version of Arturo Perez-Reverte’s “The Club Dumas”, finding neither the doses of pure “Rosemary’s Baby”-esque supernatural terror or “Chinatown”-style detective thriller they might have expected. That’s because “The Ninth Gate” is neither a horror movie, nor a film-noir– instead, it’s a comedy. Sure, it’s a dark comedy involving the mysterious goings-on of Satanic elite in America and Europe, all followed by the dogged pursuit of a dead-pan antique bookseller out to find a volume that’s purported to raise the devil, but once you see how much the grand guignol affair is played for laughs, it all becomes much easier to piece together. Working together with old collaborators like screenwriter John Brownjohn, composer Wojciech Kilar (who also penned the marvelous scores of Polanski’s “Death and the Maiden” and Coppola’s “Dracula”) and muse/wife Emmanuelle Seigner, as well as new hands like cinematographer Darius Khondji (who also shot Fincher’s “Seven”) and Johnny Depp, in one of the last roles before he took to mumbling his way through Disneyland rides, the director’s work shines with a devilishly cynical shine. And why not, after all? Who better than Polanski than to know the best road to go to Hell?
44: Short Cuts– Altman, 1993
A impressive ensemble cast of character actors and an epic running-time help make Altman’s cinematic translation of the literary storytelling of Raymond Carver a majestic feat, and a uniquely American film. Altman stitches together his diverse array of characters and storylines in an effective manner, intertwining the lives of about two-dozen or so citizens of Los Angeles together over the space of a week. One of the few times he ever really took full advantage of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio as a means of doing something other than cramming a lot of people in the frame at once, his visual storytelling here is as studied in its observations of human behavior as it is of pictorial composition. His best film, hands down.
43: Crash– Cronenberg, 1996
In bringing J.G. Ballard’s epochal novel “Crash” to the big-screen, David Cronenberg made a great many changes– moving the location from London to Toronto, subtracting the vital Elizabeth Taylor subplot, and downplaying the protagonist’s sexual relationship with the mad atrocity-exhibitionist Vaughn. What remained was little more than a series of sexual-acts between disturbed individuals and the car-collisions that turned them on. In the hands of a lesser director, and with a less capable cast, that might result in a mere cross between staged-snuff film and outright pornography, and indeed to many audiences and critics who didn’t know how to take the Ballardian cross between sex and death, that’s pretty much what it was. But thanks to Cronenberg and a cast including the likes of James Spader, Holly Hunter, Deborah Kara Unger and Elias Koteas, it is something much, much more– a positively haunting exploration of fetishes and the people driven by them, no matter what the cost. Shot handsomely by Peter Suschitzky and scored sparingly by Howard Shore, it’s a great film that deserves better than being confused with the absolutely mediocre Oscar-winning ensemble-nonsense of several years ago.
42: Trainspotting– Boyle, 1996
One of the great adrenaline shots of 90’s filmmaking, and a first-rate example of the high-octane energy that drives the best cinema of the decade. Danny Boyle’s take on Irvine Welsh’s standout novel of heroin addiction is never boring, a movie that hits the ground running and never looks back. A canny soundtrack, clever editing and a top-notch cast headed by Ewan McGreggor are all forefront reasons for the film’s success. I’d place it higher, but it derives most of its cinematic momentum from my number 2 spot, like a few other choices from this countdown. Still, an unforgettable ride.
41: Run Lola Run– Tykwer, 1998
Last year Tykwer’s “The International” came and went in theaters without much notice, which I thought was a shame. Aside from Clive Owen standing off against machine-gun bad guys in New York’s Guggenheim museum, there wasn’t enough in this shadowy tale of international banking to attract a lot of audiences, but I couldn’t help but be impressed. In a lot of ways, it seemed to make good on the promise of potential that his big hit “Run Lola Run” showed ten years ago, a wildly original take on the crime genre that took the “Sliding Doors” approach of multiple-choice narrative and ran with it, showing us all the possible outcomes of a girl’s attempts to save her boyfriend from a robbery bound to go bad. Tykwer’s got talent, and I hope he gets the chance to show it off again in a big way soon.
(To be continued…)
on October 15, 2009 at 11:18 pm | ReplyJamie
Bob, these are fun and enjoyable to read. I am already realizing the breadth of the 90’s before I even start my list when I see great stuff like ‘Crash’, ‘Short Cuts’ and ‘The Double Life’ in the 40s.
I really applaud the inclusion of ‘Ninth Gate’ it’s a modern horror masterpiece, and very very underrated in this horror fans eyes.
As far as ‘Crash’ goes are you a Ballard fan? Your literature taste (at least for post modern stuff) seems to be somewhat similar to mine. I am a rather large (if perhaps new) fan of the late Ballard. I was just curious. I actually recently got Bank’s ‘The Wasp Factory’ from amazon that seems in similar taste, I can’t wait to read it. Are you familiar?
on October 15, 2009 at 11:20 pmJamie
Oh and the ‘The International’ set piece in the Guggenheim was one of THE action set pieces in 21st century action film thus far.
on October 15, 2009 at 11:29 pmBob Clark
I read some of “Crash” a very long time ago, and a few of his short stories as published in the New Yorker, I think. There are some authors who I let sit on the shelf for a while so I can save them for the proverbial rainy day. At the moment I’m drawing near the end of Suskind’s “Perfume”, and perhaps after that I’ve been thinking of revisiting Ballard in the form of “The Attrocity Exhibition”. A good modernist pallate-cleanser for all that 18th century olfactory gluttony.
on October 16, 2009 at 1:05 am | Replybobby J.
Bob, I never make any comments on others choices, but I’m going to have commend you on the detailed snap-shot of why they are special for you. Fascinating and brave. You gave ample reasoning, and one can ask no more. I also had a Bond in my top 25, but for the ’60s (‘From Russia with Love’).
on October 16, 2009 at 1:34 amSam Juliano
I second what you say here Bobby! Bob Clark has really outdone himself, and I wil reserve comprehensive comment until I get through all the writing.
on October 16, 2009 at 2:33 amBob Clark
Bobby J, “From Russia With Love” is a great choice not only for the Bond franchise, but for 60’s cinema as well. Overall, EON’s productions have varied from absolute classics to absolute duds (I don’t care for much of the Moore years, neither of Dalton’s forays have much staying power, and the less said of Lazenby the better). Of all 007’s adventures so far, these are my top seven:
1. Casino Royale (Campbell, 2006) : The best possible blend of classic old-school wit & suspense and modern-day action and romance, not to mention the closest the series has ever gotten to the dark, bloody deeds of Ian Fleming’s blunt instrument of a character.
2. From Russia With Love (Young, 1963) : The epitome of Bond as the dashing seducer on a mission that sets him off across the quiet battlefields of the Cold War. It strays pretty damn far from Fleming’s book, which ended with Bond’s supposed death (just as “The Final Problem” marked the supposed end of Sherlock Holmed), but still, a blast from the past that works just as much today as it did way back when.
3. Goldfinger (Hamilton, 1964) : Without a doubt the most famous of all the old-school Bond films, and an easy contender for popular-favorite. Pitting the world-class secret-agent against an international crime-lord, rather than a ring of spies makes for an interesting change, as does the creative new blood of director Guy Hamilton, whose inventiveness helps turn Bond’s most unusual adventure into one of his most memorable.
4. GoldenEye (Campbell, 1995) : I’ve already written up what I think of this picture, and I very well may go into even greater detail in the next few weeks, but suffice to say that the first film to feature Pierce Brosnan as Bond and Martin Campbell as director helped update the series for the 90’s and stay alive in a world which could have just as easily gotten along without the one-time relic of the Cold War. In resurrecting Ian Fleming’s creation and making him relevant to a post-Glasnost world, Campbell and Brosnan kept the series going strong, and thus performed a minor cinematic miracle.
5. Dr. No (Young, 1962) : In revisiting the first film of the series, it’s remarkable to witness just how much EON and company got right. Director Terrence Young’s mis-en-scene is both stylish and realistic, depicting with maximum clarity and panache a world in which assassins, masterminds and bikini-clad girls can all decide the fate of the world with the push of a button, the pull of a trigger or the kiss of a lip.
6. Diamonds Are Forever (Hamilton, 1971) : Returning to the role in the official series for a final time (we’ll all just pretend that “Never Say Never Again” didn’t happen) Connery ably demonstrates why he will very likely be the man we always think of when the name “Bond” is uttered. Hamilton’s direction is incredible, offering what is likely the most playful, yet surprisingly down to earth of all the series. I especially like how Connery chokes a girl with her bikini-top to find Blofeld, and in Mr. Wint & Mr. Kidd, we have what may be my favorite of all Bond’s villains…
7. The Man With the Golden Gun (Hamilton, 1974) : …well, okay, except for Scaramanga. Christopher Lee is so impressive as a master assassin trailed by Roger Moore’s country-club Bond, I often wish his character had survived to plague the British agent in more than just one entry. Lee is perhaps most prolific and essential of all villainous performers, throwing his black-hat into every ring from “Star Wars” to “Lord of the Rings”, to say nothing of his many entries in the Hammer horror-movies, most especially as Count Dracula. He even makes John Landis’ “The Stupids” surprisingly fun in his off-the-wall cameo as the evil Mr. Sender. “RELEASE THE DRIVE BEE!”
on October 16, 2009 at 3:10 ambobby J.
Bob, my breakdown does something like…
1 – ‘From Russia with Love’
2 – ‘Goldfinger’
3 – ‘Dr. No’
4 – ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ (it does have John Barry, Louis Armstrong, tragedy, and Diana Rigg. Even G. L. is far more preferable than Moore).
5 – Casino Royle – Woody Allan, Orson Welles, ect…….just kidding 😉
on October 16, 2009 at 3:17 amBob Clark
“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” has its good points. It’s just that Lazenby makes absolutely no impression on me whatsoever. Granted, I can understand how that can be preferrable to Moore’s overly-casual approach to the role, but his somewhat vacant presence makes the idea of tragedy there about as palpable as it was in “The Godfather Part III” (sorry Sofia, but your death would’ve meant more if you were played by an actual actress).
No mentions for 6 & 7, though?
on October 16, 2009 at 4:05 amJamie
Good Bond discussion here guys. I was, once upon a time, quite a Bond fan (I guess I still am for the most part).
I may actually list ‘Casino Royale’ as my favorite too, with either ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’, or ‘The Living Daylights’ as personal subjective favorites. I also think ‘From Russia with Love’ and ‘Dr. No’ are the best ‘classics’.
I sort of scratch my head at the ‘GoldenEye’ love as I liked that film in the theater, but I revisited it about 2 years ago and was appalled at the amount of cheese going on with some of the dialogue. I think ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ or ‘Die Another Day’ are my favorite Brosnans.
I’ve thought about one day trying to write an offshoot to the Bond universe (since the Broccoli’s have such a strong hold), maybe about a fictional 008, or something. I just adore the idea of blowing up the anglophilia of it all that’s been lost the last few decades.
on October 16, 2009 at 4:17 ambobby J.
6 – You Only Live Twice (my fav Bond song)
7 – Thunderball (changable with 6)
There’s something about the fragile nature of Diana Rigg in that movie that affects me. I hate most of all the Bonds after ‘Live and let Die’ (Moore best) until the arrival of ‘Casino’. I prefer Bond as a cold-blooded killer with an edge.
on October 16, 2009 at 5:29 amBob Clark
I’d really like to go further in this discussion, but I think I’ll save the rest of my thoughts for when I write up “GoldenEye”. Suffice to say, any series that lasts as long and goes through as many creative teams as the Bond films will have something interesting to offer for many different audiences.
on October 15, 2009 at 11:11 pm | ReplyBob Clark
40: Schindler’s List– Spielberg, 1993
When critics appraise Steven Spielberg’s storied career, they tend to champion one of his big creative-periods at the expense of all the rest. To some, the television-movie “Duel” or his early blockbuster “Jaws” remains the height of his cinematic achievements, sometimes unsophisticated but always unpretentious, canny pieces of craftsmanship that overpower their occasionally threadbare cliches. To others, “E.T.” or “Empire of the Sun” stand out as his most haunting and personal efforts, capturing childlike wonder and horror in a manner that he knows best. Hell, some people even dig late-period question marks like “A.I.” or “Munich”, proclaiming them as triumphant blends of his youthful innocence and maturing sensibilities. Lately, it’s his mid-period turnaround pictures like “Saving Private Ryan” and “Schindler’s List” that get the shaft– I myself have been critical of the former’s gung-ho sentimentality for the Greatest Generation and the glut of World War II pornography that’s filled our cinemas, televisions and video-game consoles ever since. In the case of the latter, however, I must raise a cautious note of defense. To me, his ’93 holocaust film is his most confidently adult film yet, a movie that isn’t afraid to show us the horrors of war or, in its earliest portions, the pleasure of profiting from it. Spielberg may have started taking himself a bit too seriously afterwards, but with this film at least, he earned it.
39: The Kingdom– Von Trier, 1994
This is what happens when you let a madman run the asylum. Von Trier’s experiment on Danish television is a wonderful punch to the stomach, a fine outlet for his cinematic madness in the form of a more-or-less traditional ghost story set in an aging hospital, with an eye for all sorts of subtexts spiritually, morally and psychologically. Superbly cast with more than a few capable actors who are no longer with us (denying us the closure greatly desired for this forever “to be continued” story), Von Trier weaves a collection of characters created by himself and early collaborator Niels Vorsel in a down-and-dirty shooting style that borrows from the Barry Levinson production “Homicide: Life on the Streets” and looks forward to the guerilla-rhetoric of the Dogme 95 movement. The perfect bridge from the director’s early, expressionist days to the man he is today.
38: Pi– Aronofsky, 1998
Ambitiously, yet intimately scripted, Darren Aronofsky’s debut film of a troubled mathematician and his internal tug-of-war between putting his gifted brain in the service of Wall Street financiers seeking to control the stock market or Orthodox Rabbis looking for divine patterns in the Talmud is a snappy picture crackling with equal measures thought and sensitivity, with a visual wit as quick as its editing pace, which borrows from freestyle rap and DJ methodology to drive home itself to viewers on an almost subliminal level. Many prefer the shock-and-awe tactics of “Requiem for a Dream”, the bewildered transcendence of “The Fountain” or even the Mickey Rourke-ness of “The Wrestler”, but I still feel that this dirty-cheap, high-contrast black & white feature remains his best effort yet.
37: The Iron Giant– Bird, 1999
The 90’s were a surprisingly good time for animation buffs, when you get right down to it. The Disney Studios caught their second wind in a renaissance of romantic hits like “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”, almost guaranteeing them a lock on the Best Song award come Oscar time for years. The burgeoning home-video and DVD markets helped carry Anime from Japanese shores and gain more audiences around the world. Computer animation was quickly taking flight with efforts from Pixar and DreamWorks, and stop-motion found new life thanks to Tim Burton and Henry Selicks in “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and Aardman Animation’s “Wallace and Gromit” shorts. But if one were to choose the highlight of animated-features from the era, it would be hard to top Brad Bird’s “The Iron Giant”, which weaves a Cold War-era tale of paranoia and trust as a young boy befriends a gargantuan robot crash landed from an alien world. Based on a children’s book by English author Ted Hughes (yes, the one who was married to Sylvia Plath), it’s one of the best 50’s period-pieces of the decade, easily besting live action fare like the Coens’ “Hudsucker Proxy” and the like. Crisp, brisk and stylized, it’s a real treat.
36: Before Sunrise– Linklater, 1995
Richard Linklater was one of the true pioneering voices of the American independent scene– he still is, of course, but especially in the early 90’s, he cast a long shadow. While he gained a lot of mainstream appeal with his 70’s nostalgia-by-way-of-stoners romp “Dazed and Confused”, a film that drew comparisons to “American Graffiti” for its cast of up-and-coming stars by and up-and-coming director, he easily made a much better picture with little more than only two actors, and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. As students who meet by chance and share a magical, but never unrealistic day together, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy capture a balance of charm and independence– it’s easy to believe they’re in love, and just as easy to believe they could walk away from one another without spending the rest of their lives thinking about it. Linklater’s script, co-written by Kim Krizan, walks a dramatic tightwire of character development and a nicely ambiguous kind of emotional suspense. He’d later return to the same characters years later, but even if he hadn’t, this movie already had enough to set our imaginations going. A romantic film that lives up to the promise of its genre without falling prey to its weaknesses.
35: Terminator 2: Judgement Day– Cameron, 1991
Cameron’s most accomplished film, a cultural landmark, and a technical feat that opened new possibilities for the rest of the decade. One of the classic examples of a sequel that outdoes the original, he replays much of the same premise while adding layer upon layer of visual, narrative and emotional inventiveness. The cast plays well to all the digital and practical marvels by the likes of ILM and Stan Wintson, respectively– Edward Furlong gives a great show of adolescent angst and childlike impetuousness befitting his youthful John Conner, the once and future savior of mankind; Linda Hamilton offers another of Cameron’s trademark badass female roles, building from the frightened animal that was her modern-day Virgin Mary character in the original; Robert Patrick’s sly, cold demeanor as the liquid-metal assassin is a great, emotionless picture of evil, and Arnold Schwarzenegger offers what is very likely his best performance, equal parts robotic and human. Expertly shot, decently scripted and acted without complaints, it’s one of those rare action movies that’s as explosive underneath its surface as it is on-screen.
34: Dogma– Smith, 1999
When a movie is so controversial its director gets death-threats, you know it must be doing something right. Kevin Smith spent much of the 90’s as one of the young new voices liberated by the burgeoning independent film movement in America, but while he proved talented at scripting deft, funny dialogue and pulling good performances out of his actors in low-budget gems like “Clerks”, “Mallrats” and “Chasing Amy”, it cannot be ignored that his films were, for the most part, rather repetitive in their comic-book geek characters and sexually obsessive storylines. Like a Woody Allen for the Gen-X set, only without the same prolific work ethic or visual competence (if you can make a Allen look like a great visual stylist, your movies are especially ugly), it wasn’t until he started aiming his comic touch outside of his New Jersey backyard that he created something worth seeing as an actual movie. With its story of fallen angels hoping to re-enter heaven by a loophole in Catholic doctrine that might accidentally destroy the world, Smith finally puts together a story that’s comic-book exciting yet relevant enough to real-world religious affairs to spark the imagination in a grounded way. It doesn’t hurt that he widens the net of his cast beyond 20-something slackers and cute, baby-voiced vixens, or decides to work with an actual cinematographer (the level-headed Robert Yeoman). “Dogma” is a movie that is smart, funny, and most importantly, just plain fun. It’s a combination he never quite got before, and certainly not since.
33: Starship Troopers– Verhoven, 1997
A classic example of a film that goes mistaken for the object of its own satire. Reuniting with “RoboCop” screenwriter Edward Neumeier, Verhoven adapts Robert Heinlen’s seminal science-fiction novel with a keen eye for the author’s political perspective. Instead of embracing Heinlen’s outright endorsement of fascist militarism in the face of a hostile alien race, Verhoven and Neumeier turn the movie into a savage parody of right-wing dictatorship, but play it with a face so straight that you wonder if even the cast of pretty young things from Hollywood was in on the joke. Darkly funny, yet inventive and entertaining as a piece of action cinema, it lays bare the kind of conformist thinking that simmers beneath the surface in a lot of sci-fi army adventure movies like Cameron’s “Aliens”, another film with a marked influence from Heinlen. Easy to mistake for propaganda perhaps, but not so easy to dismiss.
32: Secrets & Lies– Leigh, 1996
Mike Leigh made a name for himself in England directing television films in the 70’s and 80’s, graduating to theatrical efforts into the 90’s with finely wrought, character driven work like “Naked”. His collaboration with casts was a large part of his success then as it is now, writing drafts of his screenplays in broad strokes, rehearsing with performers for months through improv sessions to settle on a final script before writing, and then shooting. For the surprising, but never quite soap-opera manipulative “Secrets and Lies”, Leigh works wonders with talents like Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Timothy Spall, and cinematographer Bill Pope lends a picturesque polish to the affair that stays true to its naturalist roots. It’s not a loud, booming cinematic voice, but it’s one that deserves to be heard as much as anything else.
31: Breaking the Waves– Von Trier, 1995
An austere, almost gothic tale of forbidden love between an emotionally, religiously cloistered young woman in a strict Calvinist town and a worldly oil-rigsman who suffers a debilitating accident, “Breaking the Waves” is about the very last thing audiences might’ve expected from Lars Von Trier following grandioeloquent works like “The Element of Crime”. While on the surface this grainy film, shot almost entirely with hand-held camera filtered through video processing, doesn’t seem to have much in common with the heavily controlled visuals of films past, there’s much more method in the Danish provocateur’s madness than meets the eye. The verite-feel breathes new life into the stark Douglas Sirk melodrama, and elevates the proceedings to a strange type of modern passion play. Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgard are a rapturous onscreen both together and apart, putting all their energy into two of the most emotionally demanding roles out there. Von Trier would later bring more polish to his newfound Dogme-style in later efforts, but this first shot across the bow remains one of his most accessible and wrenching to date.
(To be continued…)
on October 15, 2009 at 11:12 pm | ReplyBob Clark
30: When the Cat’s Away– Klapisch, 1996
I was turned on to this movie after watching an interview that Paul Thomas Anderson gave, where he praised how well it offered an interesting, yet naturalistic story that arose out of the personalities of its characters and very simple premises. A socially cloistered French girl goes on vacation, and leaves her pet cat with a neighbor. When she returns, the cat is missing, and she has to go out and find it. In so doing, she winds up exposing herself to all the people around her that she had previously avoided in her more introverted days. It doesn’t get any simpler, or better than that.
29: Malcolm X– Lee, 1992
The movie Spike Lee was destined to make. Though much of its method and energy of headfast bio-pic combo of striking imagery and voice-over narration is partially inherited from a film that even only two years prior had begun to change the tide of American period-pieces, Lee’s passion helps drive this picture in ways that are only too easy to take for granted. From its swinging beginning to its modern-day conclusion, there’s a great deal of impressive and imaginatively conceived work on the screen here. And Denzel Washington delivers a powerhouse performance that might be his best. A worthy film to the controversial figure who dominated the civil rights movement as much as Martin Luther King, and a fitting tribute to a man, with equal measure to celebrate his triumphs, acknowledge his faults, and rekindle interest in a leader who gained far more humanistic compassion than his critics ever gave him credit for.
28: Leon (The Professional)– Besson, 1994
As one of the premier practitioners of the French movement of the “cinema du look”, Luc Besson enjoyed a number of successful features whose main preoccupation were visual style, and to their detractors, not a whole lot else. But since the 90’s, his work has almost entirely consisted of scripting and producing questionable action fare like “The Transporter” series, with little to no effort behind the camera as a director. That’s a shame, because one only need look to his 1994 film “Leon”, known in America as “The Professional” for proof-positive of his talents as a director of stylish cinematography, action-choreography and emotional storytelling. Starring Jean Reno as an assassin, gifted with near-superhuman talents and a strict moral code, who protects a young girl, the precocious Natalie Portman, whose entire family is wiped out by Gary Oldman, a deranged, Prozac-popping undercover agent with all the powers of the Guliani-era NYPD at his disposal, the film has a fairy-tale feeling to it which mixes well with its blend of impressive violence. Though the somewhat provocative way its underage star acts is occasionally offputting (Portman’s role was originally written for an older teenager, and had to be vastly rewritten to accommodate the child actress), Besson’s handling of the action and story are enough to make this a classic of the decade, and the high point of his career.
27: Hamlet– Branagh, 1996
Easily one of the most audacious cinematic attempts of the past 20 years, Kenneth Branagh’s epic telling of the Bard’s longest and most renowned play– in its full, unabridged text, no less– has fallen on the sword of its grand aims since its release, as critics attacked its monumental running-time, gimmicky all-star cast and occasionally on-the-nose direction. Thankfully, there’s been something of a resurgence, and it now stands not only as what is likely Branagh’s greatest moment as a director (not to mention actor) but arguably the strongest of all Shakespeare adaptations. It shows far more fidelity to the book than Olivier’s noir-stylish, but otherwise rote take on the Great Dane, and with its colorful, posh Victorian setting and lush 70mm photography, it’s just as pleasurable to watch as it is to listen to. With fine performances from all, even the more high-profile actors seemingly shoehorned in to give audiences around the world faces to recognize, Branagh’s “Hamlet” is a movie absolutely worth the Herculean ambition it took to put it on screens in the first place.
26: Glengarry Glen Ross– Foley, 1992
Talk about all-star casts– David Mamet’s most iconic work as a playwright finds its best expression on the movie screen featuring some of the strongest male performers of two generations. As salesmen striving to outperform one another with the threat of firing over their heads, guys like Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Al Pacino and a standout Jack Lemmon work wonders with Mamet’s terse, yet elegant dialogue. As a mysterious break-in casts shadows of doubt over the workers, Kevin Spacey delivers a great early performance as a truly unlikable boss, standing toe-to-toe with some of the heavy-hitters of American stage and screen and absolutely holding his own. And let’s not forget Alec Baldwin, who all but steals the show in a scene specifically written for him, that makes the stage-version of the script feel somehow incomplete. James Foley’s dark neo-noir direction gives the film a visual style that never gets in the way of its performers. A great cinematic adaptation of a great American play.
(Here marks the spot where the actual voting section of the list begins)
25: Bound– Larry & Andy Wachowski, 1996
The Wachowskis set the world on fire three years later with the existential wire-fu of “The Matrix”, but for my money their 1996 debut is the stronger effort. Were it not for its seemingly shallow expoitation-spin, this tale of an ex-con hooking up with a gangster’s moll to scheme their way to the bank would be an impressive ans stylish, but ultimately rote exercise in tense storytelling, action-packed set-piece, and little more. But by making their ex-con a woman and embracing their tale of a lesbian love-story with all due diligence, we get something that’s more than a great film-noir, and more than a piece of well-photographed erotica. Thanks to the seriousness with which the Wachowskis, Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly treat these characters, what we have is a surprisingly tender romance that stands as something of a watershed cultural moment for gay cinema. It wouldn’t be nearly this good if it wasn’t so important, but it also wouldn’t be important at all if it weren’t this much fun.
24: Ghost in the Shell– Oshii, 1996
Speaking of the Wachowskis, when their first “Matrix” film was released, there were droves of critics who flocked to accuse the brothers of cultural pillaging from everything from existentialism to anime, and in the example of the former, there was no stronger case for that argument (however misguided) than Mamoru Oshii’s 1996 “Ghost in the Shell”. Adapted rather freely from Masamune Shirow’s sci-fi manga (which, when you get right down to it, is more cyberporn than cyberpunk at times), Oshii displays a marvelous patience with his rather sleight story of a beautiful, troubled cyborg cop hunting down a malevolent computer program in Tokyo of a near-distant future. At its best moments, he either focuses strictly on the story’s action and exposition, clearly articulating exactly what’s happening in this oddly familiar world, while saving most of the characterization and philosophizing to mostly silent stretches of slow observation. One of the most influential pieces of animation from the past 20 years, and a film worthy of the lasting impression it’s made.
23: Death and the Maiden– Polanski, 1994
Ariel Dorfman’s play was largely about the rises and falls of dictatorships and democracies in South America, and the delicate scars wreaked throughout countries by the human rights violations they spawned. While the script is ably translated from stage to screen by novelist Rafael Yglesias and performed finely by the likes of Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley, the real subject matter of this film is Roman Polanski himself, and the crime he committed 30-odd years ago, which has just now been catapulted back into the spotlight by his recent arrest. Simmering beneath the surface of his finely crafted suspense, you can see Polanski trying to come to terms with the nature of rape and his own culpability, even as he occasionally points a finger at those who have been victimized themselves, only to become victimizers in turn. Sometimes a mea-culpa and sometimes an occasion for him to stroke the guilty-conscience of his artistic ego, Polanski’s film is a elegantly made, absolutely personal one. It deserves to be seen, no matter what fate its director deserves.
22: Cross My Heart– Fansten, 1992
When I first found this film on video, the package was emblazoned with a quote that declared “Francois Truffaut is alive and well with this film”. I don’t know whether or not to call that a kind compliment or a gross overstatement, but while this early 90’s film lacks the energy and spontaneity that drove the filmmakers of the French New Wave, there’s all the same heart and youthful spirit found in the earliest adventures of Antoine Doinel. Following a lonely, melancholy boy whose classmates help him to cover up the death of his mother in the hopes of preventing him from being taken away by social services to the dreary life of a state ward, the combination of innocence and dark humor throughout this film is one of the best examples of strong filmmaking that casts a wry eye to the hidden truths of childhood, which is never quite as light or entirely traumatic as most sentimental melodramas would have you believe. It’s not up there with Truffaut, perhaps, but one of the best orphan-tales since “Forbidden Games”, and a sweet film even for those without a cinematic sweet-tooth.
21: Schizopolis– Soderbergh, 1996
One of the great all-time cinematic gestalts. Soderbergh felt himself falling into a rut of empty independent filmmaking following 1989’s “Sex, Lies and Videotape”, delivering compromised, muddled efforts like “Kafka”, with Jeremy Irons, or “King of the Hill”, with Spalding Gray. “Schizopolis” was an attempt to get back to the spontaneous filmmaking that had gotten him into the business to begin with, and after turning a corner with this headscratching, oblique comedy, he went on to get his cinematic groove back. But beyond its role the director’s creative development, it’s also a tremendously fun film on its own, a strange and at times hilarious send-up of L. Ron Hubbard-style self-help sermonizing told with the Escher-esque storytelling of David Lynch and the pop-movie energy of Richard Lester. Looking ahead to strikingly similar Rubik’s Cube filmmaking from the likes of Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, “Schizopolis” is a gem of American independent cinema whose contribution is far larger than most people expect, even the ones who know about it.
(To be continued…)
on October 15, 2009 at 11:32 pm | ReplyBob Clark
*Re: 24– In the example of the LATTER, I should say.
on October 15, 2009 at 11:13 pm | ReplyBob Clark
20: Thelma & Louise– Scott, 1991
When you get right down to it, the 90’s were not a particularly good time for Ridley Scott. He didn’t enjoy the same visionary successes as he did in the late 70’s and much of the 80’s with “Alien”, “Blade Runner” or even “Legend”. Likewise, he did not capture mainstream attention as he later would with showstoppers like “Gladiator”, “Black Hawk Down” or “Kingdom of Heaven” in the early years of the next millenium. Instead, he littered much of the decade with polished, but awkward efforts– the Sloop John B-stylings of “White Squall”, the Demi Moore-fetishization of “GI Jane”, or the misplaced, misbegotten world-building efforts of the Columbus-epic “1492”. It was only with the ’91 feminist road-movie “Thelma & Louise” that he really grabbed the attention of moviegoers, a film which turned out to be not only one of his most era-defining zeitgeist adventures but also perhaps his best work with actors to date. Working from an Oscar-winning script from Callie Khouri, Scott elicits top-performances from all involved, from Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon as the titular pair of wronged-women turned on-the-lam outlaws, to the impressive male supporting cast, including the likes of Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen and a young Brad Pitt. An early peak for the decade, and the director’s work within it.
19: La Haine– Kassovitz, 1995
A picture of the changing face of Europe, and the world, Mattieu Kassovitz’s ’95 look at Paris through the eyes of young, bitter men of Jewish, African and Muslim descent is not only a captivating socio-political time-capsule, nor merely a stylishly shot psychological thriller of angry individuals on the edge of society. At its heart, it is also very much a heartfelt movie of a friendship that spans some of the unlikeliest distances in one of the most volatile pressure-cooker environments possible. Often seen as a French answer to Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”, Kassovitz’s film stands proudly as a great work all of its own, shot sharply on black and white and full of captivating performances, especially from Vincent Cassel. It’s too bad all he’s done since then are rather shallow thrillers and action-adventure spectacles, but who knows? Maybe he’s got another great film like this one in him, yet.
18: Titus– Taymor, 1999
Visionary director Julie Taymor wowed audiences in 1997 with her one-of-a-kind theatrical adaptation of the ’94 Disney musical “The Lion King”, and the mainstream popularity of that hit was largely what earned her the creative capital to put her dark, modernist take on Shakespeare’s first play, “Titus Andronicus”, onto the big-screen. Though big-leaguers like Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange share time with relative newcomers like Alan Cumming and Harry Lennix, the main attraction remains Taymor’s kaleidoscopic blend of imagery from different time-periods, turning the film into an impressive collage of ancient Rome, fascist Italy and Fellini-esque surrealism all at once. With a powerful score from Eliot Goldenthal (Taymor’s husband, coincidentally) and commanding cinematography from Luciano Tovoli, Taymor’s talent is impressive in movie theaters as it is on the stage. Moreover, she displays equal confidence with her actors as she does her visuals– Lennix especially delivers a fine performance as Aaron the Moor, who ultimately may be the most sympathetic character of all the play’s sinners. As a visual feast and first-rate drama, its chutzpa outsteps Branagh’s proud, but occasionally stuffy “Hamlet”, and easily outperforms the MTV-drivel of Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet”. Maybe because of its imagery, or maybe because it adapts one of the Bard’s least-known plays, it remains one of the few Shakespeare films that can make you forget you’re watching Shakespeare.
17: Dreams– Kurosawa, 1991
The master’s last masterpiece. While it lacks the same kind of single, dominating storyline that drove Kurosawa’s greatest efforts, this series of vignettes based on the director’s own dreams works just as effectively as a collection of short-stories written by a first-class novelist would. There’s a nicely impressionistic continuity traced throughout them as the director’s stand-in character slowly matures from childish dreams of fox-marriage marches and dancing peach-blossom spirits to more mature reveries of dangerous, tempting women, war-time guilt and apocalyptic terror. Most effective are the more personal of the dreams– a young Kurosawa walks into the paintings of Van Gogh, and even meets the troubled painter (played, rather eyebrow-raisingly, by Martin Scorsese). The director makes his dreams work onscreen by presenting them with the same matter-of-fact pragmatic style with which he filmed Samurai and modern-day capitalists alike. Simply a marvelous late-period effort.
16: Barton Fink– Joel & Ethan Coen, 1992
Perhaps the best movie for cynics since the likes of Billy Wilder, Cannes-sweeping film about a high-minded playwright struggling to overcome a crippling case of writer’s block on a hack screenplay in a seedy Hollywood hotel was the critical sensation that made the Coen Brothers a power to be reckoned with, not only for mainstream fare like “Raising Arizona” but for intellectual comedy, as well, cementing the bonds they had already formed in the art-house community with “Miller’s Crossing”. John Turturro is great as Clifford Odets-esque writer who’s so pretentious it’s painful, but perhaps even better is John Goodman, whose larger-than-life presence and everyman charm was never used better than here as a businessman who may or may not be a killer, and the exact kind of “common man” that Turturro’s screenwriter is unable to see eye-to-eye with. This film also paired the Coens with their longtime cinematographer Roger Deakins, and his work adds a depth to the Brothers’ filmmaking that wasn’t entirely presence in films shot by Barry Sonnenfeld. The best movie about screenwriting since “Sunselt Boulevard”, to echo the Wilder comparison.
15: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me– Lynch, 1991
The 90’s were a pretty decent time for Lynch– he won the Palme D’or for “Wild at Heart” and went on to direct both the pleasantly twisty “Lost Highway” and the perfectly uncrooked “The Straight Story”, both of which captured his inimitable style with equal aplomb. But he really made his mark on society with his 1990 television-series “Twin Peaks”, which stands as one of the most impressive achievements the form has ever seen in terms of a commitment to serialized-storytelling and stretching the limits of surrealism in the most mainstream of media. But after the show ended, a victim of network-manhandling and interference, Lynch returned to the town with this prequel film which presented the last several days in the life of Laura Palmer, the homecoming queen whose murder sparked the ongoing mysteries on the show itself. Here, played by Sheryl Lee, she occupies center stage, and what we witness remains one of the most harrowing depictions of household violence and abuse ever made by a relatively mainstream director. Lee’s performance is hypnotic, both in the way that she arrests the audience’s attention and in the way that she lives out the awful victimization of longtime rape and incest. Of all Lynch’s films about “women in trouble”, this is perhaps his least condescending and most powerful, and the surrealism that can sometimes feel rather tacked on in other films works perfectly here as the fragmented perceptions of a girl suffering from all kinds of psychic damage. With Ray Wise as her tormented tormenter and shot with a dreamy-naturalism by Ron Garcia, cinematographer of the series’ pilot, “Fire Walk With Me” stands as Lynch’s best work of the decade, and one of his strongest films overall.
14: Gattaca– Niccol, 1997
As a screenwriter, Andrew Niccol penned “The Truman Show” as a spec-script that showcased a then novel concept of 24-hour reality-tv based around the life of a single individual as a foray into post-modern dystopianism. Director Peter Weir would later helm the project as more of an introspective voyage of self-discovery than Orwellian nightmare, but thanks to the notoriety his script received, he was given the chance to write and direct his feature debut of “Gattaca”, a sly science-fiction drama in which natural-birth Ethan Hawke masquerades his genetically inferior identity with DNA samples from the bio-engineered, but crippled Jude Law. Shot by Kieslowski-collaborator Sławomir Idziak, the film shines with a handsome polish and ambitious use of colors, evoking a classic-Hollywood atmosphere that at times disguise the more hand-me-down aspects of the production’s aesthetics. Niccol’s mis-en-scene is as much of a borrowed ladder as his hero is, freely picking the pockets of Lucas (the minimalist camera-work and Frank Lloyd Wright setting of “THX 1138”), Scott (the neo-noir cinematography and smokey atmosphere of “Blade Runner”) and Gilliam (the art-deco retro-futurism of “Brazil”). Still, the inventiveness of his story is enough to make up for the debt his keen eye owes to prior masters, and the economy with which he tells that story is startling and rewarding. At 106 brisk minutes, the film is perfectly paced, with a surprisingly small amount of time dedicated to the actual present-day plot, when one takes into account the flashback of its first-act. There’s a Dickensian quality to the narrative, a combination of social-realism and fable-fantasy that helps spark the imagination even as it places it in a firm context. With Uma Thurman as a chilly love interest and Gore Vidal, of all people, rounding out the cast, Niccol’s “Gattaca” is as sharply written as it is shot, a work of truly professional cinematic and creative craftsmanship.
13: Europa– Von Trier, 1991
The last chapter of his increasingly apocalyptic “Europe Trilogy”, Lars Von Trier’s 1991 feature “Europa” shows the Danish provocateur standing at a creative crossroads. For the first time using the ambitious 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but still using the same sharp expressionist-style of “The Element of Crime”, this post-WWII drama effectively blends reality and dreams with the same polish with which he blends black & white and color. Starring Jean-Marc Barr as an American pacifist who gets a job as a train-conductor in Germany following the war he refused to take part in, Von Trier’s tale of double-agents and saboteurs on sleeper-cars throughout the wartorn landscape makes for an effective look at the postwar period. Visually stylish and uncompromising in its narrative, the last great Hollywood-style motion picture the great Dane made before beginning his Dogme experiments is a fantastic exploration of the ugly truths of the Last Great War that most Hollywood movies preferred to ignore. The director’s most bewitching act of cinematic hypnotism yet.
12: Fearless– Weir, 1993
Peter Weir won a bigger hit with critics and audiences with 1998’s reality-tv/existential fable “The Truman Show”, scripted by “Gattaca”-helmer Andrew Niccol, but with the benefit of hindsight, his earlier adaptation of Rafael Yglesia’s novel “Fearless” stands tall as the better film. After surviving a horrific plane-crash in the middle of a corn-field, an architect (Jeff Bridges) finds a second-wind that drives him to embrace life and shun fear in ever more daring and dangerous death-defying stunts that pull him closer to another survivor he wants to help (Rosie Perez) and pushes him farther away from his wife (Isabella Rosellini). Weir shoots the movie with great care and restraint, focusing on finding small details both intimate and unusual to help underscore the drama– where else would you find a movie that begins with a bottle of wine rolling on the ground unharmed after a deadly plane crash? A great film that is truly life-affirming without falling into the most fatal cinematic danger of all– sentimentality.
11: Naked Lunch– Cronenberg, 1991
Was there ever a better pairing of author and filmmaker than William Burroughs and David Cronenberg? Who else could have come up with any kind of half-way coherent approximation of the elder-Beatnik’s drug-fueled panorama of surreal, hypersexual escapades? This film marks perhaps a perfect storm of conditions for Cronenberg, combining all his sides as director– the avant-garde student of “Stereo” and “Crimes of the Future”, the shock provocateur of “Scanners”, the body-horror tragedist of “The Fly” and the literary art-film dramatist of “Dead Ringers”. Peter Weller works wonders as a dead-pan foil to the oddity on-screen, and Judy Davis ably performs her double-role with the haunted doom her real-life counterpart demands. Furthermore, no matter how showy Cronenberg gets at times with his surrealism, he never takes his eye of the ball or loses focus on the import of the original source’s weight as a piece of literary, sexual and cultural watershed moment. Though there’s plenty of entertaining and impressive practical special-effects throughout the movie to approximate Burroughs’ grotesquery for the screen, one of the best moments to capture the author’s essence is when Weller tells the story of the man who taught his asshole to talk. Cronenberg allows his camera to simply sit back, watching Weller as he speaks and drives a car down a Tangiers road. There’s no monstrous apparitions onscreen at that time, but there don’t need to be any, either– the star of the show is Burroughs, and his incomprehensibly disturbing and enlightening writing, and the director knows when to simply sit in the back-seat, and let us enjoy the ride.
(To be concluded…)
on October 15, 2009 at 11:14 pm | ReplyBob Clark
10: Bram Stoker’s Dracula– Coppola, 1992
Let’s face it, Coppola never really knew what the hell he was doing with his money. Though his “Godfather” films were blockbusters and artsy fare like “The Conversation” and “Apocalypse Now” respectable successes, he didn’t exactly invest his finances wisely throughout the 80’s. Pouring huge amounts of money into colossal failures like “One From the Heart”, he wound up expending most if not all of the monetary and creative capital he’d earned in the 70’s, forcing him to take studio-project after studio-project as a means of trying to secure the kind of cinematic independence he’d yearned for since the days of “The Rain People”. His 1992 “Dracula” was one of those studio-efforts, but one that shines with a kind of personal zeal and visual inventiveness that hadn’t been seen since the days of Corleone and Kurtz. An underrated gem, it might not replace the classic Tod Browning helmed original, nor Bela Lugosi’s definitive take on the Count, but it’s an altogether handsome production, ably pairing a zealous read of Stoker’s novel with a romantic interweaving of Romanian semi-mythical history. It’s the version of Bram Stoker’s tale that I grew up with, so maybe I’m biased, but I’ve yet to find another film that better captures what it feels like to fall in love, no matter what the costs. One of the only movies that ever makes me cry.
9: Slacker– Linklater, 1991
In the notes he took while preparing to film, Richard Linklater called his 1991 film “Slacker” a “vertical narrative”, but let’s take a much simpler look at it, and call it what it is– a collection of short stories. There were a great many films that told a number of disparate tales over the course of 90 minutes or a matter of hours– Akira Kurosawa’s aforementioned “Dreams”, Francois Girard’s aptly named “32 Short Films About Glenn Gould”, and Altman’s Carver-pic “Short Cuts”, to name a few. Like Altman’s film, Linklater’s look at a day in the life of Austin, Texas followed a number of people all linked in their cohabitation in a single and singular place and time, but unlike Altman, he does not create connections between them, intercutting from one story to the other and back again throughout the picture. Instead, the film’s focus is traded from character to character like the baton of a relay race, and we are shown a linear progression of persons and personalities without any real kind of narrative. Thanks to Linklater’s deft talent with his script, actor and camera, however, the results are far more than the mere gimmickry of a film-school experiment. His characters and their obsessions remain at once real, entertaining, and every once in a while enlightening. Thanks to its unconventional assortment of subject-matters and methodology, it’s not only one of the premier American independent films, but one of the most inspiring, as well.
8: Caro Diario– Moretti, 1993
Hands-down, my favorite comedy of all time. In the United States, Nanni Moretti is known, if at all, for his 2001 Cannes-favorite “The Son’s Room”, but this three-part pseudo-documentary is a much more level-headed effort. Moretti gives us a tour through Rome on his Vespa, travels from island to island in the Mediterranean and navigates the Italian medical system to find the root cause of a mysterious itch he cannot scratch, and throughout each segment he finds time for all manner of cinematic digressions, from architecture and film criticism to soap-opera and Ennio Morricone. There’s even a cameo from Jennifer Beals (remember her?), which seems to be there for no other reason than she might’ve been hanging around one of the locations one day. Moretti’s tone is at once surprisingly stream-of-consciousness yet grounded in the fictionalized reality of the life he presents onscreen. A minor miracle of perspective-driven and absolutely unpretentious cinema.
7: JFK– Stone, 1991
In a way, perhaps the most influential film of the past 20 years, Oliver Stone’s “counter-myth” of Kennedy’s assassination has gone a long way in turning the tide of popular opinion against the dubious assertions of the Warren Commission. With crisp, handsome shooting from Robert Richardson, sharp editing from Pietro Scalia and a large cast featuring the familiar faces of stars and lesser-known character actors alike, Stone puts a premium on telling a clear and coherent story based on how he and many others have come to view the truth surrounding the events of November 22, 1963. Using the story of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison as the foundation for his film, he weaves multiple strands of plot and historical background alike to elaborate on a possible conspiracy involving Cuban exiles, Right-Wing capitalists and government operatives coming together in Dealy Plaza to kill the President for the commercial and political interests. Whether or not you believe the version of history that Stone endorses, it’s impossible to deny the degree to which he pares down and simplifies the complexities of the Military-Industrial Complex in a fashion easily digestible for the average movie-goer without watering down the subject matter to the point of pure propaganda. Special praise goes to Gary Oldman, Joe Pesci, and even Kevin Costner, who occupy their roles with passion and respect, but the lion’s share of credit must go to Stone. A true act of cinematic heroism, and a genuine piece of patriotism. Early on in the film, Costner’s Garrison overhears a right-wing nut applaud the announcement of Kennedy’s death, and declares, “God, I’m ashamed to be an American today”, but whenever I watch this movie, no matter how wounded and saddened I might feel, I couldn’t be prouder.
6: GoldenEye– Campbell, 1995
Though a perennial popular favorite among audiences worldwide for over 40 years now, the James Bond series has only rarely been singled out for praise by the critical establishment, or even serious examinations of its place in the cinematic canon beyond the limited attention-span of pop-culture. This 1995 picture, the first to feature Pierce Brosnan as Ian Flemming’s 007, was certainly never really given any more than a moment’s notice by reviewers and academics in the time of its release, but upon further examination, it just might be the most important of all the Bond films and one of the most important of the decade’s many action-adventure movies. As the first of the franchise to be written, filmed and released after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the crumble of the Soviet Union, it performs the Herculean task of updating a character defined by the Cold War and putting him in a context that fits the post-Glasnost world of espionage and international crime. Brosnan makes a dashing figure and Sean Bean projects real menace and occasional sympathy as a former MI6 agent turned rogue-villain. Judi Dench’s presence as M helps drag Bond into the 20th century of sexual politics, and the whole production keeps a keen eye for the British spy’s role in an ever-changing world with quippy dialogue and explosive set-pieces alike which deal with Russia’s place in the 90’s. Martin Campbell proves himself one of the best directors of the series, easily the equal of Terrene Young and Guy Hamilton, able to deal with action and romance with equal panache. Plus, it’s got my favorite of Q’s gadgets in all the Bond films in that nifty ballpoint pen-grenade– what more do you need?
5: The Phantom Menace– Lucas, 1999
We all saw this one coming, yes? Well, I put a fuckin’ Bond movie in the top-ten, so I might as well go all the way, here. There were plenty of great works of sci-fi and adventure escapism in the cinema of the 90’s, most notably the Wachowskis’ blend of cyberpunk and kung-fu with the digital mindfuck of “The Matrix”, and to a certain extent, they did the exact same thing that George Lucas did back in ’77. Still, I prefer the old master’s return to the director’s chair after looming over journeymen like Kershner, Marquand and Howard like a puppeteer over so many marionettes. His ear for dialogue and nuanced characterization may be tone-deaf, at best, but his eye for visuals, both traditionally shot and special-effects enhanced, remains unparalleled. Telling a tale of fairy-tale simplicity and political intrigue amidst mythic chases, races and duels in a cinematic language of cliffhanger set-pieces and CinemaScope finesse, Lucas’ creative renaissance may not have been greeted with the same welcomed enthusiasm as was the original “Star Wars”, but for my money, it’s the most visionary entry in the series, full to the brim with spectacle and thematic vision alike. Despite its faults (I’m not deluded enough to believe it doesn’t have any), it can stand proud as an epic use of cinematic imagination. The best pop-corn movie of the 90’s.
4: The Game– Fincher, 1997
What was it about the 90’s that put filmmakers in such an existential mood? There was Weir’s “The Truman Show”, which envisioned a man’s life under the watchful surveillance of 24-hour television entertainment. There was Cronenberg’s “eXistenZ”, which followed a reality-bending game-designer hunted down by Luddite zealots in a plot inspired by the fatwa put on Salman Rushdie. There was “The Matrix” from the Wachowskis, “Dark City” from Alex Proyas, “Open Your Eyes” from Amenabar, and plenty more reality-questioning movies from the likes of David Lynch. Perhaps it was the rise of new media like the Internet and video-games, which brought in a new degree of interactivity and open-source experience that helped promote an interest in films about the sheer subjective experience of simply being alive– if players didn’t have the opportunity to be characters like Mario, Sonic or Solid Snake, would movie-goers have ever been asked the cinematic question of “Being John Malkovitch”? Of all the films from that decade to handle existential-riddles wrapped in the mysterious enigma of their own puzzles, however, David Fincher’s seemingly innocuous thriller “The Game” stands as the most elegant and coherent of the bunch, a movie that favors polish over flash, and as such shines greater than the rest. Starring Michael Douglass as a bored, depressed businessman who find himself trapped in what is either an elaborate alternate-reality game or an even more elaborate con, the film more or less came and went in theaters and didn’t make the same splash that Fincher did with “Seven” or “Fight Club”, but this deceptively straightforward mystery-movie delivers a far more lasting effect than either his serial-killer or angry-young-men’s-movement films do. A cinematic labyrinth that offers more than just twists and turns– unlike a lot of self-indulgent puzzle-films, this movie actually has an exit, and by the time you walk through it, you feel that much more uncertain and excited by the world around you.
3: Pulp Fiction– Tarantino, 1994
Has this movie stopped being a cliche yet? Have we stopped taking it for granted as a merely popular blend of Indie street-cred and Hollywood punch? Quentin Tarantino’s wake-up call to American cinema is still the most important film of the decade, the movie which spawned so many imitators both foreign and domestic, it may have just made up for all cultural grabbag-ism it indulges in. The king of all short-story films from the decade, Tarantino’s non-linear composition of gangsters, boxers and femme fatales in contemporary Los Angeles sweats, bleeds and even tears up with an excitement and romance that few films ever offer up. Rescuing and building careers left and right with stars and starlets like John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman and a stand-out Samuel L. Jackson, Tarantino seems to have a preternatural claim to expertise with every element at his disposal as filmmaker– the script’s storylines and dialogue ring true to life without feeling or sounding mundane, the film’s editing captures the splintered perspectives of a story told out of synch and the moment-to-moment gambit of lives lived on the razor’s edge, and the screen’s 2.35:1 scope is composed and moved only as the most ambitious and careful of all sophomore directors can manage. Whenever anybody whines about the glory days of moviemaking in the 70’s or the Golden Age of Hollywood and says “They sure don’t make’em like they used to,” I point to this movie and say, “This is the reason why.”
2: GoodFellas– Scorsese, 1990
I’ve never done cocaine, but I have a feeling that if I ever did, it would probably be a lot like this movie. Scorsese inherited the wind of the French New Wave to weave his tapestry of New York wiseguys and gangsters from the 50’s to the 80’s, and made use of every tool at his disposal to keep audiences engaged throughout. Voice-over narration, a pop-song soundtrack blend, an ever-moving camera stopping only to settle on acts of violence, improv or freeze-frame snapshots, and even Hitchcock’s classic “Vertigo” pan-and-zoom one-two punch– all the stops are pulled out, and thrown away. “GoodFellas” moves at the same mile-a-minute pace with which its director talks, yet while that speed goes more or less unchecked, there’s still a bare minimum of craftsmanship-restraint that leashes the movie in from spilling over into the type of freewheeling excess that films like Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” did. It is a film designed for modern-attention spans, but it doesn’t encourage the same ADD that commercial/music-video cinema can, at its worst moments. Perhaps its the strong caliber of the film’s actors and the respect Scorsese has for them that allows the film the level-head it somehow possesses, amidst all the frenetic fastness. Liotta, Bracco, De Niro and especially Pesci do some of their best work here, and no matter where the camera or the editing roam, it never loses track of its performers and never steps on their toes. Scorsese influenced countless directors’ best works with this picture, and it might very well be his career high, as well.
1: Heat– Mann, 1995
If “GoodFellas” is the great cinematic upper of the decade, than “Heat” must be the downer– the more laid-back, mellow drug of a movie that takes plenty of time but never wastes it on a dull moment. Taking a true-life story from one of his Chicago-cop buddies, Michael Mann spins authentic-realism into positively mythic territory as he follows a resourceful and pragmatic criminal mastermind and the dogged detective who will stop at nothing to take him down. It doesn’t hurt that the ones playing cops-and-robbers are De Niro and Pacino, who both make the most of their time together in what is easily the most memorable cup of coffee ever shared on screen, but the rest of the cast does tough, admirable work as well, especially Val Kilmer, who’s never been better. As shot by Dante Spinotti, Mann’s command of the 2.35:1 frame is probably the most daring and economic of the decade, blending color, composition and kineticism with an expert polish and passionate ferocity that befits the man who made the 80’s go ’round with “Miami Vice”. As scored by Elliot Goldenthal and the industrial-strings of the Kronos Quartet, the soundtrack wraps itself from one end of the film to the other without ever getting in the way of what might be the most impressive sound-design of the past twenty-five years. Mann’s staging of action and conversation is at once realistic and inventive, with poetic flourishes like echoes of Michelangelo’s Pieta and a series of set-pieces that culminates in one of the most thrilling and rewarding bank heists and shootouts put on film since “The Great Train Robbery”. A Los Angeles crime saga as epic as the city’s sprawl, Mann’s picture is as deep and rocky as the San Andreas fault. After all is said and done of the decade, this is most certainly the big one.
on October 15, 2009 at 11:16 pm | ReplyBob Clark
Finally, to make Angelo’s life easier for tabulation:
1: Heat– Mann, 1995
2: GoodFellas– Scorsese, 1990
3: Pulp Fiction– Tarantino, 1994
4: The Game– Fincher, 1997
5: The Phantom Menace– Lucas, 1999
6: GoldenEye– Campbell, 1995
7: JFK– Stone, 1991
8: Caro Diario– Moretti, 1993
9: Slacker– Linklater, 1991
10: Bram Stoker’s Dracula– Coppola, 1992
11: Naked Lunch– Cronenberg, 1991
12: Fearless– Weir, 1993
13: Europa– Von Trier, 1991
14: Gattaca– Niccol, 1997
15: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me– Lynch, 1991
16: Barton Fink– Joel & Ethan Coen, 1992
17: Dreams– Kurosawa, 1991
18: Titus– Taymor, 1999
19: La Haine– Kassovitz, 1995
20: Thelma & Louise– Scott, 1991
21: Schizopolis– Soderbergh, 1996
22: Cross My Heart– Fansten, 1992
23: Death and the Maiden– Polanski, 1994
24: Ghost in the Shell– Oshii, 1996
25: Bound– Larry & Andy Wachowski, 1996
26: Glengarry Glen Ross– Foley, 1992
27: Hamlet– Branagh, 1996
28: Leon– Besson, 1994
29: Malcolm X– Lee, 1992
30: When the Cat’s Away (Chaucun cherche son chat)– Klapisch, 1996
31: Breaking the Waves– Von Trier, 1995
32: Secrets & Lies– Leigh, 1996
33: Starship Troopers– Verhoven, 1997
34: Dogma– Smith, 1999
35: Terminator 2: Judgement Day– Cameron, 1991
36: Before Sunrise– Linklater, 1995
37: The Iron Giant– Bird, 1999
38: Pi– Aronofsky, 1998
39: The Kingdom– Von Trier, 1994
40: Schindler’s List– Spielberg, 1993
41: Run Lola Run– Tykwer, 1998
42: Trainspotting– Boyle, 1996
43: Crash– Cronenberg, 1996
44: Short Cuts– Altman, 1993
45: The Ninth Gate– Polanski, 1999
46: Fiorile– Paulo & Vitorrio Taviani, 1993
47: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas– Gilliam, 1998
48: The Silence of the Lambs– Demme, 1991
49: Johnny Stecchino– Begnini, 1991
50: The Double Life of Veronique– Kieslowski, 1991
on October 16, 2009 at 1:20 am | ReplyTony D'Ambra
I would say Heat as No.1 is a trifle idiosyncratic. For me a predictable boys’ own shoot-em-up with neo-noir pretensions.
on October 16, 2009 at 2:54 amBob Clark
I think it’s safe to say that my top-10 is nothing if not idiosynchratic, Tony. “Heat” to my eyes looks no less deserving of the top spot than did either of the “Godfather” flicks did in the 70’s.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:07 am | ReplyAnubhavBist
Wow, that’s a ballsy list (especially the top ten), but I have to applaud anyone who not only types a little description under each title but also putting Naked Lunch as high as you did. The film is true masterpiece that still really isn’t embraced by many but its a staple in my top ten. I have nothing but admiration for your audacious picks.
on October 15, 2009 at 11:24 pm | ReplySam Juliano
1 Gattaca (Niccol; USA)
2 Three Colours: Blue (Kieslowski; France)
3 La Belle Noiseuse (Rivette; France)
4. The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan; Canada)
5. Three Colours:Red (Kieslowski; France)
6 A Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami; Iran)
7 Satantango (Tarr; Hungary)
8. The Remains of the Day (Ivory; UK;USA)
9. Schindler’s List (Spielberg; USA)
10 Beauty and the Beast (Wise, Trusdale; USA).
11 Rosetta (Dardennes; France)
12 The Long Day Closes (Davies; UK)
13 Beautiful Thing (MacDonald; UK)
14 Wild Reeds (Techine; France)
15 Safe (Haynes; USA)
16 Tilai (Ouedraogo; Burkina Faso)
17 Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (Chereau; France)
18 Prospero’s Books (Greenaway; UK)
19 La Ceremonie (Chabrol; France)
20 Fried Green Tomatoes (Avnet; USA)
21 Die Zweite Heimat (Reitz; Germany)
22 Black Robe (Beresford; Canada/USA)
23 The Double Life of Veronique (Kieslowski; France)
24 The Thin Red Line (Malick; USA)
25 Magnolia (Anderson; USA)
26 Everyone Says I Love You (Allen; USA)
27 All About My Mother (Almodovar; Spain)
28 The Celebration (Vinterberg; Denmark)
29 L.A. Confidential (Hanson; USA)
30 Beau Travail (Denis; France)
31 Raise the Red Lantern (Yimou; China)
32 Our Friends in the North (James; UK)
33 Fargo (Coens; USA)
34 Good Fellas (Scorsese; USA)
35 JFK (Stone; USA)
36 The Madness of King George (Hytner; UK)
37 A Self-Made Hero (Audiard; France)
38 The Ice Storm (Lee; USA)
39 Howards End (Ivory; UK)
40 The Piano (Campion; New Zealand)
41 La Promesse (Dardenne Brothers; France)
42 Breaking the Waves (Von Trier; Denmark)
43 Hamlet (Branagh; UK)
44 Happy Together (Kar-Wei; Hong Kong)
45 Jeanne la Pucelle: Parts I & II (Rivette; France)
46 My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant; USA)
47 The Butcher Boy (Jordan; Ireland; UK)
48 King of the Hill (Soderberg; USA)
49 The White Balloon (Panahi; Iran)
50 High Art (Cholodenko; USA)
and
Wings of the Dove (Softley; UK)
and
Babe (Noonan; Australia)
Just missed:
The Silence of the Lambs (Demme; USA)
The Apple (Makalbaf; Iran)
Sense and Sensibility (Lee; UK; USA)
Metropolitan (Stillman; USA)
Life is Sweet (Leigh; UK)
Delicatessen (Jeunet, Caro; France)
Close-Up (Kiarostami; Iran)
Man in the Moon (Mulligan; USA)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (Kidron; UK)
Guelwaar (Sembene; Senegal)
Olivier Olivier (Holland; France)
The Shawshank Redemption (Darabont; USA)
The Lion King (Trousdale; USA)
Ed Wood (Burton; USA)
Heavenly Creatures (Jackson; New Zealand)
Crumb (Zwigoff; USA)
La Reine Margot (Chereau; France)
Priest (Bird; USA)
The Dreamlife of Angels (Zonca; France)
After-Life (Kor-eda; Japan)
Election (Payne; USA)
American Beauty (Mendes; USA)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Coppola; USA)
Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg’ USA)
White (Kieslowski; France)
The Wind Will Carry Us (Kiarostami: Iran)
Pleasantville (Ross; USA)
A Dance to the Music of Time (Morahan; UK)
Under the Skin (Adler; UK)
Mother and Son (Sukorov; Russia)
Heat (Mann; USA)
The English Patient (Minghella; USA)
A River Runs Through It (Redford; USA)
The Boys of St. Vincent (Smith, Canada)
The Wrong Trousers (Park; UK)
Un Coeur en Hiver (Sautet; France)
A Brighter Summer Day (Yang; Taiwan)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick; UK)
Il Postino (Radford; Italy)
The Limey (Soderbergh; USA)
The End of the Affair (Jordan; UK)
on October 16, 2009 at 1:16 am | ReplyTony D'Ambra
I second Gattaca as No. 1 for the 90s.
on October 16, 2009 at 1:27 amSam Juliano
Tony, hearing that is music to my ears! Of course, who can forget that truly great review you wrote for it here:
https://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2009/02/15/gattaca-there-is-no-gene-for-the-human-spirit/
on October 16, 2009 at 4:10 amDavid H. Schleicher
Oh, yeah, that was a great post and thread!
on October 16, 2009 at 6:59 pmBob Clark
I must say, I’m a little surprised to see the amount of love that “Gattaca” is getting. Don’t get me wrong, I like it too, but the best movie of the 90’s? An interesting choice, to say the least, and an interestingly popular one.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:09 pmSam Juliano
Aye Bob. I won’t ever forget the time in 1998 when the critic Andrew Sarris appeare at the uptown Barnes & Noble near Lincoln Center to discuss his new book released that year. He hosted a Q & A, and I was amongst those with hands raised. I brought up GATTACA to him, saying it was my favorite movie of the year and maybe even the decade. Sarris, who gave the film a tremendous review, and had it as his #2 of that year behind L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, said to me: “Sam, a number of people just didn’t ‘get it’ but it’s a film that is far more complex than the regular moviegoer can appreciate. He seemed thrilled that someone brought up the film.
Anyway, this elegiac, bittersweet and piercingly beautiful parable (and I don’t dislike Jude Law at all like David does) does contain a score by Michael Nyman, which is surely one of teh greatest of all-time. But I’ll have more to say soon enough on this staggering masterpiece.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:28 pmBob Clark
Good points. I admire and appreciate “Gattaca”, but as I said in my list, far too much of its aesthetic is lifted wholesale for me to put it at the tippy-top.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:43 pmJamie
Sam, a Jude Law film that I do really LOVE (and expect to place it in the top ten of the ’00s) is ‘Closer’. When people don’t like that movie I get really perplexed. Usually it’s because they’ve been ‘cheated’ on and see themselves to much in the plot. But whatever it’s a very complex and beautifully written film.
Oh and Natalie Portman is really something.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:45 pmSam Juliano
Jamie, my dislike for that film is legendary here at Wonders, and some of our most insightful (and tasteful) readers including Allan completely agree with you. I will hide my head in shame, or better yet give it another chance.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:49 pmBob Clark
In my opinion, the only thing of true worth that Mike Nichols directed after “The Graduate” was the miniseries of “Angels in America”. And if I wanted to see Natalie Portman get her kit off, I’d watch “Hotel Chevalier”.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:52 pmSam Juliano
Bob, you may have forgotten one other solid one: 1966’s WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, even if the direction was trumped by the acting and writing.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:55 pmBob Clark
That was before “The Graduate”, Sam– in fact, it was his debut. A good film, granted, and a good use of black & white. It’s more Albee’s work than Nichols’ (though one could say the same of Kushner and “Angels in America), but the director does fine work.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:58 pmSam Juliano
Ah Bob. You are right. I spoke too quickly. And what you say there is superbly reasoned as always. Yes, it’s really Albee’s.
on October 16, 2009 at 8:02 pmJamie
I also really like Nichol’s work in ‘Carnal Knowledge’ too Bob.
As for Natalie in ‘Closer’ she really doesn’t take ‘here kit off’ in ‘Closer’, it’s more that I like her as an actress. Though I know many hardass film fans who don’t.
on October 16, 2009 at 8:09 pmBob Clark
Jamie, “Carnal Knowledge” has good aspects, but I have to admit, I’ve never been terribly impressed with Jules Feiffer’s work as a screenwriter or playwright. Partly it’s because of how affected I was by his work as a cartoonist, but his style never quite makes the transition for me from one medium to another. His words read well to me on the printed page, floating above one of his neurotically scribbled New Yorkers, but they don’t do so well spoken out loud.
As for Portman– she’s good, no doubt, but best within certain limitations. I’m not fond of her performances in “Goya’s Ghosts” or “Garden State”, but she has plenty of stronger work to admire.
on October 16, 2009 at 8:18 pmSam Juliano
Again, a fascinating discussion, this time about Mike Nichols. I am leaving the house shortly with the family to see a 5:30 P.M. showing of Spike Jonze’s WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE based on the beloved Caldecott winner (another book I’ve used over and over again) It appears the reviews are solid, if not spectacular. RT has it at 81 to 40. Both New York Times critics, Manhola Dargis and A.O. Scott were deliriously praising it in today’s edition.
I hate to leave the PC now, but I’ll check in later.
Again, thanks to Bob and Jamie (and many others here including Movie Man, Dee Dee and Bobby J and Dennis) for continuing to put your time and expertise in at the site here, even if just about all of you are part of the site anyway.
on October 16, 2009 at 4:07 am | ReplyDavid H. Schleicher
Sam, I really have to revisit Gattaca. Your rally around it is inspiring. I liked it very much when I first saw it and especially loved the Nyman score…but it’s just not a film that instantly jumps into mind for some reason, though it could’ve easily made my list. It’s clearly indicative of the type of thought-provoking, imaginative and genre-bending cinema that was celebrated during the decade. I think it is the presence of Jude Law the steers me clear of frequent revisiting…I just can’t stand that guy — though he was well cast and quite good in Gattaca admittedly.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:29 am | ReplyAnubhavBist
Wow interesting list for sure and I didn’t see number 1 coming at all. but while I don’t agree with every title, like i said for Bob’s list, I respect the list. A few choices however do make me smile and cheer. My Own Private Idaho, while low, is one of my all time favorite films and in my opinion has one of the greatest performances ever by the late great River Phoenix. I also want to say that the Ice Storm, a film I doubt will appear on many lists, but for me its the best film Ang Lee has ever made. Also have to respect the selection of the true WWII film of 1998, The Thin Red Line. Sure Spielberg’s war was more exciting and more fun to look at, but was merer child’s play when you compared it to Malick’s masterpiece. I also have on last thing to say regarding your number 1 pick. Fascinating choice, but I cant help think Andrew Niccol helped make a better film in the 90s. One of which shockingly didn’t even appear as an honorable mention.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:43 pmSam Juliano
I liked THE TRUMAN SHOW too Anu, but for me it was nowhere near GATTACA, which explored themes surrounding our very existence. Anu, again you make some exceptional observations there!
on October 15, 2009 at 11:32 pm | ReplyJamie
These lists prove one thing: I need to see Gattaca again with fresh eyes. I saw it when it was in the theaters in the 90’s. So it’s been about 12 years.
on October 15, 2009 at 11:52 pm | ReplyDavid H. Schleicher
I think I said all I needed to say about the ’90’s (and my top pick) already in my neck of the blogging woods…so sans the usual bloviation….here’s the simple list:
1. The Sweet Hereafter (1997, Atom Egoyan)
2. Europa/Zentropa (1990, Lars Von Trier)
3. Goodfellas (1990, Martin Scorsese)
4. Fargo (1996, The Coen Brothers)
5. Secrets and Lies (1996, Mike Leigh)
6. Breaking the Waves (1996, Lars Von Trier)
7. The English Patient (1996, Anthony Minghella)
8. Short Cuts (1993, Robert Altman)
9. Kundun (1997, Martin Scorsese)
10. Schindler’s List (1993, Steven Spielberg)
11. Braveheart (1995, Mel Gibson)
12. Boogie Nights (1997, Paul Thomas Anderson)
13. The Thief (1997, Pavel Chukhraj)
14. King of the Hill (1993, Steven Soderbergh)
15. Toto the Hero (1991, Jaco Van Dormael)
16. American Beauty (1999, Sam Mendes)
17. Miller’s Crossing (1990, The Coen Brothers)
18. The Truman Show (1998, Peter Weir)
19. Twelve Monkeys (1995, Terry Gilliam)
20. Being John Malkovich (1999, Spike Jonze)
21. Ravenous (1999, Antonia Bird)
22. Eve’s Bayou (1997, Kasi Lemmons)
23. Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)
24. The End of the Affair (1999, Neil Jordan)
25. Exotica (1994, Atom Egoyan)
Honorable Mentions from the 1990’s:
Wild at Heart (1990, David Lynch)
Barton Fink (1991, The Coen Brothers)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992, Michael Mann)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992, David Lynch)
Groundhog Day (1993, Harold Ramis)
The Piano (1993, Jane Campion)
Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson)
Casino (1995, Martin Scorsese)
The City of Lost Children (1995, Caro & Jeunet)
Heat (1995, Michael Mann)
LA Confidential (1997, Curtis Hanson)
Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch)
Saving Private Ryan (1998, Steven Spielberg)
Fight Club (1999, David Fincher)
The Limey (1999, Steven Soderbergh)
Office Space (1999, Mike Judge)
The Straight Story (1999, David Lynch)
on October 16, 2009 at 12:30 am | ReplySam Juliano
As I stated at your place, David, this is simple a spectacular list, with so many masterworks. We are lucky to have it here.
on October 15, 2009 at 11:57 pm | ReplyKaleem Hasan
1)Histoire(s) du cinema (Godard)
2)Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang)
3)Puppetmaster (Hsiao-Hsien)
4)Satantango (Tarr)
5)All about my mother (Almodovar)
6)Thin Red Line (Malick)
7)Life and Nothing More (Kiarostami)
8)La Belle Noiseuse (Rivette)
9)Guelwaar (Sembene)
10)Three Colors: Blue (Kieslowski)
11)Iruvar (Rathnam)
12)Age of Innocence (Scorsese)
13)Live Flesh (Almodovar)
14)La Ceremonie (Chabrol)
15)Confucian Confusion (Yang)
16)Mahjong (Yang)
17)Flowers of Shanghai (Hsiao-Hsien)
18)Mother of 1084 (Nihalani)
19)Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami)
20)Wind will carry us (Kiarostami)
21)Raise the Red Lantern (Yimou)
22)Good men good women (Hsiao-Hsien)
23)Three Colors: Red (Kieslowski)
24)Blue Kite (Zhuangzhuang Tian)
25)Remains of the Day (Ivory)
an alternate 25:
1)The River (Ming-Liang)
2)Ju-Dou (Yimou)
3)Titanic (Cameron)
4)Vanaprastham (Karun)
5)Through the olive trees (Kiraostami)
6)Stalingrad (Vilsmaier)
7)Nouvelle Vague (Godard)
8)Rosetta (Dardennes)
9)La Promesse (Dardennes)
10)Un coeur en hiver (Sautet)
11)Beau Travil (Denis)
12)Titus (Taymor)
13)Double Life of veronique (Kieslowski)
14)Tilai (Ouedraogo)
15)La Haine (Kassovitz)
16)Chingking Express (Kar-Wai)
17)The Stranger (Ray)
18)Rhapsody in August (Kurosawa)
19)Buena Vista Social Club (Wenders)
20)White Balloon (Panahi)
21)Blush (Shaohong Li)
22)Children of Heaven (Majidi)
23)JFK (Stone)
24)The Usual Suspects (Singer)
25)Goodfellas (Scorsese)
on October 16, 2009 at 12:29 am | ReplySam Juliano
The usual tremendous listing from Kaleem.
on October 16, 2009 at 12:21 am | ReplyDave
I’m going to wait and post my own list after I get through the 90s in my annual countdown so that the few that visit both sites will at least have a bit of drama involved in the process. 🙂
That being said, I love seeing the lists so far… gives me some films to make sure I see before I make a final version of my list.
on October 16, 2009 at 12:28 am | ReplySam Juliano
Dave, I totally agree with your strategy here. You must maintain drama and surprise at Good Fellas. You probably shouldn’t post until you’ve gotten through the 90’s there.
on October 16, 2009 at 12:29 amDave
Not that the name of my blog gives away my choice for 1990 or anything… LOL
on October 16, 2009 at 12:38 am | ReplyAngelo D'Arminio
1 SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
2 GOODFELLAS (1990)
3 REMAINS OF DAY, THE (1993)
4 IL POSTINO (1994)
5 NOBODY’S FOOL (1994)
6 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
7 SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)
8 UNFORGIVEN (1992)
9 SILENCE OF LAMBS, THE (1991)
10 L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997)
11 MALCOLM X (1992)
12 APOSTLE, THE (1997)
13 A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992)
14 A FEW GOOD MEN (1992)
15 MADNESS OF KING GEORGE, THE (1994)
16 PULP FICTION (1994)
17 FIRM, THE (1993)
18 APOLLO 13 (1995)
19 LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (1997)
20 FARGO (1996)
21 REVERSAL OF FORTUNE (1990)
22 WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE (1993)
23 DONNIE BRASCO (1997)
24 DEAD MAN WALKING (1995)
25 SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995)
on October 16, 2009 at 12:44 am | ReplySam Juliano
At least with your #19 choice there Angelo, Allan can’t call you a xenophobe! Ha! Your loyalty to SHAWSHANK is legendary, but it’s a solid prison drama.
on October 16, 2009 at 1:15 am | ReplyJamie
OK, I apologize but once I started I couldn’t stop till I listed every 90’s film I’ve seen and liked (then I just wanted to go to a nice round number… 80 is was!)
1. Europa (West Germany/Denmark…Lars Von Trier)
2. The Thin Red Line (US…Terrence Malick)
3. Magnolia (US…Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. Naked (UK…Mike Leigh)
5. Three Colours: Red (France/Poland…Krzysztof Kieslowski)
6. Barton Fink (US…Joel Coen)
7. La Belle Noiseuse (France…Jacques Rivette
8. Dead Man (US…Jim Jarmusch)
9. A Perfect World (US… Clint Eastwood)
10. American Movie (US…Chris Smith)
11. Lost Highway (US…David Lynch)
12. Sátántangó (Hungary…Béla Tarr)
13. A Taste of Cherry (Iran…Abbas Kiarostami)
14. Bad Lieutenant (US…Abel Ferrara)
15. Groundhog Day (US…Harold Ramis)
16. Habit (US… Larry Fessenden)
17. Short Cuts (US…Robert Altman)
18. Falling Down (US… Joel Schumacher)
19. Naked Lunch (Canada…David Cronenberg)
20. For Ever Mozart (French… JL Godard)
21. Titus (US…Julie Taymor)
22. The Double Life of Véronique (France/Poland…Krzysztof Kieslowski)
23. Audition (Japan…Takashi Miike)
24. Three Colours: Blue (France/Poland…Krzysztof Kieslowski)
25. Begotten (US… E. Elias Merhige)
26. Pulp Fiction (US…Quentin Tarantino)
27. Fargo (US…Joel Coen)
28. π (US…Darren Aronofsky)
29. The Last Days of Disco (US…Whit Stillman)
30. Romper Stomper (Australia…Geoffrey Wright)
31. The Talented Mr Ripley (US…Anthony Minghella)
32. The Ice Storm (US…Ang Lee)
33. Funny Games (Austria…Michael Haneke)
34. JFK: director’s cut (US (1992)…Oliver Stone)
35. Raise the Red Lantern (China…Zhang Yimou)
36. Celebrity (US… Woody Allen)
37. Through the Olive Trees (Iran…Abbas Kiarostami)
38. Deconstructing Harry (US… Woody Allen)
39. The Apostle (US…Robert Duvall)
40. Chungking Express (Hong Kong…Wong Kar-Wai)
41. Crash (Canada…David Cronenberg)
42. Bound (US…Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski)
43. Dark City: the director’s cut (US/Australia (2008)…Alex Proyas)
44. Breaking the Waves (Denmark/UK…Lars Von Trier)
45. The Straight Story (US…David Lynch)
46. Happiness (US…Todd Solondz)
47. Reservoir Dogs (US…Quentin Tarantino)
48. Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (Belgium… Johan Grimonprez)
49. GoodFellas (US…Martin Scorsese)
50. Croupier (UK…Mike Hodges)
51. Fight Club (US…David Fincher)
52. Fireworks (Japan… Takeshi ‘Beat’ Kitano)
53. The Insider (US…Michael Mann)
54. Your Friends & Neighbors (US… Neil LaBute
55. Rushmore (US…Wes Anderson)
56. The Player (US…Robert Altman)
57. Miller’s Crossing (US…Joel Coen)
58. Unforgiven (US…Clint Eastwood)
59. La Haine (France…Mathieu Kassovitz)
60. Leon: Version Longue (US/France…Luc Besson)
61. My Own Private Idaho (US…Gus van Sant)
62. Batman Returns (US… Tim Burton)
63. The Big Lebowski (US…Joel Coen)
64. Man Bites Dog (Belgium…Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel)
65. M. Butterfly (Canada… David Cronenberg)
66. Ed Wood (US…Tim Burton)
67. Jurassic Park (US…Steven Spielberg)
68. Le Femme Nikita (French… Luc Besson)
69. Hoop Dreams (US…Steve James)
70. Heat (US…Michael Mann)
71. Before Sunrise (US…Richard Linklater)
72. Jacob’s Ladder (US… Adrian Lyne)
73. Perfect Blue (Japan…Satoshi Kon)
74. In the Company of Men ((US… Neil LaBute)
75. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (US…Trey Parker)
76. Heavenly Creatures (New Zealand…Peter Jackson)
77. Ravenous (US… Antonia Bird)
78. Ghost in the Machine (Japan… Mamoru Oshii)
79. The Crying Game (UK…Neil Jordan)
80. Cronos (Mexico…Guillermo del Toro)
on October 16, 2009 at 1:32 am | ReplySam Juliano
Jamie, you are incorrigible! LOL!!! Awesome line-up here! That Schulmacher surprises me, but I must admit as a huge Von trier fan otherwise, i was never big for EUROPA. I’ll need to see that again. I expect to see DEAD MAN on a number of lists, but as far as Jarmusch goes I was never a fan of that one. But again, you are with MANY is feeling it’s his greatest work. I haven’t seen that #20 Godard, and I can’t say how I forgot to consider TITUS, which I will now add to (at least) my runner-up list.
Again, fantastic choices here.
on October 16, 2009 at 1:42 amJamie
Really the top 13 films are all interchangable… they could all be a number one if I recently watched them. I do love Von Trier and for some reason that’s my favorite by him, but I love all his films. If you see that again, I’ll see ‘Gattaca’ again as promised.
I have similar feelings for Jarmusch, I adore almost every film he’s ever made (‘Ghost Dog’ is really the only one I never need to see again, even with it’s ‘Le Samourai’ references).
I forgot a few as well, so I decided that if I really wanted to make it a “90 for the ’90’s” these are the ten I’d sprinkle in:
The City of Lost Children (French… Caro & Jeunet)
The Limey (US… Steven Soderbergh)
Office Space (US… Mike Judge)
Wild at Heart (US… David Lynch)
The Piano (US/Australia… Jane Campion)
LA Confidential (US… Curtis Hanson)
Kundun (US… Martin Scorsese)
The Sweet Hereafter (Canada… Atom Egoyan)
Boogie Nights (US… Paul Thomas Anderson)
Eyes Wide Shut (UK… Stanley Kubrick)
on October 16, 2009 at 2:01 amSam Juliano
Those are all irrefutable additions there Jamie!
You have a deal on the Von Trier/Gattaca!!!!
on October 16, 2009 at 8:38 am | ReplyTony D'Ambra
My list is NOT a vote. My kids were young in the 90s and my film-going was sporadic. For what it’s worth this is my top 70 in alphabetical order:
A Brighter Summer Day (Taiwan 1991)
Amateur (US 1994)
Awakenings (US 1990)
Before Sunrise (US 1995)
Brassed Off (1996)
Buena Vista Social Club (Germany 1998)
Bulworth (US 1998)
Caro Diario (Italy 1994)
Central Station (Brazil 1998)
Clueless (US 1995)
Cyrano de Bergerac (France 1990)
Dances With Wolves (US 1991)
Dark City (US/Aus 1998)
Dead Man Walking (US 1995)
Delicatessen (France 1990)
Devil’s Advocate (US 1997)
Donnie Brasco (US 1997)
Everybody’s Fine (Italy 1990)
eXistenZ (US 1999)
Face Off (US 1997)
Farewell My Concubine (China 1993)
Fight Club (US 1999)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (UK 1994)
Gattaca (US 1997)
GBH (UK 1991)
Glengarry Glen Ross (US 1992)
Good Will Hunting (US 1997)
Grand Canyon (US 1991)
Il Postino (Italy 1994)
JFK (US 1991)
Jude (UK 1996)
Kundun (US 1997)
L’Apartement (France 1996)
Les Amants du Pont Neuf (France 1991)
Malcolm X (US 1992)
Mediterraneo (Italy 1990)
Men in Black (US 1997)
Metropolitan (US 1990)
Philadelphia (US 1993)
Place Vendôme (France 1998)
Pleasantville (US 1998)
Q&A (US 1990)
Quiz Show (US 1994)
Raise the Red Lantern (China 1991)
Reality Bites (US 1994)
Run Lola Run (Germany 1998)
Rushmore (US 1998)
Scent of a Woman (US 1992)
Shanghai Triad (China 1995)
Six Degrees of Separation (1992)
Sliding Doors (UK 1998)
Sling Blade (US 1996)
Snow Falling on Cedars (US 1999)
The Actress (HK 1992)
The Apostle (US 1997)
The Bridges of Madison County (US 1995)
The Cider House Rules (US 1999)
The City of Lost Children (France 1995)
The Full Monty (UK 1997)
The Girl on the Bridge (France 1999)
The Insider (US 1999)
The Last Days of Disco (US 1998)
The Matrix (US 1999)
The Opposite of Sex (US 1998)
The Player (US 1992)
The Talented Mr Ripley (US 1999)
The Truman Show (US 1998)
The Usual Suspects (US-Germany 1995)
Thelma and Louise (US 1991)
Toto le héros (Belgium/France 1991)
on October 16, 2009 at 9:08 am | ReplyKevin J. Olson
Here’s my rather elementary list. This was about the time I stopped watching foreign films…so hopefully Allan’s list will enlighten me and point me towards some good world cinema from the 90’s.
1 – Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
2 – The Thin Red Line (Malick)
3 – The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan)
4 – The Talented Mr. Ripley (Manghella)
5 – Casino (Scorsese)
6 – Magnolia (Anderson)
7 – After Life (Koreeda)
8 – Bottle Rocket (Anderson)
9 – Bringing Out the Dead (Scorsese)
10 – Fearless (Weir)
11 – Fargo (Coen)
12 – Man Bites Dog (Belvaux, Bonzel)
13 – The Age of Innocence (Scorsese)
14 – Boogie Nights (Anderson)
15 – Heat (Mann)
16 – Goodfellas (Scorsese)
17 – JFK (Stone)
18 – Unforgiven (Eastwood)
19 – Dark City (Proyas)
20 – Glengarry Glen Ross (Mamet)
21 – Jackie Brown (Tarantino)
22 – Cemetery Man (Soavi)
23 – Gods and Monsters (Condon)
24 – Out of Sight (Soderbergh)
25 – Quiz Show (Redford)
26 – Leaving Las Vegas (Figgis)
27 – LA Confidential (Hansen)
28 – The Shawshank Redemption (Darabont)
29 – Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (Craven)
30 – The Insider (Mann)
31 – The Ice Storm (Lee)
32 – Three Kings (Russell)
33 – The Truman Show (Weir)
34 – Pleasentville (Ross)
35 – Starship Troopers (Verhoeven)
36 – True Romance (Scott)
37 – One False Move (Frankin)
38 – Homicide (Mamet)
39 – Maborosi (Koreeda)
40 – Rushmore (Anderson)
41 – American Movie (Smith)
42 – Terminator 2 (Cameron)
43 – Miller’s Crossing (Coen)
44 – Rosetta (The Dardenne’s)
45 – The Fugitive (Davis)
46 – Exotica (Egoyan)
47 – The Limey (Soderbergh)
48 – In the Mouth of Madness (Carpenter)
49 – The Last of the Mohicans (Mann)
50 – A Perfect World (Eastwood)
on October 16, 2009 at 7:52 pm | ReplyJamie
“Cemetary Man’ I almost included it Kevin. I can always count on you to represent the horror. Have you seen the few horror rarities I placed in my top 25 (‘Habit’ and ‘Begotten’)?
‘Habit’ outdoes the (somewhat) similar ‘Dracula’ yet it’s remained relatively unknown. And ‘Begotten’, what can I say? It’s bizarre arthouse creepy-ness is virtually unmatched in cinema. As the boxcover says “Makes ‘Eraserhead’ look like ‘Ernest Saves Christmas’. It’s pretty good, and again, very under seen.
A few other underrated horror films from the 90’s: ‘Apt Pupil’, ‘Baby Blood’ (aka ‘the evil Within’), the hilarious ‘Castle Freak’ (vhs only I believe), ‘Dead Alive’ (can’t believe I forgot this on my list), Fulci’s ‘Cat in the Brain’, and one of the funnest horror gore film you will ever see, ‘The Dentist’.
on October 16, 2009 at 7:56 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Kevin, my friend the list here is not ‘elementary’ remotely. Your taste and knowledge are always on the highest level, and again am grateful to have your list here!
on October 16, 2009 at 2:19 pm | Replybobby J.
The list for this decade and the eagerness really astounded me. I do think that it’s a great improvement over the ’80s, where I dropped in a couple of 3 star films into my mix. This was the decade in which I dropped off for many years, my interest in the movies. Alas. Anyway, here are my choices. In chronological order, one directorial work per director…
1990
Edward Scissorhands – it’s director’s best.
Goodfellas – superb return to form, his best since ‘Raging Bull’ and a wasted decade.
Misery – a superb little suspenser and vastly, for me, preferable to the sick and evil ‘Silence’.
1991
Beauty and the Beast – Disney’s greatest modern and the best since it’s heyday.
Boyz N the Hood – the pinnacle of ‘black cinema’ and one better and Spike.
1992
Bram Stoker’s Dracula – the best movie adaption of the novel by far, though it founder’s in by emphasising the romantic aspect! The horror is too subdued. Only bested by the BBC’s 3-part 1977 one starring a superb Louis Jordan.
Unforgiven – The western reborn with a vengence.
Visions of Light (Japan/US) – heaven for me, though it really should really have been a tv series with one episode per decade.
1993
Groundhog Day – take Woody Allan and Pixar out of the picture and great movie comedies are rare. I can only think of two from the ’80s. And this one belongs up there.
Much Ado About Nothing – vastly superior than ‘Hamlet’ and at least the equal of ‘Henry V’.
The Remains of the Day – sheer bliss, done in the same year as ‘The Age of Innocence’ but vastly more emotionally affecting.
Schindler’s List – the boy wonder turns into an adult. Bye-bye Peter Pan.
1994
Eat Drink Man Woman – hilarious and involving and time to order Chinese too.
The Shawshank Redemption – a sleeper hit that like ‘The Terminator’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ shows that cream rises to the top.
1995
Toy Story – the birth of a new type of animation. Much better than ‘Toy Story 2’, matched by ‘Wall-E’.
1996
The Crucible – a superb adaption and for me, Daniel-Day-Lewis’ is for once matched by someone who can hold his own in his mentor, Paul Scofield.
Everybody Says I Love You – Allan tics and obsessions made deleriously fun.
Fargo – the Coen’s finest.
Looking for Richard – fascinating fusion and with moments of poetry. The elderly streetwise black dude waxing lyrical about the profound nature of the Bard and his revelance.
Trainspotting – fiery, explosive modern life on a fuse.
1997
Gattaca – a battle between this and Goodfellas, I think for the best of the decade. A classic of SF that evokes a sense of wonder and romanticism for rockets shooting into night sjy.
L.A. Confidential – blistering, on the edge of your seat crime drama that wipes the floor with the psuedo cool and thin machismo of ‘Heat’.
1999
American Beauty – the birth of a new directorial talent, fused with a marvellous script. A satire worthy of Billy Wilder.
Magnolia – makes ‘Short Cuts’ look the little mess it was. A marvellous and deeply touching work, audacious and risky, compassionate and wise. Maybe I should have chosen ‘Boogie Nights.’ Both vastly more than ‘There Will Be Blood’.
The End of the Affair – immersive and hypnotic, so much so that I want to read the original.
and here are my choices for the best tv of the decade, though there are some works that I need to watch and missed the 1st time around (such as ‘Our friends from the North’, ect, ect.)
1990 ——– The Civil War (9 Episodes x70mins, PBS)
1992 – 1989 The Larry Sanders Show (89 Episodes x25mins, HBO)
1992 – 1994 Between the Lines (35 Episodes x 50mins, BBC1)
1992 – 1995 Batman. The Animated Series (85 Episodes x 25mins, 2 Movies, Fox)
1993 – 2004 Frasier (264 Episodes x24mins, NBC)
1993 ——– D.W. Griffith. Father of Film (3 Episodes x50mins, C4)
1994 – 1995 Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge (7 Episodes x30mins, BBC2)
1994 ——– Watergate (5 Episodes x 60mins, BBC2)
1995 – 1998 Father Ted (24 Episodes x25mintues, 1 Special, C4)
1995 ——– Pride and Prejudice (6 Episodes x50mins, BBC1)
1996 ——– Cinema Europe. The Other Hollywood (6 Episodes x50mins, BBC)
1998 – 2002 The Cops (24 Episodes, BBC2)
1999 – The Sopranos
1999 ——– The Mayfair Set (3 Episodes)
on October 16, 2009 at 8:51 pm | ReplyBurt Gold
1. Fireworks (Kitano)
2. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
3. Kids Return (Takeshi)
4. Remains of the Day (Ivory)
5. Sonatine (Takeshi)
6. Boiling Point (Takeshi)
7. Beau Travail (Denis)
8. A Scene at the Sea (Takeshi)
9. Crumb (Zwigoff)
10. Wild at Heart (Lynch)
11. My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant)
12. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Lynch)
13. The Thin Red Line (Malick)
14. Fallen Angels (Wong)
15. Kikujiro – 1999 (Takeshi)
16. Chungking Express (Wong)
17. The Big Lebowski (Coen)
18. Ghost in the Shell (Oshii)
18. Dead Man (Jarmusch)
19. Fargo (Coen)
20. The Celebration (Vinterberg)
21. Hackers (Softley)
22. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (Herzog)
23. Silence of the Lambs (Demme)
24. Lessons of Darkness (Herzog)
25. Barton Fink (Coen)
on October 16, 2009 at 9:02 pm | ReplyBurt Gold
Sorry, forgot to add comments to my list… didn’t mean to be abrupt. I know the list seems a little top-heavy with Takeshi Kitano, it’s a personal obsession. He owns this decade for me. I guess I’d give honorable mentions to Porco Rosso, Howard’s End and Hoop Dreams. It was tough to make those cuts at the bottom. Hard Boiled is good, too… honestly I’m surprised it was as tough as it was to put this together. I didn’t realize there were so many movies in this decade that I love…
on October 20, 2009 at 9:40 pmBurt Gold
Wow, got my Japanese last names all screwed up, too… “Takeshi” on 3, 5, 6, 8 and 15 should be “Kitano.” Got it right on my #1 though.
on October 17, 2009 at 1:00 am | ReplyMovieMan0283
(This is a response to Bob’s list above)
Wonderful capsules, concise, evocative, pointed – really excellent work here and well-worthy of a blog post all their own. I have not seen a lot of these – perhaps as many as half – but based on reputation, and on what I HAVE seen, it’s both an eccentric and completely coherent list, which is to be expected. Proceeding down the count, then:
48. Oddly, I’ve grown a two-fold antipathy towards this film – 1) I don’t find Demme’s mise en scene particularly compelling (actually, the completely messy and often misguided Philadelphia is more interesting, to my eyes, particularly the great opening montage). Mann’s Manhunter, which struck me as an interesting mess when last I saw it, really shows this film up as the conventional picture it is. 2) Hannibal Lecter irritates me – he allows audiences to indulge in a smug elitism which, pardon the expression, has its cake and eats it too. I’d like him more if he were MORE sociopathic, but he’s sympathetic in all the right ways – he’s gentlemanly towards Clarice, he has exquisite taste, he’s an intelligent snob. The character strikes me as overeducated, upwardly-mobile bourgeois self-flattery (a retiring intellectual’s indulgent conception of a refined aristocratic killer). But, hey, it’s a very entertaining thriller and when I can put aside its reputation I quite enjoy it. I just think it’s somewhat overrated.
47. Here’s another film I find overrated. Gilliam’s visual fantasias – aside from the trippy Monty Python cartoons – don’t tend to evoke anything druggy for me. The only moments in this film which even slightly make me feel like “there’s something happening here” are the brief snippets of 60s home movies.
45. This sounds fascinating – I’m completely unfamiliar with Polanski’s post-exile work (save The Pianist). In both theme and style (blackest black comedy), the film sounds like a latter-day Rosemary’s Baby, which may be my favorite Polanski film. I’ll have to see it.
40. Thoughts have been shared elsewhere. Further forthcoming. Disagree with you on Saving Private Ryan, but I’ll save that discussion for another occasion – albeit with the knowledge that Allan certainly won’t be providing us the opportunity.
34. Ah, Bob. You’re killing me with this Allen thing. You pick probably the most visually inventive comedian of the past 40 years and continually knock his cinematography. I’m sorry, but he got a lifetime bulletproof vest after Manhattan. No, his 90s and 00s work doesn’t approach his Nykvist or Willis films but who’s thinking of those films when they talk about Allen anyway? I’m not – the mind jumps immediately to Manhattan, Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, Zelig…
19 & 15. Lest you think I have only bones to pick, great, great choices here. La haine is a kick from start to finish, investing its tale of frustration and despair with a joie de vivre that few post-60s French films seem to evoke (at least among the few, and perhaps unrepresentative few, I’ve seen). Fire Walk With Me is one of the most emotionally overpowering films I’ve ever experienced. I’m troubled by it, but that’s only further proof of its greatness, however flawed. The contemporary critics’ hostile indifference (a seeming contradiction, but go back and read those reviews) will never cease to astonish me. How can one not be at all affected by this movie? I don’t get it. But then again I’ve only seen it once and haven’t yet worked up the courage to revisit. But it’s simply a devastating picture, and Lee is astonishing as Laura.
9. Very accomplished filmmaking, but the milieu that Linklater represents really turns me off (I want to reach into the TV and strangle that smug douchebag who lectures his girlfriend about aiding the homeless – because, you see, she’s indulging in bourgeois guilt. Better yet, why not rub his face in Madonna’s pap smear?). As a result, there are other Linklater films I much prefer – #36 among them.
7. Interesting response. I find this movie completely engrossing and invigorating – Stone’s passionate, subjective historiography is right up my alley – but I don’t know that I buy it as manifesto. I agree more with Ebert’s take on the film, and I quote: “JFK will stand indefinitely as a record of how we felt … a brilliant reflection of our unease and paranoia, our restless dissatisfaction. On that level, it is completely factual.” (No, that’s not from memory – I’m not that good.)
6. Haven’t seen it, oddly enough – bits and pieces on TV from time to time (I can hear you screaming, “The aspect ratio! The aspect ratio!”) but never the whole thing. Your placement and celebration seems kind of like a brusque, unspoken dis of Casino Royale’s much-vaunted “re-invention” of the Bond brand…am I right to detect some skepticism on your part towards the 00s franchise?
5. Yes, we did. Jurassic Park, for my money, was the best popcorn movie of the 90s.
3. ” Whenever anybody whines about the glory days of moviemaking in the 70’s or the Golden Age of Hollywood and says “They sure don’t make ’em like they used to,” I point to this movie and say, “This is the reason why.” ” Which is why I’ll forever celebrate this individual film while bemoaning its influence. But it IS a great movie, no way around it, and I expect to see it on Allan’s list.
1. While I think Heat is more than a “boys’ own shoot-em-up” I probably would not rank it quite so highly. Actually, the great Mann picture of the 90s is Last of the Mohicans: its climax is one of the most finely and powerfully executed in cinema but then as already established, your preference is for the pictorial, mine for the kinetic (though of course both Mann films can provide examples of both).
Allan’s dropped Kids, you’ve mentioned La Haine and Fire Walk With Me, leaving only Mohicans among my favorite-90s-films-that-don’t-usually-make-the-list. And it’s probably my favorite of the bunch. Ah well.
on October 17, 2009 at 3:23 am | ReplyMovieMan0283
And one can also add Big Lebowski to that last bunch – definitely appreciated as a cult movie, but I’m not sure it’s widely seen as a comic masterpiece, which it certainly is.
on October 17, 2009 at 4:09 am | ReplyBob Clark
Joel, great points all. My responses:
Silence of the Lambs: Demme’s mis-en-scene has a nice straightforward clarity to it that I like, especially in this kind of FBI procedural. Notice how often actors are directly adressing or staring into the camera– it’s not revolutionary or anything, but it’d a nice layer of consistency that I find attractive. Visually, “Manhunter” soars miles above anything here, and I really like William Peterson’s performance. Brian Cox is nice, but I do prefer Hopkins’ take.
Fear & Loathing: Gilliam’s over-the-top take can be a little much at times, yes, but I remain moved by the sense of despair and regret that coats the best, quietest moments in this film. It’s a film that properly mourns the spent and lost progressive energy of the 60’s, instead of simply trying to recapture it on celluloid. But it’s also just a lot of fun for me to see Thompson’s work brought to the screen so frenetically. It’s like a Cheech & Chong movie with its brain-cells still intact.
The Ninth Gate: Part of me wishes I’d put this film higher, as I really, really love to watch it. I’d say it’s less a modern “Rosemary’s Baby” and more a modern “Fearless Vampire Killers”, only played a little more straight. At times it feels like a dark, very slightly comic version of a Jesse Franco horror picture, or a Dario Argento giallo. Lots of fun.
Schindler’s List: I’m just fucking tired of “Saving Private Ryan”.
Dogma: Woody Allen strikes me as the kind of director whose most important visual contribution is the hiring the cinematographer. Simply put, the films from his “Manhattan” period bear little to no resemblance to the eras of “Hannah” and beyond. If he credited guys like Gordon Willis, Sven Nykvist or Carlo Di Palma as co-directors, it wouldn’t bother me as much, because a lot of his films really don’t look like they’re shot by the same filmmaker. I’ll say this, though– at least he cares enough about the visuals to make a consistent effort to work with the best, which is more than can be said of Kevin Smith.
Death and the Maiden: While you sometimes accuse me of caring only about the visual components of film (perhaps rightly so, though I deny that I’m less interested in kineticism than pictorials), there are times when I can embrace the medium in its more theatrical embodiments, and this is one of those occasions. Polanski’s had something of a second career in Europe as a theater director, and watching the expertise with which he stages the action for his camera here, I’d be interested in seeing some of his work.
La Haine & Fire Walk With Me: Kassovitz really needs to get his shit together, man. And I really wish more people would embrace the Lynch film– in some ways, I think the cult of “Twin Peaks” has hurt its chances with mainstream audiences and film-critics.
Slacker: Yeah, I agree that the Austin bohemian scene on display here can be very aggrivating, and that it’s a lifestyle that far too many hipster-wannabes embrace today to rather self-serving extremes. But I don’t see Linklater endorsing it so much as he is examining them, as if under a microscope. It’s a genuine slice of life from a very particular time and place, and if I’m less hard on the people of this movie, it’s because deep down I know I’m a lot more similar to them than I’d like to admit. “Before Sunrise” is a lot nicer in some ways, but not as energetic.
JFK: I think there’s more truth in here than fiction, and while I’m not even certain it’s my preferred example of Kennedy-assassination storytelling (DeLillo’s “Libra” is a top contender) I continue to be impressed by the breadth and lucidity of Stone’s distribution of information throughout the film’s brisk three hours.
GoldenEye: Check back near the top of the page to see what I think of Daniel Craig’s first steps as 007. The Brosnan years were pretty weak for the most part, but this first entry was easily the strongest Bond film in decades, at that time. I hope Martin Campbell returns to the director’s chair again for the series.
The Phantom Menace: At first I thought you were making an Obama joke, there. “Jurassic Park” is great fun, and the last of Spielberg’s classic awe-filled adventure films before Janusz Kaminski spoiled everything, but it’s far from the best blockbuster entertainment I enjoyed in the decade (no offense Steven, but I wouldn’t even put it ahead of “Independence Day”). To refute your insistence that I’m more interested in the pictorial side of cinema than the kinetic, I point to the action on display in this film (or really anything by Lucas). It’s not grounded in anything remotely resembling a mature reality, even for science fiction movies, but it’s clear, coherent and imaginative in ways that the likes of Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer or even J.J. Abrams fail to grasp the meaning of. The stuff that dreams are made of.
Pulp Fiction: Yeah, it’s inspired a lot of bullshit. A whole lot of bullshit, actually. But it’s still one of the few genuine classics that the decade produced. I’m glad that with “Inglorious Basterds” that he’s finally risen above the influence of 70’s craphouse cinema (okay, not entirely, but pretty damn close).
Heat: Very good point on “Last of the Mohicans”, a film I was tempted to include on the list, but just didn’t make the cut (like Scorsese’s “Age of Innocence”, another great Daniel Day Lewis film). I think the reason you see more vibrant kineticism in that movie is because of the strong mixture of gun-warfare, hand-to-hand and weapons combat, which makes for a much more visually dynamic substance than a mere series of shootouts (this is one of the reasons I’m such a big “Star Wars” fan by the way– swordplay and gunfights are much more fun to watch than just gunfights alone). It’s certainly a much better film on the subject of Manifest Destiny than Costner’s bloated “Dances With Wolves”. As for “Heat”, I’d try writing another one of my histrionic thesis-essays, but I’ll just reccomend Nick James’ excellent BFI Modern Classics book on the film.
on October 17, 2009 at 1:03 am | ReplyMovieMan0283
I forgot to mention #23 – it’s almost like you made this film up in light of recent discussions on the director. Surprised it never came up before in those conversations…
on October 17, 2009 at 4:47 am | ReplyBob Clark
And to reply to the above reference of Woody Allen as the most visually inventive comedian of the past 40 years: Mel Brooks (“Young Frankenstein”, “Blazing Saddles” and “High Anxiety” all do fine jobs of lampooning their respective genres by playing with their visual conventions), Carl Reiner (“Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” weaves classic film footage in ways that pay respect to the good ol’ days without forgetting to have a little fun at their expense), Steve Martin (never directed a film, sadly, but movies he scripted like “Roxanne” and “L.A. Story” all have a great deal of great comic visuals embedded in their scripts even before a director comes aboard), even Jacques Tati (“Playtime” was 1967, “Trafic” 1971). I might also offer Mike Nichols (onetime straight-man to Elaine May), Frank Oz (more a puppeteer-turned-filmmaker than comedian, but still), John Hughes (is writing for National Lampoon close enough?) or Z.A.Z.
on October 17, 2009 at 4:57 amJamie
While I love ‘Dead Man Don’t Wear Plaid’, it seems foolish to applaud Reiner (or 90% of the others you name) for one singular film while trashing Allan a man who has made at least one worthwhile picture every year (just about) for the last 30 years or so and has at least 5 (I’d say ten but I’m an admitted Allen fanatic) stone cold masterpieces.
Reiner may have one visually inventive comedy, but that hardly puts him in even the same universe as Woody Allen.
on October 17, 2009 at 5:03 amBob Clark
Has Woody Allen consistently delivered solid films for the past couple of decades? Sure. But only two or three of them show anything more than adequate visual craftsmanship. The rest of them are more radio-plays done for the movie theater than actual cinema. I’m talking purely about the visual showmanship of the directors above, how much thought and artistry they put into their visuals both to tell a story and a joke. Save very few exceptions, Allen’s gifts are almost entirely in writing scripts and directing actors. Almost nothing he does with his camera ever impresses me.
on October 17, 2009 at 1:58 pmMovieMan0283
“Almost nothing he does with his camera ever impresses me.” Oh, it does, you just credit his cinematographer for it! Look, Allen is the first to admit that he relies on his DPs. But doesn’t it impress you that he handed his camera to people who did something which must impress you if you have eyes!?
Of your list of directors, I’ll acknowledge Tati though I would place him generationally in an earlier era. Other than that, none hold a candle to the splendor and inventiveness of Allen’s late 70s work.
on October 17, 2009 at 4:18 pmBob Clark
“Oh, it does, you just credit his cinematographer for it!”
I did say “ALMOST” nothing, remember?
“Look, Allen is the first to admit that he relies on his DPs. But doesn’t it impress you that he handed his camera to people who did something which must impress you if you have eyes!?”
No. No more than it impresses me to see a filmmaker decide to direct somebody else’s screenplay.
on October 18, 2009 at 3:51 amMovieMan0283
“No more than it impresses me to see a filmmaker decide to direct somebody else’s screenplay.”
And on that note we will have to agree to disagree, Bob, as probably the majority of my favorite filmmakers (a slight majority, but a majority nonetheless) made a career out of directing somebody else’s screenplay!
on October 18, 2009 at 4:00 amBob Clark
That’s not quite what I meant, Joel. Allow me to clarify– what a director does with another person’s script is the stuff of creative cinema, but simply picking a script to direct, or picking a writer to flesh out a basic story-concept, is not, or at least not in the same way that actually writing it one’s self is.
I’m losing track of the point again. Bare bones– Woody Allen hires cinematographers in the same way that Alfred Hitchcok (for example) worked with screenwriters, giving them a few key set-pieces to work with (“Write me a scene in a corn-field! Oh, and one on the top of Mount Rushmore! And make sure I’ve got a good spot for a cameo, too. Good evening!”), and then leaving them alone. Granted, with a few exceptions the scripts for Hitchcock’s movies are nothing to write home about, just like the cinematography for Allen’s many, many chamber dramas. It’s every fan’s right, then, to argue that the writing/visuals of a Hitchcock/Allen picture isn’t the point, and that one should focus on the stuff they were good at, the stuff they really cared about. At the same time (and this is where my point should come in), it’s every critic’s right to point out that director’s weakness, and hold it as evidence as to why not everyone ought to be obligated to admire said filmmaker as a sacred cow.
Does that make any sense? If not, you’ll have to forgive me, as I just got in from a late-screening of “Halloween”. I need coffee, pronto.
on October 18, 2009 at 4:17 amMovieMan0283
While I am not especially well-versed in up-to-date Hitchcock scholarship, it’s my understanding that his collaboration with screenwrites went a bit further than “give me a scene in a cornfield and a cameo, good evening…” so that may not have been the best example you could have picked.
But running with it, and assuming for the sake of argument that Hitchcock’s screenplays were weak (I don’t think they were, by and large, but as I said, for the sake of argument) how does that correspond with Allen? Surely you are not saying that Willis’ or Nykvist’s work is weak? You seem to be implying this with your constant berating of Allen’s work. It would be better for you to say, “Allen’s films look great, but he has nothing to do with that” and play the limited, but more accurate, semantic game of tutting us when we tout Allen’s visuals by saying “you mean the visuals of Allen-directed films, not Allen’s visuals.” Except you’re usually the one who brings it up…
But there’s another problem, in that you judge a director’s reputation by sheer numbers rather than the peaks or number of peaks. A director who isn’t prolific gets a few demerits, and a director who is, but whose work is variable, get even more. Frankly, I feel a director’s bum films will be forgotten with time and I’m much more interested in the best things he’s achieved.
By the way, forget the coffee: read Allan’s latest review, that’ll wake you up.
on October 18, 2009 at 4:56 amBob Clark
“Surely you are not saying that Willis’ or Nykvist’s work is weak?”
Frankly, yes.
With a few exceptions, Allen’s films demonstrate merely competent visuals, and nothing more. Granted, that’s more than some directors can manage, but it’s nothing to get too excited over. The visual gems are very few and far between– “Manhattan” gets a lot of praise, but “Annie Hall” is probably is most creative use of the visual aspects of moviemaking, especially in a comedic sense. “Zelig” does a very clever job of documentary mischief. “Shadows and Fog” does expressionism well, even if it’s a pretty hollow exercise through and through. Besides those, however, none of his movies’ visuals do a thing for me– a lot of people point to “Stardust Memories” or “Celebrity”, but besides being in black & white, I don’t see anything besides him ripping off Fellini (and even the black & white is a part of that).
Allow me to reiterate– none of Allen’s films are ugly. He does right to hire guys like Di Palma and Nykvist to stage nice compositions and lighting. But none of them are outstanding works of cinematography or visually ambitious directing. After a while they just feel rather anonymous, like episodes of “Law & Order” (I know I’ve said that before, but I mean it sincerely). I’d rather see occasionally sloppy cinematography or directing that at least aims for something more than staying out of the actors’ way. This is one of the reasons I admire Raoul Coutard’s work with Godard and Truffaut in the 60’s– very often it lacks the kind of seasoned, professional polish that more veteran DP’s provide, in its place is a guerilla-sportsmanship that’s willing to take rather refreshing risks and chances with the camera for the sake of livening up what would otherwise be rather staid scenes of static conversation. After parting ways with Willis, Allen stopped taking such chances with his visuals, for the most part, and he went from being real filmmaker to a director of filmed plays. Enough for his fans, perhaps, but not for me, and plenty more filmgoers than are willing to admit, I dare say.
So yes, the work of many of Allen’s cinematographers (I’d exclude Willis) is weak, very weak– not in the sense that it lacks quality, but in the sense that it lacks vitality. The visuals of his films have good taste, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t flavorless. The work of guys like Nykvist or Di Palma is weak in the same way that a gin & tonic is– sure, swallow enough of them and you’ll get buzzed, but can you blame a fellow for ordering something stronger?
RE: my questionable Hitchcock connection– like I said, I’m half-asleep. I’m surprised I managed to spell the bastard’s name right half the time, let alone cook up a plausible sounding theory on the spot. RE: my personal criteria for a director’s success rate– have I really talked that much about how directors should be prolific? Sure, I might be skeptical of singing too many praises to guys like Malick with insanely small bodies of work, but remember that one of my favorite filmmakers has only directed between 4 to 8 movies in 40 years’ time (it depends on how you count them). I’d argue that Allen has been TOO prolific over the years, spreading himself and his talents thin. Yes, it’s admirable that he can write and direct at least a movie or two per year, but the vast majority of them have been pretty forgettable, to be quite honest. If he took more time off between each production, maybe he’d devote more of his creative energies to the more cinematic aspects of his work, and thus regain the quality of his work with Willis. As much as anything, I think he may actually be more responsible for the visuals of those 70’s films than even he gives himself credit for, but then that was back at a time when he invested into a real collaboration with a cinematographer, instead of just letting them do their thing without him.
As for your reccomendation for a caffiene substitute: not exactly what I’d call a cup of “Good Mornin’ America”.
on October 17, 2009 at 6:59 am | ReplyAri
1. Eyes Wide Shut – Kubrick
2. The Thin Red Line – Malick
3. Kundun – Scorsese
4. Dark City – Proyas
5. Miller’s Crossing – Joel and Ethan Coen
6. Naked – Mike Leigh
7. Bound – Larry and Andy Wachowski
8. Smoke – Wayne Wang
9. Goodfellas – Scorsese
10. Lost Highway – Lynch
11. The Eel – Imamura
12. Hudsucker Proxy – Joel and Ethan Coen
13. Jackie Brown – Tarantino
14. Baraka – Fricke
15. Chungking Express – Kar Wai
16. Barton Fink – Joel and Ethan Coen
17. Dead Man – Jarmusch
18. Crash – Cronenberg
19. Fireworks – Kitano
20. Malcolm X – Lee
21. The Matrix – Larry and Andy Wachowski
22. A Summer’s Tale – Rohmer
23. Ronin – Frankenheimer
24. Shadows and Fog – Allen
25. The Age of Innocence – Scorsese
on October 17, 2009 at 6:28 pm | ReplyBob Clark
Cool list. With a handful of exceptions, this reads like a list of my “almosts”.
on October 17, 2009 at 8:29 am | ReplyDan
Bob, excellent work, I wish I had your dedication right about now.
Nevertheless, it would be remiss of me (and of many of the posters above, I think) not to give a big “wtf” to The Phantom Menace in the fifth spot. I was 12 when I first saw it, and I remember disliking it, thinking it was an overblown piece of worthless fantasy (these may not be the exact thoughts I had then). I saw it again recently and thought the same. On top of that, I find it utterly conventional and sooooo boring. Also, must anyone remind you of this: http://tinyurl.com/lf6le2
on October 17, 2009 at 4:21 pm | ReplyBob Clark
Dan, I was 15 when I first saw it, and remember thinking it was a weird, sort of genius political statement. Every time I see it now I’m more impressed, and see it more and more as a surprisingly unconventional entry. And as for your link– at least he ain’t Tom Hulce.
on October 17, 2009 at 2:17 pm | ReplyMovieMan0283
To Bob’s excellent responses above:
Silence – Fair enough. We recognize the same qualities in the work – I can see what you speak of, and appreciate its value – where we come down is probably due more to what we emphasize. Over the years, Silence’s reputation has started to irk me. The film itself is fine, I just don’t think it’s really great. Manhunter, oddly enough, didn’t work for me as a whole but I find myself thinking about it a lot.
Fear & Loathing – I got that quality more from the book than from the movie. It’s a quality I like a lot but I wish Gilliam could have gone further in evoking it – however, much of his work seems ahistorical in that he tends to set up his own freewheeling fantasy worlds. Brazil doesn’t seem to exist in the future so much as in an alternate reality (not a knock on that film, just an observation); Fear & Loathing, to me, lacks the appopriate tension between Thompson’s free-standing, freewheeling delusions and a sense of History disappearing into the distance. The 60s element seemed tacked on in the movie, unfortunately.
Schindler’s (really Private Ryan) – I know what you mean about the influence (though I’d take WWII reverence over snarky PF-derived smugness). But as for the film itself, I think if anything it’s been underrated in the past 10 years. That first half-hour in the theater was among the most vivid 30 minutes I’ve ever spent in front of a big screen, and the same was true for many others, yet Private Ryan is rarely discussed as a “great film” today; starting with the Oscar going to Shakespeare in Love, it’s been taken for granted by those who liked it and had its flaws blown out of proportion by those who didn’t. It does have its flaws, certainly, but overall I think it remains an overwhelmingly powerful work and the very last example of Spielberg’s ability to fuse a mature sensibility with childlike enthusiasm for the medium (since then, the emphasis has been much more on the former; Spielberg really “grew up” with A.I., not Schindler’s List. I like his 00s work, but I kind of miss the other guy.)
La Haine & Fire Walk With me: Agreed, agreed.
GoldenEye: Didn’t see that before. If GoldenEye places highly for the 90s, then, I can only assume CR will place equally high or even higher for the 00s?
Phantom Menace: I started to write a long response about kineticism and pictorialism, but I’ll save it for its own comment below, as it started to get unwieldy.
Heat: Glad to see you like Mohicans, too. The vibrant kineticism is partially because of the type of combat you mention, but much more because of the rhythmic cutting and stirring use of music. Heat, rather ironically I suppose, is a very cool movie. I like it a lot but see it as more cerebral (in an emotional, not an intellectual way, if that makes sense) whereas Mohicans is more visceral.
I do like Heat a lot too, though. Just a movie I enjoy falling into.
on October 17, 2009 at 2:25 pm | ReplyMovieMan0283
I don’t really find the action in Lucas’ films kinetic, not in the same way as, say, Mohicans. I watch Lucas’ films sitting back, with a grin on my face, not with a pang in my stomach and a humming in my head, which is what I mean when I use the term “kinetic” – like an electric shock has been sent through me. Pictorialism is something I admire, kineticism is something I feel. It’s a sensation I get most often when music and movement fuse, as with Easy Rider, Mean Streets, Mohicans (see below). But also with slower musical moments: the pan over the boot in Gimme Shelter, the taxi pushing through Manhattan muck in Taxi Driver; also the music-free moments in La Haine (that Hitchcock dolly/zoom as Cassell spits), or sonically dense yet scoreless passages in Masculin Feminin. And yet…what about John Ford? His cinema would seem to be pictorial in the extreme, yet I find his movies so beautiful it hurts. There’s a kind of pent-up energy in his pictures, sometimes captured by movement within the frame, sometimes just a tension present in a mostly static image. What of Lawrence of Arabia? It’s my favorite film ever, yet I’m supposed to prefer kinetics to pictorials – I’d be hard-pressed to conceive of Lawrence as the former more than the latter. Again, I can only point to the pent-up tension in the frame: in the close-up of Lawrence’s battle-hungry countenance, in the slow boil of a sunrise followed by the booming score as bellowing dunes loom before us. But this runs the risk of defining these qualities by their effects rather than their causes.
So taking a step back, I’ll return to a reasonable definition of pictorialism and kineticism. And recognize that both qualities often co-exist in a single movie, sometimes in a single moment (defined as more than a frozen frame, but as at least a few frames passing before us in constant motion). It seems that even in a pictorial picture, where the emphasis is on the order and majesty of the image, I respond most to the kinetic elements contained therein. Yet, of course, not that alone: I respond to pictorialism too. Example: last night I watched the second half of Blue Velvet and realized that part of the reason the “This is it” scene works so well for me (and it’s my favorite scene in the film) was because of its pictorial qualities: freeze a frame as those old women in pumps sit on the little couch, in the oddly decorated, strangely sad little room and you’d have a gorgeous live-action painting. Lynch places all the elements perfectly so that a single image evokes all kinds of emotion. But of course I love the scene for its kinetic elements as well (the grinding rockabilly music in juxtaposition to the tense, furtive movements of Frank and his underlings, the foul stream of Frank’s verbal violence, the steady but sharp cutting amongst the room’s elements), so there you have it. Ultimately, like you probably, I want everything to be there, whatever I privilege.
on October 17, 2009 at 6:15 pm | ReplyBob Clark
First of all, I think we both experience cinema from a very different set of perspectives. I’m very cerebral and analytical about films, even (some might say especially) with action-adventure fare. I’m not above sitting back and letting a film simply carry me places in terms of emotional experience, but at the end of the day I’m always going to find room to intellectualize (some might say overintellectualize) that experience. You on the other hand, Joel, tend to talk about the movies you enjoy in terms of how they make you feel, using words like “visceral” and descriptions of very physical sensations like “pang” to describe the experience. While that certainly doesn’t exclude you from allowing an intellectual aspect to your enjoyment, it would seem that you still privilege the emotional aspect of filmgoing. It makes sense, then, why I’d enjoy a cooler, more remote movie like “Heat” and you’d prefer the warmer, more immediate “Last of the Mohicans”. They best fit our own individual natures.
It’s also why, if there is anything to be said on its validity, we fall in our respective pigeonholes regarding the pictorialism/kineticism debate. Perhaps connected to my preference for the cerebral/pictorial side of filmmaking is my adherence to logic and flow in moviemaking, especially in the more kinetically challenging fare of action films. One of the reasons I’m a big fan of guys like Lucas, Mann and Martin Campbell is because they present their rather action-sequences and set-pieces with a reliance upon rather old-school dictum of compositions, choreography (of actors, environments and cameras) and editing that place their premium on straightforward clarity and coherence without losing track of the visual dynamism and imagination necessary to keep audiences amazed. These are guys who pair ambitious and audacious concepts with strict, logical coverage, making sure an audience has ample time to follow all the unexpected twists and turns of their moment-to-moment machinations.
It’s a style of filmmaking that classic masters like Lang, Ford and Kurosawa adhered to in their storied adventure-tapestries, and over the years it’s something that has steadily been lost from the cinematic vocabulary of more and more celebrated directors. Sitting in the audience of this summer’s “Star Trek”, I honestly couldn’t follow half of the events taking place onscreen thanks to the overindulgent close-up framings and shaky-cam movements, which made scenes that were already hectic and busy with kineticism that much more hectic and busy. I understand how many directors have followed suit with the “Bourne”-stylings of using the tools at their disposal to disorient viewers as much as possible in order to create a more cinematically immersive atmosphere, but unless you have the near journalistic-finesse of a Paul Greengrass, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to provide that immersive experience while at the same time presenting a logical sequence-of-events that viewers can follow without straining their attention. There’s a lazy quality to the direction of a lot of loud, big-budget action-fare that I feel gives the rest of the genre a bad name at times. It’s as bad as dismissing Hemingway’s lean, muscular prose for the sake of the macho literary posturing his work sometimes inspired (or even the macho literary posturing that he himself sometimes tried to live up to).
Part of the dichotomy between us, Joel, comes from this central difference in our approach to the medium. You would rather find yourself caught up in the action, to taste the adrenaline in your mouth from vicariously experiencing the excitement of thrills, terror or romantic swing on screen. I, on the other hand, prefer to witness the action and understand every step of its sequence of events– I don’t necessarily want a director to hold my hand and guide me through every moment, necessarily, but I also don’t want one who merely lights all the fuses and expects me to make sense of everything myself once the explosions start going off. The funny thing is this– at the end of the day, it would appear we’re mostly drawn to the same things, just for different reasons.
on October 18, 2009 at 3:46 am | ReplyMovieMan0283
A fair description of the differences, Bob. In the delineations, of course, I hope we don’t lose sight of the overlap. I would assume that, despite your preference for logic, you still want a strong visceral element (you yourself suggest this with the statement “premium on straightforward clarity and coherence without losing track of the visual dynamism and imagination necessary to keep audiences amazed”). Likewise, I love the intellectual, analytical element of filmmaking and greatly appreciate the economical, straightforward classicism of old-school cinema.
As an interesting corollary to this discussion, though: I find it quite hard to write about movies from the kinetic/formal/visceral standpoint. There’s usually an element of this in my essays, but more often I find myself intellectualizing, to my dismay. I think this is simply because it’s easier to write in this fashion – to detail what a movie made you think rather than how it made you feel, and to analyze it as a text rather than a “work”. However, this is much less true in comments than in longer posts.
Also it should be pointed out that the Bourne style of filmmaking does nothing for me, even in Greengrass’ hands; I have an active discomfort with constant close-ups and fast cutting for the sake of fast cutting (I love montage but feel it should be reserved for special occasions and that, as a rule of thumb, dramatic scenes should unfold in as long and encompassing a take as possible). And shaky cam I just don’t like, period. The cornerstone of my cinematic philosophy is tension, and I feel such tension is utterly lost in the mushy aesthetic of the contemporary mainstream movie.
But you’re onto something with some of your other points. I’ve never had much use for the 180-degree rule, establishing shots, the clear delineation of space. I’ll often appreciate those elements for some sort of aesthetic effect they produce, but don’t find them logically necessary – I can usually slip into the action (broadly speaking) without them, myself. Except for Ford, the directors you mention are not among my personal favorites: Kurosawa and Lang are directors I greatly admire, and acknowledge them as masters, but I sometimes get restless watching their films.
It would be reductive to suggest there are only two types of film-lovers but I have noticed that a fair amount of people fall into one of two camps. One of my best friends is a movie buff, with much more of a taste for cult films than me but – ironically, given the oft-sloppiness of such films – he’s very much a formalist, a bit cold, cerebral. Like you, he responds to the logic, the precision, the spareness of a movie. Whereas I like the “heat” of kinetic filmmaking, the tumbling passion, the frisson of montage, and also (formally unrelated but related in the sense that it’s more an emotional experience than an intellectual one) the imaginative expansiveness or “openness” – a feeling that an offscreen universe exists in the film, one which you could crawl inside and explore.
One of the reasons I’ve always considered myself a Paulette is that Kael evoked what I feel is the ideal reaction to the movies: a joyous immersion which did not cloud over into mindless passion but left room for sharp analysis. But stress that “ideal” – it’s not as if every movie carries me off into a cloud of passion or as if I turn off my intellect to engage with a film. Visceral purity is more a state which I aspire to and sometimes achieve than one I constantly fall into upon entering a theater or clicking “play”. It’s my North Star so to speak.
on October 18, 2009 at 11:38 pm | ReplyKrauthammer
1. Dead Man
2. Miller’s Crossing
3. Fargo
4. Once Upon a Time in China
5. Pi
6. The Age of Innocence
7. Casino
8. The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia
9. Strictly Ballroom
10. Unforgiven
11. The Celebration
12. Magnolia
13. A Simple Plan
14. Naked Lunch
15. Deconstructing Harry
16. Ed Wood
17. Lone Star
18. Face/Off
19. Edward Scissorhands
20. JFK
21. Basic Instinct
22. Man Bites Dog
23. Fight Club
24. All About My Mother
25. Black Robe
26. The Ice Storm
27. Hard Boiled
28. The Player
29. The Sweet Hereafter
30. Breaking the Waves
31. The Sixth Sense
32. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
33. The Big Lebowski
34. Pulp Fiction
35. Barton Fink
36. Reservoir Dogs
37. The Silence of the Lambs
38. Slacker
39. 12 Monkeys
40. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
41. The Crying Game
42. Seven
43. Three Kings
44. Groundhog Day
45. Crumb
46. Run Lola Run
47. Boogie Nights
48. Hoop Dreams
49. Serial Mom
50. Jacob’s Ladder
I will defend my placement of Face/Off to the death.
on October 19, 2009 at 4:23 pm | ReplyDavid H. Schleicher
This is a most interesting list! I had completely forgotten about LONE STAR and A SIMPLE PLAN — two very strong films.
And SERIAL MOM!!!!! What a blast from the past! Probably the last great Kathleen Turner performance. I recall finding it hilarious, but that movie never seemed to have developed the cult following it deserved.
on October 19, 2009 at 7:47 pmKrauthammer
Yeah I really love both Lone Star and A Simple Plan, they’re excellent slow burners. Well, at least compared to Serial Mom that is.
on October 30, 2009 at 8:22 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Krauthammer, thanks very much for this terrific list. I had a very difficult week in more ways than one and wasn’t able to get to this is a more timely fashion. But I see you at so many other sites, and am honored you came here. I will be visiting your place soon and will be sure to add it to our blog roll.
on October 20, 2009 at 5:16 am | Replyhal0000
So can anyone do this? I heard about this from R.D. Finch and figured it’d be fun. Ranking is fairly accurate for the top ten or so, but it starts breaking down after that. They’re all movies I love and I tried to balance it between mainstream and more esoteric.
1. The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1991)
2. Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)
3. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
4. Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991)
5. The Iron Giant (Brad Bird, 1999)
6. Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
7. Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997)
8. The Player (Robert Altman, 1993)
9. Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1996)
10. Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1993)
11. L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997)
12. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
13. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathon Demme, 1991)
14. Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998)
15. Cube (Vincenzo Natali, 1997)
16. Smoke Signals (Chris Eyre, 1998)
17. eXistenZ (David Cronenberg, 1999)
18. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993)
19. Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
20. Pi (Darren Aronofsky, 1998)
21. Antz (Eric Darnell, 1998)
21. Robin Hood: Men in Tights (Mel Brooks, 1993)
22. Short Cuts (Robert Altman, 1993)
23. Tremors (Ron Underwood, 1990)
24. Three Colors: White (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993)
25. The Truman Show (Peter Weir, 1998)
on October 30, 2009 at 8:24 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Hello Hal! Again, I’ve seen your comments all over and am greatly honored you have come over here (tip my cap to R.D. too!). Wonderful list and a great addition to the 90’s literature so to speak. Will be checking out your place soon!
on October 20, 2009 at 4:31 pm | ReplyJ.D.
Wow, some great, great lists so far. I think this may be the hardest decade for me to narrow down so I’m just gonna go with the Top 50 here but as other have said, the top ten could swap positions depending on the day and my mood.
1. The Insider
2. The Thin Red Line
3. Goodfellas
4. JFK
5. Fight Club
6. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
7. My Own Private Idaho
8. Ed Wood
9. Barton Fink
10. Dead Man
11. L.A. Confidential
12. Chungking Express
13. The Double Life of Veronique
14. Eyes Wide Shut
15. Heavenly Creatures
16. Boogie Nights
17. A Perfect World
18. The Talented Mr. Ripley
19. Naked Lunch
20. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
21. Rushmore
22. Before Sunrise
23. Trainspotting
24. Naked
25. The Limey
26. Glengarry Glen Ross
27. Carlito’s Way
28. The Player
29. Nixon
30. Heat
31. The Big Lebowski
32. White Hunter, Black Heart
33. Dazed and Confused
34. Out of Sight
35. The Grifters
36. Gas Food Lodging
37. Light Sleeper
38. Leon: The Professional
39. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
40. The Game
41. The Addiction
42. The Usual Suspects
43. Grace of My Heart
44. Chasing Amy
45. Contact
46. Lost Highway
47. Metropolitan
48. Zero Effect
49. Hard Core Logo
50. Home for the Holidays
on October 20, 2009 at 5:28 pm | ReplyJamie
‘Home for the Holidays’ at 50. I love it. My family and I watch that and ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ every Thanksgiving weekend.
Great memories.
on October 20, 2009 at 8:24 pmJ.D.
Yeah, I love that film. Robert Downey Jr. steals the show.
on October 20, 2009 at 8:56 pmJamie
His peal out’s in that muscle car make the film worth watching in itself. Just thinking about it makes me chuckle.
That and I love Holly Hunter in just about everything she does.
on October 20, 2009 at 9:20 pm | ReplyBob Clark
“The Insider”? Really? Whatever, it’s a Mann film, so it’s good. I’m just hoping to see more votes for “Heat”. I’m very surprised by the lukewarm reception that choice has gotten…
on October 22, 2009 at 1:15 pmJ.D.
Don’t get me wrong, I love HEAT but THE INSIDER edges out for its more restrained Pacino performance and absolutely riveting one by Russell Crowe.
on October 22, 2009 at 7:03 pm | ReplyAri
“White Hunter, Black Heart” is a tremendous film. Absolutely agree that it’s top 50 of the 90s.
on October 22, 2009 at 8:54 pmbobby J.
I love Eastwood as director and I’m ashamed that I’ve not caught up with this one.
on October 23, 2009 at 1:07 pmJ.D.
Yeah, I love that film. It is so underrated but I think it’s one of Eastwood’s best.
on October 30, 2009 at 8:26 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Wow J.D. THE INSIDER at #1, eh? Very very interesting! It’s always a pleasure to have you around, that goes without saying. See you at Radiator Heaven soon! Great list, thank you!
on October 20, 2009 at 4:42 pm | ReplyKevin J. Olson
Maybe I’m alone on this one, but I am shocked to not find Pulp Fiction on more lists. I’m as big a fan of Jackie Brown as the next person, but could it be that people don’t like Pulp Fiction as much because it’s become too much a part of pop culture? Strip away all the familiarity one has with the film, and remove all hype and you have a brilliantly dark, comedic postmodern tale. It’s interpolated story was one of the most highly influential film devices to come out of the decade. It’s the film of the 90’s for me…the film the best represents everything about 90’s cinema. Of course I may just remember more fondly for the way it shaped my film-viewing experiences (I was in 7th grade when I saw it on VHS).
I don’t know…I’m just surprised to it isn’t making its way on more lists, yet Jackie Brown is.
on October 20, 2009 at 5:27 pm | ReplyJamie
I agree. I think ‘Pulp Fiction’ is the most important film of the 90’s. It may not me the best (though one could argue), but I feel it’s importance for that decade is unmatched.
Saying all that and I still put it at 26. That’s more to do with my wanting to get movies I love like ‘Habit’, ‘Begotton’, ect at least one vote so they match Bob’s one for ‘A Phantom Menace’. HA! That and I still expect ‘Pulp Fiction’ to appear near the top when the tabulation comes in.
on October 20, 2009 at 9:37 pm | Replywondersinthedark
Some very impressive lists here, and I found myself agreeing with several people at various points. If I say no more, well how could I? Gotta keep the suspense for another few weeks.
on October 27, 2009 at 6:26 pm | ReplyJust Another Film Buff
Hi WitD,
I use this wonderful poll to make my first comment on this magnificent site. Kudos to the authors!
I’m just a beginner as far as quality-film viewing is concerned. Struggled to come up with my favorite 25 list. Of course, this one’s gonna change the minute I hit the submit button:
1. Satan’s Tango (Tarr)
2. History Of Cinema (Godard)
3. The Last Bolshevik (Marker)
4. Germany Year 90 Nine Zero (Godard)
5. Close-Up (Kiarostami)
6. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
7. The Matrix (The Wachowskis)
8. Baraka (Fricke)
9. Before Sunrise (Linklater)
10. The Wind Will Carry Us (Kiarostami)
11. Three Colours: Blue (Kieslowski)
12. Deconstructing Harry (Allen)
13. The Terrorist (Sivan)
14. All About My Mother (Almodovar)
15. The Unforgiven (Eastwood)
16. Goodfellas (Scorsese)
17. Schindler’s List (Spielberg)
18. Raise The Red Lantern (Yimou)
19. A Moment Of Innocence (Makhmalbaf)
20. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (Herzog)
21. The Silence Of The Lambs (Demme)
22. Dead Man (Jarmusch)
23. Ayneh (Panahi)
24. Chungking Express (Kar Wai)
25. A Taste Of Cherry (Kiarostami)
Special Mention: Groundhog Day (Ramis), One Day In The Life Of Andrei Arsenevich (Marker), Manhattan Murder Mystery (Allen), Father (Majidi), Red (Kieslowski), American Beauty (Mendes), To Story (Lasseter), Fargo (The Coens), Ed Wood (Burton), Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg), Quiz Show (Redford), The Kids Play Russian (Godard)
on October 30, 2009 at 8:29 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Just Another Film Buff!
Weare all honored to have you make your first appearance at WitD with this great list. I have seen your excellent taste in action at Dave’s GoodFellas site and it’s most impressive and comprehensive. Tarr, Godard and Marker leading your list is fantastic, but so is your entire list. i will be sure to have your site on our blog roll over the next day or two, and I will be paying you a visit over the weekend! Thanks again!
on October 28, 2009 at 3:05 am | ReplySamuel
Well, here comes the 90’s!
01 – Pulp Fiction (US…Quentin Tarantino) – I don’t like Tarantino very much, but Pulp Fiction is terrific.
02 – The Usual Suspects (US…Bryan Singer) – I’m sorry Sixth Sense but this is the best plot twisting.
03 – Leon: Version Longue (US/France…Luc Besson)
04 – Princess Mononoke (Japan…Hayao Miyazaki) – The best animated film of this decade
05 – Beauty and the Beast (US…Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise) – The pinnacle of Disney’s Magical Era
06 – GoodFellas (US…Martin Scorsese)
07 – Three Colours: Red (France/Poland…Krzysztof Kieslowski)
08 – Toy Story (US…John Lasseter)
09 – The Silence of the Lambs (US…Jonathan Demme)
10 – Se7en (US…David Fincher)
11 – Iron Giant (US…Brad Bird)
12 – Unforgiven (US…Clint Eastwood)
13 – Central Station (Brazil…Walter Salles)
14 – Three Colours: Blue (France/Poland…Krzysztof Kieslowski)
15 – Groundhog Day (US…Harold Ramis) – A modern “It’s a Wonderful Life”
16 – Run, Lola, Run (Germany…Tom Tykwer)
17 – Cape Fear (US…Martin Scorsese)
18 – The Lion King (US…Roger Allers, Ron Minkoff)
19 – Il Postino (Italy…Michael Radford)
20 – Misery (US…Rob Reiner) – That brings the best villain of this decade
21 – Terminator 2: Judgement Day (US…James Cameron)
22 – The Nightmare Before Christmas (US…Henry Selick)
23 – Braveheart (US…Mel Gibson)
24 – Reservoir Dogs (US…Quentin Tarantino)
25 – Schindler’s List (US…Steven Spielberg)
on October 30, 2009 at 8:30 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Samuel, you have been there for us each and every poll, and I thank you for that. You can always be relied upon to cite teh best in cinema, and your 90’s list is no different. Thanks a million for your continued support!
on November 1, 2009 at 7:30 pm | ReplyJoseph Demme
1 The Shawshank Redemption
2 Three Colors: Blue
3 The Double Life of Veronique
4 Three Colors: Red
5 Toy Story
6 Fargo
7 Heat
8 Ed Wood
9 Magnolia
10 Hoop Dreams
11 American Beauty
12 The Apostle
13 The Truman Show
14 The Sixth Sense
15 Three Colors: White
16 Toy Story 2
17 Being John Malkovich
18 The Silence of the Lambs
19 Barton Fink
20 Edward Scissorhands
21 Before Sunrise
22 Before Sunset
23 Goodfellas
24 Aladdin
25 Il Postino
on November 4, 2009 at 11:51 pm | ReplyANGELO DARMINIO
Well Joseph, am happy to see somebody besides me giving “The Shawshank Redemption” the placement it deserves.
on November 9, 2009 at 2:10 pm | ReplyDave
OK… now that my annual countdown has made its way through the 90s, I can now finally post my list for the decade here. I’ve been antsy to do so, so I’m please to finally be able to put it up. The top three I could probably put in any order and be happy with it, but that’s the difficulty of any of these polls.
1. Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
2. JFK (Stone, 1991)
3. Unforgiven (Eastwood, 1992)
4. The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998)
5. L.A. Confidential (Hanson, 1997)
6. Lost Highway (Lynch, 1997)
7. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)
8. The Last of the Mohicans (Mann, 1992)
9. The Thin Red Line (Malick, 1997)
10. Black Robe (Beresford, 1991)
11. The Remains of the Day (Ivory, 1993)
12. The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991)
13. Schindler’s List (Spielberg, 1993)
14. Lone Star (Sayles, 1996)
15. Miller’s Crossing (Coen, 1990)
16. Glengarry Glen Ross (Foley, 1992)
17. Heat (Mann, 1995)
18. Barton Fink (Coen, 1991)
19. Jacob’s Ladder (Lyne, 1990)
20. Pi (Aronofsky, 1998)
21. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
22. Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992)
23. Karakter (van Diem, 1997)
24. Dead Man (Jarmusch, 1995)
25. Blue (Kieslowski, 1993)
on December 3, 2009 at 4:43 am | ReplySam Juliano
As I’ve stated during your countdown, your knowledge of cinema, ability to complete so much in so short a time, and taste all make for irrefutably impeccable choices Dave!
on November 13, 2009 at 11:02 pm | ReplyAndrew Wyatt
I hope my list doesn’t reflect the tastes of a million other thirtysomething pseudo-intellectuals out there. 🙂 My appreciation for foreign film didn’t emerge until the new millennium, as you can tell. Only Mann and Scorsese warrant more than a single place of honor for the 1990s, in my opinion, with Mann earning two and Scorsese three.
1. GoodFellas
2. The Piano
3. JFK
4. The Insider
5. The Age of Innocence
6. Se7en
7. Heat
8. Miller’s Crossing
9. Pulp Fiction
10. Rushmore
11. The Sweet Hereafter
12. Unforgiven
13. Boogie Nights
14. Lost Highway
15. The Silence of the Lambs
16. Twelve Monkeys
17. The Thin Red Line
18. Princess Mononoke
19. Dark City
20. Pi
22. Edward Scissorhands
22. Shallow Grave
23. The Last of the Mohicans
24. The Ice Storm
25. Trainspotting
on December 3, 2009 at 4:35 am | ReplySam Juliano
Well Andrew, it’s hard to refute these choices, whether they are popular or not. And the 90’s were unquestionably a great time for American films.
on November 13, 2009 at 11:03 pm | ReplyAndrew Wyatt
Er, other way around…
on November 13, 2009 at 11:36 pm | ReplyAndrew Wyatt
Ack! And now I see Boyle ended up in there twice too. How the heck did *that* happen? O.o
on November 16, 2009 at 6:00 pm | ReplySue
Sam, here is Sue’s list. Mine is a still a few days away.
1 The Piano
2 Beauty and the Beast
3 The Sweet Hereafter
4 The Remains of the Day
5 Blue
6 The Cider House Rules
7 Secrets and Lies
8 Schindler’s List
9 End of the Affair
10 Howards End
11 American Beauty
12 Fried Green Tomatoes
13 Magnolia
14 The Shawshank Redemption
15 King of the Hill
16 The English Patient
17 JFK
18 The Madness of King George
19 Life is Beautiful
20 Red
21 Central Station
22 Boogie Nights
23 Groundhog Day
24 The Talented Mr. Ripley
25 Fargo
on November 18, 2009 at 9:53 pm | Replymadhatter21
Alrightee gang, be gentle with the newbie…
25. SWINGERS
24. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
23. PLEASANTVILLE
22. OUT OF SIGHT
21. BEFORE SUNRISE
20. AMERICAN BEAUTY
19. FIGHT CLUB
18. THE INSIDER
17. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
16. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER
15. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
14. UNFORGIVEN
13. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL
12. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
11. THE THIN RED LINE
10. HEAT
9. MAGNOLIA
8. DEAD MAN WALKING
7. THE USUAL SUSPECTS
6. PULP FICTION
5. SCHINDLER’S LIST
4. SE7EN
3. AMERICAN HISTORY X
2. GOODFELLAS
1. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
on November 20, 2009 at 3:38 am | ReplyANGELO DARMINIO
Madhatter21
In order to be tabulated, please put this list in the correct order.
on November 20, 2009 at 6:55 am | Replywondersinthedark
Angelo, I’ll email it to you…only took 30 secs…
on November 22, 2009 at 12:29 amANGELO DARMINIO
Very good.
on December 3, 2009 at 4:41 am | ReplySam Juliano
Hatter, you have passed the test in flying colors!
on November 21, 2009 at 5:25 pm | ReplyJudy
Posting my list now so I don’t spend any more time angsting over it!
1. Bringing Out the Dead (Scorsese, 1999)
2. Sweet and Lowdown (Allen, 1999)
3. Howards End (Ivory, 1992)
4. The Piano (Campion, 1993)
5. Leaving Las Vegas (Figgis,1995)
6. Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
7. Jude (Winterbottom, 1996)
8. The Commitments (Parker, 1991)
9. Truly Madly Deeply (Minghella, 1990)
10. Aimee & Jaguar (Färberbock, 1999)
11. The Remains of the Day (Ivory, 1993)
12. Close My Eyes (Poliakoff, 1991)
13. Little Voice (Herman, 1998)
14. Mrs Brown (Madden, 1997)
15. The Cider House Rules (Hallstrom, 1999)
16. Edward Scissorhands (Burton, 1990)
17. Four Weddings and a Funeral (Newell,1994)
18. Croupier (Hodges, 1998)
19. The Truman Show (Weir, 1998)
20. Donnie Brasco (Newell, 1997)
21. Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993)
22. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (Hallstrom, 1990)
23. Sense and Sensibility (Lee, 1995)
24. Schindler’s List (Spielberg, 1993)
25. Onegin (Fiennes, 1992)
on November 21, 2009 at 7:17 pm | ReplyDave
Judy – A bold selection at #1! It’s certainly an underrated Scorsese and one that I like.
on November 21, 2009 at 7:27 pmJudy
Thanks, Dave! That one is my favourite, but apart from the top two the rest of my list could probably be in just about any order – they’re all films that I love.
on December 3, 2009 at 4:40 am | ReplySam Juliano
Judy that was a terrific, bold decision there for the #1!!!
on November 24, 2009 at 1:45 pm | ReplyJohn Greco
Well, here goes my list…
1 Goodfellas
2 The Sweet Hereafter
3 The Piano
4 Fargo
5 Unforgiven
6 JFK
7 Schindler’s List
8 Groundhog Day
9 Short Cuts
10 LA Confidential
11 American Beauty
12 Out of Sight
13 Donnie Brasco
14 The Grifters
15 Glengarry Glenn Ross
16 Casino
17 A Simple Plan
18 Being John Malokovich
19 Death and the Maiden
20 Malcom X
21 Dead Man
22 Secrets and Lies
23 The Player
24 Remains of the Day
25 Age of Inncoence
26 A Journey Through American Film with Martin Scorsese
27 Edward Scissorhands
28 Manhattan Murder Mystery
29 The Last Seduction
30 Serial Mom
31 Everyone Says I Love You
32 Se7en
33 Pulp Fiction
34 Misery
35 Good Willing Hunting
36 Eve’s Bayou
37 Kundun
38 Election
39 Noboyd’s Fool
40 The Straight Story
41 Jacob’s Ladder
42 The Limey
43 Resovoir Dogs
44 As Good as it Gets
45 The Ninth Gate
47 Truman Show
47 Silence of the Lambs
48 Sweet and Lowdown
49 Pleasantville
50 Carlito’s Way
on November 25, 2009 at 5:49 am | ReplyDavid H. Schleicher
I’m glad to see someone else found Altman’s SHORT CUTS worthy of their top ten. I think it might be my favorite from him, with THREE WOMEN right up there, too.
We definitely have similar tastes…glad to see my top pic THE SWEET HEREAFTER in your top two as well!
on November 25, 2009 at 7:53 amwondersinthedark
Yes, but 50 out of 50 English language…grr…infidels!
on November 30, 2009 at 9:50 pmANGELO DARMINIO
Allan it is the language of Shakespeare.
on December 3, 2009 at 4:40 am | ReplySam Juliano
John, there are few films there that I part company with you on, and your top 10 is well………fantastic………..it’s that simple.
on December 1, 2009 at 5:22 pm | ReplyPeter
1 The Remains of the Day
2 The Sweet Hereafter
3 The Thin Red Line
4 Blue
5 A Taste of Cherry
6 Dead Man
7 The Shawshank Redemption
8 Black Robe
9 La Ceremonie
10 The Piano
11 Beauty and the Beast
12 Breaking the Waves
13 Red
14 The Ice Storm
15 Gattaca
16 Silence of the Lambs
17 Babe
18 Schindler’s List
19 JFK
20 L.A. Confidential
21 Magnolia
22 Sense and Sensibility
23 Saving Private Ryan
24 Unforgiven
25 The Grifters
on December 3, 2009 at 4:39 am | ReplySam Juliano
Exquisite choices Peter!
on December 2, 2009 at 6:00 pm | ReplyDeeDee
Hi! Sam Juliano, Allan, and Angelo D’Arminio Jr., (Tabulator Extraordinaire, but of course!)
Sam Juliano, here goes my list…before Allan, complete his 90s countdown…
1.Dances With Wolves: Special Edition (US… Director Kevin Costner)
2.Beauty and the Beast (US…Director(s) Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise)
3. The Last of the Mohicans (US…Director Micheal Mann)
4.Van Gogh (France…Director Maurice Pialat)(By the way, I just purchased and I’am waiting for Edvard Munch-Special Edition 2-DVD Set to arrive on my doorstep…only after D.H. “clued” me about this film.
Thanks, 🙂
5.The Nightmare Before Christmas (US…Director Henry Selick)
6.Edward Scissorhands (US… Director Tim Burton)
7.Ed Wood (US…Director Tim Burton)
8.Hamlet (UK…Director Kenneth Branagh)
9.The Usual Suspects (US…Director Bryan Singer)
10.Gattaca (US…Director Andrew Niccol)
11.Bulworth (US…Director Warren Beatty)
12.Out of Sight (US…Director Steven Soderbergh)
13.Nixon (US…Director Oliver Stone)
14.The Silence of the Lambs (US…Director Jonathan Demme)
15.The Shawshank Redemption (US…Director Frank Darabont)
16.Reservoir Dogs (US…Director Quentin Tarantino)
17.Pulp Fiction (US…Director Quentin Tarantino)
18.Dead Man Walking (US…Director Tim Robbins)
19.Heat (US…Director Michael Mann)
20.Toy Story (US…Director John Lasseter)
21.Toy Story 2 (US…Director(s) Ash Brannon, John Lasseter)
22.Shakespeare in Love (US/UK…Director John Madden)
23.Dark City: the director’s cut (US/Australia (2008)…Director Alex Proyas) (The book read exactly, like the film script)
24.Election (US…Director Alexander Payne)
25.There’s Something About Mary (US…Director(s) Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly)
DeeDee 😉 🙂
on December 2, 2009 at 9:08 pm | ReplyANGELO DARMINIO
Glad to see “SHAWSHANK” on your list.
on December 3, 2009 at 2:09 am | ReplyDavid H. Schleicher
DeeDee — I have never seen this Van Gogh and have added it to my Netflix queue.
I hope you enjoy the Edvard Munch! It’s quite the experience.
on December 3, 2009 at 4:37 am | ReplySam Juliano
Very interesting cloices Dee Dee! I like having BEAUTY up high, and that’s terrific that EDVARD MUNCH is there. You provide a great diversity too!
on December 3, 2009 at 4:38 amSam Juliano
Sorry Dee Dee, I looked again and I see you have the Piala, which is also an excellent choice. You BOUGHT the Munch! I got it. it’s late and I just returned from the Met in Manhattan.
on December 3, 2009 at 4:52 pm | ReplyDeeDee
Hi! Angelo D’Arminio Jr.,
Angelo D’Arminio Jr. said, “Glad to see “SHAWSHANK” on your list.”
Oh! Yes, Angelo it appears as if Joseph Demme and me (Even though Joseph, placed “Shawkshank” as his top pick on his list.) both placed “Shawkshank” on our list as one of the best of 90s film(s).
DeeDee 😉 🙂
on December 3, 2009 at 5:18 pm | ReplyDeeDee
D.H.Schleicher said,”DeeDee — I hope you enjoy the Edvard Munch! It’s quite the experience.”
Hi! D.H.,
Oh! Yes, I hope so too…By the way, when you get time check out the first comment (even though there are about eleven comments left over there on IMDb about the film Edvard Munch.) about the film
Edvard Munch over there on IMDb.
EDVARD MUNCH
DeeDee 😉 🙂
on December 3, 2009 at 5:42 pm | ReplyDeeDee
Sam Juliano said”Sorry Dee Dee, I looked again and I see you have the Piala, which is also an excellent choice. You BOUGHT the Munch! I got it. it’s late and I just returned from the Met in Manhattan.
Hi! Sam Juliano,
Oops! my fault, but if others plan to pick up a copy of the film Van Gogh…please try to purchase the film through Amazon.com.UK…it’s cheaper!
Oh! Yes, I have to remember to check in with you first…before I purchase a film. By the way, I plan to send you an email…shortly!
Take care!
DeeDee 😉 🙂
on December 3, 2009 at 5:55 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Ha Dee Dee! please do let me know before ordering anything. And I will be looking for that e mail, thanks!
on December 4, 2009 at 2:43 am | Replydennis
1 Blue
2 Raise the Red Lantern
3 Breaking the Waves
4 Crumb
5 Schindler’s List
6 Red
7 A Taste of Cherry
8 High Art
9 A Double Life of Veronique
10 Eyes Wide Shut
11 Wild Reeds
12 The Sweet Hereafter
13 Magnolia
14 All About My Mother
15 Toy Story
16 The Piano
17 My Own Private Idaho
18 La promesse
19 Fargo
20 Gattaca
21 Short Cuts
22 American Beauty
23 Remains of the Day
24 Unforgiven
25 The Big Lebowski
on December 12, 2009 at 8:32 pm | ReplySam Juliano
GREAT work Dennis!!! You know full well what I think of so many here.
on December 5, 2009 at 4:57 pm | ReplyStephen
1 Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me
2 Rosetta
3 Whisper of the Heart
4 Chungking Express
5 Satantango
6 Patlabor 2 The Movie
7 Dark City
8 Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
9 Freeway
10 Bird People in China
11 The Last Seduction
12 Eyes Wide Shut
13 Porco Rosso
14 Run Lola Run
15 Sonatine
16 Drifting Clouds
17 Everyone Says I Love You
18 Showgirls
19 Perfect Blue
20 The Kingdom
21 Days of Being Wild
22 Pulp Fiction
23 Lessons of Darkness
24 Ringu
25 Kiki’s Delivery Service
I’ve probably forgotten a few.
on December 12, 2009 at 8:31 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Thanks for the fabulous list Stephen, and for all the effort you have applied to WitD. Your voice is a most welcome one here!
on December 13, 2009 at 12:09 pmStephen
Thank you Sam.
on December 6, 2009 at 6:00 pm | ReplyLouis Aveta
1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Tombstone
3. Dances With Wolves
4. Gettysberg
5. JFK
6. Star Trek IV
7. Silence of the Lambs
8. City Slickers
9. Schindler’s List
10. Unforgiven
11. Nixon
12. Braveheart
13. Forrest Gump
14. Saving Private Ryan
15. Courage Under Fire
16. American Beauty
17. Patriot Games
18. Legal Weapon 3
19. My Cousin Vinny
20. Malcolm X
21. Reservoir Dogs
22. A Few Good Men
23. Awakenings
24. La Femme Nikita
25. Hunt For Red October
Dictated to me at 12:50 A.M. on the morning of Sunday, December 6th, at my home by voter appearing in person —–S.J.
on December 6, 2009 at 7:20 pm | ReplyDave
I didn’t include it on my list, but I’m glad to see somebody put Tombstone on theirs. It certainly doesn’t qualify as a “great” movie, but I do love it and find it to be an endlessly entertaining western.
on December 6, 2009 at 8:03 pmBob Clark
Certainly a much better Wyatt Earp movie than “Wyatt Earp”. Gotta love Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, too.
on December 9, 2009 at 10:59 pm | ReplyDan
An exhaustive and comprehensive list Bob. Agree with most of it but I’m going to tread down the old cliche (at least on this thread) of: The Phantom Menace…in the top 50…ranked at…blink-blink wipe-eyes restart computer virus-check…ranked at 5! If ever there was a film that proved once and for all how thankful the world should be that others took the helm for Empire and Jedi, it was Phantom Menace. Forget the visuals; the story was dire, the characters were vacuous, the special-effects were computer gamers wet dreams, the acting was as stilted and wooden as you’d expect under the tutelage of Lucas, and the whole stinking mess reeked of over-marketed production line product made for an unthinking audience with a mental age of four. There, I said it, rant officially over! Sorry about that, haven’t had a chance to lament about the new Star Wars films for a while.
As you’d expect it doesn’t appear in my top 1990s films.
1. Naked (Leigh)
2. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
3. Secrets and Lies (Leigh)
4. The Big Lebowski (Coens)
5. Glengarry Glen Ross (Foley)
6. Bringing Out The Dead (Scorsese)
7. Shallow Grave (Boyle)
8. A Room For Romeo Brass (Meadows)
9. Goodfellas (Scorsese)
10. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
11. Wag The Dog (Levinson)
12. The Fisher King (Gillian)
13. Trainspotting (Boyle)
14. True Romance (Scott)
15. In The Mouth of Madness (Carpenter)
16. Crash (Cronenberg)
17. The Silence of the Lambs (Demme)
18. Lost Highway (Lynch)
19. Run Lola Run (Tykwer)
20. Groundhog Day (Ramis)
21. La Confidential (Hanson)
22. Strange Days (Bigelow)
23. The Frighteners (Jackson)
24. Night On Earth (Jarmusch)
25. Boyz n the Hood (Singleton)
26. Leon (Besson)
27. Life Is Beautiful (Benigni)
28. Jerry Maguire (Crowe)
29. Back To The Future Part 3 (Zemeckis)
30. From Dusk Till Dawn (Rodriguez)
31. A Simple Plan (Raimi)
32. Quick Change (Franklin/Murray)
33. The Quick and the Dead (Raimi)
34. As Good As it Gets (Brooks)
35. Serial Mom (Waters)
36. Misery (Reiner)
37. Death Becomes Her (Zemeckis)
38. Oscar (Landis)
39. The Usual Suspects (Singer)
40. Dazed and Confused (Linklater)
41. Out Of Sight (Soderbergh)
42. Alien 3 (Fincher)
43. Forrest Gump (Zemeckis)
44. Innocent Blood (Landis)
45. Terminator 2 (Cameron)
on December 10, 2009 at 11:06 pm | ReplyGS
1.) Pulp Fiction
2.) Leon
3.) Seven
4.) The Big Lebowski
5.) Being John Malkovich
6.) Magnolia
7.) Eyes Wide Shut
8.) Lost Highway
9.) Unforgiven
10.) American Beauty
11.) Boogie Nights
12.) Saving Private Ryan
13.) Rushmore
14.) The Thin Red Line
15.) Goodfellas
16.) Out Of Sight
17.) Donnie Brasco
18.) Jackie Brown
19.) Fargo
20.) Heat
21.) L. A. Confidential
22.) Reservoir Dogs
23.) Chaplin
24.) Schindler’s List
25.) Rounders
on December 12, 2009 at 8:30 pm | ReplySam Juliano
GS: This isn’t the first time you’ve participated here, and it’s deeply-appreciated to have this kind of expertise on display.
on December 12, 2009 at 3:03 pm | ReplyDan
1. Naked (Leigh)
2. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
3. Secrets and Lies (Leigh)
4. The Big Lebowski (Coens)
5. Glengarry Glen Ross (Foley)
6. Bringing Out The Dead (Scorsese)
7. Shallow Grave (Boyle)
8. A Room For Romeo Brass (Meadows)
9. Goodfellas (Scorsese)
10. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
11. Wag The Dog (Levinson)
12. The Fisher King (Gillian)
13. Trainspotting (Boyle)
14. True Romance (Scott)
15. In The Mouth of Madness (Carpenter)
16. Crash (Cronenberg)
17. The Silence of the Lambs (Demme)
18. Lost Highway (Lynch)
19. Run Lola Run (Tykwer)
20. Groundhog Day (Ramis)
21. La Confidential (Hanson)
22. Strange Days (Bigelow)
23. The Frighteners (Jackson)
24. Night On Earth (Jarmusch)
25. Boyz n the Hood (Singleton)
26. Leon (Besson)
27. Life Is Beautiful (Benigni)
28. Jerry Maguire (Crowe)
29. Back To The Future Part 3 (Zemeckis)
30. From Dusk Till Dawn (Rodriguez)
31. A Simple Plan (Raimi)
32. Quick Change (Franklin/Murray)
33. The Quick and the Dead (Raimi)
34. As Good As it Gets (Brooks)
35. Serial Mom (Waters)
36. Misery (Reiner)
37. Death Becomes Her (Zemeckis)
38. Oscar (Landis)
39. The Usual Suspects (Singer)
40. Dazed and Confused (Linklater)
41. Out Of Sight (Soderbergh)
42. Alien 3 (Fincher)
43. Forrest Gump (Zemeckis)
44. Innocent Blood (Landis)
45. Terminator 2 (Cameron)
on December 12, 2009 at 8:29 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Wow Dan! NAKED and EYES WIDE SHUT at the top! Most interesting. Having you participate here is a special treat, and we appreciate this superlative input. So many choices here are just top-rank.
on December 12, 2009 at 4:29 pm | ReplyMike B.
It’s been a while since I last posted, but the 90’s are a decade I feel I must weight in with. Happy Holidays to you, Lucille and the kids, Sam! And to the readers.
1 Rosetta
2 Red
3 Blue
4 Dead Man
5 Glengarry Glen Ross
6 The Sweet Hereafter
7 Gattaca
8 The Remains of the Day
9 La Ceremonie
10 Close-Up
11 Beauty and the Beast
12 The Double Life of Veronique
13 The Celebration
14 Pleasantville
15 The Piano
16 King of the Kill
17 Howards End
18 Fargo
19 Fried Green Tomatoes
20 King of the Hill
21 Sense and Sensibility
22 Satantango
23 Magnolia
24 Silence of the Lambs
25 Babe
on December 12, 2009 at 8:27 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Mike: You are always welcome here, and it’s great to see you back in print. I salute you for the tasteful list. man of your choices did make either Allan’s list or my own (or both).
on December 12, 2009 at 5:28 pm | ReplyTroy Olson
Still so much I want to see, but we have a deadline. Well, here goes…
1. The Sweet Hereafter (Canada, Atom Egoyan, 1997)
2. Three Colours: Blue (France/Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993)
3. Raise the Red Lantern (China, Zhang Yimou, 1991)
4. Sátántangó (Hungary, Béla Tarr, 1994)
5. Fargo (US, Joel Coen, 1996)
6. Jackie Brown (US, Quentin Tarantino, 1997)
7. Unforgiven (US, Clint Eastwood, 1992)
8. GoodFellas (US, Martin Scorsese, 1990)
9. The Remains of the Day (UK, James Ivory, 1993)
10. Three Colours: Red (France/Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
11. Rosetta (Belgium/France, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, 1999)
12. The Ice Storm (US, Ang Lee, 1997)
13. La Cérémonie (France, Claude Chabrol, 1995)
14. Miller’s Crossing (US, Joel Coen, 1990)
15. Secrets and Lies (UK, Mike Leigh, 1996)
16. The Big Lebowski (US, Joel Coen, 1998)
17. L.A. Confidential (US, Curtis Hanson, 1997)
18. Beauty and the Beast (US, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991)
19. Lone Star (US, John Sayles, 1996)
20. Magnolia (US, Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999)
21. The Double Life of Véronique (France/Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1991)
22. The Thin Red Line (US, Terrence Malick, 1998)
23. Boogie Nights (US, Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)
24. Naked (UK, Mike Leigh, 1993)
25. Metropolitan (US, Whit Stillman, 1990)
26. Ed Wood (US, Tim Burton, 1994)
27. Barton Fink (US, Joel Coen, 1991)
28. Casino (US, Martin Scorsese, 1995)
29. Toy Story (US, John Lasseter, 1995)
30. The Limey (US, Steven Soderburgh, 1999)
31. Election (US, Alexander Payne, 1999)
32. Schindler’s List (US, Steven Spielberg, 1993)
33. Black Robe (Canada, Bruce Beresford, 1991)
34. Pulp Fiction (US, Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
35. Glengarry Glen Ross (US, James Foley, 1992)
36. Pride and Prejudice (UK , Simon Langton, 1995)
37. The Wings of the Dove (UK, Iain Softley, 1997)
38. Reservoir Dogs (US, Quentin Tarantino, 1992)
39. Safe (US, Todd Haynes, 1995)
40. Life is Sweet (UK, Mike Leigh, 1990)
41. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (US, Fax Bahr, George Hickenloper, 1991)
42. The Shawshank Redemption (US, Frank Darabont, 1994)
43. The Truman Show (US, Peter Weir, 1998)
44. The Last of the Mohicans (US, Michael Mann, 1992)
45. The Player (US, Robert Altman, 1992)
46. To Die For (US, Gus Van Sant, 1995)
47. The Silence of the Lambs (US, Jonathan Demme, 1991)
48. Clueless (US, Amy Heckerling, 1995)
49. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (US, Wes Craven, 1994)
50. Groundhog Day (US, Harold Ramis, 1993)
on December 12, 2009 at 8:25 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Troy: You have the distinction of putting just about more time and more effort in compiling this list as anyone else. Posting reviews of many of the choices at your own place is a perfect example. The results of course are awesome, but I saw much of this coming. What can I say? Spectacular work, and I concur with so many of the choices. Thanks as well for all the promotion you have done for this polling and for WitD in general!
on December 12, 2009 at 5:38 pm | ReplyMaria
1 Beauty and the Beast
2 The Ice Storm
3 Blue
4 Babe
5 The Sweet Hereafter
6 The Lion King
7 Dead Man
8 The Remains of the Day
9 Shakespeare in Love
10 Red
11 Raise the Red Lantern
12 Big Lebowski
13 Sense and Sensibility
14 Leaving Las Vegas
15 Magnolia
16 Boogie Nights
17 The Double Life of Veronique
18 Glengarry Glen Ross
19 Toy Story
20 Mrs. Brown
21 The Shawshank Redemption
22 L. A. Confidential
23 Schindler’s List
24 Titanic
25 Il Postino
on December 12, 2009 at 8:22 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Maria: Thanks for delivering on that promise. Many of your choices are certainly within my own sphere of fondness too!
on December 12, 2009 at 7:52 pm | Replycinewest
1) Kieslowski’s Tri-color trilogy (if only one, then Blue)
2) Mother And Son
3) Before The Rain
4) Cabeza DeVaca
5) Moment Of Innocence
6) Double Life Of Veronique
7) Breaking The Waves
8) The Thin Red Line
9) Cyclo
10) City Of LostChildren
11) Fargo
12) Europa/Zentropa
13) Taste Of Cherry
14) Magnolia
15) Raise The Red Lantern
16) Underground
17) Dead Man
18) The Perfect Circle
19) Maborosi
20) Goodfellas
21) Lamerica
22) Secrets And Lies
23) Pulp Fiction
24) Boogie Nights
25) The Sweet Hereafter
26) Short Cuts
27) The Wind Will Carry Us
28) The Piano
29) Chungking Express
30) The WarZone
31) American Beauty
32) All About Mother
33) Naked
34) Himalaya
35) The Player
36) Burnt By The Sun
37) Husbands And Wives
38) Lea
39) Arizona Dream
40) Beautiful People
41) Jacob’s Ladder
42) Eat Drink Man Woman
43) The Big Lebowski
44) The Celebration
45) The Voyager (Homo Faber)
46) Live Flesh
47) Damage
48) Gabbeh
49) Train Spotting
50) The Eighth Day
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
The Scent Of Green Papaya
on December 12, 2009 at 8:21 pm | ReplySam Juliano
Cinewest!
Fantastic extended listing here! Some great stuff that many haven’t seen like CABEZA DE VACA. Would you like me to have Mr. D’Arminio count BLUE as first, RED as second and WHITE as third?
It’s great to have someone with your love of great cinema over in these parts. Thank You.
on December 13, 2009 at 4:48 amcinewest
Sam,
You’re right, I totally forgot to include Red and White. It’s so difficult for me to assign rankings to films. I’d put Red somewhere in the top 25, and White some where down closer to #50…. I had Short Cuts much higher up on other lists, if only for the influence that I believe it had, but some how I don’t remember it as fondly now…. As for Cabeza De Vaca, let’s just say that there’s nothing quite like it. My top 20 are flat out masterpieces, at least in my book, but there’s a lot that I haven’t seen, too…. and all the lists definitely give me ideas.
on December 12, 2009 at 10:14 pm | ReplyDouglas T. McCartney
1 Schindler’s List
2 Good Fellas
3 The Shawshank Redemption
4 Casino
5 Saving Private Ryan
6 As Good As It Gets
7 Everyone Says I Love You
8 Misery
9 Fargo
10 Silence of the Lambs
11 Heat
12 Man in the Moon
13 A Few Good Men
14 Il Postino
15 Apollo 13
16 The Firm
17 Malcom X
18 JFK
19 Reservoir Dogs
20 The Naked Gun
21 Leaving Las Vegas
22 American Beauty
23 Pulp Fiction
24 Life is Beautiful
25 Antz
on December 12, 2009 at 10:35 pm | ReplyJ. Baccaglini
1 Dead Man (Jarmusch)
2 A Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami)
3 Blue (Kieslowski)
4 Red (Kieslowski)
5 The Wind Will Carry Us (All About My Mother)
6 Satantango (Tarr)
7 Raise the Red Lantern (Yimou)
8 The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen)
10 Heat (Mann)
11 Boogie Nights (Anderson)
12 La Ceremonie (Chabrol)
13 The Limey (Soderbergh)
14 Metropolitan (Stillman)
15 Election (Payne)
16 Trainspotting (Boyle)
17 The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan)
18 Short Cuts (Altman)
19 The Ice Storn (Lee)
20 Night on Earth (Jarmusch)
21 Gattaca (Nicols)
22 Breaking the Waves (Von Trier)
23 Groundhog Day (Ramis)
24 Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
25 Existenz (Cronenberg)
Sent and received by e mail on Saturday, Dec. 12th -S.J.
on December 12, 2009 at 11:29 pm | ReplyLucille Juliano
1. The Silence of the Lambs
2. Secrets and Lies
3. Sense and Sensibility
4. The Cider House Rules
5. Fried Green Tomatoes
6. Gattaca
7. The Shawshank Redemption
8. A League of Their Own
9. Dances With Wolves
10. Misery
11. The Green Mile
12. Unforgiven
13. Il Postino
14. Priest
15. A Few Good Men
16. Wild Reeds
17. Breaking the Waves
18. Saving Private Ryan
19. Forrest Gump
20. Babe
21. Dead Man Walking
22. Braveheart
23. Schindler’s List
24. Ghost
25. The Sixth Sense
on December 13, 2009 at 4:07 am | ReplyAnubhavBist
Sorry, I’ve haven’t been on the message boards lately, but I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t post my top 50 of the decade. I really could have gone up to 100 for this, but i decided to slim it down. I will however say there are some notable films from this decade I was not able to catch like Santango or the Three Colors Trilogy, but I’m happy with what I have:
1. Naked (1993) – Leigh, UK
2. Boogie Nights (1997) – Anderson, USA
3. Naked Lunch (1991) – Cronenberg, Canada
4. Fargo (1996) – Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, USA
5. The Thin Red Line – Malick, USA
6. Insomnia (1997) – Skjoldbjærg, Norway
7. My Own Private Idaho (1991) – Van Sant, USA
8. Fight Club (1999) – Fincher, USA
9. The Double Life of Véronique (1991) – Kieslowski, France/Polish
10. Jackie Brown (1997) – Tarantino, USA
11. Se7en (1995) – Fincher, USA
12. Fallen Angels (1995) – Kar-wai, Hong Kong
13. Barton Fink (1991) – Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, USA
14. Hard Boiled (1992) – Woo, Hong Kong
15. Trainspotting (1995) – Boyle, UK
16. Magnolia (1999) – Anderson, USA
17. Reservoir Dogs (1992) – Tarantino, USA
18. Dark City (1998) – Proyas, Australia/United States
19. Safe (1995) – Haynes, USA
20. Happiness (1998) – Solondz, USA
21. Rushmore (1998) – Anderson, USA
22. Being John Malkovich – Jonze, USA
23. Crash (1996) – Cronenberg, Canada
24. Thelma and Louise (1991) – Scott, USA
25. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – Demme, USA
26. Existenz (1999) – Cronenberg, Canada
27. Chasing Amy (1997) – Smith, USA
28. Wild at Heart (1990) – Lynch, USA
29. Heavenly Creatures (1994) – Jackson, New Zealand
30. Sink or Swim (1990) – Friedrich, USA
31. The Truman Show (1998) – Weir, USA
32. Toy Story (1995) – Lasseter, USA
33. The Ice Storm (1997) – Lee, USA
34. Dazed and Confused (1993) – Linklater, USA
35. Leon (1994) – Besson, France
36. Princess Mononoke (1997) – Miyazaki, Japan
37. Bad Lieutenant (1992) – Ferrara, USA
38. In the Company of Men (1997) – LeBute, USA
39. The Usual Suspects (1995) – Singer, USA
40. El Mariachi (1992) – Rodriguez, Mexico
41. Bringing Out The Dead (1999) – Scorsese, USA
42. Taste of Cherry (1997) – Kiarostami, Iran
43. Secretes and Lies (1996) – Leigh, UK
44. Menace II Society (1993) – Allen Hughes/Albert Hughes, USA
45. Office Space (1999) – Judge, USA
46. Reversal of Fourtain (1990) – Schroeder, USA/UK/Japan
47. The Big Lebowski (1999) – Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, USA
48. Groundhog Day (1993) – Ramis, USA
49. Ed Wood (1994) – Burton, USA
50. American Beauty (1999) – Mendes, USA
Can’t wait to see the result!
on December 13, 2009 at 6:11 pm | ReplyFrank Gallo
I waited to the last possible day this time. I found it interesting to check all the lists before finalizing my own.
1 Blue
2 Dead Man
3 La Belle Noiseuse
4 Taste of Cherry
5 Red
6 Baraka
7 Satantango
8 The Sweet Hereafter
9 Safe
10 Ed Wood
11 La Ceremonie
12 Gattaca
13 The Loss of Sexual Innocence
14 Bringing Out the Dead
15 The Thin Red Line
16 Babe
17 Schindler’s List
18 Shakespeare in Love
19 The Big Lebowski
20 Crash
21 Boogie Nights
22 The Shawshank Redemption
23 Mystery Train
24 Election
25 Saving Private Ryan
on December 13, 2009 at 11:49 pm | ReplyAllan Fish
1 The Double Life of Veronique
2 The Long Day Closes
3 Magnolia
4 The Truman Show
5 Actress
6 Red
7 Breaking the Waves
8 Eyes Wide Shut
9 Shooting the Past
10 Blue
11 La Belle Noiseuse
12 LA Confidential
13 Lone Star
14 Heimat 2
15 A Brighter Summer Day
16 Our Friends in the North
17 Raise the Red Lantern
18 The Thin Red Line
19 Fargo
20 Satantango
21 G.B.H.
22 American Beauty
23 Schindler’s List
24 Good Fellas
25 Toy Story
on December 13, 2009 at 11:58 pm | ReplyMike Cordasco
1 – La Belle Noiseuse
2 – Red
3 – Metropolitan
4 – Dead Man
5 – Safe
6 – Taste of Cherry
7 – The Double Life of Veronique
8 – Breaking the Waves
9 – Trainspotting
10 – Fargo
11 – Blue
12 – The Ice Storm
13 – The Thin Red Line
14 – Heat
15 – Remains of the Day
16 – Strange Days
17 – The Piano
18 – Schindler’s List
19 – White
20 – Heavenly Creatures
21 – Gattaca
22 – The Player
23 – Baraka
24 – Good Fellas
25 – Silence of the Lambs
on August 15, 2012 at 9:43 pm | ReplyThe Cinemaniac
My faves of the ’90s:
1990: unsure…
1991: The Silence of the Lambs
1992: Batman Returns, JFK (Director’s Cut), Blade Runner (Director’s Cut)
1993: Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park
1994: Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, Speed, The Lion King
1995: Braveheart, Toy Story
1996: Fargo, Mission: Impossible
1997: Titanic, Men in Black
1998: again, unsure…
1999: The Sixth Sense
on December 27, 2012 at 2:53 am | ReplyAlbert
This poll is 3yrs old. Where’s the link to the result? i can’t find it!
anyway, these are mine.
1. The Thin Red Line (1998)
2. The Crying Game (1992)
3. The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
4. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
5. Naked (1993)
6. A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
7. Satantango (1994)
8. Taste of Cherry (1997)
9. Breaking the Waves (1996)
10. Short Cuts (1993)
11. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
12. Secrets and Lies (1996)
13. The WInd Will Carry Us (1999)
14. All About My Mother (1999)
15. Underground (1995)
16. Close-Up (1990)
17. Unforgiven (1992)
18. Trainspotting (1996)
19. Magnolia (1999)
20. Baraka (1992)
21. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
22. Festen (1998) “The Celebration”
23. Strange Days (1995)
24 The Straight Story (1999)
25. Naked Lunch (1991)
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mark s. on Close Your Eyes, Megalopolis and continued voting for Science-Fiction Films and 1986 Song Poll on Monday Morning Diary (September 30)
mark s. on Close Your Eyes, Megalopolis and continued voting for Science-Fiction Films and 1986 Song Poll on Monday Morning Diary (September 30)
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wondersinthedark on Don McLean concert; 1962 Favorite Song results; Childhood/Coming-of-Age poll results; 1986 Favorite Song Poll, and Favorite Science-Fiction poll on Monday Morning Diary (September 23)
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Wendy Wahman on Completion of Mikey’s Absolution and Last Summer on Monday Morning Diary (September 16)
mark s. on National Anthem, 1961 Favorite Popular Song Results; Favorite War Film Poll Results; 1962 Popular Song Poll Launch on Tuesday Morning Diary (September 3)
mark s. on National Anthem, 1961 Favorite Popular Song Results; Favorite War Film Poll Results; 1962 Popular Song Poll Launch on Tuesday Morning Diary (September 3)
mark s. on National Anthem, 1961 Favorite Popular Song Results; Favorite War Film Poll Results; 1962 Popular Song Poll Launch on Tuesday Morning Diary (September 3)
Marilyn Ferdinand on National Anthem, 1961 Favorite Popular Song Results; Favorite War Film Poll Results; 1962 Popular Song Poll Launch on Tuesday Morning Diary (September 3)
Recent Posts
Didi, 1986 Song Poll Results and 1987 Song Poll Launch on Monday Morning Diary (October 7)
Close Your Eyes, Megalopolis and continued voting for Science-Fiction Films and 1986 Song Poll on Monday Morning Diary (September 30)
Don McLean concert; 1962 Favorite Song results; Childhood/Coming-of-Age poll results; 1986 Favorite Song Poll, and Favorite Science-Fiction poll on Monday Morning Diary (September 23)
Completion of Mikey’s Absolution and Last Summer on Monday Morning Diary (September 16)
National Anthem, 1961 Favorite Popular Song Results; Favorite War Film Poll Results; 1962 Popular Song Poll Launch on Tuesday Morning Diary (September 3)
Green Border and Broadway “Cabaret” on Tuesday Morning Diary (August 27)
Democratic Convention, Mikey’s Absolution, 1960 Song Results, 1961 Song Poll Launch, Favorite Film Musicals Poll results, and Best War Film Poll Launch on Tuesday Morning Diary (August 20)
Musical Poll, 1960 Song Poll and Election Euphoria on Tuesday Morning Diary (August 12)
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