These weekly lists will cover one year in cinema history, as I name my top ten, and then list ten other movies that almost made my top ten list, my choice for bottom ten movies, and then finally, for comparison, I list the biggest box office hits of that year along with the biggest contenders at the Oscars, those which were nominated for Best Picture, or which won other awards (would you believe Dick Tracy won three Oscars?)
After I spend the next ten weeks on the 90's, I will go back to my regular journal entries from that time, but I reserve the right to do the same thing at some point in the future with other decades - The 80's, the 70's, the 60's (the decade I was born in ), and maybe some of the decades before then, and most certainly the first ten years since the millennium.
So, without further adieu, here is my list of my top ten favorite films of 1990, in alphabetical order:
Arachnophobia
I like good old
roller coaster ride horror movies and creature features. This delivers on the thrills and chills, and
also has a surprising amount of comedy.
Awakenings
When Robert
DeNiro was recently receiving some sort of Lifetime Achievement Award, he took
the time to give special mention of this film where he played a man afflicted
with encephalitis suddenly cured, but only for a short time.
Dances with
Wolves
Critics and
audiences these days might mention this film as one of those bloated, slow
films that the Academy loves (like The English Patient), but they are
wrong. I got a lot out of this story of
a Civil War deserter who is adopted by a native tribe.
Die Hard 2: Die
Harder
I’m not one of
those who is in love with any old Die Hard movie Hollywood and Bruce Willis
decide to make. Are there five now? I’ve lost track. But there’s no doubt I absolutely loved the
first one, and this second one offered more of the same, but at a different
location; in this case, an airport in a snow storm.
Edward
Scissorhands
The first, and
probably still the best, of the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaborations. This modern day fantasy is simply brimming
over with great ideas and imagery about the differences in each of us that both
ostrasize us and make us special. The
parallels between Edward and Burton, especially in regards to their creativity
and how they are perceived by the populace, are too glaring not to mention.
Ghost
Some find it
maudlin, but this story of a man who becomes a ghost and then tries to contact
his true love left behind, and save her from the bad guy, is just about the
perfect combination of story, romance, emotion, and effects; and did I mention
comedy. It’s one of those rare few films
Whoopi Goldberg was actually good in!
Normally, I can’t stand her!
Goodfellas
I’m not the
biggest fan of gangster movies either, and some of my favorite Scorsese movies
aren’t of the gangster variety (Cape Fear, After Hours, Shutter Island). There are always exceptions. Goodfellas is one of my all time favorite
gangster flicks, mostly because of how well it is put together.
Hamlet
Real Shakespeare
fans can site Olivier or Branagh on film, or even something completely unconventional,
like the modern take from 2000 with Ethan Hawke. But in my opinion, Gibson is more than a
match for any of them, and lending credence to this version are the
performances of Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield, Ian Holm, and Helena
Bonham Carter, not to mention Franco Zeffirelli’s superb direction. This is often overlooked, but I think it’s
worth another look.
Home Alone
The film that
made Macaulay Culkin a star, at least in his child years. Written by John Hughes and directed by Chris
Columbus, this is a Christmas-time staple that hits all the right notes.
Misery
Kathy Bates’
performance and character are simply chilling, and this was the best
non-supernatural thriller of year, by far!The following are my top ten choices for the best of the rest, and my bottom ten:
Best of the Rest:
Child's Play 2
Darkman
Europa Europa
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
The Grifters
I Love You to Death
Stephen King's It
Predator 2
Tremors
Time travel to the old west, deranged killer dolls and alien clowns, Sam Raimi's first foray into superhero territory, a Jewish boy hiding from the Nazi's right under their noses, gremlins and a predator moving to the city, the life of hustlers, an Italian philanderer surviving several comedic attacks on his life, and Reba McEntire with an elephant gun are just some of the joys to be found in list list of ten films.
The Worst:
The Exorcist III
The Guardian
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
Men at Work
Night Breed
Repossessed
Revenge
The Sheltering Sky
Wild at Heart
I love horror movies, but don't think it hasn't escaped my attention that at least half this stinkers list contains horror movies. The rest of the list has a rotten horror movie parody, Emilio Esteves and Charlie Sheen as garbage men, and Nicolas Cage in some cheesy David Lynch concoction. Meanwhile, The Sheltering Sky was mind-numbingly slow and strange, and for those that thought Dances with Wolves was long and boring, I give you Kevin Costner's other movie from that year: Revenge. It wasn't even all that long. It just seemed like it.
Just for comparison, I'd thought I'd also share the biggest box office hits of the year, as well as the top choices at the Oscars. Notice how Reversal of Fortune, Dick Tracy, The Hunt for Red October, Pretty Woman, Total Recall, and Kindergarten Cop didn't make it into my top twenty. I liked them fine, they just didn't make it to the top of my lists. Meanwhile, I never saw Cyrano de Bergerac, Presumed Innocent, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Notable Oscar Films Biggest Box Office Hits
Dances With Wolves Ghost
Awakenings Home Alone
Ghost Pretty
Woman
The Godfather, Part III Dances With Wolves
Goodfellas Total
Recall
Reversal of Fortune Back
to the Future Part III
Misery Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Dick Tracy Presumed
Innocent
The Hunt for Red October Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles
Cyrano de Bergerac Kindergarten Cop
No comments:
Post a Comment