My Top Ten Favorites of 1993:
The Fugitive
Taking the old sixties series and turning it into a movie wasn't necessarily a stroke of genius. Getting Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones to play the leads, falsely accused Dr. Richard Kimble and U.S. Marshall Samuel Gerard hot on his trail, was. Beware the one armed man!
Grumpy Old Men
"Moron"
"Putz"
"Do me a favor. Put your lip over your head... and swallow."
Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon as two arguing, insulting old men was their best screen pairing since The Odd Couple 25 years before this, and better than Grumpier Old Men that would be released 5 years down the line. Ann Margaret and Burgess Meredith each add something special to the proceedings, but in completely different ways.
Jurassic Park
You WILL believe that dinosaurs have really been remade from the DNA of blood found in ancient mosquitoes trapped in amber for over 65 million years! Even after 20 years, these dinosaurs are still quite impressive, and it's why the film has just been re-released in theaters with the new 3D technology.
A Nightmare Before Christmas
I actually have a love/hate relationship with this film. It is not actually a delight all the way through, but I've seen it enough to recognize and appreciate the work that went into it and some of its better moments, and even though all the songs are not all great, a few of them - "This is Halloween", "What's This", "Kidnap the Sandy Claws", and "Oogie Boogie's Song" - are real stand outs.
Rudy
I can't speak for the real Rudy Ruettiger, but the character played by Sean Astin of a smallish guy who dreams of playing football for Notre Dame despite his size, and manages to make his dream come true, is one of the best inspirational sports movies of the time.
Schindler's List
Steven Spielberg was on a role! Not only did he give audiences the big box office hit of the year with Jurassic Park, but then made this heavy biopic about a war profiteer, Oskar Schindler, who is conflicted by what he sees occurring with his Jewish work force, and tries to do something about it. This is one of the best American films to document the travesties that befell the Jews at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.
Shadowlands
Having read several books by C.S. Lewis, I'd have to say he was admirable on many levels; intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. That he was a Christian, converted through his own intellectual study, is even better. This movie was the touching story of his later years romance with the American woman Joy Gresham. Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, as Lewis and Gresham, are a "joy" to watch, and Joseph Mazzello, who was also the little boy in Jurassic Park, did some great acting here as well as Joy's son Douglas.
Tombstone
Much better, and faster paced, than the dreary drama Wyatt Earp starring Kevin Costner that would come out the next year, this one wisely jettisons much of the historical weight that made the Costner version too serious and overlong. Filmed as a fun shoot-em-up, they manage real emotion as well when Earp's older brother loses an arm, and his younger brother is killed. Kurt Russell is perfect is Wyatt, and Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as his brothers are all really good too, but the movie is almost stolen by a wise cracking Val Kilmer as the perpetually ill Doc Holiday. "I'm your Huckleberry."
True Romance
I'm not the biggest fan of Quentin Tarantino's love affair with cool dialogue and ultra-violence, but a film like True Romance, written by Tarantino and directed Tony Scott, sure makes me understand its appeal a whole lot more. You can't really go wrong with any film that casts Gary Oldman as a dred-locked pimp and Val Kilmer as the ghost of Elvis! Starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, the film boasts some great actors in some well written scenes, among them Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Michael Rapaport, Bronson Pinchot, Saul Rubinek, Chris Penn, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Wayne's World 2
This film is not so much beyond a mere continuation of the first film, but as such, it was also an enjoyable romp through the mind of Mike Meyers, in the same year he also had a hit with So I Married an Axe Murderer. Unlike some of the films he's making these days, these early films were actually quite funny, and once again, Dana Carvey is hilarious as his goofy sidekick Garth.
The Best of the Rest
Addams Family Values
Dave
The Good Son
Heart and Souls
Matinee
Mrs. Doubtfire
The Piano
So I Married and Axe Murderer
This Boy's Life
The Three Musketeers
Any of these lists can be rather subjective, and it would have been just as easy for me to include on this list films like Free Willy, Groundhog Day, In the Line of Fire, Judgment Night, The Man Without a Face, Much Ado About Nothing, The Sandlot, Searching for Bobby Fisher, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and even some of the parody movies such as Fatal Instinct and National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1. Of the films I DID choose, Gomez and Morticia dance up a storm and Wednesday learns to smile in the return of the Addams Family; Kevin Kline is a look-alike for the president in a charming romantic comedy; Macaulay Culkin becomes a wicked little psycho brat in a delicious little thriller; Robert Downey Jr. discovers four lost souls who used to be his guardian angels from childhood in a charming romantic comedy; Joe Dante explores his own past and love of cheesy sci fi in an endearing coming of age dramedy; Robin Williams clowns it up in drag in a box office smash comedy; Holly Hunter gives a stunning mute performance in a seering Jane Campion drama; Mike Meyers follows up his one two punch of back-to-back Wayne's World films with a really funny romantic comedy; Leonardo DiCaprio suffers under the abuse of Robert DeNiro in the same year he wowed audiences and critics as a mentally challenged youth, and finally, Disney does Dumas with a crowd pleasing version of his classic swashbuckler.
The Worst
Demolition Man
Flesh & Bone
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
Leprechaun
Man's Best Friend
My Boyfriend's Back
Return of the Living Dead III
Son of the Pink Panther
The Vanishing
Wilder Napalm
Once again, half the stinkers list is filled with horror movies or horror movie parodies, and not even Jennifer Aniston can liven them up (she starred in the wretched Leprechaun). The other choices run the gamut from dreary and slow (Flesh & Bone and The Vanishing) to bizarre (Demolition Man and Wilder Napalm) to "I can't believe they went THERE" (such as another Pink Panther movie without Peter Sellers).
For comparison once again, here were the biggest hits of the Oscars and the Box Office. I thought The Remains of the Day, The Firm, Indecent Proposal, Sleepless in Seattle, and The Pelican Brief were okay; they just weren't my favorite movies of the year. Cliffhanger was also quite good, but couldn't compare to other crowd pleasers like Jurassic Park and The Fugitive. I even liked Philadelphia. But I never saw In the Name of the Father, Age of Innocence, or Belle Epoque.
Notable Oscar Films Biggest Box
Office Hits
Schlindler’s List Jurassic
Park
In the Name of the Father Mrs.
Doubtfire
The Fugitive The
Fugitive
The Piano Schinlder's List
The Remains of the Day The Firm
Philadelphia Indecent
Proposal
Jurassic Park Cliffhanger
Mrs. Doubtfire Sleepless in Seattle
The Age of Innocence Philadelphia
Belle Epoque The Pelican
Brief
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