Title: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: bob on October 10, 2012, 03:37:40 PM What are your thoughts?
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-50-best-films-of-the-90s-1-of-3,86304/ The lack of Clerks, The Shawshank Redemption, The Usual Suspects, Heat, The Silence of the Lambs, Leon: The Professional, Life is Beautiful, The Green Mile, and Wag the Dog invalidates the list to me. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: ulthar on October 10, 2012, 03:44:01 PM That's THEIR Top 25. So what? I've never heard of half those "films." :lookingup:
Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: fulci420 on October 10, 2012, 04:18:05 PM I was going to make a thread about this but I didn't want to list out their picks. Anyways I think it's an ok list obviously everyone is going to have disagreements but I have some far worse internet lists. What struck me looking at this list and thinking of what I would put in is what a great decade the 90's were. I agree with the majority of bob's pick except for Wag the Dog. I think Wag the Dog is ok but in comparison to other Mamet scripts of the decade would rank with me near the bottom. But as I said everyone is going to have disagreements.
Anyways here's my list obviously the order can change day to day. I went by filmmaker instead of individual films because 1)Tarantino- Ok say whatever you want about the guy, but he owned the 90's both in his direction (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown) but also his amazing script work (True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn both fully deserving of being on the top 50 list. 2)Mamet-Like Tarantino he had great work in this decade both behind the camera and as screenwriter. In terms of his direction I would point to Homicide, The Spanish Prisoner, Oleana. In terms of screenplays we get his excellent rewrite of Ronin (you can find the original script online and it's atrocious, Mamet pretty much changed every single of dialogue), The Edge, and one cannot talk about 90's Mamet without mentioning Glengarry Glenn Ross. Glengarry which was included in AV clubs list could be the peak of both Mamet's writing and all of the performers involved (Pacino, Spacey, Arkin, Lemmon) Not everything he did in this decade was great (Hoffa, Lansky and Wag the Dog dont really do much for me. 3) John Woo-In the way that Tarantino changed dialogue and plot structure it was John Woo that changed action forever and the 90's were a great decade for him. Hard Boiled has yet to be surpassed in terms of sheer insane violence and style, 10/10. Bullet in the Head shows him in epic Deer Hunter kind of mood and he fully succeeds often overlooked. And finally we saw him make his transition to the US which was mostly disappointing save for the amazing FACE/OFF. I don't need to tell you why Face/off is good, it stands on its own. 4) Michael Mann-A man that got no love from the AV club but in my mind was one of the most impressive filmmakers of the 90's. Reasons why Heat, Last of the Mohican's and The Insider. Three largely different films all immense successes on all levels. Fantastic use of music that is radically different from film to film. 5)Hollywood-Looking back at the 90's I have to give credit to what Hollywood was churning out in terms of sheer bombastic big budget films. It seems that they were willing to push the envelope in this decade putting out films that weren't afraid of being politically incorrect or actually showing the results of violence. Add to that original screenplay's were actually still being produced and you have some amazing blockbuster entertainment. Con Air-So awesome it hurts. The Rock-Talk s**t about Michael Bay all you want he directed one of the most awesome action films of all times in the 90's. The Last Boy Scout Terminator 2 Home Alone 1 and 2 Jurrasic Park Men in Black Forest Gump Alladin and honestly it seems like I'm just scratching the surface. Looking at a list of the top grossing film of the 00's it is so depressing to see pretty much only adaptations, and sequels. It seemed like hollywood was more willing to try and sell premises instead of relying on pre existing properties and the result was just much more entertaining films. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: Jack on October 10, 2012, 04:42:47 PM I've seen ten of those. I dunno, half of the ones I've seen wouldn't have been on a top 100 list if I made it.
Starship Troopers and Terminator 2 were both awesome. Blair Witch was good, but some of the characters got so annoying by the end that it's not the type of thing I'd watch a second time. Seven was okay, very forgettable. The Matrix started out kind of cool and mysterious but quickly turned into a CGI fest that would inspire 1,000 beer commercials. Election was a great little black comedy, I love anything where evil triumphs in the end :smile: Fight Club had an unexpected ending but other than that it was a huge meh. Fargo was just a little bit funny. Unforgiven was overlong rubbish. Pulp fiction was exactly like everything else Tarantino's ever made - "Oh look at my mahvelous style" :lookingup: I honestly wouldn't bother watching the rest of the movies on that list if someone gave me all the DVD's. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: tracy on October 12, 2012, 01:28:20 PM I've seen 6 of those films and haven't heard of a good many. Of that list my favorites are "Unforgiven" and "Terminator 2".
Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: ChaosTheory on October 12, 2012, 01:35:33 PM Eh, I like our list better.
Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: Rev. Powell on October 12, 2012, 02:31:18 PM Using IMDB's advanced search features to locate only movies I've rated and a little bit of shuffling and a lot of formatting, it was relatively easy for me to come up with this fairly accurate personal top 50 list:
1. Schindler's List(1993) 2. Pulp Fiction(1994) 3. Barton Fink(1991) 4. The Big Lebowski(1998) 5. The City of Lost Children(1995) 6. Twin Peaks Pilot (1990) 7. Dead Man(1995) 8. Red Rock West(1993) 9. The Sixth Sense(1999) 10. The Blair Witch Project(1999) 11. Being John Malkovich(1999) 12. Sling Blade(1996) 13. The Red Squirrel(1993) 14. Toto the Hero(1991) 15. Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam(1995 Documentary) 16. Reservoir Dogs(1992) 17. Cemetery Man(1994) 18. Slacker(1991) 19. Naked Lunch(1991) 20. The Silence of the Lambs(1991) 21. The Nightmare Before Christmas(1993) 22. Life Is Beautiful(1997) 23. L.A. Confidential(1997) 24. Hard Boiled(1992) 25. Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream That One Calls Human Life(1995) 26. Begotten(1990) 27. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas(1998) 28. A Simple Plan(1998) 29. Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer(1993 Documentary) 30. Magnolia(1999) 31. Dracula(1992) 32. Pi(1998) 33. Ronin(1998) 34. Open Your Eyes(1997) 35. Heavenly Creatures(1994) 36. Dead Man Walking(1995) 37. Wag the Dog(1997) 38. The Shawshank Redemption(1994) 39. Eve's Bayou(1997) 40. The Game(1997) 41. In the Company of Men(1997) 42. Archangel(1991) 43. Bad Boy Bubby(1993) 44. The Pillow Book(1996) 45. Shallow Grave(1994) 46. Barcelona(1994) 47. Election(1999) 48. Tromeo and Juliet(1996) 49. Arizona Dream(1993) 50. Habit(1995) Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: bob on October 12, 2012, 04:05:11 PM Using IMDB's advanced search features to locate only movies I've rated and a little bit of shuffling and a lot of formatting, it was relatively easy for me to come up with this fairly accurate personal top 50 list: 1. Schindler's List(1993) 2. Pulp Fiction(1994) 3. Barton Fink(1991) 4. The Big Lebowski(1998) 5. The City of Lost Children(1995) 6. Twin Peaks Pilot (1990) 7. Dead Man(1995) 8. Red Rock West(1993) 9. The Sixth Sense(1999) 10. The Blair Witch Project(1999) 11. Being John Malkovich(1999) 12. Sling Blade(1996) 13. The Red Squirrel(1993) 14. Toto the Hero(1991) 15. Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam(1995 Documentary) 16. Reservoir Dogs(1992) 17. Cemetery Man(1994) 18. Slacker(1991) 19. Naked Lunch(1991) 20. The Silence of the Lambs(1991) 21. The Nightmare Before Christmas(1993) 22. Life Is Beautiful(1997) 23. L.A. Confidential(1997) 24. Hard Boiled(1992) 25. Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream That One Calls Human Life(1995) 26. Begotten(1990) 27. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas(1998) 28. A Simple Plan(1998) 29. Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer(1993 Documentary) 30. Magnolia(1999) 31. Dracula(1992) 32. Pi(1998) 33. Ronin(1998) 34. Open Your Eyes(1997) 35. Heavenly Creatures(1994) 36. Dead Man Walking(1995) 37. Wag the Dog(1997) 38. The Shawshank Redemption(1994) 39. Eve's Bayou(1997) 40. The Game(1997) 41. In the Company of Men(1997) 42. Archangel(1991) 43. Bad Boy Bubby(1993) 44. The Pillow Book(1996) 45. Shallow Grave(1994) 46. Barcelona(1994) 47. Election(1999) 48. Tromeo and Juliet(1996) 49. Arizona Dream(1993) 50. Habit(1995) no love for Troll 2? :wink: Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: fulci420 on October 12, 2012, 04:08:31 PM Interesting list Rev, glad to see you put up In The Company of Men, which I think is a minor masterpiece. Also props on Hard Boiled. Surprised to see Red Rock West though which I think is fine but is not something I would expect in a top 10.
Anyways all reading all this discussion of 90's movies on the AV club comment board got me thinking about some 90's classics that might get overlooked with lists like this. John Waters-Serial Mom-My favorite Waters film. Great writing and performance's. Vincent Gallo-Buffalo 66-Love everything about this movie, incredible music, direction and performances. Guy Ferland- Telling Lies in America-A minor gem to be sure, a deeply personal script from the usually hacky Joe Esterhaz makes this a touching coming of age tale. Abel Fererra-King of New York-People rightfully respect Bad Lieutenant but sometimes overlook this film which is Fererra's most ambitious and technically accomplished. His Body Snatchers remake also from the 90's is excellent as well. Nicola Winding Refn-Pusher-With little resources and no name actors Refn showed himself to be a director to look out for with his excellent debut. Francis Ford Coppola-The Rainmaker-Almost nobody talks about the best adaptation of John Grisham to date. Fantastic film making not afraid to run the gamut of emotions from melodrama to exuberance and comedy. also: Jim Jarmusch-Ghost Dog-The Way of the Samurai, Sam Raimi-Darkman, John Carpenter-In The Mouths of Madness, Mike Figgis-Leaving Las Vegas, Ron Underwood-Tremors, James Mangold-Copland, Bob Saget-Dirty Work, Paul W S Anderson-Mortal Kombat (I'm not kidding, rewatched this last week and it is flawless. Perfect video game adaptation, probably the only good one). k i could go on forever but i'll stop here. Again I'm struck by what a creatively fertile time the 90's were. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: Rev. Powell on October 12, 2012, 05:20:19 PM Interesting list Rev, glad to see you put up In The Company of Men, which I think is a minor masterpiece. Also props on Hard Boiled. Surprised to see Red Rock West though which I think is fine but is not something I would expect in a top 10. Anyways all reading all this discussion of 90's movies on the AV club comment board got me thinking about some 90's classics that might get overlooked with lists like this. John Waters-Serial Mom-My favorite Waters film. Great writing and performance's. Vincent Gallo-Buffalo 66-Love everything about this movie, incredible music, direction and performances. Guy Ferland- Telling Lies in America-A minor gem to be sure, a deeply personal script from the usually hacky Joe Esterhaz makes this a touching coming of age tale. Abel Fererra-King of New York-People rightfully respect Bad Lieutenant but sometimes overlook this film which is Fererra's most ambitious and technically accomplished. His Body Snatchers remake also from the 90's is excellent as well. Nicola Winding Refn-Pusher-With little resources and no name actors Refn showed himself to be a director to look out for with his excellent debut. Francis Ford Coppola-The Rainmaker-Almost nobody talks about the best adaptation of John Grisham to date. Fantastic film making not afraid to run the gamut of emotions from melodrama to exuberance and comedy. also: Jim Jarmusch-Ghost Dog-The Way of the Samurai, Sam Raimi-Darkman, John Carpenter-In The Mouths of Madness, Mike Figgis-Leaving Las Vegas, Ron Underwood-Tremors, James Mangold-Copland, Bob Saget-Dirty Work, Paul W S Anderson-Mortal Kombat (I'm not kidding, rewatched this last week and it is flawless. Perfect video game adaptation, probably the only good one). k i could go on forever but i'll stop here. Again I'm struck by what a creatively fertile time the 90's were. Yeah, RED ROCK WEST probably shouldn't be that high. IMDB just grouped all the 9/10s together and I moved some of them around and not others. I guess I never rated BAD LIEUTENANT or LEAVING LAS VEGAS, they should make my list. The 90s were an amazing time for filmmaking. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: voltron on October 12, 2012, 10:07:27 PM 34. Open Your Eyes(1997) Great choice. A stunning piece of filmmaking. Now if we could only erase the awful Vanilla Sky we'd be all set. :smile:Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: fulci420 on October 13, 2012, 02:54:25 PM Here is the AV Clubs full list for those who dont want to read through it all.
50. Dead Man 49. American Movie 48. Ed Wood 47. Starship Troopers 46. Heavenly Creatures 45. The Limey 44. Metropolitan 43. T2: Judgment Day 42. All About My Mother 41. Raise the Red Lantern 40. Trainspotting 39. The Blair Witch Project 38. Fast, Cheap and Out of Control 37. Glengarry Glen Ross 36. LA Confidential 35. Naked 34. Se7en 33. The Matrix 32. Close-Up 31. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills 30. The Thin Red Line 29. Irma Vep 28. Election 27. Short Cuts 26. Eyes Wide Shut 25. Fight Club 24. Crumb 23. Carlito's Way 22. The Sweet Hereafter 21. Fargo 20. Red 19. Exotica 18. Schindler's List 17. Safe 16. The Big Lebowski 15. Groundhog Day 14. Hoop Dreams 13. Boogie Nights 12. Miller's Crossing 11. Barton Fink 10. Being John Malkovich 9. Rushmore 8. Unforgiven 7. Reservoir Dogs 6. Out of Sight 5. Chungking Express 4. Dazed and Confused 3. Toy Story 2 2. Pulp Fiction 1. Goodfellas I think Dazed and Confused shouldn't be on the list at all. Pulp Fiction should be higher than Goodfellas. Barton Fink is too high IMO, there is no way it's better than Fargo. Movies like The Matrix and Fight Club even though they have aged pretty terribly, do belong on the list because to me because they were such phenemenons and for better or worse changed movie making significantly, in the same way Tarantino would with his rise in the early 90's. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: ChaosTheory on October 14, 2012, 01:22:18 PM John Waters-Serial Mom-My favorite Waters film. Great writing and performance's. also: Jim Jarmusch-Ghost Dog-The Way of the Samurai, Sam Raimi-Darkman, John Carpenter-In The Mouths of Madness, Mike Figgis-Leaving Las Vegas, Ron Underwood-Tremors, James Mangold-Copland, Bob Saget-Dirty Work, Paul W S Anderson-Mortal Kombat (I'm not kidding, rewatched this last week and it is flawless. Perfect video game adaptation, probably the only good one). k i could go on forever but i'll stop here. Again I'm struck by what a creatively fertile time the 90's were. Definitely second all these. I'll throw BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993) in there too; for my money, the best Batman flick (and I'm not a Nolan-hater). Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: RCMerchant on October 24, 2012, 05:50:56 PM I wanna play!
My top 50 of the '90's.... 1.SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 2.BRAIN DEAD (aka DEAD ALIVE) 3.CASINO 4.ED WOOD 5.BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR 6.GODZILLA VS KING GHIDRAH 7.GOODFELLAS 8.JACKIE BROWN 9.JFK 10.MARS ATTACKS! 11.PULP FICTION 12.RESEVOIR DOGS 13.the SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION 14.TRUE ROMANCE 15.WILD AT HEART 16.TREMORS 17.SLING BLADE 18.SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 19.SGT KABUKIMAN-NYPD 20.RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 3 21.GODZILLA VS DESTROYAH 22.GODZILLA 2000 23.FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 24.FARGO 25.the EXORCIST III 26.DUMB AND DUMBER 27.CAPE FEAR 28.ARMY OF DARKNESS 29.the IDIOTS 30.MISEREY 31.MY BEST FIEND 32.OUT FOR JUSTICE 33.RAVENOUS 34.TWISTER 35.TROLL 2 36.the THIN RED LINE 37.AIELEEN WOURNOS-SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER 38.GUMMO 39.MAN BITES DOG 40.BAD LIEUTANAT 41...more later-mebbe...! Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: tracy on October 25, 2012, 12:08:03 PM I wanna play! My top 50 of the '90's.... 1.SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 2.BRAIN DEAD (aka DEAD ALIVE) 3.CASINO 4.ED WOOD 5.BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR 6.GODZILLA VS KING GHIDRAH 7.GOODFELLAS 8.JACKIE BROWN 9.JFK 10.MARS ATTACKS! 11.PULP FICTION 12.RESEVOIR DOGS 13.the SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION 14.TRUE ROMANCE 15.WILD AT HEART 16.TREMORS 17.SLING BLADE 18.SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 19.SGT KABUKIMAN-NYPD 20.RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 3 21.GODZILLA VS DESTROYAH 22.GODZILLA 2000 23.FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 24.FARGO 25.the EXORCIST III 26.DUMB AND DUMBER 27.CAPE FEAR 28.ARMY OF DARKNESS 29.the IDIOTS 30.MISEREY 31.MY BEST FIEND 32.OUT FOR JUSTICE 33.RAVENOUS 34.TWISTER 35.TROLL 2 36.the THIN RED LINE 37.AIELEEN WOURNOS-SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER 38.GUMMO 39.MAN BITES DOG 40.BAD LIEUTANAT 41...more later-mebbe...! I'm so glad to know that someone besides my twin and I appreciate Twister. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: ulthar on October 25, 2012, 03:09:18 PM I'm so glad to know that someone besides my twin and I appreciate Twister. TWISTER is a ton of fun...we love it. It's one of those movies that once it starts, it just goes...very fast paced. It's not a documentary, so it does not appeal to movie watchers that think movies have to be REALISTIC to be FUN. We used to have it on VHS and watched it often...a good Sat. afternoon "I don't feel like doing anything, let's watch TWISTER" movie. :thumbup: :thumbup: Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: RCMerchant on October 25, 2012, 04:13:27 PM I'm so glad to know that someone besides my twin and I appreciate Twister. TWISTER is a ton of fun...we love it. It's one of those movies that once it starts, it just goes...very fast paced. It's not a documentary, so it does not appeal to movie watchers that think movies have to be REALISTIC to be FUN. We used to have it on VHS and watched it often...a good Sat. afternoon "I don't feel like doing anything, let's watch TWISTER" movie. :thumbup: :thumbup: It IS fun! It's a disaster film! Like the ones of 1970's-no one watched AIRPORT or the TOWERING INFERNO for charecter development. Sometimes it's good for the soul to watch destruction for destruction's sake :smile:. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: AndyC on October 25, 2012, 05:11:59 PM Love Twister. Saw it at least twice in the theatre, bought it on VHS and later DVD, and will watch any time it happens to be on TV. It's just fun.
Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: bob on October 25, 2012, 10:37:36 PM Here are mine.
1 Pulp Fiction 2 The Big Lebowski 3 Schindler’s List 4 The Usual Suspects 5 The Shawshank Redemption 6 Fargo 7 Eyes Wide Shut 8 Se7en 9 Fight Club 10 Reservoir Dogs 11 Clerks 12 Life is Beautiful 13 Forrest Gump 14 Heat 15 The Silence of the Lambs 16 Leon: The Professional 17 Troll 2 18 Gia 19 Groundhog Day 20 Robin Hood: Men in Tights 21 Ed Wood 22 Wag the Dog 23 The Green Mile 24 Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace 25 Airheads 26 The Matrix 27 Jurassic Park 28 Mortal Kombat 29 Back to the Future Part III 30 Total Recall 31 Braveheart 32 The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear 33 National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation 34 Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult 35 Office Space 36 PCU 37 Terminator 2: Judgment Day 38 Four Rooms 39 Saving Private Ryan 40 Philadelphia 41 Mission: Impossible 42 Maverick 43 Mars Attacks! 44 American History X 45 Kindergarten Cop 46 Unforgiven 47 Home Alone 48 Tomorrow Never Dies 49 GoldenEye 50 Happy Gilmore Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: HappyGilmore on October 27, 2012, 05:56:52 PM I disagree with the AV Club's list. Well, half I haven't heard of and the one's I did I would re-arrange the order they had. Anyways, a crack at a list by me:
1.) Shawshank Redemption 2.) Clerks 3.) T2: Judgement Day 4.) Reservoir Dogs 5.) Goodfellas 6.) Toy Story 2 7.) Slacker 8.) Forrest Gump 9.) Pulp Fiction 10.) Tremors 11.) Dumb and Dumber 12.) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 13.) Ed Wood 14.) Chasing Amy 15.) Empire Records 16.) Toy Story 17.) The Green Mile 18.) Happy Gilmore 19.) Mars Attacks! 20.) Wayne's World 21.) Scream 22.) Twister 23.) The Usual Suspects 24.) Wag The Dog 25.) Boogie Nights 26.) Groundhog Day 27.) Hook 28.) Mortal Kombat 29.) American History X 30.) Beyond The Mat 31.) American Beauty 32.) Office Space 33.) South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut 34.) The Truman Show 35.) Edward Scissorhands 36.) Robin Hood: Men in Tights 37.) Wes Craven's New Nightmare 38.) Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie 39.) Casino 40.) True Romance 41.) Glengarry Glen Ross 42.) Can't Hardly Wait 43.) Batman Returns 44.) Cannibal The Musical! 45.) Aladdin 46.) Dogma 47.) Good Will Hunting 48.) The Addams Family 49.) Philadelphia 50.) Airheads Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: Kaseykockroach on October 27, 2012, 06:10:00 PM No Gremlins 2 or Matinee.
Screw this, I'm outta here. Title: Re: The AV Club's Top 50 Films of the 1990s Post by: CheezeFlixz on December 01, 2012, 05:34:56 PM List Smist ... who is the AV Club to be the know all and be all of movies? List are just that... list of one persons/groups opinion... and opinion are like... what?
I've seen most of those movies they claim the the best maybe 2 I haven't seen and yeah there are some good films there, are they the best films of the 90's? I doubt it and I don't know I haven't seen every movie, from every country on the planet made in the 1990's so I really can't say and frankly neither can they. |