Favoritest 50 Movies of the '90's!!!

They signed their names.  When I sorted the numbers in Excel, I expected either Jurassic Park, or Phantom Menace, Hunt for Red October, or Galaxy Quest to grab the top spot.  But instead of the dawn of CG's dominance in effects or the return of Star Wars, a goodbye took the top score out of the most like 180 movies of a decade.  Although, from viewing one, I can't think of a bad thought I've ever had about this movie, maybe I'm just whitewashing my memory to justify the result.

• Jurassic Park... (What, could have had the aviary? please self, you're a whore for Jurassic Park!)  
• Contact? Yes, The beach and the dad are a letdown to my inner 5 year old who wants to see aliens...
• The American President... Okay, no complaints there either, although for awhile I think I enjoyed it more in (impending blasphamy... 3, 2, 1...) in Pan & Scan!!  But that just shows how much my father watched the VHS of it [ A: Daily ;) ].  There were some times he'd rewind it, and play it again.
• Episode I... No!  I won't say one bad thing about Star Wars episode I.  Only because I remember a time when there was more negative speech about that movie on the internet than porn, and The Matrix was the next big thing.  But, I think I found forgiveness on this decade round for The Matrix.

1. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country 
2. Jurassic Park 
3. Contact 
4. The American President 
5. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 
6. Starship Troopers 
7. The Lion King 
8. Titanic 
9. The Hunt for Red October 
10. Galaxy Quest 
11. Aladdin 
12. Stargate 
13. Star Trek: First Contact 
14. Hook 
15. The Lost World: Jurassic Park 
16. Mulan 
17. Army of Darkness 
18. Beauty and the Beast
19. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
20. Independence Day 
21. The Thomas Crown Affair
22. Mallrats 
23. The Fifth Element 
24. The Rock 
25. Bicentennial Man 
26. Office Space 
27. The Matrix 
28. Pretty Woman 
29. Clerks 
30. The Mummy 
31. True Lies 
32. A Few Good Men 
33. Armageddon 
34. Shakespeare in Love 
35. Schindler's List 
36. Maverick 
37. Dave 
38. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
39. Total Recall
40. Star Trek Generations 
41. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 
42. Pulp Fiction 
43. Basic Instinct 
44. Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh) 
45. Terminator 2: Judgment Day 
46. The Cutting Edge 
47. Léon 
48. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 
49. Princess Mononoke 
50. Tomorrow Never Dies

And I still don't have a cutoff for the ones that go to the "All Time" Round... although the 80th percentile is looking good.

Favoritest Movies of 1990

1990 was around when my mother left.  I don't remember when that was exactly, which seems odd because in the type of movies that take place in the only world the isipid Chelsea Handler can understand, the date of some major family trauma is etched in stone and Charlton Heston comes down from the higher echelon of your psyche with a cheap plastic cup bearing the date of the one, one offending day and a copy of the childhood home game.

Of course, when I watch movies that take plae in the only world palpable to Chelsea, I tend to think they're ridiculous fantasies because of all the concessions, contrivances, conveniences, and coincidences.  I don't remember the date my mother left, but heck it was the second time she did.  The first time being in fourth grade.  I had enough going on with starting High School, which is when she promised she would leave after she had come back the first time back in fourth grade...  



The benefit to my mother's abandonment of my father and I, aside from;

We went two summers in a row... Divorce is screwed up.

The side benefits were all the other overtures of bonding and distraction my father engaged in.  Star Trek Conventions; every one within driving distance.  The local sci-fi convention called Archon, renting movies on a weekly or better basis, going to the movies would become more and more regular until being a weekly habit as well, including going to the movies on Christmas, the first of which was Godfather Part III.  We were looking forward to it for months!  We had a Godfather movie marathon the week prior... (It's number 62, out of 109)

Trivial side note:  Back then, I was saving the ads for movies from Entertainment Weekly.  Full page movie ads were, the movie poster.  Also back then, my father and I kept a list of movies we saw together on the front of the refrigerator, and would rank them at the end of the year.
 
Well, this was the last list of the '90's, 181 movies made it into the fave of the decade round; that's 16,290 matchups, of which this lot in blue below me is responsible for 3087 of, or 19%.  So, I'll get to that...

1. The Hunt for Red October
2. Pretty Woman
3. Dances with Wolves
4. Back to the Future Part III
5. Pump Up the Volume
6. Total Recall
7. Spaced Invaders
8. By Dawn's Early Light
9. Predator 2
10. Memphis Belle
11. Frankenstein Unbound
12. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
13. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
14. RoboCop 2
15. DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
16. Robot Jox
17. Die Hard 2
18. Treasure Island
19. Edward Scissorhands
20. White Hunter, Black Heart
21. La Femme Nikita
22. Dick Tracy
23. Ghost
24. Tremors
25. The Rescuers Down Under
26. A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia
27. Quigley Down Under
28. Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
29. Marked for Death
30. Darkman
31. Men at Work
32. Young Guns II
33. Reversal of Fortune
34. Navy SEALs
35. Dreams
36. Narrow Margin
37. Hard to Kill
38. Kindergarten Cop
39. Vincent & Theo
40. Bird on a Wire
41. Jetsons: The Movie
42. The Bonfire of the Vanities
43. Hamlet
44. Quick Change
45. I Come in Peace
46. Postcards from the Edge
47. Days of Thunder
48. I Love You to Death
49. Joe Versus the Volcano
50. The Rookie
51. Captain America
52. The Guyver
53. My Blue Heaven
54. Air America
55. Taking Care of Business
56. Presumed Innocent
57. Short Time
58. Nuns on the Run
59. Repossessed
60. Blind Fury
61. Nightbreed
62. The Godfather Part III
63. Home Alone
64. Internal Affairs
65. Mr. Destiny
66. Green Card
67. The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter
68. Loose Cannons
69. Pacific Heights
70. Arachnophobia
71. Fire Birds
72. Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
73. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
74. Goodfellas
75. Rocky V
76. The Freshman
77. Ju Dou
78. Miller's Crossing
79. The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
80. The Russia House
81. Awakenings
82. Three Men and a Little Lady
83. Another 48 Hrs.
84. Look Who's Talking Too
85. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
86. Crash and Burn
87. Misery
88. Cyrano de Bergerac
89. Flatliners
90. Mermaids
91. Lord of the Flies
92. Cadillac Man
93. Child's Play 2
94. Henry & June
95. The Two Jakes
96. Blue Steel
97. The Krays
98. Jacob's Ladder
99. Stanley & Iris
100. Wild at Heart
101. Wild Orchid
102. The Witches
103. Miami Blues
104. Revenge
105. White Palace
106. Stella
107. King of New York
108. Problem Child
109. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

 

Favoritest Movies of 1991

It seems natural that the first (working backwards) original cast Trek would win the year, but I actually wanted a specific movie to loose.  I really really wanted it to loose, but it was beat out by two movies that I apparently like even less... more on them at the bottom of the list...

If I'd done this list 20 years ago, 2nd place would probably be different, I don't know where Hook would have placed back then, but I remember having problems with the color temperature of the lighting being too indoor for it's outdoor location.  Star Trek VI was an event saying goodbye to the original cast, Hook wasn't a goodbye in presentation, but I recall an on-set interview before Hook's release with Spielberg; "Maybe Hook is going to be the last big show I put on."¹   Hook would be the least 'dark' Spielberg movie for seventeen years... As I'm typing this, my daughter is reading over my shoulder and asks; "What's Hook?" Answer, a movie in need of a beautiful Blu-Ray release.

1. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
2. Hook
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
5. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
6. The Rocketeer
7. JFK
8. Defending Your Life
9. The Addams Family
10. Dead Again
11. Shattered
12. Once Upon a Time in China
13. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
14. City Slickers
15. The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
16. Until the End of the World
17. Hot Shots!
18. Thelma & Louise
19. The Silence of the Lambs
20. For The Boys
21. Father of the Bride
22. The Doors
23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
24. Truth or Dare
25. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
26. Point Break
27. Class Action
28. The Hard Way
29. Bugsy
30. Doc Hollywood
31. Out for Justice
32. Return to the Blue Lagoon
33. Knight Rider 2000
34. Necessary Roughness
35. Soapdish
36. Cape Fear
37. Flight of the Intruder
38. Once A Thief
39. The Last Boy Scout
40. Backdraft
41. Billy Bathgate
42. L.A. Story
43. What About Bob?
44. The Fisher King
45. Grand Canyon
46. Hudson Hawk
47. Mobsters
48. An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
49. True Colors
50. Suburban Commando
51. Delirious
52. Guilty by Suspicion
53. Other People's Money
54. White Fang
55. Regarding Henry
56. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
57. King Ralph
58. Curly Sue
59. Timebomb
60. Pure Luck
61. Fried Green Tomatoes
62. F/X2
63. Stone Cold
64. The Perfect Weapon
65. Naked Lunch
66. Eve Of Destruction
67. The Doctor
68. Rover Dangerfield
69. Little Man Tate
70. Toy Soldiers         
71. Life Stinks
72. Sleeping with the Enemy
73. The Prince of Tides
74. Oscar
75. Dying Young
76. Frankie and Johnny
77. Rush
78. The Marrying Man
79. Nothing But Trouble
80. Problem Child 2
81. Highlander II: The Quickening
82. My Girl
83. The Super

Highlander II is such a frakking failure of a movie, it even failed to make it to the bottom of the list!  A Completely forgotten, and completely forgettable Joe Pesci movie made it to the bottom.  Way to fail, at EVERYTHING Highlander II, but the bottom of this one is a bit of a cesspool.  Oh, #77 there, that's the movie that gave us Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven.  I'm waiting for someone to compile in a book or blog or somewhere, a collection of songs everyone knows, that came to us via completely forgotten movies.

1] Also quoted in The films of Steven Spielberg  By Douglas Brode

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

Favoritest Movies of 1992

The top few movies aside, this year in retrospect was boring.  Boring to look back on.  Most of the scores given were "0.5"; a tie between two movies, since most of these are movies I couldn't care to think about ever again.  There's a lot of "caught it on cable" here.  I can't believe I watched half of these.  Worse still, is that nothing better was on at the time.  Of the top 10, I only saw 5 of them in the theater, and only one of the top 10 was a "caught it on cable", The Player.  That's one of those movies that keeps you having cable, finding one like that... What a line of crap.  If not for cable, I would have rented The Player... Chaplin, that was on cable... should've rented it, no DVR's back then... Speaking of differences Aladdin 3D, make this happen Disney!  Lion King worked pretty well, but this isn't on your list of 3D upgrades?

1. Aladdin (Tie)
2. Army of Darkness (Tie)
3. A Few Good Men
4. Basic Instinct
5. The Cutting Edge
6. Sneakers
7. A League of Their Own
8. Glengarry Glen Ross
9. Baraka
10. The Player
11. Hard Boiled
12. Chaplin
13. Medicine Man
14. Peter's Friends
15. Freejack
16. Bram Stoker's Dracula
17. Split Second
18. Lethal Weapon 3
19. The Lover
20. Fifty/Fifty
21. The Distinguished Gentleman
22. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
23. The Crying Game
24. Unforgiven
25. Death Becomes Her
26. Porco Rosso
27. Batman Returns
28. Shining Through
29. Aces: Iron Eagle III
30. Alien 3
31. Buffy The Vampire Slayer
32. Stay Tuned
33. School Ties
34. El Mariachi
35. Universal Soldier
36. Reservoir Dogs
37. Patriot Games
38. The Last of the Mohicans
39. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
40. White Sands
41. Cool World,
42. The Muppet Christmas Carol
43. Far and Away
44. Hoffa
45. Wayne's World
46. Under Siege
47. Scent of a Woman
48. Innocent Blood
49. My Cousin Vinny
50. Rapid Fire
51. Nemesis
52. Kuffs
53. Passenger 57
54. Sleepwalkers
55. 1492: Conquest of Paradise
56. Captain Ron
57. Rock-a-Doodle
58. Final Analysis
59. The Babe
60. The Lawnmower Man
61. Forever Young
62. K2: The Ultimate High
63. Leap of Faith
64. The Mighty Ducks
65. Malcolm X
66. Thunderheart
67. The Bodyguard
68. Toys
69. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
70. Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
71. Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives
72. Newsies
73. Radio Flyer
74. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
75. Unlawful Entry
76. Beethoven
77. Sidekicks
78. Hero
79. 3 Ninjas
80. Man Trouble
81. Mr. Baseball
82. Consenting Adults
83. Singles
84. Single White Female
85. Sister Act
86. A River Runs Through It
87. Jennifer Eight
88. Of Mice and Men
89. Love Potion No. 9
90. The Mambo Kings
91. The Waterdance
92. White Men Can't Jump
93. Article 99
94. Passion Fish
95. American Me
96. Straight Talk
97. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
98. Boomerang
99. Orlando
100. Mr. Saturday Night
101. Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
102. Class Act
103. Honeymoon in Vegas
104. HouseSitter
105. The Public Eye

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)