This may take a while to get through, but if I don't start it, I won't feel obligated to finish it.
100. Glengarry Glen Ross - (1992)
David Mamet's play attracted one of the decade's best casts (Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, and a never-better Alec Baldwin) and sufficiently deconstructed male bonding, honor, survival, revenge, and conformity. One of Pacino's 5 best performances. And easily director James Foley's best film by a wide margin - though he probably never received a screenplay this good in his whole career. Tons (!) of language, as evidenced by this NC-17 trailer mash-up about Tourette's syndrome.
99. Dead Again - (1991)
Fresh off his Oscar nominated Henry V, Kenneth Branagh took a multileveled script from Scott Frank and created an exciting, suspenseful thriller. Branagh and Emma Thompson seem equally at home in modern day and the 1940s era. Andy Garcia and Robin Williams give excellent, frequently hilarious support. The Citizen Kane reference is a great moment, but the film never slows down to draw attention to all the film references Branagh throws at you.
98. Ed Wood - (1994)
It's faint praise to call this Tim Burton's best film. He certainly benefitted from Martin Landau's Oscar-winning performance. Casting Bill Murray in a bit role never hurt anybody either. All of Burton's nauseating, epileptogenic visual nonsense in his other films is put out to the pasture due to the stark black and white cinematography. Johnny Depp is hilariously stupid in the title role.
97. True Romance - (1993)
Drops farther down the list the further you are out from college because Clarence is essentially a impulsive screw-up breaking the law. But Tarantino's script still delivers terrific line after line and the unbelievable cast has a great time spewing it out. Brad Pitt is perfect as Floyd as is Gary Oldman as Drexyl. The Hopper-Walken scene is a stand-out, but I find the scene with Tom Sizemore and Chris Penn talking to their boss equally great.
96. The Commitments - (1991)
A cast of unknowns (including Glen Hansard on guitar) get together for the time-worn story of a group of musicians putting on one last great show for money. The humor is terrific but is just interstitial for the outstanding music numbers featuring the amazing voice of 16 year old Andrew Strong. Love the "Mustang Sally" and "Try a Little Tenderness" covers the most.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Best Films of the 90s - 100-96
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Glad to see the start of this series. I haven't seen Dead Again or The Commitments. I like Glengarry Glen Ross, but I think I'd like it more on the stage. I think I've only seen Ed Wood once (with you, in the theater) and I'm not sure I'm willing to give it another chance - me and Burton don't see eye to eye. True Romance is good - great dialogue and truly has its own 'feel'.
There's some shifting going on from 81-95, but the next one should be up soon.
You would like the modern day part of Dead Again, but the black and white 1940s part is operatic and full of classic movie techniques. Still, worth a look.
I really, really hate the cops dying at the end of True Romance. That last scene nearly ruins it for me. Too bad, really, since it's so much fun up until then. That last scene probably drops it 40 spots on this list.
Ed Wood is the only Burton film that completely works. The first half of Batman and parts of Batman Returns does as well, but, if there's a better example of a style-over-substance director, I can't think of one.
I'm not sure you'll like The Commitments since the sense of humor is oh-so-British and the music is all 60s R & B.
Post a Comment