I find myself in the mood for another long term movie list project. I had a lot of fun with the Anytime Movies series last year, so I thought I would try out another series. I plan to take each year of the 1990s and make my top 10 list from each individual year. I will mostly use IMDB, but there will probably be a few other sites I use to determine the movies on the list. Yes, my real hardcore movie viewing did not begin until 1993 with Jurassic Park, but since 1993, I have watched movies from all over the place and have seen enough to be able to fill out these early years. These lists will contain where the movie are on my list NOW, not when I saw them initially. Granted, some of these movies I will have seen more than others but such is the way of a film buff. I hope you enjoy the series!
10. The Hunt for Red October- I am just going to say it, more movies need to feature both Sean Connery and James Earl Jones and they should always have scenes where they just yell back and forth at each other. It has nothing to do with this movie really, but how cool would that be? Jack Ryan makes his very first foray into film in the person of Alec Baldwin and any movie that takes place on a Submarine is automatically a little cooler than it should be. It has been a few years since I have last watched it, but I remember it being a pretty awesome thriller, almost claustrophobic in how it was shot and acted, making it that much more combustible. Baldwin never really became the leading man this movie set him up to be, but he is pretty cool, and that is not an easy feat when next to Sean Connery, the ultimate in cool.
9. Flatliners- The first time I saw this movie it was on television and I was totally taken by the story about med students who start getting their kicks by dying and being brought back to life by the other students. The cast was beautiful, young and talented, full of energy and ready to take this thriller to the next level. Joel Schumacher has a nice flare in his directing style in this movie. It does not hold up as well these days, but I still enjoy it when I catch it on the television. It never fully reaches above the idea of a thriller, which a movie like this could, but it is essentially a bleed over from the 1980s excess, where pop philosophy of life and death were not as important as style. The film might lack the substance, but it is a stylish film with some nice thrills.
8. Total Recall- Every year has to have one pure awesome action movie on a top ten list. For this year, it is this bad boy. Arnold's awesome sci-fi adventure that was actually interesting and had a complex plot. Following a Phillip K. Dick story (That guy knew how to create a story, didn't he?), Arnold stars as a man who keeps having these wicked dreams about something that may have actually happened. Quickly the movie spirals into a tightly paced action movie with clever looking visual stunts, great action sequences and insane violence. Plus, Michael Ironside is in it and that always spells awesome.
7. Dick Tracy- Crazy colors, colorful characters, over the top performances from Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman and a script full of awesome cheesy hard boiled dialog make this movie one I enjoyed more over time. Ten year old me was awed by the color palate and the crazy twist at the end, but as I get older, I actually enjoy the movie on different levels. It is pretty much a disaster, but it is a glorious disaster with bright colored suits, Tommy guns and a pretty sexy Madonna. Warren Beaty makes such a cool Tracy and his pretty low key performance only enhances the over the top nature of the villains. I was not terribly familiar with the comic books, but I loved the cartoon and we had all of the action figures, so this is just fun like crazy!
6. Misery- It does not matter what else she does, Kathy Bates will always be Annie Wilkes. She is ferocious, interesting, complex and ultimately venomous and off her rocker crazy and Bates nails every single moment. She gives a master class in deranged, while grounding the whole thing in the very real possibility of something like this happening. It is a scary movies, for sure, but more than scary, it just haunts you after it is done. James Caan gets credit for being an actor willing to defer to the crazy character and because he does that, it makes the movie that much better. As far as his scary stories go, this is the best Steven King adaptation and Rob Reiner does just enough to let you know he is a confident director, but he does not do too much to get in the way of the actors who spend most of the time on the screen. It takes a good director to know when to just get out of the way and let the actors do their thing.
5. Home Alone- There are very few things I love more about the holidays than watching this movie repeatedly as it airs on television. it is a classic little boy movie. I do not know any boy who saw this movie and did not go home and try and figure out how he would rig his house with awesome traps in case of being left alone and near a string of break-ins. Culkin is the perfect little cute curious boy to make this movie just the right mix of cartoonish violence and hilarity. It helps that Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern were willing to fully commit to everything that was being thrown at them. I can quote a good portion of it and I never tire of any of it. I even appreciated the sequel in New York.
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Ah the classic of my youth will always hold a special place in my heart. I can still quote huge chunks of dialog and can vividly remember hours spent in the backyard of our new house running, kicking and fighting pretending we were all the ninja turtles. The movie is funny, full of action and I love the outfits the turtles are in. Shredder makes an insanely awesome villain and I can always put this movie on and just sit back and bask in all of the childhood memories attached. It may be a sentimental choice, but the movie is really good. It does all the things you expect from a movie called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
3. Edward Scissorhands- The disdain I have for Johnny Depp and Tim Burton can be mostly attributed to this movie. They are both so brilliant in rendering this melancholy, tragic story of love, loss and weirdness that when I see the garbage they do now, it just angers me! Depp's portrayal of the ultimate outcast, mixed with Burton's gorgeous surroundings turns this from a navel gazing freak show into something incredibly beautiful. Winonna Ryder gives a heartfelt believable performance as well, which is not that easy, but she makes everything seem so believable. Unlike many of the movies Burton and Depp make now, Scissorhands not only is masterful movie making, it resonates real emotions within this viewer, which really is a nice bonus on top of the gorgeous film making.
2. Miller's Crossing- Here is another great mob movie. Granted it is not as obvious or as loved as Goodfellas, but it is that kind of movie that truly gets better with every viewing. Three years after the madcap hilarity of Raising Arizona, the Coen brothers switched gears and directed this deep, cinematic piece of art, full of nuance, subtlety and the flashes of brilliance that the Coens show in every movie. Using violence and sex in a way that is more implied than shown on the screen, the Coens leave the audience wondering and get the people thinking. The film also has some great performances from Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro, especially Turturro. Turturro, like Christohper Walken, has kind of become a parody of himself, but watch this movie to remind you that the guy knows how to act.
1. Goodfellas- If you ask most film geeks, they will say Goodfellas not winning Best Picture at the Oscars is the worst oversight in the history of The Oscars. Of course, it might sound like hyperbole until you realize it lost to Dances With Wolves. Goodfellas is a tight, stylish mob flick with a wonderful script, a great director's vision and most importantly amazing performances from the 3 main actors. There are a handful of excellent mob films in the history of cinema and this is certainly one of the best. Scorcese directs with the confidence of a man who can do no wrong and the movie's visual palate looks beautiful even as the most gruesome violent things are happening. Ray Liotta has never been better and De Niro and Pesci are perfectly at ease in their roles. Not only is this the best movie of 1990, but it is one of the best movies of the decade.
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