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10 movies not to be overlookedOct 28 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line A bunch of good movies that make you think. The 90's were a great decade for movies, primarily, I think, for the creativity put into the writing and direction. Though there were plenty of masterpieces from decades past, it took the movie industry a century to finally be willing to take real chances on a regular basis. Directors such as Quinten Tarentino, Darren Aronofsky, Kevin Smith, and Paul Thomas Anderson offered fresh talent, while the likes of great directors such as Peter Weir and Terry Gilliam expanded their boundaries. The 90's were not just a time for huge special-effects laden box office hits like ID4 and Titanic, but also a time for introspection and a sort of cinematic existentialism. The following are my choices for the best ten movies of the 1990's in no particular order, and lacking thorough reviews: Fight Club Violent, yes. Absurd, certainly. But it is easily one of the greatest explorations of the human condition in the last decade. "We are pawns in a system that does not care about us and all we have is each other...if that matters" is what it's telling us and it doesn't take it's time getting to the point. Great acting by both Ed Norton and Brad Pitt and an amazing score by the Dust Brothers is just icing on the cake of a movie that I can identify with, if a little too much. Perhaps it's just my being a middle-class, male gen-Xer that brings me to liking this movie so much, but I believe we can all get a little bit of something out of it. Pi Darren Aronofsky's directorial debut. A strange mix of number theory, the Kabbalah, and the stock market envelop Max, a genius with numbers, in a paranoid web that leads to his undoing. Done in black and white and the smallest of budgets (one scene reportedly having to be done secretly in a subway station in the dead of night), Pi is independent film-making at its best. With the release of his sophomore project, Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky has definitely put himself on the "to watch" list for the next decade. Pi is a fascinating, if only mediocre, story filmed so amazingly that it takes it to that "higher" level. Babe: Pig in the City The follow-up to the also excellent Babe, Pig in the City brings the talking pig to an Amsterdam-looking town. Though it falls into some of the same pitfalls that oh so many sequels fall into (stupid, repticious plot devices and the like), this movie proves that "kid" movies can be much more. It is dark beyond any other kid movie ever made, I think, exploring very adult issues such as poverty and kindlessness, but it also shows us that there is hope to be found in kindness and love. My God, I almost cried while watching it the first time (saying a lot for movies that I don't connect with at a direct personal level). On a technical level, the set-design and everything else about the movie was incredible. The Matrix Not all sci-fi movies are crap. Though I am generally turned off by the excessive use of special-effects in a movie, The Matrix used them tastefully and necessarily. Good sci-fis are generally hard to come by (or for that matter, a good Keanu Reeves movie), but this movie provided an original plot, excellent acting, and something to ponder -- the nature of reality. American Beauty Derailed by right-wingers (those who may have had the most to gain from viewing it)for the inclusion of such things as drug-use, pedophilia, homosexuality, and violence, American Beauty, like Fight Club above, is an exploration of the state of human existence in our times. One man finds himself after quitting the nine-to-five job and living life purposefully, his wife is torn apart by her desire to be successful. One woman is trapped in a life dominated by her husband who is a homophobic closeted homosexual. And in the middle of it all, two kids find love. And then there's the bag..."sometimes there's so much beauty in the world..." Pulp Fiction Easily the most influential movie of the decade. Plot devices that originated here have found themselves in movies all over the place since, and so has the violence. The story is tight and interesting, and the soundtrack in amazing. It's no small wonder that Tarentino's little gem sparked a John Travolta come-back (I just wish he'd crawl back in his hole after his last few flicks). L.A. Confidential Though I'm not usually one for crime movies, this is a masterpiece. Introducing the likes of Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce to America, the film takes us through a mystery that forces a look into the line bewteen reality and illusion. Always entertaining, often funny, and most definitely thrilling, this is a movie that too many people have over-looked. Magnolia Using the Pulp Fiction device of disjointed but tied together storylines, Magnolia is Paul Thomas Anderson's expansion of a line from an Amie Mann song: "Now that you know me, would you care if you never saw me again?" Another look into what gives us meaning in life and how everybodys' lives are all somehow connected. I know people that think this movie is too long and do not like it...I don't respect there taste in movies now. 12 Monkeys Second to The Matrix in the race for best sci-fi movie of the decade, Terry Gilliam amazes us with his quirky set designs and disturbing visions. Though it sort of sticks out in this list being the only film without a strong over-riding statement, it is still peculiar enough to stand its own, and I'm also hip to a movie that makes me bend my mind a bit to follow the twists and turns of the plot. The Truman Show Imagine that, another movie about the nature of reality...The Truman Show asks us to question what is real. Since seeing this movie, I have had the sometimes paranoia that I might be a Truman Burbank trapped in some gigantic play where I'm the only one that doesn't know what's going on. Honorable mentions: Since I've already reached ten movies without having mentioned all those that have marked me for life, the following should also be mentioned as great: Chasing Amy American History X Swingers Batman Returns Being John Malkovich The Big One Dead Man Walking The Shawshank Redemption Fargo Trainspotting What's Eating Gilbert Grape? A Few Good Men The Fisher King Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy Pleasantville Run Lola Run The Sixth Sense There's Something About Mary Three Kings Now I got a headache...  |
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