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[Mighty Jack]

I laughed when chicken mentioned a certain movie last Friday, because I was in the process of writing this – one of three different picks for this year…



1986
Mona Lisa (Director: Neil Jordan)
Nominees: Platoon, Hannah and Her Sisters, Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring, Blue Velvet

Oscars pick: Platoon
Nominees Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room With a View

What to chose, what to chose? I had a difficult time finding that “certain something” I needed for my best picture. Looking around I saw that other alt Oscar writers were split in half between Hannah and Her Sisters and Platoon. I even checked out Siskel and Ebert: Gene took Hannah, while Roger took Platoon. Funny, no one selected Blue Velvet.

I'll talk about Platoon and Velvet later. As for Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, it's near flawless -- and yet for some reason it doesn't completely beguile me the way "Annie Hall" or "Midnight in Paris" does, and I couldn't wrap my mind around it as my best picture.
The same went for others I considered:

Rural tragedy and heartbreaking plot twists are had in Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring. There was deadpan romance in Shadows in Paradise from Finland's Aki Kaurismäki. I could have gone with Cronenberg again, the Fly is creepy, with a strong human story. And A Room With a View was top drawer Merchant/Ivory. Round Midnight, Ferris Bueller, Stand By Me, Aliens, Lucas...

In the end my mind and heart found itself inexorably pulled in another direction (and it's my second winner in a row to come from George Harrison's company "Handmade Films"). While Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa isn't perfect: The story treads on familiar ground and the ending is a bit too pat (what happened between what occurred in that room, to George’s happy state at the end? What wound up happening to the girls? There’s a big gap there) Overall I found that I could live with its minor flaws because the rest of it spoke to me. In particular through Bob Hoskins, who gives a touching performance, arguably his best ever (One that is rather Marty-like, but with an edge.)

Hoskins, plays a low level criminal named George, fresh out of prison, who is given a job chauffeuring for a call girl. At first they are like oil and water, but soon George starts to care about this woman, and aids her when she asks for his help in locating an underage hooker that she fears is in danger.

While there is crime, and Jordan gives a sense of a cities tragic seedy underbelly (as well defined as the one Scorsese drew in Taxi Driver). The strength of the picture is its character study, and that it takes its time and allows us to get to know these people. George is a guy who is discovering that the game has changed. He's out of his element, slow on the upswing, not sophisticated in the least. But he's got the heart of a white knight. He feels concern and stands up for the women he encounters – whether for the daughter he's trying to get reacquainted with, or the streetwalker he rescues, or the hooker he falls for.

It's sad seeing this poor lug convince him self that the tramp is a lady (and Bob's acting near the end when he finally ‘gets it’, was heartbreaking). Not that she's a terrible human being – there seems to be some genuine affection there, but she wants something from George and she'll do whatever it takes to get it.

Hoskins isn't the only acting ace. Michael Cain plays George's snake in the grass boss, the great Robby Coletrane is his crime novel loving best friend -- and Cathy Tyson is so good in her début, playing the elegant prostitute Simone, that I'm stunned that she hasn't done more feature film work.

While there are great moments throughout - the character interaction and acting, direction and script come together in one scene that for me was the deciding factor in tipping the "Felix" scales. It's in the final act, when Simone -looking for understanding- asks an upset George, "You ever need someone?" and he responds with a tiny crack in his voice, "All the time."

Man, that stole the breath from my lungs. And the movie is sprinkled with small, beautiful touches like that one.

---------->

While struggled to find a clear winner for 1986 I did test posts for two other movies. I sat and stared at these on the weekend - contemplated all 3 versions - before deciding on the one that fit best for me.

So that my work on them doesn't go to waste, here are the alternate write-ups with Platoon and Blue Velvet as my winner. To keep the post from becoming unwieldy, I've put them under the spoiler tag.

SPOILER: Click to show

1986
Platoon (Director: Oliver Stone)

Platoon was a good choice by Oscar, but I dunno, something about Oliver Stone's directorial style, the pitch and rhythms of his productions, and the way he gets on his pulpit and lectures - it generally doesn't stir my pot. Saying that, Platoon is frequently stunning, the best thing he has filmed. It was the first movie to really show what it was like to be a soldier in combat in Vietnam, written a guy who lived through it. I like how Stone created a sense of confusion during the battle scenes; there was no cinematic safe haven or hiding place. I felt the chaos, the fear of it all. And it achieves this without glorifying war, which is a difficult trick. It filled me with revulsion and outrage, and that makes it an effective anti-war movie.

The acting is top rate – I really hated the guy Tom Berenger played and really loved Willem Dafoe (which might say a lot about my own character). And while it is overwritten and heavy handed, it did generate a powerful emotional response in me.

SPOILER: Click to show

1986
Blue Velvet (Director: David Lynch)

David Lynch messed with my mind with his off beat Blue Velvet, which I can only describe as "Norman Rockwell meets Heironymus Bosch", where wholesome suburbia is split open to expose the corruption and sickness inside. It's an odd melodramatic Oedipal nightmare that pendulums in style from ‘slick Hollywood’ to ‘grade Z’ production. While it is sometimes too goofy for its own good (too goofy to be a complete success in truth) and it leaves more questions than answers - it is an eye-opener - a screwed up ‘happening’, to be experienced more than understood. From the moment Kyle MacLachlan’s Jeffrey finds a severed ear in a field, the film spirals into a demented adventure that’s akin to a Hardy Boy stumbling onto a perverse freak show of crime. And no Hardy Boy ever met anything as unhinged as Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth.

[Mighty Jack]

1987
Wings of Desire (Director: Wim Wenders)
Nominees: Robocop, The Last Emperor, Hope and Glory, Radio Days, Pelle The Conqueror, Matewan, Raising Arizona

Oscars pick: The Last Emperor
Nominees: Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck

Ah memories, misty water colored memories - in 1987 and 1988 I was in College, dating my future (ex) wife. We lived in a city that showed good art house, Foreign and independent films, as well as the blockbusters.

Pelle The Conqueror we saw in ’88 in a theater that's no longer around (crushed under the Regal machine) It’s about an older man (Max Von Sydow) and his young son who emigrate to Denmark in search of a better life, What they find instead is hardship.

Hope and Glory we saw in a small downtown movie house, which is also out of business. John Boorman's classic tale is a warm and funny look at childhood during the war in England. We adored this film, and felt the ending was one of the best ever, and - "Thank you Adolf!" still stands as one of the all time great movie lines.

Woody Allen continued his reign of excellence with Radio Days, while Oscar winner, The Last Emperor was a fascinating look at the life of it’s title figure. We also had much affection for the nominated Moonstruck with Cher and Nic Cage. Matewan, John Sayles authentic look at a coal mining town. And laughed at the screwy Raising Arizona

But my top 2 movies I saw alone (Wings of Desire) and with my brother (Robocop)

Robocop is a great kick-butt action satire - one that also has some heart and intelligence. Which is what made the movie for me. I cared about this guy; felt his loss of humanity. I went in to the theater expecting your standard, predictable assembly line action movie, I came out gobsmacked by how original, smart, funny and… human it was.



I love Robocop, it was for me what Back to the Future or Ghostbusters was for others. A film I was hooked on and watched time and again. But for the Felix I have to go with an exquisitely rendered work of art -

Wings of Desire is avant-garde German existentialism from Wim Wenders. It concerns the comings and goings of Angels who watch over us. They can't see color, experience taste or smells. And while they can comfort us, they can't interfere with our free will. All they can do is watch and listen to our thoughts as we go around our mundane lives.

Angel's congregate at the library, where hundreds of inner thoughts and ideas flood the air. It is here that we are given a scene of pure elevation: A rousing choir swells - a crash of dialog is heard, and an Angel closes his eyes and lifts his head as if in rapture.

Later, one Heavenly being (Bruno Ganz), becomes so fascinated with a trapeze artist that he decides to give up his wings to be with her and experience all the sweetness and the sorrows that being human can offer.

The movie is long, and it belabors its point - but I gather that was the point. Appreciate life, all aspects of life. The pain you feel, the love, even the boring parts of it. Brad Siberling, who directed the so/so American adaptation, called the original "A human epic of intimate proportions", and that sums it up nicely.

I should also point out the striking cinematography, and I'm going to quote Ebert, who said it so well... “It is a beautiful film, photographed by the legendary cinematographer Henri Alekan, who made the characters float weightlessly in Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast" (the circus in the movie is named after him). When he shows the point of view of the angels, he shoots in a kind of blue-tinted monochrome. When he sees through human eyes, he shoots in color. His camera seems liberated from gravity; it floats over the city, or glides down the aisle of an airplane. It does not intrude; it observes. When the angel follows the trapeze artist into a rock club, it doesn't fall into faster cutting rhythms; it remains detached. The critic Bryant Frazer observes that Cassiel, the other angel, "leans against the wall and closes his eyes, and the stage lights cast three different shadows off his body, alternating and shifting position and color as though we're watching Cassiel's very essence fragmenting before our eyes."

Well said Roger, and Bryant: When I called this a work of art, I wasn't throwing out mere hyperbole.

[Mighty Jack]

In all my reminiscing last year, I didn’t do much Oscar talk. I thought the Last Emperor was a good pick for the Academy. It’s a fascinating social/political character piece. I would place it as Bertolucci's 3rd best film (behind Last Tango and the Conformist). Though if it were up to me I would have selected Hope and Glory among the nominees, and of course, Wings of Desire above all. But I have no problem with what Oscar took in 86, 87 or 88...




1988
The Accidental Tourist (Director: Lawrence Kasdan)
Nominees: Dangerous Liaisons, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, My Neighbor Totoro, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Grave of the Fireflies, Rain Man

Oscars pick: Rain Man
Nominees: The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl

Listing and ‘best of…’ threads are like building puzzles or playing word games. It's a fun little exercise, not to be taken too seriously, done for the challenge it poses -- and 88 was a challenge. When I sat down with the seductive/tragic/wicked Dangerous Liaisons, it was my favorite picture of the year. Then when I watched Pedro Almovodar's madcap Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, it became the best. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- same deal. What a pickle!

I thought Oscar's choices were all excellent -- and while I wont be picking Rain Man I felt it was a nice journey of character, marked by terrific performances from Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The movie was one of my father's favorites.

A year before Disney's animation rebirth, Studio Ghibli released two of their finest: Hayao Miyazaki's magical tale of a 2 sisters who stumble onto a group of fantastic creatures in My Neighbor Totoro. And Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies, which is the story of two war orphans trying to survive on their own. Fireflies is undeniably one of the saddest films I've ever seen. Made more painfully real for the vivid, fully realized characters, as well as the crushing situations and imagery that doesn't pull its punches. This is about as far removed from the whimsy of Totoro as you can get, and it's strange that the studio released them as a double feature (which resulted in this odd couple’s failure at the box office).

Out of them all though, there was one film I kept coming back to.

While I have always liked it, I was surprised to find that after all the dust had cleared, The Accidental Tourist was the last film standing, (though it was named ‘Best Picture’ by the New York film critics, and Roger Ebert slotted it #2. So I’m not alone in my high esteem). What appealed to me was that it's different, even while it's familiar: With its family of eccentrics, it's the kind of movie I could see Frank Capra doing – though he would have used broader brush strokes. It anticipates Wes Anderson - but while Wes places his eccentrics in a stylized eccentric universe, Tourist is set firmly in the real, and that creates a unique tone.

The movie is about Macon Leary (William Hurt) who writes travel guides for businessmen who hate to travel. His son was killed and because of that Macon is wrapped up tight, so reserved that he barely seems human anymore. This state of being intensifies after his wife leaves him. When he has to go on a trip, he boards his dog with pushy oddball Muriel Pritchett (Oscar winner Geena Davis) and, deciding she’s just what he needs, Muriel peruses Leary with abandon.

I like the small details in this script; sometimes what one character says, means something else to the other. Even how the Leary siblings prepare their baked potatoes at a meal gives color to their personalities. While it’s primarily a drama, I like that it is also a mature, quiet and gentle (screwball?) comedy. It does indulge in one pratfall (when Macon breaks his leg) but thankfully doesn't go down that comedy path very often. When Macon's sister undercooks a Thanksgiving Turkey, her suitor (Bill Pullman) eats it anyway. I was expecting a follow up sequence with the man doubled over a toilet. But he doesn't get sick and the point of the scene wasn't to go for a cheap, predictable laugh, but to use the moment as a declaration of his love for her.

The Accidental Tourist performs an impressive juggling act, as it is both deeply sad and quirkily funny. In the lead role William Hurt is extraordinary, his subtle expressions say so much. He starts off emotionally barren, robotic in his movements (I love these little looks of bafflement whenever Muriel pushes herself into his life). When he eventually comes back to life the change is remarkable. Macon is a guy that gets bounced into things. He didn't want to be a writer, wasn't looking for a divorce or a new relationship, and it isn't until the end that he finally steps out of the "Leary groove" as he calls it. And that ending - when a smile crosses that weary, heartbroken face of his - it feels like a dam has broken.

[Mighty Jack]

I'm doing things a little different with the format, just for this stellar season


1989
Oscars pick: Driving Miss Daisy
Nominees: Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot

Ah yes, this is the year the critics whined incessantly about Do the Right Thing's failure to garner a 'Best Picture' nomination, and many film fans fell in line with that thinking (and Kim Bassinger gave an embarrassing scolding speech at the Oscars). While the camerawork and Ossie Davis were bright spots - personally, I didn't care for the movie. I felt the noisy, meandering picture was all smoke and mirrors – a paper tiger – riddled with contradiction and rambling narrative and cartoonish one-dimensional characters. For me, the emperor wasn't wearing any clothes.

I also wont go down the route of dumping on Driving Miss Daisy. It's not the ‘best’ movie, but it is a good one, with some top-notch performances. If anyone was expecting me to blast the Academy, I’m sorry to disappoint. But in truth I grew so weary of the bitching and moaning from the DTRT crowd that I took perverse delight in the fact that Daisy's winning royally ticked 'em off. Tee hee, it's funny when people have movie related aneurysms.

Anyway, the cause célèbre be damned, I was impressed by better efforts...




When Harry Met Sally... (Director: Rob Reiner)
the sparkling When Harry Met Sally... comes from director Rob Reiner and writer Norah Ephron... whose quick-witted script is spot on -- tapping into many relationship truths and foibles. The characters are so well developed, I believed in this friendship, this love story, which didn't get soapy and always rang true. Meg Ryan is adorable, even with her irritating quirks. And while Billy Crystal isn't your traditional suave leading man, he's comedy gold and he delivers one of the sweetest declarations of love in the annals of the rom-com, when he tells Sally -- "I came here tonight because when you realize that you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible!" Hell, I almost fell in for the guy after hearing that.




The Little Mermaid (Directors: Ron Clements & John Musker)
The Little Mermaid sparked Disney's animation renaissance and is my favorite film from the studio. I loved Ariel, who is a delightful, spunky dreamer. Roger Ebert wrote... "Ariel is a fully realized female character who thinks and acts independently, even rebelliously, instead of hanging around passively while the fates decide her destiny. Because she's smart and thinks for herself, we have sympathy for her scheming." Her supporting cast is a kick as well, especially Sebastian the crab -- and Ursula, who is one great monstrous villain.

The music is exceptional and captures every emotional pitch to perfection - from longing to humor to romance. The look is bright and colorful, and it acted was a bridge between two artistic eras. It would be the last Disney film to use cells and Xerox and the first to dabble in CGI (Ariel running down the stairs in the Palace) and CAP (the end scene with the rainbow). While I like the computer graphics in today's movies, I often miss the old hand drawn look found here.




sex, lies, and videotape (Director: Steven Soderbergh)
This was the year I was introduced to an eclectic talent named Steven Soderbergh. His film sex, lies, and videotape -a perceptive, witty tale about the nature of relationships, and the politics of sex- kick started a new Independent film movement. The picture took the Palme d'Or at Cannes and despite the provocative title; it's not explicitly erotic. it's a well acted ensemble piece that spends more time talking about sex than showing it.

The story concerns 4 people, each with their own sexual hangups. John (Peter Gallager) is a self involved philanderer who is married to the frigid Ann (Andie MacDowell). John is having an affair with his wife's sister Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo) who feels she's always been under the shadow of her ‘too perfect’ sibling. Into this mix arrives John's old college friend Graham (James Spader), a guy who suffers from impotence and videotapes women talking about private matters in order to get sexual gratification.

Soderbergh brings out the best in his cast. Spader in particular -- he plays an "Apostle of truth" with a Zen-like reserve that masks the cracks in his psyche. In general the fledgling filmmaker shows a sure handed grasp of the medium. Despite limited resources (and that the movie is mostly people conversing) the composition and pacing is assured and held my attention throughout.




Crimes and Misdemeanors (Director: Woody Allen)
The brilliantly scripted and structured Crimes and Misdemeanors is a darkly funny, thought provoking examination on God, integrity and ethics. Woody’s work here is masterful, as Vincent Canby put it, ”The wonder of ''Crimes and Misdemeanors'' is the facility with which Mr. Allen deals with so many interlocking stories of so many differing tones and voices. The film cuts back and forth between parallel incidents and between present and past with the effortlessness of a hip, contemporary Aesop.”

The story is split in two. The serous half is about a prominent ophthalmologist named Judah (brilliantly played by Martin Landau) whose life is about to go to pieces because his mistress is threatening to expose his infidelities (among other transgressions). Judah turns to his gangster brother, who offers to settle the problem... permanently. The second story has the laughs and is about a documentary filmmaker (Woody Allen) who has his artistic integrity called into question when he takes a job filming a piece on an insipid, blowhard TV comedian. This sets up the moral debate. And in the end - the bad have it good, while the good suffer. And God either doesn't care or is non-existent.

The final monologue sums up the themes in a nutshell. Beyond the question of God and morality, there’s the question of choice, of man’s search to find meaning and love and identity, etc. Perhaps we are all deluding ourselves one way or the other, but it’s how we cope, how we live with our foibles and get through each day. The character development in this film is particularly rich and the ideas absorbing.

My other great nominees: Glory, Kiki's Delivery Service, Monsieur Hire, Drugstore Cowboy

And the Felix for best motion picture goes too...

Uhg - I don’t know if there was one best picture, I think there were several bests, and there are a lot of ways one could go with their #1 of the year. I actually watched my top 4 movies twice; it was that tight a race - and if I could have an 8-way tie, I’d do it.

With the exception of Born on the Fourth of July -which I couldn't get into- I felt the Academy's choices were top drawer. In addition, I also liked Santa Sangre, Mystery Train, Casualties of War and Parenthood. If there ever was a year where Oscar needed to open it up and include additional nominees, this was it.

So where does the Felix go? Crimes and Misdemeanors is the most intelligent, The Little Mermaid the most joyous, Glory the most moving. While When Harry Met Sally... is the funniest and most romantic. Picking a best among equals, I'll give Soderbergh some love and go with...

sex, lies, and videotape
_{(and I could change my mind in an hour, as I've done with this pick all week.
Edit: and here I am an hour later thinking I should go with Mermaid or Harry/Sally because those were the 2 that made me the happiest -sigh- lets just say I have 4 #1s, 4 #2s and about 10 #3s. lol)}

Of Note: The Decalogue doesn't make this list because it first aired on Polish TV as a 10 part mini-series.

[Mr. Atari]

1989 was such a great year for movies. I like Do the Right Thing more than you do, in part because it felt like a more honest and angry statement about race relations than the slow and southern-baked Driving Miss Daisy. But I don't think it was the best picture of the year.

I've never personally enjoyed When Harry Met Sally, and I've never understood why it's considered a classic, but I don't hate it. The same goes for sex, lies, and videotape. I'm glad you mentioned Crimes and Misdemeanors, which I think is Woody Allen's best film (except for possibly Sweet and Lowdown).

For me, however, Glory is the movie that had it all. The best acting, the best drama, the best script, the best directing, the best score, the best cinematography, and the best statement about brotherhood and racism, far better than both DMD or DTRT.

[Mighty Jack]

Yeah I remember being more upset that Glory didn’t get an Oscar nomination than anything. It was my #1 back in 89, it’s slipped a hair but is still held in high esteem. And I agree, great score (also strangely not nominated)

I actually had Crimes #1 for a while, shifted to Mermaid, then went to sex, back to Mermaid, then to Harry and back to sex. I waaay over thought this.

As to Harry - it’s like my Jack Frost for MST – it’s one I can watch at any time and in any mood and it never fails to deliver the goods. I always get something out of it. There was a time when Rob Reiner was money in the bank.

I hope to be able to watch Sweet and Lowdown for this (as well as Marabosi), but they have been on the top of my Que at “very long wait” forever and I’ve begun to doubt I’ll get either one in time.

1990 I have ready to go for Wed night. Hope to have watched everything for 91 by Friday.

[Mighty Jack]

1990
The Nasty Girl (Director: Michael Verhoeven)
Nominees: Ju Dou, My Fathers Glory/My Mother's Castle, Miller’s Crossing, La Femme Nikita, The Freshman

Oscars pick: Dances With Wolves
Nominees: Goodfellas, Godfather III, Ghost, Awakenings,

What a crip-crapity year for film. 1990 was lean, especially for the U S of A. Dances With Wolves won it all and it was a good movie. Good, but flawed by bloat and egocentricities (Costner sure loves Costner). Most folks feel Goodfellas deserved the Oscar. And while Scorsese's directorial style is in peak form, I felt the film got tedious at its middle and fell apart in the final reel. Also - I don't know if there's a performer I dislike more than Lorraine Bracco, I think she's a terrible actress, shrill and annoying and every time she opened her mouth I wanted to turn off the sound. She ruins every scene she's in. Ultimately - directorial master though he is, as with a couple of Martin's movies the subject matter deflates my enthusiasm. I simply am not interested in these people or this story.

The Coen's impeccably directed Miller's Crossing is certainly a worthy contender… though it is derivative. It's the Glass Key with a dash of Yojimbo. And while I rank it among my favorites from the brothers, I find I’m a little more partial to the Glass Key and Yojimbo.

Edward Scissorhands from Tim Burton was one of my favorites when it was released, but when I watched it again recently I found it has lost some of its luster. Tremors, Darkman and Brando's comeback film, The Freshman were all entertaining, but are they great enough for a best picture award?

Things got clearer when I turned my eyes toward foreign lands, in France I found Cyrano de Bergerac with Gerard Depardieu, the twin feature, My Fathers Glory/My Mother’s Castle, which is a warm family biography, and Luc Besson's story of an assassin, La Femme Nikita.


_{Nikita takes aim! The French action film would go on to inspire a popular TV series.}

In China, director Jhang Yimou offered the tragic tale of a beautiful young woman who has been sold as a wife to an older man who works as a cloth dyer. Ju Dou is a gorgeous looking feature, and better than anything released in the States

A trip to Germany revealed two gems based on true stories: Europa Europa tells of a Polish Jew who pretends to be German in order to survive. The Nasty Girl ("Das Schreckliche Mädchen" - the title in German loosely translates as "The Terrible Girl") is an art house piece about a young Bavarian woman who decides to write a paper on how the local Church resisted the Nazis. She instead uncovers dark secrets these “respectable” townsfolk don’t want uncovered. The picture successfully blends humor and stylish directorial flourishes into its troubling tale, all of which kept me riveted to my seat. Actress Lena Stolze is likable and determined in the lead role. It's fascinating to watch her wide-eyed curiosity turn to bemusement and later, cynicism.

Considering the Academy: Even though I don't think it was the “best” picture on the year, I can’t complain too much over Wolves winning the Oscar. But Oscar voters did a strange thing when it picked Journey of Hope as its best foreign language film. Ju Dou and Cyrano were locked in as heavy favorites to win it, followed by Nasty Girl and the controversial Open Doors. Journey of Hope was by far and away the lesser nominee. I don't know if the other films split voters, or if people simply genuinely preferred the winner, but it was a baffling choice.

Anyway -- aside from Miller's Crossing (and arguably Goodfellas) the American productions were not as strong as what was offered in the foreign market, so the foreign market is where I'm placing my award for Best Picture. And the picture's that stood out were Ju Dou and slightly above it, the Nasty Girl,. Which admittedly isn't everyone's cup of tea and probably comes out of left field for some. I thought it was marvelous -- thought provoking, striking and original. It is stylized, but not at the expense of my emotional involvement with the story.

Oh, and Godfather III? This was seriously - laughably bad. I wanted to turn it off several times, but I was like a rubber-necker at a car wreck and couldn’t stop staring. As Torgo mentioned, brand recognition might be the reason for the nomination – coupled with the relatively weak field, which also allowed the wispy Ghost to slip in. Oscar should have kick both to the curb and gone with the Coen’s and the Freshman (since they’d nominated most of my others for the Foreign award)

[Torgo]

I warned you, MJ! But you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME?!?!?!

Nasty Girl? Yep, she looks like a freak. Send her over to my place.

[Mighty Jack]

1991
Raise the Red Lantern (Director: Zhang Yimou)
Nominees: The Double Life of Veronique, Flirting, Let Him Have It, The Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2, The Rapture

Oscars pick: The Silence of the Lambs
Nominees: Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, Prince of Tides

It's disconcerting how many of my favorite movies from 91 have not aged well. Watching them again, they were too sappy or obvious or corny or preachy or simplistic or clichéd... titles such as the Doctor, Fried Green Tomatoes, Boyz n the Hood and Dogfight were still good, but not great. (Because Kafka isn't on DVD I wasn't afforded the opportunity to ruin my memory of that one)

Even big guns like Oliver Stone's gripping if factually manipulative JFK, showed some wear. It still earns a lot of style points and is a cleverly constructed piece. But it is overwrought and heavy handed. When Costner gives his final summation, and his voice cracks and he looks right into the camera as he delivers his final line, I had to roll my eyes. I felt like I was being brow beaten and scolded. Gee-wiz Oliver, why not have Costner wag his finger and go "Tsk, tsk, tsk" while you're at it.

What about Beauty and the Beast? While Belle is a well-rounded, strong female character -- the story felt rushed and I don't really care for the music. Overall it doesn't charm me as the Little Mermaid did. As for the other Oscar contenders - Bugsy was good, Prince of Tides was bad and nothing was right for my Best Picture award.

I thought it was cool that Silence of the Lambs won Best Picture. It was a bold move for Oscar going for something so dark and nasty. Regardless, it was a film I enjoyed more for the performances and the character of Hanabal Lecter than anything. It's s solid nominee, but I feel it falters in its final reel, where it stretches credibility and the narrative voice got fuzzy.

Rivett's La Belle Noiseuse had critics slobbering - but while I’m a creative person; I thought the movie was a chore. It has no plot, little dialog, it's just a guy drawing and painting a model. Imagine a 4-hour version of the old Bob Ross show, but instead of happy trees, you got an unhappy naked lady.

I was cool towards Thelma and Louise, Delicatessen and Cape Fear. I was warm about Impromptu (With Judy Davis' fun, broad performance as George Sand) The Man in the Moon (with a young Reese Witherspoon) and Albert Brooks' Defending Your Life -- but not as my best pictures.

I did manage to find a group of worthy nominees (I'm especially fond of the Australian coming of age romance, Flirting, Peter Medek's look at the life of Derek Bentley in Let Him Have It and Kieslowski's delicate metaphysical poem, The Double Life of Veronique), but as for the Felix, I guess I'll go with Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern, which a sumptuous looking piece about 4 wives who vie for their master’s attentions. Paul Brenner called it, "a moving exploration of power in a suffocating world of ossified tradition." While Roger Ebert noted... "RtRL is told so directly and beautifully, with such confidence, with so little evidence of compromise. It is the product of a time when the new Chinese film industry could support such work, but had not yet learned to meddle with it."

The film is cold and reserved and the camera doesn't move very much -- the blocking and composition almost seems like a cage, and David Parkinson from Empire suggests that "The consistent use of delimiting framing devices reinforced the overall sense of repression."

[Mighty Jack]

1992
Unforgiven (Director: Clint Eastwood)
Nominees: The Crying Game, Porco Rosso

Oscars pick: Unforgiven
Nominees: The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Howards End, Scent of a Woman

This one is easy peasy lemon squeezy! Oscar couldn't screw this one up and neither will Felix.

Clint Eastwood responds to his violent movie past with this intellectual meditation on the nature of violence. It explores the gray areas and digs deep beneath those classic western archetypes. Good guys aren't always so good, the bad aren't completely bad – and what you end up with is violence meeting violence to no good end (“Deserves got nothing to do with it”, as Mundy tells his adversary). Nick Schanger summed it up smartly, "It conveys the power of the Western genre's myths ... as well as the ugly, unromantic realities that lurk behind them." In the end Mundy becomes that myth personified, and it's a great scene. But the best moments are when we are shown the consequence of violence -- as when the young gunfighter gets his first kill and realizes it's not as glorious as he envisioned. It's not an easy thing to take a man's life, and doing so leaves a scar on your soul.

I think it's Clint greatest achievement; Unforgiven is a surprisingly complex and eloquent western, with a slow simmering, somber rhythm that I found appealing

There were other top-notch movies: Neil Jordan's The Crying Game -which caused such a stir- was a fascinating examination on the nature of love and what it is to love someone. It certainly struck a nerve and as with Unforgiven, it made me think (interestingly, the studio behind this movie, passed on Unforgiven and bought this script instead). Porco Rosso might not be one of the first titles that come to mind when someone mentions Hayao Miyazaki, but it's one of his most entertaining. As for Oscars other choices: I liked Howard's End (insert bad joke here) and A Few Good Men – I didn't like Scent of a Woman, or Pacino's “WHO-AHS!”

But 1992 was Clint Eastwood's year and the old master will not be denied. His Unforgiven is -with Leone's Once Upon A Time in the West- the greatest, most intelligently written, beautifully filmed Western in the history of cinema. But to heck with splitting it onto a genre, its just damn good filmmaking, period!

And after years of wrestling with my picks, it was so nice to have one I didn't have to think twice about. Thanks Clint.

[Mighty Jack]

1993
Schindler's List (Director: Steven Spielberg)
Nominees: 3 Colors Blue, Fearless, A Perfect World, Groundhog Day, Age of Innocence, The Remains of the Day, The Iron Monkey,

Oscars pick: Schindler's List
Nominees: The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, The Remains of the Day

A first-rate season and –shock- Oscar and Felix agree 2 years running. To be honest I didn't want to revisit Schindler's List, it was difficult viewing the first go round -- but I quickly discovered that while painful, a second viewing was vital in opening up new vistas. This is an unbelievably poignant and significant picture, and Spielberg showed incredible growth as a filmmaker. There is sentimentality, especially at the end, but not to the detriment of the whole. What impressed me was that the director finally learned what he hadn't with The Color Purple - that filming a serious subject isn't just about having a serious story; it has to be reflected in the camerawork. You can't use the same bag of tricks and ticks you used in ET for a film like Schindler's.

Spielberg was inspired by the brutal Russian war film Come and See, which had a stylish bent, but not at the expense of the tragedy that unfolded on screen. What Steven offers in this movie still carries his distinct visual style and heart, but it comes with a maturity, honesty and sobriety benefiting the subject. And enough praise can't be heaped on cinematographer Janusz Kamiñski for his part in the look and tone of the piece.

1995 was rock solid. Groundhog Day is classic comedy; A Perfect World is one of Clint Eastwood's very best (though unjustly unheralded). Fearless is Peter Weirs finest; Age of Innocence was Scorsese tapping successfully into Ophuls and Visconto territory. And Kieslowski's 3 Colors Blue is just as impressive an achievement as Schindler's. So impressive that an argument could be made that its brilliant, concise direction, and wise story about grief, is in some ways superior to the Oscar winner. But I can't see my way to not selected Schindler's List. It’s just too important a film.

The only odd thing for me is that in such a great year, how did the Fugitive earn an Oscar nomination? While it is a decent little action/drama, I never saw it as anything near to great.

Note: I could not track down Farewell my Concubine

[Mr. Atari]

Jun 27, 2012 3:39:08 GMT -5 Mighty Jack said:

A first-rate season and –shock- Oscar and Felix agree 2 years running.

Please, for the love of Jim, don't make it 3.

[Torgo]

Please make it three so I can hear Samptari pulling his hair out from thousands of miles away.

[Mighty Jack]

Okay… 3!

(Watches Torgo laugh diabolically)

I wasn’t going to post this until tomorrow morning, but to ease Mr. Atari's mind; I'll do it today. (We will have to wait a spell for 1995 as I have a few still to see). And because I do love Jim...








1994
Three Colors: Red (Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Nominees: Exotica, The Shawshank Redemption, Leon: The Professional, Quiz Show, Three Colors: White, Chunking Express, Pulp Fiction, Crumb

Oscars pick: Forrest Gump
Nominees: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption

I don't loathe the flawed Gump. While criticisms are valid, I find worth in its clever and fascinating technical characteristics. Nevertheless, in a year with so many great movies I don't see how it earns even a nomination. Consider the competition and you'll find a landslide of film more worthy of the little guy in gold.

The motion picture a lot of people latch onto in 1995 is Pulp Fiction. And while I seriously do not care for Tarantino, and am often bugged by his dialog – even I have to admit that this was damn fine filmmaking. I was especially fond of the Bruce Willis bits. Pulp has been analyzed and debated to death (is it neo-noir, is it post modernism?) Me, I see it as clip-art. The director stuck together a lot of bits and pieces from other movies (ala the adrenaline needle scene, which is lifted straight from Scorsese's little seen documentary American Boy) and somehow pulled it all together to make something weird and distinctly his.

For me there were far better movies than Oscar's Gump -- even several that are stronger than the peoples champion, Pulp.

And what a crowded field: From the beautifully scripted and acted Quiz Show and Shawshank Redemption, to the unique, anti-narrative of 'Hong Kong Second Wave' film master, Wong Kar Wai, and his challenging Chungking Express (which was a favorite of Tarantino's).

Above these stands Exotica from Canadian writer/director Atom Egoyan. Focused around a strip club, the story explores the tragic and dispirited lives of its characters. It is one of the most original, complex and sad/touching movies I've ever seen (See Roger Ebert's thoughtful essay on the film at his website rogerebert.com). I almost wish Egoyan had released it in the relatively weaker year to come, because I would have easily named it my best picture then.

Exotica instead will be regulated to #2 status, as there is one that I believe exceeds it. Kryzystof Kieslowski's Three Colors: Red. The final chapter in a trilogy, it is a poignant piece that excels on every cinematic level - from color to sound to editing to script. I've written about the movie often in the past, so I'll again quote Film Critic Geoff Andrew’s insightful critique...

"While Kieslowski dips into various interconnecting lives, the central drama is the electrifying encounter between Valentine - caring, troubled - and the judge, whose tendency to play God fails to match, initially, the girl's compassion. It's a film about destiny and chance, solitude and communication, cynicism and faith, doubt and desire; about lives affected by forces beyond rationalization. The assured direction avoids woolly mysticism by using material resources - actors, color, movement, composition, sound - to illuminate abstract concepts. Stunningly beautiful, powerfully scored and immaculately performed, the film is virtually flawless, and one of the very greatest cinematic achievements of the last few decades. A masterpiece."

Geoff echoes my sentiments to a tee. I recently spent 6 hours of my life going over the 3 Colors Trilogy again and by the end there was not a doubt in my mind what the best film of 1994 was. Red is a stunning achievement, a work of art in every sense of the word.

This was Kryzystof's final film; he died in 1996 after botched heart surgery. While Oscar did reward him with a best director nod, it did not offer the movie a best picture or best foreign language film nomination. Ultimately the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pulled a Mr. Bungle -- breaking up a good 3-year run for itself and slipping back into safe, tepid waters.

[Mr. Atari]

Thank you.

I'll spare the world another rant about the awfulness of Gump, and just say that I also love Red. The Three Colors trilogy is amazing from start to finish.

I still believe that Shawshank was robbed that night. I was at an Oscar viewing party and no one there had even heard of the film, so my protests made me sound like a lunatic. Now, thanks to DVD rentals, imdb, and TNT, it's overkill and I understand the backlash. But it's still a flawless movie.

Quiz Show is a very close second, and a nearly perfect movie. The performances and directing are as good as anything made in Hollywood in the last 20 years. I agree with you about Pulp Fiction. It deserves its accolades and I enjoy the Willis & Travolta bits, but I skip the Uma segment every time.

But I have no complaints about your choice. I had a feeling you were going to go that way, based on your previous comments. You picked a great one.