Top Films of the Decade - The 1990s - Voting Thread

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I don't know if Peckinpah did much in the 50's :shrug: I think he was 60's early 70's. But for me, The Wild Bunch is an all timer (hmm, there's one for the 60's list. :wink: Have to check on the date, could be 70's) and I liked the Getaway also. There must be more.

And Lazarus gives some good pointers for the 50's, though I'm not up to snuff on Lang or Fuller. But mums on the musicals, you'll give away my half my 60's list :)
 
Essential 50's Fuller:

Park Row (unavailable on DVD, played occasionally on Turner Classic Movies, once called "The Citizen Kane of B Movies")
Pickup on South Street (great Criterion DVD out)
Forty Guns (a B&W, widescreen, expressionist Western with Barbara Stanwyk--has to be seen to be believed)
The Crimson Kimono (cop/murder mystery set in L.A.'s Little Tokyo, complete with interracial romance--socially WAY ahead of its time)
House of Bamboo (awesome daytime noir set in the Tokyo underworld with Robert Ryan and Robert Stack from Airplane! and TV's Unsolved Mysteries)
The Steel Helmet (amazing Korean War film, unheard of for its time multiethnic cast, makes Saving Private Ryan look like an episode of G.I. Joe)

Fritz Lang was doing some great film noir in the 50's, most notably The Big Heat with Lee Marvin & Glenn Ford, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, and While the City Sleeps.
 
Love Robert Ryan, have to check that one out. Steel Helmet sounds good, better than the Big Red One? I kinda remember something about a gap in film-making for him, is that true.

The Big Heat I think I've seen, probably don't know the directors of a lot of 50's stuff.

I think I would have a large number of B sci-fi from the 50's. A potent period for A bomb paranoia. And plenty of A sci-fi too, like War of the Worlds, Day the Earth Stood Still.

And I think Ben-Hur was 50's. Wow, what a decade. Probably just like this in the 30's & 40's.
 
Well Fuller made a film in the 70's called White Dog, about a dog trained by white supremacists to attack black people. This was meant to be something addressing race relations but not surprisingly it didn't go over too well, and Fuller had trouble raising money to make many more films. The Big Red One was his one return to studio filmmaking but was unfortunately hacked up to a shadow of what it should have been--eventually resurfacing in its full glory with the Reconstruction done a few years ago.

Speaking of musicals and the 50's, I stumbled across this clip on You Tube from the 1954 version of A Star is Born with Judy Garland. Unfortunately Garland is known to most people these days as either the girl from Wizard of Oz, a cheesy gay icon, or a cautionary warning against the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse (even though it was the studios that got her addicted to painkillers and stimulants), depending on how old you are. She had a rough ride, and still managed to turn in some amazing film performances. This one is her best, and really should have won her the Oscar that year.

This clip is worth watching because it showcases how powerful this woman's voice was. I don't know if I've ever heard anyone sing with this kind of force, male or female. She's fucking possessed. I'm pretty sure the vocal was recorded live on the set. Cinematically there's not much going on aside from the gorgeous widescreen technicolor (a brief look at co-star James Mason at the beginning), but its transfixing none the less, even if you aren't into the old pop music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzyPMRo8ZUQ
 
Eek, better stop deliberating then:

1. Se7en
2. LA Confidential
3. Unforgiven
4. Three Colours Blue
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Trainspotting
7. The Truman Show
8. American Beauty
9. Goodfellas
10. Fargo
11. Toy Story
12. Princess Mononoke
13. Groundhog Day
14. Ed Wood
15. Leon

Honourable mentions (not those by the directos in my final list):
Before Sunrise, Out of Sight, Glengarry Glen Ross, Election, Run Lola Run, The Silence of the Lambs, Life is Beautiful and The Player.

I'm crap at ranking films too, but this is the best I can settle on for now.
 
monkeyskin said:
Eek, better stop deliberating then:

1. Se7en
2. LA Confidential
3. Unforgiven
4. Three Colours Blue
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Trainspotting
7. The Truman Show
8. American Beauty
9. Goodfellas
10. Fargo
11. Toy Story
12. Princess Mononoke
13. Groundhog Day
14. Ed Wood
15. Leon

Honourable mentions (not those by the directos in my final list):
Before Sunrise, Out of Sight, Glengarry Glen Ross, Election, Run Lola Run, The Silence of the Lambs, Life is Beautiful and The Player.

I'm crap at ranking films too, but this is the best I can settle on for now.

Unforigven. Thank you.
 
1. Benny & Joon
2. Schindler's List
3. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
4. Ronin
5. 8mm
6. Blown Away
7. Arlington Road
8. The Power of One
9. Se7en
10. Titanic
11. The Usual Suspects
12. Jurassic Park
13. Office Space
14. Philadelphia
15. The Sixth Sense
 
I know it's late, and you may not count it. Was just too busy recently to put this together. Or.... my dog ate my homework, and I want to turn it in late, is that okay :flirt:


1. Philadelphia - (1993, Jonathan Demme)
2. The Insider (1999, Michael Mann)
3. Contact (1997, Robert Zemeckis)
4. The Bridges of Madison County (1995),
5. The Silence of the Lambs - (1991, Jonathan Demme)
6. American Beauty - (1999) (Sam Mendes)
7. JFK - (1991, Oliver Stone)
8. Groundhog Day - (1993, Harold Ramis)
9. Forrest Gump - (1994, Robert Zemmeckis)
10. L.A. Confidential - (1997, Curtis Hanson)
11. Bulworth (1998, Warren Beatty)
12. Jerry Maguire - (1996, Cameron Crowe)
13. Glengarry Glen Ross - (1992, James Foley)
14. There's Something About Mary (1998-Bobby and Peter Farrelly)
15. Good Will Hunting - (1997, Gus Van Sant)

Honorable mentions (aka I couldn't decide what order to put them in...)
The Usual Suspects - (1995, Brian Singer)
Shawshank Redemption - (1994, Frank Darabont)
The Sixth Sense - (1999, M. Night Shyamalan)
Dead Man Walking - (1995, Tim Robbins)
The Fugitive - (1993, Andrew Davis)
Four Weddings and a Funeral - (1994, Mike Newell)
Apollo 13 - (1995, Ron Howard)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Honeymoon in Vegas (1993)
Pretty Woman (1990)
ETA: A Simple Twist Of Fate (with Steve Martin)

Some movies from the period I've only seen once, and didn't include them. Such as Schindler's List. Only saw it once - don't think I can watch it again (yes, we had family in the Holocaust). And I don't think I've ever seen Pulp Fiction :reject: I've seen parts here and there, but don't remember it as a whole :shrug:
 
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fuck it, i'll count anyone's list until the '60s list is over.

it's not fair to the people who miss the voting periods i set, and it's for fun, so why not?
 
LemonMacPhisto said:
fuck it, i'll count anyone's list until the '60s list is over.

it's not fair to the people who miss the voting periods i set, and it's for fun, so why not?

I thought you were closing this on Oct 20th, as well, that's why I replied!
 
yeah, there was a change because the volume of submissions dropped off after a few days.

the 2000s' list was too long, this one was a little too short, so i'm just not making anymore firm deadlines and making it a loose deadline after the '60s thread.

the new thread will begin after the trend of submissions ends.
 
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