Saturday, January 31, 2009

90s Films

Gaston's Films

Goodfellas
Unforgiven
Hoop Dreams
All About My Mother
Pulp Fiction

Honorable Mention:
Schindler’s List


Azimuth's Films

1. Schindler's List
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Life is Beautiful
4. Miller's Crossing
5. Unforgiven

Honorable Mention:

6. Fargo
7. Goodfellas
8. Silence of the Lambs
9. Beauty and the Beast
10. The Shawshank Redemption

5 comments:

Gaston Monescu said...

My locks:

1. Hoop Dreams: by far the best documentary of the 90s, perhaps the best of all time. No other doc is even this decade. It has to be here.

2. Pulp Fiction: there needs to be a nod to the film-nerd contingent of the 90s. More than Anderson, O. Russell, Jonze, or anyone of that ilk, Tarantino embodies the film buff/director. Pulp Fiction made the careers of those directors possible, just as Lynch made Tarantino's possible.

The others:
Goodfellas or Unforgiven? Two genre pictures with directing chops to spare and fantastic perfomrances all around. Probably the best respective films in their genres in 20 years. I have to say I'm going with Unforgiven, simply because it was the anti-western and Eastwood made a western relevant again after 30 years of generic decrepitude. Scorsese's best is Raging Bull. He's got his. Let Clint take it.

Miller's Crossing or Fargo? You're the Coen nut. Tell me what's what. I haven't seen either of them in their entirety.

Schindler's List or Life is Beautiful? You get one holocaust film. I think LiB is crap.

Honorable mention: we have to cop to the slough of animated movies made in the 90s, right? I'd go with Beauty and the Beast.

My new list:
Unforgiven
Hoop Dreams
Pulp Fiction
Coen Bros. film
Schindler's List

Honorable Mention:
Beauty and the Beast

Kenneth M. Camacho said...

1. I don't like the HOOP DREAMS pick. We don't have any other documentaries anywhere on this list. I'm not saying documentaries don't count--I'm just saying the lack of documentary appearances tells me we aren't well versed in the genre, and although we both 'dabble,' we haven't seen anywhere near the number of documentaries that we have narrative films. It's like short films: I'm not going to judge, because I just don't know my shit. I also feel like documentaries engage in a very different process than narrative films--gone are the reasonable criteria of 'scriptwriting,' 'acting,' etc...documentaries become an art of storytelling--a director-only art. I'd be willing to give this an 'honorable mention,' but not anything else.

2. PULP FICTION. Yes.

3. Definitely UNFORGIVEN. It's a better movie than GOODFELLAS, and it's definitely more important to its genre. You also made the right point about Scorsese, and given EASTWOOD's current cache, it's looking like we really need to start considering him as a 'major' American director (as opposed to a perpetual second- or third-tier guy, like Ron Howard and company).

4. I think MILLER'S CROSSING is the better and more imaginative film, but it's fair to criticize for not being all that different than any number of other Coen films--that is to say, it becomes a genre exercise. FARGO has the critical cache, and it works to subvert (rather than play with) its genre. I'll go with FARGO.

(ed. note: you haven't seen these? WTF, man? Should we change our Tuesday movie focus for awhile in order to get you caught up??)

5. SCHINDLER'S LIST over LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. I love LiB (and you're wrong and hateful for your diss of it), but I wouldn't call it essential. I would call it surprisingly and touchingly awesome.

6. I agree with the animation plug, but I think the choice is between BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and TOY STORY. I'm more and more inclined to take TOY STORY, as it certainly did more to revolutionize the medium...but I'm open to debate on this.

My revised list:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Unforgiven
3. Schindler's List
4. Fargo
5. Toy Story

Hon. Mention: Hoop Dreams

Gaston Monescu said...

Don't give me that garbage about the documentaries. We didn't include freakin' Snow White in the 30s. Snow White! The Number 2 box office film of all time! The first fully animated film! And now, I bring up a critically respected doc that is on every doc list you would want to see, and it's shot down?

I'm calling BS, broham. Have you even seen HD?

I hate the plot of Fargo. Can't stand the wheedly guy who progressively breaks down over time. Watched about 35 minutes and quit. Miller's Crossing? I'm interested, but that's it.

I buy Toy Story. You're right about its impact. I'm not letting HD go though.

Kenneth M. Camacho said...

Care to watch "Mongol"? I will be this morning/afternoon. Holler if it appeals to you.

Unknown said...

you all missed the entire John Hughes oeuvre.