Tuesday, May 02, 2017

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1990

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I still have a few reviews from Tribeca to share with you but we're trying to get ourselves back into our old habits, and so I went ahead and asked my phone to give me a number between 1 and 100 this morning so we could do one of these posts, and here we be. Siri gave me 90, so we're taking a look at The Movies of 1990. I was 12 turning 13 that year and it pretty much marks the exact moment I was becoming a Movie Freak - I had definitely started watching the Oscars, and I have a fairly cherished memory of going to see one of my Top 5 movies (the one with the little green monsters) in the theater. So let's get to it! This is a really very weird bunch of movies, but remember we're choosing "Favorite" not "Best"...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1990

(dir. Rob Reiner)
-- released November 30th, 1990 -- 

(dir. Joe Dante)
-- released June 15th 1990 -- 

(dir. Paul Verhoeven)
-- released June 1st 1990 -- 

(dir. David Lynch)
-- released August 17th 1990 -- 

(dir. Frank Henelotter)
-- released June 1st 1990 --

Sidenote: How amazing is it that both Total Recall & Frankenhooker came out in theaters on the same exact day? If only I'd been old enough to experience such a day properly, with all those rubbery fake breasts at once...

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Runners-up: Goodfellas (dir. Scorsese), Home Alone (dir. Columbus), Edward Scissorhands (dir. Tim Burton), Pretty Woman (dir. Garry Marshall), The Witches (dir. Nicolas Roeg), Nightbreed (dir. Clive Barker), Stella (dir. John Erman)...

... Cry Baby (dir. John Waters), Quick Change (dir. Howard Franklin), Postcards from the Edge (dir. Mike Nichols), Miller's Crossing (dir. Coens), Troll 2 (dir.  Claudio Fragasso), Mermaids (dir. Richard Benjamin), Alice (dir. Woody Allen), Ju Dou (dir. Zhang Yimou), The Reflecting Skin (dir. Phillip Ridley)

Never seen: Longtime Companion (dir.  Norman René)
Dreams (dir. Kurosawa)
King of New York (dir. Abel Ferrera)
Henry & June (dir. Philip Kaufman)

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What are your favorite movies of 1990?
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10 comments:

Row-bin said...

I saw Ghost in the movie theater when I was 10. Then, 20+ years later, I worked on the Broadway musical of Ghost and got to tell Bruce Joel Rubin that I saw it when I was a kid. He was shocked and said I was way too young. He's a great guy.

Row-bin said...

Also Tony Goldwyn circa 1990 is top five men of all time for me.

Jason Adams said...

I do love Ghost but I got tired of listing runners-up - I could've listed 20 more, it's a very runner-up kind of year with movies I like a lot but are just kind of standards

remy said...

I was 6 years old in 1990. My favorites from that year are a mix of Winona obsession and later discoveries:
Edward Scissor Hands
Miller's Crossing
Total Recall
GoodFellas
Mermaids

Runners-up:
Nikita
Misery
The Grifters
Wild at Heart
Paris is Burning

My two favorites when I was a kid:
The Witches
Home Alonne


Pierce said...

Home Alone – A marvelous movie about a child overcoming his fears
Presumed Innocent – Smart, well-written thriller
Awakenings – Penny Marshall directed this brilliant film.
Cry Baby – John Waters and Johnny Depp. Enough said
Dark Man – A smart cartoon movie with good performances
Dick Tracy – Never mind the story or the actors, look at the brilliant colors and production design.
Edward Scissorhands – Cinematic Poetry
Goodfellas – Probably the best movie of the year, holds up well.
The Grifters – Anjelica Huston and John Cusack in a superb, gripping film.
Hamlet – Mel’s not bad as the Dane, but the Zefferelli production is superb.
Longtime Companion – A beautiful movie!
Memphis Belle – Beautifully crafted WWII memoir film.
Mr. And Mrs. Bridge – Blythe Danner was screwed out of an Oscar for this!
Henry and June – Literary history comes to life. Love it.
White Palace – A sweet, appealing love story with James Spader and Susan Sarandon
The Witches – The best adaptation of a Roald Dahl Book, EVER!!!

Astroboymn said...

Top 4: The Grifters, Goodfellas, The Witches, Paris is Burning - love all of these to pieces...but um, well, nothing else is all that great to me. Ok, if I had to pick a #5 would go with Mermaids or Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. 1990 = really not that great a year.

Jason Adams said...

Shoot, how'd I miss PARIS IS BURNING? That would've actually had to go under my "Never Seen" column because I have, uh, you know, never seen it. But I keep meaning to.

Scott said...

Metropolitan, The Grifters, and Die Hard 2 top my personal list. I thought Longtime Companion was great. Curious what I'd now think of some I liked at the time - Jacob's Ladder,Bad Influence, Flatliners, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Presumed Innocent - if I watched them again.

Love your love of Gremlins 2 - that was fun.

joel65913 said...

Glad to see this back! I was beginning to despair that you weren't doing them any longer and I enjoy them so.

Top 5:

Longtime Companion
Back to the Future III
Kindergarten Cop
The Grifters
Truly, Madly, Deeply

Runner-ups:
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Edward Scissorhands
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
Pretty Woman
Total Recall
Ghost
Mermaids
Tune in Tomorrow

par3182 said...

what a great year:

edward scissorhands
the grifters
longtime companion
miller's crossing
paris is burning