Monday, July 13, 2020

10 Off My Head: Siri Says 1995

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There's been a tweet going around on Twitter for the past week where the Twitterati were asked to name their favorite movie for the year they turned 18, and in a weird happenstance of serendipity this week's edition of my "Siri Says" series will be doing just that. That is to say that today I asked Siri, the person who lives inside of my telephone, for a random number between 1 and 100 and she gave me 95, so we will be listing our favorite Movies of 1995. Which was the year I turned 18. (Go ahead, do your math, I'm ancient.) And as long as you've got your calculators out you can agree on this as well -- all of these movies are turning 25 this year to boot! 

Amazing! I was seeing an actual literal ton of movies in 1995, as I both worked in a video-store -- this was a year after Pulp Fiction came out and all of us Film Nerds had to work at video-stores, it was a rule -- and I began my tumultuous trek through Film School that fall. When I started this I was ready to say I saw everything that came out that year but then I began making this list and there are weird random ones that fell through the cracks and seem to've remained there -- I think you'll be surprised by some of the titles I've never seen, yonder down below. But first, my faves...

My 10 Favorite Movies of 1995

(dir. Gus Van Sant)
-- released on October 6th 1995 --

(dir. Mike Figgis)
-- released on October 27th 1995 -- 

(dir. David Fincher)
-- released on September 22nd 1995 --

(dir. Chris Noonan)
-- released on August 4th 1995 --

(dir. Gregg Araki)
-- released on October 27th 1995 --

(dir. Paul Verhoeven)
-- released on September 22nd 1995 --

(dir. Todd Haynes)
-- released on June 30th 1995 --

(dir. Amy Heckerling)
-- released on July 19th 1995 --

(dir. Terry Gilliam)
-- released on December 8th 1995 --

(dir. Ang Lee)
-- released on December 4th 1995 --

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Runners-up: Before Sunrise (dir. Linklater); Shallow Grave (dir. Danny Boyle); Living in Oblivion (dir. Tom DeCillo); The City of Lost Children (dir. Jeunet & Caro); Dolores Claiborne (dir. Taylor Hackford); Crumb (dir. Terry Zwigoff); Party Girl (dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer); To Wong Foo... Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar (dir. Beeban Kidron)...

... Unzipped (dir. Douglas Keeve); Strange Days (dir. Bigelow); Kicking & Screaming (dir. Noah Baumbach); The Usual Suspects (dir. Bryan Singer); Copycat (dir. John Amiel); Mighty Aphrodite (dir. Woody Allen); The Brady Bunch Movie (dir. Betty Thomas); Home For the Holidays (dir. Jodie Foster); Toy Story (dir. John Lasseter)...

... Casino (dir. Scorsese); The Passion of Darkly Noon (dir. Philip Ridley); The Celluloid Closet (dir. Aldo Fabrizi); The Day of the Beast (dir. Alex de la Iglesia); Dead Man Walking (dir. Gregory Dark); La Haine (dir. Kassovitz); Jeffrey (dir. Christopher Ahsley); Waiting To Exhale (dir. Forest Whitaker); Flower of My Secret (dir. Almodovar)
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Never seen: Billy Madison (dir. Tamra Davis); Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (dir. Bill Condon); The Quick and the Dead (dir. Raimi); Tank Girl (dir. Rachel Talalay); Friday (dir. F. Gary Gray); Vampire in Brooklyn (dir. Wes Craven); Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead (dir. Gary Fleder); The Prophecy (dir. Gregory Widen); Bad Boys (dir. Michael Bay)...

... Pocahontas (dir. Mike Gabriel); The Bridges of Madison County (dir. Clint Eastwood); Hackers (dir. Iain Softley); Empire Records (dir. Allan Moyle); Goldeneye (dir. Martin Campbell); The Crossing Guard (dir. Sean Penn);  Clockers (dir. Spike Lee); Othello (dir. Oliver Parker); Fallen Angels (dir. Wong Kar-wai); Braveheart (dir. Mel Gibson)

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What are your favorite movies of 1995?
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11 comments:

AxFromMN said...

You've never seen Hackers, Goldeneye or Braveheart?

Those were repeat video nights all through college in my suburban Midwestern lens.

Are they any good, probably not. But definitely rent poles of the year.

Jason Adams said...

I never saw a James Bond movie until Daniel Craig became 007. And since then I've gone back and seen a few of the old ones, mostly Sean Connery. I haven't seen ANY of the Pierce Brosnan ones yet.

Hackers just slipped through the cracks. I suppose I will someday but it feels like one of those movies (along with Empire Records) that you had to be there at the right age for.

I couldn't have less desire to see Braveheart. You'd have to Clockwork Orange me to do it. I hope to go my entire live-long life without ever seeing it.

Tom M said...

Is it me or is that a pretty spectacular year? (And I now want you to watch The Quick and The Dead...just to read your response.)

Jason Adams said...

The Quick and the Dead is the one I was most surprised to realize I'd never seen when I went through the year today. My avoidance of something like Braveheart has been with purpose, I have known I was doing that -- I don't have any idea IN ALL THE WORLD how I have made it 25 years without ever seeing a Sam Raimi movie that stars Sharon Stone!!!

Galen said...

Fuck Braveheart.

MJL said...

I loved Tank Girl. It's an horrific mess, but loads of weird fun. And sweet James Duval in Doom Generation was the object of . . . well, he was an important object.

Pierce said...

On your list of films you’ve never seen, the only one I have seen was GoldenEye. Best of the year: Antonia’s Line, Apoll0 13, Carrington, Celluloid Closet, Clueless, Devil in a Blue Dress, Dolores Claiborne, Get Shorty, The Grass Harp, Grumpier Old Men (it was shot in Minnesota), Jeffrey, Jumanji, Kids, Les Miserables (one of the best versions!), A month by the Lake, My Family, Party Girl, Persuasion (better than Sense and Sensibility), Richard III, Stonewall, To Die For, Toy Story, Unstrung Heroes, Welcome to the Dollhouse, While You Were Sleeping.
Worst of the Year: Father of the Bride 2 (disappointing), The Scarlet Letter (horrible), Show Girls (great trash), Waterworld (a bore), Species. Never been able to sit through The Usual Suspects.
Quirky, interesting films: Angels and Insects, An Awfully Big Adventure, The Basketball Diaries, Brothers McMullen, Circle of Friends, Don Juan DeMarco, The Doom Generation, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, but Came down a Mountain, From the Journals of Jean Seberg, Jefferson in Paris, Last Summer in the Hamptons, Powder,Strange Days,

Mike Johnson said...

"Babe." Just thinking of James Cromwell saying, "That'll do, Pig, that'll do" makes me tear up.

joel65913 said...

I HATE Braveheart with the heat of a thousand suns!!!! Vile piece of trash!

The Quick and the Dead isn't perfect but it is a solidly intriguing film.

So glad to see Sense & Sensibility made your list! It's my number one for this year.

My top 10:

1. Sense & Sensibility-Everything just comes together seamlessly in this.

2. Apollo 13-Even though the outcome is a known Ron Howard and the cast manage to keep you fully involved in the astronauts plight.

3. The Grass Harp-Delicate adaptation of a Truman Capote story directed by Charlie Matthau who managed to assemble a knockout cast probably thanks to Dad Walter. He's in it in addition to Jack Lemmon, Mary Steenburgen, Nell Carter, Roddy McDowell, Bonnie Bartlett and in a Carrie reunion Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, who gives an award level performance, though they play sisters this time out.

4. A Walk in the Clouds-Gorgeous images and peak Keanu.

5. Cold Comfort Farm-Twisted humor done only as the British can do.

6. While You Were Sleeping
7. Devil in a Blue Dress
8. 12 Monkeys
9. Clueless
10. Dolores Claiborne

Runner-Ups:

Rough Magic, Nixon, Copycat, Outbreak, Heavyweights, Home for the Holidays, Carmen Miranda: Bananas is My Business

Anonymous said...

A couple not mentioned here, that I wouldn't exactly defend as good but left a lasting impression on me (c. age 17):

"Little Odessa" (dir. James Gray). Very pretentious (Russian choral music soundtrack!), unrelievedly grim, but certainly powerful in its way. Typical weird '90s-indie-film cast (Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Maximilian Schell, Vanessa Redgrave!). There was an interesting long article in the New Yorker about the making of this film. When I saw the Safdie Bros.' "Good Time", I thought, I watched this movie several times in the '90s except less stylishly made, and generally with Tim Roth in the Robert Pattinson role.

"Heat" (dir. Michael Mann). Again, overblown and empty, yet effective at a certain level. It's a testament to the actresses here -- Ashley Judd, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Natalie Portman -- how vividly they remain in my memory, despite their roles all being absolutely nothing (one-note, cliche, etc.).

Shawny said...

1. Safe
2. Se7en
3. Crumb
4. 12 Monkeys
Nothing else would be worth rewatching for me, though there are some good films, though I was very moved by Meryl’s performance in TBOMC back when I saw it.

And I have to say I agree with Galen, fuck Braveheart. A egomaniacal, homophobic, violation of cinema.