Was 1995 the Best Year Ever For Movies?
I won't argue: "'[T]he stars aligned' may be the only explanation for 1995 being the greatest year in the history of movies. How else do we make sense out of the bounty that included no less than three Christina Ricci vehicles, career-bests for Ron Howard, Michael Mann, Mel Gibson, Richard Linklater, Amy Heckerling, Todd Haynes, and Clint Eastwood, the speedy ascension of Sandra Bullock's star, a talking pig, AND Showgirls?" [The Hairpin]
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
An appreciated shout-out to some worthy films.
And Congo!
I'll pit 2007 against 1995 any day of the week.
I'm with you. But if we are talking about the 90's, 1999 was far better than 95:
Eyes Wide Shut
Fight Club
The Insider
Magnolia
The Matrix
American Beauty
Being John Malkovich
The Sixth Sense
Toy Story 2
Election
Btw some kind of typo: your list included Eyes Wide Shut. That belongs with Phantom Menace on the "other" 1999 list. But generally, yeah.
Except 1939 kicks its arse of course.
Dark Victory
Gone With the Wind
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Love Affair
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice and Men
Stagecoach
The Wizard of Oz
Wuthering Heights
Intermezzo
Gunga Din
Destry Rides Again
The Women
Only Angels Have Wings
Beau Geste
etc etc etc
Definitely 1939.
I've noticed that there's no recognition for 1968, and
the groundbreaking BATMAN movie, with Adam West
and the delightful Lee Meriwether as Catwoman.
KRIS, of KAG
I second 1939. Extra points for including Destry Rides Again.
I don't what you're smoking, Eyes Wide Shut is a hot film. I mean, I guess it's become fashionable for hipsters to hate on it, but it's 10 times better than most movies that come out in a given year.
There we'll have to agree to disagree. I have no idea what the hipsters make of it, or what reaction to it is "fashionable". I know I saw it in 1999 and it was a cold mess. Horribly self-conscious performances, an awful lot of arch straining for importance and, as with so much later Kubrick, directed with sterility. I don't what you're smoking either.
Commenters are writing in support of the films they saw as impressionable kids, Most of these films, with the exception of Babe and Leaving Las Vegas are pure junk.
I dunno about that. At the very least, Heat holds up for me as the best film of the '90s.
No love for Casino? It's actually my favorite Scorsese film.
Wouldn't say I love it, but that holds up, too!
Responder is writing to down films (and commenters) from the perspective of an opaque adult. Billy Madison, Clueless, Braveheart touch the kid in you, favor the most immediate and loving response -- something we didn't then need to too much cover for.
Please go back and look at a list from 1984 and re-think this entire argument/idea... here's one link that may help:
http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1984&p=.htm
No doubt, 1995 was a great year, but so were 1941, 1946, 1950, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1989 and 1994. Not to mention, the greatest year ever in movies. 1939 is still the all-time reigning champ.
Without thinking about it TOO hard ... 1974? TWO major Coppolas (The Godfather Part II, The Conversation), TWO major Altmans (Thieves Like Us, California Split), Spielberg's theatrical debut (Sugarland Express -- rewatched recently, it's terrific), Demme's debut (Caged Heat), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Chinatown, A Woman Under the Influence, Phantom of the Paradise, (checking) Young Frankenstein ... I THINK those are all 1974. I must be missing stuff. What was the Bond that year? ... Oh, never mind. Anyway just throwing it out there.
I can't believe you mentioned Phantom of the Paradise!! My favourite movie. That and Young Frankenstein were shown as double features.
1974 also offered us Blazing Saddles, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Death Wish, That's Entertainmant! and The Towering Inferno.
1939 is still the tops though.
Dead Man Walking (a remarkable performance by Sean Penn and a stellar one by Susan Sarandon)
The Bridges of Madison County (ONLY for Meryl Streep's wonderous performance)
Maybe you never heard of the year 1984.
I have fonder memories of the many iconic 0s films released in 1994 - Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, Four Wedding and a Funeral, Speed, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Muriel's Wedding, True Lies, Reality Bites, The Shawshank Redemption.
But then again, 1995 had Clueless, Copycat, Strange Days, To Die For, and my personal favorite, Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, so I concede...
'iconic 90s films' - sorry, the '9' on my keyboard has something stuck under it (I think it might be a piece of cheese)
It's all about 1991:
Showdown in Little Tokyo
Stone Cold
FX2 The Deadly Art Of Illusion
Out for Justice
Double Impact
The Perfect Weapon
Hot Shots
Terminator 2
JFK
Bugsy
Ricochet
That movie with the cannibal they keep making sequels to
The Taking of Beverly Hills
Sleeping with the Enemy
Lionheart
The Rocketeer
Eve of Destruction
Dead Again
Showdown in Little Tokyo (so amazing, it needs to be named twice)
Whoops, hit Post before submitting even more to my list:
Point Break
Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country
Last Boy Scout
Defending Your Life
LA Story
Soapdish
Hudson Hawk
The People Under The Stairs
Barton Fink
Naked Lunch
SLACKER!!!
The Hitman
Highlander 2: The Quickening
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey
Beastmaster 2
Showdown in Little Tokyo
Hangin With The Homeboys
Cool as Ice
McBain! THere wactually is a McBain movie, and it stars Christopher Walken and it's amazing.
Even the bad movies of then were better than the bad movies of now. They had real conviction and passion behind them.
Defending Your Life is one of my favorite movies. Fun list.
For the 90's, I loved '94 with Pulp Fiction and Forest Gump, and also 1999 with the Matrix, Fight Club and the many other films. But I agree and still put 1995 as my favorite. Just my personal opinion:
-Se7en
-Toy Story
-Braveheart
-12 Monkeys
-Heat
-Apollo 13
-Casino
-Crimson Tide
-Bridges of Madison County