Your Ten Best of the 90's

[Chris Knipp]

I'd say the taste is more European than American. Europeans don't see English language films the way way Anglophone people do.

[arsaib4]

Originally posted by oscar jubis

Not a single bad movie. What I find most interesting, from my own perspective, is how much I like your foreign language selections and how many of the English ones I deem only "worth watching", not films I would ever want to watch again. Even some of the English films on your list that I liked a lot upon release, such as NBK, have depreciated in my estimation. From where I sit, it feels like your foreign language selections were picked by someone with whom I have a lot in common, and the English ones were selected by totally different person. Will seek out the four I haven't seen: Killer, Moe no Suzaku, Molokh, and Journey to the Sun (which I now own on dvd).

Thanks. It's true that many of our foreign language selections are from the same filmmakers; the likes of Assayas, Hou, Kiarostami, Dardennes, Kieslowski etc. Johann has talked about Omirbaev in detail elsewhere on this site, the master from Kazakhstan whose Killer I mentioned. Kent Jones appreciates his earlier films, Cardiogram and Kairat much more. Sokurov's Molokh isn't an easy one either, it is coming out on DVD here in March, I think.

As for American films, you don't appreciate Tarantino as much as most others so you were bound to disagree with Pulp and Jackie, and even NBK. You certainly have some curious selections yourself in "English" language films with the likes of Saint Vincent, Kids, Happiness etc. all up there. I have Smoke in the top ten and I certainly wouldn't expect this film to make many other Best of the 90's lists. This is an extremely personal selection. However, the film did win the Golden Bear so there were a few others who appreciated it. I do have the likes of Fargo, Heat, Before Sunrise, Buffalo '66 etc. on the list, films I appreciate along with you and others.

[Chris Knipp]

Certainly your lists are interesting and challenging ones, arsaib4, because some of us have to go out and find a lot of them before we can say anything. I'm pretty much limited over the past decade to what was distributed (to some extent) in US theaters and have not gone to film festivals or rented otherwise unavailable films for instance last year with the sole exception of Ripley's Game and one or two others (my first Hou, Goodbye, South, Goodbye). I would like access to your or Oscar's dvd/video library, too bad we're far apart in space. I adore Tarantino; to me he's the best new American filmmaker of the 90's, hands down.

[arsaib4]

Yeah, we certainly agree on Tarantino. I wasn't a huge fan of KB Vol. 1, especially considering that this was his first film in quite a while. Loved KB Vol. 2 where along with paying "homage" to others, he also did what he does best.

[oscar jubis]

I get a kick out of some formal elements of Pulp Fiction, namely its narrative structure. I find some of the dialogue amusing and the actors perform with gusto. I find a couple of scenes from Buffalo '66 memorable_such as the dinner involving Ricci, Gallo, Huston and Gazzara. Heat stands out in a genre characterized by mediocrity. But these are not the English language films of the 90s that I treasure. You mentioned a few of my faves, others include:Crumb, Thin Red Line, Rushmore, Eyes Wide Shut, Safe, the Egoyan films you also like, etc. Even Fargo, which I enjoyed tremendously, has a smart-alecky, aren't-these-dupes-funny? stance that simply runs contrary to my sensibilities.

[Chris Knipp]

What about Natural Born Killers and Dark City--do you love those ones, Oscar?

[oscar jubis]

Bottom of the Top 10 English list on their respective years of release, certainly nowhere in a Favorites of the 90s list. NBK's display of technical chops is awesome but belabors the same (valid) point about the media and violence. Dark City is as good as genre pics get without transcending genre. Call 'em crushes.

[arsaib4]

To me Heat was possibly the best "B" film made in the 90's and I mean it as a compliment. In some ways it even transcends the genre. Were better films made in the 90's than Buffalo '66? Probably, but this particular depiction of the dysfunctional family I haven't seen before and it hits home. NBK is still very much misunderstood, people have raised the point about its "sameness" before.

[Chris Knipp]

I did not question Buffalo 66 as I thought it one of the year's best.

[Chris Knipp]

I haven't seen Assault on Precinct 13 but judging by reports it should fit your category of beautifully done genre movies. Jonathan Rosenbaum calls it "A must-see" and prefers it to Carpenter's original for its pungent social and political commentary, says it's not quite as suspenseful as Carpenter's but that's because of its greater complexity. Clearly it's not unimportant that the director is French.

[arsaib4]

Good points. Hoberman and Ebert liked it also. I am thinking about checking it out but am still geared toward watching more stuff from last year that I can find out in theatres and on DVD. Have you seen it yet?

[Chris Knipp]

No I haven't but will go now.

By the way, I want to make a list of your and Oscar's recommendations of 2003-4 films -- esp. Asian, and those Mexican ones (can you remind me what those were? I can't seem to find them here) -- that I've missed and I'll order them on a friend's Netflix. This time of year is a good time to catch up.

[wpqx]

This topic seemed so familiar, probably why I thought I had already posted my list. I'll admit my list seems a little stale and overwhelmingly dominated by US films, but whatever I stand by it.

1. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
2. To Live (Yimou)
3. Schindler’s List (Speilberg)
4. Dances With Wolves (Costner)
5. Goodfellas (Scorsese)
6. Magnolia (Anderson)
7. Fight Club (Fincher)
8. Malcolm X (Lee)
9. L A Confidential (Hansen)
10. Natural Born Killers (Stone)

Now this doesn't represent all of my favorites of the decade and honestly it probably makes me look like some young ignorant punk who has no real appreciation for great cinema (which I just might be), but hey it is only ten.

[arsaib4]

Originally posted by wpqx
I'll admit my list seems a little stale and overwhelmingly dominated by US films, but whatever I stand by it.

As you should. Even though only your #1 and #10 made my list (40 films), I do appreciate various aspects of many of the other films you've listed. Most of your lists usually do concentrate on American films so I'm not surprised with the overwhelming majority being local.

[arsaib4]

If I remember correctly, only two of those are available here on DVD: Japon and Unknown Pleasures (you already know about Springtime in a Small Town). The other two, Aro Tolbukhin and Blissfully Yours, are only available on import DVD at this point. I've also mentioned the French film Son Frere from '04 and the Argentinian La Cienaga in various threads as the films that deserve to be seen.