Flashback: Best of the 90s (Pt. 2)

Start with Pt 1 of this 90s Flashback... if you're confused about what's going on. To make a long story short, I'm excerpting items from an old zine I wrote in Spring 2000, during the first year of the website. Yes, I was originally juggling too many things. Why that's not like me AT ALL.

We previously covered my dated lists for Actors, Supporting Actresses and Supporting Actors -- lists I don't agree with in full anymore (though the supporting actresses list I quite like still). So now we move on to Picture and Actress.

Best Actress
Top ten chronological order. What follows is original text from the magazine, with the winner in bold text. I had purposefully excluded 1999 which is why you don't see Kate Winslet for Holy Smoke or Hilary Swank for Boy's Don't Cry though here's what I wrote about Swank in that same zine...

I'm rooting for Swank on Oscar night. But I must express concern that she could turn into Elisabeth Shue and only have this one great role in her.

Ha. I was right but it's funny in retrospect to have proof that I had no animosity at all (I love Shue). I mean I wasn't giving the Swankster mean nicknames or spoofing my own hatred of her and I was actually rooting for her to win that first time. It was that damn disingenuous "girl from a trailer park" campaigning and the second win that rubbed me in directions wrong and wrongest. [sic]

• Anjelica Huston, The Grifters (1990)
  Her daring unsympathetic work tore through the screen.
• Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  Clarice Starling is one for the history books.
• Susan Sarandon & Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise (1991)
  I'm loathe to separate this duet, so I shan't.
• Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns (1992)
  Meow. Her funniest most magnetic star turn this decade.
• Emma Thompson, Howards End (1992)
  She shone as the passionate but centered Margaret Schlegel
• Juliette Binoche, Three Colors: Blue (1992 [sic] it was actually 1993. I think I was avoiding a certain 1993 problem in my head! read on.)
  A mystifying transcendent performance.
• Holly Hunter, The Piano (1993)
  One of our finest comic actresses in her best dramatic work.
• Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
  No one knew she had this in her but I'm glad she did.
• Frances McDormand, Fargo (1996)
  An expert comic performance that owns the great film.
• Helena Bonham-Carter, Wings of the Dove (1997)
  She gets better and better and this is the top.

Hmmm. Looking back I'm confused why Julianne Moore [safe] isn't listed. I was also a bit surprised that Meryl Streep's Postcards From the Edge didn't factor in but then I remembered that it took quite some time before Meryl Streep's "Suzanne Vale" started threatening to be my favorite of her character gallery.

1993 was too good a year in Best Actress. Too many riches.

And I'm a touch surprised to see Juliette Binoche there though I think the performance is a hypnotic icy marvel. The film was released in the States in 1993 which means that I'd have to bump Michelle Pfeiffer from The Age of Innocence off of my best actress 5 that year (*sniffle*) which would leave me with Holly Hunter, The Piano (winner) and nominees: Angela Bassett, What's Love Got to Do With It; Juliette Binoche, Three Colors: Blue; Stockard Channing, Six Degrees of Separation and Emma Thompson, Much Ado About Nothing (previously discussed) none of whom I am able to part with. Sorry 'Chelle! It hurts me more than it hurts you.

Best Picture
[Chronological Top Ten. Winners in bold red. What follows is original text. 1999 I had originally excluded as it had just ended and I was still deciding on "bests" for that year.]

Heavenly Creatures and Porn Stars

• Beauty & The Beast (1991)
  Best cartoon of the decade. The genre has thankfully exploded since this.
• THELMA & LOUISE (1991)
  Eternal thanks fo Ridley, Callie, Susan & Geena. Best road trip of the decade.
• Husbands and Wives (1992)
  Allen's best film of the 90s. Its status will grow in time, trust me.
• Trois Coleurs (1992-1994)
  Have this experience! Kiezlowski's enthralling spiritual trilogy.
• THE PIANO (1993)
  Jane Campion's painterly erotic masterwork.
• Schindler's List (1993)
  I hate to include Spielberg but he actually deserved the kudos on this one. (recently discussed at the blog)
• Heavenly Creatures (1994)
  Peter Jackson's surreal mood juggling giddy nightmare.
  
• Dead Man Walking (1995)
  Tim Robbins enthralling and enormously moving death row drama.
• Boogie Nights (1997)
  P.T. Anderson's mega-entertaining superbly acted porn-opus.
• Wings of the Dove (1997)
  Vastly underrated James adaptation by Iain Softley and a trio of fine actors.

The "runners up" listed were Edward Scissorhands, Howards End, Pulp Fiction, Queen Margot, Babe, Fargo and The Truman Show. And my three favorites of 99, listed elsewhere in the zine were Being John Malkovich, Run Lola Run and All About My Mother. (I've always enjoyed Lola but I didn't remember it as that high up!)

Some notes: It appears that I was in love with the word "enthralling" in Spring 2000. I guess I could not choose an adjective for Heavenly Creatures so I just went with all of them. I was also, not yet dead set against "ties". The Piano (see my review) now holds the throne on its own and those porn stars, waitresses on the run and murderous teen girlfriends continue to sit nearby as ladies in waiting to "Best Film of the 90s." (And yes, I do still think Beauty & The Beast is the best animated film of the 90s. Sorry Toy Story and Princess Mononoke) The rest of the list would need a seriously rethink or overhaul.

And if that weren't enough -- you're all "please stop. It's 2010!" yeah, yeah, we'll get back to it -- here were some other fighting words back then. Original Text follows. I can't totally stand by all of this since it's 10 years ago that I wrote this and I haven't seen at least half of the films since. Plus, I seemed to have had a distinct distaste for films with negative messages. But here's what I wrote ten years ago...

The World is Stone Pt 1 (Unjustly aborted movie children i.e. the most underrated films of the 90s.)

• One True Thing
  Dismissed as just a fine Streep film. Sorry, try again. Just a fine film.
• Velvet Goldmine
  Time has lifted [safe] to grand cinema status. Same thing will happen to Todd Haynes' most electric film.
• Strange Days | Nell | The Ref
  Not classics but severely and rudely underrated.
• Queen Margot
  This film floors me. Luscious. Epic. Incredible.
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
  You might want to hate it but you'll learn to love it.
• Truly Madly Deeply
  A rarely insightful look at the mourning process with two terrific lead performances.
• Batman Returns | Mars Attacks
  Burton's least appreciated. Funny and clever films.
• Living Out Loud | Home for the Holidays
  The first was widely shrugged off, the second universally hated. I'll never get why. Holly Hunter is perfection in both.
• Men Don't Leave
  An emotional stunner with Jessica Lange in top form.
• Romeo + Juliet
  The media tried to reduce it to "Shakespearean MTV" when it's a visually inspired experience. DiCaprio and Danes briefly gave Young Hollywood a good name.

The World is Stone Pt 2 (spoiled brats - overrated films of the 90s)

• LA Confidential
  Didn't anyone else find the ending a major cop out?
• Deconstructing Harry
  One of Woody's worst. Childishly vicious.
• Henry Fool
  A revered arthouse film that's so pretentious I felt like tearing at my skin.
  
• Forrest Gump | Saving Private Ryan
  Two ultra adored patriotic Tom Hanks blockbusters with scary political implications or simplified messages.
• In the Company of Men
  It's just inert as a film. Lifeless even in all its bile.
• Braveheart
  Mel Gibson's sick, homophobic, bloodthirsty operatically self-indulgent mess. Won the Oscar of course.
• Casino
  Just when I was sick to death of it, I realized it was only halfway over. Repetitious, ugly, and revered based solely upon the name in the director's chair.

Hmmm.

Many many people have told me I should love Casino (1995) as they do. Perhaps I wasn't in the right place? But I still remember the visceral hatred of it in the movie theater ... so I'm scared to go back. I rarely employ "pretentious" as a kneejerk insult now so I wonder what I'd think of Henry Fool today? I still have plenty of hate for Forrest Gump (see recent proof) and Braveheart (see recent proof) but I am confused at the dismissal of LA Confidential which is obviously a goodie.

Things I have no memory of: Hating In the Company of Men or loving One True Thing.

What were your favorite and least favorites of the 1990s back in 2000?
How is the list different now?
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The Somewhat Lovely Bones?

You probably caught on Awards Daily that some early reviews of The Lovely Bones are out. Lots more to come presumably. But did you see this tweet from British actor/novelist/funny man Stephen Fry

Variety is significantly less riveted than Fry, calling it an "artistic disappointment". Todd McCarthy also crushes my dreams by starting the review talking about Heavenly Creatures, a film which he seems to hold in as high regard as I do (One of the three best films of the 1990s, if you ask me).

The "disappointment" seems to stem from Jackson's infatuation with visual f/x. As for its actors, this bit is interesting...

With reddish hair, brilliantly alive eyes and a seemingly irrepressible impulse for movement and activity, Ronan represents a heavenly creature indeed, a figure of surging, eager, anticipatory life cut off just as it is budding. Less quicksilver and more solidly built, McIver's Lindsey properly begins in her live-wire sister's shadow only to grow gradually into an impressive figure. Chain-smoking and depleting the liquor cabinet, Sarandon camps it up for a few welcome laughs...

McCarthy is less impressed with the parental units, Wahlberg and Weisz. Are you still counting down the days until dem bones arrive?

1994 Retrospective

That Forrest Gump conversation got me thinking about the films of 1994 and which ones I love and which I... do not. Let's compare notes by taking a trip back through awardage and top ten lists.


The Academy chose: Forrest Gump, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show and Shawshank Redemption as the year's best. Bullets Over Broadway was the probable chaser (in that dread 6th spot) with a whopping 7 nominations tying Hannah and Her Sisters for the most ever for a Woody Allen feature. The Golden Globes loved the Oscar choices but with more nominees they also presented The Lion King, Legends of the Fall, Nell, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Pret a Porter and Ed Wood for your consideration.

The public's favorite films back then? Forrest Gump, The Lion King, True Lies, The Santa Clause and The Flintstones.

Siskel and Ebert were all up in Hoop Dreams grill (with mucho shared love for Pulp Fiction, too, which took lots of critics prizes)

Me? Gold to Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, silver to Pulp Fiction and bronze to La Reine Margot which I remembering being absolutely gaga for back then thinking it a full bodied hot blooded vividly realized historical epic. I haven't seen it since. Bad me! More of my retroactive makeshift awardage for 1994 here. Subject to change should I ever revisit any of these movies. The movie I saw the most that year in theaters was Reality Bites (four times) unless you count all the times I snuck into a scene or three from Pulp Fiction. The movie from '94 that I have probably watched the most times since? Bullets Over Broadway. It gets funnier every year. How does it do that?

You? What are your favorite movies from 1994 and which do you think we should all be revisiting or adding to our queues if we've never seen them?

Signatures: Kate Winslet

Adam of Club Silencio here with a look at my favorite actresses and their distinguishing claims to fame.

It's hard to keep up with Kate Winslet. If the Academy Awards were a marathon, Kate would be making her sixth glorious lap with her nomination for The Reader. Baffling it is to think that she's lost so many statuettes just by the skin of her teeth. The sex appeal, the cool Hollywood connections, but without that holier than thou attitude -- Kate's perfect for the win, and she'd handle it beautifully. Plus, that whole "Holocaust drama" thing should have given her an early start.

"We get it. It was grim. Move on."

Like any true champion, Kate Winslet won't take it lying down. She's been in constant training. Her two ravishing star turns of 2008, in The Reader and Revolutionary Road, gave Kate a showcase for her entrancing vibrancy and flair for devastating nuance. She also got a full day's workout. During one of her character's most desperate moments in Revolutionary Road, Winslet flees with break-neck speed to the seclusion and safety of the woods, which looks to be a site she's all too familiar with. That suburban home can be so stifling, but then this isn't the first time Kate's needed to blow off some steam, and maybe even some calories.


Didn't Kate's parents teach her not to run on a cruise liner?



Obviously not. But then maybe it's better if her mother keeps her opinions to herself...

"Mummy... She's terribly hurt!"

Kate needs to take a breath... and the Oscar, ideally. For the sake of her mother and all those years of extensive training. Would you want to be the one to break the news to her?


No matter how it ends, I've got some Gatorade and some hopeful spirits.

Revolutionary Romeo + Juliet

Adam from Club Silencio here. I'm pretty excited about the impending reunion between Kate and Leo in Revolutionary Road, even though their suburban serenade looks to go south faster than you can say Don and Betty Draper.

But once upon a time they truly had stars in their eyes as the ultimate in star-crossed lovers. Long before they sailed the open seas as King and Queen of the world, they were Romeo and Juliet...


Not to each other, however. (Sorry to ruin the moment.) Icebergs, snooty class politics, powerful families... It seems the ever-cruel hand of fate has done nothing to keep Kate and Leo together. In this case they were divided by being in completely different movies!

Both actor's careers gained infinite momentum after these startling turns. By the time of Romeo + Juliet, Leo DiCaprio was already about to board that doomed (but oh so profitable) ship, and was prepping for that tragic romance by starring in THE ultimate. My wishes that Leo play the role of Romeo by reprising his character of Arnie Grape were quickly vanquished, but I can't say it didn't work out in his favor. Young girls (and me) were swooning over his every hyper-articulated word.


Kate Winslet's career began with her turn as the ever-imaginative Juliet in Peter Jackson's divine Heavenly Creatures. She'd already mastered her ravishing blend of comedy and dramatic poignancy by her debut film! And talk about star-crossed lovers, Juliet's lesbian love affair with Pauline is forced apart by their families and doctors. Big mistake. This generation's couples are a bit more proactive. They takes drastic measures with a meddling mom in order to assure their dreamlife continue.

Kate as Juliet puts it best, "All the best people have bad chests and bone diseases. It's all frightfully romantic!" That's a good way to describe Kate and Leo actually: frightfully romantic. The pairing looks so perfect on the surface, but we all know better. If Revolutionary Road doesn't end in a double suicide or matricide, we can consider it their happy ending.

We Can't Wait #11 The Lovely Bones

Directed by some unknown ...goes by "Peter Jackson" (name?)
Starring Briony from Atonement, Sgt Dignam from The Departed and Mrs. Darren Aronofsky
Synopsis A murder victim watches her killer and family from heaven
Brought to you by Dreamworks, Paramount and Wingnut Films
Expected Release Date Post-production is apparently going to go long on this one. We're hearing March 2009. Damn. Defeats the point of it being on this list. sigh

Nathaniel: For those who lived under a rock back when The Lovely Bones was a bestseller it's about a girl (Saoirse Ronan) who is murdered --no spoiler, just the plot setup --and watches her parents (Mark Wahlberg & Rachel Weisz) and the murderer from her afterlife as the murder investigation unfolds and her family deals with their substantial grief. Though the novel teeters close to gooey sentiment here and there, I really enjoyed it when I read it.

When I heard that Peter Jackson was taking the reigns I thought "ooh, great. something small. something young girl focused --something to remind me of how great Heavenly Creatures was" and then I thought. Er... King Kong was so bloated as if The Lord of the Rings (which I loved) had ruined his notions of scale and dramatic precision... and couldn't The Lovely Bones go really overboard with its visualization of heaven. And then I began to worry...

Glenn: I have not read the book - perhaps I will this year - so I don't really know what to expect. To be honest, the idea of a girl looking down from heaven sounds a bit like a kooky comedy that would have starred Whoopi Goldberg in that period of the '90s where she made a lot of movies like Eddie and The Associate. Perhaps her character had lost a lot of money on wall street and decided she didn't want to live so Heaven sent somebody down to SWAP with her so she could experience what it was like only to learn that if she ended her life she would never be able to meet the love of her life or hold her grandchild!

...wait. I got off track there. I'm looking forward to The Lovely Bones mostly for Jackson's return to (hopefully, natch) intimate filmmaking. And maybe Saiorse Ronan can continue to prove she's actually a 75-year-old woman in a child's body! That gives me another idea for a wacky comedy..

MaryAnn: Haven't read the book, but I'm onboard for *anything* Peter Jackson does. And after Atonement, I can't wait to see if Saoirse Ronan was a one-hit wonder or if she's got real staying power.

Gabriel: Glenn, I've been laughing for five minutes at your Whoopi Goldberg career summation. :-) However, my guess is that this movie will try to mix magic into its murder story, rather than comedy...it's a fragile story with delicate story points, and too much humor would probably kill it. I personally am intrigued to see Mark Wahlberg, who hopped into the film at the last minute when Ryan Gosling dropped out. But if there's anyone who thinks this isn't going to be successful, I offer this formula: Peter Jackson + Bestselling Book + Likeable Stars + Oscar Contender=Box Office Hit.

Nathaniel: Joe sat this discussion out. Perhaps he knew not to expect this until 2009? It's filming now. Have you read the book? Are you ready for a Jackson drama after all these fantasy epics?

<-- Sister Aloysius prays for your wicked soul if you haven't been reading the "we can't wait" countdown #1 Synecdoche, New York / #2 Burn After Reading / #3 Australia / #4 Milk / #5 Blindness / # 6 Doubt / #7 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button / #8 Revolutionary Road / #9 The Dark Knight / #10 Sex & The City: The Movie / #11 The Lovely Bones / #12 Wall-E / #13 Stop-Loss / #14 The Women / #15 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince / Introduction / Orphans
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Last Night I Met Kate Winslet

If the title of this post has you gasping for air, imagine how I felt face to face and shaking hands with one of my all time favorite actors. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up…

Last night at MoMA they had a special cocktail party for Little Children to which yours truly was invited. Yes, seven years of slaving away at a computer and loud opinionated Oscar watching does have its privileges. I arranged to meet Susan, a frequent contributor @ Oscar Watch (with whom I’ve corresponded but never met) at the function since she was also planning on attending. I know you’re desperate to get the Kate Winslet part but you’ll have to wait like Susan and I did. Susan is a lovely woman and it was a total pleasure meeting her. Strength in numbers as they say and I was immediately less nervous about the prospect of meeting the great Kate.

Now, when a PR team says "cocktail party" they usually just mean “glasses of wine” And that means I was stone cold sober while approaching artists whose work I greatly admire. This helps you not to say anything stupid but it does nothing for your nerves. Note to self: Have your own cocktail before entering.

I began with the director Todd Field whom I approached after Kate Winslet had been whisked from his side, presumably by the PR team. The idea of these things is mingle! Perhaps it’s mingle or be mangled by the media but I really wouldn’t know. I am a movie fanatic first and foremost and the rest is just peripheral to me. What I mean to say is that if Winslet had spat at me I would still give her a great review. I assume corporate media outlets require more traditional schmoozing –hence, cocktail parties!

The conversation with Todd Field was perfectly cordial until it ended rather abruptly. In retrospect this was my fault since I wouldn’t shut up about Once & Again and a conversation about Little Children would’ve been a savvier (not to mention more appropriate) choice but what can I say…

You may recall that Once & Again is an all time favorite of mine. You may also have noticed that I get a little obsessive about anything that can justifiably be referred to as an all time favorite. Mr. Fields’ first comment when I mentioned this particular nugget of fandom was something along the lines of ‘oh yes, I had to play the same scene over and over again’ which made me laugh. A perfectly true statement it was: he had a rather thankless role on that great show. He lit up a little when he talked about the chance he had to direct the show. We talked a little bit about his favorite episode, the one wherein Evan Rachel Wood as Jessie got her period. I complained about the Emmys snubbing all of them except Sela. We shared notes on how unbelievably talented Evan Rachel Wood is, and was even then. And suddenly he moved on to another partygoer, mingling to escape Once & Again mangling.

I returned to Susan and her friend Mary and we all chatted briefly with Jackie Earle Haley who plays the neighborhood pedophile in Little Children. His most famous role is probably Moocher in Breaking Away, a film I loved a great deal as a child but which I haven’t seen since. So I didn’t have much to say on that front (Susan and her friend did). Mr. Haley and I agreed that Little Children is pretty brave as movies go. I told him I admired it for not coddling anyone in the audience. He remarked that he liked that it also didn’t judge any of the characters. ‘Or it’s judging all of them’ I offered as another interpretation ‘It’s a flexible film.’ To some degree I know --or worry-- that you’re probably supposed to just say “I love your work” and move on. But I have to discuss movies. That’s the way I’m wired.

A little while later, still buzzing from meeting with Kate Winslet (that’s the climax of this post, be patient), I returned to Jackie since he was with Noah Emmerich who I hadn’t yet talked to. I wanted to ask Noah about a specific line in the film about how he’s gotten fat. The actor is tall and skinny. So when I was watching the movie the line took me out of the movie for a split second. So I wanted to ask him. He laughed with surprise and said that he’d never been asked this question and then very amiably he discussed the scene and admitted that for a brief time period they considered changing the line (which is actually closer to ‘I’ve put on so much weight’) but decided it’s something skinny people say too if they’re feeling bad about themselves. Which is true. So it became a character revealing choice more than accurate self-assessment dialogue. It was a fun conversation.

There were other celebrities milling about but too Kate focused to pay much attention. Though I will say that Edie Falco in particular looked great. I briefly considered thanking her for preventing me from stabbing out my eyes while watching Freedomland but I decided (wisely) against it. In the end, though --and everyone in attendance clearly understood this-- the night was all about gazing at the glorious Winslet. She was stunningly put together, tailored black suit, hair pulled back not one strand out of place, perfect simple makeup, beatific smile.

I almost didn’t meet her. That’s another reason to thank Susan, she being blessedly more aggressive than I. It was Susan who grabbed at our only real chance to catch Kate’s eye as she turned from a short conversation with a genuflecting “I love your work” actress (whose face I recognized but whose name escapes me). Susan quickly reached out her hand in greeting and just like that Kate was talking to us. I told her immediately that I had been with her “in spirit” since Heavenly Creatures which blew me away in 1994 and I asked her if she ever saw any of this coming? She said that she absolutely did not. She’s still amazed by her career and that people keep hiring her. Susan reminded her that she gets work because of the incredible things she does with each role. And I agreed, ‘you’re brilliant in everything.’ To this tagteam assault of praise, the great actress replied in a gobsmackingly charming way (with just the teensiest hint of playful false modesty) ‘well, not everything!’

Kate went on to tell us that she had never even auditioned for anything before making Heavenly Creatures and it wasn’t until she found herself sitting in Venice with the film that it dawned on her that she had made a movie, that she was an actress. Having learned my lesson from Todd Field, I seguewayed into talking about Little Children. After hearing my enthusiasm for Patrick Wilson’s performance, career, and their chemistry together she also praised him. The interesting tidbit here was that she said she had become friendly with Patrick’s wife (sorry boys and girls: taken) and told the lucky Mrs. Wilson that she would be pregnant by the end of the shoot. Kate can see the future, too.

The rest of the conversation is something of a blur. I did wish her a happy belated birthday. But mostly I remember her ease, beauty, and poise. The biggest star there and still the easiest to converse with, so friendly and engaged in the chatter. When she said her goodbyes she even remembered details, that Susan had not yet seen the film and that I had. I left the event feeling remarkably warm.

Kate Winslet sure can mingle.

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previous Winslet postings:
strange homophone * The Next Deborah Kerr * A Heavenly Creature * My Kate. My Self * Top 5 Actresses of the Aughts *

Strange Homophone o' the Day

In the film Little Children, Kate Winslet plays "Sarah Pierce", who goes a little crazy for a passionate affair. In Kate's film debut (Heavenly Creatures, which also chronicles a mad affair) the victim of Kate's psychotic rage was played by an actress named Sarah Peirse.

P.S. Thoughts on Little Children coming soon.

A Heavenly Creature: Kate Winslet

Here's a great video montage for your viewing pleasure.

I DID NOT MAKE THIS. So please head on over to its page on YouTube if you love it and tell the original creator "Eegah" how much you do deeply dig. I personally thank him for creating this. It's 4 and a 1/2 minutes of heaven for Kate Winslet fans:

Watch it now


I especially loved watching this because Heavenly Creatures is prominently featured and its one of my favorite films of all time. I'd also never seen the clips from Romance & Cigarettes or Kate's lampooning of her own Oscarless stature.

UPDATE: And a big thank you to Amy who pointed this out. You can also see the full video of Kate Winslet in nun's habit from which the "why don't I have one?" Oscar joke is lifted. Very fun stuff.

UPDATE #2: And still more Oscar buzz for her work in October's Little Children

LOGO's Top 50

LOGO has compiled a list of The 50 Greatest LGBT Films of All-Time, as chosen by their audience. I have to say that I've probably seen... 5% of them? I don't really rush out to see much gay cinema since... well, a really good percentage is just crap, I'm sorry to say. But I'm a bad Gay anyway, I never seem to make it to the Pride festivites anymore. Do I have to send back the toaster?

Here's the top 10:

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Latter Days
3. Beautiful Thing
4. Trick
5. Bound
6. Angels In America
7. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
8. Desert Hearts
9. Tipping The Velvet
10. Big Eden

(the list continues here)

I've made known my feelings for Brokeback in the past at my own site, so I'll just say - right on, with that one.

I know that Latter Days is a popular film (obviously, coming in at #2), but personally I hated it. It defines most of the things that keep me away from going to see gay films - I thought the actors were terrible, the dialogue downright painful, and while I'm always one to appreciate some man-flesh being on display, there's just something that skeeves me out about the way a lot of gay films throw everyone into tank tops and boxer briefs at every given opportunity.

Beautiful Thing and Trick I both liked when I was 20 or so but I haven't seen either of them since then. Angels In America should've placed higher. I shamefully admit I haven't seen Bound yet. Priscilla was fun, but again, it's been years. And that's it for what I've seen of the top 10.

And the fact that Heavenly Creatures placed at all the way down at #45 is just too horrific to even begin to contemplate. That film... well, I can't quite shift Brokeback out of #1 without my wiring short-circuiting, but it's an easy #2.

-- JA, My New Plaid Pants

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