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?

Tuesday Top Ten: Alexander(s) The Great

Tuesday Top Ten! ~a new weekly feature. For the listmaker in me and the list lover in you

Ten Alexanders You Should Love
10. Alexandre Despatie well he's not in the movies but he does win gold. Plus he looks like this...

so you know...

09. Jane Alexander. A solid four-time Oscar nominated actor. Last seen as Nicole Kidman's icy mother-in-law in Fur. When is she going to have a comeback?

08. Aleksandr Sokurov Because the Russian Ark is a neato cinematic trick. I regret to inform that I have not seen anything else he's done. Anyone care to make a 'first things first' viewing suggestion from his catalogue?

07. Lloyd Alexander His fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain is great fun and quite wonderfully cinematic. Disney gave it a bad rep with their awful adaptation (The Black Cauldron) back in the 80s but given that lengthy fantasy adaptations are all the rage ... Hollywood execs: get on this one!

06. Alexandre Dumas He wrote The Three Musketeers and who doesn't love swashbuckling? Oh and Queen Margot. Merci --I love the 1994 movie version.

05. Alexander Graham Bell. I hate talking on the telephone. But I like having one. Thanks.

04. Alexandre Desplat. The best new film composer in the world. Two years ago he won a devoted small army of fans for scoring the haunting Nicole Kidman flick Birth. Yesterday he won his first Golden Globe for The Painted Veil. It's a truly lovely film score.

03. Alexander Payne He hasn't made a bad movie yet. Famous last words, I know, but Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt and Sideways? That's a grade A filmography.

02. Alexander the Great (2008never) by Baz Luhrmann. This movie does not really exist but I love it anyway. Because I love Bazmark movies as a general rule... principle. calling (?)


01. "Xander" Harris Willow's best friend. Buffy's ever faithful righthand man. Anya's true love. Cordelia's boytoy. Because he was always something for everyone and never anything for himself. But mostly because he was hilariously clueless (Season 1), looked great in a speedo (Season 2), lost his cherry to Faith (season 3), fell hard for Anya (Season 4 & 5), saved the world (Season 6) and lost his eye in (Season 7). I love you Xander!


Previous Tuesday Top Tens (New Series):
Best 2006 Movies from The Departed (sure) to Marie Antoinette (you heard me)
Movies by The Three Amigos Best of Cuarón, González Iñárritu and Del Toro

Long Live the Queens

Thursday Triple
Today my life feels too peasant-like. Not at all fanned, honored, fussed over, or bejewelled. So I'm thinking of movie royalty. Here are three queens I love from the movies. Name yours in the comments.

Queen Elizabeth (Dame Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love)
Had I an Oscar to give for 1998's supporting ladies it would have gone to Patricia Clarkson in High Art but, alas, I had not one to donate. That said, I was fine with where it went. This is (by far) my favorite Dench performance. Absolutely rich, hilarious, and pitch perfect.

Titania, Queen of the Fairies (Pfeiffer in A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Shakespeare doesn't exactly suit La Pfeiffer but as early as my first flush of obsession for her I dreamt of her and Rupert Everett as co-stars. It says so in a movie scrapbook I kept at the time. I have proof! So I was thrilled to see them paired as the fairie royals: glittery, gauzy bliss (at least visually)

Queen Margot (Isabelle Adjani in La Reine Margot)
My favorite movie queen. This film thrilled me so much on opening night that I went back again the next day (I've done that maybe three times total in my life). If you've never seen La Reine Margot--if you've been ignoring my pitches for it over the years, stop resisting. This lush, romantic, gripping historical epic shows Hollywood how grandiose period pieces are done. Plus it's hot.