The Best of the 1990s: 71 - 80

71) GET SHORTY
Director: Bary Sonnenfeld
Put simply, this is one of the most fun movies of all time. Not quite Singin' in the Rain ecstatic, but you get the picture.

72) THE SPANISH PRISONER
Director: David Mamet
Twisted and incredibly smart, like a lot of good art it's about lies and how we deal with them.

73) ED WOOD
Director: Tim Burton
Immensely creative and fun flick. Martin Landau brings some of the few moments of real pathos that Burton has ever had the fortune to film.

74) THE BIG LEBOWSKI
Director: Coen Bros
I thought this movie was crap after the first viewing. Then I realized that the Coens just create escapist fantasy. They're just like Tolkein. No really.

75) PHILADELPHIA
Director: Jonathan Demme
Sad, sad, sad. And now Tom Hanks is a major movie star.

76) THELMA AND LOUISE
Director: Ridley Scott
Too bad feminism really started dying around the time of this picture. I doubt it's related though.

77) LA CONFIDENTIAL
Director: Curtis Hanson
Not as good as the classic film noirs, but pretty darn solid. Brought Russell Crowe and Guy Pierce to Hollywood prominance.

78) HEAVENLY CREATURES
Director: Peter Jackson
A surprising little flick. Utterly unique and imaginative.

79) SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
Director: Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a really good director and in many differnet ways. I think he's going the Kubrick route of trying to direct as many different genres as possible before he dies.

80) CASINO
Director: Martin Scorsese
Not one of my favorite, or the best Scorsese films, but that's like saying Roberto Clemente wasn't one of the best baseball players. He wasn't. But he's still in the Hall of Fame.

11/25/2005