Okay, maybe not the best year ever, but easily my favorite of the years I’ve covered so far.  They should change the award to: The Academy’s Favorite Movie of the Year. Either that, or they could give out the award years later when a movie has either stood the test of time or has not.

But even then, some dumbass would do this.

The nominees:

“Forrest Gump” – The part that always confused me was he said, “She tastes like cigarettes,” like it was a bad thing.

“Four Weddings and a Funeral” – For my money, the oddball nominee at the time. I like it more now, but back then I was convinced it was only nominated because it’s British.

“Quiz Show” – I love the part when Herb Stempel cranes his neck to see what’s going on in the other soundproof booth, CLONKS his head on the glass, then checks-real-quick to make sure no one in the studio audience saw him. We saw ya, ya sponge-memoried freak.

“The Shawshank Redemption” – Great movie, saved by the studio’s rejection of the alternate ending, in which Red goes to Buxton, but can’t distinguish one hayfield from another because he’s never read a Robert Frost poem, screams in agony; meanwhile, the grocery store owner calls his P.O., who calls the fuzz, who come to Buxton, and gun him down. As life flickers from his eyes, he realizes he’s laying on a piece of volcanic glass that has no business being in a hayfield in the middle of Maine. He laughs to FADE OUT. (more…)

Okay, so as I looked over IMDB’s list of films released in 1994, struggling to look for a movie to write about this week, I realized my proclamation that 1994 is indeed the best year ever, was not mere hyperbole. It is, in fact, complete horseshit. I love most of the movies I’ve written about, and recognize some level of importance (movie importance, not change the world importance) in the ones I don’t love (Clerks, Natural Born Killers). Weeding through the vitriolic responses to my posts, I’ve been reminded of great ones I have not and will not write about at length, for various reasons.

For example, In the Name of the Father featured great performances from Daniel Day Lewis (shocker) and Koboyashi, but honestly, that’s about all I remember. I certainly don’t recall debating the movie in any manner that approached “you gotta see this movie” excitement or “you’re nuts, that movie blows” bewilderment. Yes, it was nominated for 7 Oscars, but I honestly don’t remember that much about the movie and the desire to see it again has never crept into my brain since my first viewing.

And what about The Professional? I liked it. I really did, but I never embraced it. In fact, over the years, working in movie theatres and video stores, I have debated this movie with co-workers, and have come away thinking I saw a different movie than they saw. I wish I loved it, but…sorry, I just don’t, and I’m tired of the debate because it always ends with, “You need to see the director’s cut,” which I will never do. Director’s cuts are boring non-events, I grew tired of them upon the re-release of the “Ultimate Remastered Double Official Director’s Cut of Blade Runner.” There’s really no need for me to debate The Professional anymore, least of all on the Internet, where there is no such thing as a matter of opinion. I’m comfortable being wrong about it. (more…)

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday.  Sure, Canada and a couple other nations have adopted their own weird versions of it too, but the notion of a nation setting aside a day to give thanks for its blessings could only arise in a nation that has been so abundantly blessed.  In its land, its people and its animating spirit, America has much to be thankful for even in a time of war, economic blight, and a government that too often seems to see its blessings as curses and its greatest strengths as flaws.

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But America’s abundance does not apply to movies about Thanksgiving.  Certainly some exist, but if you review a list of movies about Thanksgiving, the sad fact is that there are very few good ones.  Many are PC retellings of the original Thanksgiving story – one guess as to who the villains are (Hint:  It’s the dudes with buckles on their hats).  Others are tiresome melodramas about “quirky” families that reaffirm their bonds over plates of turkey, with “quirky” — meaning “annoying.”  (more…)