The Grahammy's 90/90
Volume 4, Number 1
Monday, December 20, 1999
Dear Valued Subscribers,
Go ahead. Do it. No, no. DO IT! Call me a Millenium Grinch. That's
okay. But I refuse to go and call it a Millenium just yet. I
think the next 12 or so days would be best spent waxing nostalgic
about all things `90s instead of trying to worry about wrapping
up 1000 years worth of history. Let's let that sleeping dog lie
until this time next year. So, keeping that in mind, this is the
first of five "Best Of" missives that'll be arriving in
your inbox from yours truly before the clock strikes Y2K. You are
currently being enthralled by the introduction to Chapter I of
The Grahammy's 90/90. Kinda like MTV 1515 on Mad Dog 40/40 but
not really. Today's rhubric will concern the state of cinema in
the `90s, beginning by dissecting the role that French New Wave
pioneers like Godard had on today's directing luminaries like
Tarantino and Soderbergh. And then I'll move onto the use of
shadow and light in the films of Scorsese, focusing specifically
on the intensity of the high wattage lighting he used in "Casino"
and how it contrasts against the grainy low res shadows so
prominent in his earlier works like "Mean Streets" and
"Taxi Driver". Ah, fuck it. I'll just make a list.
TOP NINETY FILMS OF
THE NINETIES
(PART I of III, Films 90 to 51)
90) "The
Blair Witch Project" (`99,
Myrick/Sanchez) - Worth the hype.
89) "A
River Runs Through It"
(`92, Robert Redford) - Gorgeous to watch.
88) "A
League Of Their Own" (`92,
Penny Marshall) - Hanks used to be funny.
87) "Billy
Madison" (`95, Tamara
Davis) - Want to touch the heinie?
86) "The
Doom Generation" (`95,
Gregg Araki) - Anarchy in the name of style.
85) "Saving
Private Ryan" (`98,
Spielberg) - The first half hour is intense.
84) "Desperado" (`95, Robert Rodriguez) - Banderas used to
be cool.
83) "Can't
Hardly Wait" (`98,
Elfont/Kaplan) - Trip McNeely.
82) "There's
Something About Mary" (`98,
Farrelly Bros.) - Those goofy bastards are about the best thing I've
got going in this crazy world.
81) "Mr.
Jealousy" (`98, Noah
Baumbach) - Hey jealousy.
80) "The
Daytrippers" (`96, Greg
Mottola) - Sorta like a 2-hour Seinfeld.
79) "The
Last Seduction" (`94,
John Dahl) - Fiorentino one-ups Sharon Stone.
78) "Gattaca" (`97, Andrew Niccol) - Ethan meet Uma, Uma
meet Ethan.
77) "City
of Lost Children" (`95,
Jeunet/Caro) - A dazzlingly unique must-see.
76) "Kingpin" (`96, Farrelly Bros.) - WHO YOU CALLIN' A
PSYCHO?
75) "Dead
Man Walking" (`95, Tim
Robbins) - Brilliant in its refusal to take sides.
74) "Ace
Ventura: Pet Detective"
(`94, Tom Shadyac) - All righty then.
73) "Election" (`99, Alexander Payne) - Ferris gets his
comeuppance.
72) "Fargo" (`96, Joel Coen) - The heck d'ya mean!
71) "Wallace
& Gromit" (various,
Nick Park) - Fun for all ages.
70) "Bound" (`96, Wachowski Bros.) - Lipstick lesbian
double crosses.
69) "Reality
Bites" (`94, Ben
Stiller) - Remember the discontent of Gen X?
68) "Starship
Troopers" (`97, Paul
Verhoeven) - Intelligent satire + kick ass FX.
67) "Return
To Paradise" (`98,
Joseph Ruben) - What would your friends do?
66) "A
Bug's Life" (`98, John
Lasseter) - Impossibly cute.
65) "Exotica" (`94, Atom Egoyan) - Most deceiving box art
ever?
64) "Run
Lola Run" (`99, Tom
Twyker) - Girl power on crystal.
63) "La
Femme Nikita" (`90, Luc
Besson) - A breath of fresh air in the action genre.
62) "The
New Age" (`94, Michael
Tolkin) - Moral bankruptcy begetting financial bankruptcy.
61) "Clerks" (`94, Kevin Smith) - The finest hour of
dick jokes.
60) "King
of New York" (`90, Abel
Ferrara) - Being a drug lord is harder than you'd think.
59) "The
Quick & The Dead" (`95,
Sam Raimi) - Some of the slickest camera tricks you'll ever see.
58) "The
Crossing Guard" (`95,
Sean Penn) - Jack Nicholson's best performance?
57) "Go" (`99, Doug Liman) - Tarantino with teens...that's
a good thing.
56) "Babe" (`95, Chris Noonan) - That'll do, Pig, that'll
do.
55) "What
Happened Was..." (`94,
Tom Noonan) - First dates are difficult.
54) "King
Of The Hill" (`93,
Steven Soderbergh) - A masterpiece with no props.
53) "The
Matrix" (`99, Wachowski
Bros.) - Whoah.
52) "Ed
Wood" (`94, Tim Burton)
- Best biopic of the `90s.
51) "Silence
of the Lambs" (`91,
Jonathan Demme) - Reinvented a genre.
TOMORROW: Films 50-11
See you tomorrow...
Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.
-Mark
