2006/03/04

My favorite movies of what's left of the 90's

1996:
Broken Arrow
Eraser
Escape From L.A.
Fargo
Independence Day
Ransom
Space Jam
Star Trek: First Contact

1995:
Hackers
Johnny Mnemonic
Judge Dredd
Mortal Kombat
Outbreak
Twelve Monkies
The Usual Suspects
Waterworld

1994:
The Lion King
True Lies
The Mask
Pulp Fiction
Interview with the Vampire
Stargate
Star Trek: Generations

1993:
Jurassic Park
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time
Super Mario Bros.

1992:
Aladdin
The Lawnmower Man
Reservoir Dogs

1991:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Sliver
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

1990:
Home Alone
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Hunt for Red October
Total Recall
Back to the Future III
Edward Scissorhands
Pump Up The Volume


For reference, during the years 1991 to 1995, I was in High School, and was much more into reading books than watching movies.
In 1995 and 1996, I was in the Army, so while I wasn't being overworked and underpaid to do mostly janitorial work, I was really bored, which is why those years have a lot more favorites than the High School years.

My Top 10 list of 1997

1997

1.) The Fifth Element
2.) The Lost World: Jurassic Park
3.) Air Force One
4.) Men in Black
5.) Gattaca
6*) Star Wars: Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back
7*) Star Wars: Episode 6, Return of the Jedi
8*) Star Wars: Episode 4, A New Hope
9.) Titanic (loc*)

Again, items marked with loc* are present due to Lack of Competition.
It appears that Wikipedia's 1997 in film entry either isn't comprehensive or it was a year of very few movie releases.
Many will say that the Star Wars re-releases don't count, and I can somewhat agree on that point. Therefore, I placed them below all the "fresh" releases for the year but just above the items that are only there due to lack of competition.

My Top 10 list of 1998

1998
1.) Deep Impact
2.) Dark City
3.) U.S. Marshals
4.) Lost in Space
5.) Saving Private Ryan (loc*)
6.) Pleasantville (loc*)
7.) Star Trek: Insurrection (loc*)
8.) Antz (loc*)


For reference, items tagged with loc* are only marked and enumerated where they are due to Lack of Competition. I would have otherwise dropped them into the Honorable Mention category, but having a top 10 list with only 4 items and 4 honorable mentions would be really sad, which makes me think that overall, 1998 was a really sucky year for movies.

My Top 10 list of 1999

1999
1.) The Thomas Crown Affair
2.) The Matrix
3.) Fight Club
4.) Galaxy Quest
5.) Sleepy Hollow
6.) Office Space
7.) Payback
8.) Three To Tango
9.) She's All That
10.) Blast From The Past

Honorable Mention:
Sixth Sense
Notting Hill
Being John Malkovich
Forces Of Nature
Bowfinger

Dishonorable Mention:
Eyes Wide Shut -- Made no sense whatsoever.
Star Wars: Ep. 1 -- yippie! No!
Random Hearts -- Another one that didn't make much sense, but at least it made more sense than Eyes Wide Shut.


On the list I made just after the turn of the year, The Matrix came in first followed closely by Fight Club and Sleepy Hollow. Upon repeated viewings, the effect of replay value has modified the weight of several items, resulting in their new locations in the list.

My Top 10 list of 2002

Not complete for lack of the listing of September - December releases
2002
1.) Big Trouble
2.) The New Guy
3.)
4.)
5.)
6.)
7.)
8.)
9.)
10.)

Honorable Mention:
The Queen of the Damned
Collateral Damage
The Time Machine
Resident Evil
Clockstoppers
Spiderman
Scooby Doo
XXX
Serving Sara

Dishonorable Mention:


This is only the preliminary results. If someone can point me to a listing of the movies released in September to the end of the year, I'd appreciate it.
The items that are in numbered positions are very likely to stay there regardless what else is unearthed because they're just that good. However, if something better does happen to have been released in 2002, then I'm willing to unseat them to make room for the better material.

My Top 10 list of 2001

2001
1.) 3000 Miles To Graceland
2.) Swordfish
3.) Serendipity
4.) Memento
5.) Last Castle
6.) K-PAX
7.) Kiss of the Dragon
8.) The One
9.) Evolution
10.) Josie and the Pussycats

Honorable Mention:
Black Knight
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Jeepers Creepers
Joe Dirt

Dishonorable Mention:

My Top 10 list of 2003

2003
1.) Identity
2.) Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
3.) Kill Bill Volume 1
4.) X2: X-Men United
5.) The Matrix Reloaded
6.) Freaky Friday
7.) Underworld
8.) == End of numberworthy entries ==
9.)
10.)

Honorable Mention: (but not worthy of a number)
Daredevil
The Life of David Gale
The Core
Phone Booth
Bruce Almighty
The Italian Job
Wrong Turn
28 Days Later
Big Fish

Dishonorable Mention:

My Top 10 list of 2004

2004
1.) The Incredibles
2.) Kill Bill Volume 2
3.) Chronicles of Riddick
4.) Man on Fire
5.) Shaun of the Dead
6.) Dawn of the Dead
7.) Resident Evil: Apocalypse
8.) The Terminal
9.) Eurotrip
10.) I, Robot

Honorable Mention:
The Butterfly Effect
Around the World in 80 Days
Dodgeball
The Village

Dishonorable Mention:
Fahrenheit 9/11 -- for outright dishonorable content

My Top 10 list of 2005

2005
1.) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2.) Serenity
3.) Zathura
4.) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
5.) Wedding Crashers
6.) Just Like Heaven
7.) Fantastic Four
8.) The Family Stone
9.) Constantine
10.) Doom

Honorable Mention:
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Red Eye
Lord of War
King Kong



Dishonorable Mention:
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith -- Effects, great. Plot, not so well executed. And, it really felt like half way through it was noticed, "We're [here]. We have to be [there] by the end of this. We're really gonna have to rush."

Æon Flux -- Did not at all match up with what I remember of the series. That definitely didn't help it's cause.