The MoFos Top 100 of the 90s Countdown - Redux

Maybe, but I think the fact that it has a broader appeal and is perhaps a bit more "mature" might translate into a wider audience. Personally, I haven't seen it in a very long time and didn't vote for it, but I do think it might still have a chance to make it in the next 10-ish slots.

For one thing, Crimson Tide doesn't seem especially "mature" in comparison to The Thin Red Line or Schindler's List. It seems pretty lightweight and artificial.

Besides there being another great submarine movie in the decade - namely The Hunt for Red October - just in terms of military/war movies there's also Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, A Few Good Men, The Last of the Mohicans, Braveheart, Three Kings, and Schindler's List....That Crimson Tide did not even make the cut on the MoFo Top100 War Films should tell you it has very, very slim chances making a decade list. As I say, the recent death of Hackman just before the deadline may have given it a boost...but if I were wagering, I'd place my moolah on it being a no-show here.

I don't think Hunt for Red October will make it, either, but I'll bet it got more points.

I would expect zero other Tony Scott flicks.



There's a slight chance the recent death of Gene Hackman may propel Crimson Tide or Enemy of the State onto the very bottom of the list, but even that I wouldn't put great odds on, and if they haven't shown by the time we get to the seventies on the countdown, they ain't comin'. The Fan is laughably awful, and DeNiro has a myriad of much better movies to choose from in the '90s. Revenge is such a wasted opportunity, an appropriately long-forgotten, overwrought dud. Though The Last Boy Scout has gained some cult appeal over the decades, there are certainly many both better and more popular action-oriented titles that should take precedence, and frankly the unflitered Shane Black that we got with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys in the 21st Century makes Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight look worse and worse in retrospect. As for Days of Thunder, it may have a chance on the eventual Sports movie list, as that is a much shallower pool, but it sure ain't gonna show here.

In fact, the only other Tony Scott movie to have made a MoFo List thus far is...his remake of Man on Fire (2004), which was #70 on the MoFo Top 100 of the Millennium, though it did not reappear on the Top 100 of the 2000s list. Even Top Gun missed the MoFo Top 100 of the 1980s, and The Hunger didn't make that or either of the Horror lists.

Definitely more of the Tarantino factor than support of Tony Scott that has helped True Romance, voting wise, I expect.

But...keep those fingers crossed!

I've now seen 1/8. I didn't like True Romance much though. The performances are fine. I just found the script boring and convoluted and just took forever to get anywhere. After a while, I lost interest.

If you're going to approach it from a child's point of view then it kinda changes the topic of discussion, doesn't it.

True Romance (1993) -

This film was a mixed bag for me. For one, I don't know what it was going for with the characters. Clarence and Alabama's flaws are left out in the open, it seems like you're meant to root for the two of them, and that connection just wasn't there for me. Like, Clarence's Elvis Presley hallucination in the first act screamed "This guy needs serious help!" and I kept that impression all throughout the film. Alabama didn't prove much better in this regard as the way she shrugged Clarence's violence off (the line "I think what you did is so romantic" made me cringe so hard) also annoyed me. As per Tarantino style, the action is highly stylized, but I found very little of it exciting. Those scenes really could've used some tightening up in terms of editing and cinematography. Even the final shootout, though interesting on paper, suffered from this to a degree. With that being said, I liked a few aspects about this film. Tarantino's writing style isn't for everyone, and while a couple scenes like the n word conversation are cringe inducing, I enjoyed most of the dialogue and felt it brought enough style to the film to keep it entertaining from beginning to end. Tarantino has a talent for writing catchy and witty scripts and this film was no exception to that. The film also lives up to another of Tarantino's strengths as it has a strong ensemble cast. Slater, Hopper, Walken, Rubinek, Rapaport, and even Arquette, though her acting occasionally annoyed me, ranged from good to great. Finally, while the story didn't interest me much, I did enjoy a few smaller scenes within the larger story, like Elliot being pulled over by a cop. Issues aside, I enjoyed my time with this film and, while I doubt I'll ever end up loving it, I might watch it again if I'm in the right mood.

True Romance has a hell of an atmosphere going for it, but the real issue is that the major characters are drowned out a swarm of side characters. Not enough Kilmer, Walken, Jackson, Oldman or Hopper. Now I liked the plot well enough, and there were easily several brilliant scenes with some major raw power behind them. But the swarm of characters is a problem for me, which is the only thing getting in the way of an otherwise great way of showing how a simple romance can turn into a road trip for your life based on that. I love Slater's performance and dialogue as well: "I'm not satisfied until the spoon stands straight up."

85/100. Seen 4/8

As much as I love animation in general, I don't love many animations from the 1990s. I wasn't really watching animation during the decade and I let nostalgia have a huge influence on my ballot, so much so that no animation made the cut. Having said that, I watched Porco Rosso sometime around the animation countdown. I didn't like it.