The MoFos Top 100 of the 90s Countdown - Redux

And now we have the movie that inspired a million “Houston, we have a problem” jokes. I know I saw Apollo 13 at some point in high school but I don’t remember what I thought of it. I should watch it again. As a director, Ron Howard is pretty good at engaging me in stories that I might otherwise not care about.

I liked Three Colors: Blue, but never considered it for my ballot.

Seen: 28/34
My Balllot:
9. Point Break (#79)
12. True Romance (#94)
24. Interview With the Vampire (#92)
25. Untamed Heart (One Pointer)

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Oh no, no. Not this Three Colors shenanigans again.

Saying Howard is one of the worst is a bit extreme. Night Shift, Willow, Parenthood, Rush and of course Apollo 13 - which I didn't vote for, but it is one of the '90s great, wholesome American historical dramas - still hold up very well (the less said about his Dan Brown movies, though, the better).

As for Blue, it landed at #9 on my list. Not much else to say other than Juliette Binoche's performance is my favorite by an actress of all time.

When it comes to Howard, I also like Parenthood. But I generally think he is bland to the point of total irrelevance.


And his Grinch is and always will be inexcusable.

Parenthood and Apollo 13 are easily his best films, at least for me. I also like Ransom. The rest kinda gets lost in a blur.

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It will be interesting to see the 66 films from that decade that Movie Forums think is better than Blue.

Apollo 13: Yeah, it was great. Maybe a top 50 for me, but not top 25.

Three Colors: Blue: I've seen this trilogy. I understand why people admire it. I remember liking this one on viewing decades ago, but none of the three movies ever come to mind as a memorable viewing experience. They all seemed too spare, cold, austere, and academically crafted. I'm one of those English majors who was reading "A Farewell to Arms" in class but was feeling guilty about reading "Ringworld" on the weekend.

Seen: 22/34
Ballot: 2/25
Sleepless in Seattle: #91 / My #3
Office Space: #95 / My #23

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Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain ... only straw. Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they? Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

This all comes down to criteria. if one is trying to be completely clinical/objective, I think it would be difficult to list 66 films that surpass Blue. When I put my ballot together, I tried to avoid being clinical and I tend to have trouble being objective without lots of second guessing. So for me personally, if I ask myself, which films do I enjoy watching more and tend to re-watch more? It's probably a list of hundreds of films. As I inferred in my thoughts on Red when it appeared, Blue is like, a major bummer, dude! It's craftsmanship is undeniable, but I would seriously rather watch pretty much anything else on any given day. I am fine with never watching Blue again.


Anyway: Blue, as one would guess, was not on my ballot. I just went with one of the trilogy, because I wanted to see it represented, and this time around, it was Red.

I am sue for another viewing of Apollo 13, which I remember liking quite a bit. Not on my ballot.

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GoodFellas, The Shawshank Redemption, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Miller's Crossing, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Magnolia, Boogie Nights, SE7EN, L.A.Confidential, Unforgiven, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Heat, Eyes Wide Shut, Chungking Expresss, The Thin Red Line, Being John Malkovich, Ed Wood, Léon: The Professional, The Lion King, Toy Story, Princess Mononoke, Hoop Dreams, The Crying Game, Hana-Bi, and thirty-six more.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

I’m a sucker for solving problems in space and that’s thanks to seeing Apollo 13 as a kid. A lot of circles of film nerds dunk on Howard for being too safe and sappy in his filmmaking, and hell I was frustrated when he was tapped to take over Solo (though that whole debacle wasn’t his fault), but Apollo 13 is too good to dismiss. Solving problems in space is an undertapped subgenre and I want more of it.

Out of the Three Colors I liked Blue the best, but ironically White is the one I remember the most of, probably due to it’s lighter tone.

Yes! lol. And I think Spy Hard with Leslie Nielsen also did it. And of course Simpsons also did the “I don’t care” scene with poor Milhouse.

Even though Juliette Binoche stars in two movies on my 'refreshed' Top 250 of All-time. I haven't seen Three Colours: Blue yet. I've seen Apollo 13 once in the theatre in '95 but can't remember a single scene. Interested in a re-watch though, mainly because of its cast. Ron Howard has made some solid films imo; Rush (2013), Ransom (1996), Willow (1988), Parenthood (1989), A Beautiful Mind (2001), In the Heart of the Sea (2015) and Thirteen Lives (2022). Other Ron Howard films I'm interested in watching are; The Paper (1994) and The Missing (2003).

Seen 27/34
Ballot 4/25

My blind guess for tomorrow:

Trainspotting
Sling Blade

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Letterboxd
Entertainment log

Three Colors: Blue was the first film I saw when I finally started examining this trilogy about ten years ago. At first, I couldn't believe how banal method they've used to enter the audience into a heavy drama using a car accident. Then I've immediately stopped the movie thinking it is another pseudo-cinema. Nevertheless, several months later, I pushed myself to see the whole film and this time I felt the magic of Juliette Binoche that gradually catch the spectator.
No room in my ballot but it would definitely make my top 50 of the 90's.
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I think, I saw Apollo 13 in theatre when it came out and forgot it the next day. Typical political commission where half of the Hollywood stars are commanded to march, serving the regime. These things are quite regular in the last five or something decades and people have to pay for them.

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

I don't think it's strictly a matter of what films are "better", but rather what films are great AND more popular/widely seen. I mean, Blue is logged 298K times on Letterboxd and has 115K ratings on IMDb. If you compare it to, say, Pulp Fiction that has 4.4M logs on Letterboxd and 2.3M ratings on IMDb, well, it's not that hard to figure out which one will come up higher in a communal list like this.

I also enjoyed In the Heart of the Sea. I still need to check out A Beautiful Mind.

His talent at getting such memorable performances out of his actors is enough for me to consider him a good director and makes up for him just being an okay visual stylist. Think about how many Oscar nominations and wins his movies have generated and how many performers he helped to flex their craft. Off the top of my head: Keaton in Night Shift, Hanks in Splash, Hemsworth in Rush, Martin in Parenthood...

Finally! One from my list. I had Apollo 13 as my #20. I wrote this on my Back to the 90s thread.


Third rewatch of Ron Howard's film of the ill fated flight of Apollo 13. Even if you're not interested in historical space flight and even if you don't care about learning more about this amazing period, the film is still a riveting & harrowing tale of survival at great odds. One of my favorites.

I don't like Ron Howard films, they're far too Hollywood for me, so Apollo 13 wasn't in the mix.

Three Colours Blue was my #1. I consider it one of the greatest films ever made. The craft, intelligence, performance, and almost spiritual like tone is just on another level. When I saw it, it changed my outlook on cinema, such was the profound feeling of emotion I felt and the enormity of what I'd just seen packed into a 2 hour film. A truly great, great film.

Apollo 13 is a solid film that I've watched several times. I also enjoy the "solving problems in space" subgenre.


Blue looks good but I found Redto be more engaging.

What the heck, since we're talking about Howard, here's my ranking of his work...

• Apollo 13 -
• Parenthood -
• The Beatles: Eight Days a Week -
• Ransom -
• Frost/Nixon -
• A Beautiful Mind -
• Angels & Demons -
• The Da Vinci Code -
• Solo: A Star Wars Story -
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas -

It's been a long time since I've seen some of these, though.

There is quite a bit wrong with that movie, but it's the best performance of Jim Carrey's career, and he makes it work.