The MoFos Top 100 of the 90s Countdown - Redux

Loads of future stars, or actors who had recently launched careers in Dazed and Confused, among the ensemble cast - Jason London, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Matthew McConaughey, Nicky Katt, Joey Lauren Adams, Rory Cochrane and, Anthony Rapp.

Vince Vaughn was almost cast as the bully O'Bannion before Ben Affleck was chosen. Other young actors considered for roles include Elizabeth Berkley, Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd, Brendan Fraser, Jon Favreau, Ron Livingston and Claire Danes. Casting director Don Phillips said, "We wanted Claire Danes for the girl, but she was too young. She couldn't leave school." Renee Zellweger has a nonspeaking role in the film, but was originally considered for the part of Darla, which went to Parker Posey instead. Linklater said, "Parker was just crazier."



Galaxy Quest - Speaking of fantastic ensemble casts... my favorite being Alan Rickman's resentful Shakespearian actor, playing the Spock analogue -- and while I've never been a fan of Tim Allen (aside from Buzz), he nailed the role of the arrogant actor & captain. Missi Pyle's audition went so well that Steven Spielberg asked for Laliari's role to be expanded, which developed into the romance with Kwan. (Jennifer Coolidge was the second choice for the role).

The design of the Thermian station was influenced by the works of artist Roger Dean, especially his cover art for the Yes live album Yessongs (1973)

I saw this in theaters and thought it was kick. It teleports into the top 40 but wasn't ranked in the original list.

While Dazed was slotted in at #48.

Up to 31 for 64 now.

I thought Galaxy Quest was alright, not enough to make the list.

Hadn't seen Dazed and Confused.

LIST:

21. JFK
25. Hurricane Streets

38. Galaxy Quest (1999) - I think I completely overlooked Galaxy Quest when putting my ballot together. Oh well, it was on my Comedy Countdown ballot - and pretty high up at that, so at least I've shared my love for Galaxy Quest previously. I love it. Have it rated 5/5 on letterboxd and the last time I saw it I had this to say : "I haven't been watching a whole load of old favourites lately, but last night I watched a short documentary about the making of Galaxy Quest, and it really put me in the mood - despite the fact that I pretty much know the movie off by heart nowadays. I still laughed enough to annoy my cat, who just wanted to rest peacefully on me. From conception, casting, writing onwards, there's not a single thing it gets even a little wrong. Every joke lands - and if it were a gymnast's routine it would get a 10.0 from me, with Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Daryl Mitchell and Enrico Colantoni all worthy of individual mention for their comic performances. It's a great film even if you put aside the fact that it's such a loving ode to science fiction fans (very specifically Star Trek, but more generally a fan of anything really.) This is one of those films where the chips fell and ended up in all the right places, with Dean Parisot (not one of cinema's greats) the right person at the right time to direct, and a better choice than Harold Ramis regardless of the fact that he was a better filmmaker. Sometimes, you are simply put on this Earth to create the one masterpiece - (and yeah I know, Parisot does have an Oscar to his name for a short film he made.) There aren't many films like this one that I'll give this kind of score to - but it get's the score because of the fact that's in my mind it's absolutely perfect. Nothing would better it. Any change would be to it's detriment. I absolutely love Galaxy Quest - with a passion." So you see after reading that, it really should have been on my ballot! A big oversight.

37. Dazed and Cofused (1993) - I have this on Criterion and think it's pretty good. Rated it 4/5 and had this to say on letterboxd : "Richard Linklater seems to be a nostalgic fellow, and I'm much the same, so I enjoyed this look back to our high school years - even if mine didn't revolve around American traditions. There are some things that are universal, and it's those things that shine through in Dazed and Confused. To be young is to be focused on one thing only - to have fun. Anything else seems a waste of time, and anyone who would try to tell us otherwise is also a wasting our time. A great assortment of characters, and many winning, down-to-earth performances." Not enough for me to consider it ballot-worthy though. Definitely need to see this again to firm up where it stands in my overall rankings.

Seen 63/64

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What Terrence Mallick did on his films was he basically shot multiple films and then he just kinda crafted the film he wanted. Christopher Plummer explains in best, but I hope when Terry passes (and he's in his 80's) we'll see these other versions of the films he made.


But I shouldn't have used "directors" cut I should say "producers" or "editors" cut

Apart from recalling you have an aversion to subtitles, I would say you'd have a reasonably good chance of liking Chungking Express. It's a sentimental (of a sorts) love story for the most part.

I've seen Galaxy Quest and Dazed and Confused and liked both, but neither made my ballot.

Seen:64/64

Now we're talking! I had Galaxy Quest at #20 and Dazed and Confused at #12.

Dazed and Confused was so much like my high school days in the 70s (yeah, I'm that old) it was scary. It makes total sense because of director Richard Linklater being born and raised in Texas like me. There were things that really happened in my years there that showed up in the movie, sometimes with a bit of a twist. Just like in the movie, my sister was a few years older than me and when I got in high school she told the upper classmates to not pick on me and guess what happened? Then there were the guys chasing younger kids around to "initiate" them, but instead of a paddle, these guys chased one kid down to the car wash next to the school and held him with his arms out and sprayed him from head-to-toe. This was during lunch break, so when he walked back into the next class, he was so soaked, his shoes were squishing out loud with everybody in the class snickering and the teacher looking bug-eyed at him. We also had a creepy kind of guy like the one Matthew McConaughey played (although not in a comic fashion like McConaughey) and would scope out the younger girls and not even realize that he had graduated many years before. Just a few of the similarities of my school years that this movie brought all flooding back. A hilarious flick with all the future stars doing a great job.

Galaxy Quest was a ton of fun, with the whole cast doing brilliant send-ups of Sci-Fi shows and Star Trek in general. My favorite person in the cast is Sam Rockwell as Guy, the "plucky comic relief," who points out the really dangerous things that could happen. Also he gives one of my favorite lines, when Alan Rickman's Dr. Lazarus sees Guy smiling goofily and says, "What?" and Guy replies "I'm just jazzed about being on the show." This, when they're already on the real ship in space. Also dug Tony Shalhoub as Tech Sergeant Chen who is really laid-back about everything. Then there was Enrico Colantoni as real alien Mathesar and his choppy way of talking. My favorite line from him was when the show Gilligan's Island was mentioned and Mathesar and his fellow aliens pull a long face and say, "Those poor people." The acting was all funny with everybody on their A-game, the special effects were awesome, and the alien makeup (especially on the character General Sarris and his shipmates) was great. I'm not sure but I think I saw Rockwell in this and The Green Mile in the same week and realized what a fine actor he was and would continue to be.

I'm just jazzed about two of mine showing up back-to-back!

My list:
#5 Braveheart list proper #40
#12 Dazed and Confused list proper #37
#18 The Fifth Element list proper #56
#20 Galaxy Quest list proper #38
#25 Apollo 13 list proper #68

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Perfect reveal for a Friday MoFos! No votes, but love Galaxy Quest & Dazed and Confused.
Both fun and cool movies.. Alright, Alright, Alright..

Seen 57/64
Ballot 5/25

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Entertainment log

Galaxy Quest was #14 on the MoFo Top 100 Comedies and #88 on the MoFo Top 100 Sci-Fi Films. Dazed & Confused was #48 on the original MoFo '90s list, #86 on the MoFo Top 100 Reboot, and #76 on the MoFo Top 100 Comedies.

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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

Slight catch-up time.

Rushmore - The Royal Tenenbaums were my introduction to Wes. Loved it. Went back and watched Rushmore a couple of years later and... really didn't care for it. It's been too long to remember the specific details, but I think something like the mundane thing of, everyone wants to be in Max's plays like they're great productions, but then looking at them and thinking, "these don't actually look that good or special," was a real sticking point. Writing that out, that seems like an odd thing to care about, but I think it was pointing towards issues of, how I felt about the character vs. how it felt like the movie thought I should feel about the character. I was on board for Moonrise Kingdom though, which also had greatly flawed, precocious-sounding teens, which makes me wonder a little if I'd be more open to Rushmore if I gave it another go these days.

Ed Wood - Hey! Arguably Burton's best and briefly considered for my ballot. It comes across that he has a sincere love for Wood's love for making movies.

Braveheart - I enjoyed this a lot when I was 15 or 16. I have had no interest in re-visiting it. I don't think it's a movie I'd care much for these days.

Chungking Express - Hey! My #17! My introduction to WKW back in the 90s, which was delightful, or emotionally resonant for me as a young person. I like a number of his other films from the decade more, but this was his most iconic, and truthfully, I didn't know if any of his other films were going to make the countdown (and it looks like it was only Fallen Angels, just barely), so I decided to include Chungking Express on my ballot.

Galaxy Quest - I skipped this at the time because it didn't look good. At some point, probably two decades later, I start hearing it mentioned a lot as this beloved movie. So I watched it... and thought it was fine. Alan Rickman was probably the funniest part of it for me, but I honestly didn't/don't get the degree of love for it. Though, I think it's been established, I'm not really a straight comedy person.

Dazed and Confused - I still have never seen this one, despite hearing it mentioned, talked about, and quoted a lot. I'm kind of hit or miss with Linklater that I have seen, which causes me to be aware of his films coming out, but also frequently not in a great rush to see them.



I'm starting to think a good chunk of my top 15 isn't going to make it.

Dazed and Confused is a great hang out movie with a killer soundtrack.

Seen Galaxy Quest once and thought it was amusing. I owe it another try.

same old story, i saw dazed and confused forever ago i think i liked it then but i don't remember a thing about it. i think i've only recently heard of galaxy quest.

Think I've seen Galaxy Quest only once before and it was a long time ago... after I've watched most of the original Star Trek movies, but before watching most of the Stargate TV show. It seems like something that would appeal to me and the cast looks great, but I just don't recall it being all that funny.

Rewatching some clips, the Thermians' dialog and behavior in particular just come off as tragically forced.

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I’m going to play Rauldc today, both of these movies this high feel tragic to me. Dazed And Confused does at least feel like a good representation of 90’s film. I know loads of people love it, I just thought it was fine. The excitement and kind of cult following of it is just completely lost on me.

Galaxy Quest on the other hand. I watched that one fairly recently when it showed on the comedy list. Why I had ignored it all those years was apparent immediately. It’s really a pretty terrible movie. Maybe you have to be a big Trek head to love it, but I have watched enough Trek and never felt like the jokes were going over my head. They just weren’t funny. I would have been disappointed if this one landed at 100. Being in the top half is a travesty, and will stick out like a sore thumb whenever I look at this list.

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“Except for markf, you’re all a disgrace to cinema.”

I just checked and Galaxy Quest was around the 300 mark...what a decade it's been for that film. Huge move. It's great in many different ways and might have made a top 50 or 75 for me. I rewatched it (after I watched the doc on it) recently and it was a good time had by all. Speaking of good times, I had Dazed and Confused at #7. Love this movie. It's funny how many parallels there are in this movie, set in 70s Texas, and what we were doing in the 90s in an Edmonton suburb. Maybe that's why the movie feels nostalgic for me but also we watched it many, many times.

1. Close-Up (1990)
4. Chungking Express (1994)
7. Dazed and Confused (1993)
8. JFK (1991)
12. A Moment of Innocence (1996)
17. The Thin Red Line (1998)
18. Apollo 13 (1995)
20. Sonatine (1993)
22. The Player (1992)
23. Three Colors: Blue (1993)

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I mean honestly, watching these two movies in a double header is just going to be a great night.

I'm fascinated that there are people who don't like Galaxy Quest--it's just a reminder of how subjectively comedy is received. I love this film. It is pitch-perfect parody, clearly made with a love for the things it is poking fun at, like all the best parodies do. The normally insufferable Tim Allen is actually quite sufferable in this. Alan Rickman does Alan Rickman stuff:


Possibly the best Star Trek film after Wrath of Khan. Galaxy Quest was my #7.

Dazed and Confused is a good, fun Linklater film, but I only put one of his on my ballot and it already showed.

Which is the best thing about it.


No points from me, but Dazed & Confused is something I love and I did think alot about including but, in the end, it's just been too long since I last saw it to push anything out of my 25. I loved Linklater in the 90's, though and thought this was an excellent follow up to Slacker, which I've only just noticed isn't on my list and that's a huge mistake by me. Dammit! I doubt it would've made the list anyway, but that's not the point. Grrr.

Galaxy Quest is a much loved film I don't love at all. It's ok, I certainly don't dislike it, but it's.... There?

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

LOVED Galaxy Quest