The MoFos Top 100 of the 90s Countdown - Redux

Catching up on the weekend reveals:

Dances with Wolves: Excellent film, and just missed my ballot. Oddly, I have only seen this once, and am due for a re0watch. maybe it would have made my ballot if I had seen it more recently, but I had a different historical epic on my ballot, one that looks to not make the list, which to me is just a travesty. Not sure what the argument would be for it not to even be top 100, and I will complain very loudly once this thing is all said and done, if even just to save face for now in case it sneaks in. Alas, Holden doesn't even mention it in his alternates, so I don't think it has a chance in hell at this point. No vote.

Leon: The Professional: This film has fallen off big time for me. Really stylish and well made, but some aspects of it just don't work for me these days. No vote.

The Sixth Sense: This made my ballot at #14. I have seen it many times, and it stay effective and interesting to me to this day. I really enjoy Toni Collette's performance here, and this film is much more than just the twist at the end, IMO. Sadly, that is what many people focus on exclusively.

The Lion King: This is on our screen at home fairly frequently, what with a 6 year-old in the house. I like it just fine, but never considered it for my ballot.

Scream: Big fan of this one. Briefly considered it for my ballot, but ultimately didn't include it.

Casino: Excellent film, but I had a different Scorsese on my ballot. You know, the boring obvious pick!

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Both Scream and Casino are great, but they didn't make my ballot.

Scream...not my type of movie, not at all.

Casino...I did see this back in the day because it was a period piece film. I thought it was good but I was much younger then and these days I don't do realistic & graphic violence movies, they don't set well with me.

I haven't seen the film, but Hana-bi and maybe Miller's Crossing are the ones that stuck out to me as ones with lesser chances. For what it's worth, Hana-bi was #51 in the previous 90s Countdown and #77 in the Foreign Countdown. Again, I haven't seen it so I'm not sure how appreciated or not it is here, especially in recent years. Miller's Crossing, on the other hand, did stuck out to me but it did really well in both the previous 90s Countdown (#37) and the Neo-noir Countdown (#15) so it might come up in the next 10-20.

Other than that, I really like Holden's list. I did think that Contact might also have a chance. It does seem less likely now, especially since it didn't even make the previous 90s Countdown, but who knows.

As for American History X, I think I said it on a previous countdown, but I just fail to see its relevance; not necessarily because of the film but because I really don't see its "footprint" so to speak in the overall film conversations around here or elsewhere.

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Many of these titles are on my ballot. More precisely six of them. I still keep hope for one of them. As far as I remember, it was on the upper half of the first 90s countdown.

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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.

Contact did make the MoFo Sci-Fi list, at #49. Though there were eight other '90s flicks that placed higher: Dark City, Independence Day, The Fifth Element, Total Recall, 12 Monkeys, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Total Recall, The Fifth Element, and 12 Monkeys have already shown, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, and T2 must be there. ID4 seems very unlikely at this point, and Dark City is seriously on the bubble. Do not suspect there is any kind of room left for Contact.

Yes, American History X's memory is fading, other than the image of the graphic curb-stomping, and in cinephile circles the fact that the authorship is somewhat disputed doesn't help. First time director Tony Kaye was forced to recut the film he had turned in, and forced to work with Edward Norton in the process, leading to Kaye trying to pull it from festivals and some referring to the released print as the "Norton Cut". Kaye petitioned the DGA to have his name removed from the credits and replaced with a pseudonym, which he was denied, and he eventually sued both the studio and the DGA. Unsuccessfully. The whole infamous episode kept him from making a second film for seven years.

All of that puts a bit of a stink on American History X, too. I don't think it has dated all that well anyway, so time plus controversy may have bumped it from the list. We will know, shortly.

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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

Scream is a great one. Such a fun spin on the genre and it still works surprisingly well today with its meta layer and playfulness throughout. I didn’t vote for it though.

Casino is good but it doesn’t hold a candle to Scorsese’s other mob movie… although it has to be said I think I’ve only seen Casino once. So maybe a revisit is due.

It took me a while to warm up to Scorsese, I didn't care for him in my teenage years, but even now, my favorites list is a bit a** backwards from the norm. And the only 2 I really liked from him in the 90s was The Age of Innocence and Casino - which I remember not rushing out to see after some reviewers criticized Scorsese for retreading familiar territory and calling it a lesser Goodfellas. I received another lesson about thinking for myself after eventually renting the DVD and, well, call me a clown if you must, but I actually prefer this over Goodfellas. Martin might be treading on familiar territory, but the story and it's telling was far more engaging and complex, and I found it an overall steadier film, 'Fellas starts off fantastic, before sinking in the middle and falling apart at the end. (I know -gasp- "but the end has the famous dialogue about the sauce and the helicopter and all the paranoia..."). I gave it a 3 out of 5, so a passing grade, but yeah, no great love for it. But much love for Casino.

Scream didn't pass muster with me... that might be due to what you are talking about with the satire - Galaxy Quest I get, but the slasher genre, eh, I'll watch it if it's highly praised, but honestly aside from the grandpappy, Psycho, I have no love for them and no real connection, to where the satire would mean a thing to me.

BTW - thanks for the well wishes, apparently, I have a magical mystery ailment that's baffling all of the medical sciences. Might be a thing where it has to progress further before they can see what it is. We all go through something, some type of garbage, that's life, and I wouldn't be sharing my garbage save for the fact that I'm committed to this list. There is a chance I might have to break my usual early morning schedule and just post in those periods when I'm awake and lucid (like now). We'll see how it goes, but if it's ever late, fear not, it'll come.

Hopefully it isn’t anything serious. I think I can speak on behalf on the forum and say that if you have a day where you feel too unwell to post, we would understand. You’re doing a great job, regardless of

Yes, I was just about to post something similar. Your health comes first @Captain Quint!

In previous countdowns, hosts have posted four entries on days when they aren't available, so keep that in mind. Either way, wish you a speedy recovery and all the best, Quint.

I didn't rewatch Casino because I rewatched the other Scorsese and afterwards removed both of them from my preliminary list. For some reason, his films rarely resonate with me (Taxi Driver being the big exception).

Scream would be high on my list if we'd vote for the most overrated movies of all time, but we're not. I'm a horror fan, I've watched horror films for 40+ years, but Scream's meta approach does nothing for me (well, it bores me, I guess). It took me multiple attempts to finish the film in one go (things we do to pretend to be a "true" movie enthusiast). I suppose many people like it, so good for them, but for me, it's garbage.

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