Top 25 films of 1997 (Top two will be unveiled tonight) The final two revealed on page 12

[That One Girl]

Hercules is whatever, but I saw so few movies so it made my list  

[baumer]

What's wrong with liking the movie Liar Liar? The Sweet Hereafter is definitely not for everyone's taste. It's slow and very depressing where is Liar Liar is just fun from start to end. Sometimes people just want to laugh.

[Tower]

Next group that missed:

40	Anastasia	39
41	Mrs. Brown	38
42	My Best Friend's Wedding	32.5
43	In & Out	30
43	Event Horizon	30
45	The Full Monty	29.5
46	Life Is Beautiful	26
46	The Boxer	26
46	Taste Of Cherry	26
49	Seven Years In Tibet	25

[baumer]

Sorry but I will not be able to add to this tonight.  I will get to it tomorrow, possibly on my lunch break.  

[cannastop]

58 minutes ago, Tower said:

46 Taste Of Cherry 26

People of taste, I see.

 

(Haven't actually seen this, though.)

[Dementeleus]

7 minutes ago, cannastop said:

People of taste, I see.

 

(Haven't actually seen this, though.)

 

TASTE OF CHERRY is great. (And regrettably unseen by most.)

[dxmatrixdt]

14 hours ago, Matrix4You said:

Spoiler

99 - Speed 2

99 - Dante's Peak

99 - Bean

97 - Double Team

97 - The Postman

96 - The Jackal

95 - American Werewolf in Paris

93 - The Relic

93 - Brassed Off

92 - Conspiracy Theory

89 - Good Burger

89 - Bent

89 - Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil

87 - Volcano

87 - Insomnia

86 - Mouse Hunt

84 - The Mirror (Ayneh)

84 - Deconstructing Harry

83 - Rosewood

82 - Mr. Jealousy

80 - U Turn

80 - Mimic

79 - My Life in Pink

75 - The Saint

75 - Gone' Fishin

75 - Perfect Blue

75 - Leila

72 - Vegas Vacation

72 - Flubber

72 - The Apostle

71 - Private Parts

69 - Mr. Magoo

69 - Fierce Creatures

68 - Selena

65 - Gummo

65 - Live Flesh

65 - Fast Cheap And Out Of Control

64 - Alien Resurrection

61 - Fireworks (Hana-Bi)

61 - Hard Eight

61 - Batman and Robin

60 - Children of Heaven

59 - The Edge

57 - I Know What You Did Last Summer

57 - George of the Jungle

56 - Air Bud

55 - The Butcher Boy

53 - The Wings of the Dove

53 - Waiting for Guffman

51 - Wag the Dog

51 - Tomorrow Never Dies

50 - The Devil's Advocate

49 - Seven Years in Tibet

46 - Taste of Cherry

46 - The Boxer

46 - Life is Beautiful

45 - The Full Monty

43 - Event Horizon

43 - In & Out

42 - My Best Friend's Wedding

41 - Mrs. Brown

40 - Anastasia

 

 

25 - Amistad

24 - The Lost World

23 - Hercules

22 - Donnie Brasco

21 - The Ice Storm

20 - Con Air

19 - Austin Powers

18 - Chasing Amy

17 - Air Force One

16 - As Good As It Gets

15 - The Sweet Hereafter

14 - Liar Liar

 

 

[Jake Gittes]

Life Is Beautiful is 100% the casualty of some people considering it a 1997 movie and others a 1998 one. No way it'd be that low otherwise. 

[baumer]

7 hours ago, Jake Gittes said:

Life Is Beautiful is 100% the casualty of some people considering it a 1997 movie and others a 1998 one. No way it'd be that low otherwise. 

 

It was released in North America in 1998.  It didn't get any consideration for this list.

[baumer]

I'll try to get two done before work.

 

 

[baumer]

#13

 

Contact

 

Written by James Hart, Michael Goldenberg

Directed by Robert Zemekis

Starring:  Matthew McConaughey, Jodie Foster, David Morse, William Fichtner

WW Box office:  171 million

 

 

 

 

 

Contact is the story of a free thinking radio astronomer who discovers an intelligent signal broadcast from deep space. She and her fellow scientists are able to decipher the Message and discover detailed instructions for building a mysterious Machine. Will the Machine spell the end of our world, or the end of our superstitions? Will we take our place among the races of the Galaxy, or are we just an upstart species with a long way to go?  The remark made throughout the movie by different characters, that if humans were the only life in the universe, it would "be a terrible waste of space", is a famous quote by author Carl Sagan. It references a statement by the Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), considering the potential worlds of other stars; "A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly. If they be not inhabited, what a waste of space."  William Fichtner's character in the film, a blind astrophysicist with enhanced hearing as a result of his condition, is named Kent Clark, a play on the name of Superman's alter ego, Clark Kent. The character is based on a real-life blind S.E.T.I. scientist, Kent Cullers.

 

Number of First Place Votes:  1

 

Number of Lists:  11

 

Academy Awards:  1 nomination and 0 wins

 

Random Critic Remark:  Like Jodie Foster's hopeful space voyager in the picture, "Contact" may not travel quite as far as it hopes to go, but the trip is worth taking nonetheless...Todd McCarthy:  Variety

 

Forum User Comment: It's a pretty great movie up until the end, where it {a} basically turns into a simple Star Trek episode (original series) and {b} after that, it craps out on the theme of faith vs knowledge and hedges its bets. Still, a well-above average movie in an all-too-rare subgenre (the science fiction film that doesn't involve alien invasions or a menace that must be fought). @Squadron Leader Tele

[baumer]

#12

 

The Game

 

Written by:  John Brancatto, Michael, Ferris

Directed by:  David Fincher

Starring:  Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger

WW Box office:  109 million

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicholas Van Orton is a very wealthy San Francisco banker, but he is an absolute loner, even spending his birthday alone. In the year of his 48th birthday (the age his father committed suicide) his brother Conrad, who has gone long ago and surrendered to addictions of all kinds, suddenly returns and gives Nicholas a card giving him entry to unusual entertainment provided by something called Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). Giving in to curiosity, Nicholas visits CRS and all kinds of weird and bad things start to happen to him.   

 

Jodie Foster was originally signed to play Michael Douglas's sibling in the film. However, Foster changed her mind and wanted to appear as Douglas's daughter instead. Douglas and director David Fincher were very opposed to this change so the part went to Sean Penn instead. Foster promptly sued PolyGram to the tune of $54.5 million - even though her Egg Pictures was one of the film's production companies. The matter was fortunately settled out of court. Douglas - who is a personal friend of Foster - said that it didn't seem right for him to play Foster's father, given that there is only 18 years age difference between the two. Ironically, Douglas HAS already played Foster's father - he did so in the Disney film Napoleon and Samantha (1972) at the start of both of their careers.

 

Number of first place Votes:  1

 

Number of Lists:  11

 

Academy Awards:  Nada

 

Random Critic Remark:  Douglas is the right actor for the role. He can play smart, he can play cold, and he can play angry. He is also subtle enough that he never arrives at an emotional plateau before the film does, and never overplays the process of his inner change:  Ebert

 

Forum User Remark:  

Good, albeit a bit too long. Michael Douglas is amazing.

 75/100   @Goffe

[baumer]

Number 11

 

The Fifth Element

 

Written by:  Luc Besson

Directed by:  Luc Besson

Starring:  Bruce Willis, Mila Jovovich, Gary Oldman

WW box Office:  264 million

 

 

 

 

In the twenty-third century, the universe is threatened by evil. The only hope for mankind is the Fifth Element, who comes to Earth every five thousand years to protect the humans with four stones of the four elements: fire, water, Earth and air. A Mondoshawan spacecraft is bringing The Fifth Element back to Earth but it is destroyed by the evil Mangalores. However, a team of scientists use the DNA of the remains of the Fifth Element to rebuild the perfect being called Leeloo. She escapes from the laboratory and stumbles upon the taxi driver and former elite commando Major Korben Dallas that helps her to escape from the police. Leeloo tells him that she must meet Father Vito Cornelius to accomplish her mission. Meanwhile, the Evil uses the greedy and cruel Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg and a team of mercenary Mangalores to retrieve the stones and avoid the protection of Leeloo. But the skilled Korben Dallas has fallen in love with Leeloo and decides to help her to retrieve the stones.

 

The "Divine Language", spoken by Leeloo, was invented by co-Writer and Director Luc Besson, and further refined by Milla Jovovich, who had little trouble learning and developing it, as she was already fluent in four languages. The language had only four hundred words. He and Milla Jovovich held conversations, and wrote letters to each other in the language as practice. By the end of filming, they were able to have full conversations in this language.  Luc Besson wrote the original screenplay when he was in high school. He had conceived the story of the film, and invented the world of the film, as a child, so he could escape his lonely childhood. He began writing the script when he was sixteen, though it was not released in theaters until he was thirty-eight.

 

Number of First Place Votes:  0

 

Number of Lists:  17

 

Academy Awards:  1 nomination and 0 wins

 

Random Critic Remark:  Pure eye-candy and a rollicking good-time....Scott Nash:  Three Movie Buffs

 

Forum User Comment:  Interesting and Odd B+ @Lordmandeep

 

 

[baumer]

The top ten will begin this afternoon and I will hopefully finish this tonight!

[Jake Gittes]

55 minutes ago, Christmas baumer said:

 

It was released in North America in 1998.  It didn't get any consideration for this list.

Obviously it did by several people. We never really decided what year to assign it, although looking at its American release date when it was already released to the paying public in Italy in 1997 is even more arbitrary than it would have been if it were strictly a festival play in '97. Princess Mononoke wasn't released in the US until 1999 and it's either coming up in the top 10 or it's just outside the top 25, if it's the latter it obviously suffered too. 

[LonePirate]

It was mentioned upthread but I am one of the other voters for Mrs. Brown. I placed it at #9 on my list as I enjoyed the film immensely when I saw it during its theatrical run.

 

I regret not putting The Sweet Hereafter on my list. I completely overlooked it when I was compiling my list. It is an excellent film and it should have made my top 5.

 

The lack of votes for Waiting for Guffman is very disappointing.

Edited November 28, 2017 by LonePirate

[Ethan Hunt]

Gattaca didn't make it, did it?

 

 

[cannastop]

55 minutes ago, Ethan Hunt said:

Gattaca didn't make it, did it?

 

 

I'm still worried about Princess Mononoke. 

[Tower]

57 minutes ago, Ethan Hunt said:

Gattaca didn't make it, did it?

 

 

 

1 minute ago, cannastop said:

I'm still worried about Princess Mononoke. 

[4815162342]

Oh yeah I just realized I never submitted a list for this.