30 for 30: A 1993 Retrospective | The Countdown Begins...

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1993

A RETROSPECTIVE

 

 

Programmer's Note:

 

Hello! And Thank you for your patience.  The work crisis is still ongoing, but the all consuming rage abided.  It's now more a simmering fury. Taking the Pups to Acadia helped. My BFF and I watch The Greatest Film Of 1993 in Theaters tonight, so we're back focused and ready to go!

 

The List:

 

I received a total of 31 lists + my own!  Thank You all SO MUCH for helping me reach my goal of 30 for 30 for 30!  A total of 149 films were released, for a ranked list of 103.

 

The list was compiled by:

1. Total Number of Points;
2. Number of Lists as Tie Breaker.

 

I quite liked this system. I only had two ties in the Top 75, before it it turned into the "Movie Only Has 1 Vote" entries.  It also made for a VERY competitive race.  This went right down to the wire.  Numbers 1-4 and Numbers 27-32 were constantly in flux in the last few lists came in.

 

Commentary:

 

This summer I had the pleasure of attending Leonard Maltin's "Argue with Leonard Maltin" Panel at SDCC -- which was actually really insightful and funny, not as cringe as it sounds.  The premise is he invites you to "argue" with him about his old reviews.  ("Yes, he knows, he didn't like T2 when it came out.  Terminator is better."). I asked him during the Q&A, if he ever argued with himself.  And I specifically mentioned we about to do a respective of 1993 cause "we were old."  He replied that, "You are not old."  He continued saying, he rarely went back and changed or re-reviewed films, because the reviews he wrote were how he felt about them in that moment.  Reassessing them now, he's a different person.  So it felt a bit like a cheat.

 

I liked that.

 

Buuuut... that doesn't mean we can't argue with him!  I mean, Arguing With The List TM, Accusing Your Fellow Posters of Bad Taste, and Rage Quitting is a Right of Passage in these threads.  So for the write ups, I tracked down Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (2010 Edition).  Let's see if he agrees with our taste!

 

Full List:

103. The Adventures of Huck Finn

102. Nine-Way Tie

 

 

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#102

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
0.5	1	15
Box Office
24.1M DOM
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take:

 

Adventures of Huck Finn, The (1993) C- 108m. ★★ D : Stephen Sommers.

 

Elijah Wood, Courtney B. Vance, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Robards, Ron Perlman, Dana Ivey, Anne Heche, James Gammon, Paxton Whitehead, Tom Aldredge, Curtis Armstrong, Mary Louise Wilson, Frances Conroy.

 

Utterly unimaginative rendering of Mark Twain’s perennial, which should re- main off-limits to Hollywood from this point on. As Huck, young Wood looks and acts too contemporary by decades, while Vance (as Jim) seems too young. Early scenes involving Huck’s brutal father may be too intense for very young children . . . and this a Disney release!

 

[PG]▼●Q

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#101

9 Way Tie

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
1	1	N/A
Box Office
N/A
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take On The Entries

 

	Boxing Helena (1993) C-107m. ★1⁄2 😧 Jennifer Chambers Lynch. Julian Sands, Sherilyn Fenn, Bill Paxton, Art Garfunkel, Kurtwood Smith, Betsy Clark, Nicolette Scorsese. Dreadful debut feature from the 24-year-old daughter of David Lynch, about an esteemed surgeon (Sands) whose obses- sion with sexpot Fenn leads to a bizarre set of circumstances. Tries to be provocative and shocking, but the result is unintentional laughter (when it’ s not boring). Originally NC-17, rerated after appeal. Super 35. [R]▼●Q
	Children of the Corn II—The Final Sacrifice (1993) C-94m. ★1⁄2 😧 David F. Price. Terence Knox, Paul Scherrer, Ro- salind Allen, Christie Clark, Ned Romero. Barely based on the Stephen King story. Once again, the kids of an isolated Nebraska farm- ing community are killing the adults and no- body knows why. Nobody knows the reason for this movie’s existence either. Followed by five more ‘‘sequels’ ’! [R]▼●
	Carnosaur (1993) C-82m. ★★ D : Adam Simon. Diane Ladd, Raphael Sbarge, Jenni- fer Runyon, Harrison Page, Ned Bellamy, Clint Howard. Brilliant geneticist Ladd hatches man-eating dinosaurs from virus- infected chicken eggs and lets them run amok in an unsuspecting Midwestern city. Roger Corman produced this forgettable film, whose only notoriety will be its legacy as 1993’s ‘‘other’’ dinosaur movie (whichstarred Ladd’ s daughter, Laura Dern). lowed by two sequels. [R]▼●Q
	Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) C-115m. ★★1⁄2 😧 Walter Hill. Jason Patric, Robert Duvall, Gene Hackman, Wes Studi, Matt Damon, Rodney A. Grant, Kevin Tighe, Steve Reevis, Carlos Palomino, Vic- tor Aaron, Stuart Proud Eagle Grant, Ste- phen McHattie, Richard Martin, Jr., Roger Callard, Scott Wilson. Stately, intelligent— but dramatically slack—chronicle of the U.S. Army’ s attempts to subjugate the great Apache warrior. Strong performance by Studi in the lead, and rich characterizations by Hackman (as General Crook) and Duvall (as a veteran Indian scout), sustain interest for quite a while—along with magnificent Moab, Utah, scenery. Eventually, the film’s point is made, and there’s nothing left to maintain audience involvement. Screenplay by John Milius. Panavision. [R]▼●Q
	No Review.
	Kika (1993-Spanish) C-111m. ★★★ 😧 Pedro Almodo ́ var. Peter Coyote, V eronica Forque, Victoria Abril, Alex Casanovas, Rossy de Palma, Santiago Lajusticia, Anabel Alonso, Bibi Andersson. Wacky, very adult story about free-spirited makeup artist Kika (Forque, whose performance is positively in- fectious) and the men in her life, including an American expatriate writer (Coyote) and a psychotic prison escapee. Almodo ́ var has given his favorite actress, Abril, the role of a lifetime: a tabloid TV hostess who cruises Madrid with a camera strapped to her head, seeking to capture criminal acts on videotape. Very funny, explicitly sexual film doesn’t quite sustain its momentum to the end, but remains fresh and certainly different. ▼●Q
	Posse (1993-U.S.-British) C-109m. ★★ 😧 Mario V an Peebles. Mario V an Peebles, Stephen Baldwin, Charles Lane, Tiny Lister, Jr., Big Daddy Kane, Billy Zane, Blair Underwood, Melvin Van Peebles, Salli Richardson, Tone Loc, Pam Grier, Vesta Williams, Isaac Hayes, Robert Hooks, Rich- ard Jordan, Paul Bartel, Stephen J. Can- nell, Nipsey Russell, Reginald V elJohnson, Woody Strode, Aaron Neville, Warrington and Reginald Hudlin. Noisy, violent, but politically correct Western about a mostly black posse who do battle with a pompous, racist colonel, and a vicious white sheriff who wants to take over a peaceful black frontier settlement. Game attempt at a new take on the Old West, but at its core it’s thoroughly conventional. Followed by a video sequel, LOS LOCOS: POSSE RIDES AGAIN. Panavision. [R]▼●Q
	Sonatine (1994-Japanese) C-94m. ★★★ 😧 Takeshi Kitano. Beat Takeshi, Tetsu Wata- nabe, A ya Kokumai, Masanobu Katsumura, Susumu Terashima. Well-observed portrait of a middle-aged gangster who’s looking to his future when he’s asked to settle a dis- pute between two warring factions of ya- kuza on Okinawa. Writer-director-star Kitano (who acts under the name of Beat Takeshi) isn’t timid about depicting violence, but he does it with style. [R] ▼●Q
	This Boy’s Life (1993) C-115m. ★★★1⁄2 😧 Michael Caton-Jones. Robert De Niro, El- len Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Blechman, Eliza Dushku, Chris Cooper, Carla Gugino, Zack Ansley, Tracey Ellis, Kathy Kinney, Gerrit Graham, Tobey Ma- guire. Harrowing but utterly absorbing story, set in the 1950s, of a young boy and his footloose mother who wind up living in a remote part of Washington state with a lout who both browbeats the youngster and beats him physically. Searing character study is a showcase for masterful perfor- mances (including an eye-opener for young DiCaprio), but what ultimately makes it work is learning that the story is true. Screenplay by Robert Getchell, from Tobias Wolff’s memoir . Clairmont - Scope . [R] ▼●Q

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#100

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
1.5	1	13
Box Office
21.3M DOM
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take:

 

Coneheads (1993) C-88m. ★★★

D : Steve Barron. Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Michelle Burke, Michael McKean, Jason Alexander, Lisa Jane Persky, Chris Farley, David Spade, Phil Hartman, Dave Thomas, Sinbad, Jan Hooks, Michael Richards, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Nealon, Adam Sandler, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Tim Meadows, Julia Sweeney, Ellen DeGeneres, Parker Posey, Joey Lauren Adams.

 

Unexpectedly benign (and good-natured) comedy based on the 1970s Saturday Night Live skits. The Coneheads (from the planet Remulak) land on earth in a botched mission and, to their own surprise, adapt to middle-class suburban life. A most enjoyable family film that combines silliness with some sly and unexpected gags. Amusing cameos by a gaggle of past and present SNL cast members. Watch for Drew Carey in a taxi. Aykroyd also cowrote the film. [PG]▼●Q

 

Programmer's Note:

 

Maltin's Daughter, at the panel, did mention that this film got a lot of play at the Maltin household.

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#99

2-Way Tie

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
2	1	N/A
Box Office
N/A
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take:

 

Faraway, So Close! (1993-German) C/B& W-140m. ★★1⁄2 😧 Wim Wenders. Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Peter Falk, Willem Dafoe, Nastassja Kinski, Horst Buchholz, Lou Reed, Mikhail Gorba- chev. The perfect Wenders cast (if not the perfect Wenders movie) takes up where the more successful WINGS OF DESIRE left off; this time it is angel Sander who becomes mortal, joining old celestial pal Ganz—who’ s now married to circus performer Dommartin, with whom he’s raising a daughter and run- ning a pizza shop in unified Germany. Lighter going than its predecessor, but also more lightweight; it’s still a borderline ordeal in the beginning and final segments, despite having been trimmed from 164m.▼●Q

Ramayana: The Legend Of Prince Rama No Review.

 

Programmer's Note:

 

 

This might ACTUALLY be my favorite U2 song.  

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#98

 

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
2.5	1	11
Box Office
320M INR
Awards
39th Filmfare Awards Best Actor - Shah Rukh Khan Best Music Director - Anu Malik Best Male Playback Singer - Kumar Sanu Best Screenplay - Robin Bhatt, Javed Siddiqui, Akash Khurana

 

Maltin's Take:

 

Baazigar - No Review.

 

Programmer's Note:

 

 

[Cap]

#97

5-Way Tie

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
3	1	N/A
Box Office
N/A
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take:

 

	Flesh and Bone (1993) C-127m. ★★1⁄2 D :Steve Kloves. Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, James Caan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scott Wilson, Christopher Rydell, Betsy Brantley, Julia Mueller. Moody but murky ‘‘sins of the father’’ drama, with Quaid well cast as a vend- ing machine supplier who discovers that the tough-luck case he’ s been driving around Texas figured in the childhood tragedy that has dominated his life. Absolutely no dra- matic payoff, but simply oozing in portent. Undeniable standouts are Philippe Rousselot’s photography and the performance of Paltrow as a sexy con woman. [R]▼●Q
	Look Who’s Talking Now (1993) C-92m. ★★ D : Tom Ropelewski. John Travolta, Kir- stie Alley, George Segal, Olympia Dukakis, David Gallagher, Tabitha Lupien, Lysette Anthony; voices of Danny DeVito, Diane Keaton. Third entry in the series isn’t bad, thanks to some cute dogplay and the delightful voice-over work by DeVito and Keaton, as a kind of live-action LADY AND THE TRAMP, who wreak havoc on the lives of the Umbriacco family. Passable family entertainment. [PG-13]▼●Q
	Once Upon a Forest (1993) C-80m. ★★ D : Charles Grosvenor. Voices of Michael Crawford, Ben V ereen, Ellen Blain, Ben Gregory, Paige Gosney, Elizabeth Moss, Janet Waldo, Susan Silo. Pro-social animated tale of young ‘‘furlings’’ who leave their forest home to find a cure for a friend who’s become ill breathing fumes from a chemical spill. Environmental message is imparted in a steady story with typically cute characters, but there’s nothing terribly compelling about the film. [G] ▼●Q
	Poetic Justice (1993) C-110m. ★★ D : John Singleton. Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Regina King, Joe Torry, Maya Angelou, Tyra Ferrell, Roger Guenveur Smith, Q-Tip, Tone Loc, Billy Zane, Lori Petty. Ambitious but fatally pretentious saga of a melancholy South Central L.A. beautician (Jackson), who has retreated from the world after her boyfriend’ s murder; mailman Shakur attempts to break through to her, with predictable results. Implausibly, the poetry this otherwise ordinary woman composes actually is the work of Maya Angelou (who appears on-screen as Aunt June). Jackson is OK in her screen debut. [R]▼●Q
	Night We Never Met, The (1993) C-99m. ★★ D : Warren Light. Matthew Broderick, Annabella Sciorra, Kevin Anderson, Louise Lasser, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Justine Bateman, Michael Mantell, Christine Baranski, Doris Roberts, Dominic Chianese, Garry Shandling, Ranjit Chowdhry, Katha- rine Houghton, Tim Guinee. Disappoint- ing romantic comedy in which about-to-be- married yuppie Anderson time-shares his rent-controlled N.Y.C. apartment with Broderick and Sciorra; all are strangers, and use the pad on alternate days. [R]▼●

Programmer's Note:
 

• I won't front, I watched "Look Who's Talking Now" ALL the time as a child, cause there was nothing better than talking animals as a child.  That was an automatic 10/10. (I also hope those child actor's didn't get converted to Scientology with BOTH Kristie AND John as the parents.)
   
• They arrested someone in connection with Pac's Murder in September. And word on the street is that Puffy/Diddy called for the hit. If you don't know, now you know.

 

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#96

3-Way Tie

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
3	2	N/A
Box Office
N/A
Awards
N/A

 

	The Heroic Trio. No Review.
	Wayne’s World 2 (1993) C-94m. ★★ D : Stephen Surjik. Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere, Christopher Walken, Kim Basinger, Ralph Brown, Ed O’Neill, Harry Shearer, James Hong, Drew Barrymore, Chris Farley. The Party Boys return with Wayne organizing a Waynestock music festival, and Garth being seduced by Honey Horne ́e (Basinger, in a tailor-made role she plays to the hilt). Tired gags from first film run throughout, but occasional bits and cameos (especially from ‘‘the better actor’’) make it worthy. [PG-13]▼●Q
	We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story (1993) C-72m. ★★1⁄2 😧 Dick Zondag, Ralph Zondag, Phil Nibbelink, Simon Wells. Voices of John Goodman, Charles Fleischer, Felicity Kendal, Rhea Perlman, Martin Short, Walter Cronkite, Julia Child, Kenneth Mars, Jay Leno. Amiable children’s animated feature about a quartet of dinosaurs given the opportunity to visit modern-day N.Y C., where they help two troubled kids—but fall prey to a devilish circus proprietor. Mostly fun, though slow at times, and the freakshow subplot is a bit eerie for younger kids. Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, the same year he made another well-known film about dinosaurs. [G]▼●

 

 

 

 

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#95

 

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
3.25	2	N/A
Box Office
N/A
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take:

 

My Boyfriend’ s Back (1993) C-84m. ★1 ⁄2

😧 Bob Balaban. Andrew Lowery, Traci Lind, Danny Zorn, Edward Herrmann, Mary Beth Hurt, Matthew Fox, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Austin Pendleton, Cloris Leachman, Jay O. Sanders, Paul Dooley, Bob Dishy, Paxton Whitehead, Renee Zellweger.

 

Terminally moronic comedy about a teen (Lowery) who is killed and comes back to life to take pretty Lind to the prom. Easy- to-please 13-year-olds might like it; others, beware. Talented cast is wasted. [PG- 13]▼Q

 

Programmer's Note:

 

But at least the song is a banger!

 

[Cap]

#94

 

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
3.5	3	28
Box Office
56.5M DOM
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take:

 

Rookie of the Year (1993) C-103m. ★★★

D : Daniel Stern. Thomas Ian Nicholas, Gary Busey, Albert Hall, Amy Morton, Dan Hedaya, Bruce Altman, Eddie Bracken, Daniel Stern, Robert Gorman.

 

Amiable film for kids about a boy who, after breaking his arm, turns out to have an incredible fastball pitch, which earns him a spot as the new star pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Benign (almost to a fault), sometimes broad comedy/fantasy has a paper-thin plot, but makes all the right moves to entertain the youthful audience it’s aiming for. First-time feature director Stern gives himself the silliest part in the film, as a dimwitted pitching coach. John Candy appears unbilled as an excitable Cubs broadcaster. Similar in premise to a 1954 film, ROOGIE’S BUMP . [PG]▼●Q 

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#93

8-Way Tie

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
4	1	N/A
Box Office
N/A
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take:

 

	Far Off Place, A (1993) C-105m. ★★★ D : Mikael Salomon. Reese Witherspoon, Ethan Randall (Embry), Maximilian Schell, Jack Thompson, Sarel Bok, Robert Burke, Patricia Kalember, Daniel Gerroll. Borderline-slow, but head-on-straight, Disney kids’ adventure about a young Bushman guide, a game warden’s daughter, and a visiting city boy who flee across the desert from murderous poachers. Frank treatment of death makes this iffy for young kids, but older children should find it rewarding. Based on the books A Story Like the Wind and A Far Off Place by Laurens van der Post. Juan Ruiz-Anchia’s magnificent photography is a standout. Panavision. [PG]▼●Q
	Just Another Girl on the IRT. No Review.
	Bound by Honor (1993) C-180m. ★★ D : Taylor Hackford. Damian Chapa, Jesse Borrego, Benjamin Bratt, Enrique Castillo, Victor Rivers, Delroy Lindo, Tom Towles, Carlos Carrasco, Teddy Wilson, Raymond Cruz, Lanny Flaherty, Billy Bob Thornton, Natalija Nogulich, Ving Rhames. Ambitious look at Chicano gang life concerns two half-brothers and a half-white cousin who evolve into a drug-addicted artist, a narcotics detective, and a repeat-offender prisoner. Despite lots of screen time (and a passable beginning), this violent film gives top-heavy emphasis to the cellblock portion of the saga. Script was predominantly written, with shared credit, by acclaimed poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. Video title: BLOOD IN BLOOD OUT. [R]▼●Q
	Madadayo (1993-Japanese) C-134m. ★★★ D : Akira Kurosawa. Tatsuo Matsumura, Kyoko Kagawa, Hisashi Igawa, George Tokoro. Kurosawa’s final film, made when he was 83, is a gentle and contemplative series of vignettes depicting two decades in the life of a revered professor—his retirement in 1943, the bombing of his house during an air raid, building a new home, finding and losing a stray cat, etc.—all centered around a string of birthday parties thrown for him by his ex-students at which he shouts ‘‘Madadayo!’ ’ (‘‘not yet!’ ’) to indicate he’s not ready to be taken by death. A warmhearted and life-affirming finale to the career of a cinematic master. Released in the U.S. in 1998. ▼Q
	Splitting Heirs (1993-U.S.-British) C-86m. ★★ D : Robert Young. Rick Moranis, Eric Idle, Barbara Hershey, Catherine Zeta Jones, John Cleese, Sadie Frost, Stratford Johns. A loser (Idle) learns he’s really a duke and tries to reclaim his title from the bogus heir (Moranis). Strained comedy in the Monty Python tradition, filled with puns, sight gags, and silliness—only some of which is funny. Idle executive produced and coscripted. [PG-13]▼●Q
	The Legend. No Review
	The Young Girl at 25 No Review
	Ticks. No Review

  Programmer's Note: Just reminding folks that Gene Kelly was a stone cold fox.      

[Cap]

#92

 

 

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
4	2	19
Box Office
48M DOM
Awards
N/A

 

Maltin's Take:

 

Little Buddha (1993) C-123m. ★★ D : Bernardo Bertolucci. Keanu Reeves, Chris Isaak, Bridget Fonda, Alex Wiesendanger, Ying Ruocheng, Raju Lal, Rudraprsad, Jo Champa.

Disappointing, dramatically muddled Bertolucci epic with obvious similarities to THE LAST EMPEROR, telling the parallel stories of an aged Tibetan monk (Ruocheng) who believes that a young Seattle boy (Wiesendanger) is the reincarnation of his respected mentor, and the young Prince Siddhartha (Reeves), who lived 2,500 years ago. Pretty to look at, but otherwise pretty much of a bore. Technovision (35mm), Arriflex (70mm). [PG]▼●Q 

 

[Cap]

#91 Three-Way Tie  

Points	No. of Lists	Average Rank
5	1	N/A
Box Office
N/A
Awards
N/A

 

	Clean, Shaven (1993) C-80m. ★★★ D : Lodge Kerrigan. Peter Greene, Robert Albert, Jennifer MacDonald, Megan Owen. Unusual, subtly chilling psychological drama about Peter (Greene), a schizophrenic released from an institution who is grasping for a human connection. Meanwhile, his young daughter has been put up for adoption by her mother, a cop, who’s investigating the brutal murder of another child and becomes convinced Peter is the culprit. A meditation on deep feelings of loss and alienation; not always easy to follow, but challenging, even haunting.▼Q
	Heaven & Earth (1993) C-140m. ★★1⁄2 D: Oliver Stone. Tommy Lee Jones, Hiep Thi Le, Joan Chen, Haing S. Ngor, Debbie Reynolds, Dustin Nguyen, Conchata Ferrell, Vivian Wu, Dale Dye, Liem Whatley. Vietnamese woman’ s painful odyssey from a peaceful childhood in a peasant village to a lifetime of upheaval both in Vietnam and the U.S. This true story (based on two pub- lished memoirs by Le Ly Hayslip) tells of a woman forever caught between forces of North and South in her native country; be- tween the spiritual and the practical; be- tween Vietnamese and American ways. A jumbled narrative, difficult to watch at times, but writer-director Stone lets us share the character’ s emotional catharsis at the conclu- sion. Hayslip can be seen briefly as a jewelry broker; Jeffrey Jones appears unbilled as a priest. Panavision. [R]▼●Q
	Mr. Nanny (1993) C-84m. ★1⁄2 😧 Michael Gottlieb. Terry ‘‘Hulk’’ Hogan (Bollea), Sherman Hemsley, Austin Pendleton, Rob- ert Gorman, Madeline Zima, David Johansen, Mother Love. Lamebrained comedy featuring Hogan as a struggling wrestler hired to look after a pair of spoiled, ignored rich kids (whom weirdo Johansen is plotting to kidnap). Strictly for die-hard fans of the Hulkster. Hemsley and Hogan are no threat to Clark and McCullough. [PG]▼●Q

Programmer's Note: