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zwolanerd

I guess I just like liking things

Don't forget to watch The Oscars on March 2!

Don’t forget to watch The Oscars on March 2!

When I started doing these “yearly” lists, it was because one day I was hit with how many movies I loved came out in 1989. I had no idea how fun it would be for me to go through the lists for each year and winnow them. There’s a lot of “oh, yeah! That was great!” and “huh, I wouldn’t have guessed that movie came out that year” and so forth. Try it yourself some time, it’s fun!

1991 ended up being a not-as-strong year, I think. There are a few great movies, but the overall crop seems kind of meh. Here’s the top ten highest grossing from that year:

1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
4. The Addams Family
5. City Slickers
6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
7. Thelma & Louise
8. Fried Green Tomatoes
9. Hot Shots!
10. JFK

A strange mix, I think. My list of favorites varies a little from that.

10. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – If you had asked me in 1991 or 92 about this, I probably would’ve ranked it much higher. Kevin Costner’s inability to keep an accent never bothered me, and I’ve always liked this one, but it gets lower on my list as time goes by.

9. Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey – Not nearly as good as the first Bill & Ted movie, but still a bunch of fun.

8. Hudson Hawk – Yeah, yeah, everyone’s supposed to hate this because it’s terrible, but I’ve always liked it. Silly fun.

7. City Slickers – Billy Crystal’s a likable sort. I never feel like he’s acting so much, but it doesn’t bother me. And, of course, Jack Palance is great in this.

6. Point Break – I recently rewatched Hot Fuzz which reminded me I need to rewatch Point Break. Keanu should pretty much live in action movies, and Patrick Swayze and Gary Busey are just the icing on the cake here.

5. The Addams Family – Might be a touch overlong, but Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, and Christina Ricci are perfectly cast and seem to be having a lot of fun. A great adaptation.

4. Father of the Bride – Sappy, yes, but come on.

3. L.A. Story – One of the most Steve Martin-est movies Steve Martin ever made. Satire and heart together and it works. You don’t see that much.

2. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country – It’s my third-favorite Star Trek movie.

1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day – One of the best action movies ever, and certainly the best Terminator movie ever. Go back and watch this and The Terminator again – the parallel openings set this one up well, and I wish that the phrase “Arnold plays a good Terminator!” had never been mentioned in any of the reviews. yes, I know I just used it, but the movie is almost 23 years old, people.

Other movies that need mentioning:

  • Backdraft – I remember this movie being better than it is because the fire in it was so impressive.
  • Barton Fink – This movie was confusing as all get out to me when I first saw it. I’ve come to appreciate it (and the Coen Brothers in general), and it was one of the first movies I saw that gave me the idea that movies could be more than simply entertaining.
  • Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare – I will never understand why I like Nightmare on Elm Street movies.
  • Fried Green Tomatoes – I don’t know that I’m the target audience for this, but I liked it nonetheless.
  • Grand Canyon – Steve Martin in a rare dramatic role was the main draw for me. I don’t remember a lot about it, other than it’s one of those “big cast with interweaving stories” movies.
  • Hook – I loved this movie when it came out, but I don’t care for it much anymore. It grates on me for reasons I can’t quite determine.
  • Hot Shots! – Charlie Sheen’s best work?  Maybe so.
  • Nothing but Trouble – One of the worst movies I have ever seen. 20+ years later and I still give the guy who picked it for our movie party a hard time about it now and again.
  • Oscar – Stallone in a comedy and it’s better than you think.
  • The Rocketeer – I remember very little about this, but it’s lodged in my memory as “good.”
  • The Silence of the Lambs – One of those “great movies that I never need to see again.” So creepy.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze – Different April, a different voice for Donatello, and ramped-up silliness. My least-favorite Ninja Turtle movie, but it has one of my favorite movie lines ever.
  • Thelma & Louise – I don’t know how to phrase what I like about this movie.
  • What About Bob? – Richard Dreyfuss does a slow burn like few others, and Bill Murray’s likable irritant is the perfect match to that powderkeg.

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