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zwolanerd

I guess I just like liking things

You know, for kids!

You know, for kids!

1994 was apparently a good year for movies. I could easily have made this a top twenty list, and a couple of these movies would make my All-Time Top 10 list easily.

10. Little Women – I can admit it: it’s Winona Ryder that puts this one on the list.  A few years ago I suspect Reality Bites would’ve been the representative, but Ethan Hawke’s character’s ridiculousness in that movie has worn on me over the years.

9. The Lion King – NANTS INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA! It’s a great movie that I appreciated even more when I realized it was an all-animals version of Hamlet.

8. Forrest Gump – Back in the late 90s I would have ranked this one higher. I know it’s sappy and manipulative but dang it, those things still work on me.

7. The Crow – I do wonder where this movie would have ended up in his list if Brandon Lee hadn’t died while making it. The dude was charismatic as all get out, and it’s not hard to imagine he would’ve gone on to make some interesting movies.  I’ve never read the comic books this movie is based on (I suspect I wouldn’t like them that much these days), but the tone of the movie strikes me. I love Jane Siberry’s “It Can’t Rain All the Time” from this movie, too, and I realize it’s not for everyone.

6. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective – Flat-out ridiculous and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Overly quotable and often-watched. Sure, the second movie wasn’t as great, but I’d go in a heartbeat to see a Part III if they had Jim Carrey back for it.

5. The Mask – Hey, two Jim Carrey movies! (this should surprise zero of you) I like this one slightly better because of its comicbook/superhero origins, even though the comicbooks were quite a bit darker.

4. True Lies – Arnold and James Cameron should’ve made ten more movies together. It’s action-packed and funny and even Tom Arnold is bearable in it. Jamie Lee Curtis was great in this, too.

3. The Hudsucker Proxy – My favorite Coen Brothers movie and one of my all-time favorite movies. The fast-talking, the quick wit, the stylized feel, and the story all add up to a fantastic movie that not enough people have seen (though those things might also be the barriers that kept it from being a big hit).

2. The Shawshank Redemption – …and, hey, how about another Tim Robbins movie while we’re at it? I doubt there’s much I can say about this one that hasn’t been said a hundred times before, but Andy & Red’s friendship is one of the all-time best movie friendships.

1. Pulp Fiction – When people ask me what my favorite funny movies are, I generally lead with “Ghostbusters” and follow up with this, which usually gets me some funny/appalled looks. Sure, there’s a lot of horrible things that happen to people in this movie, but you also have lines like “I just shot Marvin in the face!” which is an hilarious line about a horrible thing that happens. There are some great characters in this movie and I love the way the story gets told.

 

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