Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Big Magilla]

Was Safe generally considered a dud in 1995? Or is that more your own opinion, Big Magilla?

"Dud" is my own interpretation, but the film, as I recall, received mixed reviews.

I like the premise of the film, but found the execution tedious and pretentious. Most critics who didn't like the film still liked Julianne Moore's performance, which I have never understood. Her performance is the film.

[Mister Tee]

Come And See is a masterpiece. I hope you can track it down sometime, Mister Tee, though be prepared for one of the most harrowing war films of all time.

After these two stellar recommendations, I've put it in the queue.

[rain Bard]

Come And See is a masterpiece. I hope you can track it down sometime, Mister Tee, though be prepared for one of the most harrowing war films of all time.

Was Safe generally considered a dud in 1995? Or is that more your own opinion, Big Magilla? I have to admit I wasn't paying much attention to indies at that point in my life, as I was living in a small Iowa college town with but a single movie theatre which showed nothing "further out" than Sense & Sensibility. The campus would sometimes bring in something more out-of-the-ordinary, which is how I first saw things like To Die For and Funny Bones and The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls In Love, but there wasn't much rhyme or reason to these selections.

[dws1982]

Yeah, for mainstream films, 1985 is pretty indefensible, and Shoah and Come and See are definitely fringe titles. (My DVD of Shoah on Amazon's marketplace on $160 earlier today. Hate to give it up, but I need the money, and IFC's distributing it anyway, so it'll likely end up reissued via Criterion in a year or so.) But do give Come and See a look at some point, Mister Tee. It's pretty much unforgettable. It's not graphically violent like a lot of war films; most of the violence is implied, but it's more effective than seeing blood and guts.

[Mister Tee]

Well, alot of it's subjective. I look at the list you provide for 1985, and, apart from Brazil and Dreamchild, there isn't a one of them I prefer to, I'd guess, 20 of the 25 1995 films I noted. And how bad summer movies like Waterworld were -- given that I expect 96% of summer movies to suck to begin with -- plays almost no part in how I rate a year.

And I can think of VERY few years where there are in excess of 20 movies about which I feel fondly -- certainly none in th 80s, most assuredly not in the last two.

dws, perhaps "small gems" was a poor word choice. I simply meant to refer to somewhat obscure movies (I've honestly never heard of Come and See) or clearly specialized-appeal films (a monstrously long movie about the Holocaust, no matter how highly praised, is going to be a niche item). I presumed this discussion was at least largely about mainstream films, as that's what sets the impression about a given year (though discoveries are often made after the fact).

[Big Magilla]

You guys are bringing in all kinds of subjective asides.

I am not talking about the best year I had going to the movies - if I stopped and thought about it, that might have been 1958 or 1967 or 1969 or 1998 or 2007. What I was referring to was the preponderance of high profile bad movies to good ones whether I saw most of those films in the year produced or last week. For me, that year was 1995.

I have to say though, that 2003 wasn't much better.

[dws1982]

You can always find small gems to redeem just about any year, but I'd say '85 was on the whole pretty terrible

True, but I think it's a short-sell to call Shoah and especially Come and See "small gems". I'd put Come and See in my all-time top ten, although it didn't show up in the States until 1987.

My vote is for 2003 as the nadir of my moviegoing life.

[Sabin]

(Big Magilla @ Dec. 09 2010,1:49)

If you look hard enough you can find ten films to like in any year, but 1995 had a larger percentage of crap than any other year I can think of.

It was the year that us Waterworld, Showgirls, Safe, Braveheart and Restoration among other infuriating duds. I also had problems with Strange Days, Leaving Las Vegas, Casino and Nixon.

I think all of these films are of considerable interest.

I'll even take the summer blockbusters of '95 over the crap we have now. Blockbusters today are loud products of studio-think. We used to have John McTiernan, Martin Campbell, and Renny Harlin, all of whom look positively sedated compared to the blockbusters of today. In fact outside of 1998's offering of Saving Private Ryan and The Truman Show, 1995 was the last year that offered prestigious studio offerings during the summer like Apollo 13, The Bridges of Madison County, and even Braveheart. I have a lot of fond memories of that year.



Edited By Sabin on 1291925021

[Eric]

I think 1995 is probably one of the strongest years in the '90s even if you remove the unimpeachable Showgirls from consideration as a statistical anomaly on my part. I certainly think it's the first great year of the decade. (I've always thought 1993 beyond overrated unless middlebrow/Oscar-type stuff is your control group.)



Edited By Eric on 1291924797

[Big Magilla]

I'm sure I've said this here before, but people calling 1995 a bad year for cinema astound me. 1995 brought (in rough chronological order): Dolores Claiborne, Muriel's Wedding, Rob Roy, A Little Princess, Bridges of Madison County, Smoke, Apollo 13, Brides of Madison County, Clueless, Babe, The Usual Suspects, To Die For, seven, Devil in a Blue Dress, Get Shorty, Strange Days, Leaving Las Vegas, Toy Story, Casino, Heat, Nixon, Dead Man Walking, Sense and Sensibility, Richard III and 12 Monkeys. Obviously no one's going to like all of those, but if you can't find a pretty susbstantial group to like in among all that, your standards are set way too high.

If you look hard enough you can find ten films to like in any year, but 1995 had a larger percentage of crap than any other year I can think of.

It was the year that us Waterworld, Showgirls, Safe, Braveheart and Restoration among other infuriating duds. I also had problems with Strange Days, Leaving Las Vegas, Casino and Nixon.

Even the year's best films, Dead Man Walking, Sense and Sensibility, The Bridges of Madison County, The American President, Toy Story, Babe, Get Shorty, Rob Roy, Richard III, Priest, Se7en, The Usual Suspects and Clueless weren't as good as the best of the preceding or following year, of if you prefer, 1985, which gave us Brazil, The Color Purple, Prizzi's Honor, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Witness, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Desperately Seeking Susan, The Falcon and the Snowman, Cocoon, Mask, Heaven Help Us, The Emerald Forest, Dreamchild, Mishima, A Private Fucntion, The Shooting Party and To Live and Die in L.A. among others and aside from Twice in a Lifetime, Maxie and A Chorus Line, few out and out duds.

[Mister Tee]

The Oscars pretty much blew it all around, but they had plenty to choose from.

I think this had something to do with the conventional widsom that '95 was bad all around (and it was conventional wisdom: the reason I jumped on it so quickly here is I've been hering it for so long). The two preceding years were rare in producing near-unanimous critical consensus: Schindler's List and Pulp Fiction were easily chosen the best of their respective years. In '95, there was so much on offer, without an obvious "best", that the critics went many different directions, and the Oscars had little guidance...leading to disappointing nominations and one of the worst winner outcomes of my lifetime.

You can always find small gems to redeem just about any year, but I'd say '85 was on the whole pretty terrible -- not least because it was the nadir of a generally lackluster decade: after the collapse of 70s new Hollywood but prior to the rise of the indies, when finding a decent movie required very deep digging. 1990 was no prize, either, but I don't think it evoke quite the despair that an Oscar race between Out of Africa and the Color Purple did.

[Sabin]

(Mister Tee @ Dec. 09 2010,1:19)

1995 brought (in rough chronological order): Dolores Claiborne, Muriel's Wedding, Rob Roy, A Little Princess, Bridges of Madison County, Smoke, Apollo 13, Brides of Madison County, Clueless, Babe, The Usual Suspects, To Die For, seven, Devil in a Blue Dress, Get Shorty, Strange Days, Leaving Las Vegas, Toy Story, Casino, Heat, Nixon, Dead Man Walking, Sense and Sensibility, Richard III and 12 Monkeys. Obviously no one's going to like all of those, but if you can't find a pretty susbstantial group to like in among all that, your standards are set way too high.

Not to mention Before Sunrise, City of Lost Children, Clockers, Clueless, Kicking and Screaming, Kids, Living in Oblivion, Persuasion, Priest, Safe, The Secret of Roan Inish, and Walking and Talking, or films released in America during '95 like Exotica, Les Miserables, and Wild Reeds. Most of these movies aren't great but they're at least of considerable interest or indicative of burgeoning talent. 1995 was the year I first got into movies, and looking back I see few cut-and-dry masterpieces and a bevy of B+/A- films, which I am perfectly fine with. It's not a great year for great films, but it's a great year for very good films.

[Greg]

Wasn't 1990 much worse than either 1985 or 1995?

[dws1982]

Yeah, I don't see how anyone could call 1995 one of the worst years ever. Even if you mostly look at it from a mainstream/Oscar-contender perspective there's still a lot of great stuff. The Oscars pretty much blew it all around, but they had plenty to choose from.

1985 was pretty awful all around for mainstream American films, although the year that gave us Shoah, Come and See, Wetherby, Pale Rider, and Heaven Help Us can't be all bad.

[Mister Tee]

Chabrol was also nominated for Story of Women, but I still find it shoocking that one of the most famous and celebrated French directors was only cited twice.

I think 1985 was much worse tham 1995.

I'm sure I've said this here before, but people calling 1995 a bad year for cinema astound me. 1995 brought (in rough chronological order): Dolores Claiborne, Muriel's Wedding, Rob Roy, A Little Princess, Bridges of Madison County, Smoke, Apollo 13, Brides of Madison County, Clueless, Babe, The Usual Suspects, To Die For, seven, Devil in a Blue Dress, Get Shorty, Strange Days, Leaving Las Vegas, Toy Story, Casino, Heat, Nixon, Dead Man Walking, Sense and Sensibility, Richard III and 12 Monkeys. Obviously no one's going to like all of those, but if you can't find a pretty susbstantial group to like in among all that, your standards are set way too high.



Edited By Mister Tee on 1291922419