How good was 1989? So good that Glory and Do the Right Thing not only failed to win Best Picture, they were n0t even nominated! These two powerful - and radically different - commentaries on race relations were just two of the highlights of a year that was filled with excellent films. Glory was a large-scale epic in the old Hollywood tradition, while Do the Right Thing, on the other hand, was an innovative film that in many ways foreshadowed the styles of the 1990s.
Glory and Do the Right Thing were wrongfully overlooked, but it is difficult to criticize the Academy too much on their best picture nominees. While Born on the Fourth of July was a classic example of Oliver Stone overkill, surprise hits Driving Miss Daisy and My Left Foot were both excellent. Dead Poets Society was the movie that finally made people forget that Robin Williams was Mork from Ork, and Field of Dreams allowed audiences to envision a little glimpse of heaven in the middle of an Iowa cornfield.
Throw in Kenneth Branagh's stirring Henry V, the Michelle Pfeiffer-driven Fabulous Baker Boys, Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors, Steve Martin's Parenthood, the tear-jerking "chick-flick" Steel Magnolias, the excellent thriller Dead Calm, the thought-provoking documentary Roger & Me, and Steven Sorderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and the critics had plenty to keep them happy.
But 1989 was not only for the highbrow crowd. There was plenty to keep mainstream audiences happy as well. The winning combination of Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas made Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade one of the biggest hits ever. The Little Mermaid keyed a Disney resurgence and signaled that the company was willing to return to their early roots and make top-quality animated features. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover reprised their popular partnership in Lethal Weapon 2. The Abyss provided evidence that sci-fi films could be intelligently done, while Batman did the same for comic book movies.
Oh yes, let's not forget about the Caped Crusader. The Dark Knight dominated the year, and Batman somehow managed to live up to the unprecedented hype that surrounded it. Tim Burton's Gotham City was like no other movie set anyone had ever seen before, while watching Jack Nicholson play the Joker was worth the price of admission alone.
The year also provided plenty to laugh about. When Harry Met Sally offered a funny look at the relationship between the two sexes. Christmas Vacation made us forget about the atrocious European Vacation, while Major League made me personally forget about endless years of watching my beloved Indians lose. And Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was a surprisingly great combination of low-brow humor and remedial history lessons.
1989 produced a couple of movies that are still big hits among the twenty-something crowd. Say Anything was probably the date movie of the year, while Heathers is a cult classic that pokes fun at high school culture in a very dark way. All this and I'm not even mentioning Police Academy 6: City Under Siege or The Karate Kid III. So the year might not be perfect, but 1989 is the closest we have seen so far.
Top 5 of 1989:
Many critics look back on 1995 with skepticism, primarily because it was a year whose supposed lack of quality films forced the Academy to nominate Babe for Best Picture. Few can doubt the brilliance of Braveheart, the eventual Best Picture winner, but aficionados often wonder about the overall depth of the year's films. After all, was 1995 not the same year that afforded Nicholas Cage his first (and only) Oscar? Was Mira Sorvino the most unlikely Best Supporting Actress winner ever? (Aside from Marisa Tomei, of course.) These points are offered up to illustrate that, in spite of this, 1995 was a year that gave the public what it has always wanted: a wide variety of enjoyable, compelling, top-notch films.
Mel Gibson earned a Best Director Oscar for Braveheart, and rightly so, as his epic proved to be the runaway hit of the year. The epic tale of Scotsman William Wallace collected five Oscars in all, outdistancing all competitors. Braveheart was no slouch at the box office either, tallying upwards of $200 million worldwide. Ten other films registered more than $100 million domestically, led by animated mega-hit Toy Story. This includes family-friendly fare like Pocahontas, Casper, and Jumanji, along with the third installments of the Batman and Die Hard franchises.
The true magnificence of this year can be found in two dark thrillers - Seven and The Usual Suspects. Seven director David Fincher had the good fortune of signing Brad Pitt to star opposite Morgan Freeman just before Pitt burst onto the scene with 1994's Legends of the Fall. This lent significant industry buzz to the picture, as did the hush-hush identity of the film's murderer. Speaking of which, The Usual Suspects propelled a cast of relative unknowns, including eventual Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey and Benicio Del Toro, to stardom, as this whodunit was one of the most talked-about films of the year.
Dramas were not neglected in 1995, either, as the action-tinged submarine tale Crimson Tide sailed into multiplexes. Heat brought about the first on-screen pairing of legends Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. Even Rob Roy, overshadowed by another Scottish picture, managed to impress, thanks to star Liam Neeson. Death penalty film Dead Man Walking fetched an Oscar for lead Susan Sarandon and an Oscar for Sean Penn. Sarandon nudged out Sharon Stone, who received some Academy consideration for her star turn in Casino.
1995 was not without its light-hearted fare, most notably the political comedy, The American President. Michael Douglas once again got to enjoy his humorous side, and Michael J. Fox made a triumphant movie comeback. Goldeneye welcomed Pierce Brosnan to the fold as the new James Bond, and Mallrats further solidified director Kevin Smith's station in popular culture. Entertaining films like Mortal Kombat dotted the landscape, and even a critically panned clunker like Waterworld managed to make some waves. Never before has one year offered to much to so many people...
Top 5 of 1995:
1989 review submitted 2/1/01 by Cleveland lawyer Brad Sobolewski; 1995 review offered by Proudest Monkeys founder Tony DiPasquale.