Best movie from 1994?

[Guest OctoberBlood]

Is Leon the same movie as The Professional?

Yes, Leon is The Professional.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Pulp Fiction. No doubt about it.

 

Runners Up: Shawshank Redemption, Ed Wood, Leon(European Version)

[Red Baron 0]

Shawshank.

 

Didn't Ace Ventura come out in 93?

[Jingus 0]

I still can't believe that people actually liked Queen Margot. Isabelle Adjani is quite possibly the single most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life, but that wasn't enough to save Ishtar, and it's not enough to save this incredibly overhyped piece of crap either. The lead male hero was executed OFFSCREEN, for chrissakes.

 

Tarantino isn't entirely repetitive. If you didn't know anything about the man or his films, I think it would come as a surprise that the same guy directed Jackie Brown and Kill Bill. (Oh, and Tarantino had nothing to do with Killing Zoe, it was made by his Pulp cowriter Roger Avary.)

 

Personally, I'd throw my votes in for Exotica or Heavenly Creatures, just to be a cool-hip-edgy nonconformist.

[Guest Rob Van Dam]

Damn, 94 was a great year for movies some of my favorite from that year are:

Leon

Clerks

Shawshank Redemption

Forrest Gump

The Crow

Natural Born Killers

Dumb and Dumber

Ace Ventura

 

With Clerks being my favorite

[Si82 0]

It has to be The Shawshank Redemption for me.

 

Runner up: Leon.

[Jericholic82 0]

Duh its obviously "The Scout" one of my fav baseball movies ever. How many agree?

 

out of the ones mentioned I'd say Forrest Gump, if only cuz it was the oscar winner

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The Shawshank Redemption was the best in terms of quality. Pulp Fiction was the most influential.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Clerks!

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Duh its obviously "The Scout" one of my fav baseball movies ever. How many agree?

I love The Scout.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Pulp Fiction

Clerks

The Crow

Three Colours trilogy

[Guest Crazy Dan]

Actually in 94, the only movie to come out that year was Red in the colors trilogy. But, I did see Blue for a film class, and it was a good movie. But, Red should be mentioned when talking about 94.

 

Wow, this was a great year for movies. So many to choose from, but I will say Pulp Fiction was the best to come out. It was the most infleuncial movie, just look at the copy cats that came out following it. It helped Miramax become a giant in the film industry (not that this a good thing in many cases, but still at the time Miramax was a way Independent films could get seen. And then the released "She's all that" and it went to pot). But I still can watch this movie over and over, and it has some of the best dialogue spoken. This was movie that was so unique, because Tarantino has the ability to pick the right actors for his parts, and of course take all the best bits of movies he watched as a Video Rental Clerk, and create a whole new movie going experience. And it also had the best soundtrack of the Year. So I vote for Pulp Fiction as the best of the year. And who could forget the needle in the chest scene, man you don't see it go in, but man did that scene put you on edge.

 

But credit also goes to:

 

Natural Born Killers - Man, Oliver Stone might be a far-left wing nut, but this was a very important film, which does stand the test of time. This is due to how our society is shaped by what we see on screen, in this case, two serial killers are treated as heros, due to TV suits seeing a good story. And so instead of putting down their actions, the media instead hypes the actions of the killers. And so the public interprets these killers as being cool, instead of terrible people who are killers. A very misunderstood film at the time. I don't think people got the message of this film during its initial release. Also, this movie had a great soundtrack as well.

 

Quiz Show - Solid Film all around, but nothing too special, but I did like this very much, and got to see this for one of my classes in college.

 

Shawshank - I actually read this short story before the movie came out, and I loved the story. So when they made the movie that was faithfull to the story, I was overjoyed. Great acting and story, makes this a classic. And I can see why some say this is the best to come out, but I still like Pulp Fiction that much better. Best Steven King movie ever.

 

Lion King - Man, Disney will miss the days when this animation ruled all.

 

Ed Wood - the most underated film of the Year

 

Forest Gump - sure it does not stand the test of time, but it was groundbreaking in the way Forest intermingled with the old footage (kinda scary to bad use that could be put to). And I liked this movie. Tom Hanks was great in it.

 

And I did like Dumb and Dumber for the guilty pleasure of 1994. Man selling a headless bird to a blind kid is pure evil comic genius. Who gave the green light for the sequal, or prequal? Man talk about your bad ideas. But this made laugh the hardest, so I give props.

 

I also liked the Crow, which had another great soundtrack as well, and a solid action movie, maybe hyped due to the death of Brandon Lee. Since this was the movie killed him, so to speak, I think it benefited from the sad news. Otherwise this would have come and gone, but found an audiance eventually in the rental section. But, I am glad it did well.

 

And I think Ace Ventura came out in 93.

[Dr. Tom 0]

Is Leon the same movie as The Professional? If so, that might be my pick with Shawshank coming a close 2nd.

"Leon" is the special edition version of the theatrical release of "The Professional." I'm pretty sure foreign audiences got the "Leon" version, which is available on DVD as "Leon: The Professional." I like it a little better than the American theatrical release, and that version is quite good in its own right.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Pulp Fiction is definitely my pick. Love Shawshank too, but I'm going against the early grain in this thread and saying that Pulp Fiction is the one that holds up so much better on repeated viewings.

 

It's really just Tarantino trying to create hip cool dialouge and show blood as frequently as possible.

 

That is the formula ALL Tarantino moves have and that's why I strongly disagree with the notion that he is a GREAT filmmaker...because he sticks to the same style and formula.

 

I'm not saying he is the only one who fits that pattern but i think a truly great director changes his style every once in a while.

 

Strongly disagreed. First off, there isn't even that much blood in Pulp Fiction. There's not even nearly as much violence in there as you might find in any R-rated action movie, and most of what is there is stylized to the point of humorous excess or situational comedy. Kill Bill, sure. Pulp Fiction, no way. But onto the more serious point.

 

Tarantino might put up the front of being hip and showing mayhem (though I really don't think he does that so much anyway), but in Pulp Fiction he takes a great group of character actors, gives them juicy parts, and shows admirable restraint in how he actually frames shots. For me the success of the movie is the interplay between all these slightly odd but always believable people - it's partly the triumph of the screenplay, partly what each of those actors bring to the table, and a lot of Tarantino bringing it together as director. For all its frenetic energy and strange situations, the movie and the people within it are very well-grounded in the world of the film. The movie never betrays the world it has engineered and it serves as a playground for these great stories that are trashy but sophisticated at the same time.

 

If you want an all-encompassing theme like Masked Man of Mystery asked for earlier in the thread, the best I can say is that it serves as a look at how people can interact and find themselves connected to each other in the strangest ways, and how redemption is neither an easy nor altogether pleasant thing to pursue. All in all, that's my pretty ham-fisted wrap-up of a piece of film that deserves a lot more consideration than just to be classified as having a particular "point" or message to it.

[Cheex Incarnate 0]

My pick is definately Pulp Fiction (Tarantino>>>>>>>>>>Kevin Smith), followed by Forrest Gump, then Leon.

 

Natural Born Killers - Man, Oliver Stone might be a far-left wing nut, but this was a very important film, which does stand the test of time. This is due to how our society is shaped by what we see on screen, in this case, two serial killers are treated as heros, due to TV suits seeing a good story. And so instead of putting down their actions, the media instead hypes the actions of the killers. And so the public interprets these killers as being cool, instead of terrible people who are killers. A very misunderstood film at the time. I don't think people got the message of this film during its initial release. Also, this movie had a great soundtrack as well.

 

Here's the thing about Natural Born Killers (for me anyway). Going in, you know that Oliver Stone is trying to get across that people (americans in particular) are horrible because they are captivated by violent people in the media. Then he shows you the film, as if to say, "see! you loved that movie! and it was about horrible, violent people! shame on you!" Sorry, but im not diggin' his self indulgence. If anyone read the original script of NBK, you would know it was supposed to be an exploitation-type homage to movies like Switchblade Sisters or Across 110th Street, or Bone.

 

Stone read the script, figured out a way he could pervert it to fit his agenda, and put it forth to the public. It's a horrible show all around.

 

That said, the casting of the two major parts (Mickey and Mallory) are great. Tom Sizemore is pretty decent in it, as well as Robert Downey Jr. But Dangerfield and Tommy Lee Jones don't really fit with the gist of the whole movie.

 

-Cheex

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

Pulp Fiction is a movie that shows the fate of two hitmen, a boxer, and a crime boss or whatever marcellus was.

It's really just Tarantino trying to create hip cool dialouge and show blood as frequently as possible.

 

That is the formula ALL Tarantino moves have and that's why I strongly disagree with the notion that he is a GREAT filmmaker...because he sticks to the same style and formula.

 

I'm not saying he is the only one who fits that pattern but i think a truly great director changes his style every once in a while.

Agreed with all... except for your opinion on him.

 

Filmmakers who can very style give themselves a lot of credibility, but when you think of Tarantino, that's you think of - his genre. It's not as if he's got a huge amount of films under his belt, so he might actually do a different kind of movie soon, but that's his niche, and he does it damn well.

[Guest El Satanico]

Most directors even the undisputed greats have a certain style that seep into their films. Take for example Hitchcock, you could pretty much always tell it was a Hitchock film without seeing his cameo or the opening credits.

[godthedog 0]

the great jean renoir himself said that directors (at least the noteworthy ones) spend their lives making variations of the same movie. i don't think that's necessarily true of all good directors (like, say, michael curtiz or steven spielberg), but of all the auteurs, the ones with a strong personal style. scorsese seems to have tried very hard to get beyond this, but when he strays from his strengths his work just gets weaker.

 

and i vote 'pulp fiction'. 'shawshank' has a stronger human element & is more moving, which i usually go for, but it loses some points for lack of originality. for all its earnestness, that movie REVELS in cliches, and not always in a good "frank capra" kind of way. whenever i watch the sequence of teaching the convict how to read, and the revelatory scene of "OMG andy didn't really kill his wife~!" it makes me squirm. none of that bullshit going on in 'pulp fiction'.

[Guest MikeSC]

Honestly, "Pulp Fiction", to me, is a film that "got over" almost solely due to its gimmick of being non-linear. The story is not terribly impressive, the dialogue doesn't do a lot for me, and nothing stands out as being terribly great.

-=Mike

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

If it "got over" on one element, I don't think the non-linearity was it. I think it became popular and well-acclaimed because it's a pretty great movie in all aspects, but if there's one thing that cinched it, it was the dialogue. An incredibly quotable movie - sometimes to excess, depending on the people doing such - and great, juicy lines and monologues for every character.

[Shanghai Kid 0]

Pulp Fiction and Shawshank are tied at the top for me. I can't believe Forest Gump won the Oscar.

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

The dialouge in PF stands out to me more than how it's put together. But is it just me or does Tarantino not like putting movies in chronological order?

[Guest MikeSC]

Pulp Fiction and Shawshank are tied at the top for me. I can't believe Forest Gump won the Oscar.

Gump was a rather good movie. It just gets all of the backlash.

-=Mike

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I never really cared for the Gumpster.

 

And I say Pulp Fiction, although Shawshank is making me second-guess my decision quite a bit...

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

Out of Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption, I'd have to say that Shawshank is my favourite.

 

Pulp Fiction is tremendous filmmaking, and Tarantino at his best and most recognisable.

 

Forrest Gump pretty much ties with Shawshank. Both are two of the greatest stories ever put onto film, in my opinion, one being a disturbingly engrossing prison film, and the other just watching this simple, lovable man encounter so much inadvertently in his life.

 

Forrest Gump had tremendous use of music in it to enhance emotions, sadness, happiness, humour, and when the ending came, I was in awe.

 

Both of those movies were a bawlfest at the end (Gump had those scenes throughout it aswell), Shawshank because of it's damn moving ending and Gump for me because of the beautiful filmmaking that I'd just witnessed.

 

But Shawshank's story, told with such precision and intellect, makes for what I consider the greatest prison film of all time, with one of the greatest, simplest, most emotional endings ever constucted.

[Black Lushus 0]

Pulp Fiction is overrated, but I'm a Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis mark so it works for me...

[godthedog 0]

The dialouge in PF stands out to me more than how it's put together. But is it just me or does Tarantino not like putting movies in chronological order?

it's not you, it's tarantino. he's like faulkner, only without the concern for character and meaning.

[C Dubya 04 0]

That was really a great year for movies. I've got to rank them in this order for me:

 

Shawshank - Still watch parts of it every time I see it on tv (which is about every other weekend).

 

Then a 3-way tie between The Hudsucker Proxy, Clerks and Pulp Fiction.

 

I'm glad to see the Professional getting the love on here too. I've always felt that was an underrated movie.

[Cheex Incarnate 0]

To me, Tarantino movies are like dogs (in a good way).

 

The more you love his movies, the more they love you. If you don't like his movies, they still like you. Tarantino movies are movies for people who just like to be entertained.)

 

That in mind, movies by people like PT Anderson or Wes Anderson are like cats. You can like them, but if you dont they dont care, because they know they're still great.

 

Or maybe I'm just crazy.

 

-Cheex