The Year in Movies: 1996

 1996

Number of Movies I've Seen: 39

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  8

Oscar Winner:
The English Patient -  What a strange sleepy movie...Beautifully crafted both visually and thematically. Still, I found myself wishing the film was about Juliette Binoche's Hana and Naveen Andrews' Kip rather than it's central characters. I was not sold on the "love" between Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas, and I felt that Fiennes' character especially was pretty unlikable.

Box Office Winner:
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My Top Ten:
1. NEXT POST!

2. Fargo - (PICTURED ABOVE) I know, I know... I really need to watch the series. I have heard nothing but great things. But....  I just worry that it has made folks forget how great this movie is. Such a perfect little slice of strange crime in such an unlikely location with unique heroes and reluctant villains. This isn't my favorite Coen brothers movie, but I think it may be the best.

3. Sling Blade - Billy Bob Thornton's pet project is a gem that riffs of the Forrest Gump theme and plays it so much more brilliantly.

4. Romeo + Juliet - Making emo/goth/alt kids fall in love with Shakespeare since 1997.

5. Trainspotting - "Choose life"

6. Bottle Rocket - Wes Anderson's debut film. You could see what was coming from him and boy has it been good.

7.  Hard Eight  - Paul Thomas Anderson's debut film. You could see what was coming form him and boy has it been good.

8. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills - The first in a series of three HBO documentaries about a gruesome murder, wrongfully convicted teenagers, and the justice system that can destroy the lives of the innocent.

9. Waiting for Guffman - The first of the Christopher Guest mockumentaries (I don't count Spinal Tap). They would get way better (Best in Show is probably the best), but this one still holds some charm because of its scale and general weirdness.

10. In Love and War - An okay historic-romantic-drama-lite that will always hold a special place for me because it was probably the first movie that I ever watched while cuddling. To be sixteen again....