Amph Film Releases & Trends of a Decade Retrospective: The Nineties A-Z. Now Disc: 1993 D-G

I took a look at it's info, but, in the end, it's still about country music, and that's a deal breaker.

 

Hey, look- free time.

1992

Notable releases:

R

• Radio Flyer, starring Elijah Wood
• Rain Without Thunder, starring Betty Buckley and Jeff Daniels
• Raising Cain, directed by Brian De Palma, starring John Lithgow and Lolita Davidovich
• Rapid Fire, starring Brandon Lee and Powers Boothe
• Reservoir Dogs, directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Chris Penn, Lawrence Tierney
• A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford, starring Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, Tom Skerritt, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Lloyd
• Rock-a-Doodle, directed by Don Bluth
• Ruby, starring Danny Aiello (as Jack Ruby), Sherilyn Fenn, Arliss Howard

S

• Samantha, starring Martha Plimpton and Dermot Mulroney
• Scent of a Woman, directed by Martin Brest, starring Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Gabrielle Anwar
• School Ties, starring Brendan Fraser, Chris O'Donnell, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
• Seedpeople, directed by Peter Manoogian, produced by Charles Band
• Shakes the Clown, directed by and starring Bobcat Goldthwait, with Julie Brown, Kathy Griffin, Florence Henderson
• Shining Through, directed by David Seltzer, starring Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith, John Gielgud, Joely Richardson, Liam Neeson
• Sidekicks, starring Jonathan Brandis and Chuck Norris
• Single White Female, directed by Barbet Schroeder, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh
• Singles, directed by Cameron Crowe, starring Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillon, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick
• Sister Act, starring Whoopi Goldberg
• Sleepwalkers, directed by Mick Garris, starring Mädchen Amick, Brian Krause, Alice Krige, based on a novel by Stephen King
• Sneakers, starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell
• Stay Tuned, directed by Peter Hyams, starring John Ritter and Pam Dawber
• Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, starring Sylvester Stallone and Estelle Getty
• Storyville, starring James Spader
• Straight Talk, starring Dolly Parton and James Woods
• A Stranger Among Us, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Melanie Griffith, Eric Thal, John Pankow, Tracy Pollan, Mia Sara

T

• That Night, starring C. Thomas Howell and Juliette Lewis
• There Goes the Neighborhood, starring Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara, Héctor Elizondo, Rhea Perlman
• This Is My Life, directed by Nora Ephron, starring Julie Kavner, Dan Aykroyd, Carrie Fisher
• Thunderheart, starring Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, Fred Ward
• Titanica, IMAX documentary
• Toys, directed by Barry Levinson, starring Robin Williams, Michael Gambon, Joan Cusack, Robin Wright, LL Cool J, Donald O'Connor
• Traces of Red, starring James Belushi and Lorraine Bracco
• Trespass, directed by Walter Hill, starring Ice Cube, Ice-T, Bill Paxton, William Sadler
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, directed by David Lynch, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee, Moira Kelly, Mädchen Amick, David Bowie

U-V

• Under Siege, directed by Andrew Davis, starring Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, Erika Eleniak, Gary Busey
• Unforgiven, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris - Academy Award for Best Picture
• Universal Soldier, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren
• Unlawful Entry, directed by Jonathan Kaplan, starring Kurt Russell, Ray Liotta, Madeleine Stowe

W

• The Waterdance, starring Eric Stoltz, Helen Hunt, Wesley Snipes
• Wayne's World, directed by Penelope Spheeris, starring Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, Brian Doyle-Murray, Lara Flynn Boyle
• Where the Day Takes You, starring Sean Astin and Lara Flynn Boyle
• Whispers in the Dark, starring Annabella Sciorra, Jamey Sheridan, Jill Clayburgh, Alan Alda, John Leguizamo, Anthony LaPaglia
• White Men Can't Jump, directed by Ron Shelton, starring Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez
• White Sands, directed by Roger Donaldson, starring Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson
• Wind, directed by Carroll Ballard, starring Matthew Modine, Jennifer Grey, Cliff Robertson, Jack Thompson, Stellan Skarsgård
• Wuthering Heights, starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes - (U.K.)

Y

• Year of the Comet, starring Penelope Ann Miller, Tim Daly, Louis Jourdan

T2Q Comments:

-Radio Flyer, Sneakers, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!, Unforgiven & White Men Can't Jump fall under the "saw it, but don't remember much" category. Probably remember more of Sneakers and only a couple key scenes in WMCJ. SOMMWS is a title I've referenced far more often as a joke than actually watched the film itself.

-Resovoir Dogs: An explosion of Tarintino goodness. Saw it first on video years later after Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, but I definitely enjoyed it more than those two films. Fantastic cast, memorable lines and scenes. Not much else to say.



-Sidekicks: Definitely loved this one as a kid. Yeah, it was a rip off of The Karate Kid but it was a little more self aware to the point of basically being a near-parody of it. Plus, it has Chuck Norris and the kid from seaQuest.

-Sister Act: This was a somewhat unique theatrical experience as I recall it being the first time my parents took us to see a movie on the spur of the moment without it being a movie we had asked to go see (as far as my sister and I knew, at least- I suspect they tricked us so they could see it). Still, it was a solid comedy and certainly one of Whoopi's best ones.

-Stay Tuned: Oh, I definitely saw this...

-Toys: This is such a bizarre movie. Even as a kid I couldn't figure out the plastic hair and such. Regardless, I love it. There's a scene in the film that is probably the first example I can think of of a film inspiring a game design idea in me. Anyways, Williams is good fun here.



-Under Siege: I actually think I remember the sequel better than the original here, but I did see it. Clearly decent enough of an action film to give Seagal's career it's launch (although it lost momentum from that point onwards).

-Universal Soldier: "Are we having fun yet?" Gotta rewatch this one some day (probably as part of my long-planned Van Damne marathon) but still, Lundgren and Van Damne? Worth watching. The trailer uses music from T2, which just feels odd- but then they were both made by Carolco and T2 was only a year old at that point.

-Wayne's World: The amount of quoting that can be done from this film is staggering. But, if anything, one can definitively say it changed the way a generation listens to Bohemian Rhapsody in the car. Admit it. You headbang at that part too. No? Liar.





Movies I (probably) Want See
-Raising Cain (the trailer actually kinda ends with a proto-BWOMM!)
-Rapid Fire
-A River Runs Through it
-Scent of a Woman
-School Ties
-Shakes the Clown
-Singles
-Sneakers (rewatch)
-Split Second
-Stay Tuned (rewatch)
-Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
-Trespass
-Unforgiven
-Unlawful Entry
-Where the Day Takes You

Overall Trends:
Seeing a few vaguely Terminator ripoff type scenarios in the action genre (Universal Soldier, for example). As well as a Die Hard clone with Under Siege. Wayne's World and Sister Act would get sequels (as would Universal Soldier- several in fact). resovoir Dogs is obviously a prelude to an Explosion of Tarintino in a few years as well...

 

Damn, good year for movies that begin with R-Y. And Affleck was the bomb in School Ties, yo.

 

Yeah, this last batch in particular has had a surprising number of solid films. never considered 1992 a banner year or anything (in the grander scheme of things it kinda gets glanced over for being the year between T2 and JP), but through the course of this project I definitely now have a higher opinion of it. A lot of variety in there.

And so that brings us to the year 1992 in review- what's worth seeing (once or several times?), what's worth keeping?

Skimming back through the lists I posted, here's my personal selections (and, as always, I encourage folks to skim back through the lists and make their own):


Worth Keeping: (aka: get the DVD! [or Blu-Ray; I realize DVD is dated now but I'm not changing the terminology now- you know what I mean])
-Aladdin
-Alien 3 (especially the Assembly Cut)
-Batman Returns
-The Muppets Christmas Carol
-Resovoir Dogs
-Wayne's World

Worth Seeing a Few Times: (aka: maybe get the DVD)
-A League of Their Own
-El Mariachi
-Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
-Lethal Weapon 3
-My Cousin Vinny
-Toys
-Under Siege
-Universal Soldier

Worth Seeing Once: (aka: rent it or get it in the $5 bin at Best Buy or Walmart)
-A Few Good Men
-Buffy The Vampire Slayer
-Captain Ron
-Patriot Games
-Sidekicks
-Sister Act

If It's on Cable: (aka: not completely awful, but no need to intentionally seek it out)
-Basic Instinct
-Beethoven
-Death Becomes Her
-Encino Man
-Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
-The Mighty Ducks

List of Films I Still (Probably) Want To See:
-1492: Conquest of Paradise
-Bad Lieutenant
-Bob Roberts
-Braindead (Dead Alive)
-Bram Stoker's Dracula
-Buffy The Vampire Slayer
-Candyman
-Chaplin
-Cool World
-The Crying Game
-Damage
-Deep Cover
-Far and Away
-Fifty/Fifty*
-Forever Young
-Freejack
-Glenhgarry Glen Ross
-Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth
-The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
-Hard Boiled
-Hoffa
-Into the Sun
-Killer Image
-Knight Moves
-Kuffs
-The Last of the Mohicans
-The Lawnmower Man
-Lethal Weapon 3
-Light Sleeper
-Live Wire
-Lorenzo's Oil
-A Midnight Clear
-Mac
-Malcolm X
-The Mambo Kings
-Medicine Man (rewatch)
-Memoirs of an Invisible Man (rewatch)
-Miracle Beach
-Mistress
-Nemesis*
-(New) Dragon (Gate) Inn
-Noises Off (rewatch)
-Once Upon a Time in China II
-One False Move
-Orlando
-Out on a Limb
-Passenger 57 (rewatch)
-Pet Semetary Two
-The Player
-The Public Eye (rewatch)
-Raising Cain (the trailer actually kinda ends with a proto-BWOMM!)
-Rapid Fire
-A River Runs Through it
-Scent of a Woman
-School Ties
-Shakes the Clown
-Singles
-Sneakers (rewatch)
-Split Second
-Stay Tuned (rewatch)
-Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
-Trespass
-Unforgiven
-Unlawful Entry
-Where the Day Takes You


Next: A year that would change things forever... 1993

 

1993

Notable releases:


A

• Acting on Impulse, starring Linda Fiorentino, C. Thomas Howell, Nancy Allen
• Addams Family Values, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Anjelica Huston, Raúl Juliá, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, Joan Cusack
• The Age of Innocence, directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder
• Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer
• Airborne, starring Seth Green
• Alive, starring Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton
• Amos & Andrew, starring Nicolas Cage and Samuel L. Jackson
• Another Stakeout, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Emilio Estevez, Rosie O'Donnell
• Arizona Dream, starring Johnny Depp and Jerry Lewis
• Army of Darkness, directed by Sam Raimi, starring Bruce Campbell and Embeth Davidtz
• Aspen Extreme, starring Peter Berg, Paul Gross, Finola Hughes, Teri Polo

B

• The Ballad of Little Jo, starring Suzy Amis, Melissa Leo, Carrie Snodgress, Heather Graham
• Barbarians at the Gate, starring James Garner, Jonathan Pryce, Joanna Cassidy, Peter Riegert, Fred Dalton Thompson
• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, animated film directed by Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm
• Beethoven's 2nd, starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt
• Benny & Joon, starring Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn
• The Beverly Hillbillies, starring Jim Varney, Cloris Leachman, Erika Eleniak, Diedrich Bader, Dabney Coleman, Lily Tomlin, Lea Thompson, Rob Schneider
• Bodies, Rest & Motion, starring Bridget Fonda and Phoebe Cates
• Body of Evidence, starring Madonna, Willem Dafoe, Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer, Julianne Moore, Jürgen Prochnow
• Body Snatchers, directed by Abel Ferrara, starring Gabrielle Anwar, Forest Whitaker, Meg Tilly
• Boiling Point, starring Wesley Snipes, Dennis Hopper and Viggo Mortensen
• Bopha!, directed by Morgan Freeman, starring Danny Glover
• Born Yesterday, starring Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson, John Goodman
• Boxing Helena, starring Sherilyn Fenn and Julian Sands
• A Bronx Tale, directed by and starring Robert De Niro, with Chazz Palminteri, Lillo Brancato, Jr., Francis Capra, Joe Pesci

C

• CB4, starring Chris Rock
• Calendar Girl, starring Jason Priestley and Jerry O'Connell
• Carlito's Way, directed by Brian De Palma, starring Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, Luis Guzmán, John Leguizamo
• The Cemetery Club, starring Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis, Lainie Kazan, Diane Ladd, Danny Aiello
• Cliffhanger, starring Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner
• Coneheads, directed by Steve Barron, starring Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin
• Cool Runnings, directed by Jon Turteltaub, starring John Candy
• Cop and a Half, starring Burt Reynolds
• Cronos, directed by Guillermo del Toro - (Mexico)
• The Crush, starring Cary Elwes and Alicia Silverstone

T2Q Comments:

-Addams Family Values: Though I still have a higher fondness for the first film, over time I've come to admit this was the superior film of the two. Alas, Raul...

-Another Stakeout: Saw this one on video or cable before ever seeing the first (heck, i don't even recall if I've seen the first...). Wouldn't trust my memory on how good it is, but it seemed pleasant at the time.

-Army of Darkness: My introduction to Ash and my favorite of the series (ED2 is good, but it doesn't feel right until the last act when Ash starts acting like the Ash I came to love in AOD). And the Director's Cut is quite fascinating- as is the Frankenstein edit that used to air on the Sci-Fi Channel which mixed and matched the better parts from both versions.

-Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: Arguably the best batman film ever made- definitely one of the top 3.

-Beverely Hillbillies: I can't recall if I saw the film before episodes of the show or not. I did watch a lot of Nick at Night at the time, so it's possible.

-Coneheads: The sub-eating effect (and its subsequent use in Subway commercials) is more memorable than the plot but the characters and shctick is still amusing.

-Cool Runnings: In the late 90's, I worked at Staples. In the breakroom we had a small TV and a VCR and we had 4 (eventually 5 when TPM came out) movies to watch on it: Batman Returns, The Crow: City of Angels, Black Mask... and Cool Runnings. An odd inclusion but it's a pretty decent comedy.

-The Crush: Admittedly, I watched it because of Alicia Silverstone because of her Aerosmith videos.

Films I have seen parts of or just vaguely recall seeing on cable: Amos & Andrew, Beethoven's 2nd, A Bronx Tale, Cliffhanger, Benny & Joon, Alive, Calendar Girl & Cop and a Half (interesting trivia: this one was originally to be a sequel to Kindergarten Cop).

Movies I (probably) Want See
-Acting on Impulse
-The Age of Innocence
-Alive
-Arizona Dream
-Benny & Joon
-Boiling Point
-Boxing Helena
-A Bronx Tale
-Carlito's Way
-Cliffhanger
-Cronos


Overall Trends:

In looking these titles over, I'm noticing a lot of films getting, or barely trimming down to, an NC-17 rating, This is still relatively early on in the rating's existence so it wasn't the seal of doom plague it has become today, though obviously it still wasn't seen as something to be embraced without a fight with the ratings board.

No doubt Coneheads was encouraged by Wayne's World's success. Depp seems pretty busy this year and both Pacino and De Niro are having notable entries once again.Also, though the trend never went away and might have always been there in the background, one can't help but think Tv show adapattions like the Beverely Hill billies may have found momentum from the Addams Family films as well.

 

The only ones I've seen are:

The ballad of Little Jo: I was too young to really understand this. It made an impression on me definitely, but I still thought it was pretty boring. I think that I would definitely like to see it again, with more mature eyes.

Cool Runnings: I'd say this is the perfect Disney family film. It's a solid feel good comedy with a happy ending. I still catch it when it's on TV.

 

Helena seems both bizarre and divisive- enough to add it to my list as a curiosity even if it ends up being bad.

 

Clearly at this rate I'll be well into the next decade before I finish the 90's

1993

Notable releases:
D
• The Dark Half, starring Timothy Hutton and Amy Madigan
• Dave, starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella, Ving Rhames, Charles Grodin
• Dazed and Confused, starring Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Milla Jovovich
• Deadfall, starring Michael Biehn and Nicolas Cage
• Demolition Man, starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock
• Dennis the Menace, starring Walter Matthau and Mason Gamble
• Digger
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, starring Jason Scott Lee and Lauren Holly

E-F
• Falling Down, directed by Joel Schumacher, starring Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin, Frederic Forrest, Tuesday Weld
• A Far Off Place, starring Reese Witherspoon
• Fatal Instinct, directed by Carl Reiner, starring Armand Assante, Sherilyn Fenn, Sean Young, Kate Nelligan
• Fearless, starring Jeff Bridges, Isabella Rossellini, Rosie Perez
• Fire on the Amazon, starring Sandra Bullock
• Fire in the Sky, starring Robert Patrick and D. B. Sweeney
• The Firm, directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Holly Hunter, Wilford Brimley, David Strathairn, Ed Harris
• Flesh and Bone, directed by Steve Kloves, starring Meg Ryan, Dennis Quaid, James Caan, Gwyneth Paltrow
• For Love or Money, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Michael J. Fox, Gabrielle Anwar, Anthony Higgins
• A Foreign Field, starring Alec Guinness and Leo McKern - (U.K.)
• Free Willy, directed by Simon Wincer, starring Jason James Richter, Michael Madsen, Michael Ironside, Lori Petty
• The Fugitive, directed by Andrew Davis, starring Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pantoliano, Jeroen Krabbé, Sela Ward, Julianne Moore

G
• Geronimo: An American Legend, starring Wes Studi, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Jason Patric
• Gettysburg, starring Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen
• Ghost in the Machine, starring Karen Allen
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (Gojira tai Mekagojira) - (Japan)
• The Good Son, starring Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood
• Gross Misconduct, starring Naomi Watts and Jimmy Smits
• Groundhog Day, directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell
• Grumpy Old Men, starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Burgess Meredith, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollak, Ann-Margret
• Guilty as Sin, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Rebecca De Mornay, Don Johnson, Jack Warden, Stephen Lang

T2Q Comments:

-Dave: Just very enjoyable. Though perhaps its then-humorous "run things like a business" idea has proven to be a bit naive in the wake of Trump (though I'm sure this is what he wants to think he's doing, at least partially). Still, things like the "once caught a fish" robot arms gag have stuck around. Plus Frank Langella.

-Demolition Man: "Now all restaurants are Taco Bell." Fun cast all around (Bullock, Stallone, Snipes, Leary, etc) and a pretty decent semi-self-aware action flick. Also an essential Stallone flick.

-Dennis the Menace: It's weird that this came out before Grumpy old Men but I think it took on more awareness on video after GOM hit big.

-Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: I've seen this a couple times over the years but I don't recall much- but that's more the distance of time than any flaw of the film itself.

-Falling Down: "You forgot the briefcase!!" Watching this on video circa-Batman & Robin it felt odd to really enjoy a Joel Schumacher film.

-Fire in the Sky: Pretty decent-to-above average alien abuction film, though it doesn't knock it out of the park. However, the abduction sequence is really good. Also includes this nightmare fuel:



A well-timed released for me at that age, as X-Files was just hitting around this time and i was deep into alien abduction books and other monster sources. And that circles back around as it was Robert Patrick's performance in this film that got him cast as the lead in the later X-Files seasons.

-The Firm: I know I saw this but it kinda kicked off the John Grisham mini craze (The Pelican Brief hit later this same year).

-For Love or Money: An enjoyable rom-com with Michael J. Fox, though with some predictable elements (dirtbag rich boyfriend to the girl the protagonist is in love with, etc).

-Free Willy: I remember the whale jump (which has been parodied so many times) and the Michael Jackson song.

-The Fugitive: Just a really good thriller. Great cast, memorable lines, a classic.

-Gettysburg: Never really watched this but notable for being shot as a miniseries for TNT before being repurposed as a theatrical release (one of the longest films released by a Hollywood studio at 4 hours, 14 minutes; a 15 kin-longer director's cut later cam out on home video).

-The Good Son: Macaulay Culkin trying to not be the kid from Home Alone, take 2. Hi, Frodo!

-Groundhog Day: Another classic. I mean, what can you say about this film that hasn't been said. It redefined the titular term to its current useage.

-Grumpy Old Men: Walter and Lemon's chemistry carry a pretty decent comedy.

Movies I (probably) Want See
-Dazed and Confused
-Fearless
-Ghost in the Machine (a bad cyberpunk-meets-Final Destination film? yes please! )


Overall Trends:

-There are a lot of hits in this grouping- a surprising amount, really. As I mentioned earlier, we'll get a lot of Grisham films in the next few years, Grumpy Old Men gives both actors a renewed presence for the next few years, The Fugutive continues Ford's early 90's streak of hits while Demolition Man is kinda peak 90's Stallone.