The MoFos Top 100 of the 90s Countdown - Redux

Seen 15/24 with Porco my only film to show up thus far.

I rewatched The Blair Witch Project for this, but it wasn't as good as I remembered (and I just remembered it being good when I saw it in theaters, not great). It has some of the most annoying characters in any found footage horror, and half of its runtime consists of these morons shouting at each other.

Found footage is an easy genre to make a bad movie cheap, but making a good one is just as difficult as in other genres (more affordable, maybe, but not easier). I consider The Blair Witch Project a very mediocre film and the best films of the genre were made in the next decade (like [REC] and Noroi).

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Seen: 13/24

16. Interview with the Vampire (1994)

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78. The Blair Witch Project (1999) - The Blair Witch Project is great, and a true cinematic classic. It scared the hell out of me back when it came out (I never saw it on the big screen, but I think it's the kind of movie that plays better on a small screen.) I know somebody who went to see it on the big screen, and when it finished he actually stood and loudly vented his displeasure, such is this movie's ability to polarize audiences. I've seen it perhaps around 30 times or more, and although I'm sure that after some deep reflection I could explain why this horror film is endlessly rewatchable for me, instead I'll leave it a mystery to even myself for now. To me, it's proof that you only need suggestion and an audience's imagination to create some serious chills. Bobcat Goldthwait's Willow Creek succeeded in emulating this factor in his film's last half hour - but the first hour is something of an endurance test that you have to suffer through. With The Blair Witch Project, there's simply found footage perfection from start to finish, with not a single misstep as far as how I vibe with it. I fondly recall, from time to time, how much my mother liked it also - she watched it a few times, a rarity for her. Ah well, horror films (bar The Shining) always end up lower down on these countdown lists. It's amongst the 10 on my profile - so anyone who's peeked at that would be expecting it to be high on my ballot. I had it at #2.

77. Beauty and the Beast (1991) - I made it my mission a while back to watch all of the classic Disney animated movies. I got around to Beauty and the Beast a couple of years ago and wrote this about it on letterboxd : "Beauty and the Beast - it's very nice looking, has beautiful music and has that emotionally authentic Disney appeal that shows up pretenders and their knock-offs. Actually, it's better than "nice looking" - what am I saying? It's a magnificent combination of traditional Disney animation and computer animation production systems - giving life to scenes by computerizing backgrounds and making the result cinematic - a composite where movement gives the impression of a dollying camera. The tried and true music gets through the toughest of defenses as well - and although I was never a big fairy tale kid growing up (I went straight from Dick and Jane to Stephen King novels) it's nice seeing a variant of this old French story. A classic - one that I'd hope kids still watch today." I was impressed! Rated it 4/5. Not on my ballot though.

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Seen : 24/24
I'd never even heard of : 0/24
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 0/24
Films from my list : 3 + 1 pointer

#78 - My #2 - The Blair Witch Project (1999)
#81 - My #22 - Before Sunrise (1995)
#96 - My #15 - Fallen Angels (1995)
1-pointer - Deep Crimson (1996)

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I just couldn't find room to add Beauty and the Beast to my top 25 musicals list, as I told myself I was only going to put one animated film on that list. Partly because there were just too many great non-animated musical films, and also partly because I knew the default for many people voting in that list was going to be to have a tendency to overweight their ballots with Disney films just because they are so ubiquitous in our culture, film buff or not, so it made sense that far too many Disney animated musicals were going to show up on a musicals poll; and of course I was right. In any event I went with All Dogs Go to Heaven over Beauty and the Beast for the musicals poll.

However with this 1990's poll, I was really REALLY torn between a handful of films in the 25th spot, but I had to go with Beauty and the Beast, for many reasons, but primarily because it really IS the best musical Disney has put out, certainly the best Disney film since 1991, the best Disney film in the Disney Renaissance, and it's a story that has been retold many times and the fact that the film honors the source material, is influenced heavily by the 1946 Jean Cocteau film, and has the whole European medieval Brothers Grimm type vibe going for it.



I love the music... "Be Our Guest" is endlessly catchy and fun, "Gaston" is incredibly hilarious and witty, and "Beauty and the Beast" as sung by Angela Lansbury is so sweet and timeless. This is some of the best music of the Disney canon. As much as I also enjoy the music in The Little Mermaid, I think Beauty and the Beast edges it out just slightly.

The other thing that is wonderful about the film and of course going back to the source material are the archetypes. Naturally there's something to be said for the theme of showing kindness to strangers, generosity, and not shunning those away in need, but there's a lot going on with gender roles too and the balance, especially when it comes to females, of the two extremes - one of feeling stuck in a predetermined life with zero ability to explore interests, work, or entrepreneurial endeavors vs the foolhardiness of tossing away institutions and the ignoring the wisdom of a thousand generations of gender roles and that yes indeed there are differences between genders and marriage and a woman "giving herself" to a man isn't horrible. Obviously there needs to be a balance and what's interesting to me about Beauty and the Beast is that once Belle is able to dismiss and cast away the advances of the blowhard and exhibitionist chauvinist Gaston, she's also able to see that maybe men, the prospect of marriage and love aren't so bad and just may have more to offer than a life full of "her nose stuck in a book."

And while the film does say a lot about outcasts or at least people who don't really fit in or belong - either temperamentally or interest-wise into the locale and culture in which they were born, it also avoids invalidating time honored institutions too. In this regard the fact that Belle learns to love the Beast might be less about the Beast being "tamed," but more about her providing temperance to her own prudish ways and her own conceited arrogance, that maybe men, love, and being a wife aren't exactly a form of patriarchal shackles. In this regard Belle changes everybit as much as the Beast if not more so.

There's a lot to unpack in the film's tight sub-90 minute run-length and it's an amazing looking and well animated film. I've hardly touched on so many of the great things about the film, but I should also add how deep the supporting cast of characters are too, each one memorable with distinctive personalities that add to the story and tone.



I saw in in the theater back in 1991 and I was floored by it and didn't realize animated films could be that amazing. I had loved The Little Mermaid and I had also loved the underrated Rescuers Down Under, but something about Beauty and the Beast just really clicked for me and it's one of those important film going experiences as a child that I still appreciate and remember vividly even 30 years later.

Oh and something else that has ruminated in my mind is how similar, only as an inverse, Beauty and the Beast really is to one of my absolute all time favorite among favorite films, My Fair Lady.

So far from my list:

10. Dead Man
25. Beauty and the Beast

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"A candy colored clown!"
Member since Fall 2002
Top 100 Films, clicky below

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I can't remember if I saw The Blair Witch Project on video or at a theater (I'm leaning toward video) but I remember enjoying it. Yeah, I remember all the hype on TV and the internet and I thought that was a fun build-up. And I'll repeat that no movie has ever scared me. I grew up watching scary movies and I almost dared them to scare me, but no dice. I've said why I think this is before so I won't repeat it but there are some films that have creeped me out and TBWP did in portions. The part where two of the friends can hear their missing buddy at night somewhere way out in the woods wailing is extremely effective to me. That kind of stuff creeps me out. So, over all, I like it. But the ending can never creep me out again due to a crass joke my nephew once made about it. Every time I see that, that joke pops up in my head and I start (for good or ill) cracking up.

Beauty and the Beast is prime Disney and I definitely saw this at the theater. Just extremely well-done. An awesome joining of music and animation that I don't think Disney has, or will surpass. I haven't seen the live-action remake and don't want to. When a movie is this good, why just repeat it? Of course, that's all Disney does now instead of creating new stories. The only live-action remake of any of their animated films I've seen is The Jungle Book (2016) and I thought that was great. But I just can't bring myself to watch any of the others.

Two no-shows for me, although they are both fine films. Still striking out on this countdown!

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

I'm not a horror movie fan, but I saw The Blair Witch Project in the theater when it first came out because I was pretty much dragged to it by a couple of friends. They read about how scary it was, and that it was supposed to be one of the scariest horror movies ever made, and they believed all the hype. So I went to see it and I kept waiting for all the scariness that I was told about, but it didn't seem to be happening. I was bored with the movie. Eventually something good happened. The movie ended, and I was just glad that it was over. I don't know if somehow I missed it, but there didn't seem to be anything scary about the movie. It was just overrated and over-hyped.


On the other hand, I've seen Beauty and the Beast numerous times, and it seems to just get better every time I watch it. Great story, great songs, and great animation, make it one of my favorite Disney movies. It was #16 on my list.


My list so far:
4. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
15. My Cousin Vinny (1992)
16. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

The following films from the 1990s have made the revised greatest greatest 100 films list, just announced today:
The Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (doc) 1991 USA -
Rebels of the Neon God 1992 Taiwan Tsai Ming-liang
The Player 1992 USA Robert Altman
Vive L'Amour 1994 Taiwan Tsai Ming-liang
Voices Through Time 1996 Italy Franco Piavoli
Trainspotting 1996 UK Danny Boyle
Flowers of Shanghai 1998 Taiwan Hou Hsiao-hsien
Saving Private Ryan 1998 USA Steven Spielberg

Another film in the list was filmed in the 1990s, but not released until 2024.
A film from 1990 just missed out apparently.

Beauty and the Beast was one I strongly considered for my list. I think it's Disney's best. The music is great and there is some really good animation, especially the roof top sequences at the Beast's castle.