Throwback Fun: Favorites of 1994?
Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 1:00PM Tuesday's revisit to the essential and apparently sorely underseen Queen Margot and the comments thereafter had me thinking about favorite films from 1994. This website wasn't around back then of course (I think the internet was just in listserv mode at that point?) but I was already making lists. So what would I have nominated had our Film Bitch Awards been around back then? What would you have nominated had you had an Oscar ballot?
My choices for best (fluid as they are should rewatching ever occur) are after the jump...
Keep in mind that these are not official as the site did not exist and yours truly saw fewer movies back then than how we play things now. But my nominees went like so if I recall correctly. (All nominees listed in alpha order... no winners. An asterisk means they were also Oscar-nominated in that category.)
BEST PICTURE
Bullets Over Broadway
Heavenly Creatures
Pulp Fiction*
Reality Bites (i was very obsessed at the time, okay?)
Queen Margot
BEST DIRECTOR
Tim Burton, Ed Wood
Patrice Chereau, Queen Margot
Peter Jackson, Heavenly Creatures
Krzysztof Kieslowski, Three Colors: Red*
Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction*
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bullets Over Broadway*
Heavenly Creatures*
Pulp Fiction*
Reality Bites
Three Colors: Red*
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Ed Wood
Nell
Quiz Show*
The Shawshank Redemption*
Vanya on 42nd Street
BEST ACTRESS
Judy Davis, The Ref
Jodie Foster, Nell*
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle
Juliette Lewis, Natural Born Killers
Winona Ryder, Reality Bites
A great great year for Best Actress though the Academy chose horribly nearly across the board since the greatness that year fell well outside of "traditional" Oscar bait if you will. My own top five goes out with apologies to so many more like Natalie Portman - The Professional, Linda Fiorentino - The Last Seduction, Meg Ryan - When a Man Loves a Woman, Kathleen Turner - Serial Mom, Toni Collette - Muriel's Wedding, Melanie Lynskey & Kate Winslet - Heavenly Creatures, Isabelle Adjani - Queen Margot, Jamie Lee Curtis - True Lies, Gong Li - To Live, Julianne Moore - Vanya on 42nd Street, etcetera etcetera etcetera... (Jessica Lange's second Oscar win for Blue Sky remains one of the weirdest in my lifetime - most of Oscar's best actress nominee field that year wouldn't even reach my top 20 from the field of contenders)
BEST ACTOR
Johnny Depp, Ed Wood
Hugh Grant, Four Weddings and a Funeral
Nigel Hawthorne, The Madness of King George*
Terence Stamp, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
John Travolta, Pulp Fiction*
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Virna Lisi, Queen Margot
Rosie Perez, It Could Happen To You
Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction*
Jennifer Tilly, Bullets Over Broadway*
Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway*
One of the most stacked years ever for that category. I could fill another 2 lists with worthy what-if Oscar candidates likeso: Glynis Johns - The Ref, Sarah Pierce - Heavenly Creatures, Kristin Scott Thomas - 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Tina Majorino - When a Man Loves a Woman, Rachel Griffiths - Muriel's Wedding, Janeane Garofalo - Reality Bites, Dominique Blanc - Queen Margot, Kirsten Dunst - Interview with the Vampire, Brooke Smith - Vanya on 42nd Street, and Sarah Jessica Parker - Ed Wood
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jean-Hugues Anglade, Queen Margot
Samuel L Jackson, Pulp Fiction*
Martin Landau, Ed Wood*
Paul Newman, The Hudsucker Proxy
Chazz Palminterri, Bullets Over Broadway*
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Heavenly Creatures, Alun Bollinger
Legends of the Fall, John Toll*
Natural Born Killers, Robert Richardson
Queen Margot, Philippe Rousselot
Three Colors: Red, Piotr Sobocinski*
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Lizzy Gardiner & Tim Chappel*
Bullets Over Broadway, Jeffrey Kurland*
Interview with the Vampire, Sandy Powell
Maverick, April Ferry*
Queen Margot, Moidele Bickel*
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Bullets Over Broadway, Santo Loquasto & Susan Bode*
Ed Wood, Tom Duffield
The Hudsucker Proxy, Dennis Gassner & Nancy Haigh
Interview with the Vampire, Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo*
Little Buddha, James Acheson
BEST FILM EDITING
Heavenly Creatures
Pulp Fiction*
Queen Margot
True Lies
Speed*
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Bullets Over Broadway
Ed Wood*
Interview with the Vampire
Queen Margot
VISUAL EFFECTS
Forrest Gump*
Interview with the Vampire
The Mask*
True Lies*
SONG
"Born Bad" (Juliette Lewis) - Natural Born Killers
"Circle of Life" - (Elton John, Tim Rice) The Lion King *
"Hakuna Matata" - (Elton John, Tim Rice) The Lion King *
"I'll Remember" -(Madonna, Patrick Leonard, Richard Page) With Honors
"Stay" (Lisa Loeb) Reality Bites -I know this technically wasn't written for the movie but it's awesome and the field of original songs that year was weak weak weak
ORIGINAL SCORE
Interview with the Vampire, Elliott Goldenthal*
Legends of the Fall, James Horner
Nell, Mark Isham
The Shawshank Redemption, Thomas Newman*
Wolf, Ennio Morricone
SOUND
Queen Margot
True Lies*
Speed*
Special Achievements
The striptease (Jamie Lee Curtis, True Lies)
The splits (Jean Claude Van Damme, Timecop)
Teasing (The Wolf teaser - so exciting at the time, trust. Even though people were disappointed when the movie rolled around)
Iconography on the gothic cheap (Everything, The Crow)
The bite (Tom Cruise & Brad Pitt, Interview with the Vampire)
musical number / comedy duo (Toni Collette & Rachel Griffiths in Muriel's Wedding)
Reader Comments (37)
Other than the Reality Bites stuff, I'm totally into this list.
Side note, that part when Uma says "don't be a square" (in the top picture) drives me NUTS because she draws a rectangle. It really really really bothers me to this day!
Hey, what about foreign movies?
what a fun year!!
Rosie Perez, It Could Happen To You! haha i LOVE that you love this.
she proved she could do drama (FEARLESS) and comedy expertly!
Man, Pulp Fiction and Reality Bites really did a number on me that year - I was 15, a good age to have your mind blown. I still really, really adore Pulp Fiction, but now I only watch Reality Bites up until Leilana storms out of the In Your Face meeting and then skip to the "You'll chill in time" credits sequence. And I NEED to rewatch Bullets Over Broadway and Ed Wood - I haven't seen those since 1994, and I know they would hold up.
It was also a pretty fantastic year for music: Live Through This, Crooked Rain, Whip-Smart, Dummy, Bedtime Stories...
Isit a No to Weaverin Death and the maiden,is Lange's win so bad in that field bar Foster,94 reminds me of 2005Actress line up..
Nat: My acting categories that year would go like so:
Actor:
Jeff Anderson, Clerks
Johnny Depp, Ed Wood
Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption
Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction
Brandon Lee, The Crow
Supporting Actor:
Martin Landau, Ed Wood
Jason Mewes, Clerks
Gary Oldman, Leon
John Travolta, Pulp Fiction (Sorry, the ultimate dramatic arc of the movie is centred on Jackson's moment of epiphany. Travolta's fun, but the character's too aimless and shallow to be the one leading this ship.)
James Whitmore, The Shawshank Redemption.
Lead Actress:
Toni Collette, Muriel's Wedding
Linda Fiorentino, The Last Seduction
Irene Jacob, Three Colours: Red
Juliette Lewis, Natural Born Killers
Natalie Portman, Leon
Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette, Ed Wood
Kirsten Dunst, Interview with the Vampire
Marilyn Ghigliotti, Clerks
Lisa Spoonhauer, Clerks
Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction
"Speed" and "Shawshank" co-swept my awards, including a fitting tie for Supporting Actor between Dennis Hopper and James Whitmore. (Two performances that couldn't be more different, and yet both so fantastic; there's no way for me to decide.) Tim Robbins, not Morgan Freeman, gave an all-time great performance in "Shawshank". And "The Lion King" should've been nominated for Best Picture too!
Oh god, I was obsessed with Legends of the Fall. Obsessed. I saw it 4 times at the cinema.
I turned 15 in 1994, year 10 at school, that year it was all about Reality Bites (and Empire Records, same year??), The Mask, Blink - remember that? - and, bizarrely, Backbeat - a Beatles obsession is a rite of passage for all British teenagers, and it was the right film at the right time I guess?
And obvs we were all obsessing over Keanu, and Christian Slater stepping in for River in Interview With The Vampire.
JB -- i was REALLY into Blink (had massive crushes on both Madeline Stowe & Aidan Quinn). I remember it well.
Wait, whaaaaaaaaa? Moore is NOT in your top five for that brilliant performance? I'm actually shocked. Although I haven't seen Leigh and the others I haven't seen in so long I can't really rank them at this point.
And while I liked Priscilla, I just don't get the praise for Stamp. He was well cast and had the weathered veteran thing down, but that's it. It was very one-note.
But I love that Grant made your top five. Again, I don't know if he'd make mine, but I love that you fully support and appreciate comedic/romantic comedy performances.
Guest: For Freeman v Robbins, I AM on the "both Freeman and Robbins were doing legendary work in Shawshank", (Robbins and Trintignant were both doing work that would have wound up on the ballot in most years), but 1994 is a bit too tight a year. For Hopper? Eh, Frank Booth in Blue Velvet makes his villain in Speed seem like a bit too much of a walk in the park for him. As for my overall Picture category?
Crumb (And here's the odd thing: I'm actually ambivalent at best about a lot of R. Crumb's art. I'm actually fairly okay with a lot of his more recent stuff (late 80s/90s onward), but the 60s/70s stuff that rose him to prominence? Absolutely not a fan. So that I loved this doc as much as I did says a lot about how much it succeeds.)
Ed Wood
Pulp Fiction
Three Colours: Red
The Shawshank Redemption
Best Film: Hoop Dreams (and I HATE basketball!!); Ed Wood; Heavenly Creatures
Best Actor: Johnny Depp - Ed Wood
Best Actress - Crissy Rock - Ladybird, Ladybird
Best Supporting Actor - Martin Landsu - Ed Wood; Paul Scofield - Quiz Show
Best Supporting Actress - Virna Lisi - Queen Margot; Uma Thurman - Pulp Fiction; Kirsten Dunst - Interview with the Vampire
and the Wilde Oscar for the most egregiously WTF performance - Jodie Foster Nell (especialy for the scene where she addresses the court in gibberish alone - I still burst out laughing thinking about it)
Worst Movie - Natural Born Killers (there's just no excuse for this crap)
Why is Brad Pitt so beautiful?
Van Damme's split in Time Cop kind of defined my 1994 year in film...and my early adolescence.
The Shawshank Redemption is in my top ten film pantheon, so my BA would go to both leads. Also, hands down BActress to Toni Collette in Muriel's Wedding (I LOVE THIS MOVIE), and with runner ups, and the Heavenly Creatures girls (now fine ladies ;).
At the time, I loved Hugh Grant in Four Weddings, but on recent viewings, I like him better in Notting Hill.
Muriel's Wedding opened in 95.
I have so many films from 1994 in my watchlist... And now I must had The Ref and It Could Happen to You, since there's no way I'm ignoring the excellence of Judy Davis and Rosie Perez, especially after you recommended them with a Film Bitch Award Nomination.
Still, going by IMDB dates and not US releases, these would have been my honorees of that year:
PICTURE
Pulp Fiction
Three Colors: Red
Through the Olive Trees
Vanya on 42nd Street*
Vive L’Amour
DIRECTOR
Abbas Kiarostami, Through the Olive Trees*
Krysztof Kieslowski, Three Colors: Red
Louis Malle, Vanya on 42nd Street
Tsai Ming-liang, Vive L’Amour
Wong Kar Wai, Chungking Express
ACTRESS
Toni Colette, Muriel’s Wedding*
Juliette Lewis, Natural Born Killers
Gong Li, To Live
Melanie Lynskey, Heavenly Creatures
Julianne Moore, Vanya on 42nd Street
ACTOR
Johnny Depp, Ed Wood
You Ge, To Live
Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction*
Wallace Shawn, Vanya on 42nd Street
Zbigniew Zamachowski, Three Colors: White
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jeanie Drynan – Muriel’s Wedding
Virna Lisi – La Reine Margot*
Kristin Scott Thomas – Four Weddings and a Funeral
Uma Thurman – Pulp Fiction
Dianne Wiest – Bullets Over Broadway
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption
Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chungking Express
Martin Landau, Ed Wood*
Guy Pearce, The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert
Bruce Willis, Pulp Fiction
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Heavenly Creatures
Pulp Fiction*
Three Colors: Red
Three Colors: White
Through the Olive Trees
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Ed Wood*
Little Women
La Reine Margot
To Live
Vanya on the 42nd Street
EDITING
Chungking Express
Natural Born Killers
Pulp Fiction
Through the Olive Trees
Vive L’Amour*
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Chungking Express
Natural Born Killers
La Reine Margot
Three Colors: Red
Three Colors: White
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Bullets Over Broadway
Ed Wood
Forrest Gump
Interview with the Vampire*
Little Women
COSTUME DESIGN
The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Interview with the Vampire
Little Women
La Reine Margot *
MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Ed Wood*
Interview with the Vampire
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Natural Born Killers
VISUAL EFFECTS
Forrest Gump
Interview with the Vampire
The Mask
Speed
True Lies*
ORIGINAL SCORE
The Lion King *
Little Women
La Reine Margot
Three Colors: Red
Three Colors: White
SOUND MIXING & EDITING
Chungking Express
The Lion King
Natural Born Killers
Pulp Fiction
Speed*
Also, like DJDeeJay, I can't believe you'd snub the great Julianne Moore for her magnificent work in Vanya on the 42nd street!
I want to marry magnificent obsession's best director list
GGG -- I was really into QUEEN MARGOT and THREE COLORS: RED as is noticeable in the nominations here. I don't remember much else foreign from that year though
Quiz Show is the best film of 1994.
I never understood the whole Shawshank Redemption thing.
I *loved* that Oscars Best Actress line-up for going off-grid with tiny films like TOM & VIV and BLUE SKY - one of my favourite films that year. I even supported the nomination for THE CLIENT since I'd prefer the Academy to nominate great actressing in any genre.
Otherwise, 1994 was all about THREE COLOURS: RED for me. And wishing the year would end because I didn't much like FORREST GUMP or PULP FICTION and they seemed to be the only films anyone would talk about.
It's not a good movie, but I would love to see the mythical extended cut of James L. Brooks' "I'll Do Anything" - back when it was still a musical!
Otherwise, my 94 favs aren't too respectable: "Threesome", "Serial Mom". Looking back this was a very weird year for studio comedies.
No love for Chungking Express? :(
I have a lot of love for INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE on my own personal list. ED WOOD has gone down somewhat over the past few viewings, but was my #1 at one point
Mike in Canada--Those are great music picks! I'd add Tori Amos' Under the Pink, Jeff Buckley's Grace, Massive Attack's Protection, Mary J. Blige's My Life, and some of REM's Monster.
Am I actually the only one who doesn't think you need to be ashamed of your Reality Bites love? It's so delightfully 90s and Winona is great. Love your Garofalo h/t too.
Pulp Fiction, Red & Heavenly Creatures duke it out for me, with further love for Exotica and Vanya on 42nd St. Chungking Express, Clerks (but haven't seen it in 15 years), Bullets over Broadway, Hoop Dreams and Ed Wood are all up there too.
I so wish Johnny Depp had gotten Oscar love when his quirkiness and odd choices were like this and not overbaked and embarrassing. He was brilliant all over 1990-97.
Have you seen 'Once Were Warriors'? It's a fantastic movie (the fact that Lee Tamahori directed this makes every other film he has made since a huge disappointment) and Rena Owen's performance is easily the greatest lead actress performance of the year for me, and one of the top three lead actress performances of the decade. I was stunned when I first watched it, as any description of the plot makes it sound like a soap opera about Aboriginees, but it is so, so much better (and, it bears repeating, Rena Owen is incredible in this; Temuera Morrison is not bad, either).
That being said: 'Pulp Fiction' is now as old as 'The Godfather' was when 'Pulp Fiction' was released. This should makes us feel really, really old.
muriel was a 94 release down here and i was never enamoured of pulp fiction
BEST PICTURE
Ed Wood*
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Heavenly Creatures
Hoop Dreams
Priest
BEST DIRECTOR
Antonia Bird - Priest
Tim Burton – Ed Wood*
Jan de Bont – Speed
Peter Jackson – Heavenly Creatures
Steve James – Hoop Dreams
BEST ACTOR
Johnny Depp – Ed Wood*
Hugh Grant – Four Weddings and a Funeral
Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump
Nigel Hawthorne – The Madness of King George
Linus Roache - Priest
BEST ACTRESS
Toni Collette - Muriel's Wedding*
Judy Davis – The Ref
Natalie Portman - Leon
Miranda Richardson – Tom & Viv
Kate Winslet – Heavenly Creatures
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
John Hannah - Four Weddings and a Funeral
Martin Landau – Ed Wood*
Bill Murray – Ed Wood
John Turturro – Quiz Show
Tom Wilkinson - Priest
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Charlotte Coleman - Four Weddings and a Funeral
Rachel Griffiths - Muriel's Wedding
Sarah Pierse – Heavenly Creatures
Kristin Scott Thomas - Four Weddings and a Funeral
Dianne Wiest – Bullets Over Broadway*
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bullets Over Broadway – Woody Allen, Douglas McGrath
Four Weddings and a Funeral – Richard Curtis
Heavenly Creatures – Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson
Muriel's Wedding – PJ Hogan
Priest – Jimmy McGovern*
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Ed Wood – Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski*
The Madness of King George – Alan Bennett
Quiz Show – Paul Attanasio
Vanya On 42nd Street – Wallace Shawn
Tyler -- no one has ever solved that mystery.
MrW - i've never seen Once Were Warriors, no. Probably should given the raves at the time.
Steven -- i go by US release and it didn't come here until 1996.
Mark -- it's not a no. I do prefer her to Lange that year, though probably not Sarandon in The Client. all in all i just really don't understand that best actress list
GREAT - jodie foster nell
FINE BUT "BEST?" susan sarandon the client
UM, NO. jessica lange (reheated) / winona ryder (miles better in her other movie that year)
GULP I have not seen Tom & Viv. Again I didn't see as many movies back then (obviously still way more than the average person but not insanity) and wasn't writing about the Oscars.
Reality Bites as one of the year's top 5? Really? Maybe I should rewatch it, but I remember thinking it was basically a tale of #firstworldproblems, so much nonsense, I only wished every single character could be adopted by Joan Crawford and beat up with wire hangers.
On an unrelated topic, Interview with the Vampire is a movie I really wish could be remade now that the culture is more gay-friendly. The book is so erotic and the movie has almost none of it (maybe a HBO TV series would be the perfect medium for that story).
Whether intended or not, that's a nice juxtaposition of images from SPEED and ED WOOD. The steering wheels are the same size! And Ed Wood's sedan holds way more people than an L.A. city bus.
Picture:
„TROIS COULEURS: ROUGE“ (Frankreich)
„PULP FICTION“ (USA)
„CHUNG HING SAM LAM“ (Hongkong)
„EXOTICA“ (Kanada)
„BEFORE THE RAIN“ (Mazedonien)
„TROIS COULEURS: BLANC“ (Frankreich)
„LES ROSEAUX SAUVAGES“ (Frankreich)
„ED WOOD“ (USA)
„HEAVENLY CREATURES“ (Neuseeland)
„DUNG CHE SAI DUK“ (Hongkong)
Actor:
Ge You in „HUOZHE“ (China)
Jean-Louis Trintignant in „TROIS COULEURS: ROUGE“ (Frankreich)
Daniel Auteuil in „LA SÉPARATION“ (Frankreich)
Johnny Depp in „ED WOOD“ (USA)
John Travolta in „PULP FICTION“ (USA)
Actress:
Julianne Moore in „VANYA ON 42nd STREET“ (USA)
Gong Li in „HUOZHE“ (China)
Isabelle Adjani in „LA REINE MARGOT“ (Frankreich)
Linda Fiorentino in „THE LAST SEDUCTION“ (USA)
Isabelle Huppert in „LA SÉPARATION“ (Frankreich)
Supporting Actor:
Samuel L. Jackson in „PULP FICTION“ (USA)
Martin Landau in „ED WOOD“ (USA)
Jean-Hugues Anglade in „LA REINE MARGOT“ (Frankreich)
Don McKellar in „EXOTICA“ (Kanada)
Bruce Willis in „PULP FICTION“ (USA)
Supporting Actress:
Dianne Wiest in „BULLETS OVER BROADWAY“ (USA)
Virna Lisi in „LA REINE MARGOT“ (Frankreich)
Vanessa Redgrave in „LITTLE ODESSA“ (USA)
Sarah Peirse in „HEAVENLY CREATURES“ (Neuseeland)
Patricia Arquette in „ED WOOD“ (USA)
Director:
Krzysztof Kieslowski für „TROIS COULEURS: ROUGE“ (Frankreich)
Béla Tarr für „SÁTÁNTANGÓ“ (Ungarn)
Zhang Yimou für „HUOZHE“ (China)
Wong Kar Wai für „CHUNG HING SAM LAM“ (Hongkong)
Atom Egoyan für „EXOTICA“ (Kanada)
1. Pulp Fiction
2. In the Mouth of Madness
3. Clerks
4. The Lion King
5. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
6. Ed Wood
7. Forrest Gump
8. The Shawshank Redemption
9. Four Weddings and a Funeral
10. Días Contados
Carmen -- good call. I don't have high hopes that a future movie would revisit that aspect of it though, even with the societal changes. Because Hollywood is a business and they are always like "that's not bankable" about diversity.
Brevity -- whoa. i didn't even notice that until you said it and it is perfect.
Jamie Lee Curtis is a national treasure in True Lies. Such an inspired performance. Jean-Claude Van Damme's ass is an international treasure in Time Cop. Boy, did I wear out that tape.
Anyway, 1994 really *is* a terrific year in film—at home and abroad. It's fashionable to trash on it now, but from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Hudsucker Proxy, Pulp Fiction and Reality Bites at the start of the year, to Heavenly Creatures, Muriel's Wedding, Nobody's Fool and The Shawshank Redemption toward the end, cinema was serving me gonzo to gut-punch that year. My top picks:
Best Picture: Muriel's Wedding (give or take The Shawshank Redemption)
Best Director: Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction
Best Actress: Linda Fiorentino, The Last Seduction
Best Actor: Johnny Depp, Ed Wood
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hudsucker Proxy
Best Supporting Actor: John Hannah, Four Weddings and a Funeral
1994 was such a solid year. Forgot that Interview with the Vampire and Legends of the Fall also came out that year!