Great Years in Film: 1994

1994 is a special cinema year for me, it was the around the time I came of age in Cinema years, first going to cinema on a regular basis (seeing some good and some stinkers like Richie Rich), 1994 was also the year I first entered senoir school, so here's some of my personal favourites (note: some of these films I didn't see until much later)

The Shawshank Redemption is probably my favourite film of the year. The film was a flop on original movie, maybe because of the title, what the hell is a Shawshank? and why does it need redemption?. Robbins Andy is sent down for a murder he didn't do (of his wife and her lover), here he mights Red (Morgan Freeman) and without giving away the twist of the film it's about hope and never giving up (Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying). Even though Stephen King is known for his horror stories, some of his better stories are away from the genre (this originally appeared in the Different Seasons short story collection alongside The Body - which later become the excellent movie Stand by Me).

Another favourite of mine this year is Ed Wood, which was the second colloboration of many between director Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and tells the story of infamous b-movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. aka the worst director who ever lived, Wood who also had a thing for angora sweaters is lovingly presented here and surroned by a wonderful array of characters including Bill Murray as Bunny and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi. A really enjoyable biopic.

Another film based on a true story, Heavenly Creatures, was a shock to me when I first saw it, the reasoning been, up until that point the Peter Jackson movies I'd seen where Bad Taste, Brain Dead and Meet the Feebles, the change of pace was very drastic, but the story still hooked me in.

Leon (also known as Leon: The Professional and The Professional) is a great movie which features a kind of love story at the centre between Leon (Jean Reno) and Mathilda (Natalie Portman, in her first role, who is absolutely brilliant) -I say a kind of love story because Mathilda wants to be his lover, whilst Leon seems to become more the father figure to her she didn't have), great action sequences, great performances (Portman of course and a wonderful OTT turn from Gary Oldman)

Pulp Fiction was Quentin Tarantino's second movie that brought John Travolta back into the fold (though with films like Battlefield Earth and Wild Hogs he seems to want out of the fold ASAP), there really is no-one better then the supercool, burger eating, bible quoting Samuel L. Jackson. ***SPOILER ALERT*** The three story structure works to excellent effect here aswell as the timeframe mixed up, because as Travolta's Vincent Vega gets killed in the second story and third story is centred around him, him walking into the sunset as a poignant sadness to it.

Natural Born Killers, saw Oliver Stone direct Quentin Tarantino's script and feels like you are on one big trip, thanks to different film stocks being used and insane colours, it doesn't help the fact that Tommy Lee Jones seems to be in a completely different movie aswell as Robert Downey Jr. accent. Woody Harrelson and Jullette Lewis make excellent psycho-lovers and the soundtrack is fantastic.

The Last Seduction as Linda Fiorentina, one of the most dangerous femme fatale's to ever grace the screen, I think this went straight to cable in the US which is a massive shame. Fiortenia is the absolute perfect bitch who uses her femine charms to get what she wants (getting the men to risk their lives, pretending to be vunerable when the police are about). Great movie, a bit overlooked if you ask me.

Speed, was at the time one of the best action movies to come along since Die Hard (which in my opinion restructured the entire action genre), the plot is obvious, but the thrill "ride" (sorry for the bad pun) is one worth taking, these are the sort of films I prefer Keanu Reeves in (that and being a dude).

Forrest Gump, was the Oscar winner of this year and many complained it was very undeserving, I like this film a lot -it hits the right emotional buttons, the music is great and Tom Hanks performance is very strong- To me the saddest moment is when Forrest learns he's got a son (played by Haley Joel Osment), he tries to asks Jenny (Robin Wright) if he his dumb but he can't get his words out. Great movie.

The Lion King, in my eyes is the last great Disney movie (not including Pixar movies). The Lion King as some great dramatic scenes, decent songs and non annoying sidekicks in the form of Tumon and Pumba. Scar is one scary villain. Disney hasn't been this good in a long while.

Dumb and Dumber is a film I loved back in 1994 even going to cinema twice to see it and it's probably one of the Jim Carrey comedies that as dated best, I think Jeff Daniels proved here how great of a comedy actor he can be here and Mike Starr gets a fairly big role (I always feel his roles in movies are too small), it all makes up for damp squid Lauren Holly (I'm not a fan of her). My favourite moment is when Lloyd (Jim Carrey) sells the bird to the blind kid. Still funny.

Clerks was Kevin Smith's first film made for an incredibly miniscule budget ($47,000 If I recall) is not shot great, not acted entirely great (it was everybody's first film- Jeff Anderson I feel for example got more comfortable in the animated series and the film sequel), but as a brilliantly funny script. It was also the film that gave us the iconic Jay and Silent Bob (who just won't go away, I'm not saying that's a bad thing). Probably still my favourite Smith film.

Another great comedy, this time out of Australia is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which was something I came to like a few years after (it wasn't okay for a 12-13 year old boy to watch films involving cross dressers. It's the film that I think of when I think of Terence Stamp and Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving as good as started their terrific careers here. Outrageously great.

That's it for now, join me next time, as I go 10 back from 1994 to 1984, a year of some great childhooD favourites of mine.