Lifetime Movies: 1990

Ok so start here...this is my new obsession and if you watch more than 2 of this guys video's your going to hell...I feel that I am usually 2 years behind the times so you may have seen this guy before.

Now we can start:
Interesting picture...this is what comes to mind when I think of this film...there is never in the whole film a guy that wears a hat and is shot under an elevated train/highway...not to mention the cars in the photo are like from the 1930's and the film spans 1960's-1980's.

I came across this after it was in theaters, it was released in September of 1990 and I saw it the beginning of 1991...a friend from High school who knows nothing of movies turned me on to it...since watching this movie when I was 16 I have been a movie snob...sure I saw the Godfather and Scarface...but I watched this and was blown away...it was a real look at these guys...these fringe mafia organized crime guys...not that I know anything about that lifestyle...but up until this time the Godfather was a center piece...and that was our bible as film fans as to what a mafia person was like...no one could conceive of a simple person..like your father being connected with these types of people...but Goodfellas shows the very nature of these everyday people in extreme situations.

I then bought the book and the book was the real Henry Hills account of his life...the book is more expansive then the film, but both are excellent companion pieces...the same could not be said for the Godfather...
The team of Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci is gold...Raging Bull, Casino, A Bronx Tale and this film are a dynamic duo of an Italians wet dream...throw in Marty as Director, the fast cuts, long single take shots, and of Course Vincent Gallo...and you have a masterpiece.

I have to say when normal people...you know those of us in a society that just watch films for entertainment and not art...when these people talk about the best films and specifically crime/mafia films...they always talk about the Godfather...but very rarely have those people ever even heard about Goodfellas...in that regard I think this film is something people heard of or saw, but it never stuck with them because they can not connect with the characters...it may take a special person who has witnessed these types of people to truly appreciate this film...or maybe its still a lost treasure...but ask someone that you know if they saw this film and I bet they never have or only saw it once.

This was an easy pick for me...this is my favorite film of all time...believe me I rank films...and this one is always number 1...number 2 is usually always the same and then the list just jumbles...but Goodfellas has been number 1 since I saw it for the first time. Also look for all the people in the background...chances are that most of them were eventually cast in The Sopranos

Here's a classic cut

Rest of that year:

Total Recall: The story holds up...maybe not the effects...but this story can be seen over and over again in different ways...I wish Verhoven would have made more Sci-Fi

Godfather III: The weakest of the bunch sure...but its Al as Micheal Corleone...enough already

Wild at Heart: Gotta be one of my favorite Lynch films...and the parallel with the Wizard of Oz is a level that most directors would never take and can't take...Nick Cage at his over the top best, and I Love it "Texas Style"

Joe Versus the Volcano: Steven Spielberg produced, Meg Ryan plays 3 characters...Tom Hanks lives on Staten Island...the Director, John Patrick Shanley also wrote Moonstruck and Doubt...how could this not be a winner...its heartfelt...funny, dark...and that's the problem..it's dark...Tom Hanks thinks he's dying and is supposed to jump into a volcano...funny funny movie

see ya in 1991

Lifetime Movies: 1990

Winner: Goodfellas

This needs no explanation and I know Vin will have more to say in his post. What separates this from so many of the other elite films of all time is that it's just so much damn fun. Dances with Wolves? Really?

Films of Note:

The Adventures of Ford Fairlaine: The most disappointing movie ever. Phantom Menace? Ok, maybe, but...this was Andrew Dice Clay. The Diceman. Teenage Me was expecting Caligula in a leather jacket (not that I knew what Caligula was at the time). What I got was, my god, I still don't know what I got. No nudity, for one. No nudity! How was that possible. And am I remembering a koala?

Edward Scissorhands: When people talk about what a visionary Tim Burton is they're thinking about this magical modern fairy tale. This twenty year old magical not-so-modern-anymore fairy tale. Is it that he won't or that he can't make original stories like this anymore? Long sigh.

The Grifters: An absolutely underrated noir gem (produced by Martin Scorsese). Annette Bening gives one of my favorite performances ever.

Miller's Crossing: I remember hearing about this Coen Brothers film a few years later when I got to college. Particularly how it was a precursor to the Tarantino-led indie cool scene. I know I felt hipper once I saw it.

Side Out: Still the best beach volleyball movie in the history of cinema.

Tremors: One of the best "B" monster movies ever. One of those movies that just exceeds all expectations despite there being no reason that it should. Plus, my favorite sitcom dad, Michael Gross from "Family Ties", as a right-wing gun nut.