By John H. Foote 18. FORREST GUMP (1994) The leaf that blows away from Forrest (Tom Hanks) at the beginning of the film, carried by the wind through the air, coming to light on various objects and places in its unpredictable journey is a direct metaphor for Forrest Gump himself. Like that leaf, he is…
By John H. Foote 19. CASINO (1995) Martin Scorsese’s Casino is among the greatest films of the master’s career, yet only now, 25 years after its initial release, is it finally recognized for being the work of art it is. Upon release the film was slammed for being too much like GoodFellas (1990), his masterpiece,…
By John H. Foote 20. THELMA AND LOUISE (1991) The biggest difference in this buddy road movie was that the heroes were instead heroines, women. Wildly entertaining with spectacular performances from Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon and a very new Brad Pitt, the film was an immediate hit with audiences and critics, superbly directed by Ridley…
By John H. Foote 21. NIXON (1995) When it was announced Oliver Stone would direct a film biography of former President Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace in 1974 amidst the Watergate affair, audiences and critics, hell most of Hollywood, held their breath, expecting a powerful attack and expose on the man rather than a…
By John H. Foote 22. LEAVING LAS VEGAS (1995) One of the most profoundly heartbreaking films I have ever seen, as a man Ben (Nicolas Cage) loses his job, his family and heads to Las Vegas to “drink himself to death”. His words. There he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a pretty hooker walking the Vegas…
By John H. Foote No pre-amble, just into it. Once again the Academy Award nominations are filled with an array of snubs of actors and actresses, ignored films, directors and achievements. Without further ado, here we go. And yes, for some of these, I am furiously pissed. DA FIVE BLOODS – Long discussed as one…
By John H. Foote And now the ladies! Did they win because of the sheer genius of their performance, or because they were “due” or for sentimental reasons, or they represented the flavour of the moment? As with the Best Actor choices, posted last week, the correct answer is all of the above when the…
By John H. Foote 23. THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (1995) When Steven Spielberg walked away from directing The Bridges of Madison County, the highly anticipated film, Clint Eastwood had already been tapped to play the photographer from the National Geographic who comes to Iowa in the sixties to photograph the covered bridges. With Spielberg…
By John H. Foote 24.THE SIXTH SENSE (1999) The hushed terror of the little boy telling a doctor his secret was the TV commercial of the year, transfixing millions of movie goers with is deceptively simplistic approach. “I see dead people” became the most important line of the year, instantly stopping our breath, and acted…
By John H. Foote Should they have won or was another actor more worthy? Was their performance truly for the ages, as an Academy Award winning performance should be, or a win to atone for losing a deserving award earlier in their career? Did they somehow become the flavour of the month during their film’s…