Oscar History Part 7: 1990-2000

1990

Winner: Dances with Wolves

My pick: Goodfellas

Other notable films: Miller’s Crossing, Presumed Innocent, Edward Scissorhands, Misery, The Grifters

The Academy will never let this down.  Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves has the burden of being a great film that beat a better film.  Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is a master at work, an engaging slice-of-life in the Mafia that both attracts and repulses us.  Also: the Coen Brothers give their own unique take on organized crime in Miller's Crossing, Alan J. Pakula adapts a great courtroom murder mystery with Harrison Ford as the accused in Presumed Innocent, Stephen Frears' The Grifters is a neo-noir film of the best kind, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp begin their long collaborative relationship in the fairytalesque Edward Scissorhands, and Rob Reiner makes a human monster in his adaptation of Stephen King's Misery. 

1991

Winner and my pick: The Silence of the Lambs

Other notable films: JFK, Boyz N the Hood, Beauty and the Beast, Grand Canyon, Europa Europa (Germany 1990)

Not Oscar bait at all.  And that's the way I like it.  Jonathan Demme gets great performances out of Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins in an unlikely pairing in The Silence of the Lambs.  Also: Oliver Stone's pastiche of American history through a conspiracy lens in JFK, John Singleton's look at life in South Central Lost Angeles in Boyz N the Hood, Disney's animation renaissance reaches its peak in Beauty and the Beast, Lawrence Kasdan's statement on lives and relationships in the early 1990s in Grand Canyon, and the true-life story of a Jew escaping persecution by posing as Aryan in Europa Europa.

1992

Winner and my pick: Unforgiven

Other notable films: The Crying Game, The Last of the Mohicans, The Player, Malcolm X, Howards End, Glengarry Glen Ross, Hard Boiled

Clint Eastwood's ode to the Western says it all: Unforgiven.  Also: Neil Jordan's tale of love, sex, and the Irish turmoil in The Crying Game, Michael Mann and Daniel Day-Lewis making a romantic adventure adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans, Robert Altman's Hollywood satire The Player, Spike Lee and Denzel Washington bringing the life of the controversial figure Malcolm X to the screen, Merchant-Ivory adapting E.M. Forster's tale of class relations in early 20th century England in Howards End, David Mament's acting showcase about real estate salesmen Glengarry Glen Ross, and John Woo's "bullet ballet" with Chow Yun-Fat as a Hong Kong cop in Hard Boiled.

1993

Winner and my pick: Schindler’s List

Other notable films: The Age of Innocence, The Piano, Philadelphia, Short Cuts, Three Colors: Blue

Steven Spielberg shows the horrors of the Holocaust and the efforts of an imperfect man to save as many lives as possible in Schindler's List.  Also: Martin Scorsese adapts the classic of romance in high society The Age of Innocence, Jane Campion's tale of a mute woman desired and used in The Piano, Jonathan Demme directs a brilliant performance by Tom Hanks as a gay attorney with AIDS who is wrongfully terminated by his employers in Philadelphia, Robert Altman adapting Raymond Carver and revisiting his style of multiple stories intersecting and unfolding, this time in Los Angeles, in Short Cuts, and Krzysztof Kieslowski begins his Three Colors trilogy drawing from French Revolutionary ideals with Blue, focusing on a woman seeking emotional liberty after the death of her family.

1994

Winner: Forrest Gump

My pick: The Shawshank Redemption

Other notable films: Pulp Fiction, Hoop Dreams, Ed Wood, Three Colors: Red

The Academy (and the rest of the country) fell for Tom Hanks stumbling through American history in Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump, but time has been good to Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's tale of the human spirit The Shawshank Redemption.  The best direction of the bunch has to be the work of Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction; its many imitators fail to accomplish the great balance of crime, humor, and style. Also: the tale of athletic aspirations of youth in the documentary Hoop Dreams; Tim Burton and Johnny Depp pay tribute to the "worst" director of all time Ed Wood, and Kieslowski finishes his Three Colors trilogy, showing human connection and fraternity in Red.

1995

Winner: Braveheart

My pick: Heat

Other notable films: The Usual Suspects, Dead Man Walking, Sense and Sensibility, Leaving Las Vegas, Apollo 13, Toy Story

Something to say: Mel Gibson's Braveheart is an enjoyable film, but there were so many great choices available.  A film completely ignored by the Academy was Michael Mann's Heat, a classic two-sides-of-the-coin between cop and robber with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro; I don't think either actor has been this good since.  Also: Bryan Singer asks "who is Keyser Soze" in the crime mystery The Usual Suspects, Tim Robbins directs a true-life story of forgivness and repentance in Dead Man Walking, a writer destroys himself with alcohol in Mike Figgis' Leaving Las Vegas, Ang Lee brings his delicate touch to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Ron Howard directs the real-life story of the troubled Apollo 13 mission, and Pixar pushes Disney animation foward in the childhood wish fulfillment Toy Story.

1996

Winner: The English Patient

My pick: Fargo

Other notable films: Lone Star, Breaking the Waves, Jerry Maguire

Something to say: Anthony Minghella made a decent film in The English Patient.  But the Coens topped their incredible output in Fargo.  Also: John Sayles' mystery about a crime, relationships, and the past in Lone Star, Cameron Crowe's story of a sports agent with humanity in Jerry Maguire, and Lars Von Trier's tale of a woman's love for her husband in Breaking the Waves.

1997

Winner: Titanic

My pick: L.A. Confidential

Other notable films: Boogie Nights, The Ice Storm, Jackie Brown, Wag the Dog, The Sweet Hereafter

Epic filmmaking at work in James Cameron's Titanic.  But Curtis Hanson's adaptation of L.A. Confidential showcases police corruption and Hollywood celebrity in the 1950s and gives new life to film noir.  Also: Paul Thomas Anderson announces himself as new force among directors in his tale of the ups and downs of an unconventional family made up of cast and crew members in the 1970-80s porn industry in Boogie Nights, Ang Lee shows the cracks in 1970s suburbia in The Ice Storm, Tarantino adapts Elmore Leonard and pays tribute to 1970s blaxploitation films in the crime caper Jackie Brown, Barry Levinson skewers politics and Hollywood in Wag the Dog, and Atom Egoyan penetrates a town suffering a tragedy in The Sweet Hereafter.

1998

Winner: Shakespeare in Love

My pick: The Thin Red Line

Other notable films: Saving Private Ryan, Out of Sight, The Truman Show, The Big Lebowski, A Simple Plan, Rushmore

Shakespeare in Love beating Saving Private Ryan was a joke.  But the return of Terrence Malick after a 20 year absence injected a unique voice into film that had been missing from the other auteurs of that golden era; The Thin Red Line is a beautiful meditation of war and human nature that avoids the conventional archetypes and narratives that even Ryan can't escape.  Also: Steven Soderbergh makes a fun crime drama and an actor out of George Clooney in Out of Sight, Peter Weir earns a career-best peformance out of Jim Carrey in a satire of American television in The Truman Show, the Coens turn Jeff Bridges into an icon for the relaxed in The Big Lebowski, Sam Raimi makes his most mature and effective film in the drama A Simple Plan, and Wes Anderson creates a world that doesn't really exist, populated with entertaining characters in Rushmore.

1999

Winner and my pick: American Beauty

Other notable films: Magnolia, Three Kings, Eyes Wide Shut, The Insider, Being John Malkovich

This was a great year for films.  I can't fault the Academy's choice of American Beauty, the directorial debut of Sam Mendes and featuring a bombastic performance by Kevin Spacey.  I also love Paul Thomas Anderson's ensemble-cast mosaic of parents and children in conflict in Los Angeles in Magnolia. Also: David O. Russell gives George Clooney another solid credit in the Gulf War action satire Three Kings, Stanley Kubrick gives us a final masterpiece in the relationship drama unfolding in a dream landscape Eyes Wide Shut, Spike Jonze debuts in the unconventional Being John Malkovich, and Michael Mann tells the true-life tale of journalism ethics and corporate collusion in The Insider.

2000

Winner: Gladiator

My pick: Almost Famous

Other notable films: Traffic, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Wonder Boys, Requiem for a Dream, O Brother Where Are Thou?, The Virgin Suicides

Ridley Scott's Gladiator is fun, but Spartacus it is not.  My pick is Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical tale of a teenager on the road with the band in Almost Famous.  The best direction of the year is present in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, balancing multiple characters and stories in the U.S. war on drugs.  Also: Ang Lee's tale of love and martial arts in a heightened and historical reality in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Michael Douglas as a struggling writer in Wonder Boys, a haunting debut by Sofia Coppola in The Virgin Suicides, Darren Aronofsky descends us into drugs and despair in Requiem for a Dream, and the Coens put us on a satiric odyssey of Depression-era America in O Brother Where Are Thou?