The 100 Greatest movies of the 1990s #71. Pleasantville (9 Viewers)

[northern exposure]

Fwiw, and not to get in the way of arguing about Tims opinions... And I'm jealous about seeing the play with that amazing cast... But I'm not a Mamet fan.

I loved House of Cards (first of his things id seen) for the crazy way people spoke and for a good story. But then every other play or movie, despite the story, it's the exact same method of dialogue. The dialogue. In his works.. it's always the exact same. In the movies and plays, you know- its the method of dialogue that's the exact same. The same, I tell you. The dialogue. The method. The method of the dialogue.

But all of my actor friends think he's the bees knees, so what do I know.

Bees knees???? Hanging out with a lot of octogenerian actors are you?
Do they also think he's the cat's pajamas?

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

 

[Gally]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

Isn't that kind of what is happening in this thread?

 

[El Floppo]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

Don't go denigrating Encino Man, which is clearly a better movie than Wall Street.

 

[timschochet]

74. White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

Directed by: Ron Shelton

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez

Synopsis: Basketball street hustlers compete and cooperate in Venice Beach, CA.

What, you still throwing up bricks? What is this, a mason’s convention? - Woody Harrelson as Billy Doyle

This is a movie filled with great trash talking and one liners. I love the scene when Marques Johnson attempts to rob a store in order to come up with enough money for the wager. The whole movie has one great scene after another like that. It’s not deep but extremely entertaining. Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

And White Men Can't Jump isn't even her most annoying role!

Your rating feels about right to me at least. A solid job of being what it is, but not something that stays with you a long time.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

This whole GGR thing was thrown off from the get go with the assertion of "as good as".

Are both casts filled with excellent actors and is Tim likely to derive the same/similar enjoyment from either? Sure.

I'm terms of gravitas, fame, and lifetime accomplishment are they remotely the same? Not one bit.

There.
This smart guy said it much better than this dumb guy.

Check out this cast: Kieran Culkin, Bob Odendirk, Bill Burr, Michael McKean. That’s as good as the movie cast, IMO.

I know you are prone to hyperbole but thats ridiculous
Al Pacino - 9 Academy nominations, 1 win.
Jack Lemmon - 8 Academy nominations, 2 wins
Kevin Spacey - 2 Academy Nominations, 2 wins
Alan Arkin - 4 nominations, 1 win
Ed Harris- 4 nominations, 0 wins
Alec Baldwin - 1 nomination, 0 wins

Vs
Kieran Culkin - 1 Nomination, 1 win
Michael McKean - 1 nomination for Best Song for Might Wind
Bob Odenkirk - 0
Bill Burr - 0

Its an entertaining cast for sure, but come on

It’s not a scoreboard with objective scoring like sports.

Ok. Im all ears.
Why is this cast as good as the movie cast?

I’m not saying it is. I am saying that entertainment is subjective and using Academy Awards as some sort of objective measure of quality is not an approach I agree with.

Ok. I havent undertaken any deep analysis here, but I think TJ Houshmandzadeh, Jerricho Cotchery, Jermaine Kearse and Eddie Kennison are as good a wide receiving group as Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Marvin Harrison Sr and Jerry Rice. So sue me

A sports analogy is not a good response to me when I’ve said this is not like sports.

Yeah but i make my point.
I could use international statesmen, scientists, philosophers, lovers, rappers etc
Andy D made my point better than me, so i will end it there while apparently White Men Can’t Jump is a better/more enjoyable movie than the Fugitive or Seven.

 

[SWC]

a river runs through it had better be on this list take that to the bank bromigos

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

Don't go denigrating Encino Man, which is clearly a better movie than Wall Street.

Sorry. Can we still be friends?

 

[bryhamm]

74. White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

Directed by: Ron Shelton

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez

Synopsis: Basketball street hustlers compete and cooperate in Venice Beach, CA.

What, you still throwing up bricks? What is this, a mason’s convention? - Woody Harrelson as Billy Doyle

This is a movie filled with great trash talking and one liners. I love the scene when Marques Johnson attempts to rob a store in order to come up with enough money for the wager. The whole movie has one great scene after another like that. It’s not deep but extremely entertaining. Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

it's Hoyle, not Doyle

 

[General Malaise]

And in the end, we all learned something that day and that something was - White men can and in fact sometimes do jump and that's the moral of the story brohan.

 

[FarFromHome]

White Men Cant Jump.

Absolutely epic movie.

Big time hooper in my younger days. Half my trash talk was from this movie.

Marvelous movie

You can listen to Jimmy but you don't hear Jimmy

 

[Todem]

Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

And White Men Can't Jump isn't even her most annoying role!

Your rating feels about right to me at least. A solid job of being what it is, but not something that stays with you a long time.

It Can Happen To You…..which BTW is a great heartwarming 90’s flick.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Your mother is an astronaut.

 

[Jayrod]

I probably have watched White Men Can't Jump at least a dozen times.

I had a couple of college buddies and it was their favorite movie. One of them recorded just the audio of the movie and burned it to a CD so he could listen to it while he drove on long trips. He would literally just play the audio and his reasoning was that he had seen the movie so many times that he could see it in his head while he listened to the audio. I always found that hilarious.

Harrelson's jumper looked a little wonky, but Snipes looked like he could really play a bit.

I'd have this one in my top 50 most likely due to the nostalgia of it all, but the ranking here feels about right.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

And in the end, we all learned something that day and that something was - White men can and in fact sometimes do jump and that's the moral of the story brohan.

Take that to the bank shot.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

And White Men Can't Jump isn't even her most annoying role!

Your rating feels about right to me at least. A solid job of being what it is, but not something that stays with you a long time.

It Can Happen To You…..which BTW is a great heartwarming 90’s flick.

Nailed it! I know she's supposed to be annoying in that movie, but man is it a rough go listening to her character.

 

[Frostillicus]

74. White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

Directed by: Ron Shelton

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez

Synopsis: Basketball street hustlers compete and cooperate in Venice Beach, CA.

What, you still throwing up bricks? What is this, a mason’s convention? - Woody Harrelson as Billy Doyle

This is a movie filled with great trash talking and one liners. I love the scene when Marques Johnson attempts to rob a store in order to come up with enough money for the wager. The whole movie has one great scene after another like that. It’s not deep but extremely entertaining. Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

One of my all-time favorites.

 

[Frostillicus]

Harrelson's jumper looked a little wonky, but Snipes looked like he could really play a bit.

It was actually the opposite. Harrelson could play, but Snipes couldn't play a lick.

 

[Frostillicus]

Your mother is an astronaut.

My mother was too drunk to be an astronaut.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Your mother is an astronaut.

My mother was too drunk to be an astronaut.

It's hard ******* work being this good!

 

[timschochet]

73. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Directed by: Henry Selick

Starring the voices of: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara

Synopsis: The characters of Halloween Town decide to take over Christmas.

Just because I cannot see it, doesn’t mean I can’t believe it- Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington

I wasn’t aware who Henry Selick is (turns out he’s directed a few animated films) but this movie is really the work of Tim Burton, who conceived it and wrote the screenplay, and Danny Elfman who composed all the music and portrays the lead role. It’s an astonishing film: both scary and funny, highly imaginative, with scenes of great beauty. It also stretches at times which is why I give it this ranking rather than even higher. I will say that, over the years, this film has grown in my estimation.

 

[UncleZen]

Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

And White Men Can't Jump isn't even her most annoying role!

Your rating feels about right to me at least. A solid job of being what it is, but not something that stays with you a long time.

It Can Happen To You…..which BTW is a great heartwarming 90’s flick.

Nailed it! I know she's supposed to be annoying in that movie, but man is it a rough go listening to her character.

I really liked her in WMCJ. That squeaky voice worked for her character in that movie.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

73 seems a bit low

 

[El Floppo]

73. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Directed by: Henry Selick

Starring the voices of: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara

Synopsis: The characters of Halloween Town decide to take over Christmas.

Just because I cannot see it, doesn’t mean I can’t believe it- Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington

I wasn’t aware who Henry Selick is (turns out he’s directed a few animated films) but this movie is really the work of Tim Burton, who conceived it and wrote the screenplay, and Danny Elfman who composed all the music and portrays the lead role. It’s an astonishing film: both scary and funny, highly imaginative, with scenes of great beauty. It also stretches at times which is why I give it this ranking rather than even higher. I will say that, over the years, this film has grown in my estimation.

Learned two things... I always thought Burton directed it, and had NO idea Elfman was Jack.. just thought he'd done the score like so many other movies (huge fan from Oingo Boingo days).

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

That was exactly what I was going to post. I haven't been able to even try this movie for that reason.

 

[Hastur]

Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

That was exactly what I was going to post. I haven't been able to even try this movie for that reason.

She's the reason I hate cameras to this day.

 

[Frostillicus]

Your mother is an astronaut.

My mother was too drunk to be an astronaut.

It's hard ******* work being this good!

Shut the **** up.

 

[KarmaPolice]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

IMO that is the trouble with making a list of the "greatest" when it comes to movies. It's not listed as tim's favorites, or as 80s and I put it - our "top" movie of the decade. To me those are two different lists. For example, I would say that Goodfellas is one of the greatest movies of the 90s, so I would have it high on a greatest movies list, but it's not a movie I personally love or get much out of, so it doesn't rank well on my top list.

On the flip side, I think too often people don't have the patience for directors and movies that really push the medium and do some really complicated stuff. Those usually get put in the boring and artsy fartsy categories in lists like this. Encino Man wasn't the best example, but I could see people arguing between a good comedy and Wall Street as to what is greater. I could also see people way overrating Wall Street because they are entertained and it's quotable, but personally I don't think it's an all-time great movie.

 

[TripItUp]

The Fugitive appropriately ranked, and solid flick.

White Men Can’t Jump a little low for me

 

[timschochet]

72. There’s Something About Mary (1998)

Directed by: The Farrelly Brothers

Starring: Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Chris Elliot

Synopsis: A guy attempts to track down the girl he’s loved since high school.

What about Brett Farv-ruh? - Ben Stiller as Ted

There were so many hilarious quotes from this film but most of them are simply too tasteless to post here. One of my favorites is Matt Dillon’s explanation of his “passion”- working with certain kids- so wrong but I couldn’t stop laughing. The whole film is like that, incredibly silly.

 

[Snoopy]

The cringe-worthy zipper scene.

 

[northern exposure]

The cringe-worthy zipper scene.

The "hair gel" scene.

 

[El Floppo]

72. There’s Something About Mary (1998)

Directed by: The Farrelly Brothers

Starring: Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Chris Elliot

Synopsis: A guy attempts to track down the girl he’s loved since high school.

What about Brett Farv-ruh? - Ben Stiller as Ted

There were so many hilarious quotes from this film but most of them are simply too tasteless to post here. One of my favorites is Matt Dillon’s explanation of his “passion”- working with certain kids- so wrong but I couldn’t stop laughing. The whole film is like that, incredibly silly.

Top 5 of all time comedy for me.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

72. There’s Something About Mary (1998)

Directed by: The Farrelly Brothers

Starring: Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Chris Elliot

Synopsis: A guy attempts to track down the girl he’s loved since high school.

What about Brett Farv-ruh? - Ben Stiller as Ted

There were so many hilarious quotes from this film but most of them are simply too tasteless to post here. One of my favorites is Matt Dillon’s explanation of his “passion”- working with certain kids- so wrong but I couldn’t stop laughing. The whole film is like that, incredibly silly.

Just rewatched recently - still holds up. Matt Dillon steals the show.

 

[BlackCrowes]

who goes to Santiago, Chile twice in one year?

 

[Alex P Keaton]

74. White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

Directed by: Ron Shelton

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez

Synopsis: Basketball street hustlers compete and cooperate in Venice Beach, CA.

What, you still throwing up bricks? What is this, a mason’s convention? - Woody Harrelson as Billy Doyle

This is a movie filled with great trash talking and one liners. I love the scene when Marques Johnson attempts to rob a store in order to come up with enough money for the wager. The whole movie has one great scene after another like that. It’s not deep but extremely entertaining. Fair warning however: a lot of people find Rosie Perez really annoying.

it's Hoyle, not Doyle

Billy Ho!!!

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Harrelson's jumper looked a little wonky, but Snipes looked like he could really play a bit.

It was actually the opposite. Harrelson could play, but Snipes couldn't play a lick.

Yeah exactly. They had to teach Snipes how to play basketball. Which is why he looks like an exaggerated version of a late 80s mediocre playground hopper. Whereas Woody looks very comfortable playing basketball, even if his shot is unorthdox. He has clearly played basketball based on how he dribbles and moves.

 

[Dennis Castro]

72. There’s Something About Mary (1998)

Directed by: The Farrelly Brothers

Starring: Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Chris Elliot

Synopsis: A guy attempts to track down the girl he’s loved since high school.

What about Brett Farv-ruh? - Ben Stiller as Ted

There were so many hilarious quotes from this film but most of them are simply too tasteless to post here. One of my favorites is Matt Dillon’s explanation of his “passion”- working with certain kids- so wrong but I couldn’t stop laughing. The whole film is like that, incredibly silly.

Top 5 of all time comedy for me.

My all-time favorite movie theater moment. I’m watching this sitting next to my college roommate when the guy drops the hairy beanbag line. Roommate lets out a deafening BWAAAHAHAHA!!1! that itself, brought the whole house down, people laughing at HIM.

 

[STBootleg]

Harrelson's jumper looked a little wonky, but Snipes looked like he could really play a bit.

It was actually the opposite. Harrelson could play, but Snipes couldn't play a lick.

Yeah exactly. They had to teach Snipes how to play basketball. Which is why he looks like an exaggerated version of a late 80s mediocre playground hopper. Whereas Woody looks very comfortable playing basketball, even if his shot is unorthdox. He has clearly played basketball based on how he dribbles and moves.

Well yeah

 

[Gally]

On the flip side, I think too often people don't have the patience for directors and movies that really push the medium and do some really complicated stuff. Those usually get put in the boring and artsy fartsy categories in lists like this.

I guess I watch movies/TV for entertainment. I don't really care about artsy-fartsy, technically good movie making that isn't entertaining. To me there isn't much point spending my time on that kind of stuff if it isn't entertaining. It's probably why critic opinions usually are meaningless for me.

 

[El Floppo]

On the flip side, I think too often people don't have the patience for directors and movies that really push the medium and do some really complicated stuff. Those usually get put in the boring and artsy fartsy categories in lists like this.

I guess I watch movies/TV for entertainment. I don't really care about artsy-fartsy, technically good movie making that isn't entertaining. To me there isn't much point spending my time on that kind of stuff if it isn't entertaining. It's probably why critic opinions usually are meaningless for me.

this is my wife too. wants to see a movie to turn of the brain, sit back and just watch a spectacle.

I'm like KP, I think, where I'm into the art of it as much as the spectacle (which I also enjoy). I can watch a big dumb movie and enjoy it, but I'll only love a movie if it's doing more on the art side too.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

Don't go denigrating Encino Man, which is clearly a better movie than Wall Street.

Sorry. Can we still be friends?

I'll take that as a no

 

[El Floppo]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

Don't go denigrating Encino Man, which is clearly a better movie than Wall Street.

Sorry. Can we still be friends?

I'll take that as a no

I have this chucklehead on ignore. Anybody... what's he saying?

 

[Jayrod]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

Don't go denigrating Encino Man, which is clearly a better movie than Wall Street.

Sorry. Can we still be friends?

I'll take that as a no

I have this chucklehead on ignore. Anybody... what's he saying?

Mostly that he hasn't seen a lot of the TV shows everyone else has, but he also wants to be your friend.

 

[El Floppo]

(I'm just happy somebody... ANYBODY... want's to be my friend)

 

[Joe Schmo]

Mongo has a big head and he likes to run...

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

Don't go denigrating Encino Man, which is clearly a better movie than Wall Street.

Sorry. Can we still be friends?

I'll take that as a no

I have this chucklehead on ignore. Anybody... what's he saying?

Mostly that he hasn't seen a lot of the TV shows everyone else has, but he also wants to be your friend.

Quality not quantity!

 

[Jayrod]

There's such a thing as objective subjectivity. Yeah art is mostly subjective but are you really going to argue that Enchino Man is as good as Wall Street?

Don't go denigrating Encino Man, which is clearly a better movie than Wall Street.

Sorry. Can we still be friends?

I'll take that as a no

I have this chucklehead on ignore. Anybody... what's he saying?

Mostly that he hasn't seen a lot of the TV shows everyone else has, but he also wants to be your friend.

Quality not quantity!

I will say I do think you have impeccable taste since our top 10's were highly aligned.

 

[Gally]

I'm like KP, I think, where I'm into the art of it as much as the spectacle (which I also enjoy). I can watch a big dumb movie and enjoy it, but I'll only love a movie if it's doing more on the art side too.

Sure but if the artsy is dumb or slow or not entertaining then what's the point of the artsy? Of course a good movie that has great shots etc makes it better but i will take an entertaining movie that isn't shot technically well over the vice versa