Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: June 2024

6/25/2024

1991 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

The Top 8 of the Year

1. Zentropa/Europa - Lars Von Trier + Best B/W Movie of the Year + Best Danish Film of the Year + Best Drama-Thriller of the Year + Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year

2. The Commitments - Alan Parker + Most Deserved Hit of the Year + Best Dublin Movie of the Year + Irish Film of the Year + Best Music Film of the Year + Best Poster of the Year

3. Barton Fink - Ethan and Joel Coen + Best American Film of the Year + Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Period Picture of the Year

4. The Great Day on the Beach/Den Store Badedag - Stellan Olsson + Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Coming-of-Age Movie of the Year + Best Copenhagen Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

5. Bugsy - Barry Levinson + Best Biopic of the Year + Gangster Movie of the Year + Best Las Vegas Movie of the Year + Best Romance of the Year

6. The Fisher King - Terry Gilliam + Best New York Movie of the Year

7. Hot Shots! - Jim Abrahams + Best Action Comedy of the Year + Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year + Best Spoof of the Year

8. The Adventures of Tintin - seasons 1-3 (1991-92, TV-series) - Stéphane Bernasconi + Best Adventure of the Year + Best Family Title of the Year + French Title of the Year

Other good, recommendable films of the year (in alphabetical order):

Cape Fear - Martin Scorsese

The Bottom 4 of the Year

1. Hook - Steven Spielberg + Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

2. Delicatessen - Jean-Pierre Jeunet + Most Overrated Movie of the Year

3. Backdraft - Ron Howard + Most Deserved Flop of the Year

4. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah/ゴジラvsキングギドラ (Gojira tai Kingu Gidora) - Kazuki Ohmori

Other mediocre, poor and/or flawed films of the year (in alphabetical order):

High Heels/Tacones Lejanos - Pedro Almodóvar

Høfeber - Annelise Hovmand

[15 titles in total]

Notes:

The small amount of titles yet reviewed from 1991 makes this a short list, but one which starts with one unique masterpiece in Lars Von Trier's Europa-probing cinematic trip Zentropa. The year's 2nd best is Alan Parker's effusive soul-music crowd-pleaser The Commitments, and bronze goes to Ethan and Joel Coen's writer's hell dramedy Barton Fink.

The Top 10 goes on with Stellan Olsson's great Copenhagen childhood reminiscing The Great Day on the Beach; Barry Levinson's grand, spectacular gangster biopic Bugsy; Terry Gilliam's imaginative New-Yorker fantasy drama The Fisher King; Jim Abrahams' rip-roaring spoof action comedy Hot Shots!; and with Stéphane Bernasconi's The Adventures of Tintin 3 season animated family adventure TV-series rounding off the list.

On the opposite side of things, Steven Spielberg reigns supreme with the year's most ghastly film, the dreadful Peter Pan re-imagining Hook. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's aggravating, 'whimsical' cannibalism story Delicatessen takes silver; and Ron Howard's big, loud and dumb action picture Backdraft claims the bronze. The Worst of list is rounded off with Kazuki Ohmori's nationalistic kaiju sequel Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.

Robin Williams' star shone clearly - at least commercially - in both Hook and Fisher King; and Robert De Niro enjoyed a lucrative year with Backdraft and Cape Fear. Master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar joins Spielberg and Scorsese with a less than inspiring output, his High Heels.

Biggest flops of the year:

[The loss is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films. Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other auxiliary profits) are not taken into account]

1. Backdraft - 14.08 mil. $ range

2. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah - 7 mil. $ range

3. Barton Fink - 3 mil. $ range

4. Zentropa - 3 mil. $ range

5. Bugsy - 2 mil. $ range

6. Høfeber - 1.23 mil. $ range

7. The Great Day on the Beach - 0.9 mil. $ range

= Combined losses: 31.21 mil. $

Biggest hits of the year:

[The gain is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films. Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other auxiliary profits) are not taken into account

1. Hook - 50.32 mil. $ range

2. Hot Shots! - 46.4 mil. $ range

3. Cape Fear - 37.88 mil. $ range

4. The Commitments - 6.5 mil. $ range

5. The Fisher King - 4.96 mil. $ range

6. High Heels - 3.2 mil. $ range

7. Delicatessen - 1.88 mil. $ range

= Combined profits: 151.14 mil. $

1991 titles currently on the watch-list:

What About Bob?, Curly Sue, Nekromantik 2, Dead Silence, The Addams Family, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, Poison, The Pit and the Pendulum, Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas, The Boy Who Cried Bitch, The Passion of Martin, Raise the Red Lantern, Only the Lonely, The Super, The Rocketeer, Samurai Cop, Once Upon a Time in China

Previous annual lists:

2023 in films - according to Film Excess

2022 in films - according to Film Excess

2021 in films - according to Film Excess

2020 in films - according to Film Excess

2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2019 in films - according to Film Excess
2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess
2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2001 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1995 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

1992 in films - according to Film Excess

What do you think of the 1991 lists?
Which 1991 films are your favorites and the bottom of the year in your opinion?
What important 1991 title/s is/are missing on the watch-list?

Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (7-24)

6/25/2024

1991 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

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