1994--The Year in Review

1994 marks the beginning of the Tarantino age, for better or worse (its effects still reverberate today, and mostly from ill-equipped imitators). As stunning as his 1992 debut Reservoir Dogs was, it couldn't prepare us for the time-jumbling tale awaiting in his sophomore directorial effort Pulp Fiction. It was simply impossible to watch this movie without feeling your heart racing so fleetly, you might require a shot directly to the ol' pump to slow it down. Absolutely everything works so perfectly in it that you actually feel in your gut the moviemaking machine operating absolutely to par. It was a slam dunk at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme D'or. But the populist vote arrived when Forrest Gump was released in the summer to absolute acclaim and big box office. I stupidly fell for Zemeckis's film upon first viewing--in fact, it took me a few years to realize it was a venal work, filled with damning judgments directed at its most innocent characters, and ever since then, I've found Forrest Gump unwatchable, even though I like elements of it. It likewise hoodwinked the Academy into awarding it Best Picture and five other accolades (including a second consecutive Best Actor Oscar for Tom Hanks). But Gump never blinded me to the quality of Pulp Fiction, a movie that continues to offer deeper insight into the concepts of loyalty, understanding, and morality--it's a much more lovable and entertaining film, even with its abject bloodiness. Its two closest competitors--Terry Zwigoff's painfully intimate documentary Crumb and Tim Burton's gorgeous, surprisingly joyful biopic Ed Wood (with Johnny Depp again arriving up top under Tim Burton's direction)--come within a hair's breadth of besting Tarantino's epic. And yet the year included additional remarkable titles like Hoop Dreams, Little Women, Natural Born Killers (co-written by Tarantino), Heavenly Creatures, box-office disappointment The Shawshank Redemption, and art house hits Four Weddings and a Funeral, Leon (released as The Professional in the US), The Hudsucker Proxy, To Live, Through the Olive Trees, and surprise Best Picture nominee Il Postino (which wouldn't hit US shores until 1995). I have to note the tie I've arrived at here: it's just impossible to choose between the two finest supporting male performances of the entire decade; as much as I adore Martin Landau's lovingly detailed portrayal of Bela Legosi in Ed Wood, it feels horribly wrong to ignore Samuel L. Jackson's superb showing as the icy, contemplative hitman Jules Winnfield. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold. 

PICTURE: PULP FICTION (US, Quentin Tarantino)
(2nd: Crumb (US, Terry Zwigoff)
followed by: Ed Wood (US, Tim Burton)
Three Colors: Red (France/Poland/Germany, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
To Live (China, Zhang Yimou)
Hoop Dreams (US, Steve James)
Vanya on 42^nd Street (US, Louis Malle)
The Shawshank Redemption (US, Frank Darabont)
Little Women (US, Gillian Armstrong)
Natural Born Killers (US, Oliver Stone)
Heavenly Creatures (New Zealand, Peter Jackson)
Leon (aka The Professional) (US/France, Luc Besson)
The Hudsucker Proxy (US, Joel Coen)
Through the Olive Trees (Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)
Il Postino (Italy, Michael Radford)
A Pure Formality (Italy/France, Giuseppe Tornatore)
Quiz Show (US, Robert Redford)
The Kingdom (Denmark, Lars Von Trier)
Chungking Express (Hong Kong, Wong Kar-Wai)
The Madness of King George (UK, Nicholas Hytner)
Burnt by the Sun (Russia, Nikita Mikhalkov)
Fresh (US, Boaz Yakin)
Spanking the Monkey (US, David O. Russell)
Shallow Grave (UK, Danny Boyle)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (UK, Mike Newell)
Reality Bites (US, Ben Stiller)
Being Human (US, Bill Forsyth)
The Glass Shield (US, Charles Barnett)
Nobody’s Fool (US, Robert Benton)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Australia, Stephen Elliott)
Before the Rain (Macedonia/UK/France, Milcho Manchevski)
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (Hong Kong, Ang Lee)
Forrest Gump (US, Robert Zemeckis)
Queen Margot (France, Patrice Chereau)
The Boys of St. Vincent (Canada, John N. Smith)
Bandit Queen (UK/India, Shekhar Kapur)
Muriel's Wedding (Australia, P.J. Hogan)
Death and the Maiden (UK, Roman Polanski)
Exotica (Canada, Atom Egoyan)
Ladybird Ladybird (UK, Ken Loach)
The Last Seduction (US, John Dahl)
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (US, Alan Rudolph)
Wyatt Earp (US, Lawrence Kasdan)
Interview with the Vampire (US/UK, Neil Jordan)
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (US, Steven M. Martin)
A Great Day in Harlem (US, Jean Bach)
Barcelona (US, Whit Stillman)
I Like it Like That (US, Darnell Martin)
Bullets Over Broadway (US, Woody Allen)
The Lion King (US, Roger Allers and Ron Minkoff)
Once Were Warriors (New Zealand, Lee Tamahori)
Cemetery Man (Italy/France/Germany, Michele Soavi)
Faust (Czechoslovakia/UK, Jan Svankmajer)
I'll Do Anything (US, James L. Brooks)
The Mask (US, Charles Russell)
It Could Happen to You (US, Andrew Bergman)
Ashes of Time (Hong Kong, Wong Kar Wei)
Go Fish (US, Rose Troche)
When a Man Loves a Woman (US, Luis Mandoki)
Speed (US, Jan de Bont)
True Lies (US, James Cameron)
The Ref (US, Ted Demme)
Cabin Boy (US, Adam Resnick)
Legends of the Fall (US, Edward Zwick)

ACTOR: Johnny Depp, ED WOOD (2nd: Nigel Hawthorne, The Madness of King George, followed by: Woody Harrelson, Natural Born Killers, Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption; John Travolta, Pulp Fiction; Massimo Troisi, Il Postino; Roman Polanski, A Pure Formality; Gerard Depardieu, A Pure Formality; Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump; Paul Newman, Nobody’s Fool)

ACTRESS: Irene Jacob, THREE COLORS: RED (2nd: Linda Fiorentino, The Last Seduction, followed by: Kate Winslet, Heavenly Creatures; Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle; Juliette Lewis, Natural Born Killers; Natalie Portman, Leon; Melanie Lynskey, Heavenly Creatures; Meg Ryan, When A Man Loves a Woman; Jessica Lange, Blue Sky)





SUPPORTING ACTOR: (TIE) Martin Landau, ED WOOD and Samuel L. Jackson, PULP FICTION (2nd: Robert Downey Jr., Natural Born Killers, followed by: John Turturro, Quiz Show; Paul Scofield, Quiz Show; Bob Gunton, The Shawshank Redemption; Bruce Willis, Pulp Fiction; Dennis Quaid, Wyatt Earp; Myketi Williamson, Forrest Gump)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Brooke Smith, VANYA ON 42ND STREET (2nd: Kirsten Dunst, Interview With The Vampire, followed by: Claire Danes, Little Women; Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction; Helen Mirren, The Madness of King George; Janeane Garafalo, Reality Bites; Amanda Plummer, Pulp Fiction; Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway; Jamie Lee Curtis, True Lies)

DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino, PULP FICTION (2nd: Tim Burton, Ed Wood, followed by: Terry Zwigoff, Crumb; Krzysztof Kieslowski, Three Colors: Red; Oliver Stone, Natural Born Killers; Zhang Yimou, To Live; Frank Darabont, The Shawshank Redemption; Steve James, Hoop Dreams; Abbas Kierostami, Through the Olive Trees)



NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: THREE COLORS: RED (France/Poland/Germany, Krzysztof Kieslowski) (2nd: To Live (China, Zhang Yimou), followed by: Through The Olive Trees (Iran, Abbas Kierostami); A Pure Formality (Italy/France, Giuseppe Tornatore); Il Postino (UK/Italy/France, Michael Radford); Chungking Express (Hong Kong, Wong Kar Wei); Burnt By The Sun (Russia, Nikita Mikhalov); Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (Thailand, Ang Lee); Before the Rain (Macedonia/France/UK, Milcho Manchevski))



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: CRUMB (US, Terry Zwigoff) (2nd: Hoop Dreams (US, Steve James), followed by: Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (US, Steven M. Martin); A Great Day in Harlem (US, Jean Bach))

ANIMATED FEATURE: THE LION KING (US, Roger Allers and Ron Minkoff) (2nd: Faust (Czechoslovakia/UK, Jan Svankmajer))



ANIMATED SHORT: BLACK ICE (US, Stan Brakhage) (2nd: Tales From The Far Side (US, Marv Newland), followed by: Bob’s Birthday (UK, David Fine and Alison Snowden)



LIVE ACTION SHORT: TREVOR (US, Peggy Rajski) (2nd: Bottle Rocket (US, Wes Anderson), followed by: Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (UK, Peter Capaldi) (tied with Trevor); Some Folks Call It A Sling Blade (US, George Hickenlooper); Sabotage (US, Spike Jonze))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avery, PULP FICTION (2nd: Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, Ed Wood, followed by: Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Three Colors: Red; Wei Lu and Hua Yu, To Live; Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Heavenly Creatures)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Frank Darabont, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (2nd: Alan Bennett, The Madness of King George, followed by: Robin Swicord, Little Women; Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli and Massimo Troisi, Il Postino; Paul Attanasio, Quiz Show)



CINEMATOGRAPHY: Stefan Czapsky, ED WOOD (2nd: Piotr Sobocinski, Three Colors: Red, followed by: Roger Deakins, The Shawshank Redemption; Robert Richardson, Natural Born Killers; Owen Roizman, Wyatt Earp)

ART DIRECTION: THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE, The Hudsucker Proxy, Ed Wood, Quiz Show, Little Women

COSTUME DESIGN: THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, Interview With The Vampire, Little Women, The Madness of King George, Queen Margot



FILM EDITING: NATURAL BORN KILLERS, Pulp Fiction, Hoop Dreams, The Shawshank Redemption, Leon



SOUND: SPEED, The Shawshank Redemption, Natural Born Killers, Leon, Forrest Gump

SOUND EFFECTS: SPEED, Leon, Forrest Gump



ORIGINAL SCORE: Thomas Newman, LITTLE WOMEN (2nd: Howard Shore, Ed Wood, followed by: Zbigniew Priesner, Three Colors: Red; Luis Bacalov, Il Postino (won in 1996); Thomas Newman, The Shawshank Redemption)



ORIGINAL SONG: “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” from THE LION KING (Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice) (2nd: "Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King (Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice), followed by "Circle of Life" from The Lion King (Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice); "Regulate" from Above the Rim (Music by Warren G., Nate Dogg, Michael McDonald, Dr. Dre, and Bob James, lyrics by Warren G. and Nate Dogg); "Stay (I Missed You)" from Reality Bites (Music and lyrics by Lisa Loeb))



ADAPTED SCORE/SCORE FOR A MUSICAL: David Boeddinghaus, CRUMB (2nd: Hans Zimmer, The Lion King (won as Original Score))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: FORREST GUMP, The Mask, The Hudsucker Proxy

MAKEUP: ED WOOD, The Mask, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

The Encyclopedia of Cinematography (E-F)

Early Summer (Yuharu Atsutsa, 51)
Atsutsa's black-and-white photography highlights Ozu's masterful use of shape, line, and space.

East of Eden (Ted McCord, 55)
McCord and director Elia Kazan goose up some truly sumptuous Technicolor work with often jarring dutch angles and sneaky camera placements.

Edvard Munch (Odd-Geir Saether, 74) 
A troubled artist's life, seen through a restless, detail-oriented, documentary-like eye. 

Ed Wood (Stefan Czapsky, 94)
The film's evocative black-and-white work--some of the best ever, in my opinion--makes this low-budget world look incredibly lively and rich.

8 ½ (Gianni Di Venanzo, 63)
Di Venanzo's work here best captures Fellini's unique blending of the real and the surreal, with immutable blinding whites and startling blacks.  

Electra Glide in Blue (Conrad Hall, 73)
Hall's heroic Cinemascope work pits one man against an unforgiving, dwarfing desert backdrop. 

Elephant (Harris Savides, 2003)
With Savides' trained eye, we glide in and out of the halls of this doomed, eerily lit school, stalking both victims and perpetrators from fore and aft.  A surprising radiant movie! 

The Elephant Man (Freddie Francis, 80)
Francis' images seem as if they've been directly beamed from 19th Century Britain; despite the widescreen, each shot seems like absolutely authentic Dagurreotype work.  

Elvira Madigan (Jorgan Persson, 67)  
Incredibly influential and romantic photography; it left its eternal stamp on epics and commercials alike.  Its effects are being felt on movies even today.

The Emerald Forest (Phillippe Rousselot, 85)  
Gorgeous cool greens and blues overtake this strange trip into tribalism.  

Empire of the Sun (Allan Daviau, 87)
War as seen through a child's wide eyes, with epic movement and fantastic emotion.  

The End of Summer (Asakazu Nakai, 61)
Uncharacteristically open and colorful work at Ozu's behest.  

Enter the Void (Benoit Debie, 2009)
Absolutely dazzling POV camerawork, which floats up above us and truly gives us a God's eye view; the dazzling colors on display here are continually not to be believed. 

Eraserhead (Frederick Elmes and Herbert Caldwell, 77)
Lynch's dream of dark and troubling things is given life with the stark contrasts and bland greys of Elmes and Caldwell's superb lensing.  

The Escape Artist (Stephen Burum, 82)
Though set in the 80s, Burum's photography (under the direction of another great cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel) makes our lead character's world into one dominated by memory and nostalgia.  

E.T. The Extraterrestrial (Allen Daviau, 82)  
Daviau's lovely camerawork gives a warm glow to Spielberg's fairy tale, punctuated with mysterious and even disturbing dark interludes.

Excalibur (Alex Thompson, 81)
Absolutely beautiful in every respect, and a pick of mine for some of the most impactful photography ever in movies.  Just a tremendous look to this film, matched with its stupendous art direction and costume design!

The Exorcist (Owen Roizman and Billy Williams, 73) 
Roizman's nearly trademarked blue tints are all over the autumnal Georgetown sequences, while Williams blazes through with bright oranges in the Iraq prologue.  Also excellent in its role in helping sell the special effects and makeup.  

Eyes Wide Shut (Larry Smith, 99)
Kubrick's last cameraman infuses this dreamlike tale with a surplus of reds, pinks, and purples--the colors of passion--while maintaining a continually light-dappled look appropriate for its Christmas-time setting.
 

The Fabulous Baker Boys (Michael Ballhaus, 89)  
Another example of an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, while in the present. 

Fahrenheit 451 (Nicolas Roeg, 66)
Ridiculously bright primary colors; an example of the photography being better than the actual film.

Fail-Safe (Gerald Hirchfeld, 64)
Shocking contrasts, lens choices, and angles. The use of black-and-white here sears itself into your brain, particularly in its dreamy beginning and its dreary end.

Falling Down (Andrzej Bartkowiak, 93)
The downside of L.A., perfectly and believably captured.

The Fall (Colin Watkinson, 2006) 
Superbly huge and astounding. An underrated epic that rightfully should take its place alongside all the most notable film adventures.

Fame (Michael Seresin, 80)
I love the New York-y work here. This film looks like no other. It's simply marvelous to look at.  

Fanny and Alexander (Sven Nykvist, 83)
Definitely among the greatest of all examples of not only Nykvist's work, but of all cinematic photography, ever. 

Far From Heaven (Edward Lachman, 2002)
Absolutely incredible colors all throughout, in deft tribute to the Douglas Sirk look.  

Far from the Madding Crowd (Nicolas Roeg, 67)
Roeg, taking a break from the bright colors, nailing the gloriously authentic visage of the story's time period.  

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Nicola Picorini, 98) 
Trippy brilliance. 

Fellini Satyricon (Giuseppe Rotunno, 69) 
Shot by shot, totally incredible. How was one person able to do this?  I ask you? 

Fiddler on the Roof (Oswald Morris, 71)
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful--perhaps some of the best cinematography ever. Each and every shot, you just want to eat it up. 

Fight Club (Jeff Cronenweth, 99)
Stupendous in its portrayal of both tremendous wealth and supreme squalor. 

The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (Frank Planer, 53)
Incredibly vidid!  Like nothing else out there...the supreme representation of Dr. Suess on film.

The Flight of the Phoenix (Joseph Biroc, 65)
A gorgeous, multi-colored adventure film, with Biroc's surprisingly lively lighting and camera angles. 

Flashdance (Donald Peterman, 83) 
Along with Ridley and Tony Scott's movies, the progenitor of that smoky 80s look, and extremely influential in that regard. 

Floating Weeds (Kazuo Miyagawa, 59) 
More sharp angles and vivid colors from the Ozu camp.

Fly Away Home (Caleb Deschanel, 96)
Director Carroll Ballard reteamed with his Black Stallion photographer Deschanel, with similarly sublime and inspiring results.

The Fountain (Matthew Libatique, 2006)
A fantastic story with equally glorious imagery, spread out over a millennium's expanse. 

Frankenstein (Arthur Edeson, 31) 
Iconic photography which defined what horror was to look like for many years to come.  

Full Metal Jacket (Douglas Milsome, 87)  
Deep greens, beiges and cobalt blues dominate the first half, with reds, oranges and greys taking over the final portion of Kubrick's descent into the madness of Vietnam.  

Funny Face (Ray June, 57)
June's ridiculously adventurous and colorful camerawork constantly feels as if it's too unureal to actually exist.