With the hilariously overrated English Patient dominating Awards season, 1996 chose to chill, and get some action movies and comedies some love. These movies are fun, quotable, and filled with moments that you’ll reenact with your friends. Oh and wait till you see the top of my list, a fascinating choice for sure…
Ed Norton was an unknown before this movie. But he landed this juicy character over every great young actor in Hollywood for a reason. Norton basically is Aaron Stampler, a chameleon of a man who is in prison for murder, defended by Richard Gere. The final 7 minutes of this movie are riveting because of how good Norton is.
Mastering the style Rob Reiner used in This Is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest mockumentaries his way into our hearts through Blaine, Missouri’s 150th anniversary and a group of local theater performers. Everyone brings their A game here, channeling the high browed, myopic but totally earnest view of these “storytellers.” Easy to do, when Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, and Guest are some of the funniest, smartest actors on the planet.
Jon Favreau wrote the movie of frat boy dreamers everywhere, about his life trying to make it in Los Angeles. He’s excellent, but so is Vince Vaughn, who used this performance to springboard into a comedy legend in the aughts, telling everyone how money they are, baby.
An early sign the Wachowski’s were gonna be something special. A neo noir erotic thriller with Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly as lesbians, this movie’s directed to be really sexy, really scary, and really confusing like a good caper can be.
A good year to be Roald Dahl. Danny DeVito’s direction nails the tone of one of those great Dahl books. It’s a movie kids will love because of how weird it is and because it understands how a kid’s brain works: fulfilling the ultimate fantasy of punishing your parents in a child-like manner with superpowers. Plus Rusted Root will get stuck in your head for days.
Larry Flynt is the editor of Hustler Magazine. Milos Forman, who previously had done movies like Amadeus, takes the sleazy douchebag and turns him into a tragic figure who’s speech is being stifled because it’s disgusting. Woody Harrelson is excellent playing the early version of an antihero, and Courtney Love proves she’s more than just Kurt Cobain’s girlfriend with a riveting performance herself.
The movie that brought Danny Boyle and Ewan McGregor into our lives, thankfully. Boyle makes heroin use kinetic and exciting, while also reminding everyone how it dampers your determination, drive, and life in general. I’d put the subtitles on too, because this is Scottish Scottish.
While the Farrelly’s were handling bowling in 1996, Adam Sandler took on golf. Smartly placing a smartass into an erudite smarmy sport, Sandler’s Happy is as funny as any character he’s ever done, making him a loose cannon with a heart of gold that has quotes for days. Plus, Christopher McDonald gets to play one of the all time great sports movie villains, Shooter McGavin.
The Coen Brothers’s knack for North Dakota’s manner of speech is put to clever use in this film. That dialogue, simplistic and sweet seeming, eases you into the story, which is filled with vile heartless characters, and Frances McDormand’s pregnant cop in pursuit. You’re feeling uneasy and off the entire time, to masterful effect.
The horror genre had gone dry at this point, mired in sequel hell. Then Wes Craven’s knowing homage to the genre woke it up. Boasting a spectacular cast and a script that plays with genre conventions, this movie has you terrified and excited within its marvelous first 10 minutes.
