CINELATION | Movie Reviews by Christopher Beaubien
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Best of the Year

The Best Films of 1997

by Christopher Beaubien • April 17, 2008 • Start the Discussion!

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Gattaca (dir. Andrew Niccol)
Boogie Nights (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
L.A. Confidential (dir. Curtis Hanson)
In The Company of Men (dir. Neil LaBute)
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (dir. Errol Morris)
The Sweet Hereafter (dir. Atom Egoyan)
Men In Black (dir. Barry Sonnenfeld)
Children of Heaven (dir. Majid Majidi)
The Ice Storm (dir. Ang Lee)
Jackie Brown (dir. Quentin Tarantino)
Wag the Dog (dir. Barry Levinson)
Princess Mononoke (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
Eve’s Bayou (dir. Kasi Lemmons)
The Apostle (dir. Robert Duvall)
Sick: The Life & Death Of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (dir. Kirby Dick)
Contact (dir. Robert Zemeckis)
Rosewood (dir. John Singleton)
Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown (dir. John Madden)
The Butcher Boy (dir. Neil Jordan)
Maborosi (dir. Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
Funny Games | The Castle (dir. Michael Haneke)
Titanic (dir. James Cameron)
Donnie Brasco (dir. Mike Newell)
Kissed (dir. Lynne Stopkewich)
Chasing Amy (dir. Kevin Smith)
Ponette (dir. Jacques Doillon)
Shiloh (dir. Dale Rosenbloom)
Clockwatchers (dir. Jill Sprecher)
Career Girls (dir. Mike Leigh)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (dir. Jay Roach)
Suicide Kings (dir. Peter O’Fallon)
Breast Men (dir. Lawrence O’Neil)
Good Will Hunting (dir. Gus Van Sant)
Cube (dir. Vincenzo Natali)
Shall We Dance (dir. Masayuki Suo)
Buffalo ’66 (dir. Vincent Gallo)
Bliss (dir. Lance Young)
Microcosmos: Le Peuple de L’herbe (dir. Claude Nuridsany)
SubUrbia (dir. Richard Linklater)
The Game (dir. David Fincher)
Deconstructing Harry (dir. Woody Allen)
Kundun (dir. Martin Scorsese)
The Full Monty (dir. Peter Cattaneo)
Breakdown (dir. Jonathan Mostow)
Mimic (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
Anastasia (dir. Don Bluth)
As Good as It Gets (dir. James L. Brooks)
My Best Friend’s Wedding (dir. PJ Hogan)
U Turn (dir. Oliver Stone)
Absolute Power | Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
(dir. Clint Eastwood)
Mousehunt (dir. Gore Verbinski)

The Best Films of 1996

by Christopher Beaubien • April 16, 2008 • Start the Discussion!

Fargo (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
Shine (dir. Scott Hicks)
Breaking the Waves (dir. Lars von Trier)
The People vs. Larry Flint (dir. Miloš Forman)
Welcome to the Dollhouse (dir. Todd Solondz)
Secrets and Lies (dir. Mike Leigh)
Sydney (aka Hard Eight) (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Bound (dir. Andy and Larry Wachowski)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (dir. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise)
Sling Blade (dir. Billy Bob Thornton)
Big Night (dir. Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott)
Freeway (dir. Matthew Bright)
The English Patient (dir. Anthony Minghella)
Lone Star (dir. John Sayles)
Hamlet (dir. Kenneth Branagh)
La Promesse (dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne)
Matilda (dir. Danny DeVito)
The Pillow Book (dir. Peter Greenaway)
The Frighteners (dir. Peter Jackson)
Walking and Talking (dir. Nicole Holofcener)
The Arrival (dir. David Twohy)
Bottle Rocket (dir. Wes Anderson)
Looking for Richard (dir. Al Pacino)
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
(dir. Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky)
Ridicule (dir. Patrice Leconte)
Courage Under Fire (dir. Edward Zwick)
Kissed (dir. Lynne Stopkewich)
Fear (dir. James Foley)
The Portrait of a Lady (dir. Jane Campion)
Primal Fear (dir. Gregory Hoblit)
Deep Crimson (dir. Arturo Ripstein)
Trainspotting (dir. Danny Boyle)
Sleepers (dir. Barry Levinson)
Jerry Maguire (dir. Cameron Crowe)
The Truth About Cats & Dogs (dir. Michael Lehmann)
James and the Giant Peach (dir. Henry Selick)
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (dir. Mike Judge)
Flirting with Disaster (dir. David O. Russell)
Citizen Ruth (dir. Alexander Payne)
Blood and Wine (dir. Bob Rafelson)
Mars Attacks! (dir. Tim Burton)
The Rock (dir. Michael Bay)
Kingpin (dir. Bobby and Peter Farrelly)
Mission: Impossible (dir. Brian De Palma)
That Thing You Do! (dir. Tom Hanks)
The Craft (dir. Andrew Fleming)
Eraser (dir. Chuck Russell)
The Birdcage (dir. Mike Nichols)
Fly Away Home (dir. Carroll Ballard)
Steven Soderbergh’s Schizopolis (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Mother (dir. Albert Brooks)
The Cable Guy (dir. Ben Stiller)
Long Kiss Goodnight (dir. Renny Harlin)

The Best Films of 1995

by Christopher Beaubien • April 15, 2008 • Start the Discussion!

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To Die For (dir. Gus Van Sant)
Crumb (dir. Terry Zwigoff)
Dolores Claiborne (dir. Taylor Hackford)
Dead Man Walking (dir. Tim Robbins)
Se7en (dir. David Fincher)
Leaving Las Vegas (dir. Mike Figgis)
Casino (dir. Martin Scorsese)
Nixon (dir. Oliver Stone)
La Cérémonie (dir. Claude Chabrol)
Whisper of the Heart (dir. Yoshifumi Kondo)
Exotica (dir. Atom Egoyan)
Muriel’s Wedding (dir. P.J. Hogan)
Strange Days (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
Richard III (dir. Richard Loncraine)
Babe (dir. Chris Noonan)
Mr. Holland’s Opus (dir. Stephen Herek)
Carrington (dir. Christopher Hampton)
Before Sunrise (dir. Richard Linklater)
A Single Girl (dir. Benoît Jacquot)
Kicking and Screaming (dir. Noah Baumbach)
Restoration (dir. Michael Hoffman)
Die Hard with a Vengeance (dir. John McTiernan)
Safe (dir. Todd Haynes)
Kids (dir. Larry Clark)
Margaret’s Museum (dir. Mort Ransen)
Rob Roy (dir. Michael Caton-Jones)
Twelve Monkeys (dir. Terry Gilliam)
A Walk in the Clouds (dir. Alfonso Arau)
The American President (dir. Rob Reiner)
Heat (dir. Michael Mann)
Mighty Aphrodite (dir. Woody Allen)
A Little Princess (dir. Alfonso Cuarón)
The Secret of Roan Inish (dir. John Sayles)
Heavy (dir. James Mangold)
Clueless (dir. Amy Heckerling)
Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (dir. Nick Broomfield)
Apollo 13 (dir. Ron Howard)
Dead Presidents (dir. Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes)
A Goofy Movie (dir. Kevin Lima)
Ghost in the Shell (dir. Mamoru Oshii)
The Quick and the Dead (dire. Sam Raimi)
Braveheart (dir. Mel Gibson)
La Haine (dir. Mathieu Kassovitz)
GoldenEye (dir. Martin Campbell)
Nick of Time (dir. John Badham)
Virtuosity (dir. Brett Leonard)

Honourable Selection: “Pride and Prejudice: TV Mini-Series”

Episodes 1- 6 (dir. Simon Langton, 1995)

The Best Films of 1994

by Christopher Beaubien • April 14, 2008 • Start the Discussion!

Pulp Fiction (dir. Quentin Tarantino)
Ed Wood (dir. Tim Burton)
The Shawskank Redemption (dir. Frank Darabont)
Speed (dir. Jan de Bont)
The Last Seduction (dir. John Dahl)
The Hudsucker Proxy (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
Heavenly Creatures (dir. Peter Jackson)
32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (dir. François Girard)
Fresh (dir. Boaz Yakin)
Hoop Dreams (dir. Steve James)
Natural Born Killers (dir. Oliver Stone)
Ladybird Ladybird (dir. Ken Loach)
To Live (dir. Yimou Zhang)
Forrest Gump (dir. Robert Zemeckis)
The Lion King (dir. Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff)
Jamón Jamón (dir. Bigas Luna)
Vanya on 42nd Street (dir. Louis Malle)
Quiz Show (dir. Robert Redford)
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (dir. Neil Jordon)
Clerks (dir. Kevin Smith)
Nobody’s Fool (dir. Robert Benton)
Fun (dir. Rafal Zielinski)
Red Rock West (dir. John Dahl)
Little Women (dir. Gillian Armstrong)
Swimming with Sharks (dir. George Huang)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (dir. Mike Newell)
Serial Mom (dir. John Waters)
The Jungle Book (dir. Stephen Sommers)
Wolf (dir. Mike Nichols)
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (dir. Michael Haneke)
In the Hands of a Puppet Master (dir. Hsiao-hsien Hou)
Black Beauty (dir. Caroline Thompson)
The Paper (dir. Ron Howard)
The Secret of Roan Inish (dir. John Sayles)
Cop Tips Waitress Two Million Dollars (AKA It Could Happen To You)
(dir. Andy Bergman)
The Mask (dir. Chuck Russell)
When a Man Loves a Woman (dir. Luis Mandoki)
Dumb and Dumber (dir. Peter and Bobby Farrelly)
The New Age (dir. Michael Tolklin)
Shallow Grave (dir. Danny Boyle)
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (dir. Peter Segal)
Guarding Tess (dir. Hugh Wilson)
The Shadow (dir. Russell Mulcahy)
Legends of the Fall (dir. Edward Zwick)
Falling Down (dir. Joel Schumacher)
The Madness of King George (dir. Nicholas Hytner)

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Honourable Selection: “Three Colors”

Red (dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
White (dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
Blue (dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993)

Honourable Selection: “Satantango” (Dir. Béla Tarr, 1994)

The Best Films of 1993

by Christopher Beaubien • April 13, 2008 • Start the Discussion!

Schindler’s List (dir. Steven Speilberg)
The Fugitive (dir. Andrew Davis)
The Joy Luck Club (dir. Wayne Wang)
Shadowlands (dir. Richard Attenborough)
Naked (dir. Mike Leigh)
The Piano (dir. Jane Campion)
Matinee (dir. Joe Dante)
Household Saints (dir. Nancy Savoca)
Short Cuts (dir. Robert Altman)
Menace II Society (dir. Albert and Allen Hughes)
The Age of Innocence (dir. Martin Scorsese)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (dir. Henry Selick)
Baraka (dir. Ron Fricke)
Kalifornia (dir. Dominic Sena)
Groundhog Day (dir. Harold Ramis)
Searching For Bobby Fischer (dir. Steven Zaillian)
Ruby in Paradise (dir. Victor Nunez)
The Puppetmaster (dir. Hsiao-hsien Hou)
The Wrong Trousers (dir. Nick Park)
Farewell My Concubine (dir. Kaige Chen)
A Perfect World (dir. Clint Eastwood)
The Remains of the Day (dir. James Ivory)
What’s Love Got to Do with It (dir. Brian Gibson)
The Baby of Mâcon (dir. Peter Greenaway)
Addams Family Values (dir. Barry Sonnenfeld)
Dazed and Confused (dir. Richard Linklater)
Cronos (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
The Blue Kite (dir. Zhuangzhuang Tian)
Heaven & Earth (dir. Oliver Stone)
Clean, Shaven (dir. Lodge Kerrigan)
This Boy’s Life (dir. Michael Caton-Jones)
Sommersby (dir. Jon Amiel)
Philadelphia (dir. Jonathan Demme)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (dir. Lasse Hallström)
In the Line of Fire (dir. Wolfgang Petersen)
True Romance (dir. Tony Scott)
Dave (dir. Ivan Reitman)
Jurassic Park (dir. Steven Spielberg)
The Secret Garden (dir. Agnieszka Holland)
Rudy (dir. David Anspaugh)
The Re-Cobbled Version of The Thief and the Cobbler
(dir. Richard Williams)