1991

BEST PICTURE NOMINEES

*The Godfather: Part III
*Goodfellas
*Awakenings
*Ghost
*Dances With Wolves

AND "MY" WINNER IS... Awakenings
AND "THE" WINNER IS...Dances With Wolves

Awakenings (1990) directed by: Penny Marshall
Main Cast: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, John Heard and Ruth Nelson

Dr. Sayer (Williams) finds himself with a ward full of comatose patients. The patients have all been comatose for years, and after much research Dr. Sayer discovers a link between them, when they were all younger they suffered from encephalitis. Dr. Sayer has discovered a new drug called l-dopa which he thinks may help the patients. He is given permission to try the new drug on one patient, so Dr. Sayer chooses Leonard Lewis (De Niro) after a few treatments the medication works and Leonard wakes up. Eventually Dr. Sayer is given permission to try the drug with all the other patients as well. Will the medication continue to work or will they all return to the catatonic state they were in before the miracle drug?

Awakenings is a truly great movie, I can not think of a single thing bad to say about it! It just gives you this rush of emotions when you are watching it, and then when you realize it is all based on a true story, you just become overwhelmed with emotion, definately a tear jerker for me. I would say this is a must see!
RATING: 10/10


The Academy's Pick

Dances With Wolves (1990) directed by: Kevin Costner
Main Cast: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene and Rodney A. Grant

Having been sent to a remote outpost in the wilderness of the Dakota terretory during the American Civil War, Lieutenant John Dunbar (Costner) encounters, and eventually is accepted into the Sioux tribe. He becomes known as "Dances With Wolves" to them and as time passes he becomes enamoured by the beautiful "Stands With a Fist" (McDonnell). Not soon after, the frontier becomes the frontier no more and as the troops come to take over the land, John must decide which side to fight for. Will he betray the tribe that has become his family, or will he betray his country?

Dances With Wolves was a very good movie, I enjoyed it alot more than I had expected to. My only complaint would have to be that the length, coming in at three hours was a little unneccessary.
RATING: 9/10

BEST OF THE REST

RUNNER- UP:

Ghost (1990) directed by: Jerry Zucker
Main Cast: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn and Rick Aviles

Sam (Swayze) and Molly (Moore) live in Manhattan, Sam has a high power job at the bank. His friend Carl (Goldwyn) also works at the bank. Sam holds the passwords to some of the bank's major accounts. One night while coming home from the play, Sam and Molly are robbed at gun point by Willie Lopez (Aviles). Sam and Willie struggle over the gun and Sam is shot. Willie takes off and Sam chases him, but Willie gets away, so Sam returns to make sure Molly is ok. Only to find her devastated holding him in her arms. It is then that Sam realizes he is a ghost. Later Willie breaks into Sam and Molly's apartment in search of something, Sam scares Willie off, then follows him to his home. Sam overhears a call between Willie and someone else, Sam wants Molly to turn Willie in, but he has no way to communicate with her. So he enlist the help of Oda Mae Brown (Goldberg) a spiritualist who can hear him, but not see him. Sam convinces Oda Mae to go talk to Molly, but Molly refuses to believe her, and Carl tells Molly to have nothing to do with Oda Mae. Sam follows Carl to Willie's apartment and is shocked to discover Carl is the one who hired Willie to rob him. Carl wanted Willie to steal the account passcodes from Sam, so Carl could carry out a drug money laundering scam. So now Sam and Oda Mae must protect Molly from Carl and Willie who believe the passcodes are still in Molly's apartment, and will stop at nothing to get them. Will Molly be saved or will she meet the same fate as Sam?


I will admit I had a struggle choosing between Awakenings and Ghost for my favorite of the year. It has been a very long time since I have watched this movie, I forgot how much I love it! The story is a true story of love from beginning to end. The way Sam fights from the other side to protect the love of his life. I would recommend this one very highly and say it is certainly a must see. It also made me realize what a great loss the world suffered when Patrick Swayze died.
RATING: 10/10

HONORABLE MENTION

Goodfellas (1990) directed by: Martin Scorsese
Main Cast: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino

This film views the mob lives of Henry Hill (Liotta), Tommy Devito (Pesci), and Jimmy Conway (De Niro) who brought the two together, and runs some of the biggest highjacks and burglaries the town has ever seen. After serving an extended jail sentence, Henry must sneak around the back of the local mob boss, Paul Cicero (Sorvino) to live the life he has always dreamed of. In the end the friends end up in the fight of their lives and must do anything they can to stay alive and save each other. Will they all make it out alive?

I must say I have seen this movie before and I will admit I did enjoy it alot more this time. Still would not qualify as one of my favorites by a long shot, as I am not really into all the mafia, gang genre of movies. But all in all it wasn't to bad.
RATING: 6/10

THE REST

The Godfather: Part III (1990) directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Main Cast: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Talia Shire, Joe Mantegna and Sofia Coppola

Don Michael Corleone (Pacino) is trying to legitamize his crime family's interest and remove himself from the violent underworld, but is kept back by the ambitions of the young. While he attempts to link the Corleone's finances with the Vatican, Michael must deal with machinations of a hungrier gangster seeking to upset mafioso order and a young protege's love affair with his daughter, will Michael succeed?

I must say I know this is a very popular movie, but again the gang/mafia genre comes into play, I just can't seem to enjoy this type of movie. I really didn't care for it, although I will admit it was better than the others but still not to my liking.
RATING: 4/10


1991 well I definately did rediscover a great movie I had forgotten, found a few new ones to enjoy, and had a few bombs along the way.

Rating for 1991 as a whole: 8/10


Next Up: 1959- which includes Auntie Mame, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Defiant Ones, Gigi and The Seperate Tables

Saturday October 24, 2009 11:39 am