58: Favorite Films of 1995

1995 was one of the best years for American film, ever. Alex and Nick praise a ton of movies from this great year, topics include: seeing hard-R movies way too young, genre movies eclipsing Oscar films, old-school comedies, action romps, notorious flops, and how two addiction-themed dramas changed their lives.
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Transcript

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Let's do it. Hey, everyone. Welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex Withrow, and I'm joined by my best man, nick dostal, How are you doing there? Casper the Friendly Ghost. Candyman. I'm excited to be here. Yes, I know, I know. We both are so favorite films of 1995. We usually do this a little differently. We usually would have done this list and then followed it up with a long, deep Dove episode on a movie from 1995. And this case may be heat, but I want to do it a little differently because I was researching Heat. We decided to do that deep dove first. And I'm like, this is one of the best movie years of our lifetime, if not like of all lifetimes. Like since film. This is one of the all time greats. Not if you look at the Oscar nominees necessarily, not if you look at the Oscar winners, but if you go a little extra layer down you're going to find wow, wow, wow, just like complete gold in any number of categories. We talk about a lot of them but yeah. 1995. Let's just get into it. You know, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. This stemmed from me way back when to our Twitter followers that might remember about maybe like a year or two ago we did a a series of chronicling our favorite movie of every year. Yeah. And when I remember getting to 1995 just being completely steamrolled right by just be like, are you kidding me? And I remember I intentionally picked a different one than my number one because you ended up. I don't remember, I don't remember what I said. I don't want to say when I say when I say all this, but I remember intentionally picking a different one than you just so we could have two movies to talk about. But like it's a fantasy to hear like some of my all time favorite films of all time we're going to talk about in this episode. And they came out like weeks apart. Sometimes both of them saw Robert De Niro and they came out like two weeks apart. And you're like by way of getting into it, like, I wanted to know where you were 95 in terms of like movie dumb, because I know you came to movies a little later than I did, and we're both young, you know, I turned ten in 1995, but I'm already years into an obsession with film. And 95 was big for me because that was when like kind of the wheels were allowed to come off. And whether I was quote unquote allowed to watch stuff, I don't know, but I just did anyway because I like, you know, just snuck around and did it and a movies. So this is what I'm watching like pretty much most of the movies we're going to list but also like Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction I saw for the first time in 95. So I'm like really learning a lot and really for the not the first time, but like taking in more than just the surface level movies. Like I'm starting to study directors and like, well, what else did they make? I want to watch that. So but this is kind of a turning point year because we get so much great shit in one year. I was yeah. Nine, I believe. And I don't remember that year you were born. I mean. Well, I mean mathematically I don't know, it's weird because when you're born in September, like you're like, Well, I'm August. Yeah. So you split it, split it, and I don't know what that math is, so we'll just go with it. I was nine you were 95 months in the year, four for a year one time. And I remember, I remember I so I was not quite graduated into the level you were. Sure, but I was certainly movies were pretty much my obsessive. You were watching them and appreciating it. But I think I was watching them for the fun. Sure. Sure. Of so I had not really gotten to the point where I was like, oh my God, this is what a really good movie is. But that being said. Well, yeah, because I want to know, are you watching like mature shit and 95 or. Oh, yes. Oh, you were OK. Yeah. Well, those nine year olds aren't, that's all. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, I was. But those weren't taking I wasn't taking to those in quite the same way as I was. Yes, sure. With some of the movies that will list on here that now looking back like I look at our list and I go, Oh, well, these are all of the movies I was watching as a kid. But then I look at the list and I go, And these are the movies that I'm championing now as an adult. Yeah, yeah. Multiple rewatch is a little more context, a little like mature, like we're going to talk about some heavy fucking movies today. Oh man. That I honestly did see when I was ten and didn't really have. I couldn't even, like, understood all the dynamics that were going on in it, like hard R-rated movies. I mean, the fact, God, I love my parents, the fact that they just like, let me do this and let me watch whatever. Like that is why I am the way I am now, because they just let me, you know, they saw that I could watch something that had like some crazy elements to it. But then after I wasn't like going like oh, that was so cool when you know that sex scene or that violence, it wasn't that. I was like, Do you know who that cinematographer is? And my parents look at me with open eyes, like, what are you talking about? Like or like, how did that shot happen? They're like, I don't know, like, oh. So then I would go to them, like, I want to get other movies by, like, Dante Spinoza, you know, like, who's that? I'm like, Oh, he was the cinematographer of Heat. They're like, OK, son. I mean, this is before Internet. So, like, I couldn't look this stuff up, so it's really cool of them to let me do that. But I want to kind of start with because we're going to go through a lot of movies today, and I split it up into some fun categories. We will arrive at like a top tier level where the way we did this is I told you like, give me all your 95 movies that are like top tier that you stand behind. And we did our list independently. You sent me yours. We basically have 15 shared like kind of essentially like there's some, some outliers, but we had 15 top tier ones to talk about. But like my first when I was initially writing the first outline, my first pass at this episode I listed 70 fucking movies and I'm like, wait a minute, I can't like put my name behind 70 movies because it's just too damn many, but we're going to, you know, kind of cruise through some. But then we're also going to give some dedicated time to others. But I was watching a lot of the movies we're going to talk about that are really intense. But I was also watching like Casper. Yeah, I was also watching an obsessed with a goofy movie. I fucking loved that movie so much. Or like Heavyweights Jumanji. Yeah. Toy Story are, you know, my first category was I'm a big kid now because a lot of those movies, like Still Hold Up, like Jumanji. Obviously, it's something that's turned into something else, but that movie still holds up. Toy Story, obviously is still widely regarded as like a turning point in animation. But yeah, so like, I was still watching kid stuff, too. I wasn't just watching mature stuff, but like, what were some of your favorite 95 kids movies? I remember seeing Toy Story in theaters. Yeah. And, and in both you and I are not the biggest fans of not them. We're not fans, but it's just a genre that we don't really connect to too much in terms of animation. Yeah, that's because my parents were letting me fucking watch Taxi Driver, so I formed a connection with that and not with the animated movies. That's the only reason I don't hate on animated movies, but when all of my friends were kids, you all were watching pretty much exclusively animated movies, and you develop this, like, nice, loving connection with them. I did, but I was also watching, you know, Pulp Fiction. Yeah, as a ten year old and like, developing a connection to that, a really strong one. And as years went by, I found myself going to a goofy movie, less and less and more to Pulp Fiction. And that's just the way it goes. You know, you're so right, because now that I think I'm the same way, like my mom let me watch so many movies that were not of the age group that kids should be watching. So when I am seeing, you know, movies like Terminator two, right? Aliens like my James Cameron Love. But so now when you show me an animated movie, I'm like, I'd rather be over here. But that being said, I did like Toy Story. Yeah, I still like Toy Story. I think that movie holds up. I think it is a very, very well-done movie. And the animation is something that doesn't bother me. I'm very picky about what type of animation I like, but you said Jumanji, that movie, it's Peek, Robin Williams doing his thing. So it's so much fun. Like, it really is a good movie. And I but the one that you brought up that I stand all behind is Casper fucking Love. Casper, Casper, Christina Ricci. When I was that age, I had such a crush on her in that movie. Oh, yeah. And but I mean, I just want to talk a little bit about Casper and like, that movie is extremely sad. It really is, like, really, really is for like, a PG kids for a movie. Like, we're dealing with a very broken family between the father. Awesome. Bill Pullman. And we love Pullman, love the Pullman and and Christina Ricci. But I mean, they're dealing with like a real tragedy of the loss of the matriarch of the family. And and everything that happens in this movie is just really sad. But you also got Devin saw was there nothing sad about that so goddamn sure. I love Devin. So he was he was the champion of the nineties. Yeah. And then, I mean, he just kind of faded out as it happens, you know, he final destination. He left his mark. Yeah, he did. He did idle hands. He'll go he's great. He's one scene in Casper. It's great. Oh, yeah. I'll still love Casper. I mean, Kathy may already from Raging Bull is like the main militant that I love that you know me. Oh, God. She's just so great. Just to say, like, we're going to get into very mature films, but we definitely were watching kids stuff in, like, another to move on to the next category. I, too, called. They don't make them like they used to is that they don't make them like they used to. Comedies where we're going to start and you and I have talked a lot of you will talk about the death of the mainstream comedy. It's not really around anymore or they're safe. They're straight to streaming and not really my vibe, certainly. But to see something as like insane and crazy even as like Billy Madison and Tommy Boy, which were hugely popular, and then Friday Get Shorty, Mallrats. I mean, I know I like these. And then there's one that is hugely important to you that you're going to do a little, you know, deeper dove on. You've talked about it before on the pod. Yeah. Yeah. Like we don't see this level of comedy anymore, that's all. We just don't see, like, a guy you know, like a grown man, like going back to school. Well, I think Tommy Boy, I think Tommy Boy is one of those ones that really stands the test of time where you think about certain comedies from the past, like, I mean, us showing our age. Like, I remember being at this time thinking in terms of like movies like Caddyshack. Yeah. Yeah. They were regarded as like, these are the classic comedies ever made. And and I think Tommy Boy is in that conversation this way. We look at. I personally always think Black Sheep is funnier. I do. Yeah. I agree. I prefer that. Yeah. Well, that movie, I think, holds up in terms of the way that people view certain comedies. Right. And for my money, I think Chris Farley was the funniest person I've ever seen in my lifetime. I think he is just on another level. And so, Tommy Boy. Yes, Billy Madison in that movie is still talked about. Oh, yeah. I mean, and that movie is hilarious. It's just so funny. I want to go feed that horse bunch of beer get it all drunk. He did all messed up. OK, Ed and I will be a very big fan of Mallrats. I know a lot of people aren't fans of that, but everything Kevin Smith did in the nineties, right? Was something that I bought and could not buy enough of. I that kid is back on the escalator. Like, that's a random quote that I always say for no reason. But I love Mallrats. Yeah, but the one that I am going to talk about is one that I mean, just earlier this month, it was Rex Man Day. Yes, it was. And we mustn't over and Empire Records. Anyone who knows the pod knows how I feel about it. It's just a movie that it could only exist in 1995 with that cast with that music it is a time capsule movie of that time that I almost kind of like wonder like if you showed a 16 year old kid today this movie one would they like it or two would they even be interested in the music. Yeah. Or the fact like what is this. It's like oh that's a record store. Yeah. Like what. Like like I just wonder how they would take to it. It'd be a very interesting thing to ask a young person. Today's Yeah. Would buy records. What do you think of that movie? Well, you don't. They probably see it first. So, you know, if they have you know, it's a shame. But if they had, it would be great to get, you know, a younger opinion because this movie was of a time and people like if they got on board with it, they loved it. Like you, it sounds like, you know, they don't make them like they used to action. We have a lot of action movies that are varying degrees of absurd and fun stuff like Assassin's and Crimson Tide, Desperado Love, Desperado Goldeneye, one of my favorite James Bond movies, Johnny Pneumonic and Money Train, Mortal Kombat, a personal favorite of yours. So it is The Net, the best movie ever made about the Internet. Yes. Was Species, which was I get, you know, action, sci fi, the prophecy with Christopher Walken, virtuosity starring Denzel and Russell Crowe before they were together on screen in American Gangster. He's not my favorite action movie. 1995 has to be die hard with the bad person yeah because it's very rare to get the first great movie and everyone loves it and then you get the kind of bummer sequel that doesn't live up to it that's common to come back for the third and you bring the original director back and it's not in L.A. It doesn't take place, you know, during like Christmas time. Somerset and it just works. And this is often brought up in conversation of like, is this better than the first one? And, you know, people make arguments either way, like the chemistry between him and Samuel Jackson is absolutely perfect. All the riddles in it are fun and engaging. Jeremy Irons great the way they, you know, bring it back to, oh, my god, the horns are truly great. Action movie that we we really don't like see stuff like this anymore because like, I mean, honestly, after the third Die Hard movie, John McClane turned into like a superhero in this one, he could still get hurt. You know, Willis you know, Bruce Willis has been on our minds a lot lately because he's retired from acting from health issues. But this is him. This is just peak Bruce, like just getting out of that fucking subway car after wrecks. He's just laughing oh, God, I love him. I've always loved this movie. I've seen it a gazillion times. This is one of the movie memories I have of my dad where because my dad just was not a big movie guy. Yeah, he he likes certain comedies, but he we would go and he would have no idea what movie we were going to see. I would be directing the traffic there. So I said, Dad, let's go see Die Hard with a Vengeance. And I'm like, nine. And so I remember my dad. I don't even think he had even heard of a Die Hard was like, I don't know, but I can't remember. But we get to the movie theater and the opening, like, big scene of the movie is where Bruce Willis has to do something that would never be made in a movie today. No. Where a sign that says something very bad. And I remember when the shot comes where they reveal it. Yeah. My dad, I'll never forget it. He like, literally like, like, moved around in his seat and was like looking back as if there was like a concession worker who was going to do something about this. And he's and I just look at him and he goes, what, what, what what are we seeing? I mean, yeah, yeah. It's true. Like the racial component of it, which, you know, is put in motion because of Jeremy Irons. He's fucking with John McClane. But like, to do that, everyone who saw that movie, even if you see for the first time now, you're like, oh, my God, yeah. No white man sitting in the middle of Harlem. Like, it's like, yeah, dude, this is not going to be you're about to have a very bad day indeed. And I remember my dad asked me, like, he goes, Do you know what that means? And at that, I did. I had like a very, very, very young, rough understanding of, like, how bad this was. And so but I at the same time, like, it was also a weird moment for him. I imagine it was like, does my son know certain things? Right, right. Like what? Like, and then and then because he's not comfortable with violence. And so when this was all these action things were happening, I would just be like, oh, and he'd be like, oh, right, right. Oh, Larry, I love the he was not happy with me when we walked out of that movie. Oh, well, I love the stoop dude who sees him. He's like, What the fuck? It's like they all march over to him. Oh, my God, what is the movie? Yeah, it is a great movie. My next category is Let's Hear It for the Bones because we had a few bombs in 1995 that are still widely regarded as some of the biggest Hollywood bombs in history, starting off with Renny Harlan's Cutthroat Island. Quentin Tarantino is actually a pretty good admirer of this movie, which I find interesting. I haven't seen it since like 9596 don't have enough of a working memory about it. Jade Helm Jade directed by William Friedkin. Judge Dredd with its lights on in theaters oh. So today Showgirls have fantastic. Your favorite. Oh, yeah. It's had a new life. You know, people understand it now. Not really. People understand it now. Understand who's going for it. And then, of course, Waterworld, Kevin Costner's put all of his everything into it. And it didn't really work out for you, Bud. No, it worked. Waterworld fucks. Yeah, but it didn't fuck in terms of box office, you know, money in shitload. I saw that in the theater. I remember. I remember seeing that I love. Right? Yeah, I got I haven't I say, whoa, whoa, I love Waterworld. Waterworld, Dennis Hopper. Seven of fucking blessing, that is. He is that lunatic. You know, the best movie with Kevin Costner with Gilda's I thought there was only one. What's the second Waterworld baby? Oh, that was a stupid ass joke. Jesus Christ. Indie subversive cinema. My next category short category. But there were some movies that, like, were kind of a big deal at the time, but then were sensations shortly after they really were released. The biggest was kids. Larry Clarke's Kids, The Addiction with Abel Ferrara's great vampire movie, The Doom Generation with Rose McGowan. Really good. Just indie movie heavy. That's James Mangold, first movie and then Lehane with Vincent Cassel is a fucking brutal French movie, black and white that I highly recommend. I didn't see that in 95. I didn't see any of these in 95. I saw them later because they had some indie clout from 1995. Yeah, like still talk about them and they're ones that I say with caution, like go back and revisit, especially kids. It's not one I'm revisiting a lot. That's like Jesus but that's still that. Out of all these movies though, that is the one that I think people still talk about the most. Yeah, that could be the 95 movie that people definitely talk about the most. It's like tiny, brutal, realistic New York set movie, like it's that really did start something. It was a phenomenon, it was a sensation. There were a few months there when like everyone was talking about that like, Have you seen it? Oh my God have. It's just the way it really is. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Written by Harmony Current. Jesus. Oh, wow. So that kind of ends our fun categories. Now, I thought we would move into these top tier, like, these 15 top tier ones that we're definitely going to have, like, a lot of honorable mentions at the end that we're going to kind of cruise by. So these aren't the only movies we loved from 1995, but these were the ones we could kind of whittle down and talk about. So I put them in alphabetical order. What is dove into them? You ready? I was born ready. First is my favorite Ron Howard movie. I think the best movie he made. It's Apollo 13. The thing about this movie is this movie still really holds up PG and it moves like it's just it's kind of perfect in its own way. Like it really moves. You get Ed Harris being emotional, not really a common thing. Bill Paxton, we love you. You know, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise is perfect cast like at the time. And then Tom Hanks like lean the way in the middle of this amazing run. Philadelphia Forest Gump, starting with even a league of their own. Philadelphia, Forest Gump. Now he has this. I just it's an easy movie. Not difficult to comprehend. It's easy to put on. And it's just one that I feel like is universally liked, if not loved. It's just really well done, really well made. Everything about it holds up like you watch that movie now the way it looks like you never once question the like the special effects. Yeah. I think honestly, they look better with a movie like that than what they would try to do with that today. Probably. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And I mean, they're an all star cast like all of those actors are at the peak of their performance. Yeah. I mean, I mean, you just said it, but I feel like we just can't show enough love for Bill Paxton. Oh, Paxton, he's so good the way he gets, like, sick up there. And, you know, it's just it's so believable. And Ed Harris, like, when when it's all done, and he just collapses into that chair and just looking around, and some, like, hey, you know, we did it, and his line delivery of we cut, and then he turns and he's like, excuse me, sir. And I believe this is going to be our finest hour. It's like, fuck, that's a pro right there. Just nailing the line delivery. Oh, I love it. For some reason, my biggest, like, memory, like, when I think of that movie, there's one scene that they burst in my mind, and it's when Kevin Bacon gets the phone call and he flips out and he just goes, Oh, yeah, he would be that excited. Yeah, you would. But there's like, it's like a far shot. Yeah. Like, they cut far away out of the shower. Yeah. And he just does that for some reason. Every time someone says Apollo 13, that's what goes in my head. There's still no measles. I love that. Gary Sinise is great in that. Oh, he's just good. I can definitely tell you that my most watched movie in 1995, without question was Michael Bay's first film Bad Boys. I must watch this. My friends and I this was like an every weekend thing. I still know every single line of this movie because I watch it so, so many times. Great action movie starring Martin Lawrence Taylor Leone, Joe Pantoliano, so that it is well, it's a really good movie, though. And I mean, the chemistry between everyone is very believable. But I just wanted to point that out because I still like love this movie. Absolutely. The movie I watch the most in 95, you might see the one actor that you're missing. He slaps, he slaps. He does. Yes. Quite literally. Jesus, telephone straight to college. I think she is such an underrated actor. I agree. Like I've always loved her. Always. She didn't show up in a lot, but the ones that she did, she nailed she homerun out of the park. Huge Taylor Tony fans. Oh, yeah. I don't eat blood. Yeah. Why don't you take the next one to fit a punch? The Basketball Diaries, big punch. Oh, still for me, it's tough to pick my all time favorite, Leo, but this is in the conversation. This is definitely I mean, I can't even say is best young because you got Gilbert Grape in there, which is nominated for two years earlier. It's it's it's a movie that I personally like. I remember like I think this may have been the first real dramatic movie I had seen. Sure. That truly affected me in a certain way. It's a tough movie. My mom showed this to me purposefully, but I think she was showing it to me because she wanted to educate me on. Oh, sure. Yeah. Like, I'm going to show you the horror of what this is. You think this shit's cool? Yeah. Watch what he can really do. And I remember I saw this movie and I connected to it, and I think this is like my first time watching Leo and I think I just connected to that. Like, Oh, there's something about this actor that I see myself in. Or maybe. Yeah, like, made my first like, like rumblings of maybe I want to do this, but I couldn't tell then. But I that the movie is so horrific in terms of what it does to this main character in his life. Because of drugs. When we finally get to the end scene where he's asking his mom, Yeah, oh, my door. God, I mean, all I was doing was seeing me and my mom. Yeah. And I said to myself, I never want to put my mom through any of this. So ever since then, like, growing up all through that, like, tumultuous time of like, when drugs could have been like, you know, questioned or experimented with. Right. All that went through my head was like, I'm not, I'm not. I saw the basketball diaries. All right? I know where this can go. You get you get that fucking cocaine away from me. I had a relationship with substances at a very young age. That was very similar to that. I mean, my brother took to them very quickly. So that was a huge deterrent for me. But watching some of the movies we're talking about this one we're going to shortly we're going to be talking about a horrific alcoholism movie that it's like this stuff doesn't look fun and it looks so real like and we should say Basketball Diaries is based on a true story of a Jim Crow. Jim Carroll, who rough and Tumbler, he had his crew in New York, and they're just, you know, doing petty shit and then get into like, quote unquote, smaller drugs, but then graduate the heroin. Yeah. Ruins their fucking lives. And there's also there's an interesting thing here that's kind of glossed over, but the Bruno Kirby character and his what he does to boys is very in the grooming aspect of it is very important and a little glossed over, I think because it was 95. But I was like, oh, OK, there's, I see the wheels spinning and why, why this could lead to maybe I need to try to escape this with some sort of, you know, or basically like, fuck you, I'm not playing on your team anymore you creep. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's so much at play with that movie that's really, that's, it's really really hard and really intense and it's done very, very well. And, and I think that was the movie that like basically everyone really took notice of Leo yeah. I mean, that's definitely helps him get Titanic, but that's like, yeah, that was a huge thing. And then he crushes it the next year with Romeo and Juliet. Yeah. A lot of people loved that was were in peak young Leo the press with Titanic, obviously, but oh my God, he's so great. Our next one is the first in one of our favorite film trilogies of all time. We have Before Sunrise, directed by Richard Linklater. A movie not with like a huge budget. He's coming off Dazed, Confused. Not necessarily a big hit at the time. Critics liked it, didn't make a lot of money. So then, you know, they make this smaller movie. Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, it's perfect. I definitely didn't perfect. I didn't see this movie till 2004. I didn't I honestly didn't even hear about it until before sunset. I'm hearing, Oh, this is a sequel. And I'm like, Oh, this is this is a sequel. It's nine years later. Like, they've done this in real time. Like, I got to watch this. So I think like the day before, I saw before sunset in the theater I had rented Before Sunrise. It's such a good way to, like, get you into the world. But I mean, this is one I've just gone back to over and over. I mean, all of them, you know? I mean, really? Yeah. I mean, we talked about before midnight in our in our episode of our favorite movie arguments. And I mean, you go back to our Richard Linklater entire episode, and we really dove deep into all of these movies. But I mean, at the end of the day, like Before Sunrise is such a movie that is ahead of its time. Yeah, it still is. Not even ahead of its time. It's still one of the kind. Like, there's not many movies that have really kind of tried to do what this did in or could they ever do it as well. Yeah. I think though, the Long Walk and Talk Love Story is something that's been tried again, but not nearly this successfully, just people walking around talking and talking about life. They're young and and that was such a big thing of the nineties. It was it really was character movies. Yeah. And there wasn't like some big act one, act two, act three conflict that had to be resolved. It was just like people talking and walking. What's going to happen at the end? Like there's enough motivating you to, like, keep you curious, but it's not about like, she gets kidnaped or some shit like that, you know? And there was something about the youth of the time, right? Everyone was young during the nineties, knew that they were young. And so you get movies like Reality Bites, even Empire Records and movies like this where they talk about what it means to be young. Yeah, we don't know if we get that right now. Like if we really get movies where young people are really embracing, where they're at and what's to come like in the way that the movies like this did. Yeah, not like on a mainstream thing. Not, not necessarily. I mean, we do to varying degrees, but it's not given like it might be like the B plot of a movie. Yeah, it's not like the main a focus. Yeah. This is what we're talking about. The young love this. I mean, we're in Europe, we're learning we're like, you know, romanticism, like all of these things. God, I love this movie so much. Oh, it's so good. So on my way out here, you know, I'm on a plane ride it's great. And I'm thinking, you know, they got the movies and the headrests. I'm like, all right, let me try to find something pod related, because we're recording a few episodes while I'm out here. And then I realized it's going to be a 95 movie. I was like, OK, I haven't seen this movie. Arguably the most popular movie of 1995. If we are to believe the Academy. I've seen Braveheart twice. Really, not since I was like pre-college. And I was like, OK, so I put it on and I was glad I did because I hadn't seen it in a while because I know it means a lot to you and like, yeah, this is, this is the kind of headlining movie of the year because it wins picture. It wins. Director Mel Gibson, the second movie he directed and it was, it was a thing like people mainstream audiences talked about this movie. It was definitely a big deal. But you are, I would say, a bit more of a fan of this movie. So just tell us about your relationship with it. I'm curious, first time you saw it. I so I saw I didn't see it in theaters or me either, but I did see it very, very soon after it came out in video, right? Like when I saw this movie, for the first time, like I had cried in Terminator two. OK, thumbs up, thumbs up. But that was so personal to me about my relation to my dad. I'm movie itself had never made me cry just on the merits of the story. What was happening, man? I'll be damned if I tell you that. Like, by the time that Mel Gibson is getting fucking torture and he's like, just say it. Yeah. If you admit your allegiance to England and to the King, that all this can be stopped. I think. I think I mean, stopped and, like, will kill you quickly. Yes, but that's exactly where he is now. We're not going to torture you. Yeah, but when he yells freedom, I was not expecting that. And when it happened and it's such a movie moment because very, very the score kicks in and you get like the complete tears from, like, the people watching. But it all is so effective. I just remember, I still I'm getting goosebumps. Think about it like I remember as a kid, just like crying and the payoff of this whole entire thing. And plus, I mean, it is a very well done, like, epic like there's so many great like I mean, you get that that battle scene, I mean, it's just impressive. Well, when I was watching on the plane, I was like, this movie is so nice to me because they're not like the there are so many shots of him just like running on the hills and the music's up and there's like helicopter shots. There's a lot of that of him just like staring off for, like, really intense close ups through, like, the thing of him when he makes the first attack, like, you know, he's on the horse and, you know, he attacks all them in the village. They he holds that for like 6 minutes or so, like on the horse, slow look here, look here, look here. He really, you know, and I texted you something like was being a smart ass, but I found out that, like, Avengers Endgame is 3 minutes longer than this movie than Braveheart. And I brought that up because I think it's funny how running times have changed. Like when when I was a kid, when people talked about Braveheart, it was always qualified with, you know, I just got to make time for because it's like so long. It's this long epic. It's less than three it's less than 3 hours now. The Batman is over three. It's just so funny to me how the three hour movie was like, there was one a year usually, and we were kids and they were you had to, like, make a plan for it was going to own your day. And now, like, almost every major movie, like over 200 million feels like it brushes up against the three hour market. I mean, so strange to me. You're going over two and a half for sure. Yeah, it's silly. It's very strange how the times have changed that you do think about at that time. You thought about how long that movie was. Right? Right. And I'll also just say controversial opinion. I love Mel Gibson. I know you do. I know you grew up with him. So I love Guy. I mean, 95. Yeah. It can be like it's real shithead year in terms of like people who grew into shitheads. You know, we already talked about that. You watch your tongue, you talk about Mr. Slap. We're going to and we're going to talk about a few others coming up here. But yeah, I mean, not the best progression in Hollywood history in terms of career. Although he did get into all that trouble and then you contradictory assholes in the academy nominated him for best director in 2015 for Hex already. Rightfully so. Jesus Christ. So what kind of message are you sending like he's he's like the pariah of Hollywood. And then you nominate him and you're making jokes in his expense on stage like you nominated him. Folks, like, I thought whatever you said, it said a tough set, a tough girl, a movie that was absolutely going to make both of our lists. I want to set this one up by saying that we're in a like a nice Hollywood hotel. It's just it's clearly been here for a while. It's very cozy. They've gone through some remodeling. We walk into the room and there's like Hollywood shit on the wall. And we're looking around right now. We got like we have Austin Powers in Goldmember like a poster signed by Mike Myers. But then the centerpiece of our room is this great casino like spread where you have set pictures. You have a mini of the one sheet. And then we have signatures on here from De Niro, Sharon Stone, James Woods, of course, can't forget James Woods and Joe Pesci. And I was like, Wow, we're going to record our 95 podcast tomorrow. I can't believe it's there. So yeah, Casino is something we talked about on the pod before. This is like, I think I'm at the age. This is so fucking crazy to say, but I think I can just finally like, own the fact that I like this movie more than Goodfellas. I do like it. I get up against this. It's like Goodfellas is an A-plus masterpiece to me, but I you know, Casino's 30 minutes longer, but I just if I'm forced to pick I've watched Casino so many more times. And again, you know, this is like, what's the better brick of gold, which was shinier. Like, I love them both. They were only made, you know, five years apart with a lot of the same, you know, people involved, including the writers Scorsese and Nick Pileggi, I just love it. I absolutely love this movie. I still maintain that it is the fastest three hour movie ever made. It cruises by. There's not a false note in it. I love it. All of it. I completely agree. I'm torn between I'm thinking myself. If I am going to think about Goodfellas or Casino, which one I would pick, man, because Goodfellas is so like it does have a gritty dark New York esthetic. It doesn't shot on like a Granier film stock casino has like a Las Vegas brightness to it. Both Scorsese. He knows how to use humor Casino makes me laugh a bit more. There's just shit in it that, like, shouldn't make sense. Like, no, it makes sense, but normal directors wouldn't included in it. It's just this little thing, little things to help us identify with the characters, more with these psychopaths, more like even the way Joe Pesci says, like, I'd come home. I'd come home every night. And Jennifer didn't care. She was asleep on a couch watching television every night. It's like just to include that, like, why did you do that, Urvashi? He's like, So let's say, for instance, I want to go and get one of those little sandwiches that I like it like. I just it gives like, yeah, I would like to go get a sandwich someplace, but if I'm banned, I don't know. It all helps add to this context. And if forced to pick, I just I don't know I love casinos. One of my all time favorite movies. I love it. There's a flow to it that is just unmistakable. Thelma, it just. Thelma, it really does like more than most of his movies. I mean, all of his movies are so well edited, but there is something about this one that just really takes care of you. Yeah. I always tell people that, like, once Sharon Stone gets her hair cut and like, things are getting decidedly more grim, like pre cut hair that movie moves like lightning fast. And it's about an hour and a half. Like, you don't even blink the basically like the come up of the movie when everything's going well and we're taking over the casino, we're making money before the downfall happens. It just cruises. It moves so fast. Oh, my God. I love it as if I know what I said. They don't make them like they used to comedies. We were definitely saving one. But this is. Yeah, this is probably the most influential comedy of the year. Certainly. Yeah. I mean, it's still talked about. It's still it's still regarded as, as, as as a classic movie of its time. And you've also got Paul Rudd, who hasn't aged a day since we're talking about clueless by the way. Yes, yes, yes. He hasn't aged at all. Now, what the hell's his secret? I have no idea. Granola, Bret, even Jared Leto like those two guys. I'm like, I don't understand why they found the fountain of youth. Hey, James Bond in America, we drive on the right side of the road. I am. You try driving at platforms. I could quote this movie as we are doing A Virgin Who Can't Drive. It's way harsh tie that. And for my money, it just does not get better than the traffic scene when she gets out of the freeway. What the hell? That's the best one. Oh, what the hell do you love? Freeway? Turn right. There's, like, a little shrug. It's just fucking blared it down. I love that. But the way he goes. What the hell are you doing on the freeway? I saw this in the theater with my parents, and everyone was hysterical. And that scene is just dying, laughing. It's just one of the funniest scenes. Oh, it's so good. I remember I was working at the hotel one time, and, like, sometimes we have to go into the room to clean up the tray when people weren't there. Yeah, and they left the little the TV on, but their stuff was still there, so they were just out of the room. Sure, sure. And the scene came on, and I go, I'm not going to leave the room right now. And so, like, you know, the scene plays. So I'm just standing there in front of the TV, arms crossed, cracking up, and then all of a sudden the door opens doors and the guys come back in and I go, I'm really sorry. I'm going to be out of here. I'm just cleaning the tray. But Clueless is on, and it's the funniest scene of the movie. And and because they're a first a little bit like, what are you doing here? Right. And I explain myself and they go, Is it the traffic scene? I go into the traffic scene, get over here. That Oh, it's so great. I love that movie. Love it, love it, love it. There's another one you love. Take this one. Oh, man. So this really speaks to like my like where like 1995 where I think a lot of my artistry came from. Sure. So dead man. Yes. Jim Jarmusch, one of my all time favorites. I remember my mom playing this movie because she loves this movie, and I didn't know what the hell I was watching. Yeah, I'm watching this black and white movie that's very abstract. I don't understand what's going on. And I would only walk in it bits and pieces because I just was like, Oh, this movie again, right? Oh. So she was like, she's doing repeat. She's doing I got you, I got you. And I'm, I'm like, I like it was one of those movies that for the longest time I just associate. I was like, Oh, my mom loves that movie. I hadn't really found myself to it yet. And then, you know, you kind of fast forward a little later when I really get into it and I go, Oh, Jim Jarmusch did Dead Man. Yeah, oh, my God. And then I watch it and I'm just completely blown away. Like, it's just it's just it's classic Jarmusch stuff. It's I suppose the plot of it really is Johnny Depp plays this guy named William Blake who's trying to find a job, right? But that job doesn't exist where he is, and then he ends up befriending a Native American. Yeah. And yeah, that's basically it. There's this scene by Michael Winnicott in this movie where he talks about like, framing this guy for eating his family. Oh, that's right. Yeah. It's just one of the most ridiculously written scenes. And Michael win Carl's voice of Michael. He got down here. Oh, God, I love him. One of the all time great voices. He's like, he fucked me, cooked him with him. He didn't. It's just like it's amazing. Anyways, I just really recommend this movie if you liked Jim Jarmusch at all, if you don't know who he is, I think this is probably a good movie, too. It's an accessible Jarmusch movie. Despite how abstract it is, it's still like he's taking care of you. He's taken along for the ride. You know what's interesting is my I think my dad had seen this movie, but he, like, discovered, rediscovered it like a year or so ago, and he's been like, watching it every few months. Like, he, like, loves it, he loves it, he loves Jarmusch. So but yeah, I've always this was one that I actually discovered in college. It was a big college movie. Like, people had good sounds and then. Oh, man, yeah. I took to it right away. Right away. The score by Neil Young, it's just him in an electric guitar and he didn't even have any of the material. Right? He just did it. He just started doing stuff. And it's one of my favorite scores for that reason because it's not polished. Yeah, it's sloppy. It doesn't make a lot of sense but at the same time, it works. Yeah. It's like Miles Davis for elevator to the gallows type thing, go in a room, jam out and just I'll use whatever the hell you give me. That's how it feels and it works. So which is great? That's exactly how that works. Yes, it happens. We actually we set it up because we're going alphabetically or we have a Johnny Depp double feature when he tell us about the next one, which you actually talked about recently, on a pod, was it a what are you watching recommendation? Yeah. Yeah, it was I don't remember what episode, but you definitely gave some love to this one, which I was surprised by pleasantly. Don Juan de Marco Yeah. You talked about the nineties for me. I mean, Johnny Depp and Leo, though, those were the guys that I, I just, I couldn't get enough of work and and Johnny Depp really kind of took to the forefront. And this is just such a weird, bizarre movie where Johnny Depp's character believes that he is the fames don one to DeMarco, the master of romance dresses like, I don't even know what you call it. There's a cape. Yeah, he's got a mask. He's met by a therapist played by Marlon Brando, who is basically assigned to tackle who he believes this guy is suffering from some type of like. Yeah, it's mental disorder. Sure, sure. And like, this thing, this what I love about the movie is that it's not asking you to follow a strict narrative that this is this this is that can you let go of whatever you think the world is and even if it's not true, might just be nicer to live in a complete, like, fantasy. Right. And the way that that idea manifests and actually helps Martin Marlon Brando's life in the movie is character's life. It's just ends up being this sweet, tender, fun light movie that shouldn't work, right? Like, that's what I think the cool thing about the movie is it's like nothing about this movie should work on paper. It's like, how are you going to achieve what you want the audience to feel? With this amount of absurdity? Yeah. And yet it does. And it's so light and airy and fun and, and tender. I love this movie. I think it's really great have you ever seen The Fisher King directed by Terry Gilliam with Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams? Yeah, this kind of like, yeah, we're like, Jeff Bridges is like a radio deejay personality you know, not unlike, I think, like Howard Stern. And then Robin Williams is like a paranoid schizophrenic homeless person, and they meet each other and it's kind of it's kind of the same. They have this spaceship, which is and he's like, is it better just to let Robin Williams, like, live in his absurd, the life like that he's created? And then you find out at the end why he's created this and yeah, I can't say it ends as you know, it's not like happy go lucky. Yeah. It's very Gilliam. It changes on you real quick. And there's some great stories. Johnny Depp has, you know, Marlon Brando at this time. You know, wasn't exactly the most into it. Sure. Actor, though, he actually said that he did care a lot about the filming of this one because he enjoyed everyone who was making it good but Johnny Depp said that he he would have to, like, put Marlon's lines on his hand. Of course. Yeah. So when during they were doing a scene, Jane, they were just when he was off camera, flashed the palm of his hand to Marlon. And Marlon would read the lines off of Johnny. He's been doing that since before The Godfather. I always just give all tells him that Sonny's dead. They're in The Godfather. You can see a behind the scenes press photos of Duvall. This has all of Brando's lines like taped to his shirt, taped to suit his chest. A Brando. It's so great. So great. Yeah. I'm glad. That's like a not one that people talk about a lot in relation to this year. So I'm glad it got brought up. Yeah. I don't think it's I think it's really one that's kind of forgotten in his career. Yeah, I agree. Citigroup's well next one I don't have a lot to say about because we just talked about it for 90 minutes, which is Michael Mann t a you know, we said everything we could in the previous episode, but just a definitive, the definitive Michael Mann film, arguably the best crime thriller ever. Certainly like in the it just on the Mount Rushmore of movies of its kind bank robbery, crime thrillers, whatever, Michael Mann movies, anything. It is like an uncontested masterpiece that we both absolutely love. Listen to the previous episode. If you missed it and you want to hear us rap about it for like 90 plus minutes so much we could say. Here's the thing that we didn't say, though. Oh, well, I'll figure I'll throw this at you, Al Pacino. Where does his character ring for you from heat in the rest of his career? So yeah, this is a complex question, actually, because both of them, we are we didn't get into this. This is so funny. Like, I think their roles in Heat Mark a very clear turning point to where I don't know if they actively go after characters of this kind anymore. They kind of turn into they embrace like their age in the older men thing, like Pacino still has, you know, he's got any given Sunday, he's got The Insider, he's got insomnia. He's good in those, but he's turning like older and you know De Niro basically post analyze this is yeah embraces old De Niro funny De Niro like my parents he's like but even and analyze this like you know he's he's dressed up he's a gangster. He's in the suit. And you kind of still believe that this is like, you know, hardened younger ish DeNiro. But I think he really marks that turning point. So it's tough because like it doesn't feel right to me or even appropriate to put like Michael Corleone and Sonny from Dog Day afternoon in with Vincent Hanna. But I don't know. It's definitely a memorable one. But I mean, Godfather to Dog Day Afternoon Godfather like it? I don't know. It could break my top five. I guess it would. I think I think in Hanna would make the top five. It might be number five. I don't know about De Niro, though, because we got I mean, we have Travis Bickle. We have Johnny Boy. From Mean Streets. We have the Deer Hunter, Raging Bull. That's already for that. I'm just like The Godfather two. That's five. I don't know. But De Niro has acted a lot more than Pacino Pacino has significantly less credits, so there's less to choose from. But that's always a fun thing, Pacino versus Nero. But I think this ranks very highly with them. But No. One, they've done better work. I'll put it that way. Now, to me, a slightly more interesting question is, have they been better since? Has anyone delivered? Has Al Pacino been better since Vincent Hanna has De Niro been better since New Macaulay? That's what I mean. I just rattled off some Pacino roles that I love De Niro. I think you can make a pretty good case. Yeah, I think at least until the Irishman, because I think they're both fucking flawless and that. Yeah, Pacino kills it in the Irish. Yeah, that's a fun conversation to go. Conversation. I mean, I love I on any given Sunday. I think Al Pacino is great in that. Yeah, I agree. I absolutely love that movie. I've seen it so many times. Yes. So I, I think they have been, but I don't, I think, I think you're right. We say this was a big turning point, but there was before this and then after and then whatever happened after it became what it was. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. The garden had been changed as they say. Who played wind grow and heat again? What was the name? The great Kevin Gage is his name. You can we love you, Kevin Gage. Good luck. So the next one in terms of not just like movie done, but movies that have actually affected my real personal life. There are a few up there. It's very specific category, but leaving Las Vegas is there because this is I saw this at such a young age and I'm like, oh, my God, I knew that wasn't even at ten. I knew like not everyone who has a drink behaves like that, but some people could. Yeah. And that's like, whoa. And you know, my relationship with Nicolas Cage in 1995, it's like my mom loved Honeymoon in Vegas. Moonstruck was on like, I think I had maybe seen parts of raising Arizona. But this is, it's still nuts that he did this, that he won best actor nuts for all the best reasons. But this is a very risky movie, risky performance. And I've maintained pretty much since I saw it that I believe this is the best, most realistic movie about alcoholism and the best, most realistic performance about alcoholism. A Nicolas Cage tough movie to love. It's very they knew what they were doing. It is down dirty and gritty, but oh my God, I'm so indebted to it. I just I absolutely love it. I rewatched it, I think like last year, no luck still hits it's a doozy. It is. And everything you said is completely right. I also formed a relationship to it during pre-production of There I Go. Yeah. So like, I remember this movie hit home for me on a certain way of being like, this is this movie is on another level. Yeah, exactly what you're saying. Like on so many reasons yes. The alcoholism, the performance, but the movie itself, it's operating in a way that it wants to do and there's no control over it. Like you let it just go. And I think that's just an impressive filmmaking thing is when you can reach a level where you're like, All right, this movie is we're doing something different with this. Well, most every addiction movie, like Shame doesn't really do this, but most movies, at some point it comes up like, What are you going to do, buddy? What do I to do to help you to get better? Like, what are we doing? Like, what are we doing to fix this? And he Mike Figgis and then star Nick Cage, like, they tackle that head on by being like, you can never ask me to quit, ever. And I'm doing this to kill myself. This is all with intention. I'm drinking myself to death. And, you know, it's the way the movie goes. You're like, Yeah, you're on this path, you're on this train. And it's so grim, but it is real. It's some people's realities and it's just, you know, it's a tough movie, but one that's very, very important. And we've we've said this every time we talked about this on the pod. But Elizabeth Shue, this is oh, my God, this is so tough for me because best actress 1995 Susan Sarandon wins for Dead Man Walking. I kind of think that's a a saving face for Thelma and Louise and Lorenzo's Oil. She was nominated for both of those but they give it to her for this. It's not to take anything away from her. She's playing a real life character. It's a very good performance. But you also have Sharon Stone. It's Ginger and we've even we talked about this like on this podcast and then you have a losing issue leaving Las Vegas. I'm definitely Susan Sarandon. I love you. I probably would have given it to you. Maybe for Thelma. I don't know. Jodie Foster Sons, Lambs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's for me, it's between Sharon Stone, Elizabeth Shue. It's tough because it's personally nominations for both. I don't think either going to be nominated again, but I what Elizabeth she was bringing to this is like, you know, they're both playing prostitutes, but on very different degrees, prostitutes in Las Vegas. So there's some similarities. But that's kind of where it ends. But like even her owning her shit in that movie, like that character, it's Sarah. It's like, oh, my God. Because it is a two hander. It's not just Nicolas Cage. It's not. And I actually read the book after I rewatched it in the book as narratively with both. It's equally with Ben and with Sarah, which is cool before, you know, like before they meet. So you get to know them just like the movie set up. But yeah, I would probably if, if I'm voting now, I'd go Elizabeth Shue. Yeah. Hundred percent. I think she's honestly one of my fave. That's one of my most favorite female character performances. Yeah. It's so good. It's so good. Next up, oh, my favorite Julianne Moore performance. And it's one that not a lot of people talk about. It is safe directed by Todd Haynes. And it's it's basically about it's a hard movie. Like I think Criterion picked it up. Definitely watch safe, if you like. Far from Heaven. Todd Haynes. Todd Haynes has done more popular movies. But if you go back to Safe, it's like basically Julianne Moore is like this housewife and she starts getting sick and she doesn't know why. And it's really, really sick. And she starts to think, is it because of the chemicals in these cleaning products around the house? And that's really the movie. But it's so oh, my God, it's so paranoid. And anxious. Very, very indie. Not a big budget. Love this movie. And yeah, I do. I still think it's my favorite, Julianne Moore. And I love Julianne Moore. I mean, we both do. But one of her first starring roles and just fully committed, fully going for it. So if you like what she does with Haynes in, let's say, Far From Heaven, go back here and watch Safe. Wow. Next up, this one we both absolutely love. It's a very popular 1995 movie David Fincher seven. Oh boy do I love it ever always been one of my favorite Brad Pitt's one of my favorite Morgan Freeman's they're chemistry together they are just polar opposite in every way but they have to find common ground I mean some of my favorite line deliveries of both of their careers like honestly you ever seen anything like this these girls no yeah. Oh and then of course Freeman's great one of looks right at him and for the first time ever you and I are in total agreement like I don't love that. And then you have you know, this is a difficult person to talk about now but we're talking about 1995 but Kevin Spacey just comes in agrees to not be credited comes in and completely owns the last 30 minutes you know he'd been in Glengarry. He went in he'd been in some stuff he actually wins an Oscar this year not for this performance but this is a damn fine incarnation of someone who is completely fucking out of their mind and hyper intelligent and this is what I say like casinos the most watched bad boys the most watched sevens right out there too though I've seen this movie countless times. Yeah it's just I mean I've bury this into the ground. It's a note perfect movie. It really is. I mean, I remember when the first film study things I've ever did was this scene where they're where they're walking in on the gluttony scene. Yeah. And we're seeing, like, the body with the lights and all of just the different things that went into just that scene alone. And just if you look at pre-production, right? They getting that to look the way that fucking grim and dark and they're not brightening it up like cops would usually like you'd bring in like floodlights to flood out the scene. You could see it, but Fincher doesn't want to do that because he wants to keep it, like, moody and dark and gross. And I love the like, the Doctor Dead. Yeah. Morgan Freeman. Thank you, Doctor. Yeah, thanks. Brad Pitt opens up and sees the bug bomb and found their blood. I don't know. I'll go check. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a really definitive serial killer fucking with the cops movie. Like, yeah, it doesn't get better than this. Yep. Oh, God. Next up, one of my favorite Gus Van Zandt movies with at the time, I don't think. And Never Better Nicole Kidman into Die for a truly great, darkly humorous satire, which are just a great indie cast like Dan Hardy is in this Casey Affleck, young Joaquin Phenix, Young. This is a really hilarious, but again, very dark satire. I don't even really want to say what it's about. It's based on a true story, but please go watch to die for if you want to see like I mean, Nicole Kidman is just so in tune with what she's doing here, basically like a local reporter who, you know, doesn't who tries to have a young kid who's infatuated with her, commit a crime on her behalf. That's pretty much what it's about. And the fallout of that. It's a great movie. And then the last one in this like top tier list is, again, a difficult movie to talk about for a few reasons. But like in 1995 when the usual suspects hit, everyone was rewatching this because everyone saw it once and were completely fucking guffawed by the end, like, oh, whatever. Thank you. Like where? Huh what? And then it's something that you have to keep watching over and over and over. You know, this is four years before The Sixth Sense. It's still one of the great all time twist endings ever. But I remember like engaging in conversation with many adults about this movie and like, how many times have you rewatch it? Like, no one, no one predicted this ending in 95. No one. If you do now, like, OK, fine. But no one knew who Kaiser Sosa was. So it just completely, you know, surprised everyone. And of course, this is a movie Kevin Spacey wins the Oscar for, rightly so. I know that hasn't necessarily aged well. It's movies directed by a really gross shithead whose name I'm not even going to repeat like fuck him. But yeah, I actually watch this rewatch this movie in preparation for this podcast. And I was like, yeah, it's you know, some of the people in it have not aged well, but the movie still holds up like it's still really good. And Stephen Baldwin, who knew is great. Stephen Baldwin's great Kevin Pollak, I love him. But Nico, all that Gabriel Byrne, the five of them are there is great. They're great together. Yeah. And you know, and that's and that's the shitty thing. I mean, the people that are involved and, and the things that they've done. But when the work is the work, right? I mean, it's still like, yeah, you can't watch that movie and just deny that what you've just seen is just a, it's a really, really good movie. Yeah. Yeah. So I definitely wanted to mention that here despite shit that's gone on, you know, in recent years. So those were like ones that, you know, I might have loved some of those more than you. You loved some of your picks more than me, but those were like our top tier 15 films of 1995. We definitely, you know, we didn't miss any, we just, I want to give a little love to some others because again this was like a crazy good movie year. So I'm going to go through some quickly. Let's start with like 12 Monkeys and the American President because we both have stuff to kind of say about them like 12 Monkeys we already mentioned Terry Gilliam already mentioned Brad Pitt. This actually gets Brad Pitt his first Oscar nomination and good movie, weird fucking movie like. Oh yeah, it was it was kind of a thing at the time. I remember people talking about it and I remember when I eventually saw it, didn't see it 95. It was like years later I went, Jesus, it's so much weirder than I thought it was going to be. But you know, Gilliam, it's going to end it ages really well. It does actually. You watch it now, and I feel like, you know, like there's so much about science fiction and things that have really taken off over the course of the last, like, 30 years almost. And I kind of feel like this is one of those movies where if this was made to the idea of this movie, if someone was to pitch the plot of this, right. I think would be bought and sold immediately. Probably it'd be like a Netflix movie. You know, there probably been variations, variations of it. But at the time, I don't think it was asking for this. No. No one has ever asked for a tear there. Yeah. No, so you're doing a movie, unfortunately. But yeah. I mean, you've got Bruce Willis. Yup. Right here. And you've got the young Brad Pitt, which I always find Brad Pitt's career so fascinating because this was at a time where the dude was making or breaking his career with every movie. Yeah. Because he admits to not being the best actor early on in his career, but he's been being put in these positions where it's sort of like, you're the guy, leading man, guy and if this movie works, it's because you've had fails because you said he was living or dying by his hill for every movie, and some of them did not work. Me, Joe Black, did not work seven years in Tibet, and he was in the public eye. People were like, Oh, fuck Brad Pitt. He's not a good actor. He's really good looking. He fought that stigma for a long, long time. And I think seven was the big one that broke out because people took a chance on him to say that again. Fincher took a chance on Brad. Not enough isn't like that, but that was the reality. It was. And then when this movie happened, this was the movie where I think people were starting to turn their heads and be like, Oh, maybe this guy is pretty good. Well, it's a really good character performance of someone who's deeply mentally disturbed, like the fidgets and everything. And yeah, it's, you know, it's really cool that he got nominated for the Oscar for it it's it's just cool. And it is a really it's just a great, fun movie. It's a weird ass movie. So and then the American president I mentioned, you know, directed by Rob Reiner, written by Aaron Sorkin. This is just like starring Michael Douglas as the American president. Just kind of a breeze that evening or it's really good together. I Richard Dreyfuss is like a really good you know, right wing shit in it. Like, I just I've always loved this movie. It's its peak Sorkin dialog. Like, it's still kind of in the same smartass vein as a Few Good Men. He hasn't gotten, like, super serious yet. Like, being the Ricardos just doesn't have the same flair or energy or brightness as, like, the American president does. You know, there's something very that this the symbiotic relationship between Rob Reiner and Aaron Sorkin, it works perfectly because this is pique like Reiner with his like his levity and his kind of sentiment. Yeah. And mixed with Sorkin's dialog, it really does kind of fly. This is this is a very funny movie to say. This is my favorite movie I ever watched in school. Oh, you know what I mean? Like sometimes. Oh, yeah. In movies. Yeah. Because they don't nothing to do for the class technically, you know, I forgot what class it was probably history, but they put on the American president. Oh, that's funny. And I watch the movie and I go, This is great that anyone else loving this movie right now. It's also a few more just a breeze through The Brothers McMullen. That's Edward Burns, his first movie. Love that one, The Crossing Guard. This is starring Jack Nicholson, directed by Sean Penn. Yep. Sean Penn's movies that he's directed don't really get talked about that much. I've liked a lot of them, but the crossing guard is really, really good. David Morris is the costar. I love David Morse. He's awesome. Oh, he's great. Devil in a blue dress starring Denzel Washington. A great L.A. Set noir in the 1940s Georgia, which features my favorite Jennifer Jason Leigh performance I love that movie. A really down and dark indy kicking and screaming Noah Baumbach first movie Nick of time Johnny Depp very great 95. I just wanted to call that one out because this is one of the first movies I saw that was set in real time and it's pretty dedicated real time. And I that movie is largely responsible for my obsession with that subgenre because I love real time movies. I love if you can pull it off in this one and one does. I love this one. It's yeah, it's a little it's a ride. That was a big TV movie like that was on TV all the time. You know, Christopher Walken, the Watson guy, and then a few more around out here. Like, I couldn't I said, OK, that's good, we'll call it. And then I went there's still just a few more. Yeah, here we go. Honorable mentions the rounded out. We got Clockers, you got Scorsese and Spike Lee collapsing copycat which is a guy really kind of sadistic, you know, serial killer movie Dangerous Minds with Michelle Pfeiffer, big movie Dead Man Walking. We mentioned Dead Presidents. Really good crime movie. Dolores Claiborne. Yeah. So take some dark turns. Actually read that book in the last year. It's Oh, my God, that thing is nasty. Starring a great David Souter there and Kathy Bates Fallen Angels which is a really popular movie that's done a lot better kind of in time of people talking about at one core, why as his movies increase in popularity with like In the Mood for Love, then people are going back to the older ones. It's a great one for rooms. Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez wanted to do something together because they both had mutual success today. They made short films and they got two other directors to make short films and a kind of fun anthology, Higher Learning, which is John Singleton, really intense college set movie about race in the Mouth of Madness, directed by John Carpenter, Murder in the First with Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Christian Slater. Not a lot of people talk about this one now. It's not the best movie, this movie. I don't know if I've ever been more scared by a movie in this one. It's all fucking shitting me because it's a mentally unwell person getting the shit kicked out of him by the prison warden like the whole time, just for no reason, just sadistic animalistic abuse in it. Oh, my God. It like, it's very scary to see it. Ten years old, poof. And then finally, we have Oliver Stone's follow up to JFK. Nixon for like three and a half hours. Anthony Hopkins playing Nixon. I did rewatch this one about, I don't know, a couple of months ago. And I went, Man, it's certainly not as good as JFK, but he really went for it and kind of threw threw it all against the wall. But those were my final honorable mentions. What a year it really is. 20 year. I thought it was fun to break them into like they don't make them like they used to categories because a lot of these were just I don't know if we're ever going to see this type of movie again, but, you know, like, I just don't think that you're going to get such a well-rounded year. I mean, you had everything. I mean, you're talking about the best quality dramas, the funniest movies that are still talked about today, some great genre thrillers. You have these indie movies that just are just fantastic. Yeah. I mean, the year had everything. Action was a horror movie. There was. There was. I mean, in the mouth of man, this is the big one. Yeah. Not horror, like still needed to come back. Yeah, there was this one. We didn't see much I'm trying to think of like what started that back up. It was honestly around like Blair Witch. Blair Witch. Really? That's just what I was going to say. It really did that to like, oh my God, people are into this genre and they but you know, that that engages completely, not invents. But then we get so many found footage movies that becomes a thing. And then in a few years later, we get the PG 13 success horror movie The Ring, which changes that live and we start to see a lot of these PG 13 remakes of, you know, Japanese films or whatever. And then a few years later we get into the gross out stuff like it's all Hostile Cabin Fever, the Eli Roth thing, but horror. I don't have a relationship with horror movies like in 1995. Not really that that's a good question, but no I don't. I don't know. Some people might consider like seven a horror movie. I wouldn't not traditionally but yeah that's certainly is terrifying. Yeah that general comes and goes. I mean this is around the time of like what like Halloween four, five or we're in like the peak at Jason's exactly like Jason eight or whatever. Could have been. So yeah, it's kind of a lull for all that stuff, that genre hadn't really found its footing yet, but we mentioned a shitload of movies there. Yeah. So what I thought would be fun, never done this before, but when I was looking at your top tier ones and my top tier ones, there were basically there were about five that we had in common that we both put in our top tier, some of the list them, and then we are going to do our collective. What are you watching shared top five films of 1995. So we're going to first argue about the five movies and then we're going to argue about the order a little bit. So let me see if these five are fair. OK, before sunrise casino heat. I'm leaving Las Vegas babe. That's a stratified 41 and of course seven. Those are your five. Those are mine. OK, OK, so those are absolutely my five. I was worried that before Sunrise might not have made the list. No. And I don't know if that, that wouldn't make maybe my top five personal list, but we're doing a shared one here. So I wanted to, you know, give it equal weight for both of us, you know, but now comes you shared wisely. Thank you. And now comes the ranking I would put before sunrise at five of these five movies. Yeah, yeah. Have a yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, so we'll do before sunrise at five. Yeah. Now it's going to get fucking dicey. Number four, maybe heat. Yeah. You agree? OK, so it's a battle between where heat and casino lie I think I would personally put casino above heat. OK, well, I mean, higher ranking, higher ranking. OK, so it OK, so well, OK, so we got before sunrise, then heat, then heat. So number three, it sounds like you might put casino there. Casinos vying for round number one right now. Honestly, it's it's there. OK, what's your number one? I am torn between seven and leaving Las Vegas. OK, here's what we're going to do then we're going to do before sunrise five key four. Yeah. Casino three. OK, 72 and leaving Las Vegas one. I think we should fucking do it. I think I think I'm OK with that. Yeah, I am too because leaving Las Vegas is one you know? Yeah, I like that. Yeah. I like I've always wanted to call that my favorite movie of that year because just the importance it had on me and it's not like, like Casino Heat seven, those are you know, we argued about is he the genre movie on the heat pod, but those are more genre based stuff. And Before Sunrise is its own. It's, you know, cute tender thing. But yeah, I think leaving Las Vegas is a really good representation of where like what dark indie American cinema had to offer at that time. And if I recall correctly on our Twitter series when we did this, I picked Leaving Las Vegas and you picked Casino. That's right. Because you want. Yeah. Purposefully for that. And we all talked about how seven wasn't on that list. I mean, we had a lot of comments on that. So and I think it's just because we wanted to shout out the movies that. Yeah, because seven is the one that comes to mind at the forefront yeah. It's like, oh, like when you see that on the list of anything, it's like, oh, well, that's obviously the best one and rightfully so. So I like the idea that we're going with leaving Las Vegas as our favorite one. Yeah. Followed by seven. Yeah. And then bringing up the casino. Yeah. I think that works really well. That's beautiful. All right. So we made it to what are you watching, man? That was fun. What a fucking year. What do you got? I love these year ones because it kind of like, reminds me of if it's a year when we were alive, like, where we were at that time, but also just looking at all these and going, I can't believe all these were just made and released. Like, if you were an of age fan of movies, you know, where you could, like, go to movies. We can go to anything we wanted to in 95. Must've just been great to go to the theater to see all this shit over and over and over yet and going to the theater to seize casino like oh and then two weeks later you go see heat like that's crazy it's insane it's insane like when was the last time we had two movies that were that good? Yeah, exactly. Back to back back things are like, it's nuts. It's nuts. I have one day. So yeah. So I'm going to go first year for what are you watching something here you complain about always going first and. Well, that's one way to treat people. I am. I'm a this is a slight double down because I intentionally breezed over this movie while we were going Devil in a Blue Dress directed by Carl Franklin. Is a film noir set in 1940s L.A. It stars Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals and Don Cheadle in a breakout role. He plays a psycho named Mouse. You will never forget his first scene criterion is releasing this soon. I just saw it on like, you know, they released their what's coming out like a couple of months ahead of time. This will be out. And I hope that brings it up in conversation more because this is one like the people who have seen it. Roger Ebert loved this movie and was really championing it. Like the people who seen it, they were only trying to get more people to watch it because it's just one of those ones. It's oddly a little under the radar. Like it's a great peek. Denzel performance again, Don Cheadle, if you like him, this was his breakout role. And I just want more people to see it. Devil in a Blue Dress. I this is one where that I do not own, but I'm going to buy that criterion and be like, OK, good. Now I got it. It's a great film. It's great. Tom Sizemore is a nut job in it. Imagine that. Imagine that. Yeah. I was going to say, when is Tom Sizemore now? Yeah, I'm doubling down the same as you offer up The Basketball Diaries, because I'm realizing that as I was talking about it, I would rewatch that movie as a kid over and over and over. That's a very weird thing. Like, who's going to go and start rewatching the basketball diaries? Like it did scare me on the level of like, OK, I don't want to end up like this. Yeah. So it gave me like a good foundation as a person at a young age too, to watch a movie like that. But now I'm thinking about it. I go, Why did I re Because I got what I, what my mom's objective was for it, right? But what am I doing going back and rewatching it and I think it's just it it tackled my sensibility for I think what might have started my love for would eventually I would do with my life. I mean, because I'd think about it when you asked the question, you were there dramatically at this at this age watching those movies. I wasn't. This may have been the very first movie. Yeah. That actually hit that chord. And I'm going back and watching a pretty devastatingly tough movie to watch. Oh, yeah. Being like, wow, look at this. What am I like? I couldn't get enough of it. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm really I'm doubling down. Going to Basketball Diaries. Yeah. And it's also, I think the age we were at like eight, nine, ten. You're it's very formative. So what's coming in could potentially, you know, set a track on for your life in the same way. This is not a 1995 movie, but I saw it in 1995. As mentioned, Taxi Driver, that was the movie where I it's all, it's the fucking shot of him talking on the phone and then the camera pans to the hallway. Yeah that was a shot. Rob's like the, I mean as best I can trace my memory that was the thing that where I wanted to become a director or be more clued into why did they do that, what's going on, what does that telling us. And that was like really giving very detailed analytical thought to movies started in 1995. Yeah I know we've talked about that shot. Yeah. Before on this but in it because I had the exact same reaction to it. But isn't it also amazing how, how much thought and all of a sudden that, that that shot alone opens us up. Yeah, but how simple it is. It's so simple. That's the beauty of it. A lot of the best shit in movies has to do with simplicity. Like it doesn't have to be overly complicated. It just, I mean it's a simple we are tracking, right? Yep. That's it. While he's still talking and then he walks down the hallway, there is no special effects. There's nothing fancy about it. There's no gunshots, no stabbings, no nothing. So simple, but it's all about point of view. It's the director letting you know that I can't even let you watch this because it's so embarrassing and just mortifying. So we're going over here completely isolating us from him, which works perfectly. I didn't get that at ten, but I got that they did that shit for a reason, you know, something clicked oh, god. So great, so great. 1995. What a great year. I'm so glad we did this. Talked about. Oh, my God, so many movies. I mean, there's even, believe me, there's a bunch. We didn't mention that people like someone's favorite movie of 1995 could be sense and sensibility like it could be. It's an Oscar winner Ang Lee directed. It's a well-made movie. We just didn't talk about it because we're talking about some of the other ones but that's not Ace Ventura two came out that's still my favorite funny scene in all the movies is The Hippo. Yeah that's right that's right. So there's there's still just like a bunch more but we tried to keep it to I don't know 6070 but that a shared what are you watching top five was great. I love that. That was good. We came to that quite amicably. We did. We did indeed. You will if we missed some of yours or if you have some 1995 movies you want to double down with us let us know on Twitter at W AIW underscore podcast. But as always thank you for listening and happy watching Hey everyone, thanks again for listening. You can watch my films and read my movie blog at Alex Withrow Dot com. Nicholas Stoessel column is where you can find all of Nick's film work. Send us mailbag questions at What are you watching podcast at gmail.com Or find us on Twitter at WFYI w underscore podcast. Next time. Well, oh my next time we're going to cover the films of Gas Bar and away. Time destroys all things. Stay tuned. That's always a fun thing. Pacino versus DeNiro, but they rank very highly for what they're doing. But I think we've seen them do better. Before. While it's not intended as a Hollywood Boulevard potential crash right there, who?