Geek Guide to the 90’s Movies (1990-1994)!
Jondee here at Isla Nubar,
The Cold War was starting to go lukewarm, dot coms were the rage, and in the midst of all of this were the films. So get out your Discman, put on your Doc Martens, it’s time to Macarena for the 90’s movies! 1990 started with some sequels, there was Predator 2, moving the Predator to L.A. streets, Robocop 2, and the last ride of Marty McFly in Back to the Future III. Arnold didn’t take on the Predator again, he was going to Mars, in Total Recall. Matt Salinger slung his mighty shield in Captain America, don’t ask, there was the first live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop, but one of the interest comic strip visions was in Dick Tracy, a true vision made with primary colors and some classic gangsters with the absurdity of Chester Gould’s villains. Tim Burton brought us Edward Scissorhands while a supernatural world was glimpsed at in Ghost, clay pot and all. The fun came from the Graboids of Tremors. Still, one of the most mind bending terrors was in Jacob’s Ladder. Disney gave us the Rescuers Down Under, a song less cartoon, and DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. The highlight of 1991 was James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. ILM formed from the computer, the T-1000, and we also got the last voyage of Captain Kirk’s Enterprise in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. In fantasy, Steven Spielberg took us to a grown up Never-neverland in Hook. For comic books, there was the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, uh, “go ninja, go ninja, go!” Still, one of the finest comic book adaptations was in The Rocketeer. Disney begun the turnaround with Beauty & The Beast.
1992 had the strange, prison setting of Alien3 and also a number of horror films. There was Army of Darkness, “Hail to the king, baby”, which featured Ash in one of the last Evil Dead films. Francis Ford Coppola adapted Bram Stoker’s Dracula with a powerful, surreal vision. Joss Whedon’s vision was twisted in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer film before the tv version shined. In comic book films, Tim Burton crafted Batman Returns with Penguin and Catwoman. Disney crafted the magic carpet for Aladdin and another animated film, FernGully: The Last Rainforest which had magical fairies in the rainforest which is nothing like Avatar. In 1993, Jurassic Park showed the world not only dinosaurs, but living CG creations. There was the over-the-top Demolition Man and even more sign of the things to come; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III which sent the turtles back in time and ended the franchise until 21 years later and then Super Mario Bros. which was the death of video game movies. We had more of a bright year with the stop motion The Nightmare Before Christmas which is still haunting us today with Jack Skellington and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm spinning out of the animated show. 1994 brought us Stargate which spun off to numerous tv series and specials. In comic books, there was Jim Carrey as The Mask and also the darkness of The Crow. Horror films include Kenneth Branagh directed Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and another adaptation, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, based on the Anne Rice novel. Lastly, was Disney’s Lion King where Simba was on his way to take up his destiny. So here are the top 5 films to see for this part of the 90’s: 5 Army of Darkness, 4 Nightmare Before Christmas, 3 Lion King, 2 Jurassic Park, 1 Terminator 2: Judgment Day
