The year that launched the Summer Blockbuster with Independence Day, Mission: Impossible, The Rock & Twister. It also brought us G in the live-action 101 Dalmatians, Rene Russo in an underrated Oscar-snubbed performance in Ransom, Babs as a revamped vixen in The Mirror Has Two Faces, Michelle Pfeiffer & George Clooney with great chemistry in the cute One Fine Day, one of Madge’s only decent performances in Evita, Whoopi in the excellent but overlooked The Associate, Scream reinvented horror, and the never-ending The English Patient. Gay camp classics like The Birdcage and The First Wives Club. Bombs like Ellen in Mr. Wrong and Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly. I think it was the turning point year that films became very corporate, the bottom line became all that mattered after. What were your favorites and most hated?
The year that launched the Summer Blockbuster was 1975…duh.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | March 28, 2024 7:27 PM |
1999 was quite a good year for film- three years after it got all “corporate.”
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | March 28, 2024 7:32 PM |
My personal top 10 favorite/best films of 1996:
10. Ransom
9. The Birdcage
8. Courage Under Fire
7. Bound
6. Primal Fear
5. The English Patient
4. The People vs Larry Flint
3. Jerry Maguire
2. Sleepers
1. Fargo
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | March 28, 2024 7:45 PM |
R3 good list. I’d tweak it some but respectable choices. I love Fargo, but I can only watch it every 5 years or so. Ransom and Birdcage I can watch a few times a year.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | March 28, 2024 10:55 PM |
R1 people from India are probably are not aware of that fact.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | March 28, 2024 11:01 PM |
[quote]The year that launched the Summer Blockbuster
Huh? Summer blockbusters had been around at least 20 years prior to 1996.
1975 - Jaws
1977 - Star Wars
1979 - Alien
1980 - The Empire Strikes Back
1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 - E.T. and Poltergeist
1983 - Return of the Jedi
Just to name a few.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | March 28, 2024 11:10 PM |
R7 one each year. 96 began multiple monster blockbusters every summer
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | March 28, 2024 11:23 PM |
Nice try r8 but you’re still wrong.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | March 28, 2024 11:41 PM |
It was a pretty good year for movies. Both the art films as well as trashy mainstream movies were equally enjoyable. My totally subjective top 10 is:
10. The Craft
9. House Arrest (a yuuuuge childhood guilty pleasure)
8. Tesis
7. Secrets & Lies
6. The People vs. Larry Flynt
5. The Birdcage
4. Some Mother's Son
3. Drifting Clouds
2. Scream
1. La promesse
Honorary mention goes to that film Faye did with the wonderful Dunston the Orangutan, which was the hit of all the Europe AND Cannes!
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | March 28, 2024 11:43 PM |
R10 Secrets & Lies was a bigger bore than The English Patient
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | March 28, 2024 11:50 PM |
R11 No movie starring the fabulous, scenery-chewing Brenda Blethyn can ever be a bore!
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | March 28, 2024 11:54 PM |
R8 dig that hole for yourself! Too funny.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | March 29, 2024 12:20 AM |
Jaws was certainly the first summer blockbuster, everyone went to see it.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | March 29, 2024 12:33 AM |
I don't appreciate bein' called a natural-born whore, neither!
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | March 29, 2024 12:41 AM |
Watch bound, r5. There's so much tension. Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly are perfect.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | March 29, 2024 1:19 AM |
Good list R3 but I didn't like Sleepers or Ransom. Secrets and Lies and Breaking The Waves belong in there somewhere.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | March 30, 2024 1:09 AM |
R3 here. Now there goes my top 10 of worst/most hated films of '96:
10. Mr. Wrong
9. The Stupids
8. Larger Than Life
7. Celtic Pride
6. D3: The Mighty Ducks
5. Jack
4. The Island of Dr. Moreau
3. House Arrest
2. The Cable Guy
1. Michael
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | March 30, 2024 6:05 AM |
"Flirting with Disaster" and "A Very Brady Sequel" were fun.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | March 30, 2024 6:22 AM |
R19 1,2,3 & 5 are guilty pleasures.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | March 30, 2024 2:05 PM |
It was a great year OP
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | March 31, 2024 12:09 AM |