89% Winner: The Silence of the Lambs 118 min, R, [Crime, Drama, Thriller] [Jonathan Demme] [14 Feb 1991]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 86%, Rotten Tomatoes: 96%, Metacritic: 85%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 5 Oscars. Another 54 wins & 44 nominations.
Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Kasi Lemmons, Lawrence A. Bonney, Lawrence T. Wrentz
Writer: Thomas Harris (novel), Ted Tally (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: FBI trainee Clarice Starling works hard to advance her career, including trying to hide or put behind her West Virginia roots, of which if some knew would automatically classify her as being backward or white trash. After graduation, she aspires to work in the agency's Behavioral Science Unit under the leadership of Jack Crawford. While she is still a trainee, Crawford does ask her to question Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist imprisoned thus far for eight years in maximum security isolation for being a serial killer, he who cannibalized his victims. Clarice is able to figure out the assignment is to pick Lecter's brains to help them solve another serial murder case, that of someone coined by the media as Buffalo Bill who has so far killed five victims, all located in the eastern US, all young women who are slightly overweight especially around the hips, all who were drowned in natural bodies of water, and all who were stripped of large swaths of skin. She also figures that Crawford chose her as a woman to be able to trigger some emotional response from Lecter. After speaking to Lecter for the first time, she realizes that everything with him will be a psychological game with her having often to read between the very cryptic lines he provides. She has to decide how much she will play along as his request in return for talking to him is to expose herself emotionally to him. The case takes more dire turns when a sixth victim is discovered, this one from who they are able to retrieve a key piece of evidence if Lecter is being forthright as to its meaning. A potential seventh victim is high profile Catherine Martin, the daughter of Senator Ruth Martin, which places greater scrutiny on the case as they search for a hopefully still alive Catherine. Who may factor into what happens is Dr. Frederick Chilton, the warden at the prison, he an opportunist who sees the higher profile with Catherine, meaning a higher profile for himself if he can insert himself successfully into the proceedings.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this multiple Oscar-winning thriller, Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a top student at the FBI's training academy whose shrewd analyses of serial killers lands her a special assignment: the FBI is investigating a vicious murderer nicknamed Buffalo Bill, who kills young women and then removes the skin from their bodies. Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into this case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out. Lecter does indeed know something of Buffalo Bill, but his information comes with a price: in exchange for telling what he knows, he wants to be housed in a more comfortable facility. More important, he wants to speak with Clarice about her past. He skillfully digs into her psyche, forcing her to reveal her innermost traumas and putting her in a position of vulnerability when she can least afford to be weak. The film mingles the horrors of criminal acts with the psychological horrors of Lecter's slow-motion interrogation of Clarice and of her memories that emerge from it. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
89% Nominee: Beauty and the Beast 84 min, G, [Animation, Family, Fantasy, Musical, Romance] [Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise] [22 Nov 1991]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 80%, Rotten Tomatoes: 94%, Metacritic: 95%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. Another 24 wins & 25 nominations.
Actors: Angela Lansbury, Jesse Corti, Paige O'Hara, Rex Everhart, Robby Benson
Writer: Linda Woolverton (animation screenplay by), Brenda Chapman (story by), Chris Sanders (story by), Burny Mattinson (story by), Kevin Harkey (story by), Brian Pimental (story by), Bruce Woodside (story by), Joe Ranft (story by), Tom Ellery (story by), Kelly Asbury (story by), Robert Lence (story by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English, French Country: USA
Plot: Having lived a life in selfishness, a young prince is cursed by a mysterious enchantress to having the appearance of a monstrous beast. His only hope is to learn to love a young woman and earn her love in return in order to redeem himself. Years later, his chance shows itself when a young maiden named Belle offers to take her ill father's place as his prisoner. With help from the castle's enchanted staff, Belle learns to appreciate her captor and immediately falls in love with him. Back in the village however, an unscrupulous hunter has his own plans for Belle.
Rotten Tomatoes: Walt Disney Animation Studios' magical classic Beauty and the Beast returns to the big screen in Disney Digital 3D(TM), introducing a whole new generation to the Disney classic with stunning new 3D imagery. The film captures the fantastic journey of Belle (voice of Paige O'Hara), a bright and beautiful young woman who's taken prisoner by a hideous beast (voice of Robby Benson) in his castle. Despite her precarious situation, Belle befriends the castle's enchanted staff-a teapot, a candelabra and a mantel clock, among others-and ultimately learns to see beneath the Beast's exterior to discover the heart and soul of a prince. -- (C) Disney
77% Nominee: Bugsy 136 min, R, [Biography, Crime, Drama] [Barry Levinson] [20 Dec 1991]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 68%, Rotten Tomatoes: 85%, Metacritic: 80%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 38 nominations.
Actors: Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, Harvey Keitel, Warren Beatty
Writer: James Toback, Dean Jennings (book)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: New York gangster Ben Bugsy Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womaniser with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.
Rotten Tomatoes: Bugsy is a character study of mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel wrapped up in a gangster movie. Siegel (Warren Beatty in a flashy performance) arrives in California in the Forties, assigned to oversee the L.A. rackets. He is quickly seduced by both the glamour of Hollywood and actress Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), whom he romances despite being unable to leave his wife and children. Siegel soon has a vision to transform a barren stretch of Nevada desert into an oasis of gambling and entertainment -- the seeds from which Las Vegas was sown. Funded by his gangster bosses, including Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley), the flamboyant Siegel sees his budget soar past its original $6 million, a problem compounded by the fact that Virginia has embezzled $2 million of it. In trouble with his superiors, Siegel flies back to L.A. to face the music, telling Virginia to keep the money. He would not live to see his dream of Las Vegas come true. The film is fast-paced and well-directed by Barry Levinson, with an intelligent script by James Toback and excellent support from Kingsley and Harvey Keitel as gangster Mickey Cohen.
78% Nominee: JFK 189 min, R, [Drama, History, Thriller] [Oliver Stone] [20 Dec 1991]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 80%, Rotten Tomatoes: 83%, Metacritic: 72%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 27 nominations.
Actors: Anthony Ramirez, Gary Oldman, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Costner, Ray LePere, Sally Kirkland, Steve Reed
Writer: Oliver Stone (screenplay), Zachary Sklar (screenplay), Jim Garrison (book), Jim Marrs (book)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Spanish Country: France, USA
Plot: On November 22, 1963, president John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested for the crime and subsequently shot by Jack Ruby, supposedly avenging the president's death. An investigation concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby acted alone in their respective crimes, but Louisiana district attorney Jim Garrison is skeptical. Assembling a trusted group of people, Garrison conducts his own investigation, bringing about backlash from powerful government and political figures.
Rotten Tomatoes: The November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. The brisk investigation of that murder conducted under the guidance of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren distressed many observers, even though subsequent careful investigations have been unable to find much fault with the conclusions his commission drew, the central one of which was that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Instead of satisfying the public, one result of the Warren Commission Report was that an unimaginable number of plausible conspiracy theories were bruited about, and these have supported a sizeable publishing mini-industry ever since. In making this movie, director Oliver Stone had his pick of supposed or real investigative flaws to draw from and has constructed what some reviewers felt was one of the most compelling (and controversial) political detective thrillers ever to emerge from American cinema. Long before filming was completed, Stone was fending off heated accusations of artistic and historical irresponsibility, and these only intensified after the film was released. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Over the course of gathering what he believes to be evidence of a conspiracy, Garrison unveils some of the grittier aspects of New Orleans society, focusing on the shady activities of local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated: one for Best Photography (Robert Richardson) and the other for Editing (Joe Hutshing). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
66% Nominee: The Prince of Tides 132 min, R, [Drama, Romance] [Barbra Streisand] [25 Dec 1991]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, Rotten Tomatoes: 68%, Metacritic: 65%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations.
Actors: Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan, Nick Nolte
Writer: Pat Conroy (novel), Pat Conroy (screenplay), Becky Johnston (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: The Wingo family is from South Carolina, they growing up in a house on a tidal plain. The oldest offspring, Lucas, largely acted as the protector for his younger twins siblings, Tom and Savannah, in light of their dysfunctional growing up, with their shrimper father, Henry, distant and abusive if/when he did pay them any attention, and their mother, Lila, while not doting on them most concerned about appearances and striving for social standing. Now in middle age, Savannah is a New York based poet, Tom, still living on the South Carolina coast outside of Charleston with his wife Sally and their own three doting daughters, taking a break from his high school teaching/football coaching job, while Lucas has long since died while still standing up for himself and his beliefs. Lila, divorced and now remarried with that wealth and social standing she so long desired, receives news that Savannah is in the hospital following her most recent suicide attempt. Not wanting to face the blame directly as she suspects, she assigns Tom to go to New York to speak to Savannah's therapist, Susan Loewenstein, to provide any information of a family history nature that could help in Savannah's recovery. Tom agrees despite hating New York, and it being not a good time since he and Sally are experiencing marital problems, they both just knowing that things between them are not working, and not having been intimate in months. As Tom and Loewenstein (as he calls her) begin their sessions, Tom is slow to divulge the Wingo family problems to her. But he learns that she too is having her own family problems, with her concert violinist husband Herbert Woodruff being self absorbed and condescending, with their young adult son, Bernard, hating both largely because of they predestining his life also as a concert violinist. Tom and Loewenstein's sessions blossom into a friendship and romance, where their talks, in addition to helping Savannah, may help them both in dealing with their own life problems, Tom's which have been long buried figuratively and literally.
Rotten Tomatoes: Nick Nolte stars as Tom Wingo, a football coach grappling with his family's tragic history with the help of psychiatrist Susan Lowenstein (played by Barbra Streisand, who also directed) is this melodramatic adaptation of the Pat Conroy novel.