Babe (1995)

Piglet Babe catches a lucky break when Arthur Hoggett wins him at the county fair. Though he's longing for the mother from whom he was separated, he is accepted into the litter of puppies by their mom Fly (much to the chagrin of the puppies' sire, Rex). He's such an affable little presence that he makes friends with all of the farm animals, even the sheep.

It's one of the most charming movies ever made. It's got some truly tense moments, a few sad ones, and some that are full to bursting with joy. I've seen it several times now and it has never failed to make me cry. James Cromwell plays it completely straight, which only adds to its effectiveness. 

What a treasure.

A+

Clueless (1995)

Cher is a spoiled rich girl living in a mansion and attending school with a lot of other spoiled rich kids. But, unlike so many who have so much, she's not a mean girl. For example, when she sees the awkward new kid at school, her instinct is to extend the help she perceives is needed (makeover/boyfriend) rather than to shun her. Despite her desire to be a good person, her lack of knowledge of what goes on outside her bubble is a hindrance, so it's a good thing her stepbrother Josh is always around to keep her head from getting too big!

I really liked this when I first saw it 35 years ago (when I was still in my 20s). Though it doesn't entirely hold up, it's still pretty sweet and worth a watch.

C+

The Usual Suspects (1995)

I was alone in a hotel room watching PayPerView in my 20s the first time I saw this. I don't remember what I thought during the watch, but I do remember that the ending blew my mind and my rating was an "A-." I was in my living room with my husband of more than 35 years the second time I saw this and, though I knew the twist couldn't surprise a second time around, I was excited to revisit it. After all, I've enjoyed repeat viewings of several movies that depend on a reveal (e.g. The Sixth Sense, L.A. Confidential, Fight Club). So, why did this film just flatten out?

My guess is that most of the high ratings are from people who remember fondly their first viewing and either haven't seen it since or, if they have, chalked up any disappointment experienced during a rewatch to the fact that the surprise was ruined.

C

Get Shorty (1995)

Travolta is all charm as Chili Palmer, a loan shark's enforcer who chases a borrower to the west coast and -- almost without effort -- talks himself into the movie business. Though it's a fun script, it's the cast that pushes this to greatness. Gene Hackman as a small-time producer with debts, Danny DeVito as an A-lister who's living in a privileged bubble, Dennis Farina as a wise-guy with a grudge against Chili, Rene Russo as as a scream queen slightly past her prime... I could keep on listing but I'll just say that everyone's at the top of their game here.

Genuinely hilarious and also very sweet. I've seen it several times and look forward to our next viewing!

A-

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet play sisters who (along with their mother and younger sister) are forced from their home with very little to sustain them when their father dies. They land somewhat softly as guests in a small home on a vast estate and each falls in love with a handsome man of means. But nothing's easy in Jane Austen's world: one of the men turns out to be a scalawag who must marry for money and the other turns out to have been betrothed to another for years. Will it somehow turn out alright?

This is basically the more tragic version of Pride & Prejudice -- and we'd just watched that miniseries last week. The acting is wonderful and the film is beautiful, but I just kept thinking about how much better P&P is. Probably unfair, but isn't everything when you're a woman without means?

C+

The American President (1995)

A new-to-D.C. environmental lobbyist makes an immediate impression on the widower President. Soon they're trying to figure out how to navigate the relationship without causing damage to his political reputation.

I saw this back in the '90s and really enjoyed the charming performances. It felt like an honest look at how tricky living under the spotlight can be, especially when your concerns are not just for yourself and family, but for an entire country. But now that our reality is that of a thrice-married leader who paid a porn star to keep quiet, was convicted of sexual assault, has been accused of fomenting an insurrection, and has so many other accusations against him it's nearly unbelievable, a widower dating a single woman is downright wholesome.

Enjoyable, but so dated it might as well star Astaire and Rogers.

B

Smoke (1995)

There are lots of stories in Smoke. There's the widower author who hasn't managed to put out a book since his wife died. There's the young kid hiding out from thugs and longing to find his estranged father. There's the smoke shop owner on the brink of the payout for a big deal on Cubans. And there's the woman beat up by life who is trying to save her daughter from crack addiction. Only tangentially related by the smoke shop, the stories swirl and linger and dissipate in the same way smoke does. Just settle back and breathe it in.

B 

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

When Lucy's crush falls on train tracks, she jumps down and rescues him and then is mistaken for his fiancee by his family. While he lies in a coma, she grows to love his family and they accept her with open arms. 

It's incredibly heartwarming and romantic while managing to be more than a little ridiculous. But I will always grade movies that are either for Christmas or children more generously than others. Not that this needs a whole lot of nudging -- it'd be a thumbs-up even if it were set in summer.

B+

A Little Princess (1995)

In the early 1900s, Sara is being raised by her widower father in India. When he must go to war, she is enrolled in an American boarding school, and she must learn to navigate her rules-heavy new world. Though she soon wins the other girls over with her kindness and imagination, when news arrives that her father has been killed in action, she becomes a servant, banished to the attic like a tiny Cinderella.

Gary and I absolutely loved this film when it first came out. And, though it still holds much of the same magic, I can now see some flaws. For example, most of the girls are not natural actors. Minor quibble, of course -- most children (especially girls) -- will absolutely love this.

B+

Muriel's Wedding (1995)

When Muriel is dumped by her friend-group for not being cool enough, she follows them to their island girls-getaway vacation. What could have been a terribly cringey time for Muriel turns out to be the best days of her life so far because she runs into Rhonda, an old acquaintance, who immediately has her back. With the support of her new bestie, Muriel reinvents herself.

There's so much going on in this movie and all of it is amazing. There's the incredibly sad thread of her mother's despair, the exhilaration of her new life, the tragedy of Rhonda's illness, and the wtf of Muriel's whirlwind wedding.

This was our fourth or fifth viewing and it never disappoints. We've been quoting its dialogue for 2 dozen years and I doubt we'll ever stop. It'll always be a favorite.

A

Tommy Boy (1995)

First movie in our new house & town! Probably the fourth or fifth time I've seen it -- I wanted something to be familiar tonight!

Bo Derek and Julie Warner duke it out for worst performance by someone who no one under the current age of 30 can name. Not as hilarious as it used to be, but there are still a good 10 or so laugh-out-loud moments. It's just starting to feel dated.

B

Empire Records (1995)

Why wasn't this movie bigger?  It felt, to me, like a '90s Breakfast Club -- those a decade younger than I should've loved this to death.

It had a kind of "slapped together" vibe, which only added to its charm. There’s a lot of quirk and angst and (bonus!) it’s got a great soundtrack.

B+

Living in Oblivion (1995)

The subject matter -- the struggle and frustration of trying to make a film with no money, shoddy equipment, and actors far more diva-y than their talents warrant -- is right in my zone of interest. And the actors were obviously having a ball committing to screen the laughable difficulties that they've surely experienced first-hand.

That said, it couldn't help but get tiresome since the hook was "everything goes wrong." Yep, everything. Every single time.

Ugh.

C+

Persuasion (1995)

Gary and I kept looking at each other and exclaiming things along the lines of "what the HELL is happening??" The production (and, possibly, the source material) kept us in the dark for most of the story, only explaining the obscure actions of main characters in the last 10 minutes or so. This resulted in the aforementioned outbursts and honest questions like "Why is she such a pill around him?" and "Why did he just do that?"

I was almost annoyed to have to wind up kind of liking the story because I spent so much of my time confused. Sure, it all made sense after you know some backstory, but this isn't the Sixth Sense, people. If I want a twist that makes me go "Oh!" I don't generally look in the literary adaptations for it. And, to be fair, I didn't feel as though I was being jacked around in Sixth Sense like I did during this movie.

One other mark against it: the leading lady was dull as dishwater. The fact that her family treated her as though she was below them would've been reprehensible if it weren't for the fact that she seemed to behave as though she was there as a willing doormat.

C+

The Basketball Diaries (1995)

Promising high school ball player and his pals jump into the world of drugs. There goes his scholarship, but here comes a whole new world of fame as a tragic poet. Score!

There's no nuance and no reason to care except for the fact that young DiCaprio displays what a terrific actor he was from the beginning (though it could be argued that he'd already accomplished that -- and better --in What's Eating Gilbert Grape...so, perhaps there's no reason to care after all).

D+

Carrington (1995)

Story of real-life English artist Dora Carrington and her relationship with author Lytton Strachey (wonderfully played by Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce).

The pair meet in 1915 and they feel an immediate kinship, despite the fact that he's a homosexual and she behaves and dresses enough like a male to be mistaken for one the first time Lytton sees her. They depend on each other fully, kind of carving out an odd marriage despite the fact that they get most of their sexual satisfaction from others.

Two complaints: it seemed to go on far too long -- a tighter 90 to 100 minutes would've helped -- and the extremely linear storytelling felt so dated that I guessed 1985 as its release year before I looked it up to add to the entry's title.

B-

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

I don't know why -- it's truly a rare occurrence -- but I was just craving a big ol' dose of romance and called my husband at work to request that he stop and pick up a copy of this BBC miniseries on his way home.

We didn't intend to watch the entire 5-hour production in one sitting. And, actually, my husband didn't intend to watch it at all, but there we were, neither one wanting to stop (well, except to refill the Cheet-os and top off glasses of Pepsi) until the couples were coupled correctly. It was just so darn delightful...the perfect craving satisfier.

Simply conjuring up Mr. Bingley's (Crispin Bonham-Carter) earnest face mentally can make me smile.

A

Friday (1995)

Just a couple of buddies hanging around on a front porch all day. They watch the neighbors, tell stories, go on a convenience store run, and get high.

This was probably the 5th time I've seen this. It's one of those movies that Gary and I both love and quote incessantly -- our two faves are probably: "Oh, you ain't catchin' no crackhead" and "He gon' cry in the car," but we seriously have at least a dozen Friday quotes in embarrassingly frequent conversational rotation.

B+

Rob Roy (1995)

I've seen this one a few times now and it is, quite simply, one of my favorite movies (in the top 20 at least).

It works as a deep romance, historical drama, and thrilling adventure.

A+

La Haine (1995)

I was about a quarter of the way through this movie before I finally got on board with it and began to appreciate what I was seeing. Until that point, it seemed like another predictable movie following lower-class youths -- too old to be kids, too feckless to be anything else.

The story opens in the wake of a riot in which police put a kid in the hospital. His friends are indignant and haven't got much else to do other than to get themselves more worked up about it. I really enjoyed the rhythm of the movie...the way in which they make plans and get sidetracked and seem to "oh yeah" collectively to get back on track -- just seemed so familiar without being too scripted.

Parts of it didn't work but, over all, it's a powerful film that took me completely by surprise.

B+