The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS), the international association of the leading Internet-based cinema journalists, is showing its own love for the ’90s with its new list honoring its choices of the Top 100 Overlooked Films of the 1990s. At the top of the list, according a vote of the 137 film journalists of the OFCS, is the Coen Brothers’ 1990 gangster drama “Miller’s Crossing.”
The 1990s was a decade of big films and bigger hype. From the major releases like “JFK” and “Titanic” to the mid-sized indies like “Pulp Fiction” to the micro-movies like “The Brothers McMullen” and “The Blair Witch Project,” film marketing was in constant overdrive. However, too many great films somehow got lost in the shuffle. While some were recalled at Oscar time and many managed to squeak out of modest box office return, these films nonetheless failed to click in the memory banks of both the critics and audiences.
The Top 10 of the OFCS’ Top 100 Overlooked Films of the 1990s includes “Miller’s Crossing,” Todd Haynes’ “Safe” (1995), Atom Egoyan’s “The Sweet Hereafter” (1997), John Sayles’ “Lone Star” (1996), Peter Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures” (1994), Christopher Guest’s “Waiting for Guffman” (1996), the Coen Brothers’ “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994), George Miller’s “Babe: Pig in the City” (1998), Jim Jarmusch’s “Dead Man” (1995) and Peter Weir’s “Fearless” (1993). The complete list of 100 films, each with an original essay by one of the OFCS writers, is now online at www.ofcs.org.
“Rather than celebrate what was campy or gauche, as those nostalgic for the 90s have been recently doing, we are bringing the spotlight forward on works which deserved a better fate when they first existed,” says Edward Havens, editor of FilmJerk.com and a member of the OFCS Governing Committee.
Founded in 1997, the Online Film Critics Society has been the key force in establishing Internet-based film journalism. The OFCS membership consists of writers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia/New Zealand and Africa, with journalists representing many of the most important online news sites including Salon, Slate, TV Guide Online, Film Threat, Netflix, eFilmCritic.com, IndieWire, JoBlo.com and the Internet Movie Database. The Society’s web site, which has been hosted since January 2001 by the highly influential film resource Rotten Tomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com), provides the most comprehensive online listing of reviews and original interviews with the leading artists in today’s cinema, plus links to the most important motion picture-related web sites. The annual OFCS Awards, announced after the new year, are widely regarded as a prime barometer in determining which individuals and films are top contenders for the Academy Award nominations.
Get the list at the OFCS website.
