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1995

Get Shorty

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Sonnenfeld directs this crime comedy,based on the Elmore Leonard novel, about a gangster (John Travolta) who comes to Hollywood to collect a debt and gets involved in the movie business. Co-starring starring Danny Devito, Gene Hackman and Rene Russo. Sonnenfeld’s wife, Susan Ringo works on the film as a producer.

 I was seeing a lot of really good things about Get Shorty when it came out, and my wife pointed out that if you validate the good reviews, you also have to validate the bad reviews.

GET SHORTY - Trailer - (1995) HQ

16 Jun, 1995

Batman Forever

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Burton co-produces the third Warner Brothers reprise of the Batman trilogy, Batman Forever. Starring Val Kilmer as Batman, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Faced Harvy Dent and Jim Carrey as the Riddler, the film grossed $336 million with a combination of darkness and comedy. When interviewed about making another Batman movie:

It’s easy in retrospect to think why something worked, but I try not to. On this, giving it a different energy, working with different people, you can’t do that. It’s a different animal in a way. There’s some good parts to it, and stuff.

1994

Pulp Fiction

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Tarantino unveils Pulp Fiction at the Cannes Film festival. It is well received and earns him the Palm d’Or.  The crime-driven movie follows the interactions of multiple characters in a circular “self-referential” structure. John Travolta and Uma Thurman play the film’s protagonists and are joined by Samuel L. Jackson, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, and Bruce Willis.

When I’m writing a movie, I hear the laughter. People talk about the violence. What about the comedy? Pulp Fiction has such an obviously comic spirit, even with all the weird things that are happening.

Pulp Fiction Official Trailer #1 - (1994) HD

15 Dec, 1993

Schindler’s List

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Spielberg directs this historical drama based on a true story about a businessman in Nazi Germany who becomes aware of the horrors being perpetrated on the Jews in his workforce, and does what he can to save their lives. The film is noted for its use of black and white photography. Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Kingsley star.

On Oksar Schindler: He changed from a great Gatsby to a great rescuer, and it fascinated me. He was like an agent, like a Michael Ovitz, on top of the mountain pulling strings in every fiefdom down below.

Schindler's List - Official® Trailer [HD]

11 Jun, 1993

Jurrasic Park

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Spielberg directs this science fiction adventure based on a novel by Michael Chrichton. A billionaire finds a way to clone dinosaurs and creates a special park designed for the public to see the creatures. Things go disastrously wrong when he brings in a group of experts to preview the park and there is a power outage, releasing the dinosaurs from their cages. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum star.

Here’s what was scary: We were creating the title characters of a film. These were the stars of the picture, these dinosaurs. And if that didn’t work, nothing about Jurassic Park could have worked. So that was daunting, because I was using Universal’s money to basically make an experimental ­dinosaur picture.

Jurassic Park First Trailer

1992

Reservoir Dogs

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Tarantino releases his first film, Reservoir Dogs, at the Sundance Film Festival in which it is nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. The story revolves around a team of criminals before and after a catastrophic diamond heist. It stars Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, and Tarantino as Mr. Brown.

When I was in Cannes, the French journalists were getting it, but the American journalists wouldn’t bring up the humor, just “the violence, the violence…”

Reservoir Dogs (1992) Official Trailer #1 - Quentin Tarantino Movie

Porko Rosso

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Miyazaki’s love for aircraft is showcased in his newest release, Porco Rosso. The story follows Marco Pagott, a mercenary cursed into the form of a pig, as he collects bounties for apprehending pirates in the 1920’s.

Japan Airlines needed a short film to screen during their flights. At first, we weren’t up for it — when we said we’d like to show dogfights, we thought they’d say no. But then they said, ‘That’s fine’ (laughs). Really, it was based on my hobby, and I wanted to make something light.

Porco Rosso Trailer HD

11 Dec, 1991

Hook

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Spielberg directs directs this film about Peter Pan as an adult. When his children are kidnapped by the vengeful Captain Hook, Pan must return to Nevernever land and try to save them. Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman star as Pan and Hook.

I think it’s a film I failed on. I should have told more of the Peter Pan story. And not allowing Robin to be funny was a mistake.

Hook (1991) Trailer

22 Dec, 1989

Always

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Spielberg directs this film about an aerial firefighter who dies and comes back as a ghost, watching while his wife deals with the grief of losing him. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, and Brad Johnson.

I think the film owes a great inspiration to…A Guy Named Joe. But it’s not really a remake. It was the basis for a new story.

24 May, 1989

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

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Spielberg directs the third adventure film in the Indiana Jones series. This time Jones is accompanied by his father—also an accomplished adventurer—as he searches for the fabled holy grail, which supposedly has the power to make people immortal. Harrison Ford and Sean Connery star.

The dad thing was my idea. The Grail doesn’t offer a lot of special effects and doesn’t promise a huge physical climax. I just thought that the Grail that everybody seeks could be a metaphor for a son seeking reconciliation with a father and a father seeking reconciliation with a son. It also gave me a chance to suggest Sean Connery. Who else but Bond could have been worthy enough to play Indiana Jones’ dad?

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Trailer

1989

Kiki’s Delivery Service

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Miyazaki’s first true literary adaptation, Kiki’s Delivery Service, is released. The story follows Kiki, a young witch, as she sets out to build her self-confidence in a modern world.

I was inspired by the struggle of young cartoonists to find work. It’s not simply about making money and earning a living — everybody does that. It’s about living your own life: how do you assert your individuality in this world? I think that’s what everybody was concerned about when we made that film. I think if we made the film now it would turn out different.

1988

My Neighbor Totoro

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Miyazaki’s most well know work, My Neighbor Totoro, is released.  It follows the adventures of two sisters, Mei and Satsuki, and Totoro, a large, bear-like forest spirit.

I can’t make films that are, you know — slay the villain, everybody’s happy. I can’t make those kinds of films. I think that when children become three or four years old, they just need to see Totoro. It’s a very innocent film. I wanted to make a film in which there’s a monster that’s living next door but you can’t see it.

25 Nov, 1987

Three Men and A Baby

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Nimoy directs Three Men and a Baby, a comedy about three bachelors adapting their lives around the arrival of a baby. The film grosses $167 million dollars in the US alone and wins the 1988 People’s Choice award for Favorite Comedy.

Three Men And A Baby - Trailer

1986

Laputa: Castle in the Sky

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Miyazaki’s first Studio Ghibli film. Laputa: Castle in the Sky is set in a steampunk version of 19th century England and follows the adventures of Pazu, a young boy from a mining village.

I wanted to make an adventure story with the kind of boy hero who starts out fighting and has a lot of dreams. And I was able to confirm that people don’t come to see that kind of film! After time, a lot of people started saying, “I love Laputa,” but at the theatrical release it didn’t attract much of an audience.

18 Dec, 1985

The Color Purple

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Spielberg directs this film based on the novel by Alice Walker. The story details the trials and tribulations of an African American woman from Georgia trying to make it in the difficult world of the early 1900s. It stars Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, and Oprah Winfrey.

There were certain things in the [lesbian] relationship between Shug Avery and Celie that were very finely detailed in Alice’s book, that I didn’t feel we could get a [PG-13] rating… And I was shy about it.

Trailer - The Color Purple

1985

Not Nothing Without You

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Noisy_MarthaFrankenberg writes, directs and stars in this comedy (renamed as Noisy Martha in 1987). Co-starring Klaus Bueb as Alfred. 

Martha, at 25, is a single mother, a painter, a filmmaker, impulsive, insecure, happy and unhappy. Financially well off through no fault of her own, her biggest problem, as she sees it, is her superficiality. Then there is Alfred, a decade older than Martha and all the more lost for it, he always seems to have misplaced something… something he thought he’d taken with him, back in ’68. Martha can’t cut it with men, Alfred likewise with women.

23 May, 1984

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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Spielberg directs this sequel to the 1981 hit Raiders of the Lost Ark. This time the hero is searching for a magical stone and finds a evil plotting cult. He must stop them. Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan co-star.

I wanted to paint a dark picture of an inner sanctum. I didn’t rely on magazine pictures as I used to, looking at National Geographic pages or in a photography magazine to show the cameraman what I liked. I relied more on what it would look like if an entire set had only low wattage light bulbs recessed in nooks and crannies.

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom Trailer HD

1984

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

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Based on Miyazaki’s own manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is released. The story follows a female protagonist in a post-apocalyptic world and carries a strong environmentalist message.

The original manga was written when I had no job in animation — I had a lot of time to myself, so I tried to make a comic that couldn’t be made into animation. And then later I had to make it into a film, so I was in deep trouble! There were a lot of things I just didn’t know how to do back then, how to make it work. But I still had to make it.

31 Oct, 1983

Hansel & Gretel

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Burton directs the Disney feature Hansel & Gretel, a Japanese-themed adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, which includes kung fu battles. The short was only aired once before being shelved by Disney. Reports later claim that Burton was so emmbarassed of his work, he never had a desire to release it publicly, and was only aired a single time on Disney Channel with very little viewership. The film is considered an urban legend of the industry.