Welcome to 1995, an important year in my life as a film reviewer as this was the year that made me decide what I wanted to do with my life. Yep, at 6 years old having just come out of Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home and realizing “wow, that sucked,” my life as a film reviewer began. So, did Free Willy 2 end up making my worst of the year list for 1995? I mean, I have seen much since then so clearly, it couldn’t possibly be on the worst of the year list right? Right? Let’s take a look at the 10 worst movies of 1995:
10. Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
Yeah, you really thought I was gonna build that up for nothing? Honestly, I was not even that big of a fan of the first Free Willy movie to be completely honest, the only really good thing you can take from that first film is the Michael Jackson song, Will You Be There?, and that’s about it. The sequel is basically a been there, done that sequel except instead of taking place in a theme park, it places in the ocean with a bunch of oil tankers causing the mayhem. Yeah, it’s not much of a movie.
9. Operation Dumbo Drop
The thing that you have to keep in mind about Operation Dumbo Drop is that this was coming out a time when Disney’s live-action film department was struggling…and I mean STRUGGLING!!!! This came out at a time when every single live-action film they put out was bad. You were getting forgettable crap like Tom & Huck, First Kid, That Darn Cat, Jungle 2 Jungle, Air Bud, Rocketman, Flubber, Mr. Magoo, Meet The Deedles, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, My Favorite Martian, Inspector Gadget, every once in a while, you’d get something like 101 Dalmatians and George Of The Jungle that were actually really good but overall, a good majority of these comedies were pretty bad.
And this is a really bad movie, it’s a lame comedy and there’s a reason why this film does not hold up well with time at all.
8. A Kid In King Arthur’s Court
Case in point, more Disney live-action crap. Starring a pre-American Pie Thomas Ian Nichols as a kid who….somehow gets transplanted back into medieval times, no, really, a hole just opens up in the middle of a dugout and he just goes back in time. But hey, you also get to see pre-career Daniel Craig and Kate Winslet so, there is that.
7. Top Dog
Chuck Norris as a cop working off a dog…yeah, haven’t seen that plot done before in Turner & Hooch or K-9 and this movie is just as bad as you’d expect it would be.
6. Magic In The Water
Speaking of clones of other films we’ve seen done before, ever wanted to see an E.T. clone mixed with Tremors and having Mark Harmon and Joshua Jackson in it? Well, Magic In The Water is that, just a bad clone of E.T. mixed with Tremors
5. Jade
You know how Showgirls is one of those so bad it’s good movies? Well, Jade is like Showgirls as a so bad it’s good movie if you took out the it’s good segment of that, my god, this was horrendous, there is nothing sexy about this movie and for a erotic thriller with the sexy Linda Fiorentino in it, that says a lot about how bad this movie is if there’s no sex appeal in this movie whatsoever. This is what you would expect from a bad Joe Ezsterhas movie only worse.
4. Tank Girl
This movie is just all over the place and not in a good way, Lori Petty is perfectly fine as Tank Girl but the rest of the movie makes no sense, the story is clichéd and predictable, the jokes aren’t funny, there’s some unbearably bad musical numbers, the movie is all over the place and there’s nothing funny or exciting about this at all.
3. Cuthroat Island
One of the biggest bombs of all time and not an exciting movie at all, the film really does not have a lot to work with, Matthew Modine and Geena Davis have no real connection at all, the action scenes aren’t all that inspiring, the attempts at comedy were pretty bad, it’s just not an enjoyable movie by any means.
2. Jury Duty
It’s a bad comedy with Pauly Shore as the lead, do I need to even say anything else here?
and the #1 worst movie of 1995 is…
The Scarlet Letter
Speaking of failed attempts at trying to be provocative and sexy, The Scarlett Letter was a huge misfire not only because the lack of adapting the Nathaniel Hawthorne story but the fact that they had the nerve to put a happy ending onto this…fuck that shit.
Those were the worst, now let’s look at the best of 1995:
10. Clueless
The film that introduced the world to Alicia Silverstone….and then, said goodbye to her once she never did anything of noteworthy value afterward. Well, okay, she did a couple of decent things like Beauty Shop and showing up on Suburgatory for a couple of episodes but other than that, nothing of real notoriety.
Still, Clueless is such a great enjoyable comedy, perfectly encapsulating a lot of the mid 90s with really good performances from the young actors of the time, Silverstone, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Donald Faison, Dan Hedaya, and Elisa Donovan. One of director Amy Heckerling’s best movies.
9. Swimming With Sharks
Kevin Spacey had a pretty good year in 1995 with The Usual Suspects, another movie we’ll get to a little later on the list, and this underrated gem of a comedy with Frank Whaley and Michelle Forbes. Kevin Spacey is just so great whenever he can play an asshole boss in a movie.
8. Tommy Boy
It’s just a really funny movie with a lot of heart, really good comedy, and it’s just straight up funny. It’s well worth checking out.
7. Goldeneye
Goldeneye shows that Pierce Brosnan was always the perfect choice to play James Bond, he just nails it so perfectly, getting the feel of the character of Bond down but also showing off the humorous side that Bond should have in some of the situations he gets into.
Not only that, the story for the film is great, the action is really good, the song by Tina Turner is great, the supporting cast is great, it’s just a great, great film.
Goldeneye perfectly sets up Pierce Brosnan’s Bond films on the right note with everything working in the right direction. It’s a near perfect Bond movie, easily one of the best films of the series and one not to be missed out on.
6. Get Shorty
John Travolta just works so solidly well as Chili Palmer, he nails the role perfectly and it’s a shame he didn’t really get a lot of the respect he deserved for this, he wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar for this and he definitely should’ve gotten it. You’ve also got Rene Russo, Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Dennis Farina, Delroy Lindo, and Bette Midler also in the film.
There’s a lot about Get Shorty that just works, it’s a slick, very funny, very hilarious satire of the Hollywood film industry, one of the definitive comedies of the 90s.
5. Seven
Seven really is a masterpiece reminiscent of the best of Alfred Hitchcock filled with great action, lots of great tension and thrills, an amazing visual look, and it really set in motion a lot of big careers particularly David Fincher and Brad Pitt. If you really have not seen this movie by now, you are doing yourself a complete disservice, this is a must watch movie, one of the best psychological thrillers of all time, period.
4. Babe
A simple movie about a talking pig who wants to be a sheepdog. A really simple storyline but one with a lot of heart and enjoyment to it, nice visual look, great supporting cast including James Cromwell, and nice direction. A classic family film.
3. Apollo 13
One of Ron Howard’s greatest directorial achievements with a great cast led by Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon and some impressive space sequences for 1995 standards.
2. Friday
Yes, Friday is one of my all-time favorite movies and I like the sequels but in terms of a franchise of consistently good movies.
and the #1 movie of 1995 is…
Toy Story
Toy Story is such a beloved movie, great animation, a great cast, great story, great characters, it just is a great classic animated movie and the beginning of Pixar’s stretch of really solid movies
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