The Year in Review- 2022

Thirteen years after the earth-shaking success of the 2009 original, writer-director James Cameron expands the beautiful world of Pandora in this epic, eye-popping 192-minute sequel. Navi-human hybrid Jake Sully(Sam Worthington) and his warrior-wife Neytiri(Zoe Saldana) have three kids when their forest home is once again invaded by the evil RDA, led by the crazed colonel Quaritch(a resurrected Stephen Lang in avatar form). The aquatic Metkayina clan, which includes new recruit Kate Winslet, offers protection along with stunning underwater motion capture technology. A love letter to the ocean, Cameron creates another singular cinematic experience with amazing action that can stand next to his previous feats of filmmaking. "The Way of Water" would do exactly what it was supposed to do at the worldwide box office, generating $2.3 billion on a $400 million budget.

There's Tom Cruise celebrating the biggest box office hit of his career like it's 1986, in the LONG-awaited legacy sequel that officially ended self-imposed stay-at-home mandates, stagnant ticket sales, and any-and-all talk of movie theaters being dead. Director J K mimics Tony Scott's. the beautiful Jennifer Connelly is a better romantic match than Kelly McGillis.

300 pound fat-suit

A Critical Reevaluation- The Vanishing

Thirty years ago today, Jeff Bridges kidnapped a fresh-faced, 28 year old, not-yet-famous Sandra Bullock, sending a still-hot Kiefer Sutherland on an obsessive years-long quest to find out what happened to her. This killer premise should have been enough to appeal to fans of hit thrillers like "Misery", "Cape Fear", and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle". Instead, George Sluizer's remake of his own 1988 Dutch drama bombed badly with $14.5 million worldwide on a $20 million budget. Compare that to the far-more financially successful "Single White Female", released just four months earlier, and it's easy to see that something went seriously wrong. Stodgy critics like Roger Ebert, Hal Hinson, and James Berardinelli still had power to influence theater-goers and trashed it in favor of the original. "The Vanishing" was quickly banished to late-night cable where I discovered it, and I know I'm not alone. But why can't I find anyone who likes this movie? Why do we always have to pretentiously pretend that foreign films are better?

Bridges has been one of our best actors since the early '70s, that's not open to debate, and Barney Cousins isn't far behind The Dude, Jack Baker, and Bad Blake if we're ranking his greatest roles. A seemingly-normal husband and father whose actually the most evil man in Washington State, Barney approaches Buffalo Bill territory in his creepiest moments, and Jeff must have had a blast playing him(until the reviews/grosses came in, that is). With the recent vindication of Terry Silver on "Cobra Kai", Cousins just may be the most under-appreciated villain in history. This floppy-haired freak has half-a-dozen lines delivered with a strange accent that will delight family and friends for a long time after. Bullock was about a year away from superstardom("Demolition Man" and "Speed" did that) and her gas station abduction will linger in the memory for even longer.

Let's talk about Nancy Travis. She's attractive, she's likeable, she was in "Three Men and a Baby/Little Lady", and she would have been an A-lister if people had paid to see her waitress-heroine Rita in "The Vanishing". There's certainly no shame in a sitcom career, but there's an alternate reality where Travis makes a ton of movies in the '90s and 2000s. As for Kiefer, the failure of this film and a few others, eroded his "Lost Boys" goodwill until that post-9/11 hero Jack Bauer came to his rescue. The hapless role of Jeff Harriman was never going to put Sutherland in contention with Tom Cruise(Donald's son was in "A Few Good Men" in '92), but his unsettling buried-alive meltdown was worth the price of admission alone. Drink the drugged coffee with him the next time you come across this criminally-underrated effort on one of the streamers. You'll experience everything that he experienced- a solid, star-driven, mid-budget movie with a Hollywood ending, that's better than "Knock at the Cabin" and at least half of what's out there today.

The Worldwide Box Office- The '90s

1. "Ghost"(1990) $505 million. 2. "Home Alone"(1990) $476 million. 3. "Pretty Woman"(1990) $463 million. 4. "Dances with Wolves"(1990) $424 million. 5. "Total Recall"(1990) $261 million. 6. "Back to the Future Part III"(1990) $244 million. 7. "Die Hard 2"(1990) $240 million. 8. "Presumed Innocent"(1990) $221 million. 9. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"(1990) $202 million. 10. "Kindergarten Cop"(1990) $202 million.

1. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day"(1991) $521 million. 2. "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves"(1991) $390 million. 3. "Beauty and the Beast"(1991) $346 million. 4. "Hook"(1991) $301 million. 5. "The Silence of the Lambs"(1991) $272 million. 6. "JFK"(1991) $205 million. 7. "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear"(1991) $192 million. 8. "The Addams Family"(1991) $191 million. 9. "Cape Fear"(1991) $182 million. "Hot Shots!"(1991) $181 million.

1. "Aladdin"(1992) $504 million. 2. "The Bodyguard"(1992) $411 million. 3. "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York"(1992) $359 million. 4. "Basic Instinct"(1992) $353 million. 5. "Lethal Weapon 3"(1992) $322 million. 6. "Batman Returns"(1992) $267 million. 7. "A Few Good Men"(1992) $243 million. 8. "Sister Act"(1992) $231 million. 9. "Bram Stoker's Dracula"(1992) $216 million. 10. "Wayne's World"(1992) $183 million.

1. "Jurassic Park"(1993) $914 million. 2. "Mrs. Doubtfire"(1993) $441 million. 3. "The Fugitive"(1993) $369 million. 4. "Schindler's List"(1993) $321 million. 5. "The Firm"(1993) $270 million. 6. "Indecent Proposal"(1993) $266 million. 7. "Cliffhanger"(1993) $255 million. 8. "Sleepless in Seattle"(1993) $228 million. 9. "Philadelphia"(1993) $206 million. 10. "The Pelican Brief"(1993) $195 million.

1. "The Lion King"(1994) $763 million. 2. "Forrest Gump"(1994) $678 million. 3. "True Lies"(1994) $379 million. 4. "The Mask"(1994) $351 million. 5. "Speed"(1994) $350 million. 6. "The Flintstones"(1994) $341 million. 7. "Dumb and Dumber"(1994) $247 million. 8. "Four Weddings and a Funeral"(1994) $245 million. 9. "Interview with the Vampire"(1994) $223 million. 10. "Clear and Present Danger"(1994) $216 million.

1. "Die Hard with a Vengeance"(1995) $366 million. 2. "Toy Story"(1995) $363 million. 3. "Apollo 13"(1995) $355 million. 4. "Goldeneye"(1995) $352 million. 5. "Pocahontas"(1995) $346 million. 6. "Batman Forever"(1995) $336 million. 7. "Seven"(1995) $327 million. 8. "Casper"(1995) $287 million. 9. "Waterworld"(1995) $264 million. 10. "Jumanji"(1995) $263 million.

1. "Independence Day"(1996) $817 million. 2. "Twister"(1996) $494 million. 3. "Mission Impossible"(1996) $457 million. 4. "The Rock"(1996) $335 million. 5. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"(1996) $325 million. 6. "101 Dalmatians"(1996) $320 million. 7. "Ransom"(1996) $309 million. 8. "The Nutty Professor"(1996) $294 million. 9. "Jerry Maguire"(1996) $273 million. 10. "Space Jam"(1996) $250 million.

1. "Titanic"(1997) $1.8 billion. 2. "The Lost World: Jurassic Park"(1997) $618 million. 3. "Men in Black"(1997) $589 million. 4. "Tomorrow Never Dies"(1997) $333 million. 4. "Air Force One"(1997) $315 million. 5. "As Good As It Gets"(1997) $314 million. 7. "Liar Liar"(1997) $314 million. 8. "My Best Friend's Wedding"(1997) $299 million. 9. "The Fifth Element"(1997) $264 million. 10. "The Full Monty"(1997) $258 million.

1. "Armageddon"(1998) $553 million. 2. "Saving Private Ryan"(1998) $482 million. 3. "Godzilla"(1998) $379 million. 4. "There's Something About Mary"(1998) $370 million. 5. "A Bug's Life"(1998) $363 million. 6. "Deep Impact"(1998) $349 million. 7. "Mulan"(1998) $304 million. 8. "Dr. Dolittle"(1998) $294 million. 9. "Shakespeare in Love"(1998) $289 million. 10. "Lethal Weapon 4"(1998) $285 million.

1. "Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace"(1999) $924 million. 2. "The Sixth Sense"(1999) $673 million. 3. "Toy Story 2"(1999) $511 million. 4. "The Matrix"(1999) $463 million. 5. "Tarzan"(1999) $448 million. 6. "The Mummy"(1999) $416 million. 7. "Notting Hill"(1999) $364 million. 8. "The World Is Not Enough"(1999) $362 million. 9. "American Beauty"(1999) $356 million. 10. "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"(1999) $312 million.

The 90 Coolest Movie Posters of the '90s