Awesome Movie Year

The finale of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features our audience choice winner, the Jim Carrey comedy The Mask , which prevailed over fellow 1994 Carrey comedies Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber . Directed by Chuck Russell (based on the Dark Horse comic-book series) and starring Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz, Peter Greene, Richard Jeni, Peter Riegert and Amy Yasbeck, The M...

The eleventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features our pick for a future cult classic, Italian horror-comedy Cemetery Man . Directed and co-written by Michele Soavi (based on the novel by Tiziano Sclavi) and starring Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro and Anna Falchi, Cemetery Man was released in Italy (under the title Dellamorte Dellamore ) in March 1994 and in the U...

The tenth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards, Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump . Written by Eric Roth (based on the novel by Winston Groom), directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and Sally Field, Forrest Gump picked up six awards at the Oscars and was the highest gro...

The ninth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features the Grand Jury Prize winner from the Sundance Film Festival, Tom Noonan’s What Happened Was . Written and directed by Tom Noonan (based on his stage play) and starring Noonan and Karen Sillas, What Happened Was picked up two awards at Sundance before going on to a limited theatrical release in September 1994. The contempora...

The eighth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features Jason’s personal pick, the Chris Elliott comedy Cabin Boy. Written and directed by Adam Resnick and starring Elliott, Ritch Brinkley, Melora Walters, Brian Doyle-Murray, Brion James and an uncredited David Letterman, Cabin Boy was a commercial and critical failure upon release but has since built a cult following. The cont...

The seventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features our foreign film pick, Wong Kar-wai’s romantic drama Chungking Express. Written and directed by Wong Kar-wai and starring Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin, Chungking Express was released in Hong Kong in July 1994 and eventually came to theaters in the U.S. in March 1996 thanks to Quentin Tarantino...

The sixth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features Josh’s personal pick, Wes Craven’s meta-horror movie New Nightmare. Written and directed by Craven and starring Heather Langenkamp, Miko Hughes, Robert Englund, Tracy Middendorf, David Newsom and Craven himself, New Nightmare was the seventh film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and the first to be directed by Crav...

The fifth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features one of the year’s most notable documentaries (and one of the most acclaimed documentaries of all time), Terry Zwigoff’s Crumb. Directed by Zwigoff and featuring legendary cartoonist Robert Crumb and his eccentric family, Crumb premiered at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win the Documentary Grand...

The fourth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features the winner of the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, director Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction . Written by Tarantino and Roger Avary and starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis and Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction premiered at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and went on to gross $213...

In the third episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994, we’re talking about the year’s biggest box-office flop, director Rob Reiner’s much-maligned North . Written by Alan Zweibel (based on his novel) and starring Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Jon Lovitz, Matthew McCurley and an all-star lineup of unfortunate supporting players, North grossed $7 million on a budget of $40 million and wa...

In the second episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994, we’re talking about our pick for a debut feature by a major filmmaker, Kevin Smith’s landmark indie comedy Clerks . Written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Jason Mewes and Smith himself, Clerks premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival and launched Smith’s lucrati...

We kick off our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 with the number one movie at the worldwide box office, Disney’s animated The Lion King . Directed by Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers and starring the voices of Matthew Broderick, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jeremy Irons, Moira Kelly, James Earl Jones, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, The Lion King grossed more than $968 million worldwide. The contemp...

Every podcast needs an introduction episode to let you know what it's all about, and this is it! Get to know your hosts, film-critic Josh Bell and comedian/film-maker Jason Harris and what to expect from this podcast as they embark on their 18th season on the films of 2000. Visit https://www.awesomemovieyear.com for more info about the show. Make sure to like Awesome Movie Year on Facebook at http...