Volume 2, Issue 16: Sleeper
Every once in a while on this here newsletter, particularly when the Friday night has gone perhaps a bit later than it ordinarily does (and later than what should actively be considered healthy), and the words on the page are starting to scramble and rearrange themselves, and there are two little boys banging on the door to the office in which your humble narrator is typing, telling Daddy it's time to go outside, we're going to be teenagers someday and want nothing to do with you so you need to play with us now, every once in a while these circumstances converge in a way that puts more of a time crunch on this newsletter than would otherwise be considered ideal.
When this happens, we do a list. One hopes you can forgive me. I'm still 34 percent Green Spot whiskey right now, the boys are currently making some sort of ominous thumping noise outside the door and I'm not entirely certain where my credit card from last night ended up, only that it's not where it is supposed to be. So list it is! Your weekly futile missives from a place of hopeful despair will return next week. Now, simply:
1990s Movie Years, Ranked.
(My personal favorite film of the year in bold.)
10. 1996.
Fargo. The English Patient. Swingers. Big Night. Lone Star. Scream. Twister. Trainspotting. Sling Blade. Everyone Says I Love You. Jerry Maguire. Breaking the Waves. The Rock. Space Jam. Beavis & Butt-head Do America. The People Vs. Larry Flynt.
9. 1998.
Saving Private Ryan. Shakespeare in Love. The Thin Red Line. A Simple Plan. The Truman Show. The Big Lebowski. There's Something About Mary. The Cruise. Rushmore. Out of Sight.
8. 1995.
Apollo 13. Before Sunrise. Leaving Las Vegas. The Usual Suspects. Braveheart. Il Postino. Toy Story. Se7en. Heat. 12 Monkeys. Casino. Babe. Get Shorty. Crimson Tide. Dead Man Walking. To Die For.
7. 1999.
The Matrix. Election. The Sixth Sense. The Blair Witch Project. Fight Club. The Phantom Menace. Toy Story 2. Eyes Wide Shut. The Iron Giant. The Insider. Being John Malkovich. Three Kings. The Straight Story. The Talented Mr. Ripley. Boys Don't Cry. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. Man on the Moon.
6. 1990.
Goodfellas. Miller's Crossing. Darkman. Wild at Heart. The Hunt for Red October. The Godfather Part III. Reversal of Fortune. Presumed Innocent. Arachnophobia. Dances With Wolves. Awakenings. The Grifters. Misery.
5. 1997.
L.A. Confidential. Titanic. Boogie Nights. The Sweet Hereafter. Jackie Brown. Face/Off. Starship Troopers. The Game. As Good As It Gets. Wag the Dog. The Ice Storm. Donnie Brasco.
4. 1994.
Pulp Fiction. Forrest Gump. Quiz Show. Ed Wood. Bullets Over Broadway. The Shawshank Redemption. The Lion King. Natural Born Killers. Speed. Hoop Dreams. The Last Seduction. Nobody's Fool. Reality Bites. Four Weddings and a Funeral.
3. 1991
The Silence of the Lambs. JFK. Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The Fisher King. Boyz N the Hood. Beauty and the Beast. Cape Fear. Dead Again. Thelma & Louise. Grand Canyon. Jungle Fever. Bugsy. Barton Fink. Hot Shots! The Doors. L.A. Story.
2. 1993.
Schindler's List. Jurassic Park. Dazed and Confused. The Age of Innocence. Remains of the Day. Short Cuts. The Piano. Groundhog Day. The Fugitive. A Bronx Tale. In the Line of Fire. A Perfect World. True Romance.
1. 1992.
Malcolm X. Unforgiven. Reservoir Dogs. The Player. The Crying Game. A League of Their Own. Howards End. Glengarry Glen Ross. Husbands and Wives. A Few Good Men. One False Move. Bob Roberts. Death Becomes Her. Aladdin. Batman Returns. The Last of the Mohicans. Juice. Dead Alive.
I am sure the next time I am hungover we will do this with the 2000s, and the 1980s, and maybe even the 2010s, if we all live that long.
Here is a numerical breakdown of all the things I wrote this week, in order of what I believe to be their quality. (This is an attempt to have an objective look at the value of my work in a way that I suspect will be difficult to sustain.)
1. Everything the Cardinals Thought They Were Getting When They Hired Mike Matheny Turned Out to Be Wrong, MLB.com. This is the first newsletter of the post-Matheny era. I already feel a little lighter on my feet. The sun's just a wee bit brighter, you know?
2. We Think a Lot Differently About PED Users Than We Used To, Thank God, New York Magazine. I'm not sure Mark McGwire would be my pick for new Cardinals manager ... but I do think it'd be good for the planet if he caught on somewhere.
3. Rob Reiner Movies, Ranked, Vulture. Some great ones, obviously, but whew, are there ever some dogs.
4. Second-Half Predictions for Every MLB Team, MLB.com. So many guaranteed wrong predictions!
5. Denzel Washington Movies, Ranked. Vulture. Body like Arnold with a Denzel face.
6. Five Teams Whose Seasons Will Be Defined by the Next Two Weeks, MLB.com. Why, yes, the Cardinals are on there, now that you mention it.
7. Debate Club: Fans Turned Filmmakers, SYFY Wire. This one probably shouldn't have been ranked.
THE WILL LEITCH SHOW
No show this week, but we did do SI At The Movies, with Charlotte Wilder, Skyscraper director Rawson Marshall Thurber and former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin. Watch it right here on Amazon or on SI TV.
PODCASTS
Grierson & Leitch, quiet little show this week, with "Skyscraper," "Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot," "Eighth Grade," "Shock and Awe" and "Donnie Darko."
Seeing Red, Bernie Miklasz and I wrap up the Matheny era.
Waitin' Since Last Saturday, new show, closing Season Three and looking at SEC Media Days.
If you have an Amazon Alexa -- and my family doesn't, for obvious reasons -- you can hear a special show Grierson and I are doing weekly solely for the Amazon Alexa. Read about it here. If you have one, will you try it out and see if it works? I have no idea how to work that weird device.
Be as happy as William Leitch at Busch Stadium.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Best,
Will