Portal:1990s

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The 1990s Portal

P:1990s

The 1990s (pronounced "nineteen-nineties"; shortened to "the '90s") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on 1 January 1990, and ended on 31 December 1999.

Culturally, the 1990s are characterized by the rise of multiculturalism and alternative media, which continues into the present day. Movements such as hip hop, the rave scene and grunge spread around the world to young people during that decade, aided by then-new technology such as cable television and the World Wide Web.

In the absence of world communism, which collapsed in the first two years of the decade, the 1990s was politically defined by a movement towards the right-wing, including increase in support for far-right parties in Europe^[1] as well as the advent of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party^[2] and cuts in social spending in the United States,^[3] Canada,^[4] New Zealand,^[5] and the UK.^[6] The United States also saw a massive revival in the use of the death penalty in the 1990s, which reversed in the early 21st century.^[7] During the 1990s the character of the European Union and Euro were formed and codified in treaties.

A combination of factors, including the continued mass mobilization of capital markets through neo-liberalism, the thawing of the decades-long Cold War, the beginning of the widespread proliferation of new media such as the Internet from the middle of the decade onwards, increasing skepticism towards government, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to a realignment and reconsolidation of economic and political power across the world and within countries. The dot-com bubble of 1997–2000 brought wealth to some entrepreneurs before its crash between 2000 and 2001.

The 1990s saw extreme advances in technology, with the World Wide Web, the first gene therapy trial, and the first designer babies^[8] all emerging in 1990 and being improved and built upon throughout the decade.

New ethnic conflicts emerged in Africa, the Balkans, and the Caucasus, the former two which led to the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, respectively. Signs of any resolution of tensions between Israel and the Arab world remained elusive despite the progress of the Oslo Accords, though The Troubles in Northern Ireland came to a standstill in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement after 30 years of violence.^[9]

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Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.

In the early 1990s, several late 1980s fashions remained very stylish among men and women. However, the popularity of grunge and alternative rock music helped bring the simple, unkempt grunge look to the mainstream by that period. This approach to fashion led to the popularization of the casual chic look, which included T-shirts, jeans, hoodies, and sneakers, a trend which would continue into the 2000s. Additionally, fashion trends throughout the decade recycled styles from previous decades, most notably the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. (Full article...)

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... that just four days before his death in 2004, David B. McCall received a presidential pardon from George W. Bush for fraud charges dating from the 1990s?
... that Collingwood coach Robert Harvey gave Anton Tohill his AFL debut in 2021, having played International Rules Series against Tohill's father in the 1990s?
... that Derek Jeter discusses his biracial upbringing and experiencing racism in Michigan in the 1980s and 1990s in The Captain?
... that the singer Luci van Org followed up her mainstream success from the 1990s by starting a "Latin–disco–pop–country crossover" band?
... that Bulkboeken ('bulk books') were cheap reprints of Dutch literary classics, published from 1971 to the late 1990s, and again from 2007?
... that in the early 1990s, several TV stations in Northern California experimented with moving prime time up an hour?

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1993 World Trade Center bombing

Underground damage after the WTC bombing

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Armstrong before the 2009 Tour Down Under

Lance Edward Armstrong (né Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his titles after an investigation into doping allegations, called the Lance Armstrong doping case, found that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs over his career. As a result, Armstrong is currently banned for life from all sanctioned bicycling events.

At age 16, Armstrong began competing as a triathlete and was a national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990. In 1992, he began his career as a professional cyclist with the Motorola team. Armstrong had success between 1993 and 1996 with the World Championship in 1993, the Clásica de San Sebastián in 1995, Tour DuPont in 1995 and 1996, and a handful of stage victories in Europe, including stage 8 of the 1993 Tour de France and stage 18 of the 1995 Tour de France. In 1996, he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal metastatic testicular cancer. After recovering, Armstrong founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation (now the Livestrong Foundation) to assist other cancer survivors. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various 1990s-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1African-American teenager with Hitop fade, popular in the early 1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 2Woman dressed in black maxi skirt, top and hat, 1995. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 3Thrustmaster T2 (1996) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 4Example of late 1990s gothic fashion. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 5In 1994, Lisa Loeb became the first artist to score a No. 1 hit with "Stay (I Missed You)" before signing to any record label. (from 1990s in music)
Image 6Sega Saturn (1994) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 7Slap bracelet worn by young girls in the early 1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 8Rwandan genocide: Genocide victims in Murambi Technical School. Estimates put the death toll of the Rwandan genocide as high as 800,000 people. (from 1990s)
Image 9Garth Brooks (from 1990s in music)
Image 10Electronic musician and DJ James Lavelle dressed in club attire, 1997. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 11Block-heeled shoes, popular from 1995 to 2001. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 12Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton share a laugh in October 1995. (from 1990s)
Image 13Sasha using Ableton Live at a nightclub. (from 1990s in music)
Image 14Black Barbour bucket hat. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 15Flag map of the world from 1992 (from 1990s)
Image 16From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World Wide Web gains massive popularity worldwide; Boris Yeltsin greets crowds after the failed August Coup, which leads to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991; Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell; the funeral procession of Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a 1997 car crash, and was mourned by millions; hundreds of thousands of Tutsi people are killed in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 (from 1990s)
Image 17Young woman standing on sidewalk, Uptown New Orleans, 1992. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 18Converse All Stars, popular in the early 1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 19Group of high school students, 1997. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 20Nine Inch Nails, 2005 (from 1990s in music)
Image 21Gloria Estefan (from 1990s in music)
Image 22Metal Slug (arcade, 1996) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 23Butterfly and floral clips, worn in the mid and late 1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 24Crowd of rave-goers, 1995. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 25The crash site of El Al Flight 1862 in 1992. (from 1990s)
Image 26Seinfeld, which premiered on NBC in 1989, became a commercial success and cultural phenomenon by 1993. (from 1990s)
Image 27The federal building that was bombed in the Oklahoma City bombing two days after the bombing, viewed from across the adjacent parking lot. (from 1990s)
Image 28The highest-grossing film of the decade was James Cameron's Titanic (1997), which remains one of the highest-grossing films of all time. (from 1990s)
Image 29Women's rights demonstration in Paris, November 1995 (from 1990s)
Image 30Michael Jordan, the most popular NBA player of the 1990s. (from 1990s)
Image 31Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (from 1990s in music)
Image 32The Smashing Pumpkins (from 1990s in music)
Image 33Pavement (from 1990s in music)
Image 34Game Boy Color (1998) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 35Red and cream Indian woman's saree, late 1990s (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 36Game Gear (1990) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 37Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Pro (1997) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 38Atari Jaguar (1993) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 39PlayStation (1994) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 40Oasis were the biggest band of the 1990s Britpop scene and the only band to make a significant impact in the US market. (from 1990s in music)
Image 41Maná in concert. (from 1990s in music)
Image 42US, Canadian, and Mexican dignitaries initialing the draft North American Free Trade Agreement in October 1992 (from 1990s)
Image 43Korn, 1997 (from 1990s in music)
Image 44Yitzhak Rabin (from 1990s)
Image 45Bob cuts were favored by women. (Saffron, 1996) (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 463DO Interactive Multiplayer (1993) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 47A man wearing a power suit, popular in the European workplace. The suit jacket is double-breasted with large shoulder pads. Photograph taken in 1998. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 48Thalía rose to fame as a member of the musical group Timbiriche. (from 1990s in music)
Image 49Nelson Mandela voting in 1994, after thirty years of imprisonment. (from 1990s)
Image 50Swedish hip-hop fans watch Public Enemy perform in 1991. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 51Dance Dance Revolution (1998) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 52Trio in 1995 wearing neutral-colored tops and relaxed-fit, slim-leg pants and jeans. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 53Dutch high school prom, 1994. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 54Dreamcast (1998) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 55Example of 1990s men's and women's fashion, 1994 (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 56An early portable CD player, a Sony Discman model D121. (from 1990s)
Image 57Two women wearing bandanas, 1999. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 58Swedish teenager with mullet haircut and abstract jumper, 1991. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 59Actress Paula Abdul wearing semi-transparent black dress, curled hair and smoky eye makeup, 1990. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 60Galaxian3: Project Dragoon (1990) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 61On 11 January 1992, Nirvana's Nevermind knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous out of the number one spot on the Billboard 200. It signified one of the largest shifts in popular music culture, which led to the popularization of grunge and alternative music. (from 1990s in music)
Image 62Luis Miguel, first Latin idol of the decade (from 1990s in music)
Image 63Baseball jackets were popular among hip-hop fans in the mid-1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 64Virtual Boy (1995) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 65Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, United States President Bill Clinton, and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat during the signing of the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993. (from 1990s)
Image 66Bomber jacket with orange lining, popular from the mid- to late-1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 67Moby, 2009 (from 1990s in music)
Image 68Woman with what would come be known as the Rachel haircut, early 1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 69Chokers, popular in the mid- and late-1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 70Blink-182 performing in 1995, whose 1999 album Enema of The State became a pivotal moment for contemporary pop punk (from 1990s)
Image 71The Nasdaq Composite displaying the dot-com bubble, which ballooned between 1997 and 2000. The bubble peaked on Friday, 10 March 2000. (from 1990s)
Image 72Slip dresses first became widely worn in the mid-1990s, as part of the underwear-as-outerwear trend. (Jane Leeves, 1995) (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 73Actress Liv Tyler sporting a pixie cut, 1998 (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 74Street Fighter II (arcade, 1991) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 75The logo created by The President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion, for use on Y2K.gov (from 1990s)
Image 76An "I Believe Anita Hill" button pin in support of her sexual harassment allegations against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee arguing against the confirmation of Thomas. (from 1990s)
Image 77Tim McGraw (from 1990s in music)
Image 78Blue wide-leg jeans. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 79Young man in 1995, sporting a short undercut hairstyle. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 80Garage punk band, 1997 (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 81The catsuit became a trend in the late 1990s. Normally made of latex, PVC, or spandex, it was often worn with high-heeled boots. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 82Executive council building burns in Sarajevo after being hit by Bosnian Serb artillery in the Bosnian War. (from 1990s)
Image 83Eurostar logo 1994–2011 (from 1990s)
Image 84A typical early 1990s personal computer. (from 1990s)
Image 85Woman wearing a polo shirt with a popped collar. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 86Nintendo 64 (1996) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 87The German electronic rock duo Das Ich, 1993. Their aspect shows the influence of the goth look which returned in the 1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 88Alanis Morissette (from 1990s in music)
Image 89Group of young children displaying various fashion trends. Amman, 1998. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 90Cargo pants. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 91Go-go boots became fashionable again in 1995. They were worn by women of the hip-hop, alternative, and dance subcultures. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 92Model wearing a midriff shirt, a silver necklace, low ponytail and straight-leg leggings, 1999. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 93A pair of British Knights. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 94Dixie Chicks (from 1990s in music)
Image 95Church members exhibiting assorted fashion trends. Amman, 1998. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 96Acid washed jean shorts with grunge and hippie inspired DIY slogans and pictures. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 97Miniature model from MS Estonia (from 1990s)
Image 98Long maxi skirt in a Liberty floral print. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 99Pagers became widely popular. (from 1990s)
Image 100Woman wearing a crop top and bell-bottoms, 1997. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 101Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Seattle, Washington. (from 1990s in music)
Image 102The Dow Jones Index of the 1990s (from 1990s)
Image 103Dancers at the 1992 Snoqualmie Moondance Festival in Snoqualmie, Washington. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 104Razer Boomslang (first gaming mouse, 1999) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 105US First Lady Hillary Clinton wearing a straw hat, 1995. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 106Friends, which premiered on NBC in 1994 became one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. From left, clockwise: Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer, the six main actors of Friends. (from 1990s)
Image 107Game Boy Pocket (1996) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 108D'Angelo is considered a key pioneer of the neo-soul movement. (from 1990s in music)
Image 109Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell. (from 1990s)
Image 110Natalie Imbruglia, 2015 (from 1990s in music)
Image 111Lois McMaster Bujold with pixie cut and denim western shirt, 1996. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 112Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 113Neo Geo (1990) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 114A pair of Eurostar trains at the former Waterloo International since moved to St Pancras International (from 1990s)
Image 115Kurt Cobain, 1992. He wears grunge clothing, popular from 1991 to 1996. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 116The 1999 İzmit earthquake, which occurred in northwestern Turkey, killed 17,217 and injured 43,959. (from 1990s)
Image 117Green Day, 2010 (from 1990s in music)
Image 118Bush and Gorbachev at the 1990 Helsinki summit. (from 1990s)
Image 119Jonathan Brandis in a Grunge-style flannel shirt and curtained hair in 1993 (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 120Red Hot Chili Peppers (from 1990s in music)
Image 121The compact disc reached its peak in popularity in the 1990s, and not once did another audio format surpass the CD in music sales from 1991 throughout the remainder of the decade. By 2000, the CD accounted for 92.3% of the entire market share in regard to music sales. (from 1990s)
Image 122Game.com (1997) (from 1990s in video games)
Image 123Nude and darker shades of lipstick seemed popular throughout the decade. (Fran Drescher, 1996) (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 124Mobile phones gained massive popularity worldwide during the decade. (from 1990s)
Image 125Hubble Space Telescope. (from 1990s)
Image 126A Dassault Falcon 50 similar to the one shot down in the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira (from 1990s)
Image 127Women's side gusset shoes were popular among preppy and hip-hop subcultures in the mid- to late-1990s. (from 1990s in fashion)
Image 128Typical late 1990s fashions, 1997. (from 1990s in fashion)

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It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School is a 1996 American documentary film directed by Debra Chasnoff and Helen Cohen. It provides educators with information on how to teach elementary schoolchildren to be tolerant of gay and lesbian people. The film was noted as the "first of its kind" and was generally well received, although there was some backlash from conservatives. It was released in several film festivals, and had screenings in the 2000s.

The documentary received little support from PBS, owing to backlash from the American Family Association. Prior to airing the film, television stations received calls, letters, and e-mails from people who did not want PBS program directors to broadcast It's Elementary. The film was awarded the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary, Best Documentary at the Reeling Film Festival, and the Silver Spire from the San Francisco International Film Festival, among other awards. The film had two sequels: That's a Family! and It's Still Elementary. (Full article...)
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The Trigger Effect is a 1996 American thriller film written and directed by David Koepp and starring Kyle MacLachlan, Elisabeth Shue and Dermot Mulroney. The film follows the downward spiral of society during a widespread and lengthy power outage in Southern California. As Koepp's directorial debut, the film was inspired by the 1978 documentary television series Connections, and the 1960 The Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", which starred Koepp's uncle, actor Claude Akins.

The Trigger Effect explores the idea that a simple power outage can potentially trigger a chain of largely unfavorable events, implying that modern society cannot live peacefully together without technology. Most of the film was shot in Los Angeles, where Koepp was based at the time. The film grossed $3.6 million in a limited theatrical release in the United States and drew mixed reviews from critics, who highlighted its surreal and enveloping style as well as the performances by the lead actors. Criticism was targeted at its safe and predictable ending. A novel based on the film and written by Dewey Gram was released in September 1996 by Berkley Books. (Full article...)
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Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the 1756 fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, while also containing ideas from the 1946 French film directed by Jean Cocteau. The film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (in their feature directorial debuts), and produced by Don Hahn, from a screenplay by Linda Woolverton.

Beauty and the Beast focuses on the relationship between the Beast, a prince who is magically transformed into a monster and his servants into household objects as punishment for his arrogance and cruelty, and Belle, a young woman whom he imprisons in his castle in exchange for her father's freedom. To break the curse, the Beast must learn to love Belle and earn her love in return before the last petal from an enchanted rose falls, or else he will remain a monster forever. The film stars Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson as the voices of Belle and the Beast, respectively, as well as the ensemble voices of Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Jesse Corti, Rex Everhart, Jo Anne Worley, and Angela Lansbury. (Full article...)
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Zero Patience is a 1993 Canadian musical film written and directed by John Greyson. The film examines and refutes the urban legend of the alleged introduction of HIV to North America by a single individual, Gaëtan Dugas. Dugas, better known as Patient Zero, was the target of blame in the popular imagination in the 1980s in large measure because of Randy Shilts's American television film docudrama, And the Band Played On (1987), a history of the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Zero Patience tells its story against the backdrop of a romance between a time-displaced Sir Richard Francis Burton and the ghost of "Zero" (the character is not identified by Dugas' name).

Produced in partnership with the Canadian Film Centre, the Canada Council, Telefilm Canada and the Ontario Film Development Corporation, Zero Patience opened to mixed reviews but went on to win a number of prestigious Canadian film awards. The film has been the subject of critical attention in the context of both film theory and queer theory, and is considered part of the informal New Queer Cinema movement. (Full article...)
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The Iron Giant is a 1999 American animated science fiction film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Brad Bird in his directorial debut. It is based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes (which was published in the United States as The Iron Giant), and was written by Tim McCanlies from a story treatment by Bird. The film stars the voices of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald, and M. Emmet Walsh. Set during the Cold War in 1957, the film centers on a young boy named Hogarth Hughes, who discovers and befriends a giant alien robot. With the help of a beatnik artist named Dean McCoppin, Hogarth attempts to prevent the U.S. military and Kent Mansley, a paranoid federal agent, from finding and destroying the Giant.

The film's development began in 1994 as a musical with the involvement of the Who's Pete Townshend, though the project took root once Bird signed on as director and hired McCanlies to write the screenplay in 1996. The film was animated using traditional animation, with computer-generated imagery used to animate the Iron Giant and other effects. The understaffed crew of the film completed it with half of the time and budget of other animated features. Michael Kamen composed the film's score, which was performed by the Czech Philharmonic. (Full article...)
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Khraniteli (Russian: Хранители, lit. 'Guardians [of the Ring]') is a Soviet television play miniseries based on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. It was broadcast once in 1991 by Leningrad Television and then thought lost before being rediscovered in 2021. It includes scenes of Tom Bombadil and Goldberry that were omitted from the 1978 film and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy. (Full article...)
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Money for Nothing is a 1993 American biographical comedy crime film directed by Ramón Menéndez, and written by Menéndez, Tom Musca and Carol Sobieski, based on the 1986 Philadelphia Inquirer article "Finders Keepers" by Mark Bowden. The film stars John Cusack in the leading role, with a supporting cast that includes Michael Madsen, Debi Mazar, Benicio del Toro, Maury Chaykin, Michael Rapaport, James Gandolfini, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Fionnula Flanagan.

It is loosely based on the life of Joey Coyle (Cusack), who, in 1981, discovered $1.2 million that had fallen out of an armored van in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The film is a fictionalization of events, depicting Coyle's struggles with keeping the money over a five-day period. (Full article...)
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Ghibli Experimental Theater On Your Mark (Japanese: ジブリ実験劇場 On Your Mark, Hepburn: Jiburi Jikkengekijō On Yua Māku) is an animated music video created by Studio Ghibli for the song "On Your Mark" by the Japanese rock duo Chage & Aska. The song was released in 1994 as part of the single "Heart". In 1995, Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed the short film for the song as a side-project after having writer's block with Princess Mononoke. The anime music video is non-linear, providing multiple reiterations and alternate scenes to depict the events. The music video added sound effects to the audio track, but contains no dialogue. Miyazaki purposely misinterpreted the lyrics to present his vision of a world where the surface becomes inhospitable and humans live in an underground city. He made the video cryptic to evoke creative interpretations among viewers.

The music video follows two policemen who raid and massacre a religious cult and find an angelic being, only to have her taken away and confined to a secure laboratory. Haunted by the fate of the angel, the two men formulate a plan and break into the laboratory. Fleeing in an armored truck, the three plummet into an abyss after trying to force past a police aircraft along a narrow, suspended roadway. After a montage of the previous scenes, the armored truck suddenly rockets into an apartment complex, allowing their escape. The three escape to the surface, ignoring the radiation and danger signs, emerging near an encased nuclear reactor. The two men set the angel free and she flies off into the sky. (Full article...)
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Species is a 1995 American science fiction horror film directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dennis Feldman. It stars Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge in her film debut role. The film's plot concerns a motley crew of scientists and government agents who try to track down Sil (Henstridge), a seductive extraterrestrial-human hybrid, before she successfully mates with a human male.

The film was conceived by Feldman in 1987, and was originally pitched as a film treatment in the style of a police procedural, entitled The Message. When The Message failed to attract the studios, Feldman re-wrote it as a spec script, which ultimately led to the making of the film. The extraterrestrial aspect of Sil's character was created by H. R. Giger, who was also responsible for the beings from the Alien franchise. The effects combined practical models designed by Giger collaborator Steve Johnson and XFX, with computer-generated imagery done by Richard Edlund's Boss Film Studios. Giger felt that the film and the character were too similar to Alien, so he pushed for script changes. (Full article...)
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Star Trek: Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Jonathan Frakes. It is the ninth film in the Star Trek film series, as well as the third to star the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, with F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, and Anthony Zerbe appearing in main roles. In the film, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E rebels against Starfleet after they discover a conspiracy with a species known as the Son'a to steal the peaceful Ba'ku's planet for its rejuvenating properties.

Paramount Pictures sought a change of pace after Star Trek: First Contact (1996). Michael Piller was asked to write the script of the next installment, which was created from story ideas by Piller and producer Rick Berman. The story's first drafts featured the Romulans, and the Son'a and Ba'ku were introduced in its third draft. After Ira Steven Behr reviewed the script, Piller revised it and added a subplot involving a romantic interest for Jean-Luc Picard. The film's ending was further revised after test screenings. The special effects depicting outer space were completely computer generated, a first for a Star Trek film. The Ba'ku village was fully built on location at Lake Sherwood, California, but suffered weather damage. Sets from the television series Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were reused and redressed. Michael Westmore created the make-up for the new alien races, and Robert Blackman revised the Starfleet dress uniform designs. Sanja Milkovic Hayes created costumes for the Ba'ku from cellulose fibers, which were baked and glued together. Jerry Goldsmith produced the film's score, his fourth for the franchise. (Full article...)
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The Mambo Kings is a 1992 musical drama film based on the 1989 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos. The film was directed and produced by Arne Glimcher, and stars Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, Cathy Moriarty and Maruschka Detmers. Set in the early 1950s, the story follows Cesar (Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Banderas), brothers and aspiring musicians who find success and stardom after fleeing from Havana, Cuba to New York City to escape danger. The film marks Glimcher's directing debut, and features Banderas in his first English-language role.

Glimcher acquired the film rights one year before the novel was published and hired Cynthia Cidre to write the script. The film was rejected by several studios, and after an unsuccessful pre-production at Universal Pictures, the project moved to Warner Bros. The production was allocated a budget of $15.5 million jointly financed by Warner Bros., Le Studio Canal+ and Regency Enterprises. The film was shot on location in Los Angeles, California, with principal photography beginning in March 1991, and concluding after 50 days. (Full article...)
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12 Monkeys is a 1995 American science fiction thriller film directed by Terry Gilliam from a screenplay by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, inspired by Chris Marker's 1962 short film La Jetée. It stars Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Plummer. Set in a post-apocalyptic future devastated by disease, the film follows a convict who is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

12 Monkeys was theatrically released in the United States on December 29, 1995, by Universal Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $168.8 million worldwide against a $29 million budget. At the 68th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (for Pitt) and Best Costume Design. It garnered seven nominations at the 22nd Saturn Awards and won three: Best Science Fiction Film, Best Supporting Actor (for Pitt), and Best Costumes. Pitt also won Best Supporting Actor at the 53rd Golden Globe Awards. (Full article...)
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Padayappa (transl. Son of Warrior) is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It stars Rajinikanth in the titlular lead, with Sivaji Ganesan in his penultimate release, Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya sharing other lead roles while, Lakshmi, Radha Ravi, Nassar, Abbas and Preetha play supporting roles. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman. The plot revolves around the titular character, Aarupadayappan, and his family being targeted in a generations-long revenge by his cousin Neelambari, a vamp who was left humiliated after Padayappa rejected her love proposal as he was in love with her good-natured home worker Vasundhara.

Principal photography for the film began in October 1998. Padayappa was released on 10 April 1999 on the eve of Tamil New Year's Day. This was the first Tamil film to be released worldwide with 210 prints and 700,000 audio cassettes. It became Tamil cinema's highest-grossing film at that point. Ramya Krishnan's performance was praised, winning her a Filmfare Award under the Best Actress category. The film also won five Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. (Full article...)
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Lost Highway is a 1997 surrealist neo noir film directed by David Lynch and co-written by Lynch and Barry Gifford. It stars Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty, and Robert Blake in his final film role. The film follows a musician (Pullman) who begins receiving mysterious VHS tapes of him and his wife (Arquette) in their home. He is suddenly convicted of murder, after which he inexplicably disappears and is replaced by a young mechanic (Getty) leading a different life.

Lost Highway was financed by the French production company Ciby 2000 and was largely shot in Los Angeles, where Lynch collaborated with frequent producer Mary Sweeney and cinematographer Peter Deming. The film's surreal narrative structure has been likened to a Möbius strip, while Lynch has described it as a "psychogenic fugue" rather than a conventionally logical story. The film's soundtrack, which was produced by Trent Reznor, features an original score by Angelo Badalamenti and Barry Adamson, as well as contributions from artists including David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins. (Full article...)
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Isabelle Eberhardt is a 1991 Australian-French biographical drama film directed by Ian Pringle. The film follows the adult life of Isabelle Eberhardt and was filmed in Algiers, Paris and Geneva. It stars Mathilda May as Eberhardt and Peter O'Toole as Hubert Lyautey. It received financial backing from the Film Finance Corporation Australia and was nominated for three awards at the 1991 Australian Film Institute Awards.

Isabelle Eberhardt was screened at the 1991 Melbourne International Film Festival and was also released in cinemas in Australia, though did not have a home media release. The film received generally negative reviews. (Full article...)

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