’90s
Noah’s Barks pages covering things relating to the years 1990 to 1999, i.e. the ’90s.
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Yu Yu Hakusho
Yu Yu Hakusho is the ideal blueprint for all classic shonen series, with occasional hints at where its successors would innovate. (Includes Nightmare Hakusho) (read more)
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Sonic R
A black sheep of the Sonic franchise, ‘Sonic R’ is endearing because of its many (often ill-advised) idiosyncrasies. (read more)
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The Double Life of Veronique
The Double Life of Veronique explores a question as old as the night’s stars: are we ever alone in thinking our thoughts? (read more)
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In the Mouth of Madness
In the Mouth of Madness has John Carpenter attempting his most direct Lovecraft tribute yet, complete with genuinely disturbing imagery and special effects that rival The Thing. There’s evidence of evolution here but also the opposite. Carpenter’s lost his sense of restraint, as evident by the awkward soundtrack that knocks off Metallica’s Black Album as… (read more)
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American Beauty
American Beauty, despite its satirical nature, is so overly blunt with its character development and saccharine at parts that it can make the ironic lens of the film unbelievable—but these are small problems in the face of what’s one of the funniest films of the decade. Its humor is still restless because its themes are… (read more)
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Cube
A great concept, but it’s been done to death by now in many incarnations. I still eat single-setting thrillers like Cube up though, enough for me to forgive a frequently hammy script. The talented ensemble cast do their best to give the script whatever it demands, but even they can’t give this character-driven thriller the… (read more)
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The Usual Suspects
Just knowing there’s a twist is bad enough. Why can’t people just keep their damn mouths shut? After all, The Usual Suspects is a lesson in such. Thanks to some very impressive editing, the exposition itself feels like the action. Which is good because that’s most of the movie. While the ending is indeed great,… (read more)
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12 Monkeys
Sci-fi stories about the futility of attempting to change the past are nothing fresh, but 12 Monkeys dresses its thought experiment up in a moebius strip story and a tech-noir thriller atmosphere. In spite of this, the diffident screenwriters view their own ideas as lunacy and introduce tasteless comedy while taking the easy ways out… (read more)
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The Dig
‘The Dig’ was conceived with names like Steven Spielberg and Orson Scott Card to be LucasArts’s magnum opus. The final offering was a modest, commercial failure. What happened? (read more)
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Grim Fandango
LucasArts favorite ‘Grim Fandango’ struggles with technical issues and obtuseness, but can the quality writing underneath save it all? (read more)