Films of 1996

Having see only 77 films seen from 1996 it is a bit soon to be making statements as bold as, "cinema's worst year ever," but so far that is my conclusion. It was known as "the year of the independent film" at the Oscars, because all Best Picture nominees except Jerry Maguire were produced by small companies, but it was no better a year for indies than it was for major studio releases or foreign films. The absurdly overrated The English Patient exemplifies everything that’s wrong with this year’s crop of movies. Despite the five or six excellent films released in '96, this will be the year I measure all other mediocre years against as I explore the decades with this blog.