Ed Wood (1994)

Director Tim Burton presents a love letter to Ed Wood — derided as the worst filmmaker of all time — Bela Lugosi and 1950s exploitation movies. Depp captures Wood’s sunny optimism, and Martin Landau portrays drug-addicted Lugosi and his waning career.

d: Tim Burton | imdb.com | trailer | Sidekick? | Johnny Depp

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

Max Pomeranc plays Josh Waitzkin, a boy who loves chess but not at the expense of his own decency. The film is about competition — a subject handled with insight and care — kids dealing with adult emotions and adults behaving like kids.

d: Steven Zaillian | imdb.com | Wanna play? | Josh Waitzkin

Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

Tailored with slicked-back hair, Bill Murray plays a mob boss with a wink — a satire of Robert De Niro (an everyday cop) right in front of him. Both play the straight man in this dark comedy and David Caruso is excellent as a cop before “NYPD Blue.”

d: John McNaughton | imdb.com | trailer | David Caruso

Groundhog Day (1993)

As a weather man living the same day over and over, Bill Murray deftly portrays the five stages of grief, balancing the comedy and existentialism in every scene — sometimes with a single look. It’s that look — the Murray look — that makes him so compelling.

d: Harold Ramis | imdb.com | trailer | I’m a god. | Ned Ryerson!
Critics’ Choice | Great Performances | “Comedy First”

King of New York (1990)

Christopher Walken is scary good as a drug kingpin on a mission to put competing dealers and gangs out of business, with the help of henchmen Laurence Fishburne and Giancarlo Esposito. David Caruso and Wesley Snipes lead the vigilante cops after them.

d: Abel Ferrara | imdb.com | trailer

Scrooged (1988)

Bill Murray plays the youngest (and meanest) network president in television history in an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and a dark satire of 1980s greed. David Johansen and Carol Kane steal scenes as two of the ghosts who visit Murray.

d: Richard Donner | imdb.com | trailer | Towel or VHS
Christmas past | Christmas present | Death | A Christmas miracle