Clerks. (1994)

Writer/director Kevin Smith's first film (the first in a so-called "Jersey trilogy") was this dead-pan, low-budget, comedy cult film made in grainy 16 mm and originally rated NC-17 for foul language, perfect for disenfranchised male teens.

It chronicled one day in the unglamorized, working-class life of Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) - a twenty-two year old college dropout and Quick Stop convenience store clerk in Asbury Park, New Jersey with his grungy, anti-social video-store clerk best friend Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson).

The film was noted for their interactions with indecisive, confused, and irate customers including Randal's X-rated phone order of pornography video titles (example, "All Tit-F--king, Volume 8", "I Need Your C--k", "Ass-Worshipping Rim-Jobbers", "My C--t Needs Shafts", etc.) while a Mom (Connie O'Connor) and young daughter stood close by at the counter waiting for the title "Happy Scrappy Hero Pup."

Memorably, they also idly chattered about the politics of two Star Wars films: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi ("...any independent contractors who were working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when they were destroyed by the Rebels").

"Anybody could waltz in here and do our jobs. You - you're so obsessed with making it seem so much more epic, so much more important than it really is. Christ, you work in a convenience store, Dante! And badly, I might add! I work in a s--tty video store, badly as well. You know, that guy Jay's got it right, man. He has no delusions about what he does. Us, we like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the people that come in here to buy a paper, or, God forbid, cigarettes. We look down on them as if we're so advanced. Well, if we're so f--kin' advanced, what are we doing working here?"

Randal's discussion with Dante of how his cousin Walter died - "He broke his neck trying to suck his own d--k... Come on, didn't you ever try to suck your own d--k?"

The "I'm 37!?" scene of Dante learning the past sexual history of girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) when he asked: "...I understood that you had sex with three different guys and that's all you said!...How many?...How many d--ks have you sucked?" - and her answer to a shocked Dante after contemplation: "Something like 36" - implying that he was number 37.

Dumb & Dumber (1994)

Writer/director Peter Farrelly's very low-brow, crass physical comedy (with requisite bodily-function jokes) starred Jim Carrey (already famous for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) and The Mask (1994)) and Jeff Daniels as imbecilic Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne - two manic, intellectually-challenged buddies on a cross-country road trip from Providence, R.I. to Aspen, Colorado to deliver a left-behind briefcase.

In this deliberately tasteless buddy road film about the two lovable losers, Lloyd was pursuing disinterested, married dream girl Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly) from Providence to Aspen in Harry's customized sheep-dog van (for his dog grooming business called Mutt Cutts), and engaging her in a hilarious proposal scene. After she told him that their chances were "one out of a million," he exclaimed: "So you're tellin' me there's a chance?! Yeah!" Harry also complimented Mary about her owls: "Nice set of hooters you got there!...The owls. They're beautiful!"

"Yeah, we can be civilized...Whoa, check out the funbags on that hosehound!"

The excruciatingly-funny yet gross scene of Harry's extreme agony on the toilet while suffering a reaction to a large dose of a laxative put in his coffee drink by Lloyd - and Mary's comment to him: "I hope you're not using the toilet, it's broken...the toilet doesn't flush" - and his response: "I was just shaving."

The famous ski-resort scene in which brain-dead Harry exclaimed: "Ooh, look, frost" to Mary as they rode on a ski-lift chair - and his tongue became fused to the frozen metal frame pole - and the hilarious scene as they pried him free while his tongue stretched elastically.

Natural Born Killers (1994)

Quentin Tarantino wrote the story for Oliver Stone's controversial study of mass murder - a severely-edited (to get an R rating instead of an unrated or NC-17 rating), over-the-top, visceral satire on the desire of the violence-obsessed, exploitative media in America to maximize profits.

The film was visually-riveting (eclectic and MTV-style with color-switching), controversial and brutal - and came under critical fire for its own graphic, on-screen violence. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis starred as Mickey and Mallory - two image-conscious serial killers on a psycho road trip killing spree who were pursued by sleazy TV show host/reporter Wayne Gale (Robert Downey, Jr.). In the film's shocking ending, the two outlaws in a rural setting shot Gale - broadcast live on camera.

The energetic film precipitated at least eight 'copycat' murders and violent incidents by self-professed 'natural born killers,' including two Oklahoma teens who watched the film repeatedly and then went on a similar shooting spree.

Some viewed the protagonists as glamorous and romantic folk heroes -- similar to what happened after the release of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971).

The flashback of the abusive family life of Mallory Knox portrayed as a situation-comedy parody called "I Love Mallory" (with a canned laughter track) featuring comic Rodney Dangerfield as Mallory's perverted, beer-drinking dad Ed. In the scene, Mickey killed Mallory's family, including drowning her father in a fishtank.

The incredibly violent live interview/prison riot-escape scene.

Also, the controversial see-through view of the bullet hole in the right hand of Wayne Gale, who made the duo famous celebrities for his sensationalist "American Maniacs" show.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Writer/director and B-movie fanatic Quentin Tarantino delivered this non-formulaic and inventive hit - his second feature - an 'independent' film distributed by Miramax, that featured guns, femmes fatales, deadly hit-men, and drugs.

The film brought new fame and a revived career to star John Travolta (in an ensemble cast) and a revolutionary script structure with its three interwoven (and fragmented) stories or vignettes told in non-linear order.

The unpredictably shuffled, post-modern film, winner of Cannes' prestigious Palme d'Or, shocked with its hip combination of violence, sex, drugs, and profanity (including 269 F-words).

It was a stylish, immensely-popular, violent, off-beat, modern B-movie cult classic about corruption and temptation in LA's sleazy underworld among low-life criminals, thugs, drug-dealers, hitmen, a washed-up crooked boxer, and restaurant-robbing lovers. Small-time hold-up artists, "Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer), plotted a robbery in a restaurant.

Meanwhile, philosophically-talkative hit men Jules Winfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) carried out a hit for their vengeful, underworld boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) against double-crossing college-aged kids.

Vincent entertained Marsellus' irresponsible moll wife Mia (Uma Thurman) one evening - and then she unexpectedly overdosed on heroin. By not taking a dive, boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) scammed Marsellus during his last bout and planned to skip town. The two hitmen called on gangland cleanup specialist The Wolf (Harvey Keitel) when their jobs got messy.

"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

"Zed's dead, baby."

The odd dialogues between hitmen Jules and Vincent, including the one about the name that a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese was known by in France: "A Royale with Cheese."

The Jack Rabbit Slim's restaurant dinner date scene, and twist dance sequence (recreating the Batusi).

The OD sequence of Mia Wallace requiring a hypodermic needle injection of adrenaline directly into her heart to be revived.

Raw Justice (1994) (aka Good Cop, Bad Cop)

Also, Barb Wire (1996)

Baywatch's surgically-enhanced and buxom super-babe Pamela Anderson starred first in Raw Justice - an exploitative, low-budget action murder mystery. Its only claim to fame was her add-on plot accessory role as sexy blonde prostitute Sarah. She became involved in solving the murder of the southern mayor's daughter Donna Stiles (April Bogenschutz) (who died during a nude shower scene).

The star's much-excerpted scene in this cliched film (it was one of the film's two soft-core topless, simulated sex scenes) was her love-making - rear-entry and standing up - in an alleyway with tough and angry cop Mace (David Keith) after he had removed her top and shorts and kissed/massaged her all over.

Pamela Anderson Lee then attempted a comeback in her feature film career in the smarmy futuristic, post-apocalyptic thriller Barb Wire (a complete gender-swapping rip-off of the classic Casablanca (1942)), in which she took the role of the title character based on the Dark Horse Comics creation. She was a tough cyberpunk heroine actually named Barbara Kepitski - who was the kick-boxing, bounty-hunting owner of the Hammerhead Bar and Grille in the year 2017 in the city of Steel Harbor.

"Don't call me babe." (Barb Wire)

- "I do believe I'm falling in love."
- "Get in line!" (Barb Wire)

The opening dance scene in Barb Wire of Barb laced tightly and zippered into a black-leather outfit, while performing a Flashdance-like strip in the midst of water-spray that revealed her overflowing chest.