Putting together last week's list of my favorite screenplays of the 2000's was relatively easy. I came up with about ten worthy candidates and narrowed from there. When I started putting together this week's list -- my favorite screenplays of the 1990's -- things got a lot more complicated. I had a much larger list of worthy candidates to choose from. It made me realize that a) the 90's, particularly the late 90's, was a genuinely incredible time for film, and b) I was going to have to split my list into two halves: 1995 -- 1999 and 1990 -- 1994.

So, in support of all the great screenwriters currently on strike, what follows is my favorite screenplays produced between 1995 and 1999. Read that last sentence carefully! If you've got movies you'd add to or subtract from my list, I would love to hear them, but make sure your choice fits the criteria. On my 2000's list, I was getting comments like "How DARE you not include Citizen Kane, you freaking idiot?"

Now then, with all apologies to the scripts it killed me to leave off (Office Space, A Simple Plan, As Good As it Gets, Chasing Amy, Lone Star, Three Kings, Swingers, Jackie Brown, Kingpin, I could go on and on), here is my alphabetical list:

Any fan of modern crime fiction has got to be a little jazzed about this news: The long-in-development adaptation of Don Winslow's crime novel The Winter of Frankie Machine now has a star and a director -- and it's the same team who gave us the modern crime classic Heat. Variety reports that Paramount's production, which has been on their development slate since the studio bought the rights to Winslow's novel pre-publication back in 2005, is moving forward with Michael Mann on-board to direct the long-attached Robert De Niro in the lead role. Winslow may be the best crime writer you've never heard of; his California Fire and Life is certainly my pick for one of the best page-turning thrillers of the past 20 years, and his decades-spanning, border-crossing drug epic The Power of the Dog is a knockout as well. The Winter of Frankie Machine will be shooting from a script adaptation by Brian Kopplman and David Levien (Rounders, Oceans 13), following the reluctant re-criminalization of Frank Machianno -- veteran, small businessman, surfer and ex-killer -- as all his old allegiances and alliances draw very close around him.

In a lot of ways, Winslow's book is about how easily civilized, upstanding San Diegan Frank Machianno goes back to being Frankie Machine, descending Dante-style into Hell to try and get out; it's a juicy part for De Niro, one similar to some of his more iconic roles and yet very different; Winslow's book makes no bones about the age of its protagonist, and Frank's sense of honor will make for ripe stuff in the hands of the men who created the principled-yet-predatory jewel thief Neil McCauley in Heat. With Mann on board as the director, this film just moved up several notches on my radar; now, if we can just get Peter Berg to return to that film version of California Fire and Life he was supposedly attached to, it'd be a very good time to be a fan of California crime on the big screen. ...

I may have initially hated Miami Vice, but it might be time to take another look. Especially because it's taking Michael Mann a long time to make a follow-up (though it's normal for him to take a few years between films). Lately he's been concentrating on producing, overseeing such pics as The Kingdom, which is currently in theaters, and the upcoming Hancock, which stars Will Smith. According to Variety, though, Mann has found a project that he's interested in directing next year, and it's to be another vehicle for Smith, who Mann previously directed to an Oscar nom in Ali. The drama, titled Empire, will also reunite Mann with screenwriter John Logan, with whom he worked, as a producer, on The Aviator. The plot involves a "contemporary global media mogul."

Other than that job title for (I'm assuming) Smith's character, little is known. But with such a great team involved, I don't think we need to worry. They're all very talented and respected (even if Logan did write the recent version of The Time Machine), Columbia apparently dished out at least a million bucks for the must-be-amazing pitch and I trust that Mann will not disappoint me again in the future. Something about this project -- perhaps the hint of corporate and media dealings -- makes me think it will be most in line with Mann's The Insider, which I think is his best film, even though it doesn't have a lot of action nor does it have Pacino and DeNiro face to face. Empire also won't feature classic Hollywood icons, like the film noir Mann and Logan were recently said to be making, but with that in mind, I think I'm anticipating this new project on less-kitschy grounds. Meanwhile, I'm also hoping that Smith make this a priority over Seven Pounds, his presumed next film (following Hancock) that returns him to the care of Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino. I guess it all could come down to which film Smith thinks offers him a better chance at another Oscar nom for 2009.

One of the greatest things about the film Heat was our chance to finally watch two fantastic actors (Robert De Niro and Al Pacino) act alongside one another. Of course, it wasn't the first time these two Godfathers of cinema appeared in the same film, but it was a moment everyone (including me) had been waiting for. And tell me that scene at the table didn't make the movie.

Now, word is trickling out via MTV and Production Weekly that De Niro might be teaming up with another mega-Hollywood giant, George Clooney. Okay, perhaps it's not as jaw-dropping as the De Niro/Pacino pairing, but nevertheless they're still a delicious on-screen duo. The film in question is Marc Forster's (Stranger Than Fiction) 36, a remake of the 2004 French flick 36 Quai des Orfèvres starring Gérard Depardieu. Pic tells of two cops who compete against each other to solve a series of armored car robberies, with the winner earning a promotion. At first glance, the premise could sound sort of comedic (if you hadn't heard of the original) -- however, I assure you this ain't no comedy. It's a straight-up crime drama, complete with violence, revenge and all that other tasty stuff. De Niro recently told MTV that he will film 36 (which will be based off a script written by The Manchurian Candidate scribe Dean Georgaris) after he's finished with the Barry Levinson pic What Just Happened.

Here's a question: In your own fantasy world, which two actors (or actresses) would you like to see paired up on the big screen?

Al Pacino, one of Hollywood's most successful, versatile and talented actors can now add AFI Lifetime Achievement Award winner to his list of distinguished accomplishments. According to coming soon, the announcement was made today by Sir Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees, that the Institute would give the Lifetime Achievement Award to Pacino at a tribute dinner in Los Angeles on June 7th. The AFI Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor for a career in film and has been given out 34 times since its inception in 1973 -- Pacino's award will mark the 35th anniversary.

During the announcement, Stringer referred to Pacino as "an icon of American film" whose "career inspires audiences and artists alike." In response to hearing he had won the award, Pacino said "I am moved and honored to be considered for such an award." Some past recipients of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award include last year's winner Sean Connery, Tom Hanks (who doesn't seem old enough to be getting a lifetime achievement award yet), Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas and 1973's winner, the great director John Ford.

Pacino's career has spanned over thirty years with many memorable roles in films such as Michael Mann's Heat, ...And Justice for All, Serpico, Brian DePalma's Scarface and, of course, his star-making turn as Michael Corelone in Francis Ford Coppola's classic The Godfather. Pacino is also an eight-time Academy Award Nominee for his roles in film such as Glengarry Glen Ross, Dick Tracy and Dog Day Afternoon. He won the Best Actor Academy Award for playing Lt. Colonel Frank Slade in director Martin Brest's Scent of A Woman, opposite a young Chris O'Donnell and the very cute Gabrielle Anwar.

Some of Pacino's recent work includes turns both in front of and behind the camera on projects such as Two for the Money with Matthew McConaughey, Steven Soderberg's Ocean's Thirteen, 88 Minutes opposite Heat co-star Amy Brenneman and the docu-drama Salomaybe?, which he directed. This is a great honor for Pacino and one he very much deserves. I guess now that he's won a "Lifetime Achievement Award," we can let him off the hook for being in The Godfather: Part III.

What's your favorite Al Pacino movie?

It's shaping up to be a big week in the happy marriage of Hollywood and the gaming industry -- according to the trades, we can now add two more to the long-gestating Reservoir Dogs game that was announced last Thursday.

The news of a Hellboy game is probably the most exciting to movie fans because it's being created with the involvement of both the movie's director, Guillermo del Toro (Apparently he's a big gamer -- who knew?), and the creator of the Hellboy comics, Mike Mignola. The duo are involved in all aspects of the game, from "approving the designs for characters and sets" to "selecting the voices, color pattern and lighting," as well as story direction and score. Del Toro is approaching the game very much like a movie, and feels that the opportunities offered by next generation technology will eventually lead to the meshing of film and game: "In the next decade ... You have to start blending [movies and games] into a single universe. Not a tie-in, not an ancillary market for a brand, you have to think of the storytelling universe as being one and the same. That's the future." Wait a second -- a film director who views movie-related games as more than just cash cows? Holy crap.

In addition, a game based on Michael Mann's magnificent Heat is finally in the works, so far without the involvement of anyone from the movie (though the goal is get to the film's stars to provide voices). According to a representative of Regency Enterprises, they're moving into the gaming world now because "The success of the special edition DVD last year reminded us how ... Heat is truly a modern day classic and deserved to be retold using modern technology that will transport a viewer into that world." Uh huh. Speaking of cash cows ...

Man, Walden Media is going sports crazy! Yesterday it was football and Jim Thorpe, and now it's a fictional baseball story. Heat is a not-yet-published children's novel by sports journalist Mike Lupica about a pair of baseball-obsessed, Cuban-immigrant brothers (Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, unfortunately, are not involved). Living in "the shadows of Yankee stadium," the younger brother "dreams of playing in the Little League World Series until a rival accuses him being older than the league limit." Gee, that sounds familiar.

Though the real-life story ended sort of badly, one assumes that the fictional one is slightly more uplifting, particularly because it's both aimed at kids and has been optioned by a studio that makes family films. If it's not, however, I'm sure Walden will be able to convince screenwriter Robert Moresco to change the ending - that's why they call it a Hollywood ending, kids. (Though we are talking here about the guy who co-wrote Crash. Jeez, I hope Walden checked his resume - otherwise, they might be a little shocked by the scope of the hardship over which their hero has to triumph.)