1994 was the year of great movies: The Shawshank Redemption, Lion King, Pulp Fiction, Speed, Dumb and Dumber, and slapstick comedies upon slapstick comedies. Tons of classic movies came out that year, but what one seemed to take home the gold with many critics and families? None other than Forrest Gump. The film had 13 Oscar nominations and 6 wins including Best Picture. So what made this movie an instant classic?  It wasn’t the best rated film that year, it wasn’t even the third best rated by critics. Well, this hollywood summer blockbuster was number 1 in the box office at theatres for three months in a row. That is unheard of, especially in the season of movies. Forrest Gump was and IS a cultural phenomenon. Tom Hanks portrayed the naive southerner Forrest Gump and the interactions he had with important historic events of America in the 60’s and 70’s. Tom Hanks may have given one of the top 10 performances of all time in movie history. He went from his normal goofy loveable movie roles in the late 80’s to a completely different one that the audience had never heard of. This movie showed why Tom Hanks deserved to be a superstar in Hollywood. The dialogue in this film is so precise and sharp, you never get bored with what is going on and what is being said. The score is amazing, jam packed with rock and roll hits from the 70’s and 80’s and a nice undertone of early Steven Spielberg soundtracks. The simple CGI in this movie was unheard of in that time, putting Forrest in these actual news footage and making it seem as though he was there, it’s still an achievement to this day. This movie really is one of the best movies from the 90’s, though many critics disagree and say it shouldn’t have won best picture because of its cultural ignorance, I think just because of Tom Hanks’s performance alone it’s worth a watch.