'90s movie series kicks off with classic

When Adam Graham picks out a movie to share with audiences for the ’90s on Maple film series, he's sharing a deeply personal part of himself.

"The ’90s were when I really came into my own as a person, those were the years that formed my taste in pop culture and film," Graham said. " These films are really me. That’s why I wanted to do this."

Earlier this month we launched our year-long series celebrating the weird, wild and the wonderful of ’90s cinema. It's all curated by Graham, who has been writing about movies and culture at the News for 15 years and has been the full-time film critic since January 2016. We'll screen one movie a month at the Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, each representing a different year of the 1990s.

As for the titles? You’ll have to wait to find out.

We started June 28 with "Goodfellas," which Graham says is "the greatest movie ever made." About 120 people joined us at the theater, and until the title credits came on, they didn't know for sure what they were watching. After the film, about 50 people stayed to chat with Graham.

"Between the acting, story line, use of music, visuals, I think everything comes together in a way that makes it just absolute perfection," Graham said.

Graham first saw "Goodfellas" as a 12-year-old, sneaking in a viewing on VHS while his parents weren't home. Since then, he's viewed it at least 30 times, but, he said, this was the first time he watched it on a big screen with an audience.

"It’s interesting to see how some things play," he said. "It was a new way to experience something I was extremely familiar with."

So far we've announced films for July 31 (1991), Aug. 30 (1992) and Sept. 25 (1993). We will be tweeting out clues to the films (at @grahamorama and @detroitnews), but no one’s going for obscurity points here: these are major films that left a dent in pop culture, and this is your chance to see them on the big screen again or for the first time.

Tickets for the July 31 film go on sale today on the Maple Theater’s website; they’re $8 and include a small popcorn. Plan for a discussion following the films.

For more info, check out DetroitNews.com/90sOnMaple