Okay, this all started with an announcement by ![[info]]()
fabfunk that he had a big long list of the best movies of 2009 and that he wanted to hear what we'd put on our own lists. Over the course of this year I've been trying to catch up on all the movies recommended for 2009 (expect a post on that soon-ish), but at the time I figured I'd simply try to work out what my favourite movies were from each year (or, if earlier than 1980, my favourite movies from each decade). As well as my recommendations from 2009, I've also seen some classics and I was interested to see whether this list changed at all. Well, a bit... Check it out! (The years are provided by imdb.)
For each year or decade I've provided some alternative suggestions (including a few I haven't seen). If you think there's a movie that really ought to be vying for the spot, please suggest it. What would you put in each of these sections?
1930s 1940s
M - Fritz Lang It's A Wonderful Life - Frank Capra
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So, having discovered that I don't like silent movies, I still don't really have any "favourites" made earlier than 1930. A brilliant discovery however, was Fritz Lang's "M". This movie barely shows its age, by stark contrast to the previous entry for the 1930s, King Kong, with some quite horrendous dialogue (which is interestingly inserted into the movie-within-a-movie in Peter Jackson's remake). Meanwhile, no change to my 1940s choice. Sure, it may seem odd to favour this over Casablanca or Double Indemnity, but heck this list is based on my own enjoyment, not what seems most "worthy". It's A Wonderful Life completely took me by surprise and I'm sure it will continue to do so for many decades to come.
Alternative suggestions for 1930s:
King Kong (1933)
Frankenstein (1931)
Alternative suggestions for 1940s:
Casablanca (1942)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Third Man (1949)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)?
1950s 1960s
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers - Don Siegel Lawrence Of Arabia - David Lean
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My previous entry for 1950s was "The Day The Earth Stood Still", a movie which was a fairly recent discovery for me at the time of making the old list. I've decided to change it to "Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers" because this movie had such an effect on me long before I was interested in checking out old black and white movies. I'm interested to discover that the director was also responsible for "Dirty Harry" (which I have as yet to see). "Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers" has influenced many sci-fi movies since, yet no other version of this premise has ever seemed to match up to the original black and white classic. Meanwhile naturally there's no change to the entry for the 1960s. It's difficult to imagine anything matching up to the awesomeness of "Lawrence Of Arabia": the ultimate epic movie.
Alternative suggestions for 1950s:
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Seven Samurai (1954)
North By Northwest (1959)
Gojira (1954)
High Noon (1952)?
Throne Of Blood (1957)?
Alternative suggestions for 1960s:
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Village Of The Damned (1960)
Psycho (1960)
The Producers (1968)
Jungle Book (1967)
The Little Shop Of Horros (1960)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)?
1970s
The Day Of The Jackal - Fred Zinnemann
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My previous entry was the original "Taking Of Pelham One Two Three", which was admittedly awesome and knocked my socks off. However, while it provided more than you'd normally expect from a heist movie, it's genre still seems to limit it somewhat. I now replace it with the amazing "The Day Of The Jackal" which gives the most fantastic portrayal of a hitman. You get the impression that it's going to be rather slow paced to start with, but yet it constantly keeps you engaged and as the stakes are raised over the course of the movie you get really caught up in the action.
I feel the need to give a special mention to one alternative I considered for this spot. The 1975 movie "A Boy And His Dog". This was just so strange and unlike anything I have seen anywhere else. It's amusing yet dark and has an odd sort of social commentary going on (possibly). The psychic dog is absolutely brilliant. there's something special about the bizarreness of this apocalyptic scenario.
Alternative suggestions for 1970s:
A Boy And His Dog (1975)
Annie Hall (1977)
Soldier Of Orange (1977)
Monty Python's Search For The Holy Grail (1975)
Jaws (1975)
Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Westworld (1973)
Aguirre, Wrath Of God (1972)
The Conformist (1970)?
Stalker (1979)?
1980 1981
The Empire Strikes Back - Irvin Kershner Time Bandits - Terry Gilliam
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No change on these two years. To be honest, 1980 doesn't appear to have a lot of competition. Meanwhile Time Bandits is an absolute joy and is possibly my favourite of all Terry Gilliam's movies.
Alternatives for 1980
Airplane!
The Elephant Man?
Alternatives for 1981
An American Werewolf In London
Das Boot
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Mad Max 2
Blow Out
Possession?
1982 1983
The Thing - John Carpenter Videodrome - David Cronenberg
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My favourite from John Carpenter and my favourite horror movie from David Cronenberg. These weren't going to be replaced easily and so far there's no change.
Alternatives for 1982
Gandhi
Fitzcarraldo
Star Trek II: Wrath Of Khan
Poltergeist?
Alternatives for 1983
Local Hero
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence?
Testament?
1984 1985
Gremlins - Joe Dante Return Of The Living Dead - Dan O'Bannon
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Gremlins is still my favourite from 1984 in spite of rivalry from "The Neverending Story" and "Ghostbusters". Still, Gremlins caught my imagination rather fiercely when I was young. Funnily enough Gremlins manages to contain spoilers for two of the black and white movies mentioned earlier in this list. Meanwhile Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" is overtaken by Dan O'Bannon's horror-comedy "Return Of The Living Dead". To be honest, while I enjoyed "Brazil" I wasn't really happy seeing it as my best for that year. Last time I was making that list I felt I was lacking alternatives. Now I've come to realise that 1985 was the year of the horror comedies. "Return Of The Living Dead" was competing against "Fright Night" and "Re-Animator", but in the end it's not a hard choice. I think ROTLD is probably the best horror comedy I have ever seen. Wonderfully silly and absolutely hilarious. Also inspiration for the name of the thrash metal band "Send More Paramedics".
Alternatives for 1984
Ghostbusters
The Neverending Story
The Terminator
This Is Spinal Tap
Repo Man?
A Nightmare On Elm Street?
Alternatives for 1985
Fright Night
Re-Animator
Brazil
Back To The Future
Pale Rider?
The Quiet Earth?
1986 1987
Flight Of The Navigator - Randal Kleiser Evil Dead 2 - Sam Raimi
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Why've I not replaced "Flight Of The Navigator" with David Cronenberg's "The Fly"? It must be said that I view "Flight Of The Navigator" as one of the most underrated movies of my childhood. The strange time travel mystery that makes up the first half of the movie is really quite special. Meanwhile, I must admit that, while I love Evil Dead 2, I don't really have an awful lot for it to compete against. It seems that 1987 was a pretty slow year for movies.
Alternatives for 1986
The Fly
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
The Hitcher
Castle In The Sky
Aliens
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Blue Velvet?
Alternatives for 1987
Robocop
Innerspace
Masters Of The Universe
Hellraiser?
1988 1989
Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Robert Zemeckis Shirley Valentine - Lewis Gilbert
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Nearly replaced "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" with John Carpenter's "They Live", but thought better of it. WFRR has managed to stand the test of time because its special effects relied on ideas and inventiveness rather than on simply dazzling the audience. And finally a replacement for the (admittedly brilliant) Weird Al Yankovich movie "UHF". "Shirley Valentine" is an awesome British classic and if you haven't seen it you need to correct this state of affairs right away!
Alternatives for 1988
They Live
Adventures Of Baron Munchausen
Die Hard
The Naked Gun
The Vanishing?
Alternatives for 1989
UHF
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
Batman
Do The Right Thing?
Crimes And Misdemeanors?
1990 1991
Total Recall - Paul Verhoeven Terminator 2: Judgment Day - James Cameron
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No change for these years. 1990 and 1991 are still, for me, the golden years of Arnold Schwarzenegger's career. Of course he recently swaggered into a scene in "The Expendables" to appear genuinely cool alongside Bruce Willis before swaggering away as if to say "yeeeeah, I still got it". Neither he nor Bruce Willis are seen for the rest of that movie and somehow this random scene with these two action movie legends simply chatting manages to be the most engaging scene. Anyway, Total-"is it real or isn't it? I'd like to be spy from mars and hey look I am!"-Recall admittedly succeeds mainly in spite of Schwarzenegger, but he certainly doesn't ruin it and it remains an exciting action movie with a bit of Phillip K Dick inspiration giving it a slightly more intelligent side. Meanwhile "Terminator 2" is the main movie that James Cameron should feel proud of. Nothing else he has done has ever lived up to it, least of all his by-the-numbers "Avatar".
Alternatives for 1990
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Jacob's Ladder?
Alternatives for 1991
The Addams Family
Silence Of The Lambs
Thelma And Louise
The Fisher King
Barton Fink?
1992 1993
Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Tarantino Schindler's List - Steven Spielberg
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Hmmm, Tarantino's fanastic debut movie and Spielberg's remarkably entertaining movie about the Nazi Holocaust. Yeah, no change here.
Alternatives for 1992
Braindead
My Cousin Vinny
Evil Dead 3: Army Of Darkness
Unforgiven
Wayne's World
Alternatives for 1993
Groundhog Day
Killing Zoe
Falling Down
Carlito's Way
In The Name Of The Father
1994 1995
Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino Trainspotting - Danny Boyle
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I very nearly found myself replacing changes-every-time-you-watch-it "Pulp Fiction" with Luc Besson's "Leon". Strange choice, you might say. The thing is that Leon was actually my favourite movie until I discovered "Amelie" and it's still just as awesome now as it was back then. Then I remembered that, as well as standing up to repeated viewings, every scene in "Pulp Fiction" is full of pure awesome; even the Travolta dancing scene which kinda weirds me out. Meanwhile, as much as I love Terry Gilliam's "Twelve Monkeys", the best movie of 1995 has to be the classic British movie "Trainspotting" which, quite rightly, got Danny Boyle recognised. Sadly it threw down a gauntlet that Boyle has yet to surpass.
Alternatives for 1994
In The Mouth Of Madness
Leon
Clerks
The Shawshank Redemption
Four Weddings And A Funeral
Alternatives for 1995
Twelve Monkeys
The City Of Lost Children
Desperado
Seven
Ghost In The Shell
1996 1997
Tesis - Alejandro Amenabar Open Your Eyes - Alejandro Amenabar
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Replacing the Coen Brothers' "Fargo" with Alejandro Amenabar's debut movie "Tesis", thus putting two Alejandro Amenabar movies side by side? Yeah sure, why not? Tesis and Open Your Eyes are both absolutely fantastic pieces from one of my favourite directors. It must be said, however, that his best movies have always been the ones made in Spanish.
Alternatives for 1996
Fargo
Fire
The Craft
From Dusk Til Dawn
Sling Blade
Alternatives for 1997
Princess Mononoke
Jackie Brown
Donnie Brascoe
1998 1999
The Big Lebowski - Joel Coen The Matrix - The Wachowski Brothers
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The Big Lebowski remains the definitive Coen Brothers comedy movie. Meanwhile The Matrix remains one of the best action movies of all time, so long as you pretend they never made any sequels.
Alternatives for 1998
The Truman Show
Saving Private Ryan
Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrells
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Alternatives for 1999
Fight Club
American Beauty
Being John Malkovich
Joan Of Arc - The Messenger
Galaxy Quest
Bowfinger
2000 2001
Memento - Christopher Nolan Amelie - Jean-Pierre Jeunet
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It has to be said that, in spite of all his success, Memento, a movie that seemed to be fairly underrated on first release, is still Christopher Nolan's greatest triumph. Original, well acted and superbly crafted. Meanwhile, in regards to 2001, Amelie has been a long time personal favourite of mine and Jeunet seems to be constantly trying to remember how he did it. Straight afterwards he did "A Very Long Engagement" which in many ways felt like a copy of Amelie, but it seemed to be missing the magic. More recently he's released Micmacs which, like Amelie, contains a number of different quirky characters, but without a sufficiently endearing lead. Each character in Micmacs is all too eager to showcase their personal idiosyncracies. Yet somehow when "Amelie" shows a lot of bizarre stuff or ordinary things portrayed in bizarre ways it doesn't feel like it's being weird for the sake of it, but instead it pulls you into this imaginative interpretation of the world we live in. If you want to feel good about life, Amelie is the go-to movie of choice.
Alternatives for 2000
American Psycho
Ginger Snaps
Requiem For A Dream
Unbreakable
Le Gout Des Autres
Battle Royale
Versus
Alternatives for 2001
Das Experiment
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Donnie Darko
Spirited Away
The Others
Blow
2002 2003
Road To Perdition - Sam Mendes Zatoichi - Takeshi Kitano
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I would say that Road To Perdition is possibly one of the greatest graphic novel adaptations, were it not for the fact that I've never read the original graphic novel. Personally I was very much put off by the sentimental trailers that told us that this was all about Tom Hanks trying to be a good dad to his son and the importance of family, but the actual movie is a far darker story about a father and son being pretty much hunted down. Featuring Sam Mendes' love of beautiful cinematography in some of the most shocking scenes, this is arguably the highlight of his career so far. Meanwhile, in the year that "Oldboy" was released, I'd say that Takeshi Kitano's "Zatoichi" narrowly trumps it. It's mixture of humour and violence with a great deal of inventiveness is really quite wonderful.
Alternatives for 2002
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
City Of God
Hero
Minority Report
Adaptation
The Pianist
Dirty Pretty Things
Bubba Ho-Tep
Alternatives for 2003
Oldboy
Infernal Affairs II
Finding Nemo
2004 2005
The Sea Inside - Alejandro Amenabar Grizzly Man - Werner Herzog
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"The Sea Inside" is Alejandro Amenabar's fantastic look into the story of Ramon Sampedro who fought for his right to die. Amenabar is able to get us inside the head of the protagonist and gives us a deeper look at this remarkable figure. For 2005 I'm replacing my entry of "Capote" with a documentary about Timothy Treadwell who decided to go and live with bears in Alaska. One true life story with another, I guess. Werner Herzog's documentary is (once you get over his accent) most definitely the most moving documentary I have ever seen. It is very beautiful on the one hand, yet provides compelling insight into the psychology of Treadwell on the other hand. I suppose that "Grizzly Man" might bypass the critcism made by![[info]]()
afraidofplaydoh of biopics that they 'certainly don’t want to pay to see someone’s version of this dude’s true life story.' "Grizzly Man" has the advantage of being actual footage of the man himself with the opportunity to judge for yourself. Still, "Capote" (no longer in the 2005 spot) was more about the process of writing the book 'In Cold Blood' rather than a story of Capote's life. Also, I feel that "Lawrence of Arabia" (see 1960s above) is more of an epic than a biopic. Still, I'm not sure what excuse to give for "The Sea Inside" other than that it is genuinely moving and explores the topic of Euthanasia fantastically well.
Alternatives for 2004
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Downfall
Goodbye Lenin
Dead Man's Shoes
Layer Cake
The Motorcycle Diaries
Shaun Of The Dead
Million Dollar Baby?
Alternatives for 2005
Capote
Good Night And Good Luck
The Constant Gardener
A History Of Violence
Pusher III
Paradise Now
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Thank You For Smoking
Serenity
Lord Of War
Sin City
Batman Begins
2006 2007
Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo Del Toro Eastern Promises - David Cronenberg
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"Pan's Labyrinth" still remains my favourite for 2006 and perhaps the only movie I really see as much of a challenger is "London To Brighton", a superb British gangster movie. It's a wonderful blend of real life and fairytale, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's a children's movie! (Apologies to traumatised infants everywhere who were taken into showings by their naive parents.) "Eastern Promises" is probably my favourite of all Cronenberg's movies and certainly my favourite of his more recent non-horror works. Viggo Mortensen gets a serious opportunity to show off his acting skills and Naomi Watts does a very accomplished English accent (though comisserations to Russians for Vincent Cassel's accent which, I am informed, is dire). The acting is great, there is powerful tension in the scenes and Cronenberg couldn't resist inserting some graphic violence in places (which is surely fitting in a movie about the Russian mafia?).
Alternatives for 2006
London To Brighton
This Is England
Volver
The Page Turner
Black Book
The Lives Of Others
The Prestige
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Alternatives for 2007
Hot Fuzz
Lars And The Real Girl
Moliere
Son Of Rambow
Mongol
Persepolis
[REC]
American Gangster
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Charlie Wilson's War
Stardust
Planet Terror
2008 2009
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh A Serious Man - The Coen Brothers
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Yes, I know "Let The Right One In" was a masterpiece and everything. I also feel the need to give a special mention to the movie "Julia". I was quite struck by Tilda Swinton's performance as an alcoholic whose money-making self-interested scheme gets out of hand to a remarkable degree. The two hour runtime simply flies by and though I've only watched this once, it had a serious impact. However, the final choice for 2008 is "In Bruges" a wonderful dark comedy about two gang members who, having pulled off a hit, have been told to hide out in Bruges. No one's quite sure why they've gone there and they are waiting to hear from higher ups about what their next move should be. Colin Farrell is particularly surprising since he not only gives a good performance, but turns out to have quite wonderful comic timing. Meanwhile Brendan Gleeson is absolutely fantastic alongside Farrell as his partner in crime. As well as being absolutely hilarious, the movie is also quite beautiful in some scenes and almost surreal in others. In 2009, on the hand, "A Serious Man" remains my favourite, but not without some serious competition. I'll be giving my verdict on the movies from 2009 later in the month.
Alternatives for 2008
Julia
Let The Right One In
The Hurt Locker
I've Loved You So Long
Cherry Blossoms
The Wrestler
Johnny Mad Dog
Wall-E
Changeling
Frost/Nixon
Gran Torino
Burn After Reading
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Alternatives for 2009
To be continued!
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=1)
fabfunk that he had a big long list of the best movies of 2009 and that he wanted to hear what we'd put on our own lists. Over the course of this year I've been trying to catch up on all the movies recommended for 2009 (expect a post on that soon-ish), but at the time I figured I'd simply try to work out what my favourite movies were from each year (or, if earlier than 1980, my favourite movies from each decade). As well as my recommendations from 2009, I've also seen some classics and I was interested to see whether this list changed at all. Well, a bit... Check it out! (The years are provided by imdb.)For each year or decade I've provided some alternative suggestions (including a few I haven't seen). If you think there's a movie that really ought to be vying for the spot, please suggest it. What would you put in each of these sections?
1930s 1940s
M - Fritz Lang It's A Wonderful Life - Frank Capra
So, having discovered that I don't like silent movies, I still don't really have any "favourites" made earlier than 1930. A brilliant discovery however, was Fritz Lang's "M". This movie barely shows its age, by stark contrast to the previous entry for the 1930s, King Kong, with some quite horrendous dialogue (which is interestingly inserted into the movie-within-a-movie in Peter Jackson's remake). Meanwhile, no change to my 1940s choice. Sure, it may seem odd to favour this over Casablanca or Double Indemnity, but heck this list is based on my own enjoyment, not what seems most "worthy". It's A Wonderful Life completely took me by surprise and I'm sure it will continue to do so for many decades to come.
Alternative suggestions for 1930s:
King Kong (1933)
Frankenstein (1931)
Alternative suggestions for 1940s:
Casablanca (1942)
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Third Man (1949)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)?
1950s 1960s
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers - Don Siegel Lawrence Of Arabia - David Lean
My previous entry for 1950s was "The Day The Earth Stood Still", a movie which was a fairly recent discovery for me at the time of making the old list. I've decided to change it to "Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers" because this movie had such an effect on me long before I was interested in checking out old black and white movies. I'm interested to discover that the director was also responsible for "Dirty Harry" (which I have as yet to see). "Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers" has influenced many sci-fi movies since, yet no other version of this premise has ever seemed to match up to the original black and white classic. Meanwhile naturally there's no change to the entry for the 1960s. It's difficult to imagine anything matching up to the awesomeness of "Lawrence Of Arabia": the ultimate epic movie.
Alternative suggestions for 1950s:
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Seven Samurai (1954)
North By Northwest (1959)
Gojira (1954)
High Noon (1952)?
Throne Of Blood (1957)?
Alternative suggestions for 1960s:
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Village Of The Damned (1960)
Psycho (1960)
The Producers (1968)
Jungle Book (1967)
The Little Shop Of Horros (1960)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)?
1970s
The Day Of The Jackal - Fred Zinnemann
My previous entry was the original "Taking Of Pelham One Two Three", which was admittedly awesome and knocked my socks off. However, while it provided more than you'd normally expect from a heist movie, it's genre still seems to limit it somewhat. I now replace it with the amazing "The Day Of The Jackal" which gives the most fantastic portrayal of a hitman. You get the impression that it's going to be rather slow paced to start with, but yet it constantly keeps you engaged and as the stakes are raised over the course of the movie you get really caught up in the action.
I feel the need to give a special mention to one alternative I considered for this spot. The 1975 movie "A Boy And His Dog". This was just so strange and unlike anything I have seen anywhere else. It's amusing yet dark and has an odd sort of social commentary going on (possibly). The psychic dog is absolutely brilliant. there's something special about the bizarreness of this apocalyptic scenario.
Alternative suggestions for 1970s:
A Boy And His Dog (1975)
Annie Hall (1977)
Soldier Of Orange (1977)
Monty Python's Search For The Holy Grail (1975)
Jaws (1975)
Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Westworld (1973)
Aguirre, Wrath Of God (1972)
The Conformist (1970)?
Stalker (1979)?
1980 1981
The Empire Strikes Back - Irvin Kershner Time Bandits - Terry Gilliam
No change on these two years. To be honest, 1980 doesn't appear to have a lot of competition. Meanwhile Time Bandits is an absolute joy and is possibly my favourite of all Terry Gilliam's movies.
Alternatives for 1980
Airplane!
The Elephant Man?
Alternatives for 1981
An American Werewolf In London
Das Boot
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Mad Max 2
Blow Out
Possession?
1982 1983
The Thing - John Carpenter Videodrome - David Cronenberg
My favourite from John Carpenter and my favourite horror movie from David Cronenberg. These weren't going to be replaced easily and so far there's no change.
Alternatives for 1982
Gandhi
Fitzcarraldo
Star Trek II: Wrath Of Khan
Poltergeist?
Alternatives for 1983
Local Hero
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence?
Testament?
1984 1985
Gremlins - Joe Dante Return Of The Living Dead - Dan O'Bannon
Gremlins is still my favourite from 1984 in spite of rivalry from "The Neverending Story" and "Ghostbusters". Still, Gremlins caught my imagination rather fiercely when I was young. Funnily enough Gremlins manages to contain spoilers for two of the black and white movies mentioned earlier in this list. Meanwhile Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" is overtaken by Dan O'Bannon's horror-comedy "Return Of The Living Dead". To be honest, while I enjoyed "Brazil" I wasn't really happy seeing it as my best for that year. Last time I was making that list I felt I was lacking alternatives. Now I've come to realise that 1985 was the year of the horror comedies. "Return Of The Living Dead" was competing against "Fright Night" and "Re-Animator", but in the end it's not a hard choice. I think ROTLD is probably the best horror comedy I have ever seen. Wonderfully silly and absolutely hilarious. Also inspiration for the name of the thrash metal band "Send More Paramedics".
Alternatives for 1984
Ghostbusters
The Neverending Story
The Terminator
This Is Spinal Tap
Repo Man?
A Nightmare On Elm Street?
Alternatives for 1985
Fright Night
Re-Animator
Brazil
Back To The Future
Pale Rider?
The Quiet Earth?
1986 1987
Flight Of The Navigator - Randal Kleiser Evil Dead 2 - Sam Raimi
Why've I not replaced "Flight Of The Navigator" with David Cronenberg's "The Fly"? It must be said that I view "Flight Of The Navigator" as one of the most underrated movies of my childhood. The strange time travel mystery that makes up the first half of the movie is really quite special. Meanwhile, I must admit that, while I love Evil Dead 2, I don't really have an awful lot for it to compete against. It seems that 1987 was a pretty slow year for movies.
Alternatives for 1986
The Fly
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
The Hitcher
Castle In The Sky
Aliens
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Blue Velvet?
Alternatives for 1987
Robocop
Innerspace
Masters Of The Universe
Hellraiser?
1988 1989
Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Robert Zemeckis Shirley Valentine - Lewis Gilbert
Nearly replaced "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" with John Carpenter's "They Live", but thought better of it. WFRR has managed to stand the test of time because its special effects relied on ideas and inventiveness rather than on simply dazzling the audience. And finally a replacement for the (admittedly brilliant) Weird Al Yankovich movie "UHF". "Shirley Valentine" is an awesome British classic and if you haven't seen it you need to correct this state of affairs right away!
Alternatives for 1988
They Live
Adventures Of Baron Munchausen
Die Hard
The Naked Gun
The Vanishing?
Alternatives for 1989
UHF
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
Batman
Do The Right Thing?
Crimes And Misdemeanors?
1990 1991
Total Recall - Paul Verhoeven Terminator 2: Judgment Day - James Cameron
No change for these years. 1990 and 1991 are still, for me, the golden years of Arnold Schwarzenegger's career. Of course he recently swaggered into a scene in "The Expendables" to appear genuinely cool alongside Bruce Willis before swaggering away as if to say "yeeeeah, I still got it". Neither he nor Bruce Willis are seen for the rest of that movie and somehow this random scene with these two action movie legends simply chatting manages to be the most engaging scene. Anyway, Total-"is it real or isn't it? I'd like to be spy from mars and hey look I am!"-Recall admittedly succeeds mainly in spite of Schwarzenegger, but he certainly doesn't ruin it and it remains an exciting action movie with a bit of Phillip K Dick inspiration giving it a slightly more intelligent side. Meanwhile "Terminator 2" is the main movie that James Cameron should feel proud of. Nothing else he has done has ever lived up to it, least of all his by-the-numbers "Avatar".
Alternatives for 1990
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Jacob's Ladder?
Alternatives for 1991
The Addams Family
Silence Of The Lambs
Thelma And Louise
The Fisher King
Barton Fink?
1992 1993
Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Tarantino Schindler's List - Steven Spielberg
Hmmm, Tarantino's fanastic debut movie and Spielberg's remarkably entertaining movie about the Nazi Holocaust. Yeah, no change here.
Alternatives for 1992
Braindead
My Cousin Vinny
Evil Dead 3: Army Of Darkness
Unforgiven
Wayne's World
Alternatives for 1993
Groundhog Day
Killing Zoe
Falling Down
Carlito's Way
In The Name Of The Father
1994 1995
Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino Trainspotting - Danny Boyle
I very nearly found myself replacing changes-every-time-you-watch-it "Pulp Fiction" with Luc Besson's "Leon". Strange choice, you might say. The thing is that Leon was actually my favourite movie until I discovered "Amelie" and it's still just as awesome now as it was back then. Then I remembered that, as well as standing up to repeated viewings, every scene in "Pulp Fiction" is full of pure awesome; even the Travolta dancing scene which kinda weirds me out. Meanwhile, as much as I love Terry Gilliam's "Twelve Monkeys", the best movie of 1995 has to be the classic British movie "Trainspotting" which, quite rightly, got Danny Boyle recognised. Sadly it threw down a gauntlet that Boyle has yet to surpass.
Alternatives for 1994
In The Mouth Of Madness
Leon
Clerks
The Shawshank Redemption
Four Weddings And A Funeral
Alternatives for 1995
Twelve Monkeys
The City Of Lost Children
Desperado
Seven
Ghost In The Shell
1996 1997
Tesis - Alejandro Amenabar Open Your Eyes - Alejandro Amenabar
Replacing the Coen Brothers' "Fargo" with Alejandro Amenabar's debut movie "Tesis", thus putting two Alejandro Amenabar movies side by side? Yeah sure, why not? Tesis and Open Your Eyes are both absolutely fantastic pieces from one of my favourite directors. It must be said, however, that his best movies have always been the ones made in Spanish.
Alternatives for 1996
Fargo
Fire
The Craft
From Dusk Til Dawn
Sling Blade
Alternatives for 1997
Princess Mononoke
Jackie Brown
Donnie Brascoe
1998 1999
The Big Lebowski - Joel Coen The Matrix - The Wachowski Brothers
The Big Lebowski remains the definitive Coen Brothers comedy movie. Meanwhile The Matrix remains one of the best action movies of all time, so long as you pretend they never made any sequels.
Alternatives for 1998
The Truman Show
Saving Private Ryan
Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrells
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Alternatives for 1999
Fight Club
American Beauty
Being John Malkovich
Joan Of Arc - The Messenger
Galaxy Quest
Bowfinger
2000 2001
Memento - Christopher Nolan Amelie - Jean-Pierre Jeunet
It has to be said that, in spite of all his success, Memento, a movie that seemed to be fairly underrated on first release, is still Christopher Nolan's greatest triumph. Original, well acted and superbly crafted. Meanwhile, in regards to 2001, Amelie has been a long time personal favourite of mine and Jeunet seems to be constantly trying to remember how he did it. Straight afterwards he did "A Very Long Engagement" which in many ways felt like a copy of Amelie, but it seemed to be missing the magic. More recently he's released Micmacs which, like Amelie, contains a number of different quirky characters, but without a sufficiently endearing lead. Each character in Micmacs is all too eager to showcase their personal idiosyncracies. Yet somehow when "Amelie" shows a lot of bizarre stuff or ordinary things portrayed in bizarre ways it doesn't feel like it's being weird for the sake of it, but instead it pulls you into this imaginative interpretation of the world we live in. If you want to feel good about life, Amelie is the go-to movie of choice.
Alternatives for 2000
American Psycho
Ginger Snaps
Requiem For A Dream
Unbreakable
Le Gout Des Autres
Battle Royale
Versus
Alternatives for 2001
Das Experiment
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Donnie Darko
Spirited Away
The Others
Blow
2002 2003
Road To Perdition - Sam Mendes Zatoichi - Takeshi Kitano
I would say that Road To Perdition is possibly one of the greatest graphic novel adaptations, were it not for the fact that I've never read the original graphic novel. Personally I was very much put off by the sentimental trailers that told us that this was all about Tom Hanks trying to be a good dad to his son and the importance of family, but the actual movie is a far darker story about a father and son being pretty much hunted down. Featuring Sam Mendes' love of beautiful cinematography in some of the most shocking scenes, this is arguably the highlight of his career so far. Meanwhile, in the year that "Oldboy" was released, I'd say that Takeshi Kitano's "Zatoichi" narrowly trumps it. It's mixture of humour and violence with a great deal of inventiveness is really quite wonderful.
Alternatives for 2002
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
City Of God
Hero
Minority Report
Adaptation
The Pianist
Dirty Pretty Things
Bubba Ho-Tep
Alternatives for 2003
Oldboy
Infernal Affairs II
Finding Nemo
2004 2005
The Sea Inside - Alejandro Amenabar Grizzly Man - Werner Herzog
"The Sea Inside" is Alejandro Amenabar's fantastic look into the story of Ramon Sampedro who fought for his right to die. Amenabar is able to get us inside the head of the protagonist and gives us a deeper look at this remarkable figure. For 2005 I'm replacing my entry of "Capote" with a documentary about Timothy Treadwell who decided to go and live with bears in Alaska. One true life story with another, I guess. Werner Herzog's documentary is (once you get over his accent) most definitely the most moving documentary I have ever seen. It is very beautiful on the one hand, yet provides compelling insight into the psychology of Treadwell on the other hand. I suppose that "Grizzly Man" might bypass the critcism made by
afraidofplaydoh of biopics that they 'certainly don’t want to pay to see someone’s version of this dude’s true life story.' "Grizzly Man" has the advantage of being actual footage of the man himself with the opportunity to judge for yourself. Still, "Capote" (no longer in the 2005 spot) was more about the process of writing the book 'In Cold Blood' rather than a story of Capote's life. Also, I feel that "Lawrence of Arabia" (see 1960s above) is more of an epic than a biopic. Still, I'm not sure what excuse to give for "The Sea Inside" other than that it is genuinely moving and explores the topic of Euthanasia fantastically well.Alternatives for 2004
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Downfall
Goodbye Lenin
Dead Man's Shoes
Layer Cake
The Motorcycle Diaries
Shaun Of The Dead
Million Dollar Baby?
Alternatives for 2005
Capote
Good Night And Good Luck
The Constant Gardener
A History Of Violence
Pusher III
Paradise Now
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Thank You For Smoking
Serenity
Lord Of War
Sin City
Batman Begins
2006 2007
Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo Del Toro Eastern Promises - David Cronenberg
"Pan's Labyrinth" still remains my favourite for 2006 and perhaps the only movie I really see as much of a challenger is "London To Brighton", a superb British gangster movie. It's a wonderful blend of real life and fairytale, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's a children's movie! (Apologies to traumatised infants everywhere who were taken into showings by their naive parents.) "Eastern Promises" is probably my favourite of all Cronenberg's movies and certainly my favourite of his more recent non-horror works. Viggo Mortensen gets a serious opportunity to show off his acting skills and Naomi Watts does a very accomplished English accent (though comisserations to Russians for Vincent Cassel's accent which, I am informed, is dire). The acting is great, there is powerful tension in the scenes and Cronenberg couldn't resist inserting some graphic violence in places (which is surely fitting in a movie about the Russian mafia?).
Alternatives for 2006
London To Brighton
This Is England
Volver
The Page Turner
Black Book
The Lives Of Others
The Prestige
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Alternatives for 2007
Hot Fuzz
Lars And The Real Girl
Moliere
Son Of Rambow
Mongol
Persepolis
[REC]
American Gangster
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Charlie Wilson's War
Stardust
Planet Terror
2008 2009
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh A Serious Man - The Coen Brothers
Yes, I know "Let The Right One In" was a masterpiece and everything. I also feel the need to give a special mention to the movie "Julia". I was quite struck by Tilda Swinton's performance as an alcoholic whose money-making self-interested scheme gets out of hand to a remarkable degree. The two hour runtime simply flies by and though I've only watched this once, it had a serious impact. However, the final choice for 2008 is "In Bruges" a wonderful dark comedy about two gang members who, having pulled off a hit, have been told to hide out in Bruges. No one's quite sure why they've gone there and they are waiting to hear from higher ups about what their next move should be. Colin Farrell is particularly surprising since he not only gives a good performance, but turns out to have quite wonderful comic timing. Meanwhile Brendan Gleeson is absolutely fantastic alongside Farrell as his partner in crime. As well as being absolutely hilarious, the movie is also quite beautiful in some scenes and almost surreal in others. In 2009, on the hand, "A Serious Man" remains my favourite, but not without some serious competition. I'll be giving my verdict on the movies from 2009 later in the month.
Alternatives for 2008
Julia
Let The Right One In
The Hurt Locker
I've Loved You So Long
Cherry Blossoms
The Wrestler
Johnny Mad Dog
Wall-E
Changeling
Frost/Nixon
Gran Torino
Burn After Reading
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Alternatives for 2009
To be continued!