Favoritest Movies of 2011

I was kinda hoping that this list, would be topped by a fitting farewell to Harry Potter.  Harry Potter on my lists has been, sort of a Neville Longbottom.  Not to any fault of the series, but to an abundance of nerdy, geeky, blockbustery cinematic goodness.  I wouldn't call Potter's decade a golden age for genre movies; during the interim after the Archon Masquerade, but before the awards, music was playing, movie music, the genre's greatest hits.  The golden age was from Jaws to Jedi.  This is also why Prometheus has such a special anticipation.  Ridley Scott hasn't done a Sci-Fi movie since the Golden Age, and both of his contributions to Sci-Fi back then, are still just as watchable, no, even more watchable today, if only because the average home theater today is really delivering a better experience than most of the few screen, dimly projected, an old lady's hair in your way, my arm is stuck to the seat,would someone close the door the sun is shining on the screen (Did NOT make that up!!!!) theaters we got to view Empire, and Khan in.

I haven't seen most of the movies that are topping the "critical" lists yet.  Most of those lists though are made out of buzz, and fashion.  Almost no one ever says what they like anymore.  Well, I apparently liked X-Men: First Class quite a bit.  I almost can't imagine how much I'd love this movie it it'd been about Jean, Scott, Warren and Hank.  But, had they been in this movie, it wouldn't have been about Erik and Charles.  That's the beauty of the X-Men comics, the good characters' powers and code names are completely irrelevant.  Cyclops the guy who can shoot beams out of his eyes isn't important.  Scott, the guy Jean chooses over Warren, and later Logan, is.  Sounds a bit like Twilight... I'll gag later.  But I don't think Bella ever becomes a God powered, nearly immortal entity that is wanted dead by galactic superpowers, nor has a clone who will make a demonic pact unleashing Hell on earth, or that their child will come back from the future to be a cybernetic bad-ass!  On to the list!

Oh, at #14:  That's this...

An animated anthology starring Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan.  NOT a Ryan Reynolds stripped naked except for underwear to fight the potty monster who can be defeated by what every rookie lantern is taught in basic training.  Mad at me for spoiling it?  No.  Because you deserve a better Green Lantern movie than that.  Oh, and If I hate the live action one so much, why is it at #37?  Ahead of much better movies?  I LOVE Green Lantern.  I love the idea of it being a live action movie just that much.  There were some... a few good, and enjoyable things of that movie.  Pirates 4 is a fine movie, just disappointing to it's pedigree.  And, Game of Shadows... I'll revisit it at some point.  Good friends with good taste love this movie.  But, for right now, Sherlock Neo and the Sundance Kid in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen just doesn't do it for me.

1. X-Men: First Class
2. Harry Potter the Deathly Hallows: Part II
3. Captain America: The First Avenger
4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
5. Thor
6. The Muppets
7. Paul
8. Conan the Barbarian
9. Too Big to Fail
10. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
11. All-Star Superman
12. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
13. Fright Night
14. Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
15. Source Code
16. Batman: Year One
17. Paranormal Activity 3
18. The Adventures of Tintin
19. Kung Fu Panda 2
20. The Adjustment Bureau
21. Dylan Dog: Dead of Night
22. Larry Crowne
23. Cowboys & Aliens
24. Bad Teacher
25. Rango
26. Thor: Tales of Asgard
27. Your Highness
28. The Three Musketeers
29. Fast Five
30. Arthur
31. Midnight in Paris
32. Sucker Punch
33. Super 8
34. No Strings Attached
35. Red Riding Hood
36. Final Destination 5
37. Green Lantern
38. Drive Angry
39. The Lincoln Lawyer
40. Mars Needs Moms!
41. Season of the Witch
42. The Green Hornet
43. Red State
44. The Smurfs
45. Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides
46. Atlas Shrugged: Part 1
47. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
48. Bridesmaids
49. Immortals
50. The Tree of Life
51. Just Go with It
52. Margin Call
53. The Help
54. Cars 2
55. Battle: Los Angeles
56. The Eagle
57. Gnomeo and Juliet
58. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1
59. Rio
60. Priest
61. Limitless
62. The Sunset Limited
63. I Am Number Four
64. Sanctum
65. Almighty Thor
66. Hall Pass

Favoritest Movies of 1983

This is the first list for comparisons against a member of the OT.  Maybe the second place movie should get its poster shown here...

There.  The Meaning of Life.  Philosophers spent centuries trying to figure it out, proving that they weren't nearly as brilliant or as funny as Monty Python.  Seriously, Meaning of Life isn't a satisfying post topper... Jedi though is year overkill.  It's looking at a top 5 ever seat by the end of this.

Return of the Jedi dominated the entire year, especially if you were 8 years old.  Last day of 2nd grade, we got to watch a movie, and the teachers said that they wanted to get Return of the Jedi, but it wasn't available, so we got to watch Star Wars.  Best day of 2nd grade.

1. Return of the Jedi
2. Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
3. Nate and Hayes
4. Never Say Never Again
5. WarGames
6. Octopussy
7. Twilight Zone: The Movie
8. Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island
9. Sudden Impact
10. Blue Thunder
11. The Right Stuff
12. Fire and Ice
13. The Keep
14. National Lampoon's Vacation
15. Bill Cosby: Himself
16. Trading Places
17. Brainstorm
18. Superman III
19. The Big Chill
20. Rock and Rule
21. The Dead Zone
22. Risky Business
23. To Be or Not to Be
24. Hercules
25. Project A
26. Terms of Endearment
27. Mr. Mom
28. The Star Chamber
29. Strange Invaders
30. The Outsiders
31. Flashdance
32. Lone Wolf McQuade
33. Valley Girl
34. Silkwood
35. Videodrome
36. Spacehunter
37. All the Right Moves
38. Eddie and the Cruisers
39. Christine
40. The Man with Two Brains
41. Max Dugan Returns
42. Yor Hunter From The Future
43. D.C. Cab
44. Psycho II
45. Easy Money
46. Scarface
47. Staying Alive
48. A Christmas Story
49. Jaws 3-D

Favoritest Movies of 1984

Wow, what a year.  When you want to say; 'they don't make them like that anymore!' Point here, 1984.  You will hate parts of this list.  You'll disagree with big segments of it.  You'll cry fowl, question my sanity... but you too will have a handful or two of all time favorites, or movies you just plain love from this year.  I won't go into the winner, as the highest echelon of my favorite movies ever will each get a spotlight essay, and Dune practically has a reserved seat, spoiler, I also hate this movie, and think it has many many flaws.  Either way; 27 years ago today, it came to theaters, and now wins it's year 100%!

Happy anniversary Dune!

1. Dune
2. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
3. 2010
4. Ghostbusters
5. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
6. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
7. The Terminator
8. The NeverEnding Story
9. Gremlins
10. Beverly Hills Cop
11. The Natural
12. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
13. Night of the Comet
14. Starman
15. The Karate Kid
16. The Last Starfighter
17. Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
18. Amadeus
19. Police Academy
20. The Bounty
21. Top Secret!
22. Dreamscape
23. The Muppets Take Manhattan
24. Splash
25. Romancing the Stone
26. Runaway
27. A Nightmare on Elm Street
28. The Return of Godzilla (also known as "Godzilla 1985")
29. Cloak & Dagger
30. The Killing Fields
31. The Woman in Red
32. The Dungeonmaster
33. Tightrope
34. Footloose
35. The Warrior and the Sorceress
36. Sword of the Valiant
37. Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
38. Tank
39. Supergirl
40. City Heat
41. 1984
42. All of Me
43. The Philadelphia Experiment
44. Red Dawn
45. Cannonball Run II
46. This Is Spinal Tap
47. Firestarter
48. Moscow on the Hudson
49. Swing Shift
50. Micki + Maude
51. The River
52. Revenge of the Nerds
53. C.H.U.D.
54. Missing in Action
55. Sixteen Candles
56. The Cotton Club
57. Against All Odds
58. A Passage to India
59. Bolero
60. Bachelor Party
61. The Naked Face
62. Purple Rain
63. Making the Grade
64. The Brother from Another Planet
65. Just the Way You Are
66. Rhinestone
67. Children of the Corn

Favoritest Movies of 1985

There's something unsatisfying about this.  Yay, the popular movie won... Back to the Future isn't a geeky movie or a nerdy movie.  It's the geek movie that your parents liked too.  I was kinda rooting for Starchaser, but then things like honesty creep into the equation.  As much as I do enjoy Starchaser, it's far from Back to the Future, and that can be said for pretty much every movie except Explorers in 1985.  I'd do a gag about the perfect 1985 movie, but you're looking at it.  A teen involved in some screwy science stuff, nearly a dozen on just my list.

The real shocker is second place, A View to a Kill.  This is far from my favorite Bond movie, and I was shocked, even almost ashamed when I saw that it scored so high. But, there is a remnant of remembering the ad for it in the newspaper, wanting to see it in the theater, and not getting to. My first theatrical Bond would be The Living Daylights.  A shock, a surprise, and somehow it fits. It's aged better than many movies on this list, plus, I really dig The Saint and John Steed running around for a bit.

Even though so many titles from these year seem almost scared because of the age we were, or the memories they're attached to, when they have to compete with each other, most of these movies become mortal.  The Breakfast Club is a legendary movie, and seminal to our generation, but St. Elmo's fire wants that spot too.

1. Back to the Future
2. A View to a Kill
3. Explorers
4. Vampire Hunter D
5. Starchaser: The Legend of Orin
6. Brazil
7. Enemy Mine
8. Silverado
9. Ran
10. Legend
11. Pale Rider
12. Clue
13. Young Sherlock Holmes
14. Return to Oz
15. Commando
16. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
17. The Breakfast Club
18. The Black Cauldron
19. The Goonies
20. Cocoon
21. Weird Science
22. The Quiet Earth
23. Red Sonja
24. St. Elmo's Fire
25. Ladyhawke
26. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
27. The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission
28. King Solomon's Mines
29. Fletch
30. My Science Project
31. Pee-wee's Big Adventure
32. Real Genius
33. Transylvania 6-5000
34. Here Come the Littles
35. Fright Night
36. Jagged Edge
37. Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
38. Rocky IV
39. Teen Wolf
40. Rambo: First Blood Part II
41. The Jewel of the Nile
42. Silver Bullet
43. Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird
44. European Vacation
45. Witness
46. Desperately Seeking Susan
47. Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins
48. The Care Bears Movie
49. Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend
50. Prizzi's Honor
51. Murphy's Romance
52. Out of Africa
53. Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer
54. The Peanut Butter Solution
55. The Man with One Red Shoe
56. Mask
57. El caballero del dragón
58. A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge
59. Day of the Dead
60. Once Bitten
61. Creature
62. Santa Claus
63. Girls Just Want to Have Fun
64. Invasion U.S.A.
65. Summer Rental
66. Heaven Help Us
67. Death Wish 3
68. Turk 182!
69. The Falcon and the Snowman

Favoritest Movies of 1986

At the outset of the 1986 pairings, I thought; 'If a good movie gets left behind this is the year they'll get left behind from.'  One of those I know I'll hear arguments about, requires a confession; I just don't like Ferris Bueller's Day Off as much as you.  It's a fun movie, it's good, it's memorable, it's quotable, and it's made for every person who's ever been content with a C+ on a report card, who 'just enough' was acceptable for.  There's nothing wrong with that; it can keep the lights on and beer in the fridge, but I don't drink beer either, or less relevantly eat any ethnic food that I can think of.  But, I analyzed Bueller on his own merits, and ignored that the cast contains Ben Stein, who is human tea tree oil to this lowly ant.   

One of the hardest calls to make in the entire history of making these lists: Star Trek IV vs Project A-Ko.  I couldn't let it go to a tie.  Really the entire lineup of the top 4 were difficult pairings to decide, and I'd looked for poster images for each of them, I almost ruled against Transformers because it was on the blog wallpaper, but because I had no real internal debate that Transformers should top A-Ko, then logically I must like Transformers more than Star Trek IV... but their positions may change in the decade race.  I can see now 1986 will be going with a major contingent into the finals, probably everything from Big Trouble in Little China up.

but not poster composition

Captain EO


For most of the pairings, a movie was on the list and competing that, when near completion, I had to eliminate, Captain EO.  A long time ago, when compiling the titles, Looney Tunes presented a problem of length, and I'd decided not to include them.  I haven't been including Pixar shorts, but EO at 17 minutes is a bit longer than most of these, it's far from long enough to be a "movie".  I've included TV movies, direct to video movies, OVA, I've had the broadest consideration of what is a movie, but I can't go that short.
We can imagine that Captain EO was a glimpse of what we didn't get in 1986; Episode VII or I.  Though a bit of it's look is less sophisticated than even Return of the Jedi, It's kinda doing a Ginger Rogers 'backwards and in heels' trick by looking like a Star Wars movie, in 3D.  On top of that, the sci-fi update on the Thriller zombies were the prototypes of the Borg and their Queen.  If Captain EO had been a feature, it would have been easily top-10 for the year.  Even as it was, a shallow, brief, half music video, it was in the 70th percentile, but EPCOT is still my favorite of the parks.  I wish the crap were taken off spaceship earth, and I wish the... I wish EPCOT would return to its nerdier, closer to original state. 

It's a bit funny the way giving a tie to two movies works out; in last place, The Money Pit had a tie with Armed and Dangerous.  Armed and Dangerous shared a tie vote with Club Paradise, which had a tie with Hoosiers, (Okay, I know what you just thought, but Club Paradise had Peter O'Toole in it!) which had a tie with SpaceCamp, which had a tie with The Great Mouse Detective, which had a tie with The Karate Kid, Part II, which had a tie with Big Trouble in Little China, which had a tie with Labyrinth.


Well here's the list with the most rewatchable top 5 probably of all the lists so far.

1. The Transformers: The Movie
2. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
3. Project A-ko
4. Highlander
5. Aliens
6. Labyrinth
7. Top Gun
8. Invaders from Mars
9. Laputa: Castle in the Sky
10. Big Trouble in Little China
11. Flight of the Navigator
12. The Karate Kid, Part II
13. Howard the Duck
14. Short Circuit
15. King Kong Lives
16. Crocodile Dundee
17. The Great Mouse Detective
18. SpaceCamp
19. Little Shop of Horrors
20. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
21. Heartbreak Ridge
22. Iron Eagle
23. The Fly
24. Black Moon Rising
25. An American Tail
26. The Big Easy
27. Lucas
28. The Golden Child
29. Raw Deal
30. Platoon
31. Hoosiers
32. Manhunter
33. The Delta Force
34. Ruthless People
35. Solarbabies
36. Gung Ho!
37. GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords
38. F/X
39. Castaway
40. Critters
41. Pirates
42. Peggy Sue Got Married
43. ¡Three Amigos!
44. Firewalker
45. Stand by Me
46. Club Paradise
47. The Manhattan Project
48. The Color of Money
49. 9½ Weeks
50. Pretty in Pink
51. Cobra
52. The Mosquito Coast
53. Poltergeist II: The Other Side
54. Troll 2
55. The Morning After
56. Jumpin' Jack Flash
57. House
58. Armed and Dangerous
59. Murphhy's Law
60. Down and Out in Beverly Hills
61. No Mercy
62. Shanghai Surprise
63. The Money Pit

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

Favoritest Movies of 1987

This was the type of year that makes these lists so fun to do.  There was no runaway winner, no obvious one at the outset, when the final scores appeared, less than 2% separates The 4th spot from the top spot, but Robo deserves to be there.  This is one of those results that made me actually appreciate the movie more for discovering that it won.  For every argument that The Princess Bride deserves it more, the same might be able to be said for No Way Out.  I feel I cheated a certain movie to the bottom of the list, but there are scarcely few more movies that deserve the confines of Abaddon than Jaws: The Revenge.  It's director Joseph Sergent also directed one of the movies that will appear, probably somewhere close to the top of the All-Time list, Colossus The Forbin Project, as will the original Jaws.  The near perfection found in both of these makes this all the worse.  Would this movie have been any dumber if the shark wore a Hawaiian shirt?

Anyway, I still recall us renting Robocop on VHS for the first time.  Yup, that's how I first saw it.

1. RoboCop
2. The Princess Bride
3. No Way Out
4. Predator
5. G.I. Joe: The Movie
6. Spaceballs
7. The Living Daylights
8. Lethal Weapon
9. The Brave Little Toaster
10. Beverly Hills Cop II
11. *batteries not included
12. Empire of the Sun
13. The Untouchables
14. The Last Emperor
15. Masters of the Universe
16. Wings of Honneamise
17. The Monster Squad
18. Broadcast News
19. Dirty Dancing
20. Innerspace
21. Project A-Ko 2: Daitokuji zaibatsu no inbô
22. Swimming to Cambodia
23. Gor
24. The Fourth Protocol
25. The Running Man
26. Evil Dead II
27. Harry and the Hendersons
28. Wings of Desire
29. The Chipmunk Adventure
30. Mannequin
31. The Lost Boys
32. Eddie Murphy Raw
33. Full Metal Jacket
34. Wall Street
35. Project X
36. The Big Easy
37. The Puppetoon Movie
38. 3 Men and a Baby
39. Adventures in Babysitting
40. Good Morning, Vietnam
41. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
42. The Witches of Eastwick
43. Time of the Apes
44. Dragnet
45. Ishtar
46. Some Kind of Wonderful
47. Stakeout
48. Summer School
49. Fatal Attraction
50. Hellraiser
51. The Secret of My Succe$s
52. Raising Arizona
53. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
54. Benji the Hunted
55. Blind Date
56. Outrageous Fortune
57. Cherry 2000
58. Overboard
59. Who's That Girl
60. Roxanne
61. Light of Day
62. Suspect
63. Leonard Part 6
64. La Bamba
65. Teen Wolf Too
66. Baby Boom
67. Throw Momma from the Train
68. Ernest Goes to Camp
69. Hello Again
70. Moonstruck
71. Prince of Darkness
72. Over the Top
73. Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
74. Burglar
75. Tin Men
76. Like Father Like Son
77. The Principal
78. Jaws: The Revenge

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

Favoritest Movies of 1988

So, I was working on this list a few days ago, and looking up a movie I've always enjoyed  The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, to honestly put it, it's been a few years since I've seen it, and I forgot who played the title role.  He was familiar, on the tip of my tongue, and in something else... but I couldn't summon the memory.  Nothing makes the brain more feeble or just plain lazy than Googling something rather than forcing the brain to actually recall the information.  Why think?  Wikipedia is right there in the search bar.  Oh, of course, John Neville was Baron Munchausen!  Well, I just couldn't put the face to name since he was wearing that prosthetic nose, and all that make-up... and now this morning, John Neville has just passed away.  So, to John Neville, the world wasn't tired of you.

1. Akira
2. Gandahar (Light Years)
3. U2: Rattle and Hum
4. Die Hard
5. Tucker: The Man and His Dream
6. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
7. Willow
8. Beetlejuice
9. Short Circuit 2
10. Working Girl
11. Without a Clue
12. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
13. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
14. They Live
15. Rain Man
16. Dangerous Liaisons
17. My Neighbor Totoro
18. Grave of the Fireflies
19. Crocodile Dundee II
20. Alien Nation
21. Earth Girls Are Easy
22. Young Guns
23. Twins
24. A Fish Called Wanda
25. Biloxi Blues
26. The Land Before Time
27. The Dead Pool
28. Red Heat
29. Feds
30. Scrooged
31. The Blob
32. My Stepmother Is an Alien
33. Vibes
34. Daffy Duck's Quackbusters
35. High Spirits
36. The Big Blue
37. Coming to America
38. Big
39. Gorillas in the Mist
40. Caddyshack II
41. Bull Durham
42. Taffin
43. She's Having a Baby
44. The Presidio
45. Eight Men Out
46. The Accidental Tourist
47. Action Jackson
48. Stand and Deliver
49. Oliver & Company
50. Big Top Pee-wee
51. Married to the Mob
52. Young Einstein
53. D.O.A.
54. Tequila Sunrise
55. The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking
56. Child's Play
57. Iron Eagle II
58. The Bear
59. The Last Temptation of Christ
60. The Great Outdoors
61. Cocktail
62. 18 Again!
63. Midnight Run
64. Mystic Pizza
65. Bird
66. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
67. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
68. License to Drive
69. Bat*21
70. Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach
71. Rambo III
72. Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw
73. Bloodsport
74. Cocoon: The Return
75. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
76. Mac and Me
77. Fright Night Part 2
78. Funny Farm
79. Bright Lights, Big City
80. Big Business
81. Clean and Sober
82. Frantic
83. Mississippi Burning
84. Buster
85. Ernest Saves Christmas
86. Cop
87. Punchline
88. Hot to Trot

John Neville 1925 - 2011

Favoritest Movies of 1989

 Some years last months, 1989 was almost a decade by itself.  The last few months of Junior High took forever, but ended with our group of friends back then all going to see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!  Which is just about the happiest memory I can recount about a group of friends that, hanging out with any of them 1 on 1, was awesome, but social groups larger than 4 with only one gender represented tend to fall apart.  Look at Voltron; 5 guys, forget it.  4 dudes and a chick, okay.  Single gender rock bands with more than four members? There were 5 of us, and 40% of the group was named Mike, and everyone in the country had a Batman shirt.

So let me present the Perfect 1989 movie:

Little Kill & The Dead Dream... V Part II

It'd star Kevin Costner as a Viet Nam vet, unjustly sent to prison where he died.  But now he's back! And partnered with a dog!  And Is going to an underwater research facility where all the excitement will happen!  Oh the quirky researchers in the underwater lab; Dan Aykroyd, and Keanu Reeves.  Tom Hanks voices the Dogs thoughts. 

Which, if you saw most of the movies on this list, is the movie that would form in your brain... as for the real movies of 1989;

1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2. Henry V
3. The Abyss
4. Back to the Future Part II
5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
6. Batman
7. Field of Dreams
8. Lethal Weapon 2
9. Fat Man and Little Boy
10. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
11. Kiki's Delivery Service
12. Major League
13. The Little Mermaid
14. Godzilla vs. Biollante
15. Arena
16. Always
17. The War of the Roses
18. UHF
19. The Fly II
20. Black Rain
21. Ghostbusters II
22. Glory
23. Road House
24. Tango & Cash
25. Babar: The Movie
26. Licence to Kill
27. Heathers
28. When Harry Met Sally...
29. Weekend at Bernie's
30. The Karate Kid, Part III
31. The Experts
32. Police Academy 6: City Under Siege
33. Great Balls of Fire!
34. Dead Poets Society
35. Chances Are
36. Hard to Kill
37. The Dream Team
38. She's Out of Control
39. Look Who's Talking
40. Driving Miss Daisy
41. Gross Anatomy
42. Say Anything...
43. Leviathan
44. Dream a Little Dream
45. Lean on Me
46. Cyborg
47. Parenthood
48. Turner & Hooch
49. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
50. Skin Deep
51. Troop Beverly Hills
52. Blaze
53. Her Alibi
54. The 'Burbs
55. The Fabulous Baker Boys
56. Dead Calm
57. Best of the Best
58. Uncle Buck
59. How to Get Ahead in Advertising
60. K-9
61. Pink Cadillac
62. The Wizard
63. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
64. The Punisher
65. Do the Right Thing
66. Sex, lies, and videotape
67. Steel Magnolias
68. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
69. Night Game
70. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
71. Pet Sematary
72. Roger & Me
73. Worth Winning
74. All Dogs Go To Heaven
75. Deepstar Six
76. Kickboxer
77. Three Fugitives
78. Fletch Lives
79. Red Scorpion
80. Dead Bang
81. Lock Up
82. An Innocent Man
83. Sea of Love
84. Born on the Fourth of July
85. Casualties of War
86. The January Man

Favoritest 50 Movies of the '90's!!!

They signed their names.  When I sorted the numbers in Excel, I expected either Jurassic Park, or Phantom Menace, Hunt for Red October, or Galaxy Quest to grab the top spot.  But instead of the dawn of CG's dominance in effects or the return of Star Wars, a goodbye took the top score out of the most like 180 movies of a decade.  Although, from viewing one, I can't think of a bad thought I've ever had about this movie, maybe I'm just whitewashing my memory to justify the result.

• Jurassic Park... (What, could have had the aviary? please self, you're a whore for Jurassic Park!)  
• Contact? Yes, The beach and the dad are a letdown to my inner 5 year old who wants to see aliens...
• The American President... Okay, no complaints there either, although for awhile I think I enjoyed it more in (impending blasphamy... 3, 2, 1...) in Pan & Scan!!  But that just shows how much my father watched the VHS of it [ A: Daily ;) ].  There were some times he'd rewind it, and play it again.
• Episode I... No!  I won't say one bad thing about Star Wars episode I.  Only because I remember a time when there was more negative speech about that movie on the internet than porn, and The Matrix was the next big thing.  But, I think I found forgiveness on this decade round for The Matrix.

1. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country 
2. Jurassic Park 
3. Contact 
4. The American President 
5. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 
6. Starship Troopers 
7. The Lion King 
8. Titanic 
9. The Hunt for Red October 
10. Galaxy Quest 
11. Aladdin 
12. Stargate 
13. Star Trek: First Contact 
14. Hook 
15. The Lost World: Jurassic Park 
16. Mulan 
17. Army of Darkness 
18. Beauty and the Beast
19. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
20. Independence Day 
21. The Thomas Crown Affair
22. Mallrats 
23. The Fifth Element 
24. The Rock 
25. Bicentennial Man 
26. Office Space 
27. The Matrix 
28. Pretty Woman 
29. Clerks 
30. The Mummy 
31. True Lies 
32. A Few Good Men 
33. Armageddon 
34. Shakespeare in Love 
35. Schindler's List 
36. Maverick 
37. Dave 
38. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
39. Total Recall
40. Star Trek Generations 
41. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 
42. Pulp Fiction 
43. Basic Instinct 
44. Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh) 
45. Terminator 2: Judgment Day 
46. The Cutting Edge 
47. Léon 
48. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 
49. Princess Mononoke 
50. Tomorrow Never Dies

And I still don't have a cutoff for the ones that go to the "All Time" Round... although the 80th percentile is looking good.

Favoritest Movies of 1990

1990 was around when my mother left.  I don't remember when that was exactly, which seems odd because in the type of movies that take place in the only world the isipid Chelsea Handler can understand, the date of some major family trauma is etched in stone and Charlton Heston comes down from the higher echelon of your psyche with a cheap plastic cup bearing the date of the one, one offending day and a copy of the childhood home game.

Of course, when I watch movies that take plae in the only world palpable to Chelsea, I tend to think they're ridiculous fantasies because of all the concessions, contrivances, conveniences, and coincidences.  I don't remember the date my mother left, but heck it was the second time she did.  The first time being in fourth grade.  I had enough going on with starting High School, which is when she promised she would leave after she had come back the first time back in fourth grade...  



The benefit to my mother's abandonment of my father and I, aside from;

We went two summers in a row... Divorce is screwed up.

The side benefits were all the other overtures of bonding and distraction my father engaged in.  Star Trek Conventions; every one within driving distance.  The local sci-fi convention called Archon, renting movies on a weekly or better basis, going to the movies would become more and more regular until being a weekly habit as well, including going to the movies on Christmas, the first of which was Godfather Part III.  We were looking forward to it for months!  We had a Godfather movie marathon the week prior... (It's number 62, out of 109)

Trivial side note:  Back then, I was saving the ads for movies from Entertainment Weekly.  Full page movie ads were, the movie poster.  Also back then, my father and I kept a list of movies we saw together on the front of the refrigerator, and would rank them at the end of the year.
 
Well, this was the last list of the '90's, 181 movies made it into the fave of the decade round; that's 16,290 matchups, of which this lot in blue below me is responsible for 3087 of, or 19%.  So, I'll get to that...

1. The Hunt for Red October
2. Pretty Woman
3. Dances with Wolves
4. Back to the Future Part III
5. Pump Up the Volume
6. Total Recall
7. Spaced Invaders
8. By Dawn's Early Light
9. Predator 2
10. Memphis Belle
11. Frankenstein Unbound
12. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
13. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
14. RoboCop 2
15. DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
16. Robot Jox
17. Die Hard 2
18. Treasure Island
19. Edward Scissorhands
20. White Hunter, Black Heart
21. La Femme Nikita
22. Dick Tracy
23. Ghost
24. Tremors
25. The Rescuers Down Under
26. A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia
27. Quigley Down Under
28. Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
29. Marked for Death
30. Darkman
31. Men at Work
32. Young Guns II
33. Reversal of Fortune
34. Navy SEALs
35. Dreams
36. Narrow Margin
37. Hard to Kill
38. Kindergarten Cop
39. Vincent & Theo
40. Bird on a Wire
41. Jetsons: The Movie
42. The Bonfire of the Vanities
43. Hamlet
44. Quick Change
45. I Come in Peace
46. Postcards from the Edge
47. Days of Thunder
48. I Love You to Death
49. Joe Versus the Volcano
50. The Rookie
51. Captain America
52. The Guyver
53. My Blue Heaven
54. Air America
55. Taking Care of Business
56. Presumed Innocent
57. Short Time
58. Nuns on the Run
59. Repossessed
60. Blind Fury
61. Nightbreed
62. The Godfather Part III
63. Home Alone
64. Internal Affairs
65. Mr. Destiny
66. Green Card
67. The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter
68. Loose Cannons
69. Pacific Heights
70. Arachnophobia
71. Fire Birds
72. Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
73. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
74. Goodfellas
75. Rocky V
76. The Freshman
77. Ju Dou
78. Miller's Crossing
79. The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
80. The Russia House
81. Awakenings
82. Three Men and a Little Lady
83. Another 48 Hrs.
84. Look Who's Talking Too
85. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
86. Crash and Burn
87. Misery
88. Cyrano de Bergerac
89. Flatliners
90. Mermaids
91. Lord of the Flies
92. Cadillac Man
93. Child's Play 2
94. Henry & June
95. The Two Jakes
96. Blue Steel
97. The Krays
98. Jacob's Ladder
99. Stanley & Iris
100. Wild at Heart
101. Wild Orchid
102. The Witches
103. Miami Blues
104. Revenge
105. White Palace
106. Stella
107. King of New York
108. Problem Child
109. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

 

Favoritest Movies of 1991

It seems natural that the first (working backwards) original cast Trek would win the year, but I actually wanted a specific movie to loose.  I really really wanted it to loose, but it was beat out by two movies that I apparently like even less... more on them at the bottom of the list...

If I'd done this list 20 years ago, 2nd place would probably be different, I don't know where Hook would have placed back then, but I remember having problems with the color temperature of the lighting being too indoor for it's outdoor location.  Star Trek VI was an event saying goodbye to the original cast, Hook wasn't a goodbye in presentation, but I recall an on-set interview before Hook's release with Spielberg; "Maybe Hook is going to be the last big show I put on."¹   Hook would be the least 'dark' Spielberg movie for seventeen years... As I'm typing this, my daughter is reading over my shoulder and asks; "What's Hook?" Answer, a movie in need of a beautiful Blu-Ray release.

1. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
2. Hook
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
5. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
6. The Rocketeer
7. JFK
8. Defending Your Life
9. The Addams Family
10. Dead Again
11. Shattered
12. Once Upon a Time in China
13. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
14. City Slickers
15. The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
16. Until the End of the World
17. Hot Shots!
18. Thelma & Louise
19. The Silence of the Lambs
20. For The Boys
21. Father of the Bride
22. The Doors
23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
24. Truth or Dare
25. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
26. Point Break
27. Class Action
28. The Hard Way
29. Bugsy
30. Doc Hollywood
31. Out for Justice
32. Return to the Blue Lagoon
33. Knight Rider 2000
34. Necessary Roughness
35. Soapdish
36. Cape Fear
37. Flight of the Intruder
38. Once A Thief
39. The Last Boy Scout
40. Backdraft
41. Billy Bathgate
42. L.A. Story
43. What About Bob?
44. The Fisher King
45. Grand Canyon
46. Hudson Hawk
47. Mobsters
48. An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
49. True Colors
50. Suburban Commando
51. Delirious
52. Guilty by Suspicion
53. Other People's Money
54. White Fang
55. Regarding Henry
56. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
57. King Ralph
58. Curly Sue
59. Timebomb
60. Pure Luck
61. Fried Green Tomatoes
62. F/X2
63. Stone Cold
64. The Perfect Weapon
65. Naked Lunch
66. Eve Of Destruction
67. The Doctor
68. Rover Dangerfield
69. Little Man Tate
70. Toy Soldiers         
71. Life Stinks
72. Sleeping with the Enemy
73. The Prince of Tides
74. Oscar
75. Dying Young
76. Frankie and Johnny
77. Rush
78. The Marrying Man
79. Nothing But Trouble
80. Problem Child 2
81. Highlander II: The Quickening
82. My Girl
83. The Super

Highlander II is such a frakking failure of a movie, it even failed to make it to the bottom of the list!  A Completely forgotten, and completely forgettable Joe Pesci movie made it to the bottom.  Way to fail, at EVERYTHING Highlander II, but the bottom of this one is a bit of a cesspool.  Oh, #77 there, that's the movie that gave us Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven.  I'm waiting for someone to compile in a book or blog or somewhere, a collection of songs everyone knows, that came to us via completely forgotten movies.

1] Also quoted in The films of Steven Spielberg  By Douglas Brode

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

Favoritest Movies of 1992

The top few movies aside, this year in retrospect was boring.  Boring to look back on.  Most of the scores given were "0.5"; a tie between two movies, since most of these are movies I couldn't care to think about ever again.  There's a lot of "caught it on cable" here.  I can't believe I watched half of these.  Worse still, is that nothing better was on at the time.  Of the top 10, I only saw 5 of them in the theater, and only one of the top 10 was a "caught it on cable", The Player.  That's one of those movies that keeps you having cable, finding one like that... What a line of crap.  If not for cable, I would have rented The Player... Chaplin, that was on cable... should've rented it, no DVR's back then... Speaking of differences Aladdin 3D, make this happen Disney!  Lion King worked pretty well, but this isn't on your list of 3D upgrades?

1. Aladdin (Tie)
2. Army of Darkness (Tie)
3. A Few Good Men
4. Basic Instinct
5. The Cutting Edge
6. Sneakers
7. A League of Their Own
8. Glengarry Glen Ross
9. Baraka
10. The Player
11. Hard Boiled
12. Chaplin
13. Medicine Man
14. Peter's Friends
15. Freejack
16. Bram Stoker's Dracula
17. Split Second
18. Lethal Weapon 3
19. The Lover
20. Fifty/Fifty
21. The Distinguished Gentleman
22. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
23. The Crying Game
24. Unforgiven
25. Death Becomes Her
26. Porco Rosso
27. Batman Returns
28. Shining Through
29. Aces: Iron Eagle III
30. Alien 3
31. Buffy The Vampire Slayer
32. Stay Tuned
33. School Ties
34. El Mariachi
35. Universal Soldier
36. Reservoir Dogs
37. Patriot Games
38. The Last of the Mohicans
39. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
40. White Sands
41. Cool World,
42. The Muppet Christmas Carol
43. Far and Away
44. Hoffa
45. Wayne's World
46. Under Siege
47. Scent of a Woman
48. Innocent Blood
49. My Cousin Vinny
50. Rapid Fire
51. Nemesis
52. Kuffs
53. Passenger 57
54. Sleepwalkers
55. 1492: Conquest of Paradise
56. Captain Ron
57. Rock-a-Doodle
58. Final Analysis
59. The Babe
60. The Lawnmower Man
61. Forever Young
62. K2: The Ultimate High
63. Leap of Faith
64. The Mighty Ducks
65. Malcolm X
66. Thunderheart
67. The Bodyguard
68. Toys
69. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
70. Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
71. Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives
72. Newsies
73. Radio Flyer
74. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
75. Unlawful Entry
76. Beethoven
77. Sidekicks
78. Hero
79. 3 Ninjas
80. Man Trouble
81. Mr. Baseball
82. Consenting Adults
83. Singles
84. Single White Female
85. Sister Act
86. A River Runs Through It
87. Jennifer Eight
88. Of Mice and Men
89. Love Potion No. 9
90. The Mambo Kings
91. The Waterdance
92. White Men Can't Jump
93. Article 99
94. Passion Fish
95. American Me
96. Straight Talk
97. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
98. Boomerang
99. Orlando
100. Mr. Saturday Night
101. Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
102. Class Act
103. Honeymoon in Vegas
104. HouseSitter
105. The Public Eye

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

Favoritest Movies of 1993

Oh 1993... What a boring list of movies to compare and contrast.  What were you trying to be, a list of reasons to not watch movies on cable?  There's at least a 100 squandered hours lying at the bottom of this list of movies that would have been better off being unseen mysteries.  More tedious was the fact that I had the Jurassic Park poster ready to go.  I'm trying to discover what my favorite movies are, not look at a pile and pick out the only one I've rewatched in the past decade. (okay that's an overstatement... I've watched Falling Down, Tombstone, Totoro, Dave, and a few minutes of Super Mario Brothers all in the last couple years.)

Not a video, just the only picture found on the web.

But Movies are entertainment.  And in that category, 1993 produced a bigger winner than any of these movies, but first... a loser;  Bigfoot style pizza.  Gaming, and these monsters, especially Elicia''s attempt to emulate Pizza Hut's Bigfoot seen here were an amazing combination.  I don't miss the pizza hut one so much since, well, If I were to list 18 different pizza places, Pizza Hut would come in 7th.  That's not a bad thing but Pizza Hut just isn't the same unless you're walking into a big red hut with that aroma and  table top version of Galaga to beg your parents for a quarter to go play.  But, this list is about 1993, And I've gone off into the wee 80's.  So, really the winner for 1993 should be;

Well, you're not a movie.  I've spent to much money on you.  I've regretted our break-up.  You've killed so many hours, and caused so much fun and pain.

  Oh how I should have listened to that old woman that wandered into my comic shop, Who, like the Soothsayer to Ceaser told me to get Magic.  If only I'd looked it up on the internet. ;) 

1. Jurassic Park
2. Schindler's List
3. The Fugitive
4. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
5. Dave
6. The Firm
7. My Neighbor Totoro
8. Tombstone
9. Robin Hood: Men in Tights
10. Demolition Man
11. Falling Down
12. Much Ado About Nothing
13. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
14. Groundhog Day
15. Hot Shots! Part Deux
16. The Legend
17. True Romance
18. Addams Family Values
19. In the Line of Fire
20. Robot Wars: Robot Jox 2
21. The Three Musketeers
22. Grumpy Old Men
23. Coneheads
24. Three Colors: Blue
25. Being Human
26. Last Action Hero
27. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
28. Mrs. Doubtfire
29. The Nightmare Before Christmas
30. Needful Things
31. Point of No Return
32. The Joy Luck Club
33. Rising Sun
34. Short Cuts
35. National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
36. Fire in the Sky
37. Benny & Joon
38. Indecent Proposal
39. Cliffhanger
40. Fearless
41. Malice
42. Crime Story
43. Farewell My Concubine
44. Dazed and Confused
45. Sleepless in Seattle
46. Fatal Instinct
47. So I Married an Axe Murderer
48. Wayne's World 2
49. Hexed
50. Hard Target
51. Striking Distance
52. We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
53. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
54. What's Love Got to Do With It
55. Sliver
56. The Crush
57. Nowhere to Run
58. Kalifornia
59. A Perfect World
60. Free Willy
61. Little Buddha
62. The Real McCoy
63. Faraway, So Close!
64. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
65. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
66. In the Name of the Father
67. Son in Law
68. For Love or Money
69. Robocop 3
70. Judgment Night
71. Weekend at Bernie's II
72. Body of Evidence
73. Undercover Blues
74. Life with Mikey
75. The Temp
76. Cool Runnings
77. Mad Dog and Glory
78. Sniper
79. Alive
80. Look Who's Talking Now
81. Born Yesterday
82. The Man Without a Face
83. Dennis the Menace
84. Mr. Nanny
85. Carnosaur
86. Carlito's Way
87. Sommersby
88. The Meteor Man
89. Untamed Heart
90. Amos & Andrew
91. Hocus Pocus
92. My Life
93. Made in America
94. Boxing Helena
95. Jack the Bear
96. Super Mario Bros.
97. The Good Son

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

Favoritest Movies of 1994

My father and I used to keep a list throughout the year of movies we saw in the theater on the refrigerator with ratings on them.  He'd give me crap about seeing more movies than him.  But, considering that essentially every weekend I was seeing a movie with him (we'd miss a few weekends in this period due to going to a Cardinal game, or a show at the Fox, or the St. Louis Symphony), I'd go to the movies fairly often with my girlfriend at the time, and once a week my friend Verne and I would ditch class to go see a movie at Crestwood Mall.  Until we saw it... A movie that was, to us, just disgustingly unenjoyable.  Our weekly skip to the movies was killed dead by Natural Born Killers.  I was a little surprised to see it placed only third from the bottom on this list.

I was more surprised that Stargate is my favorite 1994 movie.  I really had no idea what would come out on top.  Maybe I haven't been clear about this before, but I've been using (a slightly modified) Condorcet method to rank each year of movies.  But there were so many movies that I saw at the time and since, either on video or cable that I did enjoy; how did Stargate win? When I saw Stargate for the first time, at Keller 8 Cine; 1) I thought it was one of the most predictable movies I've ever seen, but 2) I really wanted to see a sequel.  It was co-opting Erich von Däniken and the rest of the ancient astronaut mini industry of books you'd find in the metaphysical / new-age section of any Waldenbooks, without being tacky.  I really wished for a second movie where they went to Atlantis.  Other gods in addition to the Egyptians would have been nice to see as well.  But, If I had made this list in 1994, not only would it have been a lot shorter.  Stargate wouldn't have passed Forest Gump, Pulp Fiction, or Leon.  It probably would have been just above the middle.    

"Never underestimate your audience. They're generally
sensitive, intelligent people who respond positively
to quality entertainment." - STARGΛTE SG·1

So why so much love now for a truly ridiculous movie?  Ridiculous I say?  The premise is this; If you find an old safe, and have the first 6 numbers of a 7 number combination, how many experts does it take to open it?  But, that's what Alfred Hitchcock would call a "Refrigerator Moment", so it's forgiven.  Now, my wife and her brother dig on Stargate, but that's not enough alone.  Star Trek The Next Generation is my favorite TV series ever, and that probably helped Generations to the second spot (tied with The Lion King).  Heck, Generations isn't even that great, Why didn't Tolian Sorin just get himself a shuttlecraft and one of those thruster suits Spock had in The Motion Picture and fly into the Nexus, save all the people on Veridian 3 the trouble of dying... by the way, if you kill an entire planetary civilization in a movie these days, you don't gewt a pass like Generations or New Hope, we need to see cities crumble and families crushed or engulfed in flame... Go Roland Emmerich on their sorry carbon based bottoms!  Say, aside from 2012, didn't he make... Stargate?  Stargate got to the top of this list with Ten seasons of clawing it's way into my heart.  As much as I loved Richard Dead Anderson, and I still as of the writing of this, I need to watch all of Farscape.  But, Ben Browder and Claudia Black joining the show, made SG·1 some serious family time TV viewing.  It's a conceptual high tide, and I'm probably not the first person to enjoy the original film more, thanks to the series.  So, it's on to the next round for twenty movies from the class of 1994, here's the list of how everyone stacked up in the end.

1. Stargate
2. (Tie) Star Trek Generations
3. (Tie) The Lion King
4. Interview with the Vampire
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Léon
7. Forrest Gump
8. Clerks
9. Maverick
10. The Crow
11. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
12. True Lies
13. The Shawshank Redemption
14. Radioland Murders
15. Street Fighter
16. Ed Wood
17. Love Affair
18. The Flintstones
19. The Hudsucker Proxy
20. Timecop
21. The Next Karate Kid
22. The Shadow
23. Speechless
24. The Paper
25. Quiz Show
26. The Mask
27. Reality Bites
28. Richie Rich
29. Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla
30. Major League II
31. Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
32. Threesome
33. Three Colors: Red
34. Heavenly Creatures
35. Color of Night
36. Speed
37. The Ref
38. I.Q.
39. Bad Girls
40. Highlander III: The Final Dimension
41. Nobody's Fool
42. Sirens
43. The Madness of King George
44. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
45. Backbeat
46. Mixed Nuts
47. Three Colors: White
48. Africa: The Serengeti
49. Lightning Jack
50. Greedy
51. Cobb
52. With Honors
53. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
54. Disclosure
55. Guarding Tess
56. Police Academy: Mission to Moscow
57. North
58. Clear and Present Danger
59. Legends of the Fall
60. Nell
61. Little Women
62. The Getaway
63. Blown Away
64. Dream Lover
65. The Scout
66. Four Weddings and a Funeral
67. No Escape
68. The Specialist
69. Shallow Grave
70. The Return of Jafar
71. City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
72. On Deadly Ground
73. Renaissance Man
74. Wes Craven's New Nightmare
75. The Chase
76. I Love Trouble
77. Only You
78. Wyatt Earp
79. Terminal Velocity
80. Immortal Beloved
81. Double Dragon
82. Gunmen
83. Wolf
84. Black Beauty
85. The Santa Clause
86. The Cowboy Way
87. Intersection
88. Miracle on 34th Street
89. Exit to Eden
90. Lassie
91. The Jungle Book
92. The Client
93. Beverly Hills Cop III
94. Drop Zone
95. It Could Happen To You
96. The Puppet Masters
97. Junior
98. Muriel's Wedding
99. The Little Rascals
100. Angels in the Outfield
101. When a Man Loves a Woman
102. The Swan Princess
103. Baby's Day Out
104. Serial Mom
105. A Troll in Central Park
106. My Girl 2
107. PCU
108. Natural Born Killers
109. Dumb and Dumber
110. It's Pat

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

"This page would look so much cooler if I were at the top" -- Pulp Fiction Movie poster, squatting here in it's own coolness protesting the movies loss.

Favoritest Movies of 1995

 

We see twin movies in almost every year it seems, 1995 had  Kevin Spacey interrogated by cops TWICE on this list, French Kiss, meet Forget Paris, and of course Rob Roy and Braveheart!  But, there are SIX Cyberpunkish movies in this year;  Russell Crowe became real, Keanu had an 80G storage capacity, and Sandra was able to begin boring me with everything she'll ever do in perpetuity, we got to see Angelina Jolie for the first time (no, I saw Cyborg 2!) and did I mention Strange Days?  The only one to get to the next round was the anime.

I was the guy doing the layouts on our college paper that year, and there were two big benefits to that; an all expense paid trip to the collegiate journalists conference in Washington DC and demanding that I got to go to the press screening of Goldeneye.  The sound was a bit screwed up, and when Brosnan fires that grapple gun at the start of the movie, it was physically shocking to everyone in attendance... just way too loud, just a few minutes later the sound was turned down to less than deafening, but I could have cared less.  Bond was back, and back then a six year absence felt near enough to eternal.  

But, the winner of the year.  That movie poster hangs above my living room couch.  It was one of, if not completely, my fathers favorite movie.  We saw it at Ronnies 8 on a screen that we were making fun of for being only slightly larger than our 46" TV at home.  I swear he didn't initially love it, but later he practically wore the VHS copy out.  As for me, I still think Aaron Sorkin is the best dialogue writer in Hollywood; he has every other screenwriter asking each other how to spell erudite.

1. The American President
2. GoldenEye
3. Mallrats
4. Ghost in the Shell
5. The Usual Suspects
6. Ninja Scroll
7. Babe
8. Bad Boys
9. Se7en
10. Mortal Kombat
11. Nixon
12. The Quick and the Dead
13. Toy Story
14. Braveheart
15. Apollo 13
16. Judge Dredd
17. Grumpier Old Men
18. Die Hard with a Vengeance
19. The City of Lost Children
20. Desperado
21. Tank Girl
22. Batman Forever
23. Strange Days
24. Twelve Monkeys
25. The Brady Bunch Movie
26. Congo
27. Rob Roy
28. A Little Princess
29. Casper
30. Species
31. Assassins
32. The Indian in the Cupboard
33. Waterworld
34. Nine Months
35. The Prophecy
36. Sabrina
37. Outbreak
38. Circle of Friends
39. Shanghai Triad
40. Empire Records
41. Four Rooms
42. Clueless
43. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
44. Crimson Tide
45. Hackers
46. Sense and Sensibility
47. Johnny Mnemonic
48. The Last Supper
49. Police Story 4: First Strike
50. Powder
51. First Knight
52. Jumanji
53. Nick of Time
54. Showgirls
55. Cutthroat Island
56. Screamers
57. Dracula: Dead and Loving It
58. Get Shorty
59. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
60. Virtuosity
61. Lord of Illusions
62. Othello
63. Dangerous Minds
64. Heat
65. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
66. French Kiss
67. A Goofy Movie
68. Operation Dumbo Drop
69. The Bridges of Madison County
70. The Brothers McMullen
71. Billy Madison
72. Fair Game
73. Father of the Bride Part II
74. Something to Talk About
75. Forget Paris
76. Pocahontas
77. Sudden Death
78. Balto
79. Casino
80. Iron Eagle IV
81. Just Cause
82. While You Were Sleeping
83. Don Juan DeMarco
84. Money Train
85. To Die For
86. The Net
87. Murder in the First
88. Jury Duty
89. Never Talk to Strangers
90. Vampire in Brooklyn
91. The Scarlet Letter
92. Jade
93. Tommy Boy
94. Kids
95. The Basketball Diaries

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)

Favoritest Movies of 1996

What a waste of a year of movies.  Take the bottom 60 titles on this list, I'll never watch any of them ever again.  We will not see a year this bad until 2010, but being fair 1996 is worse.  As I continue this trip back, I hope I don't come across another year that stinks as badly.  BUT, maybe just maybe its the number of movies I saw.  106!  That's the third highest count on my list following 1990 at 109 and 1994 at 112 movies seen.  So... maybe just maybe the more movies one sees the more crap they see.  That's a shame.  I was really hoping the the more you saw, the more likely you are to find hidden nuggets to treasure and enjoy...  Well, maybe there were... where's my optimists hat?  Oh, here it is covered in dust caked on by age.  Well look at you two...

There were two gems that I probably would not have seen at the time If I only saw the popular movies to see.  The Phantom is one of the worst marketed... screw the rhetoric here, the poster says "SLAM EVIL"  I have no idea what that means, but it feels lame to me.  It looks like it's trying to appeal to eight year olds, not real ones, but the tertiary characters on Leave it to Beaver.  I know we're a year before South Park here, but how could you not know that that poster and everything about the movie looks lame to... humans.  Everywhere, everywhen.  But, The Phantom is a good movie.  It's a fun to watch, Indiana Jones movie but the guy is in a purple body suit.  Best of all, on Blu-Ray this movie looks good, really really good.  To me this is the gold standard for how an old catalog title should be treated.  I've read some complaints about the video quality, but lets put things into perspective.  The Phantom is a BD from Lionsgate of a 1996 movie that grossed 17 million dollars.  And it looks almost brand new.  If an old popcorn flick that's life was somewhere between flop and bomb can look this nice; no movie you care about has any excuse.  The other nugget, was the first movie I saw by Peter Jackson.  It's fun too, but Peter Jackson's done better.  On to the list.

1. Independence Day
2. Star Trek: First Contact
3. The Rock
4. Hamlet
5. The Phantom
6. Mars Attacks!
7. The English Patient
8. Mission: Impossible
9. My Fellow Americans
10. Jerry Maguire
11. From Dusk Till Dawn
12. Muppet Treasure Island
13. Dragonheart
14. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
15. The Frighteners
16. Space Jam
17. Romeo + Juliet
18. Scream
19. The Long Kiss Goodnight
20. The Truth About Cats & Dogs
21. Escape from L.A., aka John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.
22. Ransom
23. Up Close & Personal
24. The Arrival
25. That Thing You Do!
26. The Ghost and the Darkness
27. Broken Arrow
28. Rumble in the Bronx
29. Swingers
30. Spy Hard
31. Tin Cup
32. Police Story 4: First Strike
33. Executive Decision
34. Jingle All the Way
35. A Time to Kill
36. Twister
37. Last Man Standing
38. The Craft
39. Bound
40. The People vs. Larry Flynt
41. Courage Under Fire
42. Happy Gilmore
43. Evita
44. Eraser
45. Multiplicity
46. Beautiful Girls
47. 101 Dalmatians
48. The First Wives Club
49. The Crow: City of Angels
50. The Nutty Professor
51. Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
52. Maximum Risk
53. Looking for Richard
54. Mulholland Falls
55. Dear God
56. Bed of Roses
57. Barb Wire
58. Daylight
59. Flipper
60. Phenomenon
61. Chain Reaction
62. Michael Collins
63. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
64. One Fine Day
65. Down Periscope
66. The Island of Dr. Moreau
67. Fargo
68. In Love and War
69. Michael
70. Dunston Checks In
71. Mary Reilly
72. Alaska
73. Bulletproof
74. Striptease
75. The Mirror Has Two Faces
76. Larger than Life
77. Extreme Measures
78. Ghosts of Mississippi
79. Sgt. Bilko
80. City Hall
81. She's the One
82. Mother
83. The Portrait of a Lady
84. The Adventures of Pinocchio
85. All Dogs Go to Heaven 2
86. Sleepers
87. The Preacher's Wife
88. The Associate
89. Diabolique
90. Jack
91. Eddie
92. Mr. Wrong
93. Heaven's Prisoners
94. Kingpin
95. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
96. Kazaam
97. The Crucible
98. The Fan
99. The Pillow Book
100. Thinner
101. The Stupids
102. Black Sheep
103. Joe's Apartment
104. Fear
105. The Cable Guy
106. Big Bully

Legend: Onto the next Round! ( >/= .8) In the middle. I do NOT enjoy. (< / = .2)