For the almost-eight-years of this blog I have resisted the hallmark of lazy websites everywhere: a list.
But to celebrate my upcoming Geburtstag and to drive up page views and therefore advertising dollars, I am going to break my self imposed rule and – goddammit! – go on a list bender! Not just any list, but themed lists: 42 entries, for the (very soon) 42 years of my life.
Given the academy awards are soon upon us, what better way to start this endeavour than my own ‘awards’ so to speak. So here we are, list number one…
My favourite films of the last 42 years
1972 – Fist Of Fury
1973 – Enter The Dragon
1974 – Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla
1975 – Picnic At Hanging Rock
1976 – The Man Who Fell To Earth
1977 – Star Wars
1978 – Superman
1979 – Mad Max
1980 – The Empire Strikes Back
1981 – Excalibur
1982 – The Dark Crystal
1983 – Return Of The Jedi
1984 – Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom
1985 – A View To A Kill
1986 – Labyrinth
1987 – Superman IV: The Quest For Peace
1988 – The Lair Of The White Worm
1989 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1990 – Total Recall
1991 – Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1992 – Unforgiven
1993 – Faraway, So Close! (The last film I saw before leaving Australia)
1994 – The Lion King
1995 – Sense and Sensibility
1996 – The God Of Cookery
1997 – Starship Troopers
1998 – Velvet Goldmine (Best musical ever!)
1999 – Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
2000 – Gladiator
2001 – The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
2002 – The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
2003 – The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of The King
2004 – Shaolin Soccer
2005 – Kung Fu Hustle (My favourite film of all time)
2006 – V for Vendetta
2007 – Dragon Wars
2008 – Hancock
2009 – Crank: High Voltage
2010 – Scott Pilgrim vs The World
2011 – Thor
2012 – The Avengers
2013 – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2014 – Journey To The West
Years were chosen based on the US release dates.
The hardest years to single out only one film were 1982 (due to Raiders of The Lost Ark and Tron) and 1986 (due to Aliens and Blue Velvet) and 2012 (due to Hobbit). I also had conflicting feelings about last year…
Journey To The West won’t be released for a few weeks yet in the US, and even then probably only in a very few theatres. But I watched it twice on the plane, and I can hardly believe I’ll see a better film this year 🙂
Can you spot…
1) The years with no ‘the best’ movies so I chose ‘the worst’? 😉
2) The film on the above list that I haven’t actually seen (yet)?
So, what do you think of the list? Leave your critique in the comments!
I agree with many of your choices.
Dragon Wars?! Really? God that was bad.
And A View to a Kill is pretty bad upon re-watch. Back to the Future is better for 1985!
And there’s got to be a better film for 1999. Deuce Bigalow : Male Gigolo was better. 🙂
Nothing was better than E1, since nothing else had Qui-Gon 😉
By the way, you noted Dragon Wars but not the other ‘worst’ choice…
BS is right – not including “B/T/T/F” was a mistake.
I don’t rate “Gladiator” and would put “Crouching Tiger…” for that year.
“Sense And Sensibility” a surprise inclusion, though I like the film and love Emma Thompson.
Oh, and had you gone with the worthless “Pacific Rim” instead of “Hobbit 2”, this list would have been instantly invalidated.
Sense and Sensibility is good for many reasons. Emma Thompson is just one of a stellar cast, and the pathos is thick and very satisfying as it builds to the end! See it if you haven’t.
Not a big fan of BTTF films. I can’t really watch any Michael J Fox at all now…
As for 2013, the worthless Pacific Rim would have been third. The keenest competition for #1 with Hobbit was (believe it or not) Frozen 🙂