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shadowkatRandom bits: Sisinlaw amuses me on Facebook - she wants us all to join Beacon Mothers Against Snow - if we join together we can stop the snow. (if only). We'll probably not get the storm that's thundering across the midwest leaving mass destruction in its wake, but we will get freezing rain and ice (oh joy).
Now going to try the second half of the meme - these are years 1987-2003, because its nostalgic to look back over all these flicks I've seen. Also, oddly, I liked more of the movies in the 1990s than I did in the aught's, which I find interesting.
1. 1987: Lots of films to pick from here. The candidates? Babette's Feast, Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders - which haunts years after I saw it, which was unfortunately years after it was released, the rip roaring Untouchables, the hilarious Cohen brothers outting staring Nick Cage and Holly Hunter - Raising Arizona, Broadcast News and The Lost Boys. But the best choice, which I did see at the time - "The Empire of Sun" - Stephen Spielberg's rendering of JG Ballard's memoir which contains the classic line, older and far away. It examines the loss of innocence and how violence effects a child. There are scenes in this film that stay long after you see them, burned on the retina of memory.
2. 1988: (As an aside, The Big Easy is listed for 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988 - that's not possible, it can't be out for all those years) There's lots of good movies here as well - from foreign gems such as the Vanishing and Paperhouse (which still haunts me - it's about a girl who draws a house in which she visits in her dreams during a high fever...a psychological thriller puzzle box) to Who Framed Rodger Rabbit and Unbearable Lightness of Being (although I preferred the book far better). But for favorite film, I'm going with incessantly rewatchable and hip, as well as the best of Tim Burton's films period - Beetlejeuice - it may also be amongst the best films that Michael Keaton, Winoa Ryder, Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin have done. You won't recognize Baldwin. This film is perhaps the most inventive and deep film that Burton did. And it spawned a fantastic Saturday Morning cartoon.
3.1989: Heathers - although was tempted to go with The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover by Peter Greenway, Cinema Paradiso, When Harry Met Sally, Valmont (when I fell in love with Colin Firth) and sex, lies and videotape (when I fell in love with James Spader again). But Heathers spurned many a copy-cat. Brilliant satire. If it weren't for Heathers, there would not be a Buffy the Vampire Slayer or a Glee - it put the bite in high-school.
4. 1990: At risk of killing my movie cred? It's Pump Up the Volumn - a teen flick, but with the hot Christian Slater and a to die for score. Everybody Knows...the dice are rolling...is the song he uses to start his pirate radio program. Other notable films include Tie Me Up, Time Me Down by Pedro Almovadar, Wild at Heart by David Lynch (preferred the book actually), Tremors (the horror flick that is so bad, it's really really good and insanely rewatchable), the sly The Grifters...with it's noirish femme fatale duo Angelica Huston and Annette Bening tormenting anti-hero John Cuzack, and of course the perfect La Femme Nikita - which launched five different tv show copycats.
It's a tie between La Femme Nikita and Pump Up the Volumn.
5. 1991: The Fisher King - by Terry Gilliam, starring Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams, lyrical and moving, it is a film you don't forget. Steeped in the mythos of Arthurian Legend, but with a deeply American twist, it's about heroism but not the way one thinks. Perhaps Gilliam's best work...and like all his best works, it references fairy tales and legends, but unlike the others, it shows why we still need them.
6. 1992: Another difficult choice...Strictly Ballroom - the Australian dancefest satire, Single White Female - the psychological thriller where Jennifer Jason Leigh attempts to take over Bridget Fonda's life, Resevoir Dogs - the first of Quentin Taratino's films and perhaps the rawest, Noises Off - the funniest farce I've seen - I died laughing watching this film based on the play of the same name about the attempt to produce a farce on Broadway. And my favorite - The Last of the Mohicans - which is a lot better than the book upon which it was based. Although I think Strictly Ballroom wins the best award and most rewatchable.
7. 1993: I admittedly enjoyed Jurassic Park more than Schindler's, although Schindler's haunts and I can't watch it again, also - it is a film you have to watch in a movie theater to truly appreciate - because when I saw it in a packed movie house - you could hear a pin drop, the audience was that quiet and still. (This was admittedly before cell phones). But favorite? There's the brilliant David Mamet noir - House of Cards, starring Lindsey Crouse, his wife at the time, Brannagh and Thompson at comic perfection via Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing, and of course Jane Campion's poetic The Piano, which introduced us to Anna Pacquin. I probably should go with Jurassic Park - since it's the only one I enjoy rewatching. But The Piano is admittedly the better film.
8. 1994: Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tartino, although Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures based on a real life event between mystery novelist Anne Perry and her best friend, while children, who live in a world of makebelieve and kill someone as a result is haunting and worth special mention, as is Ang Lee's wonderful Eat Drink Man Woman - his first film, and Mike Newell's hilarious rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral, which introduced the world to Hugh Grant. But nothing quite compares to Taratino's insanely risky Pulp Fiction - which played homage to the trope while satirizing it at the same time, in a way only a guy who spends days watching and loving old movies can. True story - Taratino used to be one of those geeky guys at your local video store (when we still had them) who knew every film backwards and forwards - nowhere is that more evident than here.
9. 1995: Twelve Monkeys. Dead Man Walking. City of Lost Children. The Basketball Diaries. Rob Roy. Joss Whedon's cowritten and oscar winning Toy Story, and the twisty The Usual Suspects. Best is probably the surrealistic and insane Twelve Monkeys, but the one I remember the best is Robb Roy - the period piece with Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange. But City of Lost Children - part horror part fantasy is hauntingly beautiful and hauntingly sad.
10.1996: Well...there's Beavis and Butthead do America, Trainspotting (which I adored so much I bought the soundtrack - it was the cool flick to watch at the time - although in retrospect I prefer the soundtrack to the film which started a trope), Secrets & Lies, The People vs. Larry Flynt (which was basically just good for Woody Harrleson), The Long Kiss Goodnight - with Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson - where Geena plays a kickass female assassin who lost her memory - take Jason Bourne and throw in a bit of La Femme Nikitia, with a touch of Quentin Taratino and you have Goodnight, and of course the Cohen Bro's next film Fargo - which is on everyone's best list. But my favorite? It's Long Kiss Goodnight - I always watch it whenever it pops up. Although must say Beavis and Butthead do America is a close second.
11. 1997: Yes, there's the brilliant L.A. Confidential, but frankly, my dears, I barely remember it.
The Sweet Hereafter - has more haunting resonance - about a bus crash of kids, and it's aftermath - a feeling similar to Picnic at Hanging Rock, Princess Monoke - is when I saw Neil Gaiman in person - as an ant on a stage a mile away at Lincoln Center during that film festival - he wrote the English version, the haunting Ice Storm - which you can't quite get out of your head once you've seen it about middle class angst and the lost and somewhat neglected children of the Baby Boomer generation, Gross Pointe Blank - a hilarious satire about high school reunions and 1980s rom-coms - a hitman goes to his high school reunion, and of course, my guilty favorite - Face/Off with Travolta and Nick Cage doing impressions of each other. I think it's a tie between Grosse Point Blanke and Face/Off.
12. 1998: The Truman Show by Peter Weir...tends to be the one I go with. Although There's Something About Mary - always makes me laugh, it's the only film of that particular trope that does. Out of Sight is amongst my favorite noir rom's and an excellent adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, but I'm going with The Truman Show. (not sure when The Year of Living Dangerously was made, didn't see it on the lists. The problem is in remembering these things. 38 years of movies is a lot of movies to remember - I don't remember anything past the age of 6.)
13. 1999: (while I love the Peirce Bronsan remake of Thomas Crown Affair and adore David Fincher's Fight Club) - it's definitely Being John Malkovich by Spike Jonze - no question about it, a frightening, and hilarious black comedy about celebrity, fandom, and manipulation - as well as identity.
14. 2000: Memento, Dancer in the Dark, and Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon. My favorite and most rewatchable is most likely Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon for the beauty of the film and sheer poetry of the sword dancing, for that is what it is - an art form that is quite popular in China.
Memento - is Chris Nolan's first film and an inventive trick of narrative. But Dancer in the Dark by Lars Von Treirs is the film I can't forget - a musical about the first female to receive the death penalty in the US, and the fight to keep her alive. Beautiful, tragic and haunting with original songs by Icelandic performer Bjork.
15. 2001: While I liked Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (which is in my opinion the best of the triology), A.I - Artificial Intelligence and Ameilie - it's most definitely Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki - which I own and adore and consider my happy film. An imaginative tale about a girl who journeys to a world of magic.
16. 2002:Possession, The Quiet American - the film based on the Grahaem Green novel of the same name, with Michael Caine in the lead role and Rabbit-Proof Fence. I'll probably go with The Quiet American.
Those are the only ones I remember well.
17. 2003: Bad Santa, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Station Agent. I'd say that Peter Dinklage's The Station Agent is the most moving and haunting of these films. But Once Upon a Time in Mexico - is a lot of fun, Taratino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 - is a true tour de force. And Bad Santa - the ultimate anti-christmas flick. But I'm going with The Station Agent.
Ran out of time. So off to bed. May or may not do the last 7 years tomorrow. Realized when I hit 2004 - that I didn't always go to the movies a lot, and some years were bad years for movies. Only flick I found memorable in 04 was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Akzban - which is just pathetic.
Now going to try the second half of the meme - these are years 1987-2003, because its nostalgic to look back over all these flicks I've seen. Also, oddly, I liked more of the movies in the 1990s than I did in the aught's, which I find interesting.
1. 1987: Lots of films to pick from here. The candidates? Babette's Feast, Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders - which haunts years after I saw it, which was unfortunately years after it was released, the rip roaring Untouchables, the hilarious Cohen brothers outting staring Nick Cage and Holly Hunter - Raising Arizona, Broadcast News and The Lost Boys. But the best choice, which I did see at the time - "The Empire of Sun" - Stephen Spielberg's rendering of JG Ballard's memoir which contains the classic line, older and far away. It examines the loss of innocence and how violence effects a child. There are scenes in this film that stay long after you see them, burned on the retina of memory.
2. 1988: (As an aside, The Big Easy is listed for 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988 - that's not possible, it can't be out for all those years) There's lots of good movies here as well - from foreign gems such as the Vanishing and Paperhouse (which still haunts me - it's about a girl who draws a house in which she visits in her dreams during a high fever...a psychological thriller puzzle box) to Who Framed Rodger Rabbit and Unbearable Lightness of Being (although I preferred the book far better). But for favorite film, I'm going with incessantly rewatchable and hip, as well as the best of Tim Burton's films period - Beetlejeuice - it may also be amongst the best films that Michael Keaton, Winoa Ryder, Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin have done. You won't recognize Baldwin. This film is perhaps the most inventive and deep film that Burton did. And it spawned a fantastic Saturday Morning cartoon.
3.1989: Heathers - although was tempted to go with The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover by Peter Greenway, Cinema Paradiso, When Harry Met Sally, Valmont (when I fell in love with Colin Firth) and sex, lies and videotape (when I fell in love with James Spader again). But Heathers spurned many a copy-cat. Brilliant satire. If it weren't for Heathers, there would not be a Buffy the Vampire Slayer or a Glee - it put the bite in high-school.
4. 1990: At risk of killing my movie cred? It's Pump Up the Volumn - a teen flick, but with the hot Christian Slater and a to die for score. Everybody Knows...the dice are rolling...is the song he uses to start his pirate radio program. Other notable films include Tie Me Up, Time Me Down by Pedro Almovadar, Wild at Heart by David Lynch (preferred the book actually), Tremors (the horror flick that is so bad, it's really really good and insanely rewatchable), the sly The Grifters...with it's noirish femme fatale duo Angelica Huston and Annette Bening tormenting anti-hero John Cuzack, and of course the perfect La Femme Nikita - which launched five different tv show copycats.
It's a tie between La Femme Nikita and Pump Up the Volumn.
5. 1991: The Fisher King - by Terry Gilliam, starring Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams, lyrical and moving, it is a film you don't forget. Steeped in the mythos of Arthurian Legend, but with a deeply American twist, it's about heroism but not the way one thinks. Perhaps Gilliam's best work...and like all his best works, it references fairy tales and legends, but unlike the others, it shows why we still need them.
6. 1992: Another difficult choice...Strictly Ballroom - the Australian dancefest satire, Single White Female - the psychological thriller where Jennifer Jason Leigh attempts to take over Bridget Fonda's life, Resevoir Dogs - the first of Quentin Taratino's films and perhaps the rawest, Noises Off - the funniest farce I've seen - I died laughing watching this film based on the play of the same name about the attempt to produce a farce on Broadway. And my favorite - The Last of the Mohicans - which is a lot better than the book upon which it was based. Although I think Strictly Ballroom wins the best award and most rewatchable.
7. 1993: I admittedly enjoyed Jurassic Park more than Schindler's, although Schindler's haunts and I can't watch it again, also - it is a film you have to watch in a movie theater to truly appreciate - because when I saw it in a packed movie house - you could hear a pin drop, the audience was that quiet and still. (This was admittedly before cell phones). But favorite? There's the brilliant David Mamet noir - House of Cards, starring Lindsey Crouse, his wife at the time, Brannagh and Thompson at comic perfection via Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing, and of course Jane Campion's poetic The Piano, which introduced us to Anna Pacquin. I probably should go with Jurassic Park - since it's the only one I enjoy rewatching. But The Piano is admittedly the better film.
8. 1994: Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tartino, although Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures based on a real life event between mystery novelist Anne Perry and her best friend, while children, who live in a world of makebelieve and kill someone as a result is haunting and worth special mention, as is Ang Lee's wonderful Eat Drink Man Woman - his first film, and Mike Newell's hilarious rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral, which introduced the world to Hugh Grant. But nothing quite compares to Taratino's insanely risky Pulp Fiction - which played homage to the trope while satirizing it at the same time, in a way only a guy who spends days watching and loving old movies can. True story - Taratino used to be one of those geeky guys at your local video store (when we still had them) who knew every film backwards and forwards - nowhere is that more evident than here.
9. 1995: Twelve Monkeys. Dead Man Walking. City of Lost Children. The Basketball Diaries. Rob Roy. Joss Whedon's cowritten and oscar winning Toy Story, and the twisty The Usual Suspects. Best is probably the surrealistic and insane Twelve Monkeys, but the one I remember the best is Robb Roy - the period piece with Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange. But City of Lost Children - part horror part fantasy is hauntingly beautiful and hauntingly sad.
10.1996: Well...there's Beavis and Butthead do America, Trainspotting (which I adored so much I bought the soundtrack - it was the cool flick to watch at the time - although in retrospect I prefer the soundtrack to the film which started a trope), Secrets & Lies, The People vs. Larry Flynt (which was basically just good for Woody Harrleson), The Long Kiss Goodnight - with Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson - where Geena plays a kickass female assassin who lost her memory - take Jason Bourne and throw in a bit of La Femme Nikitia, with a touch of Quentin Taratino and you have Goodnight, and of course the Cohen Bro's next film Fargo - which is on everyone's best list. But my favorite? It's Long Kiss Goodnight - I always watch it whenever it pops up. Although must say Beavis and Butthead do America is a close second.
11. 1997: Yes, there's the brilliant L.A. Confidential, but frankly, my dears, I barely remember it.
The Sweet Hereafter - has more haunting resonance - about a bus crash of kids, and it's aftermath - a feeling similar to Picnic at Hanging Rock, Princess Monoke - is when I saw Neil Gaiman in person - as an ant on a stage a mile away at Lincoln Center during that film festival - he wrote the English version, the haunting Ice Storm - which you can't quite get out of your head once you've seen it about middle class angst and the lost and somewhat neglected children of the Baby Boomer generation, Gross Pointe Blank - a hilarious satire about high school reunions and 1980s rom-coms - a hitman goes to his high school reunion, and of course, my guilty favorite - Face/Off with Travolta and Nick Cage doing impressions of each other. I think it's a tie between Grosse Point Blanke and Face/Off.
12. 1998: The Truman Show by Peter Weir...tends to be the one I go with. Although There's Something About Mary - always makes me laugh, it's the only film of that particular trope that does. Out of Sight is amongst my favorite noir rom's and an excellent adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, but I'm going with The Truman Show. (not sure when The Year of Living Dangerously was made, didn't see it on the lists. The problem is in remembering these things. 38 years of movies is a lot of movies to remember - I don't remember anything past the age of 6.)
13. 1999: (while I love the Peirce Bronsan remake of Thomas Crown Affair and adore David Fincher's Fight Club) - it's definitely Being John Malkovich by Spike Jonze - no question about it, a frightening, and hilarious black comedy about celebrity, fandom, and manipulation - as well as identity.
14. 2000: Memento, Dancer in the Dark, and Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon. My favorite and most rewatchable is most likely Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon for the beauty of the film and sheer poetry of the sword dancing, for that is what it is - an art form that is quite popular in China.
Memento - is Chris Nolan's first film and an inventive trick of narrative. But Dancer in the Dark by Lars Von Treirs is the film I can't forget - a musical about the first female to receive the death penalty in the US, and the fight to keep her alive. Beautiful, tragic and haunting with original songs by Icelandic performer Bjork.
15. 2001: While I liked Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (which is in my opinion the best of the triology), A.I - Artificial Intelligence and Ameilie - it's most definitely Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki - which I own and adore and consider my happy film. An imaginative tale about a girl who journeys to a world of magic.
16. 2002:Possession, The Quiet American - the film based on the Grahaem Green novel of the same name, with Michael Caine in the lead role and Rabbit-Proof Fence. I'll probably go with The Quiet American.
Those are the only ones I remember well.
17. 2003: Bad Santa, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Station Agent. I'd say that Peter Dinklage's The Station Agent is the most moving and haunting of these films. But Once Upon a Time in Mexico - is a lot of fun, Taratino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 - is a true tour de force. And Bad Santa - the ultimate anti-christmas flick. But I'm going with The Station Agent.
Ran out of time. So off to bed. May or may not do the last 7 years tomorrow. Realized when I hit 2004 - that I didn't always go to the movies a lot, and some years were bad years for movies. Only flick I found memorable in 04 was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Akzban - which is just pathetic.