Monday, July 18, 2022

Favorite Movie of Every Year I've Been Alive


I thought this would be a cool celebration of my 1200th post! 
And it is!
Because I still can't read a calendar.
It was very nearly a cool celebration of my 1199th post.

Anabelle deserves thanx for helping me with this in two ways. 
1) She'd ask what film I put for a year or if I included a specific movie and I'd forget what I said, making me look up the year again and finding films I missed.
2) She reminded me I could adjust publish dates after I set them up, meaning after an incredibly late night of shifting post times and cross references this one IS for #1200!

Background- People on a Facebook movie group were listing 
"My favorite movie that came out each year I was alive." 

It took me much longer to do this than most of the younger folks in the group. 
With that kind of time investment, I get to put it here.

Some Notes:
Note 1) I am old.

Note 2) There are no links. Please use the search bubble in the upper left (that I never remember I put there) for any title you're interested in. There is a more than reasonable chance I wrote something about most of them. Movie titles are not italicized or underlined this time... 
because I don't care.

Note 3) Some years have a half dozen films that are a part of my very essence. 
Other years- “Eh, I guess that one will do.” 

Note 4) Recently there are a lot less of the fun, low budget, weird movies I have always loved. I’m not sure if it’s they’re not being made anymore, or I watch stuff I own instead of stalking late night cable like I did in my teens and twenties.

Note 5) Many of my favorite franchises show up vary rarely. 
It's likely they’d all be at #2 or #3 on many years.

Note 6) Superheroes and wacky comedies are awesome, 
but Fun Giant Monster films beat all.

Note 7) After reading all fifty-two of these annual lists, I have determined...
               there are FAR too many Brave Little Toaster movies.

Note 8) There is a better than average chance that I missed some important films when reading the annual lists to make my selections. (Thanx Anabelle for catching some of these!)
 
Note 9) There is a better than average chance that any given day(s) I'd try to assemble this list, many of the movies would change. (In fact I have made several changes between drafting and publishing this.)

Note 10) There is no "note 10" but who ever heard of a "top nine" list?


Here they are, ta da!


1970  Kelly’s Heroes
1971  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
1972  And Now for Something Completely Different 
(The Godfather is amazing and all...
but this was the only way I could see Python sketches "on demand" for years, 
plus the RPI Juggling Club sponsored it once.)
1973  Godzilla vs Megalon
1974  Young Frankenstein
(The only reason I had to read the list is I wasn't 100% certain when
the 1975 and 1976 choices came out.)
1975  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
1976  Murder By Death
1977  Star Wars
(One of two years that did not require reading the annual list at all.)
1978  Superman the Movie 
(This was almost Attack of the Killer Tomatoes because Daddy read the list too fast...
You're welcome. Signed Anabelle)
1979  The In Laws
1980  The Blues Brothers
(Empire Strikes Back consumed my ten year old mind.
And continues to live in my current mind.
But can you dance to it? No you cannot.
I do love Flash Gordon, and you can dance to that one,
but that love is more about showing it to others than watching it myself.)
1981  Zorro the Gay Blade
(There were a great many contenders this year, 
American Werewolf in London, Caveman, Cannonball Run. 
I thought it would be really hard to choose, 
until I reached the end of the alphabetical list.  
There is no contest.)
1982  Pandemonium
(Alas, The Thing, real horror
will always lose to comedy-horror.
Dark Crystal, you are a part of me, but not this big of a part.
And Conan, as often as I quote "Crush your enemies..." 
I quote "You are frightened of baloney?" more.)
1983  Doctor Detroit
(Of course I've watched Return of the Jedi more.
But this weird little wonder of a film is really a 
fantastic superhero movie if you squint a little.
It slightly edges out Hysterical...today anyway
but what difference does it make?) 
1984  The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
(This year wins the prize for the most times rechecking 
to see why "that" movie isn't on the list.
In this case Ghostbusters.)
1985  Transylvania 6-5000
(This was like 1981, 
Remo Williams, The Goonies, Real Genius. 
I thought it would be impossible to choose until I hit the "T"s.
Again, there is no contest.)
1986  Three Amigos /  Big Trouble in Little China 
(The only year I refuse to pick just one. 
I'm already sad I had to drop Transformers: The Movie.
Its my list, so there.)
1987  Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
(The other of two years that did not require reading the annual list at all.)
1988  Young Einstein 
(This event leading up to this choice made me laugh a lot. 
Up until shortly before this went live, 1988 was "Scrooged" with the note- "It was close. Anabelle whined about me picking They Live which may be more a part of me, 
but Scrooged makes me feel better, 
and the whole theater of jaded engineers sang along with the finale in my college days."
However, she was complaining about Young Einstein music on a car ride.
I wondered what film beat it, and realized I just flat out missed it. 
On further reflection, even if it wasn’t that, 
it would be The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which she doesn’t like either.)
1989  C.H.U.D. II Bud the C.H.U.D.
(Sorry Weird Al, UHF is a close second, 
but horror comedy beats regular comedy too.)
1990  Gremlins 2 the New Batch
1991  Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
(When it came out it would be Terminator 2...but I am not 21 anymore.)
1992  Sneakers
(It was almost Split Second but I remembered this masterpiece out of the blue one night.)
1993  Jurassic Park
(I would have liked this to be Freaked [aka Hideous Mutant Freekz]
since it was so weird I thought I imagined it. 
Or Army of Darkness, given my love of the Evil Dead franchise.
But, DINOSAURS! WOO HOO!)
1994  The Crow
(I like Dark City by the same director better than The Crow, 
but the 1998 film choice listed is a part of my core being.)
1995  Tank Girl
1996  Mars Attacks
1997  The Fifth Element
1998  Small Soldiers
1999  Sleepy Hollow
(The reason, along with the Walking With Dinosaurs (Woo hoo!) series, 
that I bought my first DVD player.
And the only reason this year is not Mystery Men, 
which I quote near continuously, but has a couple flaws that bug me.
Not the flaws that made it fail at the box office, but stuff like
"Not using Chekov's Tornado in a Can.")
2000  The Replacements 
(I thought as I got older, Space Cowboys would move into this slot,
but the older I get, the more I realize how little The Replacements is about football.)
2001  Atlantis: The Lost Empire  
(It says a lot about me, with my huge Disney fandom, that this underrated gem is the only Disney film that made #1 for any year.)
2002  The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003  The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
(As a whole, yes it is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, 
but just the existence of this ridiculous thing 
[and the similar pick for next year]
makes me happy.)
2004  Van Helsing
2005  King Kong
2006  The Prestige 
(The biggest "Eh, I guess that one will do" of the whole list.)
2007  Ghost Rider
2008  Speed Racer 
(Iron Man, you were a game changer and all,
but this one was insanely hypnotic
and the family dynamic was amazingly well done.)
2009  Watchmen
2010  Tron: Legacy
(I really thought this year would finally be one that a Predator film would make it,
Predators was cool, 
but Tron is a piece of my soul.)
2011  Fright Night
2012  The Avengers 
(Still my favorite Marvel film, 
'cause I was waiting for it since I was 10.)
2013  G.I. Joe: Retaliation 
(Clearly not the best year for movies.)
2014  The Lego Movie 
2015  Jurassic World 
2016  Deadpool
2017  Kong of Skull Island 
(Any other year Valerian would have taken it, but…. 
Giant Ape!)
2018  Venom
(If Fallen Kingdom had gone the were-dinosaur route, 
then it would have outshone my unhealthy Venom fascination.
Venom being a comedy/ horror/ superhero/ buddy film triggers my 
amalgamation obsession over my Dinosaur (woo hoo!) obsession...barely.)
2019  Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2020  Enola Holmes 
(We were trapped in the house, true, but this was objectively really good.)
2021  Mortal Kombat 
(I mean, 
I watched Godzilla Vs. Kong many more times, 
but that was more about moments.
Plus I'm still bitter about Legendary backing away from the 
Showa Toho love that the 2019 film had.
 I think as a whole, its this one.  
Yes, my taste sucks, we know this -
Yes we do. love Anabelle)
2022  Jurassic World Dominion 
(The year isn't over yet, but come on!  
DINOSAURS! WOO HOO!!!)

And that's all.
*stares back at 2021 and thinks about changing it for the zillionth time, 
but again realizes that would mean losing the funny comment*

4 comments:

longbow said...

Im kind of shocked Army of Darkness didnt edge out JP but these are tough. God, i love murder by death.

Jeff McGinley said...

Evil Dead 2 is my favorite film ever, and I like it more than "Army." But those awe inspiring shots of photoreal dinosaurs for the first time on the big screen blew me away.

Murder By Death is a life long favorite. I'm proud at how many of Peter Falk's lines I've quoted in business meetings. (Most often- "That can only mean one ting...and I don't know what dat is.")

Thanx for joining in!

Jesse said...

Congrats on 1200 posts! Also, this is an epic list. Pandemonium for the win! When will someone remake Murder by Death?

Jeff McGinley said...

Many thanx. It's been a long and enjoyable road. Thanx for the initial (and continued) encouragement.

Pandemonium FINALLY came out on Blu Ray...sadly it will never surpass the awesomeness of the USA Up All Night version hosted by Gilbert Gottfried that I accidentally taped over.

And Isn't Clue pretty close to a remake of Murder by Death?