Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Movies of My Years

It's meme time! I hope you won't mind me indulging in a list after that month long extravaganza I just finished. This one is fairly simple - pick your favorite movie for each year you have been alive. I decided to vary it slightly and whenever possible, pick the movie I loved that year, rather than what would be my favorite now.

1981
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Raiders of the Lost Ark
For my 30th Birthday party, I chose this movie as the theme.  Obviously, I can't remember any movies that year, but I've had a crush on Indy from a very young age.


1982
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The Last Unicorn
 I obviously didn't discover this until a few years later, but I loved this movie as a small child.


1983
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Return of the Jedi
I loved it then, and this is my favorite of the original trilogy.

1984
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Ghostbusters
Splash and The Karate Kid were close runners up for this year, but Ghostbusters is the one I probably watched the most and still love to this day.


1985
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Peewee's Big Adventure
Another close call, but I chose Peewee because this movie keeps a smile on my face the whole time I watch it.


1986
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Short Circuit
 I can't tell you how many times my brother and I watched this one together.  I watched it again late last year for the first time in ages.  Sure, it's not exactly a masterpiece, but I think it's still a cute kids comedy.

1987
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The Princess Bride
I remember watching a scene of this at a friend's house, but not really getting into it.  I actually didn't discover it until much later, but I didn't see any other films this year that I loved as a kid that were worthy of taking its place.

1988
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Big
I miss Tom Hanks doing comedy.

1989
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The Little Mermaid
 I didn't just love this film - I wanted to be Ariel.  I still remember anxiously going to the store to get my copy on VHS that would play daily in my house.

1990
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Back to the Future Part III
Why do people talk bad about this one?  It's not that bad. Really, it's not.


1991
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Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
I don't have to explain this, right?  I've been over it before.


1992
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Batman Returns
I remember watching a lot of behind the scenes stuff on TV, excited for this movie to come out, mostly because of Catwoman.  It's quirky and bizarre, but I actually prefer it to the first film.


1993
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The Nightmare Before Christmas
I still remember going to see it in the theater, and I fell in love immediately.  It seems like the rest of the world caught on about ten years later.


1994
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The Crow
I may not have actually watched this until high school a couple years later, but I watched it frequently.  I need to revisit it and see how well it holds up.


1995
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Batman Forever
It was the introduction of Dick Grayson into the movie continuity, so I really really loved it then, even if I don't know if I would sit through it now.


1996
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The Rock
Sean Connery + Nicholas Cage = win.  Another one I really need to rewatch.


1997
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Chasing Amy
The beginning of my love for Kevin Smith films.


1998
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A Bug's Life
 Pixar's second film has largely been pushed aside now, but I loved it when it came out.


1999
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Fight Club
My absolute all time favorite film.  One of these days I'm going to do a post or two about it.


2000
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X-Men
I was so excited to finally see them in a movie, and done right on top of that.

2001
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Ghost World
I fell in love with this movie immediately.  It has some pacing issues, but I still think it deals with teenage uncertainty and being an outcast extremely well.


2002
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The Two Towers
I liked Fellowship well enough, but The Two Towers was what made me fall in love and want to give the books a try.

2003
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
I wasn't as in love with Johnny Depp as some other girls were, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a movie based on a theme park ride that ended up being so good.

2004
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Van Helsing
I don't understand why this movie is so poorly regarded. It has Hugh Jackman and David Wenham and it's a fun film!

2005
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
I really loved this movie, and it made me go back and read the entire series again.

2006
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The Prestige
This one blew my mind when I saw it. I really need to revisit it.

2007 
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I Am Legend
I know it pales in comparison to the book, and really in comparison to most horror/creature movies as well, but a less well versed in horror me loved this one a lot.

2008
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The Dark Knight
The best Batman film ever made, in my opinion.

2009
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Watchmen
There are other films from this year I like better, but this one was the biggest deal to me at the time.

2010
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Scott Pilgrim vs the World
This movie and I are only just now passing the infatuation phase.  I don't know if it's turned into true love, but I still think it's a fun film.

2011
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X-men: First Class 
I'm thinking it's fairly safe to say this movie will probably not be eclipsed by any others this year for me.

6 comments:

  1. +JMJ+

    You know, it was right after I saw X-men: First Class that it occurred to me I might have blogged too soon when I put Scream 4 on my list for 2011. =P

    And then I remembered that I haven't seen another 2011 Fassbender movie, the latest Jane Eyre adaptation. I have a funny feeling that when I finally do, it will blow both "X-men 5" and "Scre4m" out of the running.

    In any case, you and I have three movies in common--which is pretty cool! =) Ghostbusters got an honourable mention on my list . . . and Big almost made it, too.

    I also vastly prefer Batman Returns to the previous movie in the franchise, and it's actually still the quintessential Batman movie for me.

    The Rock is another great one. I'm a Michael Biehn fan and his involvement (however short) made the movie for me.

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  2. It's hard to pick one for this year so early on, isn't it? If I wasn't such a huge X-men nut, I'd almost be inclined to not pick one at all.

    I know there were some you picked that also rank pretty high for me: An American Tail, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, A League of Their Own, Jurassic Park, The Craft, and The Matrix were all pretty big deals for me too. It's hard picking only one per year when you've been a movie lover for most of your life!

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  3. Great googly-moogly; I'd love to do one of these myself but I know I'd have far too many "this one or this one or this one" dilemmas that prevent me from pressing the "post" button ...

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  4. Do it! Forcing yourself to choose is half the fun. :)

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  5. Great list. Aside from Van Helsing (which I haven't seen) and the second half of I am Legend, I love every film on this list.

    One thing I'll point out, though, is that A Bug's Life wasn't Pixar's first effort. It came after Toy Story.

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  6. You're totally right! I think it was because Toy Story was largely billed as a Disney film, whereas Bug's Life has the Pixar name displayed proudly on the poster, that I got confused.

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