The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1988

1988 wasn't 1987 tough to make cuts, but there were some omissions I was sad not to be talking about with my 6 film limit.  I know the next year will be a big one too, so its pretty telling there was great run of films in the movie industry from 1987-1989.  Or maybe...I was just soaking in and paying attention to more movies at the time (likely a big factor).  I've also noticed Tom Cruise has been in big movie after big movie, but none of them have yet to show up on my lists (No, I am not a Top Gun fan, sorry).  So, alas, another day, another year another list of 6 movies!

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1987

Well, this year pissed me off.  It was hard as hell to dwindle it down to 6.  So much good stuff in this year.  So many favorites.  There are plenty I'm going to miss on this one.  I boiled it down to what I have watched most and what I've gone back to more recently and more often.  I'd like to take this moment as well, and give an honorable mention to Miami Connection which came out this year.  Its an incredible film that Drafthouse Films unearthered a little over a year ago and its absolutely fabulous.  See it if you've not had the privilege

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1986

And now to the last year I was an only child.  This one was too tough, there were some cuts, but they were a bit easy to make.  This is the year that Leatherface returned to rev his chainsaw at audiences and Star Trek saw its biggest hit of the franchise until AbramsTrek happened.

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1985

We continue now with 1985.  As you'll see below, I guess I could coin this the "dead" year.  There were plenty of good ones to choose from here making the edit a little challenging.  I'm sure this will get real tough the further we get and more attention I paid to cinema year after year.  What this one came down to was which ones I'd been enjoying for the longer amount of time essentially.  Witness did not make the cut here, so Harrison's streak ends at 3. But, the film does get mentioned in the Oscar section.  Although i think he has it in him for more streaks possibly. We'll see.

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1984

This was a pretty damn good year in terms of having to weed films down.  It came down to being honest with myself.  Ultimately, Beverly Hills Cop was cut from this list as I hadn't picked up in forever until I did the retrospective this past summer.  The others on this list are ones I have seen countless times and have been with me for years and years and always jump with me from home video format to home video format.  1984 was a good year.  And, these films all hit the 30 year milestone this year.

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1983

Welcome to 1983.  This was a weaker year for me.  This year has the example of movies shining through that probably wouldn't had they fallen into a different year.  That's part of what the fun is going to be with this.  Some of the factors that go into this aside from how much I like a film is how many times I've seen it, whether or not I owned/have owned/have owned multiple times or how well the film has stuck in my genuine consciousness and conversation.  I also think there is a difference between having a film as a favorite and knowing what films are better than the others.  This year also had 2 James Bond movies...but neither appear here as both happened to be my 2 least favorite.

The Favorite Films Of My Lifetime: 1982

A question I've gotten asked as a film guy a lot throughout my life (and I'm sure folks who aren't try the same thing) is "What are your (10) favorite films of all time?"  Seems a simple and fair question on its surface, but to me its an incredibly complex one to someone who has engulfed themselves in film for just about their whole life.  Just 10?  I'm going to forget something or have a hard time choosing between many.  I love film.  Movies are my love and passion in life.  They've kinda been one of the most important aspects of my life and personality.  I've been on this Earth for 31 years and there have been thousands of movies released in my lifetime.  I've found myself loving many of them.  But, a bigger picture, movies have been around for over 100 years now.  Think of how many have been made from then to now.  And you want to crack that down to just 10-20...even 100 seems like you're going to be leaving off a lot.  I just don't think its fair to dwindle it down to that number.  Plus every year brings even more great films to add to history.