2004

This was a year that comes around usually once a decade. It was a year when almost everything either lived up to the hype or came out of nowhere and became a pleasant surprise.It was a year for hilarious comedies, rousing action films, and heartfelt dramas. In short, this was a year that had everything.

The Top Three
The Incredibles, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

This was the year I began to believe in Pixar and The Incredibles was the film that put me over the top. From the opening chase sequence to the "incredits" at the end I fell in love with the family Parr and those masterful storytellers behind it all. I saw this film three times in the theater and I enjoyed it more every time. Brad Bird's phenomenal action direction, the perfect voice casting, and the ability of the script to find humor in the superhero genre ("no capes!") all combine to make this the best Pixar film. The Incredibles actually contains some of the best action sequences in film. The inventiveness and fun evident on screen during the island sequences and the desperation of the final battle against the giant robot rival anything in a live action film. However, it's the small moments that really carry the film for me, whether it's Mr. Incredible admitting he's "not strong enough", Dash realizing with joy he can run on water or Frozone showing up to join his friends for a fight. An all time classic.

 I have a few things to say about Anchorman. It was not until my fourth or fifth viewing that this became my favorite comedy of all time. When the same lines can be consistently funny, over and over again, that's when you know.
Here are the rest of the things I have to say about Anchorman: I'm kind of a big deal, jazz flute, sex panther, afternoon delight, Dorothy Mantooth is a saint!, anchor war, panda jerk, go f--- yourself San Diego, pleasuretown, a glass case of emotion, milk was a bad choice, whammy, newsteam assemble, the human torch was denied a bank loan, Scotch, Baxter, lamp, I love lamp, San Deeago, I don't know what we're yelling about!, bears, killing a guy with a trident and the gun show. You stay classy San Diego.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was a complete surprise to me. It was marketed more as a Jim Carrey comedy than an indie romance about the horrors of loosing your memories so I was completely unprepared for what unfolded. The thing that struck me right off the bat was how flawed both characters were. Their opening scene on the train (why do great dialogue scenes always happen on trains?) remains some of my favorite awkward dialogue ever. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman was at the top of his game when he constructed this gem. The film also contains career best performances from Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. My biggest takeaway from this film was the tragedy of memory loss and how the ability to recall events in our lives is so taken for granted.

The Best of the Rest
Sideways, The Bourne Supremacy, Collateral, Spider Man 2, Miracle, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Shaun of the Dead, Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Aviator, The Terminal

The films above are what made this year so truly great to go to the cinema. Everything was so damned entertaining! Even if a film had flaws (Kill Bill, Spider Man and Aviator I'm looking at you) the good far outweighed the bad. Miracle was another one of those amazing surprises and my personal favorite sports movie of all time. It's not a spoiler to say that the US team beats the Russians. The moment afterwards when Kurt Russel excuses himself to be alone in a deserted hallway and gives that fist pump is one of the truest representations of emotion on film for me. The touching melancholic joy of Sideways and The Terminal provided a much needed palate cleanser to the glut of great comedies and action films. Plus you have two sequels that actually surpass the originals in Bourne and Spiderman. A very rare feat indeed.

Other Films of Note
Man on Fire, Garden State, Ray, Bubba Ho-Tep, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Finding Neverland, Hellboy, Napoleon Dynamite, Team America: World Police, Dawn of the Dead, Friday Night Lights, The Motorcycle Diaries, Million Dollar Baby, Mysterious Skin

Overall, this year was the year where expectations were met and, more often than not, exceeded. So many years are full of films that don't live up to the hype due to the mass marketing that now takes place for most studio films. It was a very refreshing change of pace to be able to walk out of the theater again and again feeling satisfied and elated.

1946

This was a year in which all the films I've chosen to highlight, center around a romantic entanglement regardless of the genre they occupy. Perhaps that's why I have such a lovestruck fondness for all of the pictures below. However, none moreso than my top three, perhaps my favorite top three films of any year.

The Top Three
The Best Years of Our Lives, The Big Sleep, Notorious

The Best Years of Our Lives remains one of the best viewing experiences I've had where I knew virtually nothing about the film except that I wanted to see it. The number of truthful, poignant moments contained in this masterpiece of American cinema is staggering. However, they all pale in comparison to the very real truth of the situation facing Homer and his fiancee. The performance given by Harold Russell is not the greatest acting put forth on screen but never has there been a situation where someone "playing himself" has felt more genuine. I can still get chills thinking about the simple ending where a very small action, has the greatest meaning.

Oh, The Big Sleep. How I love thee. While I will admit this is not the greatest film noir of all time, it is the one that has my heart. It's no one thing (it never is with a great film) it's a collection of images and moments: Bogart with the bookstore girl, waiting in his car in the rain, talking horses with Bacall, Elisha Cook Jr bantering with Cunino, "you're cute", and all the strange twists and turns that give the film a foggy feeling. I am an unabashed Bogart fan and I enjoy all the films he did with his wife, Lauren Bacall, but it's their chemistry in this film that really connects with the audience.

Lastly, Notorious, which has the distinction of probably being the best Hitchcock film outside the big four (Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo and Rear Window). Here you get Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant in two very mature roles. Their park bench dialogue contains some of the best back and forth exchanges, where each line cuts upon the other while giving each character room to react. The film also contains one of Hitch's most brilliant pieces of camerawork, starting extremely wide above a busy ballroom and ending on a ring. While the ending is somewhat anticlimactic, the film still contains enough thrilling moments to be considered a classic.

Best of the Rest
It's a Wonderful Life, Gilda, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Killers

When it was released, It's a Wonderful Life was not overly successful. Only in the last 30 years has it gained it's stature and been romanticized as one of the preeminent Christmas films. The other three films all have strong performances from their female leads and act as great precursors to the dark alley of post war pessimism film noir would find in 1947 and 1948.

Other Films of Note
A Matter of Life and Death, (have not seen The Yearling, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, My Darling Clementine, or Beauty and the Beast--French version)

Overall, this year for me will always be about the chemistry of a great pair of actors and actresses. Whether it be Bogart and Bacall, Grant and Bergman, March and Loy, Andrews and Hayworth, Garfield and Turner, or Lancaster and Gardener, they were all enthralling. This was a rare year for another reason. It represented a turning point in American ideals. It is the calm before the storm that hits in 1947 when films like Out of the Past, The Lady from Shanghai, Born to Kill, and Crossfire would showcase how the post war joy of victory was wearing off and everyone was wondering "now what". The films listed above said that everything was alright for the time being and to enjoy the present moment, even though it was not to last.

1982

The year of the genre picture, most importantly sci/fi but horror and fantasy were well served also. This year is a personal one for me as it was the year I was born. I never got the chance to see any of these films in a theater upon first viewing. Later in my life I was able to see some of them at my college theater or at special event screenings but the first time I saw any of these films was on home video. Yes, video. I am that old. While the viewing experience was limited to my living room, it did not diminish any of the power these films held over me.

The Top Three
Blade Runner, The Thing, E. T. The Extra Terrestrial

 I'll begin with Blade Runner, as no film has consistently been more impressive to me upon subsequent viewings. There's so much going on in the background of every scene that one could spend hours gushing upon the art direction alone. However, what I always come back to is the tragic story of Roy Batty and his struggle for meaning and existence. His final scene is one of the best in cinema and what I feel to be a very poignant moment describing the human condition.

Then there's The Thing. John Carpenter's remake of another one of my favorite films, Howard Hawk's "The Thing From Another World" was for a long time a movie I avoided after my first viewing. The creature effects and gore were unlike anything I had ever scene and I used to dub this as the "grossest movie of all time". However, one Halloween (appropriately enough) I mustered up the courage to see the film again and this time I was able to feel the true fear of the film, which comes not from the hellish special effects but the rampant paranoia entangling every character in a chilling, frost-bitten grip. I've rarely been as unnerved as I was when Wilford Brimely's character calmly requests to come back inside while a noose dangles in the background. It's a small moment in the film but perfectly captures the sense of "we are all doomed" that Carpenter evokes in every scene.

Lastly, E.T. Without question this is the film that I watched the most of any movie from this year, which makes sense as I did not see the others until well into the 90's. While some may dismiss the film as schmaltzy Speilberg, I would counter with the argument that even though E.T. deliberately tries to pull on your heart strings, it does it so well that you cannot help but feel the emotions the film is trying so hard to invoke. That said, if you cannot relate to Elliot's joy as he soars with E.T. across the moon and the John Williams score soars right there with you, then your heart strings must be very rigid indeed.

Best of the Rest
Pink Floyd's The Wall, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, First Blood, 48 Hrs., Poltergeist, Gandhi

The meat of this year is made up of the above films. Each a rousing and spirited entry in its own genre. Music Bio/Doc, Sci/Fi, Fantasy (swords & sorcery), One man vs. an Army, Buddy Cop, Horror and the Historical Epic each have a true representative and that does not happen often. Plus you have a pair of significant firsts with Schwarzenegger in Conan and Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs.Not to mention, the best of the Star Trek films.

Other Films of Note
The Dark Crystal, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Tootsie, Rocky III, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Flight of Dragons, The Last Unicorn, The Secret of NIMH

Overall, this year is a very special one to me. The amount of unique and interesting niche pictures is far and away the best collection of any one year. One could make the argument that every year is filled with genre films because every film has a certain genre (or two). This would be missing the point that the year 1982 presented an amazingly diverse collection of films from all genres that were equally entertaining, evocative and expressive.

1994

When I think about this year the first thing that comes to mind is the great trio of films that have gained in stature as time has passed. They occupy the #1, #4 and #19 spots on the IMDB Top 250 films as voted on by the site's users.

The Top Three
Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Forest Gump

Shawshank and Gump are more traditional Hollywood fare done up to the nines, while Pulp kicked the door in for independent film and solidified a new voice in American Cinema.



Best of the Rest
The Lion King, The Professional, Before Sunrise, Clerks, Quiz Show

A handful of other films cemented this year as one for originality and that indie feeling. Before Sunrise, Clerks and The Professional all found audiences through word of mouth and continued to impress each time someone discovered them. Disney hit a high water mark in the 90's with The Lion King and Quiz Show earned that coveted moniker of a "damn good movie".

Other Films of Note
True Lies, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, The Ref, Clear and Present Danger, The Crow, Swimming with Sharks, Bullets Over Broadway, Fresh, Airheads, Natural Born Killers, Speed, Trapped in Paradise, Ed Wood, Four Weddings and a Funeral

Overall, 1994 had more originality in it than most years previous and many years since. There are no sequels and no remakes to be found in the large list of films above. Quite an achievement considering the climate at the time. What I'll take away from this year most of all is the feeling that change was in the air. To borrow from the title of one of the films above, this year seemed fresh.

My Favorite Years

I'm starting a new feature here detailing some of my favorite years in the history of cinema. These are not necessarily historic years a la1969 (Midnight Cowboy wins the Oscar, Wild Bunch introduces slo-mo violence, etc.). These are also not necessarily critically lauded years a la1939 (Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, etc.). These will simply be years containing films that had a profound impact on me or just a year where a lot of really great movies were released.
I've always found it interesting what films occupy the same time period and the glut some years have of just one great classic after another. This process is always done more accurately in hindsight, once the passage of years has allowed someone the chance to view enough films to get a feel for that time frame.
Also, a caveat that for every great year there are an equal number of terrible films released within the same period. Hollywood is a numbers game and during a few decades there was a lot of crap getting thrown out into the world to see what would stick. Thankfully this meant that a number of films that would usually never see the light of day, got made, distributed and found an audience. These are usually the films that "make" a year once the expectations have been met for the larger releases, which is another key factor in having a good year at the theater.
I'll discuss all this and more in my next post talking about 1994.