nixsight

Rol posted a meme a week or so ago (including two other bloggers what done it: Lee and Samurai Frog) that caught my attention. It did this by a) Being about films, and b) Collating things via an easily measured scale.

I am not good at assigning values to things, because I have a bad memory, and can never remember the things I have liked or disliked for longer then… that long. That period of time that just passed then.

Also, as a general-purpose geek, I fail badly, because I struggle to tie items or events to dates. I can tell you what happened in the background on a throwaway scene in an episode of Buffy that I watched once, or identify Predator 2 from a five second clip of a tertiary character doing something pointless with the sound down, but I couldn’t tell you when either film was made, or what year I saw them in.

This meme allows me to appear capable rather then handicapable in both of these areas, while reminding me of old favourites, so it can only be awesome. It requires simply this:

The meme is this: Look up the movie releases for each year of your life, and for each year, pick your favourite. Not the one that you think might have been the best, the one that sticks in your head the most, or you can watch again and again. Prepare for a few guilty pleasures, is what I’m saying.

(This post quickly became far too damn long, so I’m going to split it up. This is the first ten years. The others will be posted sooner rather then later, I promise!)

1973 – Live And Let Die

If Clint had caught me earlier in life, this would have been “High Plains Drifter“. The same goes for Bruce and “Enter The Dragon“. I saw both films in my twenties, and for only seeing each a couple of times, they each made a big impression. The red town and the oft-copied island-tournament, and mirror-fight are ideas which catch in your head.
But despite the quality of those movies, “Live And Let Die” has to take the birthday slot, because I still find myself a little nervy of the memory of all that voodoo, and that awesome theme song is never far from the back of my mind. Possibly the best thing Paul McCartney has done since The Beatles.

1974 – The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three

Of the movies that Wikipedia threw up that I could have picked for 1974, I know this film the least. 74 was the year of both “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein“, after all, as well as “Dark Star” (which would have made it onto the anarchic teenage Nick’s list) and “The Godfather Part 2“.

I’ve only seen “The Taking Of Pelham” once, and need to seek it out again. In memory, everything about it is pitched perfectly – it comes from a time when a crime movie didn’t require an explanation of motivation for every damn character, and as such it was a precursor of all of the best examples of the genre, and a perfect illustration of “less is more” in film-making.

I gather that at the time, it would also have been a bit of a crowd-pleaser, too. Certainly, it’s exciting enough, with enough spectacle and solid characterisation. I recall Walter Matthau standing out in particular, at a time when I had only known him as a miserable old bastard in naff comedies.

1975 – Jaws

In common with Rol, I kind of think this goes without saying. My three other possible choices were “boil in the bag perversion”, a comedy staple that has been ruined for me by bad quoting and worse fandom, and a film that I am almost certain my father only showed me at a very young age to scare the shit out of me. So this was an easy choice.

1976 – Bugsy Malone

This was a tough call for me, because it was apparently a year for films that meant more to me then they probably should. If I could make a choice based entirely on full-frontal Jenny Agutter nudity in “Logan’s Run“, or a girl’s locker-room shower scene in “Carrie“, at an age when I really hadn’t seen anything like it before, the choice might have been different. Factor in the fact that “Rocky” is a movie that I have grown to like more as time goes on, from an active dislike of it as a kid, and it’s made harder.

But what can I say, there’s something infectious about an Alan Parker musical. And Bugsy always looked like it was so much fun. Growing up, this was the VHS cassette that my sisters played over and over, and I pretended to hate, but I can probably recite far too much of it, even now. And the songs are mostly great.

1977 – Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

Although between the ages of about 10 and 15, “Star Wars” dominated my imaginary landscape, my memory of what I liked so much about that movie has been diluted by the sequels, the remasters and the prequels.

“Close Encounters” is a different animal altogether. I probably didn’t really get it when I first saw it, but visually it was still so appealing. As time went on, I’ve come to really love the recurrence of images and themes, and the examination of the different ways of communicating that the aliens find. The moment where the humans are trying to reach the spaceship with the musical tones, and the spaceship responds with those two bass notes, blowing out all of the windows, is one of those moments in cinema that kind of whooshes through me.

Richard Dreyfuss, again. I clearly love the man. Which is only right and proper, because at this point he was simply a wonderful actor.

1978 – Superman – The Movie

1978 wasn’t a bad year for movies, but in terms of the impact it had on me, and accessibility for reviewing, there really wasn’t anything else that came close. I don’t think I really appreciated Christopher Reeves’ performance at the time, because I thought it was pretty hammy, but cheese or no cheese, the audience sees Clark Kent and Superman as two distinct characters throughout these movies, and that is an impressive feat. I choose to ignore the deus ex machina that ruins the payoff to the movie a little, otherwise I’d end up totally agreeing with Rol here.

1979 – Alien

There were a few possibilities for this year. But when it came down to it, Alien is the only one that I can sit down without the stars having to be in a certain alignment, or my moods to be in a particular phase.

It’s also the point at which I learnt to love both Ian Holm and Harry Dean Stanton, and both those affections have stood me in good stead down through the years.

1980 – Fame!

I know I’m going out on a limb here, but if I’m being honest, it has to be this movie. I’ve already mentioned my weakness for Alan Parker musicals, and this film was, in contrast to the TV series which followed it, a fairly solid and adult piece of work.

If memory serves, the musical numbers are all diegetic, which makes it a little unusual, and the performances are strong throughout, if a little melodramatic for my current tastes. But the film got its hooks in me young, I guess.

I should point out that I never wanted to go into the performing arts. But I couldn’t say the same for my desires for the movie Doris.

“The Empire Strikes Back” should get a mention, for being my favourite Star Wars movie. Also, “Airplane“, because I don’t think anyone is going to pick it out, and they really should. It would be my second choice, actually – a comedy that actually aims all-out for funny, and hits more then it misses, is more of a rarity then it should be.

1981 – Time Bandits

I was kind of shocked to see how many of my favourite films came out in 81. I could go for the obvious “Raiders Of The Lost Ark“, and I’m pretty surprised to find that I’m not. Jenny Agutter almost swung it for me again in “An American Werewolf In London“, but I think the reason I’m going with “Time Bandits” is that, unlike those two awesome films, I haven’t watched it hundreds of times already. It gets bonus points because I might still be surprised by it.

In common with Raiders and Werewolf, it features effects that no-one had ever seen the like of before – but it had Terry Gilliam at the helm, which of course means that no-one has seen the like of those sequences since, either.

Also, I’ve never seen this trailer before – my dad sprung the film on me on a trip to the cinema when I really wanted to see something else. This trailer is hilarious. Perfect for the film.

1982 – The Thing

No contest at all. “Blade Runner” and “Pink Floyd: The Wall” have both had their way with me more then once, especially as a teen, but “The Thing” repeatedly makes it into my Top 5. Which means I can remember it when people ask me for a Top 5. Which tells you something.

Utterly claustrophobic, totally horrific, and with special effects that still stand up to scrutiny today. This is probably the point at which I realised that I would always give John Carpenter the time of day, but I think this is probably his best.

Also, this is the first time I became aware of Keith David. That dude refuses to age. I love him.

1983 – The Dead Zone

My libido desperately wanted me to say “Flashdance” here, but no, it has to be The Dead Zone. Cronenberg delivers a note perfect adaptation, and Christopher Walken is both strangely sympathetic and utterly creepy as Johnny Smith. The right choice for all the reasons that Rol gives, and more.

That’s that, for now. I will post the next ten years soon, I promise!