Monday, April 16, 2012

New Blog-a-thon: My Movie Year


Andy from Fandango Groovers has come up with another awesome blog-a-thon - pick your favourite year in the history of film and support your claim with five examples of films from that year. I was inspired by Tom @ Movie Reviews By Tom Clift and Sam @ Duke and the Movies, but here is a link to the homepage where you can find links to all those who participated.

This is tough.

As usual, I HAVE to supply some honourable mentions:

1946: Black Narcissus, It's A Wonderful Life, Notorious, The Big Sleep, Paisa

1957: The Seventh Seal, 12 Angry Men, Paths of Glory, Wild Strawberries, The Bridge on the River Kwai

1974: Chinatown, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, The Mirror, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

1979: Apocalypse Now, Life of Brian, Stalker, Manhattan, Alien

1986: Platoon, Aliens, Blue Velvet, The Fly, Manhunter

1991: The Double Life of Veronique, The Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, JFK, Raise the Red Lantern

1994: The Shawhank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Trois Couleurs: Rouge, Hoop Dreams, Chungking Express

1999: American Beauty, Magnolia, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, All About My Mother

2007: There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Ratatouille, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

But, My Movie Year is...

1995

Se7en (David Fincher)

The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer)

Heat (Michael Mann)

Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)

Toy Story (John Lasseter)

Toy Story was one of my most viewed films as a child - it came out in cinemas when I was 7 - and the other four are firmly cemented in my Top 100 films. Se7en and The Usual Suspects are in my Top 10. No question. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this selection. What is your Movie Year?

21 comments:

  1. I think you'll find Black Narcissus was actually 1947. But 1946 produced another Powell & Pressburger classic, A Matter of Life and Death, so it's all good :)

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    1. Oops. In my 1001 Movies book it is listed as 1946. I haven't seen A Matter of Life and Death - but I loved The Red Shoes (1948?) also.

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  2. And you'll definitely find Apocalypse Now was 1979, not 1976...

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    1. Gah. I thought it was too good to be true. I always get Apocalypse Now mixed up between 1976 and 1979. Ok, I have changed it to '79. A good year also.

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  3. Thank you for amending my stupid errors, James.

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    1. Unfortunately that sort of chronological pedantry is one of my less attractive quirks. You have my full permission to amend me if I ever get something wrong myself, cos that's only fair...

      Not all the dates in the 1001 Movies book are correct. The mosr egregious one is for Tetsuo, made in 1989 but listed by them as 1998. An obvious (sub-)editorial error, but one that doesn't seem to have ever been corrected that I can see. Surely I'm not the only one to have noticed.

      As for A Matter of Life and Death, it would be in my top 100 films were I ever fool enough to compile such a list. It crops up late at night on ABC1 every now and then, but I first saw it on the big screen at the Chauvel a few years ago when a restored print was touring. Possibly the best experience I've had of a film on the big screen.

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    2. I am glad you picked it up. Often I find myself doing it to other people. I will have to seek out A Matter of Life and Death. I went through a Powell and Pressburger streak last year (Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, and Peeping Tom) but I didn't get to Life and Death or Colonel Blimp, so I have some work to do. I saw a few retrospectives at Chauvel a few years back - Blue Velvet, Aliens, A Clockwork Orange - and they were all awesome experiences.

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  4. I must say all the years you mentioned above are definitely worthy. 1995 is a great choice as well - Se7en, Usual Suspects, Toy Story all great movies. I am little apathetic towards Heat and haven't seen Dead Man yet but there are many others like Before Sunrise, Leaving Las Vegas and Dead Man Walking. So, definitely a strong year.

    I, personally went with 1957. 12 Angry Men and Seventh Seal from your list and rounded it up with Aparajito, Nights of Cabiria and Throne of Blood.

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    1. There are plenty of others I could have included - but five was specified, and they are all strong.

      I am so glad you went with '57. That wouldn't be a common one, but I immediately considered it. The Seventh Seal is one of my favourite films.

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  5. Nice choice! Such iconic movies, I love Se7en without it crime thrillers wouldn't look the way they do nowadays. Mine would probably be last year, since I gave 10/10 to three movies which never happened in one year before.

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    1. I gave out six 5/5 ratings last year, and I have never given out that many since maybe 2007. It was a strong year - but 1995 (and the others that I mentioned) have too many films amongst my all-time favourites to overlook.

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  6. Oh man, this is wild. I've been working on a post where I make retroactive Top 10's for 1997. I don't know that I would officially deem '97 my "favorite" year for film, but it has some parallels with this blogathon.

    '95 had some great stuff, so much so that I think our lists would almost entirely differ aside from "Heat." I'd include "Before Sunrise", "Leaving Las Vegas", "Dead Man Walking" and (I can't believe I'm admitting this) "Clueless." Not to say you're wrong or anything, not at all, just lots of quality film that year.

    '46 was a great year too. Have you ever seen "Gilda" or "The Killers"?

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    1. 1997. Does Titanic play a role in that? L.A Confidential, Funny Games, Good Will Hunting, Boogie Nights, Princess Mononoke, Jackie Brown, Gattaca and The Game. Solid year.

      No, I haven't seen Gilda or The Killers. They are now on my watchlist.

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  7. Great choices from a great year, thanks for taking part. I have updated the homepage to include your post.

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  8. It's all about '99 for me. What an awesome year as you have shown in your honourable mentions! 1995 is also great. Dead Man blew my mind at college when I started Film Studies. Seven is my pick of the list but all classic films. Great choices!

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  9. 1999 would probably be my runner-up. Se7en and The Usual Suspects are #2 and #3 on my Top 100. Love both of them to death. Thanks Pete.

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  10. Nice list. I still need to see Dead Man, but I love all four of your other choices. I, too, have fond memories of Toy Story as a kid.

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  11. Nice selections, Andy! I would definitely rate those 1995 choices in my top 10 of that year. (except Dead Man which I found to be dull)
    I'm surprised 12 Monkeys and Smoke haven't been mentioned yet, as they right up there in my top 5 of 1995.

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    1. Thanks Chris. I love 12 Monkeys, but have not see Smoke. Hmm, I will seek it out.

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