The Shadow-gloom and Weight of the Sacred

Along with music, movies have always been a big part of my life. As I've previously written, there was a period of time when Gretchen and I would fall asleep to a movie playing in our bedroom every night (or a DVD of Seinfeld or Scrubs or Arrested Development). Before living in Vienna, we went to the theatre a lot, but in the last three or so years, we haven't been able to make it to the theatre so often (two, maybe three, times). We don't necessarily watch a lot of different movies, but we watch a lot of movies. (This summer, we've been unable to find much time for movies, but I think we're getting back into the swing of our movie-watching lifestyle.) To further quantify my love for good film, today's Top 5 is a list of what I consider the best years for movies. I'm not going to make any comments (not many, any way); I'm just going to list my favorite movies from a given year. Other than my Number 1 selection, I had a real difficult time building this list. I may revise it some time in the future.

5. 1989: Batman, The Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, UHF, Born on the Fourth of July, Glory, Do the Right Thing, Dead Poets Society, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Karate Kid III, Pet Sematary, Say Anything, Field of Dreams.

4. 1976: Taxi Driver, Rocky, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Network, The Shootist, The Song Remains the Same, King Kong, Gus, Freaky Friday
COMMENT:Robert DeNiro was robbed of the best acting Oscar for his portrayal of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Probably Martin Scorsese was robbed for best director, as well. The Song Remains the Same is a Led Zeppelin concert film that is actually kind of boring, but I have to list it because of my Zeppelin allegiance. King Kong was the version where Kong climbs the World Trade Center. I like the way King Kong is consistently reinterpreted through the years.

3. 1984: Romancing the Stone, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, Ghostbusters, Amadeus, Places in the Heart, Once Upon A Time in America, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Terminator.

2. 2003: Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Finding Nemo, Monster, 21 Grams, Big Fish, Elf, Mystic River, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
COMMENT: Alien was re-released during the fall of 2003. We went to see it on Halloween and it was just as scary as ever. 20 years separated from the 1970s, I do think the social commentary is probably lost on younger audiences. The Return of the King was good, but it's my least favorite of the Lord of the Rings films.

1. 1999: Magnolia; Dogma; The Matrix; Office Space, Toy Story 2; The Sixth Sense; The Hurricane; Girl, Interrupted; Being John Malkovich; Analyze This, Fight Club; The Insider, Sleepy Hollow, Mystery Men, Three Kings, October Sky
COMMENT: Magnolia is my all-time favorite movie. American Beauty, also released in 1999, is the most overrated film of all time. 1999 was one of the best years for movies from a screenplay standpoint. A lot of good scripts were produced in this year--Especially, Magnolia, Dogma, Being John Malkovich.