1981

This one’s easy. The trouble is that I am beginning to just pick my top 10 favorites of the year, tell you which one’s I’ve seen or not, and then give my pick.

I’d like to try and add at least a small anecdote, interesting take, or fun fact to make these posts a little more entertaining. Apparently, I’m having difficulty with that because for this year I just don’t have one, unless you count the fact that I always have trouble separating Porky’s and Meatballs in my head, instead thinking they are the same movie.

In addition to my Porky’s memory lapse, I don’t remember much about Excalibur, or Stripes. I recall enjoying The Cannonball Run immensely, that The Evil Dead was so bad it that it comes back around to being good (at least a little), and I’m not sure if I’ve seen Escape from New York, or Heavy Metal, but certain I missed On Golden Pond.

Das Boot and Chariots of Fire were the only films with substance but with so much that it makes up for the rest lacking it, and if you know anything about the history of Special Effects in Film you know how important Clash of the Titans was to moving the field forward (and how laughable the effects are nowadays).

The clear winner for the year is Harrison Ford in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster…
 
 

My favorite film of 1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

1980

I’m only 4 posts into this list and I’m already hating the burden of having to pick a favorite. How do you choose between Airplane!, Stir Crazy, And Caddyshack? Or between Ordinary People and The Shining? Fame and Friday the 13th?

What about Raging Bull or The Elephant Man? Well, luckily for that choice I don’t have to since I haven’t seen either.

I already alluded to the fact that I would be going with The Empire Strikes Back for this year’s favorite but it feels kind of cheap to have half of my picks be Star Wars, and even more so when I’m undecided at this point as to whether I’m going to pick Episode VII as my pick for 2015.

If I stay true to my gut and just pick the film I would be most excited to sit down and watch right this minute, then I won’t have to worry about defending my position when someone looks at one of my picks a scoffs.

 
 

My favorite film of 1980: The Empire Strikes Back

 

1979

This is going to be much more fun when I get to where I have seen all the great films of a given year. At least I hope so.

One thing is for sure, it’s too late to try to catch up on the ones I have missed by going back and watching them now. I say that because today I watched a movie that appears on a bunch of “all time funniest” lists and did not enjoy it at all. If you haven’t seen Steve Martin in The Jerk it’s the kind of funny that is painful to watch. The way the late night phone call scene from Swingers makes you cringe. I know that’s what they were going for, but wow that was tough.

That said, as I look at the rest of the options for the year I can’t help but see so many in this time period as ground-breaking. Think Alien, Apocalypse Now, Meatballs, and The Muppet Movie. These movies are just a cut above the rest.

My “haven’t seen but are supposed to be great” films of this year are 10, Kramer vs. Kramer, All That Jazz, and Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The only other important film to bring up is The Black Stallion which I am afraid to watch now as I remember it so fondly but am afraid how much it might not hold up. I guess I should mention Star Trek: The Motion Picture as a film of note for the year, but it was awful. So, painfully slow.

Oh, I guess I need to actually pick a favorite here. I’ll have to go with what seems to be a trend starting with me and my picks, another movie set in space…

 

My favorite film of 1979: Alien