Tuesday, June 28, 2016

5 Off My Head - Siri Says 1988

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This week my phone had it in for me - see, the first time that I asked it to "Pick a number between 1 and 100" it gave me 12 and neither of the two choices possible in this scenario, 1912 or 2012, were any good. 1912's no good because come on, who's seen enough silent film from 1912 to make a list of five favorites? Hell, to make a list of five, period? And 2012 is no good because here on the blog I did a great big Year End Celebration for 2012 (remember when I was doing those?) and looking back not enough has changed in my perceptions of the year's best to mess with what I said then.

So I gave up and I asked Siri a second time to pick a number between 1 and 100 and she said 88, and The Movies of 1988 present an entirely different set of difficulties - namely that I was 12-13 years old in 1988 and just falling in love with the movies (the first choice of my five below is the very first movie I went to see by myself!) and nostalgia trumps reason when it comes to this period of time. 

That said this would be more obvious if we expanded my Top 5 to a Top 10, where things like the Bette Midler two-fer of Big Business & Beaches might find an inexplicable-to-some foothold - I think my Top 5, nostalgia-blindness aside, can and do totally stand the test of time. Judge for yourselves, for here are...

My Five Favorite Movies of 1988

(dir. Tim Burton)
-- released March 30th, 1988 --

(dir. David Cronenberg)
-- released September 23rd, 1988 --

(dir. Robert Zemeckis)
-- released June 22nd, 1988 --

(dir. Michael Lehmann)
-- released March 31st, 1988 --

(dir. Bernard Rose)
-- released September 10th, 1988 --


Runners-up: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels by Frank Oz, Brain Damage by Frank Henenlotter, Lair of the White Worm by Ken Russell, Working Girl by Mike Nichols, They Live by John Carpenter, Hairspray by John Waters, Alice by Jan Svankmajer.

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What are your favorite movies of 1988?
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10 comments:

Josito Montez said...

Distant Voices, Still Lives, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Running on Empty, The Thin Blue Line and My Neighbor Totoro.

Jason Adams said...

Ooh how did I miss Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown??? Great list, Josito :)

par3182 said...

distant voices, still lives
evil angels
hairspray
running on empty
who framed roger rabbit?

joel65913 said...

A great year at the movies!

My ten would be:
Running on Empty
Die Hard
Torch Song Trilogy
Crossing Delancy
Big
Beaches
Working Girl
Big Business
Shy People
A Fish Called Wanda

I'm not a huge fan of it but Lair of the White Worm is one trippy movie with a fantastic performance by Amanda Donohoe


remy said...

Beetlejuice
My Neighbor Totoro
Dangerous Liaisons
Another Woman
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

+
Heathers
Working Girl
A Fish Called Wanda

Anonymous said...

Big Business for me -- and Beetlejuice.

Jon said...

My Top Ten From 1988:

Beetlejuice
Dangerous Liaisons
Die Hard
A Fish Called Wanda
Hairspray
Heathers
The Last Temptation of Christ
My Neighbor Totoro
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Working Girl

Honorable Mentions: Lair of the White Worm, Dead Ringers, Naked Gun, Married To The Mob, Coming To America, A Cry In The Dark

Calamaio said...

My favourite movies of 1988:

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
My Neighbor Totoro
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Grave of the Fireflies

Astroboymn said...

Grave of the Fireflies
Heathers
Paperhouse
Dangerous Liasons
Another Woman
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Married to the Mob
Slightly guilty pleasures: The Blob, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Heather said...

The Accused
Die Hard
Beaches
Heathers
Rainman
Willow
Young Guns
Stand & Deliver
Women on the Verge..
The Serpent & The Rainbow