Tuesday, May 16, 2017

10 Off My Head: Siri Says 1985

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This morning when I asked my digital mistress Siri to give me a number between 1 and 100 so we can play our weekly movie game she coughed up one number and then another that we'd previously used - only on our third try did I get "85" out of her, but I'm glad I stuck around because The Movies of 1985 make for a fun year. 

My first pass through the films I managed to edit my faves down to a Top 5, but it didn't feel right -- it was all serious grown-up movies, without any of the movies that 9 year-old me loved at the time, so I just decided to go with a Top 10. Because I do what I want, dammit. If the President of the United States can spill confidential secrets to the Russians in the Oval Office and get a limp shrug from Congress then I can damn well do this much. (Chaos reigns, y'all.)

My 10 Favorite Movies of 1985

(dir. Robert Zemeckis)
-- released on July 3rd, 1985 --

(dir. Steven Spielberg)
-- released on December 16th, 1985 --

(dir. Terry Gilliam)
-- released on December 18th, 1985 --

(dir. Peter Weir)
-- released on February 8th, 1985 --

(dir. Tim Burton)
-- released on August 9th, 1985 --

(dir. Martin Scorsese)
-- released on October 11th, 1985 --

(dir. Stephen Frears)
-- released on November 16th, 1985 -- 

(dir. Richard Donner)
-- released on June 7th, 1985 -- 

(dir. Woody Allen)
-- released on April 19th, 1985 --

(dir. James Ivory)
-- released on December 13th, 1985 --

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Runners-up:  The Breakfast Club (dir. John Hughes), Cocoon (dir. Ron Howard), Lifeforce (dir. Tobe Hooper), Commando (dir. Mark Lester), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (dir. George Miller), Return to Oz (dir. Walter Murch), Day of the Dead (dir. George Romero), Clue (dir. Jonathan Lynn)...

... Once Bitten (dir. Howard Storm), Desperately Seeking Susan (dir. Susan Seidelman), The Legend of Billie Jean (dir. Matthew Robbins), Smooth Talk (dir. Joyce Chopra), Re-Animator (dir. Stuart Gordon), Red Sonja (dir. Richard Fleischer), Rocky IV (dir. Stallone), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (dir. Paul Schrader), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (dir. Jack Sholder)

Never seen: Kiss of the Spider Woman (dir. Hector Babenco), Come and See (dir. Elem Klimov),  Crimewave (dir. Sam Raimi), Flesh + Blood (dir. Paul Verhoeven), Ladyhawke (dir. Richard Donner), Ran (dir. Kurosawa), Lust in the Dust (dir. Paul Bartel)

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What are your favorite movies of 1985?
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9 comments:

Chris said...

How is it that you've never seen Lust In The Dust???

Peggy Sue said...

What about your favorite pecs? Guttenberg or Lundgren? It's a tough choice!

Jason Adams said...

I know, Chris! It's insane. I have been saving it for a day when I need it, I think is the answer.

Peggy Sue - Guttenberg, hands down. Or I should say FUR down.

Rob91316 said...

"Return of the Living Dead" didn't even make the runners-up cut??? Wha-wha-WHAT???

Pierce said...

Wow! So many good movies in 1985.
I loved Witness,
28 Up was the first of the series that I saw and liked it a lot;
Mishima was beautifully shot
Maxie was so much fun, and I think it was Ruth Gordon’s last performance.
Mask, was superbly acted;
Lost in America was silly fun;
Lust in the Dust is a hoot –It’s on YouTube, too;
Kiss of the Spider Woman is brilliant;
Turtle Diary is lovely, but it’s Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley, so you know it will be good.
Desert Hearts was marvelous, so much better than Lianna;
The Color Purple was beautiful;
Breakfast Club was marvelous;
After Hours is a little gem;
The Trip to Bountiful is magnificent;
Smooth Talk, I don’t care for Joyce Carol Oates, but this was a decent movie;
Follow that Bird is actually really funny;
A Room With a View is a romantic treasure;
Ran is exciting;
Purple Rose of Cairo is so inventive;
Prizzi’s Honor: three names – Huston, Nicholson, Turner;
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure introduced us to Tim Burton;
My Beautiful Laundrette, marvelous;
The Emerald Forest, compelling, and starring the late Powers Boothe;
Dreamchild an inventive classic.

The night before it was supposed to open, someone stole the print of Hail, Mary from the Landmark Theater it was showing in. They needn’t have bothered. I saw a press preview and fell asleep. It’s tedious bore!

joel65913 said...

Lots of great stuff this year and we share a few choices.

Top 10:
A Room with a View
Back to the Future
Silverado
Clue
Mask
The Official Story
Witness
The Sure Thing
Dance with a Stranger
Sweet Dreams

par3182 said...

blood simple
brazil
pee-wee's big adventure
plenty
the purple rose of cairo*

Anonymous said...

You must see Kiss of the Spider Woman. Raul Julia was so sexy. Miss him.

MMinDC

schmiedepaul said...

I can't remember, but either Room with a View or Breathless was my first full frontal dude in a movie ...