BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

YEAR BY YEAR

The 1980s

And continuing with my series of posts on my favorite movies of each year, we are in the 80s and now we come to 1986 through 1988.  As per usual, we will have three picks for each year:  a personal favorite, a best sequel, and an acclaimed pic (and I might mention a few other movies along the way that I really liked).
So here we go:

1986

Personal Pick - Highlander
My personal pick for this year is Highlander from Russell Mulcahy starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery.  I always think of this movie as one of the most original ideas for a movie that I have ever heard. Whoever thought of immortals fighting it out until only one survives but the only way they can die is if their head is chopped off so they have to fight with swords is sheer brilliance and makes for one of the most enjoyable movies of the 80s.
Best Sequel of the Year - Aliens
It took seven years for the sequel to Alien to come out but when it did come out it came out with a bang. James Cameron takes over the reins and delivers one of the greatest action movies of all time with Sigourney Weaver back in action and giving one of the greatest female performances on film, this movie is high octane relentless action at its best.  Truly one of the great action films of the 80s
Acclaimed Pick - Hoosiers
I've mentioned before that I love a good sports flick and here comes another one. Starring Gene Hackman as the basketball coach of a small town high school team in Indiana, this masterful film is moving, dramatic and almost perfect as a great sports movie should be.

Honorable mentions and other movies:
I can't get away from 1986 without talking about some of the other movies of the year with the main one being the most successful movie of the year Tom Cruise, in a Megastar making roll brings us Top Gun.
And speaking of star-making roles, let's not forget Jeff Goldblum in The Fly.  Pretty amazing performance even under a ton of prosthetics and makeup.
They're also a couple of the other sequels I should mention including the second Karate Kid movie and the last movie of the Star Trek trilogy, Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home.
And finally a movie that I just have to mention starring Tom Hanks during his comedy phase of acting called The Money Pit.  This movie is hilarious but yet also is done with a lot of pathos.  If you haven't seen it do yourself a favor and check it out.

1987

Personal Pick - Predator
And the action movies just keep coming including this flick directed by John Mctiernan and starring that little actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger and a plethora of other huge he-men, Predator is almost a perfect action movie.  It begins somewhat unsurprisingly but then the alien shows up and this movie goes to a whole other level.

Action Movie Honorable Mention:
Another action movie that came out in 1986 that I would like to mention is RoboCop.  Directed by Paul Verhoeven, this movie is, as his movies are, a bit over-the-top and pretty violent but it's still a great watch with great action.

Best Sequel of the Year - The Living Daylights
Okay so once again I have to cheat a little bit in that James Bond movies aren't strictly sequels but a series of movies but this one just has to go on this list.  In his first outing as James Bond, Timothy Dalton brings a rugged ruthlessness to the character in a good Cold War story that in Bondian fashion offer some great set pieces, action and style.
Acclaimed Pick - The Untouchables
And speaking of James Bond, here's a movie starring a former Bond.  Sean Connery stars as a policeman helping Eliot Ness hunt down Al Capone starring Kevin Costner and Robert de Niro who actually, is not bad in this movie. Connery won his only Academy Award for this movie and directed by Brian de Palma, this is a good one.

Secondary Personal Pick - Dirty Dancing
I just can't leave 1987 without mentioning this movie so I get a second personal pick.  Once again it was a movie that spoke to me as a young man and what I really liked about this movie starring Patrick Swayze was the suave, cool, semi-bad boy falls for the slightly unattractive but cute goody two-shoes girl and he falls really hard for her.  Usually it's the other way around which makes this movie so unique and hey, pretty sexy dancing.


1988

I did mention when I started the 80s that this year would be a unique year just because I can't find a lot of really good movies for this year so there will be only one pick for this year and that pick is:

Die Hard
In his absolute star-making role, Bruce Willis and John Mctiernan deliver, perhaps, the single greatest action movie of all time.  Along with a barnstorming performance by Alan Rickman, this movie is just pure gold in almost every way and even though this year might not have been very good it did give us one movie that was absolutely great.

1989

And whereas 1988 was not a strong Year for movies, the decade finishes up with an incredible year for movies. 1989 was the best year for movies of the decade and it's going to be really tough for me to pick just three movies so hold on here we go:

Personal Pick - Batman
Who knew that Michael Keaton could play Batman but he certainly pulled it off in this movie to great effect.  The 70s gave us Superman and right at the end of the 80s we got Batman directed by a relative newcomer named Tim Burton with a relatively new composer named Danny Elfman, Batman came to the big screen along with Jack Nicholson as the Joker delivering a classic superhero movie.
Best Sequel of the Year - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
This was an easy one as Indiana Jones returns to the big screen after a five-year absence in classic form.  High adventure, great music and riding off into the sunset, it just doesn't get any better.

Honorable Mention - The Little Mermaid
You can't talk about movies in 1989 without mentioning the return to glory for Disney that was The Little Mermaid.  During the 80s Disney had been in somewhat of a slump, but along came this magical movie and all that was forgotten.  With incredible music by Alan Menken and great traditional animation, this movie ushered in a Renaissance for Disney that would continue into the 1990s and beyond.

Acclaimed Pick - 3 Way tie - Dead Poets Society/Glory/Henry V
I told you that it was going to be hard for me to pick just one movie in each of my categories.  For this category I just couldn't pick one so we have three.   The first being Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams in a surprisingly brilliant dramatic role.  This movie about young men at a prep school once again came at just the right time for me as I was just finishing high school and was looking toward my future.  Powerful, sad and yet incredibly inspiring.
Next we we get one of the greatest civil war movies of all time in Glory starring Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington in his Academy award-winning role, this movie is just what its title implies.  It is glorious.
And to round out this category is Kenneth Branaugh's adaption of Shakespeare's Henry V.  Both directing and starring in this movie Branaugh delivered a tour-de-force which has been rarely equalled in the annals of filmmaking.  This movie and its depiction of medieval warfare and spot-on Shakespearean interpretation is a must-see for any fan of Shakespeare.

And that will conclude the 1980s.  I don't know what format I will use for the 1990s, whether I will continue with the multiple categories or just pick one movie for each year, we'll see, so stay tuned and visit the blog again sometime and hopefully it won't be too long before I can continue this series.
 

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

YEAR BY YEAR

The 1980s

Okay continuing with my series of posts on my favorite movies of each year, we are in the 80s and now we come to 1983 through 1985.  As per usual, we will have three picks for each year:  a personal favorite, a best sequel, and an acclaimed pick (and I might mention a few other movies along the way that I really liked).
So here we go:

1983

Personal Pick - War Games
It turns out that 1983 wasn't a very strong year for movies so my personal pick for this year is War Games starring Matthew Broderick and I really like this film because it was about a young guy who was into computers and stumbled onto this big war games scenario just as I was a young guy into computers and this movie was just the right time and right place at that time in my life but beyond that it's actually a pretty good movie so it's my pick.
Best Sequel of the Year - Return of the Jedi
Well of course, this one is obvious.  We reach the end of the Star Wars saga and it concludes the story of Luke Skywalker in stirring fashion. Yeah,sure some people didn't like the ewoks but at the time I thought they were cute and I understood the message about a primitive society overthrowing a vast technological one, so I have no complaints about the movie and of course, we get the great score by John Williams once again closing out the saga. You don't do much better.
Acclaimed Pick - The Outsiders
This movie may come as somewhat of a shock to some people but this is actually a really great movie directed by none other than Francis Ford Coppola. It starred a who's who of young male Hollywood including C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe and Ralph Macchio. Some people may not be familiar with this film and I would encourage them to check it out because it's a really moving and well done piece and was acclaimed in its time.
 

1984

So if 1983 was a weak year, 1984 was a positively astonishing year for movies. This is going to be tough but here we go:

Personal Pick - Dune
Now this is a personal favorite and I know that I might be in a minority with this pick but I think this movie is amazing. From director David Lynch comes an epic sci-fi adventure based on the epic sci-fi adventure book.  This movie has such style and is a really good adaption of the book.  The standout performance of Kyle McLaughlin and a really all-star cast makes this movie just an incredible cinematic experience and it's my personal pick for this year.

Honorable mentions and all the other movies that came out this year:
As I said, 1984 was an incredible year for movies.  Some of the movies that I want to mention but can't put on the list are movies like Ghostbusters, a much-beloved comedy, The Karate Kid starring Ralph macchio, a movie perfect for its time telling the story of a young man standing up to his bullies as I myself was a young man who too had to sometimes stand up to his bullies.  In that same vein was Footloose with a star-making performance by Kevin Bacon about a young man who wanted to dance in a no-dance town. Again, a movie just right for that time in my life and a good one.
And another sci-fi classic directed by James Cameron and starring a little actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger was The Terminator.  Because it was rated R, I didn't see it at the time but later on when I was older I saw it and can appreciate it for the great action film that it is.
And how about a sequel to the worst movie ever made IMO, 2010: The Year We Make Contact was a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and it surpasses the original movie in every way mainly because 2010 makes sense and explains everything that happened in 2001.  a really good sci-fi movie IMO.
And how can you leave 1984 without talking about the movie 1984. An adaptation of the book of the same name by George Orwell with outstanding performances from John Hurt and Richard Burton, this dystopian future is brilliantly brought to life on screen.  if you haven't seen it you should check it out.

Best Sequel of the Year - tie - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom/Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock
Indiana Jones returns to the screen in a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark so this is actually not a sequel but that's just semantics.  The first time I saw this movie I thought it was the most exciting movie I had ever watched in my life.  However, I watch it now and it gets a little tiring especially the female lead performance by Kate Capshaw but it's still pure adventure and pure Indiana Jones.
And continuing the Star trek trilogy as the crew hijacks the Enterprise and goes in search for Spock after his death (sorry spoilers) in Star trek 2, Trek 3 may not be entirely successful and may lack the great pacing and action of Star trek 2 but hey, it's still a good movie and you can't go wrong with the Star Trek trilogy.  

Acclaimed Pick - tie - The Natural/Amadeus

I just couldn't decide between these two movies.

I'm a sucker for a great sports movie and The Natural is a great sports movie with a quiet but powerful performance by Robert Redford.  This movie is just pure inspiration with a great score by Randy Newman that knocks it out of the ballpark (pun intended).
But what can I say about Amadeus that hasn't already been said?  It's simply one of the best movies of all time and certainly of this decade.  It ranks right up there with Gandhi and other great biopics such as Patton and Lawrence of Arabia with amazing, amazing performances from F Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce and absolutely stunning direction by Milos Foreman.  This movie has to be seen and experienced.

1985

Personal Pick - Back to the Future
In his star-making performance, Michael J Fox stars in this incredible Robert Zemeckis directed movie that simply took all of us for a ride in his time traveling DeLorean. Along with a star-making score by Alan Silvestri, and Christopher Lloyd along for the ride, this movie is just a delight to watch over and over again and it never gets old.  You might say it's timeless.
Best Sequel of the Year - Rambo: First Blood Part 2
Now, I don't think I mentioned First Blood in 1982 starring Sylvester Stallone but along comes the sequel which really birthed the action movie in Hollywood which is why I put it on this list.  At the time because of its R rating I didn't see it in the theaters but of course I saw it later on and, whereas the first movie was a drama action movie, this one is just pure action through and through.

Some honorable mentions from this year:
I'm not really a huge fan of comedy movies but this year brought us the adaption of the acclaimed board game, Clue, with an All-Star cast of funny people at their very best.  This movie is a riot to watch and actually has three different endings shown as three different movies in the theaters at the time.  Watch it, enjoy it, and see if you can solve the mystery of who killed Mr. Body.
Another comedy that I'd like to mention is,in my opinion, the star-making role of Chevy Chase in Fletch.  This movie is as intelligent as it is witty and another one that can just be watched over and over again.

And the last movie I want to mention almost made my acclaimed pic and that movie is The Breakfast Club starring a young who's who of Hollywood in a movie about high schoolers at a time when I was in high school but, unfortunately, due to its R rating I actually didn't see this movie until several years later which I regret because I think this would have been a great movie to see when you were in high school but it's still a great examination and revelation of high school kids at the time.

Acclaimed Pick - A Chorus Line
I hope that no one's forgotten my love of musicals and here comes another classic adapted to the screen by Gandhi's director Richard Attenborough that,of course, has the great dance moves associated with that show and is a real joy to watch and see this great play finally come to the screen.

OK, so three more years done. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I can do three more.

 

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

YEAR BY YEAR

The 1980s

Continuing my series of posts on my favorite movies of each year, we now get to the crazy 80s.  The decade of the 1980's was my decade. I primarily grew up in the 80s.  In 1980, I was 9 and in 1990, I was 19.  I saw most of the movies of the decade except for R rated features as I was still too young but I saw most of them later in life on tape.  But what an interesting decade for movies it was!  

There were a couple of great biopic flicks of the decade mixed in with a few great action and adventure movies and a ton of sequels.  

So, in that vein I'm going to break with only one pick for each year and make three picks for each year:  a personal favorite pick, a best sequel pick, and an acclaimed pick.  

Note - By way of explanation about the acclaimed pick, this will be a movie that was highly lauded at the time or has come to be known as a classic of it's time.  

Also, the sequel pick will allow me to deal with the Star Wars sequels without having to make them my only pick for the year.  And why a sequel pick at all?  Now The Empire Strikes Back of 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1983 are no doubt beloved and of high quality, but think of them as independent movies.  Can either stand on its own without their predecessors?  I would argue no, especially Empire which has absolutely no exposition and no real conclusion.  Jedi doesn't suffer as much as Empire does but without Empire, Jedi doesn't retain its emotional and cathartic power as a concluding chapter of a trilogy of movies.  Therefore, I can't pick Empire or Jedi as the best movie of their respective years as they are not really complete movie experiences. 

The only year that I'm going to have break my tri-pick is 1988 because the pickings were slim that year.  Also, for a few years I will mention some extra movies because the year was so packed with great movies that made an impact on me.

So, enough explanation and exposition and without further ado let's get to the picks.

1980

Personal Pick - The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer? You mean that movie with Neil Diamond?  Yep, that's the one. I picked this movie because not only am I a huge Neil Diamond fan, but this is a really enjoyable, well-made movie.  A remake of the first talking picture, this version was just right for the time and what great songs from Diamond.  I used to listen to the soundtrack to this movie all the time and I'm a legend at karaoke with "Love on the Rocks".  And if you understand my love for musicals, you may understand why I would enjoy a movie like this.

Best Sequel of the Year - The Empire Strikes Back

What can be said about Empire that hasn't already been said?  Some consider it the finest sequel ever and it can't be denied that it is truly great as all the characters are expanded upon and the plight of the heroes is heightened to an almost unbearable level leading to one of the greatest reveals and cliffhangers ever on film.  With another classic score by John Williams and a standout performance from Mark Hamill as my hero, Luke Skywalker, Empire stands as most people's easy pick for movie of the year, but due to it's transitory nature, I can't name it a complete film.  Therefore its placement here in the sequel category.

Sidenote - Runner-Up Best Sequel - Superman II

Superman returned to the big screen in 1981 with fantastic results taking off right where the first movie left off completing story elements from the first film.  Some consider the sequel even better than the original with an even better performance from Christopher Reeves and an iconic turn from Terence Stamp as General Zod.  A great sequel!

Acclaimed Pick - The Elephant Man

With an unforgettable performance from its lead actor and directed by David Lynch, The Elephant Man starring Jon Hurt and Anthony Hopkins is a biopic film shot in black and white, of staggering power and emotion almost to the point of being watchable only every once in a while but great nonetheless.

1981

Personal Pick - Raiders of the Lost Ark

George Lucas and Steven Speilberg team up and deliver one of the greatest adventure films of all time.  Indiana Jones became an iconic onscreen character expertly portrayed by Harrison Ford also featuring another iconic score from John Williams.  Adventure truly had a name after Raiders.

Sidenote - Classic Fantasy Films of 1981

Clash of the Titans - Excalibur - Dragonslayer

During the 80s the fantasy film made its presence felt with varying degrees of success.  Their were bad ones such as Krull in 1983 (bad mainly due to budgetary constraints) but there were also good ones such as those above.  Clash of the Titans was a Ray Harryhausen specialty, Excalibur is probably the best film on the Aurthurian legend, and Dragonslayer was a true fantasy sword and sorcery film.  Each one of them were formative films to me and were wonderful times at the movies.

Best Sequel of the Year - For Your Eyes Only

Although the James Bond movies are more just a series of movies with the same character instead of sequels, I'm going to put the best Roger Moore outing as Bond here.  For Your Eyes Only is one of the best Bond movies ever (though a few steps behind the Sean Connery-helmed movies).  A simplified Cold War plot with great action set pieces,chases, and a great Bond girl.  Moore applies his smooth take on the character and Bond comes out on top in a bit of an anticlimactic ending (and don't forget that theme song by the ravishing Sheena Easton).

Acclaimed Pick - Chariots of Fire

The Best Picture winner of the year is the story of the 1920 British Olympic Track team as told in this near perfect movie with an often parodied iconic score by Vangelis.  Though the movie may be a little slow, it builds to an amazing climax as Eric Lyddel runs to Olympic glory and the glory of God.  Amazing payoff.

1982

Personal Pick - The Thing

Though I didn't see it at the time due to its R rating, this remake was astonishing.  An amazing ensemble cast lead by Kurt Russell in his finest performance, The Thing showcased amazing creature and makeup effects in one of the greatest horror movies ever. 

Sidenote - Guilty Pleasure - The Beastmaster

Another of those fantasy movies of the 80s, The Beastmaster was, once again, a sword and sorcery epic that was action packed with beautiful cinematography and music.  I just had to mention this one.  And on the topic of fantasy movies, I also have to mention a film I didn't see at the time (once again due to its R rating) was Conan the Barbarian starring a brand new strongman named Arnold Schwarzenegger.  A very unique movie with very little dialogue but great cinematography and score by Basil Poledouris and a menacing performance by James Earl Jones, Conan was another fantasy movie of the 80s that has become iconic.

Best Sequel of the Year - (Tie) Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan/Rocky III

After a lackluster return of the original Star Trek cast in 1978 in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the cast once again returned in one of the best sequels ever with a villain from the original television series in a barn-storming performance by Ricardo Montalban and one of William Shatner and Leornard Nimoy's finest performances in an unexpected ending that set up future Trek movies.  No one realized that this would be the beginning of the Trek Trilogy but it lead to two later movies that I will address later.

Rocky was a good movie and a Best Picture winner.  Rocky II was a bit better as a complete movie with Rocky finally winning the big one.  Then along came Rocky III and it is IMHO the best Rocky movie of all of them.  The story came full circle with pathos and triumph and introduced the world to Mr T.  Sylvester Stallone gives a great performance as Rocky in his prime as an actor in one of the best sequels ever.

Acclaimed Pick - Gandhi

Ben Kingsley delivers one of the greatest performances ever on film in this biopic Best Picture winner.  From director Richard Attenborough, Gandhi is easily one of the greatest films of all time.  This film must not be overlooked and may be the greatest film of the 80s.

Side note - 1982 also saw the release of one of the most financially successful movies of all time in ET: the Extra-Terrestrial from Spielberg.  I've never been a huge fan of this movie but I have to mention the ending of the film which features a rapturous score accompaniment by John Williams.  For the final 15 minutes of the film, it's non-stop Williams' music, eventually subsuming most of the sound of the film in an exaltation of John Williams music.  It is a film conclusion for the ages and even if you haven't necessarily enjoyed the movie, that ending is worth the price of admission. 

So, I've covered the first three years of the decade and as this post is getting a bit long, I'll stop here and continue with the next three years in a later post.

2015 BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

As I write this, it is December 2016, so I thought it about time to make my picks for the best albums of 2015.

Hey, better late than never.

Right?

So,

Without Further Ado

The Best Albums of the Year

Best Christian Album of the Year

Contemporary Christian Music has been a big part of my musical life for a long time and I have a huge collection  of Christian CDs that would probably shock most people.  So, it is with great sadness that there were no Christian albums released in 2015 that I bought.  Thank God, Carman and Michael W. Smith both released albums in 2014 which has kept me going.

Best Pop Album

Mikky Ekko - Time

Released in January, Mikky Ekko's debut album, Time, started the year off as a high point which no further pop releases were able to top. Time features an eclectic group of tunes that showcase Ekko's high voice with a sound reminiscent of Maroon 5's, Adam Levine.  Good stuff.
Here is the video of the first track of the album, Watch Me Rise:

Best New Age Album

Enya - Dark Sky Island

Yay!!!  Enya released a new album this year, her first since her Christmas album in 2008, and it is good but maybe not great. But, Enya is definitely back and this album is a good example of her style without being a classic album like earlier efforts such as Shepherd Moons.
BTW, I call this album a New Age album but don't take that to mean this is some kind of weird transcendental album that puts you in a trance.  It's really just a description of music that might be called meditative mixed with a heavy synthesized sound often repetitive melodic motives.
Here is a video of the title track of the album:

Best Electronic Album

Ratatat - Magnifique

Yay!!! Ratatat released a new album this year, and it was pretty good.  After their foray into a highly synthesized sound for LP3 and LP4 (their two previous albums) that resulted in their music sounding a bit like old-style video game music, Ratatat returns to a more guitar-heavy sound resulting in some cool grooves that remind me of their earliest albums such as Classics.  A welcome return.
Here is a video of the opening track and first single from the album, Cream on Chrome, which really exemplifies the sound of this album:

Best Christmas Album

I try to buy a Christmas album every year and up till last year, I was able to keep that tradition going, but due to circumstances, I didn't get any Christmas albums in 2015, so no pick for this category this year.

Best Classical Crossover Album

2Cellos - Celloverse

The Slovenian/Croatian cello duo of Luka Sullic and Stjepan Hauser released their 3rd album in 2015, Celloverse, and it is their most mature and barnstorming album showcasing this duo's awesome talents.  I have to say that if you haven't heard 2Cellos, do yourself a favor and give them a listen.

Here is the video of my favorite track from the album, a cello version of Michael Jackson's They Don't Care About Us:

Best Album of the Year

Pentatonix - Pentatonix

The acapella group Pentatonix released their first album of original material in 2015 and it was a triumph featuring catchy pop-flavored acapella songs that showcase their talents not only as performers but as songwriters as well.  I'm a sucker for acapella music and Pentatonix is the best in that type of music that we have right now and this is a great album and my pick for best of the year.
Here is the video of my favorite track and the first single from the album, Can't Sleep Love:

I know I didn't go into much detail about each album which is why I include videos just to give a taste of the albums and hopefully inspire you, the reader, to go and sample these albums further.

But wait...

How could I forget?

Best Film Score Album of the Year

The Force Awakens - John Williams

Yay!!! John Williams composed a new Star Wars film score this year.

John Williams once again proves he is the best film composer of this time or any time and it came in a new Star Wars movie.  Now, as a movie, I wasn't too thrilled with The Force Awakens but the music was definitely Star Wars quality and far and away the best of the year and the best thing about the movie.  Not too great a movie but a great score.

Here is the final track of the score in which we finally get to the only reason I went to see this movie (No Spoilers but his initials are L and S):

OK, that was the best of the music of 2015 in a nutshell.

Happy Listening!!!



PIC OF THE DAY

I don't want this blog to deal in politics but this pic from the recent election is one of the coolest pics I've ever seen and may become one of the most iconic pics of all time.

Take it as you will.

STATE OF THE BLOG

As of this writing, it is nearing the end of July 2016 and anyone that has visited this blog will notice that I haven't posted anything this year.  There are several reasons for this that I want to explain and maybe map out some sort of future for this blog.

At the end of last year, I had decided that I wanted to do several posts as a kind of block, once a month.

However, toward the end of last year, I got sick and didn't really recover until about mid-May so my enthusiasm and energy that I could devote to the blog waned and I had to leave it by the wayside.

I would like to get back to the blog but many of the topics that I blog about have altered over the last year, such as: 

-My soundtrack-collecting has been been greatly affected by the fact that I didn't see very many movies last year and couldn't even make an entry in my Top Scores List for 2015.  Also, many of the movies I see these days, I really don't like so I don't really want to blog about them.  I'm seeing a few more movies these days but the music in most of these movies is fairly undistinguished and forgettable.
-Twitter No More - I recently cancelled my Twitter account so no more Twitter Pics of the Day will be featured.  I came to the realization that I really didn't like all the social media stuff, so now I'm completely out of the social media thing (I cancelled my Facebook account several years ago). 

-I've developed a great interest in Christian Apologetics this year (akin to my interest in such religious things as Christian music and Angeology) but I don't want to blog about this topic as I don't want this blog to turn into a religious or political blog.

Perhaps I'm just getting older and my interests are changing.

I can't guarantee that I will blog with any kind of consistency but a post may appear from time to time.

SO STAY TUNED... 

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

YEAR BY YEAR

The 1970s

Continuing my series of posts on the subject of what I think are the best films of each year, we now tackle the 1970s.  The movies of the 1970s changed from previous decades.  Gone were the big-budget biographic epics (except for one notable exception in 1970, but more on that in a bit) and the big-budget musicals (except for another notable exception in 1971, but more on that in a bit and the last of the great musicals Grease in 1978).  Taking their place were grittier, more realistic movies dealing with flawed and often violent anti-heroes (this trend climaxing in the Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver in 1980).  But also we see the beginning of sci-fi and adventure movies that would populate the movie cinemas in the late 70s and early 80s.

But, for now let's examine the best movies of each year for the 70s.

So, without further ado...

1970

Patton

In the tradition of Spartacus and Lawrence of Arabia comes this biographic epic of the famous WWII general played brilliantly by George C. Scott.  It is without doubt, one of the greatest male performances of all time, along with Peter O'Toole in Lawrence and Ben Kingsley in Gandhi of 1982 (but more on Ghandhi in a later post), housed within an almost perfect movie.

1971

Fiddler on the Roof

The last of the great musical movies, Fiddler is sometimes a forgotten classic with a towering performance by Topol as the milkman Tevye, but it is every bit as good as any musical ever made.

1972

The Godfather

Could there be any other choice?

Really nuff said.

1973

The Exorcist

Possibly the most disturbing movie of all time.  It is not easy to watch and not easy to go to sleep after watching.  But beyond the shock-factor of the subject matter, this is a very well-crafted movie and although he's only in the movie for a bit, Max Von Sydow gives an absolutely riveting performance as Father Merrin.

1974

Murder on the Orient Express

This could be the greatest ensemble cast ever assembled for a movie of this Agatha Christie classic mystery but the real star of this movie is Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot in a spot-on performance that is amazing to watch.  Watch it first to solve the mystery, watch it multiple times for that Finney performance.

1975

Jaws

Yep.

Easy choice.

Spielberg's best movie and the first true summer blockbuster movie.

1976

All the President's Men

A personal choice for this year (most people would probably go with Rocky in this year) but considering the times (post-Watergate), this movie was as timely and important as a movie can get.  And it is a quality movie as well.  If you haven't watched this one in a while, go back and pay attention to the way this movie is shot and directed.

1977

Star Wars

No other choice.

My personal favorite movie of all time.

The movie that changed my life by firing my imagination.

It also changed the movie business forever and was the sleeper hit of all time.

No other choice.

1978

Superman

A comic book icon comes to the big screen in this magnificent adaption with an iconic performance by Christopher Reeves.  Just Super!!!

1979

Apocalypse Now

A difficult year to pick the best picture.  It came down to Alien or Apocalypse and I have to go with the latter.  Apocalypse Now is an amazing movie (there are scenes in this movie that I wonder at how they were filmed).  Apocalypse Now is a disturbing movie (the scene at the bridge is about as weird as you will ever see in a war film).  Apocalypse Now is a timely movie.  The country was still reeling a bit out of control in 1979 and was not fully healed from the times of the Vietnam War and here comes this movie that illustrated the chaotic nature of that war probably better than any other movie on the subject matter and can be painful to watch even in all its disturbing greatness.

OK

1970s done.

Onward to the crazy 1980s.