For my birth year, I’m not a spoiled brat: I don’t need an all time fantastic movie year (it is not, sadly). I was hoping that there’d be at least 1 all timer, and there was a nice diverse selection of options if possible. Thankfully, both of those things are true. And lucky me, one of the great Chicago directors and Akira Kurosawa had big releases this year. Happy birthday to me!
The brilliance of this Chevy Chase quote machine is its more than just the “My car just hit a water buffalo” moments. Chase knows he’s in a comedy, but everyone else is in a detective caper, making all the quippy lines way funnier because they’re met with stone seriousness. Throw in a killer 80s soundtrack, and you’ve got yourself one of the better comedies of the decade.
The finale of the Max Mad Trilogy. George Miller adds the final piece to his post apocalyptic tale: societies that emerge after the apocalypse. While a bit of a divergence from his first 2 films (there’s only one real chase), Beyond Thunderdome is still a rich experience, with crazy fascinating characters, and now, more elaborate sets and action sequences: an yes, the Thunderdome is as awesome as advertised.
Rush Hour doesn’t happen if American filmmakers don’t see this police comedy, Jackie Chan’s breakout film. You won’t be surprised to see the wunderkind Chan use his diverse set of skills, equally wowing us with his martial arts and comedic abilities, sometimes simultaneously. A delightfully zany script is bookended by two spectacular set pieces, a car chase and a mall fight.
Low level middle management has never been more trippy, exciting, and weird than in Terry Gilliam’s version of a dystopic future. Jonathan Pryce takes us on a crazy quest that includes himself as a metallic winged warrior, Robert De Niro as a terrorist/air conditioner repairman, and mom’s seeking facial reconstruction surgery. It’s silly but sharp satire leaving you confused and enthralled all at once.
One of Akira Kurosawa’s last films. One of the great directors in human history turns this historical epic into a King Lear adaptation. Turns out the bard and Kurosawa continue to produce great results, as the story becomes a tragic study of sibling rivalry, power, and fathers and sons while you know, having gigantic battles in ornate, elaborate cosutmes.
A strange entry into Steven Spielberg’s resume, but a welcome one. Whoopi Goldberg, in her first movie, is tremendous as Celie, a women who is broken by her awful situation, but becomes unbroken as she grows, learning how to stand up for herself from Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery, who also get complete, sometimes tragic, arcs.
Another busy Spielberg year: he wrote this kids adventure movie rite of passage with the kid whisperer Chris Columbus. The adventure is just a delight, with the kids searching for buried treasure, evading Mama Fratelli (Anne Ramsey) and maybe makings some different friends along the way. We also get to meet early versions of Sean Astin and Josh Brolin, who appear on these lists many other times after this.
If Chris Columbus is the kid whisperer, then his teenage is counterpart is John Hughes. Smartly using the premise of a Saturday detention at a suburban Chicago high school, Hughes puts together a brain (Anthony Michael Hall), an athlete (Emilio Estevez), a basket case (Ally Sheedy), a princess (Molly Ringwald), and a criminal (Judd Nelson) all day, forcing them to bond, and learn things about themselves, proving that teenagers are much more insightful than people give them credit for.
My birth year just happens to have one of the great time travel movies of all time, sweet! Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd will forever be Marty McFly and Doc Brown in Robert Zemeckis’s classic thought exercise for all teenagers: what were your parents like when they were your age? Zemeckis’s direction takes these questions seriously but always conveys a sense of wonder and excitement to the story, as we’re on the edge of our seat when the DeLorean hits 88 mph.
