Terrifying creatures and coming of age flicks dominated the top of 1986, not to mention shockingly great sequels out of nowhere: one 7 years after the original and another 25(!) years after. But when you’ve got James Cameron and Martin Scorcese at the helm, you know they’re probably gonna be something special.
Male machismo is on full display with Tony Scott’s homoerotic celebration of the Air Force. Yes there’s oiled up 6 packs and weird romantic entaglements, but there’s also some of the most exciting air sequences in movie history, plus a kick ass banger of a soundtrack and a great leading man performance from Tom Cruise.
A feat of sheer insanity by Frank Oz. He takes an old B movie musical and turns it into a deranged horror comedy musical full of heart, humor, and hysterics. The songs are doo wop catchy as hell; the creature design is whimsically creepy a la Eddy Scissorhands; and most importantly the script oozes dark over the top humor throughout, including all timer heat check performances from 2 all time comedy greats. The horror, comedy, and musical elements shouldn’t work together, and yet their dissonance somehow works in perfect harmony: Anna and the Apocalypse wouldn’t exist without this gem.
A beautiful mess of a film. The shining star is not Woody Allen the actor, but his writing and direction, crafting a host of fascinating, complex characters that find ubiquitous human experiences inside a sheltered, privileged existence. It also helps when Barbara Hershey, Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow, Michael Caine, and Max Von Sydow are the actors you cast, a murderers row of brilliant thespians living life in upper Manhattan. Gorgeous, romantic, upper Manhattan.
Paul Newman reprises his role as Fast Eddie Felson from 1961’s The Hustler, and he’s simply sensational. Martin Scorcese puts Felson in the old man with money role in the sequel, mentoring Tom Cruise and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Scorcese subtley turns the story from one type of film into the other as it goes along, as we plunge deeper into Eddie’s thoughts and desires.
While the Air Force takes all the credit for the most exciting flying movie of the year, Hayao Miyazaki is content to actually pull it off and just enjoy the beauty of nature along the way. From the harrowing attempted aerial kidnapping in the first 5 minutes, this movie is a rousing rip roaring adventure that also shows why Studio Ghibli was going to be a moviemaking sensation for years to come: complicated storytelling, beautiful animation, and complex fascinating characters all in one amazing package.
In the middle of Rob Reiner’s great string of all timers, he gives us one of the great coming of age movies that doesn’t condescend to adults. As we go further and further into the forest with the 4 boys in search of a dead body, we also go further and further into their thoughts and dreams. All the boys are excellent, but Wil Wheaton’s main character sells that journey to becoming a man really well, and River Phoenix became a super duper child star with his portrayal of the charming, tragic Chris Chambers.
Taking Rocky’s sports formula and applying it to basketball yields the same uplifting results. Gene Hackman anchors the movie as Norman Dale, the coach with a terrible past he’s trying to move past in small town Hickory. Norman’s uses his own redemption to help his players and others along the way, including the town eff up, Dennis Hopper. And even players like Lebron James and Magic Johnson knew the name Jimmy Chitwood, Hickory’s star player.
John Hughes finally put together the perfect high school movie. We all wish we were Matthew Broderick’s Ferris, a kind but mischievous kid who just wants to have fun as the weather turns amazing in Chicago, skipping school to enjoy a beautiful day in the city he (and especially I) loves. But the lasting legacy is Alan Ruck’s Cameron, one of the great Hughes creations as a neurotic worry wart trying to break out of his fear.
War dominates the top of 1986. Oliver Stone channels his personal experiences into this scathing indictment of hoo rah blind jingoism. Charlie Sheen is our wide eyed innocent, witnessing Vietnam’s horrors and deciding to believe in the devoted Barnes (Tom Berenger) or the pragmatic Elias (Willem Dafoe). Stone takes Sheen and the audience on a harrowing journey, leaving us with breathtaking sequences that will be seared in our brains forever.
The war in Aliens is in outer space. James Cameron’s sequel created new standards and models action movies would follow forever forward. Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley became the first ever female action hero, stronger than any other man fighting HR Giger’s terrifying xenomorphs. Cameron also makes every character in the movie interesting, so when the action gets life threatening, we actually start caring. The minute we land on LV-426, Cameron presses the gas pedal and never lets up, leaving you as exhausted as Ellen Ripley, but also completely exhilarated.
