1985:
This year seems littered with too many films that, in memory, suffer from that awful, totally boring, faux-epic artiness that killed the 80s in general: The Official Story, When Father Was Away on Business, Witness, The Color Purple, A Room with a View, The Trip to Bountiful, and Out of Africa. And there's a handful of films I've always found very frustrating (or just bad): Brazil, The Goonies, After Hours, To Live and Die in L.A., and Silverado. But there's also a strong crop of films I'd like to discover (Shoah, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Tampopo, Re-Animator, Police Story, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and No End) and a decently strong crop that I'd like to revisit or at least have other people discover (Back to the Future, Ran, Come and See, The Breakfast Club, My Life as a Dog, Vagabond, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Clue, Commando, and Better Off Dead...). The real interest in the year is whether Tim Curry can get an acting nomination for Clue.
Score: 5
1986:
I'm probably going to be biased for Top Gun's year, but let's see how this goes. Okay, yeah, I think this list of films pretty much speaks for itself: Aliens, Platoon, Stand by Me, Castle in the Sky, Jean de Florette, Manon of the Spring, The Sacrifice, Hannah and Her Sisters, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Blue Velvet, Down by Law, The Name of the Rose, My Friend Ivan Lapshin, The Fly, Hoosiers, A Better Tomorrow, Salvador, Sid & Nancy, Big Trouble in Little China, The Mosquito Coast, The Terrorizers, The Mission, Sherman's March, Peking Opera Blues, Mona Lisa, The Assault, Star Trek IV, The Hitcher, Manhunter, Highlander, Mauvais sang, The Great Mouse Detective, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Horse Thief, and Matador. Although there's maybe nothing there that I'm super duper excited about, I'd still be pretty happy to watch/revisit any of those, and that's kind of impressive.
Score: 7
1987:
The number of very notable films per year just seems to keep climbing and climbing, and that just scares me. I counted 51 for 1987. Even with that, there's very little here that I'm excited to discover, outside of The Cyclist, Empire of the Sun, Evil Dead II, Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam, Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, A Taxing Woman, The Brave Little Toaster, Law of Desire, Broadcast News (though I watched the first thirty minutes once and wasn't interested at all), and even most of those I'm mostly indifferent about. I'd be much more excited about revisiting the likes of Full Metal Jacket, The Princess Bride, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Wings of Desire, Where is the Friend's Home?, Predator, Street of Crocodiles, Lethal Weapon, Red Sorghum, and RoboCop (!!!). I'd be reluctant to try my luck again with the likes of The Last Emperor, Withnail & I, Raising Arizona, and Dark Eyes.
Score: 4
1988:
I like how competitive the Animated Film (Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbor Totoro, Akira) and Documentary Film (The Thin Blue Line, Hôtel Terminus, Let's Get Lost, Imagine: John Lennon, Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser) categories could be. And, of course, there's DIE HARD! and short films from Kieslowski about Love and Killing and a few other bits of potentially tantalizing goodness (Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, The Vanishing, Salaam Bombay!, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Time of the Gypsies, Landscape in the Mist, As Tears Go By, Distant Voices, Still Lives, and maybe my favorite, Family Viewing). But mostly this year looks pretty boring — like the kind of year where Rain Man could win the Oscar for Best Picture over The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, and Working Girl. Granted, our Best Picture nominees would probably look a little different, but still!
Score: 3
1989:
The Short Film category might not be all music videos this year, not with Knick Knack and Creature Comforts in the mix. This seems, at first glance, a much more interesting year that 1988, aided by the presence of Crimes and Misdemeanors, Black Rain, Glory, The Killer, A City of Sadness, Do the Right Thing, My Left Foot, Henry V, When Harry Met Sally..., Roger & Me, The Little Mermaid, Say Anything..., The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover, Drugstore Cowboy, Longtime Companion, Christmas Vacation, God of Gamblers, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Unfortunately, I've already seen most of those. I'd be extremely excited, however, to catch up with The Unbelievable Truth and Freeze Die Come to Life.
Score: 6
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