I've been spending a bit of time updating my media collection recently, and getting it all organised.
I'm sort of coming to the horrible conclusion that films are just sort of...getting worse? When I sort the collection I have by year I have an unbroken list from 1977 through to 2022. The first couple of years are sparse, but from 1984 onwards its incredibly hard to pick a "Movie of the Year"...and about 2010 the list gets sparse again. Is it complete coincidence that this is when the Marvel stuff was really kicking off?
Or am I just getting old? It's also noticeable that more and more films are re-working old IP's, or sequels.
I actually couldn't pick a film for 2020, thoguh i have not yet watched the new Bill & Ted, I've heard bad things...
| Year | Film (Petes Choice) |
| 1977 | Star Wars - A New Hope |
| 1978 | Game of Death |
| 1979 | Alien |
| 1980 | Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back |
| 1981 | Raiders of the Lost ark |
| 1982 | Blade Runner |
| 1983 | War Games |
| 1984 | Ghostbusters |
| 1985 | Back to the Future |
| 1986 | Feris Buellers Day Off |
| 1987 | The Princess Bride |
| 1988 | Die Hard |
| 1989 | Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure |
| 1990 | Edward Scissorhands |
| 1991 | Terminator 2:Judgement Day |
| 1992 | Waynes World |
| 1993 | Jurassic Park |
| 1994 | The Crow |
| 1995 | Empire Records |
| 1996 | Romeo + Juliet |
| 1997 | Starship Troopers |
| 1998 | Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels |
| 1999 | The Matrix |
| 2000 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon |
| 2001 | Fellowship of the Ring |
| 2002 | Black Hawk Down |
| 2003 | Kill Bill |
| 2004 | Layer cake |
| 2005 | Sin City |
| 2006 | Snakes on a Plane |
| 2007 | Stardust |
| 2008 | The Hurt Locker |
| 2009 | Zombieland |
| 2010 | Scott Pilgrim vs the World |
| 2011 | Thor |
| 2012 | Iron Sky |
| 2013 | Pacific Rim |
| 2014 | John Wick |
| 2015 | The Martian |
| 2016 | Rogue One |
| 2017 | Spiderman : Homecoming |
| 2018 | Spiderman : Into the Spiderverse |
| 2019 | Knives Out |
| 2020 | |
| 2021 | Dune |
| 2022 | Top Gun : Maverick |
Comments
I think the number of films increases so hugely that it is difficult to spot the good ones. Also, a lot of the talent has moved to streaming services, which will sometimes choose to make a series instead of a feature film.
I think the movie of the year choices is hard. I largely agree with your list; I'm sure I would choose many of the same. But some years have crazy levels of good films. 2008 had The Dark Knight with Health Ledge as the Joker. I love that film.
For example, I love Alien but that was the year Life of Brian came out. Shawshank was the same year as the Crow. I prefer the Crow but bloody hell Shawshank is a good film.
As a side effect of not watching a lot of films (not even avoiding like I did with Top Gun), means that I'm not a good judge. I'd love to see Dune, for example, but the chance of that is hard.
1994 (The Crow) also had Airheads, Clerks and Natural Born Killers. An amazing year for cult films.
2008 was a toss up between Dark Knight and Hurt Locker for me.
If you create yourself a Plex account, I can arrange access for Dune, Top Gun etc
I guess 2020 did have other problems than getting good films out :D
I've pretty much stopped watching films in recent years, I used to go to the cinema sporadically (and I think the last film I saw was Knives out) but since the pandemic I pretty much stopped.
I guess it's better now, still I've not really seen anything that really made me want to go out to those expensive halls of overpriced popcorn.
Friend of mine keeps suggesting I go to one of the drive in cinemas that are around here which bypasses a lot of the negative aspects but even then perhaps down to the effort involved and the lack of good film options in recent years I just can't be bothered.
Too busy shouting at those damn kids to get off my lawn!
There's not many films recently where I've felt "that needs a big screen", though now I've seen the new Top Gun, I suspect it would have been pretty sweet in a cinema. The story is bob, but some of the flight sequences are really impressive, if somewhat improbable (to put it mildly...)
I'd say Knives Out and Glass Onion are the best new films I've seen this decade... I'm quite keen to see Rian Johnson's TV series Poker Face, which apparently is a little bit Columbo'esque.
I quite enjoyed the early and mid Avenger films, bit was definitely getting fatigue towards the end. I didn't really grasp how much they had dominated the cinemas for so long. I love a mindless action film (and I still maintain that the Fast & Furious series is excellent, without ever taking itself seriously), but don't think I'll miss Marvel ensemble cast movies
Totally agree on 1994 being an awesome year. Thanks for the offer of the Plex account, Pete. I'm happy to pay to see Dune and my telly is fucking huge. I think it would play well with the light-killing blinds we have. I don't get the opportunity because Naomi pretty much lives in the living room between 8am and 10pm. It won't be like that forever.
Top Gun brings me out in hives because it was a favourite VHS/DVD that the cadets would watch while waiting to fly. Everyone would quote the shit out of it and I've heard the soundtrack through the crew room wall for about 15 years. I get flashbacks to drinking crap squash, reading Human Factors Open Reporting and wondering when lunch is.
Knives Out + Glass Onion are standouts for me. I really enjoyed Solo (SW movie) - I know I'm in a minority there but there was something about it that really struck a chord. Perhaps it was all the Millenium Falcon porn. Rogue One is one of the best SW out tho.
I've still not seen later Avenger films - I am working through the MCU with Felix.