My Life In Movies

I make no apologies for the fact that this is the longest blog-post I've ever written. (Even longer than the One More Day argument? Probably not, actually... Word count!) It's also been one of the most fun. If you want to blame someone, go shout at Lee or Samurai Frog for planting the idea in my brain.


The concept is simple. For every year of your life, pick your favourite film. Not critically the best film from that year, just the one you'd watch again first. Or, I suppose, if you could only take one film from each year with you to that mythical desert island... well, it'd have to be this one.


1972 - The Poseidon Adventure. Look, I realise I should be hip and pick The Godfather, but if I were to count how many times I'd watched Brando mumbling compared to Shelly Winters sinking, Gene's gang would come out on top. Deliverance would come second anyway.


(While on the 1972 Movies page in Wikipedia, I found it interesting to look up which actors share my birth year... since one of the harsh realities of growing older is realising that big Hollywood stars are younger than you. It's weird to think I could have gone to school with Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck, Eminem, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Amanda Peet. I don't know whether that makes me feel older or what...)


1973 - The Exorcist. Far and away the biggest movie of '73, and it still stands up today. Runners up? Soylent Green (is people), Magnum Force (but only because I'm not old enough to have picked Dirty Harry in '71.)

1974 - Chinatown. I get to restore a bit of my critical snob credibility by picking this over The Towering Inferno, Airport 1975, and Earthquake! (I do love me a good disaster movie.) For Nicholson's elastoplast nose though, Chinatown has to be the winner.

1975 - Jaws. Much as I love One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Jack really was on a roll back then), there was only ever one movie that could win 1975. This shark, swallow you whole.

1976 - Assault On Precinct 13. '76 gives me some problems. I wouldn't watch Rocky again ("Adrienne!") and I never cared for The Omen. Taxi Driver? It's a good film, but I never loved DeNiro. Carpenter's Assault On Precinct 13 wins out for its sheer brutality - that bit with the ice-cream van... nobody in Hollywood would do that these days. Carrie takes the runner-up crown, covered in pigs' blood.

1977 - Star Wars. I'd love to go against the grain and pick Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, but I just can't ignore the impact that Lucas' first shot of hokum had on my young life. And while I'm a huge David Lynch fan, I could never get into Eraserhead. You know what's a great 1977 film? The Car. Seriously. OK, maybe not that serious...

1978 - Halloween. See, I would go for Superman: The Movie, if only he didn't fly round the world and turn time back and ruin the whole fucking movie right at the end. Carpenter's Halloween defined a genre that very quickly came to stink, but its influence can't be ignored. I don't know if he pioneered the use of the steadycam, but when you combine that with his weird Bontempi keyboard score, the effect is just chilling. Maybe liking Michael Myers over Freddie Krueger makes me a child of the 70's more than the 80's, but Robert Englund's silly claws and melted face couldn't ever be as scary as that Shatner mask in action.

1979 - Apocalypse Now. I'm not a huge fan of war movies, but there's something about this that makes it irresistible. Martin Sheen's second best role, Dennis Hopper, Robert Duvall, (Harrison Ford), even Brando's Ham. The Doors. The Ride Of The Valkyrie. The smell of napalm in the morning. And the fact that it's all based on one of my favourite (classic) novels. I'm sure many people would pick Alien for '79, but while I do rate Ridley and Sigourney's first outing, my runner-up would have to be the original Amityville Horror - because as a kid, it scared the bejeezus out of me.

1980 - The Empire Strikes Back. Definitely the hardest call so far - because by any kind of critical judgement, The Elephant Man owns '80. But once again, I have to defer to my inner child. Lucas' finest hour, thanks chiefly to Lawrence Kasdan, Harrison Ford, and maybe even Frank Oz. Points to the Tauntauns too. Anyone who tries to tell you Raging Bull was the best film of 1980 clearly wasn't 8 at the time. Second runner up (pretty damn close, if we're being honest about it) - The Shining.

1981 - Raiders Of The Lost Ark. No contest. Runner up? Superman II. See what happens when you don't ruin it all with a deus ex machina ending?

1982 - The Thing. I struggled with '82, I have to admit. The 10 year-old Rol would have picked E fucking T, but come on, let's be serious. Cheesey 80's Romantic Rol wants to go for An Officer And A Gentleman. ("Love lift us up where we belonggggg!") Taking-the-piss Rol wants to say Swamp Thing. Obviously Blade Runner is a far better movie than any of those, it's just I haven't watched it in so long (and I'm not even sure which version to watch) that I really can't be sure how much I actually like it. Then, at the last minute, I remembered The Thing. How the hell could I have forgotten The Thing? God, I love that movie. Runner up then? Poltergeist.

1983 - The Dead Zone. Definitely the most left-field choice yet, but as much as I've let Young Rol have his way up until now, there's no way I can in all conscience let Return Of The Jedi take this year. Let me say here and now that compared to those three godawful prequels, Return Of The Jedi is Citizen Kane. But it's also the Ewok film. The first half is cracking though. The Dead Zone, on the other hand, is pretty much perfect. It's Stephen King and David Cronenberg and Christopher Walken. It's bleak as hell. And it features the prediction that if Martin Sheen is ever elected President of the USA, the world is over. Somebody tell Jed Bartlett!

1984 - Starman. Gremlins came very, very close. Ghostbusters was brilliant, but it hasn't aged well. Temple Of Doom? Kick out Short Round and Missus Spielberg and I might listen to you. You know, I don't think I've ever seen Karate Kid. The Terminator is a fine movie, but I couldn't ever make Arnie #1. Cheesey 80's Rol wants to dance like Kevin Bacon in Footloose. But Starman wins out. It's the movie that first made me take notice of Jeff Bridges (he lost out on the Oscar to F. Murray Abraham - but it's testament to his performance here that a genre role was even considered by the Academy) and if this is the reason Karen Allen wasn't available for Indy 2, fair play. That makes four John Carpenter movies so far, though this is the last (sorry, Lee). I wouldn't have counted him among my favourite directors (and let's face it, from the 90's on he's sucked big time), but I guess his earlier films had a pretty major impact on my life.

1985 - Back To The Future. Let's not even look at the list. There wasn't a better film released this decade. Back To The Future is perfect movie entertainment. Hard to believe Zemeckis sullied his record by also directing The Film That Dare Not Speak Its Name, the one movie I despise more than any other (not to mention the execrable What Lies Beneath). Runners up? The Breakfast Club, because I'd just become a teenager... oh, and Teen Wolf, obviously.

1986 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off. David Lynch pipped to the post once again. In any other universe, Blue Velvet would carry 1986, except for the fact that... anyone? Bueller? Anyone? Except for the fact that Ferris Bueller, you're my hero!

1987 - Lethal Weapon. "Now I've had the time of my life..." Could I really hold my head up in public if I picked Dirty Dancing? The Untouchables is patently a far better film than Lethal Weapon, yet Riggs & Murtaugh were my heroes back then (I was 15 - that should explain it all, hell I could even have gone for Beverly Hills Cop!)... and only they can put Baby in the corner. However, the best few minutes of film from 1987 are below. Pity the rest of that movie doesn't stand up.



1988 - Die Hard. No other serious contenders. Cruise-hatred aside, I'd give Charlie and Raymond Babbitt the runner up crown if I had to.

1989 - Back To The Future Part II. Ouch. This one hurt. Battling it out with Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade and Burton's first Batman flick, Marty McFly manages to win out because I can still recall how much I'd been looking forward to this sequel - I actually remember watching it in the cinema that first time (we got there late and had to sit on virtually the front row because it was almost sold out, but even that didn't spoil my enjoyment) - and it didn't disappoint. Some people complained it was too dark, or that the self-referential postmodernist gimmick of going back into the first film was too complicated, but for me it was perfect. The only disappointment was that they didn't manage to lure Crispin Glover back as he didn't like doing sequels. He should have kept those principles for Charlie's Angels 2!

1990 - Back To The Future Part III. An even more difficult decision, especially as I consider this the weakest of the trilogy - not to mention strong competition from Misery, Goodfellas, Wild At Heart, Die Hard 2, Miller's Crossing... In the end though, while I could happily live on that desert island with only the first two Star Wars films, missing the final piece of the BTTF puzzle would hurt too much.

1991 - JFK. Only three real contenders this year, the runners up being The Fisher King and Silence Of The Lambs, but JFK is Oliver Stone's finest hour and its also one of the best casts ever assembled. Yes, it may well be hokum, and you may well believe that Oswald acted alone... but this is still the most passionately argued conspiracy flick ever.

1992 - Glengarry Glenn Ross. Reservoir Dogs comes close. Burton's best Batman gives it a good shot too. Sorkin's A Few Good Men might clinch it if it was just down to Jack, not Tom and Demi... but the one film I've watched most from 1992, the one film I never grow tired of, is David Mamet's finest hour. Here's why...



1993 - Groundhog Day. This year was a toss-up, and if the coin had come down tails, True Romance would have taken it. I could still go back and change the result, it was that close. Unlike a lot of comedies I've rejected while compiling this list, Groundhog Day has aged very well. The concept helps, I'm a sucker for any film that pitches itself as It's A Wonderful Life meets Replay. But True Romance is my favourite Tarantino... though Tony Scott's direction dates it now. Hey, Tony - drop the smoke machine and neon already! A strong year though - other serious contenders included the heartrending Hopkins double-gut-punch of Remains Of The Day and Shadowlands, and the three F's - Falling Down, Fearless, and The Fugitive.

1994 - Clerks. 1994 was a dark, dark year in cinema. It was the year Hollywood decided Keanu was an action hero, the year Hollywood decided Jim Carrey was a comedian, and the year of The Film That Dare Not Speak Its Name - possibly the greatest travesty in celluloid history. Still, it wasn't all bad. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp gave us their finest moments in Ed Wood (undisputed runner up), Danny Boyle left the gates running with Shallow Grave, and while both Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption have suffered from over-exposure, they're still hugely enjoyable. But at close of play it's Kevin Smith's little movie that could that I find myself returning to most often. Happy Scrappy Hero Pup, anyone?

1995 - The Usual Suspects. Not a great year - so thank heavens for Keyser Söze. Se7en and Twelve Monkeys get an honourable mention, but my runner up would be Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise. A lonely young man had his dreams...

1996 - Fargo. It's all the F's again with notable contributions from The Frighteners and From Dusk Till Dawn, though the runner up is Trainspotting... still it's the Coen's finest moment to date that steals my heart. And when I say 'to date', I mean 'until 1998', obviously.

1997 - As Good As It Gets. Considering I started this list with The Poseidon Adventure, I will defend Titanic to anyone (and not just for Kate Winslet). Celine Dion aside, it's a terrific disaster movie. It was never a contender for best of '97 though, and it certainly didn't deserve all those Oscars. Not a bad year for comedy, with Grosse Point Blank and Chasing Amy both giving good support, while LA Confidential and The Ice Storm are both serious contenders for runner up. What true misanthrope could resist Jack at his cynical, blackhearted best though?

1998 - The Big Lebowski. I'm sorry... were any other films even released in 1998? That rug really tied the room together.

1999 - Fight Club. I'm sorry... were any other films even released in 1999? OK, I'll give you The Straight Story, Being John Malkovich, and The Green Mile. Undisputed runner up is Magnolia. Aimee Mann and PT Anderson - what's not to love?

2000 - High Fidelity. Third year in a row where the winner is undisputable. A fight breaks out for second place between X-Men, Memento, Unbreakable and O Brother, Where Art Thou? My money's on David Dunn.

2001 - Amélie. Sorry, Orc fans, I'm not one of your number, and there's not a lot going on in 2001 beyond hobbits. Donnie Darko makes a fine runner up, with special mention to Moulin Rouge... but Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain is without doubt the '01 film I've watched most... plus now I get to have a non-American - hell, European! - movie in my list and look all intellectual like Mark Kermode or somebody.

2002 - Spider-Man. Yes, the second half lets it down and it's not a patch on the first sequel and Chev will hate me for it, but I'd waited over twenty years for this movie - and when they got it right, they got it right. You had to be there... you had to be me. PT Anderson scores runner up crown once again for Punch-Drunk Love - a better movie than Spider-Man (even though it features Adam Sandler), but just... not Spider-Man.

2003 - X2. Following the rule that superhero sequels with a 2 in them are always better than their predecessor, X-Men 2 walks away with 2003... though there isn't a great deal of competition. Runner up? Bad Santa, and that wasn't even released in the UK till a year later. PTA should have delayed Punch-Drunk Love a year, he'd have got top spot.

2004 - Spider-Man 2. The third biggest grossing film of 2004... only third? What is wrong with you all? Beaten by another bloody Potter sequel and whupped by Shrek 2. Puh-lease. Hands down the best superhero film ever made, and the one that even Chev had to admit to liking. In any other year though, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind would have clinched it. And I hate Jim Carrey...

2005 - The Descent. Best horror film in recent memory, with the bleakest ending... at least in the original UK cut. I understand the US release ended with everyone hugging and giving out flowers... and that's the version they're using to justify the absurd sequel. Idiots. A fight breaks out between a beginning Batman and the crew of the spaceship Serenity for runner up. Wash dies in the battle.

2006 - The Prestige. At last we've reached the era of Sunset Over Slawit, so now I can just check back to my end of year lists to find the winner. Runner up is Children Of Men. The rest of 2006 is here.

2007 - The Bourne Ultimatum. I may be the world's biggest Spidey fan, but even I can't proclaim 3 a winner. Jason Bourne has missed out twice already though... he deserves the credit. The rest of 2007 is here.

2008....? Sorry, it's too early to say. No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood (or was that originally released last year?) are leading the pack at the moment, with Iron Man winning the popular vote... but there's a Dark Knight just round the corner and who knows what else in the pipeline?


OK, what am I going to kick myself for having forgotten?


Should you feel like spending a good three days of your life putting one of these lists together (I'd love to read it!) but don't think you can remember which films came out when... just pop along to wikipedia, type in the year, then click films. You'll get a pretty comprehensive list of each years biggest releases... but for smaller flicks, you might have to research them seperately.

Worse still, there's another one of these memes going round asking for an album from every year of your life. Of course, no way I'll be doing that...