This Blogger has just celebrated his 50th birthday. To mark this glorious event, I have been looking back at the films that have inspired, educated, and thrilled me. In Part 1 (HERE), I went through the notable films that were released in the year of my birth, 1973. In this Part 2, I will list my favorite film from every year since I was born, and then list a favorite from that decade.
First Decade: 1973 – 1982
1973 - The Exorcist
1974 - The Godfather Part II
1975 - Jaws
1976 - Rocky
1977 - Star Wars
1978 - Watership Down
1979 - Apocalypse Now
1980 – Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 - Conan the Barbarian
My formative years. The first film I saw on the big screen was Disney’s THE RESCUERS at a drive-in, in 1977. But it was STAR WARS just a few months later where my life-long love affair with the movies really began. Not just a spectacle but classic, hero’s journey storytelling that captured the ultimate spirit of adventure. My first decade produced some classic cinema from Spielberg and Coppola and introduced me to Conan, but everything I know about the movies began in this decade in 1977.
Decade Favorite: STAR WARS
Second Decade: 1983 – 1992
1983 – Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
1984 - Ghostbusters
1985 - Back to the Future
1986 - Platoon
1987 - Predator
1988 - Willow
1989 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1990 - The Hunt for Red October
1991 - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
1992 - Bram Stoker’s Dracula
In 1982 my love for adventuring cinema went to another level when I was introduced to Indiana Jones in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. But it was in 1989 when Indy went on his third big-screen adventure with his old man where the man in the hat delivered an emotional wallop. The father-and-son journey of discovery was not lost on me as a 16-year-old, and it means even more today, now that my own father has ridden off into the sunset. THE LAST CRUSADE was not just a quest for the Holy Grail but for the search for a father-son relationship that the two characters never had. It resonates, and hits deeply. THE LAST CRUSADE is a family favorite and the perfect Father’s Day movie.
Decade Favorite: INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE
Third Decade: 1993 – 2002
1993 - The Fugitive
1994 - Ed Wood
1995 - Braveheart
1996 - Independence Day
1997 - Titanic
1998 - Saving Private Ryan
1999 - The Mummy
2000 - Gladiator
2001 – LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
2002 – LOTR: The Two Towers
In this decade I hit my twenties, joined the military, finished college, and joined the professional workforce. It was a decade of new ideas and early adulthood, but my tastes didn’t change much. Adventuring films such as THE MUMMY, epics like BRAVEHEART, and absolute spectacle from INDEPENDENCE DAY thrilled me. But it was the epic of all epics, Peter Jackson’s monumental adaptation of THE LORD OF THE RINGS that hit me in the heart. There are two films from that trilogy in this decade, but the favorite has to go to THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. It was that film where I rediscovered big-screen spectacle balanced with heart, and the film that brought myself and my very own Fellowship of friends together.
Decade Favorite: THE LORD OF THE RINGS – THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Fourth Decade: 2003 – 2012
2003 – LOTR: The Return of the King
2004 - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
2005 - Good Night and Good Luck
2006 - V for Vendetta
2007 - There will be Blood
2008 - The Dark Knight
2009 – Zombieland
2010 - The King’s Speech
2011 - Rango
2012 – Argo
In was in this decade where my tastes in film began to move over into serious, arthouse drama. Films like THERE WILL BE BLOOD and GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK re-opened my eyes to a cinema world that I had overlooked for far too long. It was a transition that comes with age and maturity. But despite this, it's a comedy that takes my decade. Wes Anderson’s fourth feature, THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, has Bill Murray playing an aging oceanographer and documentary filmmaker who finds himself at an impasse, and being that I was in a period of change myself, was able to see myself in Captain Zissou. This is an adventure, says the final line in the film; a line that sticks with me every day.
Decade Favorite: THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU
Fifth Decade: 2013 – 2022
2013 - 12 Years a Slave
2014 - The Imitation Game
2015 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2016 - Hell or High Water
2017 - Dunkirk
2018 - A Star is Born
2019 - 1917
2020- Onward
2021- CODA
2022- Banshees of Inisherin
Early in this decade things came full circle. After a 10-year absence from the live-action big-screen, STAR WARS came back with a force. The seventh episode in the Saga, THE FORCE AWAKENS, recaptured the fun and adventure of the early films, and made this Blogger feel like he was four-years old in 1977 again, being whisked away to desert planets where bad guys classicaly wear black and the good guys come in all shapes and sizes. It’s the film that brought my wife and I together, and when Han Solo says, “we’re home”, he’s speaking to me…and all of us. My 50 years on this planet began a long time ago, and ends in a galaxy far, far away.
Decade Favorite: STAR WARS – THE FORCE AWAKENS
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Be sure to come back in 50 years for my favorite 100 films.
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