1989 in film.

Top ten box-office films of 1989:

1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2. Batman
3. Back to the Future Part II
4. Look Who's Talking
5. Dead Poets Society
6. Lethal Weapon 2
7. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
8. Ghostbusters II
9. The Little Mermaid
10. Born on the Fourth of July

What are your top three films for 1989? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:

1. A City of Sadness
2. Do the Right Thing
3. Crimes and Misdemeanors

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN FILM • forum.chorus.fm

 

A very strong year. I actually only saw A City of Sadness for the first time a few days ago but was very impressed. Some complain that the Taiwanese politics are too obscure for international viewers, but the human story is what matters. I watched Do the Right Thing again about a month ago and it is still just as angry and as poignant as ever.

I thought about putting Weekend at Bernie's on here. I loved that film and the sequel as a kid.

 

The Last Crusade is also the most fun Indiana Jones movie.

 

1. Santa Sangre
2. Interrogation
3. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Another masterpiece from Jodorowsky, a very unique take on 80's horror. Also a huge fan of The Seventh Continent, Tetsuo the Iron Man, Do the Right Thing, Society, Christmas Vacation, another great year.

 

1. Do the Right Thing
2. Road House
3. Dead Poets Society

 

might throw on road house this weekend. do the right thing is obviously the better film but road house is endlessly fun.

 

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
3. Dead Poets Society

I need to watch Do The Right Thing.

 

1. Do the Right Thing
2. Christmas Vacation
3. Road House

 

1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Say Anything

Tough cuts:
Glory
Field of Dreams
The Abyss
The Little Mermaid
Do the Right Thing
The Fabulous Baker Boys
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The Killer
Lethal Weapon 2
Batman
Steel Magnolias
Always
Uncle Buck

 

1. Do the Right Thing
2. Christmas Vacation
3. Drugstore Cowboy

Really fun year overall, lots of great stuff. Maybe a high point for mainstream comedies.

Honorable mentions:
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Heathers
Major League
Road House
Weekend at Bernie’s
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
The Burbs
Say Anything
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Born on the Fourth of July
Dead Poets Society
Batman
Field of Dreams
Uncle Buck

 

I assume that a big part of my ambivalence toward the Vacation films is that I have only seen the Vegas one.

 

Another superb year although my top three is a hell of a lot more difficult to choose this time around due to me struggling to pick between those that I genuinely love and those I highly respect but regardless my three are -

1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2. The War of the Roses
3. Do the Right Thing

My top three could have easily been compiled of the following in bold with other lesser favourites thereafter; Batman, The ’Burbs, Lethal Weapon 2, The Killer, Licence to Kill, Casualties of War, Dead Calm, The Abyss, Back to the Future Part II, Violent Cop, The Package, Scandal, Black Rainbow, Pet Sematary, Leviathan, and Blind Fury.

 

by far the worst of the four (pretending Christmas Vacation 2 doesn't exist).

 

Other good ones:
Sleepaway Camp III
The Burbs
Ladrones de tumbas (Grave Robbers)
When Harry Met Sally
Batman
CHUD II: Bud the CHUD
Teen Witch
Heathers
Major League
3615 code Père Noël (Game Over)

 

1. Do the Right Thing
2. Heathers
3. Kiki's Delivery Service

 

1. Do the Right Thing
2. Black Rain (The Shohei Imamura film, not the Ridley Scott film of the same name released the same year)
3. Field of Dreams

Incredible year. A Dry White Season I seriously considered for my top 3, the first major studio film directed by a black woman, Euzhan Palcy. Strong Donald Sutherland, and it's the last great Marlon Brando performance. I also still love Say Anything. Kiki's Delivery Service is a favorite Miyazaki and Heathers and Major League are fun.

 

Have you seen A City of Sadness?

 

1. Do the Right Thing
2. Kiki's Delivery Service
3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

 

1. Do The Right Thing
2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
3. Kiki's Delivery Service

Do the Right Thing is Spike Lee at his incendiary best. A sadly perpetually relevant film that burns with anger and pain. Worth noting that the film name drops the Black Panther (the superhero) and takes shots at Trump, so even it's references have aged well.

The Last Crusade is probably my favourite Indiana Jones film, because of the greatness of the supporting characters - Jones Snr, Dr Brody & Dr Schneider are great presences, and can carry the film when Ford isn't on screen. Fighting Nazis and hunting for a Judeo-Christian relic just feels more like what Jones should be doing instead of the voodoo / human sacrifice stuff in Temple of Doom.

Kiki's Delivery Service is one of my favourite Ghibli films, a perfect children's film, gentle without any main antagonists, or threat like in "bigger" Ghibli stuff like Princess Mononoke, and Kiki is a classic Miyazaki protagonist. Kind natured, inquisitive, polite, selfless and very hard working. It's striking how much Kiki and Jiji reminded me of Lyra and Pantalaimon from Pullman's His Dark Materials - the two of each other as aspects of a whole in particular was reminiscent of the Human / Daemon relationship in HDM.

Very Honourable mention to Kieslowski's Dekalog. Probably doesn't quite qualify as a film, as it's 10 hour long TV episodes, each of them linked to one of the Commandments. An incredible achievement, and if it qualifies as a film, it would be number one.

Other honourable mentions go to Tetsuo: The Iron Man, which is one of the most uncomfortable and deranged film experiences I've ever had. Everyone should watch it at least once.

Some excellent stuff from HK, including John Woo's hugely influential The Killer, with the outrageously cool Chow Yun Fat, and a blueprint for Hollywood action films of the next decade. There's some excellent martial arts films, including Sammo Hung's socially conscious and thoughtful Pedicab Driver, Miracles (also known as Lady Canton and Mr Rose), Jackie Chan's Frank Capra esque musical romantic swoop to it, with incredible set pieces & Angel Protectors (also known as Princess Madam), a furious and relentless female led film starring Moon Lee. For some non-action, there's A Fishy Story, which is Maggie Cheung channelling Audrey Hepburn, and is very charming.

I also like Haneke's The Seventh Continent, though I find that while the conclusion is remarkable and captivating, the mundanity of the set-up and first 3/4 of the film is a bit of a slog (though it is very Haneke).

There's also the first Wallace and Gromit short this year, A Grand Day Out. Everyone in the UK has grown up adoring and watching the first 3 Wallace and Gromit shorts hundreds of times, so this will always be a favourite film.

Finally, worth mentioning Visions of Ecstasy, which was a short film banned on ground of blasphemy (!!!) in the UK this year, the only film that ever got banned for this reason. It's really not any good, basically nude nuns bleeding and writhing in ecstasy, but truly mad that we were banning films because of this.

 

Snap (nearly).

 

George has been killing it in these threads. Adding so much to my watchlist cause of him.

 

I definitely felt the same and was kinda bored for the first chunk of the movie but the ending was so effective for me that I couldn't help but love it.

 

Haneke’s films are at their best when they blur the mundanity with the violence and threat until they become one, like Cache I think. Nobody really makes films like him - it’s remarkable how odd and dull they can be, while still being completely captivating.

 

Yeah I really love his films. Definitely has his own unique vision.