Back To The Reagan Era

Here's Jesse Water top ten list for the films of 1986.

1.   Hannah And Her Sisters
2.   Castle In The Sky
3.   Sherman's March
4.   Chicken Minced Meat
5.   The Singing Detective
6.   Manon Of The Spring
7.   Jean De Florette
8.   River's Edge
9.   True Stories
10. Stand By Me

Some decent stuff here, but I don't know how much of it would make my top ten list. The only two I know would make it would be Castle In The Sky and Stand By Me.  River's Edge and True Stories (which was not well-received in its day) would probably be top twenty.

Hannah And Her Sisters is passable Woody--some of the stories work, others don't.  Sherman's March (is that an '86 film?) is okay, but a little Ross McElwee goes a long way, and this is over two and a half hours.  Manon and Jean De Florette are solid adaptations of Pagnol.

The Singing Detective is Dennis Potter's greatest work (I don't even like Pennies From Heaven), but it's a miniseries.  "Chicken Minced Meat," now that I've seen it, is something special, but it's an ad, not a movie.  By the way, as long as you're accepting shorts, where's Heavy Metal Parking Lot (or Street Of Crocodiles, Precious Images and even Luxo Jr.)?

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11. Blue Velvet
12. Man Facing Southeast
13. 'Round Midnight
14. The Green Ray
15. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
16. The Fly
17. RocketKitKongoKit
18. The Decline of the American Empire
19. Salvador
20. Nomads

Blue Velvet would probably make my top ten (and it almost made Jesse's).  'Round Midnight and Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer would also have a chance.

I remember liking The Green Ray--I'd have to see it again to know where to place it.  The Fly is pretty good Cronenberg.  Decline isn't bad, though I saw it under bad circumstances and maybe should give it another chance. Salvador may be the best Oliver Stone film of the year--Platoon was considered an immediate classic, but has it held up? (It's actually not bad, though whenever I think of it, I think of this (90 seconds in)).

12, 17 and 20 I haven't gotten around to.

Here are some other films from the year that might have made my top ten or twenty list:

Absolute Beginners

Aliens (far better than Alien, though a different genre)

Armour of god (though weakened by the fact that Jackie had his most serious injury ever during production and so the stunts are less spectacular than usual--the sequel is easily superior)

Clockwise

Down by law

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (John Hughes' masterpiece)

Little Shop Of Horrors

Peking Opera Blues

Ruthless People

She's Gotta Have It (this is the film Woody wishes he could have made then)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the best Star Trek film)

Here are other films I liked:

Back To School, A Better Tomorrow, Big Trouble In Little China, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Critters, Crocodile Dundee, Down And Out In Beverly Hills, F/X, Flight Of The Navigator, Hoosiers, Howard The Duck (parts of it, anyway), Labyrinth, Mona Lisa, Platoon, Raw Deal, The Sacrifice, Something Wild, Vamp, X: The Unheard Music

Here are other titles of interest:

8 Million Ways To Die, 9 1/2 Weeks, About Last Night, The Adventures Of Milo And Otis, American Anthem, An American Tail (this is what animation was before the new golden age), April Fool's Day, Armed And Dangerous, At Close Range, Behind Enemy Lines, The Best Of Times, Betty Blue, Big Trouble, Black Moon Rising, The Boy In Blue, The Boy Who Could Fly, Caravaggio, Children of a lesser god, The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Class Of Nuke 'em High, Club Paradise, Cobra, The Color Of Money, Crimes Of The Heart, Crossroads, The Delta Force, Desert Bloom, Devil In The Flesh, Dream Lover, Duet For One, Echo Park, Every Time We Say Goodbye, Extremities, Eye Of The Tiger, Family Business, A Fine Mess, Firewalker, Fist Of The North Star, Foreign Body, Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Les Fugitifs, Ginger And Fred, The Golden Child, Gothic, The Great Mouse Detective, A Great Wall, Gung Ho, Half Moon Street, Hamburger: The Motion Picture, Haunted Honeymoon, Heartbreak Ridge, Heartburn, Heat, Heavenly Pursuits, Highlander, The Hitcher, House, Inside Out, Invaders From Mars, Iron Eagle, Jo Jo Dancer Your Life Is Calling, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Just Between Friends, The Karate Kid Part II, A Killing Affair, King Kong Lives, Lady Jane, Last Resort, Legal Eagles, Let's Get Harry, The Longshot, The Manhattan Project, Manhunter, Maximum Overdrive, The Mission, Modern Girls, The Money Pit, Murphy's Law, The Name Of The Rose, 'night Mother, Night Of The Creeps, No Mercy, Nobody's Fool, Nothing In Common, Off Beat, On The Edge, One Crazy Summer, One More Saturday Night, Out Of Bounds, Peggy Sue Got Married, Pirates, Police Academy 3: Back In Training, Poltergiest II: The Other Side, Power, Pretty In Pink, Psycho III, Reform School Girls, Rose Luxemburg, Running Scared, Saving Grace, Scene Of The Crime, Seize The Day, Shanghai Surprise, Solarbabies, Soul Man, SpaceCamp, Stoogemania, Sweet Liberty, TerrorVision, The Texas Chainsaw Masscare 2, That's Life!, Three Amigos!, Top Gun, Touch And Go, Troll, Twisted, Under The Cherry Moon, The Whoopee Boys, Wildcats, Wisdom, Wise Guys, Witchboard, Working Girls, Youngblood