Reagan Landslide

Jesse Walker brings us back to 1984.  It was a fine year for movies.

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-year-of-delayed-dystopia-ive-told.html

Here is his top ten list for the year:

1. Repo Man

2. Love Streams

3. This Is Spinal Tap

4. Once Upon A Time In America

5. Nothing Last Forever

6. Antonio Gaudi

7. Amadeus

8. Ghostbusters

9. Secret Honor

10. Blood Simple

I have no problem with Repo Man at #1--the film came out of nowhere and is one of the best of the decade.

Regarding Love Streams, I keep thinking I should give Cassavetes another chance, and I keep being disappointed.

Rob Reiner pulled off something great with his first feature, This Is Spinal Tap. (In fact, he made a number of good films in his first decade as a director but hasn't been the same since.)

I've told Jesse before I'm not a fan of Once Upon A Time In America but also admit I haven't seen the uncut version.

Nothing Lasts Forever is an enjoyable, absurdist oddity.

Haven't seen Antonio Gaudi. I don't recall it showing anywhere, but in this age of streaming that's no excuse.

Amadeus is a conventionally done Oscar-winning adaptation of a respected play.  As such I enjoy it, though I'm not sure it would make my top ten or twenty.

Ghostbusters is a rare case of a big film that's also a great comedy.

Secret Honor is a fascinating solo performance shot by Altman at the alma mater of both Jesse and me.

Blood Simple is the Coen Brothers first feature.  It's stylish (for the budget) but doesn't do much for me.

Here are his honorable mentions:

11. King Lear

12. Before Stonewall

13. Favorites Of The Moon

14. There Will Come Soft Rains

15. After The Rehearsal

16. Paris, Texas

17. Comfort And Joy

18. Return To Waterloo

19. A Nightmare On Elm Street

20.  Stranger Than Paradise

11 is a TV-movie I haven't seen (that the IMDb says is from 1983).  12 is a solid documentary.  Haven't seen 13, 14 or 18.  15 is a Bergman TV-movie that's okay.  16 would maybe make my top 20.  17 would definitely make my top 20.  20 would definitely make my top ten.  19 started a highly popular horror series--it's okay, I guess.

Other films that would make my top ten or twenty:

The Brother From Another Planet

Choose Me

Gremlins

Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind

Splash

Stop Making Sense

Terminator

What Have I Done To Deserve This

Wheels On Meals

Other films I liked:

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Bachelor Party, Broadway Danny Rose, Finders Keepers, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, The Last Starfighter, Night Of The Comet, Revenge Of The Nerds, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Streetwise, A Sunday In The Country, The Times Of Harvey Milk, Top Secret!

Other films of note:

Against All Odds, All of Me, Alphabet City, American Dreamer, Angel, Another Country, Bad Manners,  Beat Street, Best Defense, Beverly Hills Cop, Birdy, Blame It on Rio, Blind Date, Body Double, Bolero, The Bostonians, The Bounty, Breakin', The Buddy System, C.H.U.D., Cal, Cannonball Run II, Carmen, Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers, Children of the Corn, City Heat, Cloak & Dagger, The Company of Wolves, Conan the Destroyer, The Cotton Club, Crackers, The Dollmaker, Double Trouble, Dreamscape, Dune, The Dungeonmaster, Electric Dreams, Falling in Love, Finders Keepers, Firestarter, Firstborn, The Flamingo Kid, Footloose, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Garbo Talks, Give My Regards to Broad Street, The Glitter Dome, The Goodbye People, Grandview, U.S.A., Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, Hardbodies, Harry & Son, Heartsounds, The Hit, Hot Dog…The Movie, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Ice Pirates, Iceman, In Heaven There Is No Beer?, Irreconcilable  Differences, Johnny Dangerously, National Lampoon's Joy of Sex, The Karate Kid, The Killing Fields, Lassiter, Le Bon Plaisir, The Little Drummer Girl, The Lonely Guy, Love Letters, Maria's Lovers, Marlene, Mass Appeal, Meatballs Part II, Micki & Maude, Mike's Murder, Missing in Action, Moscow on the Hudson, Mrs. Soffel, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Nadia, The Natural, The NeverEnding Story, Nineteen Eighty-Four, No Small Affair, Oh, God! You Devil, Oxford Blues, A Passage to India, The Philadelphia Experiment, Places in the Heart, Police Academy, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Protocol, Purple Rain, Racing with the Moon, The Razor's Edge, Red Dawn, Rhinestone, The River, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Sixteen Candles, Slapstick of Another Kind, A Soldier's Story, Songwriter, Starman, The Stone Boy, Streets Of  Fire, Supergirl, Swann in Love, Swing Shift, Talk to Me, Tank, Terror in the Aisles, Thief of Hearts, Tightrope, The Toxic Avenger, Toy Soldiers, Twist and Shout, Under the Volcano, Unfaithfully Yours, Until September, Up the Creek, Where the Boys Are '84, The Wild Life, The Woman in Red