Poll: Cinema of 1988

Did you know Grave of the Fireflies and My Neighbor Totoro went out as a double feature?

 

Five from the list:

Die Hard (enjoyed this at the time, maybe not so much now)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (still a lot of fun for a cartoon-a-holic like me!)
Akira (one of the most intense and best Japanime features ever)
The Last Temptation Of Christ (worth it to see David Bowie as Pontius Pilate)
Child's Play (OK, this is probably a "guilty pleasure" but it ranks high on re-watchability for me)

Five not on the list:

Midnight Run (one of De Niro's best, proving he could handle comedy credibly)
Cinema Paradiso (a great film emblematic of the 80's when it seemed like foreign films were superior to U.S. product)
Hairspray (went to this unintentionally thinking it would be Beetlejuice and came away a John Waters fan...'nuff said!)
Bloodsport (another "guilty pleasure" of sorts, probably watched more often after the fact on cable TV)
The Dead Pool (5th and final entry in the "Dirty" Harry Callahan series: "Opinions are like ********, everyone's got one!")

 

I picked

Die hard
Big
Childs Play

 

I think you misunderstood my question. You picked movies you liked from 1988 - I was asking for other nominees as the most influential movie of the 80s.

Unless you really think all those movies were super-influential...

 

Oh, there were a slew of "'Die Hard on a...'" movies after that. "Speed", "Air Force 1", etc.

The "everyman" hero was unusual for the era, too, as the "supermen" (Arnie, Sly) dominated.

Even beyond characters and themes, "Die Hard" just amped up the way action movies could be. It was a thrill ride like we'd not really seen to that point - and with a new kind of villain, too!

Indeed! He was just the guy from "Moonlighting", really - he'd done "Blind Date" but that wasn't much of a hit.

I recall that I was shocked to see Willis as the star of an action movie. It just seemed wrong - he'd shown no apparent skill as that kind of character.

And I disliked the guy, too. He'd seemed so smug and smirky - he reminded me too much of myself!

But Willis totally won me over - "Die Hard" was such a great movie and he was so good in it.

I actually saw the trip in LA while on vacation. I wanna say I drove past the location on the way back to my hotel, but I may have imagined that!

Still seemed fun to see the movie so close to its actual location!

 

The movie that first made me realize this was a thing was The Rock, which is interesting because Nicolas Cage wasn't really considered an action star before it, but he sure is now. (Although his career before this movie was longer than Willis's before Die Hard.)

 

That's an interesting topic: non-action actors who did action films.

I agree that it felt really weird to see Cage in an action movie circa 1996, though I think "Rock" was babysteps, as he played a "non-action hero" character. IIRC, his role was kinda nerdy and not really capable in terms of gun-handling and whatnot.

I don't think Cage fully embraced the action hero character until 1997's "Con Air" - his character there was a military vet who literally was supposed to be a deadly weapon due to his training!

 

I don't follow...is this thread about 1988 movies or influential 80's movies?

 

The thread is about 'cinema of 1988' but my post - which you quoted - specifically asked for nominees to be the most influential movie of the 80s...

 

Fun fact about Die Hard: Frank Sinatra was offered the role before it was developed into the film we know today. The film is based on a novel that is a sequel to a novel that was developed into the 1968 film The Detective starring Frank Sinatra. Fox was contractually obligated to offer the role to Sinatra. He turned it down. The role was offered to a number of major movie stars of the era including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Don Johnson, Richard Gere, Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds. All of them turned it down. They finally settled on Willis who was known mostly for comedic roles at the time, and the rest is history.
Die Hard - Wikipedia

 

"Yipee-ki-yay, Jack!"

 

Wow, I’m the only one here who likes Bull Durham? Holy cow!

 

Nah - I like it a lot. Guess I - and probably others - just forgot about it!

Coincidentally, I watched the Blu-ray last night. I'd owned it for a while but didn't get around to it until yesterday!

 

Of this list, no doubt Naked Gun From the Files of Police Squad.

But not on list is one of my favorite films of all time - Midnight Run - possibly my favorite if I had to pick just one that encapsulates almost everything I love about film and "movie magic", chemistry, and loose-feeling but tight "smaller" stories - "ticking time bomb" movies. Something that should be no problem, becomes a problem: Planes Trains and Automobiles, Broadway Danny Rose, National Lampoon's Vacation, there are so many I love...

1988 - Midnight Run may be the best film of the genre. A box office hit, too.

The fact that Sony changed the director's (Martin Brest's) 2002 film to fit a tabloid narrative ended this amazing Director's career. But he also left us Beverly Hills Cop and Scent of a Woman and many more.

Not allowed to direct a film again since Gigli, which was - as I know - not his fault. He's not the first Director to have the studio change their film on the them HALF WAY THROUGH FILMING to suit different needs and a different audience.

This part belongs in the other thread - "Films You Wish They Made" - which means basically any Martin Brest film post 2003, of which there are none

Jeff

 

My friend Mark produced it (and he took home the Oscar for Best Picture) - it's got such a storied past. A lot of good people worked hard on that one - it passed through many hands before landing with Mark and Barry. My former employer Gail Mutrux, was Dustin Hoffman's right hand and researched/developed the character with him before it even "made the rounds" to Spielberg, etc.

But as I say to Mark, "What do you and I have in common?" "We've both won the same amount of Oscars in the past 20 years"

1988! How time flies!

Jeff

 

I found nine I liked from 1988.

Dead Ringers
Hanussen
Cinema Paradiso
A Short Film About Love
A Short Film About Killing
Track 29
Distant Voices, Still Lives
Chocolat
Another Woman

 

I’ll play:

1962
1974
1982
1993
2003 (we agree! )
2016 (though I’m hoping there’s a better one to come)

 

Fun, huh.

 

Yeah. Did you find it as tough as I did to pick from the current decade, though? That was a bitch!

 

Only two years to go.
I don't see anything for 2018 topping my 2015. Maybe Tarantino again in 2019.

 

Btw, this would be a good thread idea: Pick your favorite movie year for each decade, and then list your five top movies for each year. Unless it’s already been done, of course.

 

Yeah .. good idea.
Go for it !!!!!!