Thursday, August 20, 2009

This Line's Mostly Filler

I like Kirk's blog at Wisdom of Bookmonkey. I shall follow it from now on.
I began brainstorming a blog post today thanks to reading Marvel's 70th Anniversary Collection- a graphic novel reprint collection in celebration of 70 years of Marvel (even though they were called Timely and Atlas for a lot of those years). I liked most of the chosen stories, it's true, but it seemed to have been created by suits and shut-ins who appreciate stories for the money they made and whether Wolverine is scowling on the cover. My brainstorming was to create a list more suited to me involving best Marvel superhero comics year by year or more likely a list of the most emotionally evocative comics moments, whichever suited my fancy... BUT, it's not done.
So I'll post it when I figure out what it will be.
Meanwhile, please accept this list of a centuries' worth of my favorite movies by year, as I already have it mostly completed. It's a fascinating but misleading drawback in this technique that Frankenstein (1931) which I saw last night, is on the list while Bride of Frankenstein (1935) which I also saw last night, is not. Even though I liked Bride better, it wasn't competing against its predecessor, it had to compete against other 1935 movies.
Plus BETTER is extremely subjective. Oh, well, you get what you pay for.
I haven't seen anything in 1900 or 1901.
1902- A Trip to the Moon
1903- The Great Train Robbery (this fails to represent the idea that I have no special affection for this movie. It is the only movie I have seen made this year)
1904-1913- As far as I know, I have seen nothing from this period. Go figure.
1914- Gertie the Dinosaur (a placeholder because it is only a cartoon short. But it's cute.)
1915-1919- Another complete blank. (See how easy this is?)
1920- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (thank you Film Studies 101. Chiaroscuro!)
1921- Never Weaken (The Harold Lloyd short)
1922- Nosferatu (Thanks, Kirk!)
1923- Anybody recommend anything?
1924- Sherlock Jr.
1925- Seven Chances (Buster Keaton vs spur of the moment marriage)
1926- For Heaven's Sake (Harold Lloyd again)
1927- Should be Metropolis for the sci-fi fan, but doggone it if Buster the Great Stone Face doesn't win me over again in The General
1928- Chaplin's The Circus is the only film I've seen this year, but I don't like it, so I'll say the short Steamnoat Willie
1929- The Laurel & Hardy short Big Business is the placeholder
1930- Not a Sausage (this, sadly, is not the name of a movie)
1931- Frankenstein (thanks, Ron)
1932- Horsefeathers (I oughtta horsewhip you. Get me a horse.)
1933- King Kong
1934- Maybe they watched Kong again, I dunno
1935- A Night at the Opera edges out Bride of Frankenstein & the Band Concert (my favorite Disney short: chaos theory in music form)
1936- Laurel and Hardy's Our Relations is more intentionally funny than Reefer Madness
1937- Way Out West
1938- The Adventures of Robin Hood
1939- The Wizard of Oz (see how misleading this is? I like Return to Oz better, but you'd never know it from this list. Oh, now you do.)
1940- Fantasia edges out depressing Dumbo
1941- How Green Was My Valley
1942- Bambi
1943- Casablanca
1944- To Have and Have Not
1945- The Lost Weekend
1946- Song of the South
1947- Miracle on 34th Street
1948- The Three Muskateers
1949- The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad
1950- Cinderella
1951- The Day the Earth Stood Still (oh, Keanu, whatever possessed you?)
1952- High Noon
1953- Peter Pan
1954- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
1955- Guys and Dolls
1956- Forbidden Planet
1957- Bridge on the River Kwai
1958- Carry on Nurse (thanks to my wife's mother for these comic gems)
1959- Journey to the Center of the Earth
1960- The Time Machine
1961- The Absent-Minded Professor
1962- Carry On Cruising
1963- It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
1964- Carry On Cleo
1965- The Great Race
1966- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1967- Barefoot in the Park
1968- Barbarella (Psychadella, has a chitinous umbrella)
1969- The Love God (thanks, Daryl)
1970- MASH
1971- THX 1138
1972- Slaughterhouse Five
1973- Disney's Robin Hood
1974- Young Frankenstein
1975- Monty Python & The Holy Grail
1976- Logan's Run
1977- Star Wars (no, Damnation Alley! What could best freakin' Star Wars?)
1978- Superman
1979- Alien (honorable mention- The Muppet Movie)
1980- The Empire Strikes Back
1981- Superman II (hon. men.- The Great Muppet Caper)
1982- TRON (somehow still edging out Wrath of Khan and Bladerunner)
1983- Return of the Jedi (trumps The Dark Crystal)
1984- Ghostbusters (the 1980s are a bitch for me in the exact opposite of the years before 1950: I can think of more honorable mentions in these years than the entire century before I was born. I had to eliminate Dune, The Muppets Take Manhatten, 2010, Star Trek III, Gremlins, Terminator and the Last Starfighter at enormous personal suffering to arrive at that winner. I hope you appreciate my sacrifice of time and mental health.)
1985- Back to the Future (honorable mention Enemy Mine. This is hard, damnit!)
1986- Star Trek IV (sorry Howard the Duck, Aliens, Short Circuit, Labyrinth)
1987- The Princess Bride (better luck next never Robocop)
1988- Alien Nation
1989- UHF
1990- Back To the Future III
1991- Defending Your Life (more like defending your list, am I right Operation Condor?)
1992- Disney's Aladdin
1993- Demolition Man (I don't have to justify myself to you, Groundhog Day)
1994- Star Trek: Generations (I saw it 10 more times than the Lion King. No, I'm not proud.)
1995- Toy Story (sorry Mallrats)
1996- Star Trek: First Contact (hon. men. Mars Attacks & Multiplicity)
1997- The Fifth Element (hon. men. Starship Troopers & Disney's Hercules. They have to put guys like me on a special government list.)
1998- Dark City edges out Ant Z (which I prefer be pronounced like, and is more enjoyable than, Citizen Kane)
1999- Galaxy Quest is ahead of Bicentennial Man (and, sorry, Phantom Menace, Matrix, Toy Story 2, Dogma, and Iron Giant)
2000- Red Planet (hon. men. Titan A.E.)
2001- Shrek (hon. men. Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back)
2002- Lilo & Stitch (hon. men. Attack of the Clones & Spider-Man)
2003- Finding Nemo (hon. men. Daredevil)
2004- The Incredibles (hon. men. Spider-Man 2, Shaun of the Dead)
2005- Revenge of the Sith (hon. men. Serenity)
2006- Clerks II
2007- Meet the Robinsons
2008- Wall-E
2009- It's neck and neck but let's say Star Trek (hon. men. Watchmen)

What's terrifying is I can't muster the energy to write my own comedy novel but I can spend hours on fluff like this. All I have to manage is the energy to point my thumb up or down.
Anyhoo, thanks to my wife and the universe itself for a happy 33rd birthday!
Here's to the next century of picking films and picking my nose!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Young Frankenstein is one of my favourite shows. I know all the words by heart so it was nice to remember again in your post. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories about Young Frankenstein . This weekend I’m going to visit my sister and we get pretty good tickets to attend it again so I'll be analyzing as well as enjoying that show. Here:
http://www.ticketwood.com/theater/Young-Frankenstein-Tickets/index.php
I know that I will enjoy every blessed minute of it!