What's Your Favorite Movie Year?

1975 - Nashville, Jaws, Barry Lyndon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Dog Day Afternoon

How's that for a Best Picture lineup?

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1999 was a really great year. EW even made a case for it in a cover story:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,271806,00.html

The Matrix, The 6th Sense, The Blair Witch Project, and Being John Malkovich were just some of the movies released that year.

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1939 always gets a mention, and deservedly so. But 1940 wasn't too shabby either, with "The Philadelphia Story," "The Shop around the Corner," "His Girl Friday," "Rebecca," "The Letter," "My Favorite Wife" (now that I think of it, when did Cary Grant sleep??), "Waterloo Bridge," "Fantasia," "Pinocchio," and more.

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i'd propose that even a year as recent as 2006 might be considered. not for any one particular instant classic but for a long string of strong-to-very-good films like

United93
Babel
Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
Stranger Than Fiction
The Prestige
The Good Shepherd
The Departed
Casino Royale
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Borat

and even a few examples of formula done better like Little Miss Sunshine and The Pursuit of Happyness.

for a year of memorable -- if not the kind that can objectively stand the test of time -- movies, 1984 ranks highly with me. maybe it's because that was the sweet spot of my childhood. maybe that was just a great year of movies for a kid like me. The Top 10 grossers of 1984: Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, The Temple of Doom, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, Police Academy, Footloose, Romancing the Stone, Star Trek 3 and Splash. my entire adolescence has just been shrunken to one year like a folded accordian. that list doesn't even include other memorable greats from that year like The Natural, Revenge of the Nerds, The Terminator, The Killing Fields, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Sixteen Candles and A Soldier's Story.

i just convinced myself. it's 1984.

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1977 - 3 Women, Annie Hall, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Eraserhead, Opening Night, Stroszek, Suspiria...oh and Star Wars

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Interesting question indeed. How does one choose? Well, I coulda said 1982 cuz of E.T., Tron, Poltergiest and Blade Runner. But then I saw all these movies fropm 1984 and I can assuredly admit tghat I had fun watching each and every one of these....

Ghost Busters
Beverly Hills Cop
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Gremlins
The Karate Kid
Police Academy
Footloose
Romancing the Stone
Purple Rain
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

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Yeah, those 80's sucked ass "in general".
I'm starting to wonder how Kim can cashes her
paycheck in good conscience, considering her
sheer ignorance of film history.

Let's consider those deplorable 80's films,
shall we Kim:

The Shining (1980)
Elephant Man (1980)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Boat (1981)
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Gandhi (1982)
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Tootsie (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Thing (1982)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Scarface (1983)
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Return of the Jedi (1983)
Amadeus (1984)
The Terminator (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
The Killing Fields (1984)
Ghostbusters (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Brazil (1985)
Ran (1985)
Back to the Future (1985)
Aliens (1986)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Stand by Me (1986)
Platoon (1986)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Lethal Weapon (1987)
The Untouchables (1987)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Rain Man (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Coming to America (1988)
Die Hard (1988)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

I challenge anyone to come up with a slate as
diverse, artful and entertaining since that time.
Amazing how short some memories are.

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Uh, Jon, I wasn't the one who said the '80s sucked ass. I was referring to the discussion over on the Hot Blog (maybe go read what I was writing about before you jump all over me next time). If you actually read MY list of some of my own fave films in the post above, you might note that most of those films were from the '80s.

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Now, since it says favorite...not the still-subjective 'best'...I, personally loved 1994. It was a great year for interesting, risk-taking movies. And it was the first time I saw people who I wouldn't think would see an indie-style movie, go to see something like 'Pulp Fiction' and enjoy the hell out of it. The success of 'Pulp Fiction' really made me think people's tastes were getting better across the board. Now, granted this was the same year 'The Santa Clause' made 114 million dollars...but it sure seemed like a positive year to me. Maybe some of these didn't become all time classics, but many of them were pretty risky. If you liked guns or fantasy flicks...this was your year.

Pulp Fiction
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
Forrest Gump
The Professional
Natural Born Killers
The Crow

Once again...favorite movie year...subjective.
A

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Yes, yes, it's ALL SUBJECTIVE! Can't we all argue nicely??

Ahem. I've always had a soft spot for 1980, specifically. Not sure why; not like it was a great year for movies...

9 to 5, Airplane!, Alligator, Altered States, Atlantic City, Battle Beyond the Stars, The Blues Brothers, Bronco Billy, Caddyshack, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, Death Ship, The Elephant Man, The Empire Strikes Back, The Exterminator, Fame, Flash Gordon, The Fog, Friday the 13th, The Gates of Hell, The Great Santini, Hero at Large, Humanoids from the Deep, The Island, Little Darlings, Motel Hell, Mother's Day, My Bodyguard, Popeye, Private Benjamin, Prom Night, Raging Bull, Saturn 3, Seems Like Old Times, The Shining, Stir Crazy, The Stunt Man, Superman 2....

...hey look! There go the last lingering traces of my professional credibility! (Meh, I never used it anyway.)

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Agree with 1977 & 1982, particularly if you are a sci-fi fan.

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Let's not forget the great years before the 70s and 80s either.

I personally like 1946 with:

The Big Sleep
Gilda
It's a Wonderful Life
A Night in Casablanca
Notorious (Dir. Hitchcock)

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I agree with Andy....1994 is a fantastic year. I'd like to add my other favorites for that year, in addition to what Andy posted:

Shawshank Redemption
Speed
Heavenly Creatures
Dumb and Dumber
Maverick
Clear and Present Danger
Nobody's Fool
True Lies
Legends of the Fall
Death and the Maiden

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1977-Star Wars,The Rescuers,The Spy who loved me,Oh God!,The Late Show.1981-Outland,Raiders of the lost ARK,Thief,Heavy Metal,An American Werewolf in London.1983-Flashdance,The HUNGER,Return of The Jedi,Risky Buisness.1988 Frantic,Rain Man,The Accused,Working Girl,Gorillas in the Mist

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Maybe the most groundbreaking year would have to be 1960
Hitchcock's Psycho, Antonioni's L'Avventura, Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Wilder's The Apartment, Bergman's The Virgin Spring, Powell's Peeping Tom...

Overall, if I had to pick the best period in cinema history it would have to be 1957-1980. That, of course, includes the New Wave in Europe, the great Hitchcocks, the great Kubricks, the great Lean epics and the New Hollywood from Bonnie and Clyde to Raging Bull. I don't think movies will ever get better than that.

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way to steal an idea from the onion's a.v. club.

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1950
all about eve
sunset boulevard

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2004 was a great year:
# Before Sunset
# Crash
# Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
# Finding Neverland
# Garden State
# Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
# Hotel Rwanda
# The Incredibles
# Kill Bill: Vol. 2
# Meet the Fockers
# Million Dollar Baby
# The Passion of the Christ
# Shrek 2
# Sideways
# Spider-Man 2

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To 1994 add:

Quiz Show
Four Weddings and a Funeral

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I agree with Kel, I have always thought that 1999 was one of the most amazing movie years. It also had:
The Matrix
Fight Club
The Mummy (just one of my personal faves)
American Beauty

I also think that 2001 was a pretty great year:
Moulin Rouge
First LOTR
Memento
Donnie Darko... just to name a few

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