The Year in Movies: 1976

  1976

Number of Movies I've Seen: 7

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  2

Oscar Winner:
Rocky - This is a classic example of "just because a movie is first doesn't mean it's the best". It isn't the best boxing movie (The Fighter), Stallone movie (Creed), underdog movie (Hoosiers), or even the best movie about competitive fighting directed by John G. Avildsen (The Karate Kid). However, it was first, and I think its pretty cool that an underdog movie like this about an underdog boxer was able to take down all of the heavyweights on Hollywood's biggest night.

Box Office Winner:
Rocky 

My Top Ten:
1. NEXT POST!

2. Network - This pick was so close. The top two movies of this year were straining with all their might to warn the next generation of the coming problems with media and politics. Too bad we didn't listen very well. The climax of this movie ("I'm as mad as hell....") ranks among the most emotionally charged moments in cinema history. 

3. Silent Movie - Mid-tier Mel Brooks is still gold. Having Marcel Marceau speak the only words in an otherwise silent film is a stroke of brave genius.

4. Rocky 

5. Taxi Driver - I'll keep saying it because it keeps being true: Martin Scorcese makes perfect movies about people I don't care about. Maybe I need to revisit Travis Bickle as an almost-middle-aged man, but I got very little out of this one with one viewing a decade or so ago.

6. The Twelve Tasks of Asterix - Fun little French take on Looney Tunes-esque comic adventure. I can see why people dig this stuff.

6. Logan's Run - Great concept ruined by downright boring '70s era sci-fi "artsiness".

Best of the Year: 1966 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

 

I'm a sucker for feature length family arguments. Carnage, Before Midnight, Tape, Marriage Story, August Osage County. I'm not sure what that says about me, but this one is most definitely the granddaddy of this strange subgenre. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were the most famous couple in Hollywood (possibly the world) in 1966 and their passion was on full display here. This movie is spectacular. Mike Nichols directs a near-perfect script and creates one of the toughest to watch, timeless, heartbreaking, and shocking films of all time.

The Year in Movies: 1966

  1966

Number of Movies I've Seen: 5

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  0

Oscar Winner:
A Man for All Seasons - Definitely going to catch this the next time it swings through TCM.

Box Office Winner:
The Bible: In the Beginning - .A film adaptation of the first 22 chapters of the book of Genesis... Pretty sure I'm good skipping this one.

My Top Ten:
1. NEXT POST!

2. Persona - My first Ingmar Bergman. I am torn between "I need to see MORE!" and "I guess Bergman just isn't for me."

3. Batman - Say what you will, but this was the first comic book feature film that acted like a real movie (previous big-screen superheroes took the form of multi-part serials). As much as I love "silly" Batman, Adam West and company definitely lumped all things comic book into their immature category for nearly a half century.

4. The Fantastic Voyage - Super campy sci-fi adventure inside the human body. Fun, sure, but Osmosis Jones would do it so much better 30 years later!

5. The Endless Summer - Surfing. Narration. More surfing. Quite relaxing...

Best of the Year: 1956 - Forbidden Planet

 

Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, a robot, Shakespeare's Tempest, and the birth of nearly every hard sci-fi property (from Lost in Space to Star Trek). What more do you want? This movie may look like a "B-movie" because of its style and effects, but its influence is as important as any from the era.

The Year in Movies: 1956

  1956

Number of Movies I've Seen: 4

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  0

Oscar Winner:
Around the World in 80 Days - I promise... I'll catch this on TCM one day. I just don't have much desire to seek it out. Everything I've heard says its harmless fun... 3 hours... of harmless fun... :-|

Box Office Winner:
The Ten Commandments - I probably need a rewatch on this one. I know I've seen it a handful of times because it was required Passover season viewing in my Southern Baptist household. 

My Top Ten:
1. NEXT POST!

2. Giant - (PICTURED ABOVE) I'm always amazed at the movies they were making nearly 3/4 century ago. Half the movies on this post are more than three hours! This is a multigenerational epic about a Texas cattle rancher and his extended family and friends. If Giant were made today, it would be a 8 episode miniseries. I'm not sure if that would be for the better or not as I'm still getting used to these "movie-like" one-shot series (like Russian Doll and The Queen's Gambit), but I digress. This movie is a bloated, messy masterpiece. James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson are all allowed to play gleefully in the cinematic sandbox created for them by journeyman filmmaker George Stevens. Everybody knows who James Dean is because of his iconic image, but so few people have actually seen any of his three films. I know most people prefer Rebel Without a Cause, but despite its length, I recommend this one as a good place to start instead.

3. The Ten Commandments 

4. The Searchers - This movie is beautiful.... It isn't beautiful to overcome its misogyny, xenophobia, and lack of any joy. We cannot advance as a film-loving society until we stop listing this one among the greatest films of any era....

Best of the Year: 1946 - It's A Wonderful Life

 Better. Every. Time. On the short list of movies I can watch at the drop of a hat. The greatest Christmas movie ever not because it embodies the holiday but because it embodies the message of Jesus Christ.

I wrote pretty extensively about this one in 2010.

The Year in Movies: 1946

 1946

Number of Movies I've Seen: 5

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  4!

Oscar Winner:
The Best Years of Our Lives - Whew... this year is full of bangers! I should probably watch more! It was actually pretty difficult ranking my top 3. All of them are worthy being crowned "best of the year". The only reason this one ranks a bit behind the other two is the lack of a real personal connection for me. I fully believe if I was born a generation or two earlier, this would be my favorite of the year.

Box Office Winner:
The Best Years of Our Lives 

My Top Ten:
1. NEXT POST!

2. The Big Sleep - It's hard to explain how much I love this movie. Nearly as hard as it is to explain the plot of this movie. Quite possibly the coolest movie ever made.

3. The Best Years of Our Lives 

4. A Night in Casablanca - The Marx Brothers last "Marx Brothers" film. It's a very loose spoof of Casablanca. One of the brother's weaker films, but that still makes it side-splittingly funny!

5. Duel in the Sun - Racist garbage that I always get confused with A Place in the Sun which is actually a good movie. 

Best of the Year: 1936 - Modern Times

 

As you may have guessed by reading this blog, I am not a huge fan of Chaplin. However, I truly believe this is his masterpiece. I know I'm bordering on blasphemy, but, for me, it's one of the only films in his oeuvre that truly has something to say. Modern Times commentary on the depression is far more frank than anything that is said in The Gold Rush or City Lights. It must be said, that without dialogue is still falls far short of something like The Grapes of Wrath.

The Year in Movies: 1936

   1936

Number of Movies I've Seen: 3

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  0

Oscar Winner:
The Great Ziegfeld - (PICTURED ABOVE) What an absolute chore to get through...   I thought about turning it off at the blackface, but it was followed by a pretty impressive musical number. I was wrong. No real beginning, middle, and end, and an editor who is completely asleep in the cutting room. I guess I get why people dug this in 1936 having pretty direct nostalgia to the "follies", but it isn't a very good movie.

Box Office Winner:
The Great Ziegfeld 

My Top Ten:
1. NEXT POST!

2. Swing Time - I'd really like to make this one my favorite of the year, but I just can't bring myself to celebrate blackface. That's right... 2/3 of the movies I've seen from 1936 include minstrelsy. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are the best of all time at what they do, I just wish the movies surrounding their dance numbers were better.

3. The Great Ziegfeld 

Best of the Year: 1926 - The General

 

Not my favorite from Keaton, but certainly his favorite. Like most of his films, this one is worth it for the stunt artistry alone.

The Year in Movies: 1926

  1926

Number of Movies I've Seen: 3

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  0

Oscar Winner:
Didn't exist yet...

Box Office Winner:
Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ - I'm not sure why people obsess over this story... Jesus' actual story is much more interesting. Alas, I skipped this one.

My Top Ten:
1. NEXT POST!

2. The Adventures of Prince Achmed - (PICTURED ABOVE) This movie is unlike anything you've ever seen before. It feels almost disrespectful to say that it is paper cutout animation against a lit screen because it is so much more alive than that. I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure of the story, but the visuals are dazzling enough and it is free on youtube so you have no excuse!

3. The Son of the Sheik - I guess this one is better than the original... I just need more comedy and artistry in my silent films and less sexual assault that passes as erotic entertainment.

Best of the Year: 2015 - Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

 

Sorry for the delay in the post. I just really was hoping to find a way to rewatch this one first. Alas, it isn't streaming anywhere and that is a real shame. This movie is an absolute gem. Do not miss the chance to watch it. Probably one of the most honest movies about teenage awkwardness while at the same time adding just enough fantasy to hook a fool like me. It really is a shame that none of its three lead actors have blown up over the last half decade...

I'm leaving this one a bit open because I plan on returning to it when I get a chance to watch again!