1984, the best year in movies?

[Mace Dolex]

I thought this article was interesting in a day of age when we have every Summer movie season packed with reboots, remakes, sequels, prequels, wizards, pirates, superheroes, robots and CGI animated features.

I was eight in '84 and boy do I remember watching practically every movie that was a hit back then.

Ghostbusters
Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom
Beverly Hills Cop
Gremlins
The Karate Kid
Footloose
A Nightmare On Elm Street

1984 the greatest year in movies

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Lord everyone of those movies except Footloose had an inferior sequel.

 

[Doomed_hero]

gremlins 2 was awesome

 

[Dave McFly]

don't forget about The Terminator

 

[bullets]

Red Dawn also..

 

[Rocketman]

Close rivals:

1989
1994
1999

 

[Fanticon]

I thought 1994 was a great year too...a favorite year for me personally.
Ace Ventura
The Crow
Maverick
Lion King
Speed
True Lies
The Mask
Shawshank Redemption
Pulp Fiction
Clerks
Stargate
Interview With A Vampire
Dumb and Dumber
Legends of The Fall...

among hundreds of others that became cult classics or 90's family fare favorites.

It's funny looking back at that year too seeing how many sequels and remakes and tv-show to movies hollywood tried doing that year...the same complaints we have had now in the last couple of years of unoriginal material.

 

[Laderlappen]

The only movies of those that I think are great are Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop.

 

[Drizzle]

Lord everyone of those movies except Footloose had an inferior sequel.

Temple of Doom WAS the inferior sequel.

I'm of the mind that 1994 was the best year for films in recent memory. 2003 and 2008 also come close for me too.

 

[superhero]

myfaovirtes
footlosse
ghostbusters
back to the futuer series
biland ted
better off dead
teen wolf micheal j fox
the goonies
war games
who framd roger rabbite?

 

[Wolfwood]

myfaovirtes
footlosse
ghostbusters
back to the futuer series
biland ted
better off dead
teen wolf micheal j fox
the goonies
war games
who framd roger rabbite?

Nice list, but I think they're talking about years and not specific movies.

 

[DACrowe]

Best Years in (American) Cinema:

1939:

-Gone With the Wind
-The Wizard of Oz
-Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
-Gunga Din
-Stagecoach
-Of Mice and Men
-Ninotchka
-Goodbye, Mr. Chips
-Drums Along the Mohawk
-Dark Victory
-Son of Frankenstein
-The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

1946:

-It's a Wonderful Life
-Notorious
-The Big Sleep
-The Best Years of Our Lives
-The Killers
-The Postman Always Rings Twice
-Gilda
-Dragonwyck
-The Razor's Edge
-The Time of their Lives

1976:

-Taxi Driver
-Network
-All The President's Men
-Marathon Man
-Rocky
-Bugsy Malone
-Family Plot
-The Outlaw Josey Wales
-Silent Movie

1994:

-Pulp Fiction
-The Shawshank Redemption
-The Lion King
-Ed Wood
-Quiz Show
-Clerks
-Léon: The Professional
-Little Women
-Maverick
-The Paper
-Forrest Gump
-Shallow Grave
-Interview with the Vampire
-Bullets over Broadway
-Exotica
-Speed
-True Lies
-Heavenly Creatures
-The Crow
-Guarding Tess

2000:

-O Brother, Where Art Thou?
-Gladiator
-Almost Famous
-Memento
-Requiem for a Dream
-High Fidelity
-Wonder Boys
-Traffic
-Snatch
-Cast Away
-Billy Elliot
-Thirteen Days
-Best in Show
-The Gift
-Chocolat
-Meet the Parents
-Keeping the Faith
-X-Men
-American Psycho
-Shadow of the Vampire

2007:

-There Will Be Blood
-The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford
-Sweeney Todd
-No Country for Old Men
-Juno
-Atonement
-Zodiac
-Eastern Promises
-Into the Wild
-Gone Baby Gone
-Michael Clayton
-3:10 to Yuma
-Hot Fuzz
-Charlie Wilson's War
-American Gangster
-Ratotouille
-Superbad
-Lars and the Real Girl
-Waitress
-Black Snake Moan
-Breach
-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
-Enchanted

Yes, I did have to look up the years to fill out those lists. I did remember the years and the top movies, but other than 2007, I needed a refresher.

 

[Bunker]

You missed The Bourne Ultimatum.

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

Watched most of those on cable.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

1999 was an awesome year for films. Maybe the best.

American Beauty, The Matrix, Three Kings, Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, The Iron Giant, Run Lola Run, Stir of Echoes, Arlington Road, Magnolia, Girl Interrupted, Eyes Wide Shut (I realize some hated that one), Talented Mr Ripley, Cider House Rules, Man on the Moon, Boys Don't Cry, Blair Witch Project (it's a joke now, but I loved it at the time), Austin Powers 2, Toy Story 2, Bowfinger and others I'm forgetting.

On the flip side, the bad movies that did come out were really bad, like really horrendous misguided projects usually based on previously valued properties.... Inspector Gadget, Wild Wild West, and the worst sacrillage of all and one that permanently ruined Star Wars for me... The Phantom Menace

DACrowe just reminded me that 2007 was another great year for films. I never really thought about it, but I guess it is true. Still think 1999 beats out '84 and '07.

Disagree with 2000. I love some of those movies (especially Memento and Gladiator), but c'mon... Gladiator, while a great flick was still a sword and sandals revenge flick and it won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It was great, but comparing it to movies that won Best Picture in other years shows how weak the selection of films for contention were that year.

 

[dude stannis]

Disagree with 2000. I love some of those movies (especially Memento and Gladiator), but c'mon... Gladiator, while a great flick was still a sword and sandals revenge flick and it won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It was great, but comparing it to movies that won Best Picture in other years shows how weak the selection of films for contention were that year.

I choose to believe the Academy pulled their heads out of their asses for just one year.

Gladiator kills most BP winners.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Temple of Doom WAS the inferior sequel.

Hell no. Temple of Doom was awesome. It was a stand-alone Indiana Jones adventure, which really took him out of his Nazi-hunting element and placed him against an evil cult leader who friggin' grabbed your still-beating heart from your chest and set it aflame. It scared the crap out of me as a kid and I'll always love that bridge scene where Indy tells Short-round to hold on to the ropes in Cantonese before he cuts it like the bad mofo he is. And the messed up banquet scene where Indy cuts the large snake and lots of little snakes come wriggling out. And the mine-cart scene. And the room with the insects and spikes. Or the first scene in Shanghai where Indy shish-kababs a dude sitting across the table from him. So many classic scenes.

It was much more original and memorable than the slap-sticky 'Last Crusade' which rehashed jokes from 'Raiders', completely ruined the characters of Marcus (bumbling idiot) and Saleh (duplicitous Arab stereotype) and basically had a crap plot.

The only thing I'll concede is Indy Senior beats Willy the blonde.


And 'Kingdom of the Crystal Whatever' just never happened period.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I choose to believe the Academy pulled their heads out of their asses for just one year.

Gladiator kills most BP winners.

I agree. The Academy blows and picks crap like 'Shakespeare in Love' (over 'Saving Private Ryan'), 'Crash' (Over 'Brokeback') and 'Titanic' (over LA Confidential). But this was different. I thought they were right. There really wasn't a better film than Gladiator that year. Maybe Memento. And as much as I love those films, they didn't blow me away like some of the other films listed here.

 

[dude stannis]

Memento totally deserved a nomination. 100%

 

[Secret Fawful]

Temple of Doom WAS the inferior sequel.

*screams into a pillow*

I am TIRED of this mofo opinion on these MOFO boards.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Memento totally deserved a nomination. 100%

I love 'Memento'. I love 'Dark Knight' and like 'Inception', but 'Memento' is still my favorite Nolan film by far.

"Natalie, right? Who the **** is Dodd??"

 

[Laderlappen]

Memento's US release date was in 2001 so if it would have been nominated, it would have been nominated for the 2001 Oscars.

Personally I dont have a problem with gladiator winning. It wasnt my fav that year, but there are much worse Best Picture winners last decade.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Memento's US release date was in 2001 so if it would have been nominated, it would have been nominated for the 2001 Oscars.

I didn't know the US release date was all that mattered, but for what it's worth it was released in the UK and other places in 2000. It's a shame if that's true, because it was released too late for the Awards that year and was forgotten by the next Awards. It probably would have been nominated otherwise because it had a lot of buzz.

 

[Laderlappen]

I didn't know the US release date was all that mattered, but for what it's worth it was released in the UK and other places in 2000. It's a shame if that's true, because it was released too late for the Awards that year and was forgotten by the next Awards. It probably would have been nominated otherwise because it had a lot of buzz.

It was a small movie and I dont think its was the typical movie the Oscars people like. With a good release date I still think it would have been snubbed.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

It was a small movie and I dont think its was the typical movie the Oscars people like. With a good release date I still think it would have been snubbed.

Hurt Locker seemed to do okay. Maybe you're right. We'll never know.