1989 - 30th Anniversary #1

[Hunter Rider]

So I'm going to do 3 of these threads, I'm not going back to '79 as I wasn't born then, so I decided to start with '89. Premise is simple, on this 30'th anniversary what is your #1 film from the year 1989?

When I look at the releases from that year it was a hell of a year for movies, from B89 to The Last Crusade, Back to the Future II and Lethal Weapon 2, as well as The Abyss, Ghostbusters II and Born on the 4th of July to name a few.

 

[Mandon Knight]

*I can do 1979* I was there !

Seriously, good idea Hunter, (as ever with yours), 1989 was one of the finest blockbuster summer's ever, for me the winner is Burton's Batman, it dominated that summer, there were queues round the block level interest not seen since Star Wars. I was 14 at the time and having witnessed SW back in '77, it was that 'commercial' sense of fan-dom once again.

My vote - Batman 1989

 

[Hunter Rider]

*I can do 1979* I was there !

Seriously, good idea Hunter, (as ever with yours), 1989 was one of the finest blockbuster summer's ever, for me the winner is Burton's Batman, it dominated that summer, there were queues round the block level interest not seen since Star Wars. I was 14 at the time and having witnessed SW back in '77, it was that 'commercial' sense of fan-dom once again.

My vote - Batman 1989

I was looking forward to your input on this thread and I thought you might mention the 70's as I recall your posts on seeing Star Wars and Superman the Movie at the cinema. I'm still mulling over what movie to choose as my personal favourite, but I agree that Batman is the iconic movie of that year, to the point it's even abbreviated by fans to B89 these days, such was it's impact.

 

[:eek:]

Watching The Abyss for the first time certainly was something. A personal favorite otherwise is Dead Calm. Noteworthy of the year is that no less than three times we saw new opening weekend records. It was a summer with unusally (for that time) many anticipated sequels which might have hurt The Abyss. That plus the Batman-fever I suppose. At least in America. I vaguely remember that the rest of the world never was that crazy about Batman, and looking at the international numbers for it compared to its domestic gross it seems I remember correctly. Personally I thought it was an entertaining movie and easilly the best superhero-movie of the 80's (mostly because of lack of serious competition) but I was never exactly over the moon about it. Might have been if I had been into Batman-comics at that time as much as I was into Spider-Man

 

[Hunter Rider]

Watching The Abyss for the first time certainly was something. A personal favorite otherwise is Dead Calm. Noteworthy of the year is that no less than three times we saw new opening weekend records. It was a summer with unusally (for that time) many anticipated sequels which might have hurt The Abyss. That plus the Batman-fever I suppose. At least in America. I vaguely remember that the rest of the world never was that crazy about Batman, and looking at the international numbers for it compared to its domestic gross it seems I remember correctly. Personally I thought it was an entertaining movie and easilly the best superhero-movie of the 80's (mostly because of lack of serious competition) but I was never exactly over the moon about it. Might have been if I had been into Batman-comics at that time as much as I was into Spider-Man

What were the other 2 movies that broke the opening weekend record that year? I'm guessing Batman was one of them.

 

[:eek:]

 

[Hunter Rider]

View attachment 23087

I didn't know Ghostbusters II had broken the record.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

I was born in ‘89 so I wasn’t super aware, but Ghostbusters II is easily my favorite ‘89 film, followed by Batman.

 

[Drizzle]

It's a really tough call for me between Batman and The Last Crusade.

 

[Zorro]

I vote Batman but Ghostbusters II is a close 2nd. I was 3 or 4yo but was amazed by both in the theatres. I discovered Indiana Jones films a couple of years later

 

[Hunter Rider]

I've made my choice but there was so much quality that year I have to lay out a top 5 in order.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Will through in Licence to Kill as well. God that summer Also having Indy back at the big screen was amazing, am fortunate enough to have seen all 3 (and the 4th) but we're talking 80's here, first time round, and TLC was an epic watch.

 

[Dark Raven]

I'd say Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

But it had BTTF 2, Licence to Kill, Batman.

But you don't have to have been born to enjoy the films from that year. I didn't go to the cinema much then, and it would take years before something came on TV. I still don't go all that much even now, but more than back then, which was almost non-existent.

I didn't see any of these films in the cinema, so none of them actually in 1989 even though I was alive.

 

[Mandon Knight]

I'd say Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

But it had BTTF 2, Licence to Kill, Batman.

But you don't have to have been born to enjoy the films from that year. I didn't go to the cinema much then, and it would take years before something came on TV. I still don't go all that much even now, but more than back then, which was almost non-existent.

I didn't see any of these films in the cinema, so none of them actually in 1989 even though I was alive.

Being a kid with very few friends that were as film obsessed as I was, I saw a lot of these either on my own or in small groups.

 

[STARMAN]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Always loved Indiana Jones. Crusade's father/son story resonates with me more as I get older.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Will through in Licence to Kill as well. God that summer Also having Indy back at the big screen was amazing, am fortunate enough to have seen all 3 (and the 4th) but we're talking 80's here, first time round, and TLC was an epic watch.

The Last Crusade was the first Indy movie I saw in the cinema, what an experience, the tank sequence pretty much literally had me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't stop talking about it on the way home with my Dad. He also took to me to see License to Kill that year but they wouldn't let us in as I was only 9 and this was the first Bond film to be a 15 rather than a PG, my Dad was not happy as he thought it should be up to him whether I watched it or not.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Away from the major films, a little sci-fi 'gem' with Mark Hamill was released, 'Slipstream', v dated now but has some good themes and decent story.....

Slipstream (1989) - IMDb

 

[batdude]

Batman was the game changer. but Ghostbusters 2 and Indy were great too I appiciated it more after that lousy one with Shia Leboeuf.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Away from the major films, a little sci-fi 'gem' with Mark Hamill was released, 'Slipstream', v dated now but has some good themes and decent story.....

Slipstream (1989) - IMDb

I remember seeing the trailer for this and thinking it was Mark's attempt at having his own Blade Runner, but I've never actually seen the film.

 

[Mandon Knight]

I remember seeing the trailer for this and thinking it was Mark's attempt at having his own Blade Runner, but I've never actually seen the film.

Saw it on VHS, around time of release, its 'thinking' was ahead of its time, very cautionary tale and hugely relevant now, worth searching out if you can.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Saw it on VHS, around time of release, its 'thinking' was ahead of its time, very cautionary tale and hugely relevant now, worth searching out if you can.

Did it ever get a DVD release or is it one that's going to take a deep dive search to find?

 

[Mandon Knight]

Did it ever get a DVD release or is it one that's going to take a deep dive search to find?

Long haul search for it I think mate, sorry. I'll do some research for you.....

 

[Teelie]

It's amazing the number of movies with the title "Slipstream" there are. It appears it might have been on DVD at one point but it's possible the one review I saw was that of a bootleg copy terribly transferred off a VHS.

edit: And then I do find it on DVD afterall from a legitimate source.

 

[jolldan]

As much as I loveeeeeee Batman I have to go with the only film on that list that I have watched more times than I can count and that is The Last Crusade.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Long haul search for it I think mate, sorry. I'll do some research for you.....

Found it! Apparently it's in the public domain now and it's on Youtube.