In the fine *bitter defeat* tradition of stealing/copying any and all ideas/content from the AV Club, I'm following up the Album Autobiography with the Movie Autobiography ("inspired" by this and this, respectively).
Once again, such an undertaking raises such logistical questions as "How could you have a favorite movie when you were an infant?," "Are you listing your favorites or 'the best' of each year?," and "Why should anyone give a shit about your opinion?" Luckily, I have answers to all three questions: a) You couldn't; b) I'll get to that; and c) They shouldn't.
First, the ground rules: For each year, I have simply chosen my favorite film, rather than what I consider the "best" or "most important" film. In those cases where my choice at the time differs from my current favorite (either because I saw my current favorite later or because I am no longer, say, eleven years old), I will provide both. For years when I was too young to have an opinion, I'll list whatever I liked as a kid, where applicable.
Now it should be noted that I hold a graduate degree in film history, theory, and criticism, so my current-day favorites should be foreign and boring, with lots of midgets and dream sequences and allegory and criticism of commodity culture. I will be shocked if this turns out to be the case. For someone with "training" in the "aesthetics" of "the cinema," I have astoundingly "pedestrian" tastes. In other words, I tend to prefer "awesome" over "important." Please don't mistake this for false modesty on the one hand, or self-congratulation for "keeping it real" on the other. No, it's simply sad when a person drops tens of thousands of dollars into someone else's pocket just so they can use bigger words to explain why Ghostbusters rules.
1974
Then and now: Young Frankenstein
See? I told you my choices would be unimpressive. Sure, I love The Godfather, Part II, but I don't love it as much as Young Frankenstein (or other 1974 standouts like Blazing Saddles (What a HUGE year for Mel Brooks!), The Longest Yard, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Zardoz, Dark Star, or my runner-up, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
1975
Then and now: Jaws
I'm not sure "favorite" is the right word for how I felt about Jaws as a child. It's more like "the reason I feared any non-man-made body of water until I was six years old." Still, it seems that no one was releasing children's movies in the mid-1970s, so it's the only thing I remember seeing as a kid. (other notables are Monty Python and the Holy Grail and my runner up, Three Days of the Condor.)
1976
Then: The Bad News Bears
Now: Carrie
Carrie barely edged out The Marathon Man for my current choice. (And remember what I said about no foreign films? Seems like there aren't any in the Wikipedia lists anyway, so it's a non-issue.) Yes, I realize that Taxi Driver came out in 1976. I honestly think Taxi Driver is overrated.
1977
Then: Star Wars
Now: Annie Hall
Finally, a year with some conflicts! Not for my "younger self" pick, which was a no-brainer, but it killed me to have Dario Argento's Suspiria come up second. (And I guess there are foreign films after all. Another personal favorite: Slap Shot, the greatest sports movie ever made.
1978
Then: TIE, Superman: The Movie and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Now: Halloween
Even as a child I knew Superman just wasn't that good. I mean, it shared my heart with a movie in which The Beatles are replaced by The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, co-starring Steve Martin, Alice Cooper, and George Burns! As for my current pick, let's just say it was a big year for horror, with George Romero's Dawn of the Dead in the runner-up spot.
1979
Then: The Muppet Movie
Now: Manhattan
What a great year to be a kid! The Muppets were up against The Black Hole, Breaking Away, Meatballs, and Moonraker. This must have been the year my dad started taking me to movies, because I was crazy about all of those. Oh and Woody Allen wins again, edging out Alien and Apocalypse Now.
1980
Then and now: The Empire Strikes Back
Sorry to Raging Bull and The Shining, but this year was in the bag.
1981
Then and now: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Another runaway winner. This was also a big year for me as a kid, with the big three of semi-racy sword-and-sorcery movies: Clash of the Titans, Dragonslayer, and Excalibur...all of which my dad took me to see in the theater. What was he thinking?? A spacial shout-out to John Landis's An American Werewolf in London.
1982
Then: TIE, TRON, Conan the Barbarian, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Now: The Thing
You think that tie is a cop-out? Well I just couldn't answer with any confidence. I remember each of those films (not to mention The Dark Crystal and The Secret of NIMH) having a massive effect on me. (Also, my dad got in SO MUCH trouble for taking me to see Conan.) Also, Blade Runner was a very respectable runner-up, but The Thing is one of my top five films of all time.
1983
Then: Never Say Never Again
Now: Videodrome
It's very hard to believe that a fanboy like me could pick anything over Return of the Jedi, but for some reason I was quite taken by Sean Connery's controversial late-career return to James Bond. From an "adult" standpoint, 1983 was a shite year for movies. If it wasn't for Videodrome, I would have been choosing between Terms of Endearment and Trading Places.
Go to Part 2, 1984–1993
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