Your Favourite Movie for Each Year Since You Were Born

[ThatNickGuy]

This is a meme going around right now and thought it'd be fun to post our lists and discuss our choices.The rule is you look up the list of movies released for each year, starting with your birth year, and choose ONE movie as your favourite from that year.

If you google "movies in [year]" it gives you a handy, easy-to-scroll list of at least the top, most memorable movies. Some films I had to google to double check the year it released.

Some of my choices were hard as hell. Most years became a choice between two movies. Some were easy as soon as I saw a movie listed. I was like, "Iron Giant in 1999? Yup. No contest." Others were hard as hell, like The Avengers vs Cloud Atlas, or Captain America: The First Avengers beating out both The Muppets and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Or Guardians of the Galaxy vs Winter Soldier.

My most heartbreaking was unquestionably The Incredibles vs. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I spent over five minutes agonizing over my choice because they're both on my Top 10 and I love them both for entirely different reasons. I eventually went with The Incredibles, but it was a hard decision.

I do love that my list starts with Superman. I think that's appropriate for me.

1978: Superman
1979: The Muppet Movie
1980: Superman II (yes, over Empire Strikes Back)
1981: Time Bandits
1982: E.T. (first movie I ever saw)
1983: Return of the Jedi
1984: Gremlins
1985: Back to the Future
1986: Aliens
1987: The Princess Bride
1988: Killer Klowns From Outer Space
1989: Back to the Future II
1990: Gremlins 2
1991: The Rocketeer
1992: Reservoir Dogs
1993: Groundhog Day
1994: Shawshank Redemption
1995: The Usual Suspects
1996: Independence Day
1997: Good Will Hunting
1998: What Dreams May Come
1999: The Iron Giant
2000: Unbreakable
2001: Amelie
2002: Road to Perdition
2003: Finding Nemo
2004: The Incredibles
2005: Sky High
2006: Pan's Labyrinth
2007: Hot Fuzz
2008: The Wrestler
2009: District 9
2010: Scott Pilgrim vs the World
2011: Captain America: The First Avenger
2012: The Avengers (BARELY beating Cloud Atlas)
2013: Pacific Rim
2014: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2015: The Martian
2016: Captain America: Civil War
2017: The Lego Batman Movie

 

[Hailey Knight]

So how long will Dave's list be?

You're that sure for 2017? The year is young and we still have Justice League coming up .

Man, a lot of movies I love existed before I did.

 

[PatrThom]

So how long will Dave's list be?

How short will mine be?

--Patrick

 

[ThatNickGuy]

So how long will Dave's list be?

You're that sure for 2017? The year is young and we still have Justice League coming up .

Man, a lot of movies I love existed before I did.

@Dave, we'll accept your favourite cave paintings for your case.

The 2017 choice was just for what's out so far. It's only March, so there wasn't much to choose from. Though it was a hard choice between Lego Batman and Get Out. We still have Guardians 2, Spider-Man Homecoming, and WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES to look forward to.

 

[sixpackshaker]

Holy crap, that would take me forever to look up 48 movies...

 

[Hailey Knight]

Holy crap, that would take me forever to look up 48 movies...

That's the other thing; it'd take a bit to check out each year. I suppose if you know a bunch of favorites then that cuts it down a bit so long as they didn't share a year.

 

[Gruebeard]

Well I can immediately fill in a few years with Die Hard, Robocop, Starship Troopers and Crash (Cronenenberg's) so long as they don't overlap.

Beyond that, I don't really care.[DOUBLEPOST=1490392286,1490392205][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh heck, let's add ExistenZ and While You Were Sleeping to the list.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Like I said, guys, the google-each-year method made it easy for me. Just have a tab open for searches and switch back and forth. I found deciding took longer than searching.

 

[Dave]

Hmmm. I'll have to look. Oh, and

 

[Celt Z]

It's okay, Dave. If you just want to start at the "talkies", we won't hold it against you.

 

[PatrThom]

Like I said, guys, the google-each-year method made it easy for me. Just have a tab open for searches and switch back and forth. I found deciding took longer than searching.

You can also search the IMDb with http://www.imdb.com/year/xxxx/ where "xxxx" is the 4-digit year you want to peruse. Don't forget that final slash.

--Patrick

 

[sixpackshaker]

Several of these I could not choose just one.

1969: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Wild Bunch
1970: Little Big Man
Patton
1971: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
1972: Deliverance
The Godfather
1973: The Sting
Serpico
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
The Paper Chase
The Last Detail
High Plains Drifter
American Graffiti
1974: Blazing Saddles
Chinatown
The Godfather (Part II)
Young Frankenstein
1975
Dog Day Afternoon
Jaws
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1976: Marathon Man
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Rocky
1977: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Goodbye Girl
Star Wars
1978: (National Lampoon's) Animal House
The Deer Hunter
Superman The Movie
Up in Smoke
1979: Alien
Apocalypse Now
Breaking Away
The Jerk
(Monty Python's) Life of Brian
1980: Airplane!
The Big Red One
Breaker Morant
Coal Miner's Daughter
The Empire Strikes Back
The Gods Must Be Crazy
The Shining
1981: Chariots of Fire
Das Boot
Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982: Blade Runner
E. T. - The Extra-Terrestrial
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
First Blood
Gandhi
Poltergeist
Tootsie
1983: A Christmas Story
Local Hero
(National Lampoon's) Vacation
Return of the Jedi
1984: Amadeus
Blood Simple
The Killing Fields
The Natural
Romancing the Stone
A Soldier's Story
The Terminator
This Is Spinal Tap
1985: Back to the Future
Brazil
Ran
1986: Aliens
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Mission
Platoon
Something Wild
Stand By Me
1987: Full Metal Jacket
Good Morning, Vietnam
The Last Emperor
The Princess Bride
Raising Arizona
RoboCop
1988: The Accidental Tourist
Big
Dangerous Liaisons
A Fish Called Wanda
Heathers
1989: The Abyss
Batman
Dead Poets Society
Field of Dreams
Roger & Me
When Harry Met Sally...
1990: Dances With Wolves
The Hunt for Red October
Misery
1991: City Slickers
The Silence of the Lambs
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1992: Glengarry Glen Ross
Reservoir Dogs
1993: Groundhog Day
Schindler's List
1994: Forrest Gump
The Madness of King George
The Professional
Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption
1995: Braveheart
Se7en
Toy Story
The Usual Suspects
Fargo
Lone Star
1997: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Good Will Hunting
L. A. Confidential
1998: The Big Lebowski
Saving Private Ryan
There's Something About Mary
1999: Fight Club
The Iron Giant
The Matrix
Three Kings
2000: Gladiator
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2001: Black Hawk Down
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Shrek
2002: Frida
28 Days Later...
2003: Big Fish
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
2004: The Incredibles
Napoleon Dynamite
Shaun of the Dead
2005: Batman Begins
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Walk the Line
2006: The Departed
The Last King of Scotland
2007: No Country For Old Men
2008: The Dark Knight
Gran Torino
Iron Man
2009: The Blind Side
The Hangover
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
2010: Black Swan
The King's Speech
2011: Moneyball
War Horse
2012: Argo
Django Unchained
(Marvel's) The Avengers
Moonrise Kingdom
2013: Dallas Buyers Club
2014: American Sniper
Gone Girl
The LEGO Movie
The Theory of Everything
2015: Joy
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Steve Jobs
Straight Outta Compton
2016: Rouge One: A Star Wars Story
2017: meh...[DOUBLEPOST=1490400155,1490399756][/DOUBLEPOST]Fuck, I get a negative review for an hour's work?

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Several of these I could not choose just one.

But that's half the fun. You HAVE to choose just one. That's how the game works. It killed me to choose some over others, but that's the rule. One movie each year, no matter what.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Fuck, I get a negative review for an hour's work?

Just play the game, man. Pick one movie from the ones you listed. I lifted the Disagree since it upset you so much. But this isn't a "here are all the movies I liked in each year." This is choosing ONE from each year. Make like a writer and start killing your darlings.

 

[PatrThom]

Make like a writer and start killing your darlings.

Hee hee! Kati has started writing. She says it's sooo hard to kill your children.

--Patrick

 

[Ravenpoe]

1985 - Enemy Mine - It's a dumb movie, about a human and an alien, trapped in a mine. This spot would go to Back to the Future, but Enemy Mine holds a special connection with a good friend of mine that's no longer living
1986 - The Color of Money - One of my Dad's favorite movies, I've watched it with him at least a hundred times. This is a hard list to prune down to just one movie, so I'm going to go by what movie I'm most willing to watch again and again
1987 - Robocop - It might be a perfect movie
1988 - Die Hard - I watch it every Christmas, it never gets old. Honorable non-mention Grave of the Fireflies. Going by my rules for this list, it falls to the absolute bottom, as there's still a few years before I'm willing to watch that again.
1989 - Batman - Sorry BttF II, I thought maybe your sequel would make it to the list, but Batman.
1990 - Die Hard 2: Die Harder - The second part of the christmas tradition. I'm less sorry about you, BttF 3
1991 - The Silence of the Lambs - Holy shit, so many good movies came out in 1991
1992 - My Cousin Vinny - I still have a crush on Marisa Tomei
1993 - Robin Hood: Men In Tights - Listen, don't judge me or my lifestyle
1994 - Pulp Fiction - Holy shit, a lot of good movies came out in 1994 too! Also Street Fighter. HAHAHAHA Street Fighter, is it too late to choose that instead?
1995 - Mortal Kombat - Look, I already told you not to judge me, I need to you keep not judging me now.
1996 - Romeo + Juliet - See above
1997 - Event Horizon - These movies are getting worse. People are going to start thinking I have trash taste in movies. C'mon '98, I need you to have some oscar winner that I really liked to boost me back up.
1998 - The Big Lebowski - Alright, alright, it's not an oscar winner (I don't think) but we can work with cult classics. Now we're on the right track.
1999 - The Matrix - No shame here, the first Matrix movie rocked... it's sequels might even show up on this list depending on the competition.
2000 - O Brother, Where Art Thou - Iiiiii- am a maaa-aan of constant sorrow!
2001 - A Knight's Tale - I force people who are new to playing a bard to watch this movie and pay close attention to Chaucer.
2002 - Road to Perdition - This is a great movie in its own right, but it's on here for the same reason Enemy Mine is.
2003 - The Last Samurai - I fucking hate Tom Cruise, why does he have to be so good in movies I love?
2004 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Time to ugly cry, but in a bittersweet way?
2005 - Serenity - A lot of shitty movies came out in 2005. Also I've never seen Brokeback Mountain, I keep meaning to, but oh well, I love Firefly, and Serenity because of it.
2006 - Little Miss Sunshine - One of my favorite movies ever. This movie just makes me smile, and hits very close to home.
2007 - No Country for Old Men - I love this movie. A lot of really good, and really bad, movies came out this year. Oh look, A Bee Movie came out this year. This list, but every time A Bee-OH GOD QUICK MEME DODGE!
2008 - The Dark Knight - This year wasn't even hard.
2009 - Coraline - I already used up my Tarantino quota.
2010 - Scott Pilgrim vs The World - Even with Michael Cera
2011 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows P2 - I'm using this as a stand-in for all of the Harry Potter movies, and mostly just celebrating that they won't be showing up in the movie list anymore. Also, 2011 was a pretty shit year for movies.
2012 - Cloud Atlas - Sorry Django, we have quotas for a reason. Also this movie doesn't get enough love.
2013 - Pacific Rim - ROCKET PAUNCHU!
2014 - Guardians of the Galaxy - Fuck yeah, movies in this year are getting good again! This was a very difficult year to choose.
2015 - Straight Outta Compton - There's some low hanging fruit this year that I chose not to reach for. Plus I really like NWA.
2016 - Deadpool - Everyone knows this is great, and it opened the door for...
2017 - Logan - RIP my feels.

 

[BErt]

Ok, I'll play

1982 - Rocky III
1983 - Return of the Jedi
1984 - Ghostbusters
1985 - Back to the Future
1986 - Transformers: The Movie
1987 - Robocop
1988 - Beetlejuice
1989 - Batman
1990 - Cry-Baby
1991 - Terminator 2: Judgement Day
1992 - My Cousin Vinny
1993 - The Nightmare Before Christmas
1994 - Clerks
1995 - Empire Records
1996 - That Thing You Do!
1997 - Chasing Amy
1998 - The Truman Show
1999 - Stir of Echoes
2000 - Snatch
2001 - Ghost World
2002 - Catch Me If You Can
2003 - Lost in Translation
2004 - Shaun of the Dead
2005 - Serenity
2006 - Talladega Nights
2007 - Juno
2008 - The Dark Knight
2009 - Adventureland
2010 - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
2011 - Captain America: The First Avenger
2012 - The Hunger Games
2013 - Frozen
2014 - Guardians of the Galaxy
2015 - Creed
2016 - Deadpool
2017 - Get Out*

*subject to change


Some years were really, really difficult to choose. Like I'm surprised I didn't end up with a single Cohen Brothers or Wes Anderson movie, they just happened to fall in years I liked something else better. But I'm comfortable with my list. I think. Arg...

 

[Gared]

1981: The Cannonball Run. Yes, even with an Indiana Jones movie being released the same year. I still watch this one, on at least a monthly basis.
1982: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. It's hard (for me) to argue with E.T.
1983: Star Wars: Episode VI.
1984: This was a tough year, but in the end, the choice between Gremlins and The Last Starfighter came down to Gremlins.
1985: Back to the Future.
1986: Top Gun takes this one easily, but I do have to throw an honorable mention to Lucas.
1987: This was another tough year, lots of great movies came out in 1987, but in the end, I have to go with Good Morning Vietnam.
1988: The Great Outdoors.
1989: Steel Magnolias. Yeah, I have a bit of a weakness for chick flicks. What can I say, they're usually pretty feel-good.
1990: Home Alone.
1991: Fried Green Tomatoes. See above.
1992: I was pretty sure this one was going to come down to Mighty Ducks or Newsies, but as it turns out, A River Runs Through It was released in '92, and wins my vote. As much as I love the others, this one had the greatest effect on my then-childhood, just on the "not all families get along like mine does" front, if nothing else.
1993: The Three Musketeers - Disney's version, with Kiefer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen.
1994: Silly or serious? This one was a true flip of the coin, and it came down on Clerks.
1995: Tommy Boy, hands down. Still miss Farley.
1996: Scream.
1997: Orgazmo. It's soooo cheesy.
1998: There were certainly a lot of good movies released in '98, but none of the really stand out as a favorite. So, what the hell. Armageddon.
1999: Sleepy Hollow.
2000: The Emperor's New Groove.
2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
2002: We Were Soldiers.
2003: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. That would be my Johnny Depp weakness kicking in again.
2004: Shaun of the Dead.
2005: I gotta go with Sky High for this one. It's sappy, but I like the message.
2006: This started out looking like another tough year to find something that stood out, but then I stumbled across Smokin' Aces way down the list.
2007: Hot Fuzz. I could watch this every day and never get tired of it.
2008: This is another weak year for me. I guess Iron Man. It's the only one in the top 50 that I've seen more than twice.
2009: Star Trek.
2010: How to Train Your Dragon.
2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2. Yates was definitely the best director.
2012: Ted. I uh... I didn't actually see many of the movies released in 2012.
2013: Despicable Me 2.
2014: Revised: Chef. John Favreau and John Leguizamo as chefs, food trucks, road trips? Yes, please. I hadn't realized it before, but this one is actually my Hot Fuzz of inspiration - I can watch it every day, and it inspires me every time.
2015: Inside Out. I'm really enjoying the new Disney movies, the ones that don't revolve around princesses getting married and everything being perfect.
2016: Zootopia. It really got me through some tough times earlier this year. Though had it not been for those tough times, I'd definitely have to go with 13th.
2017: Gonna have to leave this one unchosen - haven't seen anything that's been released this year yet.

 

[Covar]

1986: Big Trouble in Little China
1987: Project A2 (meh year for me honestly)
1988: Die Hard.
1989: Major League
1990: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (edged out Goodfellas)
1991: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (what a good year for movies)
1992: Police Story 3: Supercop (what a meh year for movies)
1993: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
1994: Street Fighter
1995: Rumble in the Bronx
1996: Independence Day (at least until I finally get around to seeing Escape From L.A.)
1997: Men in Black
1998: The Truman Show
1999: Office Space
2000: Remember the Titans
2001: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (sorry Josie and the Pussycats)
2002: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003: Big Fish
2004: The Incredibles
2005: Ong Bak
2006: The Protector (aka "Where's my elephant?")
2007: Ratatouille
2008: Wall-E
2009: Up
2010: The Karate Kid
2011: Captain America
2012: Dredd
2013: Pacific Rim
2014: Guardians of the Galaxy
2015: Trainwreck
2016: Magnificent Seven (I saw a grand total of 3 movies that came out last year)
2017: n/a

 

[General Specific]

1980 - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
1981 - The Evil Dead
1982 - Blade Runner (Director's Cut, not that stupid voiceover)
1983 - Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
1984 - This is Spinal Tap
1985 - Brazil (Director's Cut again, stupid studio meddling)
1986 - Highlander
1987 - Princess Bride
1988 - Die Hard
1989 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1990 - The Hunt for Red October
1991 - Hook
1992 - Wayne's World
1993 - Schindler's List
1994 - Shawshank Redemption
1995 - Crimson Tide
1996 - Happy Gilmore
1997 - Princess Mononoke (changed from Men in Black, did not realize these came out the same year, Mononoke easily beats MIB)
1998 - Big Lebowski
1999 - The Matrix
2000 - Memento
2001 - Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
2002 - Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003 - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (can you spot a pattern?)
2004 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 - Serenity
2006 - Stranger than Fiction
2007 - Hot Fuzz
2008 - Wall-E
2009 - Watchmen
2010 - Despicable Me
2011 - Captain America
2012 - The Avengers
2013 - Ender's Game
2014 - Lego Movie & Guardians of the Galaxy (could not choose between the two, Chris Pratt is so damned likable!)
2015 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2016 - Star Wars: Rogue One (very close between this one & Deadpool)
2017 (so far) - Lego Batman (I am hoping this changes to Star Wars: The Last Jedi by the end of the year)


I honestly thought this would be hard, but the choice was obvious for most years.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I'm going to wait to read sixpack's and Raven's until mine's done so I'm not inadvertently influenced, but thanks PatrThom for the IMDB suggestion. I figure if I go through the top 200 of a year, I'll have likely spotted all those relevant unless I have something particular in mind, i.e. I jotted down a few movies I love that will take top slot for whatever year that was. I'll fill those in first.

I want to reiterate that there are many movies I love dearly that pre-date my birth and that's not my fault . The Thing, King Kong (33), old Godzilla movies, Jaws, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, the original Star Wars trilogy, just a bunch of stuff I grew up on but wasn't around for the debut.

It's funny looking at some of these years and thinking "15 years ago, that would've been my favorite of that year, but now ..."

1985: Fright Night
1986: Aliens
1987: The Untouchables (this is a rough year to pick just one movie, what with RoboCop, Hellraiser, The Princess Bride, Masters of the Universe )
1988: Akira
1989: Godzilla vs Biollante (this was a rough year to find a movie)
1990: Edward Scissorhands
1991: Beauty and the Beast
1992: The Muppet Christmas Carol
1993: Jurassic Park
1994: Pulp Fiction
1995: Toy Story
1996: Gamera 2: Advent of Legion (I'm so glad this came out this year, because I was having a hard time finding anything for this slot, but there it is, one of my all-time favorite kaiju movies, phew)
1997: Princess Mononoke
1998: The Big Lebowski (though I was leaning hard toward Dark City, but I've only seen that once)
1999: The Iron Giant
2000: Memento
2001: Spirited Away
2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (not my favorite in the series but for that year)
2003: Kill Bill vol 1 (I prefer vol 2, but not as much as the movie chosen for that year)
2004: The Incredibles
2005: King Kong (back in 2005, the answer might've been Sin City or Brick)
2006: The Prestige
2007: Ratatouille (this movie feels 10 years ago, but a bunch of others from that year feel like "it couldn't have been that far back")
2008: The Dark Knight
2009: Coraline
2010: Scott Pilgrim vs the World
2011: Captain America
2012: Django Unchained (but rrrgh Avengers)
2013: The Conjuring (meanwhile 2013 feels like forever ago; also this was a rough year to even find a movie, same as how I felt when wife and I wanted to go to the movies that year)
2014: Guardians of the Galaxy
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road
2016: Shin Godzilla

 

[Sara_2814]

It was really tough to pick just one some years!

1970 - MASH
1971 - Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
1972 - The Cowboys
1973 - Robin Hood
1974 - Young Frankenstein
1975 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1976 - Murder By Death
1977 - Star Wars
1978 - Superman
1979 - Life of Brian
1980 - The Empire Strikes Back
1981 - Time Bandits
1982 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1983 - Return of the Jedi
1984 - Romancing the Stone
1985 - The Goonies
1986 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1987 - The Princess Bride
1988 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
1989 - Batman
1990 - The Hunt for Red October
1991 - Beauty and the Beast
1992 - Wayne's World
1993 - Jurassic Park
1994 - The Lion King
1995 - Toy Story
1996 - Star Trek: First Contact
1997 - The Fifth Element
1998 - Mulan
1999 - Galaxy Quest
2000 - O Brother, Where Art Thou
2001 - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2002 - Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003 - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2004 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2005 - Batman Begins
2006 - Cars
2007 - Stardust
2008 - The Dark Knight
2009 - Fantastic Mr. Fox
2010 - How to Train Your Dragon
2011 - Captain America
2012 - The Avengers
2013 - Pacific Rim
2014 - Guardians of the Galaxy
2015 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2016 - Rogue One
2017 - Beauty and the Beast (only 2017 movie I've seen so far)

 

[Tinwhistler]

1969: Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
1970: Patton
1971: Harold and Maude
1972: Fritz the Cat
1973: Westworld
1974: The Longest Yard
1975: The Man Who Would be King
1976: Logan's Run
1977: Star Wars
1978: Animal House
1979: Time After Time
1980: Blues Brothers
1981: American Werewolf in London
1982: Blade Runner
1983: Wargames
1984: Terminator
1985: Enemy Mine
1986: Platoon
1987: Full Metal Jacket
1988: Die Hard
1989: Bill & Ted's
1990: Edward Scissorhands
1991: The Silence of the Lambs
1992: The Last of the Mohicans
1993: Groundhog Day'
1994: The Mask
1995: 12 Monkeys
1996: Independence Day
1997: The Fifth Element
1998: The Truman Show
1999: The Matrix
2000: O Brother Where Art Thou
2001: Harry Potter
2002: Chicago
2003: Last Samurai
2004: The Incredibles
2005: Constantine
2006: The Prestige
2007: No Country for Old Men
2008: Gran Tourino
2009: District 9
2010: True Grit
2011: Super 8
2012: Django Unchained
2013: Wolf of Wall Street
2014: Guardians of the Galaxy
2015: Sicario
2016: Deadpool
2017: Haven't seen any new movies this year yet

 

[Hailey Knight]

Tinwhistler lived his life twice up to this point.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

2014 - Lego Movie & Guardians of the Galaxy (could not choose between the two, Chris Pratt is so damned likable!)

If I had to make an agonizing choice between two movies that are BOTH on my Top 10 Favourite Movies list, YOU WILL CHOOSE A PRATT MOVIE! One must stand, one must Prattfall.

 

[Tinwhistler]

Tinwhistler lived his life twice up to this point.

The first time I pasted, it was from Excel, and it came out in a table format. So I (thought I) deleted the text and pasted from Notepad. I guess it didn't take.

 

[Frank]

1987 - Robocop - It might be a perfect movie

This is why you good people.

After doing my list, I obviously love genre flicks.

1983 - The Man with Two Brains. This was a childhood favorite and a film my dad and I bonded on. Dopey weird sex comedy.
1984 - The Terminator. It's only amazing.
1985 - Enemy Mine. Another childhood bonding movie. I loved and still love good sci-fi.
1986 - The Transformers the Movie. Go fuck yourself. I can literally recite this entire film from memory.
1987 - Robocop. Quoted above.
1988 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? This film was and still is a technical marvel. Also insane that it was ever made. Daffy Duck and Donald Duck dueling pianos is still one of my favorite things. Not movie things, just things.
1989 - Batman. Holy shit this is a hard year, but THIS Batman meant SO MUCH to me as a kid. My walls had the awesome cloth posters. When we traveled to the city, this is my first non kids movie I ever saw in theaters. This is also the first years I was old enough to remember beginning to watch movies.
1990 - Goodfellas. Another hella hard year but I mean, come on, Goodfellas is a timeless classic.
1991 - Terminator 2. This is maybe my favorite movie of all time. No contest.
1992 - Unforgiven. The first movie to make me appreciate westerns.
1993 - Tombstone. Another hard year, but westerns!
1994 - The Crow. Not the best movie of the year, but a personal favorite. I still watch it all the time. The soundtrack is UHHHmazing.
1995 - Seven. Probably one of the biggest media influences on me wanting to get into my current profession. (without the box part of course)
1996 - Fargo. Again, another major influence. This fucking movie is a God damn masterpiece.
1997 - The Game. A weird choice but it's always stuck with me. This is the year I started going to the theater like 3 times a week with my best friend. Saw EVERYTHING.
1998 - Dark City. A brilliant movie made even better in later releases. Awesome sci-fi noir. I fucking love this movie (also, Jennifer Connelly is my forever crush)
1999 - Being John Malkovich. This got me into weird movies and strangely enough is when I started checking out stuff by David Lynch.
2000 - Momento. Blew my 17 year old mind away. Still love. Holds up so well to repeat viewings.
2001 - Spirited Away. If you don't like this movie, you have no soul. Get outta here.
2002 - Gangs of New York. This one got some really heavy flack from people my age at the time. Fuck em, Bill the Butcher is one of the best God damn movie villains of all time.
2003 - Master and Commander. My favorite naval based film of this year (gafuckyaself Pirates of the Caribbean). Made me wish there was more like it.
2004 - Sideways. Honestly kind of a shitty year for movies. Sideways has my favorite nude scene of all time. I too don't really care for Merlot.
2005 - Munich. Fucking rad. I also have a soft spot for Kingdom of Heaven, but just hated Orlando Bloom in it. Everything else was a such a good time.
2006 - Children of Men. This wasn't even close. This is one of my favorites of all time and the best post apocalyptic movie ever made (well, except for one coming up).
2007 - There Will Be Blood. I died on this hill with some many people that didn't agree and thought it was boring. I fucking loved it. Daniel Day Lewis is my man forever crush.
2008 - Step Brothers. Yeah, this is still some of the hardest I've ever laughed at anything in my entire life.
2009 - This year fucking sucked, Jesus. I guess I'll go with Coraline/District 9. I like both but wouldn't call either a favorite.
2010 - True Grit. This was so fucking awesome. The Coens are such fucking genius filmmakers.
2011 - The Adventures of Tintin. Gloriously beautiful movie starring a character whose books I'd always read in libraries and whose cartoon I watched every episode of. I'm so bummed there was never another.
2012 - Django Unchained. Just a glorious revenge fantasy western.
2013 - Rush. One of the only biopics I've ever liked, mainly because I had no idea who either person was. Really exciting.
2014 - Interstellar. Hard fucking year here. I know some of the themes bug people but seeing this in Imax with mega sound had me spellbound. I can get over the love bits for how tense the spinning docking scene was. One of the best moments in movie history for me.
2015 - Mad Max Fury Road. The most perfect action movie ever crafted by humankind. Like, I said earlier, tied for the best post apocalyptic movie ever made. A fucking God damn true blue masterpiece.
2016 - Kubo, I guess. Nothing else stands out as a favorite.
2017 - I've barely been able to watch movies this year thanks to surgery and such. So of what I've seen John Wick 2.

 

[DarkAudit]

1968: Planet of the Apes
1969: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (probably my favorite Bond movie)
1970: Patton (lots of choices here )
1971: A Clockwork Orange
1972: The Godfather
1973: Fantastic Planet
1974: Blazing Saddles (a lot of my all-time favorites here. Darn you, Nick! )
1975: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1976: Network
1977: Slap Shot (Even though Star Wars is here.)
1978: Animal House (Dammit, Ice Castles is from this year. Now that @#$% song that all the girls loved is back in my head! )
1979: Life of Brian
1980: The Blues Brothers
1981: Excalibur
1982: Wrath of Khan
1983: The Right Stuff
1984: Ghostbusters
1985: Real Genius
1986: Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1987: Princess Bride
1988: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
1989: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1990: Hunt for Red October
1991: Terminator 2
1993: Jurassic Park
1994: Ed Wood
1995: Goldeneye
1996: Independence Day
1997: Men in Black
1998: The Truman Show
1999: The Spy Who Shagged Me
2000: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2001: Shrek
2002: The Two Towers
2003: Kill Bill Vol. 1
2004: Kill Bill Vol. 2
2005: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2006: Casino Royale
2007: Hot Fuzz
2008: The Dark Knight
2009: Inglourious Basterds
2010: Scott Pilgrim Vs, the World
2011: Captain America
2012: The Avengers
2013: Now You See Me
2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel
2015: The Force Awakens (pretty much by default)
2016: n/a
2017: Too soon

A nice exercise, @ThatNickGuy.

 

[Ravenpoe]

big list snip.

Man, Frank, your list is almost identical to everything I almost put. If I come to Canada, can we hang and and be bros?

 

[Dei]

Well I can immediately fill in a few years with Die Hard, Robocop, Starship Troopers and Crash (Cronenenberg's) so long as they don't overlap.

Beyond that, I don't really care.[DOUBLEPOST=1490392286,1490392205][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh heck, let's add ExistenZ and While You Were Sleeping to the list.

I basically just love that While You Were Sleeping is on your list.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I have to wonder if I'd seen RoboCop more than once if it'd have been my favorite for that year.

 

[Far]

The choices got much harder around the time I started working at a theater and got free movies.

1988: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - I love that I very likely saw this movie on television on day and caught the start with Baby Herman thinking it was just another cartoon and watched it very young, probably not understanding most of it. Almost went to Beetlejuice. I have...admittedly never seen Die Hard...

1989: Batman - This was more of a default choice for me, while still fantastic, as apparently I've seen almost nothing that came out this year. Nicholson's Joker though, absolutely makes this for me.

1990: Home Alone - Funny how being born a few years later changes things but this and the second are my Christmas tradition instead of Die Hard.

1991: Teminator 2: Judgement Day - For the longest time I did not realize that this was the second film of the series and I still don't think I've seen the first to this day

1992: Wayne's World - Much of this is pure nostalgia but I still think it's a great movie. It reminds me of when my family was still living together before my parents separated . Particularly rocking out to Bohemian Rhapsody with my Dad in the car. I still want a licorice dispenser in mine...Barely edged out Aladdin for me as it was the first film I remember seeing in theaters.

1993: Jurassic Park - As a kid, I loved dinosaurs and I think I just over looked the fact that everyone was being killed by them. Looking back later, the mix of traditional effects and digital keeps something that should feel dated still one of my all time favourites. Lots of other choices this year.

1994: The Lion King - Beautiful movie that cemented my love of animation. Jeremy Irons kills it as Scar.

1995: Toy Story - Story is fantastic but I think what this really did for me was made me realize just what computers were capable of. Pixar was by far my favourite studio for a long time and I had set my sights on working there because of this movie.

1996: Fargo - I actually didn't see Fargo until a few years ago, and having already fallen in love with many other of the Coen's films, it probably skewed my view of it higher than if I had seen this first. With seemingly slim pickings for me for this year, it pushes to the top.

1997: Bean - I sincerely love this movie just for the fun of it as well as the character in general. It's kind of a terrible movie but I don't care.

1998: The Big Lebowski - I walked into a party really late one night and this was on and half over. By the end I could not understand why everyone loved it. A few years later, I sat down and watched the whole thing through and it instantly became what is now probably my all time favourite movie. However, why did Lock, Stock have to come out this year too.

1999: The Iron Giant - "You stay, I go." I'm not crying, you're crying!

2000: Snatch - Just good ensemble fun. Particularly the dialogue in this one that does it for me.

2001: Monsters Inc. - I was never super into LotR so this takes the crown.

2002: 28 Days Later... - This is by far my favourite "zombie" movie. Just feels much more grounded compared to most of the others. The shots of Cilian Murphy strolling around and empty London shortly after he wakes up sends shivers down my spine more than many of the scenes involving the infected.

2003: The Italian Job - Slimy Edward Norton is Slimy. Love when he gets decked out by Marky Mark in the restaurant. Also, somehow made mini coopers cool.

2004: Shaun of the Dead - Maybe the only zombie movie more realistic than 28 Days. Instantly made me a fan of Edgar Wright, Simon Peg and Nick Frost.

2005: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I know it's not accurate to the book necessarily but it did get me to read the series after seeing this. Almost chose The Incredibles but so much Pixar already.

2006: Children of Men - Visually stunning movie. The scene near the end without cuts blew my mind when I first saw it. So much going on, so much chaos to shoot through and then when the baby cries and it all stops, only to be started again moments later. I think this one was one of the first to make me really appreciate cinematography as well as story. Likely I noticed much earlier with Shaun of the Dead but wasn't able to realize why then.

2007: Hot Fuzz - The second in the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy and my personal favourite of the three. Such an excellent send up of the buddy cop genre. Will watch it anytime it's on.

2008: In Bruges - As others have said, very tough year. Was also when I began working at the theater. Could have just as easily been Wall-E, Burn After Reading, Iron Man, Step Brothers, Tropic Thunder and a few others. Ultimately went with In Bruges because I think I've watched it more than any of the others. Was probably my first real foray into black comedy.

2009: Moon - Another tough pick out of everything. Multiple favourites out of this year as well. Moon does such a good job with so little though that it has to lead the pack. Love the lived in feel of the station. It makes no sense for me to believe this as I don't really have anything to base it off of but space always feels more authentic to me when it's not sterile and stark white, especially if the locations or ships aren't supposed to be brand new.

2010: The Social Network - I believe it's largely to do with soundtrack on this one but also because it taught me to not dismiss things based simply on premise. I had written this off initially because of the subject matter but had to hang around the theater for a few hours one day and decided to watch it. Another beautifully shot film. The version of In the Hall of Mountain King playing during the rowing tournament is damn captivating.

2011: Rango - We go from criminally too many choices in the last few years to a struggle to find something this one. I love Rango though and wish more people would watch it, or any animation in general. Always disappoints me when it's treated like a genre rather than a medium and dismissed as something solely for kids.

2012: Moonrise Kingdom - Slim pickings again and I didn't watch this until a few years later. Still, I'm a sucker for coming of age stories.

2013: The Wolf of Wall Street - We start picking up again here for me and the choice again was a bit tougher. Leo does a great job of making you hate Jordan but not hate watching him. Just beautifully shot and constructed as well.

2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel - Probably my second favourite movie of all time. Nearly any time I think about it for more that a minute I end up putting it on. So much attention to detail, almost to the point of being over done but as it's told as a book being read about a story the author was told it fits perfectly. Mister Gustave has some of favourite lines of dialogue and even just reading them now still makes me want to put it on again even though I watched it just last week. I does hurt me not to be able to put Guardians here though. And What We Do in the Shadows.

2015: Mad Max: Fury Road - Everything else this year was mediocre. Okay that's not true at all, I just wanted to make the bad joke. Still, nearly perfect movie that deserves every bit of praise it gets.

2016: Kubo and the Two Strings - I've always loved Laika's films and this is no exception. Another example of how under rated a film can be simply because of it being misclassed and dismissed because of the medium used being thought of as a genre. I also probably over inflate it's worth because of knowing how difficult to film this would be. That said I'll happily place this at #1 for this year.

2017: Logan - This is far too early to call at this point but at least for what I've seen so far, Logan has been far and away the best.
Edit: Comments added.

 

[jwhouk]

I'm gonna have to split this one up...

EDIT: Okay, I had to do some looking around at which movies I'd seen from the list in each year; that's why I have my #1 choice first, then close second/third/etc. afterwards.

1967 – Jungle Book (You Only Live Twice)
1968 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; The Love Bug)
1969 – A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid)
1970 – M*A*S*H (Tora! Tora! Tora!)
1971 – Diamonds Are Forever (Fiddler on the Roof)
1972 – What's Up Doc? (Cabaret)
1973 – American Graffiti (Jesus Christ Superstar)
1974 – Young Frankenstein (Blazing Saddles)
1975 – The Apple Dumpling Gang (One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest)
1976 – Silver Streak (The Bad News Bears, Rocky, All The President's Men, Silent Movie)
(Can you tell what year my parents got HBO?)
1977 – Star Wars (Smokey & The Bandit, Oh God!, Slap Shot, Black Sunday, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown)
1978 – Superman (Grease, Animal House, Heaven Can Wait, The Buddy Holly Story, Convoy, Foul Play, The Bad News Bears Go To Japan)
1979 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Muppet Movie, Rocky II, The Black Hole)
1980 – The Empire Strikes Back (The Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, Airplane! 9 to 5, Flash Gordon)
1981 – Raiders of the Lost Ark (For Your Eyes Only, The Cannonball Run, Stripes, Clash of the Titans, Escape from New York, On Golden Pond)
1982 – Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan (E.T., 48 Hrs., Blade Runner, Tootsie, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Tron, Night Shift)
1983 – Return of the Jedi (Strange Brew, War Games, Never Say Never Again, Flashdance, Trading Places, Risky Business)
1984 – Ghostbusters (Beverly Hills Cop, Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom, The Natural, Sixteen Candles, Purple Rain)
1985 – Back to the Future (The Breakfast Club, Rocky IV, Weird Science, Brewster's Millions, Fletch)
1986 – Top Gun (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Star Trek IV The Voyage Home, Hoosiers, Howard The Duck)

 

[jwhouk]

1987 – Good Morning Viet Nam (Spaceballs, The Living Daylights, Lethal Weapon, The Princess Bride, RoboCop, Dirty Dancing, The Running Man, Adventures in Babysitting, Dragnet)
1988 – Bull Durham (Beetlejuice, Die Hard, Coming to America, The Naked Gun, Oliver & Company, Big, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
1989 – Batman (Major League, Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, When Harry Met Sally, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Field of Dreams)
1990 – Pretty Woman (The Hunt for Red October, Days of Thunder, Dances With Wolves, Total Recall, Ghost, Kindergarten Cop)
1991 – The Addams Family (What About Bob?, Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country, My Girl)
1992 – Wayne's World (The Mighty Ducks, Unforgiven, Batman Returns, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sister Act)
1993 – Groundhog Day (Demolition Man, Cool Runnings, The Last Action Hero)
1994 – Forrest Gump (The Lion King, D2 The Mighty Ducks, True Lies,
1995 – Apollo XIII (Toy Story)
1996 – Jingle All The Way (Independence Day)
1997 – Austin Powers (Air Force One Men In Black)
1998 – There's Something About Mary (Rush Hour, Dr. Doolittle)
1999 – Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (American Pie, Runaway Bride)
2000 – Cast Away (X-Men)
2001 – Shrek (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
2002 – Ice Age (Die Another Day, XXX, Austin Powers Goldmember)

...and this is where things start to break down, because:

2003 – Nothing. Seriously, I haven't seen any movie from 2003, and I don't see any that I'd want to see from 2003.

 

[Ravenpoe]

I like your attitude. Fuck the rules, list every movie