The greatest year for movies?

Kenneth Williams60 said:I agree with you; that's just the reality. Personally, I feel the true quality from Asia really started peaking after 2000, though it ultimately comes down to individual taste. 🙂

Great Asian films were being made long before 2000, too. We just didn't have the internet to make them easy to find, 😁so we weren't as exposed back then...

David Price5 said:Well, there were some great Asian films made before 2000 too... we just didn't have the internet to make finding them easy😁, so we weren't very well acquainted with them...

Hehe... I mean, I never actually downloaded movies from the web, so I was pretty much limited to whatever came out in American theaters (though, honestly, if it weren't for the Discovery Channel, we’d be totally lost 😁). From the 90s, the only one I really remember is that Iranian film "Children of Heaven"🙏 Actually, there was this other fantastic movie—it was Chinese, I think, if I recall correctly—about a young teacher who loses a kid and goes looking for him. Our local title for it was something like "everyone to be important," or something similar... I believe that one was also from the 90s..

Kenneth Williams60 said:Man, music is such a deep rabbit hole... personally, I'm not buying the idea that the 90s beat out the last decade. Back in the 90s, you had R.E.M. and U2—bands that carried over from the 80s—and honestly, not everything they put out was gold. Guns N' Roses had one killer album, then you had the Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Skunk Anansie, and The Prodigy with that amazing "Fat of the Land"... That’s basically all I can recall (not counting the great bands that dropped their first big hit in 1999), whereas in the last 10 years, at least 50 solid bands and singer-songwriters have popped up... I don't know, it's subjective, but I mostly remember the 90s for the boy band craze and hits like "Coco Jumbo", "Captain Jack", "Barbie Girl", and "Macarena"... we haven't seen that again 😱

Man, there was so much good music in the 90s. I love that era too, but just look at the lineup: Pavement, Björk, Spiritualized, Massive Attack, Aphex Twin, Tricky, Neutral Milk Hotel, Jeff Buckley, Mogwai, Tortoise, Sonic Youth, Beta Band, Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, Mercury Rev, Slint, Flaming Lips, Dr. Octagon, Daft Punk, Blur, Weezer, Portishead, Jesus Lizard, PJ Harvey, Godspeed!, Wu-Tang Clan, Beastie Boys, DJ Shadow, Public Enemy, Air, Wilco, Belle & Sebastian, Guided by Voices, My Bloody Valentine, and finally, freaking Nirvana. You want more?

Adam Moore said:Man, the 90s really did have some incredible music. I don't necessarily favor them above all else, but still—Pavement, Björk, Spiritualized, Massive Attack, Aphex Twin, Tricky, Neutral Milk Hotel, Jeff Buckley, Mogwai, Tortoise, Sonic Youth, Beta Band, Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, Mercury Rev, Slint, Flaming Lips, Dr. Octagon, Daft Punk, Blur, Weezer, Portishead, Jesus Lizard, PJ Harvey, Godspeed!, Wu-Tang Clan, Beastie Boys, DJ Shadow, Public Enemy, Air, Wilco, Belle & Sebastian, Guided by Voices, My Bloody Valentine, and finally, damn Nirvana. Is there even anything else worth mentioning?

Hehe... no, you've covered it—everything is right there. But, I suppose, if you look at bands like the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Portishead, or Belle & Sebastian today, you'll find another hundred bands just like them. Plus, there are so many high-quality singer-songwriters now (Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, My Morning Jacket, Sigur Ros, White Lies, Fever Ray, Franz Ferdinand, Explosions in the Sky, The Raconteurs, Antony and the Johnsons, Bon Iver, Damien Rice, Rufus Wainwright, Kings of Leon, The Killers, Coldplay, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Iron & Wine...)—all in all, I honestly think this decade might actually surpass the 90s in terms of musical quality. I know plenty of people will disagree with me, but, well, I guess you can't ignore a decade defined by a band like Nirvana...👎

Sorry, I won't get side-tracked again... I promise. 😉

I’m not really looking to debate the musical quality of the bands you listed, and honestly, even when it comes to Nirvana, I think "quality" is just totally subjective. To me, there are way more great bands popping up today simply because the whole way music is produced and distributed has shifted so much. Plus, once you move past a certain decade, all those "small" bands tend to just slip through the cracks and vanish. I mean, who even remembers Built to Spill or Olivia Tremor Control anymore? Most of those big indie names will probably face the same fate—in ten years, maybe only people who lived through the 🤷
will even know they existed.

1971 — The French Connection
Dirty Harry
The Gambler
The Last Picture Show
A Clockwork Orange
Klute
Five heavy hitters... a masterclass from start to finish

While 1974 could easily make the cut—think The Godfather Part II, Blow Out, or Chinatown—and 1975 was just as formidable with Nashville, Jaws, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest—1976 might actually be the definitive turning point of the seventies. We're talking Taxi Driver, Carrie, Annie Hall, Assault on Precinct 13, and Rebel Josey Wales.

The Battle of the Mississippi, Che!, Django Unchained, Easy Rider, When You Hear the Bell, Army of Shadows, The Fall of the Dea, Mackenna's Gold, Midnight Cowboy, Paint Your Wagon, Shinjū, Burn!, The Italian Job, The Wild Bunch, Topaz, Z..........Gavras, Visconti, Bulajić, Pontecorvo, Peckinpah, Melville—and honestly, what can you even say about a legend like Midnight Cowboy or Easy Rider!?

We shouldn't forget that two fantastic short films also came out that same year... Well, take Tijuana Toads for instance... and I'm just picking a year at random here 🙂

Adam Moore said:I really don't want to get into a whole debate about the musical quality of the bands you listed, and honestly, I won't even weigh in on whether Nirvana was actually good, because I suppose quality is just a totally subjective thing. I think there are more great bands out there today simply because the way music is produced and distributed has changed so much. Plus, once you step outside of a specific decade, all those "small" bands tend to just slip through the cracks and vanish. I mean, who even remembers Built to Spill or Olivia Tremor Control anymore? In my opinion, probably 90 percent of those famous indie bands will suffer the same fate, where in ten years, the only people who will remember them are the ones who lived through the nineties 🤷

Yeah, you're right... I actually agree with both points you made. Regarding the Nirvana comment, I didn't mean for it to be an insult, but man, they just get under my skin sometimes. 😠I truly believe that our understanding of art—whether we're talking about music, literature, or even film (just to keep things somewhat on track, if I can use three words🙂)—is constantly shifting, and by extension, so is the perceived quality of certain works. And, I guess, that change is actually a healthy thing. Just imagine if music had stayed stuck in the grunge era and its endless variations, or if movies were still just about deciding whether Spielberg, Zemeckis, or Cameron could tell a better story? This current state of things is actually quite alright, if you ask me. 😛

Kenneth Williams60 said:p.s. regarding music, we could go on forever... I personally wouldn't agree that the 90s were better than the last decade. Back in the 90s, you had R.E.M. and U2—bands that transitioned out of the 80s—and sure, not everything they dropped during that era was gold. Guns N' Roses had one killer album, and then there were the Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Skunk Anansie, and The Prodigy with that incredible "Fat of the Land"... That’s about all I can recall (not counting the great bands that released their first or first truly good album in 1999), whereas in the last 10 years, at least 50 solid bands and singer-songwriters have emerged... I don't know, it's subjective, obviously, but my strongest memory of the 90s is really just that wave of boy bands and singles like "Coco Jumbo", "Captain Jack", "Barbie Girl", and "Macarena"... it hasn't happened again. 😱

Fair enough, but your list really boils down to personal taste now. What I meant was that music in the 90s felt somehow more organic; people actually seemed to put themselves into it, unlike these modern times. The sound was just fundamentally different. Nowadays, you just need one software program and suddenly you're a musician, a producer, a DJ... it's just electronics, stacking rhythms, cranking the bass, hitting buttons...

wiredcyclist said:Okay, but I think your list is starting to look more like a matter of taste. I was actually thinking about how music in the 90s just felt more organic. It felt like people were more hands-on, you know? The sound itself was fundamentally different. Nowadays, you can just open up one software program and suddenly you're a musician, a producer, a DJ... it’s all just electronics, layering rhythms, bass, pounding beats...

Well, I don't really see it that way... I mean, sure, we aren't getting those earth-shattering guitar solos that make you drop to the floor, but let's be honest, they weren't exactly everywhere in the 90s either (with a few exceptions in both eras). What you did have back then were incredible vocals, beautiful melodies on the piano, violin, and things like that. To be perfectly frank, I can't think of a single 90s band where the vocals moved me nearly as much as some of today's artists—the big exception being Jeff Buckley. Just thinking about Gallagher's self-indulgent noodling or Cobain's crude screaming gives me the chills... brrrr.

p.s. Look, I promise... I won't do this anymore. This has definitely drifted way too far into off-topic territory. 😲

What a wild topic to wrap your head around!

Nobody even mentioned the 50s:

Let’s look at 1955, for instance:

Les Diaboliques (Clouzot)
Rififi (Dassin)
The Night of the Hunter (Laughton)
Fellini's Il Bidone (Fellini)
Black Rock (Sturges)
East of Paradise (Kazan)
Rebel Without a Cause (N. Ray)
Blackboard Jungle (Brooks)
The Word (Dreyer)
The Big Combo (Lewis)
Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich)
Mr. Arkadin (Welles)
Lola Montes (Ophuls)
Marty (Michael Mann)
Pather Panchali (S. Ray)
To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock)
Detective Story (Wyler)
All That Heaven Allows (Sirk)
The Ladykillers (Mackendrick)
Mr. Roberts (Ford)
Money Trap (Preminger)
Night and Fog (Resnais)

And I feel like I'm missing something... what a year! In America, you start seeing these new thematic preoccupations—a whole new generation emerging (Rebel, East of Paradise, Blackboard Jungle)—yet noir is still holding its own (Big Combo, Kiss Me Deadly, Phenix City Story). Then you've got Preminger with his Frankie Machine (honestly, Sinatra usually gets on my nerves, but here... ), plus what I consider Sturges' strongest Western. Over in Europe, Dassin and Clouzot are churning out two genre Bibles, Resnais is doing that soul-shaking documentary, Dreyer has that beauty Ordet, Fellini gives us Il Bidone, Ophuls brings us Lola Montes, Welles has Arkadin, Hitch is messing around on the Azure Coast, and over in India, Satyajit Ray is making his mark... man, I really wish I had been alive back then!

But, to be fair, every single year from the 30s through the 70s offers at least ten absolute masterpieces. Probably even the 20s, though I haven't watched enough silent films to go year by year, but anyone who lives for this stuff would probably agree.

Nicholas Walker3 said:Battle of the Mississippi, Che!, Django Unchained, Easy Rider, When You Hear the Bell, Army of Shadows, The Fall of the Dea, Mackenna's Gold, Midnight Cowboy, Paint Your Wagon, Shinjū, Burn!, The Italian Job, The Wild Bunch, Topaz, Z..........Gavras, Visconti, Bulajić, Pontecorvo, Peckinpah, Melville, and what can you even say about cult classics like Midnight Cowboy or Easy Rider!?

Don't forget that two fantastic short films also came out that same year... well, try to guess which one, maybe Tijuana Toads.... and I just picked a random year to list those. 🙂

That is honestly a really versatile and imaginative list, but Battle of the Mississippi feels totally out of place here... since we're talking about being in these parts and dealing with war, you're better off with Pavlović's Zaseda.
Some crazy Russians recently pushed the Mississippi film into their top 10, so why the hell did they do that?
Am I the only crazy one here...? Come on, someone tell me, what do you all think of that movie?

What else came out in '69? There's Loachev Kes, then Raven which I watched recently, Altman's That Cold Day in the Park, that Czech horror Spalovač, Pollack's To Kill a Horse, my night with Mauda which was in theaters recently, and I absolutely loved Butch Cassidy when I was a kid... yeah, there's plenty more where that came from.

wiredcyclist said:Alright, look, your list is just subjective taste at this point. What I was actually getting at is how music in the 90s felt more organic... there was an actual human element involved, you know? People were truly *in* the music. Nowadays, you just need one software program and suddenly you're a musician, a producer, a DJ... it's all just electronics, cranking up the rhythm, slamming the bass, hitting buttons...

I’m signing onto this one. Most music today is designed to be a flash in the pan—some hit will be stuck in your head for maybe two or three years before it vanishes into total obscurity, and don't even get me started on the actual quality. These days, anyone can become a star as long as they find some producer to polish them up and a sponsor to foot the bill. The quality of the music itself is god-awful, especially over the last five years. The 80s and 90s (especially) had the best, most timeless stuff out there. Honestly, this conversation should probably move to where it belongs instead of cluttering up the movie section... I really don't want to have to wade through this, because some of the comments here are enough to make you sick, specifically the people spitting on Nirvana and those other 90s bands while worshiping every mediocre thing from the 2000s onward. And wiredcyclist, if the only things you remember from the 90s are hits like Coco Jumbo and Macarena, then you might as well just give up now. At the end of the day, it’s all just a matter of taste, so shhh... okay?

The 70s were hands down the absolute peak of cinema for me, period. Honestly, if I had to pick a runner-up, the 50s would follow right on their heels. But when it comes to the 70s? There’s really no picking favorites because the whole decade was just untouchable, wasn't it?🙏

Man, 1979-was--definitely one of my all-time favorites:

• (ROCKY II)
• ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ
• ALIEN
• APOCALYPSE NOW
• MANHATTAN
• LIFE OF BRIAN
• KRAMER VS. KRAMER

But I gotta say, 1995-wasn't exactly--my cup of tea:

• HEAT
• BRAVEHEART
• TWELVE MONKEYS
• CRIMSON TIDE
• LEAVING LAS VEGAS
• THE BASKETBALL DIARIES
• CASINO
• SE7EN
  SUSPECTS

2001. 🙏

gentlebadger88 said:I am 100% with you on this. Music nowadays? It’s a joke. You get some "hit" that people dance to for maybe two or three years before it vanishes into thin air, and don't even get me started on the actual quality... it's nonexistent. Especially over the last five years. It feels like anyone can just become a superstar today as long as they find some producer to bankroll them. But the music itself? God, it's terrible. The 80s and especially the 90s had the absolute best music—stuff that actually lasts forever. Honestly, this whole debate should be moved to its own thread instead of cluttering up the movies section... I don't want to have to see this here because some people's comments are enough to make you sick, especially those idiots trashing Nirvana and the other legendary 90s bands while worshiping garbage from the 2000s onwards. And agentsmith, seriously, if the only things you remember from the 90s are one-hit wonders like Coco Jumbo or Macarena, then you might as well just give up now. At the end of the day, it's all about taste, so hush, okay?

That post was actually a reaction to what jonsi07 wrote, specifically targeting that second-to-last sentence. Moving too fast there. My bad, agentsmith.

Anyway, I can't pick just one single "best" year for movies because, for me, every single year from 1991 through 1999 pumped out a massive pile of great films. That's why the 90s were the golden era for cinema. For the years not mentioned or that I didn't see listed, my top picks would be:

1982 - Blade Runner, Rambo - First Blood, The Thing, E. T., Conan the Barbarian, Poltergeist

1986 - Platoon, Aliens, Top Gun, Blue Velvet, Highlander, Big Trouble in Little China, The Color of Money, Cobra, Sid and Nancy, The Name of the Rose, The Fly