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Showing posts with label My Favorite Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Favorite Movies. Show all posts

My Favorite Movies of '90s (1990-1999) & Top 100 Favorite Films of the Decade

Posted by Anthony Mango - Thursday, February 16, 2023

Welcome to the second block of my gargantuan series of lists breaking down My Favorite Movies of Every Year and my top movies of every decade. This edition focuses on the 1990s—movies that were released between the years 1990 and 1999.

To check out the other entries in this series, click on the following links as they are broken down by every decade:

FAVORITE MOVIES LISTS - BY DECADE
1960s, 1970s, 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020sMASTER LIST PAGE

For a more elaborate explanation of this project as a whole, consult the master list page above.

But in general, the three major notes to keep in mind are:

1) This is a list of my favorite movies, rather than the films I think are the best. There is a distinction. Just because I like them the most doesn't mean I think they are of the highest quality, necessarily.

2) I try to keep a top 10 list for each year, but some don't have a proper 10, while others have more. Everything is still ranked, though.

3) There is a key to the level of fandom. Bold means I absolutely love the movie. Italics without being bold means I like them a lot. Gray movies are a bit on the fence for the list. And gray movies that are striked out are mostly filler and could easily be replaced.

Check out my Letterboxd for some star ratings for any of these movies and more, since I've obviously seen a lot of films that I don't like that won't be appearing on these lists whatsoever.

Also, stay tuned for any possible updates! Whenever I see a new movie that I like, I'll potentially be adding it to the ranking. So while something is on the list at this particular moment, it may not always be there!

Best Movie Every Year Favorite Films

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1990

  1. Home Alone
  2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  3. GoodFellas
  4. Edward Scissorhands
  5. The Godfather Part III
  6. Back to the Future Part III
  7. Total Recall
  8. Kindergarten Cop
  9. Misery
  10. It

If you polled me as a kid, the top 4 movies would still be up there. But so would Ernest Goes to Jail, surprisingly. I used to watch that movie a TON as a kid. Eventually, I watched it as a teenager, and it is just awful, like so many other movies I enjoyed as a child.

Supposedly, I was super freaked out by Arachnophobia as a kid when my parents were watching it. I don't know if that means I've seen it and don't remember, or if I was only in the room at the time.

For the most part, the top 2 are tied, with GoodFellas just below them as if there's an S+ tier and S-tier, then, Edward Scissorhands and The Godfather Part III would be A+ tier, even though it pales in comparison to the first two by an absurd margin.

Amazing how there's a Captain America movie that came out this year, and it'll be the only one that you don't see on this top list, because its awful.

Maybe if I rewatch Robocop 2 or Dances with Wolves or Rocky V it'll make the cut, but I doubt it.

Blind Spot Movies = Die Hard 2, The Hunt for Red October, Men at Work, Pretty Woman and more. I know I've seen Dick Tracy, but I can't remember a damn thing about it.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1991

  1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
  2. The Silence of the Lambs
  3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
  4. Hook
  5. The Addams Family
  6. Hot Shots!
  7. Beauty and the Beast
  8. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
  9. JFK
  10. What About Bob?

Terminator 2 is my favorite movie of all time. The Silence of the Lambs and TMNT 2 are favorites that I've seen countless times. Hot Shots! is super funny. The Addams Family is a classic, as is Hook. Rufio! Rufio!

There's a drop off for Beauty and the Beast, as it isn't one of my go-to Disney films, but I can appreciate it.

Then, we get into another drop-off. Prince of Thieves is a movie I've only seen once and mostly just so I could get the references from Men in Tights to come later in this list JFK was an interesting watch, and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey was something I remember watching as a kid, but can't attribute too much to it, whereas I know that I enjoyed What About Bob? as a kid, at least. Then again, I liked Drop Dead Fred back then, so maybe if I rewatched it, it would be trash. For my initial ranking of this, when I started to figure out the decade breakdown, What About Bob? ended up actually being around the #182 mark. I'm sure it will only go down over time when I see more movies.

Apparently, the trolls in Ernest Scared Stupid legitimately scared me as a child, watching it in the theater. Go figure.

Blind Spot Movies = Backdraft, City Slickers, Father of the Bride, My Girl, The Rocketeer, Thelma & Louise and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1992

  1. Reservoir Dogs
  2. Batman Returns
  3. Aladdin
  4. Home Alone 2
  5. Glengarry Glen Ross
  6. Scent of a Woman
  7. The Muppet Christmas Carol
  8. Lethal Weapon 3
  9. Sister Act
  10. The Mighty Ducks
  11. A League of Their Own

Hell yes! This is a great year. Just look at all those movies in bold, wherein the top five are movies I've seen too many times to count. They're infinitely rewatchable and you'll see how high up they go on my decade list. Scent of a Woman isn't quite on the same level, especially compared to something like Reservoir Dogs where I've seen that something like 200 times compared to SOAW maybe like six, but it is close enough to justify giving it a bold.

The Muppet Christmas Carol was a staple of my childhood, and I have such fond memories of Sister Act and A League of Their Own as well as The Mighty Ducks. That was such a golden era of "fun for the whole family" movies that I really did enjoy when I was younger and could see myself still enjoying as an adult.

Plenty other movies from this time frame were fun back then, like Encino Man and The Ladybugs, but didn't leave as much of an impression. This is the year of the first 3 Ninjas movie, after all. Those are trash in retrospect, but I was mesmerized in my youth.

Also, I know I've seen Wayne's World, but I was too young to get it and haven't watched it a second time even when I became a teenager.

Funny that we got Bram Stoker's Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer this year.

Blind Spot Movies = A Few Good Men, Bad Lieutenant, Basic Instinct, The Bodyguard, Malcolm X, My Cousin Vinny, Patriot Games, Unforgiven, White Men Can't Jump and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1993

  1. Robin Hood: Men in Tights
  2. Jurassic Park
  3. Grumpy Old Men
  4. Mrs. Doubtfire
  5. Groundhog Day
  6. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
  7. The Sandlot
  8. Addams Family Values
  9. Hot Shots! Part Deux
  10. Weekend at Bernie's 2

Hell yeah! Another really good year of movies to pick from.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights is my favorite comedy of all time. Easily one of the films I've watched the most, ever.

Jurassic Park needs no explanation.

Grumpy Old Men and Mrs. Doubtfire hold such special places in my heart, and while I came into Groundhog Day much later in life, I instantly loved it.

Gotta show some love to the Bruce Timm Batman series with Mask of the Phantasm and seeing that in theaters. Awesome memory.

A movie like The Sandlot scores higher than Rookie of the Year, but I still enjoyed that a lot as a kid. And no, Free Willy doesn't make the list just for one iconic shot. For that matter, am I the only one who instantly can recall the VHS box cover art for Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey or what?

Look. I know Schindler's List and even Carlito's Way and Falling Down are better movies than Weekend at Bernie's 2 by a long shot. But I watched that stupid dead guy dancing on the beach on television way more times as a kid. It's ridiculous. I wonder if Son in Law has any jokes that hold up, or Coneheads.

I really want to rewatch how awful Super Mario Bros. was for a future FanTracks. Also, notice the absence of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III because it totally sucks?

I also distinctly remember seeing RoboCop 3 in theaters with my dad at the same time my mom and sister were seeing Look Who's Talking Now and not being impressed, but being so taken aback when they killed off a certain lead character and had RoboCop flying around. Speaking of which, you're probably surprised Last Action Hero isn't on this list.

Blind Spot Movies = A Bronx Tale, Dazed and Confused, The Firm, The Fugitive, Rudy, Tombstone and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1994

  1. The Shawshank Redemption
  2. Pulp Fiction
  3. Dumb and Dumber
  4. Clerks
  5. Forrest Gump
  6. The Lion King
  7. The Mask
  8. Street Fighter
  9. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
  10. Airheads
  11. Speed

Look at this list!! Yes, there's a massive drop at one point, but the ones in bold? C'mon!

This was the toughest group to sort at the top, because all six of them are absolute S-tier. The Shawshank Redemption is my go-to answer for "best film of all time" and Forrest Gump is in that top five, for reference. The Lion King is tied with Aladdin and Toy Story for best animated film. Clerks and Dumb and Dumber are two of my top five favorite comedies. Pulp Fiction is one of my top overall favorite movies I've seen enough times to be able to quote practically the whole script by memory.

The rest, as you can imagine, are childhood fun, despite how they aren't anywhere near the same caliber quality. Yes, Airheads is dumb and Street Fighter is an absolute mess. I thought both were super fun back then (well, Airheads more so in my early teen years when it would rerun on Comedy Central constantly)

Shout out to Interview with a Vampire for being a film I just watched for the first time in 2022 and liked quite a bit.

No True Lies or Junior despite how big of an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan I was as a kid. Neither of them resonated with me quite the same as a few others.

We're in that golden era of family-friendly little boy sports films to continue with a movie like Little Big League and D2: The Mighty Ducks and Little Giants which don't make the cut, along with Major League II in its own right.

Unfortunately, The Next Karate Kid doesn't hold a candle to the rest of the series.

Blind Spot Movies = City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold, Clear and Present Danger, The Crow, Legends of the Fall, Leon: The Professional, Quiz Show and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1995

  1. GoldenEye
  2. Toy Story
  3. The Usual Suspects
  4. Mallrats
  5. Four Rooms
  6. Grumpier Old Men
  7. Batman Forever
  8. Billy Madison
  9. Casino
  10. Dracula: Dead and Loving It
  11. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
  12. Heavyweights

A few movies that should be higher up on my list, but I really need to rewatch them, are Heat, Seven, Clueless, and Get Shorty. I know Se7en is great, but I watched it one time, for instance. For that matter, noticeably absent here that I'm sure you'd call attention to would be Tommy Boy, Pocahontas, Jumanji, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Desperado and Braveheart.

My favorite joke in Dracula: Dead and Loving It is the line "Scheduled???" My favorite line in Heavyweights that I also still quote to this day as well, is "This pleases me."

One of my least favorite movies ever came out this year in Tank Girl. Terrible.

Blind Spot Movies = Apollo 13, Bad Boys, Jury Duty, Waterworld and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1996

  1. Bio-Dome
  2. Happy Gilmore
  3. Jack
  4. Kingpin
  5. Mission: Impossible
  6. Sling Blade
  7. Phenomenon
  8. Black Sheep
  9. Eraser
  10. Independence Day

Are there good movies that came out this year? Of course. Lots of people will praise something like Fargo like crazy (but I think it is overrated) and The People vs. Larry Flint was solid. But 1996 was a year that didn't host many of my personal favorite movies.

Simply put, look at how many above are in bold. Even Happy Gilmore isn't a movie that I loved as much as Billy Madison, for instance. Realistically, you'll see where all these go on the overall 1990s decade list.

That's not to say they're bad. Some of these are iconic. But remember, this is a list of my personal favorites, rather than my rankings on their quality. If that were the case, wouldn't Sling Blade be far above Bio-Dome? But which one did I watch once and which one did I own and watch tons of times as a kid?

Shout out to Hamlet for being a movie almost nobody would ever admit to enjoying, but it has thus far been my favorite interpretation of that play. Primal Fear was neat. From Dusk Till Dawn was interesting.

And no. I wasn't a Space Jam kid as much as most others. I appreciate its place in the film landscape and my childhood, but I never felt the urge to own it back when it was at its peak and it certainly doesn't hold up over time.

Blind Spot Movies = Broken Arrow, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, The English Patient, The Fan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1997

  1. Tomorrow Never Dies
  2. The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest
  3. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
  4. Contact
  5. Nothing to Lose
  6. Batman & Robin
  7. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
  8. Good Will Hunting
  9. Liar Liar
  10. Face/Off
  11. Boogie Nights
  12. The Game

This is the year we got both Dante's Peak and Volcano. It's always funny when those parallel sister films get released so close together.

Tomorrow Never Dies isn't one of my absolute top favorite 007 films when compared to something like GoldenEye, but I can watch it at any time. Shout out again to Bruce Timm's DCAU for World's Finest. Austin Powers was great.

Contact is a movie I watched later in life (in my 20s, during my great binge year of watching about 300 movies and several full television series) and thought was just so good that I can't imagine I wouldn't have been rooting for that to be Best Picture for that year if I weren't 10 years old and focused on Batman & Robin instead, which is just terrible, but fun.

Boogie Nights is the other movie I would have likely had toe-to-toe with it. I only watched that in 2018 and really enjoyed it. I'm just not a huge Titanic fan.

Not on the list, but a movie I've seen more than once and enjoyed, is The Devil's Advocate.

By the way, Chasing Amy had the distinction of being easily my least favorite of Kevin Smith's movies for the original stint up until he made Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which makes it look like a masterpiece. It just doesn't bring the same energy as the other films and isn't as quotable.

Blind Spot Movies = Event Horizon, The Fifth Element, Grosse Pointe Blank, Starship Troopers, Vegas Vacation, Wag the Dog and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1998

  1. Meet Joe Black
  2. Rush Hour
  3. Jane Austen's Mafia!
  4. Lethal Weapon 4
  5. Half Baked
  6. The Waterboy
  7. Can't Hardly Wait
  8. The Big Lebowski
  9. The Mask of Zorro
  10. City of Angels
  11. Wrongfully Accused
  12. Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero
  13. Armageddon
  14. Deep Impact
  15. Patch Adams
  16. Ronin
  17. The Faculty
  18. American History X
  19. The Truman Show
  20. Mulan
  21. Saving Private Ryan
  22. What Dreams May Come

This isn't the strongest year, but it has some good things going for it for sure. Effectively, this is a collection of C+ and B- movies in a lot of ways.

But I really like Meet Joe Black a considerable lot and Rush Hour is a classic from this time.

Mafia! is underrated for spoof comedies. Lethal Weapon 4 isn't the best of the series, but it maintains quality.

Half Baked and The Waterboy and Can't Hardly Wait are certainly of their eras, as is a romance film like City of Angels, that I was surprised to enjoy as much as I did the one and only time I watched it.

A lot of the movies with a strikethrough are ones that I'd have to watch a second time to rank in a better way, like The Truman Show.

But let's be honest. The actual #9 spot here goes to ONE scene in Wild Things and not the rest of the movie. You know what I'm talking about.

Blind Spot Movies = A Bug's Life, Antz, Apt Pupil, Out of Sight, Pi, Pleasantville, Rounders, Shakespeare in Love, Snake Eyes, Sphere, U.S. Marshals and more.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1999

  1. Fight Club
  2. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
  3. American Beauty
  4. The World is Not Enough
  5. Office Space
  6. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
  7. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
  8. Man on the Moon
  9. Dogma
  10. Life
  11. The Matrix
  12. Toy Story 2
  13. The Talented Mr. Ripley
  14. The Green Mile 
  15. Big Daddy
  16. American Pie

This is one of the strongest years, by far. You know that when The Matrix is booted out of the top 10 along with Toy Story 2 and even Big Daddy and The Green Mile, which easily would trump so many others in different years.

Fight Club is amazing and one of my top 10 "best" movies of all time, along with American Beauty.

The Phantom Menace is criminally underrated. It has its flaws, of course, but I bet those sequels are making you second-guess how bad it is now, right?

The World is Not Enough is one of my more watched Bond films, and Office Space is an absolute treasure, along with South Park and Austin Powers 2 just nailing it in so many ways.

Man on the Moon is a movie I grow to appreciate more with each watch. Jim Carrey should have gotten an Oscar.

While I don't like Chasing Amy all that much, Dogma has some real fun parts to it.

The real out of left field pick here is Life with Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. This is a movie I've seen a few times when it would air on television and it is just an easy watch. It also has a quote in it that I love repeating to this day, which is "You gonna eat your cornbread?"

Blind Spot Movies = 8mm, Bicentennial Man, The Blair Witch Project, Bowfinger, Entrapment, Galaxy Quest, Girl, Interrupted, The Iron Giant, The Mummy and more.

TOP 100 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1990s DECADE
BONUS ROUND

  1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day  (1991)
  2. GoldenEye (1995)
  3. Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
  4. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
  5. The Shawshank Redemption  (1994)
  6. Home Alone (1990)
  7. Pulp Fiction (1994)
  8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
  9. Fight Club (1999)
  10. Batman Returns (1992)
  11. Dumb and Dumber (1994)
  12. Clerks (1994)
  13. Forrest Gump (1994)
  14. Aladdin (1992)
  15. Toy Story (1995)
  16. The Lion King (1994)
  17. Jurassic Park (1993)
  18. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  19. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
  20. Home Alone 2 (1992)
  21. The Usual Suspects  (1995)
  22. The World is Not Enough (1999)
  23. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
  24. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
  25. Office Space (1999)
  26. American Beauty (1999)
  27. Grumpy Old Men (1993)
  28. GoodFellas (1990)
  29. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
  30. Mallrats (1995)
  31. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)
  32. The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest (1997)
  33. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
  34. Meet Joe Black (1998)
  35. Rush Hour (1998)
  36. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
  37. Four Rooms (1995)
  38. Scent of a Woman (1992)
  39. Grumpier Old Men (1995)
  40. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
  41. Groundhog Day (1993)
  42. Batman Forever (1995)
  43. Man on the Moon (1999)
  44. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
  45. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
  46. Bio-Dome (1996)
  47. Dogma (1999)
  48. Life (1999)
  49. Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
  50. Sister Act (1992)
  51. Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
  52. The Matrix (1999)
  53. Toy Story 2 (1999)
  54. Contact (1997)
  55. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
  56. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) 
  57. Nothing to Lose (1997)
  58. Batman & Robin (1997)
  59. Billy Madison (1995)
  60. Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)
  61. Half Baked (1998)
  62. The Waterboy (1998)
  63. The Sandlot (1993)
  64. A League of Their Own (1992)
  65. Hook (1991)
  66. Happy Gilmore (1996)
  67. Casino (1995)
  68. Can't Hardly Wait (1998)
  69. The Big Lebowski (1998)
  70. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
  71. The Mask (1994)
  72. Jack (1996)
  73. Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) 
  74. Street Fighter (1994) 
  75. Airheads (1994)
  76. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)
  77. The Mighty Ducks (1992)
  78. Heavyweights (1995)
  79. The Addams Family (1991)
  80. Addams Family Values (1993)
  81. The Godfather Part III (1990)
  82. Big Daddy (1999)
  83. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
  84. Good Will Hunting (1997)
  85. Liar Liar (1997)
  86. American Pie (1999)
  87. Kingpin (1996)
  88. Hot Shots (1991)
  89. Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
  90. Mission: Impossible (1996)
  91. Back to the Future Part III (1990)
  92. Face/Off (1997)
  93. Total Recall (1990)
  94. The Green Mile (1999)
  95. The Sixth Sense (1999)
  96. The Mask of Zorro (1998)
  97. City of Angels (1998)
  98. Boogie Nights (1997)
  99. Get Shorty (1995) 
  100. Chasing Amy (1997)
  101. The Game (1997) 
  102. Wrongfully Accused (1998)

Just look at this list. Now you see why I couldn't limit it to top 10, 20, 25, or 50.

What are your favorite movies from every year?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

Welcome to the first block of my gargantuan series of lists breaking down My Favorite Movies of Every Year and my top movies of every decade. This edition focuses on three decades—the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, with some individual years spread out for the tail end of the '80s.

To check out the other entries in this series, click on the following links as they are broken down by every decade:

FAVORITE MOVIES LISTS - BY DECADE
1960s, 1970s, 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020sMASTER LIST PAGE

For a more elaborate explanation of this project as a whole, consult the master list page above.

But in general, the three major notes to keep in mind are:

1) This is a list of my favorite movies, rather than the films I think are the best. There is a distinction. Just because I like them the most doesn't mean I think they are of the highest quality, necessarily.

2) I try to keep a top 10 list for each year, but some don't have a proper 10, while others have more. Everything is still ranked, though.

3) There is a key to the level of fandom. Bold means I absolutely love the movie. Italics without being bold means I like them a lot. Gray movies are a bit on the fence for the list. And gray movies that are striked out are mostly filler and could easily be replaced.

Check out my Letterboxd for some star ratings for any of these movies and more, since I've obviously seen a lot of films that I don't like that won't be appearing on these lists whatsoever.

Also, stay tuned for any possible updates! Whenever I see a new movie that I like, I'll potentially be adding it to the ranking. So while something is on the list at this particular moment, it may not always be there!

Best Movie Every Year Favorite Films

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1960s DECADE
BONUS ROUND

  1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
  2. Goldfinger
  3. From Russia with Love
  4. Thunderball
  5. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
  6. You Only Live Twice
  7. Dr. No
  8. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
  9. A Charlie Brown Christmas
  10. Psycho

For anyone wondering, the only movie I could have put in a top list for the 1950s backward would have been 12 Angry Men. Great movie that I watched for the first time ever during the Super Bowl instead of, well, the Super Bowl.

As far as the 60s goes, you can see my list is dominated by James Bond films. Surprise surprise, I'm a James Bond fan. Didn't know that from all the content here like the A Review to a Kill series? You're going to see EVERY Bond film pop up on this page. Even the ones I'm not as big of a fan of, like Dr. No and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Shout out to Cool Hand Luke, The Birds and Planet of the Apes for almost making this list.

TOP 25 FAVORITE FILMS OF THE 1970s DECADE
BONUS ROUND

  1. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
  2. The Godfather
  3. The Godfather Part II
  4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  5. The Man with the Golden Gun
  6. Moonraker
  7. National Lampoon's Animal House
  8. Live and Let Die
  9. The Spy Who Loved Me
  10. A Clockwork Orange
  11. Jaws
  12. Alien
  13. Young Frankenstein
  14. Diamonds are Forever
  15. Blazing Saddles
  16. Taxi Driver
  17. Rocky
  18. Rocky II
  19. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  20. Dog Day Afternoon
  21. Apocalypse Now
  22. Robin Hood
  23. Superman: The Movie
  24. King Kong
  25. Carrie

The 1970s was harder than I thought it would be, as I expected that I would have far more options to play around with.

Blind Spot Movies = Mean Streets, Deliverance, Network, Serpico, The Deer Hunter, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and The French Connection to name a few.

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1987

  1. The Living Daylights
  2. Lethal Weapon
  3. RoboCop
  4. Predator
  5. The Running Man
  6. Full Metal Jacket
  7. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
  8. Spaceballs
  9. The Princess Bride
  10. The Untouchables
  11. The Brave Little Toaster

While the top 3 movies are fantastic (and The Living Daylights is one of my top 5 favorite James Bond films to begin with), and Predator is a classic, the rest aren't ones that I would necessarily put in my top 10 by any means.

They have positives to them, for sure, and I enjoyed them all when I watched them, but The Running Man is the only one of those six that I've seen more than once. Actually, I used to watch The Brave Little Toaster a lot as a kid, but we're talking young enough that I can barely remember the movie.

Spaceballs is overrated. I know that's blasphemy to some. The boot camp material from Full Metal Jacket is phenomenal, but the rest isn't. If I were judging just that section, it would be right under Predator, for sure.

Update: Now that I watched The Princess Bride, finally, I can immediately at least place it above The Untouchables. I'm sure if I had watched this as a kid, it would be much higher. Fun movie.

Blind Spot Movies = Fatal Attraction and Good Morning, Vietnam

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1988

  1. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
  2. Beetlejuice
  3. Die Hard
  4. Big
  5. Coming to America
  6. Rain Man
  7. Twins
  8. Scrooged
  9. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
  10. They Live
  11. Oliver & Company

This is another year where I don't have many options to fill out the bulk of it, and it leads to some movies being ranked severely higher than I ever would have positioned them.

For instance, I liked Rain Man the one time I watched it, btut for that to be my sixth favorite movie on any list is nuts.

Now, Naked Gun is one of my top 5 favorite comedies of all time. It is AMAZING. And that's why you can find it so high on the top list for the whole 80s decade. Beetlejuice was also something I was super fond of as a kid. But there's a big drop off with those two and Die Hard and Big and Coming to America, and then a huuuuuuuuuuge drop off to get to Rain Man and the rest.

With a lame year that has so many horror films on it that were terrible, like Pumpkinhead, I refuse to put them on the list. I guess I just have to watch some more movies this year to replace them.

Blind Spot Movies = Young Guns, Bull Durham, Cocktail, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Fish Called Wanda and more

TOP 10 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1989

  1. Batman
  2. Licence to Kill
  3. Ghostbusters II
  4. Field of Dreams
  5. Lethal Weapon 2
  6. The Karate Kid Part III
  7. Back to the Future Part II
  8. Major League
  9. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
  10. Dead Poets Society
  11. When Harry Met Sally

Finally, a good year for the end of the 80s! In fact, this is a damn good year. Very strong picks here. It was easy to find 10 to fill this part of the list. I like all of them quite a bit, but in particular, Batman is one of my favorite films EVER, along with License to Kill being my second-favorite 007 film. Ghostbusters II has been viewed a thousand times. Lethal Weapon is a great series. Field of Dreams is a great dad movie. The Karate Kid Part III isn't as good as the first or second, but watching that series in 2022 was a fun binge. Big fan of this year's list.

Why can't I put When Harry Met Sally or Weekend at Bernie's or The Little Mermaid or even Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure on 87 or 88 to better fill out those lists?! Rats.

Also, apparently, All Dogs Go to Heaven was the first movie I saw in theaters. I don't remember anything about it, really. I used to like The Punisher as a kid, and I should give a shout out to UHF and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Look Who's Talking for being movies I enjoyed when I was younger, too.

No. I don't like Do the Right Thing. Sorry. I'm sure that will upset some people. I think it is super overrated.

Blind Spot Movies = The Abyss, The Burbs, Driving Miss Daisy, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Steel Magnolias, Uncle Buck and more

TOP 50 FAVORITE FILMS OF 1980s DECADE
BONUS ROUND

  1. The Terminator (1984)
  2. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  3. Batman (1989)
  4. Ghostbusters (1984)
  5. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
  6. Licence to Kill (1989)
  7. The Living Daylights (1987)
  8. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
  9. Ghostbusters II (1989)
  10. Beetlejuice (1988)
  11. Stand By Me (1986)
  12. The Breakfast Club (1985)
  13. Lethal Weapon (1987)
  14. A View to a Kill (1985)
  15. Octopussy (1983)
  16. RoboCop (1987)
  17. The Karate Kid (1984)
  18. Field of Dreams (1989)
  19. Back to the Future (1985)
  20. Predator (1987)
  21. Die Hard (1988)
  22. Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
  23. The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
  24. Aliens (1986)
  25. Airplane! (1980)
  26. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
  27. Scarface (1983)
  28. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
  29. Back to the Future Part II (1989)
  30. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
  31. Major League (1989)
  32. Dead Poets Society (1989)
  33. The Karate Kid Part III (1989)
  34. Big (1988)
  35. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
  36. Platoon (1986)
  37. Caddyshack (1980)
  38. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
  39. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
  40. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  41. The Little Mermaid (1989)
  42. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
  43. The Running Man (1987)
  44. This is Spinal Tap (1984)
  45. Top Gun (1986)
  46. Coming to America (1988)
  47. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
  48. Rain Man (1988)
  49. Blade Runner (1982)
  50. Rocky IV (1985)
  51. The Princess Bride (1987) - possibly?
  52. Superman II (1980)

See what a difference the decade list makes compared to the top films of each year? Now, you can really see where some favorites knock out some others, and where a movie like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a film I enjoyed the one time I watched it and in the top 10 for that year, but it pales in comparison to something like the real juggernauts in black italics.

What are your favorite movies from every year?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

My Top 10 Favorite Movies of Every Year (Best Films of Each Year Master List)

Posted by Anthony Mango - Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Many people find it difficult to name their favorite movie of the past year, let alone their favorite movie of all time. But I'm a man who loves his lists, and I decided to take things a step further.

What are my top 10 favorite movies of every year since the year I was born?

That was the initial premise of this, which then turned into also including a top "whatever I feel like doing" for an overall breakdown of each decade, as well.

Needless to say, I had a difficult task ahead of me—but one that I knew I could come back to time and time again once I did all the legwork, especially now that I also track my rankings as best as I can through Letterboxd instead of just Evernote. Go ahead and follow me there!

So that is what we're doing here. From 1987 onward, this post will have a top 10 list of my favorite movies with some extra detail, along with some other years just for fun, and a top #x per decade. At any point, if I watch a movie I feel deserves to be ranked on here, I'll go back into this post and edit it. Therefore, you never know if one day, I watch something from the mid-90s and put it high up on my list!

But before we get started, I want to lay out some notes and information for people to be aware of:

NOTE 1 - FAVORITE, NOT BEST 

This is a list of my FAVORITE movies—not the BEST movies, necessarily. While there will certainly be some overlap in movies I think are legitimately amazing, well-made, Oscar-worthy production, it doesn't mean that these are the 10 movies per year that I think are the absolute finest films on a universal scale. You're going to see silly action movies, ridiculous comedies and flicks that I know are bad, but I can't help but enjoy. You're also not going to see some critically acclaimed films that I would agree are among the best for that particular year. But just because it is a good movie doesn't mean it is something I've ever felt like revisiting a single time, let alone multiple times.

NOTE 2 - THE HONORARY MENTIONS

Some years are just packed with too many that I love to fit into a top 10. To help illustrate better how the decades lists are formed, I'll mention a handful of those movies by extending the top 10 to further numbers so I can mention those films.

Yes, it sounds like a cop out. But the movies are still ranked in order, so you can still see what the true top 10 are.

Other times, there aren't even 10 that I really like that I can put on the list, so you'll see some filler candidates, as I couldn't think of anything else.

NOTE 3 - THE KEY TO RANKING

There are effectively four levels of ranking here:

  • Movies in bold are movies I absolutely love.
  • Movies in italics but not bold are the ones I like a lot, but aren't in the same league.
  • Movies in gray are ones that I like, but I might have seen them once and don't quite feel like watching them a second film or anything of that sort.
  • Striked out movies on the list means I only have it there to fill out the list and will gladly bump it off the moment I find something to replace it, ranging from "it's not worthy of being on this list, but I still like it" to "I don't even actually like this."

The true way to judge my favorites will be the decade lists. That is where you see how these outliers actually place on whether I love them, like them, think they're okay, or think they're just not the worst.

NOTE 4 - FLEXIBILITY

At any moment, these lists can change. Not only will I obviously be watching more films as time goes on, but my tastes will change, too. If I had made this up when I was 10 years old, or 20 years old, certain movies would definitely rank higher and lower than they are at 35 (and beyond).

If you don't see a movie on this list, there could be two reasons why. The first is that I saw it and I'm not a big fan of it. The second would be that I just haven't seen it yet. There are plenty blind spot films that I need to watch. Hopefully, I'll get around to them. Some will even be called out specifically on this list because I know they're important or interesting enough to justify mentioning.

Best Movie Every Year Favorite Films

This page originally housed every year's list, but it became too big. To compensate, the decades have been broken down into individual posts.

Here is your table of contents for this series:

FAVORITE MOVIES LISTS - BY DECADE
1960s, 1970s, 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020sMASTER LIST PAGE

Over time, this particular master list page may be adjusted to include any more information I decide to add. It may even become a place to house an ultimate all-time top 100 favorite movies ever list, or something else along those lines.

What are your favorite movies from every year?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

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