GMD Social Poll: Top Ten Films of 1988

[no country for old wainds]

i haven't hosted one for a while so if you checked the last few maybe they were different.

it's just personal preference really so i'm not personally bothered if you keep doing it this way (although it might save you some work to do it my way lol). i definitely wouldn't bother changing the one you've already announced.

 

[CiG]

Good point, actually I think I'll leave it this way, I love seeing more films represented in general.

 

[Phylactery]

That’s how they’ve always been done! That way you actually end up with a top 10 that’s actually 10 albums. The = is also used when someone hasn’t ranked a picked. Some of mine were unranked in the 1993 thread, but it worked out that they were all equal to getting 7th place based on points distribution.

 

[Bloopy]

There are examples of it done correctly in this thread. The classic scenario would be a race where there's somehow a 3-way tie for first place. Should the next chump who trundles across the finish line screech autistically that he deserves a silver medal even though there's 3 others ahead of him?

It's the order of the list that's the interesting part rather than the numbering pedantry though, so all good if you want to you number them differently to get a longer list I guess.

 

[Phylactery]

As Old Wainds said, it’s also less work doing it that way because you have less of them to find quotes for and format posts for since you actually get 10 picks.

 

[CiG]

I won't be doing quotes for these movies which iirc from doing the non-metal polls is a fuckload of effort and basically the biggest cuntpain of hosting them. These were relatively easy which was why I was able to do it all in one night before bed.

But I see what you're all saying with the way ties should be counted, I'll do that for the 1976 results.

 

[challenge_everything]

It's the same as how they call ties in golf, if you follow that stupid fucking sport.

 

[no country for old wainds]

k i finally have time to respond to stuff in this thread

The Carrier sounds fucking amazing. I love retarded redneck hixploitation shit.

@no country for old wainds really appreciated your small commentary on each film you listed dude, I really wanna see Iguana (I've seen Monte's The Shooting which I really liked especially for its cinematography and location choices) and Miracle Mile. I wonder what cinema would have been like if Reagan was never president in the 80's lmao.

i think a lot of people here would like these movies, but yeah i would recommend all of those to you. iguana is surprisingly serious and severe for what it is, but it's also badass and subversive. miracle mile has a really fucking annoying female lead but otherwise rules, you can kind of imagine it as a prequel to escape from new york (or i guess escape from LA as it's an LA film, i haven't seen that one), the moment when shit first hits the fan. the carrier is proper retarded b-movie goodness with a totally nutty premise. pin... is another great weird genre movie more folks should see, and i'm sure you'd like those james woods movies if you haven't seen them, especially cop. i knew i was gonna have fun with that thing pretty much straight away as woods goes on like a 2 minute rant to his wife about safe spaces being the number one killer of women and she leaves him lol. great actor.

@no country

I'll have to check out Drowning By Numbers. Always enjoyed Greenaway's films and Nyman's scores

I'm surprised Akira didnt make more lists. I'm not a fan, but it seems like something most here would enjoy.

i still haven't seen most vintage greenaway so i can't really say how it compares. i'm really excited to dive into more though, it was an experience. one i'd be cautious actually recommending to anybody, but if you like greenaway already definitely check it.

i think akira works best if you approach it purely as a sensory experience, i bet it fucking rules on the big screen. i get why some people wouldn't like it as it's a big mess and kinda feels like too much at times, but its surface incoherence increasingly feels in harmony with the themes to me.

i'm alright with heathers and naked gun making it, they're both a little uneven for me on rewatch but the latter has some killer jokes and the former is at the very least a fun kitschy subversion of the hughes formula. the vanishing was close to making my top 25, i love it conceptually but it doesn't do much for me dramatically, too self-consciously clever and contrived for my tastes. it definitely lingers though, i'll probably try it again in the future.

 

[CiG]

I've seen The Boost and really enjoyed it (and agree with your summary) but I've never seen Cop even though it's been on my 'to see' list for a ridiculous amount of time. I had no idea it was basically a vehicle for PWNING SNOWFLAKES though lmao!

 

[no country for old wainds]

ALTERNATIVE 1988 ACADEMY AWARDS
(unordered, winner in italics)

Director
alexander sokurov, days of eclipse
peter greenaway, drowning by numbers
david cronenberg, dead ringers
krzysztof kieslowski, a short film about love
john carpenter, they live

Lead Actor
jeremy irons, dead ringers
nicolas cage, vampire's kiss
james woods, the boost
david hewlett, pin...
everett mcgill, iguana

Lead Actress
michelle pfeiffer, married to the mob
ruth sheen, high hopes
grazyna szapolowska, a short film about love
rikki lake, hairspray
carmen maura, women on the verge of a nervous breakdown

Supporting Performance
alan rickman, die hard
harvey keitel, the last temptation of christ
genevieve bujold, the moderns
maria conchita alonso, vampire's kiss
johanna ter steege, the vanishing

Cinematography
peter suschitzky, dead ringers
sergey yurizditskiy, days of eclipse
sacha vierny, drowning by numbers
toyomichi kurita, the moderns
slawomir idziak, a short film about killing

Editing
todd haynes, superstar: a karen carpenter story
stephen semel & kathie weaver, miracle mile
dan rae, paperhouse
guy maddin, tales from the gimli hospital
john wilson, drowning by numbers

Sets & Costumes
drowning by numbers
heathers
women on the verge of a nervous breakdown
hairspray
the moderns

Visual Effects
brain damage
akira
they live
superstar: the karen carpenter story
my neighbor totoro

Score
yuri khanin, days of eclipse
tangerine dream, miracle mile
howard shore, dead ringers
shoji yamashiro, akira
zbigniew preisner, a short film about love & killing

Adapted Screenplay
yuriy arabov & pyotr kadochnikov, adapted from the strugatsky brothers' 'definitely maybe', days of eclipse
david cronenberg & norman snider, adapted from bari wood & jack geasland's 'twins', dead ringers
steven gaydos & monte hellman, adapted from alberto figueroa's iguana
james b. harris, adapted from james ellroy's 'blood on the moon', cop
paul schrader, adapted from nikos kazantzakis' the last temptation of christ

Original Screenplay
joseph minion, vampire's kiss
peter greenaway, drowning by numbers
mike leigh, high hopes
john waters, hairspray
george gallo, midnight run

------

finally, 20 great scenes:
"innocence kills, jen. believe me. it kills." - cop
"...then let it be death!" - the carrier
blood on the tracks, deadbeat at dawn
"very good, you know your alphabet." - vampire's kiss
a boat and a tree, drowning by numbers
"it's just elmer's tune!" - brain damage
a newborn, iguana
"i told you we would meet again!" - the last temptation of christ
the bus stop, my neighbor totoro
a poetry reading, pin...
the watched becoming the watcher, a short film about love
a pair of anecdotes, tales from the gimli hospital
nada wakes up, they live
"it's the body! the woman's body is all wrong!" - dead ringers
stealing a plane, midnight run
lost in the bog, medea
a senseless murder, a short film about killing
the final interview, the thin blue line
the curse of knowledge, the vanishing
the realm of the dead, days of eclipse

on to 1976!

p.s. i'm kinda surprised more people didn't list brain damage, figured that'd be popular around here!

 

[CiG]

AU T I S M

p.s. i'm kinda surprised more people didn't list brain damage, figured that'd be popular around here!

That was like 12th place in my list iirc. I should have done honourable mentions.

 

[CiG]

I really am retarded. ^

 

[no country for old wainds]

or brain damaged?

 

[Slammed]

Yeah but it barely shows...well not often!

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

just in response to the first post
i think 1989 might have been a better idea than 88

 

[CiG]

just in response to the first post
i think 1989 might have been a better idea than 88

I chose '88 to start the game because it's the year I was born, other than that very little thought went into it.

 

[no country for old wainds]

excellent year to be born in my opinion

 

[rms]

Agreed

 

[CiG]

or brain damaged?

 

[Slammed]

I chose '88 to start the game because it's the year I was born, other than that very little thought went into it.

Friends of mine had their second kid in that year while living in Merriden. WA gov gave kids money just for being born in that year. Fucking Victorian gov didn't give me no money just for being born.