In a larger more fatalistic scope, I'd just entered into a steel cage of doom that would detain me until retirement or, more likely, death; daytime television had become a symbol of illness, Summer, or unemployment, and no one alerted me to this new reality prior to my blind compliance. Before September of '88 my schedule was largely dictated by Cable and it was a more engaging and informative classroom than I would ever encounter. The afternoon block of programming titled Nick Jr. debuted at the beginning of the year, mostly comprised of Asian and European cartoons like David the Gnome, Adventures of Little Koala, and Mysterious Cities of Gold. Added to their regularly scheduled lineup of stuff like Count Duckula and Mr. Wizard and it was a fully educational day covering all the major subjects. There were children's shows all over the dial like Jem and Zoobilee Zoo that I'd watch casually, but the bulk of them were of an already bygone era: Flintstones, Popeye, Mighty Mouse, Looney Tunes - even then these things were 20, 30, 40, 50 years old, and as I sit here now they're still around and popular and considered all part of a gold standard.
Same thing with grownup shows; I spent some time with syndicated Scrabble and Win, Lose or Draw as well as Soap Operas like All My Children and One Life to Live. But again, this was the midday dumping ground for "Classic TV" like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Monkees, Hazel, and every other pre-1970 Primetime program that limped its way into local broadcasting - not to die, mind you, but to become immortalized through me which strengthened me. Kindergarten extinguished this flame without mercy, and I became both stronger and dumber for it. I still had years ahead of me filled with baseball, bike riding, and Batman, but leisure time was now a luxury to be worked into my structured schedule.
God bless the advent of Nick at Nite to keep me caught up in the continuing adventures of Ozzie, Harriet, et al. Though 1988 wasn't just about old TV for me. I'd received a bounty of ghost bustin' gadgets at the end of '87 so I'm sure I spent some amount of time neutronizing Sumerian gods while trying not to look directly into the trap. A life of adventure -- so much so that I began the year by cracking my skull open on the corner of an industrial dumpster in a sledding accident (a threat they didn't warn me of in the Juicy Fruit commercials). But that's part of the bigger idea: I played. I galavanted and cavorted. I shot lasers and slew vampires and stuck stickers and ate fluffernutters; my time of freedom leading up to my life sentence was not wasted, and was dedicated mainly (but not exclusively) to Dick Van Dyke, California Raisins, and severe head trauma. That's time well spent.
I attended one theater visit, Roger Rabbit, the only real new movie I saw that year. But looking back now at what was in theaters back then, yippee ki-yay, motherfuckers! A few Box Office Blockbusters, but an otherwise bonafide bonanza of Cult cuisine and 80s pinnacles, all amounting to a cavalcade of choices so overwhelming that I had to scale back to present a nice round list number. The twit in me would describe the output as "colorful and inventive" but really the word for this year is "wacky."
Something like 20 sequels came out, and aside from a few clunkers (Caddyshack II, Arthur 2) they were mostly great (and mostly horror). Other than that, big splashy originals and fresh genre efforts are what 1988 was about, and ultimately became a lot of the defining pictures of not just my life, but also of Film History and Popular Culture as a whole.
My son starts Kindergarten in September of this year but he's already been doing the Preschool thing for a while. Recently my sister asked him what he thought of it, and his response was "School is nonsense. I wanna be home with my family." Who's to blame for this defiant attitude that's clearly expanding and intensifying with each new generation? The declining quality of the classroom environment? A rigid framework forced into fragile developmental stages too early on? Or is it Dobie Gillis? Time will tell.
- Paul
1. Midnight Run
I feel like I publish praise for this flick every few months. And why the fuck not? There may be a little nostalgia mixed into my adoration for this, the greatest Action Comedy of all time, but that doesn't minimize its greatness of all timeness. Everything about it feels so simple, yet it continuously unfolds and surprises in its story, its humor, its excitement, and even its drama.
2. Beetlejuice
Also not much left to be said about this extremely popular movie. I remember seeing the TV spots and thinking "this is definitely for me," but ironically could never remember the title. It wasn't until it made its way to Cinemax and I thought "this is it! This is that movie!" I was turned on by how bizarre it looked, and it's one of the few times I can remember a film surpassing the abstractions of its trailer; it was even more absurd than what they sold.
3. Vibes
A small budget Romantic Comedy Adventure somewhere between Raiders and Romancing the Stone seems to be the perfect speed for me. But I'm intellectualizing - Jeff, Cyndi, and Peter Falk are like three of the most likable and watchable screen actors anyways so I defy anyone to not be entirely enchanted by this.
4. Die Hard
It took me years to recognize that it didn't reinvent the Action Movie, but satirized it in such a bombastic way that it works as both a Comedy and a straightforward thrill ride. And a Christmas movie.
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
If it had to have humor, if it had to have action, if it had to be rushed into production to meet the demand of this rapidly growing pop icon, then this truly was the best we could possibly get. Again, even more than Freddy's Dead, this is the parody of the fun and the dumbness of Elm Street and should be championed as such.
6. A Fish Called Wanda
Leave it to a couple of Pythons to make the British Crime genre so silly. Though at the same time, it's refreshingly buttoned-down and accessible - both in its plot and its humor. Added to that, Jamie Lee and Kevin Kline are notable dramatic actors, and they carry the movie as the comic relief.
7. Crocodile Dundee II
The first was a neatly packaged first act, and the only reason it required a sequel was because we wanted more. This installment is all about Mick's macho charisma and magic tricks that were the highlights of Part One, stretched out into the poignant 80s premise of taking down some Columbian drug lords. We didn't know we needed it until we got it.
8. Flesheater
One of my most sacred "Halloween Season Mandatory Viewing" movies, primarily because of its weather accuracy. Seasonal setting aside, the cast has more depth than nearly any other 80s Slasher movie, and the culmination of score, gore, and suspense is on par with the best of Fulci.
9. The Last Temptation of Christ
I consider this the dawn of Marty's most inventive era as a visual artist. It's one of the earliest examples I can think of where the subject matter of the movie was less of a draw than its actual moving parts; a true filmmaking achievement to capture my interest almost entirely through photographic storytelling.
10. Big
The effect this movie has is still as relevant and unique as it was then. It's a hard kids' movie with a zany premise but it doesn't shy away from the terrifying reality it creates; adulthood is scary, but a supernatural overnight transformation that alienates you from your safe childhood is some fearless fiction.
11. Ghosthouse
One of the last great Italian Horror flicks of the decade (and Umberto Lenzi's career) mixes 80s Slasher tropes with a malevolent ghost, resulting in a bonkers, directionless plot that's most concerned with surreal imagery and gruesome kills set to a creepy score. Part of a dying breed.
12. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
There seems to be a recurring formula around this time: fantastical ideas that capture the imagination, saturated in adult themes - violence, sexuality, fear, sadness. In other words a well-rounded movie that's not confined to the boundaries of genre or a target audience. I'm grateful to have been a kid when this came out.
13. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
To think the TV show on which this was based was cancelled for being too subtle. Admittedly I'm a fan of the subtleties of slapstick, sight gags, wordplay, fart sounds, and concrete dildos.
14. The Blob
Glad we're all finally in agreeance that this is one of the best remakes of any film genre -- which is a backhanded way of saying it's just a great movie. Considering it's an FX heavy SciFi flick with a literal faceless blob as the villain, it's pretty remarkable how much suspense and good dialogue comes out of it.
15. They Live
I caught it for the first time ever on Cable, right at the beginning of the fight scene, and soon thought "...is this it? Is this the whole movie?" And that forever set the tone for me - and rightly so, because it's the correct tone: a comedic satire played entirely straight. Strangelove for the 1980s? You'd better believe it, brother.
16. Imagine: John Lennon
Extremely telling and also guarded and superficial - like the man himself. A complex life and soul in under 2 hours is gonna have some hiccups, but the depiction of his murder and the news footage sequence of grieving fans is a powerful ending to any kind of movie.
17. License to Drive
Not a lotta Teen Comedy options this year, but this Ferris Bueller-meets-After Hours hybrid kinda transcends its subgenre, resulting in just a straightforward Comedy with shades of realism (who wouldn't risk their lives for a date with Heather Graham?).
18. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
My favorite of the franchise as it's the first time I found Jason to be cool. Ironically this is the first to feel most like an Elm Street movie which is probably also why I respond to it favorably.
19. Daffy Duck's Quackbusters
During the periods it wasn't perpetually on HBO, it was my consolation video rental; when nothing else seemed good, I'd get this. And understandably so, it's practically a Looney Tunes Greatest Hits without commercial interruption - a true content binge before it became a way of life.
20. Pulse
To this day I don't fully trust any of the machinery in my home, and it's not because of Poltergeist or 2001 or any of those - it's because of this. That's an effective Horror movie no doubt, but even without the carnage (but especially with it) it's yet another great kids' movie to come out of this year.
21. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark
I'm always fascinated when a one-dimensional character suddenly finds themselves dealing with conflict and having emotions. (It worked for Pee-wee, didn't work for the Mario Bros.) To see her get off the couch and go on an adventure and sass the locals and dance naked in a Vegas musical is so much more than we deserved.
22. Ernest Saves Christmas
The fact that it features very little Ernest is solid proof that his longtime production crew knew how to craft a good movie without the bumbling hillbilly antics. Good for them, but even still, in his limited screentime Jim goes full force, busting out several of his "characters" and securing him amongst the ranks of Peter Sellers and Eddie Murphy.
23. Critters 2: The Main Course
Also my favorite of this particular series, and I've gotten the most use out of it as an Easter movie (which also helped Last Temptation). B-side holidays aside, of all the Gremlins ripoffs over the years, this is the one that captures the excitement, humor, and inventiveness of its supposed source material.
24. Dead Heat
Horror Comedy can be some pretty bad medicine. And to be fair, the clever and bizarre Horror outweighs the tepid and uncomfortable Comedy just enough to give it a sharp enough edge to become (wait for it) a great Action movie.
25. Above the Law
I've seen it 40 times, I still don't know what the hell it's about. Don't care, it's still a sleek Crime Thriller from Andrew Davis (Fugitive, Under Siege) that introduced us to the whole Seagal genre (complete with the usual topnotch who's-who of supporting roles).
26. Hellbound: Hellraiser II
As good as the first, which is my brand of highest praise here. The most honest and logical sequel since Godfather II - even with a new director; it answered questions, raised new mysteries, and actually managed to create even more grotesque sights to show us.
27. Scrooged
I was initially bummed on it because it just wasn't funny enough. I still am a little. But it makes up for it in mood; it really does have a somber creepiness to it that is so accurately Dickensian, it works as Horror. And Bill's frantic monologue at the end is clearly Oscar worthy.
28. Talk Radio
When Oliver Stone aims small he misses small. The fascination with the "shock jock" bled into so much Film and TV (and stage) that it just felt like a hallmark of Fiction. But this one has no chance of humor or redemption, it just spirals into darkness until it's pitch black.
29. Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach
After 4 films I finally stumbled upon one that worked for me. And why does it suddenly work? Because it's broader and bolder and dumber than all its predecessors; this is when they stopped trying to be real movies in any traditional sense and just let the mayhem ensue.
30. Not of This Earth
When I hear words and phrases like Drive-In, Exploitation, Roger Corman, Creature Feature, I imagine a specific kind of imagery, and all of it appears in this film. It's almost as if New Concorde and Jim Wynorski were entirely self aware and knew exactly how to make a great movie.
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