My Favorite: Movies: 1989

I’ve been too busy to focus on this “favorites” exercise for awhile but I’m so close to finishing the Eighties and tackling another decade long list that I just have to dig in and give it another 100%. As always, first a list of movies I’ve seen and those I probably should still get around to seeing.

HAVE SEEN: Christmas Vacation, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Batman, Dead Poets Society, Back to the Future II, Say Anything, When Harry Met Sally, Glory, Field of Dreams, The Abyss, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Do the Right Thing, Ghostbusters II, Driving Miss Daisy, Tango & Cash, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Born on the Fourth of July, Weekend at Bernie’s, Parenthood, Major League, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Look Who’s Talking, The ‘Burbs, Sea of Love, Black Rain, We’re No Angels, Casualties of War, The War of the Roses, Lean On Me, UHF, Dead Calm, Fabulous Baker Boys, Chances Are, Fletch Lives, Family Business, True Believer

HAVE NOT: My Left Foot, The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover, Henry V, Always, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Drugstore Cowboy, Valmont, New York Stories, Mystery Train, Scandal, The Big Picture, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Penn & Teller Get Killed

I remember seeing Batman in the theater during college. Being before the Internet if you wanted to argue over whether Michael Keaton was an inspired or awful choice for the lead role, you had to do it in person with people in the geographic vicinity of you. How quaint! I also remember coming out of the theater and being interviewed by the local news about my reaction (I’m sure they interviewed others too – I don’t even remember if they used my footage on-air or not). I do remember saying “yes” as to whether I liked it but I can’t remember what I said when the reporter asked “why”. Hopefully something that made sense. I still like this Batman best of all. I enjoyed the newer trilogy of Dark Knight movies but they did take themselves so incredibly seriously. I think Tim Burton took it seriously enough but struck a more pitch perfect tone for what is ultimately a fantasy tale.

I also loved the dark, cynical War of the Roses movie (quite a different film than the co-stars previous Romancing the Stone movie. Quite coincidentally when I moved to Washington DC in the nineties my first apartment was in a building just down the street from the Vermont Circle mansion that was supposedly the inspiration for the movie. The couple that lived in this mansion had in fact divorced (I think in the eighties) and the judge had let them split occupancy of the house. What was really coincidental was that the couple had finally gotten around to selling the now falling-apart mansion and the woman had an “estate” sale so I, along with the rest of the public who noticed, got to inside and look around at some of the stuff for sale.

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