1994 had True Lies and Pulp Fiction, and you’re going with Stargate?
Sigh. The year I turned 10 (Star Wars) was way the hell better than the year I turned 12 (Airport 79!). Hell, even 1978 (also known as The Summer I Memorized the Soundtrack to Grease!) was better than 1979.
1979 sucked. The only good thing to come out of 1979 was Alien, and my mom wouldn’t let me see it.
Good riddance.
Alien was the first R-rated movie I talked my parents into taking me to. “It’s science fiction!” I told them. I was 14 at the time. And it was awesome.
12-year-old me didn’t care about Pulp Fiction, but loved Stargate. I’m going strictly for things I remember really enjoying at 12.
Die Hard
Rain Man
Coming to America
Big
Naked Gun
Young Einstein
Alien Nation
Red Dwarf
The Wonder Years
We also got to squeeze into Gen X, before they ran out of letters.
The bad:
Entered high school at the same time Brenda, Kelly, Walsh, and the rest of the cast.
Say what now?
Ah sorry, my family started school out of sync.
I think this may be the reason I have a higher then normal opinion of Higlander (the series).
When I Googled this phrase, this thread came up #1. It’s a small world we live in… either that, or Google’s algorithm was smart enough to place this thread higher up because I spend so much time hanging out on QT3.
Google loves QT3. Phrases typed here will usually show up on the first page less than a day later.
We are taste-makers.
Proof that the world has terrible taste.
Speaking of… it’s time for my liquid smoke & butter sandwich.
But are you super-taste-makers?
2000 had Gladiator, which was the first R rated movie I ever saw, so of course I loved it. I wonder if 12 year old me would have forgiven Robin Hood…probably not.
Ok, let’s see…1984…
Terminator, Ghostbusters, Nightmare on Elmstreet and Dreamscape!, Temple of Doom, Search for Spock, Dune (yes!), Starman, 2010, Gremlins, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Miyazaki!), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (yes!), The Last Starfighter, Conan the Destroyer (sigh), The Toxic Avenger, Repo Man, Firestarter, Greystoke, The Ice Pirates (yes!), A Company of Wolves, Sword of the Valiant, C.H.U.D. (yes!), The Neverending Story, Iceman…
and honorable mentions outside the sci fi/fantasy realm:
This is Spinal Tap,Sixteen Candles, The Karate Kid, Amadeus, Once Upon a Time in America, Beverly Hills Cop, Blood Simple, The Natural, and The Bounty.
Maybe not the best year for Sci Fi (got some substandard sequels in there), but I’ll take it. A good year for movies all around. Still, it doesn’t feel like my personal “Golden Age”. That would have been a few years earlier, I think.
I turned 12 in 1981, but my birthday is late in the year so I think 1982 counts as well.
That said, 1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman 2, Stripes, Time Bandit, Excalibur, Clash of the Titans, and Escape from New York. 1982: ET, Porkys, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Gandhi, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, The Road Warrior.
The ones in bold are all movies that I consider among my favorites of all time, so yeah, there is probably something to the idea. ;-)
Wait! If we’re allowed to take two years, then I’m grandfathering in 1985 as well (my birthday is also late), just to get :
Back to the Future, Brazil, The Goonies, Weird Science AND Real Genius, Fright Night, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Legend, Re-Animator (!), Ladyhawke, Enemy Mine, Lifeforce, and Remo Willaims (yes!),
'79 was kind of rough, but not a complete loss. Don’t forget (if you’re still watching the thread):
Mad Max, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (which even if disappointing, was still very important to the following decades), Werner Herzog’s Nosfetratu, the Dracula remake with Olivier, Time After Time, and Phantasm (yes!)
1981 was the dogs bollocks. Adam & the Ants, Human League, Soft Cell, Jam. That was the New Wave my friends. And in the same way New College is still New 600 years later, so it will be for the New Wave.
Films, not so much. I was at boarding school in UK, and spent my holidays in India, so films didn’t figure nearly as much as music in my life. Chariots of Fire & Raiders are the only two I remember.
However, 1981 had the most seminal moment in the history of anything ever.
The ZX81.
My school had a few, and we would painstakingly type in game programmes from magazines. Seriously. Only the rich kids could afford to buy cassette tapes with pre-loaded games.