Saturday, December 20, 2008

Movies Of The 80s


I've spent the last week complaining about snow-related inconveniences while listening to a whole lot of Hilary Hahn. So here's a list of my Top 50 films of the 1980s.

1. Do The Right Thing
2. Ran
3. Sans soleil
4. Stranger Than Paradise
5. The Empire Strikes Back
6. Fitzcarraldo
7. The Raiders Of The Lost Ark
8. The Princess Bride
9. Amadeus
10. Ghostbusters
11. Dangerous Liaisons
12. Hannah And Her Sisters
13. The Shining
14. The Right Stuff
15. The Purple Rose Of Cairo
16. Henry V
17. Bull Durham
18. Zelig
19. Pennies From Heaven
20. The Road Warrior
21. Broadcast News
22. The Mission
23. This Is Spinal Tap
24. Passion
25. Airplane!


26. Platoon
27. The Last Temptation Of Christ
28. Out Of Africa
29. Die Hard
30. Empire Of The Sun
31. Das Boot
32. The Big Red One
33. The Verdict
34. Heaven's Gate
35. Aliens
36. Full Metal Jacket
37. Crimes And Misdemeanors
38. Blade Runner
39. The Killer
40. Police Story
41. Once Upon A Time In America
42. Raising Arizona
43. Glory
44. Salvador
45. Eight Men Out
46. Reds
47. Caddyshack
48. Heathers
49. When Harry Met Sally. . .
50. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Music Of The Year: 2008


I don't listen to a lot of music, certainly not relative to how many movies I watch. But I've bought thirteen albums from 2008, and listened to eleven of them enough to give them a ranking (apologies to Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks and David Byrne & Brian Eno).

1. Hilary Hahn - Schoenberg & Sibelius: Violin Concertos
2. The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
4. Thomas Newman - WALL-E Soundtrack
5. Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series 8: Tell Tale Signs
6. Annette Hanshaw - Sita Sings The Blues Soundtrack
7. Melody Gardot - Worrisome Heart
8. Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
9. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark
10. Noah And The Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down
11. Weezer - The Red Album