The Best Films of the 80s

1. Crimes and Misdemeanors--But really the 80s was dominated (and virtually saved) by the films of Woody Allen: Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose, New York Stories, Radio Days, and Stardust Memories. Without these films the 80s --which, alongside the 30s and 50s, I consider to be the worst decade in cinema's history-- would have just been a cultural dead zone full of bad hair, neon colors and Ronald Regan.  
2. Brazil (1985)
3. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 
4. Aliens (1986)   
5. The Decalogue (1987/1988)      
6. Blade Runner (1982)  
7. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
8. Ran (1985)
9. My Dinner With Andre (1981)
10. Fanny and Alexander (1982)

also…    
Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Amadeus (1984)  
The Road Warrior (1981)
After Hours (1985)
Die Hard (1988)
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Broadcast News (1987)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Adventures of Barron Munchausen (1988)

90s

Retroactive Top Ten List: 2000
 Wonder Boys (Curtis Hansen)
Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
High Fidelity (Stephen Friers)
Unbreakable (M Night Shamalon) 
American Psycho  (Marry Harron)
Traffic (Stephen Soderbergh)
Timecode (Mike Figgis)
Way of the Gun (Chrisopher McQuerrie)
Jesus’ Son (Alison Maclean)
Sunshine (István Szabó)

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coen Brothers)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
Nurse Betty (Neal Labute)
You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan)
Ninth Gate (Roman Polanski)
Cast Away (Robert Zamechis)
Final Destination

Note: The rest of the years (2001-2005) are relatively complete so I don't feel the need to retroactively change the top ten lists. Though I would take out the following films from my top tens this decade: Love Actually,

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1999
 Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)  
Fight Club (David Fincher)
Topsy-Turvy (Mike Leigh)       
Three Kings (David O. Russell)
Princess Mononoke (Hayo Miyazaki) 
Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)  
Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonez)
The Insider (Michael Mann)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella)
Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen)
The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)

also… 
Election (Alexander Payne)
Dogma (Kevin Smith)
The Straight Story (David Lynch)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch)
South Park Bigger Longer Uncut (Stone and Parker)
The Red Violin (François Girard)                     
Bringing Out the Dead (Marty)
Go (Doug Lyman)
Toy Story 2 (John Lassiter)
eXistenZ (David Cronenberg)
Mumford (Lawrence Kasdan)
Holy Smoke (Jane Campion)

Worst of the Year: BIG DADDY, Run Lola Run, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Wild Wild West.
Guilty Pleasure: Ravenous. 
Overrated: American Beauty, The Hurricane,  Man on the Moon
Director of the Year: Paul Thomas Anderson ties with Kubrick.
Performance of the year: Samantha Morton in Sweet and Lowdown.

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1998
 Out of Sight (Steven Soderbergh)
Dark City (Alex Proyas)
The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
Zero Effect (Jake Kasdan)
Rushmore (Wes Anderson)
The Truman Show (Peter Weir)
Hurlyburly (Anthony Drazan)
Happiness (Todd Solondz)
Cabaret Balkan (Goran Paskaljevic)
Elizabeth (Shekhar Kapur)

also...
Simple Plan (Sam Raimi)
Primary Colors (Mike Nichols)
Blade (Stephen Norrington) 
Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon)
A Civil Action (Steven Zillian)
Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)
Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (Robert B. Weide)
Wilde (Brian Gilbert)
One True Thing (Carl Franklin)

Worst of the Year: Life is Beautiful, Armageddon, Pleasentville, What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams.
Guilty Pleasure: Blade!
Overrated: Shakespeare In Love
Director of the Year: Steven Soderbergh on Out of Sight.
Performance of the year: Bill Pullman in Zero Effect.

 

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1997
 The Game (David Fincher)
Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen)
Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino)
Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven)
The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)
As Good As It Gets (James L. Brooks)
The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen) 
L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hansen)

also…
 Grosse Pointe Blank (George Armitage)
Wag The Dog (Barry Livingston)
Contact (Robert Zamechis)
The Ice Storm (Ang Lee)
Con Air (Simon West)
Happy Together (Wong Kar Wai)
Fifth Element (Luc Besson)
Eve’s Bayou
Gattaca (Andrew Niccol)
Affliction (Paul Schrader)
Jackie Chan’s First Strike
Funny Games (Michael Haneke)
The End of Violence (Wim Wenders)
Oscar and Lucinda (Gillian Armstrong)
Alien Resurrection (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Titanic (James Cameron)

Worst of the Year: I Know What You Did Last Summer
Guilty Pleasure:  The Fifth Element--euro trash kitsch. The Devil's Advocate is another one I liked way too much. Oh, and Mouse Hunt. 
Overrated: Life is Beautiful, the most overrated film of the modern era. The Full Monty is a big question mark as well.
Underrated: Alien 4. Not as bad as people say.
Director of the Year: PT Anderson for stealing from the best of them on Boogie Nights.
Performance of the year: Ian Holm in Sweet Hereafter, Fifth Element and Night Falls on Manhattan.

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1996
Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh)
Looking for Richard (Al Pacino)
Fargo (Joel Coen)
Flirting With Disaster (David O Russell)
Hard Eight (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Crash (David Cronenberg)
English Patient (Anthony Minghella)
Mission: Impossible (Brian De Palma)
Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh)
Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)

also…
Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest)
Shine (Scott Hicks)
Microcosmos (Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou)
Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson)
Long Kiss Goodnight (Renny Harlin)
Bound (Warshowski Brothers)  
The People vs. Larry Flynt (Milos Forman)  
Ridicule (Patrice Leconte)
Star Trek: First Contact (Jonathan Frakes)
Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas)
Sweet Nothing (Gary Winick)
Mother (Albert Brooks)
Escape From LA (John Carpenter)
Basquiat (Julian Schnabel)
The Crucible (Nicholas Hytner)

 Worst of the Year: Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann)
Guilty Pleasure: Just about the best Star Trek movie ever is still a
guilty pleasure. Also, Escape from LA was shamefully great.
Overrated: Jerry McGuire
Director of the Year: Joel Coen for Fargo
Performance of the year: Phillip Baker Hall in Hard Eight

 

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1995
Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow)
Nixon (Oliver Stone)
Heat (Michael Mann)
Babe (Chris Noonan)
Clockers (Spike Lee)
Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater)
Smoke (Wayne Wang)
12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam)
Se7en (David Fincher)
The Battle Over Citizen Kane (Michael Epstein and Thomas Lennon)
Richard III (Richard Loncraine)

 also…
Restoration (Michael Hoffman)
Underground (Emir Kusturica)
Leaving Las Vegas (Mike Figgis)
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (John McTiernan)
Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-Wai)
Get Shorty (Barry Sonnenfeld)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee)
Safe (Todd Haynes)
Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (Nick Park)
Les Misérables (Claude Lelouch)
Toy Story (John Lasseter)
The City of Lost Children (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Antonia's Line (Marleen Gorris)

Worst of the Year: Braveheart
Guilty Pleasure: Waterworld
Director of the Year:  Michael Mann, Heat
Performance of the year: De Niro and Pacino in Heat

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1994

Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)
 Three Colors: White and Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)
Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone)
Bullets Over Broadway (Woody Allen)
Lamerica (Gianni Amelio)
The Last Seduction (John Dahl)
Fresh (Boaz Yakin)
Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai)
True Lies (James Cameron)

also...
The Paper (Ron Howard)
Quiz Show (Robert Redford)
Léon (Luc Besson)
Ed Wood (Tim Burton)
Exotica (Atom Egoyan)
Hoop Dreams (Steve James)
Crumb (Terry Zwigoff)
The Browning Version (Mike Figgis)
Clerks (Kevin Smith)
The Madness of King George (Nicholas Hytner)
The Lion King (Allers and Minkoff)

Worst of the Year: Forrest Gump           
Guilty Pleasure: Ace Ventura, and Legends of the Fall              
Director/Screenwriter of the Year:  Quentin Tarantino
Performance of the year: Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction and Fresh

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1993
The Remains of the Day (Ishmael Merchant)
Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Short Cuts (Robert Altman)
Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (Nick Park)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
Naked (Mike Leigh)
Farewell My Concubine (Kaige Chen)
King of the Hill (Steven Soderbergh)
Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater)

 also…
Fearless (Peter Weir)
The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese)
Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg)
Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma)
In The Name Of The Father (Jim Sheridan)
The Fugitive (Andrew Davis)
Army of Darkness (Sam Raimi)
Searching for Bobby Fisher (Steven Zaillian)
Orlando (Sally Potter)
The War Room (Hegedus)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen)
Falling Down (Joel Schumacher)
The Piano (Jane Campion)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick) 

Worst of the Year: Jurassic Park (Spielberg’s 6th worst of the year!). Runner Up: The Joy Luck Club
Guilty Pleasure: Cliffhanger and Hot Shots! Part Deux
Director of the Year: Krzysztof Kieslowski for Blue
Performance of the year: Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson in Remains 

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1992
The Stolen Children (Gianni Amelio)
The Player (Robert Altman)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
Red Rock West (John Dahl)
Malcolm X (Spike Lee)
Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley)   
Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch)
Aladdin
Man Bites Dog  (Rémy Belvaux)

also…
Shadows and Fog (Woody Allen)
Howard’s End (James Ivory)
Porco Rosco (Hayao Miyazaki)
Dracula (Coppola)
Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins)
The Crying Game (Neil Jordan)
Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen)
Damage (Louis Malle)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Wes Craven)
Like Water For Chocolate (Alfonzo Arau)
Scent of a Woman (Martin Brest)  

Worst of the Year: A League of Their Own Runner Up: Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!
Guilty Pleasure: Memoirs of an Invisible Man and Alien3
Overrated: A Few Good Men
Director of the Year: Robert Altman for The Player
Performance of the year:  The cast of Glengary Glen Ross

Retroactive Top Ten List: 1991
JFK (Oliver Stone)
Barton Fink (Joel Coen)
 Heart’s of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (Bahr)
Fisher King (Terry Gilliam)
Dead Again (Kenneth Branniagh)
Homicide (David Mamet)
Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)
Slacker (Richard Linklater)
Raise the Red Lantern (Yimou Zhang)
Grand Canyon (Lawrence Kasdan) 

also…
Defending Your Life (Albert Brooks)
The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Adjuster (Atom Egoyan)
Mediterraneo (Gabriele Salvatores)
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (Simon Wincer)
My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant)
Germany Year 90 Nine Zero (Jean-Luc Godard)
Cape Fear (Martin Scorsese)
Prospero's Books (Peter Greenaway)
Thelma and Louise (Ridley Scott)
Meeting Venus (István Szabó)

Special Note: One of the best top fives I’ve ever encountered! Each film in the top five is good enough to be #1 in any other year. So how come the rest of the films on the list are not good enough to make the top 20 in any other year?
Worst of the Year: Hook (the fifth worst of the year honor for Spielberg). Runner Up: The Commitments
Overrated: Bugsy (good but… come on!)
Guilty Pleasure: Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (I am the only person in the universe who owns this film)
Director of the Year: Joel Coen for Barton Fink though a special mention should be made to Stone’s cutting edge work on JFK.
Performance of the year: Gary Oldman for JFK (the most underrated actor in the world)

Retroactive Top Ten List:
The Best Films of 1990

Twin Peeks (David Lynch, feature length pilot released theatrically in Europe) 
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard)
Quick Change (Bill Murray)
After Dark, My Sweet (James Foley)
Reversal of Fortune (Barbet Schroeder)
Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (Kurosawa)
Total Recall (Paul Verhoven)
The Grifters (Steven Feirers)
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)
Metropolitan (Whit Stillman) 

also…
The Hunt for Red October (John McTiernan)
Jacob’s Ladder (Adrian Lyne)  
Alice (Woody Allen)
Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen)
The Godfather Part III (Coppola)
Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh)
Journey of Hope (Xavier Koller)
Open Doors (Gianni Amelio)
White Hunter Black Heart (Clint Eastwood)
La Femme Nakita (Luc Besson)  

Worst of the Year: Wild at Heart. Runner Up: Dances With Wolves
Guilty Pleasure: Total Recall
Director of the Year:  Akira Kurosawa for Dreams
Performance of the year: Kyle Kyle MacLachlan for Twin Peeks and Jeremy Irons for Reversal of Fortune.

80s

Retroactive Top Ten List:
The Best Films of 1989

Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen)  
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Steven Soderbergh)  
Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone)  
Lethal Weapon 2 (Richard Donner)  
Henry V (Kenneth Branagh) 
Monsieur Hire (Patrice Leconte)
The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway)
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)  
New York Stories (Allen/Scorsese/Coppola)
The Abyss (James Cameron)  

Also…
 The War of the Roses (Dannny DeVito)  
Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford)
Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch)
Batman (Tim Burton)  
Back to the Future Part II (Robert Zemeckis)
Say Anything... (Cameron Crowe)  
The Mighty Quinn (Carl Schenkel)
Roger and Me (Michael Moore) 
The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Enemies: A Love Story (Paul Mazursky) 

Worst of the Year: Spielberg's Always (his forth worst of the year. honor in the 80s!!!). Second Runner Up: Steel Magnolias  Third Runner Up: Star Trek V 
Guilty Pleasure: Weekend At Bernie's
Director of the Year: Woody Allen for Crimes and Misdemeanors 
 Performance of the year: Tom Cruse in Born on the 4th of July

Retroactive Top Ten List:
The Best Films of 1988 

The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese)
Die Hard (John McTiernan)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Terry Gilliam)  
The Big Blue (Luc Besson)
My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki)  
Rain Man (Barry Levinson)  
The Accidental Tourist (Lawrence Kasdan)   
Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg)  
A Short Film About Killing (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Chrichton)    

also…
 Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Robert Zemeckis)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Phillip Kauffman) 
Drowning by Numbers (Peter Greenaway)
The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris)   
Midnight Run (Martin Brest) 
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Frank Oz)  
Beetlekjuice (Tim Burton)  
Scrooged (Richard Donner)   
Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodovor)     

Worst of the Year: Crocodile Dundee 2. Runner Up: Beaches. Second Runner Up: Punchline  
Guilty Pleasure: Scrooged   
Director of the Year:  John McTiernan for Die Hard
 Performance of the year: Jeremy Irons and Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers

Retroactive Top Ten List:
The Best Films of 1987

The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Broadcast News (James L. Brooks)
Radio Days (Woody Allen)
Predator (John McTiernan)
Raising Arizona (Joel Coen)
Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick)
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes)
My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears)
House of Games (David Mamet)
Spaceballs (Mel Brooks)

also...
Moonstruck (Norman Jewison)
Lethal Weapon (Richard Donner)
The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner)
Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan)
The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci)
The Big Easy (Jim McBride)
Goodbye, Children (Louis Malle)

Worst of the Year: Good Morning Vietnam
Guilty Pleasure: Spaceballs
Director of the Year: Kieslowski for A Short Story About Death (Decalogue)
Performance of the year: R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket

Retroactive Top Ten List:
The Best Films of 1986

Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)
 Aliens (James Cameron)
Castle in the Sky (Hayao Miyazaki)
Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (John Hughes)
Sid and Nancy (Alex Cox)
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (Paul Mazursky)
Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch)
Shoah (Claude Lanzmann)
The Mission (Roland Joffé)
My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears)
Salvador and Platoon  (Oliver Stone)
Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan)
A Room With a View (Ivory)

Worst of the Year: Soul Man
Guilty Pleasure: Three Amigos and Star Trek IV
Director of the Year: David Lynch for Blue Velvet
Performance of the year: Sigourney Weaver in Aliens

Retroactive Top Ten List:
The Best Films of 1985

Brazil (Terry Gilliam)
 The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen)
Ran (Akira Kurosawa) 
After Hours (Martin Scorsese)
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (Tim Burton)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (George Miller)
Pale Rider (Clint Eastwood)
Prizzi’s Honor (John Huston)
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis)
Death of a Salesmen (Volker Schlöndorff)
Day of the Dead (George A. Romero)
Witness (Peter Weir)
Lost In America (Albert Brooks)
Mishima (Paul Schrader)

Worst of the Year: Cocoon (Ron Howard) and Santa Claws: The Movie
Guilty Pleasure: Remo Williams
Director of the Year: Terry Gilliam for Brazil
Performance of the year: Mieko Harada as Lady Kaede in Ran. Also, William Hurt and Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spiderwoman

The Best Films of 1984

Amadeus (Milos Forman)
 This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)
A Passage to India (David Lean)
The Terminator (James Cameron)
Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen)
The Bounty (Roger Donaldson)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds (Hayao Miyazaki)
2010 (Peter Hayms)
Ghost Busters (Ivan Reitman)
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders) 
Blood Simple (Joel Coen)
The Never Ending Story (Wolfgang Petersen)
Romancing the Stone (Zemechis)
 

Worst of the Year: Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (his third worst of the year honor in the 80s)
Guilty Pleasure: Dune and Romancing the Stone.
Director of the Year: Woody Allen. Joel Coen should get special mention for his innovative direction of Blood Simple
Performance of the year: Aberham and Hulce (Amadeus)

 

The Best Films of 1983

Zelig (Woody Allen)
Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand)
The Meaning of Life (Gilliam/Jones)
Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman)
The Right Stuff (Phillip Kauffman)
The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese)
Trading Places (John Landis)
Stranger than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch)
The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg)
Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola)
Never Say Never Again (Irvin Kershner)

Worst of the Year: Scarface (De Palma)
Guilty Pleasure: Mr. Mom
Director of the Year: Ingmar Bergman

 

The Best Films of 1982

Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
The Road Warrior (George Miller)
Burden of Dreams (Les Blank)/Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog)
The Thing (John Carpenter)
Das Boot (Wolfgang Peterson)
Diva (Jean-Jacques Beineix)
Tootsie (Sydney Pollack)
Ghandi (Richard Attenborough)
Diner (Barry Livingston)
The Verdict (Sydney Lumet)
Missing (Costa Gravas)

Worst of the Year: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
Guilty Pleasure: Super Man 2 and Altered States
Director of the Year: Ridley Scott 
Performance of the year: Ben Kingsley (Ghandi), Jürgen Prochnow (Boot, Das)

 

The Best Films of 1981

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg)
My Dinner With Andre (Louis Malle)
Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam)
Mephisto (István Szabó)
Thief (Michael Mann)
Blow Out (Brian De Palma)
Escape From New York (John Carpenter)
Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan)
Prince of the City (Sydney Lumet)
Stripes (Ivan Reitman)

Worst of the Year: On Golden Pond
Guilty Pleasure: Escape From New York
Director of the Year: Brian De Palma and István Szabó
 Performance of the year: William Hurt and Kathleen Turner (Body Heat)

The Best films of 1980
 Inspired by a peer, over the next few weeks I am going to be counting down to the best films of my generation.

1. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner)
2. Kagemausha (Akira Kurosawa)
3. The Elephant Man (David Lynch)
4. Close Encounters of a Third Kind (Steven Spielberg)
5. Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma)
6. The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller)
7. Ragging Bull (Martin Scorsese) 
8. Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood)  
9. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
10. Melvin and Howard (Jonathan Demme)

Worst of the Year: 2 Music films: The Jazz Singer and The Blues Brothers.
Guilty Pleasure: Dressed to Kill 
Director of the Year: Kurosawa (Kagemausha)
Performance of the year: De Niro (Ragging Bull)

The Best films of 1979

1. Alien (Ridley Scott)
2. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
3. The Life of Brian (Terry Jones)
4. The Castle of Cagliostro (Hayao Miyazaki)
5. Manhattan (Woody Allen)
6. Being There (Hal Ashby)
7. Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog)
8. Midnight Express (Alan Parker)
9. Escape from Alcatraz (Don Siegel)
10. Love on the Run (Francois Truffaut)

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