I turn 40 this week, and I’m in full-on reflection mode. Earlier this week I shared a playlist of 40 songs (one from each year I've been alive) that represented a “soundtrack to my life” of sorts. Today, I’m doing the same thing with movies. The following is an annotated list of 40 films that collectively sketch out my cinematic history and (somewhat) my tastes.
Note: the picks for each year are NOT my picks of the best film released that year, only a film from that year that has some memory or significance for me. Most of them represent experiences in actual movie theaters, but a few of them were first experienced on home video or in “edited for TV” format (especially early 80s movies, when I was too little to go to the theater!). If you were born in the same ballpark era as me, and you loved movies as much as I did (do!), maybe your list will look somewhat similar:
1982: E.T. Obviously I didn't see this in theaters (I was in diapers!), but when it aired on TV in later years, I loved it. Classic Spielberg.
1983: National Lampoon’s Vacation. Another I didn't watch until years after it was released, but I loved this Chevy Chase franchise.
1984: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I watched this movie on tape (Beta!) more than any others, as a kid. It was part thrill-ride (the roller coaster mine scene!), part gross-out horror (eating bugs and snakes!), and all movie magic.
1985: Back to the Future / Goonies (tie). Two 80s classics I re-watched every time they were on TV.
1986: Hoosiers. One of the best sports movies ever. The extended McCracken family watched it every year we got together for Christmas.
1987: Adventures in Babysitting. I don't know if it was the Chicago setting (we often visited family in Chicago) or just the amusing litany of predicaments Elizabeth Shue’s babysitter gets into that night, but I loved this Chris Columbus movie.
1988: Beetlejuice. This is a weird, creepy, goofy, and very-80s Tim Burton movie, but I was obsessed with it as a kid.
1989: Batman / Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (tie). Both of these films left indelible marks on my young self, and I re-watched both on video dozens of times in the ensuing years.
1990: Back to the Future Part III. I'm pretty sure this was the first of the Back to the Future trilogy that I saw on the big screen, at the local movie house in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Totally epic.
1991: Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I watched the edited-for-TV version of this probably a year or so after it was released. Stunning cinema on every level, especially the pioneering CGI on display with the (terrifying) liquid metal villain, T-1000.
1992: Encino Man. The inimitable Pauly Shore as a stereotypical California hippie, plus Brendan Fraser as an unearthed prehistoric caveman, plus Sean Astin as the everyman suburban hero, plus a trip to Magic Mountain, plus a cool dance sequence at the end. This movie was everything.
1993: Jurassic Park. I remember seeing this with my friend Matt after a morning at Bill Self's Summer Basketball Camp. Holy cow. My 10-year-old self was unprepared for such a terrifying and awesome experience. Indelible.
1994: Forrest Gump. One of the first “prestige” movies I remember watching and loving as a kid, even if I didn't understand all of its historical references at the time.
1995: Braveheart. My McCracken Scottish heritage (grandfather was born in Scotland) was stirred by this epic film.
1996: Independence Day. I remember walking out of the Regal theater in Louisville, Colorado so hyped after seeing this with my cousins on Independence Day weekend. My uncle's take: “This was the best thing I've seen since Star Wars.”
1997: Air Force One. They don't make action thrillers with Russian villains like this anymore, but they did a lot in the 80s and 90s. Harrison Ford to the Soviet baddie: “Get off my plane!”
1998: The Thin Red Line. The first Terrence Malick film I saw, and the movie that changed the trajectory of my life. When I saw it at the Shawnee, Kansas multiplex, I caught a vision for what is possible when artistic excellence and theological thoughtfulness collide.
1999: Ride With the Devil. Ang Lee's Civil War western was filmed in and around Kansas City, which is part of why I loved it. It was a big local story at the time. But it’s also a really amazing film, with a surprisingly good acting turn by the singer Jewel.
2000: Unbreakable. The Sixth Sense was also a memorable moviegoing experience, of course, but M.Night Shyamalan's follow up, Unbreakable, is a better film overall.
2001: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. I saw this movie with my sister at the Cinemark Theater I was working at that summer. We were both weeping as we left the theater and walked to our car.
2002: Road to Perdition. The cinematography by Conrad Hall is some of the best I’ve ever seen. A somber gangster story about fathers and sons.
2003: The Return of the King. If I could go back in time and rewatch any film for the first time again on the big screen, it would be this. Pure, majestic cinema. A feast for the eyes, ears, heart, and soul.
2004: Before Sunset. I had only recently seen 1995's Before Sunrise (on DVD) for the first time when I heard Richard Linklater was releasing a sequel in the summer of 2004. I saw the exquisite film at the Tivoli Cinemas in Westport, Missouri (an art film theater I frequented often in that era).
2005: The New World. By this time in my life I was a freelance film critic, writing reviews for publications like Christianity Today and Relevant. Because of this, I was invited to the press junket for The New World and flown out to Los Angeles for the occasion. Seeing this masterpiece for the first time was memorable enough. Getting to interview Christian Bale was a bonus!
2006: United 93. Released five years after 9/11, Paul Greengrass's film remains the best work of cinematic art depicting the events of that day. The film’s pulsating action, existential terror, and commitment to realism puts you in that doomed flight in unshakeable ways.
2007: Zodiac. In an incredibly good year for movies (also released: No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford), David Fincher's Zodiac is the one that got under my skin the most.
2008: The Dark Knight. I saw this with friends on a hot summer night at the Krikorian multiplex in Redlands, California, where I was living that summer. Nolan’s film was exhilarating in every way. Everything a summer movie should be.
2009: Summer Hours. Memorable not only the first the time I saw it in theaters, but also as one of the first art movies I showed Kira when we started dating (she loved it).
2010: The Social Network. Fincher's era-defining film will be a quaint relic eventually, chronicling as it does the rise of Zuckerberg's Facebook (not to mention starring the now-canceled Armie Hammer). But for what it was, it’s both insightful and tons of fun.
2011: The Tree of Life. This one takes the cake in terms of all-time most memorable movie-going experiences. Even though I had seen a press screening of it a few weeks earlier, I took a group of 20+ friends to see Malick's magnum opus at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood on May 28. I then hosted an afterparty in a rented suite at the now-Shuttered Redbury Hotel in Hollywood. I went big for this movie's release, and I have no regrets.
2012: The Kid With a Bike. My memory of this film is actually from late 2011, when I attended the film’s advanced screening at the AFI Festival in Hollywood, at the Egyptian Theater. Luc Dardenne was in attendance and spoke after the profoundly moving film.
2013: Gravity. Alfonso Cuarón’s film, which I think I saw on IMAX, was a groundbreaking technological achievement that was totally immersive and narratively compelling. Heart-stopping from start to finish.
2014: Boyhood. Shot over 12 years with the same actors, showing on film the mysterious intrigue of time’s passage (the same intrigue inspiring me to make this list!), Richard Linklater’s film is unmatched in film history.
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road. I so enjoyed this made-for-the-big-screen gonzo flick that I saw it twice in theaters (something I rarely do).
2016: Silence. Kira and I saw an advanced screening of this at the Fox Theater in Westwood, with Martin Scorsese present for a Q&A facilitated by another great director, James Gray. Engrossing, provocative movie experience.
2017: Dunkirk. If only Chris Nolan epics came out every summer. Films like this are what the big screen was made for. Saw this on IMAX with a buddy. Jaw-dropping, visceral, moving.
2018: First Reformed. Paul Schrader (who recently declared himself a huge fan of The Chosen) is maybe the most complicated faith-based filmmaker working today. His complex relationship with Christianity is on full display in this wild movie, which I relished writing about.
2019: A Hidden Life. Malick’s most recent film. Saw it at a press screening on the Fox lot with Kira. Unbelievably moving experience.
2020: Nomadland. In this weird pandemic year, very few movies were seen in theaters (which were closed for the rest of the year). This meant small, character-driven art films were pretty much all we had, and it’s why Chloe Zhao’s stunning film shined (and won best picture).
2021: Dune. The post-pandemic return to theaters was solidified with Dune, a cacophonous boom of cinema that to this day is one of the most immersive sci-fi worlds I've experienced in a movie. Can’t wait for part two next year!