Films in 1987

1987 was not a classic year for films.

At the Oscars The Last Emperor won Best Film and Michael Douglas and Cher won the top acting awards. I've seen both Wall Street and Moonstruck, and although the former was better than the latter neither of them really figure on any of my "must see" lists. I did enjoy The Untouchables and Sean Connery did deserve his Oscar, but surely it was for his whole career rather than just this one film.

The Golden Globes had the intelligence to give the award for Best Musical or Comedy to Hope and Glory. It was a well-deserved win and a good film, but very different to Excalibur, which in my mind comes pretty close to The Lord of the Rings in sword and sorcery film making - and it has Helen Mirren as Morgana.

Other notable films that I actually managed to see were:

Empire of the Sun: Spielberg's adaptation of J G Ballard's masterwork.

Fatal Attraction: a good thriller but definitely not a date movie!

Good Morning Vietnam: early Robin Williams, before he became sentimental.

House of Games: first film by David Mamet - makes The Sting look like child's play.

Maurice: another Forster adaptation from James Ivory, but not in the same class as A Room With a View.

A Month in the Country: I'd read the book after I bought it for my wife and the film was just as good.

Prick Up your Ears: an early film from Alan Bennett and Stephen Frears which I caught on TV.

Radio Days: a wonderful Woody Allen film. Need I say more?

Robocop: I caught this in the US while on a business trip and found that I rather enjoyed it.

Spaceballs: a spoof on Star Wars and sci-fi films from Mel Brooks that intermittently hits its target.

White Mischief: an interesting murder story among expats in post-war Kenya that was better than my summary sounds.

Looking back at what I have written above it was quite an interesting year for film, with a good variety available to the discerning viewer, i.e. me.

Science Fiction or Fantasy

Since I wrote my last post there's been something niggling me: I described Star Wars as science fiction but on reflection I don't think I was correct.

I've just consulted the most authoritative source I could find - i.e. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood - where she records a discussion that she had with Ursula Le Guin (and I'd love to have been present for that) about the difference between science fiction and fantasy.

Both Atwood and Le Guin define "science fiction" as speculative fiction about things that really could happen, whereas things that really could not happen are fantasy. Thus Star Wars belongs in fantasy along with Doctor Who and dragons.

On this basis the Discworld, although many of its elements strangely echo similar elements in the Roundworld, is definitely a creation of fantasy. I'd love to see a dragon for real but it's far safer just to read about them or watch them on a screen.

Films in 1983

1983 was a good year for film. the top grossing film was The Return of the Jedi:

The top ten also included Trading Places and Wargames, which I enjoyed at the time but which I'm not too keen to see again.

I've lost count of the number of times I've seen the original Star Wars trilogy, but am pleased to confirm that I have only seen the prequel trilogy once. However I did enjoy The Force Awakens and am looking forward to the spin-off movie later on this year.

Following the success of the Star Wars films the cinema was full of sci-fi films of various quality: from Flash Gordon to Battle Beyond the Stars. However it was not until the success of the Harry Potter films and the two Tolkien trilogies from Peter Jackson that fantasy became a subject for cinema. If a big name film director "discovers" Discworld all I hope is that he/she is able to do it justice: Peter Jackson's vision of Middle Earth ties perfectly in with my imagination, and some of his casting was perfect (Galadriel and Gandalf especially).