Top 5 – Movies of 1988

On this, the ninth day of February, in the year of nineteen hundred and eighty eight, a young man was brought into this world.  This is a man who, years down the line, would find his true calling as a movie writer, and later be known as Kevflix.

That’s right, today is my birthday.  So in honor of this glorious occasion, I’m going to rank the five best movies that came out in the year 1988.  This was a really good year for movies, as I was forced to leave movies like “Rain Man”, “Big”, and “Coming to America” off my top five.

So here we go, the top five movies of the greatest year of all time, 1988.

5- COLORS (Dennis Hopper)

Dennis Hopper’s cop drama does not get the love that it deserves.  Colors follows two cops, one veteran (Robert Duvall, at his all-time best), and one rookie (Sean Penn, showing flashes of his future greatness), who are partnered together to control gang violence in 1980’s East Los Angeles.  Hopper does a great job of taking us deep into the heart of the gang warfare, giving us a raw, gritty look at the times.  The movie’s message about gangs is just as much relevant today as it was in ’88.  This is an all-timer in the cop genre.

4- BEETLEJUICE (Tim Burton)

Tim Burton’s second feature stands as one of the director’s best films ever.  With the originality in its story mixed with Burton’s now trademark visuals, Beetlejuice is a treat for all filmgoers.  It is funny, creepy, impeccably made, and well acted.  The ensemble of Alec Baldwin, Gena Davis, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, and Jeffrey Jones are all perfect.  But this movie belongs to Michael Keaton as the titular character.   This is one of the best performances I have ever seen.  Keaton explodes on the screen, spitting dialog at a rapid pace, hitting every single one liner like the pro that he is.  Nobody else could have played Beetlejuice like Keaton.  It is the best of the actor’s career and the main reason why Beetlejuice is a classic horror-comedy.

3- BULL DURHAM (Ron Shelton)

For my money, Bull Durham is the greatest sports movie of all-time.  Most sports movies can’t balance being about the sport and have a cinematic story as well.  Bull Durham is that perfect balance of both.  On one hand, this is as authentic as baseball movies get.  They really show the ups and downs of a team, while also showing the fun, random conversations and things that happen during the long season.  On the other hand, this is a love story about an old school veteran (a never better Kevin Costner) and a hot shot up and comer (Tim Robbins at his funniest) and their fight for a girl (Susan Sarandon), who changes both their lives.  This movie is filled with classic quotes, classic scenes, and is just a blast to watch.

2- WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? (Robert Zemeckis)

What a game changer of a film.  What Robert Zemeckis was able to do in 1988 with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is one of the great cinematic achievements of the last thirty years.  Seamlessly merging real life people, like the masterful Bob Hoskins, into a world dominated by animated characters like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, and Dumbo, is a marvel.  Along with its technical achievements, this movie is a slapstick comedy, film noir, and animated classic all in one.  I still watch this movie in awe and it makes me laugh every single time.

1- DIE HARD (Jack McTiernan)

Seeing as I am mildly obsessed with this movie, it is only fitting that Die Hard came out the same year that I was born.  Die Hard is a perfect movie and, in my opinion, the greatest action movie of all-time.  John McClane is the prototype for what an action hero should be.  He’s smart, funny, badass, and compelling to watch, much like the movie itself.  And the late Alan Rickman gives an awards worthy performance and reinvented the bad guy from the mustache twirling dimwit to a debonair, methodical, strategic mastermind.  Die Hard is the reason we watch movies.  It is one of the greatest movies of all-time and the best movie of 1988.

So there you have it, the best movies of the greatest year in history of the world, 1988.  What films would you have added to this list?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.