As I turned 30 last year year, here is the first
of a three-part post. Partly
inspired by Cinematic Paradox’s 100 Film Facts About Me post and partly
inspired by Front Room Cinema’s Born into Film series, I thought I’d try and
give you a breakdown of my film loving life year by year. As I was born in 1981, my first 10 years of the movies were mostly the glorious 1980s. If you want to see my top 10 films of the 80s click here. But for now, here's how the movies shaped, influenced and warped my impressionable young mind.
1981: I was born. The top 5 rated films of the year according to IMDb are Raiders of the Lost Ark, Das Boot, The Evil Dead, Chariots of Fire and Escape from New York. I do not recall going to the cinema or seeing any films yet (funnily enough!). I still haven't seen the last two on that list.
1982: Rambo and E.T. first appeared on screens. It would be a long time till I would see either. My oldest sister was eight at the time and had a hard time at school with everyone calling her ET because they were her initials.
1983: The Star Wars saga should have ended this year
with Return of the Jedi. Unfortunately
it didn’t. The first Star Wars film I
saw in the cinema was The Phantom Menace in 1999 at age 18.
1984: The Terminator, Ghostbusters and A
Nightmare on Elm Street were released.
Fortunately at the age of three, I was not going anywhere near these
films yet. But soon, all three would
scare the crap out of me and become three of my all-time favourites.
1985: The Goonies was released. I wasn’t old enough to catch this in the cinema but when I finally saw the film, it affected my imagination so much that whenever I was alone, I would pretend I was in the movie being chased by villains in an underground cave system. I’ve always wanted to write a script as perfectly pitched at kids as this. Back to the Future and Teen Wolf both also came out, resulting in my eventual Michael J Fox poster on my wall that I got from the magazine Smash Hits.
1986: Thanks to Chris in the comments below, I remember seeing An American Tail in the cinema. Must have been age 5 so that's my excuse for crying a lot at the ending! Aliens, Top Gun, Platoon and Labyrinth
all released. Didn’t see any in the
cinema. But the first CD I ever owned
was the Top Gun soundtrack. Still love
that shit. I remember thinking CD's were incredibly cool compared to crusty old cassette tapes.
1987: This was the year of getting to go on
my first film set. I was cast as Tom the
Vicar’s son in a film called The Girl in a Swing and was on set for about three
days. I’ve still never seen the film the
whole way through but my parents said I didn’t make it into the final cut and
that the film is full of filthy sex scenes and nudity. Bad start to my acting career but it opened
my eyes to the wonder of filmmaking. Predator
and Robocop were released.
1988: Die Hard released. I vividly remember being with my Mum in a
shopping centre and walking along behind a couple of guys and one guy was
telling the other about the scene where John McClane wraps the fire hose around
his waist and jumps off the top of the exploding building. I was seven years old and I couldn’t wait to
see it.
1989: My Dad took me to see Back to the Future Part
2 this year and I bloody loved it. My Dad fell
asleep and said he found it too confusing.
I also remember seeing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and
Ghostbusters 2 in cinemas so my love of film was definitely kicking in. I was too young for Batman apparently. And on a cruise ship to Denmark, my older
sisters got to see The War of the Roses (which I only wanted to see because it
was rated 15) while I was stuck with seeing All Dogs Go to Heaven with my Mum.
1990: The year of Home Alone. This film instantly became my new
favourite. I saw it at least twice in
the cinema. I desperately wanted to be
Macaulay Culkin. I also saw Edward
Scissorhands and rfememver having to pull myself together before the
lights came on at the end so my sister wouldn’t see I’d been crying. At nine years old, I was also dribbling over
everything Ninja Turtles (or Hero Turtles as they were called here in the UK)
so the movie was a must-see in the cinema.
Still love it. The Witches and Arachnophobia
also warped my fragile little mind, giving me a fear of old women and spiders
that, certainly in the latter case, has still not gone away. This year I saw my first 18 rated films:
Robocop (the scene where Murphy is tortured and repeatedly shot was too much
for me to watch), The Terminator (loved every second) and somebody gave me a copy
of A Nightmare on Elm Street that was taped off the TV. My first proper horror scared me into having
regular nightmares but again, I absolutely loved it. Also Moonwalker was released on VHS this year and I think this is probably the first film my Mum ever bought for me. She got sick of me wanting to rent it from the video store every week.
1991: I clearly remember people telling me about
the film Silence of the Lambs that had a lampshade made out of skin in it. I’m not sure there actually is but I remember
being told that. As my babysitter had
rented Terminator for me, I was beyond desperate to see Terminator 2 in the
cinema but it was a 15 so I couldn’t. I
had to wait for my older sister and her friend to buy the video because they
were both besotted with Edward Furlong.
I was jealous of Macaulay Culkin for getting to be in My Girl where he
had to do 17 takes of the kiss with Anna Chlumsky apparently. Bryan Adams was dominating the UK music
charts with Everything I Do (I Do it For You) from the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
sound track. I contributed to both the
film and the single’s success by seeing the film in cinemas twice and buying
the single on cassette tape. I also saw
Rocketeer and TMNT2: The Secret of the Ooze in cinemas.
So that’s my movie life from birth to the
age of ten. Coming soon: 1992-2001 the
next 10 years of my movie life. If you
like the idea, I hope you will all feel free to nick it and try it for yourself
but please leave a link to little old I Love That Film!
And while you're here, what were your first experiences of the
cinema?