Lifetime Movies: 1988

Winner: Eight Men Out

Thus begins the golden age of baseball films. This is one of the best--an historical account of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox World Series-fixing scandal that still reverberates in the sports world today. Solid all the way through with a terrific ensemble cast and a great feel for the time period. No clear-cut front runner this year, so if you wanted to talk me into something else, I’d listen. (And, yes, I know Shoeless Joe batted left-handed, but what can you do. Watch the film in a mirror if it’s that big a deal.)

Fun fact about director John Sayles: he wrote an unproduced screenplay called Night Skies that Spielberg would later turn into a little something called E.T.

Films of Note:

There were a lot of good films this year, but overall, a little light on the great. Vin mentioned a bunch, so I won’t regurgitate those. (Funny, how we both picked period pieces, though.)

Beetlejuice: Tim Burton when his imagination was still working in original mode. My favorite director at the time. Michael Keaton at his best. And I love seeing the young Winona Ryder and Alec Baldwin. Plus, we might not have this without it.

Bull Durham: Wait, isn’t this better than Eight Men Out? Eh...I don’t think so. Maybe. Maybe I just never got the whole Susan Sarandon thing. Still a fun movie, though.

Cocktail: Wait, what? Ludicrous movie, but I remember being mesmerized by Tom Cruise flipping bottles.

I’m Gonna Git You Sucka: For a small window, the Wayans Brothers were the funniest people out there. This and the first 2 seasons of In Living Color were comedy gold. (Jim Carrey was on that show? I don't know what you're talking about.)

Scrooged: Not sure why this doesn’t get more play around the holidays. Maybe we can try only 22 hrs. of A Christmas Story this year?

And finally...

The Last Temptation of Christ: Still not sure how Vin did not even mention this. I'm holding onto this with an asterisk since I haven't seen it in a long time. It's definitely one of the most important films of the decade, if not all time. Like I said above, go ahead and change my mind.