Favorite Film From Every Year You Were Born Meme Fires Up Love of Movies

There is a new meme that is delighting movie lovers everywhere and inspiring a loving and nostalgic look back at a life at the movies. What is your favorite movie from every year of your life? From the year you were born through the last complete year of your life. For me, that is 42 years of movies to choose from.

In 1976, for me, it came down to Taxi Driver and Network and Taxi Drive because it's the immediate go to. I think of it first when I think of the 70s and the year I was born. It's a bit of a cliche, Taxi Driver is likely the most common choice for people with 1976 in their life, but I can't help it, Taxi Driver is inescapably brilliant.

1977 was the easiest choice on this entire list. Like my entire generation, Star Wars was transformative for me. Seeing it changed my life and while it is not the most artful film of the year it was released, it's unquestionably the most impactful.

1978 was incredibly difficult. It turns out, I haven't seen that many movies from 1978. I don't care for Halloween, Grease, or Superman the Movie and Midnight Express and The Deer Hunter are movies I never need to see again. Terence Malick's Days of Heaven, however, that's a movie I will always return to.

1979, I love Apocalypse Now. It's a remarkable achievement that Apocalypse Now actually exists and Francis Ford Coppola did not die while making it. That said, much like Midnight Express and The Deer Hunter in 78, I don't revisit Apocalypse Now, certainly not the way I revisit and make reference to Being There.

1980, is strange for the fact that The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite Star Wars movie but not my favorite movie that was released in 1980. Raging Bull is simply an inescapably brilliant work that it cannot be denied.

1981, is another weak year for really great movies. In the end, I considered The Evil Dead, Blow Out, and Raiders of the Lost Ark and settled on Raiders as the nostalgic choice.

1982 is another year where I struggled to find movies that were masterpiece quality. I appreciate E.T, I have a real love for Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and The Thing is one of the great genre movies ever. In the end though, the year produced one true visionary work, Blade Runner.

1983, I did consider Return of the Jedi in this spot even though it is my least favorite of the Star Wars movies. That is how weak 1983 is for legit classic movies. Scarface is a desperately overrated movie, The Dead Zone is a great movie but far from transcendent and Silkwood falls into that category of movies I don't want to see again. I settled on Zelig because it's the one movie that isn't Jedi that I have returned to on more than one occasion.

1984 was an incredible year for movies and yet, I did not struggle with this choice at all. Few movies have resonated with me as deeply as Amadeus and while Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid and Beverly Hills Cop will always be part of my childhood, and have lingered in my life for decades, Amadeus is a work of staggering genius that transcends nostalgia and comfort food.

1985 came down to three choices in a year where I didn't enjoy any of the prestige, Oscar movies. It came down to Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club and the long shot choice, Better Off Dead. I chose Better Off Dead because I laugh harder at Better Off Dead than, perhaps, any movie on this entire list.

1986, I am one of the few professional film critics who don't love Platoon. It's okay, but I don't have any love for it. I don't return to Platoon ever and it rarely crosses my mind. Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off meanwhile were nearly my picks but it finally came down to Hannah & Her Sisters because it remains a movie that marks my personal divide from the movies of my childhood to the movies that made me feel like an adult. I felt I had truly matured when I embraced the work of Woody Allen, before he was cancelled, and Hannah & Her Sisters, even more than Annie Hall, was the definitive moment.

1987, I came very late to the idea that Dirty Dancing is a secret masterpiece. A desperately underrated work of generation defining brilliance, Dirty Dancing does not receive the credit that it is due for bridging the gap from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. The film critiques the generational divide with an artfulness and truth that few movies even attempted at the time and made it palatable by bathing it in the culture of teen romance.

1988, Big, Diehard, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the movies that I truly grew up on and mean the world to me. And yet, its Bull Durham that comes out in the end as the movie I will watch before all others in 1988.

1989, another weak year, one great movie stood out over all the others 30 years later. Do the Right Thing was the arrival of a filmmaker who remains today as relevant and bracing as ever.

1990, speaking of weak years, if you're like me and you hate Dances with Wolves and Pretty Woman, there are no other choices than Goodfellas.

1991 was a tough call. Barton Fink was among my choices, The Fisher King, Thelma & Louise, and the one I almost picked, choice 1B to my actual choice, was Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I adore Terminator 2 but Silence of the Lambs is simply more lasting and indelible, especially from the eyes of a 43 year as opposed to the 15-year-old who chose Terminator 2.

1992, Army of Darkness beats out Unforgiven and Reservoir Dogs because I have seen Army of Darkness at least once a year for the past 24 years.

1993, Philadelphia is the choice because it is the movie that made me an activist. It made me more compassionate and caring and a movie that can do that, for me, is more spectacular than even something as iconic as Jurassic Park, my runner up.

1994, Pulp Fiction beats out Clerks and Hoop Dreams for my top choice because I hate Forrest Gump with a fiery passion.

1995, Before Sunrise introduced me to romance. I am not a fan of Braveheart so I chose Before Sunrise over my runners up, Toy Story and Seven.

1996, Jerry Maguire narrowly edges out Fargo here because I connect to it emotionally in ways that I do not connect with Fargo.

1997, Good Will Hunting is my choice over Boogie Nights, L.A Confidential, Chasing Amy and Grosse Point Blank. Why? It's basically a series of mental coin flips as these movies would rank ahead of many of the other movies that I chose as the best movie of their year.

1998, The Big Lebowski is my favorite movie of all time.

1999, Summer of Sam tops The Talented Mr. Ripley as the best movie of what I feel is maybe the best year's worth of movies in my lifetime.

2000, Almost Famous goes over Memento here because I just watched Almost Famous again and cried my way through it, joyously.

2001, Legally Blonde wins because when I am sad, I watch Legally Blonde. It's my movie happy place—my turn off my brain and live in the fun movie. That feeling tops all others for me in 2001.

2002, 25th Hour is the choice because it remains more relevant and timely than the other brilliant movies of 2002, of which there were many.

2003, Kill Bill Volume 1 over Lost in Translation in the single toughest choice of any year on this list.

2004, Before Sunset goes over Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Spider-man 2, Kill Bill Volume 2 and Million Dollar Baby because of an ending that crosses my mind more often than I can even begin to explain.

2005, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang beat out Sin City in 2005 because Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has yet to be sullied by a terrible sequel.

2006, The Descent is one of the very few times I have ever been frightened at the movies. I'm supposed to pick The Descent or Little Children because they are well known masterpieces but The Descent is the one I revisit.

2007, Juno is my choice because I will watch it before I would watch There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, or Into the Wild.

2008, Rachel Getting Married gutted me, it left me an emotional mess at the end. The Dark Knight is the most memorable movie of that year but Rachel Getting Married still holds my emotions.

2009, A Serious Man is the most underrated work of genius in a career of genius works from The Coen Brothers.

2010, 127 Hours is Danny Boyle at his most masterful. I loved Inception, TheSocial Network and Black Swan but the degree of difficulty puts 127 Hours over the top.

2011, Midnight in Paris is my choice narrowly over the animated movie Rango because I connected with the romance just a little more than the laughs of Rango.

2012, Argo, Moonrise Kingdom, and Silver Linings Playbook are wonderful movies but Les Miserables is my choice because I can't help but cry just thinking about the remarkable emotions Les Mis evokes.

2013, It's really a tie between Inside Llewyn Davis and Before Midnight but if I can only choose one, I must choose Llewyn Davis for Oscar Isaac's star making performance.

2014, Gone Girl just hit a sweet spot for me that has stuck with me over four years later.

2015, Steve Jobs is a miraculous movie, it should not be as brilliant as it is and yet, it's so absolutely incredible.

2016, Arrival was my choice over Moonlight, La La Land, Manchester By the Sea, and Hell or High Water in one of the best years at the movie since 1999.

2017, The Big Sick wins for me because I am a sucker for true life romance and Kumail Nanjiani.

2018, for me, there were every other movie, and then there was Hereditary.

1976, Taxi Driver

1977, Star Wars A New Hope

1978, Days of Heaven

1979, Being There

1980, Raging Bull

1981, Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark

1982, Blade Runner

1983, Zelig

1984, Amadeus

1985, Better Off Dead

1986, Hannah & Her Sisters

1987, Dirty Dancing

1988, Bull Durham

1989, Do The Right Thing

1990, Goodfellas

1991, The Silence of the Lambs

1992, Army of Darkness

1993, Philadelphia

1994, Pulp Fiction

1995, Before Sunrise

1996, Jerry Maguire

1997, Good Will Hunting

1998, The Big Lebowski

1999, Summer of Sam

2000, Almost Famous

2001, Legally Blonde

2002, 25th Hour

2003, Kill Bill Volume #1

2004, Before Sunset

2005, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

2006, The Descent

2007, Juno

2008, Rachel Getting Married

2009, A Serious Man

2010, 127 Hours

2011, Midnight in Paris

2012, Les Miserables

2013, Inside Llewyn Davis

2014, Gone Girl

2015, Steve Jobs

2016, Arrival

2017, The Big Sick

2018, Hereditary